Wacky Cake

Since B is allergic to eggs, most baked goods are off limits for her.  Which breaks my heart.  No one should have to spend their life without cake and brownies and cookies.  When I saw this recipe it has so many rave reviews but I was skeptical.  I've tried making cake with egg substitutes before, and it just doesn't work as well.  So how can this cake really be as amazing as its reviews.  But let me be the first to say, I want to eat this entire thing.  It is so moist and so rich and so incredibly perfect.  I have found my answer!  The website I found this recipe from also has links to other types of "wacky cake", other flavors.  So basically from now on for anyone's birthday, this is what I am making.  And it's super easy!

Wacky Cake/Crazy Cake/Depression Cake

CRAZY CAKE RECIPE (NO EGGS, MILK, BUTTER OR BOWLS)

Ingredients
1 1/2 Cups flour (all-purpose)
3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)
1 Cup white sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp.  salt

1 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp.  pure vanilla extract
5 Tbsp. vegetable oil 
1 Cup water 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8" square baking pan.  Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients - two small, one larger (see #3 in photo below). Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.  Pour water over all.  Mix well until smooth.

Bake on middle rack of oven for 35 minutes.  Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean.  Cool.  Top with your favorite frosting.  Enjoy!

Tips:
You can double this recipe, just use a 9x13 baking pan.

You can also mix the batter in a bowl for neater, easier mixing.  Be sure to follow the directions the same way - mixing the dry ingredients then making the depressions for the wet ingredients.  Don't forget to grease you pan.  You can also make cupcakes - be sure to adjust baking time.  

Many have shared that this recipe is great served warm or cold with just sprinkling powdered sugar on top!  

Cherry Chocolate Almond Ice Cream

Ok, this recipe takes a lot of time and doesn't make very much (I would suggest at LEAST doubling it maybe even quadrupling it, seriously.  It is so amazing and for all the effort you're going to expend, you might as well end up with a whole heck of a lot of it.

Cherry Chocolate Almond Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped*
5 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup well-drained Sour Cherris in Syrup or Candied Cherries, coarsely chopped**
Fudge Ripple 

Get ready for these instructions.

Warm the milk, sugar, salt and 1 cup (250 ml) of the cream in a medium saucepan. Finely chop 1 cup of the almonds and add them to the warm milk. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Strain the almond-infused milk into a separate medium saucepan. Press with a spatula against the strainer to extract as much flavor from the almonds as possible. You can also pick up handfuls of the almonds and squeeze out all the liquid possible. Discard the almonds.

Rewarm the almond-infused milk Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constanly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, sraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Stir in the almond extract and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's insturctions. During the last few minutes of churning, add the remaining 1 cup chopped almonds. When your remove the ice cream from the machine, fold in the chopped cherries.

*To toast almonds spread nuts in an even layer on an ungreased baking sheet. Place the sheet in a preheated 350 deg. F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring once or twice while baking. Snap an almond in half: if they're done it should be lightly golden brown throughout. Let amonds cool completely befor using.

**Candied Cherries (makes 2 cups)

1 lb (450 g) cherries, fresh or frozen
1-1/2 cups (375 ml) water
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 drop almond extract

Remove the stems and pit the cherries. Heat the cherries, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a large nonreactive saucepan or skillet until the liquid starts to boil.

Turn down the heat to a low boil and cook the cherries for 25 minutes, stirring frequently during the last 10 minutes of cooking to make sure they are cooking evenly and not sticking.

Once the syrup is reduced to the consistency of maple syrup, remove the pan from the heat, add the almond extract, and let the cherries cool in their syrup. They can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

To use, drain the cherries in a strainer for about 1 hour. Save the syrup to pour over pancakes - heavenly!

Fudge Ripple (makes 1 cup)

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
6 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, water, and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture begins to bubble at the edges.

Continue to whisk until it just comes to a low boil. Cook for 1 minute, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and let cool. Chill in the refrigerator before using.

Just an end note.  Totally worth the time.

Chocolate Lasagna

Everyone needs to have it.  And not just once or twice.  Like every month.  Every holiday.  Whenever, just on a regular basis.  It is SOOOO good.  And definitely healthy, right?

