I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Baking

Buttermilk Chive Biscuits

Buttermilk Chive Biscuits- The perfect easy to make biscuit that is great to enjoy with your favorite breakfasts, lunches, or dinners.

You’ll fall in love with these flaky Buttermilk Chive Biscuits the movement you snag one. Grab one that is hot from the oven, pop it open to see that puff of steam escape right before you slather it with some butter. Take a big bite and enjoy!!!!

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Sticky Bun Monkey Bread

It’s Babymoon time!!!!

We are going away for a quick Babymoon this weekend. I am so excited!!

Last time, we took a trip to the Florida to visit The Keys for a long weekend but since we are here in Florida now, we are just staying local. I’d love to take another trip to The Keys but I didn’t feel like flying, err spending money on flights, really.

Price found a local resort and spa for us to visit. The idea of a prenatal massage and bumming it by the pool without a toddler asking you to go in and out and in and out again is pure bliss.

Generally, I feel good at 32 weeks but I am so blah and sore all over so I just need my slightly ever present charlie horses to be worked out. (Seriously, they are the worst things ever to wake up to in the middle of the night!!!) Thankfully, Price snagged the last one available for the day and I picked up the required doctor’s note so I am just counting down the minutes until the appointment.

The worst part is that I keep reading things included in our package and it just makes me want to stay forever. Well, more specifically, go back AFTER the baby is born for the unlimited drinks. Hello, unlimited mimosas at brunch!

If you aren’t going away this weekend, I insist you make this Sticky Bun Monkey Bread. It’s stupid good. And goes great with mimosas too. (Truth be told, everything goes with mimosas. It’s a fact!)

 

But seriously, this Sticky Bun Monkey Bread is a real crowd pleaser. It tastes just like a sticky bun with the sticky caramel syrup that you drizzle all over the cinnamon and sugar coated biscuit pieces.

I used refrigerated canned biscuits to make this process easier, but you can follow my recipe for Homemade Monkey Bread for the dough, and then add the nuts and caramel sauce to it.

The caramel is everything. Whatever you do, don’t just dip a finger in there to try it. Nor is it a good idea to immediately grab a piece of monkey bread right after you flip it out on to the serving platter. No, I def didn’t try that and burn the crap out of my fingers and then my mouth as the quickest thing I could think of was ‘ahh my fingers!’ so shoving it in my mouth was the next logical thing to do. Nope…

Let’s fast-forward to the weekend, shall we?

I’ll be ready for my prenatal massage and you will be ready to enjoy this Sticky Bun Monkey Bread. And a few mimosas in my honor.

Sticky Bun Monkey Bread

Makes 16 servings

Ingredients

  • 3/4 Cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3 cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (10 biscuits per can)
  • 4 ounces of chopped pecans
  • 3/4 Cup butter
  • 1 Cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 Cup heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Process

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.
  3. Spray a tube pan with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nuts in the bottom on the tub pan.
  4. Cut the biscuits in 4 equal pieces. Roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture
  5. Add half of the coated biscuit pieces into the tube pan. Sprinkle with 1/3 more nuts. Add the rest of the coated biscuit pieces and then the remaining chopped nuts.
  6. In a small saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar. Melt together over medium- high heat. Mix in the cream and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla extract.
  7. Evenly pour the caramel mixture over the coated biscuits.
  8. Bake for 35-45 minutes.
  9. Flip over onto a serving dish. Enjoy!

Nutty Chocolate Chip Banana Monkey Bread

Damn, toddlers are difficult.

Under statement of the year, right?

Besides stating all the obvious things like them freaking the eff out over dumb stuff like what shoes they want to wear (I swear we can NEVER find the pair she wants to wear right that very minute!) or the Minnie/Dora/Disney Princess of the cup she wants, we have entered a whole new realm of ‘fun’.

We have now entered the fun bed time fights that involve me moving things because they scare her. Last night I had to move a stack of framed pictures and canvases sitting on her dresser to get hung up since they “look like an alligator” Say what?!?

Then a little while later I had to move a bag in the hallway since it, again, looked like animals trying to eat her. 

Can’t wait to see what tonight brings!

Also, I was asking her what I should put into the monkey bread. We settled on adding in chocolate chips (duh!) to the bananas and nuts. She was too into watching Shimmer and Shine on my phone (our cable isn’t hooked up yet… ugh!) to help me make it so understand what I was doing because…

as soon as it was ready and we offered her some “monkey Bread” she refused “EWWWWWW NO MONKEY’S BREAD.” Well then…

 

It’s like a

I almost called this Chunky Monkey Monkey Bread but I was afraid the double ‘monkey’ in the name would be confusing. Maybe?

