We usually make a double batch of these, when we have all of the ingredients on hand.  I have increased te liquid by using kefir instead of dry milk powder too - I just added a touch more flour.

This recipe makes eight very flaky biscuits.
Sift twice to combine well:

1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

With a pastry blender, or two knives, cut in 1/3 cup shortening.
Add:

1 cup fresh starter
1/2 cup flour, or more to make the dough kneadable

When blended, knead two or three times.  Roll out or pat until 1/2 inch thick.  Cut in half, place one half over the other and roll out again.  Repeat this about eight times.  Cut out biscuits, place
on ungreased cookie sheet.  If desired, brush tops with oil or melted butter.  Let stand 30 minutes.  Bake 30 minutes at 375 F
or 10-12 minutes at 450 F.

For dessert shortcakes, increase the sugar to 3 tablespoons and add one egg.

This is one of the more basic batters for crepes, but whe you don’t have a lot on hand and you want a crepe, it does the job!

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour (Wondra is recommended, but any will work)
• 2 cups water (we often do 1/2 milk)
• 2 Tbsp. melted butter
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Combine ingredients in a blender and blend for 3-5 minutes, or until very well blended and frothy.

Let it sit for 20 minutes to 1 hour.

Over med-high heat, warm up a crepe pan or 10″ fry pan and add 1 Tbsp butter.  Pour about 1/2 cup of batter in and swirl it around the sides and bottom of the pan.  Let it sit until the sides begin to pull away from the pan.  At this point I flip the crepe, but some say that “isn’t proper”.

The crepe should slide out of the pan easily.

Fill with your choice of fruits, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, nutella & bananas, etc, or go the savory route with an egg crepe (just a whipped egg made in the same way), caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms, salsa and cheese, etc.

The basic crepe is a wonderful canvas upon which to add a variety of flavors.  Make up a bunch and freeze or refrigerate them for later!

So good…

So, you have burritos or tacos, and you just want a little something to go with them, right?  Or perhaps you are one who likes to have rice inside your burritos… well, here is a great rice that’s a cinch to make!

Ingredients:

• pre-cooked rice (we use leftovers) about 1-2 cups is good
• 1 can Herdez Salsa Verde (not a jar, a can)
• 1/2 sweet onion - chopped
• garlic - minced
• diced fire-roasted chilies - optional
• olive oil - for the pan

Pour some oil into a large skillet or saute pan.  Saute the garlic and onions (and chilies if using) until they just start to carmalize.

Add the cooked rice to the pan, stir a bit, and pour the salsa verde over it.  Stir again.  Cook until it’s warmed throughout.

Serve, eat and enjoy!

Told you it was easy…

This also transports very well, and it’s even better after it sits for a day or so.  Some people don’t like any spice, but for those that do, you can easily substitute a diced jalapeño or two for the can of chilies.

If you bake very often, you know the value of having the right tool for the job, right? Well, I have discovered the best cooling racks I have ever used!

Available through The Pampered Chef, these cooling racks have a tight grid, rather that just one-way bars, and are coated with some material that helps baked goods not stick.

As the holiday’s are here, many of us will be doing the bulk of our yearly baking, and I recommend that you give these cooling racks a try! They are also a fabulous gift for anyone on your list who loves to bake - I use them for everything.

Did I mention that they stack?

Enjoy!

https://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=2093&words=cooling%20rack is the direct link…

A few years ago, I received a set of Doughmakers baking pans. They have a “pebble” finish to them that helps in heat circulation and in food release. There is a raised lip around the edges that helps prevent them from warping, and the 14″x17.5″ size is perfect for baking cookies!

This size is my favorite and most often used pan, as it fits my baking stone perfectly. I also use a silicone baking mat on it to further help with easy clean-up. I use it under my glass & corningware pans to provide a barrier between them & my baking stone, and it often gets left in the oven. I have been using it for over 5 years now, and it still looks like brand-new and works wonderfully!

I highly recommend Doughmakers if you are in the market for new baking pans.

Doughmakers 14×17.5 Cookie Sheet

I have had one of these stones for around 10 years, and I absolutely LOVE it! It is large enough to almost fill a shelf rack in the oven, so I just leave it in there. Yes, it is well seasoned!

If you bake bread, pizza, cakes or cookies, I consider a baking stone a must-have, as it evens out the heat of your oven so wonderfully to help your baked goods come out beautifully.

