Old-Fashioned Fruitcake

A true family favorite here! This is "Aunt Stella's Fruit Cake," and it's delicious (and labor intensive). As with many old-fashioned recipes, you'll have to use some intuition and general cooking know how. I can find many of these ingredients in my local grocery's bulk section, so I "eyeball" some of the amounts. Photos of some of the steps follow the main recipe. It's also part of The Recipe Box Project.

Old-Fashioned Fruitcake

• 1 pound butter
• 1 pound sugar
• 1 dozen eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 pounds flour
• 1 t. nutmeg
• 1 t. cloves
• 1-2 t. cinnamon (we use 2)
• 1 t. allspice
• ~12-oz. raisins
• 1 pound candied cherries (we like a mix of green and red)*
• 1 1/2 pounds mixed candied fruit (pineapple, citron, lemon, and orange peel)*
• 1 "package" currants, optional (~6 ounces?)
• 1 "package" dried figs (~6 ounces?) or small jar fig preserves
• ~6-7 ounces dates, preferably chopped
• 1 pound nuts (we like pecans), preferably chopped
• cheesecloth
• bourbon

*you will need 2 1/2 pounds, total, of candied fruit. The more you can find already chopped, the better. Mixed fruit containers are fine, but you will want at least one small container of whole cherries if you want to use some to decorate the top.

Directions:

1. Prepare pans: line with parchment paper and spray thoroughly. We use aluminum loaf pans in various sizes. Preheat oven to 200-250 degrees (aim for the middle if you don't know your oven well).
2. Sift flour and spices together. Set aside.
3. Chop all fruit and nuts that aren't already chopped. You can combine them all in the same (large) bowl. Set aside.
4. Cream butter and sugar together.
5. Beat eggs and gradually add to butter/sugar mixture, beating thoroughly as you go.
6. Gradually add in flour/spices mixture, beating thoroughly after each addition.
7. Add in preserves, if using.
8. Pour batter over fruit/nut mixture. Stir well with a giant, wooden spoon, or go ahead and use your hands! (This is what we do.)
9. Scoop batter into prepared pans.
10. Bake for around 3 hours in a "very low oven." Check after 2 1/2. You're looking for a clean toothpick, but also that the top looks done. 
11. Remove cakes from pans and let cool. When completely cooled, pour some bourbon over (you can poke a few holes in the top of the cakes with a toothpick for even more bourbon flavor).
12. Wrap cakes in cheesecloth. Place each cheesecloth-covered cake in a tin with a lid and let "cure" for a few weeks. It will taste best after a few weeks of this "curing" stage.
13. Fruitcakes may be frozen before the bourbon/cheesecloth stage. 

~Makes 3 standard loaf-pans.

Directions with some photos:

• Prepare pans: line with parchment paper and spray thoroughly. We use aluminum loaf pans in various sizes. Preheat oven to 200-250 degrees (aim for the middle if you don't know your oven well).
• Sift flour and spices together. Set aside.
• Chop all fruit and nuts that aren't already chopped. You can combine them all in the same (large) bowl. Set aside.

• Cream butter and sugar together.
• Beat eggs and gradually add to butter/sugar mixture, beating thoroughly as you go.
• Gradually add in flour/spices mixture, beating thoroughly after each addition.
• Add in preserves, if using.
• Pour batter over fruit/nut mixture. Stir well with a giant, wooden spoon, or go ahead and use your hands! (This is what we do.)

• Scoop batter into prepared pans.
• Bake for around 3 hours in a "very low oven." Check after 2 1/2. You're looking for a clean toothpick, but also that the top looks done. 

• Remove cakes from pans and let cool. When completely cooled, pour some bourbon over (you can poke a few holes in the top of the cakes with a toothpick for even more bourbon flavor).

• Wrap cakes in cheesecloth. Place each cheesecloth-covered cake in a tin with a lid and let "cure" for a few weeks. It will taste best after a few weeks of this "curing" stage.
• Fruitcakes may be frozen before the bourbon/cheesecloth stage. 

~Makes 3 standard loaf-pans. If you did it right, your kitchen will look something like this ;-) :

And, just for fun, a little peek into the recipe box archives:

Butterfudge Cooky Pie

In honor of Pi Day (March 14), we make a pie, naturally. This year's recipe was chosen from the Recipe Box. The spelling of this recipe title is what is on the card!

