If you ask me, oatmeal cookies are terribly underrated, losing favor to chocolate chip or simple sugar cookies. However, this classic oatmeal cookie recipe holds a special place in my heart.

These are actually my Nana’s favorite cookies, and she requests them all the time! I always love sending her treats, especially now that we aren’t able to visit as much. Sometimes, I send over a batch of frozen cookies that she can whip up whenever she wants, and other times, I send her a tin filled with fresh, soft oatmeal cookies right out of the oven.

Filled with big flavors from spices and molasses, these classic oatmeal cookies are loaded with oats and raisins. The batter actually comes together fairly quickly and is perfect to make ahead or freeze.

Why You’ll Love These Oatmeal Cookies

• Classic favorite. When I think of classic cookies, I think chocolate chip, peanut butter, and these oatmeal cookies! Filled with nostalgia and childhood memories, food with comfort just tastes a bit better.

• Super simple. Cookie recipes just don’t get any simpler than these easy oatmeal cookies. The ingredients are baking pantry staples, plus they take just half an hour to make.

• Easy storage. When properly stored in an airtight container, oatmeal cookies will last for up to 2 weeks. I always store my cookies at room temperature, not in the fridge, so they don’t dry out. You can also freeze the dough to make small batches later.

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Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal cookies are a quintessential classic dessert recipe. Filled with bold spices, rolled oats, and sweet raisins, this easy oatmeal cookie recipe will have you convinced you’ve traveled back in time.

Course Desserts

Cuisine American

Keyword Baking, Cookies

Cooking Method Baking

Skill intermediate

Prep Time 1 day day 1 hour hour 12 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 425kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
• 1 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• .5 tsp kosher salt
• 2.5 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cups raisins or dried cranberries
• 5 cups chopped pecans, optional

Instructions

• With a stand or hand mixer cream together the butter and brown sugar until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the eggs on medium speed one at a time or until incorporated.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in vanilla extract and molasses until just combined.
• In a separate medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat on medium speed or until dough is just combined. Add in the oats and raisins (and pecans if using) and mix together until dough is combined, do not over mix. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Using a cookie scoop or your hands roll out 2 tbsp balls of cookie dough and place evenly spread onto your cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
• Leave cookies on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes once out of the oven to allow for residual cooking and to cool. Remove cookies and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Nutrition

Serving: 2g | Calories: 425kcal | Carbohydrates: 57.5g | Protein: 7.3g | Fat: 18.7g | Saturated Fat: 10.4g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 326mg | Fiber: 4.4g | Sugar: 20.9g

Tips & Tricks

• Chill the dough. Don’t forget the chill time! It makes for easy scooping and better cookies altogether. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, you can always use an ice cream scoop or a spoon.

• Careful not to overmix. I always fold in my ingredients when combining the cookie dough in order to avoid overmixing. If you overmix, you will lose air from the dough which will lead to less fluffy cookies.

• Choose your oats. Oatmeal cookies taste great with old-fashioned rolled oats and quick baking oats. Personally, I prefer rolled oats because I like the heartier, chewy texture that they create.

• Chewy cookies are the best cookies. Try leaving out the whites of the eggs and instead adding one more egg yolk to your batter. This should result in an extra chewy oatmeal cookie!

The post The Best, Chewiest Oatmeal Cookies appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Let’s hypothetically say you purchased a rather large quantity of fruit – possibly an “unreasonable amount”- and you’re wondering what to do with it besides baking another pie or freezing it for smoothies. Might I suggest breaking out a dehydrator?

For those short on freezer space, dehydrating fruit can be a fantastic way to preserve the season in a shelf-stable way. Not only can you dry fruit for mixing into trail mix or eating plan, but you can also make your own healthier fruit leathers, baked goods, and even superfood powders (just place it in a high powered blender after!).

Baking with dried fruit is so much easier than fresh fruit because you don’t have to account for the moisture content. Sometimes cooking with fresh fruit causes unbaked areas and inconsistency in muffins, bread, etc. It also makes for highly concentrated flavor!

A dehydrator is also a fantastic investment if you have a garden, CSA subscription, or know someone who is especially generous with their fruit trees. I personally feel like preserving seasonal produce makes me appreciate it more (rather than trying to eat as much of it as possible before it goes bad to the point where you truly do not want to see another zucchini for another calendar year).

While some ovens do go low enough in heat settings to have a dehydrating-like function, a dehydrator has smarter rack space to allow for maximum usage (and better, more even airflow).

