Today, I have two great reasons to celebrate: I am 27 years young, and exactly a week ago I gave birth to our daughter, baby L.  (More details about the baby and lightening fast birth at my fiber blog.)

My parents gave me a gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe (what a great idea!), and my mom made us a cake using my Aunt Terry's famous carrot cake recipe.  This has been served at numerous weddings, as well as hundreds of birthdays in my circle of friends through my childhood.

It's difficult to describe without using much hyperbole, but I will tell you that it is moist with carrots, crunchy with walnuts, and the cream cheese frosting is rich with shredded coconut.  The balance of all the ingredients together make, as far as I'm concerned, the perfect confection.  I don't know how Aunt Terry managed to get it just so right, but God bless her!

Celebrate with us by making your own!  This cake stays good for at least a week in the refrigerator, and can even be made into cupcakes instead.  Just bake them for about 20 minutes instead.


Aunt Terry's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Mix together in medium bowl:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped (optional, of course)

Combine in large bowl:
4 eggs, beaten
1-1/2 cups corn oil
1 lb finely shredded carrots

Add dry ingredients to wet.  Mix with hands (to release moisture from carrots).

Pour into one 10" tube pan, or three 8" layer pans.  Bake at 350 deg. until knife inserted into center comes out clean.  (Approx. 1 hour for tube pan, 25-35 minutes for layer pans.)

Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 lbs confectioner's sugar (1-3/4 cups), or sweeten to taste
2/3 cup shredded coconut

Blend together with electric mixer.

When the cake has cooled completely, ice and top with 1/3 cup coconut and more chopped walnuts, if desired.

Enjoy!

This is a tart-sweet bread that really zings with lemon flavor.  It gets an added punch from the lemon-juice glaze that gets drizzled all over the finished bread.

I got this recipe from a different Shannon's mom, when they gave us the bread for Christmas one year.  If you like lemon, you'll love it!

Cream together:
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar

Blend in one at a time:
4 eggs

Combine in separate bowl:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Add butter mixture to dry ingredients alternately with:
1 cup buttermilk

Stir in:
grated rind of 1 lemon (about 1 Tablespoon)
1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Grease and flour one 9"x5" loaf pan or two 7'x3" pans.  Line bottom with parchment paper (to guard against sticking).  Spoon batter into pans, and bake at 300 (F) for 80 minutes, or until bread tests done with wooden pick.  Let bread cool in pans for 10 minutes.  Remove to cooling racks.

Combine for glaze:
juice from 2 lemons (approx 1/4 cup lemon juice)
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Punch holes in bread with toothpick while still warm.  Pour glaze slowly over bread.  Cool completely before slicing.

This is a recipe from my friend Shannon.  She doesn't know where she got it from, but we're all glad that she did.  The chocolate chips are optional, but if you're at all adventurous, you've got to try them.  So, so good.  And after all of the pumpkin pie, etc. this is a nice change.

Shannon bakes it as a bread, but I noticed that it works even better as muffins, so that's how I've written the recipe out.

Cream together with electric beater:
1 cup of Brown sugar
1/2 cup wite sugar
1/2 cup soft butter

Add and beat until completely blended:
3 eggs
15 oz can pumpkin (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup milk

Sift into wet ingredients (or stir together in seperate bowl, than add to wet):
2-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Stir in:
12oz bag chocolate chips, approx 1-1/2 cups (optional, but try it!)

Pour into 2 papered or greased muffin pans and bake at 350 (F) for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Note: if you ever have a few empty spaces in your muffin tin, fill them about half-way with water so that the pan doesn't burn in the oven.

Chewy, moist, dark, dense, delicious.  I'm not sure how else I can describe this bread, except to say that I've never tasted anything like it, and it's one of the best things I've ever put into my mouth. 

My friend Sarcy's family used to bake up truckloads of this in coffee cans for Christmas, than give it out to everyone they knew, wrapped in foil, topped with a stick-on bow.  Everyone looked forward to the "coffee-can bread", although some people couldn't figure out how to get the bread out (hint: use a can-opener to cut the bottom off and push the bread through), and would eat it with a spoon straight out of the can.  It's that good.  My favorite way to eat it is cold, with lots of cream cheese.  Sarcy eats it lightly toasted.

