Tag: raw sugar
Pumpkin Apple Bread with Streusel Topping
All I can say is, yum, yum!
- 1½ cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup apple cider
- 1 large Pink Lady apple, chopped
Streusel
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter with a fork in a small bowl. Keep aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter and flour a 9X5 pan.
Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder in a medium bowl. Whisk well and keep aside. In the meantime in a mixer, add the sugar and butter. Beat till the mixture is creamy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract and apple cider. Beat well and slowly add the flour mixture. Mix well and fold the diced apple. Transfer the batter to the pan and top with the streusel mixture. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes till the cake is done.
Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake with Cardamom
My blood orange obsession continues with this yummy cake- I love citrus with cardamom, so I tried it in this recipe and it was a big success!
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup raw sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Juice and zest of 1 large blood orange
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Confectioners sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease, line with parchment paper, grease again and flour a 9- inch round cake pan.
Blend sugar and eggs in a standing mixer on medium speed until blended and light- about 2 to 3 minutes. Add olive oil, vanilla extract, blood orange juice and zest. Blend until light and smooth. Whisk together the flour, cardamom powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix on low to incorporate. Pour into the cake pan and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool and dust with confectioners sugar.
Blood Orange Compote
- 4 blood oranges, peel and supreme (section into segments), juice included
- 1 teaspoon honey
Add the orange segments, juice and honey to a small bowl. Let sit for an hour.
- 1 cup whipped cream
Serve the cake with some blood orange compote and a dollop of whipped cream.
Hazelnut and Cherry Italian Cookies
These are absolutely yum!
- 1 cup soft unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- ½ cup evaporated cane sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups white whole-wheat flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
- 1 cup hazelnuts, chopped fine
- ½ cup hazelnut liquor
- ½ cup confectionery sugar in a small bowl
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Mix the butter and sugar until fluffy in a mixer. Add the salt, vanilla extract, flour and liquor. Mix well and add the nuts and cherries.
Mix with both hands until well incorporated. Form a ball and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on the cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool and roll in confectionery sugar.
Cherry Almond Duffins
Dessert number 3! Use fresh or frozen cherries for this one… yummy!
- ¾ cup raw sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1½ cups white whole-wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup extra light olive oil
- 1 cup 1% milk
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 cup pitted fresh or frozen cherries, chopped
Topping
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- ½ cup fine raw sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Lightly grease a 12 muffin tin with a bit of oil in each cup.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg till light and fluffy. Pour in vegetable oil, milk, vanilla and almond extracts. Mix to combine.
In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into the egg mixture and stir well. Fold the cherries into the batter and mix to incorporate.
Divide batter evenly into the muffin cups, filling about ½ full.
Bake for 15 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
While duffins are baking, melt butter in a small bowl. Pour ½ cup sugar into a medium bowl.
Once the duffins are done, lightly brush the top with melted butter, remove from the pan and roll in the sugar, coating all parts of the duffin.
Almond Cake with Citrus- Gluten Free!
Dessert number 2!….I have been experimenting with gluten free desserts. This is a really good one. I bought some meyer lemons from Trader Joes (go ahead and substitute regular ones as meyer lemons are not in season any more) and wanted to use them in a delicious dessert. I looked up a bunch of recipes and really liked on one site. I tweaked the recipe and came up with this one. It is really yummy and easy to make…
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup raw cane sugar
- Zest of one meyer lemon and one clementine
- Juice of 2 meyer lemons and 2 clementines
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups almond meal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Syrup
- Juice of 2 meyer lemons and 2 clementines
- 2 tablespoons honey
- Confectioner sugar to dust on top
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch spring form pan with parchment paper and grease it as well. Combine the salt, almond meal, baking powder and baking soda. Keep aside.
Add the eggs and sugar to an electric mixture with a whisk attachment. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, for a good 5 to 10 minutes. Add the citrus zest, citrus juice, olive oil and vanilla extract. Beat for another minute. Add the almond meal mixture and mix well. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
While the cake is baking transfer the citrus juice and honey to a small bowl. Microwave for 30 to 40 seconds and mix well making sure the honey has melted through. Once the cake comes out, drizzle the liquid covering the surface evenly. Cool and cake completely and sprinkle powdered sugar and serve!
