Long Distance Baking Project #3!

It's already April and I'm just now posting from last month's baking adventure!

This recipe was SO yummy! Since it is March, I decided to choose something Irish, of course!
I adapted Martha Stewart's one bowl chocolate cupcakes by adding a sleeve of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies!

The recipe calls for buttermilk. I feel guilty buying a quart of buttermilk, because either it goes to waste because I never need it all, or I decide to make everything that week with buttermilk...biscuits, fried chicken, pancakes, etc., etc. No good. So this time I decided to buy powdered buttermilk. You use the same amount of water as the recipe calls for buttermilk. It's easy and seems to have the same effect as real buttermilk!

Also, for some reason my frosting was really runny! I would recommend adding a little more cream cheese or powdered sugar than what the recipe calls for.

March's Recipe
From Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes (plus special ingredient)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 sleeve of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies!!!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
From Southern Living
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese
1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract


1) Preheat over to 350. Line cupcake tins with liners. Set aside.
In a large bowl sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2) Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

3) Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full of batter. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the next dozen.

4) Meanwhile, prepare frosting.
In a medium bowl, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat on low. As it gets thick alternate with milk one Tbls at a time until sugar is completely mixed in. Beat at least 3 minutes until it gets creamy and fluffy.

5) Spread frosting on top of each cupcake.

Makes 18-24 cupcakes



























Amber's Name: March Madness (Thin) Mint

Sara's Name: St. Patty O'Mint

Long Distance Baking Project #2

February is almost over! I can hardly believe it!

This month was Amber's month to choose. She chose Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing! The recipe came from another baker at heart, Angela Bennett. I LOVE that Angela has been participating in our baking adventure. She lives in Louisville and Amber gets to spend lots of time with Angela and her family. Strangely I have known of Angela for many years as her dad was one of my professors at Lincoln Christian College. He was also my home church's interim minister until her brother Scott came to be our Senior Minister. It's a small world, huh?

Disclaimer: I did not read the recipe completely before I purchased the food coloring!! I bought a bottle of red food coloring, however I bought the .25 oz bottle, not the 1 oz. bottle. Oops! Good thing the food coloring doesn't affect the taste, as these cupcakes are divine!

February's Recipe:
Red Velvet Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup softened butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle (1 oz.) McCormick Red Food Color
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg (8 oz) softened cream cheese
2 sticks softened salted butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 lbs powdered sugard


1) Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake tin with liners.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

2) Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and
fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color, and
vanilla.

3) Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed just until blended.

4) Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool in pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.

5) Meanwhile, prepare frosting.
In a medium bowl beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until combined. Gradually add the sugar. Beat first 3 ingredients until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. If frosting is too stiff, add 1 tbsp water at a time until desired consistency.

6) Spread or pipe on frosting.

Makes 30 regular size cupcakes













Amber's Name: Red Velvet Crush Cupcakes

Sara's Name: Flirting with Red Velvet Cupcakes or Slightly Interested in Red Velvet Cupcakes

Long Distance Baking Project #1

We are off to a great start! I chose the recipe this month. It just so happened that without knowing it we decided to bake our cupcakes on the same day!

Though I presented my cupcakes pretty well, Amber went the extra mile and put her cupcakes to the test in front of a panel of 3 judges. She’s so cool.


January’s Recipe:
Chocolate Cupcakes (From Nestle Cocoa Box)
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup Nestle Toll House Baking Cocoa (I substituted ¾ Hershey’s dark chocolate cocoa)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup butter, softened
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar (I used 2 cups sugar w/dark chocolate cocoa)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup water

Peanut Butter Frosting (From the kitchen of Angela Bennett)
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 Tbls milk, or as needed
2 cups powdered sugar

1) Preheat over to 350. Line cupcake tins with liners.
In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Set aside.

2) In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Gradually beat in the flour mixture alternately with water.

3) Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full of batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the next dozen.

