Pinterest is an addiction.

I love Pinterest. I have gotten lesson plans, craft ideas, recipes and humor. Pinning recipes is hands down my favorite past time. I recently had to bring 2 coffee cakes to church for a breakfast and guess where I looked?

Pineapple Coffee Cake (sprinkledwithflour.com)

4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups vanilla yogurt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups crushed pineapple, drained & reserve the juice

Topping:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2. cup butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Pineapple Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
reserved pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray.  In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl beat the eggs, yogurt, vanilla and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until blended, then fold in the pineapple.  Pour batter into your baking dish and add with the topping (below).

Topping: Combine flour, sugar and butter. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly, then mix in the chopped nuts.

Bake cake for 40-45 minutes, or until middle is set and cake is lightly browned. Allow cake to cool for 10 while you make the glaze (see below).

Glaze: Stir the powdered sugar and enough of the pineapple juice to reach your desired consistency. Drizzle over the top of the entire cake.

Delicious and moist and oh so good. I will definitely be making it again!

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake--

2 packages cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanίlla extract
1 large egg

For the cake:3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon bakίng powder
½ teaspoon bakίng soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stίck) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanίlla extract
1 cup sour cream (lίght or regular)

For the streusel toppίng:¼ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
3 tablespoons butter, chίlled and cubedFor the glaze:
¼ cup confectίoners’ sugar
1 ½ teaspoons mίlk

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease/flour or spray a 9 x 13 cake pan. Set asίde.
Make the fίllίng:  Ίn the bowl of an electrίc mίxer  mίx together the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanίlla on medίum-low speed untίl creamy.  Set asίde for the fίllίng.
Make the cake batter:  Ίn medίum bowl, stίr together flour, bakίng powder, bakίng soda and salt untίl well combίned. Set asίde.

Using a electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medίum-low speed.  Add eggs one at a tίme.  Add the vanίlla extract.  Slowly pour ίn the flour mίxture alternatίng wίth the sour cream untίl ίt ίs all combίned.( I just dumped it and I thought it turned out just peachy)

Spread half of the batter ίnto the prepared cake pan wίth a spatula.  Spread the cream cheese fίllίng evenly on top. Top wίth remaίnίng cake batter and smooth wίth a spatula.   Gently swίrl ίn the batter with a table knife, finger tip or spoon.
Make the toppίng:  Add the sugar, flour and chίlled butter ίn a small bowl.  Stίr usίng a fork or pastry blender untίl the mίxture ίs crumbly.  Sprίnkle the streusel on top of cake batter.

Bake for 40-45 mίnutes untίl a cake tester ίnserted ίn the center comes out clean.  Cool on a rack.

My coffee cake didn't look as pretty as the picture on pinterest, but it was so yummy that I didn't care.  I think next time, I might add some blueberries.
Enjoy!

My Mom's No Baked Cookies

This is the recipe that I learned to make when I was a kid. I never had them with peanut butter until I moved to Kansas. Personally, why mess with perfection? Not that I have anything against peanut butter, but I don't think you taste the chocolate as much with peanut butter in them.

Dan makes a recipe that never leaves the bowl... not sure why they are called "cookies"... but to each his own!

No -Bake Cookies

3 Cups oatmeal
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 C + 2 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 C coconut
2 Cups sugar
1/2 Cup butter
1/2 Cup milk

In a saucepan, mix the sugar, butter and milk together. bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until mixed in. Drop from a teaspoon onto waxed paper and cool.

I have no idea how many cookies this recipe makes. I made 2 cookie sheets full, ate some before it hit the waxed paper and many were different sizes.

Enjoy!

Flopped cake equals creativity and YUM!

Sometimes my flops are better than they would have been if they would have worked out! So this morning, I decided to bake a cake for our church's picnic to make sure that we would not run out of food.  So I whipped up a cake mix (which I rarely do), threw in about 2 cups of butterscotch chips and put it in a well-greased bundt cake pan. Well, the cake looked great when I pulled it out and since I usually have BAD LUCK with Bundt cakes I decided to wait until it was completely cooled before I attempted to invert it.  So feeling pretty proud of myself for actually following cooling instructions, I inverted the cake. And then it happened...the top was not on the cake... but on the bottom of the pan, of course it was well greased and came out great, just not on the top of the cake...


