Snickerdoodle Muffins

When I first saw these Snickerdoodle Muffins, I thought they were named after my favorite cookie only because they are covered in cinnamon-sugar. I had to find out for myself if they really stood up to the Snickerdoodle name.

First of all these muffins, just like the cookie, are very hands-on in that you take balls of batter and roll it in cinnamon-sugar before baking. Once they are baked, they have a nice fluffy center that is much lighter than traditional muffins, and the crackled tops have a slight crunch to them that really resembles a snickerdoodle cookie. Best of all, these muffins really do taste just like a snickerdoodle! I'm not sure which one I like better now, the cookie or the muffin??

While these muffins make a yummy breakfast the next day, I think eating them fresh and warm out of the oven was the best. I found that the crunch on the top that I loved was lost after a few hours.

Brown Butter Banana Bread

I've been in love with brown butter ever since the Brown Butter Ice Cream recipe. I'm always trying to substitute it for regular butter whenever I can. The most recent recipe I've tried using brown butter is Banana Bread. I was hoping the flavor of the brown butter would be more noticable in this bread than it was, it seems the bananas are just too powerful for it to shine through. Nevertheless, this recipe makes for some amazing banana bread.

-Jess

Dorie's Dimply Plum Cake

Plums are good.
Having never baked with them before, I instantly wanted to bake this cake the first time I saw it. The Man was suspicious of it, but I knew it would be yummy. It is a Dorie Greenspan recipe, after all. And I trust Dorie. :)

The cake is very easy to make, the longest part is always the actual bake time which in this case is 40 minutes. This cake is very moist and has a fantastic flavor! I was hoping that the plums would have given it something special, but they were just plums. The Man isn't fond of them, but he happily ate the surrounding cake. I'm thinking of making another, but next time I will slightly cook the plums in a brown sugar/butter mixture, sort of like I did for the peaches in my Rum Spiked Peach Cobbler. This will make the plums sweeter (mine were a bit tart), and give the whole cake more flavor.

Second Attempt Raspberry Lemon Cinnamon Rolls {No Rise!}

I hadn't planned on trying these again so soon, but the Man's mama had heard about them and kindly asked that I make her some. The first batch had tasted so good that I was more than happy to give this idea another shot.

I liked the first dough recipe I used, however it was very sticky and a little difficult to work with. I also didn't want to deal with the rising time of yeast dough, so I chose a very simple no-rise recipe. This dough is very easy to work with and is perfect if you're in a hurry to make the rolls, or if you're just enemies with yeast, because it uses baking powder to rise. You'll have perfect cinnamon rolls that are big and soft in less than 30 minutes!

Rolling the dough was a breeze thanks to this awesome pastry mat I got from CSN, which I only possess because I won the giftcard that bought it (THANKS SUSI!!!). The mat doesn't need to be floured or have anything else to help it work. It's completely non-stick! Hopefully now I won't have anymore dough-rolling tragedies. Thank you all so much for your suggestions on rolling the dough, I greatly appreciate it!

These cinnamon rolls turned out fantastic! I think even better than before. The dough is very soft, and rises nicely during baking. It produces more of a biscuit style roll, than a chewy roll, which I love. Of course, the filling is delicious. Raspberries and lemons make a great couple, both adding a wonderful tartness to the sweet rolls. Like before, I used a lemon glaze. I think these rolls are great without the glaze, however, that extra kick of lemon really does push these over the edge.

This is a great treat that will disappear soon after being made. Just ask my sister... She had 4 as soon as they were done! :)


-Jess

Dive of the Month: Bruges Waffles & Frites {Guinness Float Recipe}

*Guinness Float Recipe at bottom of post*

Bruges Waffles and Frites- a cute, tiny shop - barely big enough to fit the Man, the owner, an employee and myself inside- located in downtown Salt Lake across the street from Pioneer Park. This popular spot is run by Pierre Vandamme, a German native, specializing in Belgian waffles and frites (fries). They have a small fridge that contains mounds of yeast raised dough waiting for the waffle grill. What makes these waffles, called Liege Waffles, so unique is that the dough contains pieces of pearl sugar which melts into caramel when cooked. This makes for one deliciously sweet waffle. The outside is crisp with a dense, soft center that's bursting with caramel chunks. It's so good that you really don't need any toppings on it.

pearl sugar in the batter turns into caramel when cooked

Nonetheless, the Man and I did order two waffles with different toppings. The first was topped with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream and fresh raspberries. It was really good, I loved the combination of the ice cream and waffle. The second waffle was topped with strawberries and a delicious Crème fraiche. This waffle was to die for! The crème fraiche is amazing, and is absolute heavin in your mouth when combined with the strawberries and waffle.

Belgian waffle with strawberries and creme fraiche

Their frites are also delicious with a crispy crust, very soft inside. We enjoyed our frites on a huge sandwich known as The Machine Gun. The Machine Gun is a sausage sandwich topped with frites and a really tasty sauce (not sure what it was) served on a baguette roll. The Man wolfed this beast down in a matter of minutes! His only complaint was that the sausage was really tiny. Oh well, it was still really good.

Our expierence at Bruges was really good. The staff was super friendly, our cashier was very informative in telling us all there was to know about the food, and Pierre was really friendly coming out to us as we were finishing our meal to ask how it was. The waffles and sandwich were a little pricey, but well worth it. We will definitely be visiting again and again :)

*****
Bruges Waffles and Frites
336 West Broadway
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

(801)363.4444
Hours: Mon-Thurs. 9-7  Fri-Sat  9-9  Closed Sunday
Price: $ entrees under $10 (keep in mind that the Machine Gun is almost $9, and the waffles run from $3 and up depending on what toppings you get, toppings are between $1 and $3 each)






And now for the Guinness Float. For Adults only, please!

My last recipe for National Ice Cream Month. This is a great dessert for you beer lovers out there. It takes the classic Root Beer Float and replaces root beer with good old Guinness. This drink is really creamy, and the vanilla ice cream gives the dark beer a nice flavor that's actually pretty tasty.

This would be a great dessert to enjoy on St. Patrick's Day. Cheers!

-Jess

Berry-Banana Smoothie

Fruit smoothies are a great way to enjoy a quick, refreshing, healthy snack. And if you're like me, you can drink them for breakfast! I have this recipe for a really simple, yummy berry and banana smoothie. I've found that banana stands out A LOT in smoothies. No matter what other fruits or yogurts I put in the banana flavor is still very strong. Because of this I decided to cut the banana in half, the flavor was still there, just not as prominent. I used mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, black berries) in this smoothie, but you could use any berry that suites your taste. Using frozen berries makes for a nice cold drink, and eliminates the need of ice. If you do decide to go with fresh fruit, just add a half a cup of ice to be sure that your smoothie is ready to be enjoyed cold. :)

-Jess