Turkish Baklava

I made this recipe for the Bethlehem Dinner we had with Zak's family in Connecticut.  I was pretty nervous because I had never made baklava and while I've cooked for his family, it's always been recipes I've made before.  But I am super proud to say that this turned out very well!  Next time we will be sure to add pistachios and raisins and to work on letting it sit to soak up the syrup for a longer period.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it did require some skill.  Zak was a great helper with assembling it and I plan on making this again for our friends.

Filling
2 c. (8 oz.) finely chopped almonds
1 c. (4 oz.) finely chopped walnuts
1/4 c. caster (superfine) sugar (used regular sugar)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
Syrup
2 c. sugar
2 c. water
1 stick cinnamon
1 Tbl. lemon juice
Cover
12 oz. packet filo pastry, thawed
melted butter

1.  Place all filling ingredients in a bowl, combine until well blended.
2.  Place syrup ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Simmer for 10 minutes and leave to cool.
3.  Brush a 9" x 13" baking dish with butter.  Add 10 sheets of filo, brushing each with butter before placing on top of the other.
4.  Spread the filling evenly in the dish.
5.  Add 10 - 12 sheets of filo, brushing each with butter as needed.  Be sure to press down on the layers to get it soaked in well.
6.  With a large knife, score the top into large diamond shapes.
7.  Bake in oven preheated to 325 degrees for 1 hour or until top turns slightly brown.
8.  Remove from oven and slowly pour the syrup over the top.
9.  The most difficult part: letting it sit for at least 5 - 6 hours before serving.

right after pouring syrup on, don't have any of it after

Orange Teriyaki Chicken Kebabs

This was a fun recipe that we tried several weeks ago.  We had everything but the orange marmalade and I couldn't justify buying an entire container of marmalade that we don't even like for this recipe.  So I just added more orange juice and zest and whatever, it was fine.  Zak did an excellent job grilling these and it was a recipe that we will probably experiment with again in the future.

2 Tbl. olive oil
1 Tbl. fresh ginger, finely grated
1 Tbl. orange zest (I used a bit more)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 c. rice vinegar
3 Tbl. soy sauce
2 Tbl. sugar
2 Tbl. orange marmalade
1 Tbl. freshly squeezed orange juice (probably used about 3 Tbl.)
1 Tbl. honey
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 1/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken, trimmed & cut into 1 inch cubes

1.  Over medium heat, add olive oil to small sauce pan.  Add ginger, orange zest and garlic.  Cook, stirring frequently for 1 - 2 minutes, or until fragant.
2.  Stir in the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, marmalade, orange juice, honey and red pepper.  Bring to a simmer and continue cooking for 3 - 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
3.  Make sure wooden skewers have soaked in cold water for about 20 minutes before threading chicken onto them.  Turn on grill.
4.  Thread chicken and grill, turning a quarter turn every few minutes.  Once they are mostly cooked, brush sauce on and cook until it caramelizes.  Zak used most of the sauce by the time they were done, so I guess just use your judgment and brush on sauce accordingly.

Slow-Cooker Beef Gyros

This was a pretty good recipe.  And a bit different from our usual meals.  I was a bit nervous about this, because the meat hadn't thawed completely before I put it in the crock pot, and I didn't want to overcook it, but it turned out pretty darn perfect.  Zak was great and made the cucumber yogurt sauce and chopped the onions and tomatoes.  It was all ready when I came home for work and pretty tasty!  We have lots of leftovers!

Meat

2 lb. boneless chuck steak

1/4 c. olive oil

2 Tbl. lemon juice

1 Tbl. minced garlic

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Dill Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

1 c. plain Greek yogurt

1 c. diced seedless cucumber

1 Tbl. dill

1/4 tsp. salt

Pita bread

toppings: lettuce, tomatoes, red onions

1.  Place beef in crock pot.

2.  Mix rest of 'meat' ingredients in a small bowl and pour over beef, turning to coat.

3.  Cover and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours (until meat is tender, it was practically falling apart!)

