George Washington Carver knew what's up

Two words: Peanut Butter.
 Why? Because it is the best invention ever. George Washington Carver- genius, Peanuts have to be the most versatile item ever. Remember learning about that in school? Peanuts used for oil, soap, food, clothes, etc. It's like a wonder food- correction, it is a wonder food.

 So I am dedicating a blog post to my addiction. Deja vu, seems Ive mentioned my love for peanut butter before.

I like to believe that since peanut butter is such a wonder, that it wont add pounds on me no matter how much I eat. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'me deceiving myself, considering it's 100 calories per tablespoon! Wow, it sounds worse when I type it out. I guess now would not be the time to mention that I eat peanut bar half a jar at a time.

It pretty much goes with anything and everything. I have tried almost all brands, not much on off brands, but JIF, Peter Pan, Smuckers...I'll eat whatever is on sale. My favorite is probably all natural smuckers, crunchy Peter Pan, and creamy Skippy. One for each type of course. I tried a new type this week, Peter Pan whipped peanut butter. Yum.

Peanut Butter sandwiches- classic

Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich- even bettter

Best combination ever: Chocolate & Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter Fudge- Legit

Peanut Butter Cookies- Comfort food at its best

Liquid Peanut Butter? Heck Yes

They even make peanut butter and chocolate straight out of the jar- I've heard the Peanut Butter Co. is the best, I don't know about that, but this combo was pretty darn good

And the Absolute best BEST invention ever?!
Portable Peanut Butter- thank you!

Getting tired of hearing me ramble on about peanut butter? Good. Because I am going to stop writing and go eat some now

Lemon Cream Crazy

This is a special for Rebekah at the Cooking Vent

Lemon Cream (adapted from Epicurious)

Frosting:
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Lemon curd , chilled

Lemon Curd:

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into bits

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.
Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

I added 8 oz of cream cheese and an extra cup of powdered sugar to this to thicken it up a bit. It seemed rather soupy at firsty, atleast too soupy to frost a cake. So instead of frosting the cake with it, I used it as lemon cream. So, it being a mix of lemon curd and lemon frosting, it turned into lemon cream. This also made ALOT! With this one batch of lemon cream, I made lemon cream cake, lemon cream cupcakes, and I used it as a drizzle over fresh blackberries- delicious!




Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

    adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
    makes 12 cupcakes
    Print this Recipe!
1 cup all-purpose flour
a scant 3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or use a handheld beater and beat on slow speed until the mixture is a sandy consistency and everything is combined.  Gradually pour in half of the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.  
Whisk the egg, vanilla and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated.  Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side or the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Continue mixing until the batter is smooth.  Just a few minutes.  Do not overmix.
Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins, dividing between the 12 cups.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the pan, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.  


Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

    from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
    makes enough for 12 cupcakes, double this recipe to frost an 8-inch cake
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat the powdered sugar and butter together in an electric mixer fit with a paddle attachment on medium low speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.  Turn the mixer speed to low.  Combine the milk and the vanilla extract and slowly stream it into the butter and sugar mixture.  Once incorporated, turn the mixer to high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.  The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.  If you find that your frosting is getting to warm in the summer months, stop beating and set in the fridge for a few minutes.  Once chilled, hook the frosting back up the the mixer and beat once more until you reach the desired consistency.


So For the cupcakes, I used a Wilton piping bag, with a round tip, however Wilton does sell an extra long tip made especially for filling cakes (which I recommend buying, I am going to!) Pipe the lemon cream into the top of the cupcakes after they have cooled, before  they are iced. Then I dyed the simple vanilla buttercream frosting yellow (about 3 drops)

If y’all really like lemon, you should definately try  making the lemon cream cake I gave the recipe for.

Picture-Perfect Picnics

Summer days are coming to a close. Muggy afternoons, long days wherethe sun doesn't set til 8, afternoon thunderstorms that leave the sky darker than dusk; they all remind me that summer is ending and Fall is near. A comforting thought though as I think about chai tea, pumkins and squash, long-sleeved shirts and jazzy music.


