Zeppole!

Zeppole are like little Italian donuts, but a little lighter and fluffier. This recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis. To say they all didn't turn out beautiful...

is...

an UNDERSTATEMENT! These were the first ones to make it out of the pot, and aren't they beauties?! :)

This recipe just didn't seem to work out the way it was written, so I lowered the temperature of the oil and added flour... let's just forget this ever happened and go back to the pretty ones...

 much better! The zeppole are fried in a pot of very hot oil...

which makes me a little nervous! But I was prepared and luckily the fire extinguisher was not necessary.

There they are getting nice and toasty. Once I removed the zeppole from the oil I tossed them in orange sugar which goes very well with dark chocolate.

All you need to do is put orange zest and sugar in a food processor and blend. You can do this with lemon, lime, or you could get really fancy with vanilla bean and lavender. You can add these mixes to cookies or a cup of tea too.

And there you have 'em!

Ingredients-
Orange Zeppole
1 stick of butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 T. orange zest
vegetable oil for frying

Orange Sugar
1 T. orange zest
1/2 cup sugar

Chocolate Sauce
3/4 cup cream
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions- ( I had better success by adding a little more flour. The less flour you add the lighter they will be. I also kept the temperature at 300 degrees so that they did not burn too quickly. )

In a medium saucepan combine the butter, salt, sugar, and water over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the flour. Return the pan to low heat and stir continuously until the mixture forms a ball, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Using an electric hand mixer on low speed, add eggs, 1 at a time, incorporating each egg completely before adding the next. Add the orange zest and beat until smooth. Set aside.

For the organge sugar- place the orange zest and sugar in a food processor. Pulse the machine until the mixture is blended. Put the sugar in a small bowl.

Pour enough oil into a large frying pan to reach a depth of 2 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees. (Too hot from my experience.)

Using a small ice-cream scoop or 2 small spoons, carefully drop about a tablespoon of the dough into the hot oil. Turn the zeppole once or twice, cooking until golden and puffed up, about 5 minutes. Transfer the cooked zeppole to the dish with the Orange Sugar. Roll to coat in the sugar. Continue frying the remaining dough.

For the Chocolate Sauce- Heat the cream in a small saucepan until hot but not boiling. Pour cream over the chocolate and stir until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the Chocolate Sauce into a dipping dish. Serve alongside the zeppole.

Ricky's B-Day Cake!

This was Ricky's Birthday cake last year. It had layers of both devil's food and white cake with raspberry buttercream. It was covered with white chocolate curls and raspberries. To make the curls, melt the white chocolate and spread on a pan. Put pan in the refrigerator until it is cooled. Use a biscuit cutter and scrape, almost horizontally, over the chocolate. The white chocolate curls as you pull the cutter towards yourself. Put the chocolate back in refrigerator to cool when needed. A marble slab is a better surface for the chocolate if you have one.

I was pretty worried about this cake. Phoenix is still well over 100 degrees in September and we had a 40 minute drive to my mom and dad's house. We cooled the car as well as we could, but I think it still melted a little in the 20 seconds it took to carry it into the car!

A Perfect Little Breakfast.

Ooooh... this hits the spot for me! A warm scone, some sweet and tangy lemon curd, and a hot cup of coffee.


I doubled the recipe so that they last us a little longer. They're great for Dom to take to work and Sam's a fan too :)

This recipe is from Cooking Light. The scones are lighter in calories, but also lighter in texture which I actually prefer. One difference is the substitution of 2 % milk for heavy cream. I usually don't shape them as traditional scones. I just drop them on the baking sheet and bake as is. I like the rustic look it gives them and it also saves a lot of time and effort!

Blueberry Scones- Cooking Light

1/2 cup 2 % milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 lg egg

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 oz.)

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 T. chilled butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted (optional)

1 lg egg white, lightly beaten

2 T. sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gently fold in blueberries and pecans. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky.)

3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface; pat dough into an 8-inch circle. Cut dough into 10 wedges, and place the dough wedges on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush egg white over dough wedges; sprinkle with 2 T. sugar. Bake scones at 375 degrees for 18 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Will you please sign the cake?

My sister Teresa is moving to San Diego so we had a farewell party for her. I love these pictures of her. One with her dog "Bob" whom she adores, one with our little sister Sarah, and one on the beaches of San Diego.

