Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread.

Recipe 33.

Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread (from The Pastry Affair).

Ingredients:
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/3 cps barely warm water
2 tbs olive oil
2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Stir together yeast and water in a large mixing bowl. Let sit 5 minutes until yeast becomes foamy. Mix in the olive oil, salt, and flour. In your stand mixer, attach dough hook and knead the dough for 5-6 minutes. If you are doing this by hand (my preferred method, I LOVE kneading!) knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 7-10 minutes. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until it is doubled in size.

In a small bowl, combine melted butter, parsley, and garlic. Set aside.

Punch down the dough. Tear off small pieces (about how much would fit in a medium spoon), coat each piece in the butter mixture, and place in the bottom of a bundt pan. Repeat this process until you have one layer of dough pieces, and the sprinkle on 1/3 of the parmesan cheese. Continue creating layers until the cheese and dough is all in the bundt pan. Cover and allow the dough to rise for 20-30 more minutes.

Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Turn out of bundt pan and serve warm with marinara sauce.

We loved it! I somehow convinced my friends who had just been to a water park to pose for a "candid-I'm-really-enjoying-this" shot. It's surprising how willing they will be when you feed them good food!


Keep this recipe in your "use-this-to-manipulate-people" file. Legit.

Poppy Seed Cake.

Recipe 31.

Poppy Seed Cake (from Taste of Home). 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup poppy seeds

1 cup 2% milk

4 egg whites

3/4 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Prep: Soak the poppy seeds in milk for 30 minutes. Place egg whites in a large bowl and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, then add into mix alternately with poppy seed mixture, beating well after each addition. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into batter.

Pour into a greased 9x13. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

For frosting, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth, and then gradually beat in confectioners' sugar. Spread over cake. Store in refrigerator. 

Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake.

Recipe 31.

Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake (from Sprinkle Bakes).

This loaf cake was so fun to make.  Zesting oranges, making glaze, quick and easy. What else could you ask for? Well, I guess I'd ask for more cake, but I have a relentless sweet tooth.

Glaze instructions are ridiculously easy. I don't understand why so many times my glazes are too runny or too thick or too not-delicious. But this is the first time I got glaze perfectly right!!! I was so excited that I think I made two or three batches of glaze just to prove that it actually happened! So, it happened. Breanna is a glaze maker. She didn't mess it up. Be proud.

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup yogurt (I used plain greek yogurt)
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
zest of 2 large oranges (about 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup oil (I used extra light olive oil)

Glaze:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan and set aside

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, eggs, orange zest, vanilla, and oil. Gradually whisk in dry ingredients until well blended. Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 50 minutes (or until tester comes out clean). Let the cake cool slightly, remove it from the loaf pan and then immediately return it to the pan. This helps is not stick but keep its shape.

In a medium bowl, whisk together orange juice and powdered sugar. Pour over the loaf cake and let stand until the glaze soaks into the cake. Slice and serve!

This recipe is a keeper! Definitely going into my favorites list.

Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Recipe 30.

Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Yes, that's what they are called. You can comment on this post with a better name for them and I just might take your suggestion into consideration. My iphoto album for these cookies is definitely titled "choc oatmealchocchihchoochocookies." I apparently couldn't get through it one more time. I need help.

They are super delish. SUPER. I had to get rid of them as fast as possible to keep myself from eating them all! Once they were cool I practically ran to my friends' various apartments and threw the cookies at their faces.

I'm watching my weight.

HAHAHAhahahaha. Oh man, yah right about the weight watching.
But I really did throw cookies at people. Almost.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup rolled oats
lots of chocolate chunks and white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a large bowl cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together.  Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients. Once well mixed, stir in the oats, chunks, and chips. As many as you want!

Shape into really large portions of heaven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow them to cool for about 5 minutes before removing from the baking sheet to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk White Chocolate Chip Chookie recipe reviewer comment of the century:

"I would kiss you on the lips if you would let me."

Deep Dish Cookies.

Recipe 29.

Deep Dish Cookies (inspired by many sites).

I've been seeing a lot of blog posts and pins about deep dish cookies. I couldn't resist! Especially since I recently bought the cutest ramekins ever.

Basically, the secret is to fill ramekins half full with your favorite cookie dough, bake for a little bit longer than usual, and scoop ice cream on top. Eat them before they cool off!

Here is the recipe I used for mine:

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups  flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 sticks softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. In another bowl stir together butter, both sugars, eggs, vanilla, and cocoa. Gradually stir in flour mixture and mix well. Stir in way too many chocolate chips.

Fill ramekins 1/2 full with cookie dough. Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and put in the middle of the oven. Bake 12-18 minutes, or until tops look fully cooked. The insides should be slightly undercooked but not too doughy.

Remove from oven, top with a few scoops of ice cream, grab a spoon, eat your heart out!!!

America Cake.

Recipe 28.

America Cake (from Ina Garten).

