Sensational Strawberry Recipes....Part 2 - Strawberry Shortcake Scones

Welcome to the second "sensational" strawberry recipe in my series of three that I will be offering over the next couple of days.

How can you not love a scone?  Scones fall in the same catagory as oatmeal for me....they are delicious, filling and a "comfort" food for me.

This recipe is delightful!  The key to this recipe is having COLD butter...do NOT allow the butter to warm up to room temperature or else your scones will be flat, tough and not a sign of soft crumb will exist. 

Strawberry Shortcake Scones

**recipe makes 12 scones**

(recipe discovered on the lovely blog And Baby Makes Five)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 cup wheat flour (I only had white flour on hand so I used 4 cups of white flour instead of 3)

4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup sugar - plus a couple of tablespoons for sprinkling

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) COLD butter, cubed

2 eggs

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 milk (I used 1/2 & 1/2 as I needed to use it up)

1 cup strawberries, washed, hulled and diced

Directions:

1. In a large bowl combine 1st five ingredients.

  Then dice up COLD butter....

...and combine with flour mixture with a pastry cutter, 2 knives or your hands...

...until the crumbs are pea size.

2.  In a small bowl combine eggs, milk and vanilla extract.  Add to the flour/butter mixture until dough is moist.  DO NOT OVER MIX.  The dough will be rather sticky.

3. Gently knead in diced strawberries...

....and turn onto a well floured surface and knead a few times.

4. Divide dough into 2 equal balls.....

 

....and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

 Gently pat balls into uniform 8-10" circles.  Cut each circle into 8 wedges and then sprinkle with sugar.....

Check out how you can see little lumps of butter in the dough - this is what you want to see.  Small lumps of COLD butter = a crumbly yummy scone! 

5. Bake @ 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.  Delish!

The beauty of this recipe is that you can really add any type of berry to the dough and you will have  lovely scones.  I'm hoping to do blueberry or even raspberry scones with this recipe. :-)

Happy Strawberry Shortcake Scones Baking!

Sensational Strawberry Recipes...Part 1 - Easy Strawberry Cake

Welcome to my THREE Part Series on recipes that feature strawberries.

The first recipe I will be sharing with you is a lovely cake that show-cases fresh strawberries that sit just on top of a moist yellow cake.  The strawberries are coated with a yummy strawberry glaze made with strawberry gelatin, a bit of cornstarch, lemon juice, sugar and water....simple ingredients for a stunning dessert. 

The hardest part of this recipe is to have the cake pan used to bake the cake in....a Tiara cake pan.  When I first discovered this recipe on Mommy's Kitchen I jumped for joy for not only did the recipe sound sooooo soooo yummy but I realized I had the very pan needed to make it!  Of course you can make this cake in a regular 9" round cake pan and just carefully lay your strawberries on top of the cake. The beauty of a cake baked in a tiara pan is that it allows the strawberries to sit just a little bit indented into the top of the cake. 

Please don't let the "kind" of cake pan suggested for this cake scare you away from this recipe - no matter which kind of pan you use to bake it in you will fall over backwards with happiness as you bite into it.

Easy Strawberry Cake

**makes 2 cakes**

(recipe adapted from Mommy's Kitchen)

Ingredients:

1 package yellow or butter recipe cake mix

(prepare according to package directions)

2 lbs fresh strawberries

1 8oz. container of Cool Whip or freshly sweetened whipped cream

Strawberry Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1.4 oz box - strawberry gelatin

1 1/2 cups water

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp strawberry extract (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the cake mix according to package directions.  Spray cake pans - because I only had one tiara cake pan I used half the cake batter for the cake and the other half of the batter for cupcakes. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

2. While the cake is cooling prepare the Strawberry Glaze....combine the sugar, cornstarch, gelatin, lemon juice, strawberry extract and water in a medium size pot.....

....Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook until the mixture thickens, whisking often - it thickens quite quickly...so be careful!

3. Remove glaze from heat and let mixture cool to room temperature.

4. Place strawberries (and other berries too if you wish) into the center of fully cooled cake....

....and then drizzle glaze over fruit....

5. Oh H-E-A-V-E-N!!! Serve with Cool Whip or freshly whipped cream (sweetened to your preference).

Life can't any better with such a strawberry cake to enjoy!