4.  Mix sauce ingredients together, spread on pita bread.

5.  Top pitas with meat and toppings.

meat about to be cut up

cucumber sauce

yum!

Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes [Cheesecake Factory]

Oh my goodness I love this dish.  It's from the Cheesecake Factory and is my favorite appetizer of all-time.  Normally, I wouldn't go for all these different salsas and flavors, but combined, they are amazing.  I love the corn cakes the most.  My mom made these for us when we were in California, and they were better than the restaurant's!  I've had my eye on this recipe before, but never made it because I was unsure of how it'd go, especially without a food processor.  But I talked to my mom about it, and she convinced me I could handle it.  It's a bit more of an involved recipe, but well worth it.  My cakes turned out a little crispy and not totally one solid piece, but they still tasted delicious.  I made five cakes in all, even though it's supposed to make 4. Whatever, we were happy to have a bonus one!  They kept find in the fridge overnight, so today the leftovers were still wonderful.  Zak said I should make mini ones to serve with these; he loves them that much!  Another recipe success!

Salsa Verde
2 tomatillos, with paper removed and chopped
4 oz. mild green chilies
1 green onion bunch, chopped
2 Tbl. fresh cilantro
1 1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of pepper

a nice, mild green

Tomato Salsa
1 medium tomato, diced
1 Tbl. Spanish onion, minced (I used red onion)
1 Tbl. fresh cilantro
1/2 - 1/4 tsp. lime juice
1/2 small jalapeno, minced
dash of salt & pepper

After I lightly blended the ingredients

Southwestern Sauce
1/2 c. mayo
1 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. water
3/4 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. onion powder
dashes of: salt, pepper & garlic powder

Seriously, using a squirt bottle helped big time

Tamale Cakes
1 1/2 c. frozen corn (keep 1/2 c. whole & separate)
1/2 c. butter, softened
3 Tbl. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 c. masa harina (corn flour)
2 Tbl. white flour

Garnish
1/4 c. sour cream (4 Tbl.)
1/2 - 1 avocado, chopped
2 Tbl. fresh cilantro, chopped (I didn't use)

1.  Prepare the salsa verde by combining all ingredients in a food processor or use a hand blender.  Cover and chill.
2.  Prepare tomato salsa by combining all ingreidents in a small bowl.  I used my hand blender briefly to slightly mix the ingredients into a mushier? state.  I wanted it to be a bit more spreadable and in smaller pieces, if that makes sense.
3.  Prepare southwestern sauce by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.  Transfer to a squirt bottle, as it will make life much easier when assembling!  Chill.
4.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5.  For the tamale cakes, coarsely puree 1 c. of the corn in a food processor.  Using a hand blender was kind of a disaster, and took awhile.  Next time I plan on using a blender, if I don't have a food processor before then.
6.  Once pureed, combine with softened butter, sugar and salt.  Blend well with electric mixer until smooth.
7.  Add masa and white flour and blend well.
8.  Mix in the remaining 1/2 c. of corn by hand.
9.  Measure 1/2 c. and form into 3-inch patties.  Using slightly wet hands helped a lot to form the patties.  I got 5 patties out of the mixture.
10.  Arrange on a baking sheet and bake 20 - 25 minutes, or until cakes are browned on the bottom.
11. Flip cakes with a spatula and bake for an additional 5 - 7 minutes or until slightly browned.
12.  To serve, spoon the salsa verde onto a platter.  Coat entire plate with about 1/4 inch of salsa.
13.  Arrange tamale cakes on top of the salsa verde.
14.  Add spoonful of tomato salsa on top of each cake, with a dollop of sour cream on top.
15.  Arrange avocado pieces on cake and drizzle both ways with southwestern sauce.

