We've got a nice mix of recipes in this roundup of treats I made. Cobbler, muffins, cookies, bread, brownies and cookie bars! YUM! It's been SUPER hot these past few weeks which means baking has made our already hot house even hotter (no central AC and can't really have an AC unit in the living room.) But nothing can stop me from making tasty treats!
Oreo Chocolate Cobbler
I saw this on Instagram in May and made a mental note to surprise Christian with it because he LOOOOVES Oreos. I usually bake on the weekend but decided to make it on a random Tuesday so he would still be working while I baked. After dinner I pulled it out and he was like "WHAT'S THIS?!!!" Mission accomplished! Ha ha. It was kind of the texture of a mug cake up top and then gooey and fudgy on the bottom. We served it with some ice cream as recommended in the recipe....mmmm. I didn't use the hot coffee and opted for water instead, I definitely think the coffee would have helped bring out more chocolate flavor but we don't drink coffee so I never buy it.
Almond Flour Brownies
This recipe was a surprise hit! I wanted to use up some almond flour that had been in the freezer forever and I had all the ingredients handy. I made the non-paleo version so I used butter and sugar instead of coconut oil and coconut sugar. The inside is super gooey and delicious and the outsides are firmer, just how Christian and I like them (I eat the mushy inside he likes the edges.) I've heated up my pieces so it becomes lava-cake like but Christian ate them straight out the fridge. Will definitely be making these again.
Chocolate Pan de Cristal
This is one of the more interesting bread bakes I've done. It's Chocolate Pan de Cristal or "Glass Bread.” You start by doing what is called a “bowl fold” followed by doing a “coil fold” three times before adding in some chocolate chips with two letter folds and then doing a double rise (one rise all together and one after dividing the dough into 8 different pieces.) I started making it at 9am and finished at 3:20pm, so definitely a weekend bake. I did pretty good for my first try, but my shaping and dividing could use some work. They’re a bit uneven and odd sizes.
Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins
These were sooo good! I had some blueberries left after making pancakes for Brinner and went straight to Tessa's blog for a recipe because she never disappoints. The streusel topping on this was sooo good, I almost wish I made more. I also left the batter in the fridge for about 8 hours before baking as suggested in the recipe to make them bake taller, pretty cool! I waited to put the blueberries in until after, so the color wouldn’t bleed, but then it was hard to get them into the batter. Next time I'll just add the blueberries anyway, I don't care if the muffins turn blue.
Ultimate Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I decided to make these on National Chocolate Chip Cookie day but I hadn't taken butter out early enough so I tried to soften it quicker by putting it in the microwave (not turning it on, just in because it's warmer in there) and kind of warming it with my hands. The dough is supposed to be chilled in the fridge for 24 hours but we wanted some cookies that day so I baked off 4 even though I knew the dough was too soft and they would spread....they basically filled up the whole quater sheet pan and flattened worse than pancakes, haha! After the 24 hours I baked the rest of the cookies and they were still really flat. Still tasted delicious though! I think it's how hot it was in the house because I've never had an issue with a recipe from this baker.
Birthday Cake Confetti Cookie Bars
Another recipe from Tessa at Handle the Heat! This time it's a recipe exclusive to her book, The Ultimate Cookie Handbook. After the sort of fail I had with the cookies above I wanted to bake again over the weekend and decided cookie bars may be the smarter choice because they can't flatten! I was in the mood for something whimsical so the confetti cookie bars were the perfect choice (even if I had to buy and use cream cheese - EEW! Not a fan of the smell or taste, haha! Luckily it mostly disappears in the flavor)
I know we're way past Easter, but this baking update includes a couple treats I made for our family gatherings! I made some adorable "Bunny Buns" and an Easter Wreath. In addition I did my usual random baking on the weekends.
Easter Bread Wreath
I was looking for something fun and different to make for our second Easter and then this popped up on King Arthur's Instagram and I knew I found my treat. It was fun to make and looked beautiful. I loved the hints of orange but next time I might add in more zest or juice so it tastes less “bready” and more desserty/sweet.
