The Flour Garden

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb GOODNESS

2011-05-31T11:25:00.005-04:00

Filling Ingredients:
2 cups thinly sliced rhubarb (cut stalks down the center so pieces are not large)
2 cups lightly mashed strawberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Cake Ingredients:
1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1-2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Place rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan . Bring to a simmer while constantly stirring. Reduce heat to low and cook until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool. I usually transfer to a glass bowl and place the bowl in the sink with cold water and ice cubes to cool quickly.

Combine flour, soda, baking powder salt and cinnamon in a bowl. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth and blended. Spread in the prepared pan. Spoon cooled filling mixture over the cake batter. Combine the topping ingredients, mix well and sprinkle evenly over the filling layer. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the cake is firm and topping is lightly browned.

Enjoy!
~Lori

Blueberry White Chocolate Scones

2010-09-02T10:43:00.001-04:00

Adapted from Blueberry Scones @ Cook's Illustrated

It is important to work the dough as little as possible—work quickly and knead and fold the dough only the number of times called for. The butter should be frozen solid before grating. In hot or humid environments, chill the flour mixture and work bowls before use. While the recipe calls for 2 whole sticks of butter, only 10 tablespoons are actually used (see step 1). If fresh berries are unavailable, an equal amount of frozen berries (do not defrost) can be substituted. An equal amount of raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries can be used in place of the blueberries. Cut larger berries into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces before incorporating.

2 sticks unsalted butter, (16 Tablespoons) frozen whole (see note above)
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries or any other fresh or frozen berry that you may have on hand (see note above)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for work surface
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Course sugar for sprinkling on top

1. Adjust an oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Score and remove half of the wrapper from each stick of frozen butter. Grate the unwrapped ends on large holes of box grater (you should grate total of 8 tablespoons). Place grated butter in freezer until needed. Melt 2 tablespoons of remaining ungrated butter and set aside. Save remaining 6 tablespoons butter for another use. Place blueberries and white chocolate chips in freezer until needed.Whisk together milk and sour cream in medium bowl; refrigerate until needed.

3. Whisk the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in medium bowl. Add frozen grated butter to flour mixture and toss with fingers until thoroughly coated. Fold in the chilled milk mixture with a spatula until just combined (do not over mix).

4. Turn the dough and any floury bits onto a well floured work surface. Lightly flour your hands and the dough and knead the dough gently 6-8 times until it just holds together in a ragged ball, adding additional flour as needed to prevent sticking.

5. Roll dough
into approximate 12-inch square. Then fold dough into thirds like a business letter, using bench scraper or metal spatula to release dough if it sticks to counter top. Lift short ends of dough and fold into thirds again to form approximate 4-inch square. Transfer dough to plate lightly dusted with flour and chill in freezer 5 minutes.

6. Transfer dough to floured work surface and roll again into a 12-inch square. Sprinkle blueberries and white chocolate chips evenly over surface of dough, then press down so they are slightly embedded in dough. Using bench scraper or thin metal spatula, loosen dough from work surface. Roll up dough, pressing to form tight log, and pinch the seam closed. Lay seam-side down and press log into 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Using sharp, floured knife, cut rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles.

7. Transfer the scones to parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with course sugar. Bake until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 10 minutes before serving.*Refrigerate or freeze leftover scones, wrapped in foil, in an airtight container. To serve, remove foil and place scones on a baking sheet in a 375-degree oven. Heat until warmed through and crisped, 8 to 10 minutes if refrigerated, 16 to 20 minutes if frozen.

To Make Ahead: After placing the scones on the baking sheet, either refrigerate them overnight or freeze. When ready to bake, for refrigerated scones, heat oven to 425 degrees and follow directions in step 7. For frozen scones, heat oven to 375 degrees, follow directions in step 7, and extend cooking time to 25 to 30 minutes.

Jewish Coffee Cake

2010-06-22T07:55:00.003-04:00

I got this recipe from my husband’s family friend before she passed away. It is a coffee cake that you can count on everyone just loving!

JEWISH COFFEE CAKE
1/2 C. (1 Stick) Butter/Margarine
1 C. White Sugar
3 Eggs
2 C. Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Sour Cream

TOPPING:
1 T. Flour
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
2 T. Butter (Room Temp)
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 C. Chopped Nuts

Cream the butter and sugar together and then beat in the eggs. Add baking soda, baking powder and salt to the flour, then combine with the creamed mixture. Now add vanilla and sour cream. Set aside.

Mix topping ingredients together. Grease Bundt pan and pour 1/2 of the topping mixture into the bottom of the pan then pour 1/2 of the batter on top of that and then repeat. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Raspberry Amaretto Tiramisu Daring Bakers February 2010 Challenge

2010-02-27T00:01:00.001-05:00

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

From the moment I read the recipe, I thought of my mom and her love of Tiramisu. I don’t LOVE coffee, and when I do drink it I have to have 90% flavored creamer and 10% coffee. My husband and parents tease me all the time! I knew that I needed to modify this recipe to make it something that I had a strong desire to make, not something that was just a challenge to make. So, I decided that with my love of raspberry and amaretto, I was going to do a fruity liquor tiramisu instead of the standard coffee recipe. I made my tiramisu in a Trifle dish and froze it for when we have company! With the extra cream mixture I spooned it on plates and topped it with lady fingers and raspberry/amaretto sauce…don’t worry mom, the kids had “Virgin” Tiramisu! The husband, kids and neighbor gave it the thumbs up. I don’t know that I would ever go through all the time and effort to recreate this recipe again, but it was fun and I learned a lot. I never thought that I could make cheese at home…it saved me like 10 bucks too!

RECIPE SOURCE:
Mascarpone Cheese – Vera’s Recipe (Baking Obsession) for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese.
Savoiardi/ Ladyfinger Biscuits – Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home
Tiramisu – Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007 )

TIRAMISU:
2 cups brewed espresso, warmed
1 teaspoon rum extract (optional)
1/2 cup sugar
I OMITTED THE FIRST THREE INGREDIENTS AND USED RASPBERRY SAUCE THINNED WITH AMARETTO TO SOAK THE LADY FINGERS IN, INSTEAD OF THE ESPRESSO, RUM EXTRACT AND SUGAR!
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (Optional, again I didn’t use this with my Raspberry version, but you still could)

Method:
For the zabaglione:
Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.
In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (Amaretto), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.
Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.
Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the Pastry Cream: Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.
Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.
Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)
Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:
Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.

MASCARPONE CHEESE
(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)
This recipe makes 12oz mascarpone cheese
Ingredients:
2 cups heavy whipping cream (36 % Fat)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Method:Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl,
I used a Stainless Steel bowl in order for the heat to conduct better! then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.
It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir.
Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.

Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.
Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

LADYFINGERS/ SAVOIARDI BISCUITS (Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)
This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small ladyfingers.
Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
6 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Method: Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.
Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.
Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5" long and 3/4" wide strips leaving about 1" space in between the strips.
Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.
Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.
Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.
Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.
Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.
To assemble the tiramisu:
Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8" by 8" should do) or one of your choice—I used a Trifle dish!

Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar (OR Raspberry/Amaretto Sauce)in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. I used my kitchen aid with whisk to completely smooth the mixtures! Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

Now to start assembling the tiramisu.
Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso (Amaretto/Raspberry Sauce), about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.
Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.
Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.
To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

Italian Crock-Pot Chicken

2010-02-25T13:22:00.002-05:00

This recipe is one that my kids ask for almost all the time. I cannot believe how much they like it and they jump for joy when they see it cooking when they arrive home from school. This is a must try recipe that is so easy!

Italian Crock-Pot Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 envelope Good Seasoning Italian Salad Dressing Mix
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can Chicken Broth

Directions:
Place chicken in the bottom of crock pot. Put the remaining ingredients in a glass bowl using only 3/4 of the can of chicken broth. Place bowl in the microwave for about 3 minutes on high and then whisk ingredients until creamy and free of cream cheese chunks. You might need to microwave again for a few more minutes in order to completely melt the cheese. Pour mixture over chicken and cook on low for 6-8 hours. During the last hour of cooking, shred the chicken into small pieces. Serve over rice or noodles accompanied by broccoli! ENJOY!
Can you believe that my kids actually eat broccoli willingly?

-Lori

Emeril's Molten Chocolate Cakes

2010-02-15T18:02:00.002-05:00

Emeril's Molten Chocolate Cakes is the name of this recipe, but I think that it should be called, A Little Heaven On Earth with a gooey center! This recipe was pretty easy and surly impressive for the one the that you are making it for! I believe that the recipe can be made ahead of time and then baked, but I will have to check on that one!

Molten Chocolate Cakes
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2001
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter, plus 1/4 pound (1 stick)
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Grease and flour 4
(6-ounce) ramekins or baking dishes with the 1 1/2 teaspoons of butter and 1 teaspoon of flour in each,
tapping out the excess flour. Set on a baking sheet.

In a double boiler, or a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the remaining 1/4 pound of butter with the chocolate, cream, and powdered sugar, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt until thick ribbons form, about 3
minutes. Sift 2 tablespoons flour into the egg mixture and fold together. Fold the chocolate into the egg
mixture. Divide among the prepared dishes and bake until the sides of the cake are set and the tops are puffed
but still soft, about 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool in the ramekins for 2 minutes, then unmold onto dessert plates.

Serve with vanilla ice cream!!

-Lori

CHICKEN CROISSANTS

2010-02-10T12:19:00.002-05:00

CHICKEN CROISSANTS
Makes 12
3 Pkgs. Crescent Rolls
4 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast
2 Stalks Chopped Celery (Small Pieces)
1/2 Onion, Chopped
1/2 Bag FROZEN Peas (Don't Cook)
2 (8ounce) Cream Cheese (Room Temp.)
Salt & Pepper

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 Can Milk

Boil chicken breast for 30 minutes & cool, cut or shred. Mix celery, onion, cream cheese and peas together with chicken. Set aside.

Unroll Crescent Rolls.

Leave them in a rectangular shape, don't rip to make a triangle. Then press the 2 seams together, roll out thin with a rolling pin.
Place a glob of the filling in the center of the square crescent roll

Fold opposite sides together and pinch seams together.

Brush tops with butter and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes on a cookie sheet until brown. Ladle 3-4 spoonfuls of soup mixture over top and CHOW DOWN!!!

-Lori

Crock Pot Beef Burritos!

2010-02-03T14:00:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine told me that you can make an awesome burrito using a roast that is made in the crock pot using just water and taco seasoning mix. I was skeptical and didn’t try it for about a year. After being in a non-cooking funk, I decided I wanted to try making burritos. I dug out the crock pot and threw a roast in with water and a package of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix.
I cooked it on low all day and about an hour before I wanted to prepare my actual burritos, I shredded the meat and let it cook in the sauce.
I took a burrito shell and spread refried beans down the center of the shell. I then prepared a package of Knorr Spanish Rice Mix and spread that over the refried beans.
Added the shredded beef over the rice. Put some shredded cheese over the whole mess!
And then rolled them up and place them into a 9X13 baking pan. I found that they stick together, so NOW I wrap each one in foil and then place them into the 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes or until done!!!
With the extra sauce mixture in the bottom of the Crock Pot, I drizzle it over the burritos just before we eat! If I want a lot of sauce, I just double the water and add two packages of the taco mix!
THE KIDS LOVE THEM!

-Lori

Nanaimo Bars-January 2010 Daring Bakers Challenge!

2010-02-02T13:01:00.003-05:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Lauren chose these Canadian favorite bars in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics!