Step 1: assemble corn cakes on salsa verde

Step 2: Add tomato salsa and sour cream

Step 3: Add avocado and southwestern sauce

Nutritional Facts
servings per recipe: 5
amount per serving

Calories: 469.1
Total Fat: 32.4 g
Saturated Fat: 13.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat: 11.5 g
Cholesterol: 61.8 mg
Sodium: 505 mg
Potassium: 435.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 44.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 5.3 g
Sugar: 14.9 g
Protein: 5 g
Vitamin A: 23 %
Vitamin C: 23.1 %
Calcium: 5.4 %
Iron: 6.2 %

Lemon Chiffon Cake

I made this recipe for our 5 year anniversary dinner celebration.  This is the last year we'll celebrate it, since our wedding anniversary is more important.  Plus, it's kind of a pain because it's 2 days before Valentine's Day which translates to me planning two special meals.  Which I don't mind, but still!  Anyways, I wanted to make some sort of lemon dessert, but use my cute heart pan to make individual heart cakes.  This recipe was pretty simple and actually really tasty, but I had some trouble with it.  I normally don't have too many issues with baking or cooking, but I now think it might have been because I forgot the cream of tartar (it's mentioned in the ingredient list, but not in the directions), and also because that pan is just difficult.  But the cake itself was delicious, so light and fluffy, yet substantial.  I whipped up some whipped cream and added some sugar and lemon extract and it was a nice, lemon-filled dessert for us.  I modified the recipe a bit (the instructions were a bit vague about the sugar, so I kind of just added until I felt it tasted good; I used way more lemon juice, because it initially did not taste the way I wanted it to), and I'm sure I'll try it again, using a normal cake pan next time.

5 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 c. sugar, divided
2/3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 Tbl. vegetable oil
6 Tbl. milk
juice from 1 lemon (original recipe called for 1 tsp. lemon extract)
1 Tbl. lemon zest

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl.
2.  Add cream of tartar to egg whites and mix.  Add in 1/2 c. sugar once slightly stiff, and continue beating until stiff.
3.  In large bowl, add oil in with egg yolks and mix until color is a pale yellow.  Add other 1/2 c. sugar, continue to mix.
4.  Add in milk, lemon extract/juice, zest and beat until well blended.
5.  Add in dry ingredients and mix well.
6.  Gently fold in egg whites and mix well.
7.  Pour into pan and bake 20 - 25 minutes.

not the best picture, but you get the idea

Apple Pie

Since we had a ton of apples, I figured we needed to have an apple pie!  I used the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens book and it turned out pretty much perfect!

Pastry for Double-Crust Pie
2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. shortening
8 - 10 Tbl. cold water


1.  In a medium bowl, stir together flour and salt.  Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea size.
2.  Sprinkle 1 Tbl. of water over part of the flour mixture; toss with a fork.  Push moistened pastry to side of bowl.  Repeat moistening flour mixture, using 1 Tbl. of the water at a time, until flour mixture is moistened.  Divide pastry in half, form into balls.
3.  On lightly floured surface, use hands to slightly flatten one pastry ball.  Roll it from center to edges into a 12 inch circle.
4.  Wrap pastry circle around rolling pin; unroll it into a 9 inch pie plate.  Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it.  Trim pastry even with rim; transfer filling to pie plate.
5.  Roll remaining ball into another 12 inch circle, place on top of filling.  Cut slits in pastry and trim to 1/2 inch beyond edge of plate.  Fold top pastry under bottom pastry and crimp edges as desired.

