Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my good friends loves carrot cake, so I decided to make this simple recipe for him. Fortunately, the cake recipe proved to be extremely easy and baked well. (Though the cake did rise quite a bit so that the top was slightly burnt.) Since my friend really loves cream cheese frosting, he demanded that I slice the cake into two separate layers so that he could have a better cake-to-frosting ratio. Surprisingly, I had plenty of frosting for my little cake - though the frosting was extremely runny (which was a bit of a surprise since I used less than a full quarter pound of cream cheese - perhaps it was due to the omission of the pecans.) The most difficult (and disastrous) step was attempting to frost the sides of the cake; my frosting did nothing up run down the sides and pool at the bottom. If I was making this cake again, I would either add an extra ½ c of powdered sugar to the frosting - or else merely frost the top of the cake and forget the sides completely.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
(yields a 7-8" round cake)

2 eggs
½ c. and 2 T. vegetable oil
1 c. white sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1½ c. grated carrots
½ c. chopped pecans

For the frosting
¼ c. butter, softened
1/4 lb. cream cheese, softened
2 c. powered sugar
½ t. vanilla extract
½ c. chopped pecans (optional)

Beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Combine liquid and dry ingredients and stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into greased and floured pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. For the frosting, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans.

Spiral Sugar Cookies

In my continued quest for new recipes, I thought I'd try this cool spiral sugar cookie (and idea I've had for awhile but never knew it was actually possible.) Although this recipe isn't the most difficult I've ever tried, it was a bit of a pain due to the long periods of refrigeration! I was also a little worried about the dough when I first started, since there are practically no "wet" ingredients - though I guess that massive portion of butter made up for the lack of everything else. Sadly, I decided to omit the almond extract (since I didn't have any in my pantry and thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference.) When I finished my cookies, I definitely wished I had added something for a bit more flavor (either the almond extract or a bit more sugar!)

Surprisingly, coloring and rolling out the dough was perhaps the easiest aspect of this entire recipe. However, rolling the two doughs together into a spiral proved a bit of a nightmare. However, the end spiral came out very nicely, so I guess you don't have to worry too much about this when rolling the dough together. I also didn't want to wait four hours while the completed log chilled; instead, I opted to simply freeze the dough for about an hour (which seemed to work fine.) Fortunately, the slicing and baking of the cookies was quick and easy, so I was soon enjoying a beautiful buttery cookie!

Spiral Sugar Cookies
(yields 2½ dozen small cookies

2 c. flour
½ t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
⅔ c. powdered sugar
¼ sugar
1¼ c. butter
1 t. vanilla extract
½ t. almond extract
gel food coloring (any color)
2 T. flour
1 c. multi-colored nonpareil decors or sprinkles

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugars. Cube the butter and cut into flour mixture. Continue to combine until it has a cornmeal consistency. Add the vanilla and form into a ball. Divide the dough into two equal parts. To one of the halves, add almond extract, enough food coloring to obtain the desired color, and 2 tablespoons flour. On wax paper or parchment paper, roll the dough into a letter-size (A4) sheet that is about &frad14" thick.) Repeat with the non-colored dough on a separate sheet of paper. Place another sheet of paper atop each piece of dough and chill in a refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Once the dough has chilled completely, remove the top layers of wax paper and stack both sheets of dough together. With a sharp knife, cut the edges. Carefully roll the doughs along the long edge. (You might have to wait 10-15 so that the dough will be soft enough to roll.) Pour the nonpareils in a flat pan, and roll the dough to cover all sides. (I used sprinkles and used far less than a cup - though I had problems with my sprinkles not sticking.) Chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Preheat the oven to 325°F (162°C.) Slice cookie roll into ¼" slices and bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 15 minutes.

Thin Mints

I was searching Pinterest a couple weeks ago in my quest for new cookie recipes and came across this great recipe for the classic Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. Since this was my favorite childhood cookies, I knew I had to try it; however, I also wanted to make it a little more festive for the holiday season. In researching several recipes, I noticed that most of them called for flavoring the chocolate with mint. I have been dying to use my snowflake cookie cutter (my absolute favorite cutter) and because of the overpowering nature of mint, I figured that the flavor of the chocolate would be buried a bit - so white chocolate could be substituted.

Surprisingly, the cookies themselves proved extremely easy to mix, cut, and bake. The only major issue I had due to the fact that my small toaster oven only allowed me to bake three cookies at a time. I had to cut and re-roll the dough several times over the course of the evening, and the dough definitely incorporated a lot of extra flour during all these extra rollings. (Had I been using a regular over and larger cookie sheets, this wouldn't have been a problem.) ANother problem I had at first was the cookies cracking when I tried to remove them from the cookie sheet (this was before I discovered that they needed to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to the wire rack.) I'm assuming this would be less of a problem if a more basic (round) shape cookie cutter were used.)

