Iced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I thought I would post another pumpkin recipe since this is the time of year when I go a little crazy for anything pumpkin.

This recipe comes from Nestle. They make really good kinds of chocolate chips in my opinion. I especially love their mini chocolate chips because they are great for muffins (like these Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins) and don't sink to the bottom like the regular sized ones.

Iced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from: Nestle

2 1/4  cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar (I use 1/2 cup regular sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar)
1 can pumpkin (15 ounces)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
12 ounce package of chocolate chips

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease them. Mix the flour through the salt together. In a separate bowl-use a mixer to combine the butter and sugar. Add in the pumpkin, eggs and vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients well and then the chocolate chips. Use a tablespoon of dough for each cookie. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely and frost with glaze. The recipe says this makes about 5 1/2 dozen. I get about 4 dozen.

Moist Pumpkin Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

Wow was this good! I think it is the only pumpkin cake I have ever made and I don't think there is a reason to look for another.

The recipe comes from the Lick the Bowl Good blog (which is another awesome blog name). This site has many good recipes and great photos also. She just came out with a cookbook, which I am going to have to order soon.

Moist Pumpkin Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting from: Lick the Bowl Good
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup honey

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9 inch square cake pan. Mix the dry ingredients together (flour, soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice) and whisk until combined. In a separate, large bowl-mix the all of the remaining ingredients together with a whisk. Once well mixed, add the dry ingredients. Pour into the pan and bake 45 to 50 minutes (do the toothpick test). Cool the cake completely. Mix the frosting ingredients together with a beater (or a whisk,but I prefer the beater)and frost the cake. Make sure you store this in the fridge. It's really dense straight from the fridge and so good!

Spicy Chickpea Salad

This is a recipe my husband and I make often on the weekends and have for lunch. It's quick and easy to put together and very filling.

The recipe doesn't call for tomatoes, but I think that adds some good flavor and color to it.

Spicy Chickpea Salad from: The Sweets Life             
1-2 cloves or 2 teaspoons of minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon of whole grain mustard
1 teaspoon agave or honey
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup diced red onion (white or sweet yellow onions work here to)
1 jalapeno, seeded (or not-we like some of the seeds left in) and diced
zest and juice from half of a lemon
1 avocado, diced
1 teaspoon dried parsley-I forget this a lot!
2 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 to 1 cup diced tomatoes or halved grape tomatoes
more salt to taste
1/3 cup salted cashew (optional, but really good)

 In a large bowl-mix the first 7 ingredients together well. You can use a whisk or even just whip it a bit with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the salt. Mix well and add more salt if necessary. Top with cashews if using.

 Printable Recipe

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Whipped Vanilla Frosting

I made this for my oldest son's birthday this year. It tasted like a soft Oreo. I imagine that is what an Oreo Cakester tastes like, but I have never eaten one of those. I actually made this cake twice because I forgot to add the baking soda. Don't do that unless you want your cakes to resemble hockey pucks. My husband was nice enough to go to the store to get me more chocolate. Luckily he saved me from a bit of a meltdown. My son turned 21 at Midnight on Saturday and I told him it would be okay if he wanted to come another day to have his birthday dinner. He was sweet and still wanted to come over! I love that boy! I would have totally understood.

This cake was very moist and came from the Daisy Brand website. I have to admit that their sour cream is one of my favorites. I don't eat sour cream much anymore but when I bake with it, I tend to use this brand. The vanilla icing is from the Sweetopia Blog. I cut down the recipe and used 2/3 since I didn't ice the sides. I love icing so I wasn't sure how I would like this cakes without the sides iced. It was great. The cake is so moist.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake From: Daisy Brand Website
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil (I use canola)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar)
1/2 cup of sugar
2  1 ounce squares of semi sweet chocolate, melted (I use Baker's and for this recipe I used one semi sweet square and one unsweetened)
2 cups of flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 eight inch round cake pans. Beat the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl until well mixed. Add the melted chocolate and mix. Add half the flour, the cocoa, half the water, the baking soda and salt. Once that is mixed together well, add the remaining flour and water and beat another 2 minutes. Add the sour cream and pour into the cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean). My oven took the full 35 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then on wire racks.

