I wanted to share one of my favorite Sakara treats! Cookie Dough Bites. These little morsels are packed full of flavor and really bring a smile to my day.
To start take a 1/2 cup of almond butter mixed into 1/4 cup of maple syrup and vanilla until smooth.
In another bowl mix together the dry ingredients: 1/4 cup of coconut flower, 3 tablespoons of flax-seed meal and salt. Then mix the wet and dry ingredients together and fold the cacao nibs in. Once mixed properly roll the dough into 1 inch balls and set aside.
Mix together shredded coconut and hemp seeds that will be used to roll the dough balls in. Feel free to pick any type of topping but the coconut is yummy. After rolling your bites into the mix refrigerate the bites for about 30 mins, before serving.
These bites are pretty simple and much more of an almond bite than traditional cookie dough. However, I really love them and don't feel guilty for scarfing them down. Plus they definitely have more protein and less artificial ingredients.
To celebrate a bit of spring showing through all of the rain, I made bunny shaped vanilla sugar cookies. My sister-in-law gave me this little kit for Christmas! It came with mix, marshmallows and a cookie cutter.
I simply added an egg and some butter, mixed until the it turned to dough. I covered it in saran-wrap and put the dough in the fridge for about an hour.
I preheated the oven to 350 and began rolling out my dough on a cookie sheet using plenty of flour. I cut out little bunnies and arranged them on the tray to bake for about 10 mins. *check on them to make sure they are a little brown on the edges but be careful not to leave them in for too long. A couple of my bunnies didn't make it...they were cut a bit too thin LOL! For added awesomeness I sprinkled a few of the bunnies! I do love my sprinkles!
After baked and still warm, add the marshmallows for little cute bunny tails. Voila! Vanilla Sugar Cookies ready to serve. Super adorable and tasty!
I thought that Craig might like them with some chocolate so I melted a half cup of dark chocolate chips and drizzled them on top. He was thrilled he he! Thank you Amy for this wonderful gift, perfect for a Cake Bunny!
This year I wanted to make something truly delicious for my family and had seen a recipe for Hummingbird Cake on MyRecipes. Turns out that this is a really popular cake and it seemed so interesting that I wanted to taste it for myself. I didn't do a play-by-play for you...I thought about it but for once it was nice to really focus on making the cake. It was just me and my mixer! The recipe included some different ingredients like bananas and pineapple...which I had never thought about adding to cake batter.
As I suspected it was the most delicious, mouthwatering, sweet and savory, home-made cake I have ever had! It smelled like banana-nut bread and tasted like a dream...a carrot cake/banana-nut bread hybrid of pure yum! The cream cheese frosting paired well, giving it a little extra sweetness. The pineapple was not overwhelming either and the pecan...OMG the pecans! I had to literally stop myself from consuming the whole thing. Here is the recipe from MyRecipes.com and their link!
Ingredients/Directions:
3 cupsall-purpose flour
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoonsalt
1 teaspoonbaking soda
1 teaspoonground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
11/2 cupsvegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoonsvanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
2 cupschopped bananas
1 cupchopped pecans
Shortening
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cupchopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, bananas, and 1 cup chopped toasted pecans. Spoon batter into 3 well-greased (with shortening) and floured 9-inch round cake pans.Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes our clean.
Cool cake layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 1 hour).
Place 1 cake layer on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer. Top with second layer, and spread 1 cup frosting over cake layer. Top with third cake layer, and spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Arrange toasted pecan halves in a circular pattern over top of cake.
I was missin True Blood somethin awful, plus I just got my new "Cake" dress in the mail so I thought how perfect!! Check out the link below to Amourdress. Now let's make a delicious cake to celebrate!
In the True Blood Eats Drinks and Bites Cookbook there is a recipe for an awesome vanilla cake with lemon filling...OMG it was just begging to be made! This is the cake that Maryann, Karl and Eggs surprise Tara with for her birthday! Now I have never really made a cake from scratch...so it was a long process but completely worth it.
To start I made the lemon filling by combining the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium pan. I gradually stirred, bringing it to a boil over medium heat. After about a minute I removed the pan and stirred in the butter and lemon zest and gradually whisked in the lemon juice. Then set it aside to cool. I found that one good sized lemon made just enough juice and zest! After it had cooled I had a small taste and it was just like a lemon square...one of my favorite desserts!
Quickly I made the berry topping by slicing up strawberries and raspberries and sprinkling them with sugar. For the cake mix, I first preheated the oven to 350 degrees and greased/flowered two round pans.
In my large mixing bowl I blended the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt then slowly added in the shortening, 2/3 cup of milk and vanilla.
After mixing for about 2 minutes I added the remaining 1/3 cup of milk and the egg whites. Making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl I mixed for a few more minutes and then the batter was ready to go into the pans! Jack was so interested but don't worry I didn't let him have any he he!
After pouring in the batter and placing the pans in the oven (for 30 mins) I started on the frosting.
First I beat the egg whites until they formed soft peaks, then in a pan I heated up the sugar, corn syrup and water bringing it to a boil. Using a thermometer I made sure the mixture reached 242 degrees. Once it was ready I slowly poured it into the egg whites while the mixer was running. I kept mixing until the frosting held stiff peaks, then added in the vanilla! This frosting was probably the most difficult task in making this cake...we had some trouble with the sugar hardening but that's what this is for, to learn! I think I might have to try it again sometime he he.
After the cakes were done baking and had cooled I took one layer, flipped it, and spread the lemon filling on, almost to the outer edge. I placed the second layer, right-side up, on top of the filling. I took the frosting and started with the sides of the cake and moved to the top, evenly covering the cake. Once the frosting was on I added the yummy berries, letting their juices flow down the sides of the cake.
The frosting was a bit melty he he! but it tasted so good! The cake itself was hardy and rich and definitely tasted home-made. The lemon filling was really tasty...the bit of tart helped to cut the sugary frosting, complimenting it. Absolutely the most perfect birthday cake...very much a good old-fashioned strawberry shortcake! I had to make myself stop eating it he he! SO GOOD!
