Saturday Sweets

In a wonderful moment of parenthood last night, my husband took over bed time and I went to Panera Bread. On the door it said open until 9pm. When I left at 8:58, I was suspicious that perhaps that wasn't true. There were people hanging out in there! And about five minutes previous to my exit, a guy sat down with a sandwich and a bowl of soup. :( Hey now! If I hadn't packed up all my stuff and successfully ended my time... I would have stayed.

Let me just say, I hope the next place I live has a more well-run Panera. :P I've had a few comments about this location... like the sticky floors. Always sticky floors in front of the coffee station.

Anyhoo...back to the sweets. Had a really yummy pudding/custard filled croissaint with fresh fruit on top of it. The blueberries! Yum. Today, my husband has called for blueberry pancakes. :D I love summer! I love fruit!

<--Mine was bigger, more blueberries, too.

What's your favorite summer FRUIT dessert?

Killer CheeseCake

Killer Cheese Cake -- [ignore the way I sound on video...LOL]

from the internet, allrecipes...with a few minor adjustments of my own. 

So easy to make!!

Couple packages of Philadelphia

about 2/3 cup of Sugar

2 eggs

and vanilla.

I ended up adding heavy whipping cream to that because there was no way to pour it. As a matter of fact, I still couldn't pour it and had to use a spatula to spread it out. 

There's a topping as well. AFter the cake cools completely [about 2 hours]

about 10 oz. sour cream, sugar and vanilla

poured over the top and baked again for about 10 minutes.

Can't wait to eat this tomorrow. :D

I'll post pictures again later. 

Have a beautiful Saturday.

With Love,

Bethanne

Saturday Sweets -- Chocolate Cake

The batter, which was really thick! More so than I'm used to. I had to spread it a bit in the pan.

The baking.

Butter cream helper...

Strawberries and chocolate, YUM.

The cake was not as chocolatey as I would have liked, but all I had was cocoa powder when the recipes I kept finding used the baking [melting] chocolate. I was making it up as I went along!

I should have written DARLA on this....

She was covered in powdered sugar!! Just covered! :D

Saturday Sweets

I keep hearing all over--on twitter and facebook--this week has been long and tedious--crappy, even.

My suggestion for those having a crappy week is to get in the kitchen and make something. There is nothing like work in the kitchen to get rid of the blues. This past Thursday I made biscuits...and though I can't say my day was bad, it didn't go as smoothly as expected. Making those biscuits was therapeutic. And for me, a mindless activity.

For something easy, you could stick to cookies.
If you want to step it up a bit and really get ambitious, do a cake...yummy chocolate cake with peanut butter cream filling. That sounds so good.

For me, eventually today I'm going to do sugar cookies and then possibly a parmesan loaf for dinner--I love kneading dough! Anyhoo... here's an abbreviated version of what I do.

Take your favorite bread recipe and after letting it rise that first time, divide it into sections for 2-3 inch balls. Roll the balls in melted butter then again in a bowl of parmesan cheese. Place coated balls into a greased/sprayed bunt pan--they'll fit on top of each other. Let rise for your recipes second rising, usually about half an hour. Then bake at about 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Yum! I haven't done this in so long, I'm looking forward to dinner.

Saturday Sweets

Friday, late afternoon, I made a banana cake. I started the project, forgetting that I did not have any eggs. Believe me, you can't make cake without eggs. So I sent my son next door to borrow a couple of eggs. I made the cake...and let me tell you, this cake is the best cake EVER. (if you plan to link to the recipe, I added a little plain yogurt to the banana. The recipe is unbelievably moist and yummy. Other recipes I've used have been heavy, more like banana bread is. Anyhooo...

I had a plate ready to take over to the neighbors, but they haven't been home since shortly after we borrowed the eggs. And now the cake is gone!

GONE!

In 24 hours, that cake is MIA. That is a recommendation you can't deny. Tomorrow, when I go shopping, I'll buy eggs and make cookies. Those will go to the neighbors... because I'm so thankful for having such wonderful people in my life.