Zucchini Bread

Mmmmm...Zucchini Bread!  I remember helping Grandma pick tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn, gourds, zucchini and many more vegetables when I was a kid.  With the zucchini's we picked she always made zucchini bread.  

My favorite kind of homemade bread is...I bet you can't guess...zucchini bread.

I start off by grating the zucchini so it is ready when I need it.

 Combine well beaten eggs, white sugar, vanilla and oil.  Blend it together well.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and baking soda.  Mix these ingredients together.

 

Mix the dry ingredients into the egg, sugar, vanilla and oil mixture.  Once that's combined, mix in the grated zucchini.  I add all the zucchini juice to it as well.

Split the batter between two different greased and floured loaf pans.  Bake it and it should turn out like this!

Here's the whole recipe:

Zucchini Bread
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups white or brown sugar (Grandma always used white sugar so of course, that's what I use)
3 tsp vanilla
1 cup oil
Blend well.

In separate bowl mix
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda

Combine the flour mixture into the egg and sugar mixture.  Then add the zucchini and mix well.  Put in 2 greased and floured loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

The recipe I got from Grandma said to bake it one hour.  I always start at 30 minutes.  It usually ends up taking around 45 minutes.

Enjoy!  This is the best zucchini bread you will ever consume.

Zucchini Cobbler

This is what happens when I have an extra zucchini just chillin' on the kitchen counter.

One of my co-workers brought this into work and I just had to have the recipe! 
Everyone that takes a bit will think it was made with apples.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Cobbler-2/Detail.aspx?prop24=etaf
I've made a few changes from allrecipes.com.

Saucepan Ingredients:
8 cups peeled, chopped zucchini (I didn't chop it.  I cut off thin slices to resemble apples for apple crisp.)
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping:
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, chilled
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Saucepan Ingredients: In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir zucchini and lemon juice until zucchini is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.  Stir in sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Cook one more minute.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease 9x13 dish.

Topping: In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar.  Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir 1/2 cup of topping into saucepan ingredients.  Add cinnamon to remaining topping.  Press half of remaining topping into bottom of dish.  Spread zucchini mixture over top of crust.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden.  Serve warm or cold.

I felt like the end product was to deep.  Next time I'm going to either cut the recipe in half and still use the 9x13 dish or make a full batch and split it between two 9x13 dishes.

Double Frosted Brownies

This recipe came from http://www.tasteofhome.com/.  It is a very rich dessert.

1 package fudge brownie mix (13x9 inch pan size)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding mix
2 to 3 tablespoons 2% milk
1 can (16 ounces) chocolate fudge frosting

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions.  (I bought a Duncan Hines fudge brownie mix.  It called for 2 eggs for fudge like brownies or 3 eggs for regular brownies.  Since the Double Frosted Brownies called for fudge frosting, I choose to use 2 eggs for more fudge-ness.)  Spread the batter into a greased 13x9 inch baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean.  Cool completely on wire rack.  In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, and pudding mix until blended.  Add enough milk to achieve spreading consistency.  Frost brownies.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Spread with fudge frosting.  Cut into bars.  Store in the refrigerator.

Cinnamon Almond Cookies

BATTER:
1 1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
3 cups all-purpose flour

TOPPING:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup finely chopped almonds
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg yolks.  Gradually add flour and mix well.  Using cookie press fitted with bar disk, press dough one inch apart into long strips onto ungreased cookie sheet.  In small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; brush over dough.  Combine all topping; sprinkle over stripes.  Cut each strip into 2 inch pieces.  Do not seperate pieces.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm.  Do not brown!  Remove to wire racks to cool.


*Next time I make these there are going to be a few changes from the recipe.  The only almond flavor in these cookies is the almonds on top and I feel that only gives them crunch.  I couldn't taste much almond at all.  I'm going to add some almond flavoring to the batter.   
*Another change I will make, the topping made WAY to much so I will cut it in half next time. 
*I do not have a cookie press so I split the dough into fours and rolled each forth into a long "snake".  I then just flatted each "snake" a bit to make it look like a used a cookie press.
*I do not think I baked them long enough.  When I moved them from the pan to the cooling rack they all fell through (except the few you see in the picture) and looked really doughy.  Luckily I had set a cookie sheet under the cooling racks before moving the cookies over so they fell through onto the cookie sheet.  I did get a lot of compliments about the flavor and texture even though they didn't look that great.

Marshmallow Crisp

5 cups rice cereal  (I didn't measure.  I just poured a little in a bowl and kept adding more cereal as needed)
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 pkg (14 oz.) caramels
1 cup butter, cubed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 pkg. (16 oz.) large marshmallows

Line two baking sheets with wax paper; set aside.  Place cereal in shallow bowl.  In large saucepan, cook and stir milk, caramels, and butter over low heat until melted and smooth.  Remove from the heat; stir in cinnamon and vanilla.  With toothpick inserted in each marshmallow, dip into warm caramel; turn to coat.  Press marshmallow bottoms in cereal; place on prepared pans.  Let stand until set.

I had troubles with the rice crispies and caramel running off the marshmallows and "pooling" at the base, but they still tasted great!

Homemade Pecan Sandies

This recipe turned out more difficult than it sounds.  I would suggest trying this when you have lots of patients and time!

1 1/2 cups pecans, finely chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

In food processor, finely chop the pecans. (I bought pecans already chopped so there was no need for a food processor.)  Cream softened butter, confectioners' sugar, and brown sugar using an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy or about 3 mins.  Add egg yolk and beat until smooth.  Gradually stir in flour and salt until just incorporated.  Then add chopped pecans.  Divide dough into 2 equal portions.  (When I got to this point the dough was way to dry and would not stick together at all so I added more butter until it would stick together.)  Roll each portion into a log about 10 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Wrap each log individually in a piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours or overnight (I think I refrigerated it only for 1 hour and it came out fine).  When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Slice dough into 1/3 inch thick rounds and place on prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.  HINT (this hint was in the original recipe): rotating the log of dough often to prevent it from becoming flattened as you cut.  Bake about 15 minutes or until edges are light golden but the top is still soft.  Leave cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I enjoy trying new recipes for the fun of it.  This time I choose Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups peeled and grated carrots
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 24 cupcake inserts with paper liners or butter and flour them.  (I prefer the paper liners because it's easier to clean.)  Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl to blend.  In a separate large bowl, whisk sugar and oil until well blended.  Whisk in eggs 1 at a time.  Add flour mixture and stir until blended.  Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins.  Divide batter among the 24 liners, filling each 3/4 full.  Bake cupcakes 14 to 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Let cool in pans for five minutes then transfer to cooling rack.  Let cool completely before frosting them.

Using this exact same recipe it will make one two-layer cake. (As you can see in the picture I made the cupcakes.  I have not tried the layer cake yet.)  Butter two 9 inch diameter pans.  Line bottom of pans with waxed paper.  Butter and flour paper; tap out excess flour.  Divide the batter between the prepared pans, bake the layers about 40 mins each, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool cakes in pans for 15 mins.  Turn out onto racks.  Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:
I ran short on time so I just used cream cheese frosting (without the maple syrup) and piped it onto each cupcake.
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy.  Chill the frosting for 10 to 20 minutes, until it has set up enough to spread smoothly.

To assemble a carrot layer cake, frost the top of one cake, place the other cake on top.  Frost the sides and top, swirling decoratively.  Refrigerate the cake for 30 mins to set up frosting.  For the layer cake, you will probably have a bit of frosting left over, which you can tint and use for decorating, or save and put on gingersnaps.