Use It Up

This post is once again not about cupcakes. I'll try not to make this the norm, but I haven't been baking cupcakes as much as I've been baking everything else under the sun. This week my boys and I cut out heart cookies out of store-bought gingerbread dough and decorated them with royal icing for Valentine's Day. This was my first time using royal icing. It's fun.

Royal icing is the kind used on cookies because it dries hard allowing you to stack and pack cookies without smudging. There are at least two ways you can make this kind of icing. You can use egg whites or meringue powder (for those of us that are a little nervous about raw eggs). Here is Martha's recipe.

We had a bunch of icing left over even though the boys piled mountains of it on top of their cookies. I decided to make some frosted oatmeal raisin cookies for my husband. Oatmeal cookies are one of his favorites; I think, in part, because the oats give the cookies a little more nutrition than other cookies. On that note, I recently learned that rolled oats are more nutritious than quick oats (I guess that's pretty logical, like whole wheat flour has more nutrition than white flour - less processed). Anyway, unless the recipes you use call for quick oats, I recommend using rolled oats instead. If you have a store near you that sells grains in bulk, they are usually 99 cents a pound, and sometimes on sale for less.

I actually used quick oats for this batch of cookies as I had a container full that I needed to use up. As it happens, the whole reason I made the cookies was to use up the royal icing. If you couldn't tell already, I love using things up. I get a lot of satisfaction out of using up ingredients and leftovers; and using up two things at once in a recipe is even more satisfying. Without further ado, here at last is a pic of my oatmeal raisin cookies, drizzled with royal icing.

I used a basic oatmeal cookie recipe from BHG with my own tweaks. Click here for the recipe on the BHG site. I scoop them with a 1/4 cup measuring scoop to make big cookies. I like big cookies because you don't have to keep going back to the cookie jar... and you get through baking your dough quicker. I love that! If you scoop them big, they will take 12 to 14 minutes to cook.

Not About Cake

I recently started doing some grocery shopping at the 99 cents store. We are tightening our belts around here. Last week they had perfect blackberries and I put myself in a blackberry pie kinda mood. While it is not the cheapest pie to make, it makes a big difference when you spend 99 cents instead of $2.98 or more on 6 oz packs of blackberries.

I used my favorite crust recipe, which I will keep a secret for now, and looked up recipes for the filling. I found a few similar versions that got really high ratings that mixed between 4 and 6 cups blackberries with sugar, cornstarch and a little lemon juice. I should have looked further. I used one of said recipes and ended up with a beautiful tasty pie containing a lake of juice inside.

My hubby came home and caught me with a straw in the pie, sucking out juice and spitting it into the sink. I know, not a pretty picture. The pie was still yummy - plump blackberries and perfectly thick buttery crust. I was surprised to find that my crust did not end up soogy. Maybe I got the juice out in time. Next time, however, I'll cook down my filling first.

The pie ended up costing about $6 or $7. My husband commented that I could have purchased a pie for less. True, true; but it wouldn't have been as good (at least that is what I am claiming), and this one pie can serve as dessert for a whole week. So that works out to about a $1 a day. Except that it only lasted half the week. I won't recalculate.

Breakfast Cake and a Tinsy Rant

As you can imagine cake is a big part of our home life. While I can down a couple of cupcakes per day on a regular basis, my hubby is more of an ice cream kinda guy. He does, however, love quick breads and muffins (a.k.a. breakfast cake) with his mid-morning coffee. It's funny, as much as I love cake, I don't really go for muffins and quick breads. Maybe it's the lack of frosting. I love making them though and my husband and little guys love eating them.

Earlier this week my hubby requested something a bit more healthy. It is a new year after all. Might as well attempt a change in diet. I baked up a couple of loaves of zucchini bread with a simple toasted almond crumble on top.

I love recipes that make double loaves; one for now and one for the freezer that I can pull out when I have company over or an event I need to bring something to. The base recipe for this bread is from Better Homes and Gardens. You're supposed to wait 10 minutes before removing the bread from the pans. I would wait more like 20. I find that 10 minutes is not long enough for the bread to be cool enough to not stick to the bottom of the loaf pan, leaving a gaping hole at the bottom of your bread (calm down, breath).  Also, keep in mind that zucchini bread slices best when you wrap and refrigerate it overnight.

One thing I'll say about a crumble topping on quick breads; so much falls off turning the bread out of the pan that I wonder each time why I even bother with it. Old habits die hard I guess. Also, quick breads are nothing without a crumble or glaze on top (this girl's opinion).

Here is my version:
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar or brown sugar or a mixture*
1 large or two normal size zucchini (shredded to about 2 1/2 cups)

Crumble Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 Tbsp flour (or 3 Tbsp flour and 3 Tbsp oats)
4 Tbsp butter, cold
2/3 cup toasted chopped almonds

Mix dry ingredients.
Mix wet ingredients and sugar in a another bowl.
Dump wet into dry and mix all at once just until moist.
Pour into two greased loaf pans.
Mix up crumble ingredients with fingers and sprinkle on top.
Bake at 350 about 55 minutes.
Cool in pans about 20 minutes before removing.
Wrap completely cooled loaves and refrigerate overnight before slicing.

*For a darker bread with a caramel-like flavor use brown sugar.