It's Wedding Season

I am very blessed to have so many wonderful friends, and anyone who has so many close firends is blessed to be in many weddings. That is my life. I have the honor of being a maid of honor, a bridesmaid, and the prestigious opportunity to make a friends wedding cake this summer. So I'm super busy. A few weeks ago I did a wedding cake tasting for my friends Anna and Colin, a traditional Italian Wedding Cake, totally to die for! This will end up being their grooms cake with a huge double T on it! For the tasting I made half a batch because we didn't need much, but I definitely suggest making the whole recipe your first time so you know what consistencies to look for. This is a great recipe, very moist, just enough flake, and completely scrumptious!

Italian Wedding Cake for a Beautiful Couple

• 1/2 cup of buttermilk (If you don't have any and really don't see the need to buy it, use sour cream!)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shortening (Honestly, I just used classic butter, so much tastier, but heavier.)
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2 cups white sugar
• 5 egg yolks (The trick for separating eggs is to separate them straight out of the fridge. The yolk will hold together much better when its cold, but you need to allow them to sit out on the counter as you work so that they warm up because they will fluff better later.)
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (YUM! I am all about anything with almond)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 5 egg whites
• 1/2 cup DRAINED crushed pineapple
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup crushed pecans

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Trace the bottom of your three 8in round pans onto parchment paper. Cut these out, spray Pam in the pans, put the paper in, and spray again. I learned this trick working at the bakery and it works every time. Did you know that the carbon in pencils is food safe, its the exact same chemical makeup as the burnt crust on a marshmallow, so don't hesitate. 

In a small bowl combine buttermilk/sour cream, baking soda, and salt. Set this off to the side, and when you come back to it you will see proof of a chemical reaction. ("What's that? A chemical reaction in the kitchen? I thought I left chemistry behind!" You don't say so? OH I think NOT! Chemistry is the only reason cooking works, embrace it, and use it to help teach your kiddos!)

Now in a large bowl mix the shortening, butter, and sugar together until whipped and lighter in color. You want to try to get the sugar as dissolved as possible. Now beat the egg yolks in ONE AT A TIME. Once all the yolks are incorporated you need to stir in the almond and vanilla. In the bowl with the buttermilk reaction stir in the flour. Then blend the two together for the batter. 

Take the bowl from the buttermilk and rinse it out. You need to use this bowl to fluff the egg whites. Egg whites respond best to beating when they are at room temp so don't hesitate to leave them sitting on the counter. Use the whip attachment on your beater and work with eggs until they are stuff and form stiff peaks. When you pull the beater out of the eggs, if the peaks don't stand up without falling over, they aren't ready yet. 

Slowly fold in the egg whites to the batter. It will end up like this

Now you can add in what really makes this cake so truly Italian. The pineapple, coconut and pecans are now added to give this cake a great depth! I'm drooling thinking about it! 

Now the batter gets placed in pans and baked for 20 mins. I checked them at 20 and then every 4 mins or so. You don't want to open the oven too often so as to lose heat, but checking the cakes is a must. You want the toothpick to come out of the cake clean when inserted, or with only a few crumples. 

Every Italian Wedding Cake is topped off with cream cheese icing, so here's my go to recipe.

• 1 stick butter
• 2 8oz packages cream cheese
• 1 package powdered sugar
• 1tsp vanilla

Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Slowly add in a cup of powdered sugar at a time. Watch the consistency of the icing as you, when I am doing a cake I will make a stiffer icing, so I will add more. Add in the vanilla at the very end. Ice the cake and enjoy!

Scrumptious Chicken

As I got home this evening I had to ask the age-old question, what is for dinner? I pulled some chicken out of the freezer to defrost in a sink of cool water (important tip right there, always defrost in cool water, you don't want to start the cooking process) and kind of forgot about it. However, the fabulous idea of Oven Fried Chicken came to mind, and I set to comparing a few recipes. Eventually I decided to mix my own spices and to combine steps from several recipes and I came up with my...

