Baking Junkie

Tag: strawberry

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Strawberry Ice Cream

Recipe adapted from Liv Life

A few weeks ago I went strawberry picking for the first time in my life! With the help of my best friend we picked a total of almost 32 pounds of strawberries, and I now have enough strawberry freezer jam to hopefully last until next summer. It’s prime strawberry picking time right now, so if you are looking for recipes to use them up I highly recommend this one.

In the past I was always nervous that homemade ice cream just wouldn’t be as good as the store bought stuff I grew up with, but with each batch that I make I learn just how wrong I was. This ice cream was incredibly delicious and packed full of strawberry flavor. As with most recipes, you can adjust the amount of strawberries you use depending on what kind of flavor you’d like. Enjoy!

Strawberry Ice Cream
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1 pint sliced strawberries
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream
Scant ½ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Slice strawberries as large or small as you would like them ( I left a few larger pieces) and place in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl combine the eggs, sugar and salt. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan heat the heavy cream over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat until cream is hot, but not boiling. Add a few tablespoons of the cream to the egg mixture and stir. Add a few more tablespoons and mix again. Repeat this once more. You want to raise the temperature of the eggs without scrambling them. Pour the egg mixture back into the cream pot and heat slowly, stirring constantly for several minutes. Pour this mixture into a new bowl and add milk, vanilla and strawberries. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make the ice cream, add mixture to your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. When finished, place in an airtight container and freeze for a few hours before serving.

Tags: Ice cream, No Bake, strawberry

Posted in Ice Cream | 3 Comments »

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes

Recipe adapted from Pillsbury and my mother-in-law

This is a big post for me. I mean REALLY big. Not only is this my 100th blog post, but the blog is also celebrating it’s first birthday! Now obviously I haven’t been posting much lately, so I originally planned to have my 100th post fall on my birthday last month, but this works out well too!

I have to say that I became a little blog-obsessed for a while, and it started to take over every aspect of my life. Taking a little break from posting has actually been a really great thing for me, because it has helped me gain some perspective. I will never be famous because of my blog. I will never write a cookbook (nor would I really want to). I will probably never be one of those bloggers with tens of thousands of followers able to give away free products from companies. And I have realized that I am ok with that. My main goal is to share my love of baking with you guys. I am not fancy, and will never be above using a box of cake mix.I don’t naturally bake 2-3 things every weekend, and I’ve realized I just can’t keep up with that anymore. I bake when I can, and I will post when I can, and hopefully you guys will stick around to enjoy the recipes! It really means a lot to me when I hear people tell me how much they enjoy the site, and that’s why I continue doing it!

So now onto the pancakes! My mother-in law made us breakfast one morning a few months ago. She saw this recipe in a Pillsbury recipe book and decided to give it a try. She actually read the recipe wrong, but this was one happy accident! I think the original recipe called for using cheesecake flavored pudding, which I am sure would taste fine, but I much prefer them this way!

I make these with my favorite homemade buttermilk pancake recipe, but you can easily use your own recipe or a box mix. The rest of the recipe just involves making a no-bake cheesecake according to directions. I personally like to put a layer of cheesecake filling on top of my pancake, followed by the strawberries, then graham cracker crumbles with the strawberry syrup on top. Derek likes to layer the graham crackers first, then strawberries, and he usually makes his a “double decker”. Feel free to play around with yours, but no matter what, I guarantee you’ll find them hard to resist. I have made these several times now, and my dad has been raving about them for the past three weeks! These are not for the faint of heart, or anyone looking for a healthy way to start the morning. They are definitely the way to go if you are looking for a little dessert in the morning. Enjoy!

Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes
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1 box Jello No Bake Cheesecake plus ingredients on the box (milk and butter).
1 container of strawberries
1 Tbsp sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Strawberry Syrup

Make cheesecake filling and graham cracker crust according to directions on box, then set aside.

Slice strawberries and mix with sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl stir together buttermilk, eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. It should be a little lumpy.

Preheat either griddle or pan and coat with either butter or cooking spray. Male pancakes as big or small as you’d like.

When ready, spread a layer of cheesecake filling onto pancakes. Top with sliced strawberries, graham cracker crumbles, and strawberry syrup.

Makes approximately 6 pancakes.

Tags: Breakfast, Cheesecake, pancakes, strawberry

Posted in Breakfast | 2 Comments »

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Triple Layer Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Filling

Recipe adapted from Recipe Girl

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Hopefully you have someone to celebrate with and snuggle up to tonight. I know there are a lot of single people who hate this holiday, but instead of thinking of it as a day to celebrate love think of it as a day to celebrate chocolate!

Lori posted this chocolate cake recipe to celebrate a recent blog birthday but I knew I wanted to try it out for Valentine’s day. This is honestly the first time I have ever made a cake from scratch. While it was definitely more time consuming than adding some extras to a box mix, it is completely worth it! I was a little worried about the coffee in the recipe because I can’t tolerate the smell or taste of it, but neither one really came through much in the final product. I followed Lori’s advice and used Ghiradelli chocolate and the result was a cake and frosting that were incredibly rich and decadent. Words cannot possibly describe exactly how good this cake is. The strawberry filling is a great compliment to the chocolate and makes for a very romantic dessert! Enjoy!