4) Meanwhile, prepare frosting.
In a medium bowl beat butter and peanut butter on medium speed until combined. Gradually add the sugar. As it gets thick alternate with milk one Tbls at a time until sugar is completely mixed in. Beat at least 3 minutes until it gets creamy and fluffy.

5) Spread or pipe frosting on top of each cupcake.

Makes 2 dozen regular cupcakes or 1 dozen large cupcakes













Amber’s Name: Not Yo Momma’s Reese’s Cup…Cake

Sara’s Name: Dark Chocolate-y Peanut Butter-y Bomb Diggit-y Cupcake

I can hardly wait until February!

Accountability Baking!

If we’re friends on facebook, or if you look back at my most recent blog posts, you know that I love food! I’m not overly creative with my food. I mostly like good ol’e home cooking from scratch, which always includes a good baked good or two! Not sure why I have this obsession, but I decided to just embrace it and share it.

One way I’m going to embrace my obsession with baked goods is through what I like to call accountability baking!

I have a friend named Amber.


Things that make our friendship special:
• Jr High Believe and a bird named Presley made us friends.
• My boss now, used to be her boss.
• She’s a huge Webb City Cardinals fan! You can tell by the sticker in the back window of her car.
• She lives in the same town as my in-laws.
• She can convince me to do things I wouldn’t normally do, but don’t tell her that.
• She makes me laugh out loud on a regular basis.
• She shares her mom’s chex mix with me!
• We love animals.
• We have lots of inside jokes.
• We have impromptu lunch appointments, at least every other week.
• We love details, systems and rules.
• We love to be creative with our gift giving.
• We love themed texting wars.
• We love to bake and share!

Thing that makes our friendship difficult:
• We live 9 hours away from each other!

One night during one of our many texting conversations, while I was watching Cupcake Wars, Fabulous Cakes, Cake Boss: Next Great Baker, etc., she asked me if I had ever tried making any of the recipes I saw for cupcakes on tv.

I told her I wasn’t brave enough to try some of their crazy recipes and that I needed a good reason to bake a lot of cupcakes, otherwise Jon & I would eat them all by ourselves. So I asked her if she wanted to come over to help me bake & eat. That answer is always yes. However as I mentioned, she lives 9 hours away. We both got sad for a moment. Then Amber in her brilliance suggested a plan for us to bake “together” anyway.

She calls it “Sara n Amber’s Cupcake A Month Long Distance Baking Project” or “Greatest Idea Eva”

Because we are a “couple of willy nilly-less girls” (her phrasing) here are our guidelines:
• Bake a different kind of cupcake each month for an entire year, me from MO and her from KY.
• Both bake the same recipes. One month I choose, the next month she chooses.
• All recipes are from scratch; variations are allowed.
• Creativity is highly encouraged.
• We must name our cupcakes as if we were selling them!
• Have fun and bake lots of cupcakes!!!

I can hardly wait! 12 yummy recipes and pictures to come!

Broccoli Cheese Noodle Soup

While I'm in the business of sharing recipes, this is another one of my favorites! There is no story to go along with this recipe, but it's perfect for chilly nights and leftovers the next day! I usually double this recipe and add cooked chicken. Also, I adjust the broccoli and cheese to whatever I'm feeling that night.













Broccoli Cheese Noodle Soup
10 oz chopped broccoli
2 oz angel hair pasta, in small pieces
1/4 cup butter
1 Tbls flour
1 cup water
3/4 cup milk
1/8 tsp. pepper
6 oz Velveeta cheese, cubed
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed (optional)

Cook broccoli and pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth.
Gradually stir in water, milk and pepper until well blended.

Bring to a boil; cook & stir for 2 minutes until thickened.
Reduce heat and stir in cheese until melted.

Stir in broccoli, pasta, chicken & sour cream.
Heat through, but do not boil.

Yield: 4 small servings

Grandma's Apple Crisp

Most of my tweets and facebook status updates have to do with food. I love food. I get excited about food that I love. I'm a verbal eater, meaning I ooh and aah over the best bites.