Contessa calls it flag cake if you want to look it up. 

I call it America Cake.

Want to know why? Even if you don't, I'm telling you. I call it America Cake because it's delicious and perfect and amazing and awesome and I had three pieces and didn't even feel bad about it. In America you can have your cake and eat it too.

This is going at the top of my list with that really good focaccia bread I made once. Yes, I'm keeping tabs on my favorites. Yes, I'll be making my favorites for the rest of my life.

Make. This. Cake. Before. You. Die.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter at room temp

3 cups sugar

6 eggs at room temp

1 cup sour cream at room temp

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking soda

Icing Ingredients:

4 sticks unsalted butter at room temp

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese at room temp

1 pound confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Toppings:

Lots of strawberries and blueberries

Are you excited yet?? 

If you aren't go back and read through how much butter and cream cheese you'll be using.

If you aren't excited now, you need to run to the doctor to get your vitals checked.

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour an 18 x 13 x 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in your electric mixer, on high, until light and fluffy. With your stand mixer on medium speed, add eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir until smooth.

Sift together flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, add this dry mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. Pour into pan, smooth the top, and baking for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature!!

For the icing, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer, just until smooth. Spread across cooled sheet cake. Create the field of stars with blueberries. Cut strawberries (or use raspberries) for the stripes.

Cut the cake into pieces, open your apartment window, post a picture on a social networking site, and watch it disappear in twenty minutes. Flag day was a month ago and people are still talking about it!

Cream Cheese Muffins.

Recipe 27.

Cream Cheese Muffins (from your homebased mom)

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar

Sift the flour, one cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt together. In another bowl, combine milk, oil and eggs. Stir in the dry ingredients until moist (I hate the word moist, ick).

Separately, combine the cream cheese and the other cup of sugar. Mix half of this mixture into the muffin batter.

Line your muffin tin with cupcake liners and fill them about 1/2 full with the batter. Spoon the rest of the cream cheese mixture into the middle of each muffin, using a spoon to press it into each muffin.

Topping Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temp

Combine ingredients. Sprinkle over cupcakes. Bake 24-30 minutes at 375.

DO NOT OVERBAKE. They will come out really dry, for real. And that is really dumb. For real.

"Knock Your Socks Off" Brownies.

Recipe 26.

"Knock Your Socks Off" Brownies (from Pioneer Woman).

Ok, I'll get real with you. The brownies are actually called "Knock You Naked," but we are keeping it PG here, folks. What am I supposed to say to my friends? "Eat this brownie. It will knock you naked, and then this whole social situation will become really awkward." I'd rather just see some bare feet.

I'm a brat.

I was walking home after delivering a plate full of these to my friend, and was startled by him yelling "BREANNA!" out of his third story window. "THESE BROWNIES HAVE CARAMEL IN THEM! Oh my gosh!" And then, his roommate kissed my hand the next time he saw me. Either I looked really good that day or he tasted some of these brownies. I'd guess on the latter. I don't wash my hair everyday.

Ingredients:
1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup evaporate milk for later
1/2 cup melted butter
60 whole unwrapped caramels

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the cake mix, pecans, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and melted butter. Stir together until well combined, it should come out really thick. Press half the batter into a greased 9x9 or 8x8. Bake for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven, and set aside.

While half the batter is baking, melt your caramels with the 1/2 cup evaporated milk over the stove. I don't have a double boiler so I use a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. This takes longer than you think so get it started!

While the caramels melt, form the rest of the dough into a square shape about the size of the pan.

Pour the melted caramel over the first brownie layer.

Set the remaining brownie dough on top of the caramel. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Allow to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for several hours (or just eat them, like we did). You can sift powdered sugar over them if you'd like!

Wait for it..

yes yes yes...

YES!

Forget PG. If these really did knock you naked, no one would even notice because we'd all be focusing on the brownie/caramel/nuttiness making our taste-buds sing.

Cinnamon Roll Cake.

Recipe 25.

Cinnamon Roll Cake (from Heat Oven to 350).

Heat Oven to 350 is obviously becoming one of my favorite blogs to pull recipes from, I would definitely recommend following it if you want to try some new things! They've got plenty of things to bake, but also amazing recipes to cook for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Anyway, when I saw their cinnamon roll cake it was beautiful! Perfectly swirled and glazed. I knew I could never reach that perfection, not on my first try. And I knew I was only going to try once, because let's get real people, I still have 75 recipes to make! I don't have time to piddle paddle! I sound like my mom.

So mine's not perfect, but I'd say it looks pretty dang good for my resources and time limits! And it was muy delicioso! Don't tell anyone, but I ate it for breakfast one day. It brought a whole new meaning to my morning.

Ingredients:

filling:

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbs cinnamon

1 large egg

cake:

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup water

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling:

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a 15x10 jelly roll pin with parchment paper. PLEASE don't skip this step. Spray pan.

