Coconut Butter Thins - TWD

I can't stop eating these. They are so, so, so good. I love lime and macadamia nuts. With the coconut these are delicious cookies.

The recipe was chosen by Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 145 in Dorie's cookbook. Her post is very cute and you should really check it out.

These cookies reminded me of the Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread cookies that I made awhile back doing a "catch-up" post. I was disappointed in those cookies because they spread so much and were very crunchy. I didn't want these cookies to turn out like that. So, I didn't make them until today and read the P&Q section carefully to determine how to bake mine. I decided to cut out a portion of the butter and used only 1 and 3/4 sticks of butter. I also partially froze the cookies after slicing and baking them. This seemed to do the trick and my cookies didn't really spread too much. They are also a little chewy, just the way I like them.

I will make these again for sure. They are a hit in our house. Thanks for the great pick Jayne.

Root Beer Bundt Cake

What happened to the root beer? I participated in another bake-along with Megan and Nic. Nic picked this Root Beer Bundt Cake that I couldn't pass on. I LOVE root beer, especially root beer floats!

However, I couldn't taste any root beer in this cake. It didn't taste like root beer to me in the slightest. It should have...the recipe called for 2 1/4 cups of root beer in the cake and frosting. The cake was good, very moist and super chocolaty. I did get a little nervous while baking it because when I got the ingredients together I did notice that there is a ton of dark chocolate. Me, not being a huge dark chocolate fan, was a little unsure. However, it was a hit! I enjoyed it and so did the rest of the family. I am glad that The Hubster took the leftovers to our friends' house last night for dessert though.

Root Beer Bundt Cake - Baked Cookbook

2 cups root beer (do not use diet root beer)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 ¼ cup granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

Root Beer Fudge Frosting
2 oz. dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup root beer

2/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ½ cup powdered sugar

To Serve: Vanilla Ice Cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously spray the inside of a 10” bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs just until beaten, then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Do not over beat it, as it will cause the cake to be tough.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time, until a small sharp knife inserted in the cake comes clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

Root Beer Fudge Frosting: Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth. Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the bundt in a thick layer. Let the frosting set before serving, with the ice cream on the side.
Be sure to check out Megan, Nic and Leanne's root beer cakes as well. Apparently nobody's really had a root beer taste to it. Too bad!

Chicken with Mango Barbeque Sauce - CEiMB

Well....I had intended to quit CEiMB. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I do like making new and trying new recipes. I just don't think that I will be making the chosen recipes that I know my family will not like. I have no intention of wasting money on exotic (at least to us) veggies or things I know we will not enjoy. I know that defeats the purpose of trying new things because you never know what you may end up liking. But....oh well.

The chosen recipe this week was chicken with mango BBQ sauce. Aggie from Aggie's Kitchen chose the recipe. You can find the recipe HERE or HERE. It was a winner. I had fun making the sauce using an onion, red pepper, brown sugar, mango, red wine vinegar, worchestershire sauce and 3 jalepeno peppers. Although, there were some other ingredients that I just can't think of off the top of my head. The only variation to the recipe that I did was to marinade my chicken for approximately 4 hours instead of only 1 hour.

This was very good. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't going to tell my husband that it was an Ellie recipe because he has sworn off Ellie. However, just before broiling the chicken I let the cat out of the bag and confessed. This was after he mentioned that there was something good being cooked up in our house. He thought that the marinade/BBQ sauce smelled good. All of those good thoughts got kicked to the curb and he immediately wasn't excited for dinner anymore. After dinner he admitted that it wasn't bad. He said that he wasn't wildly excited for me to make it again though. I had a lot of leftover sauce that I froze and am going to try it with some type of grilled fish when we start grilling out more now that the weather is warming up. I should mention that I am not a fan of BBQ sauce and I didn't think you could really qualify this as a BBQ sauce. It was tangy, sweet and mildly spicy though.

Great choice Aggie!

Honey Fruit Salad

This recipe is fast, easy and so good. The Hubster can't get enough and eats it until it is gone. I made the recipe twice and the leftovers do not stick around very long in the fridge. I served it with chicken pot pies and it was such a good side for that dinner.

