Orange Pound Cake

I have another cake recipe for you this week.  This is another Cooking Light recipe (from January 2012).  It is meant to be a Grapefruit Pound Cake but since I had a whole bowl of lovely oranges and absolutely no grapefruit, I decided to make this into an Orange Pound Cake.  Check out my adroitness.


I followed the recipe as written but swapping 2 T grated orange rind for the grapefruit rind and 1/2 cup fresh orange juice for the grapefruit juice.  The cake is lovely (can you spot the pretty little bits of orange peel?) and delicious.   This makes a delicious, summery dessert and would be terrific with a few fresh strawberry slices.

Recipe found here

Texas Sheet Cake

I’ve had my share of Texas Sheet Cakes.  There really are recipes everywhere for this sort of thing.  Most families have their favorite recipes.  I had one.  That recipe called for plenty of butter (both in the cake and in the frosting) and way too much sugar for anyone’s good.  A few months ago I found this recipe and tried it.  Really good.  Really.  Very.  Good.  Less sugar and less butter-great!.  The cake was still really sweet – almost too sweet.  I left out the nuts (kids don’t like ‘em) and we found that we didn’t use all of the frosting.  Instead we set the extra aside and used it as an ice cream topping.  Next time I’ll cut the sugar down and omit the cinnamon.

Recipe found here

Oatmeal Peach Cobbler: rediscovery

I recently had a large box of peaches on my kitchen counter that needed to be eaten (they’re gone now…. and oh how I miss them.)  I flipped through some of my recipe notebooks and rediscovered this recipe for Oatmeal Peach Cobbler.  I had forgotten how much I loved it.  Especially when it is piping-hot from the oven. 

Now I have a large box of apples, and I’m wondering if an Oatmeal Apple Cobbler would be just as lovely.  hm…..

My Favorite New Treat (that won’t make me sick)

I don’t eat a lot of dairy.  I can’t eat it.  It makes me quite sick. 

Not many years ago I had no such problem, and enjoyed a daily (oh yeah) bowl of ice cream.  I miss my daily bowl of ice cream. 

Last week I was perusing my friend’s raw food blog and came across her recipe for a dessert chocolate shake.   I had all of the ingredients so I thought I’d try it out.  (Well, I didn’t have the raw cocoa powder so I subbed in the regular stuff.)  I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical so I only made a half-recipe at first.  It was delicious!  Amazingly creamy.  I’m a big fan now and since last week I’ve made four or five more.  It’s hard to share, but I do – and everyone else loves this shake too.

Angela recently gave a mini class about raw food.  Here’s a link to some notes from her presentation.  She also brought yummy samples for Raw Milk Chocolate Fudge and a creamy Apple Salad.  Really, really good.


Want to know more about eating raw? 
http://www.choosingraw.com/
http://www.rawmazing.com/
http://www.rawmelissa.com/
http://www.rawfoodnation.org/
http://www.goneraw.com/recipes

Heavenly Chocolate Mousse

This stuff is amazing.  Rich.  Very rich.  But oh so good.  It doesn’t make a lot, so if you’re needing to serve more than 5 or 6 people then make a double batch.  I made the recipe as-is, and I would recommend reading some of the reviews – there’s a lot of great tips in there (for instance, how to properly whip cream without over-beating.) 


link to recipe for Heavenly Chocolate Mousse

Orange / Lemon Brownies

I tried this recipe for Orange Brownies a couple of weeks ago.  Of course I can’t leave a recipe alone, so I tried them with lemon instead of orange.  The lemon version was just okay – I found myself wishing they were just regular (and delicious) lemon bars.  Next time I’m sticking with the original orange version. 

Here is a link to a gluten free version of orange brownies.  I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t comment on this recipe.

By the way, I saw them first here.  Thanks Jodi!

