Things of which my conscience doth approve

There are certain things about my childhood that I find absolutely terrific. For instance, these costumes. (How cute are we?)

Also terrific is the fact that, when I was growing up, eating leftover birthday cake for breakfast was an entirely acceptable happening. That, I think, was an excellent call on my mom's part. Unfortunately, nowadays I have this wretched little grownup shoulder angel that disallows that kind of indulgence. Breakfast, he tells me, should be something wholesome and responsible--oatmeal, for instance.

Don't get me wrong; I like oatmeal a lot. I actually discovered that fact when I had it for the first time, in college. Yeah, college; no lie. That was the same year that I discovered bran flakes, Brussels sprouts, flax seed, and a variety of other traditionally hated things...and loved them all. Maybe it was some kind of wildly effective reverse psychology, but Mom never fed us any of that when we were kids.

Now, my own as-yet-nonexistent children no doubt WILL be force-fed oatmeal, along with all other kinds of healthy foods. (Because I love them. The kids, I mean...not the foods. Though I do love those. Different kind of love...er, you know what I mean.) But I do like to think that compromises are a good thing at times (remember the Monster Cookies?), and if the oatmeal can come in cake form every once in a while...shoot, who am I to balk?

THIS is one of my new absolute favorite recipes: Spiced Fruit-and-Oat Bread.

The pictures I got aren't the best. Seriously, "in person" this was such a huge, pretty loaf. But, anyway...

I love quick breads for a number of reasons. They're...well, quick. They're virtually fool-proof. And there's something really warm and homey about them. comfort food, I guess. And, if we're honest, they're sort of an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. A much healthier, shoulder-angel-approved kind of cake. But cake nonetheless.

This makes a hefty loaf, and I very much recommend lining the loaf pan with parchment paper, so you can just lift it out instead of trying to turn it onto a wire rack. Also, pleasepleaseplease let the loaf completely cool before you cut into it. It's truly 35.2 times better the next day (as are most quick breads).

Enjoy!

Spiced Fruit-and-Oat Bread
(Adapted from "Oatmeal Breakfast Bread" in Dorie Greenspan's "Baking From My Home to Yours")
TOPPING
 ¼ cup packed brown sugar
 ¼ cup chopped pecans
 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
 2 tablespoons oats
BREAD
 2 large eggs, at room temperature (I used an egg and two egg whites)
 1¼ cups unsweetened applesauce
 ⅓ cup vegetable oil (I used 2 tablespoons)
 ¼ cup buttermilk
 ¾ cup whole-wheat flour
 ½ cup all-purpose flour
 ¼ cup sugar (I used Splenda)
 ½ cup packed brown sugar (I used half brown-sugar Splenda)
 1½ teaspoons baking powder
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 ½ teaspoon baking soda
 ½ teaspoon salt
 ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
 pinch of ground cloves
 1 cup old-fashioned oats
 ½ cup dried cranberries and raisins (I used a crazy mix of crans, raisins, golden raisins, and blueberries)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan. Set aside.
2. In small bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, oil, and buttermilk; set aside.
3.In large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir in the oats.
4. Using rubber spatula, gently stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Stir in fruit.
5.Spoon batter into pan; sprinkle with topping, and press down lightly so it sticks. Bake 45¬–50 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out (mostly) clean. (Don’t overbake!)
6. Cool cakes in pan 10 minutes; then carefully turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Autumn Additions

Late autumn is here in full force. I know this because (a) defrosting my windshield is once again a morning necessity, (b) my furry boots and scarves have emerged from the depths of my closet and are now on my person, and (c) I'm using a LOT of pumpkin and cinnamon in my baking. And pecans. And rum.

Also, there are insane amounts of birds on our front lawn. See?

That really has nothing whatsoever to do with autumn, or cupcakes, for that matter. But it's weird, and I found this picture stuck in with my autumn cupcake photos (which is odd in itself, since I don't remember taking the picture, and I have NO idea how it wound up in a file of cupcake pictures). Huh.

Anyway.

Moving on.

This week was a cupcake crazy week...meaning, lots of cupcakes. There were the usual culprits (meaning chocolate and peanut butter and Reese's cups thrown in the mix...heaven help us if they ever stop producing those things).