When it came time to dip the cookies, I had no problems melting the chocolate (though it did require a couple tablespoons of shortening to get a silky smoothness.) Unfortunately, I found that when I actually dipped my cookie the weight of the added chocolate broke several more of my snowflakes. (I can definitely see why the Girl Scouts stick with basic circles!) However, after a couple cookie disasters (or sampling opportunities, if you want to be more positive), I mastered the dipping process. Sadly, my 2 cup bag of white chocolate only provided enough to coat about half my cookies. Fortunately, the cookies do taste exactly how I remember thin mints, and they are just as addictive!


Thin Mints
(yields 3-4 dozen cookies)

1 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ t. salt
1½ c. flour

Chocolate Coating
1 package baking chocolate (I used white chocolate, the but traditional recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate)
1 t. peppermint extract
1-2 T. shortening (if needed to achieve creaminess)

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Mix in powdered sugar and continue to cream. Stir in the vanilla extract and cocoa powder. (THe batter will be the consistency of a thick frosting.) Add the flour and mix until all the flour is incorporated. Form the dough into two flatten discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Roll out dough on a floured surface (dough should be extremely thin - about &frac18".) Cut your desired cooking shapes and place on a cookie sheet. (These cookies do not expand much, so feel free to place them quite close.) Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack. When the cookies are completely cooled, melt chocolate and peppermint extract (I had to add a couple tablespoons of shortening to get the desired smoothness from my white chocolate.) Using a fork, dip the cookies in the mint chocolate mixture and place on parchment paper. Refrigerate or freeze to set chocolate.

Funfetti Donuts

I wanted to make a fun treat for my students, and how can you go wrong with a donut topped by sprinkles! I found this basic recipe online for a funfetti recipe and thought I'd give it a try. Sadly, I somehow left the baking powder out when I baked it (though it didn't seem to have any adverse affect.) However, I'm still not that impressed with baked donuts - though just don't compare with the fried goodness that is a bakery donut! Fortunately, my students didn't seem to mind since it was still a mouth-full of sugar.

Funfetti Donuts
(yields 8-10 donuts)

1 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. baking soda
¼ t. nutmeg
&frac13 c. sugar
¼ c. milk
¼ c. Greek yogurt
1 egg
2 T. butter, melted
1½ t. vanilla extract
½ c. rainbow sprinkles

Frosting
Approximately 1 c. powdered sugar
1-2 T. milk
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F (168°C). Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix milk, yogurt, egg, butter, and vanilla. Add the liquid to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Gently mix in the rainbow sprinkles. Bake in a greased pan for 8-10 minutes. When cooled, frost and top with sprinkles.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars with Almond Streusel

Since today is Thanksgiving, I wanted to make a special dessert for my foreign students. Sadly, I have already made both pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie (as well as a pumpkin cake), so I had pretty much exhausted the traditional Thanksgiving dessert. (I had considered a pecan pie, but I really wanted to try something other than a pie.) After an extensive search of Pinterest for Thanksgiving recipes, I finally came across these cranberry bars - and since cranberries are all the rage in Korea right now, I was actually able to find a bag of frozen cranberries!

For the recipe, I didn't have an 8" square pan, so I had to divide the recipe between my 8" round pan and a small loaf pan I bought months ago. The recipe itself wasn't that difficult - though it does require many steps and messes a lot of dishes. I had never really made a shortbread before, but found it to be fairly easy (though a very dry dough.) I found that I actually had the best luck using my fingers to mix the dough (since the heat helped melt the butter.) Then, I just refrigerated the mixed dough for a few minutes to lower the temperature again. While the shortbread was baking, I made the streusel and filling - both without problem.

When the bars were finished baking, I discovered I have a very dense, but very delicious dessert! (I can't believe how much these bars weight!) The original recipe (with the square pan) instructed that you use leave long edges to the parchment paper line so that you can remove the bars by lifting up. I was unable to do this with my round pan, but did to it with the loaf pan; I have to say, I preferred it without the extra parchment (though still use it on the bottom.) With my loaf pan, the middle layer of cranberry formed a glue against the parchment paper - I actually had to cut the paper way! For my round pan, I was able to merely scrape the sides with a knife and then carefully turn the bars out with the help of a kitchen towel - the bars are like a solid brick, so it wasn't a problem.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars with Almond Streusel
(yields one 8" square pan of bars

For the Shortbread:
1½ c. flour
½ c. sugar
¼ t. salt
10 T. cold butter, cut into pieces

For the Streusel
½ c. flour
⅓ c. light brown sugar
⅓ c. sugar
¼ t. salt
¼ T. butter, cut into pieces
½ c. sliced almonds