For breads, if they are free-form, just use a peel to slide them on to the pre-heated stone and let them bake the normal time called for in the recipe. The end result is a wonderfully crisp crust with a soft interior. For quick-breads or loaf pans place the pan directly on the stone - unless, of course, they are glass or stoneware themselves, as that could cause one or both to crack. The solution? Place a cookie sheet on top of the stone & place the glass pan on the cookie sheet.

For cookies, you can either take the stone out before pre-heating the oven & out the cookies directly on the stone & bake them that way, or leave the stone in the oven & slide a pan of cookies onto it to bake. I usually use a pan with a silicone baking mat (for easy clean-up) and slide it onto the stone.

If you bake - at all - a stone is a wonderful tool to help your baked creations come out better than ever!

Kitchen Supply Co. 14×16 Baking/Pizza Stone

We also have a link to a baking stone & peel set - they compliment each other perfectly!

14×16 Baking/Pizza Stone and Peel Set

I promised a picture of the completed butterfly, and even though I don’t have all of the recipes posted yet, here is the finished cake!

The rundown:

I know, it’s missing the antennae, but we put 7 candles on it… 1 on each of the bottom 5 cupcakes, and 2 on the top one.  Antennae problem solved!

The top right heart is Red Velvet Cake, with a whipped cream cheese and cherry filling (oh yeah).

The top left heart is Swedish Butter Cake with whiped cream cheese and apricot jam filling.

The bottom wings are Fruity Carrot Cake.

The body is made from the Dulce Sin Leche cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The world - an amazing book.  We made these last year, and they were my favorite - even over chocolate cake.  Now that’s sayin’ something!

I’ll get the Swedish Butter recipe posted soon - it’s worth it.  This year, I’m really not sure which is my favorite - they are all very, very good.  The butter cake is similar to a pound cake - add the whipped cream cheese and apricot jam and it’s simply heavenly - but certainly NOT light!

The red velvet is dense… VERY dense (as a good chocolate cake should be) and the cherries gave it a black forest kind of feel.  So good.

The carrot cake was the one that was eaten the most - and most of the guests were ages 8 & under!  They loved it, as did the adults that had some.  Unfortunately, there just isn’t much of that one left.

Next time you are looking for a great cake, pick one of these (or try them all!)  There’s not a bad on in the bunch.

This is one of those cakes… you know, the ones that are reserved for really special occasions because it’s so *not* good for you! And I don’t just mean the food coloring *wink*

Background… the red color originally came from the reaction between cocoa powder and vinegar. And it does still make it somewhat red, but since dutch processed and more alkaline cocoas came on the market, it’s not as bright. What’s a home baker to do? Add food coloring to make it more red. Or add beets… but who wants to do that to chocolate?

I didn’t follow this exactly, because I ran out of food coloring. So I added some red gel coloring as well. It seems to have worked well.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (OK, shortening if you have to)
• 1-1/2 cups evaporated cane juice (sugar)
• 2 eggs

• 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder - heaping
• 1-1/2 -2 oz. red food coloring

• 1 tsp. salt
• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk (or kefir)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. vinegar

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter 2 9-inch or 3 8-inch cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper and butter it. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well.

Make a paste of the cocoa powder and food coloring. If you (like me) bought the small bottle of food coloring, either suffer through a less red cake, go buy another one, or add some gel coloring. Add this paste to the butter mixture.

Combine the salt and flour, and alternate it with the buttermilk and vanilla, making sure that it is well combined.

Sprinkle the baking soda over the vinegar - it will react. Pour this over the batter and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove to cool in the pans on racks. Loosen the sides if necessary, and, laying another rack on top of the pans, flip them over. Remove the pans and parchment paper and allow to completely cool.

The basic recipe calls for a cooked white frosting. Some people like a cream cheese frosting, some like whipped cream. I’m going to try putting a filling of cherries in a whipped cream frosting - sounds delish!

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I was using heart-shaped pans, so I ended up with a little bit of extra batter. So, I baked 2 4-inch round cakes, added a filling and frosted them. We will eat these tonight in honor of my dad’s birthday today. It seemed to take a bit longer to bake these… but eventually the toothpick came out clean. I think it was closer to 40-45 minutes. I’d check them at 25 minutes though, just to be safe!

