Sopapilla Cheesecake

Mama Mia! The Countdown to Mexico begins with this delicious "mexican" inspired dessert. This is my go-to dessert when I am serving "mexican" food and having company, or taking dinner to a sick friend...etc. My picture below isn't the pertiest. I was anxious for the photo shoot and didn't give it enough time to set up. If you are patient, these look lovely cut in squares. I don't see why you couldn't bake these in a pie pan and cut them in triangles like a pie. Presentation is key... Anyways the cinnamon and sugar flavor is tantalizing and perfect for a fiesta!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Source: Realmomkitchen

2 cans Pillsbury crescent rolls
2-8oz cream cheese (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter (1/2 cup real butter not margarine)

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Unroll and press 1 can crescent rolls into the bottom of your baking dish press the seams together. In a separate bowl blend the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla spread over top of dough. Unroll the second can of crescent rolls and place on top of the cream cheese mixture pressing seams together again. Melt butter and pour over top layer of crescents. Mix the reaming 1/2 cup of sugar & cinnamon together. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture generously over the top. Use more if you wish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and bottom crust is slightly brown.

Family Night Treats-February 28th-Chocolate Cherry Cookies

One more day till March!!! Is it just me or does March sound sooo much warmer than February! And so much closer to spring, summer, and Mexico! This week the countdown begins with sopapilla cheesecake and Brazilian Lemonade. Also this week, church cupcakes (you will see), clean eating and more.

Tomorrow the family night treat will be chocolate cherry cookies. Click on the weekly menu tab for details!

Also, HELP!!! Please forgive my blog blunder till it is fixed. My right sidebar is in the middle at the bottom of my posts!! Say what?! I know! I have no clue how this happened...any blog experts out there who might know how to fix this?

Bridal Gown Sugar Cookies

I loved this order I did last weekend! I love every second of making royal-iced sugar cookies...and at the end I love the result...every time. If you haven't tried the art of royal icing yet...get on the band wagon!!

I tried to make each dress a little different. These were put in plastic treat bags and tied with pink ribbon to put at each place setting for a fancy bridal shower. GORGEOUS!

Clean Eating Thursday on a Friday...Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Holy Moly!! Talk about miracle cookies! These cookies have no flour in them, yet set up just dandy...if that isn't a miracle I don't know what is!! If you like the flavor and texture of Almond Butter...these will wow the socks off of you! By the way...LOVE almond butter. Its ingredients are the following: almonds. You don't get more natural than that! Almond butter is a little expensive. By far, the most affordable (and delicious) I have found is at Costco. You get twice as much for the same price as Walmart. Made according to the recipe (with the sucanat) each cookie has only 110 calories, 1 gram of fiber, 2 grams of protein, 10 grams carbs, 8 grams fat...NOT TOO terrible. If I am gestational diabetic again...these bad boys are going to be just the thing the doc. ordered!

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: Clean Eating Magazine

Put the following ingredients in your cart...

1 cup unsalted almond butter, well stirred

3/4 cup Sucanat (this is a natural sweetener...hard to find...and when you do...expensive...I use sugar...the white, refined stuff that is bad for us.)

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. sea salt (or reg. salt...but not as "clean")

3 oz. dark chocolate (70% cocoa or greater) broken into small bits

Put your apron on and get bakin'..

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in mixer adding chocolate last. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets lined with silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes before moving to wire rack. Cookies are VERY crumbly.

Star Candy Cupcake Toppers

I am skipping Clean Eating Thursday this week...maybe tomorrow I can whip up some Clean Eating Friday something or other... we will see. Tonight I will share the simple, easy star cupcake toppers I posted yesterday...LOVE these!! Don't you love things that make people go, "WOW!" and require very little effort?! I know I do. I recently discovered the magazine Semi-Homemade. It is totally this philosophy...hmmm...that would be a great give-away... Anyways, what was I saying? I love to wow people on very little effort. Hey! Who doesn't, right? No one likes to say, yeah... I spent 10 hours doing this. I don't- people will think I have no life??!!

