holidays

Willow Bird Baking’s Top 11 Recipes of 2011

It was only a couple of hours ago that I realized the big ball drops tonight. Mike and I have no plans besides watching more Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I haven’t thought of a single resolution yet. You could say I’m unprepared.

But actually, I am ready. I may not have all the trappings quite prepared, but I’m more than ready to send 2011 off with a kiss and a wave. There were lovely parts of this year — my time with my students, my trip to San Francisco, and most of all, my reunion with Mike. But there were also many challenges. I’m thankful for where I am, but so ready to charge forward in 2012 and live a life I believe in. How about you? What are your resolutions, goals, or plans?

To conclude a wonderful year on Willow Bird Baking — a year in which I have so appreciated your every visit and every comment to these pages — here are the top 11 recipes from ’11. Thanks for a fantastic year, y’all!

11. Strawberry Cheesecake Stuffed Amaretto Cake Pops (on Pretzel Sticks!)
10. One-Skillet Gooey Pumpkin Cookie Cake
9. Birthday Cake Cheesecake
8. Deep Fried Cake Batter Cookie Dough


7. (Freshly Picked!) Strawberry Cream Pie
6. Cake Batter Cookie Dough Truffles
5. Salted Caramel Chocolate Trifle
4. Easy Sopapilla Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars


3. Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread with Butter Rum Glaze
2. Red Velvet Cheesecake

And the top Willow Bird Baking recipe of 2011 is . . .

1. Three Safe-to-Eat Cookie Doughs: Chocolate Chip, Sugar, and Cake Batter!

Happy New Year!

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Make-Ahead Christmas Morning Breakfast Recipes from Willow Bird Baking

You probably would’ve guessed dessert, but breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I’ve been scheming for a month to bring you this collection of recipes. They’re festive, delicious dishes that are perfect for the most special breakfast of the year: Christmas morning!

Most of these dishes have make-ahead instructions tucked right into the recipe so that you can spend time with your family Christmas morning. There’s also a section of recipes at the end that aren’t make-ahead, but are worth considering anyway because they’re so tasty. I hope you choose one or more of these treats for your holiday table.

1. Sassy Sausage & Hash Brown Breakfast Bake
2. Gingerbread Coffee Cake with Cranberry Pecan Streusel
3. Salted Caramel Mocha Hot Chocolate
4. Bright Pepper Jelly on Buttered Toast


5. Blueberry Cream Cheese Almond Braid

6. Raspberry Almond Braid
7. Cinnamon Sparkled Pastry Stix with Egg Nog Glaze
8. Buttermilk Cranberry Scones
9. Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Breakfast Braid


10. Winter Breakfast Chili Over Eggs in Sourdough Bowls



The following recipes aren’t make-ahead, but they are fantastic:

11. Blueberry Stuffed French Toast Bowls (you could prepare the filling in advance)
12. Banana Nut Bread Waffles
13. Carrot Cake Waffles
14. Eggs in a French Toast Basket


15. Pecan Maple Bacon Pancakes

Merry Christmas!

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Cranberry Orange Pecan Cake (vegan)

I’m sitting in my living room like a lump, listening to a Brazilian rock band and watching Mike exercise (I’m pretty sure I’m getting healthier by proxy). Byrd is snuggled beside me, a tiny fellow lump. I’m about to grade papers (I promise), but the sum total of my work today has been coining a new nickname for Byrd: Sweet Potato. It’s a cross between sweetheart and couch potato. Get it?

So it’s been a lazy day. I ate oatmeal on toast and then some sausages, caramelized onions, and sauerkraut for dinner. Mike and I discussed Jean Luc Picard. We finished watching Miracle on 34th Street. Byrd chewed on her toy for awhile. That’s about the sum total of our productivity.

It’s about time for some relaxation, though. I like to say that teachers don’t really get a “weekend” for 10 months out of the year; we’re hard at work or on call 24/7. Work and home start to blend together — you lesson plan at school and grade papers at home or vice versa, answering student and parent queries all the while. You squeeze in the other bits and pieces of your life wherever they fit (and sometimes leave them by the wayside altogether — I won’t mention how long my carpet sometimes goes unvacuumed).

