Pure Vanilla Extract...Works For Me Wednesday

When I first started baking, I didn't pay much attention to the vanilla extract I was using. I just grabbed the red and white bottle my mom always used.

Then, I started paying a little closer attention to ingredients. You know, I'm not sure what propylene glycol is, but I'm pretty sure I don't need it in my vanilla extract.

Here's what I use...

Morton & Bassett Pure Vanilla Extract.


Here's what the ingredient list looks like:

No propylene, no corn syrup...just the good stuff. There are plenty of wonderful vanilla extracts out there. Read the labels, experiment and find one or two you like the best.

One more thing, when I first bought this vanilla, I nearly had a heart attack about the price...$13.00!!! But, look closer! The bottle is 4 ounces compared to the 1 or 2 ounce bottles of the other stuff I was buying, so it wasn't as expensive as I thought.

Is there a vanilla that you love?

Hop on over to see what else is working on Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family!

Wondering what to make with that yummy vanilla? How about the ultimate chocolate chip cookies or diet killing cream cheese triangles?!?

I've never met a chocolate chip cookie I didn't like...

....but this one is a real keeper!

I'm way late on this one, but I finally got around to making the chocolate chip cookies made famous by the New York Times last year.

Why I took so long I'll never know, in my book chocolate chip cookies are the ultimate dessert!

I used this adaptation of the recipe by Orangette...recommended by my sister and cousin. This recipe makes the most beautiful cookies! My husband's reaction was, "Starbucks should sell these!" I thought that was a pretty good review. :)

A few notes on the recipe...

1. When I break off a piece of cookie, I like it to bend off, not snap. So, after baking batch or two, I brought mine out of the oven at exactly 15 minutes, when they looked lightly brown, but underdone. They finish baking while resting.
   
2. I let mine sit on the cookie sheet only 5 minutes, not 10 as stated in the recipe. This helped make for a softer cookie.
3. Plan ahead, the cookie dough sits in the fridge for 36 hours before baking...I KNOW! Have something else sweet in the house if you want any dough left for baking! :)
   
4. For the chocolate chips, I used Guittard Semisweet chocolate (my grocery store carries it).
5. For the sprinkling salt, I used Fleur de Sel from the bulk food section of my grocery store.

Need more of a chocolate fix? Here's more chocolate-y goodness:

• caramel brownies
• mint chocolate chip cake truffles
• chocolate sorbet
  

July 4th cupcakes!

I really couldn't resist after seeing red, white and blue cupcakes here and here...and maybe somewhere else. The red, white and blue swirls of batter just looked too fun!

We had plans to meet our neighbors for the local 4th of July parade this morning, and I thought cupcakes seemed like a good way to start. It was only 9am, but hey, it's a holiday.

My son helped me with the batter (although, I think he had more fun eating them than making them). Just make any yellow or white cupcake batter, divide into 3 bowls and tint one red and one blue. (Use gel paste food coloring, and it doesn't take much at all.) The recipe I used comes from this book....Cupcakes! by Eleanor Klivans (love this book!). The link to the recipe is here; it's delicious!

Drop the batter by the tablespoonful into the cupcake liners. Some we swirled with a toothpick and others we left as is. Both looked really neat on the inside.

{I just loved the way these looked after inverting them out of the muffin tin!}

For the frosting, I did the same thing...tinted some of the frosting red and some blue. I put the blue and red frostings up the side of my icing bag and the white in the middle.

Hope you all are having a wonderful 4th of July! Get out there and see some fireworks!!!

♥Have you taken the Flavor-of-the-Month poll? Wondering what the heck I'm talking about?!?!?♥

Little Boy Blue...and a question for YOU...

{Please scroll down a little, I'd love to ask you all a question...}

I've made monogram cookies for baby girls before, but never for a baby boy. These were so fun! I like that the shower hosts chose the scalloped square for the boy cookies...so much more masculine than a circle. :)


The instructions for making the monograms are here. They can be made ahead of time and stored in a container at room temperature. One other note, when choosing a font, it can't be anything too "swirly", the nonpareils will obscure the design and it will just look like a blob. How do I know? I had to throw out my first batch. :)

Now to the question (poll on left sidebar)...would you be interested in a once-a-month, FLAVOR-OF-THE-MONTH, blog carnival/event, hosted here? It's an idea I've had floating around in my brain for a while and after reading all of your coffeecake favorites here, I really wanted to see each and every one of them.

Each month would be a different theme, such as chocolate or yellow or coffeecake. From there, you could make whatever you wanted.

Let's say, the theme was "turtle" (go with me here), you could make Turtle Cheesecake, or cookies decorated like turtles, or Turtle Ice Cream Pie, or a Turtle-shaped cake...whatever.

At the end of the month, you'd post your creation on your blog and link here. On the last day of the month, I'll post mine with a way for you to link in to my post. (Have you seen a Mr. Linky before?). I'll explain more about the details later.

