It's Just Lunch

 My sister just got back from school to visit, and her absolute favorite thing to eat is pancakes. Usually we just make the bisquick kind, but since it was Sunday, I thought I'd do something a little special. So I browsed my "breakfast" board on Pinterest and came up with these Mexican Pancakes :) Cooler weather calls for cinnamon apples, right? And Sunday means breakfast for lunch, right? 

Mexican Pancakes (found here)

3 C Flour

4 T Sugar

1 T Cinnamon

3 t Baking Powder

3/4 t Salt

3 C Buttermilk

1/2 C Whole Milk

3 Eggs

1/3 C Butter, melted

3-4 Apples

2 T Butter

A hearty sprinkle of Cinnamon

Whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix together buttermilk, whole milk, eggs, and melted butter. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The mixture will be quite runny. Meanwhile, peel and slice your apples and place them in a skillet. Add the butter and cinnamon and simmer. Heat your pancake griddle completely before pouring the batter onto the pan. Brown on both sides, top with softened cinnamon apples, and enjoy!

Happy Birthday Momma!

My mom's birthday is on Tuesday! Usually she's the cake baker. She makes beautiful cakes and often makes them for other people's birthdays. However, I didn't want her to make her own birthday cake, so I thought I'd take over. I had to make it almost a week early because she was out for the weekend with my dad and I wanted the cake to be a surprise. Also, if I had tried to make it while she was home she would have taken over :) So I made it this past Saturday while she was gone. I'm definitely not as much of a decorator as she is, so I tend to make simple, yet delicious, cakes. I was able to choose a recipe with buttermilk and heavy cream in it because we had them from making ice cream and something else, I'm not sure what. I love having random ingredients in the house! This cake is SUPER delicious. And it keeps for a really long time due to the oil in it; it's been in our fridge for a week and it still tastes super fresh!

Buttermilk Chocolate Cake (found here)

3 C Flour

2 1/2 C Sugar

1 T +1 t Baking Soda

1/2 t Salt

1 C Cocoa

1 1/3 C Canola Oil

1 1/2 C Buttermilk

3 Eggs

1 1/2 C Extra Strong Hot Coffee (you cannot taste this in the cake, it just brings out the chocolate flavor)

1 t Vanilla 

Icing

24 oz (3 C) Chocolate Chips

1 1/2 C Heavy Whipping Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa together. Add the canola oil, buttermilk, and eggs to the dry mixture. Add the coffee and vanilla. Pour batter into two greased 9" circle pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes (mine stayed in 40 minutes). Let the cakes cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before dumping out. While the cakes are cooling heat 2" of water in the bottom of a double boiler. When the water is boiling, but the chocolate chips and whipping cream in the top of your double boiler. (If you don't have a double boiler, like me, you can boil the water in a saucepan and use a stove-top safe bowl that sets in the top of the pan without wiggling too much. Make sure the water in the saucepan doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl in the top.) Melt the chocolate and whipping cream until combined. Chill the icing until spreadable (about 10 minutes). Dump the first layer of cake onto a plate. If needed, level the top of the cake with a serrated knife, cake leveler, or dental floss. Ice the cake with the chilled icing. Place the second layer on top and ice it. Chill the cake for about 15 minutes and add another layer of icing. Repeat until you have as much icing as you'd like. Enjoy!