Gingerbread - Judy Gustafson's cakelike gingerbread

 Made for Kristi's bookclub - The Spine Crackers - for October 2020 - with the book Mrs. Lincoln's Dress Maker. Gingerbread was a common dessert enjoyed during Civil War times.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup light molasses

1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Grease and lightly flour one 9" round cake pan. Cream shortening and brown sugar. Add egg and molasses. beat well. Stir together flour, spices, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternatively with 1/2 cup of boiling water, beating after each addition. Pour into pan. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Serves 8. 

Jane Durham's Cake-like Brownies

Jane served these at our book club in April of 2016. These are now the Count of Monte Cristo Brownies. These are not my favorite brownies for flavor; rather they are good for cutting out shapes. I also used these for Duncan's Arrow of Light ceremony. 

2 Cups of Sugar
1 Square of Butter
4 Squares of Chocolate; 4 Ounces (melted over water)
4 Eggs
1 1/2 Cup Flour
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
1/2 Cup of Milk (hold up better with skim milk, taste better with whole milk)
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla

1. Cream sugar and shortening
2. Add well-beaten eggs and chocolate
3. Add flour and salt combination alternately with milk
4. Add vanilla last
5. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes
6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar

Father's Day Hot Fudge Sauce

This was the easiest recipe. Just three ingredients. It is very thick. The taste will almost completely depend upon what type of chocolate you use. We served this as a drizzle over brownie bites with strawberries, and vanilla yogurt. It is very rich.

Ingredients:
1. 1/2 cup (1 stick of butter)
2. 1 cup of chocolate chips
3. 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add in chocolate chips, constantly stirring until melted, and finally add in the sweetened condensed milk. Stir over low to medium heat until all combined. Serve immediately. Store extra in the refrigerator. It will revert to a thicker, more hardened substance until you heat it up again.

Seasalt Caramel Dark Chocolate Pretzel Bark

While browsing Pinterest the other day, I found a pin called Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark…
I altered it though.  I found that there wasn't enough caramel or enough chocolate for my liking.  I also found that Dark chocolate with seasalt and carmel is so good.  I usually spend way too much money on candy bars that taste like this stuff.

You most likely have the five ingredients you need in your pantry/fridge already. If you don’t, it’s worth a quick trip to the store.

Ingredients:

• ½  bag of mini pretzel twists
• 4 sticks of butter
• 2 cup of brown sugar
• 2 bag of chocolate chips - I mixed dark and semi
• Sea salt

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

• Then line a large jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and lay a single layer of pretzels down.

• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let it boil gently just until it starts to stick to the bottom and it forms a nice smooth caramel. You’ll want to let it bubble a little and get really thick. But not for too long or it get too hard.

• Remove from heat and pour evenly over the top of the pretzels (don’t worry if every single pretzel isn’t covered). Put in the oven at 350 degrees for five minutes.

• Remove from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. You can let the caramel melt the chips, but I prefer to put it back in the oven for one minute. I actually tried this and the chips wouldn't melt  - so for the second bag I melted the chips double broiler style.

• Spread the chocolate chips around with a spatula until mostly melted.

• Sprinkle generously with salt.

• Let cool on the counter top for a few minutes and then pop in the freezer for at least two to three hours.

• When it comes out of the freezer, break it up into uneven chunks with your hands and serve.

It’s that simple! Seriously, the hardest part of this recipe is NOT eating it all.

Quick tip: I found it tastes best when right out of the freezer. It will start to melt after sitting on the counter top for more than a few minutes.

Chesenhauch

Chesenhauch

My first memory of eating these "almond brownies" was at the next door neighbors.  They were a regular treat we ate with them.  I hadn't tasted these in years, until last week at a birthday party.  I mentioned that I had eaten these years ago at Keddingtons.  It turns out that my friend had gotten their recipe from the Keddingtons!  So, this is the original recipe from my childhood.

2 sticks butter, melted

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 tsp almond extract...I used much more...2 Tbsp!

2 cups flour

Mix all together.

Pour into greased 13x9 pan.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!