Triple Layer Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Filling
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Cake:
3 ounces semisweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips)
1 ½ cups hot brewed coffee
3 eggs, room temperature
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups buttermilk
¾ tsp vanilla
3 cups sugar
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
1 ¼ tsp salt

Frosting:
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
¼ cup (1/2 stick) salted butter, cut into small pieces

Filling:
1 (16 oz) bag frozen strawberries, thawed
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 8-inch cake pans. Line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper, then spray paper too. Set aside.

In a medium bowl combine the chocolate and hot coffee. Stir together and let sit until chocolate is melted. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat eggs for 3-5 minutes. Add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and coffee until well combined. In a separate bowl combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.

Divide batter amongst the three pans and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, bring the cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat. Remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate until melted. Add butter and stir until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and place in refrigerator until it reaches spreading consistency (mine took about 45 minutes).

To make filling, puree strawberries in a blender or food processor. Transfer to a small saucepan and combine with sugar and cornstarch. Stir constantly over medium low heat. Mixture will thicken as it boils. Let cool completely before use.

To assemble the cake, run a small knife around the cake edges and remove from pans. Place half of the strawberry filling over the top of one cake. Top with second layer, then the remaining filling. Place final layer on top then cover and frost with ganache.

**If you don’t have three cake pans you can make a double layer cake and use the rest for cupcakes. Avoid filling the pans more than ⅔ full so they don’t spill over. Use all of the strawberry filling between the layers.**

Tags: Cake, chocolate, Ganache, strawberry

Posted in Cake | 6 Comments »

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

White Chocolate Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

I’m a list person. I love them. Can’t live without them. No lie, I will sometimes add things that I have already done to my to do list just so that I can cross them off. I once made a list of lists that I wanted to make.

I hope my OCD’ness hasn’t scared you off yet.

Naturally I made lists when I started blogging. I started a master list of various different desserts I wanted to make, and split them into subcategories (cake, cookies, cupcakes, etc). The longest list was for cupcakes and I started brainstorming all of the different flavors I wanted to try. Peanut butter and jelly was near the top of the list but it has taken me until now to figure out exactly how I wanted to do it. Remember the white chocolate peanut butter and jelly puppy chow? It was such a heavenly combination that I knew it needed to be in cupcake form. I brought these in for a coworkers birthday and she doesn’t like filled cupcakes so that meant I had to put both flavors in buttercream on top of the cupcakes.

I modified a recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor (love her!) for the white chocolate cake. It is so much more rich and indulgent that just a regular box of cake mix, and combined with both peanut butter and strawberry buttercream makes for one heck of a flavor explosion! One of my coworkers even labeled these as her new favorite (hi Cathy!)

I got about 18 large cupcakes out of this recipe and had just enough frosting for the pattern seen below (Wilton tip 22). If you made two dozen smaller cupcakes, or want to use more frosting in swirl patterns (one flavor on top of the other) I would multiple the frosting recipes by 1.5. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes
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Cake
1 package white cake mix
1 box (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
⅔ cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup white chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Buttercream
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
½ tsp vanilla
½ cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk

Strawberry Buttercream
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
½ tsp vanilla
¼ cup strawberry jam
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using an electric mixer combine together cake mix, pudding, eggs, sour cream, water, vegetable oil and vanilla. In a small bowl melt white chocolate chips for one minute. Stir until smooth then add to remaining cake mix and combine. The mixture will be thick. Place in cupcake liners, filling ⅔ full. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool in pan for five minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

To make the peanut butter buttercream, beat together the butter, vanilla and peanut butter until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar in one cup increments, then add milk to thin. Repeat process to make strawberry buttercream. I used a disposable pastry bag with a Wilton 22 tip to frost.

Tags: Buttercream, Cupcakes, peanut butter, strawberry, White chocolate

Posted in Cupcakes | 5 Comments »

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

White Chocolate Peanut Butter & Jelly Puppy Chow

Recipe from Picky Palate

Puppy chow is one of my favorite snacks around the holidays (and just about any time really). I know that in the Midwest it is usually called puppy chow but in other parts of the country it goes by other names such as muddy mix, muddy buddies, and monkey mix. No matter what you call it, it’s still yummy! Typical puppy chow consists of some sort of Chex cereal, peanut butter and chocolate melted together and mixed with the cereal, then a coating of powdered sugar. Delicious right?

Earlier this summer I saw this recipe from Jenny and I couldn’t wait to try it! I have been saving it for my holiday baking, but I may have to start making it more often. The general taste and texture of original puppy chow is still there, but the addition of the white chocolate and jelly take it to a whole new level. I think this may be even more addicting than the original! Enjoy!

White Chocolate Peanut Butter & Jelly Puppy Chow
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9 cups Chex cereal
¾ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup strawberry jelly
2 Tbsp butter
2 cups powdered sugar

Place cereal in a large mixing bowl. In a separate, medium sized bowl place white chocolate chips, peanut butter, jelly and butter. Microwave for one minute or until melted. Stir to combine, then pour over cereal and mix to coat. Spoon cereal mixture into large gallon sized ziploc bag (or divide between two smaller bags). Pour powdered sugar into bag, seal, then shake well to fully coat cereal.

Tags: Christmas, No Bake, peanut butter, strawberry, White chocolate

Posted in Appetizers | 11 Comments »