Two Years

Two years ago I started this blog. Not much has happened with the blog in two years. I started Fancy Nancy's Kitchen thinking it would be a weekly thing and I would blog all of time. Turns out life really does get a really good grasp on you sometimes and your free time is just sucked away. In these past two years many many many big parts of my life happened. I graduated from high school, which in these days seems to be a pretty big accomplishment considering drop out rates. Now I am almost done with culinary school. I have already had two jobs in the kitchen. I have lived in the exciting city of Chicago for a year now. I have really come along from telling you how to make Crisco Buttercream.
I would like to say that now with more skills and experience under my belt that I will post more and bake more, but I don't see that happening in the near future. Life is still crazy. I am trying to finish out one job and start another. After working for 8 hours in a kitchen your first thought is not baking when you come home.
So dear readers (if there are any of you) if I do not post for a really long time or if I post and then hardly post again I apologize.
These two years have been some of the best of my life. I have not shared the excitement they have contained with you. I know that we are both okay with that though. So until next time I bid you adieu.
Lindsey

Lava Cakes

Hello,

I am really bad at actually posting the things that I make. I am honestly in the kitchen everyday and I can gladly share pictures of the food I share in class. When I am baking at home I normally don't take picture to document my success. I just grab a spoon and dig in.
Last night I made lava cakes for a party. I am wiz at making lava cakes. I found a recipe about two years ago and my parents bought me the ramekins to make them. Since then everyone requests that I make them. I have even demoed them for a few classes before (look at me on my way to the food network. Just kidding I have more important things to do than develop a catch phrase and host a show that teaches people how to make easy, quick, and crappy desserts). I was pretty much on top of my game last night. The lava cakes were amazing and everyone who ate them loved them. I am pretty awesome like that. I guess I can share my recipe with you because it's not really a secret. I got it from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook which I have found to be a very nice cookbook. It was very hard for me to use cups to make these again because I strictly use only weight in class. I hope you can dream of making these as good as I do (really they aren't that hard though) so enjoy!

Baby Lava Cakes 
from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 egg
• 3 eggs yolk
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1. For filling in a heavy saucepan combine 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and whipping cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat. Cool stirring occasionally. Cover; chill about 45 minutes or until firm.

2. Meanwhile in a medium heavy saucepan cook and stir the remaining cup of chocolate chip and the butter over low until melted. Remove from heat; cool. 

3. Form filling into 6 equal-sized balls; set aside. Lightly grease and flour six 3/4-cup souffle dishes or 6 ounce custard cups. Place dishes or cups in a 15x10x1 inch baking pan; set aside. 

4. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until lemon colored. Beat in cooled chocolate mixture on medium speed. Sift flour and cocoa powder over mixture; beat on low speed just  until combined. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into dishes. Place 1 ball of filling into each dish. Spoon remaining batter into dishes. 

5. Bake at 400 degrees for about 13 or until cakes feel firm at the edges (mine always take a while longer so don't worry). Leave in dishes for about 2 to 3 minutes. Loosen the cakes and then flip over onto plates. Serve immediately.

I always use ice cream on top because the cakes are rich and the inside is like fudge sauce so ice cream goes really really well. 

Well there you have it an easy dessert that will wow your party guests or there are six cake for you to eat the next time you and your boyfriend break up. They are good so make them. 

Nancy  

Mmmmm... Bacon

The one in the top corner is the Maple Bacon
the other one is a Lemon Pound Cake. 

Hello!!

Bacon is the best food on the planet. Fact. Bacon is amazing. Bacon can go on anything, even cake. Another fact.
Recently my chef in culinary school has gone bacon crazy. He talks about it all the time. That set the wheels in my wonderful mind churning. Bacon. Maple. Cake. Pound Cake to be more specific. Yep. It needed to happen, so I made it happen.
I made a Maple Bacon Pound Cake and let me say it was one of the best things I have made. In the words of a friend it tasted like IHOP and a birthday cake had a baby. It tasted like breakfast and dessert at the same time. The cake was totally rocking the sweet and salty thing. I loved it. SUCCESS!!!
So I would highly recommend this cake. Make it. Love it. Die happy. You might not be able to take a sweeto picture like me, but the cake is really easy so it should come out right. The only strange ingredient for me was maple flavoring, but let me tell you people. It exists. It is on the shelf of your local Walmart. Get off your butt buy the syrup, flavoring, butter, bacon, the rest of ingredients which I guess are also important, and a bundt pan if you don't have one because this cake cannot be made in anything else (bundt pans are pretty).
Without further ado the best cake ever.

 Maple Bacon Pound Cake 

Cake

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature 
• 1 1/4 cups sugar 
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (make sure it is pure not the normal runny gross stuff)
• 3/4 tsp. maple extract 
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 to 7 strips of cooked bacon or more if you extra bacon goodness! 

Glaze

• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 tbl. pure maple syrup 
• 2 tbl. heavy whipping cream
• 10 tbl. powdered sugar
• 1/8 tsp. maple extract
• extra cooked bacon for sprinkling on top

Cake: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a Bundt pan very very well. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Using an mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I substituted two tablespoons of bacon fat left over from frying the fatty goodness for two tablespoons of butter. You can do the same or skip that if you don't want the work of cooling the fat ). Add eggs one at a time. Mix in maple syrup and extracts. Mix in the dry ingredients. Then fold in the bacon. 

Pour batter into prepares pan bake for about 1 hour or until the top is lightly golden brown and a knife comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and cool for 10 minutes. Cooling is important don't skip it and don't let it go to long. Flip the cake out and cool completely. 

Glaze: 

Melt butter with maple syrup and cream. Remove from heat. Add extract and powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Cool glaze until thick and drizzle over cake. Sprinkle on extra bacon! EAT!! 

