Pineapple Angel Food Cake

The Newlyweds are home from their honeymoon and they came over to show pictures and share stories from their wonderful trip.  We had a really nice evening and even shared cooking dinner together and that was just wonderful.  We made a Sesame Noodle with Chicken meal that I found on Pinterest, but honestly it was just ok and I won't be sharing the link or recipe.  

But I do like to have a dessert on hand when people come over and since our daughter is lactose intolerant I have a Pinterest board at the ready with recipes to try.  And this one was a winner!

If you've spent any time at all on Pinterest - or now on Facebook with all the recipes that are shared - you have surely seen this recipe for Pineapple Angel Food Cake.  Nothing I had linked back to an actual site, so I can't give credit for this.  But it was GOOD!  And easy!  And relatively good, or at least not as bad, for you!

The Ingredients:

Yes that's it - just an angel food cake mix (the notes on the pin said it must be the "one step" angel food cake mix) and a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple.

I didn't even get my mixer out - just used a wooden spoon to stir it.  It had a very light and airy batter.  This would be a great cake to make with kids since it mixes so easily.

It did sink down a bit in the middle, but that didn't affect the flavor at all.  While it was baking I kept thinking that the house had that 'fair smell' to it of very sweet funnel cakes (though it didn't taste at all like a funnel cake).

 Mmmmm.......    :)

We served it with a dollop of Cool Whip because I seem to remember 'back in the day' that their jingle was something about Cool Whip Non-Dairy Whipped Topping.  However, below their list of ingredients it says in bold letters:  CONTAINS MILK.  Lynne' decided it would be best not to test out the theory so had hers without.

This was a really good, light, summery sort of cake since it uses the angel food cake mix.  And since I'm a big fan of pineapple I really enjoyed it.

PINEAPPLE ANGEL FOOD CAKE

1 Angel Food Cake Mix (Betty Crocker works great)

20 ounce can of crushed pineapple

In a bowl mix together the cake mix and entire contents of pineapple can - I used a wooden spoon.  Pour into a 13x9 pan sprayed with nonstick coating and bake for 30 minutes at 350*.

Shared with:  Brag About It #20, The Scoop, Inspire Me Tuesday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Tuesdays at Our Home, Weekly Homemaking Party

National Bundt Cake Day–Almond Poppyseed Bundt

Can you believe there’s actually a day for this – who knew???  I *still* say Bundt in the voice of My Big Fat Greek Wedding – anybody else?

The Food Librarian has been leading up to National Bundt Cake Day with her I Like Big Bundts posts – 30 Bundts in 30 Days!  I really, really admire somebody with that kind of ambition and even more than that… the follow through.

I used to make an Almond Poppyseed cake periodically and it was one we loved.  Cannot find the recipe anywhere, so I headed to Pinterest to see what I could find.  I’m very pleased with this recipe and hopefully by putting it on the blog I’ll be able to find it again!

 

I first thought to leave the glaze off the cake because as I get older I’m finding that I like things a little less sweet.

 

Seriously – doesn’t this look better?  One nice thing about making a cake that is based on a cake mix is that they always turn out light.

 

This cake is drool-worthy…..

 

ALMOND POPPYSEED BUNDT CAKE
adapted from Double the Deliciousness

1 Lemon Cake Mix
4 eggs
1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cups water
1 T poppy seeds
1 t almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 and grease/flour (I used Crisco spray) a bundt pan.

Mix all ingredients together until smooth, then pour into prepared bundt pan.  Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes.  Place your platter on the top of the bundt pan and invert.

GLAZE

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 t almond extract
1 t butter, softened
about 2 1/2 T milk

Mix all ingredients together on high speed. Add more milk if necessary to reach desired consistency. Drizzle over the cake and enjoy!

 

** Linking to Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Muffins on Monday–Blueberry Streusel Muffins

I was so excited to get a pint of blueberries on sale since I’ve been craving blueberry muffins.  Ran home, hit the internet to find a recipe and unfortunately most of the recipes I found contained something or another that I didn’t have.

Finally I found this recipe and got them right in the oven. They were really quite good, but I’ll confess that streusel wasn’t really what I had a taste for right then. However, Keith absolutely *loved* these and has since asked me to make them again.