That way, we'd all be able to see each others' creations...and maybe find some new, fabulous blogs, to boot!

I think it would be fun and a great way for all of us to get to know each other a little better. BUT, I know there are lots of other carnivals and blog events, so if you're already overbooked, let me know.

Anyone interested? I'm adding a poll to my sidebar. Please take a moment to let me know. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Thanks! And, Happy July!!!

Luscious, THREE INGREDIENT Chocolate Sorbet...Works For Me Wednesday

When our fearless leader, Kristen of We Are THAT Family, deemed this Works For Me Wednesday "Summer Recipes Edition," I knew just what I would make!

This Chocolate Sorbet comes from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein (great book). It's so simple and so decadent tasting, I don't know why I don't make it ALL THE TIME!!!

3 ingredients...that's it. It's dairy-free, gluten-free, fat-free, but more importantly....IT'S GOOD!!!


Chocolate Sorbet
(adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book)

2 c. water
1 c. sugar
1 c. dutch-process cocoa powder

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the cocoa and continue whisking until the mixture comes to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes, whisking constantly.

Remove from heat and strain into a bowl. Let cool several minutes on the counter, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

Stir the mixture and add to your ice cream machine, following the manufacturer's instructions. Remove and place in a freezer safe container; press plastic wrap down onto the top to prevent freezer-burn. Let harden a few hours. ENJOY! :)

A few more ice cream recipes to cool you off this summer:

• Jerry's Chocolate Ice Cream
• Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
  

Viva Italia!

One of my favorite customers (ok....it was my sister) ordered these cookies for her father-in-law for Father's Day. He loves his Italian heritage...and when you come from the land of prosciutto, parmesan and amaretto, what's not to love?!?

We put our heads together trying to come up with "Italian" cookies. What did we came up with? Flags and pizza. :)

If you have an Italy lover in your life, you might want to consider making these flag cookies. They are really cute and a great cookie if you're just starting with flooding cookies:

1. Using a #2 tip, outline the flag in white royal icing and divide into 3 sections. Reserve some of this icing for detail.
   
2. Thin red, white and green icings with water until they reach the consistency of a thick syrup. Cover with a damp dish towel. Let sit several minutes.
3. Run a rubber spatula through the icings and transfer to squeeze bottles.
4. Fill in the sections of the flag, using a toothpick to guide into corners.
5. Let dry at least one hour.
6. If desired, switch the tip on the un-thinned white icing to a #1 and write "viva italia" across the flags.
   

Ciao Bella! ;)

Remember to enter the patriotic pancake pan giveaway!!! The winner will be chosen tomorrow (Tuesday)!

Patriotic pancakes. . . .a recipe and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Yes, that's an American flag on my pancake!

***{Update: we now have a winner...Michelle of Lionden Landing. Congrats, Michelle! Have fun!}***
When the folks at Teflon.com contacted me and asked if I'd like to try their Flip It pancake pan and give one away....I said, "OF COURSE!"

The pan is pretty neat. It has a removable dish that imprints a pattern onto the food. Apparently, there are several patterns...even one that says,"Good Morning!" Wouldn't that be fun?!?

We gave it a try this morning for our Lemon Blueberry Pancakes and it worked great. My son said, "Oh, COOL!" upon seeing his pancake and didn't complain that his pancake was filled with blueberries instead of his usual chocolate chips! {Hey...I think we're onto something here.}

I can't wait to try this with grilled cheese sandwiches!

Here are a few tips I found helpful when using the Flip It.

1. Ignore the instructions that a gas stove must be set on the lowest setting. After waiting, and waiting and waiting for the first pancake to cook through, I cranked up the heat to 3 on the next one. The pancake cooked quicker, more golden brown and was actually a bit fluffier.
2. Close the lid as the first side cooks. The pancake cooks up a lot faster than leaving it open.
3. Don't flip until the top is covered with lots of large bubbles and the edges look dry. (Just peek under the lid every so often.)

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes (I love these!)

1 large egg
1 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
3/4 c milk
1 TBSP sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
2 TBSP vegetable oil
zest from one lemon
a couple handfuls of blueberries
2 TBSP butter, melted for the pan

Whisk the egg in a bowl until fluffy. Add flour through lemon zest and whisk until smooth.

If using the Flip It pan, brush both sides with melted butter and follow the instructions for heating the pan. Add 1/2 c batter to the dish side and drop in blueberries. Cook until sides are dry and middle is covered with large bubbles. Flip and cook on remaining side, 3 minutes.

If using a regular griddle, pour 1/4 c batter on to preheated griddle. Drop on blueberries. Cook until sides are dry and middles are bubbly. Flip and cook until other side is golden brown.


Serve with butter and sifted powdered sugar.

Want one of your own? Just leave a comment and a winner will be chosen Tuesday, June 30th at 8am CST. PLEASE be sure your comment links to a blog or add your email in your comment so I can find you! :)

Good luck! Thank you, Teflon.com! :)