So my bad luck continues... :)  BUT I had a plan! (This of course was about 20 minutes before we had to walk out the door, so there was no time to redo the cake).  I scooped out the cake and yummy butterscotch chips and added some flour to make crumbs. 

Then I mixed up some powdered sugar, cocoa and milk to make a glaze. I poured this over top of the cake and attempted to put the crumbs on top.  But not all the crumbs cooperated and stayed on top. So I made some more  glaze and poured over the cake again and put more of the crumbs on top.  When I cut the cake, there was  a nice little pool of glaze and crumbs hanging out in the middle as well as everywhere else on the cake plate. 


I tried it and it was delicious and I got some compliments. Not sure if I can duplicate it again!  :)

  The pictures don't do it justice!  Darn...leftovers!

 

Homemade Goodness!!

I have always been one of those cooks that likes to use what I have before I buy something new.  I guess I can say that about a lot of things!

Ever have milk that is past it's due date and you don't want to throw it out? Make it into buttermilk by simply adding 1 Tablespoon of vinegar/lemon juice to it. I have a jug in the refrigerator that I just keep adding to and then I use it in a recipe. Right now, the jug is almost full and I am trying to find recipes that use more than 1/4 c of buttermilk. This recipe is one that uses 1 Cup.

Dan and I love pancakes. It is an easy supper that the leftovers can be eaten for breakfast the next day, what's not to love?  I threw several recipes together to create this one. It is a winner.

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 egg                                         1 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1 C. Buttermilk                           1 T. Brown Sugar

2 T. melted butter or veg oil        1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder               1/2 tsp. salt

Basically, I just dump everything together. I do whisk the eggs before adding them to the whole mix. Whisk all the ingredients together until lumps are gone. Cook on griddle or pan or sidewalk... until done.  I find that oil works the best and the edges are nice and crispy. We usually double or triple the recipe for leftovers, because personally, why go to all that work just for one meal!

I have added blueberries, cinnamon, and I usually add flax seed in addition to the flour.

Maple Syrup

My Mom used to make syrup when we ran out of the bought stuff. Dan and I are trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup and if you have ever looked at a ingredient label on pancake syrup you will know that the first ingredient is usually corn syrup/high fructose...  Anyhoo, I made this the other day and while it tastes like maple syrup and looks a lot like it, it is not. (my disclaimer for my Vermont relatives). However, it tastes pretty darn good and it is what we will be using from now on, or at least until we get the good Vermont stuff. 

I cannot take the credit for making this recipe, it comes from one of my favorite cookbooks: More with Less pg.77

Combine in a saucepan.

      1 3/4 C. White Sugar

      1/4 C. Brown Sugar

      1 C. Water

(I stirred it some)Bring to a boil , cover and cook 1 minute. Cook slightly ( I took it off heat and let it cool for 2 minutes).

Add:

      1/2 tsp. Vanilla

      1/2 tsp. Maple flavoring

Cover saucepan for a few minutes as syrup cooks to melt down crystals; helps prevent syrup from crystallizing later in storage. I turned the burner on low for 2-3 minutes.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It made about 2 cups of syrup.

     

Of course, the whipped cream has... high fructose corn syrup in it.. but at any rate, it was yummy!

Blueberry Brie Pie

Dan saw a recipe for a blueberry brie pie in a cooking magazine I got from the Library--my obsession with cooking has rubbed off on him! YES! I made one that I found on the internet, which was more to my liking and I made it for supper when my cousin was here. It was a hit!
I have been on a pie kick ever since!

Ingredients:
about 5 or 6 oz brie cheese with the outer edge of the rind cut off. Cut into about 8 wedges. (I bought my Brie at Sam's for a fraction of the price in the grocery store)
(I would recommend cutting the pieces smaller, to distribute them throughout the pie). At least, that is what my taste testers recommended!

Berry Filling:
about 2 1/2 cups frozen berries
2 tbsp (1/8 cup) cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water
2 T raw sugar; or sweeten to your liking.