Crusty European-Style Hard Rolls - turned into Bunny Buns
I've wanted to make "bunny" buns for Easter for a number of years and finally attempted this year! I found a crusty roll recipe that would keep a round shape and poked out some eyes and cut ears. I need to cut the ears a little deeper next time so they would stay long, but at least they still look like an animal. And they were DELICIOUS! I highly recommend this recipe, even if you don't turn them into bunnies. Eat them warm with some honey butter! (honey + butter and whip together.)
Chocolate Chip Muffins
One Friday Christian decided he wanted some muffins so I looked up some recipes and found one we had almost all the ingredients for. I finally got to use our Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer we bought at the beginning of the pandemic and used cream of tartar to turn our milk into buttermilk. They came out PERFECT. Even with the substitutions. Going to have to use the egg replacer more even if we do have eggs in the house (it expires in a few months, ha ha.)
Auntie Joan's Maple Oatmeal Sticky Buns
I loooove cinnamon rolls and sticky buns. I actually prefer homemade sticky buns to homemade cinnamon buns because I HATE cream cheese icing. (But I do love some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in a can.) I've made my Aunt's sticky bun recipe a few times now and this time I swapped out pecans for walnuts because that's what I had in the freezer. The recipe is a little different from other's I've seen because it uses maple syrup and oatmeal in the dough. Adds a little bit more texture and maple flavor.
Strawberry Oatmeal Bars
Christian and I made some strawberry jam and weren't going to be able to finish it before a trip we were taking to New Jersey (to help my friend at her Teen Wolf convention) so I decided to make these strawberry oatmeal bars to have as a snack for the weekend. I knew we would have little time to eat during the day - he was filming panels and I was in charge of getting an actor to and from panels, photos and autographs - so an easy snack was ideal. I didn't have enough jam to cover the whole pan, but they still tasted great and were nice and filling!
Cinnamon Roll Bread - FAIL!
Before our trip to Florida I decided I should make a treat for our long drive down from Connecticut. Originally I was going to make King Arthur Cinnamon Bread but then saw this recipe in a random Instagram Reel. Unfortunately that should have been a sign not to make it. Never trust a recipe from an influencer you don't know or wasn't recommended by a friend, haha! This was a baking fail, or so I thought, until my Mom and sister's boyfriend ate it all and said it was delicious. Christian and I thought it was super dense and chewy, and really greasy (see paper towel soaking it up) so we weren't fans. Maybe if I make it again it will come out right.
We've got a nice mix of sweet and savory recipes in this baking roundup! All delicious and all pretty easy, even if my execution was a bit off. There was, however, one bigger disaster, but again, still tasty. This past week I baked treats (breads) for Easter that will be in my next baking update, but you can just save the recipes for next year! (or make them anytime.)
Gooey Oatmeal Fudge Bars
These were so easy to make and super tasty! They're good straight out of the fridge or after a quick zap in the microwave to melt the fudge a bit! For mine I should have saved a bit more cookie batter to crumble on the top but they still look great.
Pâte à Choux / Cream Puffs
I made Cheshire Cat tails again and had leftover crème pâtissière. I decided it was the day to finally make cream puffs! It wasn’t as hard/scary as I built it up to be in my mind but I did almost have a disaster. They’re supposed to bake at 425 for 15 minutes so they actually puff up and then you lower the heat to 350 for 20-25 minutes. Somehow the oven reset my pre-heat temp of 425 and only heated to 350. I went to check on the puffs at 14 minutes and they hadn’t puffed up AT ALL. I looked at the temperature and it said 350 - NOOO!! But I did some quick thinking and decided to pump up the heat to 450 to try and get some steam going inside to puff them up. Came back after the oven had gotten to that temperature and they had puffed! YAYY!!! Then I lowered the temp to 350 for the final 10-15 minutes of baking. I used King Arthur Baking’s recipe and added a bit of sugar to make them sweet.
Thick and Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Another recipe from Tessa of Handle the Heat's Ultimate Cookie Handbook. Her cookie recipes (any recipes really) always come out amazing! In the past I've made her brown butter chocolate chip cookies, cosmic brownies, lemon loaf cake and many more! The recipe uses cornstarch and part cake flour to make them soft and chewy. I made a full batch but only baked about 14 cookies. The rest went into the freezer so we could bake them off fresh for easy desserts!
