Chicken and Zucchini Salad

I have decided that zucchini is quite delicious raw. I don't know why I never realized this before, but having so much zucchini to use has really made me appreciate the many ways it can be delicious.

This salad was something I threw together quickly on a weekday afternoon for lunch before we went for our daily swimming adventure. My son thought that the zucchini was cucumbers and when he tasted them, he didn't revolt! I guess that they passed for cucumbers even though he knew they weren't. The raw factor added that crunch that he was looking for.

We all really liked this one. I was surprised by how much we liked it. I loved the freshness the little bits of fresh mint added and the pecans were a fun little crunchy item as well.

Here is the recipe for Chicken and Zucchini Salad
* I used less oil than the recipe called for
* I used a spinach & arugula mix for the greens
* I used less pecans than called for

TWD- Chewy Chunky Blondies

Nicole chose this week's TWD recipe, Chewy, Chunky Blondies. You can find the recipe on her blog- Cookies on Friday.

You can also find the recipe on a post from when I made these a couple of months ago- when we were taking dinner to a local homeless shelter.
I doubled the recipe to make sure that there would be enough to go around and they were wildly popular. My husband was lucky enough to taste one and he was wishing that there were more to sample.
I used Heath bits, pecans, and toasted coconut in my blondies.

Check out the TWD blog to see who else loved these blondies!

Wheat Berry Salad with Lemon-Cumin Tuna

I bought some wheat berries a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to try this recipe that was in Ellie Krieger's So Easy.

I took this salad to a family dinner and was really hoping that there would be leftovers for me to eat the rest of the week for lunch.
Everyone tried it and most people liked it.
Wheat berries are really chewy, so you definitely get a chewing workout. They also require quite a bit of cooking time, but I read the recipe thoroughly in advance so I knew how much time they would need.

Once again, I wasn't sure how the dried cherries would work with everything else, but they added just the right amount of sweetness and tartness with each bite.
I used canned tuna instead of chicken to top the salad and modified the lemon-cumin dressing to work with the tuna.

I really love having this type of salad for lunch during the week. Filling, nutritious and so good.


Recipe for Wheat Berry Salad
Ellie changed this up in her new book and served it on a bed of spinach leaves
* I added a can of drained, rinsed chickpeas
* I used pecans instead of walnuts
* I mixed 2 cans of tuna with lemon juice, a little olive oil, 1 1/2 tsps cumin, salt & pepper and then mixed that into the wheat berry mixture

Pistachio Brownie Wedges

This is the other treat we made when we took our neighbor some goodies a couple weeks ago. I don't really care for brownies and neither does my hubby, so I don't ever make them.
My son on the other hand, loves brownies.
He saw the picture for these in the book and begged me to make them.

These definitely turned out to be cakey instead of fudgy. I sent the remainder of the brownies to work with my hubby and the dipped pistachio combination was a real crowd pleaser.


Pistachio Brownie Wedges adapted from Better Homes and Gardens the ultimate cookie book
1/2 cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1/3 cup pistachio nuts or pecans, finely chopped
dipping chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch baking pan with waxed paper (I used foil); Grease waxed paper and sides of pan. set aside.
2. In a small saucepan heat and stir butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat; let cool.
3. In a large mixing bowl beat eggs 1 minute or until frothy. Add sugar and vanilla; beat 2 minutes or until thickened. Beat in melted chocolate mixture. Stir in flour. ( I added half the pecans to the batter and stirred them in at this point).
Spread evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with toasted pecans; press lightly into batter.
4. Bake about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Remove brownie from pan. Remove waxed paper. Cut brownie into quarters; cut each quarter into 4 wedges.
5. Carefully dip outer edges of brownie wedges into melted dipping chocolate and then into pistachios. Place on waxed paper and let stand until set.

Dorie's Chewy, Chunky Blondies

Everytime we make dinner to serve at a local homeless shelter, I make sure to choose something fairly easy for dessert.
Bar cookies are just about the easiest thing to bake, in my opinion.
These particular blondies are full of just about everything. Chocolate, nuts, Heath bits, and coconut, make for a lot of add-ins.
I have seen them on other blogs over the past couple of years, but can't remember exactly where. I knew they would be good, just because they were Dorie's recipe, so I made 2 huge batches and ended up with an enormous amount of blondies.