There are so many great recipes for everything from watermelon jerky to spicy pineapple chips available, but today I want to look at a realistic baking situation that’s family-friendly: breakfast cookies. Or, to be honest, because who doesn’t want to be flexible with kids…thanks to the depth of this pan you could switch them to breakfast bars.

It’s also the time for the dietitian in me to mention superfoods. Legally, superfood doesn’t really mean anything. It’s just a marketing term that means “lots of nutrients with a markup”. Fruits and vegetables are honestly all pretty much superfoods (albeit some ‘better’ than others if you want to side by side compare).

If you want to add a superfood powder to these cookies, make sure you double-check to make sure it’s not heat-sensitive and is safe for kids. But to be on the safe side, let’s cook with simple dehydrated fruit!

And in the event you want to make these quickly, yes you can absolutely use dried fruit you did not dry yourself. This is not “Little House on the Prairie”.

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Superfood Breakfast Cookies

Using a dehydrator, these tasty breakfast bars will be the most energy-packed bars using your favorite in-season fruits!

Keyword Baking, Bar, Breakfast, Cookies, Healthy, Kids

Cooking Method Baking

Skill intermediate

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 16 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 16 hours hours 40 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 455kcal

Ingredients

• 2 cups blueberries, punctured
• 5 peaches, skin and pit removed, thinly sliced
• 1 cups old fashioned oats
• .33 cups whole wheat flour
• .25 cups raw pumpkin seeds
• .75 cups dried blueberries
• .33 cups dried peach slices (chopped in cookies, or whole on top)
• 2 tbsp flaked coconut
• .5 tsp baking powder
• 2 oz honey
• .33 cups Nut butter
• .5 cups milk or milk alternative
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• .25 tsp kosher salt
• *If desired- add superfood powder of choice (make sure it’s not heat sensitive and is safe for children)

Instructions

• Prepare and dehydrate fruit per manufacturer directions. (Or buy dried fruit).
• In a large bowl, mix all ingredients.
• Use a 1/4 cup dry measure and drop 6 cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
• Preheat the oven to 325 F convection.
• Use damp hands and shape cookies into pucks.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
• Cool and store up to 4 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 455kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 121mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 35g

Other great superfood recipes to try:

Vegan Matcha Mini Cakes

Get Cozy with This Superfood Latte

Make-Ahead Superfood Smoothie Power-Up Cups

Chocolate Coconut Chia Pudding Pops

The post Superfood Breakfast Cookies appeared first on The Inspired Home.

I love fresh berries! I have been guilty from time to time at buying WAY too many pints of strawberries from our local Farmers Market, anyone else?! Since berries often have a quick produce life I’m always looking for easy ways to integrate them into pantry staple recipes.

I love this strawberry crumble muffin recipe because I almost ALWAYS have all the recipe ingredients and I just add in whatever berries I have left from the week. They come together in 15 minutes or less and are perfect for a weekend treat.

Ingredients for Strawberry Crumble Muffins

• all-purpose flour
• sugar
• oats
• cinnamon
• salt
• butter, melted
• baking powder
• egg
• almond milk
• strawberries

Tips for Strawberries!

When it comes to berries my three favorite gadgets are my bramble berry basket, strawberry huller, and strawberry slicer.

I have always had a hard time keeping berries fresh until I found this berry basket. The air is able to circulate from underneath for optimum freshness and you can wash the berries right in this basket.

For prepping berries, I never let my strawberry huller and slicer get too far from me. They make prep time a breeze.

How to Make Strawberry Crumble Muffins

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with muffin liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Add melted butter and blend with a fork. The mixture should be sandy and not creamy. Set aside for topping with muffins.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, milk, and melted butter. Add in the flour mixture to the wet mixture and gently mix together until just combined. Be careful not to over mix. Lumps are okay.
5. Sprinkle remaining 2 tbsp of flour over strawberries and gently toss together. Gently add strawberries to the batter and scoop batter into the muffin pan, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Top muffins with 1-2 tbsp of crumble mixture.
6. Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Variations for Muffins

Can I use a different berry? Yes, totally! I recommend trying out different berries that are at their peak season. This batter is the perfect all-purpose recipe for swapping in blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and more!

Add nuts? Heck yes! Give your muffin an extra crunch bite with chopped pecans or walnuts.

Top with a glaze: For an easy glaze whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar with a teaspoon or two of lemon juice or milk until glaze consistency forms and drizzle over muffins tops.

Best Way to Store Muffins?