Eye-Spy

[photo courtesy of Vintage Pollyanna]

Oh man this looks good!  I was doing some surfing for another hobby of mine and I came across this blog: Vintage Pollyanna

Allison has some really cute craft ideas, along with some yummy looking recipes.  This one for Chocolate Bark took me on a short trip down memory lane.  Back in college I went to visit a friend of mine at her apartment.  She offered me some chocolate bark and (of course) I didn’t refuse.  After eating it and telling her how much I loved it she informed me that there were saltine crackers in the recipe.  I really, really, really thought she was lying.  (side note:  I was quite a practical joker back in the day so it was not unheard of for people to try to trick me.  You know….  revenge.)  She gave me a copy of the recipe and sure enough – saltines. 

I was so happy to come across the recipe on Allison’s blog.  Along with the recipe she also has step-by-step photos for those of you who are more cautious bakers.
Enjoy!

Eye-Spy

[Dipped Nutter Butter ghosts spotted here]

Look at these cute little ghosts!  Oh man I wish I would have seen these BEFORE Halloween.  Dang.  Now I just have to remember to do these for next year.  Thanks for the cute idea Chris!

Shortbread Candy Bars

As promised, here is a recipe that will come in handy now that we all have bowls of candy (a.k.a. bribery ammunition) stashed somewhere in our homes.

This recipe is found on the last page of this month’s Everyday Food mini-mag (October 2010).  It’s also found online here.

First of all, has anyone else already tried this recipe?  I made one batch of the shortbread dough last night and tasted it before baking and found it to be incredibly salty.  Ew.  I tossed it out and started over this afternoon.  Instead of the 1 1/4 tsp of coarse salt I added a scant 1/4 tsp of regular salt and it was so much better.  I even think it would be fine without any salt at all.  My other shortbread recipes do not call for salt.
 
So here is the recipe (my reduced salt version):

Shortbread Candy Bars

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp regular salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (using the spoon/level method)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups assorted roughly chopped candy bars

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and salt on medium-high until light and fluffy (3 minutes).  With mixer on low, add flour in three additions and beat until combined (dough will be crumbly).
    

Press dough evenly into an 8-inch square baking dish.  Bake until golden brown and firm, 30-35 minutes.  (My pan was a little smaller than 8-inches and took about 38 minutes to bake.)

 

While shortbread bakes, chop your candy.  I used M&Ms:



Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups:



and Snickers:



When the shortbread is done, pull it out of the oven.  Scatter chocolate chips on top of shortbread.  Bake an additional 1 to 2 minutes until chips are soft.  With the back of a spoon, spread chocolate evenly over shortbread.



Scatter candies over top (I sprinkled the candies into their own rows, but you could also scatter them on all willy-nilly if you so choose.  I’m sure it will be just  as chocolatey and delicious.)



Let cool for 30 minutes.  Refrigerate briefly (mine took another 15 minutes) to set chocolate, then cut into 16 bars.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Donut Muffins

My sister is to blame for this next recipe. Yes. Blame.

They are little bite-sized muffins that taste like donut holes. Why not just make donut holes you ask? Well because these are just as good, they are quick to mix up using things you most likely have in your pantry AND (a big bonus) they don’t get fried in oil.

These are the perfect little bite of fall-esque goodness. Mix a batch up for an after school snack. Serve them alongside a mug of apple cider, or hot chocolate. One batch makes 24 perfect little muffins. You’re going to want to try these. Really.

Here’s the link:

Donut Muffins

Please don’t be tempted to leave out the nutmeg. These really need the nutmeg. If you’re making these and you’re out of nutmeg, call me and I’ll lend you mine. Oh and thank you Mindy for the yummy recipe!

Poached Pears with Cinnamon-Vanilla Cream

Need a simple but impressive dessert? These babies are microwaved! I know – I was skeptical too.
Here’s a link to the original recipe. Of course I made a couple of changes. I didn’t have any vanilla ice cream on hand, but I did have heavy cream. I used 1/4 cup of heavy cream, with a bit (maybe 1/8 tsp?) of vanilla and a sprinkling of cinnamon to taste. I loved the addition of the cinnamon and we couldn’t get enough of the sauce so the next time I made these I doubled it.

