U is for (Pineapple) Upside-down Cake

This is tied with the graham cracker peanut butter bars as my favorite desserts in this project. For real, this cake was light as a feather, but had so much flavor. I also absolutely adore pineapple in any way, shape, or form, so this cake was right up my alley.

That yummy brown sugar-butter mix, on the bottom added a nice glaze and perfect amount of sweetness on top of the cake

It's one of those recipes where you always have most of the ingredients on hand, just waiting to be part of this cake, so when summer rolls around and pineapple is in abundance, this cake is going to be all over the Feng household. 

Putting fruit on the bottom of a cake pan has been around since the Middle ages, usually made with apples, cherries or other seasonal fruits in a cast- iron skillet. Using pineapple in an upside down cake was only recently added into that mix because of the founding of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (aka the Dole Pineapple Company) who successfully learned to can pineapples in 1903. Only 20 years later after their founding, the company asked citizens to submit creative ways to integrate pineapples into their diet and they received 2500 recipes for pineapple upside down cake. According to trinigourmet.com, "it did not take long for the recipe to work its way into American housewife's repertoire."

It slid out perfectly, just make sure to use a knife and go around the edges before flipping it over. After one bite, my mother exclaimed "You probably shouldn't make that again.....because I'd get fat from eating all of it!"

I even got a nice refreshing drink by adding the rest of the strained pineapple juices to orange juice and carbonated water! Yum!

Until next time guys, show off those sweet teeth and always ask "What's for dessert?"
Recipe from allrecipes.com

D is for Dried Cherry and Almond Biscotti

Hey this looks exactly how mine turned out.... Psych!

Biscotti, in Italian, means "biscuit" or "cookie". It's root words "bis" and "cotto" literally translate into "twice" and "baked". Biscotti are traditionally eaten with a cup of coffee, like in the picture above. I myself was never a fan of biscotti, unless dunked in decadent chocolate, but I decided to give it a go, my family likes it, it looked like an easy recipe, and this project is about stepping out of your comfort zone (even if it's a small step) right? 

In short, biscotti are traditionally logs of dough, baked, sliced diagonally by hand and then baked a second time to get a firm, crunchy texture. They have been all the rage for many centuries now, because they were perfect for sailors who were at sea for long periods of time. Since they were baked twice, little moisture remained, which resisted many molds that were common out at sea. Christopher Columbus was even said to be an avid biscotti lover, who woulda thunk? 

Okay so don't make fun of me, but I'm starting this new thing where I measure out all my ingredients first so that things can go a little faster (even if it makes more dirty dishes, but thats what a dish washer is for). It makes me feel like a cool Food Network star, I'm pretty much Paula Deen's and Giada de Laurentiis' adopted Asian daughter.

Okay so after this step, the recipe says to pour the dough out onto a floured surface and form into two logs. I glance down at my dough and see a liquidey mess and I think "Well that's not going to work." Then my double identity comes out and it pretty much plays out like this:

First Kayla: I can't pour this onto the island, it's not thick enough. It will just run off onto the floor.

Second Kayla: But the recipe says so, it never lies. The recipe is the law. 

First Kayla: Umm no, this cookbook sucks, remember the Meringue incident?

Second Kayla: Yes I do, but this time will be different, I promise.

First Kayla: Okay fine, but only because you are so good-looking

So I followed Second Kayla's advice and poured the very thin biscotti dough onto the floured surface of the island in my kitchen, only to find that First Kayla was right. I tried to mold the difficult dough into a log only for it to droop back into a lifeless blob. Five minutes of frustration later, I cupped my hands and scooped up the pitiful "log" (if you could even call it that) and plopped it onto the parchment paper, very annoyed. "Wait why isn't there a picture of this step?", you ask. Hmm because my hands were completely covered in sticky biscotti dough!! Stupid Second Kayla. 

After that very dramatic climax, the recipe came together pretty easily...

Even though it wasn't as picturesque as usual, it turned out way better than I thought. Here is it after being baked for the first time.

Like I said, I am not a fan of biscotti, but I brought some into school and gave a few to one of my friends, who is an avid biscotti eater (like good ol' Christopher Columbus) and he liked them a lot!

So until next time, show off those sweet teeth and don't forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe found on Page 34 in  the Cuisinart cookbook

N is for Nutella Rice Krispies

This week was one of the weeks I had been looking forward to the most. Why? Because Rice Krispie Treats are my life. I distinctly remember coming home from my summer cheerleading camp and as I opened the door a sweet punch of melted marshmallows would knock me over. As if in Tom and Jerry, the tantalizing aroma would carry me over to the stove where the b-e-a-utiful brick of ooey, gooey treats were resting. They would sit there mocking me as my mother told me to wait until they cooled completely. Before long, I couldn't take it. Cutting myself a generous slice, I would pop it into my mouth before joyfully prancing away to watch cartoons. 