They're fun, aren't they? Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, and butter-yellow cupcakes with milk chocolate buttercream. And sprinkles, which somehow add to the goodness.

Anyway, like I said, autumn means special cupcake flavors. This is my newest creation and absolute favorite cupcake of the moment. It's a crazy moist pumpkin-rum cupcake with cinnamon vanilla buttercream, topped with toasted pecans and cinnamon chips. Oh. My. Goodness.


Want some? Yeah, me too.

Oh, and lest I forget (and in the inexplicable event that pumpkincinnamonpecanrum amazingness isn't your thing), I also made these:

Dark chocolate cupcakes with cherry buttercream. And a chocolate-covered cherry on top. Because it's cute.

What to do with lemons...and chocolate...and other miscellaneous goodnesses

These...are lemons. In their natural (straight from the grocery store) state.

These are lemons after I'm done with them. (Don't worry; I"ll spare you the trauma of posting pictures of the shredded, squeezed, mangled lemon carcasses.)

I feel like this needs a caption like "Dad??"

Heh.

Anyway, then there are these guys. Cocoa and peanut butter. Together, as they always, always should be.

Lemon cupcakes, meet chocolate cupcakes.

Buttt...they're still a little naked. Gotta dress 'em up.

Chocolate buttercream:

And Reese's cups:

Lemon buttercream...and raspberries:

Heart eyes? Yes.

Overload? Ehh...

Moderation is supposed to be a mark of mature character. I do not have a mature character. Obviously.

Case in point: these cookies.

For some time, my dad has been asking me to make chocolate chip cookies for him to take to work. I think this is a friend-making tactic…or a ploy to get on his boss’s good side. Not sure which…maybe both. But anyway, I had some free time and all the ingredients, and decided to “git ’er done,” as they say.

I started with my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe…and…er, then things got a little out of control.

It started out okay. First I dumped in a few handfuls of semisweet chocolate chips. Pretty standard. But the whole time I was stirring them in, I kept glancing over my shoulder at the open cabinet—specifically, at the orange bag beckoning, Siren-like, from the middle shelf. Ah, the sweet call of Reese’s cups. Ohhh…why not? Out they came. I chopped and dumped and stirred them in. Goooood. And, yes, perhaps I should’ve stopped there, but then there was the other orange bag: the peanut-butter M&Ms. Those simply could not be ignored. In they went.

Result: diabetes in cookie form. SO worth it.

By the way, please not that it is simply way more fun to eat cookies out of a Cookie Monster/Elmo bowl. (Yes, I do have these in my house. Yes, it is because I bought them. Yes, that was intentional. Do not judge me.)

Props to Vanilla

Some things in life are sadly underappreciated. Bowls, for instance. Never, ever have I heard anyone gush, "Man...bowls...that was such a good idea!" or "That's the best thing since bowls!" Huh.

Also, vanilla.

Vanilla gets a raw deal with the whole "just vanilla" and "plain old vanilla" thing. It's sort of gotten the reputation for being more the absence of other flavor(s) than a flavor itself, I think. Which is unfortunate.

Now, I realize I may sound just a taaaad hypocritical right now. Chocoholism and all. So I'd like to publicly acknowledge my usual avoidance-of-things-merely-vanilla on this blog and the fact that chocolate (especially in Reese's cup form) gets a lot more love around here. To somewhat even things up, I'd like to devote this post to showing you how stinking good vanilla alone can be. (Yes, this was also motivated by the fact that I had an $8 jar of vanilla beans sitting in the pantry needing to be used. Whatever.)

So. This recipe is modified from this site. And it is soooo good. Here you go:

Vanilla Bean Loaf with Lemon Glaze

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup almond meal (I got mine at Trader Joe's)

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean, insides scraped, pod discarded

½ cup nonfat plain yogurt

2 large eggs, 2 egg whites

3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice (or you could use orange juice, or just milk, if you want)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch loaf pan; set aside.

Whisk together flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, applesauce, eggs, egg whites, vanilla beans, and vanilla. When well blended, gently whisk in dry ingredients, then oil. Batter will be thick and shiny.

Spoon into pan. Bake about 45 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

To make glaze, whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over top and let set before serving.

Ta-daa!