Top Recipe Posts

Over the past year or so I've posted recipes that you readers loved. So why not remember the good times?
Here's a collection of the highest-viewed recipe posts from {A Dash of Spectacular}:

Boozy Cranberry Sauce. One of the most-viewed recipes that's not only beautiful, but so yummy, all year-round.

Kielbasa & Caramelized Onion Quesadilla. A recipe idea born from a grocery-store challenge. A delicious idea.

The Peach-Ginger-Hit Cocktail. Yes, she's a winner. Really.

Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake. One of my personal favorites for a summer dessert with tropical or spicy cocktails.

{Recipe} Popovers

How are you starting your Super Bowl Sunday this weekend? Perhaps with a ritual or two?
Or, if you're like me, I'm thinking of the food I'm planning to make. With my extreme success of finally making popovers a few weeks ago, I know my menu will feature these beauties.

The foolproof recipe comes from our Air BNB host in upstate New York, Jayden. She was a fantastic host, and was generous enough to share her recipe with me.

Thanks

This past Thursday I gave thanks for my husband, family, friends, the life we live, and...good food. We were able to celebrate on a small-scale, which was nice {keeping in mind that we'll be flying to and staying with family and friends in Texas for almost 2 weeks!}

The small feast started with Husband making Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery {are you seeing a trend yet?!} Buttermilk Biscuits.

Certainly worth the small amount of work required. It goes without saying that these were the best biscuits I've ever eaten. Including restaurant biscuits. Sigh.

A look at our tiny kitchen counter as we cooked.

Over The Weekend: Starting November

My weekend went a little like this:

{1. Friday Evening: Imperfect Health exhibit at the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University; 2. Friday Night: Bun Cari Ga or curried chicken noodle soup for a cold and rainy dinner date; 3. Saturday: Texas Tech football game watching in the Northside; 4. Sunday: A Better Nutter, baked by Husband from the Bouchon Bakery cook book.}

Today is a busy one at work, full of meetings and deadlines. Then, tonight we're off to Youngstown, OH for that rally. See you soon, and don't forget to vote tomorrow!

{Over The Weekend} Games, Scones & Hurricanes

Well, people, we're still here and we haven't floated away...yet. The rain is coming down, and has kept coming down since yesterday late afternoon.
This weekend was mostly a lazy one.  We started things out with a college football game at Heinz field, which thankfully wasn't rainy {however, the threat was there!}. Then, my wonderful baker of a Husband decided to crack open his new cookbook, Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery,  and bring out his new food scale. He's subscribed to the notion that everything in baking needs to be measured by weight, or it won't come out right. Psssh, fine, leave that to him! {I prefer cooking, where I can just play things by ear and throw things in as I please.}

He flipped to the section on scones and announced that he was planning to make cinnamon honey scones. I about died. His first choice on what to bake happened to be one of my all-time favorite baked goods. And, these did not disappoint.

"Friday" Means "Cookie"

Some days you just need a cookie.

 

Happy Friday, friends.

{Recipe} Lemon-Lime Tea Cakes

This weekend we ended up with far too many lemons in our fruit bowl.  What to do?  Make Lemon-Lime Tea Cakes!

{Lemon-Lime Tea Cakes}

via Everyday Food Light by Martha Stewart Living

{Recipe} Big Old Oatmeal Cookies

Here it is - the recipe from the cooking demo Chris Fennimore and Rick Sebak did at the Hometown Homegrown event yesterday. It makes about 3 dozen if you make your cookies dainty. Warning: these are not for the faint of heart, and I'd suggest making them small!

{Big Old Oatmeal Cookies}
Recipe courtesy of Chris Fennimore; a variation on Rick{Sebak}'s Big Old Cookies aka Cowboy Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup butter flavored Crisco
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cinnamon {I'd use a tablespoon!}
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup walnuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup chocolate chips

Method
Cream the shortening with the sugars. Add the eggs, vanilla, water and cinnamon and beat until the mixture is fluffy. Add the flour, salt and baking soda, then mix on low until it forms a batter. Add the walnuts, raisins, and chocolate chips, then mix on very low until they are well incorporated. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a small ice cream scoop to measure the dough, and place on parchment covered baking sheet. Use wet fingers to slightly flatten the portions. Bake 10-12 minutes, and remove to a cooling rack.

Finished cookie!

PGH Dining: Grandview Bakery

Heads up - This will be a retrospective post. When James was here, visiting from Texas, we stopped in on a late, rainy morning, to have a second {or third?} breakfast before diving in to a noon beer. It was Pittsburgh's Craft Beer Week after all. 

