Snickerdoodles

This is the best Snicker doodle recipe I have found thus far and, I believe, my search is over.  My 5 year old hates chocolate so I've had to find a new cookie that we all enjoy.  These Snicker doodles were perfect...fluffy, crispy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle.  This is very similar to Martha Stewart's recipe, but the baking powder and cream of tartar are slightly different.  I've tried Martha's and with this minor adjustment, I liked mine better.  I do like the acidic taste of cream of tartar, but not quite as strongly as others out there.  Because of this fact, I decided to half the cream of tartar and make up for it by adding baking powder in the other half's place.  Perfect, for my taste and my family's taste.  I also hate over baked cookies, therefore I usually under bake mine just a bit.  They might be gooey right at first, but as they cool the middle becomes decadent.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!  I baked my cookies for 8 minutes, nothing more, nothing less.  My oven is a bit hot though so try it out.  These cookies really don't brown so don't go off of that or you'll have one crispy mess.

Here is the lovely recipe:

Snicker doodles

Ingredients


1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, baking powder, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.

Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 8 min., or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Whole Wheat Bread

Hear it is, the great bread recipe.  Thanks so much Shannon for sharing this with us!  Before you begin, I would not make my own bread if I didn't have my Bosch mixer.  A kitchen Aid will work also.  To mix by hand would be just too much work for me.  If you want to attempt this without a mixer, more power to ya!  I'm just saying I wouldn't!

Whole Wheat Bread
4 C hot water
2 Tbsp salt
2/3 C oil
2/3 C molasses
2/3 C honey
2/3 C Vital Wheat Gluten
2 1/2 Tbsp saf instant yeast
10 C flour (about)

Mix together water, salt, oil, molasses and honey. Add about 4 C flour and the wheat gluten. Mix for 1 minute. Add yeast and mix for another minute. Add the remainder of flour until the dough sweeps the sides of the bowl. Once enough flour is added, continue to mix for 8-9 minutes so the gluten to forms. Grease table top and hands and shape dough into 3 loaves.  Let rise until double in size. The recipe said it would rise 30 minutes, but mine took at least 2 hrs. Shannon says hers takes 2-3 hours also.. Once risen, bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

I hope these directions are clear.  Bread making takes practice!  Once you've figured out how the bread should feel and look when just the right amount of flour is added, it becomes much easier.  Just practice!  I also grind my own wheat because I think it tastes better and is much fresher than the stuff you buy in the store.   One more thing, Saf instant yeast is by far the best.  I've tried others and it never turns out as well as Saf.  With Saf you do not need to proof your yeast or start your yeast in warm water first.  If something is confusing, just leave your question in the comments and I will respond asap!  Good luck!

S'Mores on a Stick

Yesterday I hosted a little play group at my house. My boys LOVE having friends over, so they were excited about all the action. Plus, one of their favorite cousins came over to play -- Jake! It was a good day.

For an easy and quick activity, we made S'Mores on a Stick (perhaps to the chagrin of the other moms.)

I just zipped over to the grocery store and grabbed skewers (which I cut in half), some chocolate chips, marshmallows, fruit loops, graham crackers and sprinkles. I crushed the fruit loops and crackers, and placed them on the table with the sprinkles. I melted the chocolate in the microwave, and we were ready to go! The kids simply put a mallow on a stick, dipped it in chocolate, then the topping(s) of their choice, then voila! Finished! My kids ate about 10. So did I. Ooops.

German Chocolate Cheesecake

I discovered this recipe when my husband could not make a decision on what cake he wanted for his birthday.  He couldn't decide between German Chocolate Cake or cheesecake.  Really, who could?  That is why I went to my trusted search engine to see if the two coexisted somewhere.  And...they sure did!  This has now become a family favorite.  What's even better...this cake tastes better leftover.  My personal opinion, the longer this treat sits in the refrigerator, the better.  The recipe says to refrigerate before serving because that is how I like it.  You don't HAVE to refrigerate before serving, but I HIGHLY recommend it!  You must, must try this recipe and let me know how you like it!  Enjoy!

German Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) German Chocolate cake mix

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1-1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

FROSTING:

1 cup sugar

1 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup butter, cubed

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-1/2 cups flaked coconut

1-1/2 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare cake batter according to package directions; set aside. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour half of the cake batter into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Gently pour cream cheese mixture over batter. Gently spoon remaining batter over top; spread to edge of pan. Bake at 325° for 70-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. For frosting, in a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter and egg yolks Cook and stir over medium-low heat until thickened (about 10 min) This should be thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the heat. Stir in vanilla; fold in coconut and pecans. Cool until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Frost cooled cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Yield: 16 servings.

Red Velvet Cake

I know I just blogged about red velvet cake, but I tried a recipe for my little girl's birthday and it turned out delicious.  I just had to share.  Due to the fact that I'm out of town and staying in a home with TERRIBLE internet connection, I will not be posting pictures.  Also, the pictures were terrible.  Actually, the whole experience was a fiasco so I'm just really happy it tasted great. 