Happy Easy Strawberry Cake Baking!

Hold onto your hats these are sinfully delish! - Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting

If you want something that is sinfully decadent and easy peasy to make here you go.....

Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting

(recipe was discovered on the lovely Joy the Baker's blog)

Ingredients:

10 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 5 cubes

2 cups dark brown sugar (I'm sure "light" would be fine if that's all you have on hand)

1 cup smooth peanut butter (Joy suggests the "natural" PB is best...I only had store-brand on hand)

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 9x13 pan, line with parchment paper if you have it on hand, then grease the parchment paper.  Joy says, "if you don't have parchment paper, these blondies will be just fine."

2. In medium to large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and sugar together until the butter is just melted.....

.....set aside to cool for 5 minutes, then add peanut butter.  Stir until incorporated.  Allow to cool another 5 minutes and then whisk in eggs and vanilla extract. It is important for the butter, sugar and peanut butter mixture to be cool enough so that the eggs do not cook once introduced to the mixture.

3. Whisk together salt, flour and baking powder.  Add dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients.  Stir just until incorporated.  It's a lovely thick but smooth batter....

.....pour into prepared pan and smooth out. Bake for 20-25 minutes. or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the blondies comes out clean.  Allow to cool to room temperature before frosting.  While allowing to cool to room temperature make the Milk Chocolate Frosting.

Milk Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tbsp milk

3/4 cup milk chocolate chips, melted (*I melted mine in the microwave in a glass Pyrex measuring cup for 45 seconds, stirred and then another 30 seconds)

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, cocoa powder and salt. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar followed by 1 tablespoon milk.  Beat well.

2. Add in another cup of powdered sugar, followed by 2 tablespoons of milk. 

3. *Melt chocolate chips in the microwave or double boiler (see note above). Add melted chocolate once slightly cooled to the butter, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, milk mixture....

 ....beat to incorporate.  If you need to make the frosting thicker at this point add in the remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. 

4. Frost blondies with happiness! 

 I actually lifted the whole slab of brownies out of the pan with the parchment paper, frosted the whole surface then cut into small squares.....

....and then placed the little treasures on a platter for serving....

Yum!

Happy Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting Baking!

This recipe has been linked to...

Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

Foodie Friday

Potluck Sunday

Spaghetti Pie

My mouth waters just looking at this picture....crazy I know!  BUT I just lovvvvvve this recipe for Spaghetti Pie.  Unfortunately, I fell in love with it so fast I can't even remember where I found the recipe.  I have seen a bunch of different versions out there in "blog land"/on-line recipes.  Some versions use lots of veggies (like peppers and mushrooms), other versions use cottage cheese (I used ricotta cheese) and then some versions only use 2 eggs ( I used 3)...but no matter what, you can adapt your recipe for this yummy dish to what ever your palate desires.  Veggies vs. no veggies, cottage cheese vs. ricotta cheese, more eggs vs. less eggs...it's all in what YOU want to create for a Spaghetti Pie.

Say hello to the ingredients that I used to make my S.P. - spaghetti noodles, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parm cheese, can o mushrooms (didn't have any fresh ones), 1 medium chopped onion, spaghetti sauce, garlic salt, parsley (fresh or dried is just fine), butter,  ground beef (ground chicken or turkey is yummy too) and lastly eggs.

Spaghetti Pie

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 6oz. package of spaghetti

1 jar of spaghetti sauce

1 can of mushrooms, drained (fresh is even better)

1 small container of ricotta cheese

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

3 eggs

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp parsley, dried or fresh

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 stick of butter, melted

8 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook noodles al dante according to package directions and set aside.

2. Saute chopped onions until tender.  Add in ground beef  and cook until nice and brown.  Drain as much fat as possible from the beef/onion mixture....

.....and set aside.

3. Combine the eggs, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic salt and parsley in a large bowl....

...and mix well.

4. Add in the cooked pasta and toss to combine....

  Next gently pour in the 1/2 stick of melted butter (don't stress....it's only a 1/2 of a stick!) and toss to combine....

5. Pour pasta/cheese/egg mixture into a 9x13 lightly greased pan....

6.  Next layer the browned ground beef and onions on top of the pasta layer.....

.......and then the drained mushrooms and spaghetti sauce.....

