Baked - Carmel Popcorn with Peanuts

I made the Carmel Popcorn with and without Peanuts and without the Chocolate.

Dixie cups with Carmel Corn with Peanuts

I have never made carmel corn before, but I do like it.  I got some for Christmas from a friend and it was great, so I was excited to make this treat.  It also work out good, since I had a dance to go to Saturday night and we are all asked to bring something to share.  I filled 5 ounce Dixie cups so a person could just grab a cup and wander off and munch on the carmel corn.

Ready to go to a party!

I did not add the chocolate.  I have eaten the carmel corn with the chocolate and it is just too much (sweet) for me.  The carmel corn by itself is a wonderful treat.  This recipe made a lot of carmel corn.  Niex time make it for home, I will half this recipe, but since I did have someplace to take it, I was okay.  I took about 30 Dixie cups to the dance and still have plenty to eat or share at work on Monday. 

Now about the making of carmel corn, not just the eating of carmel corn.  The recipe recommend an air popper for the popcorn.  There is one brand out there and it runs around $50.00.  If I make this again, I will get the air popper.  When I made the popcorn the traditional way, on the stove with some oil, I ended up with a lot of unpopped kennels in with the popcorn.  Once I added the carmel and started to mix I could see all of the unpopped kernels and tryed to pull them out.  This was time consuming and took some of the fun out of the process. 

I got a some feedback on the carmel corn.  One person said is was to soft.   Mine did come out soft and chewy, but my boyfriend likes crisp, crunchy carmel corn.  Next time I think I will bake on more sheet pans so it will dry out a bit more. One comment was that it was wonderful.  I came home with five Dixie cups left, I think this is a success.

Also, I did not have a candy thermometer need for this recipe.  Go figure, there is actual an kitchen gadget that I did not have.  This is a very good recipe, not hard to make and I will make it again to perfect my carmel corn making skills.

Whoopie Pies... Whoopie

Today I baked for Baked Sunday Mornings.  I was not sure that I wanted to make Whoopie Pies, but it's not always about the do I want to eat this, but can I make it.  And I can!

I was amazed at how good these are.  The recipe says it makes 10 - 15.  Well I used a small cookie scoop and ended up with over two dozen.  Each pie we still over 2" in diameter.  The night I made them I was also baking for another club, Baking Gals, so I was up to my elbows in baking and they did not seem that good.  But I was wrong.  After I assembled the pies I placed them in the refrigerator to chill. 

I took in the greater portion of the Whoopie Pies to work and everyone was raving on how good they were.  I think these are best chilled.  I tyred one at work, and OMG these are yummy.  The outside cake is dark chocolate with the coffee undertones and the filling is the Swiss Meringue that is my go to recipe for icing. 


I did have a few of my taste testers miss getting any, so I brought in more the next day with some Cashew Cookies.  I has two request for the recipe.  One of my friends is going to try making the tops as a sheet and the cut into squares and fill them.  I wish I would have thought of that. 

Anyway, this is a great recipe and I'm glad to be back baking.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

I'm late with this post, although I made these cupcakes two weeks ago.  This used a whole jar of natural peanut butter.  I was hoping there would be some peanut butter left over for me.

I used my home made raspberry jam and yummmm.  The cupcake is from the MS Cupcake book.  The cupcakes are wonderful.  They have 2/3 cup of peanut butter and 3/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts.  They are good with out the icing.

For me the icing is to rich.  I can't believe I am saying this.  But the mixture of cream cheese, peanut butter, and whip cream was too much for me.  I took them to work, I gave them to the Handyman and the guy that delivers my meat.  I am now using baked goods in liue of tips.  It seems to be working pretty good.

Cupid's Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream

Don't you wish you were here?

I went to San Diego this weekend to spend some time with my Niece Lexi and my Great Niece Meg.  This is what we did, well this is one of the things we did.  Lexi is back from Japan and enjoying the use of a full size oven.  I am sharing the schedule for the Avid Baker Challenge so she can bake along.  And since this was a mid month recipe we tried it out together.

We made the Signature Yellow Cake from Baking for All Occasions.  This was so good.  Let me tell you the secret.  There are extra egg yolks.  After you bake the cake, you slice each layer in half and spread jam.

Add a layer and add the buttercream, a layer of Strawberries, and another layer of buttercream.  I have to admit, we had some technical difficulties with the buttercream.  There are a lot of steps and we needed a candy thermometer, that we did not have, so we added extra unflavored gelatin.  It was pretty scary putting the strawberries on the cake cause they kept sliding.

Our buttercream did not get as thick as I would have like the day we made the cake.  Since it was not thick enough to spread we just let it pour down the sides. 

I think it came out beautiful and tasted great.  This buttercream was very complicated and I will probably not try that recipe again.  It was very fun cooking with my Niece.  Good Job Lexi!

Apple Cake - Baked

I made the Carmel Apple Cake for Baked Sunday Morning more of a snack cake.  I am not a formal person and need to lose a few pounds, so I figured if I eliminate the icing...

What I got was a beautiful bundt cake.  This recipe did make more batter that the bundt pan would take and I cooked if for about 70 minuets.  I think it could have stayed in the oven longer.  It is a very most cake with great flavor.  I love the cinnamon, allspice and clove mixture.

This cake is so moist it was falling apart.  I will be taking it into work for coffee break with friends.  This is a great fall recipe.

Sunday Loaf - good use for raspberry jam

For the last two weeks in July I was making raspberry jam.  I put up three cases of jam.  I do give these away as gifts, but what can I do with all this jam?  Well I found a recipe for "Sunday Loaf".  Its a quick bread that is made using jam in the dough and after the bread is baked you make a topping of jam and butter to top the whole loaf.  Yummmm

I found this recipe in "The Breakfast Book".  The note say that this can be frozen and toasted.  This is a kick back to when I use to toast that cinnamon bread with the icing.  Yes, my smoke alarm did go off.  This is a sign that things are almost done.  (My poor neighbor)

You know this is not even pink, but it does taste like the jam.  I will let you know how this freezes.  I can not eat a whole loaf before it goes bad and I only have toast for breakfast on the weekends.  And I won't eat all the jam Aileen.  I know you want some!



Apricot Tatin Cake - The Cake Book

I love CostCo, but what does a single girl do with two dozen apricots.  Answer" make a Tatin.

The clear platter make the cake look a bit red, but it is basically a upside down cake.  (which only used three apricots, next time I'll make a pie).

The recipe was for peaches, but I used the apricots instead.  You make a caramel with sugar and water and I had the hardest time getting this to a carmel.   It just wouldn't burn.  What's up with that?  When I don't want things to burn they do!

Also, it called for a 10" cake pan.  This will be my next investment at the housewares store.  It's got to be cheaper than cleaning the oven.  I did use a deep dish pie pan.  It was 10" across at the top, but the cake still went over the edge, or may be it was the carmel.  Anyway, the cake looks beautiful and taste good too.  I think is should be eaten quickly, within three or four days, or it gets a bit soggy and heavy, but never dry.

This does work with different fruit, so you may see these back on my blog again.