Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Quick & easy frosting!

These cupcakes were made for my youngest daughter, Abby's,  bridal shower last summer. I wanted a cream color because I was going to make a 'cake' that looked like her wedding gown! (You  know. The cupcakes assembled on a tray in the shape of a dress?....)

She was going for a semi retro-theme and her wedding dress was a reproduction of my Mother's dress! My parents were married in 1958, and my Mother's dress was made by HER Mother, my Grandmother! It was off-white in color and made of either satin or taffeta with a dotted swiss silk organza overlay!

My parents on their wedding day, July 4, 1958. My father was in the Air Force and was on leave for
the holiday. They're standing on the steps of the courthouse. Unfortunately, this is the
only photo I have of their wedding day and my Mother's dress...

I still owned the dress and Abby was actually considering wearing it, but when we got it out it was falling apart! It fit her perfectly, but the fabric was rotten (it hadn't been 'stored' the way we do with wedding dresses now) and there were stains on the dress!

The dress in 2013...It's a perfect fit, but the fabric is rotten and stained!

A back view...

We considered sending it out to a company that did restorations, but they were out-of-state, which made us very nervous. We came to a decision... I would make the new dress! (YIKES) I was excited and scared at the same time! What if I couldn't do it? Or what if it didn't look right? This WAS her wedding, after all!... In any event, the dress not being totally done at the time of the shower, but all of us anticipating the final outcome, I made this shower 'cake' to slightly resemble the real thing.

This was my first time making anything like this... using a piping bag to frost the cupcakes, and also making
a 'shape' with the cupcakes. I used some of the leftover fabric from the wedding dress I was making
and added it to the yoke area, to mimic the piece on her dress... didn't turn out exactly how I envisioned it! 

Ingredients:

1 cup Crisco

1 Tbls extract (I used vanilla, but you can use other extracts, as well)

6 - 8 Tbls of half & half

Cream the previous three ingredients together. Once these are well blended, add:

1 - 16 oz bag Powdered Sugar

Pinch Salt

I made one recipe per each batch of 18-24 cupcakes.

The finished dress on the wedding day!!... In case you were wondering if I ever finished it!!

Sal & Abby at their 'Ice Cream Social' Wedding Reception....

Strawberry Jam DIY

Delicious Homemade Strawberry Jam!!!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups mashed strawberries (wash and remove greens)

4 cups sugar

I box Sure-Jell or Pectin

Instructions are the same as for the Apricot Jam, except no lemon juice is used in this recipe. This batch yields 5 - 8 oz jars.

Here's the link to the step-by-step instructions for the Apricot Jam found here on my blog: http://www.domesticdivaonadime.blogspot.com/2014/06/apricot-jam-diy.html

Apricot Jam DIY

Easy-to-make Homemade Apricot Jam

Ingredients:

This is the brand I use, but there are
many others available.

2 1/2 cups chopped apricots (discard pits, do not peel) This is about 1 3/4 lbs of  fruit
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 box Sure-Jell or Pectin (see photo, right)
5 1/2 cups sugar
*DON'T FORGET the canning jars, lids and rings. (I used 6 small jars for this recipe and there was a bit left over) Wash jars with hot, soapy water; rinse and dry. Also, if you own a funnel for filling your canning jars, (they do make such things, photo below) wash and dry it at the same time. I used jars that held 8 oz or a half pint.

A funnel for helping get the hot jam into the jars without a huge mess!
Totally worth the money!!

These are the lids & rings I purchased to go with jars I already had..

These are the new jars I purchased, because I had so much fruit this year!
These come with lids and rings...

STEP 1: Place fruit, lemon juice and pectin in large pot. (below)

Cut-up apricots, lemon juice and 1 box of Sure-Jell or Pectin.

Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. I used a high-temp rubber spatula while cooking so that I can clean down the sides easily. Also, start boiling water in a large pot as needed in step 4, just 3-4" deep to start, as the filled jars will raise the water level.

STEP 2: In the few minutes while waiting for the fruit to come to a boil, measure the sugar and set aside.

Measure the sugar and set aside.

Also, place the lids in a small saucepan and cover with boiling water. Set aside until ready to place on filled jars.

STEP 3: Once the fruit comes to a full rolling boil, add the sugar all at once.

Once the fruit comes to a boil, add sugar all at once.

Stir well to incorporate all the sugar, and bring to a full rolling boil once more. Boil for exactly one minute.

Boil for one minute!

Remove from heat.

STEP 4: Ladle quickly into the prepared jars to within 1/8" of the rim.

After ladling hot jam into prepared jars, wipe rims down with a clean, wet cloth.

A close-up of a filled jar with the rim wiped clean.

Place lids and rings on each jar.

