Hot Fudge

Sometimes hot fudge sundaes for dinner is just what you need. I mean, really, let's throw caution to the wind and enjoy what we want. Life is stressful enough these days, but I'm an optimist; I feel we are getting better.

When my beloved decided he wasn't hungry for dinner I asked if he had room for dessert. He quickly agreed he had room for a hot fudge sundae. Friday we had friends over for dinner and since I don't bake much in the summer, we had a simple dish of ice cream with peach sauce for dessert. That meant there was ice cream left in the freezer.

A few days ago, in an unusual fit of cleaning, I ran across a recipe for my mom's hot fudge. This was not your usual chocolate syrup this was something divine. I had never made it but had asked mom quite a few years ago how she concocted this delightful pleasure. It is way too easy.

Hot Fudge
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (try some of the La Lechera that Doodles posted about)
powdered cocoa
milk
pinch of salt (optional)

In a small sauce pan heat the condensed milk slowly and whisk in enough cocoa powder to taste. Some people like it more chocolaty than others. As it heats, thin it to the right consistency with milk. You want to be able to pour the syrup. Add a pinch of salt. Heat and stir until it's smooth, no need to come close to a boil.

Pour over your favorite ice cream but pour enough you want a bite of that tasty fudgy syrup with each bite of ice cream.

Bite the cookie

Sometimes I become obsessed with food and make and remake recipes until I like them. Cookies are on the Hit Parade right now so bear with me, folks.

I adore cookies, all types, flavors, and sizes. If I'm thumbing through a magazine cookie photos will make me stop, asses the recipe, and tear it out for later. I've piles of snippets stuck in the back of my cook book. Someday I'll organize them, ha!

Let me sing the praises of the cookie. Easily stored in a variety of containers, put in a slice of bread alongside cookies you want to stay soft, you don't need a fancy jar though I enjoy my crock. You don't need a plate or a fork or any fussy presentation; hands work great. It's portable, you can walk by the cookie jar, on your way to the gym, and snag one or three. They are a favorite of all ages, cultures, and cooks. I bet your family has its favorite and it's time you made them some right now.

Here is my latest Vanilla Pecan Refrigerator Cookies. I can't say where I got this recipe but I do enjoy having a log of refrigerator cookies in the freezer. I can bake the entire recipe or maybe just a dozen for my beloved and me. He likes them, too. Though shortbread cookies are my all-time favorite these little gems are easy, quick and delicious. I've been going for more of a crispy cookie lately and, since there is only white sugar, they fill that order. I used butter but if you use shortening they might be a bit crispier; I'll try that next time.

Vanilla Pecan Refrigerator Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter or shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla (yes, this is correct)
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans (nice if you toast them)

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each. Add the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Use a spoon to stir in the flour mixture into the sugar mixture. Add the pecans, mixing well. Shape into three rolls about 2 inches in diameter and wrap in was paper. refrigerate at least two hours or up to three days. You can also freeze.

Bake in 375 oven. Cut the dough into 1/4 inch slices 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack and store in airtight container. Makes about 6 dozen.

Editor's note: My husband usually can take or leave cookies, I know, why would I marry someone like that? With these he can't keep out of the cookie crock. It has quite a heavy lid so I can always tell when he's in there. I asked what he liked about them and he couldn't put his finger on the reason. Finally, who needs a reason to eat a cookie!

Let us know your family favorite cookie.

Plain but perfect

There are as many sugar cookie recipes as there are families. For roll out cookies I'd made the same recipe over and over until I found Sylvie's on Soul Fusion Kitchen. Perfect for cookie cutters but growing up I remember a plain sugar cookie with the tops dusted with sugar. As luck would have it I found a recipe to satisfy that old memory.

While celebrating Christmas at Mary's, my step-mother, I found some cookies she'd baked but didn't have out. She said they were a little stale. They were exactly what I was looking for, well not the stale part, but I asked her to send the recipe and now I make these regularly. I only make a half recipe because my darling and I would sit down and eat them all and four to five dozen is way too many.

