Yellow Cake

Ingredients:
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks butter) softened
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs and 1 yolk
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

In medium bowl mix dry ingredients. In large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and eggs one at a time. Add buttermilk (will look curdled). Add flour in 3 additions.

Spread in prepared pans. Bake 35-40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup/2 sticks butter (softened)

2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tblsp lemon zest

2 cup sugar

2 whole eggs & 3 egg yolks

1/4 cup lemon juice and 2 tblsp

1 cup lowfat buttermilk

1 lemon sliced thinly & seeded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour 2 8x2 inch pans.

In medium bowl mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (1 and 1/2 cups of sugar). Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Alternate flour and buttermilk beginning and ending with flour. Mix until combined. Divide butter between pans, smooth out and bake 32-35 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. 

Boil 1/2 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup of water and add lemon slices and cook for around 15-20 minutes.

Remove lemon slices and boil syrup with remaining lemon juice (2-3 tblsp).

Poke holes in warm cakes and brush syrup with pastry brush. 

Frost with lemon buttercream and top with candied slices.

Banana Muffins

Ingredients:
3 over-ripe bananas (smashed)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup sour cream or yogurt
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Topping
1 tblsp unsalted butter (cold)
2 tblsp all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together smashed bananas, olive oil, sour cream, sugars, vanilla and eggs until well combined. In a separate bowl sift dry ingredients together and add to banana mixture.

Mix flour/brown sugar and cut in butter, crumble heaping teaspoons to cover muffins. Makes 24 regular (bake for 25 minutes) or 48 mini-muffins(bake for 15 minutes).  

Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 tblsp baking powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup warm milk
1 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients in large mixing bowl, cover and let stand for around 20 minutes. 

Heat large pan on high. Separate dough into desired size pieces and roll into a ball. Roll out the dough on floured surface. Reduce the pan heat to medium. Cook until bubbling begins (around 15-20 seconds). Flip tortilla and repeat. Keep finished tortillas on plate covered with clean towel to keep warm.

Cinnamon Swirl Quick-Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk (or yogurt or sour cream)
1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 9x5 inch loaf pan. Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Pour half of batter into the pan. Sprinkle with 1/8 to 1/4 cups sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon. Pour remaining batter in the pan. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp of sugar on top and bake for 45-50 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean).

Rosemary Focaccia

Ingredients:
1/4 oz package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tblsp sugar
- Mix above ingredients until yeast/sugar dissolve (15 min) 

3 tblsp honey
2 tblsp olive oil

3 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tblsp chopped dried rosemary
1 tsp dried basil

Mix all ingredients with wooden spoon until combined but crumbly. Knead dough by hand until well combined and completely smooth for around 8-10 minutes.

Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in a mixing bowl, roll dough to coat with oil and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let stand in warm place for at least 2 hours.

Punch down risen dough. Add olive oil to baking sheet and spread dough to ends. Dimple dough with finger tips, cover and let rise again around 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cranberry Sauce

Homemade cranberry sauce is simple to make and can be altered depending on personal preferences. Feel free to add your favorite seasonings or fruits to this recipe to develop your own cranberry sauce. 

Ingredients:

1 bag of fresh whole cranberries

1 cup of sugar

Approximately 1 & 1/2 cups of water

Peel of 1 orange

Pinch of fresh grated ginger

Juice from 1/2 an orange

Put cranberries, sugar and water in a pot and boil until mixture thickens. Add enough water to barely cover the cranberries. Peel 1 orange with a peeler and add the peels to the cranberries before they are boiling. Also add juice from half an orange for flavor, as well as a pinch of fresh grated ginger. Once the mixture thickens, let it cool and then serve.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Carly is most well known for her baking. She is constantly baking birthday cakes for people or for holidays. She created this pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving and used the ginger snap pie crust as the crust of the cheesecake. 

Ingredients:

3 8-oz. packages of cream cheese softened to room temperature

1 cup canned pumpkin

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until smooth. Pour mixture in a pan on top of the prepared crust and bake for 60-70 minutes until the top of the cheesecake is slightly browned at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put a tray of water on the lower shelf of the oven to prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.

Let cheesecake sit in refrigerator until it is completely cool (usually takes around four hours).

Ginger Snap Pie Crust

Ginger is one of Carly's favorite foods to cook with. It can be used in so many different kinds of dishes and one Thanksgiving when Carly was cooking lots of amazing dishes she had one of her wonderful ideas. She was making everyone a pumpkin cheesecake and wanted to create a unique crust for it. She created this ginger snap pie crust and one of the great things about it is that it can be used with several different pies or cakes whenever you want to change up the type of crust. 

Ingredients:

1 & 1/2 cups of crushed ginger snaps (or graham crackers or any type of crunchy cookies)

1 tblsp. sugar

5 tblsp. butter

Mix ingredients until mixture is crumbly, not pasty. Press in bottom of spring-form pan and use the bottom of a glass to press mixture about one-third up the pan's sides. Bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Baking tip from Carly: "Don't ever use imitation vanilla extract. Make sure that the vanilla extract is 100% from vanilla."

Caramel Popcorn

Caramel popcorn is definitely delicious no matter what the season. This recipe for caramel popcorn is truly unique. It is very easy to make several batches of popcorn at once and it lasts for a long time if you cannot eat it all the first day! We have used this popcorn as gifts, dessert and just for snacks and every single time it has been a total hit! One of the wonderful things about this recipe is that it does not require any special ingredients or a trip to the grocery store..you should already be able to find all of these ingredients in your kitchen at home.

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter

2 cups of brown sugar

1 cup popcorn kernels

1/2 cup of corn syrup

1 tblsp. baking soda

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. salt

Put butter, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup in a pot and boil for five minutes without stirring. Add vanilla and baking soda and stir gently until combined. Pour mixture over popped popcorn in a paper grocery bag. Stir popcorn until it is all coated with the mixture. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Put paper bag (close bag by rolling the top closed) on lowest rack in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the bag from the oven and use a spoon to stir the popcorn and break apart the clumps. Close bag and return to oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove and enjoy!!!

Hummus

One of Carly's favorite recipes that she learned from her family is her homemade hummus. Her family has been making their own hummus for as long as she can remember. Hummus is incredibly easy to make and much cheaper and healthier than buying hummus from a store. Combine this healthy, tasty snack with Carly's added tips and you can create many different versions of hummus that are customized to your taste preferences!

Ingredients:

Garbanzo beans (canned)

Tahini

Lemon juice (check to make sure the juice is 100% from lemons)

Garlic

Salt

Sumac or paprika (for top of served hummus)

Boil garbanzo beans until most of the skins of the beans fall off (approximately 1-2 hours). This step is not necessary; boiling the skins just gives the hummus a much smoother texture.

Place all ingredients in your food processor. Finish blending when the hummus is at your desired texture. Change amounts of ingredients depending on desired taste.

Sprinkle sumac or paprika on top of finished bowl of hummus. Garnish/mix in any ingredients you especially enjoy!