applesauce cake

We leave for Belize this week so, still in my bathing suit, sun dress, tank top frame of mind I opted for what in my head seems like a lighter dessert.  I know it isn't but, as I peeled and chopped the fruit I felt as if it was almost healthy.  I like to tell myself those things so, I can enjoy the treat.  The cake does not have an strong apple flavor and isn't overly sweet.  It is well balanced with the spices and very moist.  I think these would work well as a muffin but, I may add some type of a crumb or oatmeal topping to amp them up a bit. 

Applesauce Cake

Source: Everyday Food

Note: These can be adapted into muffins.  Reduce the cook time to ~18-20 minutes.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus more for the cake pan.
3 large apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (2 gala and 1 granny smith)

1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Confectioners' sugar, optional

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly oil an 8-inch round cake pan. In a medium saucepan, bring the apples and 1/4 cup water to a simmer over high heat. Cover and return the heat to medium. Cook until the apples are very tender, about 12 minutes. Mash the apples with a whisk. Stir to dry the mixture slightly, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Whisk the brown sugar into the apples, then add the oil. Whisk in the eggs, then the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer the batter to the pan and bake until a golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack, about 20 minutes. Invert and allow the cake to cool on a wire rack. To serve, dust the top with confectioners' sugar if desired.

Stir Fried Turkey in Lettuce Cups

Silver anniversary.  My book club just celebrated its silver anniversary!  We have read (well at least I have read) 25 books together.  We started in June 2007 and have gained some girls and lost some others but, there has been a strong core since the inception.  It truly has been a highlight of my social calendar.  I love the group, the food and wine and the laughter.  Hoping we enjoy many more books together.  I decided to do something a bit different this time and little more substantial then a small bite appetizer.  The dish is a bit messy but, the end result is good and filling.  I like a little more cruch in mine so, I added the water chestnuts, carrots and scallions.  I think this would work great with ground chicken as well.  Enjoy.

  
Stir Fried Turkey in Lettuce Cups
Adapted: Cooking Light

• 1 tablespoons  canola oil
• 3  cups  coarsely chopped shiitake mushroom caps (about 1/2 pound)
• 1 1/4  pounds  ground turkey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1  teaspoon  minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1  cup  thinly sliced green onions (about 4)
• 1  (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained and coarsely chopped
• 12  Boston lettuce leaves
• 3  tablespoons  hoisin sauce
• 2  tablespoons  lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1  tablespoon  rice vinegar
• 2  teaspoons  Sriracha (hot chile sauce, such as Huy Fong)
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt

Preparation

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Place mushrooms in a large bowl. Heat remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey, garlic, and ginger to pan; cook 6 minutes or until turkey is browned, stirring to crumble. Add turkey mixture, onions, and water chestnuts to mushrooms in bowl; stir well.
2. Combine hoisin, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Sriracha, and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Pour mix into bowl and toss to coat.  Spoon 1/2 cup turkey mixture into each lettuce leaf. 

Easter Egg Cookie Pie

 I bought 3 types of candy for Easter baskets.  We have used up the remaining PB bunnies and next up the milk chocolate mini eggs.  I was going to make PB cookies and add these but, they are bigger then an m&m so, wasn't sure if they would over power.  I opted for a large cookie pie with a PB flavor to compliment the chocolate.  I came up with the recipe so, it still may need some further tweaks and I underestimated the cook time.  I increased the cook time in the notes below.  We all really liked it even if it is a tad sweet.  We ate it warm with vanilla ice cream which in this house seemed to work.  The little bean had a huge slice and was so excited because he felt like he was getting several desserts (cookies, candy and ice cream) ... oh my!


Easter Egg Cookie Pie
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 TBSP peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup granulated Sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate eggs
2/3 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray pie pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter, peanut butter and the sugars until fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
Add the flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chocolate eggs and chips.
Transfer cookie dough to the pan and spread out evenly until the bottom of the pan is covered.
Bake for about 30 minutes.  Stick knife in pie and if comes out clean remove.  If crumbs appear then continue to bake for ~5minutes.
If top is looking brown then cover with foil for remaining cook time.
Remove and cool.

Hoisin Glazed Beef Kebabs

Spring has sprung here and we are ready to fire up the grill and enjoy the backyard.  This was one of our favorite quick and easy grill recipes last season.  We kicked off the season with this meal and the verdict is in ... we all still like it.

Hoisin Glazed Beef Kebabs

Cooking Light

• 2  tablespoons  hoisin sauce
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  honey
• 1/2  teaspoon  seasoned rice vinegar
• 1/2  teaspoon  grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1/2  teaspoon  chile paste with garlic
• 1  pound  beef tenderloin filets, cut into 16 cubes
• 16  (2-inch) pieces green onions (about 4 onions)
• 16  grape tomatoes
• Cooking spray

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add beef to bowl; toss well to coat. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes.
3. Thread 4 beef cubes, 4 onion pieces, and 4 tomatoes alternately onto each of 4 (12-inch) skewers. Place kebabs on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bunny Brownies

We still have Halloween candy left.  I am just not tempted by candy.  It will sit here for ages.  I decided not to let the extra Easter candy go to waste this year.  We are leaving for a ski trip this week so, I wanted to make a simple treat that we could enjoy this week before we leave.  Chocolate and peanut butter being a favorite combination of mine I knew adding these Reese's bunnies to a chewy brownie would be a perfect combination.  We ate them hot and gooey right out of the oven.  I felt bad cutting all of those bunnies heads off but, after one bite I knew the decapitation was a sound decision.  They were delicious.  

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bunny Brownies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped Reese's Easter Bunnies
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup Cocoa
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Remove wrappers from candies. Cut each candy into 1/2-inch pieces; set aside.

2. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and cocoa; stir to blend. Remove from heat. Stir in eggs. Stir together flour, salt and baking soda; stir into chocolate mixture. Stir in vanilla.  Let mixture cool a bit and mix in candy pieces. Spread in prepared pan.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan and begin to crack slightly; do not overbake. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 36 brownies.

Mini Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins

Easter brunch .... yum.  We did Easter in SD this year.  We enjoyed good food, family, an egg hunt and the 7.2 earth quake!  It gave us quite a jolt after brunch.  I was assigned the sweet side.  I knew we were having two types of dessert following brunch so, I wanted to keep it simple and just a sweet bite.  I thought these mini pancake muffins were great!  They were easy to make and just the right little sweet bite to accompany a big brunch.  My plan was to make two batches one with chips and one with blueberries but, I ran out of time.  I will definitely make these again and try the blueberry version.
 
Mini Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins
Source: Tasty Home

Ingredients

• 1 cup Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• ⅔ cups Buttermilk
• 1 whole Egg
• 2 Tablespoons Pure Maple Syrup
• 2 Tablespoons Melted Butter
• ½ cups Milk Chocolate Chips (blueberries, bannana etc.)
• More Maple Syrup For Dipping 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Generously grease a 24 cup mini muffin pan with nonstick spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir together with a wire whisk.

In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Stir in chocolate chips. Reserve a few chips to sprinkle on the top of muffins before placing in the oven.

Bake for 8-9 minutes.

Makes 24 mini pancake muffins.

Let cool slightly and remove from the pan. You may need to use a toothpick around the edges to separate the pancake muffins from the pan.

Serve immediately with more warmed butter if you like and/or a small bowl of maple syrup for dipping.