I let the muffins cool on a cooling rack until they are no longer warm and completely come to room temperature. Line a large Ziploc bag or a large Tupperware with paper towels and place muffins evenly into the container. The paper towel will help soak up excess moisture and keep the fresh/from drying out. Leave the muffins at room temperature, and will last 2-4 days of optimum freshness.

If you love these strawberry crumble muffins, try these other recipes:

• Morning Glory Muffins
• Healthy Vegan Zucchini Muffins
• Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
• Cookie Butter French Toast Casserole

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Strawberry Crumble Muffins

These sweet strawberry crumble muffins are perfect for summer. Tender muffins filled with sweet and juicy strawberries in every bite. Everyone knows the muffin top is the best part and these don’t disappoint. Topped with a crisp oat crumble topping for a buttery crunch.

Skill beginner

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 282kcal

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour (+ 2 tbsp for dusting the strawberries)
• 0.83 cups sugar
• 0.25 cups oats
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 0.5 cups butter, melted
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 1 cups almond milk
• 1 cups strawberries, diced + more for topping

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line muffin tin with muffin liners and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, mix ½ cup flour, ⅓ cup sugar, oats, 1 tsp cinnamon, and ½ tsp salt in a small bowl. Add ¼ cup melted butter and blend with a fork. The mixture should be sandy and not creamy. Set aside for topping with muffins.
• In another medium bowl whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, and ½ tsp salt and set aside.
• In a large bowl whisk together egg, milk, and ¼ cup melted butter. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and gently mix together until just combined, be careful not to over mix. Lumps are okay.
• Sprinkle remaining 2 tbsp flour over strawberries and gently toss together. Gently add strawberries to the batter and scoop batter into the muffin pan, filling each cup about ⅔ full. Top muffins with 1-2 tbsp of crumble mixture.
• Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Nutrition

Serving: 12g | Calories: 282kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 259mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 15g

The post Strawberry Crumble Muffins appeared first on The Inspired Home.

The kind you would imagine to discover at a little gem of a breakfast spot that has regulars who have been patrons for 30 years. At the kind of place where everyone is on a first-name basis, but you. A place with a grill top that serves hot muffins slathered in salty butter, grilled on each side to golden brown perfection. Yes. That’s my kind of muffin.

In an attempt to recreate my childhood memories, I set out to create the most perfect diner-style morning glory muffin. I just love how moist these are and how much flavor and texture is packed into them. The oversized jumbo muffin is really kind of fun, too!

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Morning Glory Muffins

This muffin is the most perfect diner-style Morning Glory Muffin. They are so moist with lots of flavor and texture packed into them. The oversized jumbo muffin is fun too!

Course Breakfast & Brunch

Keyword Baking, Breakfast and brunch, Muffins

Cooking Method Baking

Skill intermediate

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 718kcal

Ingredients

• 2.25 cups All-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp Cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• .5 tsp ground ginger
• 3 large eggs
• .75 cups granulated sugar
• .5 cups dark brown sugar
• .5 cups vegetable oil
• .25 cups applesauce
• .25 cups orange juice
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups washed and shredded carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
• 1 cups peeled and shredded apple (about 1 apple), squeezed to dry in a paper towel
• .5 cups raisins, plumped up in hot water for 10 min. then drained
• 1 zest of 1 lemon
• .5 cups chopped pecans

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and ginger together. Set aside.
• In the bowl of your standing mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugars, oil, applesauce, orange juice, and vanilla extract together until well incorporated.
• Add the dry ingredients to the standing mixer and continue to mix until a smooth batter forms. About 1-2 minutes on medium-low speed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula.
• Add in the carrots, apple, raisins, lemon zest, and pecans and mix until evenly incorporated.
• In a well-greased (I like to use Baker’s Joy spray) jumbo muffin tin, add about 3 scoops (or 9 tablespoons) of batter to each muffin well. The batter should be just about at the top so that there is good pour-over to create a nice muffin-top.
• Bake in the center of the oven for about 25-30 minutes. If you are using a smaller size muffin tin, bake 15-20 minutes. Either way, take them out when they are brown in color and bounce back when you touch the top. If they are still a bit jiggly or if you test with a toothpick and it comes out coated in batter, continue to bake.
• Pull them out of the oven and cool for about 5-10 minutes before you pull them out of the muffin tray. Either serve warm with salted butter or cool fully and store in an airtight container.
• If enjoying the following day, heat a cast iron or sauté pan over medium heat. Cut the muffin in half vertically (down the center top-to-bottom). Melt a pad of butter into the heated pan and toast the muffin cut side facing down. Cook until a golden crust is formed. Serve with a tiny bit more salted butter and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 6g | Calories: 718kcal | Carbohydrates: 94.8g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 34.7g | Saturated Fat: 5.8g | Cholesterol: 93mg | Sodium: 867mg | Fiber: 5.8g | Sugar: 49.5g

A Few Recipe Notes

Flour.

