Ice Cream Mini Scones

Okay, so this is one of those recipes where you read it and you say NO way.  Then you read it again, and you think, could this possibly work?  Because it sounds great...but no way.  It can't really work.

Can it?

It can.

There are three ingredients in these scones.

1. Self-rising flour

2. Vanilla extract

3. Vanilla ice cream.

No way, right?

WAY!

This recipe comes from a site called Ice Cream Ireland,  and to make things even more complicated, the original recipe is from Australia, but wherever it comes from, it works.  You take a pint of your favorite vanilla ice cream...

Let it soften for about 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375 and lesiurely assemble the rest of the ingredients.  Once it has gotten mushy enough to scoop easily, spoon it into a mixing bowl with the flour (make sure you use self-rising) and about a teaspoonful of vanilla.  Mix it up until you have a moist dough.  Now scoop the dough onto a well-floured surface (and prepare yourself, this dough will be cold!  Why this came as a shock to me I have no idea, since it did involve an entire pint of ice cream, but there you go.)

Now take your chilly dough and roll it into a long tube shape.  You'll need to work in a little more flour as you go, just enough to get it to hold together and feel more floury than ice creamy.  Once you have your nice long tube, about an inch wide and a foot long, then slice it into one inch rounds - these are mini-scones we are making.  Pop them onto a baking sheet and into the oven for about 20 to 25 mnutes, until they are nice and golden.  They will flatten out a tiny bit, but will end up light and fluffy and tasting of vanilla wonderfulness.

Something the things that seem too good to be true actually are.

Ice Cream Mini Scones, from Ice Cream Ireland

• 1 pint vanilla ice cream


• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• Extra flour for rolling out the scones

1. Let ice cream soften for about 15 minutes, and preheat the oven to 375
2. Add ice cream and flour to mixer and mix until combined into a dough that sticks together.
3. Generously flour countertop or other rolling surface and place dough on flour.  Knead it just a little until dough comes together, adding additional flour as needed until you have a dough that is more floury than wet.
4. Roll with your hands into a long thin tube shape that is about 1 inch wide and 12 inches long.
5. Cut dough into 1 inch segments and place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
6. Bake until just turning golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.  Cool on rack.

Print this!

Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler

Okay, first imagine your regular blueberry cobbler, which usually involves a thick, sweet biscuit dough dropped on top of blueberries.  Now rewind and imagine that instead of that biscuit dough you have a lighter batter - think almost pancake batter - that you drop the blueberries on top of instead of the other way around.  Now imagine that you sprinkle the whole thing with a lemon-infused sugar, and that this lighter dough rises up all around the blueberries as it bakes, and that the edges get a little bit crunchy but the center is still light and sweet and mingled with the blueberries, which have sort of melted into a warm lemony blueberry jam.

I think I have to go breathe into a brown paper bag for a minute.

Anyway, apparently this is how they do cobbler in Texas, or that's what the folks at Cooks Country are telling me.  And whether it is Texas or New Jersey or anywhere else on the planet, I'm here to tell you that this is my new Cobbler Of Choice...I can't imagine ever going back now.  Apparently if you are going to be COMPLETELY traditional, you need to make this with peaches instead of blueberries, and believe me when I say peaches are next on my cobbler list.  And then blueberries again.  And then blueberries AND peaches.  And then....well, you see where this is going.  One way or the other, you need to make this. 

Here's the recipe, Texas-style!

Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler, from Cooks Country

• 4 tablespoons butter cut into 4 pieces
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 3 cups blueberries
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Place 4 tablespoons cut up butter in 9x13 inch baking pan and put in oven until butter is melted, 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove but leave oven on.
2. Pulse 1/4 cup sugar and lemon zest in food processor until combined, about 5 pulses.
3. Using potato masher, mash blueberries with 1 tablespoon of the lemon sugar until berries are coarsely crushed.
4. Combine flour, remaining sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl.  Whisk in 8 tablespoons melted cooled butter and milk until smooth.  Pour batter into the baking dish with the melted butter.
5. Drop spoonfuls of blueberry mixture evenly over batter, sprinkle with remaining lemon sugar and bake until golden brown and edges are crispy, about 45-50 minutes.
6. Cool about 30 minutes and serve warm.

Print this!

Peaches and Cream Pie

Peaches, peaches, peaches.  I love them...the way they taste, the way they smell, the fact that they are perfect, perfect symbol of summer.  

However.  They are NOT the easiest fruit in the world to work with when you are baking with them.  You have to boil them for a few minutes in order to peel them, and then you have to deal with getting the dang peach pit out of the center.  All the peaches I have ever met hang on to that pit for dear life, and so I usually end up spending a lot of quality time with my paring knife and peach juice running down my arm.  So if I am going to go through all that (and who knows, maybe it is just me and the rest of the world only runs into well-behaved peaches), then whatever I am making better be worth it.

Ladies and gentlemen, please meet Peaches and Cream Pie, otherwise known as Worth It.

One of my other issues is usually with peach pies...actually with most fruit pies...and that is that while they are usually scrumptious, they are also, well, super-messy.  All that lovely juice quadruples in volume in the oven, and when you cut into your gorgeous pie it kind of collapses on you into a delicious but soupy puddle of fruit and crust.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but just once I wanted to make a well-behaved pie.  And here it is...and here's the secret.

