Pumpkin Spice Cake

A family friend who is on WeightWatchers told us about this idea that she learned while attending one of her WeightWatchers meetings; it's mixing pumpkin puree and boxed spice cake mix together, achieving a low-fat cake because you’re not using eggs, milk or oil.  It’s only 4 WeightWathcers points for a 2x2 inch square.

Now the method for making this cake may sound weird, (since all that's used is a 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree and 1 boxed spice cake mix) and you may be a bit skeptic as we
were when we first heard about this cake, but let us tell you, the end result is absolutely delicious and super moist. It was a total shock to us.   We knew for sure that we had to try this out to see for ourselves as to how this cake tastes.

1 box Spice Cake Mix

1 15 oz. canned pumpkin puree

Look to the directions on the box for the oven temperature.

Mix together in a medium sized bowl, the cake mix and pumpkin puree using an electric mixer on medium speed just until combined. Spray your desired baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, and then pour the batter into the dish (we used a 13x9 baking dish). Follow the guidelines on the box for length of time to bake.

Voila!

The result is a wonderful fast, easy and delicious cake. Perfect for when you need to make a last minute dessert  If you want, you could dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar, or if you're in WeightWatchers, you could put a dollop of cool whip (which has zero points!) or you can do what we did and make a Cinnamon Mascarpone Icing and spread it on the cake.  

~ Enjoy ~

Grandma's Rice Pudding

It finally feels like fall weather here in southern California, there's definitely a cooler breeze at night, and even the sunshine looks different.

The fall season happens to be one of our favorite seasons for cooking/baking and I'm sure this goes for a lot of people. It's so inspires us go make good, comforting, soothing, warm, home-y dishes. Dishes that take you back to when you were a child.  One comforting dish that we liked as young girls was bowl of warm and creamy rice pudding.  Even now, when I eat it, it just hits the spot and you know that everything (no matter what it is) is going to be alright.  

The recipe we want to share with you is for our Grandma's warm and creamy Rice Pudding.  It's very basic but comforting.

 

We hope you enjoy the recipe!!!

J and J

~ Grandma's Rice Pudding ~ 2 cups water

3 cinnamon sticks

¾ cup white rice

1 can evaporated milk

 sugar, grandma didn't give the measurement for sugar, just add however much you desire.

½  cup raisins

½  cup cubed or crushed pineapple - optional

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a 2 quart saucepan, bring to boil the water and cinnamon. Add the rice, bring to a second boil, and cook uncovered for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove the cinnamon sticks and add the evaporated milk, sugar, raisins and pineapple. Bring to a simmer and cook until the pudding is creamy and if neccessary until the rice is completely cooked. If the pudding is too thick, you can always add extra milk. Stir in the vanilla extract. 

~ Enjoy! ~

We'd like to wish everyone a safe and Happy Labor Day!

We also would like to share a recipe with you, a recipe that we think is a perfect fit for the holiday/end of summer.

We hope you try it out!

~ Enjoy! ~


J and J

White Chocolate Mousse Tartlets with Raspberries

~ White Chocolate Mousse  ~

4 Servings, Mousse adapted from foodnetwork.com

7 oz. Premium Quality White Chocolate, chopped

2 egg yolks

2 Tblsp. sugar

¼ cup plus 1 cup heavy cream, separated

1 pint raspberries or blueberries or both

In a large bowl, place the chopped chocolate and set aside.

Add the sugar and egg yolks in a small bowl and whisk until pale yellow.

In a saucepan, over low heat, bring 1/4 cup of the cream to a simmer, and slowly add the cream into the yolk and sugar mixture to temper. Pour the cream mixture back into pan and stir with a wooden spoon until it coats the back of it.

Pour hot mix into a fine mesh sieve placed directly over bowl with the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and completely smooth.

In another bowl, whip remaining 1 cup of the cream to almost stiff peaks. Fold half the whipped cream into the white chocolate mix to lighten and then gently fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Spoon the white chocolate mousse into 4 individual serving cups or you can do what we did, spoon the mousse into mini tartlet shells made of puff pastry.

Refrigerate mousse for about 1-1 ½  hours. Garnish each serving with raspberries.

~ Enjoy! ~

A Good Morning

There's nothing like getting up on a Saturday morning, sitting on your favorite chair, with the morning sun shining through the window, listening to music from the Swinging Years (88.1 FM So. Cal), sippin' on some hot coffee and munching on Blueberry Breakfast Cake....aaahhh, how wonderful can this be.

Good Morning Everyone! Have a great weekend!

J and J

~ Blueberry Breakfast Cake ~

Adapted from Parade Magazine

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch each salt and cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 pint fresh blueberries


1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Butter a 7x11” baking pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.


2. Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs one by one and beat for 1 minute. On low speed, mix in half of the flour mixture, the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Gently stir in berries. Pour into baking pan.


3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool before cutting. Serves 12.

~ Enjoy ! ~

 

This week's cupcake is a Chocolate Cupcake dipped in Chocolate Ganache and topped with a  Swiss Buttercream.

The recipe we used for the cakes is Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes. It's a very good recipe, very easy and fast.  The recipe make 24 cupcakes, but we simply divided the recipe in half to only make 12. Though, you could make the full recipe and share the cupcakes with your co-workers or family etc. They would love you for that, I'm sure!

We hope you enjoy the recipe!


J and J



~ One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes ~
Adapted from MarthaStewart.com


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


- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. 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.

- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.


~ Swiss Buttercream ~
8oz egg whites
1 lb. sugar, granulated
pinch salt, kosher
1 lb. butter, unsalted, softened and cubed

- Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in a bowl. Heat over a pot of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water, until the sugar dissolves, approximately until 110° F.
- Once dissolved, place into a bowl of a mixer, and whip until cool (it will resemble a meringue). This will take some time, approximately 15 minutes.
- Add room temperature, uniform chunks of butter to meringue and whip to a glossy and firm consistency.

- Just in case, you may notice that when after you added the butter, if the meringue looks "watery" or "thin", you may need to place a bowl of ice underneath the bowl of the meringue. It may be that the meringue is still a tad bit too warm and when adding the butter, it sort of melted. The coldness of the ice, helps to cool off the meringue and allow the butter to firm up a bit, producing more of a buttercream consistency.



~ Chocolate Ganache ~
8 oz. premium quality chocolate, chopped
4 oz. heavy cream.


- Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Bring the cream to a scald over medium heat. Once the cream has come to a scald, pour it over the chocolate and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Stir together to incorporate the cream into the chocolate until it is smooth. Gently dip the tops of the cooled cupcakes into the ganache and set aside to firm up a bit.

When the ganache is set, pipe/swirl the buttercream on top. Sprinkle with your favorite topping:  jimmies, chopped nuts, assorted candies, etc.

~ Enjoy! ~

Heat Wave...

We’ve been experiencing an extreme heat wave here in southern California, and with temperatures reaching 110° this past weekend, who’s in the mood to cook?......Well….we were!...call us crazy I know, but….we have to eat…right? Plus we already had in mind what we wanted to make before we knew it was going to be 110°.


I mean, we didn’t cook anything tedious, but it did involve turning on the oven to make some mini pizzas for our dad. Needless to say, the house was pretty hot, but the food was for sure, darn good.

This is what we had….

                

                                                                  Bruschetta

Mixed Greens and Poached Egg Salad

Mini Salami, Mozzarella and Basil Pizza

So, as you can see from the pictures, there wasn’t exactly a lot of cooking to do. Everything was fairly easy to make, there was just a lot of prepping to do.

For the Bruschetta, we used three different tomatoes that we bought from our local Farmer’s Market. We used Red Grape Tomatoes, Yellow Grape Tomatoes and “Snow White” Tomatoes. We sliced them in half and tossed them together with fresh Basil (chiffonade) and a Balsamic Vinaigrette and piled them on top of a sliced, toasted and buttered baguette. It was absolutely delicious.

As for the pizza, it was really easy to make. We actually used left over ingredients (the Marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese were from the Eggplant Parmesan we made a week ago) the only ingredient that we added was some Calabrese Salami from Trader Joes. For the crust, we used Bridgford frozen dough-dinner rolls. All we had to do was thaw and proof the dough, then roll them out to about 4 inch discs. Pretty simple huh?

Next we made a mixed green salad tossed with green grapes, toasted pecans, goat cheese and apple cider vinaigrette topped off with a poached egg. This was actually the highlight of our dinner. And this is the recipe we want to share with you; Mixed Greens and Poached Egg Salad.


~ Enjoy! ~

J and J



~ Mixed Greens and Poached Egg Salad ~
2-3 Servings

~ Apple Cider Vinaigrette ~
2 cups apple cider
½ cup cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1 each granny smith apple, small dice
1 ½ cup vegetabel oil
1 tsp. tarragon leaves, minced
tt salt
tt white pepper
tt sugar

2 cups mixed greens
1 cup green grapes, sliced in half
½ cup pecans, roasted and roughly chopped
½ oz. goat cheese
1 each poached egg, hot
1 Tbsp. each lardons or bacon cut in small strips.
 