And that’s all my silly stories for today!

Nutty Chocolate Chip Banana Monkey Bread

Makes 10-12 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 packages of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
  • 1 Cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 bananas, thinly sliced (about 1/4″ thick)
  • 2/3 Cup finely chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans
  • 1 Cup chocolate chips
  • 1 Cup butter, melted

Process

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a fluted tube pan with non stick cooking spray
  • Cut each roll into 4 pieces.
  • Place half the banana slices, chopped nuts, and chocolate chips in the bottom of the pan.
  • Roll each piece into the blend of sugars and cinnamon. Then put into the tube pan.
  • Once half the pieces are in the tub pan, add the remaining slices of banana, nuts, and chocolate chips.
  • Finish putting the coated biscuit pieces into the tube pan then evenly pour the butter over all of the pieces.
  • Bake for 43-48 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before inverting on a platter for serving.

Individual Strawberry Monkey Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

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I am loving winter in Florida.

It’s a joke to call it winter. It’s been amazing out. We had one cold weekend so far and you would have thought the end of the world was coming. People reacted to at the grocery store the same way that people in Boston reacted to snow storms. Everyone at the grocery store was all bundled up and talking about how cold it was. I was standing there in a sweat shirt like “yo, you have no idea…” It was like 45 out. ha!

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Mexican Chocolate Cake

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We got a big update on our house and its schedule today! So exciting!

I’ve been meaning to do a big house update but it keeps getting pushed aside in the busy holiday hustle and bustle. Plus, we had some drama related to some framing in our house and I didn’t think it was appropriate to write about it we figured it out.

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That being said, the drywall is up in our house and the stucco will be getting applied this week. Ultimately all of this will work out that our house will be move in ready for the end of January/ start of February. I just can’t wait to move in!

We have already purchased our fridge, washer, dryer, our bed frame, and dining room set. Other things have been picked out like Autumn’s bed and some artwork for some walls but we have lots of shopping to do! I’m currently obsessed with curtains so I’m trying to figure them out in all the different rooms. So far, we only have the curtains for the bonus room and I am in love with them. Plus, I got them for a steal as they were sale and I have a designer discount too!

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I’m looking forward to getting it all set up and feel like home. It is going to be so incredible!

In other news, I’m addicted to this cake.

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It’s the perfect balance of chocolate and spice. The spice being the cinnamon, so it’s not spicy, but it adds an extra perfect something that is killer in this cake. The way that salt brings out flavors, the cinnamon really amps up the flavors of the chocolate.

Plus, it has an incredible frosting on top that seals the deal. Bliss.

The cake and frosting are both really easy to make so I hope you’ll whip it up asap so you can enjoy a big slice, just like me!

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Mexican Chocolate Cake

Makes

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 1 Cup water
  • 1/2 Cup butter
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 4 tablespoons cocoa
  • 2 cups unsifted flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup sour milk (buttermilk)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Frosting

  • 1/2 Cup butter
  • 4 tablespoons cocoa
  • 6 tablespoons milk
  • 1 pound (1 package) confectioners’ powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Process

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 metal pan.
  2. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine the butter, oil, cocoa, and water. Heat until the butter is melted and everything is combined. The mixture just needs to be warm enough to melt the butter, do not make it to hot or it will scramble your eggs
  3. Combine the flour, baking soda, sugar, buttermilk, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla in a large bowl. Add in the melted butter mixture.
  4. Pour the batter into the greased pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.
  5. Five minutes before the cake is done, prepare the icing. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa, and milk. Heat on medium until bubbles form around edge. Remove from heat, the add the vanilla extract and the confectioners’ sugar. Then mix in the nuts.
  6. Let cake cool before you pour the icing over the whole cake.

Cake and frosting recipes adapted from Martha Stewart

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bundt with Chocolate Frosting

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bundt with Chocolate Buttercream

 

You’ve Got Mail.

If it was 1998 my phone would be SCREAMING at me right now.

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You see, I tried to really disconnect this July 4th vacation. We went up to Price’s mom’s house in Maine on Wednesday night and just got back tonight (Monday night, as I write this while watching The Bachelorette). In that time I finished a book and read another, worked on my tan, drank some refreshing wine, and ate way to much food. Hello food baby. So bad, but so good, no?