You still have to wrangle with the peaches - the peeling, the pitting, etc - but once you have your peaches peeled and pitted and cut in half, you lay them on a foil-lined cookie sheet and sprinkle them with some sugar, and then you bake them until they have caramelized and released some of that juice I was talking about.  (And as an extra added bonus, you can also pre-bake your pie shell in the very same oven.  Better and better!).

Then you slice up the caramelized peaches, drop them in your conveniently pre-baked pie-shell, and cover the whole thing with a custard mixture of eggs and cream and bake it until it is golden and wonderful and perfect.  You can tell when people start wandering into the kitchen and lurking around near the oven.  You then have to break the news that not only does it have to cool for about three hours, but you were actually planning to serve it AFTER dinner and not before.

Of course, you could make an exception, just this once.

Peaches and Cream Pie, from Cooks Country

• One 9 inch unbaked pie shell
• 2 pounds ripe peaches, peeled, halved and pitted
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cover pie shell with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 40 minutes, then freeze for 20 minutes.  Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions and preheat to 375.  Line chilled pie shell with foil and top with pie weights.

2. Place peach halves cut side up on foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.  Bake on the upper middle rack until softened and juice starts to release, about 30 minutes, flipping halfway through baking.  Now add pie crust to oven on the lower middle rack and bake for 15 minutes.  Carefully remove foil and weights and bake crust and peaches for 5 minutes more.  Remove and cool both crust and peaches for 15 minutes.

3. Reduce oven to 325.  Cut peaches length-wise in quarters and arrange in a single layer over crust.  Combine remaining sugar, flour and salt in bowl.  Whisk in cream, egg yolks and vanilla until smooth and pour the mixture over the peaches.  Bake until filling is light golden and set, about 45-55 minutes.  Cool for three hours before serving.

Print this!

Banana Parfait

I've noticed over the course of writing over the past few years about this, that and the other ingredient that there are a few things that folks have a particular love and devotion for.   One of those things is bananas.  We do love our bananas!  And what's not to love - they are the perfect, scrumptious, portable, non-sticky/drippy/messy fruit.  (Not that I don't sometimes love peach juice running down my chin.)

 

And one of the others is chocolate.  Duh.  So when I run into a recipe that has both chocolate and bananas, I know that soon I'm going to be digging into something good.  It happened to me with the Banana Bites that are still one of my most popular posts EVER, and here we go again...and this time with some angel food cake, a few almonds, some mascarpone cheese, all in a dessert that will take you, oh, about 15 minutes to assemble, and that's if you are going really slow.

Here's the scoop.  Find some pretty wine glasses, the rounder the better.  Now take some angel food cake (the kind you can buy in the bakery section of your supermarket is perfectly fine) and slice it up.  You want the initial slices to be about an inch high, and then trim those into whatever shape will fit nicely into your wine glasses. Don't worry too much about making them pretty and precise, because they are going to be drowned in this.

That's my mind-blowingly good favorite chocolate sauce from the mind-blowingly good Stonewall Kitchen, but you use whatever your favorite is.

Next you are going to whip up a mixture of mascarpone cheese (which is like a sweet cream cheese, and you can find it in the supermarket either in the cheese section or sometimes right near the cream cheese), some sugar, a little cream and if you are feeling frisky, a little amaretto.  And here we go!  Drop a piece of cake in the wineglass.  Add in some banana slices, a spoonful of the cheese mixture, some chocolate sauce and a few sliced almonds.  Repeat the layers, ending with the almonds.

The perfect, perfect ending to that special dinner party.  Or you can go ahead and have it on a regular Tuesday night.  Or both!

Banana Parfaits, adapted from Bon Appetit

• Your favorite chocolate sauce
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, divided
• 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese
• 3 tablespoons amaretto
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 8 1/2-inch-thick angel food cake slices
• 24 1/3-inch-thick diagonal banana slices (from about 3 bananas)
• 1/3 cup (about) sliced almonds, toasted

1. Whisk mascarpone, amaretto, sugar, and 2 tablespoons cream in medium bowl until blended.
2. Using 2 1/2-inch-diameter cookie cutter, cut out round from each angel food cake slice, or just cut into irregular pieces - either is fine. Place 1 cake round in each of 4 wine goblets or old-fashioned glasses. 

3. Top each cake round with 3 banana slices, 1 heaping tablespoon mascarpone mixture, bittersweet chocolate sauce, and sprinkling of almonds. Repeat parfait layering 1 more time and serve.

Print this!

Chocolate Espresso Cookies

So, most of the time I'm not sure the teenager even remembers that I write this blog.  Sure, she sees me tapping away on the laptop, and stretched out flat on my stomach on the grass taking yet another close-up of a peach or a bowl of spaghetti, but most of the time her mind is on all the other things that swirl through teenage minds.  Taylor Swift.  The next episode of Pretty Little Liars.  The best approach for stretching out her curfew (asking Daddy is always the best bet.)

So I was a little surprised to have this conversation last week:

Teenager:  So Mom, where is the blog post about my prom?

Me: Huh?

Teenager: You know...the prom!  You haven't blogged about my prom yet.