Also, I work at a project based school, which means students learn through authentic application projects. I’m wholeheartedly invested in this model, but it does mean that I’m always knee-deep in projects to grade.

I would never complain — I have the best job in the world (did I tell you about the lamb that was at school last week? Did I mention the Winter Wonderland where students caroled and drank hot chocolate? Did I tell you about how my students are actually excited to receive new projects?) But I definitely appreciate a break now and then.

This break has been appreciated to the fullest. Honestly, this is my first day of lounging around in an otherwise caffeinated week. I’ve been getting housework done and prepping for the holidays. And Monday, I attended a baked goods swap (my first ever, if you can believe it) with the Charlotte Food Bloggers.

The Charlotte Food Bloggers are an incredibly varied group of people. We have mommy bloggers, vegan bloggers, healthy living bloggers, restaurant reviewers, and straight up food bloggers. I decided I wanted to make a dessert everyone could enjoy and that meant (gulp) baking vegan.

Vegan baking may conjure up ideas of dry or oily frankendesserts, but it really shouldn’t. This cake, for instance, was as delicious as any non-vegan cake I’ve ever tasted. It was, if I do say so myself (and I did already, on Willow Bird Baking’s Facebook page), pretty slammin’! It even passed the Mike test, and he’s quite the carnivore.

The festive combination of orange zest and cranberries brightened up the moist cake, which was generously slathered with some dairy-free “cream cheese” frosting. Whether you’re vegan or not, give this one a try.


fun with the charlotte food bloggers (instagram courtesy of taylor mathis)

Vegan Cranberry Orange Pecan Cake



Recipe by: Adapted from the veganized version by The Tolerant Vegan, originally from Midwest Living
Yield: 9 servings

This cake is fantastic! It’s a moist, delicious “butter” cake full of festive cranberries, orange zest, and toasted pecans. The whole thing is slathered with dairy-free cream cheese frosting that, unlike some other vegan frostings I’ve tried, is a great consistency for spreading. Whether you’re a vegan or not, you’ll love every bite of this cake.

Cake Ingredients:
3/8 cup Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
5/8 cup vanilla almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen, chopped
1/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped (plus more for sprinkling)
1 tablespoon orange zest

Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons dairy-free cream cheese, softened (I used Trader Joe’s This is Not a Tub of Cream Cheese)
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare an 8-inch square baking pan by greasing it with Earth Balance and flouring it. Place a parchment paper square in the bottom, and grease and flour the paper as well. (Note: You can double this recipe and make it in a 9 x 13-inch pan).

In a large bowl, cream together the Earth Balance and sugar for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. Mix in the applesauce, almond milk, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, sea salt and flour. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully combined.

Mix in the vinegar. Fold in the cranberries, pecans, and orange zest. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Allow the cake to cool completely before you frost it.

To make the frosting, place confectioners’ sugar, dairy-free cream cheese, Earth Balance, and vanilla extract in a bowl and mix until combined and fluffy. Spread the frosting on the cake, sprinkle with toasted pecans, and serve.

P.S. I just learned about orange pomanders this year and have enjoyed making them. Just poke some whole cloves into a few oranges. You can make any design you like. They smell lovely and are a fun little Christmas craft.

P.S. 2 – See Taylor’s visual recap of the CFB baked goods swap here. Lots of pretty food!

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Cinnamon Sparkled Pastry Stix with Egg Nog Glaze

My caffeine tolerance has always been one of my favorite hidden talents (right up there with that funny thing I can do with my knuckle. Remind me to show you that sometime.)

The other day, however, I was bragging to Mike (again) about being able to chug a soda right before bed and I realized something. For years I’ve slurped my coke right up until bedtime. And for years I’ve had trouble getting enough sleep. Hrm.

Must be a coincidence.

My soda adoration is not a new thing. An entry in my baby book illustrates its rich history. When I was less than a year old, my mother records that I’d screech with joy upon receiving Coke and get obnoxious when it was taken away.

(We’ll generously assume that my mother was sleep deprived when she offered soda to a toddler. And gleefully recorded my reaction in my baby book.)