So if streusel is what you’re wanting, these muffins are definitely a winner!

BLUEBERRY STREUSEL MUFFINS

Originally from The Girl Who Ate Everything

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tin with paper liners.

Streusel topping - Mix sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon with a fork, set aside.

Muffins - In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and milk.

Add flour mixture and stir until just combined (do not overmix!). Gently fold in blueberries.

Use an ice cream scoop and put one level scoop in each muffin liner. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 min, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.

 

** Linking to Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays At The Table

Muffins on Monday–Sour Cream Raisin Muffins

Oh alliterations, how I do love you! When I thought of Muffins on Monday I was so tickled. then I Google’d it and found I wasn’t the first. *sob*  Not only that, this morning on Twitter I got a tweet from bakerstreet29 about her [Muffin Monday] post. ~ sigh ~  (but do click through and look at the fantastic sounding Almond Muffins)!

So even if I’m not as amazingly clever as I first thought I’m still going forward with this. Because not many things start a week off as good as a muffin!  

The original recipe for these muffins was Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Muffins.  Right now I’m very much in a raisin place, so I decided to use them in place of the chocolate chips. And it was wonderful! So many times we only think of raisins when used with a spice or pumpkin cake. But they were so good in this muffin.

Sour Cream Raisin Muffins
adapted from The Curvy Carrot

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 large egg
1 cup sour cream
5 T unsalted butter, melted
1 t vanilla
3/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with paper liners and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl combine the egg, sour cream, melted butter and vanilla, mixing well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients with a spatula and stir until just combined. Add the raisins and gently combine with the batter.

Using an ice cream scoop fill each cupcake liner with one level scoop (makes 12 muffins).

Bake about 15-17 minutes until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

 

** Linking to: Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Reindeer Sugar Cookies

Aren't these the CUTEST cookies? And the great thing is that they were so easy and fast to make. I found the recipe on Family Corner, a great site to find cute things for kids.

Ingredients:

roll of Pillsbury sugar cookies

M&M's

pretzels

1/4 cup of flour

To make the dough a little stiffer, work 1/4 cup of flour into the sugar cookie roll. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut with a bell cookie cutter. Press pretzels at the top for antlers and press M&M's for eyes and nose. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, removing from oven when the edges are just barely brown. Let cool on pan for 2 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a rack.

I decided that all my reindeer were going to be Rudolph with blue eyes. I couldn't remember what color his eyes were, but I seem to remember that Clarice had blue eyes. And who am I to mess with true love like that???

A Coke and A Smile Gift

Last night was Mission Crafts Ministry night at church and since it was our last meeting before Christmas I wanted to do a little something to make it a bit more special.

 

I had gotten these little Coke tins at Walmart after Christmas last year at a super low price.  I didn’t want to fill them with standard cookies or candy, so Keith and I put our thinking caps on to come up with something.  We decided that along with your Coke you would want something salty, so I cooked up a batch of Chex Mix.

 

I lined the inside of the tin with some plastic wrap, filled it with Chex Mix, then folded the plastic wrap over the top to seal it.

In keeping with the Coke color theme I used red gift bags with white tissue paper.  Each gift had a Coke tin with Chex Mix and a little bottle of Coke with the red curly ribbon.  Very well received and it was a fun gift to make!

 

I also brought a tray of these Peppermint Brownies and sighs of delight were heard all around.  This will now be my holiday go-to brownie.

 

** Linking to Take-A-Look Tuesday, Get Your Craft On, Tip Me Tuesday

Christmas Cookie Time of Year

Even though Santa doesn’t visit our house anymore since the kids have grown up and moved out I still find myself thinking of cookies this time of year.

I keep thinking that I want to learn how to do cut-out cookies and the amazing icing that people are able to do.  One of the most gorgeous examples I’ve seen is at The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle – look at the cookie cookbook she’s giving away and then scroll a little farther down and be thoroughly in awe of the platter of cookies.

I’m feeling a bit lazy this year though, so I’m hoping that Santa might like one of the following:

 

And I keep going back to that blog and looking at her cookies.  Wonder how much weight I’d gain by trying to perfect my cookie making abilities???

Soft Sugar Cookies for Brooklyn

Being a grandma is one of the absolute best things in the world.  Case in point, here it is Tuesday and we get to meet the kids at a pumpkin patch after work today.  Seeing your granddaughter midweek like this truly is priceless.

