I have been busy

I made one laid of beer bread, and four loaves of banana bread using only two bananas :) the coconut bars went to my grandma as well as the coconut dream bars. shr loved them. I saved a little piece of the coconut dream bars for my moms boyfriend who loves coconut as well. He tried them and said that they were very good. I also made a batch of pumpkin spice cookies with a cinnamon icing that are almost gone now. Go figure :)

Coconut dream bars

I decided to try some coconut dream bars. The recipe I used called for 1 1/3 cup of coconut but since my grandma LOVES coconut, I uses the rest of the bag, which was around 2 cups I would say :) they are getting ready to bake now. Here is a picture of them before they get baked.

Cookies and coconut mini bars for my grandma :)

The picture isn't the greatest but this is one of the cookies on the middle rack and the mini coconut bars baking :) yet again I was looking through the cupboard and found a mix for cookies haha and decided to make some :)
Here is the recipe for the bars that i used.
Coconut bars
Ingredients
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract (I used vanilla)
1 cup of shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 inch baking pan. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Melt butter in a large sauce pan. stir in brown sugar. Lightly beat in one egg and the extract. I was out of almond and used vanilla. Go ahead and mix the shredded coconut in with the dry ingredients. After this. Gradually add it into your butter-sugar mixture in the sauce pan. The hated will be very stiff. I could not fit it into the large pan so I used miniature loaf pans. Spread the mixture into the pan, or Anne Hah, pans :) bake for 35 minutes or until brown. The mixture is already brown, so until it is browner :) cool for ten minutes in the pan and remove from the pan, onto a rack to cool :)

Beer bread! (The quick way)

I was going through the cupboard and found an old beer bread mix. So I decided to make some today :) here are the results.

Failed Scones

I tried making scones today...I don’t normally do bad considering I make them all the time. This was an honest mistake. To my surprise, we were out of heavy whipping cream. I took some whole milk from the fridge and melted a some butter and added them together in a a bowl. The recipe only called for three tablespoons of heavy cream. That was my intended amount. I was holding the small bowl of the milk/butter mixture over my larger bowl with all of my dry ingredients mixed in. By accident...or probably my dumb luck, I dropped the entire bowl of the mixture in with my dry ingredients. I couldn’t really recover the batter from this incident. So, wondering what I would make, I greased two small loaf pans and added the batter in. I then baked, wondering what I would create. When it was golden brown around the edges and a tooth pick came out clean, I set them from the oven to cool. They appeared, for the most part like loafs of bread. They were somewhat firm on the outside and very spongy on the inside. They remained mainly tasteless, except for the semi-sweet chocolates I had intended for my scones. Needless to say, these were not bad...not particularly good but not bad. Next time I will try to not let my dumb luck or clumsiness cause me to spill an entire cup of cream into my scone mixture haha.

Mini Lemon Fileld cakes (Surprise for Nate)

Nate, an adult leader in our youth group is leaving soon; next Wednesday will be his last day with us. I have decided to make him a small surprise. Using some of the batter from the Lemon cake below, I will fill these mini Wilton cake pans that I have with the batter and bake them along with the cake.After that have finished baking and I have trimmed them up, I will take some lemon curd that I bought at the store yesterday on sale and fill the middle with it. I will then frost it with leftover icing from the previous recipe below and put it in the fridge to set up so that the filling does now drop out when being cut. I hope that he enjoys this small surprise. It will be his small going away present from me and I am sure he will like it.

Okay, first of, he loved the cake. The whole group enjoyed the two lemon cakes that I prepared for them. It was all gone by the end. Okay, so maybe I did go around from person to persona asking them if they would like seconds and some...thirds. Haha. needless to say, it was a pretty good day...everyone loved their cake and I even tried a a little piece of it and it wasn't bad. Most find it strange that I do not like cake. I like to make it but never really enjoyed the taste of it. I know, I'm weird. For Nate's miniature Cake, I made it using a simple vanilla cake, topped with a fresh lemon buttercream frosting, garnished with lemon slices. He appreciated it and saved the other half for breakfast. It was a good day and the outcome was even better than I expected.

Going away lemon Cake for a friend

Sadly, in our youth group one of our members will be moving on for the summer to experience new ways in different camps and having many new experiences in different work forces.

   I am baking him a lemon cake next Wednesday. I am looking into two recipes and not sure which one to do as of right now but I am sure that whatever I do end up making will be good. The one I am looking into looks like this.

I will try and make it to look as much as the original as I can. I am thinking since we have quite a few members in our youth group that I might have to split it up and not make it layered. It would be best separate for this occasion. If we run out of cake I was also thinking of making some extra lemon cupcakes to go along with them. Good idea?

Here is the Recipe from the website (I may make a few modifications)

 Lemon Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-by-2-inch cake pans, tapping out excess flour. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined.
3. Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. Bake until cakes pull away from sides of pans, 32 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack.
4. While cakes are baking, bring remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Add lemon slices and simmer 25 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer lemon slices to a waxed-paper-lined plate. Stir remaining 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice into syrup.
5. Using a toothpick, poke holes in warm cakes on rack. Brush with lemon syrup. Let cool completely. Prepare frosting, substituting 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice for vanilla extract. Frost cooled cakes and top with candied lemon slices.

(And for the whipped frosting)

Ingredients

• 3 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water, combine egg whites, sugar, salt, and water. Cook over medium, stirring constantly, until sugar has dissolved (or mixture registers 150 degrees on an instant-read thermometer), 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium-high until glossy, stiff peaks form (do not over beat), about 3 minutes; reduce speed to low, add vanilla extract, and beat just until combined. Use immediately.

Hopefully this cake turns out well for me, I haven't made this type before. I am sure all will go well. I will post more pictures on next week and I make the cake. :)

Okay, first of, he loved the cake. The whole group enjoyed the two lemon cakes that I prepared for them. It was all gone by the end. Okay, so maybe I did go around from person to persona asking them if they would like seconds and some...thirds. Haha. needless to say, it was a pretty good day...everyone loved their cake and I even tried a a little piece of it and it wasn't bad. Most find it strange that I do not like cake. I like to make it but never really enjoyed the taste of it. I know, I'm weird. For Nate's miniature Cake, I made it using a simple vanilla cake, topped with a fresh lemon buttercream frosting, garnished with lemon slices. He appreciated it and saved the other half for breakfast. It was a good day and the outcome was even better than I expected