 (tt = to taste)


- Prepare the vinaigrette by reducing the cider by 75% or ¾ cup. Combine the cider reduction, with the vinegar, diced apple and mustard. Whisk in the oil gradually in a slow and steady stream. Add the tarragon and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and sugar. Set aside when complete.

- Clean and thoroughly dry the mixed greens. Toss the greens in a large bowl with 4oz or ½ cup of the vinaigrette (or use however much or little you prefer). Portion out on plates and garnisth with grapes, pecans, goat cheese, lardons and top with a poached egg. Eat immediately!

~ Enjoy! ~






                   

Michael Jackson

August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

Happy Birthday!

This is one of our favorite songs: Rock With You. Take a listen!

Grandma's cooking...

Our grandma was a wonderful cook, and although we didn’t really have the opportunity to experience her cooking, (she passed away when we were 15 yrs. old) except for the holidays, we know she was a good cook because for one, our mom has told us so and second, the dishes our mom cooks, are the dishes our grandma cooked and taught our mom.

One particular dish that brings such comfort to both of us, the dish that we’ve been eating since we were little girls (we weren’t and are not picky eaters!), is the Stuffed Bell Pepper. Grandma’s recipe is a basic one; the filling primarily consists of two main ingredients, ground beef and rice. It’s a cheap dish actually, but it’s a good one.

When we made the Stuffed Bell Pepper for dinner the other night, there was one ingredient (well, there are about two other ingredients that we changed) that we added….bacon. We thought it would give off a really good flavor, throughout the filling, as it was baking in the oven; which is exactly what happened. We think Grandma would have loved the addition of bacon.

Without further ado, we would like to share her recipe with you. We think Grandma would be thrilled to know that her recipe is posted on the internet.

~ Enjoy! ~

J and J

Grandma’s Stuffed Bell Peppers

Serves 4


4 medium sized green bell peppers, tops trimmed (about ½”), hollowed out and blanched.
1 lb. ground beef
2 tsp. thyme leaves, finely chopped (this is another addition that we added)
1 cup cooked rice
½ cup frozen peas
Diced bell pepper cut from the tops that were trimmed.
½ cup shredded mozzarella (Grandma would use American cheese, but we’re not big fans of it so we opted for mozzarella)
¼ cup evaporated milk
4 Tbsp tomato sauce (Grandma used canned tomato sauce)
4 slices/strips bacon


Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a large sauté pan, brown and cook the ground beef along with the thyme, peas and diced bell peppers; season with salt and pepper. When the beef is cooked and the bell peppers soft, add the rice and mix together. Stir in the evaporated milk and tomato sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the mozzarella cheese; mix together. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Place the bell peppers in a baking dish standing up and scoop the filling mixture into each (the filling makes just enough to slightly mound into each pepper).
Add an additional 2 teaspoons of tomato sauce on top of the filling and place 1 strip of bacon, cut in half, on top of the filling making a criss-cross pattern (x). Place in the oven and bake until the bacon is cooked and filling is heated through, about 25-30 minutes.

~ Enjoy! ~

Whether you devour your favorite cupcake in the morning with a cup of coffee, for a snack at 3 pm while sitting at your cubicle or to end off the night enjoying it with a glass of ice cold milk, Wednesday’s Cupcake is about getting through the middle of the week and assuring yourself that there’s only two days left until the weekend. And in our world, there’s nothing better than a cupcake on Wednesday.

This week we’re offering an Apple Cupcake with a Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting.

It’s a butter cake with an apple filling, topped off with a mild spiced cream cheese frosting.

~ Enjoy! ~



J and J

~Apple Cupcake~

~ Apple Cupcakes ~
 For the batter:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sour cream
For the filling:
1 1/2 cup diced Gala apples (about 2 large apples)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon, ground
1 tsp. lemon juice

For the Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar.
3/4 tsp. cinnamon, ground
1/4 tsp. ginger, ground
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. nutmeg, ground
????? cloves, ground

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin tins with paper liners.

- For the filling
Melt the butter in a saute pan, until light golden brown or until you smell a nutty scent.  Add the diced apples and saute until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice and continue to cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool.

- For the batter
Combine together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a stand-up mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time (making sure to scrape down the sides after each addition) and vanilla extract, beat until smooth. Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and then add the sour cream and then the rest of the dry ingredients, making sure to scrape down the sides after each addition. Beat until smooth but do not over mix.

Divide 2 tablespoons of batter among the prepared muffin tins. With the back of a teaspoon, dipping it in some water, make a “well” in the center of the batter. Add 1 heaping teaspoon of the apple filling in the center. Top off with remaining 1 tablespoon of batter, spreading evenly to cover the filling.

Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the tin for 10 minutes and then remove and place the cupcakes on a rack to cool completely; frost with icing.

 
-To make the frosting
Mix together the spices. Set aside. Cream together the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract. On low speed add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time until well combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add in the spice mixture. Mix well. Frost each cupcake as you desire.


~ Enjoy! ~

On Saturday, after enjoying a really hearty breakfast (with our mom and family friend), and after running around doing errands; by the time we came home, we were exhausted. So for dinner, we wanted something light and easy. We opted for seared Flank Steak with Caramelized Shallots with a little red wine and a wonderful recipe from Epicurious.com of Burnt Carrots with Goat Cheese, Parsley and Arugula.

 For dessert, we had Coconut Macaroons.

Everything tasted very good and satisfied our tummies!

Here is the recipe for the Seared Flank Steak.

Enjoy!

J and J

_____________________________________________________

~ Seared Steak ~

* note: any steak of your desire can be used.

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

2 lbs. Steak, room temperature (*we used flank steak, but use whatever cut you like at whatever weight/ounce that you desire)
Salt and ground pepper to season steaks.

8 Shallots, thinly sliced, rinsed and dried
2 Tbsp. butter, unsalted
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
4 oz. or 1/2 cup dry red wine
2 Tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

- Heat a large saute pan or skillet over high heat. Add the oil. When the oil is hot and begins to smoke, season the steak(s) with salt and pepper. Place into the pan and sear/brown evenly, turning over as needed. Cook the steaks until they're done the way you like them (six minutes or a temp. of 135 deg. would be for a medium-rare steak, a few minutes more until a temp of 140 deg. would be for a medium steak and a temp. of 160 deg. would be well-done). Remove steaks from pan. The steaks will continue to cook as they rest.

In the pan used for the steaks, over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of butter and the shallots. Season with salt and pepper; saute until the shallots are tender with a golden color. Add the vinegar, cook until it evaporates. Add the wine and reduce to demi sec (half dry). Stir in 1 tablespoon of butter and add the parsley.

Cut each steak on the bias against the grain into thin slices. Place the shallots on top, and serve alongside the Burnt Carrots with Coat Cheese and Parsley/Arugula salad.

~ Enjoy! ~

Peach 'n' Berry Cobbler

As summer begins to draw to a close, there's nothing more comforting than a cobbler.

It's not a pie, it's an almost pie, like it's almost fall. In this recipe, we wanted to add some boysenberries (from our vine) to the basic peach filling.

Our end result turned out to be a mouth-watering, tummy-comforting dessert.

A perfect way to start off the weekend.

Happy Friday!!

J and J

________________________________________________

~ Peach 'n' Berry Cobbler ~

Filling:
2 15oz cans slice peaches in juice (not syrup), drained (with juice reserved)
1 cup fresh or frozen Boysenberries (you can substitute blueberries, blackberries or raspberries)
1 cup juice reserved from peaches
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 oz. or 1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 tsp. nutmeg, ground
1/4 tsp. cinnamon, ground

Topping:
1 cup All Purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For the topping:
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the butter and eggs and mix just until everything is combined. Set aside.

For the filling:
In a large bowl, combine together the peaches and berries. Set aside.
In a 2 quart saucepan, combine the juice (reserved from peaches) and sugar. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer until sugar is dissolved. In the meantime, combine the cornstarch and water to create a slurry. Once the juice has come to a simmer and sugar has dissolved, add the slurry mixture stirring constantly. Cook until thickened and clear about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat; add butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir. Pour glaze over the peach and berry combo folding gently. Place filling in an 8x8 square baking dish. Evenly spoon and distribute the topping over the peaches. The topping will spread as it bakes.

Bake for 30 minutes until the topping is a nice golden brown. Serve at room temperature with a dollop of Cinnamon Chantilly Cream.

~ Cinnamon Chantilly Cream ~

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 Tbsp honey

1 tsp. cinnamon, ground

- In an electric mixer, whip

together cream, honey and

cinnamon until soft-medium

peaks form. Keep cold.

~ Enjoy! ~

J and J

Introduction...

Hello everyone! Welcome to our blog!

We are twin sisters who are Certified Chefs who graduated from the California School of Culinary Arts-Le Cordon Bleu and we have a passion for cooking and baking.

We currently do not work in the industry, but we know one day that our dream of owning and operating a Bake Shoppe and Cafe will come true.

We are new to the blogging world, but we expect to have fun with you and enjoy our time sharing recipes, photos, thoughts etc.

We hope you will join us and express your thoughts as we cook; as we bake; as we eat (and do we love to eat!!!).

As the great Julia Child would say...

Bon Appetit!

J and J