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

Peanut Butter Cherry Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Bars

Peanut butter is one of my favorite things to eat. You too? If not, I don't think we can be friends (is that the right term for me writing crazy stories and telling them to people I have never met) anymore, unless of course you are allergic then I totally get it. I would give up peanut butter in exchange for not having anaphylaxis. I am allergic to dust mites and I am all for avoiding them, but I am totally lazy and do not clean nearly enough.

Adding on to my laziness these bars couldn't be easier and tastier. These bars make a tasty breakfast or a delicious post-work out snack. I wouldn't know about them for post-workout seeing as I am lazy and barely workout, but I imagine they would be great after a workout. Now that I feel terrible because you know the true extent of my laziness...I will get on with the recipe.

Peanut Butter Cherry Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Sugar in the Raw
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Dried Cherries

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8x8 glass or nonstick baking dish.
2. In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the peanut butter and sugar until it becomes lightly colored and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
3. Gradually mix in the flour, oats, salt, and baking soda on medium speed. The batter will be thick and clumpy. Slowly and steadily drizzle in the milk until a dough forms.
4. On low speed mix in the chocolate chips and dried cherries. Knead the dough with your hands a few times to make sure it is evenly combined.
5. Spread and press the dough into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown and set. Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan, then cut into squares.

Click Here for Printable Recipe
Recipe Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

P.S. These photos are from months ago, so sorry for the poor quality!

Whole Wheat Coffee Cake Muffins

I have had this recipe in my arsenal and waiting to go live on the blog for awhile, but when I had originally wanted to share it, I had just posted the Raspberry Crumb Cake recipe! I didn't want to inundate you with all things coffee and crumb cakey! Then you would have thought I was crazy or something, but that would just be crazy! Let's be real, I must be some kind of crazy because I am here on a blog sharing my cooking adventures and stories from my kookie life! Who would do such a thing?! :)

Well, you know what would actually be crazy? Not making these muffins (or saying crazy just one more time, sorry, not sorry)! This recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour, which gives the muffin more of a grainy taste, but that is not a bad thing. Not only does the whole wheat flour make them healthy, but it adds an almost savory taste that complements the sweetness of the streusel topping. They are great any time of day, excellent for breakfast with coffee, a given, but they also pair well with vanilla ice cream. No way did I try that combination or anything! Psssh! Who would think of that?! Maybe you should try it too, then we could discuss the yumminess  you could tell me how it tastes!
I added oats to the topping-y goodness, but you don't have to, my mom is convinced it makes all the difference and gives you more fiber! She's a fiber fanatic!
"Molly, did you eat enough fiber today?"
Enjoy and eat your fiber!
Xoxo,
M

Whole Wheat Coffee Cake Muffins
Ingredients:
Batter:
2 Cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
2 Teaspoons cinnamon
¼ Teaspoon baking soda
¼ Teaspoon salt
½ Cup granulated sugar
3 Large eggs
1 Cup plain Greek yogurt
½ Cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Streusel Filling and Topping:
¾ Cup loosely pack light brown sugar
¾ Cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
¼ Teaspoon salt
½ Cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
Optional: ⅓ Cup Oats

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 F, and line muffin tin (or spray with nonstick cooking spray). For the streusel mix the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and oats if using, in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter, blend in the butter until small crumbs form. Set this mixture aside.
2. In another medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until smooth. Then add in the yogurt and whisk until combined and the color has lightened. Then whisk in the butter that has been melted then cooled. Fold in the dry flour mixture until just combined. Do not overmix or you will have chewy, gummy muffins, ICK!
4. Fill muffin tin about half way with batter, then sprinkle with a generous amount of the streusel topping. Add a small amount of batter on top, just a few tablespoons. Top with more streusel topping and press down so that the layers do not separate.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden.

Store at room temperature. Best enjoyed within two days of baking!
Recipe Adapted from How Sweet It Is

Click Here for Printable Recipe

Old Fashioned Crumb Cake with Raspberry Preserves

 In my family on Christmas morning you can always count on there being crumb cake, but usually of the sour cream variety. The recipe we usually use if from my grandmother, it has a dense crumb made with oats, and the cake has a unique tang from the added sour cream. The recipe is our go to for Christmas morning sweets to nibble on as we open our presents! This year I decided to buck our family tradition (Sorry family!) and try a new variety of crumb cake.

So much crumbly goodness! 

I upped the yum factor by spreading a generous (I used an entire jar :)) layer of raspberry preserves over the cake before the crumb! I would highly recommend the raspberry, but I am sure any flavor jam would work just as well! Next time I want to try blueberry!