Whipped Vanilla Frosting From: Sweetapolita
1 cup of butter, softened and cubed
2 cups of powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Beat the butter for 8 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat another 6 minutes with your mixer. Frost and assemble your cake. The ingredients for the frosting are the same I have always used for vanilla frosting, but beating the butter and then the ingredients together for what I consider a long time really does fluff up this frosting. It's worth the extra effort!

Corn, Avocado, Tomato Salad

If you like sweet corn at all, you will love this salad. We changed the ingredients up a bit to fit what we had. Plus we aren't crazy about cilantro, but have basil coming out our ears!

It is a refreshing salad, that is quick to fix on a hot summer day.

Corn, Avocado, Tomato Salad From: The Girl Who Ate Everything (and originally-Paula Deen)
2 cups of fresh corn (cut off the cob and blanch in boiling water for 3-4 minutes)
1 avocado, diced
1-2 cups of grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup diced red onion or sweet white onion

Dressing:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh basil, sliced thinly
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Blanch the corn and  run under cool water while in a strainer. In a large bowl mix the corn, avocado, tomatoes and onion. In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad, mixing well to combine. You can chill this for an hour or two. The two times we have made it, we have eaten it right away and there were no leftovers to refrigerate. It's that good!

Blackberry Pie with Hazelnut Glaze

If I had to name a pie as my favorite, this would be it!

I found this recipe years ago in a magazine. I think it was Good Housekeeping, but I am not positive.

Blackberry Pie with Hazelnut Glaze
4 cup of frozen or fresh blackberries (I always use frozen)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp lemon zest ( I also squeeze the juice from half of a lemon into the pie ingredients when I add the zest)

Pastry for a double crust pie (from Pampered Chef)
2 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
3/4 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup shortening
1 small egg, beaten (I use a large egg and just get rid of a 1/2 to 1 tbsp of it)
1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar
1/4 cup of water

Sift or whisk the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut in the shortening until course crumbs form. Mix the beaten egg, vinegar and water together and then add to the flour mixture. Mix until the dough forms into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Divide dough into 2 and roll out the top and bottom crusts on a lightly floured surface.

Hazelnut Glaze:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons of half and half or light cream ( I have used whole milk before)
1/3 cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts

Make your pastry first. you could use store bought but homemade is so much better! Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Frozen blackberries should thaw about 15 to 30 minutes at room temperature. Combine sugar, flour and lemon zest,. Add the blackberries and lemon juice if using. Put mixture into the bottom crust of the pie. Add the top crust and add slits for the air to escape. Cover the edges so they don't over brown. Bake 50 minutes for frozen berries (25 for fresh). remove the covering on the edges and bake another 20-30 minutes (20-25 for fresh). Make the glaze by mixing the brown sugar and half and half in a small sauce pan. Cook on low until the sugar melts. Stir in the hazelnuts and pour over the hot pie, just out of the oven. Let cool til room temperature.

Raspberry Jam Bars

These could really be called raspberry, strawberry, apricot, or blackberry jam bars. Any kind of jam you prefer. I need to make some boysenberry ones for my Mom the next time I go to our hometown. She loves that kind of jam. When I was younger my oldest brother's wife would send us 12 jars of jam from Knot's Berry Farms for Christmas. We loved to open that package when it came. There was always boysenberry jam in there.

See that delicious ribbon of jam in the middle? I am not sure where this recipe came from but I got it from my sister Rose and she also gave me another version to use if you don't have a cake mix. My favorite cake mix to use for this is the French Vanilla. I am crazy about vanilla and the flavor really comes through if you use this. Any white or yellow mix will do though, with good results.