Apple Pie
1 recipe Pastry for Double-Crust pie
6 c. thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples (about 2 1/4 pounds)
1 Tbl. lemon juice
3/4 c. sugar
2 Tbl. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 c. dried cranberries (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare and roll out Pastry for Double-Crust Pie.  Line a 9 inch pie plate with a pastry circle.
2.  If desired, sprinkle apples with lemon juice.  In a large bowl, stir together: flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg (I added a little vanilla as well).  Add apples slices and, if desired, cranberries.  Gently toss until coated.
3.  Transfer mixture to pastry-lined pie plate.  Trim bottom pastry to edge of pie plate.  Place remaining pastry on top, cut slits in the top.  Crimp edges as desired.
4.  If desired, brush top pastry with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar.  To prevent over-browning, cover edge of pie with foil.
5.  Bake for 40 minutes; remove foil.  Bake 20 minutes more or until fruit is tender and filling is bubbly.  Cool on a wire rack.  To serve warm, let pie cool at least 2 hours.

delicious apples!

this is the best I could do, haha

so yummy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Chicken in Lemon-Cream Sauce

My mom sent me this recipe and I made this last night and it is so yummy!  It was hard to leave leftovers!  It's a very simple, easy recipe and went great with some mashed potatoes and corn.  Wonderful!

a few Tbl. butter
8 chicken breast halves, or tenders
2 Tbl. dry white wine or water
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. (white) pepper
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
2 Tbl. lemon juice
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 c. sliced mushrooms (we don't love mushrooms, so I excluded them)

1.  Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat, add chicken.  Cook, about 10 minutes, or until browned and tender.  Remove and place in overproof serving dish; discard butter from skillet.
2.  Add wine (or water), lemon peel and lemon juice to skillet; cook and stir over medium heat about 1 min.  Stir in salt and pepper.
3.  Gradually pour in cream, stirring constantly.  Stir until hot, do not boil!  Pour cream sauce over chicken, sprinkle with cheese and mushrooms.  Broil about 6 inches from heat source until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. 

No pictures, sorry!

Apple Cream Cheese Danish

We have all these apples from our apple picking trip and I was aching to make some delicious pastry.  Then I found this recipe and went for it.  It was a bit more tricky than I imagined, because I had bought a box of two big puff pastry sheets, and they didn't roll out as well as I had hoped.  So I just kind of winged it, and with the leftover filling made blintzes, yum!  Zak devoured these, and I did my best not to eat them all in one day.  But they are certainly tasty!

24 oz. cottage cheese
3 apples (peeled, cored & thinly sliced)
1 tsp. lemon juice
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
17 1/2 oz. puff pastry, thawed
3 Tbl. sugar (decoration)

1.  Place cottage cheese in a strainer lined with cheesecloth or heavy paper towel; pat dry and set aside.
2.  Place apples in a bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent browning.
3.  Combine cream cheese, drained cream cheese, 1/2 c. sugar, egg, vanilla in a bowl.  Mix with electric mixer for 1 - 2 minutes on medium high, until almost smooth.
4.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5.  Cut each of the puff pastry sheets into 9 pieces, to have 18 total (make sure they are relatively square-shaped).  Roll pieces out, one by one, to make about 5 x 5 inch squares.  Avoid rolling with too much pressure or over the edges, to ensure they puff up.
6.  Place a square in front of you (so it's diamond-shaped).  Spoon a generous of cheese filling, leaving some room at the top and bottom edges.  Fan out 3 - 5 apple slices in the center.  Bring the left and right corners together to meet in the center and pinch to seal.
7.  Transfer danish to baking sheet; repeat with remaining pastries.  Sprinkle sugar over each bundle and bake until pastry is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

mine didn't turn out super pretty, but they sure were tasty, warm or room temperature!

Apricot Jam

As I mentioned in the other blog, we got a bunch of apricots from Zak's grandparents. We both like apricots, but decided apricot jam would be superior. I haven't really made jam on my own before, and I was nervous about doing it without my mom or grandma helping me. So I searched on-line for recipes that seemed simple enough and wouldn't require me buying / using a bunch of canning gear. I found this one on food.com. It was so easy and didn't take too long. I just wished there had been a few more basic directions, because I was a bit unsure about how small to dice the apricots, or how thick the mixture would be before pulling it off the stove, just stuff like that. And the recipe said I would get 5 pint jars out of it; I only got 4 jars, which was a bit of a bummer. But it tastes amazing! It's a bit thick, but that's ok with me. It's yummy and we have three jars in the freezer!