Old Fashioned Crumb Cake with Raspberry Preserves
Ingredients:
Cake:
1 Box Pillsbury Yellow Cake Mix
3 eggs
1 cup water
1 Jar of Bonne Maman Raspberry Jam (or any flavor you choose)
Topping:
4 sticks of butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
5 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 plus 1/4 cups brown sugar
2/3 plus 1/4 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
(Optional Confectionary Sugar for Dusting)
Directions:
Cake: 
1. Preheat oven to 325 F, and spray jelly roll pan with baking spray.
2. Using a large mixing bowl and handheld mixer (or standup mixer), beat the eggs, water and cake mix for 4 minutes.
3. Pour the cake batter into prepared pan and smooth with a rubber spatula.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, remove from oven, but keep the oven on. While the cake is baking, make the crumb mixture.
Topping:
1. Microwave the butter until melted, allow to cool slightly, then add vanilla and almond extracts.
2. In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugars and cinnamon.
3. Using a pastry blender (or two forks) cut the butter into flour mixture until it becomes crumbly.
4. When the cake comes out of the oven, spread with the raspberry preserves (I used the entire jar). Then sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the cake.
5. Return the cake to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden in color. Allow the cake to cool completely, then you can dust with confectionary sugar if you wish!

Recipe Adapted From My Life as a Mrs.

Pumpkin Honey Cornbread

Most people make cornbread from those little boxes found in supermarkets everywhere. Well I have this strange but vivid memory from when I was younger about those little boxes. I remember that I was making cornbread with my mom and I had opened the box and poured its contents in a bowl. Well, to my surprise there was a dead fly in it! Yuck! I have since tried to avoid those little boxes, but last year caved and tried the apple cinnamon muffins (no flies were found)! It probably was a freak accident that I got a bad box, I am prone to things like this. Anyways, back to cornbread, homemade cornbread is so delicious, while the boxed mixes are often dry and chalky.

Cornbread is a great addition to chili and other hearty meals, but it can also be a horrible if it is too dry and crumbly. Cornbread should be moist and have a delightfully dense crumb, you should not need to grab your nearest glass of water and gulp it down. 

This cornbread is perfectly moist and not too sweet, it is the perfect combination of honey, corn meal and pumpkin. I believe that using local raw honey made all the difference, you are able to taste the honey throughout the cake even though only one tablespoon is used! And if you are anything like me you will drizzle even more honey on top! 

 This cornbread will be making an appearance on my Thanksgiving table spread! You should make it part of your Thanksgiving celebration too! I can't make you make this, but I am telling you that you MUST make this as you will be completely addicted and may want to forgo the rest your Thanksgiving sides! Just kidding...maybe.

Clearly, I thoroughly enjoyed eating this while taking pictures!
The entire pan was gone in less than 24 hours....

Enjoy!
Molly
Happy Thanksgiving!
Do you have any new recipes that you will be adding to your Thanksgiving table spread?

Pumpkin Honey Cornbread 
Ingredients
1/4 cup melted butter, unsalted
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
1 TBS honey (local raw is best)
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F, grease or spray with cooking spray an 8 or 9 in. round baking dish.
In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, butter and honey. Whisk in the egg, then whisk in the baking soda, buttermilk and pumpkin.
In a separate bowl mix together the salt, flour and cornmeal. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stir ONLY until the flour has disappeared.
Pour the batter in the prepared baking dish and bake for 25 minutes, the top should be golden brown and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted. If toothpick does not come out clean, bake for five more minutes.

An original recipe from The Comfort of Cooking

Also don't forget to follow me on Instagram!

Blueberry Boy Bait

The story goes that a young girl once entered a recipe similar to this into the Pillsbury Baking Competition! Although she only took second place, her lovely story has lived on! She named her confection Blueberry Boy Bait because of its ability to have boys swooning over her! Now if only my baked goods had boys swooning for me...I have had two off-the-cuff marriage proposals after sharing my cookies! I guess that counts as swooning? Right? Only these have so far not panned out, but anyways on with the food!

This recipe makes a delightful complement to your breakfast or brunch, and will not have you stressing about whether or not it is too difficult to pull off! It is "easy peasy lemon squeezy"!

One of my favorite aspects of this recipe is subtle crunch and hint of flavor given by the cinnamon-sugar mixture that is sprinkled over the top of batter! I would have never thought of putting cinnamon and blueberries together! The next time that I make this recipe I plan to add a touch of vanilla extract. I could not believe the recipe did not call for vanilla, but I decided to try it without. While it was delicious without the vanilla, I think the vanilla would really push this over the edge and make it superb!

Do you have any go-to ingredients that you seem to put in EVERYTHING? For my mom it is cinnamon, she puts it in all sorts of things. I really like to use vanilla!