Raspberry Jam Bars
1 white or yellow box of cake mix
2 1/2 cups of quick oats
3/4 cup melted butter
10 to 12 ounce jar of raspberry or and type of jam you like
1 tablespoon of water

Preheat the oven to 375 degree. Mix the cake, oats and butter together into coarse crumbs. Press 3 cups of the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan firmly. Combine the jam and the water and spread over the cake/oats mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the crumbles over the jam and pat down a bit to even out. Cook for 20-22 minutes. It will start to turn golden. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Here's the version if you don't have a cake mix:
Jam Bars
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of quick oats
1 10 to 12 ounce jar of jam/preserves
1 tablespoon of water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the butter and brown sugar together. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and oats together. Add the butter mixture until coarse crumbs form. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan firmly. Combine the jam and the water and spread over the crumble mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the crumbles over the jam and pat down a bit to even out. Cook for 20-22 minutes. It will start to turn golden. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Whopper Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everybody in this house loves Whoppers. I have been varying my favorite chocolate chip cookies when I can. My sons would probably eat the same chocolate chip cookies every week, but I need some sort of baking variety. I like to put M&Ms in them. I also made the S'more ones and now these.

These are big as saucers! They were crunchy with some chew in the middle. I will have to play with the recipe more, because I would have liked them a bit thicker than this. I subbed out 2/3 cup of the flour for the malted milk and maybe I should have just added the malted milk and the full amount of flour for the thickness I was looking for. The flavor was still great though.

Whopper Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup sugar
2 cups brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar)
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
3 teaspoons of vanilla
2/3 cup malted milk powder (I used Carnation)
4 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of baking soda
2 teaspoons of cornstarch ( I will try 2 tablespoons next time)
1-2 teaspoons of salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips
2 cups of coarsely chopped Whoppers

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the melted butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla. Sir in the malted milk powder and then the rest of the dry ingredients. Add in the chips and Whoppers. I measured a 1/4 cup of dough for each cookie and put 6 on a large parchment or foil lined cookie sheet. Bake 14-17 minutes. Get them out before they are fully set in the middle. This recipe made about 26 cookies and they didn't last long. I gave some to the neighbors so they would quit tempting me.

S'More Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love s'mores and try to make them a few times each summer. My husband and I built a fire pit in our yard years ago and it is nice to sit out there and relax after a long work week. My youngest shares my love for them to. When I saw a recipe for s'more chocolate chip cookies, I knew they would be perfect for him.

I followed the directions of this recipe at Baked Perfection closely, but again added some changes to a half batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't stop eating this cookie dough before I even put any chocolate in it. The graham cracker taste comes through very well in these. These are a chewy cookie, which is what I prefer in a cookie.

S'more Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cornstarch (optional-this ingredient seems to be all the rage on Pinterest for chocolate chip cookies. I will add 1 tablespoon next time)
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs (Sorry, I was too lazy to do the math-about 7 ounces altogether)
1/2 to 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 to 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 -3 regular size Hershey milk chocolate bars

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and cool slightly. Add the sugars, eggs and vanilla.Stir in the flour, salt ,baking soda, and cornstarch. The add the graham cracker crumbs and mini chips. Roll into balls the size of golf balls. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes. Pull the cookies out and lightly press 3-5 mini marshmallows and 1 square of the Hershey's milk chocolate bar onto each cookie. Bake another 3-4 minutes, depending on how dark you like your cookies. Allow to cool on the pan at least 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Cup or Oreo Bars

My son gave me a challenge to make these brownie chocolate chip cookie peanut butter cup (that's a mouthful!) bars. I decided to also make a batch of brownie chocolate chip cookie Oreo bars. Liam liked them both but really loved the Oreo ones.

I liked the Oreo's best myself, not to say that the other ones weren't really good also!

I looked up some recipes for this but I decided to go with a half batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies and my favorite brownies. I did cut down on the flour a little because one of the recipes I found said this was a good idea. Here is a link to Kevin & Amanda's blog to that recipe because I followed the directions for baking these and it worked out. This could be made in a 9x13 pan. I used two 9x6 1/2 in pans since I was making the 2 kinds.

Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Cup or Oreo Bars

For the Chocolate Chip Cookie base:

3/4 cup of butter, melted and cooled for 10 minutes

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg
1 egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tablespoon of baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips (regular of mini)

For the Brownie base:

2 square Baker's unsweetened chocolate
6 tablespoons of butter
1 cup sugar
1 -2  eggs (I actually beat an egg and used half of it with the other whole egg. You could probably get away with just one large egg)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the cookie dough: mix the melted butter and sugars together, add the eggs and vanilla. Mix the flour, salt and baking soda together separately and then add to the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips. Spread the cookie dough into a well greased 9x13 pan.

Place of a layer of Oreos or peanut butter cookies on top of the dough.

For the Brownies: Melt the unsweetened chocolate and butter in the microwave. Cool 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spread over the Oreos or peanut butter cups.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for about 15 to 25 more minutes. Mine took 15 and now I am realizing that I could have made the full batch of brownies and this would be even better. They were very good nonetheless. It is a good excuse to make these again though!

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was not too impressed with my regular chocolate cookie recipe anymore. I was using a mix of butter and shortening in my recipe for years, but they were suddenly turning out either cakey or hard. I like my chocolate chip cookies with some chewiness. This fit the bill!

The recipe comes from Anna at Cookie Madness, who got it from a Top Chef Challenge (made by Eric). This is a recipe where you don't need to pull out the mixer. I just use a wooden spoon.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 sticks of butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown)
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 2/3 cup of flour
1 tablespoon of baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
18 to 24 ounces of chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (I use 1 1/2 to 2 bags of chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Melt the butter and cool about 10 minutes. Add the sugars, eggs, yolks and vanilla to the melted butter. Mix the salt, flour and baking soda separately and add to the wet ingredients. I like to make these big with 1/4 cup of dough. I bake them on parchment lined cookie sheets for 15-17 minutes. You want to pull them out when they look like they are almost but not quite done. Let them sit for a few minutes on the pan before removing to cool. I love this recipe!. I have played around with adding 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to the dough. I am not sure if it makes a difference yet or not. The next time I make them I will do half with the cornstarch and half without.

 It is easy to half this recipe and put into a greased 9x13 pan and bake into bars for about 22-26 minutes. I did this for Valentine's Day this year.

Whopper Malted Ice Cream

I made this ice cream for my son's 21st birthday.

It was an easy ice cream to make. The recipe comes from Your HomeBased Mom. I modified it a little to fit my ice cream maker. The last time I made it there was extra. I would never want to waste potential ice cream! I also changed the ingredients some because I  didn't want to buy both heavy whipping cream and half-n-half. I already buy whole milk for my teenager. He doesn't have an extra ounce of fat on him so he doesn't need skim milk (lucky boy!).

See-totally to the top!

Whopper Malted Ice Cream from: Your HomeBased Mom

1 cup of sugar

2 cups whole milk

1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 cups whipping cream

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1/2 cup malted milk powder (I use Carnation)

1 cup coarsely chopped Whoppers  (I like some bigger chunks in there)

Mix everything but the Whoppers together and put in the ice cream bowl. My ice cream maker takes about 25 to 30 minutes to process. Add in the Whoppers at the end and put in the freezer until it is frozen to your liking. 

Sloppy Joes

I have made these Sloppy Joes several times and it sure beats the canned stuff I had when I was a kid. My husband wouldn't even touch the stuff until I made this homemade version. The canned version seems overly sweet to me now.

Sloppy Joes from: The New Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of water
3 teaspoons chili powder ( the recipe calls for 1 tsp)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons hot sauce (use less if you don't like it with a little kick)
salt and pepper to your liking

Cook the beef, onion, green pepper and garlic in a skillet until the meat is browned. Drain the fat.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. I have cooked this up and put it in the crock pot to stay hot for a party before. This serves 3-4 people but can easily be doubled or tripled.

Homemade Granola

Who doesn't like granola? They say it can be fattening. This recipe has oil, but at least you know exactly what kind and how much is in it. I use canola oil in this.Of course if has honey and brown sugar to. Do the oats and nuts cancel out that?

