TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

Sadly, I only took 1 picture of this cake. As it was completely devoured 

by the rest of family as soon as it was made.

See, here in my house, we LOVE coffee cakes. Not just like, we LOVE them.

So after making, and eating this cake sliced warm with a hot 

cup of coffee, I just sat back and watched as my entire family gobbled it all up.

It was quite a site to see.

Anyways, this was a GREAT recipe, super easy to make, and I had all the ingredients on hand already. I think i might just make another one of these babies

 in a couple days...?

Hope everyone liked it as well!

"Making Banana Pancakes pretend like its the weekend now..."

Even though it really is the weekend...hahh. Anywayssss, this is how I started off 

my sunday morning today. With Ina Garten's Banana Sour Cream Pancakes.

A bunch of my girlfriends spent the night at my house, so I

decided to treat them with a nice, big breakfast this morning.

These pancakes were SO good. I love banana pancakes, and the banana

flavor in them was just amazing. I also wanted an alternative to regular

maple syrup, so I used Joy the Baker's Vanilla-Brown sugar syrup.

"SOOOOO GOOD", explained my half asleep group of friends.

Sadly, I only got to enjoy one of these, cause i'm such a great friend.

But they were definitely completely gone after I served them.

Go make these now!

Banana Sour Cream Pancakes 

 from Ina Garten

1 1/2 cups flour

3 tblsp. sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup plus 1 tblsp. milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon zest

butter

2 ripe bananas, diced, plus more for serving

Vanilla Brown Sugar Syrup(recipe below)

Sift together dry ingredients in large bowl. In another bowl, wisk together sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add wet ingredients to dry ones, mixing only until combined. Melt 1 tblsp. butter in large skillet over medium-low heat till it bubbles. Ladle pancake batter into pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Put a couple slices of bananas on each pancake. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes, then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out pan w/ paper towel, add more butter(or pam) and continue cooking till batter is done. Top with bananas, and drizzle with syrup!!

Vanilla Brown Sugar Syrup

from Joy the baker

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups water

3 tblsp. butter

1/8 tsp salt

1 tblsp. fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine brown sugar, water, butter and salt in a 2 quart sauce pan and bring to boil, stiring until sugar is dissolved. Boil until syrupy and reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and vanilla, then let cool to warm or room temp.

Enjoy!

Brioche !

No TWD this week, way too stressed with finals. =/

But I DID try a different recipe from Dorie's book. This Brioche recipe.

After making those sticky buns, I really got inspired to try and make breads.

So I went through Dories book and found this recipe.

I'm not going to lie, it does take work, and a lonnnng waiting time(hours for rising INCLUDING the overnight fridge chill). But let me tell you...it was SO worth it!

After they're out of the oven, you have the most amazing, mouth watering smell of fresh baked bread. My kitchen smelled like a pastry shop. It was fantastic.

It was really hard to wait until the loaves finished cooling, before my family and I sliced right into them. But that first, warm bite was alllllll worth it. Sweet, flakey, and DELICIOUS!

My parents even said it was one of the best breads they'd ever tasted! And it really was.

I sliced, and toasted these and served them with dinner. But they should really be toasted with jam and butter for breakfast. Mmmm. 

I'm not going to post the recipe, cause it's way too long to type, but if you have Dories book(pretty much everyone), I highly recommend trying it.

Pecan Sticky Buns

EVERYTIME my grandparents come over and i've made some dessert,my grandpa ALWAYS begs me to make him pecan stick buns. He tells me the stories of how when my mom was growing up he'd constantly make all these homemade breads, and rolls, and buns, and that sticky buns were the best thing he's ever made.

Well, i've never made sticky buns before, so I was very excited to start. This recipe is from the Better Homes baking book, and didn't look too hard to do. And to my excitement, wasn't at all!

My grandparents were just arriving as I was inverting them onto a plate, and the house smelled absolutely AMAZING. After dinner, I served them to my grandpa and waited anxiously for his reaction. After a nice big bite, all of a sudden he JUMPS up and gives me the BIGGEST hug ever. He said they were amazing, and one of the best sticky buns he's ever had! I was so happy! Even my dad had 2, and my brother warmed up 2 this morning for breakfast! 