Although the challenge was suppose to be gluten-free, I didn’t want to go to the extra expense of all the non-gluten flours that I probably wouldn’t use again, so I made my Graham Wafers with Whole Wheat Flour or Graham Flour as many would expect to use.
I whipped out the food processor and zapped all the ingredients for the graham wafers together. I split the dough into 2 balls and refrigerated the dough overnight. The next day I rolled out the dough onto a Sil-pat and then transferred the Sil-Pat to the baking sheet. The dough was VERY sticky and even stuck to my new silicone rolling pin.
I trimmed the wafer dough with my quilting rotary trimmer and cut them into cracker size pieces.
I then punctured the dough with a fork to prevent it from puffing up in the oven. Off to the refrigerator they went again and then to the oven they went for what was suppose to be 25 minutes. YEAH, suppose to be 25 minutes because one of my little helpers used the microwave and turned off the timer while they were heating up a slice of pizza. So, I suddenly smelled something burning and remembered, OH MY the GRAHAM WAFERS!!! TOO late, Lori! So, now all of my hard work and time was GONE! I didn’t remake the wafers, I just used the store bought ones to complete the rest of the challenge.
For the Nanaimo Bars it was too easy to assemble these. I was glad since I had already been through the trouble of making the Graham Wafers that I couldn’t even end up using! For the first layer I just added the butter, sugar, cocoa to a double boiler that I melted together and then beat in an egg. I added this mixture to graham wafer crumbs, almonds that were finely chopped and some coconut.
The second layer was simple also. It consisted of butter, heavy cream, custard powder (which I had thanks to my British neighbor, Caroline!) and then some confectionary sugar all mixed together.

I smoothed this over the crust layer and then prepared the top chocolate layer.
The top layer was just melted chocolate and butter. I poured over the 2 layers and smoothed out.

Notes for Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars:
• The graham wafer dough is very sticky. Make sure you are flouring well, or the dough will be difficult to remove from the surface you roll it out on. Also be sure to keep it cold. You do not want the butter to melt.
• In the Nanaimo Bars, it is very important that the chocolate be cool but still a liquid, otherwise the custard layer will melt, and it will mix with the chocolate, being difficult to spread. Allow the chocolate mixture to come to room temperature but not solidify before spreading the top layer on.

Preparation time:
• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.

Graham Wafers Recipe:
2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp of all-purpose wheat flour
1 cup Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup Honey, mild-flavored such as clover
5 tablespoons Whole Milk
2 tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large zip lock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Nanaimo Bars Recipe:
Bottom Layer:
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer:
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups Icing Sugar

Top Layer:
4 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in color. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Additional Information:
These bars freeze very well, so don’t be afraid to pop some into the freezer. The graham wafers may be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

-Lori

Chocolate Raspberry Triple Torte With Chocolate Ganache

2010-01-14T16:26:00.002-05:00

Laura’s Beautiful Chocolate Cake!

OH MY , if you gave up sweets for your New Years resolution, stop reading NOW! A very dear friend of mine has passed along a simply delicious recipe to me that I just had to try. I have had the recipe for almost a year now and until her most recent post on Facebook, I had forgotten about it. Laura is a wonderful cook and we always joke that she can make us dinner (a fabulous one for that fact!) and I will make the dessert. When I saw the photo of this cake that she had created, I almost passed out. WOW, that cake looked like it was from a posh West Bloomfield Bakery, not from Laura’s country kitchen! I immediately had to email her to compliment her on the beautiful cake and to ask how hard the cake was to make. I got all the answers and just had to wait for a special occasion to make the cake….

My Chocolate Cake
(Couldn’t be to creative since I had to transport!)

So, this week marked the 30th birthday of my friend, Saniya. I thought what a perfect time to try out that cake that Laura has mastered. I was a little worried about it since I waited until after I put the kids to bed to make this creation. But I got out the mixer, fired up the oven and got busy. The husband had no idea what the heck I was doing, so I had to fill him in on my madness.

About an hour later, I had 3 layers of cake that were ready to be assembled. The only problem was that I didn’t have all the ingredients for the Ganache, so I had to wait until the next morning to put the cake together. After getting my heavy whipping cream, I made the Ganache and assembled the cake. Then I was off to meet up with my friends for Birthday Lunch.

The cake was really good, I mean GREAT! I cannot believe that I made something so great in such a short amount of time! Saniya liked the cake so much that she ate 2 slices at lunch. I will take that as the best compliment anyone could give! With that being said, I present you with the recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Triple Torte with Chocolate Ganache.

CAKE INGREDIENTS
Spray Crisco/Pan with flour
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen raspberries packed with sugar, thawed
1 pkg (18.25 ounces) devil's food cake mix with pudding
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 – 2 tbsp. Chambord (raspberry liqueur; or raspberry extract)
Chocolate Ganache ( recipe below)
1 tablespoon Chambord (raspberry liqueur; or raspberry extract)
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1/2 cup fresh raspberries, for garnish (optional)

CHOCOLATE GANACHE
Makes 1 3/4 cups, enough to thinly frost a 2- or 3-layer cake
Preparation Time: 5 Minutes
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp. liqueur of Chambord or Raspberry extract (optional)
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans with shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the
excess flour.

2. Place the cake mix, raspberries and their juice, sour cream, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 2 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side, or if your oven is large enough, separate on two different racks.

3. Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 25 to 28 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool 30 minutes or more.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the Chocolate Ganache. Place the cream in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring. Meanwhile, place the chopped chocolate in a large stainless-steel mixing bowl. Remove the cream from the heat, and pour it over the chocolate. Stir with a wooden spoon until the chocolate is melted, then add raspberry and almond extracts, if desired, after all the chocolate
has melted.

To use this ganache as a glaze, let it stand at room
temperature for 10 minutes before spooning it over a cooled cake or dip tops of cupcakes into.

To use the ganache as a frosting, let it stand for 30 minutes at room temperature, or chill it for 10 minutes, until it has thickened enough to spread with a metal spatula.

5. Place one cake layer, right side up, on a serving platter. Spread the top with ganache frosting. Place the second layer,
right side up, on top of the first layer. Spread the top with ganache. Place the third layer, right side up, on top of the
second layer and frost the top and sides of the cake. Work with clean, smooth strokes. Decorate the top attractively with
the fresh raspberries, if desired.

6. Place this cake, uncovered or in a cake saver, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes. Then cover the cake with waxed paper, or place it in a cake saver or under a glass dome, and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or
freeze it in a cake saver for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

This is a poor little piece that I brought home and snapped a photo of it before the “Hubby” gobbled it up :) This is a fabulous recipe to try to Valentine’s Day!!! Send me a photo of your creation!

-Lori

Apple Cranberry Salad

2010-01-02T22:42:00.002-05:00

My mom found this recipe and oh my gosh is it tasty and so easy too! It is perfect for a special holiday or just a good ole Sunday Dinner.

6 oz package raspberry or strawberry Jell-O

1 c. boiling water

16 ounce can whole cranberry sauce

16 ounce can crushed pineapple

1 granny smith apple, cored and diced

1/4 c. chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans are good)

1/4 c. golden raisins (options, my kids wouldn’t eat it if added!)

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add cranberry sauce and stir until berries are separated. Add remaining ingredients; chill until set. Makes 12 servings! YUMMY!

Grandma’s Toffee

2009-12-22T09:31:00.002-05:00

My mom and I had a candy making day on Sunday and decided to make 3 batches of this great tasting peanut brittle. One batch we made especially for my dad, CAJUN PEANUT BRITTLE. For this specialty we added 2 teaspoons of Penzey’s Cajun Seasoning. It was pretty good, had a kick to it! Anyhow, here is the original recipe! (Click to make larger!) ENJOY! Oh, the “Syrup” on the recipe is corn syrup.

Yes, we were beautiful and covered in chocolate and candy from head to toes!

Chocolate Saltine Toffee

2009-12-22T09:18:00.002-05:00

I received some AWESOME candy this year and I knew that I wanted the recipe. I have tried numerous times to make English Toffee and end up wasting 12 lbs of butter and an equal amount of sugar and almonds every year! I decided that I needed to throw that recipe away and this recipe took its place! It is so simple that even my kids were able to help out.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 1/2 Sleeves Saltine Cracker

1 Bag Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chip

Nuts for dusting the top (optional)

Directions: Pre heat oven @ 350 degrees. Line 15-in X 10-in x 1-in baking sheet with foil and coat with nonstick cooking spray. Place crackers in rows on foil. In a saucepan, melt butter; add the brown sugar and bring to a boil for about 1 minute. Pour mixture over crackers and spread until completely covered.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes (crackers may float).

Remove from oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips over crackers, wait a few minutes until melted and then spread evenly over crackers.

Cool completely and then crack into small pieces! ENJOY!

CAUTION: Once you start eating, you may eat the entire batch!

Yummy Pumpkin Bread

2009-10-22T16:19:00.003-04:00

I found a great recipe for some pumpkin bread that with a few alterations in the recipe makes it super yummy! Try it out yourself!

3 cups canned pumpkin puree (1 large can)

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

4 cups white sugar

6 eggs

4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9x5 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.

September's Daring Bakers Challenge

2009-09-30T14:02:00.007-04:00

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Mandatory parts of the challenge: We must make Michel Richard’s recipe for puff pastry (as seen below), and form at least part of it into vols-au-vent.
Optional parts of the challenge: Make your vols-au-vent large or small, and may fill them with whatever you choose (savory or sweet).

Since I have used puff pastry before, I was excited for this month's challenge. After thinking about what filling I would want to make and fill the pastries with, I choose to make a cheesy spinach filling. I filled my circular pastry "cups" with the spinach and cheese filling and with the left over filling, I made it into a cream sauce by making a rue to start and then adding the filling and milk to thin the mixture. I then drizzled the spinach cream sauce on the plate and placed the puff pastry on top of it. It was very delicious and I plan to make it again when I am out to impress, but would possibly used the frozen premade phyylo instead of making my own.

Spinach Cheese Filling:
4 cups chopped fresh spinach ( I used 2 packages frozen spinach. drained)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1/2 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened and cut up
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Sauté spinach and onion in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 3 to 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in cream cheese until blended. Stir in mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, cheddar cheese, egg yolk, flour, nutmeg and cumin. Set aside until your pastries are ready to be filled.

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough
From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough
Ingredients:2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups ice water
1 pound very cold unsalted butter
plus extra flour for dusting work surface
Mixing the Dough:
Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.
Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)
Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Harriet’s Stuffed Zucchini

2009-08-23T18:20:00.003-04:00

My wonderful neighbor and good friend, Harriet, came over today and taught me how to make stuffed zucchini. I had no idea if my kids were even going to eat this, but it was worth a try and I thought we needed a new recipe. Harriet told my kids that she had prepared a special dinner for them and that they had to try it. They were skeptical at first but after a few bites G1 exclaimed that he “LOVED it” (INCLUDING THE ZUCCHINI!) and when could we have it again. G2 wasn’t so excited about the zucchini, but he quickly noticed the bowl of leftover stuffing and he chowed that down!

Harriet’s Stuffed Zucchini

Sauté ½ large onion in olive oil then brown with 1 to 1 ½ pounds of ground turkey. After it is done browning, add one can (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce, Italian seasonings, ½ c. uncooked rice and 2 grated (or put in food processor) carrots. Simmer this and add more water as needed to cook the rice.

Take 4-6 small/medium size zucchini and remove seeds/pulp and hollow out so that you have a shell. Reserve seeds/pulp and cook in microwave for about 3-4 minutes, then allow it to drain off its liquid. Dispose the liquid from the cooked zucchini and then put the cooked pulp/seeds into a food processor until it is in tiny pieces. Now, add this cooked zucchini to the turkey burger mixture.

Fill zucchini boats with mixture and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cook for about 45 minutes/1 hour or until tender at 350 degrees.

May Daring Bakers "Apple Strudel" ALMOST.....

2009-05-28T07:09:00.005-04:00

Here we are and another month has gone by and this means that it is time for the Daring Bakers monthly baking challenge. The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers. They chose to make a Apple Strudel which I have NEVER made. I was excited about this challenge and of course left it to the last minute as usual!