Little Cups of Chocolate Goodness

I have a few rules that I try to live by.

Rule #1: Create a weekly menu when I’m hungry. (It doesn’t go so well if I try to make a menu when I’m stuffed.)

Rule #2: Grocery shop when I’m NOT hungry. (If I shop when I’m hungry I end up buying things like funions. Weird.)

Rule #3: Don’t watch any type of cooking show on an empty stomach. (Otherwise I end up trying out EVERY recipe from the show in the next few days.)

Rule #4: If a food is good when full-sized, then it’s probably even better when tiny-sized.

Don’t believe me on rule #4? Well how about those tiny m&ms? The regular ones are good. The tiny ones are perfectly delicious. Do you need another example? How about your very own small chocolate cake? Ok, ok…. I know you think it might be better to have your own HUGE chocolate cake, but hear me out.

First of all, these little cakes are baked in a buttered & sugared ramekin. Don’t even think about skipping the sugaring step. That granulated sugar creates a lovely crust on the outside of the cake. Now if you had to share this cake with someone else, you wouldn’t get that sugary crust all to yourself.

Secondly, because these are small they can be baked just long enough to be done yet remain gooey inside. That’s hard to do with a full-sized cake.

And finally, this recipe is a small one. It only makes four ramekins. Why is that good you ask? Because sometimes all you need is one serving of cake. Sometimes.

Warm Chocolate Pudding Cakes (from Everyday Food on PBS)

Some notes on this recipe:

• These cakes really are best fresh from the oven. The recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate but all I had was some semi-sweet so that’s what I used. It was delicious and that’s what I would use again. I’m not sure my kids would appreciate the bittersweet chocolate.
• Don’t overbake these beauties. The recipe says to “bake until center of a cake is soft but not wet when pressed.” When your timer is running out, keep your eye on the cakes and as soon as the center is not “wet when pressed” pull them from the oven.
• I skipped the caramel sauce. I’m sure it’s great, but we enjoyed our cakes with just a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Swedish Visiting Cake

For years and years I’ve kept a recipe in my back pocket. Not literally of course, but it’s a recipe that I can pull out to serve to family/friends at a few moments notice. It’s quick & sweet and can be dressed up in a variety of ways. It’s called Hot Milk Cake and up until this week it has been my go-to quick dessert. A few days ago I discovered this little beauty in one of my favorite cook books (Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours).

It’s called a Swedish Visiting Cake. It took me maybe 7 minutes to mix everything up (by hand! No need to haul out your mixer) and another 33 minutes in the oven and we had ourselves a delightfully simple, lemon-almond cake. I paired it with some fresh berries and a bit of whipped cream and it was a just-right dessert for a spring luncheon.

I do so love to use my cast iron skillet, and I was happy to pull it out for this cake. The skillet gave the cake a gorgeous light brown crust and just enough crispness around the edges. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet no worries – the recipe gives you options. The original recipe also calls for sliced almonds to be sprinkled on the top which I think would be fantastic, but I didn’t have any on hand.

Here’s a link to the recipe (there’s a print option in the top right corner of the link) and maybe I’ll get around to sharing my recipe for Hot Milk Cake soon. Maybe.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day to my lovely readers!  For those of you who are searching for the perfect Valentine’s treat, I have something for you:

It’s called Chocolate Cracked Earth.  It’s an easy, flourless, wonderfully rich, easy cake.  Oh and did I mention easy?  If I ever had the opportunity to have you all over for lunch on a sunny winter afternoon, THIS is what I would serve you for dessert. 

 

I had never attempted a flourless cake before and was intimidated  by the thought of relying on the whisked egg whites to provide the leavening.  It turned out great though.  One tip:  when you are beating the egg whites,  you cannot have a speck of fat on the bowl, the beaters, or in the egg whites or they will not form stiff peaks.  That includes egg yolks.  Make sure you cleanly separate the egg yolks from the whites.  In the oven the cake rose beautifully and while cooling it sank a bit causing lovely cracks to form in the top – that’s the whole idea of this cake so don’t get all sweaty in the pits if that happens. 

