baking Archives - Page 4 of 6 - The Sparrow's Home

The Best Banana Bread Recipe

May 3, 2017 by Susan 3 Comments

Hands down the best banana bread I’ve ever made. Moist and tasty, and so easy to mix up!

Everybody thinks their banana bread recipe is the best. I’m not here to start any fights, but…

Let me give you my testimony. I’d been making banana bread since I was in elementary school. It was good, don’t get me wrong. (Mom, grandma’s recipe is fine…please don’t disown me). I’ve even made variations over the years and tried other recipes just to see, but always went back to my old standard. Until, that is, I tried this one several years ago.

Oh my!

Caramel Cake (Or Brown Sugar Cake, if You Think You Don’t Like Caramel)

April 25, 2017 by Susan 12 Comments

The frosting is what makes this caramel cake divine. It is an easy, cooked icing that cools to a hard shell and melts in your mouth.

Caramel cake. Every year for his birthday. Caramel cake. Then one year my eldest determined he “didn’t like caramel”. So we had “brown sugar cake” for his birthday that year. Same recipe I’d used every other year.

Have I told you my kids are picky?

Sometimes I sneak things in. Like in my super healthy rich and delicious chocolate pancakes, and this chocolate mousse. Other times, I just call something by another name. For a time:

Tomato soup was “SpaghettiOs with no noodles”
Nutella was “chocolate spread”
And anything with bread or a crust was “(fill in the blank) pizza”

I even had a jar of pureed dates in the fridge that my kids ate for an entire summer because I called it “caramel.” Ahh the power of suggestion.

We’re back to calling caramel cake “caramel cake” again, and it’s still my son’s pick for his birthday cake every year. (He turns 18 this year! Yikes!) Sadly, my husband and I will be out of town at a conference on his birthday, so we’re celebrating early this year.

Cinnamon Stick Cookies

April 5, 2017 by Susan 4 Comments

Your family is going to love these cinnamon stick cookies. They’re easy to make, chewy, and the icing takes them over the top.

I haven’t shared a cookie recipe in awhile. We love cookies around here. (Like I really need to say that…is there anyone who doesn’t love cookies? BTW, we also love sunshine and puppies).

These cookies were a big hit when I started making them for study groups that we hosted. And they’re really easy..a slightly different method than most cookies, but easy!

Mug Meals: A Happy Little Cup of Yum

March 22, 2017 by Susan 8 Comments

I’m kind of obsessed.

It was one of those nights. I was just ‘checking a few things’ before going to bed. An hour later…

Well, an hour later, I had watched an hour of videos by the most charming Irish woman, Gemma (who I was pretty sure was going to be my new best friend), and had about a dozen recipes bookmarked and visions of tasty mug meals dancing in my head.

I made it my mission over the next few weeks to try a bunch of her recipes so I could share them with you. There’s a bit of a learning curve, to be sure. After all, cooking in the microwave is quite different. And I did find some ways to tweak her recipes to make them work for me. But all in all…two thumbs up!

Upside Down Skillet Apple Pie

March 14, 2017 by Susan 8 Comments

Easy skillet apple pie. A quick apple dessert perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Ooey-gooey, homey and delicious!

Does anything taste more homey than apple pie? YES! This upside down skillet apple pie does. It has all the goodness of an apple pie – tender apples, flakey crust, sweet and spicy–but it has so much more.

The apples are nestled in the most luxurious warm caramel sauce, just begging to be spooned over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Plus, it’s about 10 times easier than traditional pie.

Almond Biscotti

December 13, 2016 by Susan 12 Comments

This almond biscotti was made for dipping. Biscotti, meaning ‘twice baked’, is a crunchy cookie perfect with a cup of hot cocoa, coffee, or even milk!

Are you a dipper or a non-dipper?

Biscotti was made for dipping. It’s name actually means twice baked. And that’s done so it gets good and dry and crispy so it has maximum absorption. I’m particular to dipping in a hot cup of coffee, but hot cocoa is yummy too!

These cookies have a reserved spot in my gift giving lineup. They’re fun to wrap up with some hot cocoa mix and chocolate dipped spoons.