Unsalted Butter |

Pumpkin Octopus Bread

November 14, 2012 by Rachel Leave a Comment

I made this bread for breakfast Saturday morning to begin our Autumn Bucket List with a BANG. However, If you ask my family, they’d say this delicious concoction wasn’t a true breakfast (seeing that the bread came out of the oven at around noon), but seriously, what is that?! In my book breakfast can last all day on a Saturday.

For the past year I admit I’ve been a play-it-safe kind of baker. I follow my recipe to the ‘T’ like an obedient little cook, and on the off chance that I am forced to alter a recipe (most likely due to the lack of ingredients), I worry myself sick thinking that the outcome will turn out disastrous. Well guess what?! I actually changed this recipe. On purpose. You see, I didn’t want “cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread” I wanted “pumpkin spice cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread…”

~I added a bit of pumpkin puree here, more flour there, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg and voila, what I like to call “Pumpkin Octopus Bread” appeared on the counter. And do you know which family member liked it the best? Dad. Unexpected for sure. Dad hates cinnamon and isn’t keen on pumpkin either. Surprises never cease in this family.

One image came to my mind as I sat staring at this loaf of pumpkin bread baking in the oven; Jessie’s “Squid 2-Go” drawing. You may remember the beginning stages of this pieces here. I love the finished product and I am so proud of Jessie’s hard work and determination.

Can’t you see it? squid tentacles reaching out of the depths vs. swelling layers of pumpkin bread extending from a loaf pan? Maybe not.

Here’s a closer look… if not identical, there is definitely a resemblance!

Anyways, enough with the squids. The pumpkin cinnamonrollish bread was bliss and I highly recommend this treat for a chilly autumn morning/afternoon :) I hope you get the chance to enjoy this festive season with friends this week.

Oh, and Jessie, I know octopuses & squids are ~~sort of, not really~~ different, but pumpkin “octopus” bread sounds so much better than pumpkin “squid” bread.

Filed Under: Consume Tagged With: autumn, bread, breakfast, cinnamon, dessert, layer, pull-apart bread, pumpkin, snack, spice, sugar

Cake Challenge: June

September 12, 2012 by Rachel 1 Comment

This is the first pound cake I’ve ever made and my first “successful” attempt at the bundt cake-shape. The dense texture of this cake was a much needed change from my usual 3-layer butter cakes. I think the best part of this baking experience was taking photos… finally, a cake that is both delicious and effortlessly beautiful. Bundt cakes are so pretty on their own without much fuss about icing colors, decoration ideas, or touch ups. I totally recommend this recipe if you’re looking for something quick and relatively simple.

Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January
February
March
April
May

Filed Under: Consume Tagged With: bundt, cake, cake challenge, cake plate, dessert, dishes, gold, guests, june, party, Pink, platter, pound cake, sierra, spoons, tea, tea party

Apple Streusel Bar is Served

August 26, 2012 by Rachel 1 Comment

Last week, we had a connecting4 meeting over tea and apple streusel bars, the spicy flavor of Michael’s homemade chai tea coupled perfectly with my homemade dessert. I will treasure these summer days with Michael and my lovely sisters.

~check out the recipe below!

Filed Under: Connect, Consume Tagged With: apple, apple streusel bars, bake, bar, chai, cooking, tea

Neapolitan Valentine Treat

February 12, 2012 by Maddie Leave a Comment

Today I’d like to share with you a recipe I found on this blog. This is a perfect, delicious shortcake cookie for a Valentine Treat… Enjoy!

What You’ll Need:

- 1 cup of unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 teaspoon of Almond Extract
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- Pink or Red food coloring
- 2 1/2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon of water

Add sugar and butter to a bowl and cream well with a mixer… Then add vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix. Now add the flour and salt, mix on low.

The dough should be a bit crumbly so knead it together to ensure that it doesn’t fall apart. Then separate into three equally divided balls of dough

Place one of the balls of dough in a bowl and add the cocoa powder, use a mixer to blend these together to make the brown colored dough, or you can also knead the cocoa powder and dough together to make this mixture.

Add another portion of dough to a bowl and add a few drops of pink food coloring, blend together with a mixer and you have your pink colored dough!

Take each color of dough and place it between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap and roll it to a thickness of about 3/8 inch

Use a ruler and sharp knife to cut the dough into 3/4 inch wide strips and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. While the dough is refrigerating whisk together the egg and water .

Lay a large piece of wax paper out and spread egg and water mixture on a small strip of the wax paper before placing a strip of brown dough on it. Then repeat with pink and white strips using the egg mixture as a “glue”… continue process till you have a large striped dough pattern. Finally take a heart cookie cutter and cut hearts out of the pattern.