Here is what you need...

Wilton star candy mold

Wilton candy melts (I used red, blue, green, and yellow)

Here is what you do...

Melt candy melts one color at a time in a microwave safe bowl for about 1 minute, stirring at 30 seconds. Fill each mold with a 2 spoon method. Scooping with one spoon, scraping with the other. After you fill about 4 molds, spread out each mold so it is even and scrape with a small bench scraper, paper towel, or tidy up mold with your finger. Continue filling all the molds. If you wait to spread and tidy up each mold at the end...the ones you started with will already be setting. Does that make sense? Lightly tap the mold on the counter a few times to settle the candy into the small crevice of the mold. Put in freezer for 3-5 minutes. The underside (tops of the molded stars) should like foggy if they are set. Turn upside down and they should slide right out. I like to run my fingers along the edges of the candy molds to clean them up and even up the edges. Stick on the top of a cupcake. These candy stars can be stored in the fridge or at room temperature for quite a while...read candy melts package for specifics.

The Box's Fav. Chocolate Cake Recipe

A talented gal pal of mine just started a cake blog called Catastrophic Cakes. I was thinking of her on Friday when I was putting the finishing touches on a week long project-my first fondant cake. It truly was catastrophic. I felt like anything wrong that could have happened happened. My headboard broke (see pict. The bed, blocks and words are fondant. The toys are toys.) and I had to use the footboard instead. The text "Happy" broke and I had to piece it together like a puzzle for the presentation. Okay it really wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things...especially since it was the first time I have literally EVER touched fondant. The part that was catastrophic was the cake part. I had no clue how to level, fill, etc. (Soon to be resolved...taking a great class in a few weeks and I will share what I learn.) My frosting recipe I chose turned out pretty crusty after spreading it out and you can see little cracks across the whole top. Oh Well! I gave it to them for cost and lesson learned! I should not be overly confident in my capabilities until I take some more classes!

Also, this last weekend, I did some bridal gown cookies that were to die for and these cupcakes. Aren't they cute? I will teach you how to make the stars later this week.

But for both projects...I used this recipe. My fav. chocolate cake recipe by far...and I have tried alot! This recipe stays moist for DAYS! We love it!

The Box's Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe...so far

Source: My Kitchen Cafe

Makes two 8-inch or 9-inch cake layers , 1 9X13-inch pan

Makes about 2.5 dozen cupcakes

Put the following ingredients into your cart...

1 ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 ½ cups sugar

2 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk

1 ¼ cups warm water

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Put your apron on and get busy...

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is in the middle of the oven.

Prepare your cake pans by cutting out a piece of parchment or wax paper to line the bottom of the pan. Grease the pans, place the parchment or wax paper in the bottom of the pan and lightly grease again. Dust the pans with flour (or cocoa powder if you don’t want the white dusting on the finished cakes). Set the pans aside.

Using a fine mesh strainer, sift together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix on low speed (with a handheld mixer or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer) until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for about 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Do not overbake! Remove the pans from the oven and set the pans on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Gently run a thin knife around the edges of the pans and unmold the cakes, removing the parchment paper liners from the bottom of the cakes. Let them cool completely, top sides ups, on a wire rack.

Trim the tops of the cake layers with a long serrated knife to make them level.

Family Night Treats-Feb. 21- Go To Cookies

These bad boys have peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and coconut. Imagine a delicious chocolate chip cookies...on steroids. Try them tonight by calling, emailing, or leaving me a comment! Click on the weekly tab button for details.

Whole Wheat Banana Blueberry Muffins

Sundays. Bless this day!! I just took a nap cuddling my 4 year old on the couch. It won't be long til he is too old for such nonsense. I guess I shall cherish these moments for now.

Where did that come from?! I am like, the least sentimental person EVER!