Blueberry Boy Bait 
Ingredients For Cake:

• 1 Cup plus one TBS all-purpose flour
• 1 Cup plus two TBS cake flour
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 Cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 Cup skim milk
• 2/3 Cup Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1 Cup Fresh of Frozen Blueberries

Ingredients for Topping:

• 1/2 Cup Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• 3 TBS sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 13x9 baking dish. 
2. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the cake flour, 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Set this aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugars until light and airy. Beat in the eggs, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. In a separate bowl mix together the yogurt and milk. 
4. Reduce speed and alternate mixing in the milk/yogurt mixture and the flour mixture until evenly incorporated. 
5. In a separate bowl stir the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour. Then gently mix the blueberries into the batter. 
6. Spread the batter into the prepare pan. Then sprinkle the blueberries and cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
7. Bake 45-60 minutes, or until cake bounce back when poked, and/or a cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then transfer with the topping side up to a serving dish (I just left it in the pan overnight until picture time!). 
8. Wait for your bait to lure the boys! Or you can eat half before you can even take pictures...

Enjoy,
Molly
Recipe Adapted From Smitten Kitchen

Flour's Banana Bread

In the past two weeks, my life has gone from zero to sixty to about 100 million! So again I am very sorry that I am not yet able to post on a regular basis, hopefully I will come fall! Also I have had these pictures on my computer for a while, I just have not been able to get around to writing the posting. Finally, here I am writing this...so here goes!
Today I have a delicious banana (I credit Gwen Stefani with teaching me how to spell banana :D, but I ain't  no hollback girl!) bread from my favorite Flour Cookbook. The version I made for the photos below was not my best, I think my bananas were WAY overripe, they were like liquid it was disgusting! Anyways when used with slightly overripe bananas, this is the best banana bread I have had...EVER! Of course Joanne's version is fab, but I felt it necessary to add a smidgen of my sugar n' spice and by that I mean more vanilla and cinnamon!

Flour's Famous Banana Bread 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup plus 2 TBS sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 1/3 cup mashed bananas (about 3 1/2 ripe bananas)
• 2 TBS sour cream
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup of toasted walnuts (optional) 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and butter a loaf pan (9 by 5). 
2. Sift and set aside the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
3. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes on medium). 
4. While on low speed, slowly add in the oil (if done too fast you will lose all the air in the batter). Add the bananas, sour cream and vanilla, mix until just combined. 
5. Fold the flour mixture and nuts into the wet ingredients. Make sure there are no flour streaks, then pour batter into prepared pan. 
6. Bake for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. It should be golden brow and bounce back when poked. Let the bread cool for thirty minutes in the pan before popping it out. 

Enjoy!
Molly

So...its been a while...err here is some Swedish Visiting Cake

Okay, okay I am so sorry, but that is no excuse for the fact that this past month has gone by like snap of the fingers (cue actual snap)! It has been a crazy busy month for me, in general it has been a weird summer. Anyone agree? It has just flown by and I am so not ready for it to end, well to help cope with our end of summer sadness-sniffle,sniffle- here is a delightfully delicate Swedish visiting cake. It has hints of lemon, almond and vanilla! This cake is the perfect accompaniment to breakfast or just to eat anytime, I chose the latter. 

Enjoy,

Molly

Swedish Visiting Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter- melted and cooled, additional butter needed for pan
• 1 cup of sugar, plus additional to sprinkle on top
• zest of one lemon 
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sliced almonds (whichever you prefer)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F, then butter a 9in round pan (you may use a seasoned cast iron skillet if you have one). 
2. Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl, mix with your fingers until fragrant and the lemon zest is evenly distributed.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking until just combined after each addition. 
4. Stir in the flour, then fold in the melted butter. 
5. Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth the top then sprinkle with almonds and sugar.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, cake is done when the edges are golden brown and beginning to pull away from the pan. 

Original Recipe from Bella Eats

MollyCakes: First is the worst...

MollyCakes: First is the worst...: Hello! I am so excited to finally get this up and running. This is going to be a very quick post, as it is my first post EVER. For a couple ...

First is the worst...

Hello! I am so excited to finally get this up and running. This is going to be a very quick post, as it is my first post EVER. For a couple years I have been into baking, but only recently have I gotten into baking blogs, the food and the pictures are ohhh so gorgeous. Well for my first post I will share  some pictures of cookies I made the other day. Remember when you were younger you would say "First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the treasure chest"? So this post may just be my worst (i made rookie mistakes :( )...please hang in there! At this time I won't share the recipe because I ended up using the wrong one ( I meant to use my chocolate chip cookie recipe which I thought I was using, but instead I used my Choc-oat-nut Cookies Recipe), while the results were edible they were certainly not the best. At a later date I will use the recipe the way it was planned to be made so for now here are some pictures! Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I am trying to learn more and more about food photography! 

Thank you so much and hope you continue to follow this!! 
Molly