Again, I combined a bunch of recipes. Most had the same basic ingredients, but some left out the vinegar. Some had more sugar or food coloring, or much less chocolate. I have had red velvet cake that was so dry you needed a glass of milk - I didn’t want that. This has a little less flour and I really heaped the cocoa powder (there’s probably close to 3.5 Tbsp. in these!) because I like chocolate. I know… shocking. I also added a touch more buttermilk for moistness. We’ll keep tweaking it I’m sure. After all, it IS chocolate.

Yes, I am calling this a fruity carrot cake, because it tastes, well, fruity!  It’s also very moist, and very delicious.  It’s also kinda good for you, but I won’t tell if you don’t!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup almond meal or whole wheat flour (I did a combination)
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginge

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup evaporated cane juice
• 1 cup buttermilk (or kefir, if you’ve got it)
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 4 eggs
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extrac

• 2 cups finely grated carrots
• 1 cup (8 oz) drained, crushed pineapple
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chopped dried cherries
• 1 cup flaked coconut (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter 3 (8-inch) or 2 (9-inch) cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper and butter it.  Set aside.

Combine the flours, soda, salt and spices.  Set them aside.  In your mixer bowl, combine the sugars, buttermilk, applesauce, eggs and vanilla.  Mix until well combined.  Add the flour mixture, carrots, fruit and nuts, stirring until just blended.

Pour the batter into the cake pans, spreading to the edges.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven, and cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes.  Loosen the edges with a knife if necessary.  Lay a second rack on top of the cake pans and flip them over.  Remove the pans and parchment paper.  Allow to cool completely, covering with a towel if needed.

Spread your favorite cream cheese frosting in between the layers and on the top and sides.  A wonderful garnish is to use halved walnuts or pipe on some frosting carrots.

Cover and refrigerate overnight before cutting.

Enjoy

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So, since I was using a food processor to shred the carrots, I also tossed in the cherries and pecans (I didn’t have walnuts on hand).  They came out minced - not quite ground, more than chopped.  It worked really, really well - especially since I have a kid around here who hates nuts.  I personally don’t much like coconut, so I left it out, but since so many people like it, I left it in the recipe.

For the whole wheat flour part, I was pretty much out, so I used almond meal for about 1/2 cup of it, then added the little but of whole wheat that I had and it came out wonderful.  It holds up pretty well to substitutions.

Next time I may try it with kefir instead of buttermilk, because I always have that on hand.  Since I am making a few cakes this week, I bought the buttermilk - it’s also in the Red Velvet Cake.

I combined a few different recipes for this one… I found so many with the same basic ingredients, but I wanted something a little different.  I swapped cherries for the usual raisins and used pecans instead of walnuts (but just because that was what I had on hand).  I wanted to make it a little more healthy without sacrificing taste, so I went 50/50 on the flour.  It seems to have worked.  The pineapple is a must though - so yummy!

Oh come on… you actually thought I’d follow a recipe word for word?  Riiiiight.  Occasionally I do that the first time, but not usually.  After all, where is the fun in that?

I was awakened this morning to the industrious sounds of my husband and daughter making these for the rest of the family.  They are an amazing smell to wake up to, and I thought I’d share them.  Oh yeah, they taste pretty good too.

The Dough:

• 1.5 cups unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, chilled and cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup milk or apple juic

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Stir together the flours, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl.  Cut in the butter using a pastry blender ot two knives used scissor style, or a fork, until the mixture is grainy.  Stir in enough milk to form a moist dough.  You may not use all of it.  You want to be able to plop it from a spoon.

The Filling:

• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. unbleached white flour
• 2 Tbsp. softened butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Using 2 lightly oiled baking sheets (or with 2 silicone mats)  form each biscuit from a teaspoon of dough and drop in onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart.  Make a small depression in the center and fill it with 1/2 tsp of the filling.  Top with another teaspoon of dough, and another 1/2 teaspoon of filling.  Do this with all of the dough.

Bake at 400F until flakey and lightly browned.

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You can make these ahead and keep the dough and filling separate in the fridge.  IN the morning preheat the oven, assemble and bake hte biscuits.

You can also freeze some of the combined biscuits before baking them .  Just let them stand at room temp. for 10 minutes prior to baking.

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This recipe is from the Breakfast In Bed - 90 Recips for Creative Indulgence by Jesse Ziff Cool.