Me: Honey, you remember that it's a food blog, right?  Not a prom blog?

Teenager: Mom!  You always figure out how to work pictures of my major life events into the blog.  You aren't going to skip talking about my PROM, are you????

And she does have a point.  As a matter of fact, I remembered that I did a whole long recap of the junior prom last year, so I started scratching my head about how I could connect some recent recipe with my sweet teenager in her pretty senior prom dress.

It would have to be something delicious and sweet, just like her.  

Something special and a little extraordinary and a tiny bit sassy, just like her.

Something CHOCOLATE.  And in this case, chocolate with a little hit of espresso, just enough to give it a little kick of wonderfulness.  A perfect cookie, dusted with a little bit of powdered sugar.  Sweet and special and pretty as a picture.

So here they are, some espresso cookies that are just the right amount of sweet comfort as you watch your baby go off to the prom.  Stay tuned for graduation...now THAT will involve some comfort food.  Sniffle.

 Chocolate Espresso Cookies. from Bake or Break

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons espresso powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• confectioner’s sugar, for garnishing

1. Place chopped chocolate and butter in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Beat brown sugar and chocolate on high speed of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Set aside.
3. in a separate bowl, combine flour, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. Turn mixer on low speed and gradually add flour mixture to chocolate mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate about 4 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
5. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place two inches apart on baking sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes, or until browned around the edges. Cool cookies on wire racks. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Print this!

Buttermilk Bacon Pralines

So, those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know all about my wild love affair with bacon.  The bacon cinnamon rolls.  The bacon pancakes.  The bacon cheddar bagel panini.  I thought I knew what true love was, bacon-wise.

And then one fateful day, I made buttermilk bacon pralines, and the universe shifted...bacon-wise.  As the devoted wife of a Southern man, I've had my share of pralines, those sugary, pecan-filled circles of heaven.  But until I ran across this recipe in Screen Doors and Sweet Tea,  I didn't know what a praline truly could be.  I actually didn't think I ever would or could make a praline.  But the bacon called out to me, and one afternoon I found myself with a candy thermometer, some pecans and a plate of bacon, and there was no turning back.

By the way, a quick word about candy thermometers.  I used to be terrified of them.  I would get to a recipe that looked fabulous, see the words "candy thermometer" and then wistfully turn the page.  And then I bucked up and bought this one, and my life has changed for the better, and believe me...if I can do it, so can you.

Back to the pralines.  I promise you, they are SO simple, and once you make them you will wonder how you lived so long in this life without them.  All you do is boil up some sugar, some buttermilk and a few other things for about 20-30 minutes or until your trusty candy thermometer tells you it is ready.   Then stir in some pecans, some vanilla, some orange peel and the BACON.  Drop it by spoonfuls onto parchment paper or a Silpat, and in about 30 minutes you will be changed forever.  While they are of course the perfect little dessert, the original recipe suggests they are equally perfect with a glass of wine before dinner...and I'm here to tell you that if you try that, you might not even NEED dinner.

 Buttermilk Bacon Pralines, from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook 

• 
  
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• 4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

1. In a heavy deep saucepan, combine the sugars, the buttermil, corn syrup, baking soda and salt.  Cook slowly over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until the mixture reaches 235 on a candy thermometer.

2. Remove from heat and add butter, vanilla, pecans, orange zest and bacon and beat with a wooden spoon until creamy.  Be very careful - this stuff is HOT.

3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a silicone mat or buttered parchment paper.  Let stand for 30 minutes or until cool and firm.

Print this!

Bittersweet Chocolate and Cashew Cookie Brittle

There is something about the words "cookie" and "brittle" that just mesmerize me.  Throw in "chocolate" and "cashews" and I am helpless...I walk directly into my kitchen and start making it.  Luckily for me it was somebody's birthday (I won't say whose birthday in order to protect the innocent), and so right after they were ready I put them all in a nice gift basket and whisked them out of the house.

Well, maybe not ALL of them.  Maybe I held back just a few.  Purely in the name of science, and chocolate, and cookie brittle.

Here's what you need to know: this is basically a spin on chocolate chip cookie dough, but because of the particular mixture of ingredients, it cooks up to be a little crunchier and more, well, brittle-like.  Once you have mixed up all the ingredients you press it into one thin layer onto a foil-lined cookie sheet (the foil will both make the brittle pop up easily and if you are really lucky, save you from washing the cookie sheet.  Things like that are my goal in life.  Less cookie-sheet-washing.

Make sure you make the brittle as thin as you can - the thinner it is, the more glorious it will be.  Press press press.  Then pop it into the oven and cook it up until it is a beautiful golden color.  Now comes the hard part...waiting until it is perfectly, totally cool before you break it up into brittle pieces.   After about 45 minutes I couldn't stand it anymore and I put it into the fridge, which cooled it right down.  Now lift the up the mass of brittle and start breaking it up into whatever size pieces you like.