I make these muffins whenever we have bananas and blueberries in the house. It is like the magic combo of ingredients. They are healthy, easy, and delicious. My boys don't seem to mind the whole wheat. I love a recipe that you keep falling back on. (like this granola I posted. Since I have posted it, I have made it three times! ) These muffins are a keeper.

Whole Wheat Banana Blueberry Muffins

Source: How Sweet It Is

Put the following ingredients in your cart...

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 ripe bananas

1/2 cup blueberries

Put your apron on and...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with liners or spray with pam. Mix sugar, applesauce, and egg until creamy and smooth. Add bananas and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Stir til mixed thoroughly. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into the muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Blog Blunder

Ok! It is official! I have lost my mind! I just blogged lemon cupcakes that I blogged about in November. Urg! Sorry guys! I guess they are that good! I will give you something NEW tomorrow!

Lemon Cupcakes To Die For

What did you do today? Me? I ran away. For 3 hours. It was wonderful. I try to get away every Saturday afternoon for a few hours. Sigh! It was sooo.... quiet. No whining, fighting, shooting (my boys are pretend shooting everything these days). I really needed the break. I have been super busy with orders! Still spending more than I am making. But soon I will have all the supplies right? Over the last few days I have done an order of 3 dozen cupcakes, 30 bridal gown royal icing cookies, and my first ever fondant cake (now that will be a story to tell)! Can't wait to show you pictures of everything. The weather was gorgeous out and made me even more anxious for Spring. Is it too early to put out the Easter decorations? I think I will do that tomorrow. Speaking of Easter, try these cupcakes because they would be perfect to leave out for the Easter Bunny. These cupcakes are so light and fluffy they remind me of angel food cake.
Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream
Source: Our Best Bites
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) of REAL butter
3 c. cake flour (no substitutions here--you really need the lightness of cake flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons (just zest the other lemons before you squeeze them)
1 c. buttermilk

Put your apron on and get busy...
Preheat oven to 325. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. Don't go skimping here--you want the mixture to be almost white and super fluffy. This is absolutely essential to the outcome of the cake.

While butter and sugar are mixing, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside. After butter and sugar have mixed sufficiently, With the mixer running, add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Beat in vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.With mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until fully incorporated.

Using a standard cookie scoop, place about 2 scoops of batter into each muffin cup. Fill these almost to the top--due to the final texture (again, think super-moist and light pound cake), these cupcakes won't have a nice, curvy crown, but that's okay--no one will ever know or care.Bake about 20-25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean. You don't want to overbake these even a bit, or they'll start to lose their delicious moisture. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Frost with lemon buttercream and garnish with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or fresh mint leaves.

Lemon Buttercream
1 1/4 c. butter (2 1/2 sticks)
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 c. powdered sugar
Beat butter, lemon rind, and lemon juice in an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating to spreading consistency.

Clean Eating Thursdays- Chicken Barley Stew

My husband and I both served missions for our church (we are Mormon) in Romania. Romanians have a diet rich in bread and fats. Very low in sweets. In fact, their desserts were a joke. But, man, they had some good soup called borsi (pronounced borsh). Imagine a nice broth based soup with sour cream stirred in so it has a light, creamy and tangy flavor. This stew took us back to that concrete jungle that was Romania. Mmmm delish! This recipe was given to me by my sister. It was so good and different. And...enjoy it guilt free!

Chicken Barley Stew
Source: Valerie Stanton from Clean Eating

Put the following ingredients into your cart...

32oz low fat, low sodium chicken broth
1Tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 Tbsp thyme
1/2 Tbsp basil
1/2 Tbsp cilantro
1/4 Tbsp dill
2 bay leaves
1/2 Tbsp black pepper
12 oz chicken breast, uncooked
1/2 cup barley 1 can black eyed peas (as you can see in the photo, I used kidney beans)
1 med onion, cubed
20 oz potatoes, peeled an cubed
10 oz carrots, peeled and cut
8 tbsp sour cream

Put your apron on and...

