Magnolia Bakery Carrot Cake

Whenever I go to New York City,  I always stop at Magnolia Bakery in Grand Central Station. They have the best cakes I have ever had before in my life. One day my mom decided to buy the Magnolia Bakery cookbook and my family and I looked through the cookbook. My sister asked me to make this carrot cake for her birthday. For the past 3 years I have made her this cake for her birthday. I hope you enjoy this family favorite that will never fail to impress. 

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil (canola is preferred)
1 ¾ cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups lightly packed shredded carrots
One 8oz. can crushed pineapple in it’s own juice (buy the kind with juice)
¾ cup sweetened shredded coconut 
1 cups coarsely chopped toasted pecans

Frosting:

Two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

6 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 vanilla extract

5 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Pre heat the oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. Grease two 9 by 2 inch round cake pans, if you want to line the bottom of the pans with waxed paper. Peel and shred the carrots, put the carrots in a bowl and set aside.

 In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. 

In the electric mixer beat together the oil and sugar. After about 30 seconds add the eggs one at a time, and beat together for about 1-2 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well. Slowly add the dry ingredients, beating until completely incorporated. 

Stir in the carrots, pineapple with the juice, pecans, and coconut using a spatula. 

Divide the batter amongst the two cake pans and cook for 40-50 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

In the electric mixer mix together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and the sifted confectioners' sugar until smooth and creamy. 

Put the icing into a bowl and refrigerate for about 2-3 hours or until ready to use. 

Put frosting in-between the layers, then ice the top and sides of the cake with the frosting. Slice and enjoy!

Ziti with Fresh Tomatoes and Mozzarella

As I was watching the Food Network a few years ago, I saw a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis for a pasta dish with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. I then decided to make this at home, and it became a household favorite. I love this dish because it is so fresh and easy to make. It is like a caprese salad but served with pasta. In the summer this is such a nice easy dinner to make for your family and friends. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 pint container of cherry tomatoes

5 oz mozzarella balls

Ziti (1/4 pound per person) 

1/2 cup olive oil

1-2 garlic cloves (depending on your taste)

Basil (to garnish) 

First half the tomatoes the mozzarella balls, and chop the garlic. 

Then cook the ziti as directed on the box.

In a pan cook the garlic in about 1/2 the olive oil for 30 seconds, then add the tomatoes. Let the tomatoes cook for about a minute, then using a fork press them lightly with a fork until the juice comes out. 

After all the juice is out of the tomatoes add pasta and stir until combined. Next add the mozzarella and then turn off the heat. Put the pasta into a bowl and garnish with the basil. 

Enjoy!

Devils on Horseback

When I was little my family and I would go to Portugal for vacation. For dinner we would either go to a restaurant, or we would go to the local stores and buy already made food. My sister and I loved the devils on horseback that my mom would buy. Devils on horseback is a date wrapped in bacon and then baked. They are soft inside but the bacon gives it an extra little crunch on the outside. I hope you enjoy this appetizer that will never disappoint.

Ingredients: 

1 pound container Dates (pitted)

about 3/4 of a pound bacon Smoked bacon. 

Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Then pit the dated if not already pitted. Do so by running a knife down the center of the date and picking out the pit. Then cut each slice of bacon into about 3 sections, or enough to completely wrap around the date once and overlap.

wrap up all the dates and place onto a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil. Bake them for about 15-20 minutes or until the bacon is brown and crisp.

let them cool for 5 minutes, then serve.

Enjoy!

Dijon Aioli

One night as my family and I were eating dinner, we were having chicken and as I was pouring the mayonnaise onto my plate my family looked at me in disgust. My mom started talking about how goopy it is, and that it isn't natural. I then asked, "what could we eat instead?" She replied, "I could make homemade aioli instead." Since then on we have made homemade aioli to substitute mayonnaise. I hope you enjoy my recipe for homemade aioli.

Ingredients:
1 garlic clove
1 egg
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
about a 1/4 cup olive oil (depends on how thick the aioli is)

First put the garlic, egg, dijon mustard, lemon juice, and salt into a bowl.

Use an immersion blender to mix the ingredients together, then slowly add the olive oil until the aioli is thick and all the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Mixing the ingredients together

While adding oil

Finished Aioli 

You can put this aioli on so many different things, such as burgers, dipping fries into it, and even on a pizza. I made a pizza with caramelized onions, after it was cooked I topped it off with this aioli. 

I hope you enjoy!