The family and myself went to look for trees last weekend and visited one of my favorite markets/nurseries. I picked up about 8 pounds of granny smith apple anticipating this challenge. I got all the other ingredients that I was missing while we were out too! I was so excited to start this recipe!

I began by making the filling part of the strudel. I mixed up the rum and raisins and then mixed the cinnamon/sugar. I then started adding the ingredients to my Kitchen Aid to prepare the dough, I got that going and then I made the breadcrumbs on the stove and then decided to preheat the oven AFTER I had already peeled and cored A LOT of apples. I SUDDENLY SMELLED SOMETHING BAD.....GAS, gas from my GAS oven! I immediately turned it off and called Best Buy for a service man to come out. So, I didn't get to even finish my strudel. I plan on finishing it when my part, an ignitor comes in for the oven. Yeah, I am glad I didn't have an explosion! Here is the recipe:

Preparation Time

Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough

30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling

20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough

10 min to fill and roll dough

30 min to bake

30 min to cool

Apple Strudel

From “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons golden rum

3 tablespoons raisins

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, divided

1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs

strudel dough (recipe below)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2 pounds tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.
3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.
4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.
5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough

From “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups unbleached flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons water, plus more if needed

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.
2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).
3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches. Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.
4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet wide and 3 feet long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Tips- Ingredients are cheap so we would recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyester;- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.
Both Courtney and I did a trial run on making the strudel. Below are our notes:
Courtney's notes- She couldn't get it to stretch to 2 feet by 3 feet, it turned out more like 2 feet by 2 feet. But the dough was tissue thin nevertheless;- She got some serious holes, but after rolling it wasn't noticeable;- She used a large cheese cloth which helped manipulate and stretch the dough more than a heavier cloth would have.

My notes- I made the dough by hand, just mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Kneaded it for about 5 min like you would bread dough. This worked as well. Haven't tried using a stand mixer so I don't know how it compares.- Instead of cider vinegar I used red wine vinegar;- I used bread flour;- Picking up the dough to let it stretch didn't work well for me, holes appeared pretty much instantly. Instead I stretched the dough while it was lying on the tablecloth by putting my hands underneath and stretching it out further and further;

Big Boy's Strawberry Pie (BUT BETTER)

2009-05-16T15:30:00.005-04:00

This recipe is so easy but people will think that you spent the entire afternoon making it!! If you've ever been to Big Boy and had their Strawberry Pie, this is very similar, ONLY WAY BETTER!!!

First you start by taking off the tops of the berries and slicing them

Then layer into a graham cracker pie shell
Until it is stacked way HIGH!
Add 1 1/2 C. Water
2 Tbls. Cornstarch
2 Tbls. Sugar to a pot and cook until thickened
and clear, then remove from heat
Now add 2 Tbls. Lemon Juice
1 pkg (3 ounces) Strawberry Jello
Stir together and allow to cool a little
Pour cooled Jello mixture over strawberries and
put in refrigerator for a couple of hours prior to eating!
Top with Cool-Whip if desired!

ENJOY!!!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie

2009-05-15T15:47:00.002-04:00

With Strawberry and Rhubarb season coming up quickly, I thought that I would repost this recipe that I made last year around this same time frame! Enjoy and let me know if you make it! I have a Rhubarb Custart recipe coming from my cousin, Sandy, so watch for that!
Ever since I was a very small child, I have been intrigued by the taste of Rhubarb. My grandmother grew it in her backyard and every spring we would always break pieces off and laugh as the sour taste made us have what seemed like lock jaw. We never made anything fancy with it, just ate it raw (from what I can remember). So, when grandma sold her home a few years back, I inherited half of the plants for my home. Last year I found a Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp recipe that I thought wasn't worthy of my "heirloom" Rhubarb. I have been on a mission to find that perfect recipe and this Crumb Pie was given the thumbs up by everyone that was given given the privilege to have a piece. (Arrogant, huh? Yeah, we are talking about my precious rhubarb!) My brother-in-law actually hinted that he would like to see another full pie like that again soon! This recipe is very simple to make and everyone that is privileged enough to have a piece or your pie will think that you have slaved away for hours! Without further ado, here is the recipe that I found in my new recipe book, "Pie" by Ken Haedrich and tweaked a little by moi!

Skillet Crust:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a medium size bowl. Set aside. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium to low heat. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry mixture and turn off the heat. Stir the flour and butter with a whisk (it worked GREAT). It will be a little clumpy, but just keep working it. Set the crumbs aside to cool for several minutes. When the crumbs are cool enough to handle, transfer about 2/3 of them to a buttered 9 1/2 inch deep-dish pie pan. Press them into the bottom and up the side of the pan.

Filling:

4 cups (1 1/2 pounds) fresh rhubarb sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 cups sliced strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

Juice & Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cardamom (if you have it, if not it is alright.)

In a large bowl, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, lemon juice & zest, flour and cardamom. Set aside for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Turn the filling into the pie shell, smoothing the top with a spoon. Crumble the reserved crust mixture evenly over the pie, pressing down on it gently. Place the pie in the center of the oven rack and bake for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees and rotate the pie 180 degrees. Just in case of spills, slide a foil lined baking sheet below the pie to avoid a huge mess. Continue to bake until the top is golden brown and the juices bubble thickly around the edges, 40 to 50 minutes. If the top starts to get too dark, cover with loosely tented foil during the last 15 minutes. LET COOL FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS BEFORE SERVING, while cooling the pie will thicken.

Pita Bread & Hummus

2009-05-14T14:46:00.017-04:00

My kids love HUMMUS! I don't know where they get it from, but since it is a great source of protein for them, I buy it in bulk at Costco and Sam's Club. Both my husband and I grew up in the boon-docks and had no idea that all this Middle Eastern food even existed, but we both also enjoy it.

I went to a Middle Eastern Market last week with a friend of mine who makes her own Hummus. She showed me what I needed to make my own and I quickly snatched up the ingredients so that I could try to make a batch myself.

Today was the day that I finally found some time and felt lazy enough to stay at home to make my hummus. I got my food processor out and added the ingredients into it:

1 can chickpeas
1/3 C. FRESH Tahini
1/2-3/4 C. FRESH squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
4 Garlic Cloves
1/2 C. Canola Oil
1 Teaspoon Sea Salt
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Cumin

In just a couple of minutes, I had my own hummus. I spooned it into a bowl and this sprinkled it with Paprika and into the fridge it went. Now, I wanted to try to recreate LaShish Pita's and found a pretty good recipe to follow on Recipezaar for Arabian Pita Bread.

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder
6 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
Mix yeast, water and sugar.
Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, dried milk and salt.
Pour oil into water and mix well. Add dry mixture to liquids.
You might need to add more flour or water, depending on the absorbency of the flour.

Knead dough briefly, divide into 18 egg sized balls.
Place on a floured surface, cover and let rest for 15-30 minutes.
After the 30 minutes, I took parchment paper and cut it into small squares. I then put one ball onto each parchment square and covered with an additional square of paper. After covering the ball with paper, I rolled the ball flat, removed the top layer of paper and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I used a preheated 475 degree oven with my cooking stones inside the oven while preheating. I slid about 4-5 uncooked pitas onto the stone and cooked for 3 minutes on each side of the pita.I quickly removed them from the oven and placed onto a cooking sheet. I served the fresh pita with the fresh hummus and it was yummy!My oldest son will be home by the time the hummus is cooled in the fridge, so he will be very happy this afternoon!

Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake Daring Bakers April 2009

2009-04-27T16:38:00.015-04:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. When I saw that this was this months challenge, I was very excited! I LOVE CHEESECAKE, the husband, not so much! Meaning, I don't make cheesecake that often because I would eat the entire thing! The real challenge this month is to take this basic recipe and play with it. Make it unique. Make a showstopper of a dessert. Add flavor, sauces, decorations – dress it up and show it off. So, I thought of all the variations that I could do and jotted them down on paper. I decided that since I have freezer full of raspberries, I could do something with them. As I read the recipe it called for lemon juice and I then remembered just purchasing about6 lemons at the store about a week ago! So, Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake was what I was about to make. Here is the recipe that we were to follow.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:
Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter, melted
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Filling:
3 (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

CHANGES THAT I MADE:

I used 2 cups of chocolate animal crackers instead of graham crackers
2 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 Teaspoon fresh lemon zest
Raspberry sauce - I made this by boiling down some raspberries and then straining them from their seeds. I then again simmered them to make them thicker.
Omitted the liqueur

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside. I prepared the 8 inch spring form pan by lining the bottom with 2 layers of plastic wrap and bringing it up the sides of the pan then covered the plastic wrap with heavy duty aluminum foil and brought the foil to the top of the pan. This prevented the water bath from leaking into the pan and making the crust soggy!

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. This is when I swirled the raspberry syrup onto the top of the cheesecake. Next time I am going to pour half of the cheesecake mixture into the pan, spread raspberry syrup and then top with remaining cheesecake mixture. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

I then swirled my raspberry syrup on the top!

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done -I baked for 65 minutes and would probably bake for 70-75 minutes next time, this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve. Then dig in and enjoy! It was so yummy that I think that I will be making this for G1's First Communion this weekend!

Daring Bakers February Challenge Chocolate Valentino Flourless Chocolate Cake

2009-02-28T20:00:00.002-05:00

Here it is the end of another month, February, where has it gone? The kids seem to keep us very busy and the end of every month just creeps up on me. The end of the month means lots of things, for me, it means it is time to BAKE! The Daring Bakers challenges are one of the few things that I actually make sure that there is time to do.

For this month, The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I originally wanted to make this recipe for the hubby for Valentine's Day, but didn't get around to it since we were on a long weekend in Northern Michigan visiting the Hubby's Father, my F-I-L or otherwise known as the "World's Smartest Man"! Since the "World's Smartest Man" doesn't care for chocolate, I didn't bother bringing the ingredients to make this recipe. So, with that said, I stopped at the Butcher Shoppe here in my town and picked up some Chicken Cordon Bleu and decided to surprise the hubby with a nice dinner and dessert.

This recipe comes together so quickly that it is going to be my go to recipe for a quick and delicious dessert. All you need is 12 ounces of chocolate, 1 stick (+ 2 TBLS) unsalted butter and 4 eggs. I had to roughly chuck the chocolate and use a double boiler to melt the butter and chocolate together and then let it cool. While I was letting it cool, I proceeded to whipping 4 egg whites until stiff peaks were formed. I transferred those to another bowl and then beat the egg yolks. I added the egg yolks to the chocolate/butter mixture and then folded in the egg whites. I quickly buttered my 8 inch round spring form pan and gently transferred the mixture to the pan. I baked for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. I set to cool on a wire rack and then took the sides off of my spring form pan. AND THAT WAS IT!!! It was like magic!

This cake is so rich that I served it with some vanilla ice cream. Ice cream was store bought, I did intend to make it, but with going on vacation early Saturday morning, I had to cheat and by some at the store!

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While the chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F
9. Bake for 25 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 140F.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos/Quesadillas!!!

2009-02-04T00:01:00.003-05:00

Growing up I swear that I lived with the 3 amigos. It seemed like at least once a week we HAD to have tacos, nachos or some type of mexican/spanish type dish. With this said, I think that the reason I don't LOVE Mexican food is because I had so much of it growing up! Well, guess what food is my hubby's favorite? Yep, taco's. So, I have been on the search to find the tacos/quesadillas recipe that makes me WANT to eat them. I follow so many blogs and see so many different ideas on home decorating, recipes and child care that I knew I would someday find a recipe that I really enjoyed.