Usually we don't have a single drop of food leftover, but somehow I managed to bring 1 or 2 of these back home.
My hubby was happy to sample them and of course, was hoping that there were more to be found. He was disappointed to know that they were all gone.

We have a definite crowd pleaser right here, folks!

Chewy, Chunky Blondies
(Source: Dorie Greenspan “Baking: From My Home to Yours” p.109)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips or Heath Toffee Bits (I used Heath Bits)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I used pecans)
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (I used toasted coconut)

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chips, nuts and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best you can.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool the blondies to room temperature right side up.

Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2-1/4 x 1-1/2 inches.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

So, apparently, yesterday was National Pancake Day.
How do these things go by without me knowing about them?
I don't know. Oh, well.

We actually had these pancakes a couple of weeks ago.
The recipe stuck out to me, when I was flipping through a copy of Cooking Light and I really loved the whole idea of these pancakes.
Anytime you can get vegetables in, the recipe has the word cake in it, and it is considered breakfast food- you can bet I will give it a try.

My family wasn't so sure though. They had me whip up a batch of Buttermilk Pancakes too, just in case they didn't like the Carrot Cake ones.
I didn't care, because if they didn't like them, that just meant there would be more leftovers for me to enjoy on another day.

This recipe was a even split. Half of my family liked it and half of them didn't. Everyone still ate at least one, but a few family members didn't appreciate all the "stuff" they had packed inside.
I don't mind pancakes with "stuff", so I just put the leftover pancakes in a baggie, placed them in the freezer and we warmed them in the toaster later that week.

I don't want you to think that these are light and fluffy pancakes. They aren't. But, keep in mind they aren't meant to be light and fluffy. They have a similar texture to actual carrot cake, which is usually more dense than light.
I used pecans instead of walnuts and I didn't make the honey butter. We just drizzled these with honey.

The great thing about these pancakes is that they are tasty enough to be eaten without any syrup or honey, which makes for a quick breakfast on the go or snack, if you make them and freeze some for later.

Recipe for Carrot Cake Pancakes

I also made these Basic Buttermilk Pancakes

CEiMB-Curried Chicken Salad

This week's CEiMB recipe, Curried Chicken Salad, was chosen by Sarah, who blogs over at Sarah's Kitchen Adventures. You can find the recipe on her blog or by clicking HERE.
This will be the last time that I am participating in CEiMB and what a great recipe to go out on.

I really loved this one.
I made a few changes, which I noted on the recipe below.

I love curry powder, so I was pretty sure that I would like this take on chicken salad.
My mom makes a chicken dish that combines plain yogurt and curry powder, so the flavor wasn't really anything new to me.
Of course, I did not use mayo at all. Don't like it and never will.
I just subbed non-fat Greek yogurt.
I also subbed in pecans for the almonds, because I had them on hand. I just mixed them into the salad.
I love that Ellie serves this over lots of fresh salad greens. I didn't use any oil to dress my greens, just the fresh lemon juice which really gave this salad a bright taste.

I even served the leftovers in my husband's lunch, but turned it into a chicken salad sandwich.
My kids enjoyed this tucked into mini whole wheat pitas.
I will definitely make this again.
Check out the CEiMB Blogroll to see what everyone else thought about this Curried Chicken Salad!
Curried Chicken Salad from Ellie Krieger

• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
  
• 1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves, no more than 3/4-inch thick
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt (I used nonfat Greek yogurt)
  
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I omitted this completely)
  
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 cup halved red grapes
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 ounces mixed greens (about 5 cups lightly packed))
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (I omitted this)
  
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Bring the broth and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add chicken to broth and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Turn the heat off and let chicken stand in the cooking liquid, covered, until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the broth and cool completely in the refrigerator. Cut into 1/4-inch dice. Toast the almonds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant and beginning to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise, and curry powder. Fold in the chicken, grapes and cilantro and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with the oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange the greens on 4 individual plates, top with a scoop of the chicken salad and sprinkle with the almonds.