If you like sticky buns, I recommend making these for your families. It'll make you feel SO good.

Pecan Sticky Buns

from the Better Homes baking book

2 tsp active dry yeast

1-1/4 cups warm water

3 tblsp butter, softened 

3 tblsp sugar

2 tblsp nonfat dry milk powder

1 tsp salt

3 to 3-1/4 cups bread flour

FILLING:

1/3 cup butter softened

1 tblsp sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

SAUCE:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the butter, sugar, milk powder, salt and 2 cups flour; beat on low speed for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

2. turn onto a floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

3. punch dough down. turn onto a lightly floured surface, roll into a 16in. x 10inch rectangle. spread with butter; sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. roll up jelly-roll style, starting from a long side; pinch seam to seal. cut into 12 slices; set aside.

4. in a saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup; cook over medium heat until the sugar is disolved. stir in pecans. pour into a greased 13x9in. baking pan. place rolls cut side down over sauce. cover and let rise until double about 1 hour.

5. bake at 375 for 20-25 min. or until golden brown. cool for 3 min. invert onto a serving platter.

DEVOUR!

Low-Fat Blueberry Bran Muffins

This sunday afternoon, I somehow got inspired to make some muffins. Then I thought hmm, I havn't made HEALTHY muffins in a while. Esspecially how EVERYONE is trying to keep their new years resolution to eat healthier, why not try and make something a bit healthier for once??

So I went to Allrecipes and searched "Healthy Muffins", and saw these. I also noticed how it was the highest rated healthy muffin recipe with almost 300 ratings. And I knew I had a bunch of blueberries in my fridge...so off I went!

These were extremely easy to put together, and they will be coming with me to school tomorrow morning and will be feeding 30 hungry fellow dance team members of mine...not to mention since these are healthy muffins, each 1 of them are under 100 calories! SCORE!

Low -fat Blueberry Bran Muffins

1 1/2 cups wheat bran

1 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce(nonfat frozen yogurt could be used if you don't have the applesauce)

1 egg

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease muffins cups or use paper liners. Mix together wheat bran and milk, and let stand for 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl mix together applesauce, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat in bran mixture. Sift together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into bran mixture until just blended. Fold in blueberries. Scoop into muffin cups.

3. Bake for 15-20 min. or until tops spring back when lightly touched. ENJOY!

P.S. I know my team will be EXTREMELY surprised when I tell them I baked something healthy!...i'll let you all know what they think =]]

Banana Banana Bread

I had 6 insanely ripe bananas sitting on my counter today, and my mom told me I should do something with them or she was going to just throw them away.

Well, you don't just throw away ripe bananas!

So I came across this recipe on the Allrecipes website and it had 3,522 reviews ALL say how absolutely AMAZING this banana bread was. Of course I had to try it out.

I'm happy to say those 3,522 people were so right! This really was the best banana bread recipe.

Although, this really isn't a dessert, but more of a breakfast bread cause of basic and not as sweet it is compared to a banana "cake". I really recommend trying this.

2 cups All purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed bananas (aprox. 5-6 bananas)

preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture, stir just to moisten. Pour batter into pan.

Bake in oven for 60-65 min. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

DEVOUR. 

Oatmeal Banana Cake

Every single time I have ripe bananas I always somehow find myself making either banana bread, or banana muffins. Nothing else.

Well today I decided to change some things around...after all, now having a new president who is advertising the whole "change" idea, why not apply that to our every day lives??

That's when this "cake" comes in.

I was looking for something new to make when I found this recipe from a great blog, the pastry studio that has some wonderful recipes.

This cake combines 2 big ingredients that I LOVE to bake with. Bananas, AND oatmeal. YUM!

And it seemed simple enough.

This cake had a great, dense texture with a sweet chewy bite. And it's perfect with a cup of coffee, or tea. Or even just by itself! 

