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Archive for Recipes

Dusting off My Breadmaker

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Renee Spindle

All of you have that certain small appliance sitting on your shelf collecting dust. My shelf is pretty big, and sometimes I forgot to look in the back of the shelf to see what is there. You know the second row of the shelf all the way in the back. A few weeks ago, I looked back there and was reminded that I have a bread maker. And it had quite a layer of dust on it. So I pulled it off of the shelf, cleaned it all up, and actually found the recipe book that came with the bread maker. I could not believe that one! Travel Man had to replace the plug for me and then I was all set to go.

The bread maker is the easiest way to make bread known to man. Throw your ingredients in, in the correct order of course, and voila a beautiful loaf of bread. I had not made bread in a long, long time and everyone loved it, especially Evan. He keeps asking me when I’ll be making more. I made him his own personal loaf for Valentine’s Day. He kissed the loaf of bread when I gave it to him. Evan likes to have peanut butter sandwiches, and he told his Mom he could only eat them on the bread from Grandma now. Too funny!

For this loaf of plain white bread the ingredients are:

1 c. Water
2¾ c. Bread Flour
2 Tbsp. Dry Milk
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1½ Tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
2 Tsp. Active Dry Yeast

The first thing you put in the pan is the water. Then mix the dry ingredients, except for the yeast, in a separate bowl and add on top of the water. Spread the dry ingredients in the pan evenly, and make a small well in the middle of the dry ingredients for the yeast. Measure the yeast and put it into the little well. Cut your butter into four small pieces, and place them on top of the dry ingredients in your pan. Put the pan into your bread maker, and turn it on.

For my bread maker it was set to basic bread with a medium color crust. Total bake time start to finish is 3 hours and 10 minutes. Once the bread is done you just pop it out of the pan, and cool for 15-20 minutes before eating. Then just slice, butter and enjoy.

I have made six or seven loaves of bread in the last couple of weeks. Travel Man and I enjoyed some audacious french toast made with this bread for breakfast. Since we have all gotten back on our calorie counting recently I will only be making bread once a week now. Otherwise we just eat way too much. My next experiment with the bread maker will be to make homemade pizza dough for our wood grilled pizzas. Updates on that in a week or so.

Happy bread baking everyone!

2 comments Posted in Around the House, Food, Recipes

Have you made Mini Donuts yet?

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Renee Spindle

One of my Christmas presents from Travel Man was one of those little mini donut makers. He loves getting me new kitchen gadgets, and this one was at the top of my list.

The mini recipe booklet that came with my new gadget had a few recipes, and I just wanted to try the basics. Here’s the recipe I used:

Basic Donut Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 egg

1/2 c. milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 Tbsp cooking oil

Directions:

Stir dry ingredients together.
Add egg, vanilla, and milk and beat 1 minute with electric mixer or vigorously by hand.
Add oil and continue to beat for 1 more minute.

Now you’re ready to plug-in the donut maker, and get those goodies going. The donut maker just plugs into the wall, and heats up like a waffle iron. Once heated, you spray the top and bottom with some sort of non-stick cooking spray, add the batter, close the lid, and bake until the “ready” light comes on.

Once they are baked place the little goodies on a plate or cutting board to cool. At my house you have to guard treats like this with your life, so they don’t disappear instantaneously!

You can also frost the donuts, and dip them in sprinkles, or some other sugary delight. For our very first round of donuts I just wanted them plain so I could tell how this recipe tasted. The donuts were very light and delicious. Like little cakes, but not too heavy. Just the right amount of sweetness for me. Left plain these little snacks would freeze very well.

The mini donuts disappeared quite quickly after I sounded the alarm that they could be eaten. I think I might try something with pumpkin next, or maybe lemon poppy-seed. Those would be my two favorite flavors to experiment with. What’s your favorite donut or muffin? Have you tried the mini donuts?

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Food, Recipes

Butter Pecan Birthday Cake

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This is a birthday cake recipe post from a couple of years ago. It was a delightful recipe and worth sharing with you again.

I thought I would put up a recipe post today, just for the mere fact that this cake was so delectable.

My niece, Mary, and my Mom usually celebrate their birthday’s together with the family, since they’re within a week of each other. This year my brother hosted the party and I was in charge of the cake baking.

Mary found this recipe for Butter Pecan Cake, on www.justapinch.com, and put in a birthday request to her Auntie.

First the batter was mixed all together. Very sugary, and buttery.

While the batter was in process I toasted 1-1/2 cups of pecans with real butter. They made the kitchen smell wonderful.

Once the cake was baked and cooled the assembly with the buttercream frosting could begin.

Toasted pecans in the middle

The cakes themselves turned out just a skosh dry, and that was probably from my oven. But with the frosting, and toasted pecans in the middle and on top of the cake, the flavor was amazing.

Here’s the finished product which when served with french vanilla ice cream was quite a treat.