Feel free to use 50/50 AP and Whole Wheat flour if you so desire. You could even swap it 100%. Whole wheat absolutely works in this recipe.

Liquid.

In this recipe, I call for a mixture of vegetable oil, applesauce and orange juice to get a total volume of 1 cup. This helps add moisture and flavor, however, if you’re in a pinch you could do all applesauce, all oil, or even melted butter or yogurt. All of these combinations would provide deliciously moist muffins. If you can keep the orange juice, it adds a nice brightness to the flavor.

Dark brown sugar.

Light brown will absolutely do if it’s what you have. If you don’t have brown sugar, but happen to have a dark liquid sweetener like molasses or maple syrup, you can make your own by adding the liquid to regular sugar slowly until desired darkness and texture is reached.

Raisins.

In any of my baked goods recipes that call for raisins, I ask you to reconstitute them with warm water. The reason is that the texture is so much more enjoyable when there’s some softness added back in. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but you want to see the raisins plump or swell up a bit. Just make sure to drain them so that you’re not inadvertently adding extra water to the batter.

Lemon Zest.

If you have an orange, that would be a great replacement. Or you could do half and half. I really encourage you to keep this ingredient as it really enhances the flavor by adding brightness.

Pecans.

This ingredient can absolutely be omitted if there is a nut allergy or a preference. However, I highly encourage you to use pecans rather than substituting for some other nut. For example, I’ve tried to bake with chopped walnuts again and again, and it just adds too strong of a flavor and texture. I say stick with the pecans. They are tender and delicate, yet add a much-desired crunch.

Mixing.

This recipe is a simple batter that asks you to mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients separately, then incorporate the dry into the wet. Stir in the mix-ins and it’s done. I use my standing mixer, but you could mix by hand with a wooden spoon if need be.

Muffin Tin.

I call for jumbo muffin tins in this recipe to create a nostalgic-size muffin. Any size will absolutely do.

My tip is just to fill to the top of each muffin well so that it rises up and over to create a classic golden muffin-top.

Enjoy!!

Looking for more muffin recipes?

• Strawberry Crumble Muffins
• Gluten-Free Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Blender Muffins Are the Perfect Toddler Snack
• Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

The post Morning Glory Muffins appeared first on The Inspired Home.

I’ve made pretty much every mistake in the book; from over-mixing to adding too much salt, and everything in between. I’ve burnt cakes, I’ve served them undercooked. I’ve messed up measurements and tried to be a bit too creative. I’ve done it all, so trust me when I say, if you follow my recipe as it’s written below, you are going to have the most bomb cake ever.

Now, I was a little apprehensive to share a recipe that used a somewhat advanced of a technique as Swiss meringue buttercream. But it truly is a superior frosting, and I think it can be fun to explore techniques that further our understanding of cooking and baking.

It can be fun when we challenge ourselves, and then it becomes about so much more than just the delicious end-results. It becomes about mastering something intimidating and feeling proud of yourself for doing it.

But just to be sure that I don’t throw you off, I’ve written a few notes to encourage your cake making process, and improve your experience:

Recipe Notes

Weight measurements.

I call for grams in this recipe instead of cups because it’s the most accurate way to bake. If you use this method you’ll end up with a wonderful cake. Plus, you can measure everything into the same few bowls, zeroing out the scale each time you add something new. Hello, fewer dishes to clean!

We’ve linked up a scale for you to purchase, and I highly recommend you do if you want to take baking seriously, and make your life easier. If you don’t have a scale and don’t want one, you can google cup conversions. Just make sure you type in the ingredient along with the measurement into google, this way it gives you the accurate finished conversion.

Curdled Milk.

There are a few ways to get this:

1. Follow the instructions below, using vinegar to curdle regular whole milk.
2. Use buttermilk and increase the volume so that in a liquid measuring cup it reads roughly 1.5 cups or about 350g.
3. Leave 355g of milk out and covered for at least 2 days. All three will work the same, just be mindful of potential changes in volume/weight due to evaporation from the removal of vinegar.

Sugar.

This cake is designed to be more of a dark chocolate, light crumb cake with a very subtle sweetness. If you prefer a sweeter cake, go ahead and increase the sugar measurement to 600g.