 

Also, if you’re not a fan of bittersweet chocolate you can use whatever you prefer.  I used a mix of bittersweet and semi-sweet. 

Don’t be tempted to bake this cake too long – it IS supposed to be a gooey, brownie-like texture.  The recipe calls for a bake time of 20-25 minutes.  I left it in for 30 (my oven runs a little cool) and it was perfect.  I baked the cake the night before, let it sit for 10 minutes, removed the sides of the pan and then let it cool to room temperature.  I then loosely covered it for the evening and then topped it with a dusting of powdered sugar just before serving it at lunch.  I skipped the recommended whipped cream and instead opted for a raspberry coulis.  

 

Chocolate Cracked Earth recipe here

 

Raspberry Coulis (pronounced cool-ie)

Here’s how I make mine -

I take one bag of frozen raspberries and microwave them for about 20 seconds (they only need to be partially thawed).  Blend them up until smooth.  Taste, and add granulated sugar as necessary.  If the coulis is to be paired with a very sweet dessert, I leave it a little tart.  Sometimes I add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of lemon juice to brighten up the flavor.  Press through a fine-mesh strainer.  This step may take a few minutes, and if you use a rubber spatula you can get as much delicious liquid as possible.  I do like to leave some seeds in – those little seeds are a charming part of what makes a raspberry delicious!

 

Your sauce is ready to use now.  It’s great with chocolate anything, over ice cream (vanilla, lemon, coconut….), pound cake – or just by the spoonful.  Raspberry coulis will keep in the fridge (in a lidded container) for about a week. 

Meringues Chantilly

It seems as though my last few month’s worth of posts have been heavy on the dessert side of things. Sorry about that. Must be the cold winter months bringing out the baker in me. I just have a couple more to share with you and then I’ll get back to boring ol’ healthy stuff.

When I first read through this recipe for Meringues Chantilly, I was a bit put off by what seemed like a lot of steps and a lot of effort for something that contained no chocolate. I mean, how good could THAT be?

However, I was planning a lunch for some friends and needed a dessert I could make ahead of time. I also have a goal for this year to try a lot of new things, and meringues would fall into that category. My only experience with meringue is that fluffy (usually fairly tasteless) stuff you find on top of a lemon meringue pie. These meringue shells were so far from that!

I followed the meringues recipe exactly, baking the meringues late that night and letting them sit in the oven overnight. They were great in the morning, but by lunch there must have been some humidity in the house because a few of the cups were a little chewy on the bottom. The flavor was amazing though.

The warm stewed berries and soft whipped cream were a perfect complement to the crisp meringues, but next time I think I’ll make the meringue shells just a little smaller; the finished dessert was quite rich. I realize now (looking back at Ina’s photos) that I was a little too generous with the whipped cream as well! Look at that mound – sheesh!

For the stewed berries, I followed the recipe, but instead used some frozen mixed berries and it worked great. This time of year usually fresh berries are expensive and it can be hit and miss with the flavor. I also omitted the framboise.

Now what I’m wondering is if anyone has had meringue shells filled with something other than berries and cream? Something chocolate perhaps? Either leave a comment or email me and let me know.

For more information on meringues check this site. It has some great tips and even a Q&A section to help problem solve any of your meringue trauma.

Virtual Cookie Exchange – Day 6

Yes, I know. Day six was yesterday. Just so you know, in my world life comes first, THEN the blog. Yesterday turned out to be more hectic than I planned. But lucky you… you all get two posts today. See? It all works out.

For day 6 of our cookie exchange, I’m sharing with you all of the recipes that have been emailed to me over the past week. They all look so very delicious. (I’m such a sucker for cookies- if you didn’t realize that by now.) These recipes are in no particular order, and if you still have recipes to email it’s not too late! To be eligible for the giveaway, you have until Monday, December 14th at Midnight (MST) to do one of these three things:

1. Email your favorite cookie recipe to dinnersonme(at) gmail (dot) com
2. Add your cookie recipe to your own blog and use Mr linky (scroll down to bottom of post) to link up
3. If your favorite cookie recipe is found elsewhere on the web (Martha Stewart’s site for example) then leave a comment and include the link to the recipe

Thank you to all of you that have emailed, commented and linked so far! Oh, and because food blogs just aren’t as much fun without photos, here’s one for you. The recipe for this one is way back here.