After which you can give it away, keep it for yourself, or split the difference.  Just make sure you try at least one.  Or ten.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle, from Piece of Cake, who got it from The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook, Volume II

1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted roasted cashews
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set a rack to the center position. Pour the melted butter into a large bowl, and stir in the vanilla.
2. With a wooden spoon (or your hands, if your prefer), add the sugar, salt and flour and mix to combine--the mixture will be somewhat crumbly, like a moist pie dough.
3. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips. Press the mixture in a thin, even layer onto an ungreased cookie sheet (use the chocolate chips as your guide--try to get them in as close to a single layer as possible throughout the dough, and you'll have the right thickness). You may not fill the entire sheet with the dough--that's okay.

4. Bake for 23-25 minutes, until light golden brown (the edges will be a bit darker than the center). Let cool completely before breaking into whatever sized pieces you desire. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Print this!

Butterscotch Cookies

 Now you KNOW I am not one to shy away from crazy desserts and snacks with strange combos of ingredients, right?  I think the very fact that I have Bacon Cinnamon Rolls on this blog is complete, incontrovertible proof that.  But every once in a while I get a longing for a simple, quiet, satisfying, low-key cookie.  My grandma's molasses cookies are the very best type of this sort of cookie, but these wonderful butterscotch cookies are definitely right up there.

This recipe is from the always wonderful Simply Recipes site.  Whenever I need a great, totally reliable, delicious recipe for something in particular, this is always one of the sites I check first.  In this case, I needed to have butterscotch cookies.  Not butterscotch pudding.  Not butterscotch brownies.  Not Butterscotch the cat.

Sorry Butters.

Nope, what I wanted was a perfect, simple, perfect butterscotch cookie, and here it is.  Maybe you need one too?

Butterscotch Cookies, from Simply Recipes

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized slices
• 1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Sugar Dredging Mixture

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar

• Fleur de sel, Maldon, sea salt, or Kosher salt for sprinkling (don't use regular table salt, it won't taste right.)

1 Preheat oven to 375°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside. Mix together the sugar dredging mixture in another bowl and set aside.
2 Place 10 tablespoons of butter into a thick-bottomed skillet over medium heat. The butter will foam a bit before subsiding. Once the butter takes on a tan color and begins to smell nutty take it off of the heat. Add the other two tablespoons of butter and mix it in until it melts.
3 Pour the brown butter into a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the brown sugar and salt and mix. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix together, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl at least once. Add the flour mixture in three increments being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom once or twice. Mix just until the flour is incorporated. The dough will be very thick.
4 Take 1/2 to full tablespoon-sized pieces of dough (you can make them a bit bigger or smaller to your liking, just make sure the pieces of dough are all the same size) and gently roll them into ball shapes. Dredge them in the sugar dredging mixture until well-coated. Place on the baking sheet and sprinkle with a little bit of the sprinkling salt (be reserved with the salt as very little goes a long way).
5 Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges have browned a bit. Be careful not to over-bake. Allow to cool on the sheet for one minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Tastes best with a glass of milk for dipping.

Print This!

Applesauce Cake

Now, I am the first one to admit that when it comes to dessert, I am usually all about the chocolate.  Oh yes.  Chocolate Cookie Truffles.  Chocolate Caramel Cookie Brittle.  Even, I admit it, Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips.    But every once in a while, even I, chocolate-lover that I am, get a yearning for something Other Than Chocolate.  And when that happens, it's good to have a quick and easy recipe like this one on hand.  First of all, you probably have just about everything you need to make this cake somewhere in your kitchen right this second.  By itself it makes a lovely, easy apple spice cake that is the perfect non-chocolate treat.

But if you really want to kick it up to the next level, the special place where all really wonderful desserts live, take an extra few minutes to make the delectable apple cider sauce to spoon over the top of it.  It will make your applesauce cake truly all that it can be.

And with that, who needs chocolate??

Okay, I do.  But that's a post for another day.  :)

Applesauce Cake, from Betty Crocker's Smart Cook : The Essential Everyday Cookbook

• 1 2/3 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vinegar

Sauce Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup apple cider or orange juice
• 2 tablespoons cream

1. Heat oven to 350. 
2. Mix flour, sugar, allspice, baking soda and salt.  Mix in applesauce, nuts, water, oil and vinegar and pour into greased 8x8 baking pan.
3. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes.  Cool slightly while preparing sauce.
4. Heat all sauce ingredients until boiling in a medium saucepan.  Boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
5. Cut cake into squares and serve with sauce.

Print this!

Caramel Walnut Dream Bars

I am usually all about making cakes and cookies and other treats from scratch, but every once in a while I run across one of those recipes that combine using some kind of prepared mix with enough "scratch" ingredients that it seems just close enough, and this is the kind of recipe that can completely shock you (in the best possible way) with how good it is.  I'm talking Ridiculously Easy Peach Crumble.  I'm talking Butterfinger Cake.  And I'm talking these Caramel Walnut Dream Bars, which sucked me in on the basis of the title alone.  Caramel, Walnut and Dream all in the same title.  Oh yeah, I'm there.

As you can tell, this is a delectably sweet treat.  Sweet, sweet, sweet.  Want to know something else that is impossibly sweet?  (This has nothing to do with food in any way, so if you just want the recipe, feel free to skip on down to the bottom.  It's just too good a story to NOT tell, so I'm a-telling it.)

