I.Like.Loaf.

If you're like me...

Sierra--  She loves loaf, too.

...you may occasionally find yourself asking,

'what-to-do?'

with the leftover half of zucchini

your granny gave you.



The answer-- clearly,

shred that bad boy up
and get your bake on.

Enter: Chocolate Zucchini Bread, loaf, surprise,
thing.

Delectable & moist, I promise you my friends.


Hence, today's recipe compliments of 'Joy of Baking'.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini from granny
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 cup safflower or canola oil
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

*you may opt to replace 2 tsp of the unsweetened cocoa powder with the 'secret ingredient'
I'll be incorporating further on in the directions below.



Preheat oven to 350 degrees F & grease your loaf pan.

Get started grating your zucchini.

Who knew grating could be so much fun?!

Set grated zucchini aside.


In a large bowl, measure out your flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon & allspice and set aside.


Now.

         Here's where I switch things up.

***SECRET INGREDIENT***

You may recall, way back when,
my uncontainable excitement regarding my purchase of McCormick's Cocoa Chili Blend?!

Well, I happened to be feelin' particularly adventurous this day and decided this would be the perfect recipe to add a little heat to.

Baker's Confession: I added way too much heat.

So much so, one bite of my loaf could put hair on your chest.

       .......Or burn it off.

Spicy.  Very spicy.


According to my 'newly revised' calculations, replacing 2 teaspoons of the cocoa chili blend with the unsweetened cocoa powder should make for the perfect subtle hint of warmth.
(so, 115 ml unsweetened cocoa powder & 2 tsp cocoa chili powder)

And there you have it.

Lesson learned.

The hard way.


Carrying on,

get all your dry ingredients blended together in a large bowl and set aside.

In yet another bowl (plenty of dirty dishes leftover after this recipe), use your electric mixer to thoroughly beat the oil, eggs, sugars, and vanilla extract until well blended. About 2 minutes.

Mm'yesss, a good time to get some reading under your belt...


Once well mixed, fold in the grated zucchini.

Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

And lastly, fold in the chocolate chips.

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 55- 65 minutes.

Once removed from the oven, let the loaf cool on a baker's rack for 10 min and then remove from the pan.

Continue to let the loaf cool completely.

Other than the fact that my loaf was hotter than two goats in a pepper patch, it was deliciously rich and delectably moist.


I do say, it's good to spice things up every once in a while :)

Must Like Spice: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Sure Signs & Symptoms It's Fall:

Sunday, I ceremoniously hung my 'Autumn Blessings' placard

just outside the front entrance of our home

& pulled out all the browning overgrown petunias in my garden.

Yesterday, I made like Betty and whipped up

a delightfully spicy batch of Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

(recipe to follow)

And this morning, I was regrettably forced

to turn on the heat for the first time in months;

hauled out me ol' Uggs for the wearing

& enjoyed a toasty warm Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks with my granny.

Warm woollies, obsessive baking & brilliant autumn foliage.

Yes, please.

About that Pumpkin Whoopie Pie recipe...

Did I mention it comes complete with a dreamy cream cheese filling?

We can all thank Matt Lewis from Baked bakery for that perfectly nummy pairing.

Recipe from Matt Lewis of Baked bakery

Ingredients:

For the Pumpkin Whoopie Cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Cream-Cheese Filling

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

We begin with the making of the whoopie cookie, which essentially is a mini cake.

Generous amounts of warm spices in these beauties

Measure out all your dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Whisk together and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and vegetable oil 'til well combined.

Then add your pumpkin puree and whisk s'more..

Add your eggs & vanilla to the party while you're at it.

Whisk, whisk, whisk..... 

Pumpkin mixture

Gradually sprinkle your spiced-up flour mixture over your pumpkin batter and mix until well incorporated.

Well incorporated.

A well equipped baker comes prepared with a small icecream scoop to dish their batter out with.

I, however, am not one of those.

Therefor, I used a tablespoon to pan-out my cookies.

An icecream scoop would come in tres handy when making your pies

as conformity is key.

~You want them all to be the same nice round shape and equal size~

They are after all named 'whoopie' pies, not 'wonky' pies...

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes

{I made my pies a bit smaller and found that 10 minutes was all they needed}

Carefully, with a spatula, remove cookies from the baking sheet as soon as they're out of the oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

Next, Filling.

In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter with a mixer until smooth and lump-free.

Add your cream cheese and continue to mix, again 'til smooth.

Gradually add the icing sugar to the mix, as well as vanilla.

Mix real' well.

Purrrrdy

Once your cookies have cooled COMPLETELY,

generously dollop filling onto the flat side of the cookie.

I find a piping bag or even a large Ziploc freezer bag with a hole snipped at the tip to be much more tidy with this task as opposed to just spooning it on.

Plus, I think piping is fun.

Sandwich your frosted cookie with another cookie

and there you have yourself a Whoopie Pie!

Recipe found at marthastewart.com

These are seriously delicious.

I kid you not.

Autumn blessings, friends : )

Who Invited the Wizard?

Yesterday, Ava & I were guests at Miss Avery's birthday party.

My bestie-pal Ramie's daughter, Avery.

Avery's 4th birthday party at McDonald's was the bomb for the following reasons:

We feasted on nuggets, fries & chocolate milk.

