I think this little muffin baked long enough, don’t you? He turned out perfectly.

This sweet boy decided to surprise us by coming on his big brother’s birthday. I was just getting ready to put together a Curious George cake when, uh-oh, my water broke. New plans for the evening! Less than four hours later, we were holding a tiny 5 lb, 15 oz. bundle in our arms. And I fell in love.

This is life at its sweetest, friends. Forget all the discomfort and fatigue — I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. Honest.

So, I’ve only been home from the hospital for four days, and I’m already toying with the idea of playing in my kitchen instead of “napping while the baby naps.” Either (a) I’m feeling pretty good for having just given birth, (b) flour, sugar, and butter have a dangerously strong a hold on me, or (c) Christmas is in the air! Must. bake. goodies. I like to think it’s a case of (d) all of the above.

But my goodness, making the jump from a one-kid mom to a two-kid mom takes a little bit of shuffling. So stick with me, and I’ll be around. Promise.

If any of you happen to have an extra straitjacket lying around (anybody?), I might need to borrow it.

You see, anyone who is 8 months pregnant and in her right mind… wait… that’s complete gibberish. Let me try again.

Anyone who is 8 months pregnant… at all… should not be taking on lots of ambitious projects in the kitchen. The end.

There’s just one tiny problem, though: It’s fall! It’s holiday season! There are events and occasions left and right! And, despite not being able to get up the energy to heft laundry baskets around or mop the kitchen floor, I find myself spending outrageous amounts of time on my feet, putting together dessert after dessert after dessert… and liking it.

Like I said, straitjacket.

I recently took the plunge into the world of cookie decorating (thanks to Bake at 350), and whipped up these pretty things for a bake sale. They were a hit! And… I think my body went into rebellion mode afterwards. See, I don’t really remember the rest of that day.

But good grief, these were fun. I felt like a 6-year-old again. Bright colors! Sweet icing! Pretty patterns! There are several helpful hints to know before getting into cookie decorating, but I won’t take the time to do a tutorial here. Why should I, when there are several better ones I can link to?

Stay tuned for my next big project — a wedding cake. Yes, I just said wedding cake.

Like I said, straitjacket.

You know, unless the delivery room gets me first…

Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies

from Bake at 350

3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar (I use sugar that I’ve stored vanilla beans in)
2 sticks butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

Roll onto a floured surface (or between two sheets of wax paper) and cut into shapes. Place shapes on parchment-lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Then bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. When the cookies are completely cooled, they are ready to decorate.

So… October’s over… I’m sure you’ve noticed…

It just occurred to me that I haven’t shared any pumpkin recipes with you. At all. And here we are, staring November down already.

Not that there’s any great shortage of pumpkin recipes sitting in your Google Reader these days… and not that pumpkin cookies and muffins and breads haven’t been spewing forth from my kitchen in the past four weeks… because, good grief, they have been.

But I won’t let you down. Can I show you some wonderfully fluffy, sticky pumpkin rolls that will make all your troubles melt away? That’s not a bad deal, if you ask me.

Again, the secret ingredient here is the Instant Yeast that I’m in love with. So, so so so easy. One rise! Count ‘em, ONE. Cinnamon rolls just got that much faster. Throw in some pumpkin and a few spices, and they just got that much tastier. And cream cheese icing? Good heavens, somebody knock me out.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

adapted from Bakers’ Banter

Ingredients:

for dough:

4 to 4-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 eggs

2-4 Tablespoons lukewarm milk

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) soft butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

4 Tablespoons brown sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons Instant yeast (such as SAF)

for filling:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1-2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

1/4 cup melted butter

raisins, optional

chopped pecans, optional

for icing:

1 Tablespoon butter, room temperature

1 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

Milk, enough to make it drizzling consistency (about 3-4 Tablespoons, or more)

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups of the flour with all the rest of the dough ingredients. Mix until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Set dough aside to rest about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together the cinnamon and sugar for the filling, and melt the butter on low.

On a lightly-greased surface, roll out the dough into a 14″ by 20″ rectangle. Pour the melted butter onto the dough and spread around with a spoon or pastry brush. Leave one of the long edges free of butter for about 1 inch. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the butter, and sprinkle on the pecans and raisins, if desired.

Starting with the long end that’s covered with filling, roll the dough into a log. Cut the log into quarters (you may want to trim off the edges) and cut each quarter into thirds, making 12 rolls total.