I decided to celebrate the end of summer with all of the new friends I have acquired during my first year in college, and some old. Of course not everyone I invited could attend, but about 12 wonderful people showed up for some food and fun. We planted ourselves at Riverfront Park under the picnic tables for a light lunch- some summer fruits, veggies, and baked goods (of course).

Ashamedly it wasn't the best baking I've done, but was a simple selection of some new recipes I wanted to try.
It gets boring baking the same thing all the time. I had an abundance of lemon cream left over from my sister's Lemon Cream Cake I baked for her birthday, so I decided to put it to good use.

I made these simple vanilla cupcakes from Joy the Baker, and infused them with my special lemon cream, and ta-da! Lemon Cream Cupcakes were born. I dyed the vanilla frosting yellow and piped it prettily atop the cakes.

I also made chocolate chip cookies and cranberry oatmeal chocolate chip cookies;

and last but not least, a spice cake, also courtesy Joy the Baker. I do love her blog. There are so many wonderful recipes, none of which have failed me. Except for this spice cake, but I blame myself. As I blended the ingredients hurriedly, as it was already 11 at night, I realized I had forgotten the sugar; yeah, there's a reason the batter taste salty. So I put the batter back in the bowl and whisked in the cup of sugar. In doing so, the cake flopped- or sank in, rather. So I did what all good bakers do and ate the flopped cake- the whole thing. I made a second one, which turned out perfect!

I packed everything together (I'll spare you the boring details) and high-tailed myself up to Riverfront.

We played some friendly games of frisbee and bocci ball and took alot of photos, courtesy my talented friend Suzannah.

Here are some of the pics she took: Here
And some I took: Here

All in all this so long to summer was hot and tiring, but a memory to be had of friends and fun :)

Special Occasions- my sister's birthday

Tomorrow my big sister turns 24. Yesterday we drove up to Myrtle Beach and walked around some shops to use some time before dinner. The real reason we went up there was to eat at P.F. Chang's! Her favorite :)

I love to bake, and I wanted to make something special for her. I decided to make a lemon cream cake she could take to her office and share with her co-workers to celebrate her special day, since she has to work.
I am hoping the fresh lemon will cool off a hot summer day.
I got the recipe from Epicurious, the nifty little app  on the iPhone. I am addicted to browsing recipes on that thing!

Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting

For cake layers

• 2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs

For frosting

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• Lemon curd , chilled

Make cake layers:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 (8- by 2-inch) round cake pans and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess.

 *It is very important that you spray the pans with pam and flour them- it is essential to the cakes coming out smooth!

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir together milk and lemon juice (mixture will curdle).

Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture in batches, beginning and ending with flour, mixing at low speed until just combined.

Divide batter between pans, smoothing tops. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes, then invert onto racks, remove paper, and cool completely.

After the cakes have cooled, I like to use a large serrated bread knife to level the cakes. Just cut off the rounded top to ensure the layers will sit level and avoid a lopsided cake

Lemon Curd Filling:

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into bits

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.

Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

Beat cream and confectioners sugar with cleaned beaters until it just holds stiff peaks.

Fold one third of whipped cream into lemon curd to lighten, then fold in remaining whipped cream.

 Spread onto first cake layer:

Place second cake layer on top

This recipe called for me to use the same filling as the icing, but it was way too soupy to spread, much less decorate with, so I made a simple buttercream frosting to cover the top and decorate with:

BUTTERCREAM ICING
1 c. granulated sugar 1/2 c. butter or Crisco 1 egg white 1/2 c. butter 1/2 c. lukewarm milk 1 tsp. vanilla Put all ingredients together in small bowl and beat for 5 minutes. At first mixture will look curdled but will smooth out with beating. Spread on favorite cake.

After covering the cake I used my mom's old piping bag and tip to create rosettes around the top

Finish it off with some garnish! I used sliced lemon, yellow daisies, and baby's breath :)

Happy Birthday Rachel! My sister and best friend