Cream Wafers

(Kim Hanauska)

2 cups flour

1 cup butter (softened)

1/3 cup whipping cream

Granulated sugar

Filling

Mix flour, butter and cream. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

Heat oven to 375.

Roll out dough about 1/8 in thick. Cut into 1” rounds or what ever shape you want.

Roll in sugar, put on a cookie sheet and poke 4 times with a fork.

Bake until set not brown, ~7 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet, cool.

Once cool make cookie sandwiches by putting together with filling.

Filling

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter (softened)

1 tsp vanilla

Few drops of water, if necessary

Food coloring, I use red or green at Christmas time

Mix powder sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. Beat in water if necessary, until smooth and spreading consistency. Tint with color and frost.

Seven Layer Bars

(Katie Scott)

1/2 c. margarine, melted
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 c. chopped nuts
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. butterscotch chips
1 1/3 c. flaked coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Pour melted margarine into bottom of 9x13 inch pan. Layer crumbs, nuts, chocolate and butterscotch chips, and coconut on top of each other. Pour sweetened condensed milk over all. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Gingerbread Cookies

(Robyn Campbell)

½ c. butter 1 tsp. baking soda

¾ c. sugar 1 ½ tsp. ginger

1 egg, beaten 1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. molasses ½ tsp. cloves

2 c. flour

Blend butter and sugar (adding sugar gradually). Blend in egg and molasses. Add dry ingredients. Chill dough one hour. Roll thin and cut into small shapes. Bake at 350° for 6-8 minutes. These are best when cut into small shapes.

Lynne’s Cookies

(Suzie Knowlton)

***Lynne was my roommate in college. I don't know what she called her cookies, but in my cookbook, they are named after her.***

Mix:

3 C flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 C sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Add to dry ingredients and mix well:

1 1/2 C oil

2 1/4 C oatmeal

3 eggs

1/2 C chocolate chips

1/2 C nuts (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla

Form into balls--dip tops in additional sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Cookies need to sit on cookie sheet a few minutes before removing.

Reese’s Mini Bites

(Suzie Knowlton)

Prepare brownie recipe or mix according to directions. Fill mini muffin tins about 2/3 full--bake 350 for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, push mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in to each muffin--return to oven for 5-8 additional minutes.

*** It's hard to get these out, so I line my pan with mini paper muffin cups.***

Pretzel Turtles

(Suzie Knowlton)

Place as many pretzels on a parchment lined cookie sheet as you can. Place a Rolo candy on each pretzel. Place in 350 oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and push 1 whole pecan onto each melted Rolo. Allow to sit a few minutes before you remove from pan.

[note from Andy: these are really yummy and it’s the ONLY way I will EVER eat a pretzel :-) ]

Swedish Almond Cake

(Suzie Knowlton)

Beat Well:

1 1/4 C sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract

2/3 C milk

Add and mix well:

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/4 C flour

Add and mix well:

1 stick melted butter

Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake 350 for 50 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar when cool.

Cookie Grandma Cookies

(Kristi Parker)

We call these Cookie Grandma Cookies because Ben's great g-ma (“cookie grandma”) made these all the time. But I've also called them Scotchies or Peanut Butter Krispies.

Ingredients:
1 C Sugar
1 C Corn syrup
1 C Peanut butter
6 cups Rice Krispies
1/2 pkg Butterscotch chips
1/2 pkg Chocolate chips

Put sugar and corn syrup in a 3 quart saucepan and cook over moderate heat until mixture bubbles. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter.
Add the rice krispies. Stir well and press into greased 9x13 pan.
Melt the butterscotch and chocolate chips together in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between. Spread over top of rice krispie mixture.
Cut while still warm as it is too hard to cut after they are refrigerated/cooled.