They are dusted cinnamon and sugar and are made with butter and oil and couldn't be easier to throw together. I hope you enjoy them.

Sugar Cookies
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup margarine (I used unsalted butter)
1 cup cooking oil

Cream together – beat until fluffy.

Beat in 2 eggs

4 cups plus 4 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. In a small bowl, combine some sugar and cinnamon. Using the bottom of a drinking glass, spread with margarine, dip it into the sugar and cinnamon mixture, and press on top of each cookie. Cook for about 10-15 minutes.

Cast Iron Apple Pie

Since I'm planning to participate in a Outdoor Dutch Oven demo when we go camping the end of the month I though I'd better try out this new recipe before I did. I saw this recipe on America’s Test Kitchen (www.americastestkitchen.com) on public television's Beg Week and thought I could convert it to iron. I followed the recipe as stated and the product was, ok. I hate, just ok so when I do this again I'll make some adjustments. There are also adjustments to using an Outdoor Dutch Oven.

The sauce had little flavor and was not thick enough. They use cornstarch and I'm not a fan of that to thicken pies so I'd use flour next time. Also, you need to adjust the thickening agent for the different apples. Some, more juicy that others, will take more flour. Now cinnamon is not to everyone's taste but an 1/8 of a teaspoon, who could even taste that. I'll add more. I've made my suggestions in red for the changes to the recipe and green for the adaptation to cast iron.

For the camping trip, I'll pre-make the pie dough and slice the apples and sprinkle with lemon juice to keep them from getting brown.

Skillet Apple Pie
from the Episode: Easy Apple Desserts

If your skillet is not heatproof, precook the apples and stir in the cider mixture as instructed, then transfer the apples to a 13- by 9-inch baking dish. Roll out the dough to a 13- by 9-inch rectangle and bake it as instructed. If you do not have apple cider, reduced apple juice may be used as a substitute—simmer 1 cup apple juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 10 minutes). Serve the pie warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Use a combination of sweet, crisp apples such as Golden Delicious and firm, tart apples such as Cortland or Empire.

Serves 6 to 8

Crust
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (5 ounces), plus more for dusting work surface
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening , chilled
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter , cut into 1/4-inch pieces
3–4 tablespoons ice water

Filling
1/2 cup apple cider (see note)
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 teaspoons cornstarch (I'll use 4 tablespoons flour)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I'll use 1-2 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I'll use 3 tablespoons)
(I'll use 3 tablespoons brown sugar)
2 1/2 pounds sweet apples and tart apples (about 5 medium), peeled, cored, halved, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges

1 egg white , lightly beaten
2 teaspoons sugar

Use a 12 inch deep outdoor dutch oven. Pre-heat with 25 coals underneath, lid on, until pan is hot.

1. FOR THE CRUST: Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in food processor until combined. Add shortening and process until mixture has texture of coarse sand, about ten 1-second pulses. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and process until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, with butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer mixture to medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons ice water over mixture. With blade of rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on dough with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 1 tablespoon more ice water if dough does not come together. Turn dough out onto sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into 4-inch disk. Wrap dough and refrigerate 30 minutes, or up to 2 days, before rolling out. (If dough is refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable.)

3. FOR THE FILLING: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position (between 7 and 9 inches from heating element) and heat oven to 500 degrees. Whisk cider, syrup, lemon juice, cornstarch, and cinnamon (if using) together in medium bowl until smooth. Heat butter in 12-inch heatproof skillet over medium-high heat. When foaming subsides, add apples and cook, stirring 2 or 3 times until apples begin to caramelize, about 5 minutes. (Do not fully cook apples.) Remove pan from heat, add cider mixture, and gently stir until apples are well coated. Set aside to cool slightly.

For DO: Add butter, then apples to the preheated DO. Stir and cook until apples begin to caramelize. Remove DO from coals add cider mixture stirring to coat the apples. Dust in more flour, if needed.
4. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE: Roll out dough on lightly floured work surface, or between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap, to 11-inch circle. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll over apple filling. Brush dough with egg white and sprinkle with sugar. With sharp knife, gently cut dough into 6 pieces by making 1 vertical cut followed by 2 evenly spaced horizontal cuts (perpendicular to first cut). Bake until apples are tender and crust is a deep golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes; serve.