Place the rolls into a lightly greased 9 x 13″ baking dish, and cover with a damp cloth. Let the rolls rise in a warm place until they are fluffy and nearly doubled in size (about 40-50 minutes). Near the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bake the rolls uncovered at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, or until they are lightly browned and feel set. Remove them from the oven and set them on a rack. Turn them out of the pan, and allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes. During the cooling time, make the icing.

To make the icing: Cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, and mix until smooth. Stir in the milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the icing reaches a good drizzling consistency. When the rolls have cooled for about 15 minutes, drizzle the icing over them, or brush it on with a pastry brush. Let the rolls sit for another 5 minutes, and then dig in!

Here we are. Summer’s last hurrah.

I’m fully aware that we’re well into autumn these days. And to be honest, I’m one of those silly people who excitedly counts down the hours until the end of summer. Pumpkins! Scarves! Crunchy leaves! Oh, and highs in the low 70s, please. Thank you.

Summer ends every year, and I kiss it goodbye without a single regret. Ha!

Except one: No more fresh peaches. I won’t see plump, fresh, blushing peaches for another 10 months! It’s a mourning process I have to go through every year.

And so, with the last of the last of the summer peaches, I pay tribute to… well, to the last of the last of the summer peaches. May we have many good times in 2010.

I know, this is a terrible time to come out with a recipe like this, since the peach crop has practically disappeared, and pumpkin or apple recipes are all the rage now (which I love). But hey, if you have a hankering for peach crisp at a less-than-opportune time of year, don’t forget that frozen peaches can be a pretty decent substitute.

This recipe calls for Instant ClearJel, which is one the loves of my baking life. Instant thickening! No need to guess if you have too much or too little! No more runny pie filling! Instant ClearJel to the rescue.

This fruit crisp pretty much knocked my socks off. Streusel topping in general tends to do that to me, but the peach and raspberry combination was out of this world. Add those together, plus a dollop of whipped cream, and you’ve got yourself one mighty tasty dessert.

Peach Raspberry Crisp

adapted from Bakers’ Banter

Ingredients for filling:

4 cups skinned and sliced peaches

1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen

2-1/2 Tablespoons Instant ClearJel (or 1/3 c. flour)

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Ingredients for topping:

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×9″ baking dish. Whisk the ClearJel (or flour) with the sugar and salt. Toss the dry mixture with the peaches, lemon juice, and almond extract, and spoon into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the berries evenly on top.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, oats, nuts, and spices. Mix in the soft butter just until incorporated. Don’t overmix. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit mixture, shaking the pan gently to distribute it evenly.

Bake the crisp for 40-50 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Remove from the oven. Cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before serving.

Anne of Green Gables? Anne of Avonlea? You know what I’m talking about, right?

Seven hours (seven hours!) of romantic red-headed fun, culminating in a glorious final five minutes, when Gilbert (after 7 whole hours, poor boy) finally wins Anne’s love. And then they share a sweet little 2-second kiss, and then the credits roll. Lovely!

Right before Gilbert goes in for the kill, Anne spouts out a little gem of wisdom that has become a sort of credo for me: “It’s not what the world holds for you, it’s what you bring to it.”

So, can I get a little personal here? Okay. We just moved. We bought a wonderful little house in Orem, Utah. And we love it here. Moving by itself is pretty taxing, but when you add third-trimester pregnancy and a curious toddler into the equation… well, heh. Yeah, taxing.

I’ve been thinking about Anne lately. Surely… surely… being worn out isn’t all that’s in store for me as I transition to a new home and finish the end of this pregnancy. I don’t want to sit around and let circumstances happen. Part of the beauty of life is that we have the power to act, not be acted upon. Anne could back me up here.

This is why I put together a loaf of braided bread in the middle of a stressful week — lest you think I’m crazy. I may not have control over my little boy’s bloody nose, or the spiders in our new basement, or the Braxton-Hicks, or the piano movers forgetting to give back the apartment key and then going off to Disneyland (good one, guys). But bread! Yes! I can bring a pretty loaf of delicious bread into my world. So life is sweet.

This bread actually comes together much faster than you’d think. So, no intimidation allowed. I used SAF Instant Yeast. It’s a different animal than active dry yeast, which is what most people use. So, be aware of that. Instant yeast is slightly more expensive, but you don’t need to proof it first, and it only needs to rise once before baking. I don’t have to tell you that that’s awesome.

Apricot Cheese Braid

Adapted from The Taste of Home Baking Book

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon SAF instant yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm milk

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 - 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup apricot preserves

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup turbinado sugar

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast, milk, butter, sugar, egg, salt, and 1/2 cup of the flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough, and knead until it’s smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. You may need to grease your hands for this.