Marshmallow Frosting

Another Beka Madsen passed on to me recipe.


1 lb butter
1 lb powdered sugar
1 jar marshmallow creme (7 oz)
2 tsp. vanilla


Mix together.
This frosting holds up great for pipping on top of cupcakes and it tastes really good - not all weird powdered sugar-ish.

Beka's Eclair Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1 cube of butter
1 cup of flour
1/4 t of salt
4 eggs
2 small pkgs of instant french vanilla pudding
8 ounces of cream cheese
2 1/2 cups milk
12 ounces of cool whip
3 ounces of milk chocolate chips
additional 3-4 T of milk
1 cup powdered sugar
2 T butter

Layers:

Layer #1
Bring the water to a boil in a sauce pan
Add one cube butter until melted
Add flour and salt - stir until dough leaves the sides of the pan
Let it cool slightly
Add eggs one at a time - stir well after each one
Spread dough in a 15x10 (sheet cake size) pan
bake at 400 for 25 - 35 minutes
break the bubbles with a fork and cool (completely)
*don't worry if it's not pretty*

Layer #2
Combine pudding mix with softened cream cheese and 2 1/2 cups milk
beat until smooth
spread on the pastry shell

Layer #3
Spread cool whip over pastry

Layer #4
melt butter and chocolate chips on low in a saucepan
mix in sugar and milk until it forms a glaze (or use hot fudge)
drizzle over cool whip

Put in fridge for at least an hour

Can be made a day ahead of time

Beka's Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cake

Ingredients:
1 yellow cake mix that has pudding in it (says has pudding in it)
8 ounces of sour cream
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

STEP ONE: beat all above ingredients for 7 minutes
STEP TWO: pour half into a 9x 13 pan

Mix Filling:
3 Tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup of sugar
5 Tablespoons baking cocoa
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

STEP THREE: sprinkle half of the filling on top of the half in the pan
STEP FOUR: sprinkle how many ever chocolate chips you want on top of that
STEP FIVE: use one half of remaining cake mix to layer on top
STEP FIVE: repeat steps three and four
STEP SIX: end with cake mix on top

Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes

Brownie Cookies

Okay folks!  I found a new love!  I love brownies but I never make them because I am either out of brownie mix or I need something not in a pan.  I also think that brownies usually taste like cake when they are made from scratch instead of "brownies".  But not these ones! They are inspired by the neighborhood funeral for an elderly gentleman and from all recipes by Jonie Adams.  I just tweaked and added toffee bits.  I bet you could add lots of different things, her recipe had nuts - but I do think that is the number one way to ruin a brownie.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup shortening - I used the butter flavored
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 package of milk chocolate
• 1/2 cup toffee bits (optional)

Directions

1. Do the whole recipe in a bowl with a wooden spoon to prevent overmixing. Start by creaming shortening, sugar, water and vanilla. Add in eggs. Stir in flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda; stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and toffee - or other extras -  if desired. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets (or my favorite trick for only having 3 cookie sheets and a batter that makes more than that = I cover them in tin foil & then just lift the foil off). Bake at 375 degrees F for 8 minutes; do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.  They have to sit on the racks for some time to get the undersides to dry out a bit.

Chocolate Fondue

12 ounces of chocolate bars, broken up (I like Symphony Bars)
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup whipping cream
10 large marshmallows (use a good brand)

Place chocolate bars and milk in fondue pot. Turn temperature to warm. Stir constantly to melt. Add marshmallows one at a time, melting each one while continnuing to stir. Gradually add whipping cream.

Serve with fruit pieces, angel food cake, marshmallows, rice krispy treats, or whatever else you love to dip in chocolate.

Brownie Bites

Adapted from the Cupcakes from the Cupcake Doctor Recipe Book
Made for my Dad's birthday party 2012


Ingredients:
PAM
All purpose flour for dusting the mini-muffin pans
1, 20 ounce package of brownie mix
1/3 cup water
5 TBS butter, melted
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or we used peanut butter chips on some)

Step One: preheat oven to 350 and place rack in the center of the oven, lightly mist the pans with Pam and dust with flour (shake out the extra flour and set the pans aside).