For DO: After you cut the pie dough, place 4 coals on the bottom and remaining on the lid. Most of the heat should be towards the outside with a few in the center. You can see I had not enough on the rim. Turn lid every five minutes 1/4 turn and bake until crust is golden brown. I needed 25 minutes. Resist opening the lid until 20 minutes have passed.

This will be quite hot but it needs to be dished up since the DO hold onto that heat for a long time. I spooned it into bowls.

If you are camping and prep this before hand it is a great dessert. I might even try this in my regular home oven.

Out my door

stands this beautiful tree. The fruit on this tree is a limon, which as you probably know is a cross between a lemon and a lime.

Here we sit in our RV in Mesa, AZ fruit trees everywhere around us. And we are so lucky to have access to this bountiful limon tree.



Asked Mr Doodles to pick me some ripe fruit so I could make a Key Lime pie. Notice the the skin is the lemon but the flesh is the lime, dang these are good so I knew what a great pie they would make.

Here ya go but this photo does not do this pie justice one bit cause Mr Doodles said "ya know living in the Florida Keys we had access to some of the best key lime pies in the world, this is better than any of those". WOW!!! what a compliment huh? He's my sweetie tho.

Now where I got the recipe I do not know but it is one I have used for years, it's the key lime pie that gives you that tart taste but rich enough to curl your toes.

So if in fact you do partake in this recipe don't email me about the calories I already know, but what is worrisome is that there is still more of the little gems coming ripe on that beautiful limon tree, there goes the hips.

Citrus Key Lime Pie

Crust
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs or cheat like I do sometimes buy a prepared crust
3 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp butter, melted

Filling
1 can (14-oz) sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs
1/2 cup key lime juice NEVER use bottled juice/regular limes are OK
2 tsp lime zest

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, or a food processor, combine wafer cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter, stirring until mixture resembles wet sand. If you are using vanilla wafers or graham crackers, add 2 tsp lemon zest or lemon extract.
Pour into a 9-inch pie plate and press into an even layer across base and up sides.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the crust begins to lightly brown.
Cool completely before filling.

Preheat oven to 300F.
In a large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, egg, lime juice and lime zest until mixture is smooth. Pour into prepared crust.
***Bake for 20 minutes, until filling is just set.
Cool to room temperature then chill in the refrigerator before slicing.
Top with whipped cream to serve.

*** not everyone bakes their key lime pie..........I always have because of the eggs.

Ever start dinner with dessert?

No, me either but here I'm going to start my Labor Day BBQ meal post with my dessert, peach cobbler. I found this fresh peaches and a yummy tender topping made with buttermilk cobbler on Food Network.

This was served after a killer meal of smoked pork, broccoli salad, baked beans, and a few great appetizers. All will appear on future posts but lets get at that peach cobbler, shall we?

Peach Cobbler
It says it serves 6-8 but I doubled it and served 8; maybe we're pigs.

Cobbler filling:
4 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon flour

Cobbler crust:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon brown sugar, for topping.

Preheat over 425 degrees.

Butter a 1 1/2 quart shallow baking dish. Place the sliced peaches in the dish and sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and flour. Mix gently and spread evenly again. Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile combine all dry ingredients for cobbler crust in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or you fingers, to make the texture like course crumbs. Add buttermilk and stir to form a soft dough.

Remove fruit from oven and drop rounded spoons full of dough on top. Sprinkle with last tablespoon of brown sugar and return to oven. Bake until fruit is bubbly and crust topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Cooking the peaches for ten minutes before putting on the topping made it so very light and I think kept it from being "doughy" underneath. It was a little bit of heaven floating down to my kitchen.

Last picture? Only one piece left.

