Friday, October 25, 2013

Coconut Oil and Honey Pumpkin Bread


Things have been quiet on the Bakelette blogging front... a little too quiet if you ask me. (Insert truly sincere sorry that I do all too often for abandoning my dear readers.) When things get quiet on my blog, you can assume I am busy busy and I wish I was super organized and good at planning ahead so that I had a stock pile of pictures and recipes to post during these busy busy times. But as usual I don't.


Time management has never been my forte...and I am honestly trying to work on it. I have always had a planner, and I love it dearly, I sometimes just write completely superfluous tasks in it just because I like to write things in it. You would think that my love of my planner would mean I myself am a great "planner" and at looking ahead, but nope. Things are lacking in that department. It's funny, I can be so organized in certain aspects of my life, but when it comes to others its like a hurricane and typhoon whipped through leaving gigantic messes in its path. Throughout high school, I had one of the most organized lockers, but my room and workspace at home were always disastrous. Full disclosure my room and workspace are still a disaster. I wish I could just go upstairs right now and organize and clean my room in one go, but sometimes I can be a bit of a perfectionist and I have these grand ideas of organizing, dusting, sorting, and going through everything in my room all at once. IT DOESN'T WORK...at least for me. My brain just isn't wired that way, which I am fine with, but at times it can be extremely frustrating especially when I really want to clean my room, but I get overwhelmed by the task because of all that I want to accomplish at once. So, then I just try and avoid it. This also doesn't work. 
As usual this "story", if that is what you even want to call it, has no relation to the recipe. I find this blog is my outlet, where I can express things that I just haven't found any other outlet for. I think this post is just me trying to get some of the "clutter" in my brain out of my head and onto paper. Currently, I am trying to organize my life, focus on living a healthier lifestyle, and incorporate more positivity into my life. I feel like writing honest posts like these motivate me to change my life even more, and I don't mean to be preachy or anything, but I am just trying to be true to myself and to better myself. It just so happens that I have a blog and I am sharing bits of my real life with you. 



Coconut Oil and Honey Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
1 and ¼ Cup Whole-Wheat Pastry Flour
½ Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
¾ teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoon Cardamom (optional)
¼ teaspoon Cloves
Pinch of Ginger
1 and ¼ Cup Pumpkin Puree
½ Cup Coconut Oil, Melted
½ Cup Honey, Local Raw is best
2 Eggs

Directions:
1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray standard loaf pan with non-stick spray.
2.     In a medium bowl, stir together whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger until well combined. Set aside.
3.     In another medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, coconut oil, honey and eggs, until thoroughly combined.
4.     Add wet ingredients to dry, gently fold in wet ingredients until no more flour is visible. Be careful not to over mix, batter will be thick. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in pan on wire rack, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe by Bakelette Adapted from The Flour Sack 
Print Recipe Here

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Brown Sugar Banana Cupcakes


Before this recipe, it had been a long long time since I had baked something. And boy, did I miss baking or what! I think my baking stuff missed me too, I may or may not have found a dead spider and a layer of dust in a pan that obviously hadn't been used recently. Do not fret, if I did find such things in my pantry I would most certainly scrub them!


I am not really sure what I am trying to say to you in this post, for it is coming out all garbled, mangled and rambling. Good evening. NOT. See I don't even know where I am going with this, and I am just going to quit my incoherent rambling while I am ahead as they say. 


Brown Sugar Banana Cupcakes
Very Loosely Adapted from The Novice Chef 

Ingredients: 
1 and 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
3/4 Teaspoon baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 
1 Cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
1 Egg
2 Teaspoons of vanilla
1/4 Cup plain whole milk yogurt
2 Tablespoons applesauce 
1/2 Cup banana, mashed (about 1 banana) 
1/2 Cup buttermilk

Directions: 
1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Spray or line cupcake pan with papers. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. On low, beat in egg and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Scrap down the bowl. Beat in yogurt and applesauce. 
4. In a glass measuring cup, mash banana and measure to 1/2 cup. Beat mashed banana into wet ingredients in stand mixer. 
5. Add the dry ingredients to wet in three additions, alternating with two additions of the buttermilk. Gently stir/fold until just combined. Do not over mix. 
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 23-26 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for 20 minutes in pans on wire rack, then remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on wire rack. 