Sifting.

I call for cake flour AND ask you to sift it and the cocoa powder. That’s because this easy step will make the world of a difference in lightness of your final crumb. Do this every time you bake, I promise you’ll be happy. Use a fine-mesh strainer/sieve or a trigger flour sifter. Either option is totally fine.

Layering.

In the photos I posted here, I used 9” cake rounds to create 4 layers. This is the largest size I would recommend. If you prefer a taller cake with more layers, you could use as small as 3 6” cake pans.

Feel free to create as many thin layers as you prefer, and use the slicing tool (shown above) for perfectly even slices. This cake would be awesome as a sheet cake, too! I would say a 9×9” square would give you a nice height.

Double Boiler.

Heating the egg whites and sugar in the SMBC may seem intimidating if you’ve never done it before, but if you have a candy thermometer, a pyrex mixing bowl, and a small saucepot, you can absolutely do it!

Create a double boiler by filling the small saucepot with about ¬º water. Heat over medium heat and place a pyrex glass bowl over the top. Practice first by melting just the chocolate by stirring occasionally until it’s melted. Set it aside, and using a new bowl, follow this same method to create the meringue.

The only difference is that instead of melting chips into liquid form — which is a visual cue to know when it’s done — we need a thermometer to measure the temperature for us. This is a slow process, and sometimes I need to add more water to the pot before it reaches 160 degrees. Stir frequently, but don’t drive yourself crazy. Walk away if it seems like it’s never coming up to temp.

Vanilla Bean Paste.

This is a beautiful addition if you’re making vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. But for the chocolate version, if you don’t have it in your pantry already, and don’t want to spend the money to buy it (although I highly encourage you do!), switch it with an equal measurement vanilla extract.

Frosting.

This recipe calls for just the right amount of frosting for an offset spatula to coat the whole cake and its layers. If you like a heavily frosted cake, or plan on piping designs or playing with color/texture, I recommend you double the frosting batch.

Frosting Layers.

Feel free to use extra ingredients like blackberry jam in between each layer to add some fun flavor variation and yummy surprise. Get creative!

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Classic Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Create the perfect chocolate cake! We tried to make this recipe as foolproof as possible so you can have the most bomb chocolate cake ever!

Course Desserts

Keyword Cakes and cupcakes, Chocolate, Desserts

Skill intermediate

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Calories 1028kcal

Ingredients

• 450 g cake flour
• 550 g granulated sugar
• 130 g special dark cocoa powder
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2.25 tsp baking soda
• 2.25 tsp salt
• 345 g whole milk, room temperature
• 1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 155 g canola or vegetable oil
• 360 g boiling water
• 400 g dark chocolate chips (at least 70% or higher)
• 180 g egg whites (best to buy a small carton rather than separate your own)
• 350 g granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
• .25 tsp salt
• 450 g butter, cubed and at room temperature