Cookie Jar Gingersnaps (from The Cookie Lover's Cookbook by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen)

(Kristi Parker)

2 C all-purpose flour
1 TBS ground ginger
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice *
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C white vegetable shortening
1 C sugar
1 egg
1/4 C molasses
Sugar, for rolling
*the allspice is my own addition to the recipe. I like the extra flavor, but it's optional.
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, ground cloves, and salt into a medium bowl.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the shortening for 1 minute, until soft. Gradually add the sugar and cont beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and molasses, then stir in the flour mixture just until blended.
3. Pour the sugar into a medium bowl. Using a heaped teaspoon, scoop out the mixture. Using your palms, roll into 3/4 inch balls and roll in the sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake for abt 10 min until the cookies are slightly rounded and the tops are lightly browned and crackled. Remove cookies to cooking racks.

Texas Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Stephanie Visnaw)

1 cup butter 1 tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar 1 tsp baking soda

1 cup brown sugar 12 oz. Semi-sweet choc. chips

2 eggs 4 oz. Chocolate bar, grated

1 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 cups nuts (opt.)

2 to 2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups oatmeal—blended to powder. OR use infant oatmeal cereal

1/2 tsp salt

Cream together butter & sugars. Add eggs & vanilla. Mix well. Add dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips, grated chocolate & nuts. Place by rounded spoonful 2” apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake 375 for 8-10 mins. Makes 4 doz.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Stephanie Visnaw)

[note from Stephanie: I hear that these cookies are low on the Weight Watchers point system. They are moist and tasty, too – not to mention a snap to mix up.]

2 spice cake mixes

1 29 oz. Can pumpkin

12 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix cake mix and pumpkin together, stir in chocolate chips. Drop by spoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from pan. Cool completely before serving or storing.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

(Stephane a.k.a. mayasmom23)

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 (10 ounce) jar maraschino cherries
• 1 (6 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl, set aside. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar on low speed until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, beat until well blended.

Gradually add in the flour mixture and blend well until smooth. Shape into 1 inch balls by rolling a small amount of dough between the palms of your hands. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Using thumb, press down center of ball making an indentation. Drain cherries, reserving the juice. Place a cherry in the center of each cookie.

For frosting: In a small saucepan, combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. Heat over low heat until chocolate is melted. Add 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon reserved cherry juice and stir.

Spoon about 1 teaspoon frosting over each cherry, spreading to cover cherry. If frosting gets too thick, add a little more cherry juice. Bake in oven at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 48 cookies.

Strawberry Sorbet

I love the fresh flavor of this sorbet. I could eat gallons and gallons of this stuff. The only downside to this recipe is that you have to plan ahead a little bit - the sugar/water mixture needs to boil and then cool, and the sorbet needs to chill at least 1 hour before freezing.

I usually make the sugar/water mixture at breakfast, then stick it in the fridge. Then when I'm back in the kitchen for lunch, I mix up the rest of the sorbet and put it back in the fridge. While we eat dinner I'll pour the sorbet into the ice cream maker and let it freeze.











Strawberry Sorbet

1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 quart strawberries (remove stems)
4 T lemon juice

In a medium saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil. Stir, and if sugar is not yet completely dissolved, reduce heat and simmer until it is. Transfer to a bowl, and let it cool completely.

Place strawberries and lemon juice into a blender or food processor. Process until completely pureed, 1-2 minutes. Press the strawberry puree through a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds. Combine seedless strawberry puree with the cooled sugar syrup, and add corn syrup. Chill at least 1 hour.

Freeze according to your ice cream maker instructions. Mine only gets the sorbet to a soft-serve texture. I transfer it to a lidded container and freeze it for later.