Vegetarians: no monkeys were harmed in the making of this dish

When I'm in a fix for something sweet to make, in a short amount of time, I'll go to my standard, Monkey Bread. It serves as well as a dessert as it does a breakfast treat. I've never had to take any leftovers home. It's so simple it amazes me when people rave about it. Must be the brown sugar and cinnamon, gets them every time. Since there are few ingredients needed I always keep them on hand for that last minute surprise potluck. The refrigerator biscuits last forever. It's scary but I try not to think about it.

Please, no one turn up their noses at the canned biscuits used in this tasty treat. I've made it from scratch and to be honest, I like the texture of the Pillsbury biscuits better. Some recipes call for dipping each piece of dough in butter then rolling in sugar. Takes too much time and, again, not much different in the final product.

Monkey Bread
4 cans Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits, ten in the can. I buy 4 wrapped together in their "value pack"
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon (sometimes I throw in a bit of fresh nutmeg, too)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 stick unsalted butter (do not use margarine)

Grease the sides of a tube/bundt pan.
Mix white sugar and cinnamon together and put in a bag.

Open cans one at a time and cut each biscuit into four pieces. Put all of the one can's cut biscuits into the bag with the cinnamon sugar and shake to coat the pieces.

Start layering the biscuits into the prepared pan. If you desire, you can add chopped nuts or raisins with each layer. Do each can then set aside as you make the syrup.

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a small pan. Bring to a boil and cook for about two minutes stirring continuously. Pour over biscuits in prepared pan.

Bake in 350 oven for about 30-40 minutes until they biscuits are golden and puffed. Don't over bake. Let cool for about 10/15 minutes or so; if not, all the monkeys fall out. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn upside down on a plate.

Serve warm or cold. Use a fork to separate a piece, cutting can be difficult unless it's cold.

I'd like to show a photo but every time I make this I'm rushing out the door.

House of Moon Chinese Dinner

Most of the food I've been cooking lately is old favorites. I made my chocolate cake for a dinner party last one day last weekend and my green chili quiche for the other so that's why I've not posted much. Here at PBE we are very lucky to be able to rely on each other in times like this.

My task for Thursday, though it's more of a joy, was to cook dinner for our darling friend Sandi and her husband Mike. She's mid-way through her chemo treatment and her friends have insisted we help and she's finally acquiesced. My contribution for dinner was:

Chicken Stir-fry with Bok Choy and Steamed Rice
Baby Broccoli with Lemon Garlic Sauce
Pineapple Buttermilk Meringue Pie (posted by Nicole @ Baking Bites)
I added a very light chicken soup with fresh homemade egg noodles just in case she wanted something less spicy.
I called to make sure they were ready for dinner and my beloved and I made a quick delivery. Sandi called later to thank us and I told her it was done for the "love of it." I wish I could do more, she is a dear sweet lady who is going through a very rough time but she believes in prayer and I think there is someone out there praying for her.
Gotta say something about this pie. It is so easy and so damn good you can't imagine. I always seem to have buttermilk left over from some other recipe and don't know what to do with it. Now I know I'll whip up this beauty. Visit Baking Bites for the recipe and especially the recipe for cooked meringue. Fantastic!

Step aside Iron Man; Cast Iron Woman is here

My darling companion is known for many attributes--some more outstanding than others--but he is famous for his sweet tooth. He surprised his sister-outlaw, doodles with his keen detection of a full candy dish.

There's a whole long list of reasons why I want him to stay healthy and happy so I've been tinkering with a baked apple dessert. What I came up with wasn't even a dessert, it was breakfast but I'd serve this anytime; an apple pancake.

First of all you'll need an iron skillet or a pan you can use on the top of the stove and in the oven. It calls for bread flour but you can use all purpose. The high protein bread flour helps the pancake to rise.

Baked Apple Pancake

2 tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten and room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 cup milk, room temperature ( I used non-fat)
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 425° F. Place oven rack on the middle rack of your oven.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs, salt, flour, milk, and vanilla extract; beat until batter is smooth (the batter will be thin, but very smooth and creamy); set aside.

In a large heavy oven-proof frying pan or a cast-iron skillet over medium heat, melt butter, tilting pan to cover sides. Add apples and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture. Stir and let cook for 5 to 7 minutes to slightly cook the apple slices; remove from heat.