Full disclosure: there are a LOT of luscious looking pie recipes in that box. I forbid anyone choosing any fruit-based recipes because now is not the season for delicious fresh strawberries, peaches, and so forth. The kids chose this simple pie out of all the non-fruity ones. We could make a pie every week and it would be fall before we ran out of new recipes from the box! Sounds like a tasty problem to me.

Note: This is essentially a giant, richly chocolatey cookie as the crust with ice cream on top. The texture is reminiscent of shortbread, but not quite that crumbly. If you're not a butter pecan fan, other ice cream flavors that work with chocolate would be delicious (especially something like mint chocolate chip or a dark cherry).

Butterfudge Cooky Pie
~from my grandmother

• 1/2 c. soft butter
• 1/4 c. sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2-oz. melted semi sweet chocolate and cooled slightly
• 1 quart butter pecan ice cream (or other of your choosing)
• hot fudge topping

Directions

1. Mix butter, sugar, and vanilla thoroughly. Sift flour and salt together. Add to butter mixture and blend. Add melted chocolate and blend well. Chill 30 to 40 minutes (it's helpful if it's in a ball or flattened round--any stray bits will be hard to reincorporate). This step is important. I didn't chill mine enough, and the crust sank a little as it cooked, so you can't see a "fluted edge" or anything in my pictures.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pat dough in a 9-inch ungreased pie pan. Flute edge, prick, and bake 10-12 minutes. Cool.
3. Add softened ice cream and fudge sauce right before serving.

Serves 8

Recipe card in my grandmother's handwriting pictured below. 

Mixed Berry Crunch

This is my mother-in-law's recipe, and it is YUMMY! The original recipe calls for all blueberries, but she's made it with blueberries and peaches and--my personal favorite--blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Use what you have on hand. The topping is not a granola-type crunchy topping, but it's not really a pie crust either. It's delicious! Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.  (Recipe can be doubled and baked in a 13x9-inch pan.)

Mixed Berry Crunch

• 3 c. blueberries or mixed berries/peaches
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1 c. flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 6 T. melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix fruit and lemon juice and pour into 9-inch pie plate.
3. Combine flour, sugar, and egg. Pour/drizzle on top of fruit.
4. Drizzle melted butter on top.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.

~Serves 6-8

*image from Around the Plate

The Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

The Quest for The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Nine simple ingredients, maybe ten or eleven. That’s all you’ll find in the recipe that has become the standard for chocolate chip cookie making, published not only on the back of almost any bag of semisweet chocolate chips you can buy, but also on the Crisco container (which substitutes shortening instead for the butter, but the rest of the ingredients are the same).

This is a guest post from Megan Saben, my dear friend and colleague at both LiterariTea and RedeemedReader. She is going to be sharing her Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie with us at full tummies, and I'm delighted to welcome her! Note: the cookies pictured are from the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook and are for illustration purposes only, not necessarily as an example of the "perfect" chocolate chip cookie.

My grandmother was famous for her repurposed coffee cans full of chocolate chip cookies whenever we would come to visit. My mother remembers times that Grandma would emerge from her bedroom chewing, which meant that she had indulged in the stash hidden in her closet. All of the grandchildren were privileged to receive ultimate care packages containing chocolate chip cookies through our college years.

I also remember a lady from our church who turned out an abundance of those wonderful chocolate chip cookies, making her home the desired place for youth group events. That’s the kind of place I want my home to be—the place where my boys want to bring their friends because the cookie jar is always full.

But try as I might using the same recipe, I couldn’t duplicate those soft, perfect cookies! Hence, I declared myself a chocolate chip cookie test baker and went to work. I kept finding variations of those essential nine ingredients (ten, if you add nuts, and eleven if you use part oats or oat flour), all promising to be the ULTIMATE WORLD’S BEST chocolate chip cookie. I have been collecting recipes from cookbooks and online sources, and started wondering what happens when you reduce the salt, increase the flour, eliminate an egg, and vary just about every ingredient? (Never reduce the chocolate chips of course, but you can use part standard and part miniature or increase the quantity.) The brand of chocolate chips makes a difference, too. (I prefer Ghirardelli for eating out of the bag, but Nestle’s hold their shape better in the cookie.) Scoop the flour or sift it first? Bake the dough fresh, chilled or frozen?