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium firm bananas, chopped

2 cups fresh blueberries

2 cups fresh raspberries

2 cups fresh sliced strawberries

5 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon poppy seeds

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, combine the bananas and berries. In a small bowl, combine the honey, lemon juice and poppy seeds. Pour over fruit and toss to coat. YIELD: 8 servings.

Blueberry Crumb Cake - TWD

Even though I don't like coffee, this cake was delicious. I baked it for brunch when my Dad and his girlfriend were down visiting. It was easy enough to prepare but seemed to involve a lot of steps. It was worth it though.

The recipe was chosen by Sihan. You can find the recipe HERE or on page 192-193 in Dorie's cookbook.

My only variation to the recipe was to substitute chopped pecans for walnuts. The Hubster hates walnuts and I am not too keen on them myself. The topping for this coffee cake was delicious. I could have eaten that crunchy topping without the cake it was that good. I would love to try this cake with raspberries next time.

NEXT TUESDAY: Coconut Butter Thins

French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze - TWD

This cake was mighty tasty. I couldn't find any lemon marmalade at the grocery store. Therefore, I decided to make the more fancy version. I layered the cake and made lemon cream for the filling (Dorie's recipe) and also whipped cream (also Dorie's recipe) to frost the cake. It was delicious.

The recipe was chosen by Liliana from My Cookbook Addiction. It was a great pick. You can find the recipe HERE or on page 224-225 in Dorie's cookbook.

I'm a Winner!!

I can't believe it. I actually won another giveaway. I am about a month behind from posting about this cool giveaway that I won. But, I finally decided what I wanted. I follow Beth's blog because I love her writing and photography. She is quite talented! Anyway, she had a giveaway for a $50 gift certificate to this awesome store. I honestly can't believe that I won. This is my choice with my kids' names on it. I can't wait to get it. It took quite a long time for me to choose what I wanted.

Lemon Cup Custard - TWD

This was not a winner in our house. None of us liked it. I just don't think that we enjoyed the texture or the taste. I did have fun preparing it though. It was so easy and baked wonderfully. I don't think that one of the custards was eaten completely!

The recipe was chosen by Bridget from The Way The Cookie Crumbles. You can find the recipe HERE. Her pictures are great!

Next Tuesday: French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze

Chocolate Armagnac Cake - TWD

This RICH, dense chocolate cake was brought to our friends' home for dinner a week ago. I know that I am behind in posting but it was actually made on the date that it was due. It was good and you really couldn't taste the prunes in the slightest. It was so rich though. And extremely chocolately! The recipe was chosen by Lyb of And then I do the dishes. The recipe can be found HERE.

So, after stepping back for a couple of days and getting a few other things accomplished.. I am back. I am going to stick with TWD and possibly CEiMB. I really like both of these groups and have fun baking/cooking with both. I just have to stick with my exercise routine to burn off the baked goods calories. I learn a lot from baking with this group and since it is one of my favorite hobbies, I really want to continue. I also want to thank Sara for coming forward and assuming responsibility for CEiMB. I am sure that she will do a fantastic job maintaining and running this awesome group.

ETSY

Etsy is such a cool place for crafters to sell stuff that they personally create. I could lose myself for hours on Etsy.com if I didn't have any self control. One of the projects that I have been working on lately was to get my Mom's Esty Store up and running. She is going to make the goods and I am going to get it posted on her Etsy store.

Feel free to take a peek! My favorite is the Circles Handbag.

I need....

to take a break. I may return but at this time I want to focus on some other stuff that I have been neglecting.

Don't get me wrong....I love TWD and CEiMB, however, Dorie's recipes are making both The Hubster and I gain weight and we have both been kind of unhappy with Ellie's recipes lately. Therefore, I am taking a hiatus from both of these groups. I don't know if I will be back. I am still going to post on this blog, but only when I want too. Not because it is Tuesday or Thursday and I am required to do so. I guess that it just became too much of a chore!