Pour prepared batter over apples into pan. Place pan in preheated oven and bake approximately 20 minutes or until puffed above sides of the pan and lightly browned (it may puff irregularly in the center); remove from oven.

Remove pancake from the baking pan by flipping upside down onto a serving platter (apples and cinnamon will be on top). Once out of the oven, the pancake will begin to deflate. To serve, cut into serving-size wedges and transfer to individual serving plates. Makes 2 to 4 servings.

If you use egg-beaters and non-fat milk this is getting in the range of a healthy breakfast treat. It's the caramelized apples that make this so tasty.

Another healthy aspect of cast iron cookware is it leaches small amounts of iron into the food. There's a lot of discussion to whether anemics can benefit from this but a little boost of iron couldn't hurt most of us. Those with excess iron issues (for example, people with hemochromatosis) may suffer negative effects.

Here's a breakdown of the calories/fat. I got three servings out of this recipe but the count even less if you'd cut in into four servings. We were sort of pigs that morning.

• With non-fat milk, egg beaters and butter= 396 calories/19.6 fat grams per serving.
  
• With non-fat milk, regular eggs and butter= 440 calories/24.5 fat grams per serving.

The butter is what adds the heavy fat grams and though you could cook the apples in something other than real butter I wouldn't even try. Sometimes ya gotta just go with it.

My brownies have wings

These brownies should be wearing Dolce & Gabbana because they have that much TASTE.

America's Test Kitchen recently had an episode on Lightening Up Chocolate Desserts. I almost passed it by. Most low-fat desserts that have been re-made usually leave me colder than a Montana morning. If you don't want the calories, either eat less or not at all. I, unfortunately, don't do either so I'm always battling the pounds.

When the episode started with that same sentiment, it got my attention. What the hey, I've got 30 minutes to kill. This is the usual ATK recipe in that they use way too many ingredients but this time it pays off. I've made the recipe twice, once for friends and once for the husband. Both approved.

ATK did not supply any info on how low-fat this recipe is but just making the recipe you know it doesn't have much. Being interested in the final count made me search online and, of course, there's a site to help you count each fat gram and calories in anything you make. The site is Calorie King and it's got great info and easy to use.

I did learn that vanilla extract has more calories than I thought. I use a vanilla bean paste by Nielsen-Massey Vanillas, Inc and did not find any info for that so I used the twelve per teaspoon figure for regular extract. What else, baking powder has one calorie, go figure.

If you are worried about carbs be aware of the sugar. There is more sugar because it's actually a "wet" ingredient, it melts when baked, so you need more to make this brownie soft. Hey, ya gotta have a trade off somewhere.

Ok, to my surprise, here are the results for a 2 inch brownie?

• Total fat 2.18 grams
  
• Total cal 102.25.
  

Wow

A basic recipe I'd checked had at least 112 calories and 7 grams of fat for a 2 oz brownie. Even though this is not low calorie it still comes in way low in the fat column, plus, THEY TASTE GREAT!

What are we up against

Here's a shocker:

• Starbuck's fudge brownie bite, 2 oz: 300 calories and 14 grams of fat.
• Mrs. Fields' double fudge 2.7 oz: 360 and 20 grams of fat.

Fudgy low-fat brownies
makes 16, 2 inch brownies

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces bitter sweet chocolate, chopped (I found some with zero fat)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons low-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg plus 1 egg white
1 cup sugar

Oven 350. Fold two pieces of foil to create a foil sling the size of your pan. I used an 8-inch square baking pan. Push the foil in the corners and to be safe, spray with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt together in medium bow. Melt bittersweet chocolate and butter in large bowl over simmering water until smooth. Cool 2-3 minutes they whisk in sour cream, chocolate syrup, vanilla, egg, egg white, and sugar. Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into chocolate mixture until combined.

