Clementine Orange Cake and Carmelitas

One old, one new, these are a few of my favorite things.  I have had some requests for recipes, so here  you go.  I'm too lazy to upload pictures right now though.

I tried the Clementine Orange cake today.  It has a very light texture.  I can't take credit for it- I used a recipe from food network, but I did change it slightly.  Here you go:

5 clementines

6 eggs

1 cup + 2tablespoons sugar

2 1/3 cup flour (this is where the tweak is.  you are supposed to use ground almonds, but I don't keep those on hand and I wanted to do this today.  The almonds make it a bit lighter and change the flavor slightly, plus make it gluten free).

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1. Boil the clementines for two hours.  I know this seems like a long time, and make sure to put plenty of water in the pot.  

2. Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a springform pan (mine is 10 inches, the original recipe says to use an 8 inch one).  I also put wax paper in the bottom of mine to help the cake slide out after baking.

3. When the oranges are cool enough to touch them, puree them (yes, peel, that white stuff and everything).  If you have big seeds, pull out the seeds.  I used my immersion blender for this, but it works in a food processor.  I've read that you can also just chop them by hand and you'll just have a chunkier cake.

4. Beat the six eggs in a separate bowl.  I used my immersion blender for this step as well.  

6. Add sugar to the eggs.  (I used my immersion blender on this too).

7. Add the baking powder and flour, mix until it is well blended.  You'll recognize cake batter.

8.  Fold in the orange puree.  

9.  Pour into springform pan.  Bake for 30 minutes (if you are using the 8 inch pan, bake for closer to 45).  

10.  Allow to cool and then remove cake from pan.  I drizzled a powdered sugar/milk glaze on it while it was still warm and it seeped into the cake, giving it a little bit extra sweetness and moisture.

Guys, this was good. 12/28/13 ETA: the next day, this is even better.  

The other recipe I've been asked to share is for Carmelitas.  I used some other recipes to guide me, but tweaked it enough to call it my own.  Here you go.

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups oats

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

Mix above ingredients.

Add 1 1/4 cup melted butter and squish together.  A crumbly mixture should form.

Press into a 13x9 pan and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  

In the meantime, unwrap 1-2 bags of soft caramels (I use the werthers brand, so these bags are a bit smaller than the other brands).  

In a microwave safe bowl microwave caramels and 1 tbsp of milk for 30 seconds.  Stir well.  Continue in microwave in 10 second spurts until caramel is completely melted and blended with the milk.  Add 2 tbsp of flour.

Pull the crust out of the oven and cover with 1 bag of dark chocolate chips.  Then drizzle caramel mixture over the chocolate chips.  Top with the other half of the oatmeal mixture.  Bake for 18 more minutes.

Allow to cool (if you can resist) before you cut, otherwise they get really, really gooey.  

Read More

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with M and Ms

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 jar peanut butter
• 1 ½  cup white sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 ½  cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½  teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½  teaspoon salt
• Chocolate chips
• M and Ms

Instructions

1. In a large bowl beat together butter and peanut butter using an electric mixer until well combined.
2. Add sugars and continue to beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon of salt and mix just until blended.
3. Stir in chocolate chips and m and ms (as many or as few as you’d like).  Drop by spoonful on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not over bake.  

Truth be told, this is from a recipe I found on Pinterest.  I adjusted it enough to claim it as my own.  

I'll even post a picture.

Read More

The BEST peanut butter cookies 

"These peanut butter cookies are the best ones i've ever had"

                                                     quote from Stefany Pratt
 I made 96 of these, but here is the original recipe of 48 cookies.

• 2 cups unsalted butter
• 2 cups crunchy peanut butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking soda

The Directions

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

These are best with milk. They are Really good. When I made them, they needed no adjustment from the recipe.

contributed by: William Pratt

Read More

Fruit Moose, or is that Mousse?

Yet another recipe from Our Best Bites. It is becoming a mild obsession around here. (And, by "around here," I mean all of the Waseca Branch and any missionaries who pass through it.)

I made this for the Easter Egg Hunt, but due to an abundance of candy and other desserts that were more familiar to the kids, not a lot got eaten. So, we brought it to Tom's family the next day.

It was supposed to be for dessert. But, a good portion of it was missing before dinner was over. At dessert time, it went quick. Even my own kids, who had snubbed it the day before, devored it. (And then declared how cruel it was that we never made it at home.)

Here's the very complicated recipe:

1 large package or two small ones of jello
2 cups of boiling water

Throw those in a blender together. (The blender really does work best.)

Add 1 8 oz brick of cream cheese. Blend until smooth. Fold in 8 oz of cool-whip. (According to the OBB site, cool whip is really ideal here. Don't decide to be fancy and make your own whipped cream on this one.)