For the Filling
8 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries
¾ c. sugar
½ c. water
1 t grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Sift together flour, sugar, and salt for the shortbread. Mix in butter until large clumps of dough form. Place the dough into a parchment lined 8" square pan and press into place with a glass or measuring cup. Prick the dough with a fork, and bake until just starting to brown at the edges (about 25 minutes.) For the streusel, sift together flour, sugars, and salt. Add the butter, using your fingers to mix together. When completely mixed so that not flour remains, add the almonds. Break into kidney bean sized pieces and refrigerate. For the filling, mix the cranberries, sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil (stirring occasionally). Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer until the mixture becomes thick and syrupy (about 8 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in zest. When the shortbread if finished, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F (162°C). Pour the cranberry filling over the shortbread and spread evenly. Top with an even layer of streusel and gently press the streusel into the filling. Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and streusel is golden brown. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack for an additional 30 minutes.

Sugar Cookies with Colored Dough

I have been looking for new cookie ideas - particularly ones for the upcoming holiday season. Since the standard American sugar cookie coated in buttercream frosting is far too sweet for most Korean, I have been looking for ways to "decorate" the traditional sugar cookie without the need for all the extra frosting. I was searching Pinterest last week and came across this pin - which I thought was the perfect solution to my problem!

I made the dough according to the instructions and divided into sections to color. Sadly, my cheap plastic cookie cutters from Daiso (the Korean equivalent of a Dollar Store) didn't work so well. If I tried to make a thicker cookie, the dough got stuck in the cutter. I eventually got a stack of yellow stars and began to mold lengths of plain dough around the shape as instructed. Unfortunately, this completely failed! My original star shape was destroyed, and I ended up with a mess that looked much more like an egg yolk than a star! Fortunately, I was at least able to again separate the yellow and plain doughs. (If I was going to try this again, I might try freezing the yellow stars so that they hold their shape a bit better.

Since the original technique failed, I had to revert to plan B. I cut small yellow stars with my smallest cutter; then, I cut larger stars from the plain dough and made a smaller hole in the center. I, next, had to fill the holes with my yellow stars. It was a bit labor and time intensive, but I'm happy with the final results.



Sugar Cookies #2
(yields 2½ dozen cookies)

1½ c. flour
1 t. baking soda
½ c. sugar
½ c. butter, cold
½ egg
½ t. vanilla extract
food coloring (optional)

In a small bowl, sift together flour and baking soda. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture in parts. Once dough has formed, divide into three parts and color one part (optional.) Roll the color dough to about ¼" and cut with the smallest cookies cutter available. Roll the plain dough to the same thickness and cut with a larger cookie cutter. Use the original (smaller) cookie cutter to make a second cut in the cookie center. Fill with the colored-dough shapes. Bake at 350°F (176°C) for 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies before the edges brown.

Apple Pecan Cake with Caramel Glaze

After the sucess of my pumpkin cake last week, my students requested (demanded) that I make another cake this week. I had found this recipe for an apple pecan cake on Pinterest and thought it would be a nice fall recipe to try. This cake proved to be an extremely easy cake to prepare (though I'm not quite sure why it calls for quite so much vanilla extract!) The original recipe called for an 9"x13" pan, but I simply halved it and prepared it in an 8" round pan. (The original posting said that the secret to this cake was a thin, flat surface that would allow the glaze to seep in.)

The original recipe also stated that this cake would bake in 30-35 minutes; however, mine required at least 40 minutes (though my oven temperature might have been lower than the required 325°F since my toaster oven doesn't have clear settings.) After letting the cake cool, I prepared the glaze without any difficulties (though my glaze is far darker than that in the original recipe - I believe this is because I used a very dark brown sugar.) Before pouring the thin glaze atop the cake, I pierced the top of my cake with a fork (like you would for a tres leches cake to help the cake absorb more of the glaze.) I also discovered that the glaze is extremely messy when first poured over the cake. When I transferred the glaze, about half of the glaze ran off onto my cake platter. I had to transfer the cake to another plate and and re-pour the glaze collected at the bottom of the original platter. If I were making this recipe again, I believe I would allow the glaze to cool and solidify more (maybe 10-15 minutes) before coating the cake.



Apple Pecan Cake
(yields one 8"-9" round cake layer)

¾ c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1½ T. vanilla extract
1½ c. flour
½ t. salt
½ t. baking soda
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. cinnamon
½ c. pecans, chopped
1½ c. apples, diced

For the glaze:
¼ c. butter
½ c. brown sugar
½ t. vanilla
¼ c. milk

Preheat oven to 325°F (162°C). Mix vegetable oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Sifted together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add to the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in apple chunks and pecans. Pour into a prepared 8"-9" round cake pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes (or until a knife comes out clean.) Turn onto a wire rack and allow to cool complete. For the glaze, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and mix over medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Pour the mixture atop the cake while the glaze is still hot. Allow to cool again before serving.