We'd heard about Grandview Bakery from a random party-goer at one of my coworker's Mustache Party/BBQ {?!}, and sampled a chocolate cupcake and a peanut butter kiss cookie. I finished off two of the cookies, and vowed to visit the next time we were up on Mount Washington. It just so happened, we were there, after riding the Duquesne Incline.

We stepped into the bakery/store and walked immediately up to the colorful case of baked goods.

Gorgeous.

{31 Blogging Days of May} DIY Friday: Mexican Chocolate Poundcake

Kyla asked for us to share a DIY {Do It Yourself!} with our readers today. Those that know me know that I love doing crafts, but I love cooking more...and what is more DIY than cooking?! 
Tonight I'm sharing a recipe I recently came across, by talking to my Mom on the phone. Yes, we gab about food. She was telling me about a chocolate pound cake that a coworker had made for a office party.   As she went on about the cake, the details got me: Mexican chocolate, buttermilk, cocoa... How could I not ask for the recipe?

PGH Dining: Dozen Bake Shop

This past weekend, Husband and I went shopping to grab a few things for the guest room. On our trip, we stopped for a snack at Dozen Bake Shop in LoLa. {I just love saying LoLa.} We walked into an empty shop, and I did a silent hoo-rah because I knew I'd be able to take photos and ask questions at my leisure. {How lucky on a Saturday!} There were two young folks manning the counter, who had great attitudes. We began to eye the treats behind the glass:

Blueberry-topped Danishes.

Cinnamon Rolls. Can you imagine these heated up?!

Peanut Butter Bars and Chocolate Brownies.

Dog Treats!

Do you see the Poptarts?

 But, let's be real. We were there for the cupcakes. 

Saturday's Cupcakes. 

Dozen has a schedule for their cupcakes, to keep the sweetness in order. Saturday's cupcakes are: Vanilla Vanilla, Milk Chocolate, Pumpkin Chai, Chocolate Maple & Bacon, Cosmo, and Vegan Mostness. It's nice to see they have a vegan option every day.

Trays of Treats on the way to order.

 As we stepped up to order, we sampled a hazelnut and fruit biscotti, which tasted like it was only once-baked, not twice. Perfect for me, because I didn't have coffee to dip it in, and soak it soft.

 After much debate, we finally ordered a Pumpkin Chai and a Chocolate Maple & Bacon. 

 The Pumpkin Chai cupcake was a star. It had great pumpkin-y flavor, which wasn't overpowered by "pumpkin pie spice" that people usually throw in by obligation. The chai spices were a proactive replacement of these usual culprits, and it matched the pumpkin base. This flavor will always make it into the boxes I buy from now on.

Pumpkin Chai.

Chocolate Maple & Bacon.

The Chocolate Maple & Bacon was like a mini competition in itself. The maple and bacon icing was incredible, and the chocolate cake had bacon shards and a hint of coffee...how can you reconcile this in your mind?! 

The icing consistency on both cupcakes was that of what dreams are made of {for me}. It was thick, sugary, and had intense flavor. Probably my favorite cupcake icing of all time. The cake was good, but wasn't able to match that icing. 

While we were in the shop, I briefly spoke to Megan Hart of TLC's Next Great Baker, who was on her way out for the day. If you're reading this now, Megan, I apologize for the absolutely ridiculous comment I made - I was struck by the celebrity bug, and shot my mouth off. Thanks for being so kind with your answer! 

Up next on my list at Dozen Bake Shop, I'll have to try the Elvis and the East End Chocolate Stout. Husband plans to order the Salted Caramel and the Lemon Drop. We may have to stop by for a happy hour for $2 spiked cupcakes!

Husband's Whoopie Pie

Amidst all of this holiday eating, Husband decided it would be okay to make a sugar-rich, butter-infused dessert the other night. Unless you've been sleeping under a rock, you've heard of the dessert sensation that is a whoopie pie. These pies are not new, but are quickly becoming national favorites.

Husband tried his hand at making a batch after seeing an episode of Chuck's Day Off. {Side note: This show is the perfect match of yummy cooking show for me, but still being somewhat manly for Husband. The host does play some mean hockey!} This is the episode, to be exact.

