Blogs

I found this recipe for ninety minute cinnamon rolls on AllRecipes website a few years ago and made them without any alterations to the recipe.  They were a good alternative recipe to have for a cinnamon roll but I thought the dough was a bit chewy rather than flakey/soft, so I thought, 'why not make them even chewier and gooier with added stickiness?'.  I followed the recipe exactly except for a few sticky alterations. I decided to increase the amount of cinnamon to 1/4 Cup instead of 1 Tbsp and used butter instead of margarine (but I think both work well).  I also changed the baking method; instead of using muffin cups, I used two pie dishes with 6 rolls in each.

 But before I added the rolls into the pie plates, I filled them with 1/2 Cup melted butter and 1/4 Cup packed brown sugar mixed together into each pan and then placed the rolls on top before baking.  Once baked I let the rolls sit in the pans for a few minutes then inverted them onto a plate and ate them warm! These sticky buns were definately chewy, gooey and delicious! They were best right out of the oven or re-heated up the next day with a big glass of milk. Enjoy!

Nothing is better than a warm chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven!  The other week I went over to my girlfriend's mom's house and she served us warm, chewy, and gooey chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven...I ate 6...but who's counting?  After that night, I still had a craving for warm chocolate chip cookies all week.  These cookies melted down into thin and chewy wonderful treats with a hint of crispiness on the outside, they definately satisfied my cravings.This recipe tastes good either right out of the oven or even a week later with a big glass of milk.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 Cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
3/4 Cup white granulated sugar
2 Large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Cups flour
1 1/2 Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper
2) In a large bowl cream together butter and both sugars
3) Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined
4) Stir in baking soda, salt, and flour until dough comes together
5) Stir in chocolate chips, then scoop 1 Tbsp of dough onto prepared cookie sheets and bake for 12min or until edges begin to turn golden
6) Let cool on wire racks for 5min then begin eating cookies warm or store them in an air tight container to enjoy all week!

My mom used to always make this yummy vanilla pudding flavored cake when I was little and I thought it was so good that it must have taken her all day to make.  To my surprise, when I got older, I realized that my mom's awesome vanilla cake was made using a cake mix.   This cake is very moist and has loads of vanilla flavor with the hint of pudding too.  This is a great go-to cake to have on hand and I definately always use it when I need a fast and delicious cake to whip up!

Vanilla Pudding Cake

1 box golden yellow cake mix
1 package of instant vanilla pudding mix
1 Cup water
1/3 Cup yogurt
1/3 Cup vegetable oil
3 Large eggs

1) Preheat oven to 350F and grease a bundt cake pan and lightly sprinkle with granulated white sugar
2) In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients: cake mix and pudding mix
3) Add water, yogurt, oil, and eggs to dry mixture and stir until evenly combined
4) Beat mixture on medium-high for about 2min until mixture is smooth
5) Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-55min or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean
6) Let cake cool in pan for 10min then gently invert it onto a plate to continue cooling, serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

I know this recipe doesn't technically fall under the 'baking' category but this cake was too good not to share with you.  It was my boyfriends birthday a few weeks ago and his favorite type of cake is ice cream.  His mom usually gets a DQ cake (because they are the best!) but this year I decided to challenge myself and make him an ice cream cake of my own.  I decided to go with a coffee and chocolate combination but you can change it up with any type of flavoring you like.  The cake was surpisingly easy to make and really, really, really good. 

Side Note:  I tried putting chocolate fudge sauce between the layers of ice creams but the kind of sauce that I bought didn't freeze very well and oozed out the side of cake when I prepared it.  I decided to leave this part out of the recipe below because it was messy but feel free to give it a try!  Enjoy!

Coffee Crisp Ice Cream Cake

3-4L Vanilla Ice Cream (I bought one of those big buckets of ice cream from the store and used almost all of it)
4 Coffee Crisp chocolate bars, food processed
1/4 Cup very strongly brewed coffee, at room temperature (the strongest coffee you could ever make X 10)

For decoration:
Chocolate fudge sauce
Slivered almonds

1) Cover the inside of a springform pan with plastic wrap entirely, even allowing excess to hang over the edges of the pan
2) Let vanilla ice cream sit at room temperature for 10-15min until just soft enough but not melting
3) Scoop 1-2L of ice cream into a large bowl and add food processed chocolate bars and stir until evenly combined, then spoon ice cream mixture into prepared pan evenly
4) In a second large bowl spoon 1-2L of ice cream into bowl and stir in room temperature coffee and mix until evenly combined, then spoon ice cream mixture into prepared pan on top of other ice cream mixture
5) Using the excess plastic wrap cover the top of the ice cream cake and place in the freezer overnight
6) When ready to serve, remove pan and plastic wrap from cake and cover with Chocolate Fudge sauce and slivered almonds, then cut and enjoy!