I'm not exactly a brave eater. The menus around our house are not necessarily adventurous or overly creative. We eat a lot of the same things a lot of the time. But none the less, I love food.

Particularly I love baked goods. Sweet breads, doughs, cookies, brownies, cakes, cupcakes. I do my best to only make these when a particular activity necessitates it, or when people come over. We have people over a lot.

I also love heritage. My paternal grandma, Bernadine Carter (Grandma Bernie, to me) has always given great attention to the preparation of food. "Presentation is half the battle," she always says. Her mashed potatoes are as smooth as she is thorough. But her great attention to food stems from her great value of people. She always wants to present the best, not so she'll get the praise, but so that the people she serves feel deeply cared for.

Years ago, she was the "chairperson" for the committee who put together a cookbook through their little country church. Bethel Church is a sweet little church in the country just outside Farmer City, IL. It is where my Grandma grew up. It is where my Grandpa's father was the preacher. It is where all of my dad's cousins grew up in Sunday School and social gatherings. Until my dad's generation moved out of the area, it was where 75-100 people would cram into the little basement every November for Thanksgiving dinner. Aunt Toosie always brought the noodles and Grandma her mashed potatoes! It is where most of my extended family met Jon. We were "only friends" though.

Anyway, this cookbook called "Recipes and Remembrances" is one of my treasured possessions. It is full of recipes, mostly from my family, and from the other members of Bethel who were like family. As I turn the pages of this recipe book, I'm filled with thankfulness for all the people who shared recipes, but who also shared life with my family, the good and the bad.

My banana bread recipe is from this book. Nothing fancy. Just a list of ingredients all dumped in a bowl and mixed well. I've added a few of my own things to it, but at it's core, it will always be Great Grandma Pearl's recipe. And I love it.

One of the other cherished recipes is Grandma's Apple Crisp. My Grandpa worked at the University of Illinois as an electrician for years and my Grandma would go to the orchard on campus each fall to get "educated apples" to make applesauce (another fav) and apple crisp. She always gets Jonathan apples. They are bright red and tart. A mixture of flour, cinnamon, sugar and butter go on top. And my mouth is watering. It's the perfect fall treat, and even Jon, who doesn't like fruit, loves it!

I stink at blogging...but today I'm blogging about pizza!

There are so many great things to blog about in my life...I just don't take the time to do it!

It's way to easy just to post a pic and a sentence on facebook or twitter, and completely forget about my blog...

So today...on Jon's 30th birthday...I blog about pizza!

For the past year and a half, Jon & I have been on a weekly mission to recreate Monical's Pizza ...and drag as many friends as we can into our obsession!

I grew up eating Monical's Pizza nearly every Friday night, while watching the Dukes of Hazzard. My entire family is obsessed by it, especially my uncle Ben who moved to Indianapolis, a town that had not yet discovered the heavenly pizza. If we celebrated Christmas not on Christmas day, we'd eat a huge lunch, open presents, then follow it with a huge feast of pizza!

When I began dating Jon, Monical's Pizza quickly became a favorite of his when we would go back to Illinois to visit my family. We love it so much that we catered it for our rehearsal dinner!

So a year and a half or so ago, we decided that since we probably will never have Monical's Pizza here in the Joplin area, we would do our best to recreate it in our own kitchen.

We read everyone's advice from crust recipes to the layering of toppings, to cook times and utensils. We purchased a pizza peel from a local restaurant supply store, plenty of basil and we were on our way.

It is now our Friday night tradition to make our version of Monical's and invite friends over to share.

The Student Ministry Center at our church recently acquired a pizza oven. Fantastic! I thought to myself, "I'm the Student Ministry Assistant and I oversee our cafe for students. I should probably learn how to use this amazing oven, right?"

So this past Tuesday Jon and I loaded up our pizza peel, homemade dough, rolling pins, corn meal, basil and toppings and invited a few friends to join us.

Here are the results:

I don't know how I can ever make pizza in my own oven again!

And we're trying it again Saturday night!

Our obsession has gone to new heights!