Oatmeal Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting

This is the best recipe I've found in a while. It's just delicious. The cake is so moist, and the coconut pecan frosting is a perfect complement. It's so refreshing to find a great cake recipe that doesn't use traditional thick, sugary frosting! Here's how my family felt about it:

Karoline gave it a big thumbs up!

It made my dad smile!

Bottom line: y'all have GOT to try this one out. As an added bonus, I think it's a perfect Fall-ish recipe!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

3/4 cups water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 + 1/3 cup brown sugar (separated)

2/3 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1/4 cup shortening

3 tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

3/4 cup pecan pieces

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Boil the water, and remove from heat. Mix the oats with the water, stir, and cover. Set aside.

2. Mix the white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, flour, salt, baking soda, egg, and shortening in a bowl. Stir in the oatmeal mixture.

3. Lightly grease a 9x9 pan. Pour batter into the pan. Bake at 350 for 22-24 minutes.

4. In a small bowl, mix melted butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar, coconut, pecans, milk, and vanilla.

5. After cake has cooled slightly, spread the coconut pecan frosting over the top of the cake. 

6. Broil the cake until the coconut has browned slightly and sugar has caramelized (just a few minutes - watch it closely so it doesn't burn!).

7. Eat! Well, cool it a bit first. :)

(oats soaking in hot water)

(cake ingredients)

(cake batter without oatmeal)

(adding oatmeal)

(cake batter)

(finished cake)

(mixed frosting)

(frosting on top, ready to broil!)

(after broiling... see how it's nice and browned and caramel-y looking?)

(all done!)

(yum!)

Ta-da!

Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

Okay y'all, this might be my favorite ice cream recipe yet. Except for maybe the strawberry cheesecake one. Oh! Or the apple pie one! I just really love homemade ice cream. But regardless, this one is a Top 3 recipe for sure. :) 

Recipe adapted from here.
Ingredients: 1 cup milk 3/4 cup sugar pinch of salt 2 cups heavy cream 1 tbsp vanilla 20 Oreo cookies
Directions: 1. Combine milk, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Stir until the sugar has totally dissolved. 2. Add cream and vanilla. Stir until blended. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and turn it on! 3. While the ice cream mixture is freezing, crush your Oreos.  4. After the ice cream maker has been going for about 15 minutes, add in half the Oreos. Wait another 15 minutes, then add the other half (The first half will get pretty mixed up, giving your ice cream the chocolatey color and Oreo flavor throughout. The second half will stay pretty much intact and will end up being the chunky pieces you see. If you want your ice cream to be white with cookie pieces, add all the Oreos after 30 minutes).  5. Turn off the ice cream maker and spoon the ice cream into a container. Put it in the freezer for at least a couple hours before serving (ice cream will firm up a bit more while in the freezer). 

My sister, Karoline, was my assistant for this recipe! 

(mixing milk + sugar + salt)

(sugar is totally dissolved) 

(adding vanilla and cream)

(ice cream base mixture)

(into the ice cream maker it goes...)

(Oreos crushed!)

(they don't have to be crushed very finely... chunks are good!)

(finished ice cream!) 

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

Best Ever Blueberry Muffins

Whenever I find a recipe entitled "Best Ever ______," I usually save it and make it, and I think it's pretty good, but I don't want to commit to calling it the "Best Ever," so I change the name to something else and then put it on the blog.
But for these... I really do believe that they're the BEST EVER blueberry muffins. Jeff really likes blueberries, so I make a decent amount of blueberry stuff and guys... these are really, really good. Like really good. I'm pretty sure that as far as blueberry muffins go,  it doesn't get any better than this! 

Recipe adapted from here.
Ingredients: 1/3 cup sugar (for topping) and 1 1/8 cups + 1 tsp sugar (for muffins) Zest from one lemon (for topping) 2 cups fresh blueberries 2 1/2 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 4 tbsp butter, melted 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil 1 cup buttermilk  1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:  1. Prepare the topping by stirring together 1/3 cup sugar and lemon zest. Set aside. 2. Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a muffin pan.  3. Rinse one cup berries and pat dry with paper towels. Simmer the remaining cup of blueberries and 1 tsp sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Mash with a spoon periodically and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture has thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup (this takes about 5-10 minutes). Transfer blueberry-sugar mixture to a small bowl and let cool to room temperature. 4. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Toss the rinsed berries in witht he flour mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and 1 1/8 cup sugar until thick. Slowly add in the butter and oil until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla. 5. Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined (batter will still be lumpy, a few streaks are okay). Don't overmix! 6. Spoon the batter into muffin cups until they are about 3/4 full. Spoon a teaspoon of the cooked berry mixture into the center of each mound of batter. Using a toothpick, gently swirl the berry filling into the batter. 7. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over the tops of the muffins. Bake until muffins are golden and just firm, about 16-18 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool for another few minutes before serving. 

(lemon zest + sugar)

(topping mixture)

(berries + sugar)

(berry-sugar mixture)

(cooling berry-sugar mixture)

(flour + baking powder + salt)

(adding in the berries)

(eggs + sugar)

(adding vanilla and buttermilk)

(finished batter)

(about 3/4 full... or a little more)

(adding the berry-sugar mixture)

(swirling with a toothpick)

(ooh, pretty blueberry swirls!)

(so pretty!)

(lemon sugar added on top)

(ready for the oven)

(finished!)

(look at that oozy blueberry goodness!)

(golden and delicious!)

(cooling on a tray)

(delicious!)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!