Roll the dough out into a 15- by 9-inch rectangle. Place on a greased baking sheet. Spread the cream cheese filling lengthwise down the center third of the rectangle. Spread the apricot preserves evenly on top of the cream cheese.

On each long side, cut 1-inch width strips, about 1/2 inch from the filling. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across the filling. Seal the ends. Cover and let rise in a slightly warm place until doubled in size (about 30-40 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the bread gently with milk, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. Store in the refrigerator.

What’s that you say? These aren’t brownies? Are you sure?

You’re right, they’re cookies. But they’re actually not cookies. Deep down inside, where it really counts, they’re brownies. They’re soft, chewy, rich brownies that, by sheer coincidence, happen to be shaped like their cookie counterparts.

Well shoot. You win. We’ll call them cookies. They’re cookies. I can live with that. Cookies.

Now, down to business: I’m completely and thoroughly a dark chocolate person. I’ll take that 75% cacao any day of the week. If you are a fellow dark chocolate person, these will be right up your alley. If not… well, maybe today is the day to begin on the path to becoming a dark chocolate person. Or, better yet, whip up a batch for that special, dark chocolate someone in your life. They will love you forever, or double your money back.

Confession: I snuck in a bit of mint extract. I couldn’t help myself. I’m also a mint person, did you know? Feel free to leave it out if you don’t mind your life being utterly incomplete. And speaking of incomplete, I didn’t get as far as putting a topping or icing on these, although I would fully endorse such an act. A light, minty whipped cream would be just the thing to offset the chocolatey richness. If you’re feeling dangerous, go for a rich chocolate ganache. Then go lie down before you hurt yourself.

Dark Chocolate Brownie Gems

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons butter or shortening (I use butter-flavored Crisco)

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon mint extract

2 squares (2 oz) bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped

3 squares (3 oz) unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips or mint chips (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter or shortening with the sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla, and mint extracts, and mix together until smooth. In a small microwave-safe bowl, heat all of the chocolate together on low, until it’s partially melted. Stir it until it’s completely melted. Add to the sugar/egg mixture and mix until blended. In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add that to the large mixing bowl, and mix just until flour is incorporated. Stir in the chocolate or mint chips, if you’re using them.

Drop by tablespoon (a cookie dough dropper works beautifully) onto a parchment-covered baking sheet. Flatten each ball with a clean hand or the bottom of a cup. They’ll spread slightly as they bake, but not a whole lot, so make sure you flatten them into the size you want before they go into the oven.

Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until they just barely begin to appear cracked all the way across the top. Watch them closely so they don’t overbake and become crunchy. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and let the cookies sit on the sheet for 2-3 minutes more before removing them to a rack to cool to room temperature. You can eat them right away, or you can place them in an airtight container until they are completely softened. Top with whipped cream, icing, or chocolate ganache.

The powdered sugar has settled, the dishes are washed, the green and blue food colorings have faded from off my hands, and I’m back to my old, normal sleep schedule (whatever that is).

Yes, this project was a doozy. But this particular project was a particularly fun doozy. One with turquoise waves, tropical vegetation, and a bamboo hut.

My sister-in-law just celebrated her sweet 16 birthday party, complete with a tropical theme, a couple dozen teenage friends, loud dance music, and the ever-inevitable water fight that just about sent me into cardiac arrest several times (seriously, you’d think the teenage boys would have been hyper-aware of the fact that there was an enormous, edible cake right there. But then, I’ve never been a teenage boy).

Admission: I stole the palm tree and flip-flop idea from an old Joy the Baker post. Although, let’s be honest, hers look a bajillion times better than mine. And please, don’t be too hard on my poor little palm tree. The first one broke into pieces in the last half hour before the party, so this poor thing had to come together in a matter of minutes. And yes, I know the coconuts are supposed to go under the leaves and not on top. But, you can still tell that it’s a palm tree, right?

I have to chuckle when I think that being so busy with baking has kept me from posting on my baking blog. Ah, irony. If I had worked just a tad less furiously on this thing, I might have been able to provide some “work in progress” photos. Alas, not so.

So… you wanna play a game?

Q: What has two legs, a weak stomach, and spends half the morning on the couch with a bowl of cereal?

A: Sugar Duchess in first trimester!

Yes, it’s true. We’ve got a little one coming in December! We are totally thrilled. But I’m afraid it has been quite nausea-inducing for me to spend much time in the kitchen lately. Thankfully, first trimester is over, so I think I’ll be back up and at ‘em for the next little while. Thanks for sticking with me!

Oh, friends. Friends.