Spread batter into pan and into the corners, level surface with spatula. Bake until slightly puffed and toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few sticky crumbs attached, 20-25 minutes. Cool brownies completely in pan, at least 1 hour. remove brownings using foil and cut into 16 squares. To keep the brownies moist do not cut until ready to serve, then stand back, they will fly off the plate.

baby shower food

first off, my apologies for being m.i.a. on this blog for so long. june 12 - july 31 was a black hole in my life due to some crazy s&*% going on at work - thank you department of homeland security. then i took a week off to hibernate. then i tried my hand at a little party planning and small-time catering, which kept me busy cooking, but with no time to post.

anyway, the reason for the party planning is that my good friend sarah is having her first baby, so i was happy to co-host a baby shower with another friend. sarah's expecting a little boy and, as she and her husband are true bruins, the colors planned for the new addition to the family is blue and yellow. i went with a rubber ducky theme for the party...


rubber ducky centerpiece


more rubber duckies


the buffet

for the food, i planned a pan-asian theme, which was a good reason to make cool salads and hors d'oeuvres that would also complement the family specialty egg rolls and fried rice that sarah's sister planned to make. here's what the final menu looked like:


tofu satay with peanut dipping sauce


kitchen wench's sweet & spicy soy chicken wings


chinese chicken salad


asian beef noodle salad

the chicken salad didn't follow any particular recipe, just shredded iceberg lettuce and napa cabage, topped with shredded chicken (costco rotisserie chickens rule!), sliced almonds, toasted sesame seeds, scallions and fried wontons and served with feast from the east salad dressing - a westside favorite. the asian beef noodle salad was a combination of a few different recipes for the dressing for the bean thread noodles and the sliced beef and served on a bed of spinach and garnished with basil, mint, cilantro, carrots and scallions.

for dessert, we had cupcakes...


cupcakes


duckies up close

the cupcakes were yellow cake with buttercream frosting piped on with a pastry bag and topped with rubber duckies molded out of wilton's candy. mooncrazy found me a cool cupcake stand to make out of styrofoam disks, ribbon and wrapping paper. to be honest, i cheated with the buttercream and used frostin' pride, which comes in a milk carton in the frozen section at smart and final. you thaw it out and then whip it up with your mixer. it's very easy and the frosting is lite and not overly sweet.

anyway, a good time was had by all and there were tons of leftovers to eat all week!

Something of interest

Summer has hit the PBE women head on. With Doodles out of country and the lil bird tied to her desk at work and me, I admit it, not been cooking anything new for a while--we have not been posting much. So I'm not ashamed with just giving our readers a link to another site. I think it's nice to find new cooking sites and since this one has always been on my Bloglines for a while I thought I'd share.

Nicole at Baking Bites has quite a site, very complete with recipes and baking tips. I still make the marshmallows that I found on her site when it was called Baking Sheet. Today she has a great little quick post for rolling out pie crust. I use my grandmother's rolling pin and an old rolling sheet from Tupperware. I've tried other things but this is the combo for me.

So find yourself some summer fruits to wrap around or check out her post for Lemon Meringue Pie.

Peaches!

Another reason to love summer is our peaches. We get them all the month of August from local farms and they are yummy. I buy just a few each week so I have them on hand for fruit smoothies. My beloved enjoys that for breakfast when he knows it's going to be a hot morning.

The other night I had guests and wanted a light bit of sweet for dessert. Grilled Peaches sounded good so here's what I did:

• beat together some heavy cream and mascarpone cheese
• pealed and cut it half some fresh peaches
• lightly oiled with canola oil both sides of the fruit
• grilled on a hot grill for about two or three minutes a side--don't move them you want those wonderful grill marks
• sliced some pound cake and assembled the dessert

I decided I could have even done without the pound cake and just a dollop of whipped cheese on the bottom and top. This was quite tasty, light and a great end to a meal.

Warning: unabashed bragging in this post

Last July we attended a BBQ with a twist. The hostess asked everyone to bring a home-made apple pie. Mine was a rustic apple tart served with my mom's apple dumpling sauce. I think that's what actually won.

Comes July again and another contest, cookies this time. I used a recipe I'd found on fellow blogger's site, La Vida Dulce's Chocolate Shortbread.