Aside from some IG and a bit of FB checking I was really disconnected. I didn’t turn on either laptop I brought. I didn’t check Twitter. There is no TV in the the house. Well, there is but there is no antennae so you can’t actually watch it. ha! But, I mainly took an email break. And it felt so good. I’m dreading check it again, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. At least it was a nice break.

I think we should all unsubscribe from all out junkie email alerts. Who’s with me! Let’s do it! I’ll start… ready go.

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Anyway, this cake is something you need to subscribe to. What? Ugh, I’m tired and I am making no sense. Just make and enjoy this cake. For real.

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I love zucchini bread so I knew I would love this Double Chocolate Zucchini Bundt. Yes! And then I trashed it up with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. And then sprinkles. Sprinkles make it so pretty. And the zucchini makes it healthy. Totes.

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I struggle with getting bundts out of their pans. It kills me when I mess it up. But I was actually successful this time. But then I covered it all up with frosting. Go figure! But if you mess up your bundt just remember that you can cover up any mess with the yummy frosting. No one has to know! shh!!

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Wish me luck tomorrow when I really 100% connect to real life again and check my oodles and oodles of email. Ugh!

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Double Chocolate Zucchini Bundt with Chocolate Frosting

Makes 1 10″ bundt cake

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 12 Tablespoons butter, a room temperature
  • 1/2 cup  vegetable oil
  • 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 Cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
  • 2 1/2 Cups flour
  • 3/4 Cup Dutch-process cocoa
  • 2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional to enhance the chocolate flavor
  • 2 1/2 to 3 cups shredded zucchini (12 ounces)
  • 1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips

For the frosting

  • 1/2 Cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 Cup milk
  • 1 Cup ( 6 ounces) chocolate chips, melted
  • 3 Cups powdered sugar

Sprinkles

 

Process

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a bundt pan with baking spray and cocoa powder.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until each is incorporated.
  3. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour, starting and ending with the flour. Stir in the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1 cup of chocolate chips.
  4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack.
  5. To prepare the frosting beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the milk and beat to combine. Add the melted chocolate and continue to beat to incorporate. Lastly, in small batches, add the powdered sugar, while the mixer is off; beat until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.
  6. Frost the bundt cake and generously cover with sprinkles.

Cake adapted from Parsley, Sage & Sweet, Frosting by I am a Honey Bee

Fudgy Strawberry Brownies

Fudgy Strawberry Brownies

I am so thankful that Autumn is addicted to fruits and vegetables. I know there will be a day when she turns her nose up to them and will only eat white foods, but I’m enjoying this now.

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Autumn’s daycare teacher says that she needs to give her the protein and carbs first at lunch before pulling out the veggies and fruit because if she sees them she will only eat them. I think that is just adorable. I’ll have to remind her that when she is protesting them for plain buttered pasta in a few years.

Or maybe something magical will happen and she’ll skip that terrible phase?!?!? HAHAHA that’s doubtful, but I will take all the good vibes that I can get!

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And when that happens I’ll have to start to sneak fruit and veggies in other food.

Just like what I did here.

JUST KIDDING!!!

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I just had a massive package of strawberries that was staring at me every damn time I opened up the fridge and as much as we all love fruit I was doubting that we could finish it off before it went bad. That’s just the worst.

So I was daydreaming about what to do with them on my way home one day. I started to think about brownies and was thinking of tossing strawberries in the batter to make them extra sweet and delicious.

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I mean you pile on fresh strawberries or strawberry sauce on sundaes so I was thinking that putting the strawberries in the brownie would just help you make your sundae that much faster. Plus, even better. Just add some ice cream and hot fudge sauce and boom!!

Because these bad boys are so fudgey, dense, and moist – yeah, I said it- they are ‘fork brownies’. At least that is what Price called them. Hope that makes sense! xoxo

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Fudgy Strawberry Brownies

Makes an 8×8 tray of brownies

Ingredients

  • 3/4 Cup flour
  • 1/2 Teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 Cup sugar
  • 3/4 Cup oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • 1 Cup (6 oz) chocolate chips, melted
  • 1 Cup (6 oz) chocolate chips
  • 1 pound chopped strawberries

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and line a 8×8 baking pan. (I used glass so I didn’t line my pan)
  2. In a small bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking soda until combined. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl,  mix the sugar, oil, and eggs until combined for about 2 minutes.
  4. Add the water and the vanilla extract, mix to incorporate.
  5. Mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Add the melted chocolate chips and stir for about 3 minutes to combined.
  6. Fold in the  chocolate chips and strawberries.
  7. Pour into your prepared pan.
  8. Bake for 55-65 minutes, until just set in the center
  9. When finished, remove from oven and allow to cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Adapted from Jessica in the Kitchen

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake

Oh, what a weekend! Such a good weekend!!!

