Tasty Thursday: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple Upside down cake was one of my favorite cakes as a child. I really loved the taste of those sweet sticky caramelized pineapple rings on the top of the cake. Today, I'm sharing the recipe I use for my pineapple cake. You can also use this recipe to make pineapple upside down cupcakes, as I did. Kids will love them. 

You will need:

Cake Batter:

3     cups all purpose flour

4     teaspoons baking powder
1/2  teaspoon salt

1     cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2     cup granulated white sugar

2     teaspoon vanilla extract

4     large eggs

1     cup milk

Topping:

4       tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

3/4    cup brown sugar

1       medium pineapple (peeled, cored, and sliced)

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter spray a 9 inch round cake pan. 

     Topping: 

• Place the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
• Pour into your prepared cake pan. Evenly arrange the fresh pineapple slices on top of the sugar mixture. 

     Cake Batter: 

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 
• In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
• Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Add the vanilla extract.  
• Add the milk and continue beating.
• Add the flour mixture slowly until all ingredients are mixed well. 
• Pour the batter into the cake pan, and bake for about 50 minutes, or until the top of the cake has browned. 
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. 
• Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan and then invert the cake onto a serving plate.

Tasty Thursday: Chocolate chip cookies

So I feel the need to work more on my blog. I really want to blog more often, because I just love blogging. My current plan is to blog at least twice a week. Let's see how committed I can be :)

Today's recipe is chocolate chip cookies. When I first made these cookies, they were good but too sweet for me, and too buttery for my husband. So I adjusted the original recipe to better suit our tastes. The resulted cookies were amazing!

You will need:

2       cups flour
1/2    teaspoon baking soda
1/2    teaspoon salt 
1       cup packed brown sugar
8       tablespoon butter
2       eggs
2       teaspoon vanilla
1       cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper
• Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together
• In a separate bowl beat the melted butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again until mixed
• Slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter mix and combine well
• Add the chocolate chips and mix well
• Drop by large spoonfuls onto the baking sheets about 2 inches apart
• Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes

Cake shop

Sometimes I seriously think about making a cake shop. My own cake shop. Maybe one day, who knows!!

I really enjoy making cakes. Check the pictures below for some of the cakes I made over the past couple of years.

 My daughter's Birthday cake

 My friend's Birthday cake

 Hubby's Birthday cake

 Strawberry cake

  Swiss rolls

Coffee cake

Lately in pictures

I was thrilled last Friday when I heard that Mubarak stepped down. They finally did it! I was so proud of them.  

Long live Egypt

The snow in front of our house as of today 2/14. It started to melt down, finally! It hit 50 degrees today for the first time in months. The snow you see in the picture is the accumulation from the several snow storms hit us in the last couple of months. The last was two weeks ago.

I made this cake over the weekend. My hubby believes that I need to start thinking about having my own cake shop. I guess I might consider that if the PhD thing didn't work out :)

Fenugreek cake (حلبة)

This is traditional dessert from the Palestinian kitchen. Fenugreek frequently used by lactating women to increase milk supply and since I'm currently nursing my son I thought it's going to be a good idea to make this dessert. It's really delicious!

You will need:

For the syrup:

3 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

few drops lemon juice

For the cake:

3 cups semolina or cream of wheat

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup veg. oil

2 tsp yeast

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup fenugreek seeds

2 cups water

Directions:

• Mix semolina and flour in a big bowl. Add all the oil to the mix and set aside to rest (about 1 hour). You need the semolina to absorb all the oil.
• Meanwhile prepare the syrup by adding water to the sugar in a medium saucepan and mix it well with spatula. Heat the mix until it boils. Once it boils add the lemon drops and set aside to cool down.
• In another saucepan add the 2 cups of water to the fenugreek seeds and boil it on a low heat for about 20 minutes until the seeds are big and soft. The water will decrease to about 1 cup.
• Drain the seeds and add them to the semolina mix. Keep the seeds water to add them to the mix later. Add the yeast, baking powder, and salt. Then add the water gradually while making the dough. You might not need the whole cup of water.
• Lightly grease a 9x12 baking dish with tahini sauce. Pour the dough in the baking dish and smooth with hand. Cut it into diamond shapes with a butter knife. You can decorate by placing an almond in the center of each diamond.
  