How much does oven temperature impact the result? Which kind of pan? Letting them sit before removing them to a rack? All these factors make a difference! I doubt I’ll ever exhaust the variations, but I’m happy to keep trying as long as I have boys to eat cookies or places to take batches.

So there’s my manifesto, and I’ll keep you posted on my progress. My goal is to find the essential recipe and how variations make a difference so that I have freedom to play with it hereafter. I did this a number of years ago with brownies, and it has been such a relief not to have to wonder if I should try someone else’s version of the best-ever ultimate recipe.

I welcome input and suggestions!

(Note: America’s Test Kitchen has a very good variation, but theirs is quite different from the proportions on the chocolate chip packages, so I consider it almost a different cookie. I will compare their recipe with my tested favorite.)

Watermelon Ice

Need a good, reasonably healthy patriotic treat this 4th of July? (or any hot day this summer?) This is delicious, very refreshing, and is fairly simple to make.

Watermelon Ice
~Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible

• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. water
• 6 c. cubed watermelon (deseeded, if necessary)
• 1 T. fresh lemon juice

1.  Bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring constantly. Simmer until mixture is clear. Chill.
2. When sugar syrup is cool, puree watermelon, lemon juice, and sugar syrup in a blender. Pour into a wide, shallow (freezer-safe) pan: deep dish pie plate, 13x9-inch or 8x8-inch, or similar. The shallower, the faster it will freeze.
3. Place in freezer. After about an hour, scrape mixture thoroughly with a fork--stir it well. Put back in freezer.
4. After another hour, scrape again, and refreeze for one more hour.
5. After the third hour, scrape thoroughly, and serve! Garnish with mint sprigs.

~Serves 6-8

Coca-Cola Cake Recipe

This treat was waiting for us at my mother-in-law's house when we arrived for Memorial Day weekend. Mmmm  (It's a similar process as my Texas Sheet Cake, but a bit lighter in flavor and texture).

Coca-Cola Cake
~from my mother-in-law

Cake

• 2 c. sugar
• 2 c. flour
• 1 1/2 c. small marshmallows
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 3 T. cocoa
• 1 c. Coca-cola
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• Frosting--see below

1.  Sift flour and sugar together. Add marshmallows.
2. In a saucepan, mix butter, oil, cocoa, and Coca-cola. Bring to a boil and pour over dry ingredients. Blend well.
3. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk just before adding to batter along with eggs and vanilla extract, mixing well.
4. Pour into a well-greased 9x13-inch pan and bake 35 to 45. Remove from oven and frost immediately.

~Serves 24

Frosting

• 1/2 c. butter
• 3 T. cocoa
• 6 T. Coca-cola
• 1 box (16-oz) powdered sugar
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 c. chopped pecans

1.  Heat butter, coca, and Coca-cola in a saucepan until butter melts. Whisk in sugar, vanilla, and pecans. Pour over warm cake. You can poke holes in the top of the cake if you'd like.

Palacinky (Crepes)

Mmmm.... the mere thought of Czech Palacinky (pronounced pah-la-chin-ky) makes my mouth water. These are essentially French crepes spread with jam, nutella, or something similar, rolled up, and topped with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, ice cream, or something similar. What's not to like? These can be made ahead of time and frozen, stacked with wax paper between layers. Thaw in fridge.

Crepes/Palacinky 
~the "Crepes" recipe from Heart and Soul, a Memphis Jr. League Cookbook

• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 1 c. flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 T. cooking oil
• 1/4 t. salt

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Beat with a rotary beater or stick blender until well mixed.
2. Heat a lightly greased 6-inch skillet. Remove from heat. Spoon in 2 tablespoons of the batter; lift and tilt the skillet to spread the batter.
3. Return to heat; brown on one side only (sometimes I use more batter and carefully flip them). 
4. Invert pan over paper towel; remove crepe.
5. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet occasionally.