Cider Duffins
- ¾ cup raw sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1½ cups white whole-wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup extra light olive oil
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup fine raw sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Lightly grease a 12 muffin tin with a bit of oil in each cup.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg till light and fluffy. Pour in vegetable oil, cider and vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Pour into the egg mixture and stir well.
Divide batter evenly into the muffin cups, filling about ½ full.
Bake for 15 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
While muffins are baking, melt butter in a small bowl. Pour ½ cup sugar and cinnamon into another small bowl and mix well.
Once the muffins are done, lightly brush the top with melted butter, remove from the pan and roll in the cinnamon sugar, coating all parts of the duffin.
Pineapple and Fresh Cream Cake
This is a great dessert to make for Valentines Day… enjoy.
I grew up eating pineapple cakes and pastries. I recall going to restaurants and bakeries where this cake was the most popular to eat. It was layers of soft, moist white cake, filled with whipped cream and pineapple. It was not overly sweet and most of all the icing was delicious. I think that is the reason why I don’t like buttercream or any other kind of icings. It just doesn’t taste fresh to me and most of the time they are overly sweet.
We were going out for dinner with some friends and I asked them to come back to our house for dessert. I was in the mood to bake a cake- I haven’t done it in a while. Somehow the pineapple cake came to mind. I bought the crushed pineapple and the whipping cream. Now, as some of you know, I do all of my baking with white whole wheat flour. I was a bit torn which way to go with this dessert. Since the icing is not overly sweet, the cake stands out. I wasn’t sure how the whole wheat flavor will taste with the rest of the ingredients.
I decided to go ahead with the whole wheat flour and went looking for whole wheat cake flour. Cake flour has less protein than the rest and results in a softer cake. I was not able to find whole wheat cake flour so I came home and made my own. For 2 cups of cake flour, I used 1 and 3/4 cups of white whole wheat flour mixed in with 1/4 cup of corn starch. I proceeded with a recipe I found on the internet but used extra light olive oil and raw sugar instead of butter and white sugar.
I went ahead and baked the cake and assembled it. It is very important to soak the layers well and properly with the pineapple juice to ensure a moist cake- especially if you are using white whole wheat flour.
My daughter was extremely excited to taste this dessert since I told her it was my favorite treat growing up. I was a bit concerned how she would react to the nutty cake flavor. Well, I don’t know what I was worried about- she loved it. My husband and I could taste the difference- it is not the same but it is a welcome change. For those of you looking for that authentic flavor, I would stick to regular cake flour. Me, on the other hand, will be making this cake again with the whole wheat flour. It was delicious- moist, soft and creamy.
Brought me back to my childhood. I love how food has the ability to transport you thousands of miles away…. Enjoy this delicious pineapple and fresh cream cake- you will love it.
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup extra light olive oil
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans.
In bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt with a wire whisk.
Cream oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix until completely combines. Slowly add flour alternately with milk. At end of addition batter should be should. Divide between 2 pans.
Bake the cakes for about 25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan, then invert onto a rack and cool completely before frosting.
- 1 pint whipping cream
- ¼ confectioners sugar
Beat the cream till it forms stiff peaks. It should take about 5 to 7 minutes. Keep aside.
- 1 (14 ounces) crushed pineapple with juice
Strain the crushed pineapple saving the juice (it should yield about ¾ cup juice). Keep the juice aside. Add one cup whipped cream to the strained pineapple. Mix well.
In the meantime, add one layer on a serving platter. With a large spoon soak the surface with half of the pineapple juice. Add the cream and pineapple mixture and spread evenly on the cake. Add the second layer on top and press down gently. Soak the top layer with the remaining pineapple juice. Frost the cake with the remaining whipped cream.
Chunks of fresh pineapple can be added as embellishments on the top. Refrigerate before serving.