Ukrainian Garlic Bread - Pampushky
The recipe is by Olia Hercules and was shared by Nigella Lawson as part of Cook for Ukraine. "Cook For Ukraine aims to increase awareness of the humanitarian crisis the world faces right now, as well as raise the funds needed to aid children & families in Ukraine who have been displaced by the current situation." You can donate to the cause on JustGiving. Now to the food! I'm a big garlic bread fan and immediately added this to my must-bake list after seeing it on Nigella's instagram. So fun and tasty! It was pretty easy to make too, although I had a bit of trouble with my dough not wanting to come together so I added a couple spoonfuls of water and kneaded like crazy! They plumped up nicely and came out golden brown. Yummy!
[King Arthur's] Favorite Sandwich Bread
For some reason I have a difficult time with making loaves of bread. This is the second or third "sandwich bread" recipe I tried and it didn't come out quite right. My loaf pan is slightly bigger than the recipe so I increased all the ingredients by 25%. The flavor was great but I guess I need to increase the recipe more. I might just double it next time so it is definitely big enough, ha ha! At least it tasted good! I made this the same weekend as the Pampushky so at least one thing came out the way it was supposed to.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Here comes the disaster. In the middle of the week I decided I wanted to make dessert but I didn't want to take the time to make individual cookies so I looked for a new cookie bar recipe to try. Grabbed the recipe from a blog that gave me good success with an updated French macaron recipe. Unfortunately, the dough didn't want to cook!! I even left it in TWENTY extra minutes and the center was still flowing lava while the edges were crisp and cooked. Super weird. Luckily it firmed up overnight and I like underdone cookies/brownies, but Christian still avoided eating the middle (more for me!)
Time for more baking!
Easy Cast Iron Pizza
Rather than our usual King Arthur pizza crust recipe I decided to try a cast iron pizza recipe. It was super easy to make and really tasty! Crispy yet chewy crust and I love the thickness. Will definitely be making this again! It reminded me of Pizza Hut pan pizzas from back in the day. You know, when you would read books all Summer to earn a free pan pizza? Those were the days!
I topped it with pepperoni, red onions and used my friend Amiyrah's pizza sauce recipe, our go to for any pizza!
Flourless Fudgy Chocolate Brownie Cookies
These were a bit of a fail, in my mind, because they don't look like the photo. But they were tasty enough, especially a day after they were made. I was having one of my "cranky" days so I think that bled into me thinking they weren't perfect, ha ha. You ever have days like that?
Way back in December we bought (and froze) some French Toast bread for like 50¢ at a bread outlet store and I finally got around to using it! Instead of normal French toast I decided to make sticks! Most of the recipes I found had you pan fry the sticks but I wanted it to be an easier weeknight meal so I found one where they were baked. They were cruncher when I had them as leftovers the next day but they’re still great fresh. Definitely a bonus if you want to meal prep them! Put some in the fridge and some in the freezer and you’re good to go. I will be doing that in the future!
We aren't huge celebrators of Valentine's Day. Maybe a card and going somewhere a little bit better than takeout for dinner or lunch the weekend of. When I saw these red velvet crinkle cookies they seemed like a perfect treat to make! I made them the weekend before Valentine's Day so we finished them before the actual day. But I had already planned on a different treat to make on Vday weekend. Very soft and tasty!
This was our actual Valentine's Day treat! I saw this recipe at the end of January and it looked fun. It was also a great way to get some more use out of our bundt pan (we've only used it one other time.) Conveniently, blood oranges were on sale and we already had almost everything else (except yogurt) on hand! Had a slight issue with glaze thickness but other than that super easy and delicious! The recipe called for 1/4c blood orange juice + 3/4c powdered sugar but it was still liquid so I had to use WAYYYY more….maybe 4x the amount of sugar.
Yep, another cast iron pizza! I saw this one on Instagram in early February and added it to my list of things to make! It was super delicious, we wished we had made 2! Christian says he likes the crust of that other cast iron pizza better because it was thinner and crunchier. I loooove a thick chewy crust so this was perfect for me. The edges were crispy but the inside was pillowy soft.
