12 Buttermilk Recipes for Every Meal from Breakfast to Dessert Slideshow – Bon Appétit.
I find myself using buttermilk quite often as an ingredient in all types of recipes, from biscuits, breads and cakes to chicken and everything in between. It is pretty versatile and adds some great flavor to all kinds if dishes. Bon Appetit has put together 12 recipes that make use of buttermilk so you can incorporate it into a bunch of different meals. Check it out!
Pumpkinpalooza! 30 Days of Pumpkin Recipes | Williams-Sonoma Taste.
It’s fall and the leaves are changing, the weather is getting crisper and Halloween is right around the corner. It also means the pumpkins come to the forefront of everyone’s mind for this time of year and there are some great pumpkin recipes you can try to incorporate pumpkins into your meals. Williams-Sonoma has put together 30 pumpkin recipes so you can try something different with pumpkins each day. Check it out!
Desserts are not something we have every night in our house. Many nights, if you want something it is a piece of fruit, maybe a cookie or a bowl of ice cream. Then there are those days where one of us gets a craving and really wants to having something sweet, or decadent or chocolate. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen and there are some times where you just don’t have a candy bar or anything like that around the house. If you have the right ingredients around though, you can whip up a very easy chocolate cake that is rich and succulent like you would not believe. I came across this recipe on Serious Eats a few days ago and the cake, called a chocolate chocolate teacake, sounded too good to pass up and looked like it could be made pretty easily. The recipe does call for pastry flour, but if you do not have any on hand (and I didn’t) I found a substitute online that says you can make a cup of pastry flour by combining 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour with 1/2 cup of cake flour (which I did have) and it worked out well for me.
Chocolate Chocolate Teacake
3/4 cup pastry flour
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped dark chocolate, 60 to 70% cacao
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 eggs
Powdered sugar, for topping (optional)
Position a rack to the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan.
Sift together the pastry flour, all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Set the bowl aside.
Combine the cooled coffee, buttermilk and vanilla extract in a measuring cup and set it aside. Melt 3/4 cup of the chopped dark chocolate gently over a double boiler or in a small bowl set over a small saucepan of simmering water. Remove the pan from the heat, but leave the chocolate over the double boiler to keep it warm while you mix the cake. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and salt on medium-high speed until it is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Incorporate the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl well. pause the mixing and add the flour mixture. Mix just until the ingredients are incorporated. With the mixer on low-speed, pour in the coffee mixture. Fold in both the melted chocolate and the remaining chopped chocolate pieces.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake the cake for about 55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. Do not overbake the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely.
Place a flat plate on top of the cake and the loaf pan. Carefully invert the cake onto the plate by flipping both upside down. Lift the pan off the cake. Rest your serving plate on the bottom of the cake and turn the cake right-side up onto the serving plate. Top the cake with powdered sugar, if desired and serve.
This is a very rich, very chocolately cake. Between the cocoa powder, the dark chocolate that is melted and the chopped chocolate pieces there is a lot of chocolate and the cake itself is very dark. I think the coffee adds a really nice flavor and moistness to the cake itself as well. The flavor of the cake is fantastic and it is just the right size for you to keep around for a few days so you can have a piece at night after dinner. This would also be something that you could easily bring to someone else’s home. I’ll certainly be making this one again.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Easy desserts can be really helpful when you cannot think of anything to make and are having a dinner or just want a special treat for you and your family one night without having to put a lot of effort into it. One of the classic desserts that many people may remember from their youth is just like this – the classic icebox cake. It only has a few ingredients to it and most of the time you need to put into making the cake is the cake chilling in the refrigerator. What you come out with is a great tasting classic without much effort. I got this recipe from the Cooking Channel, though you can also find the recipe on the back of the chocolate wafer cooking package you use in the recipe (unless of course you are making your own chocolate wafer cookies).
Classic Icebox Cake
40 chocolate wafer cookies (store-bought or homemade)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon corn syrup
3 cups heavy whipping cream
To make the caramel whipped cream, in a medium saucepan put the sugar in a mound in the center of the pan. Try to be sure that the sugar does not hit the sides of the pan. Gently add the water and the corn syrup, making sure that the sugar does not splash up on the sides of the pan. If any of the sugar is not dissolved, very gently stir, but make sure none of the sugar hits the sides of the pan. All of this care to keep the sugar off the sides of the pan will prevent the sugar from crystallizing while it cooks.
Cook the sugar mixture over high heat, without stirring. When the sugar starts to color on the edges, gently stir the sugar until it is quite dark. The sugar will smoke a bit until it has turned dark.
Once the caramel is dark in color, reduce the heat and add half of the heavy whipping cream. The caramel will sputter and seize up, which is normal. Gently whisk the caramel until the sugar dissolves. Add the remaining heavy cream and stir. Strain the caramel cream into a shallow container and cover and refrigerate it until it is well chilled, about 2 to 4 hours minimum.
Using a whisk or a stand mixer, whip 2/3 of the chilled caramel cream until soft peaks have formed. Reserve the remaining 1/3 of the cream for topping the cake.
To make the icebox cake, Line a 8-inch by 4-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap.
Coat the bottom of the prepared loaf pan with about 1/4-inch thick layer of the caramel cream. Line the outer edge of the loaf pan with chocolate wafer cookies. Spread a layer of cream on each cookie and layer them together in the pan. You should end up with about 3 rows of cookies and cream. Cover the top with more of the cream so that the cookies are completely covered. Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Invert the cake onto a serving platter. Whip the remaining 1/3 of the caramel cream and decorate the cake with it as you wish.