Make this cake, you will not regret it!

Oatmeal Banana Cake

8 T butter room temp.

3/4 C brown sugar

2 eggs @ room temp

2 large very ripe bananas, mashed

1 t vanilla

zest of 1/2 lemon

3/4 C flour

1 1/4 C oats

heaping 1/4 t salt

1 t baking soda

Topping

3/4 C oats 

1/3 C brown sugar

zest of 1/2 lemon

1/2 t cinnamon

1 T flour

4 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

line a 9" springform cake pan w/ butter and parchment

Wisk together dry ingredients for the topping. Add melted butter and stir with fork till crumbly. Set aside.

Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and oats.

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Add mashed banana and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and smooth evenly.

Sprinkle topping over cake batter, press down lightly.

Bake 30-35 min. until toothpick comes out moist but clean. Cool on wire rack. Remove cake pan ring.

Enjoy!!

Blueberry Cream Mini Scones

Another blueberry recipe...I just can't get enough blueberries, there's just SO many different things to bake with them!

I bought a mini scone pan at William Sonoma a little while ago, and wanted to use it. And when I saw this recipe at the pastry studio I of course was already in my kitchen getting it out.

The original recipe is just a plain scone, is not made into mini scones, and of course, I added blueberries to it. They came out very very good. Everything you'd expect in a great quality, bakery-type scone.

The recipe also has other additions you could add to the batter such as raisins, or currants etc., but I chose blueberries!

I highly recommend trying these,(even if you dont have a mini scone pan), if you're a scone lover. A really great way to start off your day!

Blueberry Cream Mini Scones

adapted from Pastry Studio

2 cups flour

1 tblsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tblsp. melted butter for brushing tops

sugar for sprinkling tops

Preheat oven to 425F. Grease mini scone pan.

Sift or whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in blueberries if using. Add cream, and gently stir with a fork. Stop mixing when it starts to come together and the cream seems fairly absorbed. Be careful not to overmix. The dough will look loose and lumpy and not like a finished dough.

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Flour your hands a bit, and using a very light touch begin to gather into a 9'' circle. It will come together just enough to look like it might work. Do not handle very much to achieve maximum tenderness!

Carefully place the dough into each scone mold, and gently press down, so it fits evenly. 

Brush the tops with a little melted butter, and a light sprinkle of sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes or until they are golden. Serve immediately with your choice of jam, coffee, or whatever you love to eat your scones with!

Enoy!

Brown Sugar Streusel Baked French Toast

I absolutely LOVE french toast. When I think of the weekends, one thing is always on my mind...a nice big breakfast of either waffles, pancakes, or french toast. And i'm sure you all agree with me!

My mom used to make(and still does) the BEST french toast, usually out of challah...the perfect bread to use for french toast, if you ask me. But she hasn't made some in a very long time.

I, of course was craving french toast this weekend, and just happened to find this recipe from one of my favorite sites, Baking Bites, for make-ahead, BAKED, french toast. BINGO!

It was perfect, the simplest thing to make...all you have to do is put it together the night before, refrigerate it, then when your ready to eat the next morning, pop it in the oven, and your done!

It came out SO good...the streusel topping adds such a great cinnamon-y flavor, and it smells amazing while it bakes! Another thing, Nicole says, is that it bakes up to be slightly crispy, which was a great contrast to the custardy and soft french toast.

I strongly recommend making this sometime, and it's a great dish to have on hand for breakfast or brunch, if you're having company over.

Brown Sugar Streusel Baked French Toast

From Nicole of Baking Bites

12 Slices White bread (approx)

2 cups milk

4 large eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Streusel

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tblsp. all purpose flour

pinch salt

2 tblsp. butter, melted

Cut crusts off bread, and each piece into triangles. Arrange bread into 3 even layers, (the exact number of slices will vary, depending on the size of bread you start out with) in a lightly greased 8-inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, brown sugar, salt, vanilla and cinnamon until smooth. Pour over bread, press down to ensure all pieces are thoroughly soaked. Custard should just come to the top of the bread layer. If it covers it more deeply, add additional bread.