It’s been much too long, hasn’t it. That’s not a question. I wish you could see my head hanging in shame and mortification.

I really don’t have any good excuses to give you. It’s not that I’ve stopped caring. It’s not that I’ve stopped baking. It’s that… well, life can be funny and get in the way of life, you know? And that’s not even a good excuse, because that happens to all of us.

See, I told you I had zero good excuses. Zero. I know, right?

If I asked you to be patient and sit tight a little longer, and told you you’ll be rewarded with baked goods, do you think you could do it, as a special favor to me?

Thanks. You deserve something sweet. I’ll see what I can do.

Cake mixes — we should all hate them, right? They’re filled with all sorts of crazy preservatives and radioactive substances that you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.

BUT! when it’s your sister-in-law’s birthday, and you’ve been asked to make the birthday cake, and you get home from church and have an hour to throw it all together — while keeping track of a busy toddler and making lunch for your husband — before dashing out the door to the party, which you’re already late to… well, let’s just say that hating cake mixes isn’t all that simple.

If the fates combine against you to necessitate the use of a cake mix, take comfort in the knowledge that the universe will not implode if you deviate from the instructions on the box.  Now, you can’t take the radioactive materials out of the mix. Sorry. What you can do is turn the finished product into a sly counterfeit of a real, homemade cake. I’ll show you.

• First off, I know, the instructions tell you to add water. Want to know a secret? The cake only needs liquid, and the box says water, because it’s a liquid that people generally have easy and cheap access to. Forget water — use milk instead.
• Because cake mixes are never moist enough for me, I always throw in 1/2 cup of yogurt. Any flavor will do nicely, although I tend to prefer plain yogurt, because it doesn’t compete with the flavor of the cake (unless you want the cake to feature the flavor of the yogurt, in which case, go to town). Pudding also goes nicely in a cake mix. Give it a whirl.
• I live at a high altitude, so cakes usually need slightly more liquid anyway. I like to add one more egg than the instructions call for. However, if I add the yogurt as well as an extra egg, I have to decrease the milk by about 1/8 cup. Now. You wonderful people who don’t live at a high altitude: take this one with a grain of salt. I’ve never baked at sea level.
• Again, for high altitude people out there: Don’t forget to increase the oven temperature by about 20 degrees, and decrease baking time.
• For chocolate cakes, throw in a couple tablespoons of cocoa, or a melted square of baking chocolate.
• Don’t forget to jazz things up with some extracts. Try vanilla, almond, lemon, coconut, rum, cherry, or even root beer. But not all together, okay?
• Toss in a handful of berries. Or nuts. Or diced apples. Or grated zucchini. Or dried fruit. Or chocolate chips. The sky is the limit, friends
• Don’t forget — if your add-in is high in moisture, such as apple or zucchini, it will add moisture to the cake (Heh, duh). Adjust accordingly.
• And as always, let a good dose of common baking sense be your guide.

What do you do to schnazz up your cake mixes? I’d love to hear!

My husband is a finisher. You know, a finisher?

Illustration 1:  He opens the fridge. He’s greeted by a half bowl of soup left over from the night before. Whether or not he actually wants the soup, he pulls it out and eats it for lunch.

Illustration 2: He’s helping me tidy up the kitchen at the end of the day. I’m feeling oh-so-proud of myself for attacking that huge pile of dishes, and I figure that the very last dish — a large, intimidating stockpot — can just wait until morning. “It’s not going anywhere, Honey.”  ”Yes, Love, but the dishes aren’t done.” So we finish it. See? Finishing.

Illustration 3: He opens the freezer door (again, food-related), and finds himself face-to-face with a half-bag of frozen raspberries. When did we use the first half? Goodness, I have no idea. And I’m embarrassed to even make a guess. Let’s finish them off, shall we?

And so we were rewarded with a batch of moist and sweet purple-crumbed muffins, bestrewn with zingy raspberries. The crumbly streusel topping only adds to the fun, although if I could reverse time, I’d go back and tell Sugar Duchess Of The Past to not be shy with the streusel. Go to town. It’s like holding hands — there’s no such thing as too much.

This recipe made about 16 standard-sized muffins. That’s a slightly awkward number for a muffin recipe, I know. Sorry. You might try doubling it.

Raspberry Streusel Muffins

adapted from The Taste of Home Baking Book

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Streusel topping:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons cold butter, in pieces

Directions:

In a small bowl, make the streusel topping by mixing together the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add berries and toss gently (if you’re using frozen berries, do not thaw before adding to batter). In another bowl, combine the eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle the tops with the streusel topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.