Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberries... I usually don't like them but my kids and husband do. However, over Spring Break we visited my grandma and she made this strawberry mixture and put them on ice cream.... they were so delicious that when we returned home I went out and bought a box of strawberries. I began to think, what is it that I could make with those strawberries. I have never eaten a pound cake nor strawberry shortcake. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but there was only one way to find out... bake one.

Loved it!!!

Pound Cake:

• 1 (8oz) Package Cream Cheese, softened
•  1 c. Butter, softened
• 3 c. Sugar
• 6 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Lemon Extract
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 3 c. Flour
• 1/2 c. Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325. 
Cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. 
Stir in both extracts. Mix in flour and buttermilk, alternatively. Pour into your greased bundt pan or 2 round 9" pans (for this cake, I used the two 9" pans but you are more than welcome to use the bundt instead). 
If baking in the bundt, cook for 80-90 minutes. 
If cooking in the two 9" pans cook for 45-60 minutes. 
                                                                                

                                                                  *For a fluffier and more cake like add 1 tsp. of                                                                      baking soda after mixing in the extracts.  
 
Once done, let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan and letting it completely cool on racks. 





Strawberry Filling/Topping:

• 1 lb. Strawberries
• 1/4 c. Sugar

Cut the tops of our strawberries off and toss. 
Slice them into slivers. 
Dice into cubes. 
Place diced strawberries into a container that will seal, add sugar and mix until all strawberries are coated. 
Cover with lid and place in the fridge for 1 hour. 









I added frosting to mine, if you choose to do so:

• 1 (8oz) Package Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 sticks Butter, softened
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 20 oz. Powdered Sugar

Whisk all together in a bowl and set aside.




Now it's time to assemble:

Place your strawberries evenly throughout the bottom of your cake. (If your pour the juice in, it will make it near impossible for the cake to hold the frosting on)





Add just enough frosting to cover the top of the strawberries, this will help the two cakes hold together.



Place the other cake on top and frost.
Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

Nanatella Muffins

Bananas.... a battle I can never win, I either don't have enough or have too many. There are only so many things you can make with them before you are sick of them too. This time the bananas got lucky. Since we were going out of town and prefer to leave super early before breakfast and eat on the road, I decided to make some banana muffins. I didn't want just plain banana muffins though because then they would taste too much like banana bread. As I browsed through the pantry, I decided Nutella would go good. 

Thus was born Nanatella Muffins:

Ingredients:

• 3 Ripe Bananas, Mashed
• 1 1/2 c. Flour
• 3/4 c. Sugar
• 1/4 c. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 2 eggs, Beaten
• 1 tsp.Vanilla
• 1/3 c. Butter, Melted
• 1/4 c. Nutella

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. 

In a medium bowl, mash bananas and set aside. 

In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugars, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder).  Once well blended, set aside and return to mashed bananas.

Add beaten eggs, vanilla, and melted butter to your bananas, whisk until combined. Pour on top of your flour mixture and whisk until you see no lumps. 
I decided to put the Nutella in the batter before hand and not a spoonful into each cup individually to save time but you may do as you wish. After adding your Nutella, pour into your cupcake liners (filling them only half way) and bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

                                                           *This recipe made me 16 muffins.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:

•  2 c. Flour
• 1/2 c. Sugar
•  2 tsp. Baking Powder 
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda 
• 2 Eggs
• 4 tbsp. Butter, Melted
• 1 1/2 C. Milk + 1 1/2 tbsp Vinegar

I have learned over the years how to make my own buttermilk and it's super easy! Hints the milk plus vinegar. 

Directions::

In small mixing bowl, stir together your milk and vinegar, set aside for about 5 minutes. 

While your milk it sitting, get a large mixing bowl and blend your dry ingredients (first 4 items). Set this aside and go back to your milk mixture. 

Stir the milk, add in the eggs and melted butter, and whisk until completely blended. Once this is done add it to your dry ingredients. Whisk them together until there are no more lumps. 

Turn your burner on to medium heat and allow it to warm before pouring batter onto it. Use 1/4 cup to measure the batter. Watch for the bubbles to form and flip. These will be quite fluffy... After the first flip you will notice them rising in the middle, when they have completely rose then you may remove and go to your next pancake. 

If you are serving for only 2, I would suggest cutting the recipe in half, which can easily be done. 

Enjoy!