{Chuck's Whoopie Pies}

INGREDIENTS

• Chocolate Cake:
• 1 1/2 cups/375ml all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/2 cup/125ml unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons/7ml baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon/2ml salt
• 1 cup/250ml sugar
• 1/2 cup/125ml butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon/5ml pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup/250ml milk
• 
  
• Marshmallow Filling:

• 1 cup/250ml sugar
• 2 tablespoons/30ml honey
• 1 teaspoon/5ml pure vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 
  

DIRECTIONS

For the chocolate cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl. 
Beat the sugar, butter and eggs with a mixer for about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and beat for 30 seconds more. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, alternating with the milk and beating until smooth. 
Using an ice cream scoop, drop mounds of the batter (about 1/2 cup for each) onto the lined baking sheet (6 per sheet as they will spread when baking). Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining batter. 
For the marshmallow filling: Whisk together the sugar, honey, vanilla, egg whites and 2 tablespoons water (30ml) in a large heatproof bowl using a hand mixer. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Beat with the mixer until the mixture is thick, creamy and stands in peaks, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and beat for a minute or so more, then let cool completely.
Spread a generous amount of filling on the flat side (bottom) of a chocolate cake. Sandwich with another cake, pressing down gently to spread the filling evenly. Repeat to make 8 whoopie pies. Serve immediately or wrap the whoopie pies individually in plastic wrap (they can be frozen).

Here's Husband's interpretation, with added espresso powder:

Complete with glass of milk.

I'm so proud of my handsome baker! You {know} I wouldn't attempt to do this. Baking is not really my forte, so I'm pleased to be married to a great baker!  

Baking: Fresh Herb Bread

My second treat I baked earlier this week came in the form of a bread. (On a slight side note, I have a weird love for bread. I even have a pin board dedicated to it's deliciousness.) But, don't be scared at all of yeast breads. Yeast bread is actually easy to make, and really the hardest part is waiting on it to rise. I will caution you, however, to make sure the place where you're letting it rise is at a regular 'room temperature.' Yeast dough will not rise properly in a cold room.

This bread can be made with a variety of herbs, but I usually use rosemary. The pine-y scent really lends itself to this bread. For these particular loaves, I used leftover thyme from our holiday cooking.

{Fresh Herb Bread}

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. yeast
1 tbsp. granulated white sugar
1 c. warm water
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. fresh herbs (such as rosemary or thyme), finely chopped
2 tbsp. butter

Instructions:
Place yeast, sugar and water into a food processor, and allow to sit and become bubbly. This should take a few minutes. Mix in one tablespoon of butter, salt and 2 cups of flour. Add in one tablespoon of the chopped herbs, and knead in the food processor for 3-4 minutes.

It should be well mixed, with no floury edges. Then add in the last half cup of flour and knead for 1 minute in the processor. The dough should come into a ball at this point. If not, press it together by hand. Place the dough into a bowl lightly greased with some regular olive oil, and cover it with a kitchen towel. Let it rise in a 68-80 degree room for one hour.   Punch down the dough and divide it in half with a knife. Let it rest for another 5 minutes, then shape the dough pieces into loaves, and place them on a baking sheet that's been foiled and greased with cooking spray. Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with the remaining tablespoon of chopped herbs, pressing them into the dough. Cover with the kitchen towel and let them rise for 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the loaves for 15-20 minutes.

If you choose, brush with remaining tablespoon of butter as they come out of the oven. 

This bread is great to serve with leftover Fillet of Beef Bourguinon. 

Or, you can slice it and serve it with a nice, steamy cup of coffee for breakfast. 

Enjoy!

Baking: Banana Surprise Muffins

Finally, I think the snow is starting to stick to the ground. It's been a long time coming, I tell ya. Wait. I retract that statement. I just glanced out the window, and the snow is all but melted! Ugh!

On another note...Earlier this week I decided to use up a few odds and ends in the kitchen and made two of my favorite baking creations. In an effort to be healthy, I first made these particular banana surprise muffins. They have bananas, Splenda brown sugar, and other somewhat healthy ingredients. However, the surprise brings us back to the holiday gluttony we all know and enjoy. It's still the holidays until January 3rd, in my book!

{Banana Surprise Muffins}

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. Splenda brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 c. bananas, overripe and mushy
12 Hershey Kisses, de-foiled

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt with a whisk. In a separate large bowl, cream together butter and Splenda brown sugar with a hand mixer. (We need good incorporation, here!) Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Then, make a small well in the middle of the flour mixture, and pour the banana mixture in slowly, stirring with a wooden spoon.

Don't over mix! 

Place a heaping tablespoon of the batter into the muffin cups, then lightly press a Hershey kiss into the center. 

Cover with another heaping tablespoon of batter, twisting the mixture clockwise to seal the kiss in. (SWAK, anyone!?)

 Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the muffins are light golden brown and are pulling away from the sides of the muffin cup.

I offered Husband one fresh out of the oven when he got home from work. He was surprised!

P.S. - As you reheat them later for breakfast or dessert, the kiss melts even more!