Tag Archives: baking

Pumpkin Muffins

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0P1050644a2Except for a half teaspoon, I had a full 15oz can of freshly opened pumpkin that I needed to store or use.

puppmknI thought about freezing it in cubes to cook with later on, that’s what I usually do.

My husband suggested that I make cookies or bread with it. That sounded good, but also like a lot of work.

I thought for a bit and decided to add some of it to a box of Jiffy Muffin Mix to make pumpkin muffins.

The first batch, I tried to keep it minimal and only add pumpkin pie spice and some of the canned pumpkin to the Jiffy Mix. Unfortunately, it was a big fail. The muffins were heavy and pretty much tasteless. I promptly tossed them in the trash.

The second batch was a winner though.
0P1050632I started the second batch by adding what I thought would make pumpkin muffins taste sweeter and have a better texture. When I was finished adding a half dozen more ingredients to the Jiffy Mix, my batter was large enough for 12 muffins.  They smelled wonderful and baked up beautifully. Even before I tasted one of them, I was pleased with the results.

To give the muffins a bit more sweetness, I made some strawberry cream topping and served it with the muffins. My husband and I really enjoyed the muffins and the strawberry cream together. The 2 different flavors complimented each other deliciously.

It really is fun for me to make new recipes using familiar and basic products. I’m always pleasantly surprised when after a couple tries I get the recipe right and it turns out tasty and edible.

Do you enjoy adding ingredients to familiar mixes to either spruce them up or make something different? Do you have a favorite?

Wishing you happy cooking!

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Chocolate Ice Cream Bread

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chocolatebread1Well, here it is ‘Chocolate Ice Cream Bread’.
It tastes like a cross between a brownie and a chocolate cake.
chocolatebread2I’m happy that I’ve tried all 3 flavors in the Neapolitan ice cream.
It’s an easy recipe and bakes up beautifully.

Wishing you all fun with creative cooking.

 

*I used a small batter made like my basic ‘Boiled Custard Bread’ recipe.
Use melted ice cream instead of boiled custard.
Add flour a little at a time to the melted ice cream until the batter is a creamy consistency.
If you get the batter too thick, thin it with a little bit of water.

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Strawberry Ice Cream Bread

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P1050425Well, it was bound to happen, that’s right, I made ‘Strawberry Ice Cream Bread’. One can only bake around with vanilla ice cream or custard for so long before the other flavors become too tempting not to try too.

I had been playing with the idea to use strawberry or chocolate ice cream to make some ice cream bread. I mentioned it to my supportive & wonderful husband and he went out and brought home a gallon of neopolitan ice cream.

P1050416I made a small loaf of strawberry ice cream bread. I’m so amazed how this bread can rise so lovely and come out of the pan without sticking. The strawberry bread has great texture and wonderful taste. I love the pretty color too.

This was such fun to try. Now next up is chocolate. I hope it does as well. I’ll let you know.

Happy creating!

 

*I used a small batter made like my basic ‘Boiled Custard Bread’ recipe.
Use melted ice cream instead of boiled custard.
Add flour a little at a time to the melted ice cream until the batter is a creamy consistency.
If you get the batter too thick, thin it with a little bit of water.

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The Pie of Disappointment

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0-IMG_6518Here’s A Quick overview so you can decide if you want to read my long rambling post or not:
I had this grand idea that a fruit cream pie would be a wonderful rare sweet treat.
The pie looked better than it turned out.
Tastewise it was a big disappointed.
blendercon

Read on to learn the rambling details:

I surfed the net and found a recipe that had lots of raves and seemed to be just the pie for me to make. It was a simple pie and best of all was totally made in a blender except for the fruit.

As I began to make the recipe the 2 cups of milk and 4 eggs gave me cause for pause as did the cup of sugar, I thought it way-to-much, but since I was already into the recipe I continued on. I was right, with the other ingredients it was too much liquid for one 10 inch pie plate, so I put some of the mix 2 ramekins… (imo even a deep-dish pie-plate would probably be filled to overflowing.) The mix was so thin, I didn’t see how it could possibly cook thoroughly…IMG_6497

I added some fruit and baked the pie at the recommended 45 minutes. It looked pretty good and so did the ramekins. The ramekin pies were done, but unfortunately the pie wasn’t done, it had to bake 20 minutes longer.IMG_6500

I set the ramekins aside and let them cool during the 20 extra minutes I baked the pie. I decided to give the a ramekin pie a taste, It tasted like scrambled eggs with a ton of sugar in them. Yuck! So I scrapped the pie from the ramekins and tossed it in the trash.

I had higher hopes for the pie as it had the fruit in it. The pie baked up beautifully. It sure looked tasty. Even my husband said it was looked really pretty.IMG_6511

I put it in the fridge to cool overnight. It wasn’t as pretty as it was fresh out of the oven, but I still had hope. It sliced easily and surprisingly came out of the pie-plate in good form. I took some photos and then grabbed a fork to taste it.IMG_6518

Oddly, if it wasn’t for the fruit it would have had no redeeming quality. The fruit was good but the filling around it was rubbery scrambled eggs and way too sugary. I didn’t even finish the slice. Into the trash it went.

All I can say is, I tried. I’m not happy about wasting all the ingredients. But I did learn to better pay attention to my cooking instincts.
Oh yes and also, even if a recipe has good reviews it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worth trying,

Well, anyhow, at least the photos turn out pretty.
z00m

Wishing you all a great rest of the week?
chef
spgrnbgln

Boiled Custard Bread

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IMG_8003During this past holiday, I decided to try drinking some boiled custard. I hadn’t had any since I was a child and I forgot what it taste like. The custard was quite nice and had the taste of melted ice cream.

picgifs-cooking-166988I thought about the boiled custard. Since it tasted like melted ice cream, I figured it might be good to cook something with. The only melted ice cream recipe I recalled was for bread.
I looked up ice cream bread recipes and then adjusted the ingredients to fit my needs. I used just 2 ingredients: boiled custard and self rising flour.

The bread turned out beautifully. The texture of this bread is firm and it has a light cakey taste to it. I’m tickled how just 2 ingredients made such a nice loaf of bread.

My hubby says the bread doesn’t have much taste, but it does have a nice texture. He thought it might be good with sugar added to the mix.
I think he’s right, it’d make a dandy strawberry shortcake. but I haven’t tried making it with sugar yet.

Here’s my recipe if you want to try it.

Boiled Custard Bread
1 1/2 cup Boiled custard
2 cups self rising flour
Mix together.
Pour into prepared 8″ loaf pan. (I use olive oil baking spray to prepare the pan)
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 45 minutes or until done.
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Let me know if you try my recipe and any changes you make to it.
Have you made anything using boiled custard?
Do you make your own boiled custard?

Wishing you all a sweet rest of the week!
chef
spgrnbgln