No-Bake, 4 ingredient Chocolate Covered Vanilla Cake Batter Truffles--Thanksgiving 2011
1 cup vanilla cake mix
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp Eagle Brand condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c chocolate chips
Mix the cake mix, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl until a stiff dough forms. This shouldn't be sticky but it needs to be able to stick together to form little 1/2 inch or so balls. Add more cake mix or more milk if necessary. (I think I added a tad more cake mix to mine.)
Put in freezer for 15 minutes.
Remove from freezer and shape into small balls. Freeze again for 15 minutes.
Melt chocolate chips in microwave for about a minute and stir until smooth and glossy. Dip balls in chocolate and place on parchment paper. (I skewered mine with some small skewers--about 3 inch ones--to make it easier to dip.)
Freeze or refrigerate until set.
That's it. They're awesome!!!
Sheath Cake--August 13, 2011
2 c sugar
2 c plain flour
1 stick butter
1 c water
1/2 c shortening
3 1/2 T cocoa
1/2 c buttermilk
2 eggs
1 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
icing:
1 stick butter
3 1/2 T cocoa
6 T milk
1 lb box powdered sugar
1 c pecan pieces (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together sugar and flour. In a saucepan, combine and bring to boil butter, water, shortening and cocoa. Pour over flour and sugar mixture and mix well. Add buttermilk, soda, cinnamon and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until incorporated into mixture. Batter will be thin!
Pour into a 9 x 13 greased pan. Bake for 24 minutes.
Using the same unwashed saucepan, while cake is baking, combine butter, cocoa and milk. About 5 minutes before cake is done, bring to a boil. Remove from heat and gradually add powdered sugar, beating constantly. Add pecan if using, and mix. Spread icing over hot cake.
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Really Quick Banana Smoothie to Fight the 96 degree Heat--June 2, 2011
3 frozen bananas
1 c pineapple juice
1 T honey
Put in blender and blend until smooth.
That's it.
YUM.
.................................................................................................Lemon Bars--April 20, 2011
Crust:.
1 c plain flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 stick butter, melted but not hot
Filling:
2 large eggs
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 T plain flour
6 T juice from 2 lemons
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8x8" baking pan with cooking spray.
Mix flour, salt, powdered sugar in a medium bowl; stir in butter until dough forms. Press dough into prepared pan. Bake until pale golden, about 20 minutes.
While pastry bakes, whisk eggs, sugar, flour, lemon juice, and zest in a medium bowl.
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Double Chocolate Praline Fudge Cake--April 5, 2011
(This is the best cake I've ever tasted in my entire life. Just sayin'...)
Fudge Cake:
1 c butter
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 c water
1/2 c buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
2 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Chocolate Ganache:
12 oz semi-sweet choc chips
1/3 c whipping cream
Praline Frosting:
1/4 c butter, cut into pieces
1 c light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 c whipping cream
1 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 3 8-in round cake pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper; set aside. (TIP--must be 8"; 9" won't work!!) Cook butter, cocoa, and water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Using an electric mixer, beat buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla at medium speed until smooth. Add butter mixture and beat until blended. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Add to buttermilk mixture, beating until blended. Batter will be thin. Pour batter into pans. Bake 22-24 minutes or until set. Place pans on wire racks and cool for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pans and allow to cool completely.
Ganache: Microwave chocolate and whipping cream in a tempered glass mixing bowl at medium power for 2-3 minutes or until chocolate is melted. Whisk until smooth. Cool, whisking often, for about 15-20 minutes or until mixture is thick enough to spread. Spread a 1/2 cup of ganache between each layer of cake. Spread any remaining ganache on sides of the cake. Chill cake for 1/2 hour.
Frosting: In a 2-qt saucepan over medium heat, add butter, brown sugar, and whipping cream. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk the mixture in the saucepan. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Gently stir in pecans. Continue to stir until frosting begins to thicken and cool. Pour frosting slowly over the center of cake. Spread toward the edges of the cake and allow some frosting to run over the sides. Garnish with whole pecans.
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Super Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies...March 18, 2011
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 c + 2 T plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 c milk choc chips
1 c semisweet choc chips
1 c dark choc chips
(I use Ghirardelli for all the chips)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. It is important that the butter be softened but not melted! Beat butter and sugars at medium speed with stand mixer for 2 minutes or until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until blended.
Put flour, salt, baking soda in small bowl and stir. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips...add more or less chips as you see fit ;o)...making sure to thoroughly spread them throughout the dough!
Drop by cookie scoop (YES! I DO own one of these!) or by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool.
IMPORTANT: most people love my cookies because they are soft and gooey-chocolately in the middle. The key here is to take them out of the oven while they still look white and NOT golden. They will look slightly raw. TRUST me on this. You'll eventually get them just the right degree of doneness so that they don't taste dry after they've cooled!
OH, and it's supposed to be unhealthy to eat raw cookie dough so make sure you cook your cookies and don't eat the dough (whatever.....)
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Cream Cheese Icing...March 16, 2011
2 8-oz cream cheese
1/2 c unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 c sifted powdered sugar
Soften cream cheese and butter and blend together with mixer. Add vanilla. Stir in powdered sugar.
Use to frost 24 cupcakes or a layer cake.
YUM.