The teenager and her adorable boyfriend have been going out for a year now, which is like 50 years in teenage time.  And so the boyfriend brought her a t-shirt on which he had painted the words

Happy Anniversary

I Love You 

Emma

♥

She loved it, of course. Then he started pestering her to wash it. Wash it, wash it, wash it, said he. Tonight she finally did -- and most of the letters came off in the wash. Except for the ones P R O M and the question mark, which was part of the heart. She wrote the answer in herself once the shirt came out of the dryer.

Now if that isn't sweet, I just don't know what is!

Meanwhile, back at this sweet recipe, here's the scoop.  You make a base out of cake mix that has been moistened with butter and egg and press it into the bottom of a baking pan.  Then you mix up a topping of condensed milk, another egg, some vanilla, some chopped walnuts and some toffee bits, and pour that on top.  Bake, cool, cut 'em into squares, and give one to someone you have or would like to take to the prom. 

Sweet!!

Caramel Walnut Dream Bars, adapted from Anita's Recipes

• One box yellow cake mix (18.5 ounces)
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup toffee bits (I used the Heath Bar, brand, usually found near the chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 13"x9" pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. To prepare base, combine cake mix, butter, and one egg in a mixing bowl. Mix until crumbly. Press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan; set aside.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, remaining egg, vanilla extract, walnuts, and toffee bits. Mix well. Pour over base in pan.
4. Bake for 35 minutes or until light brown on top.  Cool and cut into squares.

Print this!

Raspberry Crumble Squares

Okay, so I think it's been a while since I mentioned how much I love and adore the Stonewall Kitchen Cookbook, and pretty much anything that Stonewall Kitchen makes.  As you may remember from earlier posts, I pretty much keeled over with excitement the first time I saw this:

In this case, however, I went for something that actually didn't involve chocolate, if you can believe that!  This recipe is a quick and easy one that is all about raspberries...and it works PERFECTLY with the frozen bags of raspberries you can get in the supermarket freezer section, and that is exactly what I used.  What's basically going on here is this: you make a super-simple shortbread recipe - flour, sugar and butter - and bake it until it is just set.  Then you heat up some raspberry jam just until it is melted, and you brush it onto the shortbread. (I used the spectacular Stonewall Kitchen variety.  Of course.)  Sprinkle on those raspberries, and then top the whole thing with a crumble topping of butter, flour and brown sugar.

Now pop it in the oven until the whole thing is golden brown and bubbling.  The next part is definitely the hardest: having the self-control to wait until it is fully cooled before you cut it into little squares fo raspberry heaven.  Now, these guys are very delicate and fragile and, well, crumbly when they are at room temperature, which is perfectly fine, but if you prefer your raspberry crumble squares a little less crumbly, they are equally wonderful cold.

That's my Stonewall Kitchen fix for today...but I'm still working my way through this fabulous cookbook, so I will probably be back, Stonewall Kitchen-wise.

Raspberry Crumble Squares, from Stonewall Kitchen Favorites

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cut into 8 pieces

• 1/2 cup raspberry jam
• 4 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
• 3 tablespoons flour

• 1 stick cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375.  Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, confectioner's sugar, salt and butter in food processor and pulse about 30 times, until the butter is the size of small peas or smaller.  Sprinkle the mixture into an ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan.  Press into the bottom of the pan and about 1/2 inch up the sides.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until firm and just beginning to brown.

2. Melt the jam in a small saucepan over medium heat until thinned and liquified.  In a medium bowl, mix the berries with 3 tablespoons flour until well coated.

3. For the topping, combine 1 stick cubed butter, 1 cup flour and brown sugar in food processor  and pulse until the mixture comes together.  

4. When the shortbread comes out of the oven, spread the liquid jam over the crust.  Sprinkle the berries and any remaining flour on top of the jam.  Sprinkle the brown sugar topping over all.  Return to oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.

5. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into squares.  Serve room temperature or cold.

Click here for printable recipe

Mud Hens

One of the many things I have learned as a photographer is that it is pretty impossible to take a pretty picture of anything that has to do with a chicken, unless it is an actual live chicken.

I had my first experience with this when I tried (and miserably failed ) to photograph some really scrumptious fried chicken that I made one day.  If you are interested in what a photographic food blogger resorts to when she needs to blog about something she actually CANNOT photograph in any decent way, click here.

In the case of these little babies, which are called Mud Hens, the photographic-chicken-rule continued...but because I couldn't bear not to share them with the world, I did the next best thing and put these not so pretty mud hens on one of my grandmother's very pretty plates.  

Now since I know you are going to ask, here is my FAQ about Mud Hens.

1. I have no idea why they are called Mud Hens.  

2. They are a Southern dessert made up of a sugar cookie dough that is sprinkled with chopped pecans, chocolate chips and mini-marshmallows, spread with a brown sugar meringue, and baked.

3. I live with a Southern man and while he had these growing up, he also has no idea why they are called Mud Hens.  He can, however, tell you anything you want to know about any player on all the Division One college football teams in the state of Georgia.

4. The Southern husband pronounces these the following way: "Mud Hins."  I love this about him.

5. Even though I am NOT from the South,  I routinely catch myself saying "y'all."  This come from years of living with the Southern husband, and has nothing to do with Mud Hens, but #4 reminded me.