Chocolate lasagna (original recipe all over facebook and pinterest)

Starting with the bottom of a 9x13 dish.
Layer 1:  crush a container of REGULAR oreos in a bag and mix with 6 T of melted butter.  Press onto the bottom of the pan.  Put in the fridge to harden while you continue to
Layer 2: Whip 8 oz of softened cream cheese until light and fluffy, then add 2 T of milk and 1/4 c. of sugar and 1 1/4 c of whipped cream.  Spread this over the oreos.
Layer 3:  Mix 2 3.9 oz boxes of instant chocolate pudding with 3 1/4 c of milk.  Let thicken, then spread on top of the previous layers.  Let set completely.
Layer 4:  Spread on the rest of your tub of whipped cream.
Layer 5: Sprinkle on mini chocolate chips.

Keep refrigerated until you serve!  (I don't suggest freezing it for long if you decide to go that route or the pudding layer freezes and it's not good.  This also does not keep for more than a few days, so eat up!

List of ingredients to help with the trip to the store:

• 1 package regular Oreo cookies (Not Double Stuff) – about 36 cookies
• 6 Tablespoon butter, melted
• 1- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cold milk
• 1- 12 ounce tub Cool Whip, divided
• 2 – 3.9 ounce packages Chocolate Instant Pudding.
• 3 1/4 cups cold milk
• 1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

5+ stars!

Banana Bread (Heaven)

Seriously.  A.MAZE.ING.  Enough said.  And I'm sure it's super healthy.  This recipe will change your life.  Go grab those bananas that are starting to get brown spots (cuz seriously, even one brown spot means it's time to bake it or freeze it) and whip these up.  You will not be sad.  I even got Brooklyn to eat all her dinner in anticipation of trying this special treat!

(The pictures within the recipe are copied with the recipe, they are not my own)

Ingredients:

Banana Bread Bars:

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting:

1/2 c. butter

4 c. powdered sugar

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsp. milk

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 375F.  Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan.  For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.  Blend in bananas and vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute.  Stir in walnuts.

2.  Spread batter evenly into pan.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

3.  Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling.  Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.

4.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk.  Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting).  Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm). 

Yield: 2 dozen large bars

Rating:  DEFINITELY 5 stars.  And honestly, I think I undercooked them a little... remember, I am still living with only a toaster oven.  Only 2 more weeks of that!  The undercooked-ness was perfect!

Cookies and Cream Popcorn

Life has finally slowed down.  We are officially living in South Carolina and are settled in.  Now, my kitchen situation is less than ideal.  No oven (what!?!?) other than the toaster oven I bought and no fun kitchen gadgets.  But I'm figuring out how to survive.

And what better way to welcome myself back than with an incredibly delicious and addicting treat.  And what better way to sabotage my diet.  :)

Cookies and Cream Popcorn.

Simple enough. Take 12 ounce of vanilla almond bark and melt it (very low heat for about 8 mins on the stovetop).  Pour it over 1 large bag of popped popcorn.  Then sprinkle on 10-12 crushed oreos.  Enjoy!

Easily 5 stars.

(And no, I did put the bananas back there on purpose to offset the amount of unhealthy in the picture.  They were just there.)

Vanilla No Bake Cookies

Seeing as how 1.  I had to make a dessert that night, 2. I didn't want to go to the store, 3. I didn't have any chocolate chips, and 4. Brooklyn is allergic to peanuts, I decided to try these.

So glad I did!  Well, sorta.  I can't stop eating them.  That doesn't help with losing my 30 pounds of baby weight.  But they are delicious.

They are basically the same thing (same steps) for making chocolate no-bakes, just a few different ingredients.

Vanilla Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

2 c. sugar

3/4 c. butter 

2/3 c. milk

1 (3.4 oz.) box instant vanilla flavor pudding mix

3 1/2 c. quick cooking oats

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large pan, mix together the sugar, butter and the milk. Bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, add in the pudding mix, oats and vanilla. Let stand 5 minutes. Drop by tablespoon onto wax paper and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Rating:  5.0 stars!  I think this is my first official 5 star rating.  They're that good.

Oreo Pops

We're having some friends over tonight for dessert, so I decided to use up my leftover oreos and make oreo pops.  I opened the oreos and put a popsicle stick inside.

Then I melted some white chocolate chips in the microwave (making sure to stir every 30 seconds until they were melted to make sure they didn't burn) and added a little olive oil to help it stretch a bit.

Then I dipped the cookies into the chocolate and put a few sprinkles on top!

My creations don't usually end up super pretty, but hopefully they'll at least taste good!  And hopefully I can get them off the pan without screwing them up too badly...

Messed up the first one trying to get it off.  Freeze them, they pop right off!  And had to find a place to stick them.  What better than a banana!?!  :)

Overall rating:  4.8 stars (I can't give a 5 this soon in the game since I have so many more things to make!