That's it. Pour it in something and let it sit for 3 hours. I did this a few times to make layers. You can do individual servings cups, layers, etc.

I topped mine with the remaining cool-whip. You can get fancier than that, but I liked it that way.

Read More

Garbage Cookies

Enticing, right?

Well this is as seen on one of those Food Network shows where the celebirty chef personality goes around to local shops and talks about how great they are. One of the shops made what they called "garbage cookies". They took their extra cookie doughs and added them to a basic cookie recipe along with all of the leftover fixin's from their kitchen. They were throwing everything from licorice chunks to potato chips into that giant industrial sized mixer. It looked glorious.

And then this morning I was thinking about how I needed to used up the peanut butter cookie dough in my fridge and I wanted to get rid of the coconut that is starting to go stale and I remembered the show and decided to give it a shot.

I started with my own cookie dough base. Its a little like the recipe on the chocolate chip bag, only with my own twists and turns. If you don't have your own cookie recipe, start with the nestle toll house recipe. To make it softer, shift to a little less brown sugar and a little more white. (Only if you trust yourself though. Brown sugar adds a lot of flavor, and since you are going to dump all sorts of extras in there, you might want a little more bland base.)

Ok, when your base is ready, go to town. Clean out your cupboard. I threw in the end of the oatmeal container, the rest of the peanut butter cookie dough from the fridge, the rest of the coconut leftover from the holidays, two half-bags of chocolate chips (one milk chocolate, one semi-sweet) and several handfuls of pretzels that I crunched just a little as I threw them in. Oh. And a couple of chopped up fun sized candy bars.

Guys.

Yum.

I might make pretzels in the chocolate chip cookies my rule from now on.

And all I was doing was cleaning out my cupboards.

Here's the deal. How many times do you want to make cookies but there are no chocolate chips in the house? I know it happens to me more often than I like to admit. (Tangent: I don't know what I'm more ashamed of, the frequency with which I like to make cookies, or the fact that I don't have chocolate chips in my cupboard.)

I don't know why this never occured to me before. We all have stashes of some sort of junk food or another, and its likely there for use in "emergencies" because we don't ever really feel like eating that particular thing. Seriously. Try throwing it in the cookie dough!

That is all the wisdom I have to expound for the day. I need to refill my mug of milk.

Read More

chocolate m'n'm pretzels

These are great for holidays; just put them in a bowl and on the counter top, and you're set. You need:

Pretzels, M&Ms and Hershey's Kisses.

Place the pretzels on a cookie sheet. Then, place one kiss on each of them. Put them in the oven at 325 degrees (long enough to be melted, but maintain their shape). Immediately place the m&m's in the center of the chocolate and press them down a little. Let cool until the chocolate is holding the m&m in place, or about 30 minutes. To store, put in Ziploc bags and freeze.

Read More

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

My SIL pointed me in the direction of these cookies. They are really good.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

From:
http://ldsliving.com/story/64185-food-dish-cookie-recipe-contest-winner-recipe

Read More

Rootbeer Cookies

Update: I made these this weekend, and they were a hit with my book club and at mom and dad's house. I'm hanging on to this one! Ingredients (Cookies) •1 c. butter •2 c. brown sugar •2 eggs •1 c. buttermilk •3/4 tsp rootbeer concentrate (Make sure if you're using a bottle of concentrate that has already been in your cupboard for awhile that it isn't old. I've known people who have used old concentrate and they end up pouring almost the entire bottle in before they get even a hint of rootbeer flavor. That and the color doesn't turn out nearly right.) •4 c. flour •1 tsp baking soda •1 tsp salt Ingredients (Frosting) •3 1/2 c. powdered sugar •3/4 c. butter •3 Tbsp water •1 1/4 tsp rootbeer concentrate Directions 1.Combine all ingredients for the cookies in a large bowl or in a KitchenAid. 2.Drop the dough onto a greased cookie sheet (about a tablespoon size of dough balls) and bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. 3.While the cookies are baking, place the dough in the refrigerator. (It is good to keep your cookie dough in the refrigerator between batches to keep the dough firm.) Combine all the ingredeints for the frosting in a medium bowl and mix together well, whether it be with your KitchenAid or an electric hand mixer. 4.Frost the cookies after they have been given time to cool. Enjoy!

Read More

Russian Tea Cakes

aka Mexican Wedding Cakes aka "Brushin' your teeth cakes"

1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar (for rolling at the end)

Cream butter ane vanilla. Mix sugar, flour, and walnuts in a seperate bowl. Combine the two together. Mix until it is no longer crumbly. Roll into 1 inch balls. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 12 mins. Remove and roll in sugar. Makes 36.

Apparently these are very freezable, too. I didn't get a change to try, though, because every time I pulled a batch out, they disappeared.

