Saturday 21 January 2012

Pizza Sauce

In addition to making pizza crust from scratch, I've decided to start making the sauce from scratch as well. I just made this up and, while we haven't put it on pizza yet, it tastes awesome, so it will probably work well. This makes s fair amount of sauce, just as a warning. We're going to use it on two pizzas and maybe some homemade pizza pockets afterwards.

2 small cans tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon oregano

Mix tomato paste and water together until smooth. Add spices one at a time, mixing well after each one.

Friday 20 January 2012

Chocolate Coconut Bars

I kind of made this one up, using different ideas from other recipes. Haven't actually eaten them yet (they just came out of the oven) but I thought I'd share the recipe now while I was thinking of it.

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 of a 300 ml can of condensed milk
1 200g package of sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix graham cracker crumbs and butter in a bowl, then press into a greased 8x8 pan

Mix coconut and condensed milk thoroughly, then pour on top of graham cracker crumbs. Spread evenly to cover the entire pan. Then sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting/eating.

Cream Cheese Frosting

I needed a cream cheese icing recipe for the carrot cake I was making, because no carrot cake is complete without cream cheese frosting. I found this recipe online and decided to give it a try. It was perfect and quite possibly the best cream cheese icing I've ever had. I didn't need to make as much as the recipe calls for, so I cut the recipe in half when I made it and it still made a lot of icing. :)

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in refrigerator.

Monday 16 January 2012

White Cake

I wanted to make a cake last night, and went looking online for a good white cake recipe. Found this and it's pretty good. Really dense, but quite yummy.

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat int he eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, then add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally, stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter in the prepared pan (or muffin tin).

Bake for 30-40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20-25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

Homemade Pizza Crust

So, Alex and I got sick of buying those packaged just-add-water pizza dough mixes. The last time we were going to make a pizza, he said "Find a pizza dough recipe." So I did. And we will NEVER use anything else again when making homemade pizza.

1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour


Stir water, sugar and yeast together until dissolved. Add the olive oil and the salt. Stir in the flour until well blended. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.


Pat dough into pan or on to a pizza stone using fingers dipped in olive oil. If desired sprinkle basil, thyme or other seasonings on crust. Top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven.