Weekend of Baking Extravaganza, Day 2: Sour Cream Pound Cake

The original recipe appears in All Cakes Considered. In lieu of using the vanilla, orange, and lemon extracts, I wanted to try Princess Cake & Cookie emulsion.

What You Need
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
3 tsp Princess Cake & Cookie emulsion

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Prepare a 12-cup bundt pan or a 10-inch tube pan.

3. Cream the butter and sugar.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to incorporate the egg into the batter before adding the next one.

5. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

6. Alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream.

7. Add the emulsion.

8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

9. Bake for 90 minutes.

10. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes then remove from the pan.

Weekend of Baking Extravaganza, Day 2: Simple Cookie Glaze

I decided to try a different cookie icing. I decided to try the simple cookie glaze from King Arthur Flour.

What You Need
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tbsp agave
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp milk

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the milk until smooth.



2. Spread one cookie with glaze, using a table knife or offset spatula. If it doesn't smooth out after 1 minute, dribble in additional milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until the glaze reaches the right consistency.

Weekend of Baking Extravaganza, Day 2: Beer Bread

This really can't be any easier. There are many ways to make this to your taste.

What You Need
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups white wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
4.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
12 oz beer

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Whisk the dry ingredients together.



3. Add the beer and stir until thoroughly mixed.





4. Pour into a lightly greased 9-inch loaf pan.

5. To make it extra yummy, I melt 2 tablespoons of butter and pour over the batter and sprinkle the top with some salt. You can also use olive oil instead of melted butter.



6. Bake for 55 minutes. Make sure to test in the center that it's cooked all the way through.

Weekend of Baking Extravaganza, Day 2: Raspberry Truffle Brownie Bars

I've made this once before using the recipe online. This time I used the recipe in the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook, which is slightly different.

For the Bars 2 sticks butter, melted 3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa     1 3/4 cups sugar 1/2 tsp salt 2/3 cup raspberry jam 1 cup all-purpose flour 4 large eggs

For the Glaze 1/4 cup raspberry jam 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 2 tbsp agave 2 tbsp butter

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Whisk together the melted butter, cocoa, sugar, salt, and jam.



3. Stir in the flour and eggs.

4. Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch pan.

5. Bake for 35 minutes until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.

6. Cool them for 1 hour before glazing.

7. To make the glaze, combine all the ingredients and cook over low heat (or in the microwave) until the chocolate and butter are melted.

8. Stir until smooth and spread over the cooled bars.

Weekend of Baking Extravaganza, Day 1: Zingerman's funky chunky dark chocolate cookies

Monday is my 6-year anniversary at work. Last year, I set the bar by making 5 different treats for every year I was there. I didn't know what to do for this year, so I decided to make 6 different treats this year. Not very original, but I couldn't come up with anything else.

So, I'm making beer bread, sugar cookie cutouts, Zingerman's funky chunky dark chocolate cookies, sour cream pound cake and the best chocolate sheet cake, ever. The recipe for the sugar cookie cutouts and best chocolate sheet cake ever have already been posted here already. The only variation I did for the sugar cookie cutouts this time was I used fiori di sicilia and the cookie dough was so friggin' good! Tasted like a creamsicle! The dough is chilling in the fridge and as soon as I finish typing here, I'll roll and bake.

I varied the recipe for Zingerman's funky chunky dark chocolate cookies a bit for a variety of reasons:

• I thought I had dark chocolate chips and I didn't.
• I didn't toast the walnuts because I didn't want to.
• I used light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar because I couldn't remember where I put it (I have since located it, when I looked for the walnuts).
• I changed the sugar ratio to finish the bag of light brown sugar off.
• I used vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla beans to see if the cookies would be just as good.

Without further ado, the recipe.

What I Used
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp vanilla bean paste
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar + 2 tbsp
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 oz chopped walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

3. Cream the butter and vanilla bean paste.

4. Add the sugars and the egg to the butter mixture.

5. Gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture.

6. When thoroughly combined, add the chocolate chips and nuts.



7. Chill the dough for 10 minutes in the fridge.

8. Scoop out dough (I used a tablespoon scoop) and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

9. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a rack.



Lessons learned:
The vanilla flavor wasn't as pronounced as when I made these cookies with vanilla beans. The next time I make these, I plan to add more vanilla bean paste. Scraping out the beans is a pain in the butt and also more expensive than using the paste, so I'll have to play with the ratio to achieve the desired taste.