Crumble Coffee Cake

One of my favorite places to go is Starbucks and I find myself going there multiple times during the week.  I am usually satisfied with my typical order, a caramel macchiato, but sometimes I have a taste for something extra.  Starbucks offers a variety of different treats to fulfill any hankering for sweets and one of my favorite things to get is the coffee cake.  I have been on the search for a coffee cake recipe that compares to the one made by Starbucks and I think I may have found one that is very similar.  The cake is very moist and fluffy and is topped with a delicious crumble topping.  This cake is definitely for those with a sweet tooth and I think you will all really enjoy it. I found the recipe here. Let me know how you like it! Enjoy!

XOXO!

 

Creamy Orange Cookies!

Like a lot of families, mine has a cookbook that has been passed on from generation to generation.  As interesting as this may sound I rarely find myself looking through its pages for something delicious to create.  Although I have lacked interest in this book, I found myself searching through the old recipes the other day when my Uncle mentioned a recipe for orange cookies that his mother used to make for him.  He described them in delectable detail and instantly sparked my interest. I found the recipe for the cookies and they came out exactly as my Uncle described.  The recipe was a little vague and I had to research a few of the ingredients that I was unfamiliar with, but the cookies seemed to come out perfectly.  They are a soft, cakey, orange flavored cookie with a sweet orange flavored icing and are better than anything that can be bought at the store.  I edited the recipe so it is a little more detailed and less old fashioned in regards to the ingredients.

Enjoy!

XOXO

Orange Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup Shortening (Crisco)

2 cups Sugar

2 Eggs

1 cup Whole Milk

1 teaspoon Vinegar

1 Orange Juiced

1 Orange Zested

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

4 1/2 cups Flour

Instructions:

Set the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine shortening, sugar and eggs, set aside.  In a small bowl add the vinegar into the whole milk, stir until combined.  Add the milk mixture into the other wet ingredients, mix. Add all of the remaining ingredients into the wet mixture and stir until smooth.  Place spoonfuls of the batter onto a non greased cookie sheet, bake for 12-15 minutes. After baked, place cookies on a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely. After cooled, spread orange icing on top (recipe below).

Orange Icing

Ingredients:

1 Orange Juiced

1 Orange Zested

1 pound Powdered Sugar

2 tablespoons Melted Butter

Instructions:

Combine ingredients until smooth.

Tres Leche Cake

The other night my mom prepared a Mexican themed dinner and I thought that I would make a dessert to match! My boyfriend's mom taught me how to make tres leche cake a while back, the recipe is super easy and the result is completely satisfying. It is a vanilla cake doused with a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk and topped with fresh cut strawberries. After soaking for hours in the refrigerator, the cake becomes drenched in the sweet milk and tastes delicious. We usually make this cake with boxed vanilla cake but this time I tried to make it with a homemade cake.  You can find the recipe for the cake here, but like i said you can use boxed vanilla cake as well. 

Tres Leche Cake Recipe

One Vanilla Cake

2 Cans of Evaporated Milk

1 Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Fresh Strawberries

After the vanilla cake has been baked, poke it multiple times with a fork (as shown below).  In a small sauce pan combine the evaporated milk and the sweetened condensed milk and heat on medium low until warm. Pour the milk mixture on the cake, dispersing it evenly.  Top the cake with fresh strawberries and refrigerate. 

This cake is best served completely chilled.

Enjoy

XOXO!

Sugar Shortbread Cookies!

I have not baked in a while because I was finishing up school, but now that I am on summer vacation, I have time to bake again.  This is the first recipe since my baking dry spell and these cookies turned out delicious.  They reminded me of the holidays, you know those cookies that you buy in a tin? those ones that people give you if they forget to get you a gift? yea those. But I'm not complaining, these cookies are really good.  They have a great texture, they are a crunchy cookie with a sugary buttery flavor.  They were simple to make and although I was supposed to dip them in chocolate, which probably would have made them better, they were still very good. You can find the recipe here.

Enjoy!

XOXO

My Apologies...

I have not been a very good blogger lately but with finals coming in a week the only thing i have been making is a trip to my school's Starbucks for a quick pick me up.  I am sure we all have a food that we reach for when things are hectic.  What is your relief for a long day?

XOXO

Indonesian Ginger Chicken

The other night I wanted to make chicken for dinner, vague right? Yes, well come to find out that if you type "chicken recipes" into a search engine your result will be millions of recipes which include "chicken" in its title. In the spirit of trying something new, I began narrowing the recipes down from pies, casseroles and tacos to soups, patties and and pizzas (this was not an easy task).  At the end of it all I ended up with this chicken recipe called "Indonesian Ginger Chicken", which had promising ratings and interesting flavor combinations.  It also gave me the opportunity to learn how to quarter a chicken, which, with the help of this video, is not as gruesome as your imagination may lead you to think. The process of finding this recipe proved to be worth it, the chicken turned out delicious, each piece was so moist and had such good flavor.  To make the meal complete, I paired the chicken with asparagus and orzo.  You can find the chicken recipe here. Enjoy!

XOXO

Simply Asparagus

I have had a sort of love hate relationship with aspargus.  I used to despise the vegetable, cringing at the sight of it on the dinner table.  But over time i have acquired a taste for it and I have to say it has become one of my favorite dinner time sides.  I have come to find out that asaparagus is quite the temperamental vegetable, if over cooked they become stringy and unappetizing and if not cut correctly they become a difficulty to chew, then I came across this recipe.  With a few of the most basic spices and a perfect cooking time, this recipe has won my heart over and has secured asparagus the spot of my favorite vegetable. Enjoy this recipe you can find it here!

XOXO