Dr.Seuss Cupcakes

This week was Dr.Seuss's Birthday and if you have children, then you know that usually the kids get to do something fun at school. Not the case for my kids this year at their new school. Yeah, I was disappointed and decided if they couldn't enjoy something fun there then I would make it up to them at home. 

        We had "Green Eggs and Ham" for dinner. I made buttermilk pancakes (you can find this recipe in my blog)and dyed them green in substitute for real ham, looked like sliced ham anyways.

I wasn't too sure anyone would be up to eating green eggs, but they demolished them. Although, it may have been for the cupcakes I made for dessert. I made "Thing 1 and Thing 2" and "Truffula Trees". Directions will follow picture.

These cupcakes are super easy. I did cut corners this time and made boxed cake mix.

"Thing 1 and Thing 2" : 

Things you will need:

• Boxed Cake Mix 
• Red Liners 
• White Frosting 
• Blue Cotton Candy

Bake your cupcakes according to box instructions and allow to completely cool, I used red velvet and chose cream cheese frosting.
Slow pull of chunks of cotton candy and place on top. 
Yup, that's it. 
           
            *Please note, the more you handle the cotton candy the faster it will stick together. Also, I would suggest not putting the hair on until you are ready to have them. Where we live there is tons of humidity and in a matter of an hour the cotton candy was melting. 


"Truffula Tree":

 Things you will need:

• Boxed Cake Mix
• Preferred Liner Color
• White frosting with Neon Green Dye or Pre-made Light Green Frosting
• Cake Pop Sticks
• Cotton Candy
• Large Candy Bar Sized Laffy Taffy in 2 colors 

Bake cupcakes according to directions and allow to cool. I used red velvet for these too, I had split the box and used half for these and half for the other cupcakes. Since, I was using cream cheese frosting I added neon green dye (yes, I would suggest getting the neon green so you can get the right color). 


While the cupcakes are cooking, take your Laffy Taffy and using a pizza cutter slice the taffy into smaller strips (they should be about the length of your cake pop sticks). I had to cut the taffy in half quite a few times to get them to the thickness I though was right , as you can see in the picture.... the middle ones are my final width. Remember you don't want them too thick. 


Once you have them sliced, wrap them around the stick so they swirl. Make sure to leave a good 1/2" or more, you need that space to stick it into the cupcake.
              Like so------>




Have all sticks done before adding your cotton candy to the top of the sticks. If you pull the cotton candy carefully from the center, the tops will be more fluffy. Remember what I said about the cotton candy, it applies to these as well. 
You're done! Enjoy! 

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

This last week I have been on a major pancake kick! No, seriously! I can't get enough pancakes!  I want them in the morning, lunch, dinner, and even snack times in between. It's that kind of craving you get when you are pregnant except you're not. Yeah, it's that bad. 

In my house, everyone is guaranteed to eat their whole plate if we are having pancakes. Double score for me! I get what I want to eat and get the satisfaction of knowing they are going to eat a lot too. 

Today we had cinnamon roll pancakes and let me tell you.... all of the boys kept raving over how good they were. 

Pancake Ingredients: 

• 2 C. Flour
• 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
• 2 Tbsp. Cinnamon
• 1 C. Brown Sugar
• 2 C. Milk
• 2 Tbsp. Oil
• 1/3 C. Butter, Melted
• 2 Eggs, Beaten

Cream Cheese Glaze Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 2 Oz. Cream Cheese 
• 1 1/4 C. Powdered Sugar
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

Directions::
   We will be making the cream cheese glaze first. 

            In a medium microwave safe Pyrex mixing bowl, place the butter and cream cheese, and cook for about 10 seconds, stir and cook another 10 seconds or until they are melted. (If butter melts and cream cheese is just softened, this is okay because the heat from the butter will melt it when stirred) Stir in vanilla until well blended. Add powdered sugar and mix until there are no clumps. Set aside. 

            In a large mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients from the pancakes and mix well. Next, add all the remaining ingredients until smooth and lump free. I cook my pancakes at about low medium and use 1/4 cup to measure the batter. Pour batter onto skillet and watch for your pancake to get a few bubbles (this won't take but a minute or two), this means it is ready and flip. Leave it on this side for about a minute and remove. Once all your pancakes are done and on your plates, drizzle the cream cheese glaze across the top and add syrup. Ta-dah! ENJOY!