10 hours + 10 recipes = 1 CARES Event

Last year in the fall, we held a CARES event called Coffeehouse Night. The idea was to have the lights down low, serve all kinds of dessert, have coffee (regular and decaf) available and get into good coffeehouse-type conversations with our neighbors. The turn out wasn't the best we'd had, but I think it made for one of our better events. It was easier to at least acknowledge every person there and we were really able to sit down and talk to quite a few people. It was popular and my love for baking become known to those in attendance. We decided to do it again and this time, it did not disappoint. Luckily, I have random days off during the week and am able to do almost ALL of the baking myself. We had 13 different desserts and I baked 10 of them (the pies came from House of Pies -- where I actually need to go and eat one day because I hear it's awesome. It also looks like the type of place that will clog your arteries just by stepping through the door).

Here's the run-down and my sidebar comments that probably don't mean anything.

Banana Pudding
From AllRecipes.com

This was really good. With the sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese and whipped cream folded in, it was super creamy! I made it last time and got such great feedback, it was a must-have this go 'round, too! I used extra Nilla wafers to garnish -- crushed and sprinkled on top. Next time, I think I'll do a trifle version and layer it a couple of times to get more bananas.


Lemon Ricotta Tea Cookies
from Katie at theGDkitchen

Katie and I date back to Marshall days growing up. And one of the things I remember about Katie is that she would bake and cook and bring us treats in Calculus (cinnamon rolls to die for!). She started this blog a few years ago and I am an avid follower, always waiting to see what comes next. I made these cookies back in December shortly after she posted the recipe for our physicians work. BIG hit! They have actually become my absolute FAVORITE cookie because they're light and airy and have a little bit of zing to them with the icing on top. A+ in my book!


Fruit Salad
from my head

Every time we have an event and I bake, someone always requests something "healthy". I respect their requests as much as possible, so this time I added some fruit salad. There's nothing to this as I just chopped up some fresh pineapple, strawberries, bananas and red grapes and served fresh. It was gone fairly quickly.


Oreo Truffles
from Bakerella

I've had these a couple of times and parties and whatnot and they're always a hit. Brad loves them and apparently, so do our residents! They're easy to make with just three ingredients and super delicious! I actually used milk chocolate bark instead of white chocolate because I'm not a fan of the white stuff. Also, I highly recommend you use a food processor to crush the cookies because it's really hard to get the fine dust-like consistency you want from just a ziploc bag and rolling pin. I also highly recommend you place the rolled balls into the freezer for about an hour before dipping them in chocolate. This gives them a chance to set and makes them a LOT easier to handle when coating them up!


Peanut Butter Blondies
from Joy the Baker

These might be my favorite dessert I made for this event (aside from the cookies, because you can't really categorize the two together). They're rich, they're creamy and we all know that the combination of peanut butter and milk chocolate is the ultimate marriage of food groups!


Neiman Marcus Cake
from theGDkitchen

This was pretty easy to make, as it uses a box cake mix. I honestly didn't get a chance to try this so I can't really comment much on it. It seemed to be a hit with those in attendance, though. Looked really good and chewy and delicious -- and I'm sure it was!


Milky Way Cake
from The Pioneer Woman

Oh. My. Heavens. To. Betsy. This cake is out of control. First of all, it uses 11 Milky Way Candy bars. ELEVEN! I think the checker at HEB thought I was a bit obsessed with Milky Ways as she scanned every last one of them and then lost count. It's rich. And to be honest, I could only try one bite (okay, maybe two if you count the fact that I licked the bowl clean). The frosting didn't set up as well as I had hoped, but the gooey-ness of it all was the best part. Props to you, Ree Drummond.


Sopapilla Cheesecake
from Blessings in Abundance

I've had this a couple of times at work and it's pretty much addicting. It's rich and creamy and has cinnamon and sugar on top. Yum-o! It's also super easy :)


Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
from Lick the Bowl Good

It's been a really long time since I've had a slice of pineapple upside down cake. When I ran across this recipe from Monica, I just had to try it out because I've never made one before. For some reason, mine didn't bake all the way through even though the toothpick came out clean (?). Who knows. Either way, the edges were delish!


Red Velvet Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
from Joy the Baker

I think this is the overall winner from the evening. These bad boys were gone in a minute and I think it has everything to do with the frosting. Not too sweet, but just enough so that it compliments the red velvet chocolate cake. I've made these before and had the same reaction so it's a new go-to for me. It takes a little bit of doing, but it's totally worth it in the end!

The only picture I got (my camera is at a friend's house and I REALLY need to go get it!):


And that's a wrap, folks. I spent three hours on Monday and seven hours on Tuesday in the kitchen behind an apron and stove. It's days like those that I wish I had two stand mixers and much more counter space! Or you know, my own bakery. One day. Another career.

Bake-a-Thon

I'm not really sure what's gotten into me lately, but I've been quite the bake-a-holic. Here's the deal. I'm not at all trying to lose weight, but I'm definitely being more careful about what goes into my body and trying to work out more. I've read more and more about the affects processed foods and fake sugars and all those good things have on our insides (and outsides, for that matter) and I really don't like what I've read. But I digress. Problem is, I LOVE to bake. L-O-V-E. And my coworkers LOVE for me to bake, too! Actually, I think they secretly cuss me under their breath, but they eat it so I guess it's good enough. So I've literally taken something sweet to work almost every week for the past two months. I wish I had taken pictures of everything, but I get into a "zone" and don't even think about it until it's too late. But I do have this picture:


You see, I love Italian Cream Cake. Almost as much as I love to bake. A dear friend of mine from work was returning from an 11-month, 11-country mission trip around the world and we were having a welcome home dinner for her. Spaghetti, meatballs, salad, bread and wine were on the menu so I wanted to do something Italian to go with it all. I realize there is nothing Italian about this cake, but I really wanted to try it out and found this recipe from Monica at Lick the Bowl Good. I received quite a few compliments, but if I am being honest I found the cake a bit dry. I have a feeling it had something to do with beating the egg whites and folding them in. I may not have beaten them long enough. I'm not discouraged, though. I will get this one right eventually ;)