Recipe for Curried Chicken Salad

Chewy Oatmeal Cookie/Granola Bars

This month for Secret Baker, we had a healthy theme. We were encouraged to bake something a little bit healthier than usual to send in the mail.
I went to my King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Cookbook to find a recipe.

I decided to turn the Chewy Oatmeal Cookie recipe into bar cookies and made some changes with the add-ins so the finished product would be kind of like a granola bar.
This recipe contains whole wheat flour and old-fashioned oats for the whole grains.
I decided to use dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, chopped pecans, and chocolate chips as my add-ins.
I also subbed in honey, instead of using dark corn syrup, simply because I didn't have any dark corn syrup.

I put the batter in a 9x13-inch baking pan and estimated the baking time. I went with 25 minutes and when I pulled them out of the oven, they looked done.

I let them cool, and then cut them into bars. I sent 1/2 to my Secret Baker recipient and half to my teenage brother, who adores oats more than almost anything.

I didn't try a single bite of these! ( Part of my goal for 10in10 is to eat less sugar and I am doing really well at not sampling baked goods! Yay!)
I just hoped for the best.

My brother LOVED these. And the SB person I sent them to, said they were really good.

I also recieved some goodies from Leslie, who blogs over at Lethally Delicious.
She sent me The Barefoot Contessa's (Ina Garten) Granola Bars and Fruit and Nut Squares from Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies. Here is a similar recipe.
Both of these treats were really delicious!
Thanks Leslie!


Chewy Oatmeal Cookie/Granola Bars adapted from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking

3/4th cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups packed light or dark brown sugar
3 Tbls dark corn syrup (I used honey)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 Tbls cider vinegar
1 Tbls vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cups traditional whole wheat flour
2 cups dried fruit: diced dried apples, chopped dates, dried cranberries, raisins, chopped dried apricots, or dried fruit of your choice (I used 1 cup dried cranberries, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I used 3/4 cup chopped pecans and 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Cream the butter, sugar, corn syrup, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices, vinegar, and vanilla. Beat in the egg. Add the oats, flour, dried fruit and nuts, and stir to combine.
Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake the cookies, reversing the pans midway through, (top to bottom, bottom to top), until they're beginning to brown around the edges but are still soft in the center, 14 minutes. Remove them from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool.

* I spread the batter in a 9*13 inch baking pan and baked them for 25 minutes.

TWD- Cafe Volcano Cookies

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe is Cafe Volcano Cookies. These cookies were chosen by MacDuff and you can find the recipe by going to her blog, The Lonely Sidecar.

What is a Cafe Volcano Cookie? Well, that is a really good question. I guess it is a nut mixture/meringue, although when I was making these I really believed they would not turn into anything edible.
This is the easiest cookie ever.
You toast some nuts. I used sliced almonds and chopped pecans.
Once those are toasted you combine them in a saucepan with egg whites and sugar. And in my case cinnamon, because I don't drink or use coffee and so there is no espresso powder in my house and there never will be.
You let the ingredients get warm and then you drop that syrupy/nutty/sugary mixture onto a baking sheet covered with parchment.

At this point, I figured I had done something wrong because it looked like I was just dropping blobs of wet nuts on my baking sheet. Which is what I was doing.
But, I had followed the recipe, so I popped them in the oven and waited for some miracle.

They did puff a little and turned into a cookie shape, so I figured that must be what they were supposed to look like.
I tried a piece of one and they tasted like spiced nuts.
I sent these along with the other Christmas goodies I made in the mail to my family members in different states.
One of my sisters said these were one of the best cookies of the bunch.

Go check out the TWD Blogroll to see what other bakers thought of this weeks recipe!