We have another winner. Yup, they enjoyed them enough to bestow a second victory. Sadly, we had to leave before the judging so I received the news when we returned from vacation.

This is an easy recipe, though I'm sure fattening and artery-clogging. They will melt in your mouth and go directly to your hips. My way of getting around this is to cut them into small cookies and give most to the neighbors so I don't eat them all. One thing is important, use Dutch process cocoa, it will make a world of difference.

Looking for a good sopapilla

recipe...now there is a story to this request but then isn't there always.

Sister Moon and I were on a trip (I called it our Thelma & Louise trip but we didn't kill anybody or drive off a cliff) that took us into New Mexico. So we stay overnite in Gallup, NM check into our hotel, I iced my finger after breaking it removing luggage from the trunk. That's another story but not for the food blog. Anyhow, we go to this local spot highly recommended. Great food, had posole for the first time, then tamales and god knows what else. BUT we topped it off with a sopapilla another name for fried dough served with honey so what's not to like. Some serve it with powdered sugar or maybe even ice cream. I'm a purist I like mine with honey and that's it.

Now fast forward to where we are, the Nomads, in Cheyenne, Wyoming and we find a local Mexican joint that has great food, even posole almost as good as mine or sister moon's. They served sopapillas. Now get this theirs was whole wheat cinnamon but served with honey.

I must say whole wheat would not be my first choice but it was good none the less. Mr Doodles has never had sopapillas and to be honest he said he could do without - SHAME!!! What's not to like it's fried dough served warm.

So maybe our good blogger friend Christine may have a sopapilla recipe or anyone else that would care to contribute. I know I could Google for a recipe but I am looking for a tried and true.

Oh yes and some drizzle chocolate over......so stay tuna'd.

here's a photo I took off the Internet.

Run, it's lava

Once in a fine restaurant, I ordered Lava Cake. It took an additional twenty minutes but was well worth the wait. I've seen recipes before but always thought they had to be fussy, they always add twenty minutes at a restaurant. Boy, was I wrong. This is one of the easiest desserts around. Well, maybe not the easiest but has to rank right at the top of the list.

Chez Mégane has a wonderful recipe so I'm not going to reproduce it here, click over. What I will say is instead of mixing in the cinnamon, I sprinkled just a bit on the tops before baking.
When it says beat for 7 minutes on high, they aren't kidding. I just set the timer and my darling mixer beat the bejesus out of the batter. What I can't figure out is how does it make a cake with only two tablespoons of flour?

As you see, I was quite unimaginative and only topped the cakes with chocolate ice cream but I'd run out of time. There were no complaints. A tad more planning would have given a better presentation.

The photo does not do them justice. I should have showed them split open and the oozy chocolate; Megan's has a much better pix. We were all too eager to dive into the lava.

There is an unrelated P.S for this post but none the less important. Happy Birthday to our own Maltese Parakeet! We are postponing her special party until the Gypsy Caravan makes its way to Southern California in June. Which is appropriate since she was born two weeks early. Always in a hurry, that girl.

Half cake; half success

She fried everything in site, smoked and lived to be in her 80s. Widowed in her mid twenties with five children, the youngest being six-weeks-old I'm sure was a hard life but it that she found the strength raise a family alone. She could be anywhere from cantankerous to darn right mean but never took any lip from anyone, I mean anyone. She had a grip like iron until she passed away. She was a fantastic cook.

Emily Prucilla, our afore mentioned grandmother/great-grandmother, was one of those cooks that rarely followed a recipe. This makes recreating some of her jewels difficult. We were lucky to have the one for the butterscotch cookies but I'd love to have the Banana Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting recipe, it was one I'd not thought of in a long while.

I can see here standing at the stove cooking the frosting, one hand on her hip, and whistling some odd tune. She'd just start putting things together without measuring, just tasting, and 99% of the time she has success.

Here is my effort for the cake but the frosting I made was way too sweet and overpowered the cake. It was cooked brown sugar and cream, beat until fluffy, which didn't happen without an addition of butter, a few drops of water and eventually, powdered sugar. By this time I was working up a sweat. Sheesh! I would make this with a much lighter frosting next time because the cake is quite tasty.