Combine and let stand while preparing other ingredients:
1-8 oz package dates, finely chopped (approx 32 whole dates or 1 cup finely chopped)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 cups boiling water

Mix together:
2-1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 cups sugar

Add the soaked dates and liquid to flour mixture, along with:
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, of course)

Pour into greased loaf pan (or coffee cans) and bake at 350 (F) for 1-1/4 hours, or until toothpick comes out clean. 

I always bake these as muffins too (better for the little guys to hold onto, easier to serve), and it takes less time to bake.  Keep an eye on them, but it should take between 25 and 30 minutes.

Very important: when making any kind of sweet bread, cake, or muffins, never fill more than 3/4 of the way full, at most.  Othewise it's going to overflow and make a huge mess in your oven.

These get even more sticky, dark, moist and delicious with time, although I usually don't have that much self-control.

My mom bakes this in a tube pan, but I bake them as cupcakes.  I think that people normally call this "banana bread", but we call it cake.  It's the most tender, moist banana bread that I've ever had, and I've had that verified by every person who'se tasted it.  Even this one friend who considers her banana bread "world's best" grudgingly told me (with no prompting) that mine just might compair...um, and could she have the recipe?  So.  If you've ever even thought about liking banana bread, you must try this version.  It was given to my mom by a very good family friend years ago, and we've been making it ever since (actually, by the mom of Sarcy, who drew the "Knitting Cook" logo for me).

Cream together:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 or 3/4 cups sugar (use more if the bananas are not as ripe, less sugar if they're super ripe)

Beat in one at a time until totally blended:
2 eggs

Add:
1 cup (about 2 bananas) very ripe mashed bananas (I've used everything from "just developed spots" to "totally black", and they both make really good bread)
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (lowfat or regular, but do not use non-fat -- it makes the cake dry and bad)

Sift together into wet ingredients:
2-1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Butter and flour a 9-inch tube pan (or two bread pans, or two 12 muffin sized muffin pans).  Pour batter into pan(s).  Sprinkle with sugar if desired.

Bake at 350 (F) until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.  If using a tube pan, bake for about 50 minutes.  If muffins, about 20 minutes.

Cool 5 minutes, than turn out onto wire rack to cool completely (if I'm making muffins, I just dump them out right away.)

Here's the promised recipe for Molasses Crinkles (cookies).  I would have taken a picture, but we had to mail them off before I got the chance. 

They are a sweet, spice cookie rolled in sugar, which may sound excessive, but the sugar coating causes the cracks or "crinkles" to form while baking (BTW, I tested out the "non-smush" method that I describe below last week, and it does work, so disreguard what I said in the podcast about smashing them down with my fingers first).  For my German listeners, this cookie may shock you a bit -- it's really nothing like any of the gingerbread or spice cookies that I've had here so far at the bakeries.  This has way more spice, and a hell of a lot more sugar.  Just to warn you.  But they're good (at least to an American).  =)  So here you go:

Cream together:
3/4 cups shortening
1 cup sugar

Add and beat until well combined:
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg

Combine then add to egg mixture (or you can just put them into a sifter and sift out into wet ingredients):
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Chill dough for at least an hour or two.  Roll into 1 inch balls (or whatever size you want).  Roll in a bowl full of granulated sugar.  Place on greased cookie sheets, or on parchment paper, or on hot baking stones (or if you're me, on parchment paper slid onto baking stones).  If you're using a baking stone, make sure to preheat them for at least 20 minutes in the oven first. 

Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until they crack, but no longer.  This will make sure that they stay just a little chewy after they've cooled.  They're not going to feel done at all; they won't hold their shape, so you won't be able to scoop them off of the pan for a few minutes, but it's important for their texture that you don't bake longer (unless you like a crisp cookie, more like a Ginger Snap). 

Remove to cooling rack as soon as possible, and make sure that you grab a few when they're still warm to have with a glass of milk.  Cook's reward!

Look back each day this week for 4 delicious sweet bread recipes that are perfect for gift giving.  These recipes have been in our family for years (given to us by family friends), and I'm baking at least two of these for neighbors this year.