On the blog Prudence Pennywise, Prudy shared one of her family favorites for making chicken tacos/quesadillas. This recipe uses chicken, tomatoes, brown sugar and some crushed red pepper---very tasty 4 ingredients! I have altered the recipe a bit to fit our family's taste! I have doubles the recipe and omitted some of the brown sugar. You can find Prudy's original recipe here: Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Here is my version of the recipe:
2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans (14 ounce) petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Coat inside of crock pot with no stick cooking spray. Place all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours, or until chicken shreds very easily with a fork. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Chicken will absorb some of liquid after it is shredded, just drain off what is left) Serve in tacos.

Mexican Bubble Pizza

2009-02-03T11:12:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago I found a few new recipes that I thought I would try on my often finicky darlings. I found this recipe on the Pillsbury website and decided it was worth trying out. Well, fortunate for me this turned out to be such a success with the kiddos that they wanted me to make it a second night in a row! This is so easy and can be dressed up to your taste. The kids just had more cheese and some salsa on theirs. We had the works on ours and it was GREAT!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1 pkg. Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix
3/4 cup water
1 can condensed tomato soup

1 can Pillsbury Grands! Corn Biscuits

or 1 (16.3-oz.) can Pillsbury Grands! Buttermilk Biscuits
8 oz. (2 cups) shredded Cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded lettuce
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup Old El Paso Thick 'n Chunky Salsa
1 can sliced ripe olives, drained
1 8 oz. container sour cream
3 green onions, sliced, if desired

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 375°F. Brown ground beef in large skillet over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain. Add taco seasoning mix, water and soup; mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces. Add pieces to ground beef mixture; stir gently. Spoon mixture into ungreased 13x9-inch pan.
Bake at 375°F. for 18 to 23 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and biscuits are golden brown. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven; bake an additional 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. To serve, cut pizza into 8 squares. Top each serving with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, olives, sour cream and onions.

The original recipe can be found here: Mexican Bubble Pizza Let me know if you made the recipe and how your family liked it!

CUPCAKES by "My Little Guy"

2009-01-30T00:07:00.001-05:00

G2 was bound and determined that he was going to buy a special cake mix at the store last week. In my mind I was thinking, "WHERE IS THIS COMING FROM???". For some reason my little 5 year old wanted to make cupcakes and he had to make sure that he got the right flavor. We ended up with a confetti cake mix that he was SO very excited about making. The next day we got the mixer out and got ready to make the cupcakes!

He was very adamant that HE was the one that was making the cupcakes, NOT MOM. So, I let him! With just a little help on the eggs, he did do it all himself. We got the batter made and into the liners and then baked them all up. This is the point at which G2 lost interest in the making of cupcakes. He told me to finish making them and to make sure to make his special cupcake with lots of frosting a some sprinkles. He was happy with how I decorated it!! How fun for me to have them show some interest in something that I have such a passion for!

January 2009 Daring Bakers: "Tuiles"

2009-01-29T16:01:00.007-05:00

Here we are January 29th, 2009 and it is yet time again for another Daring Bakers Challenge. I have been missing in action lately on this blog, but I have 2 good reasons! I have been trying to get back into the swing of things ever since the kiddos went back to school at the beginning of the month....for some reason, I AM NOT BACK INTO THE SWING OF IT! Could it be that my husbands birthday was on the 21st, G2's (my littlest guy) b-day was the 24th and last but not least my favorite father-in-law's (yes, I do and have only ever had one!) b-day was on the 26th. So, I have been busy! I kind of forgot that this challenge was due today, so I made these just this afternoon.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Traditionally, tuiles are thin, crisp almond cookies that are gently molded over a rolling pin or arched form while they are still warm. Once set, their shape resembles the curved French roofing tiles for which they're named. The Dutch angle: traditionally this batter was used to bake flat round cookies on 31st December, representing the year unfold. On New Years day however, the same batter was used but this day they were presented to well-wishers shaped as cigars and filled with whipped cream, symbolizing the New Year that's about to roll on.

For this challenge we were to make the Tuiles recipe and shape them into whatever shape we so desired. You could make a stencil to use or just pipe the batter into the shape so desired. This is what I chose to do since I had very limited time frame to work with.
I started with using my Kitchen Aid to cream the butter, sugar and vanilla into a paste. Gradually I added the egg whites and then the flour. VERY SIMPLE FOLKS!! I then grabbed the saran-wrap and tossed it into the fridge while G2 and I went and got our teeth cleaned. (How is that for multi-tasking?) When we returned home I piped both circles and hearts followed by baking in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes were up, I then transferred the cookies onto my 2 rolling pins to add the dimension that the challenge called for.
I cannot believe that I waited until the last hours of this challenge to complete it! What a quick and easy dessert to serve when you are entertaining. I took the circle cookies and formed them over the bottom of a glass and created a bowl. I then filled the little bowl with some ice cream and fresh blueberries! I now have 3 very pleased men under my roof!

Recipe:Yields: 20 small shape/6 large. Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

¼ cup (not melted but soft)

½ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar

1 sachet vanilla sugar (substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)

2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)

1/2 cupsifted all purpose flour

1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice

Oven: 350F Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake batter shapes in a preheated oven (350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again or place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

I FINALLY WON SOMETHING!!

2008-12-11T12:12:00.007-05:00

I have entered more giveaways on so many blogs that I couldn't even begin to tell you the number! But, I have finally won one of them! I won some Progresso Broth, a recipe card holder, a recipe box, wicker basket, a set of serving utensils and a spoon rest. YEAH, who couldn't use some new utensils? Thanks much to THE LIFE AND LOVES OF GRUMPY'S HONEYBUNCH BLOG, not only does she have a great blog, but she is also a fellow Daring Baker too!!

SOLDIER'S ADDRESS

2008-12-05T12:34:00.002-05:00

Hello Everyone!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!! I received the address of our soldier and if you are still interested in doing this, please email me so that I can send you his address. I don't want to post it to the site because I don't think that it should be public knowledge. So, email me and I will send the address back to you!! Easy as that!

I am going to be baking next weekend. I am a working woman next week, so that really craps my style...but this "job" of mine is only 3 weeks a year, so I can deal with it. I just wish that one of the three weeks wasn't in December.

Give me the heads up when you are sending your packages and also please take some photos of your boxes. I would like to post photos of everyone with their boxes on the site for everyone to enjoy...who knows, maybe the soldier even has access and would like to see all of you beautiful people!

OK, gotta go, I have a sick kid home from school today and I am running out of things to entertain him with! EMAIL ME!!!

SOLDIER INFO

2008-12-02T13:41:00.006-05:00

I received some information on the soldier that we will be sending our goodies too. Here is the note that I received from Val (Team Just Add Nuts):

I have gotten info on this round's soldier: Dustin Forbush. He is a 20 year old marine stationed in Iraq for his first tour. He's expected to be home in April and will be marrying his high school sweetheart, Faith, soon after he gets home. Dustin's favorite goodies are chocolate chip cookies and banana bread. I asked Dustin's dad if there was anything in particular he would like to receive other than baked goods, in case someone has leftover space. He said phone cards and anything fun to raise group moral. I read something once about needing to send special phone cards to the troops though, or else they get charged way more minutes than they use. I'm trying to gather info on that to share, or if any of you know more about phone cards for troops, please forward the info. I had a question about what to send...that is always the question. I wish I had an easy answer but I'm kind of new to this too. Go with your gut. I would say send mostly what you're sure will travel well and maybe experiment with a couple of maybes...we will gather information about how things arrived where we can and together we'll build a list of good candidates for our shipments. On that note, if any bakers from previous rounds have received feedback, please pass it along to the rest of us. For my part, I have learned that the troops seem to prefer baked goods that are packaged individually or in small portions so that they can grab some and go about their business, so I am going back to individually wrapping my cookies for this round. I think I'll be including a self-addressed stamped envelope with a request to our soldier to give us some feedback about how things arrived this round, so we have a little more to go on next time. If I do that (and it works!), I will post the results for round 6. I know the soldiers are busy though, so we might just be left to guessing and learning from the rest of the bakers as we go.

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

2008-11-29T08:27:00.016-05:00

It's the end of another month and yet another Daring Bakers Challenge. This challenge marks my eighth challenge with Daring Bakers. I have learned so much about baking with making just one different recipe a month. These recipes have ranged from the Filbert Gateau, a really heavy decadent dessert, to lavash crackers and a vegan dip. I not only have gained knowledge from the challenges, but also confidence and about 3 extra inches on each thigh! (Time to start exercising!!!) This months challenge was to make a Caramel cake with a caramelized butter frosting! Yeah, if that doesn't make you run to the Weight Watcher's Meeting, I don't know what will! Since it was my 29th birthday (for the 6th time) just last week, I decided to treat myself to this cake.

This month's challenge was hosted by Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater featuring her signature Caramel Cake Recipe with Caramelized Butter Frosting. Co-Hosted by, Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo: http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/), Jenny of Foray into Food (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/). And since none of us know jack about alternative baking, we’ve once again turned to Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/).

I got all of my ingredients together and started in on making the cake. With doing so, I had to make a simple caramel syrup, which I burned because I had little distractions! (Have any guesses who and what they were?) Burning the caramel sauce/syrup proves to be my strong point with recipes...check out the Filbert Gateau post and you will see that I burned up the praline hazelnuts! I quickly made another batch and it came out just amber in color and not burnt. I creamed up the butter, sugar and salt. Next, I added the syrup, eggs and vanilla. At this point I encountered a problem, I poured all the flour/baking soda mixture into the Kitchen Aid bowl all at once.....needless to say I have a gooey mess flour ball. I got the milk out and redeemed myself..I thought it was a goner! I needed to follow the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method....I followed the hurried Lori method and I wouldn't recommended that!

I finally got the cake in the oven, a BUNDT for this recipe, and got started in on the frosting. I wonder how many WW points just a lick of this stuff is! 12 Tablespoons of Butter, 1 Pound Confectioner’s Sugar, 4-6 tablespoons heavy cream, 2 Teaspoons Vanilla, 2-4 Tablespoons Caramel Syrup and some salt to taste. I didn't think that I really liked the taste at first, but it quickly grew on me and I put away more than I am willing to admit! Now, you are wondering just where are the photos of this Caramel Cake with the fine Caramelized Butter Frosting? They are only in my mind....since leaving the camera at my son's school Turkey Day Party I only have mental images. It was yummy, I don't know that it is something that I would crave, but it was yet another challenge for me to defeat! I love ya, Daring Bakers! Bring on the December Challenge!!!
Here is the recipe~

CARAMEL CAKE with Caramelized Butter Frosting

10 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, room temp
1 1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup*
2 each Eggs, room temp
splash Vanilla Extract
2 Cups AP Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 C Milk, room temp

*Caramel syrup recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350F
Butter one tall 9" cake pan.
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth.
2. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl.
4. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
5. Sift flour and baking powder.
6. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dries.
7. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time.
8. Add another third of the dries, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dries. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}
9. Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds. making sure batter is uniform.
Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.
Cake will keep for three days unrefrigerated

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 Cups SUGAR
1/2 Cup WATER
1 Cup water for "stopping"

1. In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand.
2. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush.
3. Turn on heat to highest flame.
4. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.
5. When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and prepared to step back.
6. Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}
For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1 Pound Confectioner's Sugar, sifted
4-6 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2-4 Tablespoons Caramel Syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

1. Cook butter until brown.
2. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.
3. Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.
4. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.
Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light.

List of NEEDED items by our Soldiers!

2008-11-14T16:57:00.002-05:00

I have compiled a list of things needed by the soldiers from the website. www.anysoldier.com I was stay away from liquid products because of the chance of the container breaking during shipping. They also don't recommend highly scented items being sent with baked goods.