Just Enough Brownies

I know, I know....I can't believe I'm about to say this, but sometimes a huge 9x13 pan of brownies is just too much. Sometimes I just want one or two brownies and then I want them to all go away so I don't eat 5 more and give myself a stomach ache. I love this little recipe just for that reason. It makes an 8x8 inch pan of thick brownies with just enough walnuts to provide a crunch. Oh, and the batter is fabulous too.





Just Enough Brownies

3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup dark chocolate chips (bittersweet ok)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts (I use right out of the bag - chop if you prefer)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

To prep your baking dish, butter an 8x8 inch pan then line with parchment paper. Allow the ends to hang over the edge of the pan to make for easy removal of brownies. Now butter the parchment paper so the brownies won't stick.



Melt butter and chocolate chips in a double boiler, stirring often. I use a glass bowl over a small pan of simmering water. Just make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the boil. Set aside to let cool a little.



In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Add vanilla and stir. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Add flour, salt and baking powder and stir just until combined. Add walnuts and stir. Pour brownie batter into the buttered baking pan. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool for 30 minutes then using the parchment paper "handles," remove from pan and place on a flat surface. Allow to cool completely, then cut into squares.

Cranberry Upside-Downer

I don't know how I ever found this recipe. Occasionally I go on lengthy searches through the internet to find new and interesting recipes. Sometimes I get lost. This was one of those recipes I came across in my wanderings, and I'm glad I bookmarked for testing. Side note: My recipe testing bookmark list regularly has about 25 recipes on it.




After I tested this recipe (and loved it) I found the cookbook at my local library (LOVE my library). Since then, I've made other baked bits of heaven from the cookbook and loved them all. I believe I'll be asking Santa for my own copy of this huge book.



What did I love about this cake? I loved the size. It makes a one layer 8-inch cake; 6-8 servings. I loved the crunch of the walnuts and the tangy cranberries. They perfectly topped the warm cinnamon cake. I served it about 20 minutes out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Magnificent. Mr. Dinner's on Me thought it would make a good dessert to follow Christmas dinner.


Link to Cranberry Upside-Downer recipe

I Want My Brain Back

I have had a craving for some of my childhood favorite no-bake cookies. When I decided to try and make a batch, I had no idea what kind of ordeal I was getting myself into. First I had to dig the recipe out of my old recipe box, which involved first finding my old recipe box, and then searching through 67 (yes, I counted) well used recipe cards from the dessert section of the box. Of course, I missed it the first time through the stack because while I refer to them as "no-bakes" the recipe card calls them "Chocolate Drop Cookies."





Ok. Recipe located. Now to gather ingredients. There's only seven of them so it should be simple enough. Margerine...check. Milk....got it. Cocoa...um...er...ok there it is. Vanilla...yep. Now sugar. Uh-oh, not enough in the canister. Better refill it. I drag out the big 5 gallon bucket that I keep my sugar in and refill my canister. Next on the ingredient list is peanut butter. Oops - used the rest of it to make my son's lunch this morning. No problem, I have more downstairs in my food storage. Last is the oats. Now I KNOW I have oats. They're here somewhere. I look through my pantry. Nope. Hm. Try downstairs again. I look and look. I move cans, jars, bottles, jugs, tubs - still cannot spot the oats. I come upstairs and look in the pantry again. At this point I wonder if I really do want these cookies. Yes, yes I do. So I go back downstairs, more determined than ever to find those oats. I decide to look again on the very bottom shelf. I move aside a few things then stand up - frustrated. As I stand there hands on hips, trying to remember where on earth I put the oats. I look in my left hand. Oh there they are. In my search for the stinkin' oats, I must have touched them at least 5 or 6 times. Where is my brain?




Chocolate Drop Cookies
(a.k.a. No-Bake Cookies or Gorilla Poop)

1/2 c. margarine
2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. milk
3 Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
1 tsp vanilla
3 c. quick oats

In a large sauce pan, bring margarine, sugar, milk & cocoa to a rolling boil. Boil for at least 2 minutes or the cookies will not set. For a drier, crumbly cookie boil for up to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter, vanilla and oats. Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper and let cool 1 hour.