 ~Makes 18

Roasted Sugar-Glazed Pears

These are a touch labor intensive, but they are delicious and very impressive to look at. We planned on one pear/person, but that ended up being a bit much since we had them as part of a larger buffet. If you're serving them as dessert, you will probably need one/person. We topped them with whipped cream; vanilla ice cream would also work. They are good on their own as well. (the picture above is not great; hopefully my father-in-law got a better one and will send me a copy....)

Roasted Sugar-Glazed Pears
~Saveur

7 firm pears (we used red; they were ripe, but not very soft)
3 tbsp. rum
2 tbsp. dried currants (we used raisins)
2 tbsp. golden raisins
2 tbsp. light brown sugar
2 tbsp. blanched almonds, finely chopped 
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (we used regular dried)
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1 2"-piece ginger, peeled and minced
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Zest and juice of 1 orange
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing
½ cup sugar
1. Peel, core, and finely chop 1 pear and place it in a 2-qt. saucepan along with rum, currants, raisins, brown sugar, almonds, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, ginger, and both zests and juices; boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring, until mixture is soft and thickened, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

2. Heat oven to 350°. Grease a 9" glass pie dish with butter; set aside. Combine remaining cinnamon with sugar in a bowl; set aside. Using a channel knife (like a "v"), cut a spiral pattern in the skin of each remaining pear from top to bottom, if you like. Carefully core each pear from the bottom with a melon baller, coring about 1½–2" deep. Divide stuffing among pears; brush outsides with butter and roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Stand pears upright in the prepared dish, and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar; bake until just tender when pierced with a paring knife, about 40 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

~Serves 6 or more

Great Grandmother's Chocolate Frosting

Some recipes never go out of style! It's truly amazing how much you can delight a child with some great chocolate frosting: spread it on graham crackers or Nilla wafers, share a spoonful together...do you need an excuse?

Great Grandmother's Chocolate Frosting

• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 1 stick butter (8 ounces), softened
• 1 box powdered sugar (about 4 cups), sifted
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 t. vanilla
• pinch salt

Melt chocolate in double boiler. Thoroughly cream softened butter and gradually add powdered sugar. Add melted chocolate. Mix well. Add salt and add milk gradually (it may not take the entire 1/2 cup). Add vanilla and spread on cake or cupcakes.

~Frosts about 4 dozen cupcakes or one cake

Spiced Coffee Cake

We love coffee cake around here--we have it on Sunday mornings (the sweetness tempts my children to eat up and not dawdle--a plus since we have to leave for church and don't get home until early afternoon). This is from my mom-in-law's friend Dee. It's the nutmeg in it that makes it a little different from the usual coffee cakes. If I remember, she gave it to us in a 9x13-inch pan, so it must double fairly easily.

Spiced Coffee Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugars at medium speed until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla, beating until blended. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Pour batter into a lightly greased 9 inch square pan; sprinkle evenly with Streusel Topping.
3. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (can use walnuts)
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl, stir in melted butter. Spread on top.

Salted Nut Bars

Salty nuts + butterscotch + shortbread. What's not to like? These gooey bar cookies are yummy, easy to make, and a nice after school treat. Watch for the cans of mixed nuts to go on sale and grab one for these treats--you'll need about the equivalent of one can. I used lightly salted, but I don't think "full salt" would be bad either!

Salted Nut Bars
~from the Betty Crocker Cookbook (2006)

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 2 c. salted, mixed nuts or peanuts
• 1 c. butterscotch chips
• 1/2 c. light corn syrup
• 2 T. butter

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until it looks evenly mixed and crumbly. Pat into a 13x9-inch pan (no need to grease the pan!). Bake 15 minutes; cool slightly.
2. While shortbread is baking, cut up any large nuts and set nuts aside. Heat remaining ingredients together in a 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until chips melt. 
3. When shortbread is done, pull out of oven. Sprinkle nuts evenly over the top. Pour melted butterscotch mixture evenly over top and bake for 5 more minutes.
4. For bars, cut into desired pieces while cookies are still warm (but not hot).