8 c. diced apricots

1/4 c. lemon juice

6 c. sugar

4 or 5 pint jars or 8 - 10 half-pint jars

1. Sterilize jars and lids by boiling in water for 10 minutes.

2. Once timer is up, turn off stove, put lid on pot to keep jars warm. Once jam is near done, transfer jars and lids to towels to dry.

3. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

4. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.

5. Once mixture reaches a modest, rolling boil, continue boiling for 30 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent from sticking.

6. Remove from heat and fill jars, leaving some head space.

7. Let jars sit and cool for awhile before transferring to fridge or freezer.

Enjoy!

Macaroni & Cheese (Kraft Knockoff)

I will admit that I kind of love Kraft mac & cheese (the best is the 3 cheese shells, ohh). Sometimes you just need some comfort food and it hits the spot. The other day while Zak was at work, I had a craving for it, but seeing as how I was stranded at home and it was cold and rainy outside, I opted not to walk to the store to get a box of it. So I looked online and found a good 'taste-a-like' of it. It was super easy, and pretty tasty!

2 quarts water

1 Tbl. salt

2 c. uncooked elbow (or shell, whatever) macaroni

2 Tbl. butter

1/2 lb. cheese, grated (about 2 cups)

1 tsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. flour

1 c. milk

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 c. ham, chopped into 1/4 inc. cubes (I didn't have ham when I made this, so I opted it out, but I'm sure it's good in it)

black pepper

onion salt

1. In a medium bowl, mix corn starch in with cheese, so that it's coated (this helps cheese from getting too stringy).

2. Bring water and salt to a boil, add pasta and cook 7 or so minutes, drain when finished.

3. While pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce by melting butter in a large saucepan on medium heat.

4. Whisk in the flour; slowly dribble in the milk and continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth.

5. Slowly add in the cheese and whisk until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice.

6. Add in the cooked, drained macaroni and ham. Sprinkle in pepper and onion salt.

Lemon Cheesecake Cookie Bars

So I found this recipe on some site, and decided to make them because I had a lot of cream cheese sitting around. And cream cheese is my favorite dessert component of all time (sorry, chocolate), so I figured, why not? The original recipe didn't call for so much lemon/lime, but I wanted to use up the ones in the fridge. Plus, I know Zak likes citrus flavors. Oh, and I added in raspberries from the freezer to balance out the citrus zing.

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup melted butter
8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
5 -6 Tbl. fresh lemon juice
3 Tbl. fresh lime juice
1 - 2 Tbl. grated lemon zest
1/2 Tbl. grated lime zest
10 or so raspberries
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Mix brown sugar, nuts & flour together.
2. Stir in the butter and work until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture for the topping; press the rest firmly into the bottom of an 8x8" pan.
3. Bake at 350° for 12 - 15 minutes; leave oven on.
4. While crust is baking, cream the cream cheese and sugar together.
5. Add the egg, lemon & lime juices, milk, vanilla, zests, vanilla. Beat thoroughly. Add raspberries (if desired), beat thoroughly. Pour over baked crust
6. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over top of cream cheese mixture; bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares. Makes 16 2" cookie bars.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

A few weeks ago, I got a hankerin' for peanut sauce and chicken. And since we had two full jars of peanut butter (miscommunication on Zak's part, ha), I decided to find a recipe for peanut sauce. The recipe below turned out well, we ended up cooking the chicken on the stove instead of grilling it, which I thought was easier. As far as the sauce goes, I kept adding soy sauce, lime juice and red pepper flakes until it was what we wanted. Enjoy!