Products to stay awake during missions
Blank greeting cards
Paper
Toothpaste (Colgate) & Toothbrushes
100 calorie snacks
power bars
Lip balm ( chap-stick)
Envelopes
Deodorant
Blank cards
Notecards
Stationary
Laundry powder
Gatorade singles or ANY beverage drink powders
Cd's of country or rock copies are fine
Cheese and peanut butter crackers
DVD movies
Beef jerky
Magazines
Books
Board games or anything to keep us entertained
Tinactin foot spray/powder/ointment
AA batteries
Microwave popcorn
Splenda
Hand Sanitizer clothes
Nail Clippers
Razors & Shave Gel
Ink pens

Beanie Babies!
No kidding! A really good excuse to get rid of those things (don't buy new ones, collect them from your house and ask your friends)!! Send some in every package to ALL units as they are really easy for the Soldiers to carry with them and give to the local kids who love them. These are better then small plastic toys which will break easily and are not as easy to carry in a pack. There is NO more effective ambassador for our country than a Soldier helping the local folks. This is done far more often then the press shows, and quite probably the most important thing a Soldier will ever do.

More info on Operation Baking Gals

2008-11-12T07:16:00.003-05:00

I am posting this letter that I received from Val over at Just Add Nuts. This is the "Team" that we will be working with on the Operation Baking Gals website. Go to Operation Baking Gals and click Join a Round 4 Team Here then click Join a Round 4 Team (26) and then select the Team Just Add Nuts. You can see the other members of the team. If you want, you can sign up on the site or I will just let them know the number of bakers that we have that will be sending packages. Or, I will let them know the number of packages that we are sending, make sense? Here are a few emails that I have had with Val:

Hello,
That's great that your friends want to get involved! The way Baking GALS works is that each team sends to a different soldier. That soldier receives 10+ boxes, depending on the number of people participating for his host's team; he or she then distributes the stuff to the other soldiers around him. I have a thank you letter that I just received from Alex's wife saying he had begun getting boxes and was sharing with other soldiers. I'm going to ask her if I can post the letter on my blog so all of you bakers can see it.

As for a team having too many people, Susan tries to keep it to around 20 bakers per team. We had about 10 on our team this round who actually baked, so that would leave 10 slots to fill. I do have a couple of bakers who do the actual baking as pairs or groups but only sign up as one baker and send one box. That tends to work nicely for some because a lot of people want to bake but the shipping costs can get out of hand if you send too many boxes. The first round that Randy and I baked, we filled five boxes (one on our own to a friend of his), so we joined four separate teams, that way different soldiers got our variety, rather than sending all the boxes filled with the same stuff to the same soldier. So if you're all sending the same goodies, that's another option for you...not that I want to lose you from my team!!!!

Keep me updated as far as how many bakers you're getting and how you and they wish to handle it and I'll work with you. If we end up with too many bakers, I have more than one soldier who would love to receive boxes, so maybe I could give you two addresses kind of on the side. After the December round, if your people want to continue to bake, you might consider becoming a team host yourself. It's a little bit of work and organizing, but since you have a blog already (one of the requirements) you'll be half way there already. If you decide to go that route, let me know and I'll put in a word with Susan for you. If you think your people will only want to bake once in a while or if you don't feel like being a host, feel free to stay on my team and we'll just work it out each round.

Round five's mailing will be taking place from December 5-18, just in time for Christmas. I know the soldiers do like other things besides the baked goods, especially letters from home or just things to remind them of home. One of our team's bakers included some strings of Christmas lights in Alex's package this round and his wife mentioned in her letter that he especially enjoyed those. For ideas, check out www.anysoldier.com. They list soldiers who ask for the things their unit needs. If you read a few requests, you'll see that most of them ask for the same kinds of things, so you'll have a good idea what to include. The only thing is, don't send anything scented (dryer sheets, air fresheners, etc) or anything liquidy that could break (shampoo, hand cream, toothpaste) along with baked goods because it contaminates the cookies no matter how well you pack it according to reports. And with the any soldier site, they don't let you send home-baked goods to the soldiers there. It's all about keeping our soldiers safe...they aren't supposed to accept baked goods from people they don't know. That's why Baking GALS hosts have to come up with their own soldiers, so they can write ahead and let the soldier know the goodies are coming. That's also why I ask my bakers for their own address before I give them the soldiers....I don't want anything funny going down!

I think the thing besides baked goods and letters that they most like to get are fun things or things to fill their down-time. The services do a half way decent job most of the time of getting them the necessities like socks and soap, it's just the "extras" that they're missing. I like to send Holiday items, joke books, pictures from my four year old niece, toys (they hand them out to the kids there), games, DVDs, magazines, stationary (another favorite, so they can mail letters home), small sporting equipment, nail files, little posters, chap sticks (I'm iffy on that one but I think it would be safe to send with the baked goodies)...whatever you send, someone will appreciate it. Oh, and if you can find a good deal on those little packets of drink flavors to add to water bottles, they LOVE those! I'm trying to figure out how to make them.

As for suggestions for things that ship well, we're probably both in the same boat there. I'm doing guess-work at this point too. I have found a recipe for an oatmeal bar cookie that I've been making. They contain a lot of oil, so I figure they'll stay moist. The first round, we individually wrapped them; this round we cut them and reconstructed them as one sheet and packed each batch on top of the other. I got four batches in the box that way and we packed the sides with boxes of Christmas cards and some individual drink mixes. I'm trying to do some research on the net to find recipes that travel well, so I'll post my findings on my blog. I'll also ask Alex's wife for his input about what came over to Iraq in the best condition. If you come up with any good ideas in the meantime, please share. I'm thinking things that are dense and moist will be good. We sent some pumpkin pound cake to Randy's friend this month, so I'm waiting to hear how that turns out.

And another one:
Hi,
The cost varies a little depending on what you send, but the postage would be $10.95. That's the cost of sending a flat rate priority mail box (12 by 12 by 5 1/2 inch size) to an APO address. The boxes are free from the post office and you can just stop in anytime to pick one up. Also, grab yourself a customs form while you're in there. The forms are easy to fill out, but we'll include instructions with the soldier's address just in case.

I will have to ask Randy how many cookies we got into each box, since he did the counting (and hopefully the remembering since I didn't!), but I think we got about 75 cookies in each box and also we put in some old DVD's from my dad and a few magazines from Randy.

I hope that helps!
Val

So, I am ready to start planning!!! I thought that I would kit the dollar store for little puzzle books, water bottle flavorings and whatever little things I can get. Let me know if you are interested!!!

OPERATION BAKING GALS

2008-11-10T17:03:00.003-05:00

Have you heard of Operation Baking Gals? They are a group of bakers who bake goodies and send them to soldiers who are serving our country. After finding out about this group, I was very interested in joining. Most of my family members have served in the Navy, Army & Air Force and most actually served while a war was taking place. I would love to get a group together to do this for their December Round. I thought that December would be a great month since these soldiers are away from their families during the holidays. Please take a look at the Operation Baking Gals website for more information and please let me know what you think. I was also thinking that maybe we can all bake one type of cookie and then exchange cookies amongst ourselves so that each of our soldiers would have a variety of cookies. Please let me know what you think and if you can help out in any way if you are not interested in baking. I was told that they also appreciate Magazines, Cd's, Movies, Personal Hygiene products and other things that they might not be able to get while in another country.

Have I yet again lost my mind? What have I gotten myself into???

2008-10-30T21:51:00.006-04:00

My creation up above~
Her Frankenstein is below~

OK, I tend to find all of these crazy fun things that I want and feel the NEED to do. Here is one of the things that I decided to do for G2's Halloween party. I told G1 that he could take one of these to each of his teachers and he would take chocolate dipped pretzels to his classmates. He agreed to this deal until he saw the finished product. I had to stick to my guns because my girlfriend and I had a heck of a time making these. I found these in the Paula Dean's Halloween Magazine. Yeah, OK Paula please let me know HOW yours turned out so perfect.....well, she probably didn't do them at all! That is what I think! Anyhow, they turned out so very cute I sure hope that the kiddos will love them tomorrow.

The Flour Garden Pizzeria- October Daring Bakers Challenge

2008-10-29T07:05:00.031-04:00

That's right, I turned my kitchen into a pizzeria last night! This month's Daring Bakers Challenge was to make Peter Reinhart's Pizza Dough. This recipe comes from his book, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread". The challenge was hosted this month by Rosa from Rosa's Yummy Yums and in honor of a past Daring Baker, Sher at What Did You Eat, who suddenly lost her life to a massive heart attack in July. Never in Daring Bakers history have they made Pizza Dough, so let the challenge begin!

I printed the recipe and directions and carefully planned the perfect toppings for my family and their pizzas. I decided for my pizza I would like to recreate a BBQ Chicken Pizza from a Gourmet Cafe that I just loved when I lived at home. For my kids, that was an easy decision, sauce and cheese for the one; and sauce, cheese and pineapple for the other kiddo. They are not quite the food critics that I would like, but the oldest is starting to appreciate the finer things. The husband likes his pizza just as boring; sauce, pepperoni and cheese. So, I just needed a few toppings that I didn't have in the pantry and I had everything for the pizza dough since I have been the bread Nazi lately.

This recipe is a little time consuming since you have to let the pizza dough rest over night. This is not something that you just decided to do 15 minutes before you want the pizzas going into the oven. But the recipe is straight forward and very basic. If you can operate a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, you can make this recipe.

Day One: I broke out the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and made the dough. This dough consists of Chilled Flour, Salt, Instant Yeast, Olive Oil, ICE Water and Sugar. Very basic! I was all ready to put the ingredients together and had completely forgotten to chill the flour. Chilling the flour makes the dough blend better from what I understand. I tossed the measured flour into a Ziploc and then into the freezer to chill. About an hour later, I had chilled flour to work with. I mixed the ingredients and then put the dough hook on the mixer and "Kneaded" it for about 6 minutes until the dough was smooth. I pulled the massive dough ball out of the mixer bowl and then divided it into 3 large balls. Then, I transferred it to a greased pan covered with plastic wrap and tossed it into the fridge to chill overnight.

Day Two: The FUN begins. I took the dough out exactly two hours before I planned on making my kitchen a complete mess! A mess that surely made even the Husband want me to clean it up! (That is something that doesn't often happen) I placed 2 of the dough balls onto my floured counter top and pressed the dough into disks and then had to wait for two hours so that the dough was able to rest. About 45 minutes before I was going to make the pizza, I had to preheat the ovens (Yes, I used both ovens) to 500 degrees with the baking stones in the ovens. This is where the story becomes interesting. The little guys starting screaming, the house is on fire. The smoke alarms were going off and the smoke was thickening the air. Ok, I only like putting my oven on "SELF CLEAN" in the winter so that it also heats my house. So, here you find that I obviously have had some boil overs and maybe some fallen crusts that didn't take well to the 500 degree oven. The Husband rolls into the house complaining to whomever will listen, which wasn't any of the three of us, that the house is smokey and the alarms are still going off. Yeah, like we didn't realize that....need I say more? MEN, they just don't get what a woman will do to try new things, they just don't get it! The windows had to be opened, 34 degrees here now, the fans were put on and smoke alarms stripped from the ceilings...yep, the man took control.

Shortly after the smoke settled, we continued on with making the pizza's. The kids gathered their toppings and were all excited about making their own pizzas. I was also excited. I got the camera out to capture the moment when the pizza dough would land onto my head after attempting to toss it, this actually didn't happen, but did come very close! I put the dough onto my knuckles and started trying to stretch it. I then got up enough guts to toss it into the air. It went sideways and folded into an unknown shape that didn't resemble anything I had even seen at a pizzeria! I smooched the dough back into a disc shape and let it rest for about 15 minutes and reattempted. This time I was successful! It wasn't a toss that was 5 feet into the air, but it did stay into the shape that I desired. Next it was time for the kids....did you think that they weren't going to be involved? Oh yeah, this is when the fun really began! My little guy, G2 we will refer to him as, threw his dough in the air and it came right down on his face. We all couldn't stop the laughing! G1, our oldest son, had a great laugh once his turn came around. He was successful and it didn't take him as much time to get the nak of it as it took me!

G1 and his attempt to toss the pizza

G2 just before his dough landed on his face!

