Mini Spiced Pound Cakes with Orange Rum Glaze

Tonight Justin and I were looking for recipes that had oranges in it.  When we found this recipe on www.foodnetwork.com, we thought it was perfect. It was only time that Justin and I start cooking with our favorite liquor of choice- Captain Morgan. 

However, we did not follow the recipe 100%, of course....due to the fact that we didn't have cake flour, buttermilk, or a bundt pan. (Need to register for that!) Here's the actual recipe. We always taste the batter before we put it into the pan for baking. And let me tell you- I could have eaten all the batter. This recipe is AMAZING...and I swear that part of it was substituting the yogurt for the buttermilk. (Saved some calories & fat while we were at it!) This recipe will yield about 22 mini cakes...depending on how much batter you eat. 


Here is our Recipe: 

• non-stick spray
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened
• 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup non-fat french vanilla yogurt 

Orange Rum Sauce:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Pinch salt
• ~ 2 medium oranges, juiced and strained, yield 1 cup
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/4 cup rum
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Make the Spiced Pound Cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Prepare 2 muffin pans with non-stick spray. (Don't be afraid to use it!) Place chopped pecans evenly in each of individual muffin cups.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter and sugars together, beating until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and ginger. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; add flour mixture to egg mixture alternating the buttermilk, and beginning and ending with the flour. Pour about 1/2 way into prepared pans and bake for ~ 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, than take each individual cake out and put onto wire rack or plate.

Make the Orange Rum Glaze: Stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in small saucepan. Add juice and water mixture, zest, and rum. Cook over medium heat until bubbly, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla; stir. Pour approximately half of the glaze over the warm cake. Reserve remaining glaze for serving with the cake.

The Final Product:

Amazing. They are on my stove right now....and I just want to eat them all.

Lemon Garlic Herb Tilapia

Justin & I love to cook fish.  What is great about fish is the fact that it doesn't take long- whether it is fried, baked, or broiled. Here's a good Tilapia recipe that is easy to make, as long as your have a normal-stocked pantry. 


Ingredients:


Tilapia filets (we used 2)
Panko (Japanese) Break Crumbs *
1 Garlic Clove
Italian Seasoning
Dried Parsley
Fresh Lemon Juice 
Olive Oil


* You can use regular breadcrumbs, but I LOVE Panko.  Apparently Panko is "better" for you because it is made with whole wheat breadcrumbs.  I like the crunch it has. I think they have a great texture. 
This is the brand I use.  It is pretty easy to find nowadays... but it could be in the international section of your local grocer.



Preheat the oven in to 400 degrees F. Spray the glass baking pan with non-stick spray, like Pam. In a medium-sized bowl, mix ~ 1 cup breadcrumbs, minced garlic, 1.5 tbsp Italian Seasoning, and 1 tbsp parsley to taste. Rinse tilapia filets then dip the filets into the breadcrumbs and put into baking pan. Sprinkle the rest of the breadcrumb mixture over the tilapia. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over filets to taste (I would say the juice from 1/2 a lemon) and pour a little olive oil on each filet (about 1 tsp each). Put in oven for about 15 -20 minutes, or when filets flakes off when you pull on it with a fork. 


We cooked brown rice in chicken stock as directed along with sweet peas that were steamed in the bag.  With a side of tartar sauce and lemon.... this meal took no longer than 25 minutes to prepare and eat. 

The First Dinner: Fish & Chips

With our friends asking us for recipes frequently, this wonderful dinner, and our love of cooking shows, we've decided to start this blog. We hope you enjoy! 


Yesterday was our 7th anniversary of being a couple.  Justin thought it would be a great idea to purchase a deep fryer for our anniversary and make me fish & chips. What a great present! They were THE BEST fish & chips I've ever had...and that's hard to beat as I'm from New England. Inspired by Alton Brown's recipe for fish & chips, here's how we did it: 

Fish & Chips for Two

For the fries:

• 1 gallon of canola oil
• 2 large potatoes
• sea salt

For the batter:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ~ 1 tsp of Old Bay Seasoning 
• 1 bottle Yuengling Lager
• ~ 1 pound of cod (cut into your preferred size)
• Cornstarch, for dredging

Method: 
We used a "back and forth" method so that you wouldn't have to keep things hot in oven. This is exactly how we did it: 
Heat up the oil in your fryer to the temperature it suggests in the instruction book. (Ours was between 350-375 degrees.) Cut the potatoes to your favorite french fry thickness (~1"-1.5"). Stay consistent with thickness so it cooks evenly. Soak the cut potatoes in cold water. Make the batter. Put all the dry ingredients together first, then whisk in the Yuengling. Chill batter. Dry off the potatoes and put into fry basket. Fry for 3-4 minutes. Take out and drain.  Dredge fish in cornstarch then dip in batter. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Turn fish when it begins to get that golden color half way through. Take out and drain on cooling rack. Put fries in again for another 2-3 minutes, until golden brown.  Drain. Redip fish and put into deep fryer again. Turn fish when the underside becomes golden brown. Fry for ~2 minutes or so...or when a pretty gold color. When we fried the first batch of fish, we used the basket. Bad idea. The batter and fish stuck to it. That's when we made the decision to rebatter the fish and put it in the fryer again. BEST IDEA EVER! The fish that we fried twice came out better. Nice & Crispy! (Now thinking about it, it does make sense..) 

Finished Product: 

A Close-Up

Accoutrements: 

Besides the lemon, vinegar is always necessary. I forgot I didn't have my favorite vinegar for fries (apple cider vinegar), so balsamic had to do. As much as I would have loved to have had beer, Justin decided to class it up with a chardonnay from St. Francis, 2007 of Sonoma County. 

Lesson du jour: sometimes mistakes can make things taste better in the end.