Instructions

• In a liquid measuring cup, mix milk and vinegar and set aside. Best to leave all room temperature ingredients out overnight, so that they have time to reach temperature. The milk is ready when it’s curdled. If you’re ready to begin baking, now is the time to turn on the oven to 350 degrees, and start the kettle for boiling water.
• Using a large bowl, sift cake flour and cocoa powder, then add into the sifted ingredients the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a whisk to combine thoroughly, scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure you don’t miss any.
• In a medium bowl mix curdled milk, eggs, and canola oil.
• Pour wet ingredients into dry and use a wooden spoon to mix until everything is incorporated. Consistency should be like thick brownie batter.
• Using a whisk, slowly mix boiling water into batter. Whisk carefully until the water is incorporated, then whisk vigorously for about 15 seconds until the batter is nice and smooth. The texture should be very runny.
• Use extra room temperature butter to carefully coat 3 cake tins, then line with parchment cake pan liners. Evenly pour the batter into each pan, roughly 700g each.
• Bake all three on the same oven tray, staggered as best as you can, until cooked through. This will take roughly 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the pans. Test the cakes by inserting a toothpick into the center of each cake. The toothpick should come out clean.
• Set on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes, then lift the cakes out of the tins, and continue to cool until they reach room temperature. At least an hour, and more if you have it. After they reach room temperature, you could wrap them tightly in plastic and freeze until you’re ready to frost, or go ahead and begin frosting.
• While the cakes cool, begin the buttercream frosting. In a double boiler, melt chocolate and set aside.
• Using the same pot with water, heat the sugar and the egg whites, stirring frequently, until they reach 160 degrees. Use a candy thermometer and be patient. This process will take a few minutes, and may require more water into the double boiler pot. I find the slowest increase in temperature is from 150 until it reaches a temperature of 160.
• Once the egg whites and sugar come to temperature, transfer to a stand mixer equipped with the whisk attachment. Beat the mixture on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5-7 minutes. To test, lift the mixer arm out of the bowl, the meringue should be bright white and a long strand of merengue should just about connect the lifted whisk and the bowl.
• Add in vanilla bean paste and salt. Mix to combine.
• Set the mixer back to high speed and drop the butter in, one cube at a time letting each cube disappear into the mixture before adding the next, until fully incorporated. The texture may look curdled halfway through, keep adding and it will come together. If it hasn’t by the time you’ve finished slowly adding the butter, beat on high for a few more minutes.
• Switch to the paddle attachment and pour in the cooled melted chocolate. Mix on medium speed until fully incorporated and smooth in texture.
• Begin layering and frosting the cake. Cut the tops off the cake, and depending on the size cake pan you used, slice the cake into two layers. Place a small blob of frosting onto the cake plate, and begin layering. Using about 1 cup of frosting per layer. Use an offset spatula to frost, and if you have time, create a crumb layer – or a lightly frosted cake with visible cake spots peeking through – to catch all the loose crumbs.
• Frost the final coat using a large offset spatula, then switch to a small offset spatula to fill in any bare spots and to frost as close to the plate as you can get. Here you could pipe on a design, or get creative with how you want the frosting to look. If you prefer a heavily frosted cake or want to pipe a lot of frosting, double the amount of SMBC you make.
• Decorate with frozen berries, florals, or a dusting of cocoa, and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 1028kcal | Carbohydrates: 135.7g | Protein: 12.6g | Fat: 55.5g | Saturated Fat: 26.7g | Cholesterol: 130mg | Sodium: 1122mg | Fiber: 5.6g | Sugar: 95.8g

The post Classic Chocolate Cake with a Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream appeared first on The Inspired Home.

I’ve rounded up my favorite, must-have baking tool essentials to get you through that important birthday cake you have to make for your father-in-law, your kid’s brownies for the bake sale, or just your standard gingerbread cookies for Christmas. Each one of these essentials will make your time in the kitchen that much easier.

Best Tools for Baking:

Stand Mixer

If there is one item that will save you time and sanity over and over again, it’s a stand mixer. With a paddle, whisk, and dough hook, it surely does it all with the touch of a button. My Smeg stand mixer is one of the chicest appliances in my kitchen. It’s outfitted with a 5-quart bowl and 10 variable speeds for all your baking needs.

Mixing Bowls

By the time I’m finished baking I usually having mixing bowls EVERYWHERE. Most baking ingredients call for a bowl for wet ingredients and a bowl for dry so I always have a ton of mixing bowls handy.

These stainless steel bowls from Nucu are great for baking steps and separating your dry and wet ingredients, and the Mason Cash tilted ceramic bowl is beyond versatile for any baking recipe when it comes to mixing. Mason Cash also makes the handiest spoon and jar scraper that is the perfect match to the tilted ceramic bowl.

Kitchen Scale

If you want to be really precise or bake with a lot of recipes that use gram measurements, be sure to get yourself a kitchen scale. A kitchen scale is the most accurate form of measuring ingredients. This Kalorik kitchen scale can handle up to 20 lbs of weight and displays weight in lb, oz, g, and mL.

Baking Sheet/Cooling Rack

Chances are high that if you’re baking, you’re going to be either baking something on a baking sheet or cooling something on a cooling rack. It’s just the facts, okay?! So make sure you’ve got a great sturdy baking sheet/cooling rack set. Bonus points if you’re using a reusable non-stick silicone bake mat.

Piping Bag

If you plan to do a bit of cake and cookie decorating a great piping bag set is essential. Jamie Oliver makes a sturdy design that is great for all different kinds of piping.

Cookie Cutters

I’ve got an abundance amount of cookie cutters but I have found that a round set is the most versatile. They work wonderfully for cookies but I also use them for pie dough designs, puff pastry shapes, and mini pizzas.

Sugar Shaker

If you want an easy and gorgeous topping for naked cakes, cookies and waffles grab yourself a sugar shaker. This fine mesh strainer shaker by RSVP will make all your treats look like they are dusted with snow.

Copper Saucepan

If you’re going to be taking caramel/candy making seriously then a copper pot is great to have around. Not only does it heat up very quickly, it evenly disperses heat and cools down even faster.