My love for cola has only grown. I love classic Coke, Coke in glass bottles, fountain Coke, Coke Zero, and a good diet Sunkist now and again. I love the tingly feeling of drinking soda after eating something sweet or just waking up. I love sodas on hot days and sodas on cold days. I love funky ginger sodas that burn my throat. I love diet orange creme soda. I can get a little carried away.

(The only thing I don’t love is Pepsi. Don’t even get me started on that mess. And sorry, Cheerwine tastes like cough syrup. Did I just get kicked out of the South? Maybe.)

My penchant for soda isn’t particularly healthy, but it’s served me well this week. I needed that caffeine boost. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had approximately eleventy-billion things to do in preparation for the holidays. Gift shopping, gift wrapping, baking, decorating, attending various gatherings, bathing the dog and trying not to kill her after a particularly messy incident involving puppy chow. You know. Typical Christmas preparations.

Good news if you’re a fellow headless chicken: These little Cinnamon Sparkled Pastry Stix are tasty, cute, and easy to make ahead. They can be prepped and refrigerated overnight to pop into the oven for a simple breakfast.

If you can plan a few days in advance to make your own homemade puff pastry, you should. They’re good either way, but I promise I’m not being a snob when I say there’s a pronounced difference between store-bought and homemade in this case! Once you have your pastry, it’s just a matter of brushing it with butter, sprinkling on some goodies, and making your twists. And then pouring yourself a celebratory glass of Coke, of course.

What’s been keeping you busiest this week?

Cinnamon Sparkled Pastry Stix with Egg Nog Glaze



Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking, with pastry inspired by King Arthur Flour and Gale Gand and glaze inspired by Betty Crocker
Yield: 20+ stix

These puff pastry stix are sparkled with cinnamon, sugar, and buttery cinnamon chips. They’re simple to make ahead and chill in the fridge overnight. Pop them in the oven in the morning and drizzle on some sweet eggnog glaze for a quick, festive breakfast. If you can spare the time, make your own homemade puff pastry — it may seem like a lot of effort, but it really does pay off in flavor!

Stix Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed (or make homemade puff pastry!)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup cinnamon chips (you can replace these with more cinnamon-sugar if you don’t have them around)
2 tablespoons milk

Egg Nog Glaze Ingredients:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons eggnog
cinnamon, nutmeg to taste

Directions:
NOTE: If you’re making homemade puff pastry from scratch, you’ll want to start that process 3 days before your meal.

1 day in advance: Mix sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. On a silicone mat or lightly floured surface, roll your puff pastry sheet out to a 10″ x 15″ rectangle. Brush half of it (a 5″ x 15″ strip) with melted butter and sprinkle on cinnamon chips and half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Fold the unfilled side of the pastry over and press to seal around the edges. Brush the top of the now 5″ x 15″ rectangle with the milk and sprinkle on the rest of the cinnamon and sugar.

With a pizza cutter (spray it a little with vegetable spray if it sticks to the dough), cut the square into 1/2″ stix (they’ll be 5″ long). Press them a little to ensure cinnamon chips are snug, but don’t fret when some inevitably fall out. Take each strip by both ends and gently, carefully twist like you’re wringing out a rag. Scoop up cinnamon and sugar that has fallen off the twists and resprinkle them. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Stick them in the fridge overnight (you could also bake immediately).

The morning of: Take baking sheet out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature while you preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap and bake stix about 20 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Some of the cinnamon chips might leak out, but don’t worry about it. While the stix cool slightly, mix up your glaze. In a small bowl, mix all glaze ingredients until smooth. Add more eggnog if not thin enough to drizzle, tasting as you go. Drizzle over slightly warm pastry stix and serve.

Coca-Cola didn’t sponsor this post, but they probably should’ve, right?

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Gingersnap Cheesecake Stuffed Snickerdoodles

Things you should know:

1. A guy doesn’t make you a sweater with working Christmas lights unless he kinda likes you. He just doesn’t.

2.You don’t have to sing well as long as you sing loudly and enthusiastically. The people you live with may pretend to disagree with this statement, but they’re just trying to hoard the fun. Disregard them.

