It's Our Birthday Today, and We're This Many!

That’s right, we’re turning 2 today!  Can you believe it?  And of course with birthdays, come cakes!  As you know, here at Author’s Kitchen, we rarely follow tradition, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I decided to steer clear of the usual layer cake covered in frosting.  Instead, I opted for pineapple upside down cake, and even better, for little individual cakes.  Well, you know, two year olds aren’t very good at sharing. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 3 Tablespoons butter
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 6 pineapple slices
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup pineapple juice (from the canned pineapple)
• ⅔ cup buttermilk

The first thing you want to do is butter the sides of your baking dishes.  For this I used 14 ounce ramekins.  That’s what I have, and it was a good size for the pineapple slices.  Use whatever size you have, or even put it all into one 9x13 pan.  Just keep in mind that you might need to adjust the baking time slightly. 

In a pan over medium-low heat, melt 3 Tablespoons of butter. When it’s about melted go ahead and add the sugar and molasses.  (If you don’t have molasses, but do have brown sugar, go ahead and substitute brown sugar for the sugar and molasses.  I just don’t keep brown sugar on hand because I always end up with a useless brown brick.)

Stir until everything comes together, then remove it from the heat. 

Scoop out a level tablespoon. 

And drop two of those into each dish. 

Tap it down, spreading it to the edges of the dish.  Place a slice a pineapple right on top and repeat until you’ve done all 6 ramekins. 

Now onto the cake part.  First, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350°.  (After 2 years, we’re finally starting to get the hang of the preheating thing.)  Place your softened butter into your mixing bowl.  (If you forgot to get all of your ingredients to room temperature, see how to do it quickly here.)  Give it a quick stir just to make sure it’s nice and soft. 

Add the sugar and beat those together for about 2 minutes. 

Scrape everything down and add the vanilla. 

Once that’s mixed in, add the first egg. 

Wait until that one is completely incorporated before adding the next one. 

Once all three of them are in, it should look something like this. 

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, soda, powder, and salt. 

Add about ⅓ of the dry mixture to the bowl. 

Stir that in and add half of the wet mixture.  I did tell you to mix the buttermilk and pineapple juice together in a measuring cup, right?  No?  Well, go ahead and do it now, then pour half of it into the mixing bowl. 

Continue alternating with the remaining dry, then wet, then dry, until you have a gorgeous cake batter. 

Scoop ⅔ cup of the batter into each ramekin, and place them all onto a sheet pan.   

Level them out on top, then into the oven for 35 – 40 minutes.  A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean, and they should be a beautiful golden brown on top.

Allow the cakes to cool for 7 minutes.  Yes, I know 7 minutes sounds picky, but trust me.  Invert each cake onto a plate and behold the fabulousness it’s been hiding below.  Look at that sumptuous, caramel, pineapple, sticky, cakey goodness.  (Pardon me while I wipe the drool away.)  

Eat just as it is, or garnish with whipped cream or a scoop of really good vanilla ice cream.  Who says birthday cakes need frosting? 

These are a bit big to really be called individual servings, but whatever, it’s our birthday and we don’t want to share.  

Baked Potato Bites

Seeing as how I have them listed as my favorite food, it’s about time I made something baked potato related.  And with just over a week left until the Super Bowl, I thought I’d make it another fabulous finger food recipe. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4 good sized russet potatoes
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Chives

These come together really quickly, so go ahead and preheat your oven to 400°.  After that, wash your potatoes, scrubbing them thoroughly, dry them, and put them aside.  Melt your butter.  It shouldn’t take more than 10 – 15 seconds in the microwave.  Add the olive oil.  (hint: 4 Tablespoons = ¼ cup, so if you melt your 2 tablespoons of butter in a measuring cup, you can just add olive oil up to the ¼ cup mark) 

Add the salt and pepper.

Stir that all together and pour about a tablespoon of it onto a sheet pan. 

Spread that around to coat the pan. 

Now for the potatoes.  Cut off both ends and discard them. 

Slice the rest of the potato into ½ inch slices. 

Place the slices into a plastic bag and pour over the remaining butter mixture. 

Inflate the bag, and shake until every slice is coated on both sides. 

Dump the slices onto the prepared pan. 

Spread them out leaving a little space between each one. 

Bake them for 15 minutes.  When you pull them out, they won’t be changing on top yet, but they should be just starting to brown on the bottom. 

Go ahead and flip them all over and then it’s back into the oven for another 15 minutes.  They should be looking and smelling fabulous. 

Flip them over again, and top each one with a little bit of grated cheese.  I like to use a really sharp cheddar, but you can really use whatever you like.  Just make sure you don’t get carried away with it.  These are supposed to be finger food so you don’t want them totally covered with melted cheese.  (Is this the part where I admit to being wrong when I said there's no such thing as too much cheese?) 

Back into the oven just until the cheese is melted.  It’ll only take 3 or 4 minutes. 

You may have noticed that I’ve only got 8 slices on the pan for this step.  I put the rest aside to cool and then into the fridge.  You can do the same, and when you’re ready, just pull them out of the fridge and heat them for a few minutes in the oven before adding the cheese. 

Once the cheese is melted, move the potatoes to whatever you’re going to serve them on. 

Top each one with sour cream.  I piped mine on just for that added touch, but a dollop would work just fine. 

Sprinkle on some fresh chives and you have baked potato perfection in a bit size (well, maybe 2 bites) package. 

Crisp and buttery on the outside and lusciously soft within, topped with salty cheese, tangy sour cream and just a touch of oniony chive, it’s everything you love about a baked potato, but easier, faster, and well… better. 

Ravens or 49ers?  Who do you think is going to win?