Halloween is right around the corner--I can't believe the month is already half way through!  I'm proud of myself that I haven't already bought and eaten an entire bag of Halloween candy yet!  That's a first!  :)  Usually I have to buy a second one for the trick or treaters! 

 

I promised my fellow organizing-obsessed friend that I would post this next photo so that she could see it.  Does anyone else have a pile of papers that just seems to accumulate in the kitchen?  Papers from school, receipts, bills to pay, things to file, coupons....I'm always trying to figure out how to keep it all organized.  This is my latest attempt.  I can't say that my desk doesn't ever have a pile on it, but this does help a lot.  I found these two baskets at Walmart--in the bathroom aisle of all places.  I had been looking for quite a while for something to hold files upright and I thought this might just work--and it did!  One of the baskets holds files with each of our family members names on it.  I've tried a lot of ways to do this and this works best for us.  Things that need to be dealt with or filed go in these folders.  They're just temporary files and so the idea is that it keeps things at hand and organized until it can be dealt with.  The smaller basket holds my envelope of coupons, and other little things.   So there you go, friend!  Hope it helps!

Does anyone from Tri-Cities remember the restaurant "Jennifer's"? I was SO sad when they closed! I ate there for lunch all the time during high school and my Dad and I would go there often together. They had the best chili...and lattes...and chocolate chip cookies and one of my favorite things was their chocolate almond oat bran muffins. MMmmmmmm....I've missed them so much, I've been trying to duplicate the recipe.

They're not quite the same, but still really good.  I took these out of the oven this afternoon.  They were dessert after dinner and I can't wait to eat one for breakfast tomorrow.

And speaking of baking, a couple of people asked for the Spice Cake recipe w/Cream cheese frosting.  It is seriously the best spice cake I've ever had.  It was so good--we ended up splitting what was left with my brother's family and from what I hear there wasn't a crumb left over.  Just to warn you, it does have a spice in it that is quite expensive (Cardamom at around $10 a bottle).  I did use it, but I don't know it if would make a difference to leave it out or not.  I also used the fresh ginger like they suggested.  Enjoy!


Spice cake

(From:  The Complete America's test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook)

Serves 15 to 18

Using fresh ginger instead of ground ginger gives this cake a brighter flavor.  You can serve the cake right out of the pan, in which case you’ll only need 3 cups of frosting for the top of the cake.

Note:  I baked this cake in two 9 inch pans at 250 degrees for 20-25 min

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon ground cardamom (Note: this spice is quite expensive ~ $10 per bottle)

½ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ ground nutmeg

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces and softened

2 ¼ cups (11 ¼ oz) all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon table salt

2 large eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups (12 ¼ oz) sugar

2 tablespoons light or mild molasses (I couldn’t find any light molasses and used 1 T. of full flavored instead)

1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger (see note)

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

4 cups cream cheese frosting

1.     Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 13 x 9 in baking pan, (or two 9n pans:  see note above) then line the bottom with parchment paper.

2.     Combine the cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg in a small bowl; reserve ½ teaspoon of the spice mixture for the frosting.  Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a small skillet over medium heat and continue to cook, swirling the pan constantly, until the butter is light brown, 3-6 minutes.  Stir in the spice mixture and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.  Set mixture aside to cool slightly.

3.     In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.  In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla together.

4.     In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, attachment, beat the remaining 12 tablespoons butter, the sugar, and molasses on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes; scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Beat in the ginger, cooled butter-spice mixture, and half of the egg mixture until combined, about 30 seconds.  Beat in the remaining egg mixture until combined, about 30 seconds, and scrape down the bowl again.

5.     Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in one-third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk.  Repeat with half of the remaining flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk.  Beat in the remaining flour mixture until just combined; scrape down the bowl.

6.     Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and lightly tap the pan against the countertop two or three tines to settle the batter.   Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 30-35 minutes, (or 20-25 min if using 9 in rounds) rotating the pan halfway through the baking time.

7.     Cool the cake completely in the pan, set on a wire rack, about 2 hours.  Run a small knife around the edge of the cake and flip the cake out onto a wire rack.  Peel off the parchment paper, then flip the cake right side up onto a serving platter.  Stir the reserved spice mixture into the frosting, spread the frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake, and serve.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes about 4 cups

If the frosting becomes too soft to work with, let it chill in the refrigerator until firm.

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

10 tablespoons (1 1/4sticks) unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoons table salt

2 cups (8oz) confectioners/ sugar

1.     Beat the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, vanilla, and salt together in a large bowl with an electric mixter on medium-high speed until smooth, 2-4 minutes.

2.     Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low; slowly add the confectioners’ sugar, and reserved spice mixture (if using with the spice cake recipe) and beat until smooth, 4-6 minutes.  Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, 4-6 minutes.