July 13, 2012

Bakers Dozen - Scratch Goodies


I'M NOT A BAKER -- REALLY!

So after my cake success I decided it was time to try other things. Simple tasty things that even a baking novice, such as I, could do. Now I love blueberries and decided some blueberry bread would be fantastic. So I went online in search of a super easy doable recipe to try out. This is the recipe I ended up doing because I had all the ingredients:

Blueberry Loaf:
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder; add to creamed mixture just until combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour into a greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

 With this I added added a little lemon to it because I've heard of people doing that. I guess I could have just searched for a lemon blueberry loaf, but that would have been easy. Anyway, it wasn't too sweet and came out fantastic. It said it would make 16 servings but I cut my slices thicker so got a bit less than 16.



That's a thick brownie know!? It was tasty though...yum!


So at the same time I was making the loaf I made some brownies! Okay normally I am a queen of boxed brownies, but hey we're doing scratch right? So I grabbed a book that apparently was stuffed somewhere really bad because it didn't have a cover. I don't know from whence it came, but it was put to good use. It had dessert recipes in it so I'm going to through it out there and say it was a dessert cook book. *ahem* Anyway it had a pretty simple chocolate brownie recipe and I through in some nuts just for good measure.


Cocoa Brownies:
  • ¾ cup butter (170 g)
  • 1+½ cup sugar (330 g)
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour (85 g)
  • ½ cup cocoa powder (50 g)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder


Pretty simple, no? Well it was, or shall I say is! It was just like mixing a regular box mix and didn't take any extra effort. Really it didn't take anymore longer to make it from scratch than it did from a box. I had my niece help and she was pretty happy about that. Baking or cooking is a great way to bond with the kids. She is 12 right now so anything that keeps her out of trouble and not in front of a tv is great.

The batter came out really smooth and was just a bit thicker than regular mix. I had to restrain from wanting to stick my face in the bowl and eat it right there and then. Much to my chagrin and the kids relief I didn't do it. I grabbed it stuck it in a pan and popped that bad boy in the already warmed up oven.





Next up was dinner and we were having some mashed taters, meatloaf and corn so had to make some yummy biscuits. Now I came across a problem...I don't have a biscuit cutter so I got a little inventive. I looked around and grabbed a cup (nope too thick),  a coffee lid (nope too round), then I saw it. It was perfect, it was small, round, and had a nice "sharp" edge. It also was in the shape of Mickey Mouse. Yup I grabbed a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter and used that. It actually worked out pretty well and while it made the job a little longer, they still came out great! I ended up making two different kinds because they were so simple. Regular down home biscuits with a little butter, and some cheese biscuits. Both were delish and a great time was had by all. 





This is the recipe I used:
Easy Biscuit Recipe
  • 2 C flour
  • 2 Tbsp Sugar
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/3 C oil
  • 2/3 C milk





Pretty simple right? I would love to see you guys make some and show me the results! If you have a super easy baking recipe I'd love to try it out as well. Let's get to sharing!!

My first cheese biscuit!

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