• Cover the baking dish and set it aside to rest for about an hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 F (200 degrees). Bake on the lower rack for about 40 minutes until it is gold. Remove from oven and immediately add the warm syrup to it.
• Leave aside until it cools down and then cut and serve.
  

Apple tart

Today I'm posting a recipe for the apple tart I baked last Saturday. I wanted to post this recipe few days ago but I was just not in the mood. I have been feeling up and down recently! Mood swing is not fun at all.

Back to the tart, it was really yummy! The sweet pastry crust gives the crust a rich cookie like flavor. You can by the way use this crust to make any fruit dessert.

For the pastry crust:

3 cups purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter

2 large egg, lightly beaten

For the apple filling:

5 big apples

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Powder Sugar for browning the top of the tart.

Directions:

The pastry crust:

Note: I usually do this part one day before and refrigerate the pre-baked tart in the fridge.

• Mix flour and salt and set aside.
  
• Beat the butter with your mixer until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  
• Gradually add the beaten egg, and beat until incorporated.
  
• Add the flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a dough (you can use your hands to form it).
• Cover the dough with plastic wrap
  
  , and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.
• On a floured surface, roll out the sweet pastry to the tart pan size (12 in).
• Lay in pan, lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan.
  
• Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill tart pan with beans, making sure the beans are distributed over the entire surface.
  
• Bake crust for 20 to 25 minutes until crust is dry and lightly golden brown.
  
• Remove beans and cool crust before filling.

The apple filling:

• Peel, core, and slice the apples.
• In a large skillet melt the butter and stir in the sugar, and the cinnamon.
  
• Add the apples and saute over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until the apples are soft.
  
• Gently mash the apples with the spoon and stir the mixture until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Spoon the applesauce mixture into the cooled pre-baked tart shell.
  
• Cover the edges of tart with foil and bake it a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes or until the apples are nicely browned and soft.
  
• Remove from oven and sprinkle the tart with confectioners' sugar, and broil it under a preheated broiler until the edges of the apples are golden brown and crisp.
  
• Serve the tart warm or at room temperature with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Coffee cake

I baked this cake last Saturday. We had some friends over and since my Saturdays are always crazy busy, I wanted to bake something that is easy and fast. And so this cake came to my mind. I always order it whenever we're at a coffee shop. I find it irresistible :) Later in this post, you will find the recipe I used for my coffee cake. I hope you try it and enjoy as much as we did!

It's Monday, typical Monday! Woke up early, fixed breakfast, packed lunch, and then said goodbye to Sinan and Lina. I then fixed my morning Nescafe, checked my email, Facebook, blog list, and news before updating my to-do-list for today.

Every Monday, I have the cleaner over. I finally found a good cleaner. I'm so happy because having a big house is not always a plus especially when there is no one to help you cleaning it. I'm one of those nut people who like to see the house clean and neat all the times, but with this big house and all the responsibilities I have, I really needed a cleaner to keep up with this.

It's raining today. I believe it was raining when I last posted too. It's Spring, and Spring is the most rainy season here. I have no problem with the rain as long as it's warm. And it's warm, actually it was really hot yesterday. In such hot days I thank Allah all the time for having a central AC at home, I can't survive without it!

Now check the recipe below. Thank you all for reading :)

Coffee Cake Topping:

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I used Hershey's kisses)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Coffee Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream or milk

Coffee Cake Topping:

In a small bowl stir together the sugar, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, ground cinnamon and flour. Set aside.

Coffee Cake:

Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) a 9-inch round pan.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a bowl, beat the butter using electric mixer (or a hand mixer) until softened. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and keep beating, and then add the heavy cream. Mix until combined.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle about half of the nut topping on top of the batter. Cover with the remaining batter and then sprinkle with the remaining nut topping.

Bake for about 40 - 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let rest for about 10 minutes before releasing of the pan.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

A busy week

First, I just posted two new recipes, so check them out. I was supposed to post them last week, but I was too busy that I couldn't. I have some more recipes to post, and I will do as soon as I can.

One of those recipes is my younger daughter (Lily)'s birthday cake. She turned 4 on April 14th. I made her a fondant cake, and this by the way is my second fondant cake.