Fill slow cooker with broth, 8 0z water, garlic, herbs and pepper. Add chicken, peas, and barley, then layer onion, potatoes, carrots, over top. Liquid should just cover veggies. Do not stir. Allow to simmer at least 4 to 6 hours. Remove bay leaves and stir before serving. Spoon 1 cup into each bowl and top with 1 tbsp sour cream.

Just Another Day in Paradise

At preschool this week I am teaching about the ocean. My thoughts are consumed by the smell of the salt in the air, the sand in my toes, the sun in my eyes...sigh! I love the beach! I can lay in the sun reading and relaxing all day. Paul and I have been to Mexico twice. Have you been? Where in Mexico? We are going back in May with family (but no kids). I am going to start a count down to Mexico on this blog til then...to ease the pain of the wait. Get ready for some recipes for paradise that we can all share in our everyday paradises! You know, sip a margarita while you fold laundry, munch on nachos while you are lesson planning, soapapillas(yeah, I know it is spelled wrong spell checker...leave me alone!!) for the daycare kids, etc. Mexico...here I come! And til then...we can all practicing eating.

Bestest Beef Stroganoff

...At least in my opinion! This is my mom's recipe that we grew up on. My mom made this for a crowd over Christmas and I snapped a picture. This is the dish EVERYONE loves. Even my sister who doesn't like mushrooms and the grandkids who don't like anything! It is so creamy and filling and simple. Paul like his with a little spice from hot sauce. I do extra sauce so it lasts two nights. The first night I serve it with noodles, the second night with rice. Yum!


Ground Beef Stroganoff
Source: My mom Jenise Keith

Put the following into your cart...

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 small minced garlic
1 Tab. butter
1 lb. ground beef
2 Tab. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I usually use 2 cans to make mine stretch)
1 cup sliced mushrooms (I usually use about 2 cups)
1 cup sour cream (I usually use about 2 cups)
cooked rice or egg noodles to serve over

Put on your apron and...

Saute onions and garlic in butter. Stir in meat. Brown meat and drain most of the fat. Add flour and seasonings (I usually add a dash more of each seasoning than the recipe calls for since I add more sauce mixture). Add mushrooms, saute for a few moments. Then add in soup and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream and heat to taste. If mixture to a little to thick, I add milk. Add seasonings to taste. Serve over rice or noodles.

Family Night Treats- February 14th- Stained Glass Hearts

Today, for Valentine's Day, I am offering sugar cookie hearts with the centers cut out and hard candies melted in. Stained Glass! Enjoy them with your family tonight over candlelight! Happy Valentine's Day!

A Give-away winner and Oreo Cupcakes!

Drum roll please....duuuuummmmmm....and the winner is......dummmmmm....Meggin!!! Thank you for your support and for participating everyone. After a high tech raffle (drawing names from a hat in front of 3 witnesses ) , the recipe organizer is yours Meggin. Congrats!! Please email me your info at mendenhall.lindsey@gmail.com. I will ship it asap. For the rest of you...eat some cupcakes!

I can pretty much down sugar like it is water. Hey, it's a gift! It is very seldom that I taste something and say, "Wow, this is sweet." But, these oreo cupcakes were just that...rich and sweet. They were delicious! My tip would be to not do the fancy swirls and mounds of frosting. Do your normal little swipe of frosting with a butter knife. That is all you will need. The actual cake recipe is amazing. I will be adding it to my flavor options for customers. Something different from the norm. Kids... and the kid in you... will love these!!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Put the following ingredients in your cart:

For the cupcakes:
24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (I quarter them)

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. heavy cream

For garnish:
Oreo cookie crumbs
24 Oreo cookie halves

Put your apron on and get busy...

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves.