Spiced Pecans, S'mores Cookie Bars, Chocolate Gingerbread Bars, and Peppermint Brownies, oh & a Birthday Cake

I had so much fun this morning helping one of my best friends with her daughter's 8th birthday party. It was a tea party, very fancy. The cake I made was so cute. I had a great idea and it worked. Can't wait to get photos up of that cake.
I haven't yet, so these delicious treats will have to do.
The first thing here is Spiced Pecans. I made these a couple of weeks ago, along with the Holiday Biscotti as an idea for a Holiday Gift.
They were a big hit. They are coated in a sweet/spicy mixture. Mostly sweet, because of the cinnamon, sugar but also spicy because of the cayenne pepper and ground ginger.
Delicious. We couldn't stop munching on them. I am making a big double batch next week to send out with some cookies in the mail. Yum...
Next, is a treat that I made for one of the Thanksgiving Dinners we went to. I was asked to bring a kid-friendly treat and remembered some S'mores Cookies that I had seen awhile ago.
What is more kid friendly than something covered in marshmallows and chocolate?
I thought I would turn these cookies into bars and just made them in a 9x13-inch pan, instead of making individual cookies. I let the pan of cookies bake for about 23 minutes or so, and then I dumped on an entire bag of mini marshmallows and some chopped Hersheys milk chocolate.
Put them back under the broiler and let the marshmallows get really toasted.
These were very sweet (not like that is a surprise or something) and had to be eaten in small doses. They were good. The graham cracker crumbs in the cookie base made them taste like a real S'more.
Ooey and gooey, which is a great combination for kids, even if parents might not agree!
Next are Chocolate Gingerbread Bars. I threw these together for a potluck over Thanksgiving weekend. They came together really quickly and disappeared just as quickly. I think most people probably thought they were brownies, so they must have had a little surprise when they tasted the molasses/ginger. A great christmas treat.
Then we had some Peppermint Brownies. I saw this idea in a Holiday Baking magazine, but can't remember which one it was. My sister was visiting for Thanksgiving and we had a lot of fun with all these marshmallows.
We just made basic brownies and then covered them with marshmallows, chopped candy canes and drizzled melted milk chocolate over the top.
Gooey and delicious.
The last thing I wanted to share was a picture of the birthday cake my little girl got to share with her great grandpa. They share the same birthday, November 27th and we decided to celebrate with a sheet cake at our Thanksgiving Dinner. My mother-in-law requested the same cake that I made for her birthday back in July, so I just doubled it and tried out a new frosting recipe. The frosting recipe was really great to decorate with. It also had just a hint of cream cheese that was really delicious. I am definitely going to be using the frosting recipe in the future. You can find the frosting recipe at the bottom of this post. My sister helped me come up with the design for the cake. It was fun. The birthday girl and grandpa were very happy to share the cake and their birthdays with everyone.
Recipe for Spiced Pecans

Recipe for S'mores Cookies

Recipe for Chocolate Gingerbread Bars

Recipe for Vanilla Buttercream

Cranberry-Pecan Bread

I have really tried not to buy every Holiday Baking Magazine that I see. I have been successful! There have been a couple that I couldn't resist, but at least I am making some of the recipes out of them, so it hasn't been a waste of money.
I saw this Cranberry-Pecan Bread (the recipe originally used walnuts, but I think pecans are better, so I subbed them in) and thought it would be a fun recipe to try.
A basic quick bread with a hint of orange, cranberries and toasted pecans. Perfect for the holidays.
Of course, everything is easier to share when you make it into minis.
I halved the recipe and it made 5 mini loaves.
The recipe says to top the bread with a chopped cranberry/sugar topping, but I was a bit skeptical as to how it would stay on top of the bread, so topped half of the mini loaves with decorating sugar and half with the cranberry/sugar topping before I baked them.
I also reduced the sugar by about 1/4 cup and have been doing that lately in most recipes I bake, because it seems like it doesn't really affect the taste that much to leave out some of the sugar.

When I took out the loaves, I realized that the cranberry topping made the tops of some of the loaves sink a bit, so that is probably why the topping was supposed to be put on after baking. Oh well, I guess that is how you learn, right?
The ones with only the sugar topping was done at 20 minutes. The others took a couple minutes more.