Lids straight from the saucepan, placed atop the filled jars.

Add the rings next...

Make sure the rings are tightened before you place the jars
in the large pot of water that you started to boil in STEP 1.

STEP 5: Now it's time to 'process' your jam: If you own a canning pot with wire racks for your jars, place the closed jars onto the rack and lower it into the water. If not, use a large pot and place jars down into the water. The water should cover the jars by at least 1". ( photo below) If more water is needed, boiling water from the kettle may be used.

I just use a large pot to 'process' my jam. Cover with
at least 1" of water and gently boil for 10 minutes.

Bring to a gentle boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove from water and place on a towel on the counter.

All done! When cooled, check the tops to make sure they've sealed, as described below...

I usually start hearing my lids 'sealing' at this time. It sounds like a 'pop'. Allow the jars to cool completely. Once cool, check each seal by pushing on the center of each lid. There should be no noise or give. If lid pops back up, it didn't seal properly and refrigeration is necessary.

Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients

2	sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1	8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1½	cups sugar
	zest of 2 oranges
4	eggs
1½	teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (use bread flour or Better for Bread flour if at high altitude)
1½	teaspoons baking powder
1½	teaspoons salt
2	cups fresh or frozen cranberries, roughly chopped
For the glaze:
¾	cup confectioner’s sugar
1	tablespoon melted butter
	zest of 1 orange
2	tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour two medium size loaf pans, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. When mixer is light in color and fluffy, add in zest. With mixer on low, add in eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. Fold in cranberries. Divide batter evenly between the loaf pans. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool. After about 5 minutes, lay cakes on their sides, and allow to cool for another 5 minutes. Flip cakes onto their other sides and cool for another 5 minutes. Remove cakes from pans, and let cool on the wire rack. While still warm, drizzle with orange glaze (recipe follows). Serve warm or at room temperature. For the glaze: Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Add more juice or sugar to achieve desired consistency.

*Recipe courtesy of sophistimom.com

Harvest Spice Pancakes

Boxed cake mix, an egg & applesauce. Delicious!

So my husband gets the credit for these delicious pancakes....(thought I'd just get that out of the way now!). He's a big fan of pancakes, and we've had a few variations over the years: whole-wheat, buttermilk, cranberry~orange (made with craisins and orange zest or extract) and of course chocolate chip, pecan, etc. But one day he asked me if I could use a spice cake mix to make pancakes. I thought, "Why not?" I mean, they turn cake mixes into everything else...if I just used the mix itself as my dry ingredients and add the required wet ingredients.... mix it into a batter. Ta-da! Yummy pancakes. Right!? So off to the store I go...

Ingredients:

1 box Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix
1 egg
1 snack cup applesauce, sugar-free (1/4 cup)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

I decided to add the flaxseed just for the health benefits. No one ever seems to notice it's even in there, and it's so good for you!

Mix all ingredients until well combined. Add more water if your batter is too thick. Cook. Enjoy.

The pancakes turned out great, so much more flavor than a regular pancake. Doesn't need syrup or butter since it was so tasty, but I think my husband used it anyway! By the way, he loved them!

Homemade Buttermilk

This is how my daughter stores her
Homemade Buttermilk.

Buttermilk is one of those things my family doesn't actually drink, we just need it every once in a while for a recipe. My Moms mother actually would drink a glass of buttermilk with a slice of cornbread broken into it, and stirred around together. The cornbread wasn't that 'sweet cake kind' either, as Grandma would say. There was no sugar added to this everyday staple. Not even a tablespoon! (Try it. It's nothing like what we eat now.) You think that sounds odd? She drank it while enjoying a crisp, raw onion! She would hold the onion in one hand and take bites out of it the same way we would eat an apple! Then in the other hand she held her 'glass of buttermilk', which she used to wash down her bites of onion! Hey...'don't knock it 'till ya try it'!

I must admit, I have never tried Grandmas 'snack', and more than likely, I never will. So I will never need a half gallon of buttermilk just sitting in my 'fridge. But when I do need just a cup for some homemade pancakes, let's say, the following recipe fits the bill.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk
1 3/4 Tbl cream of tartar or 1 Tbl white vinegar or 1 Tbl lemon juice

Add the milk with the 'acid' of your choice and stir. Allow to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. The milk should start to curdle. Stir well before using. Refrigerate any leftovers.

From California Laurel: Red Velvet Cupcakes
with Cream Cheese frosting.

My daughter, whose buttermilk I photographed and placed at the top of the page, uses a completely different method for making her Homemade Buttermilk. You can find her recipe here on her food blog, California Laurel, as she takes you through her delicious recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes!


