Friday, June 29, 2012

Fabulous Pumpkin cream filled bread

I found this recipe on line at:  Sunday Baker.net. It's a wonderful site, filled with all sorts of yummy recipes. Below, Tanya the author of the site describes how she experimented with low cal. ingredients to come up with this amazing pumpkin bread. In fact, it turned out so well, she eat a whole loaf herself (Nancy)

Tanya's story: "So my goal here was to play around with a recipe to make it so I could still wolf it down like a glutton but not feel so guilty about it. Because I honestly believe that even though moderation is a wonderful thing in life, some things are meant to be exceptions. Chocolate is one. And a bread that I wait all year to make is the other.

So after tweaking some ingredients and getting rid of others altogether, this is what resulted. It's probably not as sweet as my favorite pumpkin bread (that can easily be fixed by adding more sugar which I don't want to do), but it was the perfect pumpkin texture and really quite good (especially the second day)! The ribbon of cream cheese is a tasty addition. There are about 79 calories per slice."

Pumpkin and Cream Bread
Yield: 2 loaves (14 slices each)
Batter:
1-1/2 c. pureed pumpkin
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
1 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. Stevia Cup For Cup sweetener
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
Cream filling
8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 T. all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
1 t. vanilla extract
1. For the Batter: With an electric mixer, beat the pumpkin, applesauce, egg, and egg whites on medium speed until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, Stevia, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture.
2. For the cream cheese filling: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, egg whites and flour until creamy and smooth.
3. Grease 2 8x4x2" loaf pans. Divide half of the batter between the two pans. Pour half of the filling in one pan and the other half in the second pan and smooth with the back of a spoon. Top with the remaining batter.
4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Don't overbake or your bread will be dry on the edges. Cool and remove from pans. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Tanya's Confession: " I ate this entire loaf by myself, for real. Rich asked me "How is that pumpkin bread you made?" I lied and said, "It is OK, you wouldn't really like it." The truth was I had already finished it and didn't want him to know. I really do love pumpkin!"

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Another lemony dessert for summer

Lemon Brownies

The "Brownie" Batter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour {King Arthur All-Purpose Flour}
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt {Sea Salt}
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Tart Lemon Glaze
1 rounded cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoon lemon juice
8 teaspoons lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease/Spray an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with butter/cooking spray and set aside. 

Zest and juice two small/large lemons; set aside. {whatever you have}

In the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the flour, sugar, salt, and softened butter until combined. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice until combined. Pour into the flour mixture and beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. 

Pour into baking dish and bake for 23-25 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before glazing.  Do not overbake, or the bars will be dry. {even with the yummy glaze}

When brownies are cooled completely, make the glaze...sift the powdered sugar, add lemon zest and juice, and whisk together all three ingredients. Spread 1/2 the glaze over the brownies with a rubber spatula.  Let glaze set.  Spread the remaining glaze over the bars, and let it set.  This glaze does not harden like most.  Cut into bars, and serve!


Found on Bakergirl, originally from Rita May's Recipes


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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Summer Baking: Lemonade Layer Cake


INGREDIENTS
  • Cake:
  • 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
  • 3 tablespoons thawed lemonade concentrate
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cups fat-free buttermilk
  • Cooking spray
  • Frosting:
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened $$
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
  • 2 teaspoons thawed lemonade concentrate
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese $
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. To prepare cake, place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat well after each addition.
  3. Pour batter into 2 (9-inch) round cake pans coated with cooking spray; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.
  4. To prepare frosting, place 2 tablespoons butter and the next 4 ingredients (2 tablespoons butter through cream cheese) in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, and beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat). Chill 1 hour.
  5. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1/2 cup frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Store cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.




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