She wanted a pink cake. She also wanted a cat or a horse on the top, and wanted the cake to be decorated with different cool colors. I tried to add everything she wanted to the cake, and it was not bad. My two girls enjoyed watching me making it. Lily felt so special that day :)

I'm planning to clean my house today. I have tons of things to do. Monday is always a cleaning day for me but today it's going to be Spring cleaning. It's good because the weather is so bad outside that I have no desire to go out. It has been raining all night and it's going to continue all day today. I need to finish all cleaning today because I have to go back to my research work tomorrow. I'm also invited to ladies' lunch at my neighbor's house tomorrow. She is a nice lady from Afghanistan. I like such gatherings where I get the chance to meet other ladies.

last Thursday, I had a very nice day with one of my best friends. We spent the whole day together. What was special about that day that we were kids-free. It was a "bring your child to work" day, so her kids went with their dad to work. My husband also took my older daughter with him. My younger one went to school and I was able to leave her for extra couple of hours.

We met at 9:00 am before heading to NJ. We stopped at a small bakery on the way and ate breakfast. We were heading to a nice mall that is 45 minutes away from my place. As soon as we arrived we got some coffee before starting shopping. I guess we did too much shopping and talking that it was not that long before we felt hungry again! We ate our lunch at a very nice Italian restaurant. We then did more shopping, and more talking, before heading back to Easton. It was an unforgettable day.

Ghraybeh

Hello everyone,

I'm back! I couldn't post last week because I was really busy. I'm trying to keep up with my blog but sometimes I really can't. I got too many things going on.

Anyway, I'm back today with an easy recipe. Very easy and delicious! Couple of weeks ago I posted the Barazek recipe, and as you all know (or at least some of you), Barazek always come with Ghraybeh. They are both butter-based cookies, very light, and really good.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
pistachios (you will need 1 pistachio for each cookie)

Directions:

• Beat butter and sugar with a mixer. You can just mix them with your hand since the butter is soft. Add flour gradually and work out to form smooth dough.

• Put the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Form small sized balls from the dough and place them on a baking sheet (leaving space between them).

• Press one pistachio in the middle of each ball forming a small cookie. Be careful, you don't need to press them too much. You can also make any shape you want, like S-shape, ... .
  

• Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. You don't want them to turn gold, you want them to keep their white color.
  

Barazek (برازق)

Barazek are middle eastern pistachios sesame cookies. They are popular in some Arabic countries like Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.They are usually served with hot tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Sesame Seeds
1 tbsp Honey or syrup (qater)
1/2 tbsp Water
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 cup Sugar
1 cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup Water
1/4 cup Pistachios (chopped)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• On a baking sheet, spread out the sesame seeds and toast them until they are golden brown

• Mix honey with the 1/2 tablespoon of water and moisten the sesame seeds with the mixture

• In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and sugar.

• Add the butter and the 1/3 cup of water and work out to form smooth dough

• Put the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes

• Form small sized balls from the dough

• Touch one side of each ball into the pistachios, and then press it between the palm of your hands into a cookie shape

• Dip the other side into sesame seeds mixture and try to richly coat it

• Place the cookies on a baking sheet with the sesame side up.

• Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until they turn golden brown

Gingerbread cookies

Last week, my daughter asked me to bake her gingerbread cookies. They were talking about them at school and she wanted to try them. I never made these cookies before so I had to do my research on them :)

Gingerbread cookies are fragrant with ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The amount of each can be adjusted to suit your own individual taste. They are also usually made with molasses. Here is the recipe I used to make gingerbread cookies, ofcourse after tweaking it to my own taste. They turned out to be so delicious.

Ingredients:

3

cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1 large egg

2/3 cup molasses

Directions:

• In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon.
• In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and molasses and beat until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture b eating until incorporated.
• Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.
  
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
  
• Use a gingerbread cutter to cut out the cookies. I didn't have the cutters so I used my measuring cups to cut the round ones, and I had to make the man cookies with a knife.
• Move the cookies to the baking sheet, placing the cookies about 1 inch apart.
  
• Bake for about 8 - 12 minutes. They are done when they are firm and the edges are just beginning to brown. If you like your gingerbread cookies on the soft side bake them a little less than the recipe that.
  
• Wait until they are completely cool before decorating them. You can decorate them using frosting, raisins, or candies. I stuffed the round cookies with marshmallow. My girls were so happy to help.