I found this recipe in the Bon Appetite Desserts cookbook. I must give credit where credit is due. It was originally a Maple Walnut cake, which I bet would be good but bacon is better. So, dear readers, go out there and much much much bacon!! 

Nancy 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hello!!

This weekend I have been craving peanut butter cookies. I continually said I was going to make them, but then I got really lazy and decided to do other things like surf the web or sit on my but and watch t.v. Well, they are finally made and with the smell of peanut butter cookies in the air I sit down on my but to go on the internet. Hopefully you aren't as lazy as me and once you read this recipe go to make the cookies right away! Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter flavored Crisco 
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter 
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs 
• 1 tsp vanilla

Stir first 4 ingredients; set aside. With a mixer mix Crisco and peanut butter until smooth, beat in sugars until blended, then eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture; beat until well blended. If necessary chill dough. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; flatten with a fork dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Makes 72 cookies (6 dozen)

(My mom also included the calories and gram of fat for each cookie, but I am going to leave that out. No one wants to know how many calories they are consuming when they eat peanut butter cookies like the cookie monster.)

So stop being lazy and go make some peanut butter cookies. I will say this in advance, Your Welcome!! 

Nancy 

Strawberry Lemon Bars

Hello!
I made these last night. I apologize for the sub-par picture. I am not a professional photographer, so get over it

The recipe I found was for raspberry lemon bars, but for some stupid reason the grocery store I went to did not have frozen raspberries, so I had to make them with strawberries. And they are still delicious, but they are no as pretty as the recipe showed.  So here is the recipe. I doubled it to make a big pan because I don't have a 9x9 pan. Do as you like.

Strawberry Lemon Bars 

Ingredients 

for the crust:

9 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick, plus one tablespoon)

1/4 cup (50g) superfine sugar (or regular granulated)

1 cup (100g) of unbleached all-purpose flour

pinch salt

for the filling:

1 1/2 cups (287g) superfine sugar (or regular granulated)

3 egg whites

1 egg

2/3 cup (150mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 3 lemons)

2 tablespoons lemon zest (from 2 lemons)

2/3 cup (65g) unbleached, all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1-2 cups (150-275g) of frozen strawberries, defrosted

1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar

Directions

for the crust: 

Mix butter and sugar until creamy. Add the flour slowly until incorporated. Press into pan. No need to grease. Bake at 350 for 20ish minutes until golden brown. When done take out of oven and cool. 

for filling: 

While crust is cooling mix together the filling. Mix together everything but the strawberries in a large bowl. Either push the strawberries threw a sieve or puree in the blender until liquidy. Mix that into the other stuff. Pour into the pan and put back in the oven for about 35 minutes or until the center is set. 

When done take out of the oven and cool completely before eating. When you are ready to dig in sprinkle the powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar) on top to make it look all pretty. 

They are really easy and super addictive, so you are warned. Remember to share. Don't eat the whole pan yourself. 

Nancy 

Supper

Hello!

I haven't blogged in a while but I have been baking. Recently I moved to college and I have been making my own supper. Yesterday I got the hankering for fry bread. Fry bread is a Native American sort of thing. It is a simple a the name. You make some dough and then you stick in some hot oil and fry it up. It is delicious. I have eaten this bread for my entire life. My mom grew up on an Indian Reservation. No I am not part Native American, I am white as white can be. My mother's parents moved to the res for work and such and so my mommy went with them. Hey at least fry bread came out of the move!
There are a few ways to eat this wonderful bread.  You can eat it plain, which is what I did. You can put taco stuff on it and make Indian tacos, and those are really good. You can make it to a hamburger. You can cover it in cinnamon and sugar. You can basically do anything with it. I was super lazy and I didn't want to buy stuff to put on top so I just ate it plain. It was awesome!! The recipe is super easy, even a twitchy monkey could make it.

Fry Bread 

Ingredients 

2 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tbl. sugar

About 3/4 to 1 cup water

Mix all day ingredients together until well blended. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Let dough rest at room temp. for about 30 minutes. Roll out on a floured board. Cut with some type of round cutter. Fry in deep hot fat until brown. Drain. Yeilds 4 to 5. 

Super easy and super awesome!!! So make some and enjoy!

Nancy 

Easy as Sunday Morning

Hello,

This morning RAGBRAI came through my town. Don't ask me what that means. I think it is something about biking across Iowa, but who really cares. For me it means waking up early, sitting on a corner with my fam, and watching a bunch of crazy bike riders go by. After watching other people work really hard I started to get hungry, so we all journeyed back to the house to have a very filling breakfast of pancakes and sausage. My younger brother wanted me to make my specialty pancakes, so I did. Who could object? The pancakes taste amazing.
I made cinnamon roll pancakes. They are amazing!! Its like the best breakfast food ever. Pancakes are normally awful, but these things bring tears to my eyes. They are also as easy as sleeping in on Sundays. So give them a try!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

So first make some pancake batter. It doesn't matter what kind. You can use a box mix, you can use your grandmother's recipe you swear by, you can really use anything it doesn't matter. This morning I use super lazy and had my mom throw some together for me.

Next make the cinnamon roll filling. You need:
1 stick of butter (melted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
a generous tablespoon of cinnamon.
Mix that up real good and stick it in a baggie and cut of the corner.

Put some batter on a non stick skillet/griddle. Once there are some bubbles on top swirl the filling over the pancake in a spiral. Flip them over when they are ready. Once both sides are done you can eat them.

If you feel so inclined you can make some cream cheese frosting to put on top. Today I was too lazy to do that so I just ate them. They are good both ways.

So you see they are super easy, just like you mom! Ooooo burn!!
And mostly everything in this recipe is a common household ingredient so its not like you have to go to the store to make you fam or whoever is at your house in the morning breakfast!
Enjoy!
Nancy