My kids really loved this bread. I also gave a couple of these away, so this would be a good food gift for this time of year.
Cranberry-Pecan Bread from Cuisine at Home Holiday Baking
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cloves
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, divided
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 cup buttermilk (I used low-fat)
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans (the recipe originally called for walnuts)
3 Tbls coarse or turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F; coat a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
Whisk together flour and next 5 ingredients in a bowl; make a well in the center. Set dry ingredients aside.
Toss 1 1/4 cups cranberries with 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl; set sugared cranberries aside.
Whisk together buttermilk, the remaining 3/4 cup granulated sugar, eggs, oil, zest, and vanilla in a separate bowl until fully combined. Pour buttermilk mixture into well of dry ingredients; stir only until dry ingredients are moistened.
Stir the sugared cranberries and pecans into the batter. Pour batter in the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and bread is golden on top, about an hour. Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes.
Pulse the remaining 1/4 cup cranberries in a mini food processor (or mince them by hand); toss with coarse sugar for the topping.
Turn bread out onto cooling rack; sprinkle top of loaf with the cranberry-sugar topping. Let bread cool completely before serving.

MSC-Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes

This months MS: Cupcakes Club cupcake was chosen by Karen, who blogs over at Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More.
Karen chose the Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes for November. You can find the recipe on page 243 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.
These cupcakes are a play off of a popular Thanksgiving side dish, which combines sweet potatoes, pecans, and marshmallows. I am not really familiar with it because we never had it growing up, but I know those are the 3 ingredients.

The cupcake uses sweet potato puree from roasted sweet potatoes and since I knew quite awhile ago that this cupcake was coming up, I froze the leftover sweet potato puree I had from these Sweet Potato Biscuits, so I wouldn't have the extra step of roasting sweet potatoes (even though it isn't that difficult to roast a sweet potato, I planned ahead).
I made 1/4th of the recipe, which ended up being 6 cupcakes. I simplified the cupcake a step further by not making the candied pecans. I just toasted pecan halves in the oven and used those to top my cupcakes.
I was very skeptical about the marshmallow topping. The instructions said to make mounds of mini marshmallows, broil them, and then carefully transfer them to the tops of the cupcakes. I did just what it said and was amazed that perfect little browned mounds of marshmallows came out of the oven.
I quickly transferred the marshmallow mounds to the cupcakes and stuck a toasted pecan half into the warm topping. Perfect.
I upped the nutmeg in the cupcake and had a taste, which was wonderful.
I let my kids try one and they loved the marshmallow topping. I am definitely going to use the marshmallow topping in the future for all sorts of cupcakes. So easy and so cute. Just perfect.
I shared a couple with my hubby's co-workers and they were really well liked.
I think these would make a great addition to Thanksgiving as a dessert or even as a side!
Check out the MSC Blogroll for lots of great cupcakes!

TWD-All in one Holiday Bundt Cake

This month we get to post the Tuesday's with Dorie recipes in any order we want. Laurie has given us some leeway in case we want to make a certain choice for the holidays later this month.
I chose to post about the All in One Holiday Bundt Cake because I made it last year and already had pictures on my computer.
This bundt was chosen by Britin who blogs over at the nitty britty. The recipe will be appearing on her blog sometime this month. If you want to make this bundt cake now, (which I think you probably do), then you can also find the recipe HERE- when I posted about it last year.
I made this bundt cake last year for Thanksgiving because it was the perfect thing to make for a cake-lover like me.
It combines everything fall-ish and thanksgiving-y= pumpkin, cranberries, pecans, etc.
My little brother was dying to cut into it and I finally gave in and let him try a piece.
I remember that the flavors were really suberp the next day.
I am going to make this again this year sometime over the holidays and I recommend that you do to.
Go to the TWD Blogroll to see which November recipe everyone else is posting today!

The Cake Slice- Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake

(If you are looking for TWD, it is after this post)
The Cake Slice is starting off another year with a new book to bake from. We are going to be baking from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.
The first cake we baked is the Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake. A very basic cake is layered with a cinnamon-brown sugar mixture, melted butter and a combination of raisins & pecans.
This recipe calls for a 9x13-inch pan to be used, but I knew that would be way to much coffee cake for us, so I halved the recipe and made it in a 8x8-inch pan with great results. I reduced the baking time by about 10 minutes.

This coffee cake took minutes to put together. The cake batter was easy and the fillings were easy too. I thought it was an interesting technique to spread the cinnamon-sugar over the batter and then pour melted butter on top of the cinnamon-sugar. I haven't ever made a streusel-y type topping or filling that way. The pecans and raisins are sprinkled on top of the melted butter.