Clean Eating Thursday #6- Whole Wheat Blender Waffles

I told you.... we LOVE waffles. You will be seeing lots of waffles here at The Bakery Box. This recipe is hearty. The wheat berries leave a nice subtle nutty crunch. Wheat berries? Yes, wheat berries. If you are like me, you have never heard of such a thing. Don't worry...truck on down to your nearest health food stores and ask someone. At my Sunflower Market they are in the bulk food bin area. A bag of wheat berries is about $3 and it will last you months with this recipe. Give it a try. These are so filling, half a waffle will fill you up and keep you full for awhile.

Whole Wheat Blender Waffles

Source: The Sisters Cafe

Put the following ingredients into your cart...

1 c. plus 1 Tb whole wheat berries

1 c. milk

2 eggs

4 Tb oil

2 Tb sugar (or honey)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Blend wheat berries and milk on high for 4-5 minutes, until batter is smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend on low for a minute, or until incorporated. Cook on hot waffle iron. (Stir batter before pouring into waffle iron, because the heavier wheat particles will settle at the bottom.) Makes about 10 waffles.(To make pancakes instead of waffles, use 1 c. wheat berries and 2 Tb oil.)

Give-Away #3 !!!

Have you become a food blog obsessed person like myself? Have you checked out the sites on my blogroll? If you are like me, you do often. And...I find myself printing out so many recipes. Good thing I have a great printer that is so cheap to print from!! Not to mention all the torn pages from magazines that I always have shoved inside cookbooks. Well...for February's give-away, I thought I would give you somewhere to put all these recipes.

Enter this fantastic hard back 3 ring binder! I have one that I love! It holds a ton of full sheet pages that I have slipped in sheet protectors. The tabbed sections have a pocket where you can throw all those loose recipes. It comes with pages to write 120 recipes on also. These bad boys cost $26 at the stationary store up the street. I know you will love it!!

How do you win this beauty? You must do TWO of the following:

1. If you haven't become a follower of my blog, DO!!

2. If you haven't "liked" me on facebook...DO! (for those of you who have -you can count this...I just started it this week)

3. Add my blog button (cut and paste the HTML code in the left sidebar of my blog page to yours by adding it as a widget) (you can contact me for more specific instructions if needed)

4. Add my blog to your blogroll.

5. Get two people to follow me. Call up your friends and tell them to check me out!!!

Rules: You have to email me or leave me a comment on my blog or facebook letting me know what you have done to be entered in the give-away. (Otherwise, how would I know!!) If you got two friends to follow me, let me know who those friends are. Time is up Saturday night! I will do a video drawing. I will ship the binder anywhere in the US.

Taking Classes! And Oreo Truffles.

First of all!!! Thanks for all your Valentine's Day orders! I promise to get you your orders on time, delicious, and cute as ever! If you haven't ordered yet...check this out!

On Saturday, I took my first class at Cake Crafts. It was like three hours in heaven. I had so much fun. I came up the stairs of this little shop here in Denver, and saw my instructor... a spunky little old lady named Helen Sembra. According to store legend (I am assuming it to be a fact) she is Wilton's #1 instructor, the only instructor of gum paste, and the wall had plaques displaying the number of students she had taught so far ( I believe the latest was 9,000). She was a crack up with her own terms and quirks. I can only imagine myself with this much spunk at 82 years of age. Her wisdom was CRAZY. She knew crazy facts and tips for every step along the way. My pen couldn't take notes fast enough. I signed up for her gum paste flowers class and her intro to cake decorating class. Can't wait!

Saturday was a candy making class. Every Christmas we all hold our breath until Paul's talented sister Christine brings out her candies. I am salivating just thinking of them. She makes truffles, peanut butter cups, coconut and caramel chocolates, and chocolate covered cherries. We learned how to make all these. I may never conquer them like Christine does, but I can't wait to try.

Here are some pictures of Christine's Chocolates. And I have included a fun and easy truffle recipe I shared with the class on Saturday....Oreo truffles.