After we got our dough all stretched and spun, we were ready to add the toppings. The directions told us to flip over a jelly pan and then cover it with corn meal and place the dough onto the corn meal. After placing it just right, we were able to add our toppings and place the pizza in the oven. This is where the real challenge started. Once it was time to transfer the pizza from the pan to the 500 degree preheated pizza stone the pizza dough didn't want to move from the pan. I had to pull the dough onto the stone and one of the pizzas was just a disaster and it just happened to be G1's pizza. He was at least mature about the devastation and helped me replace the toppings and pull the dough back onto the stone. Boy did the stone smoke after all the cheese and toppings hit it!! The Husband thought he saw smoke when he got home, not a chance this was smoke!

We cooked these pizzas in my two ovens and once one would come out, we would put another one back in. We had hot pizza that tasted so AWESOME!! I couldn't believe that I actually replicated my favorite BBQ Chicken Pizza from a Gourmet Cafe and I didn't dig myself 6 feet down by doing it either!!!

BBQ CHICKEN PIZZA

Cheese Pizza

This challenge was so very exciting and really brought us together at dinner time. I have already suggested having a pizza making night with my cousin and her children so that we can really a great time and awesome pizza that is truly homemade! Thanks Daring Bakers for challenging me to make something that I never thought of doing. I had a great time this month and cannot wait to see what new recipe November will bring.

Here is the recipe for this awesome crust!

BASIC PIZZA DOUGH
~Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart
Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast
1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar
Cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer)

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water
NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.
NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespoons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator

DAY TWO
8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow it to rest for 2 hours

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).
NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss

NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time. During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and re-flour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping. In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully, then try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes

Win a BEAUTIFUL quilt!

2008-10-17T07:51:00.004-04:00

Hurry on over to http://pigtailsandsnails.blogspot.com/ and all you have to do it leave a comment about her quilt post! That only earns you one entry. For more entries, sje will give 5 additional entries for posting about the giveaway on your very own blog. She will also give another 5 entries for posting the banner below in your sidebar. If you don't win the quilt, she will be giving away a very special 2nd and 3rd place prize, THE PATTERN TO THE QUILT. I know just how complicated making a quilt is, so I really appreciated the fact that she has taken the time to complete it, and then GIVE IT AWAY! I hope I win or even you too! HURRY, it ends today ;}

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH!

2008-10-01T00:06:00.007-04:00

October 1st marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is a very important month to all women and especially those that are high risk due to family history. One week before I was born, (29 years ago +/-) my maternal grandmother had a mastectomy. She won her battle with breast cancer and went on to live another 16 years until she lost her life to another form of cancer. Without having her yearly exam, she wouldn't have known that she had breast cancer. She caught it in time to be able to go on with her life and to see 5 grandchildren born.
It is very sad to think that I could lose my mother to this horrible disease too! This is why you should make sure that you have a physical and mammogram done on a yearly basis. If you don't have insurance or your insurance doesn't pay for it, click on one of the links I have posted.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SYMPTOMS OF BREAST CANCER

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO DO A BREAST SELF EXAM

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR EARLY DETECTION

Christina Applegate's Right Action for Women Website

DARING BAKERS Lavash Crackers with LoneStar Caviar

2008-09-27T16:43:00.013-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers Challenge was to make Lavash Crackers and create a dip/spread/salsa/relish to accompany it. I was like a deer in head lights, what do you mean?? Crackers, seriously, no cake, danish or other baked sweet goods? I had a bad attitude about it until I really started thinking about what I would make. I started digging through the recipe box and looking at all my saved goodies online. I finally decided to make whole wheat lavash crackers topped with garlic powder, kosher salt, poppy seeds and also some sesame seeds. I decided to make a salsa recipe called LoneStar Caviar that my dear friend Laura had given me years ago for the topping.

I got going on the crackers only to find that another trip to the store was in my future. I didn't have the instant yeast that it called for. When I returned, I got down to business and mixed up the lavash dough. It looked much more complex on paper than it really was. I let the dough rise for about a hour and a half and then rolled it out. I placed it on parchment paper on a large cookie sheet and then put the toppings on. In order to make the toppings stick to the dough, you have to mist the dough with a little water first. I cut the dough prior to baking with a pizza cutter and then popped it in the oven. 15 minutes later, I had crackers. GOOD TASTING crackers too, if I do say so myself.
For the LoneStar Caviar I had to chop, dice and just open up a couple of cans of beans. HOW EASY. The caviar was so tasty that I was eating it by the spoonful! This was a very fun challenge this month and I am glad that I was able to make something that was not only tasty, but also was a bit healthy too! LONESTAR CAVIAR
Combine the following ingredients in a 1-quart bowl.
2 cans Black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
½ c. Green pepper, finely diced
½ c. Tomato, diced
½ c. Red onion, finely diced
½ c. Carrot, finely diced
¼ c. Cilantro, finely chopped
4 Cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 Jalapeño peppers, minced

Marinade: Whisk the following ingredients together and pour over dip ingredients and let marinate for 1 hour in refrigerator.
½ c. Olive oil
4 tsp. White vinegar
1½ tsp. Worcester
1 tsp. Lime juice
1 tbs. Creole seasoning (Tony Chachere’s)The recipe for 1 sheet pan of Lavash Crackers is as follows:
* 1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour or gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp instant yeast
* 1 Tb agave syrup or sugar
* 1 Tb vegetable oil
* 1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb water, at room temperature
* Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

2. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Bre … ong-Enough for a description of this) and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

or

2. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), and slightly tacky. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

4. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Mist the counter lightly with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors.

or

4. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Lay out two sheets of parchment paper. Divide the cracker dough in half and then sandwich the dough between the two sheets of parchment. Roll out the dough until it is a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. Slowly peel away the top layer of parchment paper. Then set the bottom layer of parchment paper with the cracker dough on it onto a baking sheet.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to pre cut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

6. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.

PINEAPPLE ZUCCHINI BREAD

2008-09-15T15:52:00.004-04:00

I even got help grating and mixing this recipe!

A few years ago I decided I wanted a new and improved Zucchini Bread. I searched the web and my cookbooks and came up with several good recipes, but nothing that really made me want to make them again. I decided to take what I liked from a comglomeration of recipes and make my own zucchini bread recipe. I think that this recipe is super good and have had nothing but rave reviews from my family and friends that have tried it. CHILD FRIENDLY is what most of my friends are VERY excited about!!! How many little ones do you know that eat zucchini? Hide it in this recipe and they will no matter the age! Hey, you never know, it might be a hit like at our house and the kids want to help you make it!

PINEAPPLE ZUCCHINI BREAD
3 large eggs
2 C. Grated Zucchini
1 C. Vegetable oil
1 C. Crushed Pineapple
1 C. White sugar
1 C. Brown Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
3 C. All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
3/4 tsp. Ground Nutmeg (optional)
1 C. Raisins, Craisins or Dried Cherries(optional)
1 C. Chopped Nuts (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Beat eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla together until thick, then add zucchini & pineapple
3. Gradually add flour, soda, salt, baking powder, spices, raisins, and nuts into the egg mixture; blend well. Mixture will be running in consistency.
4. Pour batter into two 9x5 inch greased and floured loaf pans. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.

Cracked Wheat Sourdough Bread

2008-09-05T21:34:00.005-04:00

When I started my sourdough starter a few months ago, I would have never imagined all the recipes that I would make with it. I came across this recipe while I was on one of my favorite recipe websites, Allrecipes.com . For all of you that don't know me, I can tell you that grains are NOT something that I am attracted to. I am a WHITE bread person and don't feel like pushing grainy bread into my mouth nor my children's mouths. The DH rips on me all the time about this issue and I am now trying to turn over a new leaf.

So, while the search for ways to create new "Herman" creations was underway, I found this recipes for Cracked Wheat Sourdough bread. It was given 5 out of 5 stars and almost every review just raved about the wonderful taste and texture. I thought to myself, "Hum, this might be a way to butter up the husband". I printed the recipe and went on a little trip to the grocery store. Well, the trip turned out to be a long one because I didn't know where to buy 2 of the items on the list. I needed cracked wheat and RAW sunflower seeds. I went to the health food store here in town and the lady had never even heard of the cracked wheat (real rocket scientist, huh?) and didn't have the raw sunflower seeds. After 4 stores, I went home and started calling places. I finally found the cracked wheat at a market that is just north of town. The brand of the Wheat was Bob's Red Mill and it was called Cracked Wheat Hot Cereal. The raw sunflower seed I found at a health mart about 15 miles from home. Well, this bread better be worth it is what I was thinking when I had to travel to several different places just to get the ingredients!!!!

All ingredients were now all purchased and waiting for me to whip up this beautiful grainy bread that wouldn't probably pass through my lips. I got the ole' bread machine out and started adding all the ingredients into the loaf pan. I then selected the dough cycle and pressed START. Well, since this bread machine had never seen anything but white flour I didn't know how hard the machine was going to have to work.....needless to say, I transferred it to my Kitchen Aid mixer bowl and used the dough hook. It really worked well in the Kitchen Aid mixer, so I will steer away from the machine for heavier breads next time. I got all the flour mixed in and then had to allow the dough to rise twice and then transfer the dough into two 9X5 loaf pans and allow to rise again. After all the waiting, the bread dough was ready to bake. The smell that was coming out of the oven was very pleasant and made me feel like I was in a bakery. I pulled the bread out of the oven after about 30 minutes and transferred to wire cooling racks. I left the loaves for the husband to enjoy the next morning.

The next day when I woke, I found a note from the husband telling me that the bread was GREAT! I even ate several pieces....can you believe that???

My new friend, HERMAN (Sourdough Starter)

2008-09-02T22:22:00.010-04:00

About 2 months ago I came across a recipe that called for HERMAN for one of the ingredients. I mentally dug back into the achieves of my childhood and remembered my mom doing something with a substance named Herman. I asked her about it and then all my memories of Herman became vivid. Herman is a sourdough starter that she used to make bread, coffee cakes and other baked goodies. She would stir it everyday and "feed" it every five days. Then she would also take some out and pass it along for her friends to "grow" in their refrigerators too! One time Herman was a little neglected and decided to grow out of his bowl and make a complete disaster out of our clean fridge. These are the memories that became so vivid to me about Herman. So, you ask what I did next? Well, I searched the web for the recipe to begin my own Herman, of course! What was I thinking? I was thinking that all the work that she put into making this starter proved to be worth while since everything that she made with it was awesome.

After searching for the recipe I came across the Herman Sourdough Started Recipe on Allrecipes.com. I quickly whipped it up and eagerly waited for the starter to be ready, this took only 15 days....imagine my anticipation!

15 Days later my starter had "brewed" with an alcohol content that is probably more than a normal bottle of beer has! Now it was time to start feeding and looking for recipes to turn Herman into. The feeding schedule is quite easy:

DAY 1: (Day you receive Herman) Add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk. Stir well. Store in refrigerator and cover lightly. Stir every day.
DAY 2-4: STIR
DAY 5: Add the same as above and stir. Stir every day.
DAY 6-9 STIR
DAY 10: Remove 1 cup of Herman for yourself and one cup for a friend. Give your friend the above directions on how to care for Herman.

Well, it all seems easy until you open your refrigerator and say to yourself, "When did I stir (or in my case, squish the Ziploc bag) or feed Herman last? Herman is very forgiving, so I am lucky for that!

I have had Herman for over 2 months now and have made so many awesome baked goods with it. The recipes range from coffee cakes, pancakes to lots of great bread recipes. Next week I will post some of the great recipes that I have used with Herman.

Let me know if you want a cup of Herman to get you started!!!