*A combination of 3/4 cup plain yogurt and 1/4 cup whole milk can be used to replace 1 cup of buttermilk in most recipes. Recipe credit: http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=1192 .

Seven-Grain Whole Wheat Harvest Bread

Fresh out of the oven!

My Mom always made homemade bread. It's a wonderful & lovely memory I will forever cherish. She also made the jams & jellies that went on that bread! She was pretty much incredible!

Now in case you're wondering what her reasoning was for making homemade bread (not to say that fresh, warm bread isn't good enough reason!) she didn't make it because it was 'better for you',.. this was in the early 1970's and she was just starting to read about & hear talk of white flour being bad for you and that table salt was a 'killer'.

I know she enjoyed baking, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't her sole motivation either!...she had a full-time job, 6 kids to haul around to and from school and 'after-school' activities, and a house to run! And don't forget, the 'wonders' of  Wonder bread were still mesmerizing moms all over America, convincing those same moms that since they didn't have the extra time to bake, Wonder bread make a perfectly nutritious substitute! It would have been nice if that were the answer to Moms dilemma, but the fact is, she baked her own bread because it was a way to save money. She didn't have a lot of extra time but she made homemade bread anyway! She had to save money & cut corners wherever she could, and this is just one of the many ways she did that.

I'm sorry to say I don't have my Moms bread recipe, but the recipe I'll be sharing is courtesy of "The Art & Soul of Baking" by Cindy Mushet. I've been using this recipe for the past 3 years & I really love it! It's delicious, inexpensive, nutritious and fairly easy for the return. I changed the name from 'Nine-Grain' to 'Seven-Grain' because I can never find the 9-grain hot cereal mix called for in the recipe! (I'm sure it's out there somewhere, but I go to the store around the corner from my house and just buy what's available.) I also add more whole wheat flour than the recipe calls for, & I decrease the bread flour. The changes are below:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup 7-grain hot cereal mix (not instant) I use Bob's Red Mill, found at my local grocery store

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup plus 2 Tbl warm water (110*-115*) I just measure the water into a glass measuring cup and pop it into the microwave for 60 seconds.

This is the 7 Grain cereal I use.

1 tsp sugar

1 Tbl active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup honey

2 cups bread flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

STEP 1: Make the cereal mix. Pour the cereal into a medium bowl. Add the boiling water and stir to blend. Let the mixture sit for 20 minutes.

STEP 2: Mix, rest and knead the dough. Pour the warm water into the bowl of the stand mixer. Add the sugar and yeast and whisk by hand to blend. Let sit for 10 minutes, or until the yeast is activated and foamy or bubbling. Add the cooled cereal, honey, flours and salt. Using the dough hook in the mixer, knead the dough on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let the dough rest for 20 minutes to allow it to fully hydrate before further kneading. Turn the mixer to medium-low and continue to knead until the dough is firm and elastic, 4 to 7 minutes.


STEP 3: Rise the dough. (First rise, shown below) Lightly oil a bowl, scrape the dough from the stand mixer bowl into a glass or pyrex bowl and lightly coat the surface of the dough with a little oil. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, 35 to 45 minutes (longer if the room is cold).


STEP 3. This picture is blurry but I didn't notice until it was too late... I use the red dish towel & get it moist & lay it over the bowl. If it's a cold day, I set the bowl with the towel on it in the oven & set it at 200*. As soon as the oven kicks on, I shut it off. I check it a few times during the rising: check & make sure the towel is still damp & notice if the oven still seems 'warm'. If not, I turn it back on to 200* and shut it off when the gas kicks on.

STEP 4: Punch down and shape the dough.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Press down on the dough firmly to expel some of the air bubbles, but don't knead the dough again or it will be too springy and difficult to shape. Shape into a round, taut loaf by pulling the sides down and under the loaf, keeping it in a circular shape. I pull the sides down and under 3 to 5 times, or until it looks pretty round. I then quickly transfer it to my baking stone that I've placed a piece of parchment on earlier. A baking pan works just as well, just remember to use parchment or cornmeal underneath the loaf.


STEP 5: Proof the dough.(Second rise, shown below). Lightly cover the dough with the dampened towel and allow to rise until it almost doubles in size. About 20 - 30 minutes.

STEP 5: Second rise. I am placing the loaf in a barely warm oven.... to get it to rise, but not bake!

After second rise.

STEP 6: Prepare the oven. Preheat the oven to 400*. Lightly sprinkle the top of the loaf with a little bit of flour. Then using a knife without serrated edges, place slash marks across the top. Don't go too deep or you'll allow too much air to escape, and your loaf will look like it has fallen before you've even been able to cook it! (See pics below on pattern for slash marks.)

 

STEP 6: Top picture showing slash marks in one direction... bottom picture showing slash marks in the other direction.