Fresh Banana Layer Cake

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Banana mixture
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about two)
1/4 cup cream, buttermilk, or plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk


Preheat oven 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-inch pans.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl whisk together banana mixture. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy and beat in eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Stir in flour and banana mixture alternately beginning and ending with flour, stirring well after each addition.

Divide between pans and bake for about 15-17 minutes. Cool on rack, remove from pans and cool completely before icing the cakes. I added some toasted pecans on top, it looked rather plain without.

Editors note: I don't believe my butter was soft enough because my cakes, from 8-inch square pans, did not rise more than an inch. I cut each cake in half to make a four by eight inch four layer cake. I like height when it comes to desserts. Ya gotta think on your feet when you do this cooking thing, especially when discerning guests are coming.

Chocolate, what's not to like?

Haven't I always said I'd eat anything dipped in chocolate? Well, I saw a post for these Haystacks at Laura Rebecca's Kitchen and had to give them a try.

They are so easy and tasty and how bad could they be for you, you're eating lil twigs o'fiber and CHOCOLATE. It took me longer to clean the chocolate bowl that it did to make them. I hate it when I lie, ok, clean wasn't the right word, scrape and lick the bowl was more like it. Honestly, when you can melt the chocolate in the microwave and don't cut yourself opening the box you should be able to toss out a few dozen of these in about ten minutes.

I'd show the little 'stacks but my camera decided to be fussy, maybe it was the chocolate on my fingers but go see Laura's you'll get the idea.

It's World Nutella Day!!!

World Nutella Day. Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Shelley from At Home in Rome solemnly declare February 6th "World Nutella Day" - a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella. Make your favorite dish or experiment with a new one! Posts are welcome through February 6th, 2007 - the round-up will be made on February 7. Complete details are available here




Here is what y'all need to know about one of my favorite food items. I make this easy kinda dessert...sounds odd but it is tasty. Kinda hard to take a snap of melting ice cream, not that good of a photo person or not that good at thinking ahead or both. I did this during the SUPER BOWL so was somewhat distracted - but oh so happy the Colts WON!!!

But here ya go: Pineapple - Vanilla Ice Cream - Nutella Drizzle

Pour off the juice from a can of sliced pineapple, heat the syrup and add about a 1/4 cup of brown sugar. While that is cooking down, heat the pineapple slices in a skillet with a bit of butter. No this is not low calorie whatsoever. Put the pineapple in the cooked down syrup to coat the pieces, then transfer to your serving dish put a scoop or two of ice cream, I used vanilla, drizzle your nutella over that, add a squirt of whipped cream and a crushed walnut. Voila!

Lemoney

This recipe I found in Cook's Illustrated last year and it's been a favorite. It should be called Ya Gotta Like Lemon Pound Cake but I've never had leftovers so it must be good. Melting the butter and adding it with the food processor is a neat shortcut and I want to try different flavoring but so far have always used the lemon.


Lemon Pound Cake
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter plus some to grease pan
1 1/2 cups ( 6 ounces) cake flour plus some for the pans
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) sugar
2 tablespoons grated zest plus 2 teaspoons juice from 2 medium lemons
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Grease 9x5 loaf pan and dust with cake flour.

Melt butter, stir to incorporate separated milk solids.

In food processor, process sugar and zest until combined. Add lemon juice, eggs and vanilla; process until combined, about 5 seconds. With machine running, add melted butter through feed tube in a steady stream (about 20 seconds). Transfer mixture to large bowl. Sift flour mixture over eggs in three steps, whisking gently after each addition until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 325 and continue to bake until deep golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes; rotating pan half way through baking time. Cool in pan for ten minutes, then turn onto wire rack and brush with glaze. Cool to room temp. Cooled cake can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temp for up to five days.

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
1/4 cup juice from medium lemon
Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened slightly for about two minutes. Poke holes in baked cake and brush top and sides of hot cake.