The first picture of the cake was before we left for the party. I used simple white fondant so that family and friends could write their farewell messages on the cake with edible ink pens.

Un-Fried Ice Cream!!!

Mmmm! I have unfortunately been eating these all week because I made extras! I had a mexican theme dinner when we had Dom's aunt and uncle over so I decided to experiment with these little treats. They are so fun to make and so delicious! Honey is the traditional topping for fried ice cream and it goes perfectly with the cinnamon and sugar.



Sometimes the ingredients just look so photogenic to me :) My sister Teresa introduced me to Haagen-Dazs Vanilla about a year ago, and I will never forgive her! It is the cream of the crop!

I put corn flakes and cinnamon and sugar in a ziploc bag. I then rolled over them with the rolling pin until they were the right size.

I let the ice cream soften a little on the counter before scooping it so that the corn flake mixture would stick easily.


I then put the cute little ice cream balls back in the refrigerator to get nice and cold.


I used tortillas and cut them to the right size for the muffin tin. (The uncooked tortillas work very well. I cooked them first and then let them brown some more in the oven.) You can save the tortilla scraps for soup, or butter and toast them too for a little snack. I brushed the tortilla bowls with butter and sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar. I put them in the oven at 400 degrees, keeping a close eye on them to make sure they didn't get too dark...

And voila! They are ready for the ice cream! It's like a little tortilla bowl bouquet :)


Top it off with some more cinnamon and sugar, then drizzle honey over it. Next, grab a spoon and enjoy!

Go nuts with French Toast!

I love french toast! We were at the cabin last weekend with all of the family and had a great breakfast, everybody pitched in. If I could turn back the clock I would've gotten a picture of everyone at the table!

My favorite type of bread to use for french toast is an artisan bread fresh from the bakery. I slice it up, soak it in the egg, cream, and cinnamon-sugar mixture, and cook it on the skillet in a mix of canola oil and butter. The oil makes it a little crispier on the outside.

I actually don't really like bananas, but with french toast I do! These bananas are sauteed in butter until brown. Once they are done I swirl a little brandy in the skillet... mmm brandy.

I topped off the banana french toast with a maple butter syrup and toasted pecans.

I then got the strawberries ready for another option . I also love using raspberries. A great combination with the berries is orange maple butter, which is super delicious and easy to make.

Here is the strawberry french toast with some nice melted orange maple butter and powdered sugar.

I didn't quite measure ingredients but here they are approximately :)

French Toast-
Slice one loaf of artisan bread.
Soak slices in the mixture of eggs (about 6), half and half (about 1/2 cup), orange zest of one orange, and cinnamon and sugar ( I probably used 3 T. of a mixture of them both). I like the egg mixture to be pretty thick so that the french toast doesn't get too soggy.
Use 1-2 T. of canola oil and butter each and heat to medium-medium high on the skillet.
Brown the french toast to desired "doneness" :) Keep the french toast warm in the oven until you are ready to top them off.
Sauteed Bananas-
Heat about 2 T. of butter in a skillet over medium-medium high heat. Slice bananas and lay them in the skillet without overlapping. When brown on the bottom, flip and brown on the other side. Once done, remove from heat and swirl about 1/8 cup of brandy in the skillet.
Maple Butter Pecan Syrup-
Toast pecans in the oven at 400 degrees until lightly toasted. Watch closely so they do not burn. About 4 minutes.
Melt butter (about 3 T. give or take, unfortunately the more there is the better it seems to taste! ), and add maple syrup (about 1 cup). For me, real maple syrup is the only way to go!
Bring to a boil, and then let simmer and thicken for about 15 minutes.
Orange Maple Butter-
Use 1/2 stick of salted butter at room temperature, mixed with the zest of one orange, 1 T. of maple syrup, and 1 T. of orange juice. You can definitely use more or less of each ingredient, whatever suits your tastes :)

Sugar 'n No Flour!

Blame it on the pregnancy, or on the fact that Dom bought a whole flat of apples at Costco... caramel apples seemed like a good idea! I think they are one of the most charming little sweets around!

They're just so round, and shiny, and cute! ( I can even see the reflection of myself taking the picture. )

Not to mention, crisp and tart, sweet and refreshing! I'm already getting very excited about fall :)

No tricks to these apples, I just followed the instructions on the caramel bag :)