The next day, at cheer camp, as I sat down with the other girls on the concrete patio, I unzipped my bright pink lunchbox to find a happy little square piece of heaven patiently waiting for me. I would try to hide my rice krispie treat behind my sandwich, but the other girls immediately caught me red handed and I sadly had to each hand them a (very small) piece. 

Six years later and my habits regarding homemade rice krispie treats have not budged, I still don't wait for them to cool and always give myself a big slice, and people are crazy if they think I am going to share. When researching for which recipes I was going to make, once I stumbled across "N" I somehow knew I was going to do something with Nutella, because Nutella is the bomb.com. According to nutellausa.com Nutella came to be through the mind of Mr. Pietro Ferrero. Because of the lack cocoa during WWII, Mr. Ferrero used hazelnuts instead and created our beloved chocolate spread.

 I never would have thought to pair Nutella with Rice Krispie Treats, until I stumbled across a blog called stickygooeycreamychewy.com. This author has pretty much the same feelings about this recipe as I do, for example, this post starts with "Aside from my family, there are two things in this world that I honestly don’t think I could live without....They are Nutella and Rice Krispie treats." She then goes on to state "If there was a twelve step program for Rice Krispie treats, I’d be in it.  Sigh… So, imagine the allure of a Rice Krispie treat made with mounds of Nutella swirled in.  It’s almost too much to contemplate!   I can’t believe I never thought of it before!" Preach, girl, preach!

Such simple ingredients, yet such a delicious result

Now once again, this recipe had an insane amount of butter. I also decided to make two batches, to bring to school for members of a club. Let me just tell, you, five seconds after saying I brought Nutella Rice Krispies, they were gone. 

So. Much. Butter.

Also, if you make two batches, the recipe pretty much calls for an entire jar of Nutella. Nothing wrong with that.

After melted, the marshmallows became a gooey cloud of awesomeness

 

Once you pour in the rice krispies, brace yourself for some hard work. It takes serious elbow grease to stir the pot after a while, so immediately called in reinforcements; my dad. 

Until next time, show off those sweet teeth and always ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from stickygooeycreamychewy.com

W is for Wedding Cookies

So let me just start off this post saying MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES ARE DA BOMB (yes their real names are Mexican wedding cookies, but I tweaked it for this project)! Just the sight of these babies, brings me back to good Christmas memories, when my dad's side would come down. My aunt make the best Mexican wedding cookies and one of my cousins loves these cookies so much, it might be illegal in some states, how many she would eat if she had the chance (by the way if she reads this, she might kill me, but she's as thin as a stick these cookies are helping her out). My aunt would come through the door with at least 3 Tupperwares full of these things, but the next day most of them would be gone....

Mexican wedding cookies, also known as Spanish wedding cookies, originated in the Medieval times from the Arabs and then spread to Europe, and thus to Spanish cultures, only to arrive in the U.S. in the  50's. These cookies come in many different types; round, flat or crescent, also with the optional powdered sugar. These cookies were traditionally served at weddings, because the rich ingredients, of butter, sugar, and oil, signify a long happy marriage.

Many different nuts can be added into this recipe, but my family always preferred pecans

After assembling the dough, one must let it cool and for some reason I felt the need to put it next to a flower and a "thumbs-up". Let's just say it was for sizing and context sake.. 

After placing them in the oven and letting them cool for a few minutes, you roll them in that delicious powdered sugar and place them on a wire rack to let the cool completely before digging in!! 

The powdered sugar is supposed to symbolize purity

 

I really don't know why I was obsessed with that flower so much...it is pretty though.

Until next time guys, show off those sweet teeth and always ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from epicurious.com

L is for Lemon Pull-Aparts

So here's what the Lemon pull-aparts are supposed to look like....

And here's how my turned out....

They aren't/weren't bad, just different. First off, the store didn't have those dinner rolls, just crescent ones.  That's it, that's the only difference, so I don't know why I said "first off" or why I'm mad they didn't turn out like the first picture. 

I guess it's because they just didn't look as picturesque as I wanted them to :( , but they still tasted pretty good. I mean, they taste like what you would think; lemony dinner rolls. Maybe I'm being bitter, but they were mediocre, not really "blow my mind with lemony refreshing-ness" material.

The glaze was deliciously simple though, just powdered sugar and lemon juice

I found this recipe off of a blog, called Creations by Kara and I totally agree with her when she says "I love the taste of lemon, especially during the hot summer months. " but I was personally missing that kick that wakes you up, whenever you have a lemony dessert. No offense Kara, that's just how I like mine, but I would not have been able to think of anything like that, so kudos. 

Until next time, (hopefully I'll be nicer) show off those sweet teeth and always ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from creationsbykara.com