Quick Puff Pastry

Remember back in the spring of 2010 when I made croissants? Me neither. I was almost too embarrassed to give you the direct link. I cringe at my food pornography photography skills back then. Cringe.

Sometimes I forget what recipes I've blogged about. I was fairly certain I had already written about making puff pastry, but it was croissants. Both are similar in that it calls for insane amounts of butter (not that there's anything wrong with that) and requires a lot of rolling, folding and chilling. It's the folding process that results in the flaky layers this pastry is known for...but is time consuming.  

With Quick puff pastry, the butter is cut into the flour like pie dough, making it different from the traditional puff process. This resulted in a tender, flaky pastry that went well with all the chocolate I stuffed in it :)

Perfectly Moist Cornbread

  

Do you hear that? Those are the football heads' cheers echoing from their man caves, for the football season is upon us...

Pre-season football counts right? Right.

This gave me an excuse to test out some yummy football eats. Last night, I tested a copycat Wendy's chili recipe that was scrumptious (recipe and post to follow). But, what good is a bowl of chili without a chunk of cornbread to go with it?

I needed a cornbread that could withstand the amount of butter that would be slathered on it and the amount of honey it would be drowned in. This moist cornbread sopped up every last bit of the honey and butter I threw at it. Perfect!

King's Hawaiian Bread

I've come across numerous copy cat recipes for King's Hawaiian Bread. Some had the additions of potato flakes and flaked coconut. While these versions sound interesting and delicious, I settled for the recipe that was the simplest and which I had all the ingredients in my pantry. The original recipe is written below, however I did substitute half of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. The rolls turned out light, buttery and sweet...just how they should be :)

Cherry "Boy Bait" Cake

If you're looking for a basic cake recipe to use with fruits of the season, this is it. The original "Boy Bait" cake is moist, flavorful and works well with any fruit you chose to incorporate. Today, I had some fresh sweet cherries on hand. I made some changes to the original recipe and used all brown sugar and topped the cake with a crumb topping made of oats, nuts and cinnamon. I was pleased with how the cherry variation turned out and have been fantasizing about trying it with chunks of peaches the next time around.

 

Meatballs in Marinara

It's hot outside. Let's make something that does not require the use of the oven, shall we? Nothing makes me say Mmmm louder than a good meatball. I was thrilled to see this recipe from "Can you stay for dinner" because it didn't require pre-frying the meatballs before placing them into the sauce. The raw meatballs are submerged in the marinara and slow simmered for an hour. The flavor of the meatballs ooze out into the sauce making it more flavorful. Brilliant!

The original recipe says it yields 15 meatballs, but I was able to get 24 1 inch balls. Serve these with pasta and a chunk of focaccia bread (recipe here). Or you can skip the pasta all together and make meatball marinara subs topped with mozzarella cheese. I'm really glad I have leftover meatballs in the fridge :)

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

If you haven't guessed already, I kind of have a thing for blueberries. I love them in scones, muffins, pancakes, and in smoothies. When I came across the recipe for these cheesecake bars they immediately moved to the top of my To Bake list.

What sets these bars apart is the oatmeal cookie type base and crumb topping. The end result was something that tasted like cheesecake, oatmeal cookies and a blueberry crisp. Strange, true and delicious.

Raspberry and Cream Cheese Rolls

These rolls are time consuming no doubt about it. So bake them for those who are worth the time and effort. You will be rewarded with their appreciation and admiration ...or that's the way it plays in my head anyway. 

Don't let the amount of time needed deter you from trying the recipe.  Most of it is spent waiting for the rolls to rise. And you know what I always say, you can't rush the rise, baby. The 3or 4 hours of waiting time could be spent tackling all those projects you've pinned. Or if you're like me, looking for blog posts to pin and not doing any actual crafting. I have every intention on tackling them one day. Really? Really.

Sorry for the lack of step by step photos. An enormous amount of coffee was consumed this morning which resulted in the jitters. I was unable to steady myself sufficiently for decent shots. It happens.

Let's get baking!