Thermometer

While a copper pot is great for candy and caramel making, a thermometer is non-negotiable. Most recipes for candy and caramel making instruct you to bring your batch up to a certain temperature and this is done with a liquid thermometer. This also works great for deep-frying!

Liquid Measuring Cups & Dry Measuring Cups

I probably use my liquid measuring cups at least every other day in the kitchen. From sweet to savory recipes, liquid measuring cups are the epitome of essentials. These OXO ones are great because they display all your measurements on the outside and the inside of the cups.

This might be beyond ‘basics’ but liquid and dry measurements require different cups. Be sure to get yourself a sturdy set of dry measuring cups in odd and even sets.

Check out these other quick references to make sure your kitchen has the essential tools to make cooking and baking a breeze:

• Here are some more baking tools we recommend for every kitchen.
• Here’s a quick reference guide to which knives to use in your kitchen.
• If you have a passion for cooking, this guide for the best tools every chef needs is just for you!

The post Must-Have Baking Tool Essentials to Make Your Life Easier appeared first on The Inspired Home.

It also got me thinking that all the great holiday bakers in the world really could use a little something special. I mean think about it… not only do they still need to do all their shopping, wrap their presents and they bake batches and batches of goodies for everyone! Everyone has that close family member or friend that always seems to make the most delicious holiday cookies. This basket is for them! Give back a little to your favorite cookie maker with the most epic cookie lover’s basket this holiday season!

I’ve decked out this basket with all the essentials and some fun extras! Core Home is one of my favorite brands to grab great kitchen essentials! They have such a fun selection and everything from classic looks to trendier pieces. I made sure to throw in a gorgeous marble measuring cup set and black and copper spoon set. When it comes to cookies you can’t go without a great measuring set! Homegoods and Bed, Bath & Beyond usually have a great selection.

When I’m baking cookies I usually have about 5 spatulas out at a time! One in my mixing bowl, one in my stand mixer, one scooping cookies out. They’re just essential okay?! This year I’m using a Santa Claus and Snowman spatula because it just brings out all the Christmas feels in the kitchen.

Last but not least be sure to throw in a few large baking sheets, and some easy clean up silicone baking mats! These are perfect for your baker because they never have to worry about running out of parchment paper (we’ve all been there for the Christmas Eve late night grocery run!).

If you’re feeling extra generous or the cookie lover in your life is a special person to you, a sparkly new KitchenAid stand mixer will score you some mega points in your life. Nothing says Christmas for a baking lover like a KitchenAid underneath the Christmas tree. No matter what you do, take a little extra time for that baker in your life.

The post The Ultimate Cookie Lover’s Gift Basket appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Scroll down for 8 perfect gifts for the baker in your life.

Complete with recipes from acclaimed French pastry chef, Francois Payard, this kit will help your baker make perfect and consistent macarons every time.

Not only is this baking mat more eco-friendly (and cost-efficient), it’s also super cute.

The perfect set for gifting. It comes with a loaf pan, a cake pan, a jelly roll pan and a baking sheet.

A cookie press is the perfect gift for the holiday baker. Think of all the cookie potential for next year!

Silicone baking cups shaped like a “sweet tooth?” We hereby declare that all cupcakes should be made in these from now on.

Every baker deserves the right pie making tools. This pastry cutter cuts even strips every time for perfect latticework.

A beautiful mixing bowl is always a necessity. These stoneware bowls from Mason Cash are durable and are covered in charming woodland creatures.

A classic apron will help keep your baker clean while they’re baking away.

The post 8 Perfect Gifts for the Family Baker appeared first on The Inspired Home.

I think one of the biggest issues people have with making homemade bread is the time necessary to make it. After timing my involvement in making bread, I actually only do about 5 minutes of total work, the rest of the time is waiting for it to rise, proof and ferment a bit. I hope that comes as a pleasant surprise and makes you want to get up and go make bread, because in addition to homemade pasta there is nothing, and I mean nothing, like homemade bread. There is also a certain satisfaction you get from making homemade bread because of the time it took to achieve it. When I get my first slice after waiting for 7-8 hours for it to complete, it’s almost an emotional experience. I know that may seem odd to you, but man there really is nothing like it.

Bread has to be one of the most popular things consumed in our culture and the scary part is that I bet you’ve never taken the time out to check out the ingredients list on those said bags of bread. I mean can you pronounce half of those things? Is there supposed to be 27 ingredients in bread? The short answer is no. Bread traditionally had three ingredients in it: flour, water and salt. Now it’s jam-packed full of preservatives so that it can stay fresh on your shelf for two months. Just imagine what those preservatives are doing to your body… NOT GOOD!