Read More

Egg Nog Pie

I realize all may not be fans of egg nog. I wasn't, until a pregnancy did that weird thing when it changes your taste for something. So, thanks to my second child, Tom now has to share the egg nog with me. His family all loves it, so this little invention I came up with for Thanksgiving was a huge hit. The egg nog flavor isn't too strong. I have a feeling this will make a repeat performance later this year.

1 1/2 cup egg nog
1/4 cup milk
1 large package vanilla pudding

Mix together. Add in:

1/2 bag toffee chips (with or without chocolate, doesn't matter)
1 tub cool-whip

Mix with pudding.

Pour into a baked and cooled pie crust. You could also use a graham cracker crust.

Read More

BYU Mint Brownies

When I worked in the CES office during college, there were a few weeks in the year that were absolute nightmares.  The opening week of EFY registration, Education Week and the worst, Women's Conference.  While Women's Conference is probably a very uplifting time for most women, my office dealt with the special needs women.  Like the woman who was disappointed in President Hinckley's talk and demanded her money back because she didn't feel the spirit.  Oi.  Anyway, mint brownies are the holy grail during this week.  Its nearly impossible to buy them because any place that sells them is out within the first 30 seconds of opening their doors.  One day, I had an assignment from my supervisor: the on-site registration desk in the WILK had an entire pan of mint brownies hidden away, cleverly disguised in a nametag holder box.  My mission was to get a dozen brownies from the WILK to the Harmon building.  Now, this isn't the longest distance wise trek across campus.  The WILK is in the middle of campus, and the Harmon building in on the north side of campus.  There's no fast way there.  If I was on the south side trying to get to the north side, I could hop in a car, but from the WILK, the nearest parking lot is almost as far as the Harmon building.  So I had to walk.  I managed to time it so that the bulk of my walking was while most of the women were in classes.  I miscalculated one thing: the women who were skipping classes, waiting in line at the Marriot Center to make sure they got prime tickets for President Hinckley's devotional.  As I approached the Marriot Center, I clutched the plate of brownies to my chest (don't worry, they were covered in many layers of plastic wrap).  I had women grabbing at the plate, pulling on my back pack, even offering large amounts of money (I think I got offtered $20 at one point) trying to take these brownies from me.  I had some women yelling obscenities at me because I was just a student and could have mint brownies anytime, but this was their only chance each year to get some. My supervisor saw me being accosted, pushed his way through the large group of women and helped me escape from a very dangerous situation.  The brownies were smushed, I had some bruises on my legs, but we made it.  Recently, BYU published the mint brownie recipe in the alumni magazine.  While many will think this was a very magnanimous action, I'd like to point out that they didn't publish their chocolate frosting recipe, which I think is really what makes the brownies good.

BYU MINT BROWNIES

1 c. margarine
1/2 c. cocoa
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts

12 oz. chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)

MINT ICING
5 Tbsp. margarine
dash of salt
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. mint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring

1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.
2. Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.
3. Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.

Read More

AUNT WINNIE'S RAISIN CAKE

AUNT WINNIE'S RAISIN CAKE, from the 'Chez Burnham ' recipe book.

*Aaron's Note: I found this in Grandpa's Journals, and thought it belonged here.

(A favorite request on birthdays. The caramel icing was best - like candy. Her children would peel it off and save it to eat last.)

Boil 2 c. raisins in two c. water. If not enough juice afterward, add water to make 2 cups. Let cool slightly.

Add 1 c. shortening 2 c. sugar

Stir in (sifted):

5 c. flour

2 t. soda

1 t. salt

spices:

½ t. nutmeg

½ t. cloves

1 t. cinnamon

Bake at 350° about 30 minutes.

Caramel icing: (Good on spice cake)

3 c. sugar 1 c. cream* ½ c. water

Melt 1 c. sugar in large fry pan or saucepan. When melted, add enough water (½ c.) to dissolve sugar. To this, add 2 c. sugar and 1 c. cream (sweet) and let cook until it forms a soft ball in water. set aside till it stops bubbling, abt. 5-10 minutes. Whip with spoon till thick for cake. Don't wait too long!

* Can subsitute rich milk. (Half and half?)

Read More

Cream Cheese Dip

I made this to dip my cinnamon chips in last night, and it was a hit. It could be used as a fruit dip, too.

2 blocks of cream cheese
1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
a splash of vanilla (to taste)

Let cream cheese soften. Throw it all in a mixer and whip it together.

Read More

Fake Oreos, Fake Spiders

Okay, so you know the recipe for fake oreos. Make those.

Then dye your frosting red. Use it to draw little black widow markings on your sandwich cookies. Chocolate chips for the eyes, and chocolate dipped pretzel sticks for the legs. Or you could use black licorice if you wanted to ruin perfectly good cookies.