.....and then the mozzarella cheese....

7. Place in a oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until pie is bubbly hot and lightly browned on top....

Cool for a couple minutes and then serve.  Yummy happiness from here on out! ;-)

Happy Spaghetti Pie Baking!

Pinkalicious Princess Cupcakes with Pink Marshmellow Fluff Icing

                                       

I made these cupcakes for Jolie's 4th Birthday party (with family and a few close friends)....not only were they a HUGE hit to the Birthday Girl but also for the adults.  They came out moist, delicate and yummy!  I was even able to make them pretty with the pink icing and pink sprinkles on top (although I'm looking for more practice and advise as to how to perfect the skill of decorating cupcakes using frosting in a pastry bag with a tip....please send your words of wisdom my way if you have any tips!).

The recipe for the cupcakes and frosting comes directly from a little gem of a cook-book called, Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey - Treats for Kids.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this cook-book.  It has fabulously scrumptious recipes (can you tell from the title?!?) that are easy to follow and most often are accompanied by a beautiful picture or two.  Go ahead take my advice and treat yourself to this cook-book....you won't regret it! ;-)

Here are the "members"/ingredients that make up the cupcakes... 

....Cake Flour (love this stuff!), Baking Powder, Sugar, Salt, Unsalted Butter, Whole Milk,  Egg Whites, Vanilla Extract and lastly, Pink or Red Food Coloring (I used Pink Gel Food Coloring but will next time use Red Food Coloring because I don't think the Pink Gel gave me enough color).

Pinkalicious Princess Cupcakes

(recipe from the Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey - Treats for Kids cook-book)

Makes 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups Cake Flour

1 tbsp Baking Powder

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 tsp Salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter - at room temperature, cut into 8 pieces

1 cup Whole Milk - at room temperature

4 LARGE Egg Whites - at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Pink Gel Food Coloring or liquid Red Food Coloring

Directions for Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin tins with eighteen paper liners - I used PINK paper liners to go along with the whole "pink" theme. ;-)

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt - put into a large bowl.  Add the butter pieces to the flour mixture and beat together on low speed.....

 While you are beating the flour mixture with the butter pieces slowly add in the milk....a little at a time....

  Continue beating the batter for 2 minutes.

3. Slowly add in the egg whites.....

 and vanilla extract into the batter.  Beat on high speed for about 1-2 minutes...scraping the bowl occasionally.  While beating the batter add in food coloring to achieve your desired shade of pink....

 

4. Fill the lined muffin cups about 2/3's of the way full.  I found that by using 1 heaping scoop of batter from an ice scoop perfectly filled my cupcake liners.

5. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.  Cool cupcakes while you make the frosting.

Pink Marshmallow Fluff Icing

(recipe from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids)

*Double this recipe if you wish...I only made a 1/2 of the original  recipe and was easily able to frost all 18 cupcakes with frosting left over....these are the ingredients and amounts that I made for this recipe amount...

Ingredients:

1 jar (7.5 oz) of Marshmallow Fluff

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter - at room temperature, each stick cut into 4 pieces

3 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Pinch of Salt

Pink Gel Food Coloring (this worked great to tink the frosting a light pink color)

Directions:

1. Spoon Fluff into a large bowl and beat on medium speed.  Add in the butter pieces one at a time, beating well between each addition.  When the butter is completely incorporated, and the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the 3 cups of SIFTED pwdered sugar, the vanilla extract and the salt.

2. Add in food coloring as you are beating the icing, 1-2 drop at a time, until your desired level of "pinkness" is achieved. Decorate your (completely cooled) cupcakes with either a knife or a pastry bag and tip of your choice.  If you don't use the frosting immediately, cover and refrigerate.  When ready to use bring to room temp before using.

Here are some pic's of Jolie blowing out her 4 candles on her Pinkalicious Princess Cupcakes with Pink Marshmallow Fluff Icing.....notice the pretty tarts in the background?  My mommy made those.  She is the Queen of Tarts I tell ya! 

And....there she goes!

Jolie is pretty proud of herself...wouldn't you say?!?

Make yourself (and others) some Pinkalicious Princess Cupcakes with Pink Marshmallow Fluff Icing....you won't regret it! And plus it's so much fun to say such a title of a cupcake fast!

Happy Baking!