Step Two: mix brownie mix, water, butter, egg, vanilla, and chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl.

Step Three: scoop or spoon 1/4 cup of batter into each cup.

Step Four: Bake the cupcakes 13 minutes.  Let sit in hot pans for 15 minutes.  Remove and place on cooling racks.  They will sink as they cool.  Run a dinner knife around the edges and lift up from the bottom using a knie.

Peppermint Fudge Cookie Sandwiches

Wonder what to do with your left over candy canes?  Here is an awesome recipe for you - of course it is from my friend Beka's kitchen.  Or really pretty holiday treats.  Use up the left over Halloween peppermint patties with the festive candy canes and you have utilized junk from two holidays!  Don't say I never gave you a great idea!  Lol!

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 candy canes or 8-10 mini-peppermint hard candies
1/4 cup white or semi sweet chocolate morsels (only because I don't like white)
10-12 mini foil-wrapped peppermint patty candies unwrapped

Step one: preheat oven to 375
Step two: parchment paper on cookie sheet
Step three: combine chocolate morsels and butter; microwave on high for 40-60 seconds or until smooth
Step four: add sugar and egg and mix till well blended
Step five: add flour
Step six: drop 20 level scoops of batter 1 inch apart onto pan, bake for 9 -11 minutes or until edges are set (do not over bake)
Step seven: crush candy cane
Step eight: melt white chocolate and stir until smooth and add the candy cane
Step nine: turn over 1/2 of the cookies and top with the peppermint patties.  Turn them into sandwiches with one cookie on top and one cookie on bottom.  Drizzle the chocolate with the chocolate with the candy canes.

Cupcakes: Coconut Snowballs

I made these for Kelby's shower back in May and I am still having people ask me for this recipe

Makes 18 - 20 cupcakes
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 18 - 22 minutes
Assembly time: 10 - 15 minutes (depends on how good you are at using a big icing tip)

Ingredients:
20 paper liners for cupcake pans (2 12/ inch size) - I used purple tulip ones for her shower
1 pkg (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix (or for the diehards - your favorite from scratch dry ingredients
      of your white cake recipe)
1 1/3 cups of coconut milk (can sub whole milk if you are in a pinch - just increase the coconut flavoring)
      you can find it by the Thai ingredients in the grocery store
2 TBS vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 tsp coconut flavoring
white frosting
     I use this recipe from Our Best Bites = Perfect Cupcake Frosting
I bag 7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

Step one: place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Line 20 cupcake cups with paper liners.  Set the pans aside

Step two: prepare the cupcake batter: place the cake mix, coconut milk, oil, eggs and coconut flavoring in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer until well blended.

Step three: spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full.  Remove any empty liners

Step four: bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden, nicely domed, and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, around 18 to 22 minutes.  Remove the pans from oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes.  Remove them and put them on wire rack to cool at least 15 more minutes before frosting. (I actually do up to here the night before)

Step five: prepare frosting

Step six: place a big swirl of frosting on each cupcake and then dust with coconut

Kristi's Awesome Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe is a combination of several recipes from Allrecipes.com.  I served these at Timon's Baptism and am now making them again for our December Freezer group sway 2011.

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
•  
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened (can be melted too)
•  
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

OR

Maple Frosting: 

4 T butter, softened

5 C powdered sugar

3 T maple syrup
1 t vanilla

dash of salt
1/4-1/3 C milk

Directions

1. Place milk and yeast ingredients in mixer.  Add melted margarine/butter, eggs, salt, and sugar.  Using kneading hook add flour until dough pulls away from the sides.  
2. Set dough in a greased bowl under over light, covered for 1 hour.
3. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
4. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter (I never use this much and always have left overs) and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan.
5. Freezer version - place the rolls onto a parchment paper in the freezer.  Once hard freeze in airtight container for up to 3 months. To thaw - put in fridge for 24 hours.  Then bring to room temp on the countertop (covered with a cloth) until 1/2 again or doubled in size.
6.  Back to non-freezer version: Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
7. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Pretzel Jello Salad

adapted from Collene Dunford

2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
Cool Whip
1 6 oz. pkg. strawberry or raspberry Jello
2 cups boiling water
2 10 oz. pkgs. frozen berries, partially thawed