In a small bowl, make the streusel. Stir together brown sugar, flour and salt. Pour in butter, and stir with a fork until mixture has the consistency of wet sand. Sprinkle evenly over bread and custard.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. 

Preheat oven to 350F and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until french toast is a golden brown on top. Let the dish stand for a few minutes. The dish will be very soft and  souffle-like, but should not be too runny. The french toast will continue to set and soak up the custard as it cools. Slice and serve warm, with maple syrup.

Serves 6-8

Giving Krispy Kream a run for their Money

Sadly, I no longer can drive those quick 5 minutes over to Krispy Kream after dinner, on any random weeknight, and pick up a fresh,piping hot, original doughnut...=/ Mostly cause ALL the krispy kreams near me had to close down, and move ALL the way over to the East Coast!

They freaking have EVERYTHING up there!

Anyway, I havn't had a doughnut in a very long time, I mostly think of doughnuts as an every once in a while decadent treat, that I get to reward myself with sometimes. So you could imagine, when I get a doughnut, it's got to be a pretty good one.

I've been wanting to make my own homemade doughnuts ever since I started to see other bloggers make them...but I was always very skeptical on if I wanted to go through all that trouble frying them.

Then I saw this recipe over at The Sweet Pea Patisserie, for "Baked" doughnuts, and knew I HAD to try it. And let me tell you, I was really surprised at how easy these were to make!

Sure, they do take some time for all that dough to rise(they have active dry yeast) but it is SO extremely worth it at the end. She did 3 different toppings; cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, and chocolate ganche...but since my FAVORITE type of doughnuts are just the plain, regular glazed, I found a recipe on the Food Network website for a simple glaze. I also did cinnamon sugar ones as well.

Also, make sure you eat these RIGHT out of the oven, after you glaze them of course! They really need to be HOT to get that right, doughnut taste!

Delicious Baked Doughnuts

Adapted from The Sweet Pea Patisserie 

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95-105 degrees

1 packet active dry yeast(2 1/4 tsp.)

2 tblsp. butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

5 cups all purpose flour

A pinch or 2 of nutmeg, freshly grated( I used a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice)

1 tsp. fine grain sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tblsp. cinnamon

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for 5 min. or so. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the milk mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt-just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments- if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth.

Turn it out onto a floured counter top, knead for a few times(the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered(or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place, and let rise for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2 inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people(like me) dont have a doughnut cutter, instead I used a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth, and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8-10 minutes- start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.( I had pre-made cinnamon sugar, so I used that)

Remove doughnuts from the oven and let cool for literally 1 minute. Dip each one in the melted butter, and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. (Or dip in the glaze)

EAT IMMEDIATELY IF NOT SOONER!

Doughnut glaze

from Alton Brown, The Food Network Website, 2004

1/4 cup whole milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners sugar

Combine milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat over low heat until warm. Sift confectioners sugar into milk mixture. Whisk slowly, until well combined. Remove the glaze from the heat and set over a bowl of warm water. Dip doughnuts into the glaze, 1 at a time, and set on a draining rack placed in a half sheet pan.

TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

"This sh*t is bananas...B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!"

Come on, it's not like you don't use that song to help you remember how to spell the word "BANANA"...or maybe that's just me...

Kay, onto the food.

One of my top 5 FAVORITE quick breads to eat, and bake is banana bread. I think it's also cause i'm a big banana freak. ANYTHING with banana in it, i'll eat. I grew up eating banana breads, mostly cause my grandma had a great banana bread recipe that she gave to my mom, and my mom gave to me...buttt today's recipe isn't from my grandma. It's from, of course, Dorie. This weeks tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Ashlee from A Year in the Kitchen.

I loved how it included both the chocolate and banana flavors together. Such a great pairing if you ask me. Annnnd, it has just a little bit of rum added to the bananas, that just gives it that nice touch.

