Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Week 38

This week's host was Talesha. She choose Spiced Pumpkin Bread. Recipe on page 50 of our book.

Banana bread, Zucchini bread, Corn bread, and Pumpkin bread. I love baking these quick, easy, and yummy breads. They can be eaten right out of the oven with some butter on top and served at any time and any occasion. Best of all their quick, which means no rising and waiting all day for your bread.

This recipe was really yummy! I served it with our dinner on Sunday to my in-laws and it was all gone by the end of the night. I opted to leave the nuts and cranberries out and glad I did. It tasted just right. You can count on this bread being made again on Thanks-Giving. Thanks for giving us a test run for the holidays.:)

A Tip & A Question:

1. In a rush back a quick-bread. :)
2.   My bread fell apart a little. Wonder if that could of been prevented if I waited till it was completely cool.

Make-ahead French Toast

Week 37

This week's host was Valerie. She choose Make-ahead French Toast. Recipe on page 71 of our book.

First of all I have to apologize to my readers for this weeks post because there are no pictures. The reason for this is because I made this recipe back in January before one of our group members choose it for her week of hosting and posting. I made it then and didn't think that I would make it again.

Here is the picture from the book to give you an idea what it looks like.

This recipe wasn't hard to make. My favorite part was putting it together the day before. I made this for some friends on a Saturday morning. They spent the night because we were up late playing games. I thought this would make a yummy and easy breakfast because all my work was done before-hand.

That morning was real simple with little work, which was just what I had planned. I made the topping and stuck the french-toast in the oven. Our guests loved it! I wasn't a huge fan on the other hand. The flavor was great but it was a little to eggy (don't think that is a word) and the topping was to sweet. Maybe less brown sugar would of helped. When our guests left the French Toast Casserole sat in the fridge and never got eaten. Knowing the results of this weeks baking before-hand made me not to thrilled to bake it again.

If this recipe sounds up your alley click HERE to make it!

Thanks for hosting Valerie. We had the same idea in picking this recipe, I think.

Deep dish pepperoni pizza

Week 36

This week's host was Amanda. She choose Deep dish pepperoni pizza. Recipe on page 142 of our book.

Who doesn't like pizza. The bad thing is my husband who loves it the most out of our family is away this week on business. To bad he is missing out. The best kind of pizza in my books is the kind with big fluffy crust, which is exactly what this pizza was. I only had to restrain myself from adding some peppers and basil on top because, this week, it had to been exactly right, well almost. The past few weeks I have felt like my baking has been in a slump. It seems that everything I bake doesn't turn out the way it was expected to. Needless to say I wondered about the dough turning out because I used whole milk instead of skim. Couldn't bring myself to by skim milk. (not a fan)

Yes, it's as good as it looks! I used the quick and easy pizza sauce recipe in the book. (pg.139) It was really good but could of used some more spices. I will make a note for that next time. Other then that I really have no complaints. It was delicious! I will probably end up making it again in the next week or two for my hubby. He was jealous when I told him how good it was over the phone.

Roll the dough into a circle slightly smaller then the cake pan. My favorite part was tossing the dough around on my knuckles to form and bigger circle. I felt like a real pizza maker.

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza! Who doesn't like pizza. This is what we had for dinner last night along with some sliced cucumbers. Thanks Amanda for choose this recipe. It was great to kill two birds with one stone. This would have to be one of my favorite things about the baking club. If you want a yummy homemade pizza click HERE for the recipe.

A Tip & A Question:

1. Homemade is always better then store bought!
2. Why did the recipe want us to cook the pepperoni in the microwave before hand. I couldn't justify leaving it out on the counter for 45 minutes while the dough rose some more.
3. Also, I have one more question today. Is the only difference in using a lighter milk in recipes to make it less fattening?

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Week 35

This week's host was Janet. She choose Tunnel of Fudge Cake. Recipe on page 262 of our book.

This post will be short a sweet. Sweet because OH MY this cake was SWEET! And short because my pictures or minimal.

Everything was going smoothly in my chocolate cake making until. . .

my creation crumbled right in front of my eyes. Oh how depressing. I turned it upside down to get the inside of the bundt pan off so it could cool on the cooling rack. It came off a lot faster then expected. I was so frustrated that the cake was headed for the garbage because you can't serve a mud pile to your guests on Saturday night.

My husband stopped me. He tasted some and said it was delicious, even though it looked like a mud pile. Good thing we are really close friends with our guests that night because we served it anyway. Everyone love it! 

I have to say that the picture and name of the cake made my tastes bud water. Chocolate and fudge. . .so yummy, but as I was baking the cake became progressively less yummy. First we added two cups of confectioners sugar, then one and a half cups of butter, then 5 eggs, then one cup of granulated sugar, and THEN 3/4 cup of brown sugar. YIKES! That is close to four cups of sugar in one cake.

The cake was as heavy and sweet as the ingredients. Good, but to much. Not sure if I can bring my self to bake this cake again.

If you have a really big sweet tooth click HERE for the recipe.

P.S. As you can tell by my picture I didn't make the glaze. :)

A Tip & A Question:

1. Ingredients to a recipe can always give you a really big hint of what the food will taste like.
2. How did everyone get their cake out of the pan?