6. You must, must, must make these, because even though they are not pretty, they taste GORGEOUS.

You now know everything I know about Mud Hens.

Mud Hens, adapted from Southern Plate: Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family

• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/2 stick butter at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 whole egg
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg white

1. Preheat oven to 350 and butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. Cream the shortening, butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Beat in the whole egg and the two egg yolks.

3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.  Combine the creamed mixture ith the flour mixture, blending thoroughly.  

4. Spread the  batter into the baking pan.  (If you are having trouble getting it to reach the edges of the pan, rinse your fingers in cold water and gently push the batter where you want it to go.)

5. Sprinkle the nuts, chips and marshmallows over the top of the batter.

6. Beat the 2 leftover egg whites plus the one extra egg white until stiff, fold in the brown sugar and spread over the top of the batter.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until browned on top.  Cook completely, then cut into bars.

Click here for printable recipe

Butterscotch Pudding

A couple of months ago, the Southern husband and I went out to dinner to this fabulous place (pay attention, all you Rockland County New York readers out there) called Hudson House.  We had a simply fabulous meal there, and when it came time for dessert, we ordered butterscotch pudding, which you don't often see on menus and which sounded like a nice, regular dessert.  The owner (who is also the dessert chef) promised we would love it, saying it was based on Wolfgang Puck's recipe.

It was not a regular dessert.  It was an outstandingly creamy, silky, smooth pillow of butterscotch heaven on a spoon.  We devoured it down to the last molecule of butterscotch, and ever since then the Southern husband has been reminiscing about it.  Remember that butterscotch pudding?  Man, wasn't that butterscotch pudding out of this world?  Oh, that butterscotch pudding!

All right, all ready.  I thought, how hard could this be, and I went down a rocky, alarming butterscotch pudding road that was a little similar to the chicken-fried steak road I have been down before.  But I wasn't going to let that butterscotch pudding get the best of me, and I finally smartened up and Googled "Wolfgang Puck Butterscotch Pudding Recipe," and what do you know?  There it was.  And while it is supposed to be served chilled, let me just say that the Southern husband was licking the spoon, the bowl, the pot and the butterscotch drips on the counter, and musing aloud that warm pudding might be just as good as cold pudding.

Side note: when I was taking the picture, the pudding looked a little lonely by itself, and since I am STILL stumped about what to do with all the mint that is growing about 10 feet a day in my Aerogarden....

...I popped a sprig on top of each one, and it was just the right amount of festive.   So there you go - never let it be said that a butterscotch pudding got the best of ME!

Last but not least, I have to end with this seemingly unrelated picture of a cat.

It's my mom's cat, and his name is...Butterscotch.  Now it's all clear to you, right?

Butterscotch Pudding, from Wolfgang Puck via the LA Times

• 6 ounces butter
• 2 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 cups half and half
• 10 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups milk or half and half
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Combine butter and brown sugar in saucepan over low heat. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring. Add half and half, stirring until smooth.

Combine cornstarch and salt in bowl. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk or half and half until cornstarch dissolves. Add to saucepan with remaining 3 cups milk or half and half. Bring to boil over low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Boil gently 2 minutes, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Slowly whisk in egg yolks, stirring until smooth. Add vanilla.

Return saucepan to heat and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Strain and pour into 12 custard cups. Serve warm or cold. Makes 12 servings.

Click here for printable recipe

Pecan Pie Muffins

Okay, so I have an issue to discuss today.  There are many times when I will run across a recipe for a pie or a cake that I would love to make.  The issue is that I live with the following individuals:

Exhibit A: The Southern husband.  Who is fully capable of having one small slice, saying all the right proper, appreciative, romantic things, and then not having any more.  Just leaving the rest of the pie/cake/other large dessert there on the counter, undisturbed.  I do not understand this man.  I love and adore him, but I don't understand him.

Exhibit B: The teenager.  Who does not like the following: Pecans. Piecrust. Walnuts.  Coconut.  Lemon. Peanuts (unless mashed into peanut butter than comes in a jar clearly marked "Skippy.")  Dark chocolate.  Strawberries.  I could go on and on.  I do not understand this child.  I love and adore her, and I spent many long hours birthing her so I know she is mine, but I don't understand her.

Exhibit C: The dog.  The dog will eat anything and everything that I put in front of her, behind her, drop on the floor or don't lock up or put on a very high counter.  I completely understand the dog.  It's just that dogs are not supposed to eat people food, and I try (as much as I can bear it) to follow the rules.

So here's the issue: if I go ahead and MAKE one of these nice big desserts, unless it is on a day when the teenager is having hordes of her less-picky friends over, there it sits on my counter.  Calling my name.  And so this is why I am so obsessed with cookies and muffins and other delicacies that at least have a little portion control going for them.  So when I ran across this recipe, which gives me pecan pie in a nice managable muffin size...well, yahoo!  It's all those great pecan pie ingredients...brown sugar, eggs, pecans...all in a convenient, willpower-friendly muffin form.  I added on to this recipe just a little by topping them with a little whipped cream and a shake of cinnamon sugar.

Just goes to show you that once again, pretty much anything gets that much better when you put it muffin form.  Happy sigh.