 ~Makes 32 small bars (those pictured are larger)

Whole Wheat Peach Kuchen

The last time I tried peach kuchen was years ago; I remember not being terribly keen on it. However I decided, given the mountain of peaches on my counter, to give it another whirl--different recipe, though. This was a HUGE hit with my children. We ate the first half warm from the oven for a snack with our tea, and finished off the rest for breakfast. It's sweet, but not overly so. There's plenty of fresh fruit in it to assuage any guilt over "dessert" for breakfast ☺.

Whole Wheat Peach Kuchen
~from Simply in Season

Combine following in mixing bowl:

• 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat)
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 T. sugar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking powder
• 1/4 c. walnuts, ground (optional)

Cut in 1/4 c. butter (1/2 stick) until crumbly. Pat mixture over bottom and sides of a pie plate.

Arrange 4-5 halved, peeled peaches, cut side down, over pastry. If you work it right, you can have 8 halves around the edge (they will be snug) plus 1 half in the middle and maybe the final half just chopped up and sprinkled in.

Mix together 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Combine the following and pour over peaches; bake for 30 more minutes or until set:

• 1 c. plain yogurt* or sour cream
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 T. sugar
• 1/2 t. vanilla

 *If your yogurt is nonfat and/or "loose," put about 1 1/2 cups in a coffee filter lined colander and let drain while you fix the remaining ingredients. If you do this at the very beginning, you will have much thicker yogurt (more like sour cream in texture) by the time you get to the part where you mix it with the egg, etc.

~Serves about 8 if you have 8 peach halves lining the edges ☺

Cookbook says you can substitute blueberries, too. I think that sounds yummy, too!

Two Tier Strawberry Pie

I'm not usually a fan of strawberry pie, but this one is delicious! Our pastor's wife made this for us, and I requested the recipe. Originally from allrecipes.com, she adapted it slightly. Her version is below.

~from allrecipes.com originally

• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 t. lemon zest
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 1 (9-inch) baked pie shell
• 1/3 c. white sugar
• 2 T. cornstarch
• 1/3 c. water
• 1/3 c. grenadine syrup (or 1/3 c. orange marmalade with 1 t. strawberry jello mix)
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 2 c. fresh strawberries

1. In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and confectioner's sugar until creamy. Stir in vanilla and lemon zest. 
2. In separate bowl, whip cream. Fold into cream cheese mixture. Spread over bottom of pie crust. Chill.
3. In a saucepan, mix together white sugar and cornstarch. Stir in water until smooth. Add grenadine and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Allow to cool, then chill.
4. Just before serving, stir together berries and cooled mixture until coated. Spread over cream cheese layer.

Enjoy!

~Makes 1 pie

Zucchini Brownies

Ha ha ha ha.... No, this is for real. Mostly because I had some zucchini to use up. And they're good! They're a bit different from ordinary brownies, very moist, and disappeared mighty quickly in our house. Try them when you have some zucchini to use up or just want to feel a bit more virtuous about eating brownies.

~From Simply in Season

• 1 c. flour
• 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/3 c. baking cocoa
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 2-3 c. shredded zucchini
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• 1/2 c. oil
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 cup or so semisweet, mint chocolate, or butterscotch chips

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Stir in zucchini.
3. Mix wet ingredients together. Fold into zucchini mixture. Spread evenly in greased 9x13-inch pan.
4. Sprinkle chips evenly over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

~Serves 18-24

Food Traditions: Milkshake Day!

We hear a lot these days about America's obesity, our addiction to food, how fat our children are, etc. And there are certainly some legitimate concerns. But sometimes it goes too far in the other direction (i.e. no birthday cupcakes at school...). I've tried to strike a balance in our "treats" at home. One of those balances is "Milkshake Day."

EVERY day, when I pick my daughter up from school, she immediately asks if I have a treat for her. (Where did this come from? I don't know.) When I say no (most days, to be sure), she then starts asking for milkshakes, fries, smoothies (depending on whatever restaurant we're driving by). I finally got the brilliant idea for "Milkshake Day." And the complaints have certainly dwindled.

She goes to a co-op that meets three days/week--Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. On the last Thursday of the month, we have Milkshake Day. We stop by Chick-Fil-A and everyone gets a milkshake. Doesn't break the bank or the waistline and everyone looks forward to it. I'm considering doing something similar with a once a week dessert night; why do kids think we need a dessert after every meal? We've never done that and it still seems to be an expectation. But maybe if they know we'll have dessert every Friday night, they can look forward to that instead of whining every night for it.