So it got me to thinking – I truly believe that being together and doing things together are what memories are made of.  Time spent with her and all my family absolutely warms my heart.

BUT…wouldn’t it be EVEN BETTER if I enhanced that time a bit?  I mean, I AM a grandma after all.

So I decided she needed some fall sugar cookies to make the event even sweeter.  I looked at the cookie recipes and ideas I had saved on my computer and decided I’m not quite ready to take the “serious decorated” cookie plunge yet. 

 

The recipe I chose said on her blog that these are her husband’s favorite cookie.  Good enough endorsement for me!  They did turn out wonderful and reminded me very much of the pink frosted cookies you can buy at Walmart.  I will say that I’ll continue looking at recipes though because using Crisco didn’t excite me.  But the flavor sure did!   :D

 

One word on the frosting – don’t make it too runny….ask me how I know.   After this I added more powdered sugar.  ;)

 

SOFT SUGAR COOKIES
recipe from Nursery Rhymes & Sweet Times

3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup Crisco (I buy the sticks, so much easier – and use the butter flavor Crisco)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
4 tsp milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl cream together Crisco, sugar and vanilla. Add egg and milk, beat until light and fluffy.  In another bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to sugar mixture 1/3 at a time until mixed together.

Scoop onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets using a small cookie scoop.  Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes.  I baked mine until the edges were ever so barely browned.

Let cool for a minute on the cookie sheet, then move to a wire cooling rack.  Frost cookies when they have thoroughly cooled.

FROSTING

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk

Add just under 1/4 cup milk to the powdered sugar in a bowl.  Beat until smooth, adding more milk or sugar to get desired consistency.  Add food color and spoon on to the top of the cookies.  Top with sprinkles while frosting is still wet, then leave on plates or wire cooling racks until frosting sets.

This recipe made 22 cookies using my cookie scoop.

 

** Linking to Tasty Tuesday

Mission Crafts Ministry and Blueberry Pound Cake

Last night was such a special night in our ministry at church because the lady that led the mission trip to Peru came to talk with us.  You might recall that we knit 73 scarves that went on the trip as gifts for the kids, interpreters and teachers.  It was wonderful to have her come back and tell us how much those gifts were enjoyed and to tell us a little bit more about what is happening there.  We have a trip twice a year and are firming up plans for what to take for Christmas gifts now.

And I gave a little teaser about the Blueberry Pound Cake and it took until yesterday when I made it again to take to church to finally remember to get it up on the blog!  It really is quite tasty and easy to do, so be sure to take advantage of the fresh blueberries before they all disappear from the store shelves.

 

Paula Deen’s Blueberry Pound Cake

1 stick butter
1/4 c vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 heaping cup fresh blueberries, tossed in flour so they don't sink (though you can see that mine still did!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Cream butter and shortening, add sugar a little at a time until well mixed.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each egg.  Add dry ingredients to mixer alternately with milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix in vanilla, then gently fold in blueberries.  Pour in to a greased and floured 9x5 loaf pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

 

** Linking to Tasty Tuesday

Honey Bun Cake

I’m finding that my tastes seem to be changing somewhat as time goes by.  Me, once the girl who knew that chocolate could solve any problem, is suddenly finding that vanilla is my flavor of choice.

I saw the recipe for this cake at Home Matters and knew right away that this would be something our family would enjoy.  And since I plan to take this to a friend gathering on Friday night, naturally I needed to do a test run first.

It was so good!  When we tasted it the cake was still slightly warm from the oven.  There is just the right amount of brown sugar and cinnamon to make it perfect.  We had a big glass of cold milk with it, but I really can’t wait for tomorrow morning to have a piece with a perfect cup of coffee.

 

HONEY BUN CAKE

1 yellow cake mix with pudding
8 oz sour cream
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar

Combine these 5 ingredients and beat for two minutes. Pour half the batter into a 13x9 pan sprayed with Pam.

1/2 cup brown sugar
2 t cinnamon

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half the sugar mixture over the batter. Top with remaining batter, then sprinkle remaining sugar mixture on top. Run through with a knife to create a swirl.

Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

4 T milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix milk and powdered sugar together to make a glaze. Pour over the top of the cake as soon as it is removed from the oven.

 

*I’m linking this post to the Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As Mom and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

St. Patrick’s Day Cupcake Fail

When a potluck sign-up sheet goes around at work I love to bring cupcakes.  They have all been such good sports about my efforts and even the ones that don’t turn out perfect are ok with coffee at work.  Because really there’s not much that a cup of coffee and a sweet bit of cake with a mound of frosting on top can’t help.

I’ve been dreaming up a new recipe to try and was actually looking forward to a culinary experience last night.  I was set to make a white cupcake – with green food color of course – with white buttercream frosting.  BUT…my ingenious plan was to bake Junior Mints inside the cupcake and also use on the top as a decoration!

Each pan of cupcakes had a slight difference in the way they were baked, all the while I took copious notes.  The frosting went on beautifully, with an almost perfect swirl on each cupcake.  I did notice that the warmth from my hand started causing the frosting to melt a bit, so I put every cake on a platter to set inside the refrigerator a bit before decorating.

And then…….disaster struck:

I tilted the platter just right and they all came tumbling down!  Poor Keith was in the kitchen with me when it happened and I think time froze as he waited for my tears to start.  But I just looked at it and said “Huh.”  And then I laughed.  And he joined in.  And all was right.

And this is my little buddy Joe, who is always right next to me regardless of what I’m doing.  Fortunately he is a very well trained dog and I had him “down” and “stay” while we took pictures and then cleaned up.  I did let him take two licks of frosting, but he grabbed a cupcake to carry around (after all, he IS a retriever!).  I made him “drop” and he did obey, though he looked disappointed.

I was able to stop at a grocery store on the way to work and buy some cupcakes to fulfill my part of the potluck.  And I showed the Joe picture to everybody and we all got good laughs.

I’m thinking I might try these cupcakes again next week, because I really think I’m on to something with the flavor combination.

Cream Cheese Banana Bread

Everybody has a favorite banana bread recipe.  And in fact, mine even has the title of "Favorite Banana Bread" in my recipe program.

Years ago we were fortunate enough to have my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live very close to us.  One weekend when the rest of the family came in town to visit, Rhonda had this banana bread as a treat for us.  It's a bit different than others as it has cream cheese, and everybody knows that anything with cream cheese has to be good.

Cream Cheese Banana Bread is wonderful fresh from the oven, the whole house smelling divine.  But the interesting thing about this one is that my sister-in-law wrapped hers in foil and kept in the refrigerator.  Doing so makes this banana bread turn rather dense and the cream cheese flavor really comes out.

We like it both ways.  And when I made it the other night, the first time in a long time, I think my husband enjoyed it enough he'll stop throwing away the black bananas I hang on to!

Cream Cheese Banana Bread

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup nuts, chopped

Combine cream cheese, sugar and butter, mixing until well blended.  Blend in bananas and eggs.  Add combined remaining ingredients, mixing just until moistened.  Pour into greased and floured 9 x 5" loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan.

Spritz Butter Cookies

Christmas cookies can evoke such powerful emotions.  I can honestly remember helping my mom make spritz cookies when I was younger and as a young wife was thrilled to make them myself.  Through the years these cookies have signaled the start of the Christmas baking season in our household.

I'll be sharing my mom's recipe as soon as I can find it (did I just admit that I can't find something???), but in the meantime here's a recipe I made from a recipe a friend gave me.  This one is absolutely the easiest recipe ever - 3 ingredients! - and you can even make these without a cookie press.  And yes, the amounts listed are correct.  Do not blame your cholesterol level on me if you make and eat these!  ;)

Jeanie's Butter Cookies

4 sticks butter (I warned you!)
2 3/4 cups flour
1 white cake mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Microwave 2 sticks of butter on high until melted. Slice remaining sticks of butter into 1/2" pieces and add to melted butter, tossing to coat.  Allow to stand 3-5 minutes til softened, then whisk butter until smooth.

Whisk flour into cake mix.  Pour the butter into the dry ingredients, mix until smooth.

Use in cookie press and drop onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Decorate with sprinkles and bake 10-13 minutes. Or roll out dough, cut with cookie cutters and bake 13-15 minutes. Or drop by tablespoonful and bake 15-17 minutes.