Of course, if you didn’t want to go through the effort of making the caramel cream, you could simply make some regular whipped cream and use that as the base and topping for your cake and it would come out just as nicely I believe, but the caramel adds a nice touch and flavor to the cake. The cake is light and airy and the chocolate wafers just go so nicely with the cream that you can find yourself eating a lot of this cake without much effort at all. It’s pretty tasty and one that we use often, either with regular whipped cream or caramel cream.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
While going to farmer’s markets is a great way to support your own local economy, buy directly from the farms around you and get great produce and other items for great prices, one thing I have found is that some people do tend to go a little overboard with the amount they buy in relation to what they will eat before it will all spoil. I have to admit I am guilty of this at times as things can look great and I get all of these ideas in my head as to what I can do and make with what I buy, but the reality is that sometimes I just do not have the time to do it. When I was checking over what we had just he other day, I discovered some peaches and blueberries I had forgotten about and I wanted to do something to make a quick dish with them before they went pas the point of no return. The easiest thing to do with fruit like this I have found is to make some sort of cobbler or crumble. Thus this recipe from Kitchen Daily for a peach and blueberry cobbler came at the perfect time and was put to use right away.
Peach and Blueberry Cobbler
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe but firm peaches (about 1 pound), pitted and sliced into eighths, or 3 1/2 cups frozen peaches
2 cups (1 pint) fresh or frozen blueberries
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the butter and vegetable or canola oil in a large cast-iron skillet or a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan. Heat the skillet or pan in the oven until the butter is melted and fragrant, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the whole-wheat flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk, sugar and vanilla extract and stir the mixture until it is combined.
Add the melted butter mixture to the batter in the bowl and stir to combine them. Pour the batter into the hot skillet or pan. Spoon the peaches and blueberries evenly over the batter.
Return the skillet or pan to the oven and bake the mixture until the top of the cobbler is browned and the batter around the fruit is completely set, about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the skillet to a wire rack to coll the cobbler for at least 15 minutes. Serve the cobbler warm.
Of course, you can also make this ahead, cool it and remove it from the skillet and keep it for after dinner. I warmed up the pieces in the microwave before we served them, but you could also put the whole skillet back in a warm 350 degree oven for a few minutes just to warm it through. This is perfect to serve with some ice cream or whipped cream (or both) as a dessert, but having a slice with your coffee in the morning also makes for a very tasty breakfast. You get the great mix of the fruit together with a simple recipe. The whole-wheat flour adds some flavor and texture to the dish, but I think you could just as easily use all-purpose flour instead if you prefer it. In either case, it was a perfect solution on how to use the fruit (and you could really use any fruit here that you happen to have around, fresh or frozen) and get a nice dish from it.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Michelle had asked me what I wanted for a Father’s Day dinner last week and I knew what I wanted for dessert right away. I love desserts that make use of bananas (see the Bananas Foster cake Michelle made for my past birthday) and I had just recently seen this recipe on the Food Republic website for an awesome looking banana upside down cake. I have tried pineapple upside down cake and peach upside down cake so this one seemed like it would be just as good and was not going to be hard to make. I was really looking forward to it and was not disappointed with the results.
Banana Upside Down Cake
For the Banana Caramel:
1 1/2 cups sugar
4-5 bananas, ripened
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
For the Cake:
2/3 cup butter, plus extra for greasing
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
11/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
2 large ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch diameter springform cake pan then line the pan with parchment paper.
To make the banana caramel, put the sugar and 2/3 cup of water in a heavy saucepan and cook the mixture over high heat until the sugar has dissolved. Let the mixture boil until it has thickened to a golden-brown caramel, taking care not to burn it. Remove the caramel immediately from the stove and pour it into the prepared cake pan, tipping the pan slightly from side to side until the pan is evenly coated. Peel the bananas and halve them lengthwise. Arrange the bananas over the caramel in a neat pattern, trimming the bananas as necessary, then dust the bananas with the ground cinnamon.
For the cake batter, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl. Put the egg whites in a separate clean bowl and whisk the egg whites using an electric hand mixer until stiff peaks have formed. Put the butter and the sugar in another large bowl and whisk them together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Slowly whisk in the egg yolks into the butter-sugar mixture one at a time until combined. Fold in the mashed bananas, followed by the dry ingredients in the flour mixture. Fold in the egg whites into the entire mixture and gently mix to form the batter.
Pour the batter into the cake pan and spread the batter evenly with a spatula. Bake the cake in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before unmolding it. The cake is easier to unmold while it is still warm before the caramel has had a chance to cool and harden. Run a thin knife around the inside of the pan. Put a large flat plate over the top of the cake pan and, holding the pan and the plate, invert it and gently lift off the pan and peel off the parchment paper. Serve the cake warm.
Wow, this cake tasted really good! It was kind of a mix of really moist banana bread with the caramel you have on a typical upside down cake except it is chock full of banana flavor. Put some homemade whipped cream on top of the cake and you have yourself a masterpiece. I loved every bite of it and the cake stayed moist for a couple of days afterward to provide a wonderful snack each night. We will definitely be making this one again and I think it would be great to make to bring to a party, housewarming or summer barbecue.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Fun, unusual and forgotten designations on our calendar.
Happily Ever After Lives Here
a little bit naughty a little bit nice
Letting Life Lead
Simple and delicious dinner inspiration
onedadskitchen 