What are YOUR Food Traditions in your family?

Lime-Cottage Cheese Salad

Another recipe for this yummy "salad" which is really a dessert masquerading as a side dish. Can't remember where I got this...

• 1 large Cool-Whip
• 12-oz. cottage cheese
• 1 package lime jello
• 1 20-oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 c. chopped pecans, optional
• 1 c. mini marshmallows

Mix first 3 ingredients. Add rest and chill!

Fluffy Lime Jell-O Salad

I love this stuff! It takes me back--it's definitely an old-fashioned "congealed" salad that still makes the rounds on church potluck tables and at holiday dinners. This version is from a collection my college alumni society produced one year. Enjoy!

• 1 small package lime gelatin
• 1/2 c. hot water
• 1 1/2 c. mini marshmallows
• 2 (8-oz) cans crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 c. pineapple juice (from cans)
• 1 c. small curd cottage cheese
• 1/2 c. whipping cream*
• 1 c. pecans, toasted, optional

Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add marshmallows and pineapple juice. Heat slowly until marshmallows are melted. Let cool until slightly set (about 2 hours). Beat until fluffy. Whip the cream until stiff. Blend pineapple, cottage cheese, whipping cream, and nuts, if using, into the gelatin mixture. Chill until set.

*no guarantees here, but I'm betting you could use Cool-Whip here!

Happy Birthday Cake (Ice Cream Cake, that is...)

Today is my boys' 5th birthday! In honor of their big day, we are, of course, celebrating with birthday cake. I thought I'd share our new tradition. In the fall, for my daughter's birthday, we celebrated with friends and family in the park and had strawberry cupcakes. No candles, though.... So, that night, my husband showed up with a small Carvel ice cream cake! They're in the freezer section at our local Kroger.

Today, we're doing the same thing with our boys. We did have cake and candles over the weekend with out-of-town family, but we still wanted something for their actual birthday.

The small cakes ("Lil Love" size) run around $10. When you factor in their yummy-ness and the fact that you'd be buying ice cream to go with a regular cake, the price suddenly sounds pretty good. And, you're not left with a lot of leftovers. AND, this momma doesn't have to make another cake ☺. And the kids love it!

Resurrection Rolls (aka Empty Tomb Rolls)

A fitting recipe on which to end my Lenten fast from blogging this year: resurrection rolls. Carrie and I first made these a couple of years ago, and they're yummy! Kids can help, and they are a fun visual reminder of what we will be celebrating this coming Easter Sunday in particular. Recipe can be increased as many times as you'd like. We've served these as snack food, as dessert, or as a breakfast treat.

1 tube crescent rolls
8 marshmallows
melted butter
cinnamon sugar mixture--just eyeball it (remember, cinnamon goes a long way)

Roll marshmallows in melted butter
Roll marshmallows in cinnamon sugar mixture
Wrap up each marshmallow in a crescent triangle, sort of making a rounded ball--seal up every little corner.

Bake according to directions on crescent roll tube--it is best if you make these on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.... they are quite gooey! The marshmallows melt (if they're not fully melted when you take them out of the oven, let them sit for a few minutes). Then, they look like the empty tomb!

Enjoy

Erin's Caramel Delight

My sister in law showed up to the big family Christmas gathering this year with a bag of this ADDICTIVE and AMAZING candy in tow. Yum, yum, yum. You've been warned: you will not be able to stop with just one bite. Don't say I didn't warn you. Don't blame me for your extra five pounds :-). Unfortunately, I have all the ingredients save the Puffcorn on hand... hmm.... maybe I'll restart Weight Watchers NEXT week.... (in case you don't know, Puffcorn looks like cheese puffs minus the cheese--same long, puffy shape.)

• 1 bag butter flavored Puffcorn
• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup lite corn syrup
• 1 tsp baking soda 

 

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in sauce pan. Stir over medium heat until melted. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.  Place puffcorn in large roasting pan (such as an aluminum turkey roaster); pour sugar mixture over puffcorn and stir to coat.  Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes. After baking, cool on waxed paper, separating candies as much as possible.