Granola from: Once a Month Cooking from 1986-Here is a link to the newest edition

8 cups of rolled oats

1 ¼ cup brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar)

1-2 cups of wheat germ, bran, unprocessed wheat or I just grind up some more rolled oats in my hands

1-2 cups chopped nuts or a mix with sunflower seed

¼ cup canola oil (or you can use vegetable oil)

¾ cup honey

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 cups of raisins or craisins or other dried fruit

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the oats through the nuts together in a large bowl. Put the oil, honey and vanilla in a saucepan and heat while stirring until it gets bubbly. Pour this over the dry ingredients and stir well. Spread onto 2 large, rimmed cookie sheets and bake 20 to 25 minutes, stirring several times for even cooking. Remove from oven and cool completely stirring occasionally to keep it from clumping too much. Add the raisins. This should store for a least a couple of weeks, but it has never lasted that long here. Makes 14 to 16 cups. We like to snack on it or have it with milk.

Cabbage Rolls

We love cabbage rolls around here. We use the hottest sausage we can find for these, but any type will do or you could just use some ground pork.

This recipe is a combination of a couple recipes, but mostly it comes from a Barefoot Contessa recipe on Food Network. That Lady knows how to cook and bake. I still need to make her brownie recipe that has like a dozen sticks of butter in it. I bet they are good!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls  From: Food Network Barefoot Contessa

Sauce:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped white or yellow onions
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
2 (28) ounce cans of crushed tomatoes (or I sometimes use  2 (14) ounce cans of petite diced tomatoes with one 6 ounce can of tomato paste and 1 cup water)
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar (I use honey or agave sometimes instead)
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
3/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I got this idea from a Martha Stewart recipe for stuffed cabbage)

1 Large head of cabbage. My neighbor just told me about a cool trick for the cabbage. Instead of coring the cabbage and soaking it in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes-take the whole head and freeze it for a day or 2 until completely frozen through. Then thaw out on the counter starting the morning you are going to make these. She said almost every leaf is usable and doesn't tear. That would eliminate the frustration I have when making these. I am definitely trying this trick next time. Takes a little planning ahead though.

Filling:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of sausage(as spicy as you want it) or ground pork
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon or more of smoked paprika (if you want more spice-idea also from the Martha Stewart recipe)
You can add about a 1/2 cup of the sauce to this filling if it seems like it needs a little more moisture.

Start you water boiling in a large pan for the head of cabbage. In another pan, saute your onions and garlic in the olive oil about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer about 30 minutes. I just start with the sauce and by the time I make everything else, the sauce is ready.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Core the cabbage and immerse into boiling water for a few minutes or try the freezing trick up above. Separate the cabbage leaves once cool enough to handle.

Mix all of the filling ingredients together and divide among the cabbage leaves. Roll the cabbage around the filling and put in a greased or sprayed 9x13 pan. Spread the sauce over the top and bake cover with foil for an hour. Take the foil off and make sure the sausage is fully cooked by slicing into the middle of a cabbage roll with a sharp knife. You may have to cook them for another 15 to 20 minutes. You can leave the foil off.

This recipe feeds the four of us-3 adults and a 16 year old that eats more than the rest of us. Ha!

Lemon Yogurt Cake

I have been eyeing this recipe for a while and it did not disappoint me, but I am a bit of a lemon freak!  I took it to work and the ladies in my department liked it. My boss, who usually eats anything, said he doesn't do lemon. I have one word for that: Weirdo!

It was simple to make and is so moist. The simple sugar poured over the warm cake has a lot to do with that I am sure. The recipe comes from Big Mama's Home Kitchen and she got it from the Barefoot Contessa at Home Cookbook.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup of vanilla yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons of lemon zest
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

Lemon simple sugar: 
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Lemon glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour a loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the next 5 ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients, then the oil. Bake 45-48 minutes. While the cake cools for 10 minutes, make the simple sugar by boiling the sugar and lemon juice until the sugar dissolves. You can take the cake out of the pan and pour the sugar over or I just left it in the pan after loosening it. Cool the cake and then mix the glaze ingredients together and pour over the cake. Just a note:  I used 3 lemons to make this recipe.