I had leftover melted butter. I thought the recipe called for a little bit too much, so I didn't use all of it.
As soon as this came out of the oven, I promptly cut it into pieces and distributed it to plates to give away. I tasted one bite and it tasted exactly like a cinnamon roll to me. That was a little wierd because it didn't have the same texture as a cinnamon roll, but the taste was the same.

To see what the other Cake Slice Bakers thought of this coffee cake, check out the Blogroll and come back next month to see another Southern Cake!

Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Makes a 13 x 9 inch sheet cake

For the Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

For the Cinnamon Raisin Filling

1½ cups light brown sugar

3 tbsp all purpose flour

3 tbsp cinnamon

1½ cups raisins

1½ cups coarsely chopped pecans

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, melted

Method

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 9 inch pan.

To make the filling, combine the light brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl and stir with a fork to mix everything well. Combine the raisins and pecans in another bowl and toss to mix them. Place the cinnamon mixture, nut mixture and melted butter by the baking pan to use later.

To make the cake batter, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir the vanilla into the milk. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer on high speed until pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl to ensure a good mix. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.

Use a large spoon or spatula to add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir only until the flour disappears. Add a third of the milk and mix in. Repeat twice more until all the flour and milk mixtures have been incorporated. Stir just enough to keep the batter smooth.

Spread half the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter followed by half the melted butter. Scatter half the raisins and nuts over the top. Spread the remaining batter carefully over the filling, using a spatula to smooth the batter all the way to the edges of the pan. Top with the leftover cinnamon, butter and nut mixture, covering the cake evenly.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant and beginning to pull away from the edges of the pan. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before serving in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm or at room temperature.

MSC- Zucchini Spice Cupcakes

I knew I was going to have a giveaway involving Hello, Cupcake! and I also knew that I needed to make the Zucchini Spice Cupcakes for MSC (Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club) so I decided to combine the two tasks.
Tracey chose this months selection, and I thought it was delicious. Head over to Tracey's blog, Tracey's Culinary Adventures, to see her beautiful pictures and make sure you take some time to look around- she always has delicious meals and treats to share.

I made half of the recipe for these cupcakes and since I was making sharks out of most of them, I decided not to make the cream cheese frosting and to just sprinkle them with powdered sugar instead. I didn't realize that I didn't have any lemon zest, until I was mixing up the batter, so I used lime and it actually worked really well. I also replaced half of the oil with unsweetened applesauce. I used pecans instead of walnuts because I like them better.

These cupcakes smelled fabulous while baking and the whole house was filled with a warm, spice smell. They were nice and moist and the flavors were wonderful. A great way to use up zucchini, if you have some to use or just a nice after school treat or anytime treat, really. Truly delicious.

Make your way over to the MSC Blogroll and I am sure you will see lots of tasty cupcakes with beautifully piped frosting!
And if you don't have a copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, go get one!
Recipe for Zucchini Spice Cupcakes on Erin's Food Files

One Year Ago- His and Her's Nachos and Red Velvet Cupcakes-2 ways

TWD- Chipster Topped Brownies

This weeks' Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was picked by Beth, who blogs over at Supplicious. You can find the recipe for Chipster Topped Brownies over on her blog, or you can buy a copy of Baking: from my home to yours, which is exactly what one of the women with whom I shared this treat did. She called me, asked for the recipe, looked at the book and ordered one for herself. Smart woman!

Dorie really out did herself here. She makes an outrageous brownie batter and tops it with chocolate chip cookie dough. The 2 doughs combine during the baking process and make a delicious, decadent bar of gooey, chocolately yumminess. Even the batter was scrumptious. It made my little fairy dance with joy!

I didn't have any trouble spreading the chocolate chip cookie dough over the brownie batter- there was definitely enough to cover it. I used pecans in the brownie layer and milk chocolate chips in the cookie dough.

Luckily, I was able to take these to a little cooking thingie in my neighborhood and you bet they disappeared fast. Raves and more raves for this cookie-brownie combination. Check out what everyone else thought by going through the TWD Blogroll!

And in case you are wondering, we should be somewhere in New Mexico, Texas or Oklahoma by the time this posts. Keep your fingers crossed that we make it to Georgia by Friday!

Up Next- Poppy Seed Cake with Lemon Glaze