{Food} Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake via One Hungry Mama

Growing up Italian, I’ve always eaten ricotta cheese, but I’ve discovered that not everyone loves it as much as I do. However, baking with ricotta is amazing because it adds moisture to a cake and lightens it up without changing the flavor.

If you’re looking for a nice treat this weekend, try out this Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake recipe from One Hungry Mama’s blog. You could also try it by replacing the lemon with orange or even almond extract for a new twist

{Food} Gluten Free Double Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter & Sea Salt

image via TanyaZouev.com

Tanya Zouev, in addition to being a talented photographer, has delicious looking recipes like these gluten free Double Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter and Sea Salt. I love the combination of dark chocolate with a sprinkling of coarse sea salt.

PS – If you live near Bainbridge, NY, you can probably find all of three of these flours at Pine Ridge Grocery Store.

{Food} Apple Cake

I know that apples are best in the fall, but I had been craving apple cake recently. A few weeks ago I made an apple cake that turned out light and airy – perfect served alone or with vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature (not melted)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 7 medium-sized apples, peeled and diced (I used Gala apples)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• a few pinches of sugar for topping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 9×13 pan.
3. Mix together sugar and butter until smooth.
4. Add vanilla and eggs. Stir well.
5. Gently stir in apples.
6. In separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.
7. Add half of flour mixture to apple mixture. Stir until mixed throughout. Add rest of flour and stir well.
8. Pour batter into 9×13 pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle sugar on top.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cake will be golden and starting to pull away from edges of pan.
10. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

{Food} Molten Chocolate Cakes

molten chocolate cake photo via Tasty Kitchen

If you are looking for a chocolatey addition to your weekend, these molten chocolate cakes (also known as lava cakes) from TastyKitchen.com are magical. Baked in custard cups or ramekins to be cakey on the outside and melty on the inside, they are individually served with a dollop of homemade whipped cream.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

{Food} Valentine’s Day Meals

mini ombre valentine’s day cake photo via IWashYouDry.com

Whether you are cooking for your partner, your family, or a dinner party, we want to make sure you have plenty of delicious options for next Friday’s Valentine’s Day meal. Choose one item from each category below – we’ve chosen recipes that complement each other’s flavors well.

Salads

• Caesar Salad
• Pear, Walnut, and Blue Cheese Salad
• Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Main Dishes

• Crispy Garlic and Parmesan Crusted Chicken
• Broccoli Cheddar Pot Pies
• Caprese Quinoa Cakes

Side Dishes

• Baked Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar
• Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes
• Green Beans with Almonds and Thyme

Desserts

• Berry Tarts
• Caramel Cake, served in jars
• Mini Ombre Valentine’s Day Cake

{Food} Italian Christmas Cookies

Italian Christmas cookies via bigalittlea.com

My mother always makes these cookies around the holidays. Ask any Italian person and they probably can tell you stories of their mother, grandmother, or great-aunt who used to bake these for the family. They are simple (a plain cookie) with a hint of sweetness from the icing. Big A Little A shares her family’s handed-down recipe on her blog. Enjoy!

{Food Friday} Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread photo via King Arthur Flour

This is a delicious looking pumpkin bread recipe from one of my favorite baking brands, King Arthur Flour. Dessert breads like this are wonderful because they are flexible – Add, subtract, or replace nuts, chocolate chips, or even raisins until it’s just right for you. (The King Arthur website is also nice because you can change the recipe from cups to ounces or grams, depending on how you bake!)

Note, this recipe yields 2 loaves.

{Food Friday} Easy Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches

image via Bakerella

Bakerella is a magical goddess with desserts. She is the reason you have probably heard of Cake Pops, and she recently posted a super easy recipe for Easy Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches. It involves three ingredients and makes a beautiful treat for summer.

PS – If you are near the Sidney Memorial Public Library in Sidney, NY, please visit my end-cap display right near the graphic novels. It features cookbooks with a picnic and barbecue theme and there are great ideas for a Labor Day picnic.

{Food Friday} Blackberry Hand Pies

blackberry hand pies (WYWU photo)

This was a special request from my friend Cait, who loved the photo above that I posted on Twitter and wanted the recipe.

I adapted the recipe for these blackberry hand pies from this Bon Appetit recipe, (make sure to also get the Buttery Pie Crust recipe) which was featured in their most recent magazine. Here are a few thoughts after my experience making these:

• I simply substituted blackberries in place of the blueberries in this recipe.
• You can use frozen berries if you want. Just make sure they are completely thawed and as much juice as possible is drained. I set my frozen blackberries in a colander in the sink for a couple hours (right before I made the dough, which has to hang out in the fridge for two hours before you make the pies). (See the comments below for another good suggestion)
• One batch makes six hand pies. Each one came out to be about six inches long. If you’ve got hungry boys at home, a double batch may be necessary.
• Parchment paper is essential! These pies drip like crazy while baking and are super pretty while doing so, but parchment paper will save you from endless scrubbing. (Also, please don’t confuse parchment paper for wax paper in this recipe.)