Notes:
Always cool cupcakes completely before frosting.
I enjoyed a few of these without frosting, it you want to dress non-frosted ones up, just dust with powdered sugar for presentation! 


I never wrote down the recipe I used for the frosting, and it was a Bakelette original, so it is gone forever (UGH). However, this Brown Sugar Cream Cheese frosting by Spiced sounds very similar! 


Friday, October 4, 2013

Fall Recipe Round-Up



I have yet to bust open the cans of pumpkin eagerly waiting in my pantry, nor have I have even sliced an apple to eat!  So, lately I have been feeling guilty because it seems I have abandoned you! As compensation, I decided that I would do a fall recipe round-up and share some of the fall recipes I have been drooling over!

For even more fall recipes, follow my Pump(kin) Iron  and A is For Apple  Pinterest boards! 
Also feel free to share your fall recipes in the comments!  



Without further ado, and in no particular order...

1. Pumpkin Honey Cornbread by Bakelette (Yep, my own post, but it's totally fall flavorful and I will be making it soon!)

2. Brown Butter Ginger Apple Torte by Blahnik Baker  It's a spice cake sandwiched around a brown butter apple filling!

3. Pumpkin Fudge Brownies by Heather Christo Just look at the "crust" (what do you call that thin layer on top of brownies anyways?) on top! They are thin brownies, meaning you can enjoy multiples!

4. Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake by Pinch of Yum An apple cake made with simple ingredients, just mix, pour, top and bake!

5. Pumpkin Donut Muffins by Crunchy Creamy Sweet  You know my love of donuts, so my including these should come as no surprise!

6. Apple Pie Ice Cream by Tracey's Culinary Adventures I have fond memories of working in an ice cream shop and this was one of the seasonal flavors rolled out in fall! I would love to recreate it myself! I would maybe substitute baked pie crust for the snicker doodles, just for authenticity to that ice cream shop!

7. Pumpkin Gingerbread Waffles by In Sock Monkey Slippers You also probably know about my love of waffles (yet, I still haven't not shared a waffle recipe with you, but that is beside the point)! What about these for breakfast on Thanksgiving? Or will you be too full for later that day?

8. Teddie's Apple Cake by Food52 I don't have a tube pan, but I still want to make this even if it will not be as crispy!

9. Bourbon Bacon Pecan Sticky Buns by Country Cleaver If you feel an explanation is necessary just reread the title of that recipe! Oh my gosh all that goodness!

10. Apple Harvest Bread by Spiced I have been dying over this bread for at least a week now! I think it would make for a superb turkey and cheddar panini! Now I want one...

11. Pumpkin Magic Brownies by Dine and Dish I want to slather myself in that fluffy frosting as if it were body butter. Hope that image didn't scar you forever.

12. Pumpkin Pie Bagels by Seasons and Suppers I have never made bagels, which is weird seeing as I absolutely love eating them! But, add pumpkin and these are a must for fall!

13. Apple Cider Caramel Glazed Pound Cake by Culinary Concoctions by Peabody Pound cakes are excellent for afternoon nibbles here and there! Now you can have one for fall!

14. Pumpkin Caramel Spice Cronuts by Foodness Gracious I heard the cronut's 15 minutes are fame are up (I never got to taste one. Wah.), but if anyone is still on that train, here is a recipe for 'em you may want to try!

15. Roasted Squash and Pear Soup by Verses from my Kitchen I still have a ton of squash from my garden waiting to be roasted, pureed and made into deliciousness! This might just have to happen!