DARING BAKERS Chocolate Eclairs

2008-08-31T00:01:00.003-04:00

This months Daring Bakers challenge was Pierre Hermes Chocolate Eclairs. I quickly made time to make these because I was so anxious after reading the recipe. I have to admit, I thought that this challenge was going to be a piece of cake. So, off to the store to stock up on the ingredients that were needed. And luckily I did just that, you know, the stocking up thing. The choux proved to be the most difficult thing. One time, two times, three times and finally on the fourth time I end up with choux that finally puffed. The four times of making it were over about a week period. On the final effort I was intending for these to be a dessert that I would take to my cousins house for dinner that night....wrong! I finally got the shell made and then had trouble making the filling....wow, this was proving to be the most difficult challenge yet for me! After many efforts and lack of time left in my schedule, I cheated. I pulled out the vanilla instant pudding and whipped that up. I finishing it off with making a chocolate glaze out of some Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips that I had in the pantry. I would love to try this recipe again once my kids are in school just to see if I can actually make them correctly.

Ready to add the eggs to the choux
Piped them so small and still didn't puff
Looked good in the oven still!
Finally, they stayed puffed after

35 minutes in oven
One almost chocolate eclair!

Wild Blueberry Pie Cook-off

2008-08-20T07:32:00.027-04:00

At the beginning of August we usually travel to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to vacation and visit with the in-laws, as they have retired there now. One of the things that I especially love to do while we are there is to pick wild blueberries. This opportunity came again this year while the husband took off with the youngest of our 2 children to do some backwoods exploring. So, with the mother-in-law and oldest son in tow, off we went to find the perfect blueberry patch. We hit the jackpot of all blueberry patches right off the 2 track road that my father-in-law uses to go cut wood. We picked for over an hour and came back with enough to make 2 nice size pies. Pies that we made from just winging it with no cookbooks.

The mother-in-law only added sugar, butter and corn starch to her pie and used a refrigerator pie crust.

For my pie I made a double batch of super yummy food processor pie crust that I found on cooks.com. I added sugar, flour and lemon juice to my berries and covered with the double crust.

Monster Cookies

2008-08-20T07:11:00.009-04:00

Yesterday I had an overwhelming desire to make something that I was given a recipe for a while back. The recipe comes from a great aunt and uncle's recipe box and from what I remembered it was yummy. I was served one of these cookies when I was a very young child. I couldn't believe how big the cookie was or why any adult would willingly give a child something that large. I don't remember the taste of the cookie at all, I just remember that I REALLY enjoyed every bite of that cookie. So, I emailed my uncle and he zipped off the recipe to me as follows:

Hi Lori: here is the original recipe. It makes a lot.
For 1/6 of the original recipe it calls for tsp of corn syrup.
12 eggs
1 # margarine
18 cups oatmeal
8 TBSP baking soda
1 TBSP Light Corn syrup
1 # M&M candies
2 # brown sugar
3 # peanut butter
4 cups white sugar
1 TBSP vanilla
1 # chocolate chips
1 # butterscotch chips
You can also add raisins, nuts, sunflower seeds and coconut.
Mix all ingredients, add oatmeal, candies and nuts last in a very large bowl.
Bake 350 for 10-15 min ( 16 min for "Big" cookies)
Makes 23 doz regular size. You can also use chocolate frosting on them after they have cooled
Get out the old calculator and downsize the recipe as I haven't found one for a smaller amount
Lots of luck, Uncle Fred

Well, I was overwhelmed by the amount that it makes, the amounts of the ingredients that I had to use and especially by the words "Lots of Luck" at the end of my uncles email. So, I got out the calculator and started dividing, adding, multiplying and finally came up with this recipe:

9 cups rolled oats
4 tsp baking soda
1 cup M&M's
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips (optional)
1 cup white chocolate chips (my addition to the recipe)
6 eggs
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
2 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
Raisins, nuts, sunflower seeds and coconut may also be added :)

Mix together the oats, baking soda, chocolate chips, M&M's and whatever other add-in's you are using. Set this bowl aside. In another bowl, mix sugars, butter, vanilla, eggs and peanut butter. Combine the two mixtures. Either scoop with a large ice cream/cookie scoop or roll into small 1" balls. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven. Large cookies should cook for about 16-17 minutes and smaller cookies should take about 10-12 minutes. DON'T overcook or you will have very hard Frisbee's or hockey pucks!

These were taste tested by my family and my sisters family last night and got all thumbs up!

DARING BAKERS Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream

2008-07-30T00:00:00.005-04:00

It is that time again this month for the unveiling of my Daring Bakers challenge. The challenge was to make a Filbert Gateau...this consists of:

1 Filbert Genoise (Cake Part)
1 recipe sugar syrup
1 recipe Praline Buttercream
½ cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 recipe Raspberry Glaze
1 recipe Ganache Glaze

All I can say about this month's challenge is holy crap. This challenge has been sitting on my back for weeks and I haven't been able to find the time to tackle it until yesterday. The first problem I encountered was that it took me days to find a store in my area that even carries Hazelnuts (Filberts). I am a very determined person and I wanted the Hazelnuts, so Hazelnuts were what I was going to use! I finally found them at a little specialty store in a town neighboring our town. The only thing with the nuts that I found was that they had their skins still on.

The next problem that I encountered during this challenge was that I DO NOT own a food processor. This kitchen item has been an appliance that my mother in law insists on me owning, but I have NEVER found any reason to own one. So, after reading all the forums on the Daring Bakers website, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to myself, I am now the proud owner of a Cuisinart 11 cup food processor. Funny thing about this is that it isn't my birthday! Ha Ha!!! Don't tell the husband!

So, I got my nuts and my food processor and there I was for another week and no Filbert Gateau. Yes, it is that time of year that every mother (especially stay at home moms like me!!) wonders why she decided to have children. My little guys are 21 months apart and they are all boy. They keep me extremely busy and I couldn't imagine what the Gateau would look like if they were in the kitchen with me to help! I would have been medicated at this point, just put it that way!

Time to make the Filbert Gateau. Yesterday the husband took the boys to run some errands and then off to the weekly classic car show. I quickly unboxed the new food processor and washed it up. While I was waiting for it to dry off, I turned on the oven to toast my hazelnuts. I put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. When I removed them from the oven I placed them onto a dish cloth. I folded the dish cloth and rubbed my hands back and forth over the cloth. When I opened the cloth up most of the hazelnuts skins had come completely off. I repeated this step several times to remove all of the remaining skin. I did have to take a paring knife to a few of them to remove some stubborn skins.

Next I got to use the new food processor. I had to finely grind up some of the hazelnuts to make the genoise (cake portion of the Gateau). This was very exciting since I have lived almost 29 years (that is how old my kids think I am!) and have never even touched a food processor. It certainly did the job and quite quickly too! I was then onto the task of clarifying butter....yeah, I haven't ever heard of that before either!! I took 2 sticks of butter and melted it over a low heat. After about 10 minutes, I skimmed the milk product off from the top and strained the rest. The butter was so very clear, I was very proud of myself for not burning or ruining it in any other way.

I now had my processed nuts and my clarified butter, time to start working on the genoise (cake part). I whipped the yolks of 7 eggs and then 5 whites and they turned out real nice. I then had to combine all the ingredients. I folded the fine hazelnut flour combination into the egg yolk and egg white mixture and then poured in the clarified butter. It was a real nice looking mixture, very fluffy. I poured it into a 10" springform pan and then went to put it into my preheated oven. I opened the oven and it was COLD!! I turned on the wrong oven when I was trying to multi-task! So, I prayed, prayed more and more for the mixture to not deflate. My prayers were answered and the oven heated quickly and the mixture didn't deflate!

Time to start on the other MANY parts of this recipe. I got the simple syrup made with light rum because I didn't have dark rum....rum is rum to me, he he! I worked on the praline paste for a long time...the first time the sugar got really dark too quickly and smelt burnt. The next time I got it melted and then added the hazelnuts and brought it to a slight boil and before I could get it out of the pan, it must of slightly burnt. I continued on to make the praline paste, but there was a slight taste of over cooking that I didn't care for. So, I decided to for go the praline paste since I didn't have anymore nuts and didn't want the entire dessert ruined because of burnt nuts.

By the time I was done burning nuts, good thing the husband wasn't here, the genoise (cake part) was ready to come out of the oven. I had to let it cool and then slice it into 3 layers. I did this by putting toothpicks around the edges and letting the knife use them as a guide. This technique worked out really well. After the slicing I had to make the swiss buttercream. This came together well as I had heard was a real nightmare, so I was extremely happy since the praline paste had met its match. Time to assemble~~I brushed the first layer with the simple syrup and then applied the plain buttercream and then whipped cream, I did this again on the second layer. I put the top layer on the cake and then put it into the fridge for about 30 minutes. I pulled it out of the fridge and then trimmed the edges and poured the raspberry glaze over the top and sides. Bake into the fridge while I made the Gananche Glaze. After the glaze was done I transferred the cake to a wire rack and poured the glaze over the top.

I was so exhausted at this point, it was 5 hours now that I had been working on this recipe. My husband thinks that I am crazy, I just might have to agree with his this time. Anyhow, I put my Filbert Gateau on a cake plate and decided I would put some decorations on the top. I filled my decorating bag and put a few little squirts around the top with the center empty. I was going to put a signature "L" on the top for my initial, but the tip went crazy and I got a huge squiggle. So I went with that since I couldn't remove it from the ganache glaze. This challenge was really trying, but I have learned a lot and am glad that I didn't hide and make a box cake this month instead.

OH MY, I just cut the Filbert Gateau and it is heavenly! It is so great without the pralines in the buttercream, I cannot imagine what it tastes like with them in it! I might have to slave away in the kitchen at Christmas to make this one again. Here are some more pictures:

Just Picked Cherry Cobbler

2008-07-12T13:43:00.010-04:00

Mmmm, Good Stuff!

No fancy pit remover, just a straw
Push the straw into the center of the cherry
And out pops the pit....amazing and QUICK!

I got a surprising call from my sister this week, she was outside in her yard picking sour cherries. If any of you know my sister and for those of you that don't, she doesn't like being very domestic. She makes a killer venison meatloaf, from what I hear, but she doesn't just pull a cookbook off from the shelf and whip anything up. So, I got the kids in the car and zoomed over to her house. All of us started picking the cherries and ended up with 3 gallon size Ziploc bags full. When I came home, I washed and bagged them up and off to the freezer they went. It has been driving me nuts that I haven't done anything with them and they have only been in the freezer for 2 days! So I found a recipe for Cherry Cobbler and got busy today. I partially defrosted the cherries and started to cut them in half and pull out the seed. Oh my, I did this to about 10 of them and was ready to chuck all of the other cherries in the garbage can. Suddenly I came up with the idea of shoving a plastic straw through them to get the pit out of the cherries. All you do is just hold the cherry flat on a plate, push the straw into the cherry, then pull the cherry up over the straw. The pit remains on the end of the straw. It worked great and in about 30 minutes I had 5 cups of pitted cherries. Sometimes I just amaze myself !!!

Here is the quick recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup milk
4 cups fresh or frozen pitted sour cherries
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and pour into the bottom of 9 X 13 baking pan. In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir in milk and vanilla until well blended, then pour the batter into the pan over the butter. Do not stir. Place cherries in a bowl and toss with the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of flour. Spoon the cherry mixture evenly over the batter. Do not stir. Bake for about 60 minutes until golden brown. A toothpick inserted into the cobber should come out clean. Enjoy warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

DANISH BRAID

2008-06-29T00:01:00.019-04:00

Here we are at the end of another month and I have completed another Daring Bakers Challenge. This month we were challenged to make a Danish Braid. This Danish Braid is made of a danish dough in the family of butter-laminated doughs. This dough is sweet and super yummy. Since I have NEVER made any type of danish, I was very scared to see the results of what was to come out of this. I kept checking the Daring Bakers Website to see what results other bakers had with the recipe and what fillings others were using. I began thinking of just what fillings were going to be just right. I finally decided on making the first one a Strawberry-Rhubarb with Sweetened Cream Cheese filled Danish and the second one a Sour Cherry Cream Cheese Danish. I was just hoping that the dough would turn out so that I could get that far with the recipe!!!