Use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese, sugar, and cinnamon until smooth. Beat in egg. Pour filling into pan and spread evenly. Stick in the fridge.

Cake:

Beat three eggs until light and fluffy, gradually add sugar and beat with electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Combine flour and baking soda in a separate bowl. Gradually blend into egg mixture, and water and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Pour batter evenly over the refrigerated filling. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Before the cake cools, invert it onto a flat surface,  peel off the parchment paper. Cut the cake into 5 lengthwise strips (long strips). I used a pizza cutter. Roll up one strip jelly-roll fashion. Shape the rest of the strips around the first to form one large spiral. Let cool.

Mine fell apart a little bit so I kept holding the pieces together and eventually forced them to stand up. I know, far from perfect.

You can be awesome and try a glaze. I was awesome and failed. Seriously, can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? My glazes are ALWAYS too watery.

I gave up, melted some white chocolate, and poured it over to create the cinnamon roll effect.
Love it!

Honey Cakes.

Recipe 24.

Honey Cakes (adapted from smitten kitchen).

As one of my graduation gifts, my mom bought me the cutest beehive cupcake tin from the Deseret Book store. I was so excited to use it, and what better to make than honey flavored cakes! Now I'll warn you, I tried out a glaze and failed, so I used some powdered sugar to cover up the mess. It worked! You can always disguise a little mistake.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla




Preheat oven to 350. Grease pans. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Make a hole in the center of this mix and add the vegetable oil, honey, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir together well to make  thick batter. Make sure nothing is stuck on the bottom of the bowl! Spoon the batter into the pans.


It took these pans about 35 minutes to cook all the way through. If you are using angel or tube cake pans, it will take about an hour. Regular loaf pans will take about 45-55 minutes.

Don't you just want to go around and call everyone "honey cakes" now?

I'm going to start.

Later, honey cakes.

Swiss Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Recipe 23.

Swiss Chocolate Mousse Cake.

One of my favorite people at my school is a sweet German lady who pulls my students and does interventions with them. She got a glimpse of my baking blog while she was in my classroom, and offered me a family recipe. She told me she doesn't give it to everyone, but she knew I would use it well. I asked her permission to share it with all of you and she said, "Of course!" She gave the recipe to me in gram measurements, so I took some time converting it into customary units and perfecting the amounts to make it easier for us Americans. My friends raved over this cake, and you will too!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

9 eggs, separated

11.5 oz chocolate chips, melted

1 1/3 cup flour

The steps are simple. Beat the separated egg whites in a bowl. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, chocolate, and flour until well mixed. Then fold in the egg whites. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 300 degrees. The middle of the cake should be almost solid, but not fully cooked. It is mousse cake, so you want it to be soft and gooey in the middle. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Eat your heart out.

This is a recipe that I plan on using time and time again. It is beautiful, classy, and still a crowd pleaser. It's going in my all-life-time favorites. Which is saying a lot!

Pesto Breadsticks.

Recipe 22.

Pesto Breadsticks (from Heat Oven to 350).

Ok, ok. So mine didn't turn out at beautifully as they could have (and the pictures were at night, so I apologize for the lighting). I would have doubled the recipe or made half the amount if I had only known. Really thin dough = kind of crispy breadsticks. But they were still a hit (especially with ranch dressing, you know, to counter the crispiness. Oops.).

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour (and a little extra)

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs olive oil

3/4 cup and 2 tbs warm water

1/4 cup pesto

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Whisk 2 cups of flour, yeast, and salt together. Add oil and water and stir until dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and knead (YES!) for about ten minutes, forming a smooth ball. Place somewhere warm and let it rise for at least an hour. Don't rush this one.

Turn the dough back onto the counter and roll it into about a 15" x 10" square. Mine was 20" x 10", but as I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't recommend making 20 breadsticks out of this little amount of dough. Spread pesto generously over the dough. It's simpler if you plop it on in different areas and then spread it out. Sprinkle with the parmesan.

Fold the dough in half and press the edges together. Cut into 1" slices. As you lay the dough onto the pan, twist them evenly. Brush with more olive oil.

Let rise for about 30 more minutes. Preheat oven to 375, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Eat with pork and salad and everything good!

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

Recipe 21.

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (adapted from Heat Oven to 350).

Seriously, go back and read the name of this. Cheesecake. Chocolate chip. Cookie. Bar. I have no words except for these: Heavenly deliciousness in your mouth.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup butter flavor shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla and salt in a large bowl. Beat in the egg, then the baking soda and flour. Mix in the chocolate chips, divide the dough in half, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream the cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar. Beat in 1 egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Spread 1/2 the cookie dough on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. 

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cookie dough.

Flatten chunks of the remaining cookie dough and place them near each other on top of the cream cheese layer. Just try to cover the surface as well as possible.

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until the top is browning. Cool completely, store in the refrigerator. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.