We've got a very fruity theme going on in this roundup! And mostly strawberries, which isn't surprising because they're my favorite fruit. I tried a few recipes that were experiments and a couple I've made before. The other two were new but things I've had on my list to make for a while! I have a few more fruity recipes on my list to make, one that I'll probably make this week after we finish eating the beignets.
Strawberry Cinnamon Dutch Baby Pancake
Dutch Baby pancakes are so fun. I'm never a huge fan of how flat they get after they deflate but the flavor is still delicious, especially this one made with cinnamon and served with strawberries. The batter comes together in minutes and bakes in 15 - after pre-heating a cast iron skillet in the oven. It's definitely a showstopping piece if you want to impress someone with your skills.
Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
I've had this recipe saved for quite a while and finally made it when I realized we had leftover heavy cream AND a leftover lemon! They were super easy to make and really delicious. The texture was more like a biscuit than a scone, but that didn't bother me.
Blueberry Crescent Rolls
This was an experiment with some extra blueberries we had. I was originally going to try mini blueberry buckles (we only had a cup of blueberries left) but there were too many ingredients I didn't have. Lack of ingredients is the mother of invention so I decided to open up some Pilsbury crescent rolls. I kept two triangles together to form a rectangle and plopped on some blueberries, powdered sugar and cinnamon. Next II kind of folded them up to make a packet and baked for 13 minutes. When they cooled a bit I drizzled on an icing made from leftover lemon juice and powdered sugar. Tadaaa!!!
Brownies with Freeze-Dried Strawberries
I've had some freeze dried strawberries lying around for a bit and decided I wanted to try and use them for brownies. Didn't feel like trying a brand new recipe so I went with Butternut Bakery's "Better than Boxed" brownies and added some of the strawberries to the batter and sprinkled some on top. The ones on the top were a mistake, they burned, haha! Luckily I only had a few up there. I think I needed a little more of the dried berries to get a really good berry flavor, but I just wanted a hint this time. Overall, they were good. But next time I'll try to get more strawberry flavor packed in. I will also just turn it all into strawberry powder because the bigger chunks were a bit too gummy inside the brownie for our taste.
Strawberry Chocolate Galette
Another Handle the Heat monthly baking challenge! July was Galettes; strawberry chocolate, apple or peach! I chose the strawberry since it felt most summery and brought it to a family barbecue.The crust came out amazing but I did slightly burn some of the bottom because I cooked it on a baking steel (she recommended a stone to avoid a soggy bottom.) Next time I'll move it off the stone halfway through. I also needed to add a little more sugar to the strawberries. But overall it was a hit!
Mickey Beignets
One of the first scary things I made during the height of the pandemic. I kept telling myself I needed to make them again - only took three years, haha! This time I used butter instead of shortening because I never use shortening. I bought it for that first time I made beignets in 2020 and then never used it again, ha ha. I like to get Christian involved when I make anything fried because he likes the challenge of getting it to come out the perfect color.
Here we are with another baking roundup! We've got a mix of fruity and chocolatey recipes this time around. Now that Summer is here I may try out more light recipes that I usually gravitate toward. My two favorite bakes of this roundup are the strawberry bundt cake and m&m brownies. YUMMM.
Glazed Lemon Cookies
These glazed lemon cookies were Handle the Heat's May baking challenge. I had bought some lemons to make her lemon pound cake for my niece's graduation party and this recipe was perfect for using the rest of the lemons. I made them at my in-laws house so I didn't have all my usual tools, always funny baking in someone else's home, nothing ever comes out how you're used to. So while they aren't the prettiest/most round, they were delicious. I will definitely make these again for my lemon loving husband.
Coconut Brownies
We have a bunch of shredded coconut and rather than make coconut chocolate chip blondies again I decided to search for a coconut brownie recipe. I want to make homemade mounds next but we didn't have sweetened condensed milk. I wanted something fast with what we had on hand. I trusted the google gods and used the first recipe that popped up from a blog I had never read. Luckily, they came out great! Anyone else have a fun coconut recipe they like? Nothing super tropical (hence my issue with using up what we have, there's only a few recipes so far that have been easy/with ingredients I have already.) I might try lamington at some point too, they're always so tasty when I have them at EPCOT food festivals!