Pecan Pie Muffins, adapted from SOUTHERN PLATE

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick melted butter
• Whipped cream
• Cinnamon sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin pans with baking cups to fill 9 holes.  Coat with cooking spray.

2.  Combine the pecans, sugar and flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center of the mixture.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until foamy.  Add the butter, then pour into the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.

3. Spoon the batter into baking cups, filling 2/3 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

4. Remove from pans immediately and let cool.  Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Click here for printable recipe

Peppermint Fudge

So, the holidays are over.  The shopping is over, the  presents are unwrapped, the cards have arrived, and you can sort of, maybe get a parking spot at the mall that isn't 5 miles from the door.  Does this mean our making of chocolate treats is over for another 11 months?

HECK no!  

I know, I know - new year, new you, and by all means get on the treadmill - I could certainly stand a little of that.  But you still need to keep your energy up, and you only go around once, and...and...okay, the only other excuse I have is basically the name of this post, which is Peppermint Fudge. 

Peppermint.

Fudge. 

This is one of those things that I truly did mean to post before the holidays were done, but between the chocolate pretzel bites and the mixed nut brittle and the eggnog cookies, well, you know how it goes.  One moment it is November and then you turn around and somehow it is January.

So with a teeny apology for sabotaging some very well-behaved New Years resolutions, here's some peppermint fudge.  Because honestly?  It's really really good all year long.

Peppermint Fudge, adapted from Everyday Food

• 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradhelli)
• 1 cup peppermint candy - canes or the round candies
• 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 3 1/3 cups mini-marshmallows
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt

1. Lightly coat a 9 inch square baking pan with cooking spray.  Line with two pieces of parchment paper going in both directions, leaving about 2 inches of overhang on each side.  Spray parchment with cooking spray.

2. Put chocolate chips in food processor and process until finely chopped.  Transfer to large bowl.

3. Now put peppermint candies in food processor until finely chopped.  Set aside about 1/8 cup for garnish.  

4. In medium saucepan, combine chopped peppermint, cream, marshmallows, butter, sugar and salt over medium high heat.  Stir until everything is melted and smooth, about 5 minutes.

5. Pour peppermint mixture through a strainer into the bowl with the chopped chocolate.  Let stand for one minute and then stir until smooth.  Pour into baking pan.

6. Sprinkle reserved chopped peppermint over top and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.  Using the parchment sides as handles, lift out of pan and cut into 1 inch squares.

Click here for printable recipe

Baby Chocolate Coconut Cream Pies

Lately I seem to be all into the little individual servings of things. Macaroni and cheese cupcakes. French toast muffins. Banana bites. So when I spied this recipe for little individual chocolate coconut cream pies on the always fabulous Baking Bites website it made my heart go pitter-pat. Yes, a chocolate coconut cream pie where you can have the entire thing YOURSELF and not feel the slightest bit guilty.

Now, I am very sure that there is some recipe out there in the world somewhere that calls for making your own homemade graham cracker individual perfect crusts, but this is one of those cases where I invoked the chicken fried steak rule (and for you newer readers who have NO idea what I am talking about, click HERE). Anyway, this particular recipe called for using individual pre-made graham cracker crusts, and I thought there was no way on earth my supermarket was going to have them. But lo and behold! there they were right there in the baking aisle.

Now, one word about these little crusts. They come in foil pans, which was rubbing me the wrong way in terms of the whole look of my little pies. I tried taking one out of the foil pan before I started and it broke into a million delicious, unusable pieces. BUT...after the crusts were filled and chilled down in the fridge, they popped out very easily -- I pushed up just a little on the bottom to ease it out. And then I felt like all was right with the world.

So the next time you are hankering for something a little bit chocolate and a little bit coconut, these are for you!

Baby Chocolate Coconut Cream Pies, from Baking Bites

• 5-oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and divided
• 12 miniature graham cracker pie crusts
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups half & half/light cream
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk (regular or light)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped sweetened flaked coconut
• lightly sweetened whipped cream

1. Brush individual graham cracker crusts with melted chocolate, using about 1.5-oz. Place in the refrigerator to harden.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Whisk in eggs, half & half and coconut milk until very smooth. Strain mixture into a medium saucepan.

3. Heat mixture over medium heat, whisking frequently, until custard begins to come to a simmer. Add in remaining 3.5-oz bittersweet chocolate and stir until chocolate is fully incorporated and mixture has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in finely chopped coconut and vanilla extract.

4. Pour into chocolate-lined pie shells and refrigerate until chilled – about 3 hours, or overnight.

5. Top with sweetened whipped cream and garnish with a little more coconut.

Click here for printable recipe

Eggnog Cookies

'Tis the season of eggnog, and I love eggnog just a little bit too much for my own good.  I am SO happy to buy that first carton that shows up on the supermarket shelf, but after I have a glass or two I start getting that little annoying voice in my head that reminds me that eggnog is about one million calories a glassful, and that's before you start eating the Christmas cookies that go along with it.

This cookie is the answer to all of that.  It's a light and delicious little treat with just a hint of eggnog flavor in it (there is only 1/4 cup of eggnog in the whole batch), and those little brown flecks on the top of the cookie?  Yep, nutmeg.  It's like having a cup of eggnog AND a Christmas cookie, all in one scrumptious package.  Plus they are a snap to make.