First off, I over-filled the cake pan and had cake ALL over the oven.  I kept having to clean the oven out during baking so my cake didn't get smoked out.  I was so impatient with the baking, because it took triple the time, so I finally just pulled it out.  Big mistake.  The cake sunk in the middle.

The next mistake was asking my brother to cut around the pan before flipping it over so the cake would fall out easily.  Never ask a man to do something, baking wise, that you really care about.  Instead of cutting straight down, he cut slanted so when the cake was flipped over it looked somewhat like a volcano.  That is when the curse word slipped out of my mouth.  Don't worry, no children were present!

Needless to say, the cake tasted great.  So...try the recipe.  I found this recipe on Spork or Foon?.  Her pictures are MUCH better than mine are!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Summer is here, and so marks the season of strawberry freezer jam in my house! I absolutely LOVE this stuff. We like to put it on everything from waffles and pancakes to sandwiches and crackers. Sometimes we even eat it by the spoon. Don't judge me. But seriously, after you try this you will never go back to Smuckers. Not only because it's so easy to make, but also because it is so delicious. Dare I say it's like the nectar of life?

Strawberry Freezer Jam
This amazing recipe is from Chrystalyn Trimble...she is a master in the kitchen and my hero.

5 cups of strawberries (pulse them in your food processor until you reach your desired consistency)
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of corn syrup
1/4 cup of Clear Jel (I get mine from Walton Feed, but I hear you can also find it at gourmet food stores, or at a Bosch store)

Stir together the strawberries and the corn syrup. Mix together in a separate bowl the sugar and Clear Jel -- this is important! The Clear Jel will clump if you add it by itself. Slowly pour, while stirring at the same time, the sugar/Clear Jel mixture into the strawberries. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. Check the consistency -- if it's too thin for your taste, add another teaspoon of Clear Jel (again, add it slowly while stirring to avoid clumping.) The consistency is affected by how smooth you process your strawberries. I always add the extra teaspoon of Clear Jel.

Pour into Mason Jars or plastic containers and store in freezer. I always keep a large tub in my fridge right off the bat because we go through it so fast! I like to get my strawberries from Costco when they go on sale for 4.99 for four pounds (this is just about enough to get the five cups needed for this recipe.) Strawberry is our favorite, but you can experiment and mix lots of different berries to your liking.

ENJOY!

{Image via This Week for Dinner}

Cookie Sheet Chocolate Cake

OK, this is an extremely hard thing to be posting about right now due to the fact that I am on a VERY restrictive diet. I am sacrificing for you, so here it is. This is one of my very, favorite chocolate sheet cakes. I received this recipe from my mother and I'm not sure who gave her this delicious masterpiece, but whoever it was, thank you! I love this recipe so much based on the fact that it has just a touch of cinnamon. If you know me and my baking, you know that I love to slip in that little ingredient in almost anything. I once rolled my chocolate chip cookie dough into cinnamon before baking and, let me say, it was an amazing explosion of flavor in my mouth. Sean thought it a bit much, but I beg to differ! My father also made a chili that had a pinch of cinnamon and it was the first thing I tasted. Beautiful. Anyways, I am now salivating and really wishing I could bite into almost anything right now!

Chocolate Cookie Sheet Cake:

2 Cups sugar
2 Cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter
1/4 Cup cocoa
1 Cup water
2 eggs
1/2 Cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda

Sift together dry ingredients (top 4 ingredients). Set aside. In saucepan, bring butter, cocoa and water to a boil. Remove from heat and add to dry ingredients. Beat well. Add eggs, buttermilk and baking soda to mixture. Mix well. Spray cookie sheet or jellyroll pan with Pam. Pour batter into pan. Bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Five minutes before cake is done, bring to a boil:

1 stick butter
1/4 Cup cocoa
6 Tablespoons milk

Once mixture has come to a boil add 3-4 cups of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. You may also add 1/2 cup chopped nuts. Mix and pour over cake that has just come out of the oven. Oh, and let me say, it is heaven!

Easter Morning

This morning we made our traditional puff oven pancakes with the ever delightful Magleby's Fresh syrup. Magleby's is a little restaurant in Utah that I used to frequent while going to college there (I'll bet Lynsee has been there too). I still try to drop by for breakfast whenever I am in the area. The syrup is to die for, and this is the closest imitation I can find.

This breakfast is VERY easy to make, and very delicious (in my opinion), which is probably why I love it so much.

Puff Oven Pancakes

4 TBS butter

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place a casserole dish (I use a 9 by 13) with the butter in it in the oven to melt while it preheats.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs slightly and stir in the flour and milk. It will be lumpy. When the oven is preheated, pour the mixture into the casserole dish, right on top of the butter (no mixing necessary). Bake for 20 minutes.

Magleby's Syrup

1 cube butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 TBS vanilla

1 TBS corn syrup

1/2 tsp baking soda

Bring first five ingredients to a boil. Add baking soda. Boil for 10 seconds, then remove from heat immediately.