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My sister came up from Connecticut on Saturday so we could go wedding dress shopping. We went to David’s Bridal in Danvers to start our shopping adventure. I had done some previous browsing on-line but nothing had jumped out to me so when we got there we just started grabbing dresses based upon the vision I had in mind. Plus, a few more that I wouldn’t have originally considered, like a short dress and a mermaid dress. Some looked surprisingly good but didn’t make the cut.

Ultimately, I the dress that I did pick was the first dress that I tried on. We both really liked it early on but I didn’t like a shadow from where the tulle was added to the lower portion of the dress. I tried it on again to see who annoying that shadow was – it was annoying. I jokingly mentioned that I would love to hack it off and the great women helping me there said it could be done. They suggested that I get a petticoat to replace the fullness from the tulle we would be removing. Plus, we added a grey band around the waist and it all fell into place. Woohoo!!

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Plus, my sister picked out her Matron of Honor Dress. Getting things done!!

I had a busy Saturday so my Sunday was a bit more relaxed with some baking in the morning, and new laptop shopping in the afternoon. Ugh, that’s the worst. But the cake I made was delightful!!

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I had grabbed some Meyer Lemons at Trader Joe’s on a whim the last time I was there. They were taunting me every time I went into the kitchen as I had no plan for them. I had to figure something out fast before they went bad. I turned to Pinterest to find a recipe to use up those Meyer lemons.

Side note- is Pinterest the new Google? It is for me! I need a recipe. Pinterest! Home design inspiriation. Pinterest! Wedding hair styles. Pinterest!

So I found a few great recipes and Price narrowed it down to this Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake from Kelsey, aka The Naptime Chef. It looked and sounded great. I love pudding cookies so I was intregued and then even more intrugided as there is no pudding in the cake! What?!?

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The texture is what gives the cake it’s name. It’s dense, but airy. It’s creamy, but fuffly. It’s just plain interesting! We loved it, as did autumn’s daycare teachers. They are saints with all those kids running around. They deserve a slice of cake with a cup of tea while the kiddos nap. (Also, last week Autumn woke up early during naptime and then yelled to wake the rest of the kids up so they could all play again. Naughty!)

Kelsey does note that you get a different consistancy when you use a glass pan, it’s a little less dense on the bottom, than when you use a metal pan. I thought the results I had, with the metal pan, were enjoyable, but I would like to try it with a glass pan to check out the difference.

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Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake

Makes a 8″ square or 9″ round cake*

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 1/4 Cups sugar, divided
  • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 2 Tablespoons grated Meyer lemon zest
  • 5 eggs, separated, yolks in one bowl with whites in another
  • 1/2 Cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
  • 1 1/4 Cups whole milk

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter a baking pan*. Place the baking pan in a larger roasting pan to create a ban marie later.
  2. Bring several quarts of water to boil for water bath.
  3. Mix flour and cornstarch together in a bowl, set aside.
  4. Cream the butter, 1 Cup sugar, and lemon zest until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  5. Beat in the egg yolks, then flour mixture, mixing until smooth.
  6. Slowly mix in the lemon juice, then mix in milk. Set the custard mixture aside.
  7. Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Addthe remaining sugar and beat egg whites to stiff, moist peaks.
  8. Gently stir a dollop of the egg whites into the custard. Then, working slowly, fold the remaining egg whites in bit by bit until they are all incorporated, but not over beaten.
  9. Pour the batter into the buttered baking pan. Fill the larger pan with the hot water until it comes halfway up the side of the smaller pan.
  10. Bake until pudding cake center is set and springs back when gently touched, about 1 hour. Let pan cool for 1 hour before serving.

*There is some flexibility in the shape of the cake pan you use, as long as you have the same volume capacity. For expample, the recipe called for a 8″ x 8″x 2″ square pan, but I didn’t have it so I used a round 9″ x 2″ (deep), as it has the same 8 cup capacity. I refered to this chart for help.

Sourced from The Naptime Chef