Need to Bake!

It's been forever since I've baked something. I haven't really had any occasion to bake recently, but now I need inspiration. Any suggestions?

<3

MY Birthday Jelly Roll Cake

Happy Birthday to Me

For my birthday Ryan and I made a Strawberry Jelly Roll Cake. It was a light airy sponge cake with a strawberry whipped cream filling. It was really yummy and a nice light cake overall.

The recipe is from Joy of Baking (again!). We used strawberries instead of raspberries. The strawberries came in a 16 oz package so we just added the puree to the whipped cream until it tasted right. 

Brown Sugar Spiced Penguin Cookies

Penguin Family

I'm really behind on posting recipes. These cookies were from our annual cookie exchange and secret santa get together. When I saw the penguin cookies I had to make them. I didn't want to make gingerbread cookies though so I searched for an alternative recipe. I ended up choosing Brown Sugar Spiced cookies.

The directions for the icing and steps to decorate the cookies like penguins can be found here.

Here is the recipe I used for the cookies. I increased some of the spices but I think nutmeg and allspice have pretty strong flavors so I didn't increase them quite as much and that is the reason for the weird measurements.

Brown Sugar Spiced Cookies

adapted from bake at 350

 Ingredients:

2 3/4 c all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

little less than 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

little less than 1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 c granulated sugar 

1/2 c light brown sugar, packed

2 sticks butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and spices, set aside.
3. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extract and mix until combined.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom. The dough will be quite thick so form it into a ball with your hands.
5. Roll on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes depending on the size of your cutter (I baked the bigger penguin for 12 min, and about 10 min for the smaller cookies). 
6. Let sit a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a cooling rack.
7. Decorate as desired.

Birthday Heath Bar Brownie Bites

Basket of Brownie Bites

For Jeff's birthday I made him Heath Bar Brownie Bites. It was pretty much a basic brownie recipe with the addition of Heath bars (although I would have preferred Skor bars, but my store didn't have them!) and baked in mini muffin tins. I chopped the Heath bars up but some of the pieces were too small which resulted in not so pretty brownie tops. The brownies with some bigger pieces sticking out looked better and probably tasted better, too.

The recipe can be found here.

Birthday Strawberry Jam Bars

Gooey Jam Bars

To celebrate Kevin's birthday I made him Strawberry Jam Bars because I remembered him liking raspberry ones I made a long time ago. I followed the recipe pretty closely but I think I used the whole jar of jam (the recipe calls for one cup of jam, but my jar of jam was a little bit more than that).

I think this recipe is quick and easy and a crowd pleaser...who doesn't love jam? You can change up the jam to whatever you have on hand or whatever you like best. Also, they have a good amount of rolled oats in them so they trick you into thinking they are healthy (with a stick of butter plus all that jam they really aren't that healthy...).

Once again the recipe comes from Joy of Baking!