I started on the dough one afternoon after lunch. I got out the ole' Kitchen Aid and started the dough and then the butter block. I rolled out the dough and then smothered 2/3 of it with the butter block. I folded the dough according to the directions and put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, I had to get the dough out and roll it into a 18 X 13 inch rectangle. Then I had to fold it according to the directions again....this took place a total of 4 times. After the 4th time of rolling it out and folding it, I divided it in to 2 pieces and I had to let the dough rest over night in the fridge.

The next morning I was so excited to start the danish making process. I got the dough out and rolled it into a 15 X 20 rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. This proved to be difficult since I broke the rolling pin handles from pushing so hard! I trudged on and cut the dough so that I had a base area for the filling and then I had the strips on both sides so that I could braid it. I put the cream cheese mixture on first and then the fruit fillings. I then braided the top of the danish. This was another thing that was difficult, I didn't know what I was doing....my braiding technique needs help to say the least! I will have to practice when I get another rolling pin!

I put the danishes in the oven for 10 minutes on 400 degrees and then another 15 minutes at 350 degrees. I couldn't believe the smell in my kitchen. Good thing that we live on a large lot of land in the neighborhood or the neighbors would have been coming by the flock if they would have smelled the aroma!!! I let the danish cool and then drizzled a little powdered sugar/milk mixture over the top! I then proceeded to eat almost 1/2 of the Strawberry Rhubarb Danish that late afternoon. I packaged up 1/2 of the Cherry filled one for my girlfriend and took some of both over to my neighbors......if I hadn't of done that, it would have been very bad for the waistline!

I am very happy that I had the time to tackle this challenge this month. Everyone that tried the danish couldn't believe just how wonderful it was. I think that I have something new to give at Christmas other than my boring Banana Bread!

Rhubarb & Strawberry Crumb Pie

2008-06-16T22:13:00.018-04:00

Ever since I was a very small child, I have been intrigued by the taste of Rhubarb. My grandmother grew it in her backyard and every spring we would always break pieces off and laugh as the sour taste made us have what seemed like lock jaw. We never made anything fancy with it, just ate it raw (from what I can remember). So, when grandma sold her home a few years back, I inherited half of the plants for my home. Last year I found a Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp recipe that I thought wasn't worthy of my "heirloom" Rhubarb. I have been on a mission to find that perfect recipe and this Crumb Pie was given the thumbs up by everyone that was given given the privilege to have a piece. (Arrogant, huh? Yeah, we are talking about my precious rhubarb!) My brother-in-law actually hinted that he would like to see another full pie like that again soon! This recipe is very simple to make and everyone that is privileged enough to have a piece or your pie will think that you have slaved away for hours! Without further ado, here is the recipe that I found in my new recipe book, "Pie" by Ken Haedrich and tweaked a little by moi!

Skillet Crust:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a medium size bowl. Set aside. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium to low heat. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry mixture and turn off the hear. Stir the flour and butter with a whisk (it worked GREAT). It will be a little clumpy, but just keep working it. Set the crumbs aside to cool for several minutes. When the crumbs are cool enough to handle, transfer about 2/3 of them to a buttered 9 1/2 inch deep-dish pie pan. Press them into the bottom and up the side of the pan.

Filling:

4 cups (1 1/2 pounds) fresh rhubarb sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 cups sliced strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

Juice & Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cardamom (if you have it, if not it is alright.)

Drumstick Cake Dessert

2008-06-16T18:45:00.012-04:00

Yummy stuff, trust me!

My little kitchen helper :)

On a recent trip to my parents house, I rummaged through my mom's recipe box for some new recipes. I found this recipe from one of her old co-workers and she swore that it was something that I would love. Well, she is my mother and she does know me very well and she wasn't wrong! This recipe tastes similiar to those icecream drumsticks that you buy at the store, but this is made in a 9 X 13 pan. Oh, it is so good and a small piece really does satisfy a sweet tooth. Here is the recipe:

DRUMSTICK CAKE

Base:

3 Cups Crushed Vanilla Wafers (1 box)

1 Cup Chopped Peanuts

1/2 Cup Melted Butter

Mix the 3 ingredients together and pour 1/2 of the combined ingredients in the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan. Reserve other 1/2 for topping.

Filling:

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Vanilla

1 (8oz) Package Cream Cheese

3 Eggs

1 Large Cool Whip (16oz.)

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

Topping:

1 Jar (16-18 oz) Hot Fudge Topping

Mix cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter, vanilla and eggs together. Mix well until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip and pour onto base. Place in freezer to set for approximately 1 hour. Heat Hot Fudge topping until it is pourable. Remove pan from freezer and pour Hot Fudge topping onto the top of dessert then sprinkle with the other 1/2 of the base ingredient mixture. Cover and freeze.

ENJOY!!

Chocolate Strawberry Trifle

2008-05-12T14:54:00.004-04:00

In honour of Mother's Day and my own mother, I made this awesome quick recipe given to me by my neighbor, Caroline. This is so tasty that all of your guests will think that you slaved away in the kitchen for hours....my brother-in-law actually had this thought! What you do is just bake a box cake in a 9 X 13 pan and then cut it into cubes. Mix 2 (8ounce) cool-whips with 1 (4 ounce) instant chocolate (or any flavor) pudding. And last but NOT least, slice up some strawberries.

First (Bottom) layer: cake

Second layer: pudding mixture

Third layer: sliced strawberries

Repeat layers until your Trifle dish is full

Enjoy and let me know what you think of it!

Daring Bakers Challenge for April

2008-04-27T08:53:00.003-04:00

The challenge for this month was Cheesecake Pops. This recipe looked almost like several other cheesecake recipes that I have made in the past, but only you cut (Scoop) them into little balls or shapes and then dip them into chocolate. While looking at the recipe I had to gasp, I have been trying to loose weight and the thought of all that cream cheese.....oh my! I got the cheesecake mixture into the pan and had to cook it about 65 minutes. I wanted to make sure that it was indeed done and it didn't appear to look done at the suggested 35 to 45 minutes. I put it into the fridge overnight on a Friday night and on Sunday morning I carefully cut the cheesecake (with a plastic knife, I don't know why that works so well!) into triangular shapes and then dipped them into mint chocolate. I got this minty chocolate at a cake supply shop near my home and oh it is really good! I then put lots of cute spring color sprinkles on the still wet chocolate and did they look cute and tasted WONDERFUL!! I would make these again for a special occasion -- or even just one day that I want to splurge! Here is the recipe if you would like to try them for yourselves! Sorry no pictures my camera isn't working...need to go and get a new one! Here is the recipe:

Cheesecake Pops
Makes 30 – 40 Pops
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionery coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional
Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.
In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.
Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a spring form pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.
Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.
When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.
Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionery chocolate pieces) as needed.
Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

My FIRST Daring Bakers Challenge

2008-03-25T09:52:00.019-04:00

These last couple of months I have been bored with my cooking and decided to browse some cooking blogs that I stumbled upon. I found a really cool food blog that I found some great recipes on and read about a group that bakes a different recipe together each month. This group is called the Daring Bakers and is the real reason that I created this food blog. I joined the group last month and received my challenge for March 2008. The challenge was to make a cake named, "The Perfect Party Cake". This cake recipe is from the recipe book, "Baking from my home to yours" by Dorie Greenspan (Who is the best-selling author of Baking with Julia Child) I was instantly intimidated! Oh my, a butter cream frosting, 4 layers and filling..... The last cake that I remember making from scratch was when I was a teenager and decided to make my dad a birthday cake. It was pretty awful and I still get teased about it.

I decided that I needed to make this cake for Easter Dinner Dessert. Easter morning the kids hunted for their baskets and then it was time to bake. I got the Kitchen Aid out and away I went. I couldn't believe it; I was making this cake and actually had some confidence that my family would be able to eat it. I got the cake batter into the pans and waited patiently the 30 minutes for the cakes to bake. I just knew that all the running around the kids were doing was bound to make these cakes not rise. I pulled the cakes out and they looked just perfect. Perfect until I flipped them out of the pans and saw that they didn't rise real high. So, I decided that I needed to make the recipe again to make sure that I didn't screw something up (as this is common around here!!) I quickly made another 2 cakes and of course they turned out the same. Oh well, I now had 4 layers that would look like a decent size cake when it was finished. (Decent size was an UNDERSTATEMENT!) I proceeded to make this awesome butter cream frosting and couldn't believe that I actually made this masterpiece frosting myself! I then had to put all of this good stuff together! I started with the first layer and spread the raspberry filling onto the top of it, then put a layer of frosting. I repeated these steps until the last of the four cakes were placed onto the top. At this point I was freaking out, this cake was just crazy HUGE! I looked at this thing and just started frosting, frosting and more frosting. I am NOT by any means going to make a living by decorating cakes. The original recipe called for coconut over the butter cream, but Grandma Madeline doesn't appreciate coconut, so I just placed a few little nests of coconut and jelly beans on the top and around the bottom for a little Easter decoration. No one that ate the cake could believe that I made it. So bring on the next challenge Daring Bakers, I AM READY! Email me for the recipe if you too would like to challenge yourself!

Easter Birthday Cakes

2008-03-21T21:14:00.007-04:00

Aunt Gaby's "29th" Birthday Cake
G1's Birthday Cake

Tomorrow is our annual Egg Hunt and this year we will be also celebrating G1's B-Day early. Since he was born on Easter in April 2001 and we will be gone on vacation for his "real" B-Day, I decided to do a combo party. So it is G1's 7th B-Day/Egg Hunt. It is also Aunt Gaby's "29th" B-Day again tomorrow so we made 2 cakes (actually Brownies since cake doesn't pass through the mouth of my little prince). I never claimed to be a cake decorator, so I am sure you're laughing at my cakes right now!

Easter Treats for the Kiddos

2008-03-21T21:03:00.005-04:00

OK, this isn't something that I slaved in the kitchen over, but it was a hit with the kids. These Little Debbie Swiss Rolls were made into, "Bunny Racers". I found the idea in the Family Fun magazine this month and made enough for both kids to take to school and also for our Egg Hunt this weekend. All the kids loved them and our kids enjoyed making a few of them for themselves.

Martha's Outrageously Chocolate Cookies

2008-02-25T18:04:00.001-05:00

Tonight I decided that I needed to warm up the house by making some cookies. I have been browsing other baking blogs and websites and came across this Martha Stewart recipe. This recipe is so rich and decadent that you have to try them if you have any love for chocolate. When I mixed up the ingredients, I was shocked to see that the batter is more like a brownie batter than a cookie dough. I let the batter settle for 10 minutes prior to scooping them onto the pan which allowed the batter to firm up a little. I then baked for 12 minutes and allowed them to cool for just a couple of minutes before transfering them to waxed paper. While still warm be prepared to indulge in at least 3 or 4 of these with a super cold glass of milk! NOTE: Since I am trying to get into shape for bathing suit season, only 1/2 a package of the chocolate chunks were added to this recipe! Printable recipe can be found by clicking here.

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Serve with vanilla ice cream!!

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I FINALLY WON SOMETHING!!

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***SOLDIER INFO***

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List of NEEDED items by our Soldiers!

More info on Operation Baking Gals

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My new friend, HERMAN (Sourdough Starter)

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Just Picked Cherry Cobbler

DANISH BRAID

Rhubarb & Strawberry Crumb Pie

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Chocolate Strawberry Trifle

Daring Bakers Challenge for April

My FIRST Daring Bakers Challenge

Easter Birthday Cakes

Easter Treats for the Kiddos

Martha's Outrageously Chocolate Cookies

Daring Bakers February Challenge Chocolate Valentino Flourless Chocolate Cake

SOLDIER INFO