Mix first three ingredients and press into bottom of 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 (metal pan) or 325 (glass pan) for 8 minutes.  Let cool completely.
Beat powdered sugar and cream cheese together.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Spread over cooled pretzel crust.  Mix Jello and water until Jello dissolves.  Add berries.  Stir into Jello, then set aside for 10 minutes.  our over cheese mixture.  Chill.

Ice Cream Topper: Peanut Butter Fudge

From One Family, One Meal

Ingredients

Unsalted butter, 1⁄2 cup 

Unsweetened chocolate baking bar, 1 oz.

Sugar, 3⁄4 cup

Unsweetened cocoa, 1⁄4 cup

Evaporated milk, 1 (5-oz.) can

Creamy peanut butter, 1⁄2 cup

Vanilla extract, 1 tsp.

Kosher salt, 1⁄4 tsp.

Preparation

1. Melt butter and chocolate in a small, non-aluminum saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in sugar and cocoa until blended. Gradually add evaporated milk, stirring until blended.

2. Bring to a low simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when bubbles appear. Stir in peanut butter and remaining ingredients. Serve warm, spooned over ice cream.

Blackberry Chocolate Pie

• Ingredients:
• 1 (15 ounce) package pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• Or Beka's Grandma's Pie Recipe
• 2 cups of flour
• level t salt
• cup of crisco
• 1/3 cup of water
• mix with fingers the flour, salt and crisco until it turns into pea sized, or corn meal
• add water and mix it in with a fork just until it sticks
• make a ball out it (makes 2 crusts)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 cups blackberries
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 
  

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place one of the pie crusts into the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate.

In a bowl, mix the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Gently stir in the blackberries and chocolate chips. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Transfer to the pie crust in the pie plate. Place remaining pie crust over the top, and secure to the bottom crust by pressing with a fork, or fluting with your fingers.

Bake 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until top is golden brown. Cool slightly before slicing.

Michael's Oatmeal Chocolate Milkshake

Ingredients:
Drumstick IceCream (can also use vanilla)
Chocolate Syrup (thank you Hershey's)
1/2 cup of oats
1 cup of milk

Use enough ice cream to fill-up the blender.  And be prepared to have a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie in a shake!  Thank you Michael for you debut!

Apple Crisp

modified from CPK Cookbook


Apple Crisp Topping
1/2 cup (1 stick ) unsalted butter, chilled
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting

Apple Mixture
I usually make this ahead during the fall and freeze it a wintery day
3 1/2 lbs granny smith apples (or really you  can use any apples you like)
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

STEP ONE: peel and core apples and cut them into 1/8th inch crescent shape slices.
STEP TWO: toss apple slices, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla extract
STEP THREE: make topping by generously dusting a surface with flour.  Put the butter on the flour-dusted surface, and cut butter in to small dices pieces and turn the pieces in the flour to coat them.
STEP FOUR: In a bowl toss the butter dice, brown sugar, slat and the 1 1/3 cups of flour; do not over blend.
STEP FIVE: transfer the apple mixture to a 2-quart rectangular glass baking dish
STEP SIX: grab a handful of the topping mixture and squeeze tightly to compress it into a solid clump; then hold compressed topping over the baking dish and crumble it by hand into small 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces strewn over the top of the apples.
STEP SEVEN: bake at 325 for about 2 hours (unless you precooked the apples).  If it browns before apples are soft cover with foil to prevent burning.  If you precooked apples - takes about 20 minutes to melt and brown the top.

My Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Totally lifted from all recipes from Nancy Fridirici.  It probably helped that I actually had softened butter this time instead of a half and half microwave version.  I added a wee bit more brown sugar than white, used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet. Huge warning = get them off the pan while hot.  Even with Pam, these became one with the cookie sheet!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
2. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.