The kids were able to expend all their energy running like wild animals through the playland.

Crave Cupcakes for dessert.  Hello.

A tornado watch was issued mid-party.

Exciting.....

...Aaand,

I think there may have been a wizard in our presence

{If only I had a taken his picture}

Kids + Cupcakes= Cute

Guess what grand adventure we'll be embarking on tomorrow?

Having our 2 year old twin nephews sleepover for the first time.

Wish us luck!

Secret Ingredients

Not that I think it would be of any great interest to you but,

about a month ago

while digging through my frustratingly sad excuse for a spice cabinet

.....and by 'spice cabinet', I mean

dozens of ziploc-style,

sharpie marker labeled, or not labeled at all--

baggies.

Pathetic.  Baggies.

All shoved into my top cupboard.

Some closely resembling the marijuana....

It's a mess.

And most of the spices are older than the dinosaurs.

Eww.

And so ensues my newest endeavour:

Building a new spice collection.

New & only rule: NBA

~No Baggies Allowed~

Which brings me to the point of this silly post.

Yesterday, I made my best two discoveries yet....

.....And I know I'm not crazy cause even the lady assisting me at check-out

was equally enthralled by these two lovelies....

McCormick's Gourmet Lavender

&

McCormick's Gourmet Cocoa Chili Blend

I'm thinking cupcakes.

But then again,

I'm always thinking cupcakes:]

Be Still My Heart

{Photo by Ashley Rose Photography}

{Cakes by My Sweet & Saucy}

Ever stumble across a photo and instantly fall in love?

Like this one here.

Could be the the magical pink ruffle cake?

Maybe the gorgeous rustic table.

Or quite simply, the many-a-charming cake pedestal

that makes my heart go pitter-patter. 

Speaking of charming pink pedestals...

Enter to win a three piece set by visiting Bakerella here.

Pedestal Collection.

I can dig it.

(Pistachio pudding topped with fresh whipped cream)

Top o' the afternoon to ya!

When I was a just a sprout,

my mom used to make us green pancakes with fresh whipped cream

--all in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day.

And you know what-- it was fun.

I love festive jargon,

but too often don't feel I have the energy to tackle such ambitious ventures.

Well, my headcold must be subsiding

because today I awoke with a serious

and somewhat frightening

'take no prisoners' determination

to do something extra special

this St. Patty's Day.

With the help of my pal google

I believe I've come up with a menu

that would impress the shamrock out of any lad or lass.

Shamrock Stew found here.

Accompanied by a ridiculously healthybutthekidsdon'tknowit Shamrock

Smoothie found here.

And Jello's Pistachio Pudding topped w/

fresh whipped cream for dessert.

Magically delicious.

Irish Blessings to you all this St. Patty's Day :)

I'm happy to inform you

my unfortunate case of the winter frumpy's

seems to have come to an end.

And therefor,

I can blog again :)

I'm feeling extra happy for the moment.

I've got a crisp new book to indulge in:

The Hunger Games

By: Suzanne Collins

Higghhly anticipating this book based on many a sweet, sweet recommendation.

Hopefully it'll get me out of my post Harry Potter Series schlump?!

..... Which has lasted a whole year now, I might add.

{Soooo depressing.  uGH.}

And only moments ago

I purchased myself a new frother from Stokes.

Thrilling, I know.

I've never been so excited to make milk foam

(London Fog, FYI)

 in.my.life.

Which should tell you just how dull the last three weeks of my life have been.

Where I hail from

we've been battling an average of -27 degree C weather

and dumps upon dumps of snow.

Record breaking actually.

Since 1973.

There's a fun fact for ya

~if you could even call it that~

The Hubb-ster shoveling my sister out:

(And that wasn't even the worst of it.  Ew.)

Never in my life have I seen so much snow.

Seriously.

Thank heaven

this past week has finally turned around.

The sun has come out and the mercury risen.

My kidlets playing in the snow:

They make 60cm of snow look fun ;)

London Fog:

 250mL Steamed skim milk

1 Earl Grey Tea sachet

1 fun squirt of vanilla syrup

....and a vigorous frothing :)

Twisted Turtles

Y'all ready for this?

The other day,

2 days ago actually...

I stumbled across this simply (emphasis on the 'simple') AMAZING recipe for Turtles.

{I have since renamed them "Twisted Turtles'' as there are pretzel twists involved}

Clever, I know.

And the funny thing is, while surfing, I said to myself,

 'Self-- Is there sucha thing as homemade turtles with pretzels???'

And low'n behold.

There is.

I found the recipe on the blog named 'Twig and Thistle'.

Prepare to amaze......

Twisted Turtles

Shopping List: Rolos, mini-pretzels & halved pecans.

That's it.

That's all.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees F.

Arrange pretzels and Rolos, like-a-so:

Pretzel/Rolo Army:

I surrenderrrrrr!

Bake in the oven for a whopping total of Two Minutes.

Once removed from oven,

immediately press the halved pecans into the warmed Rolo.

As seen here:

Let the turtles set in the fridge for a couple minutes.

And you're done.

These are the most easy & perfect looking treats you're gonna make all Christmas,

so you'd better get on it : )