Black and White Banana Loaf

from Baking from my home to yours

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/2 ripe bananas, peeled

squirt of fresh lemon juice

grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1 tblsp. dark rum

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 stick plus 2 tblsp. unsalted butter, room temp.(10 tblsp.)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.

Butter an 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-x-2 1/2-inch loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Place the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on 2 regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with the lemon juice and zest, then stir in the rum.

 Melt the chocolate and 2 tblsp. of the butter in a microwave oven, or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water.

Working with a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining stick of butter(8 tblsp.) at medium speed until creamy, about 3 min. Add the sugars and beat for another 2-3 minutes, until light and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. The batter will look curdled, and it will continue to look curdled as you add the ingredients. Reduce the mixer to low and add half the flour mixture, mixing only until it is just incorporated. With the mixer running, pour in the milk, and when it is blended, add the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape down the bowl and mix in the mashed bananas. The batter will look even lumpier.

Pour a little less than half the batter into the bowl with the melted chocolate and stir to blend. Drop alternating spoonfuls of both batters into the prepared pan, then, using a table knife, swirl the batters together, taking care not to over do it.

Bake for 1 hour and 20-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check after 30 minutes and if the cake starts to brown too much, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for about 15 min. before unmolding, then cool the cake to room temp. right side up on the rack.

MAKE THIS...you WON'T be disappointed at all.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I kid you not, these may have been one of the BEST muffins i've ever made breakfast wise.

And i've made A LOT of muffins.

This is of course, another Dorie recipe, and I just have to say, that not ONE of those recipes in that book has failed me. Literally everything in there has just been absolutely amazing.

Anyways, I was in the mood to bake something, and i've seen other blogs making these, and they seemed to be getting great reviews. And I LOVE lemon poppy seed muffins, so I was excited to see how these turned out. 

Like I said, absolutely delicious! They were perfectly light, and fluffy, and would be a great little snack, but even better for breakfast with some jam.

In the book, it includes icing, I however, happened to have no confectioners sugar on hand today, so I had to skip the icing =/...but i'm sure the icing would've been really tasty. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking from my home to yours"

For the muffins-

2/3 cup sugar

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 stick(8 tblsp.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tblsp. poppy seeds

For the icing-

1 cup confectioners  sugar, sifted

2-3 tblsp. fresh lemon juice

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough- a few lumps a better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a think knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.

To make the icing: Put the confectioners sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tblsp. of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better to get an extra zap of lemon.

My First Tuesdays with Dorie!...

TWD: Apple Chedder Scones

(fresh out of the oven)

This is my first tuesdays with dorie challenge, and to be completely honest, when I saw what the recipe was, I was a little nervous, to say the least.

I've made scones in the past before, but they were always either plain, or had some type of currant, or raisin in them( cause my dad's not the biggest fan of sweets, when it comes to scones)...but nevertheless, I was still very intrigued to see what putting dried apples, and chedder cheese in a breakfast scone. Pretty savory if you ask me!

...But come on, anything Dorie's got in that little amazing book of hers has to be great anyways.

So starts my great adventure of these Apple Chedder Scones.

These weren't all that hard to bake, surprisingly, although, I do really need to work on my "scone shape",(says my mom)...the recipe said to pat the dough out into a 1/2 inch rectangle shape, and you should get 12 equal parts. Well, I guess I shaped it wrong, cause I got 10 scones, which I just cut in half, and made them a little smaller.

With the shapes being totally off, these really did come out great, I served them with some butter, and apricot jam, and they were GRRRRREAT!

They were soft, light, and chewy, without being TOO dry and crumbly like a regular scone could be. My parents, who LOVE scones for breakfast completely ate these up! And said they really really loved these.

My dad also commented that he'd be taking the rest of them to work with him the next morning for breakfast.

I love when my family enjoys what I bake, it makes me feel a sense of accomplishment, and that's truly a great feeling.

I highly suggest making these. You will not be disappointed I guarantee!

By the way, thanks TWD for letting me be apart of this whole thing!

I really appreciate it!! =]]