Scrumptious Chicken

• 1 package chicken tenders (defrosted if you're like me and freeze your chicken when you get home from the store)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp paprika (this really gives the coating a fabulous red color, part of the appeal of all fried chicken, seriously!)
• 1/2 tsp chili powder (but I will probably up this next time)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 stick of butter

You will need three dishes for this: a shallow pan/bowl for the dry ingredients, a small bowl for the egg wash, and a glass pan to bake in. I only used half a package of chicken so I used an 8 by 8 glass pan, but for a whole batch, plan on using your 13 by 9. Place a third of the butter in the glass pan and place in the oven to melt. (Make sure to watch this so it doesn't burn, and the spread it around the entire pan before you place any chicken in it.) Melt the rest of the butter in a mug or bowl in the microwave.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.In your small bowl use a fork and beat together the egg and milk (your egg wash.) Now in the shallow bowl mix the dry ingredients (this is your dredge.) Put a small amount of the egg wash into the dredge and mix until its crumbly. 

Place your chicken into the egg wash and make sure it is thoroughly coated before you move it to dredge. Move all the chicken pieces to the dry mix and thoroughly coat. Then throw all the pieces back into the egg wash, and then toss them in the remaining dredge! (The second coating gives it that extra crispy wonderful coating!) This process will involve your hands and it will get messy. (But never fear, if I can handle it, I promise you can. I so do not do sticky...)

Now, place the chicken into the prepared pan and then sprinkle some of the melted butter on top of each piece of chicken. This will give it the crispy shell almost like its fried, without it actually being fried!

Bake for 25 minutes, then flip the chicken over and cook for another 10 minutes. At this point you should check the temp of the chicken. Its important that it is at least up to 165 degrees (this will prevent you and your loved ones from spending quality time bonding in the bathroom, just sayin.)

In the end you will have very delicious chicken that will knock your socks off! Enjoy!

< A little extra, when the chicken comes out of the pan, the left over drippings can be used to make a gravy. Scrape all the drippings out of the pan and into a saucepan, if needed add some extra butter and melt. Then add about a tablespoon of flour into the mix. (Basically making a rue.) Once this is hot and bubbling, slowly whisk in milk (which should be of a higher fat content.) The gravy will thicken and be ready for mashed potatoes or dipping, or whatever.>

When your counter is looking a little, gross...

My roommates and I eat a LOT of bananas. I mean we're talking about upwards of 12 to 15 bananas a week most of the time. So you can imagine we buy a lot of them at a time, and there are times when they ripen a little faster than we can eat them. So what's our solution?

Yep, into the freezer they go! We have learned though that the best way to do this is to peel them first and then put them into a freezer bag. Viola! So without further ado,

Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup butter (room temp, of course)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 3 ripe bananas (you'll want to thaw them if you follow our method)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional, but my Mom would argue that it is under no circumstances optional)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, then grease and flour your favorite loaf or bundt pan. (My mom actually lines the pan with parchment paper and it works marvelously, but I am not that patient, and I've never had a problem.)

The first thing is smash the bananas in a small bowl and to let them sit as you are working on the batter. In another large bowl cream the butter, and then add in the sugar and cream the two together. Add in the eggs one at a time and power up your mixer. Once the sugar is creamed add in the vanilla. Now slowly mix in the flour, making sure not to let it explode all over you and your kitchen

Next in the bowl with the bananas mix in the baking soda and make sure that it is mixed well. (Side note: fruit is acidic. When a banana is ripe it has a pH of 5, so mixing in the baking soda will start a chemical reaction, similar to vinegar and baking soda, but on a much smaller scale.) Pour the banana mixture into the batter and mix by hand. Make sure that the banana is fully incorporated because otherwise it will leave your bread with a swirl effect. (Though that's not completely terrible.) Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Depending on the pan you may want to check earlier. You're looking for a toothpick to come out clean.

Manja! I love my banana bread with a little cream cheese, but everyone else in my family likes butter. Either way, or just by itself, its amazing, with a super moist texture! Definitely a family favorite.