AND, if you have any eggnog left over after all that, you can make this.

The end.

Except for the recipe, which I snagged from the always fabulous The Cooking Photographer's blog - LOVE her. 

Eggnog Cookies, from The Cooking Photographer

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 scant teaspoon mace or nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup full fat eggnog
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat the butter, sugar, salt, mace and vanilla extract together until fluffy. Mix in the egg and eggnog. Mix in baking soda, and then beat in flour until just combined.

3. With a standard (size 50) cookie scoop, scoop the batter and place on sheets 2 inches apart. Sprinkle dough very lightly with mace and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Let rest for 2 minutes on sheets then move to cooling rack.

Makes 32 cookies.

Click here for printable recipe

Peppermint Brownies

Here's one that was inspired by my friends at the Fat Witch Bakery, who despite their name have you covered through all the holidays, not just Halloween.  I have made their S'mores Brownies about one million times (I am an honorary member of the teenager's posse purely on the basis of making them S'Mores Brownies over and over and over again.  Not that they let me actually hang out with them or anything, but they love me from afar.)

Anyway, here's the next one that I tried from the Fat Witch Brownies cookbook, and to be completely honest, I followed the directions for the brownie part to the letter, but then ran totally amuck on the topping.  Fat Witch called for the topping to be made with a mixture of white chocolate and confectioner's sugar and chopped peppermint, and I just...couldn't...do it.  It just seemed like a little too much chocolate to me (I know!  What is wrong with me???) so I went for a more traditional vanilla buttercream frosting, which came together in a jiff, and I did use the chopped peppermint.  Obviously.  It's still puh-lenty sweet, but the consistency is just a little bit lighter than the white chocolate would have been.  I hope the Fat Witch will still love me, and no hexes will be coming my way.

By the way, since it is the holiday season and I am feeling very generous and like I need to give credit where credit is due, I would like to go on record as saying that these little candy canes that I used for this recipe?  They were individually wrapped (AAAARRRGGGHHH!) and my dashing Southern husband unwrapped them all for me so I didn't lose my mind.

That is what you call true love and devotion.  Peppermint Brownies...make them for someone YOU truly love this Christmas.

Peppermint Brownies, inspired by Fat Witch Bakery

• 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pound (3 1/2 cups) sifted confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk or light cream, or to make smooth and spreadable
• 1/2 cup chopped candy canes

1. Line 9x9 inch baking pan with foil and spray with Pam.  Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mlet the butter and the bittersweet chocolate together in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

3. Beat together eggs, sugar and both extracts until smooth.  Add cooled chocolate mixture and mix until well blended.  

4. Sift flour and salt together directly into the batter and stir until well-combined.  Stir in white chocolate.  Spread into pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with crumbs, not batter.  Cool on rack until completely cool.

5. Cream butter, salt, and vanilla, beating with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar gradually, beating after each addition. Add 3 tablespoons milk or light cream, beating until smooth. Beat in more milk until desired spreading consistency is reached and the frosting is spreadable.

6. Spread over cooled brownies and sprinkle chopped candy canes on top.  Using sides of foil, lift brownies out of pan and on to cutting surface.  Cut into small pieces.

Click here for printable recipe

Devil's Food Butterfinger Cake

Oh, this cake.

I'm kind of at a loss, and probably the best thing to say is simply the following:

1. Devil's food cake.

2. Caramel glazed poured OVER the devil's food cake. While it is still warm. After you have poked holes in it so that the caramel can soak deep into the warm cake.

3. Freshly whipped sweetened cream on the top of the cake.

4. Crushed Butterfinger bars sprinkled liberally over the cream topping. And I do mean liberally.

At this point you may need to breathe into a brown paper bag because of all the excitement. This recipe comes from a great new cookbook called SOUTHERN PLATE that holds a particular special place in my Southern husband's heart, for obvious reasons. I think you'll be able to see from this cover why he was very happy to see this particular book on the kitchen counter.

It's full of all sorts of great stuff, but the desserts are what really caught my eye. Many of them call for packaged ingredients like cake mix, which is just fine with me because they are combined in various ways that make me need to breathe into a brown paper bag. As a matter of fact, this particular recipe called for using Cool Whip instead of homemade whipped cream, and I'm sure that would have worked out just fine. I happened to have some cream in my fridge that needed to be used, but I am certainly no stranger to the wonders of cooking with Cool Whip.

Luckily for me, my house was full of teenagers the weekend I made this cake, or there is an extremely good chance that I would have just sat down with the entire cake and a fork. You have been warned...

Butterfinger Cake, from SOUTHERN PLATE

• 1 box devil's food cake mix
• 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 12 ounce jar caramel topping
• 1 12 ounce container whipped topping (aka Cool Whip. Or make your own by whipping 1 cup heavy cream with 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla until soft peaks form.)
• 1-2 Butterfinger bars, crushed.

1. Prepare the cake according to package directions. Immediately after removing the cake from the oven, poke several holes in it with a fork or a skewer. Mix the condensed milk with the caramel topping and spread over the entire cake.

2. Cool cake completely, then spread the whipped topping over the top, and sprinkle the crushed Butterfinger over the topping.

3. Stand back!

Click here for printable recipe