However, I’m a realist and I get it, there isn’t time on a daily basis to be making bread, although I think if you are a big bread eater you should try to do it as often as possible. If you give me just one hour of your time at night including three minutes of actual work and 57 minutes of waiting, then you can have bread every day. All you would need to do in the morning is transfer the dough to your brotform or proofer, and then when you get home from work you bake it and boom! Fresh bread. Even that may be a lot, but at the very least, try and make some homemade bread every once in a while, so you can get comfortable doing it or please just read the bread labels!

When I got serious about making bread, I invested in a gram scale because honestly there is no other way to do it. I quit using ounces when my bread recipes just weren’t turning out. Since going to a gram scale, I’ve had zero fails and counting! Once you weigh out your ingredients, you add it to a bowl and mix it until it is completely combined. You can do this with a bread dough whisk or your hands; it’s up to you. From there you let it sit for 15 minutes covered and then you simply pull and fold the dough over about 5 to 6 times before covering it again and letting it sit for 45 minutes. Pull it again and then let it rest for at least 2 hours.

After the bread has rested and it has doubled in size, you need to transfer it to your brotform to help proof and mold it. A brotform is like a little wooden basket with a linen in it and that’s about it. It’s nothing overly special but it’s extremely crucial to allowing your bread to proof correctly. So, once it’s in the brotform you then let it proof for 3-4 hours or until it has doubled in size. Note that you don’t want the dough spilling over the sides of the brotform, you just simply want it to rise above it.

The last part is placing your cooking stone dish into the oven and preheating it until it gets to temperature. Once it’s there, you transfer your dough into it, cover it up, and bake it and OMG you’ve got the best bread you’ve ever had, and you were able to do it right form your house. Once you start doing it you’ll want to do it more often and then you’ll realize just how simple it is. Happy bread baking you guys!

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Homemade White Bread Recipe

When bread is made with a starter, it contains every nutrient and mineral necessary to sustain human life. BREAD IS AMAZING!

Course Bread

Keyword Bread rolls and muffins

Skill intermediate

Servings 20

Calories 96kcal

Ingredients

• 525 g bread flour
• 4 g yeast
• 6 g sea salt
• 420 g water 88° to 90°

Instructions

• Combine the ingredients into a large bowl and mix until it is completely combined, about 2 to 3 minutes. The dough should be a little wet. Cover with linen and let sit for 15 minutes.
• Remove the linen and stretch and fold the dough over 5 to 6 times and then cover it again and let sit for 45 minutes.
• Remove the linen and repeat the process and then let rest for 2 hours or doubled in size.
• Transfer the dough onto a clean surface dusted with flour and form the dough by cupping the outside to underneath the dough to form a cylinder like shape. Sprinkle some flour into the brotform and flip the dough over into it. Cover and let rest for 4 hours.
• With about 30 minutes left in the proofing process, add your cooking stone dish to the oven and preheat to 475°.
• After the dough is done proofing, remove the stone from the oven and flip the brotform right into the baking dish. Place the cover on top and place in the oven and bake at 475° for 25 to 30 minutes or until it is golden brown on the outside. Let rest on a rack for 30 minutes.
• Slice and serve!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 96kcal | Carbohydrates: 20.1g | Protein: 2.8g | Fat: 0.3g | Sodium: 118mg | Fiber: 0.8g | Sugar: 0.1g

Looking for more homemade bread recipes that are easy and family approved?

• This Homemade No-Knead Bread is easy and delicious.
• The best homemade Sourdough Bread has just a few simple ingredients.
• Take a look at our Bread Making for the Beginners Guide to help set a solid bread making foundation.

The post The Best Homemade Bread Recipe appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Today, I am using a beautiful Nordic Ware Autumn Cakelet Pan, It will be perfect for making these French financiers, or almond cakes.

This recipe is from Thomas Keller’s cookbook. I doubled the recipe so it is enough for this pan.

Financiers are typical French petit four cakes; they are moist in the center and have crisp edges. I am using both flour and almond flour in this recipe, but the wonderful flavor you get is from the melted brown butter.

They are a simple dessert to make, and I think you will love it.

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Brown Butter French Financiers Recipe

Keyword Baking, Desserts

Skill intermediate

Servings 1

The post These Brown Butter French Financiers Will Give You All the Fall Feels appeared first on The Inspired Home.