Chewy M&M Brownies
These have been on my list to make for a while but it took me forever to buy the M&Ms because they are just so darn expensive now! I couldn't stop thinking about them so I finally bought some after our trip to Missouri. They are definitely the most expensive brownies I've ever made, the MINIs cost almost as much as the big bag of regular M&Ms because I didn't want to spend $7 on a big bag of the minis, haha. But they came out of the oven and I actually gasped because they looked and smelled so good!
Mounds
Mounds are one of my favorite candies so I finally made some homemade. I deviated a bit from this recipe and did it by feel for when I thought there was enough coconut to sweetened condensed milk ratio. I was in a bit of a rush coating them so they are NOT the prettiest, but they tasted good! I used Bob's Red Mill coconut and Ghiradelli dark chocolate wafers for coating.
Strawberry Bundt Cake
My sister invited my siblings and I over for a last minute Memorial Day BBQ so I decided to finally make this cake I've had saved for a while. It was very easy to make, but a lot of dishes to clean since you have to puree strawberries for the cake AND freeze dried strawberries for the icing. But for a special occasion it's definitely worth all the cleaning. The cake was a hit at our get together with multiple people having more than one slice.
Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins
This is my second time making these and I did it slightly different from the first time. To begin with, I used frozen wild blueberries instead of normal sized because I prefer them small. The first time I made these I followed the tip to chill the batter for 8 hours before baking and added the blueberries after. It was really hard for me to add in the blueberries because the batter was a little too firm so I decided to just add them in before the rest this time. I don't mind that it turned the batter blue, I actually think they're more fun that way! I also doubled the crumble on top because Christian and I love the crispy texture.
Wow, we're at 20 parts for baking since 2020. That's about 120 recipes (not exactly since some things were baked more than once, ha ha!) There might be a little big bigger gap between this roundup and the next one as I'm away from home for the next few weeks, but maybe I'll still do some baking where I'm at.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
I wanted to make cookies but didn't want to let butter from the freezer come to the right temperature so I figured it was the perfect time to try these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with brown butter! I only made half a batch in case they didn't come out, but I was pretty sure they'd be delicious because I've yet to have a huge fail with one of Jenna's recipes (just like Tessa of Handle the Heat!)They were so delicious. Soft, but crunchy on the edges, a nice hint of cinnamon and deep flavor from the brown sugar. YUM.
Semolina Pizza Dough
On Pi Day I had to make pizza for dinner, right? I decided to do the semolina pizza dough recipe from our King Arthur Baking School class because I haven't made it since then. The recipe I linked above isn't the exact one but it was the closest I could find to the printout they gave us.
Cosmic Brownies
It's been a while since I put these brownies in a roundup so I figured it was time to share again in case some new folks are reading these! I'm almost out of my 1lb bag of Rainbow Candy Coated Chocolate Chips so I need to order some more soon. These are always a hit when I make them for Christian and I. We have to stop ourselves from eating them all at once (but they are very rich so that helps too.)
Classic Whoopie Pies
Every month Handle the Heat does a baking challenge, last month it was for Whoopie Pies! I've never made them before so it was a good excuse to try. They are sooooo good and the recipe is really easy, it's just like making cookies. We loved them right out of the fridge. Perfection.
Cinnamon Star Bread
I've had this recipe saved for a while and almost made it for Christmas last year but didn't get around to it. I thought Easter would be a good time too, so here we are! My family had brunch for Easter this year so I also made biscuits and french toast sticks, ha ha. My Mom made the rest. But back to this - it was pretty easy to make, the hardest/most annoying part was rolling out the dough into even and equal circles. They make it look so easy on TV! I also had made my dough the night before and it had been in the fridge, so it may have just been too cool to roll out easily, but oh well.
Chocolate Babka
I've been wanting to make babka for a long time but it always seemed so scary and daunting. Then I saw a video of Isaac Mizrahi making some on his Instagram and it made it look easy, so I finally decided to give it a go! It was a little messy but so so sooooo good! I will definiitely be adding this to my rotation of must-remake treats.