STEP 7: Bake the loaf. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown. Transfer to a rack and cool completely. Slice with a bread knife or a serrated knife.

Homemade Baking Powder

  Make your own baking powder.      

Ever find yourself in the middle of a baking project, only to find that you're missing an ingredient that you consider a staple?... you never even checked to see if there was any... you just assumed it would be there?

Well, I have! Many times. I check for odd ingredients but not the common ones. It was one of those times that I went to grab my baking powder and there wasn't enough to do the recipe. So I decided to look on the internet. There were actually many different recipes, with different ratios of the key ingredients. This is the one I adopted:

1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Makes: 1 Tablespoon

It only takes a few ingredients.

Combine. Use immediately.

If you plan to make more than you need and want to store any remainder for future use, add:

Make sure to mix well. Add cornstarch to store.

1 teaspoon corn starch to the original mixture. This will help absorb any moisture present and keep the powder from reacting before you need it. Store in an air-tight container.

TIP: Did you know that most commercial baking powders contain aluminum? Sodium aluminum sulfate, to be exact. Make your own baking powder and keep your baked goods aluminum-free.

Breakfast Croissants

Quick & easy treat for the whole family.

Around our house, breakfast is a favorite. We love breakfast food..biscuits with sausage gravy, orange-cranberry pancakes, fried potatoes, breakfast burritos, waffles....You get my point, right? We LOVE breakfast food. I didn't even start on breakfast breads... donuts, coffee cake, danish...and so on. Speaking of danish, my daughter Laurel just made some awesome danish a few days ago and posted the recipe on her blog: CaliforniaLaurel.blogspot.com. You can view the recipe and pictures here.

Of course, we have breakfast for dinner as often as possible. We even go out for breakfast late at night. (I know we aren't the only people who do this or Denneys wouldn't have a 24 hour breakfast menu!)

So with all that said, here it is Valentines Day. I had to run to the store early this morning because we had no sugar for our coffee! So I thought of grabbing some type of fresh-baked donut or something for my husband to get this special day started off right. (He's a great fan of all things 'pastry') Then I remembered our croissant trick...buy a roll of crescent rolls and add a few goodies and...Wa-LA! Fresh, hot, delicious pastry...for a fraction of the cost! Here are the details:

STEP 1: Buy crescent rolls. Mine were $1.98 on sale.






On the left, raspberry jam. On the right, Nutella.

          
             STEP 2: Before rolling, add yummy stuff.





These are the only savory croissants I made.  They have
brown-sugar ham & cheddar cheese.

  



These actually got more yummy stuff on top before
 the went into the oven.

  
            STEP 3: Bake according to package directions.


      STEP 4: Once out of the oven, add more yummy stuff.




The lemon drizzle on the left, and the plain drizzle on the right,.. just
to give me something to help the almonds stick.

 



On the ham & cheese I sprinkled a few bits of shredded cheese. On the
'cinnabon' I had smeared butter & cream cheese inside. The I had sprinkled
the inside as well as the outside with cinnamon & sugar.

 

    STEP 5: Eat. (At this point, they can't help it... they're yummy!!)




These actually didn't need this since there were only a few different flavors,
but I like to scribble across my parchment what flavor they are..just in case.

                            

Lemon Meringue Pie Cookies

This is one of those fantastic recipes that are so easy, yet turn out surprisingly delicious! I was told the recipe while on jury duty, so I quickly scribbled it down on something I found in my purse. (Can't remember what it was...receipt, deposit slip, napkin...but WHO CARES!? I got the recipe!!)

1 box lemon cake mix
1-8 oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed
1 egg
1 tsp lemon extract (I used vanilla the first time, since I had no lemon extract on hand. They tasted awesome, so I've continued to use vanilla)
Powdered sugar, for rolling dough

STEP 1: Peheat oven to 350*.

STEP 2: Combine all ingredients in bowl. Mix well. Dough will be extremely sticky.

STEP 3: Here's where the powdered sugar comes in handy...pour some into a bowl or dish. Use a spoon or melon ball scooper (sprayed with non-stick cooking spray) to scoop up dough and plop into powdered sugar. Place dough ball on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, after rolling it in the powdered sugar. DO NOT FLATTEN.

*TIP: I use a scooper the size of a walnut. I place 12 on my baking sheet, which is pretty large.  The cookies will spread out to be about 2 1/2 to 3" in diameter. It really doesn't matter what size your cookie sheet is as long as the cookies have that extra room on all sides.


STEP 4: Bake exactly 15 minutes. Cookies may seem too gooey...(I'm getting hungry just typing this!)

ENJOY!



The powdered sugar adds a beautiful design.