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 garlic clove, smashed
juice of 1 lime
1/2 c. peanut butter
more lime juice (I bought 2, and used some stuff in a bottle as well)
a few Tbl. soy sauce
1 - 2 pinches of red pepper flakes
1 tsp. brown sugar
chicken brother or water
salt and pepper

1. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.
2. In a bowl, combine the juice from one line with a smashed clove of garlic, add to chicken and marinate for at least 5 minutes.
3. Whisk together peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, brown sugar and enough water/chicken broth to make a smooth sauce.
4. If you want to grill the chicken, set aside most of the sauce for dipping, and smear the rest on the chicken; thread chicken onto skewers and grill for 2 mins. on each side.
5. I chose to cook the chicken with a little butter on the stove until fully cooked, then served it over rice and drizzled with the peanut sauce.

Individual Cream Cheese Danishes

I came across these on food.com and decided to make them for a LOTR marathon with my friend. They are sooo easy to make and quite yummy, they got gobbled up! Zak requested some fruit flavor next time, so I think I might blend in raspberries or strawberries into the filling next time. I cut up little pieces of strawberries to put on top, which worked well. And I think I will altogether skip the frosting next time, it didn't really enhance the flavor. These are great for parties!

2 (10 oz.) cans crescent roll dough
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice (I did 1/2 tsp., which I think tasted better)
3/4 tsp. vanilla (I did 1 tsp.)
1 tsp. sour cream

optional icing
1 c. powdered sugar
1 Tbl. milk
1 Tbl. butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice (unrolled) dough into 1/4 inch slices (like making slice-and-bake cookies)
3. Place slices of dough on cookie sheet and make slight indentation in the middle.
4. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and sour cream.
5. Add a Tbl. of filling to each roll.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
7. Optional icing: stir together powdered sugar, milk and butter. After danish has cooled, drizzle with icing.

Texan Peach Cobbler

Like I mentioned before, Zak's grandparents brought us a box of peaches, and we decided that peach cobbler was absolutely necessary to make with them. Zak loves my fruit cobbler, but he asked if I wouldn't mind making a cobbler with a more buttery and heavy dough. So I looked forever online until I found a recipe that sounded good and wasn't obscenely loaded with butter. This is called Texan Peach Cobbler and I'll have to take the chef's word for it, but we both enjoy it this a lot. The next time I make it, I'll add maybe half as much lemon, because it did overpower the peach at times.

Filling
4 c. peaches, ripe, peeled & sliced
2 Tbl. brown sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice, fresh squeezed (I would suggest a 1/2 tsp.)
1 tsp. lemon zest (again, 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. vanilla (I think I would add maybe 1 tsp. next time)

Batter
6 Tbl. butter
1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon (maybe up to 1/4 tsp. would be fine)
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbl. turbinado (sugar in the raw)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine filling ingredients in a bowl, toss and set aside.
3. Place butter in 8" square baking dish.
4. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until butter is completely melted.
5. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
6. Add milk and vanilla to flour mixture, stir until just combined.
7. Spoon batter over butter, spreading evenly (DO NOT STIR IN).
8. Spoon peach mixture over batter, gently pressing peaches into the batter.
9. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes--make sure to have a baking pan underneath, as it will probably bubble and overflow.
10. Sprinkle top with turbinado sugar and baking for an additional 10 minutes or until top is golden.

Bing Cherry Jam

Well, we still had a lot of cherries after we made the ice cream, so I figured I'd make cherry jam. I found a pretty simple recipe online that worked well, the only problem was that I wasn't sure when the jam was done, because it was my first time doing it alone. But it seemed to work just fine, and now we have yummy cherry jam to enjoy for awhile!

