Gooey Butter Cake

Last weekend one of our good friends celebrated his 30th birthday. He hosted a party with a sampling of home-brewed beers that he and my husband made. They were delicious! Since you can't have a birthday party without cake, I offered to bake one for the occasion. Jim requested his mom's Gooey Butter Cake. I've never had this St. Louis specialty before, but I must say it was really good. The ease to deliciousness factor was also quite high. I think we'll be enjoying this treat again!

Gooey Butter Cake
1 stick butter, melted
1 egg
1 box yellow cake mix
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 box powdered sugar (1 lb), reserve 2 tablespoons

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease and flour a 13x9 pan. Combine first three ingredients and press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Beat the last three ingredients and pour over the bottom layer. Be careful not to mix the layers. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with reserved powdered sugar when cooled.

Black and White Cookies

Our book club selection this month was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In keeping with a new tradition, I wanted to make something that relates to the book. I decided on New York's infamous Black and White Cookies.

Having only been to New York a handful of times, I'm certainly no expert on these cookies, but I have never tried a recipe on smittenkitchen that I didn't like, so when I saw she had a recipe for black and white cookies, I figured I couldn't go wrong.

My friend who lived in New York for five years thought they were a really good homemade version, though not quite the same as from a New York bakery. I thought they were just delicious cookies (and pretty)! I thought the white side of the frosting was a little too sweet, but it was balanced out with the chocolate and the cookie itself.

Black and White Cookies
1 3/4 c granulated sugar
1 c unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
4 large eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/4 t lemon extract
2 1/2 c cake flour
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
4 c confectioners’ sugar
1/3 to 1/2 c water
3 oz very bitter or unsweetened chocolate
1 t light corn syrup
1 to 2 T unsweetened cocoa (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Mix by machine or hand until fluffy. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla and lemon extracts, and mix until smooth.

In a medium bowl, combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until mixed. Add dry mixture to the wet in batches, stirring well after each addition. Using a soup spoon, place heaping spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until edges begin to brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.

Boil a cup or so of water in a small pot. Place confectioners’ sugar in large, heat-safe mixing bowl. Gradually stir in enough boiling water to the sugar to make a thick, spreadable mixture. Err on the side of caution because a too-thin frosting is hard to undo. Leave remaing boiling water on the stove.

Spread frosting on half of the flat side of each cookie. Once all cookie halves have been frosted, place the bowl of the remaining frosting over the hot water and bring it back to a simmer (creating a double-boiler). Stir in the bitter or unsweetened chocolate until melted (I'd recommended breaking up the chocolate for easier melting), as well as the light corn syrup. Depending on the chocolate you used, you might find the chocolate color to be a little lighter than the “black” of a black-and-white cookie. If so, a tablespoon or so of cocoa mixed in darkens the color nicely. I ended up adding two tablespoons of cocoa and was really happy with the look and taste.

Ice the remaining half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting. If the chocolate frosting is getting too dry, whisk in an extra teaspoon of the hot water to smooth it back into a shiny frosting.

Let the frosting set. Store in an airtight container.

Hint of Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays. Spring is almost here! Green is my favorite color! I'm (a generous) 25% Irish in real life and 100% Fighting Irish in my heart! Also, I'm in love with mint and chocolate together!

I found this picture on Pinterest and knew I had to make these for our St. Patrick's Day party. When I actually looked at the recipe though, I realized there was no way I could make those. Um, I'm not using a Sugar Cookie Mix in my chocolate chip cookies.  Seriously!

Remember that episode of Friends when Monica is trying to recreate the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe that had been in Phoebe's family for generations? Then they realize it's the Nestle Toll House recipe from the bag? I feel the same way. That is hands down my favorite cookie recipe. I made some minor tweaks to it to get the green, minty result that I wanted.

Hint of Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 c flour
1 t baking soad
1 t salt
1 c butter, softened
3/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 packed brown sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t peppermint extract
8-10 drops green food coloring
2 large eggs
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c mint chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and food coloring in large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 - 11 minutes until golden brown.

These cookies were a big hit! I thought they were the perfect "hint of mint" cookies. I probably could've added more food coloring, but I was really happy with how they turned out.

Banana Bread

When I was growing up, if we had some bananas on the counter that started to brown, my mom would make banana bread for us. I started to do the same thing in college. One of my roommates liked my banana bread so much that she would intentionally let her bananas turn brown so I would make some. This is a recipe I got from my mom years ago. Tried and true.

You can put the brown bananas in the freezer and just thaw them out when you're ready to bake.

Banana Bread
1/2 c shortening, I usually use butter (softened)
1 c sugar
2-3 mashed bananas
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c milk
Pinch of salt
1 t baking soda
2 c flour

Preheat oven to 325.
Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in bananas, eggs, and milk. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix. Pour the batter into a greased 8x8 pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.