Read More

Chocolate Spiders

alright, I am enjoying the recipes people are coming up with, and getting all sorts of ideas for fun and exciting challenges (how about : only recipes you invent yourself, imagine the possibilities!) But Halloween is approaching, and other more significant celebrations that follow shortly after.
So there is this party coming up, Halloween themed and with a circle of friends that have a whole lot of inside jokes. What I need are dishes (healthy and not) involving spiders. Spider looking, spider web looking, even perhaps spider leg looking. Whatever. I know I could take a ritz cracker, stick 8 pretzel sticks to it with peanut butter, then dip the whole thing in chocolate, but I would like to branch out a little more, and come up with perhaps an entire meal of spider foods.

Ready, set, brainstorm.

Read More

Chocolate Marble Cheesecake

The ingredients and steps are simple. But getting it just right... a little trickier.

2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs

5 Tablespoons Melted Butter

Make the crust, press it in a 9" springform pan.

Filling:

3 8z Pkgs Cream Cheese

1 C White Sugar

5 Eggs

Best if you beat these together with a paddle not a beater, because air is bad (makes cracks). Also, don't go adding a lot of the liquid (in this case the eggs) until you have the cheese beat smooth. It's almost impossible to get lumps out of anything once you have too much liquid.

Pour half or so of the mixture in to the pan, then melt 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and mix it in to the rest. Pour it in the pan in a swirly pattern or cut it in with a knife (careful not to disturb the graham crackers).

Bake at 3o0 degrees until the top isn't too jiggly. It's supposed to take 50 minutes, I find it is more like 75 minutes.

By the way, cheesecake is the only cake that should NOT be eaten warm. No matter how badly you want to. It isn't worth it. Let it be. Cool it to room temp, then put it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Lock the fridge.

I'm told a good frosting for this is 3/4 cup of melted chocolate mixed with 1/2 cup sour cream. But who frosts cheesecake? At some point doesn't it just become ridiculous?

Read More

Cookie Salad

Nancy's salad post reminded me that nobody has posted Cookie Salad yet. This isn't dessert, no way! It has been served on the table with the meal every time I have eaten it, so it can't be dessert. Besides, it has fruit in it, so it is healthy.

Instant Pudding

Whipped Cream

Bananas

Mandarin Oranges (optional)

Keebler Fudge-Striped Cookies

Mini Marshmallows (optional)

To start, make some instant pudding. I like vanilla. Do as many servings as you have people who are going to eat it.

Stir in a container of whipped cream.

Cut up some bananas into slices. Add them to the pudding. Some people like some drained mandarin oranges, too, but others don't. Just make sure they are really well drained, or they will water down the salad, and we don't want that!

Just before serving, break up some Keebler Fudge-Striped Cookies and mix them in, but save enough whole cookies to decorate the top of the salad. Don't ever try adding these more than an hour in advance of serving, or they will be soggy. However, I have been known to enjoy a bowl of leftover cookie salad for as many as three days after making it. I just wouldn't serve it to guests that way.

Mini Marshmallows could also be added at this time. I haven't had it that way more than once, and I could take them or leave them.

Read More

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Alright, Mubba. Here's my contribution to your chocolate cult meeting. One of the boys discovered this recipe a couple of weeks ago, and I'm afraid I made a decent contribution to the consumption of them.

2 C Butter

3 C White Sugar

4 Eggs

1 Tbsp +1 Tsp Vanilla

4 C Flour

1-1/3 C Cocoa Powder

1-1/2 Tsp Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt

4 C Chocolate Chips

Cookie mixing is standard procedure. Baking is too - 8-10 min @ 375.

Read More

Edible Modeling Dough

Dug this one up for family home evening. Sicky-sweet and peanut butter, only a child could like it.

1-1/4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1-1/4 Cups Powdered Milk
1 Cup Corn Syrup
1 Cup Peanut Butter.

Mix.

Vaguely reminiscent of actual peanut butter cookie dough, just similar enough to be disappointing when you realize that it is realy just peanut-butter-flavored-diabetes-in-a-bowl.

Read More

Reeses Peanut Butter Bars

Seriously, you didn't know this one by heart? Come on, I remember a time in Warroad when Aaron made these at least weekly. And then I made them for the seminary open house last year, and again they were a hit. There was a time we could whip these up in less time than it took for the toyota to drive from the library to 306 virginia street....

But you do need a food processor... (Ok, remember the Christmas of the food processor? I know you all have one. Well, Emma and I don't, but that just means you have to make them for us and mail them to us. Whatever happened to care packages?)

I'm posting the 13x9 recipe, because there is no point to making any less...

2 1/2 cups of graham craker crumbs (remember that food processor?)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter

mix it all up and press into the bottom of the 13x9.

Melt 2 TBsp of peanut butter with
6 oz chocolate chips (thats 1/2 package)


Boom Baby

Read More