4 c. pitted fresh bing cherries
2 c. sugar
2 Tbl. lemon juice
1 pinch salt
3 Tbl. dry pectin

1. Add the cherries, lemon juice, sugar, salt to slow cooker; stir gently and let stand for 15 minutes or until sugar is mostly dissolved.
2. Sprinkle with pectin.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 2 1/2, stirring 2 - 3 times while cooking.
4. Remove the lid, turn the cooker to HIGH and cook 2 - 3 hours more, until jam reached desired consistency (make sure to check on it every once in awhile, because I had a huge mess to clean up--but I had left the lid on it)
5. Ladle the jam into clean spring-top glass jars, or screw tops with new lids (I bought some plastic freezer jars from Ball that worked just fine), let stand to cool.
6. Store, covered in the fridge for up to 2 months, or freeze.

This recipe's supposed to yield 5 cups. I doubled the recipe and filled 4 16 oz. plastic jars. Just sayin'.

work station

173 cherries = 1 hour to pit

all ready after hours of cooking

on homemade bread

The Most Delicious Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

So at Christmas, my mother-in-law gave me a copy of Cook's Illustrated and in this edition was a recipe for cream cheese coffee cake. I am a total sucker for cream cheese, especially in desserts. So for weeks I was lusting after this coffee cake, but with no justification to make it. A few weeks ago, I decided to just go for it because I was starting to drool each time I thought about it (yes, it was that bad). There is a whole article about why this recipe is the best, and all the tests they went through, but I'm not typing that up.

*Also, I never put two & two together until Zak did it for me last week--I've been watching America's Test Kitchen without realizing that was the t.v. show that accompanies Cooks Illustrated. Duh! I've watched a few episodes whenever I get the chance and just love the show. Someday I hope to get a magazine subscription or the cookbook or something...

Lemon Sugar-Almond Topping
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1/2 c. sliced almonds

Cake
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/8 tsp. baking powder
1 1/8 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
10 Tbl. (1 stick + 2 Tbl.) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 c. + 7 Tbl. sugar
1 Tbl. finely grated lemon zest
4 tsp. lemon juice
4 eggs
5 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together sugar & lemon zest amounts for the topping until combined and then add almonds.
3. Spray 10-in. tube pan with nonstick cooking spray.
4. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in medium bowl, set aside.
5. In stand mixer, beat butter, 1 c. + 2 Tbl. sugar, and lemon zest at medium speed until light and fluffy: about 3 minutes.
6. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Remember to scrap down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula!
7. Add 4 tsp. vanilla and mix to combine. Reduce speed to low and add a third of the flour mixture. Then add half of the sour cream, mixing after each addition.
8. Repeat, using half of the remaining flour and all of the remaining sour cream. Scrape bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at low speed until batter is thoroughly combined.
8. Reserve 1 1/4 c. of batter and set aside; spoon remaining batter into tube pan and smooth top.
9. Return (now-empty) bowl to mixer and beat cream cheese, remaining 5 Tbl. sugar, lemon juice, remaining tsp. vanilla on medium speed until smooth.
10. Add 1/4 c. of reserved batter and mix until incorporated.
11. Spoon cream cheese filling mixture evenly over batter, keeping filling about 1" away from sides of pan; smooth top.
12. Spread remaining cup of batter over filling and smooth top.
13. With butter knife, gently swirl filling into batter using a figure-8 motion. Firmly tap pan on counter 2 or 3 times to dislodge any bubbles.
14. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter.
15. Bake until top is golden and just firm--about 45-50 minutes. Remove pan from oven & tap on counter 2 - 3 times. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 1 hour.
16. Carefully invert cake onto rimmed baking sheet, remove pan, place wire rack on top of cake and invert cake sugar-side up. Cool to room temperature, about 1 1/2 hours.

*Store leftovers in the fridge, covered tightly with plastic wrap. Allow cake to return to room temperature before serving again.

Ok, I am salivating again now that I've typed up the recipe. It's not as hard as the recipe in the book seems, the worst part is waiting once it's cooked. I used my bundt pan since I am tube pan-less, and it seemed to be just fine. I also didn't use almonds, but next time I might! It was so yummy that we ate it up pretty fast.

Yum!