Oreo Truffles

Source: word of mouth

1 package (18 oz.) Oreo cookies crushed into small pieces (great job for the kiddos)

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

White or Chocolate melts for dipping (I have used chocolate chips w/ great results...see bag for instructions with dipping. Nestle says add 1 Tab. of shortening for every 1 cup morsels)

Mix crushed Oreos and cream cheese until well-combined. Either use a food processor or a ziplock and blend with your hands (a lot harder but all I had). Roll into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet or tray. Refrigerate until firm, 3-4 hours (or stick in the freezer for about an hour). Using 2 forks (or a spoon, but forks always work better for me), dip Oreo balls into chocolate coating and place onto waxed paper to harden. Chill and serve cold or room temperature. Makes about 30 truffles.

February 7th - Family Night Treats- Sugar Cookie Hearts

This week order some sugar cookies for your family to decorate together! I can give these to you with or without frosting. Or frosting on the side. Frosting is vanilla buttercream, not the royal icing shown in the photo above. As always, click on the weekly menu tab for details and pricing.

Also, this week...giveaway number 3 will be announced tomorrow! Check in! Recipes coming up...oreo cupcakes, whole wheat blender waffles, a post about my candy-making class with oreo truffles, and another clean eating post! Thanks for seeing what is happening at The Bakery Box!!

Ode to Summer...And Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Watermelon, sweat, sunshine, flip flops, park days, ice cream, swimsuits in the backyard, gardens, green leaves, grass, lemonade, and shorts. These are a few of my favorite things...NOT snow, slush, boots, scraping ice off your windows, runny noses, coughs, stir-crazy boys, and stinky dogs allowed inside during negative 20 degree days. MAKE IT STOP!!! I really miss stepping outside and feeling warm. Last Sunday I decided to make a summer treat. We closed our eyes and imagined eating this cake with summer berries on the picnic table outside. Oh!! Or maybe lounging in the hammock. Sigh! Alas, we probably have many more snow storms to come. Til then, make this cake and pretend.

This cake was the best pound cake I have ever had. It was easy, light, buttery, and addicting. It was so moist yet dense. It kind of reminded me of the eggnog bundt cake from a while back. DELISH!!



Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Source: Smitten Kitchen

Put the following ingredients in your cart...
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 (8 oz.) package Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt


Put your apron of and ...

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a bundt pan or tube pan (line the bottom with parchment if using a tube pan). Combine the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, at least 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Add in the flour and salt and mix until just incorporated.

Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, about 75 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool for about 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and allow to cool completely. Serve at room temperature with berries and whipped cream.

Clean Eating Thursday #5- Healthy Maple Almond Granola

As stated in previous posts, we here have a breakfast obsession. I am always trying out new recipes and ideas to spice up breakfast. My gal pals are always teasing me saying my kids smell like syrup when I drop them off in the morning. Boxed cereal...you are NOT welcome here!!

I love plain yogurt for breakfast. I have been sprinkling it with flaxseed, nuts, berries and agave nectar. YUM!! Well...this granola is AMAZING with yogurt. I found it in my The Happy Baker Cookbook. (Which by the way...I LOVE! The happy baker, Erin, is a crack up and her food photography is my favorite I have seen.) This granola is clean and healthy (except for the maple syrup (which you could substitute honey for if you are trying to eat 100% "clean"))

My kids were eating this dry by the handful. It is sweet and cinnamon-y and crunchy. I will be adding this to our breakfast staples.

Healthy Maple-Almond Granola
Source: The Happy Baker

Put the following ingredients into your cart...
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
2 Tab. honey
1 Tab. vegetable oil
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup flaxseed meal
2 cups quick oats
1 cup slivered or whole almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup dark/bittersweet chocolate chips
Put your apron on and...

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Spray with Pam your 9 X 13.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Stir in the rest of your ingredients except the chocolate chips.

3. Bake for 35-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Granola will crisp when cool. When completely cool, add chocolate chips. (I added dried cranberries. Raisins would be good too. Any dry fruit)
Store in an airtight container.