3. A dog will never win an Ugly Christmas Sweater competition because any sweater becomes 100% adorable when placed on a dog.

4. Serving hot chocolate to 75 middle school students is a manageable task until the bottom falls out of one of the cups. Then things get dicey.

5. Trader Joe’s cocoa truffles are pure insanity. I just ate approximately 8 billion of them and I can’t even muster up some shame.

6. Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas is You is the best Christmas song ever. Except for the ones about Jesus obviously, because even Mariah cannot compete.

7. Despite vivid memories of walking through Washington D.C. in the freezing rain with holey (not to be confused with holy, which would be kind of cool) shoes a few years ago, I cannot convince myself to purchase shoes more regularly. However, when my shoes basically disintegrated recently, I did finally visit the shoe store. I have a new pair of flats and some fluffy bootlike thingies. And warmer feet.

8. Peppermint is gross. I’m sorry that I’m not baking you crazies all sorts of peppermint things, but . . . I just can’t get into that mess. It’s like straight up eating toothpaste. Ew.

9. There is nothing sweeter than a freshly bathed, blow-dried pup (after they’ve done the whole run-around-the-house-like-a-banshee thing and calmed down, of course). They’re almost sweet enough to make you forget about the ginormous mess they created that made the bath necessary. Almost.

10. Christmas is the perfect excuse to eat loads of cookies, as if you needed one.


11. Present wrapping tip: plain brown paper and some hemp string or lace makes for a pretty parcel.
You can even reuse some old paper grocery bags.

These Gingersnap Cheesecake Stuffed Snickerdoodles were modeled after my Pumpkin Cheesecake Stuffed Snickerdoodles. They were so delicious that I had to make a Christmas version! The dense gingersnap middles are sweet, spicy, and delicious inside the pillowy snickerdoodles.

These cookies are insane on their own, but I may have heated up a couple and eaten them over vanilla ice cream, and it may have been amazing. I think you should try it and see for yourself.

Gingersnap Cheesecake Stuffed Snickerdoodles



Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking, using cookies adapted from Sunset, 1998 via Bakergirl
Yield: 30-35 large cookies

Delicious gingersnap cheesecake truffles are enveloped in a pillowy snickerdoodle. These cookies are filled with holiday cheer and perfect for a cookie swap (or for hoarding and devouring beside the Christmas tree). Heat them before serving for maximum enjoyment, and I won’t judge you if you decide to serve them over a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Snickerdoodle Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 large eggs
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon for rolling cookies

Gingersnap Cheesecake Filling Ingredients:
2 cups white chocolate chips (about 10 ounces)
3 cups finely ground gingersnaps
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

Directions:
Make the gingersnap cheesecake filling: Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave on half power. Start with 1 minute and stir. Continue to heat the chocolate in 15 second intervals, stirring well after each to aid the melting, until it is smooth (be careful not to overheat). Transfer this to a shallow pan to cool until just warm (but not until hardened).

In the meantime, mix gingersnap crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and cream cheese together. Add the white chocolate and mix well until thoroughly combined. Transfer the mixture to the fridge while you make the snickerdoodle dough.

Make snickerdoodle dough: Mix together the butter, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and eggs in a large bowl. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture in 3-4 additions, mixing until just combined between each. Place the finished dough in the refrigerator to chill. While the cookie dough chills, roll gingersnap mixture into balls and place the balls on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Cover, and chill until firm (about 1 hour).

In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup granulated sugar and cinnamon. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Take a few gingersnap balls out of the fridge at a time to work in small batches (so they stay firm). Scoop out about a tablespoon of chilled cookie dough. Press a frozen gingersnap cheesecake ball into the center, then cover with another bit of dough, working the dough around the whole ball. Roll the ball in cinnamon-sugar (which will make the soft dough easier to handle, so you can firm up the shape here) and place it on a greased baking sheet. Repeat the process, placing cookies 2-3 inches apart. If cookie dough gets too soft, re-chill it for a bit and continue working. I made sure to stick it back in the fridge during any downtime (like when I had some cookies in the oven).

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until edges are slightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, reheating for 30 seconds to a minute before eating. Serve a few hot cookies over vanilla ice cream for a special treat!

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