Topping

· 3/4 cups flour

· 1/2 cup plus 2 T granulated sugar

· 1/2 cup plus 2 T brown sugar, packed

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 1/2 cup oatmeal

· 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

· Can add sliced almonds if desired.

· To be totally truthful, I just dumped these ingredients together without measuring.. and it worked. :)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Begin by putting all the berries in a saucepan and turning the heat to medium-low, when they are all thawed and warm, stir in the sugar. Let the sugar dissolve a bit then, slowly stir in the dissolved cornstarch liquid. Turn the heat up to medium and boil for 1 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, turn off burner.

Now, combine all the dry ingredients for the crisp topping together in a bowl and mix well. Then, add the butter. I mixed this all together with my hands because I feel using a spoon or mixer is just too much work. Plus getting your hands dirty is fun!

The cheese should already be cut up, oven and cookie sheet preheated this whole time, and crisp topping should be all ready. Put the cheese slices in the bottom of the pie shell. The berries should NOT completely cover the cheese, the berry mixture should go about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the pie shell. You will have massive cheese and berries escaping if you try to cover the cheese wedges. Sprinkle a layer of the crisp topping on the pies and put the pie on a cookie sheet to avoid berries escaping in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F, then turned it down to 350 degrees F. Bake another 20-35 minutes, depending on how fast your crust and topping cook.

Makeover Chocolate Truffle Dessert

The recipe should be "Makeout" Chocolate Truffle Dessert.... this is so yummy that you and your honey... well.,,, 'nuf said. - Simple and Delicious

Chocolate Truffle Dessert-makes 16 servings

1 box fudge brownie mix ( 8-in square pan size) (I made mine from scratch)

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

6 Tbsp. butter, cubed (margarine works fine)

1 Tbsp. instant coffee granules

3 Tbsp. vanilla

14-16 Pirouette cookies, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces.

Make brownie mix according to package directions. Spread into a greased 9 inch spring form pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Put choco. chips in a food processor; cover and process until finely chopped. in a small microwaved bowl, combine 1 cup cream, butter and coffee. Microwave uncovered on high for 1to 1-1/2 minutes or until butter is melted; stir until smooth. With food processor running, add cream mixture to choco. chips in a slow, steady stream. add vanilla; cover and process until smooth.

Reserve ¼ c. mixture for cake garnish. (you can put into a pastry bag or sandwich bag with tip cut off---- I just melted it and swirled it on top).

Remove the sides of the springform pan, spread half of the chocolate mixture over brownie layer, over top and sides. in a small bowl, with remaining cream, bead until soft peaks form. Fold into remaining chocolate mixture. Spread over cake, gently press cookies into sides of dessert.

Garnish, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 5 minutes before cutting.

Delicious!

How It All Began

As a young child, I often helped my mom in the kitchen... I am not sure if she considered it helping, but I learned a lot of the basic skills required for making wonderful foods. Some of my favorite memories of my mom and food, are when she would make homemade soft pretzels and pull them out of the oven just as the school bus dropped us off. Or her wonderful homemade bread hot out of the oven with honey butter melting on top. The list could go on and on. My mom was a nurse and she worked only a few evenings a week, but assigned each of us ( my 2 brothers and myself) to contribute a portion of that night's meal. I made French Breakfast Puffs and baked the frozen casseroles made earlier. On Saturdays, I would make homemade pizza (dough) and add favorite toppings.

When I left home, I continued cooking and loved making sticky buns (often 6 batches at a time) for my Voluntary Service Unit and other More with Less recipes. I worked in restaurants as a Prep Cook, managed a kitchen at a summer camp, cooked for a family that I was a Nanny for and became a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher. Now that I have a kitchen of my own, I love making new recipes especially food that I know Dan will want to try. We often visit used bookstores and I sit on the floor scouring cookbooks for new ideas and drooling at the colorful pictures! I subscribe to a few cooking magazines and have spent many happy hours, surrounded by cookbooks.

I bake when I am stressed ---did you know that "stressed" spelled backwards is "desserts" ??? :) I love anything and everything that involves chocolate. Dan recently told me that I should blog about my cooking adventures. So here we are! Hope you enjoy it!