Lemon Loaf Cake (w/Lemony Glaze & Candied Lemons) [TWD]

This week's Tuesday's With Dorie recipe was Lemon Loaf Cake. It's your basic dense lemon loaf, perfect for serving with coffee or tea. You can't really tell in the photos but I made my loaves mini.

I decided to upgrade this basic loaf with a lemony glaze and some candied lemon slices. I've never had candied lemon before and I found it to be a little too sweet for my taste. It sure did look nice though ;)

The lemon glaze worked extremely well with this loaf. I only put the glaze on one of my loaves, just in case it didn't turn out well, and I much preferred the glazed loaf over the plain. I ate mine toasted with blueberry preserves, YUM!

To make the lemon glaze, all you need is 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, sifted, and 1 lemon. Squeeze lemon juice into the sugar until the icing is thin enough to drizzle over the loaf. (You might need a second lemon depending on the size of your lemons.)

The recipe for the loaf can be found on this week's hosts' blogs, here and here, as well as in the Baking With Julia book.

Grasshopper Bars [club: BAKED]

This week's club:Baked recipe was Grasshopper Bars. These were so amazing, like an Andes Mint Chocolate in brownie form. I couldn't stop eating them. The rich, chewy chocolate brownie, light-as-air mint buttercream and crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth ganache worked in perfect synergy to create a delicious dessert that's both decadent and comforting at the same time. These are a take on the classic Grasshopper Pie, which is typically associated with vintage cooking. Make no mistake though, these are for a completely new generation and I, for one, will be making these often from now on.

This recipe can be found on this week's host's blog, as well as in the Baked Explorations book.

Liebster Blog Award!

I have exciting news! Mireia from Baking in Spain has presented me with the prestigious and coveted Leibster Award for bloggers! This is my first blog award and, Mireia, I can't thank you enough. I'm truly honored and humbled that you thought of me. When I started this blog I didn't even think anyone would ever read it, let alone give me an award!

The conditions for the acceptance of this award are as follows:

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you and thank them.
2. Post the award to your blog.
3. Give the award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers that you appreciate and value. (It's a great way to get the word out there about other blogs!)
4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have received this award.

It was tough choosing just 5 blogs to pass this award on to - there are so many amazing bloggers out there and the number is multiplying daily! The blogs I've narrowed it down to are:

1. The Ginger Snap Girl
2. Pink Stripes
3. Cookin' with Moxie
4. Berry Lovely
5. The Toasted Sprinkle

I'm not totally sure they each have less than 200 followers, but either way they deserve more! Hopefully it works out and my nominations don't go to waste ;)

Pizza Rustica [TWD]

This week's Tuesday's With Dorie recipe is an Italian classic. Pizza Rustica, typically served on Easter, is a sort of deep dish cheese pie similar to quiche. This particular recipe had a sweet crust filled with ricotta, mozzarella, pecorino romano and prosciutto.

This seems like a good time to mention that I wasn't too crazy about this dish. I thought it was too cheesy and the sweet crust didn't compliment the filling well in my opinion. I'm not that into cheese though, so that could be the reason. However, I will say that the crust baked up beautifully - it was the most attractive pie I've ever made!

While I wasn't crazy about the dish itself, shopping for the ingredients helped me discover my love for Trader Joe's! I always buy my flour there so I stopped there on my way to Whole Foods where I was planning to buy the cheese and prosciutto (which I was expecting to cost me a small fortune). On a whim I decided to check out their cheese isle... Holy crap! Have you ever seen it? It's huge! They had everything I needed (including the prosciutto) and it was way cheaper than any other place I'd seen. I was planning on making 4 or 5 stops that day just to get everything I needed for the week, but in the end I only made that one stop. TJ's had every last thing on my list for a ridiculously low price. I think this is the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship.

The recipe for the Pizza Rustica can be found on this weeks hosts' blogs, here and here, as well as in the Baking With Julia book.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies [club: BAKED]

click here to view the recipe

(from the Baked Explorations cookbook)

This week's Club:BAKED recipe was Red Velvet Whoopie Pies. This was another first for me (I don't know how I made it so long without ever trying a whoopie pie, especially since they've been rivaling the cupcake for "cutest dessert" for some time now) and I couldn't have chosen a better recipe for my inaugural whoopie pie.

The cream cheese frosting was ridiculous! It was so good I seriously considered scrapping the whole whoopie pie idea and just eating the frosting by the spoonful. Luckily there was more than enough to fill the whoopie pies so I still got to eat the frosting by the spoonful ;)

My pies turned out a little orange-y - I forgot to make sure I had enough food coloring...whoops! Behold, Orange Velvet Whoopie Pies!

You can find the recipe for these on this week's host's blog, as well as in the Baked Explorations cookbook.