Holiday Recipes

Baking&dESSERTS&Holiday Recipes&pIES07 Apr 2008 10:07 pm

AUNT HELEN'S CHOCOLATE PIE

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 squares melted unsweetened chocolate

l tsp vanilla

3 egg yolks beaten

2 cups milk

2 T. flour

pinch of salt

In a pan, melt the chocolate. In another pan, stir together the sugar, flour, and salt. Add chocolate and stir. Slowly stir in the beaten egg yolks and milk. Cook over low heat stirring constantly until mixture becomes thick. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Pour in a bowl and put saran wrap on top to prevent from forming a thick surface on top. Cool and put in pie crust of your choice. Use flour or graham cracker crust.

Top with meringue or whipped cream.

If you are going to make meringue, beat the three egg whites with 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar until they form soft peaks.. Add l T of sugar at a time (making a total of 4 T). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown- preferably on the middle shelf of the oven. Eggs should be room temperature before whipping for meringue.

This is the chocolate pie recipe I promised !!!

Enjoy

Gogi

Baking&dESSERTS&Holiday Recipes01 Apr 2008 06:06 pm

GRANDMA'S DELICIOUS THING

Here is a recipe I uncovered in my travels through my recipes the other day while looking for something new and different and easy. Several years ago I played cards with a group of ladies and we shared recipes. Billie Johnson served this on one of our game nights and it was an absolute hit. Since then I have used it many times. If you look closely, it is basically a cream puff recipe only divided in half and iced. Have fun with this one. You will love it. Thanks Billie!

1 cup flour

½ cup oleo

2 T. water

3 eggs

Combine water and oleo in pan. Put in microwave and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup flour all at one time beating with hand mixer until smooth. Add one egg at a time beating after each egg.

Divide in ½ and make 2- 12×13 rectangles and put on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Remove from oven. Cool. Ice with 1T oleo, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. almond flavoring (or vanilla if desired).

Enjoy,

Gogi

Baking&Cooking&Holiday Recipes29 Mar 2008 03:58 am

BAKING CREAM PUFFS

Here is a treat for the family and something you would probably not buy at the bakery because the price is too high. You will be pleased with the end results when you bake these. Take them to a get together with friends and you will win the prize for the evening! We were invited to a weiner roast last week and I took approximately 14 or 15 cream puffs dusted with powdered sugar. Needless to say the plate came home empty. It was a totally different treat for the evening.

Start by greasing and flouring a cookie sheet. For best results, use a spray with flour in it.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1 cup of water

6 T. butter or margarine

¼ tsp salt

4 large eggs

Put the first 3 ingredients in a 2 or 2 ½ quart pan and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and vigorously beat in the 1 cup of flour all at once and beat until it leaves the sides of the pan.

Now add the four eggs ONE AT A TIME. Beat well after the addition of each egg. This will make your puffs light and fluffy. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to dip batter out of pan and make 10 mounds on the cookie sheet. Moisten your finger and run around the top of each one to make a round top. Remember to do it lightly.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown .Remove from oven and take a sharp knife and poke a whole in the side of each one. PUT BACK IN THE OVEN FOR 10 MINUTES ONLY. Remove from oven and put on a wire rack to cool. After cooling slice each one in half and remove the moist centerpiece of the puff.

Now is the time for you to be creative. Serve them with your favorite ice cream and a chocolate topping, strawberries and whipped cream, cream filling, or whatever suits your fancy. Fill them just before you eat them. Put unused puffs in a covered container.

Enjoy,

Gogi

Baking&Holiday Recipes24 Mar 2008 04:09 am

MAKE AHEAD PIE CRUST- BAKE LATER

This recipe makes 10 double crust pies. You mix it up, divide it into 8 to 10 rolls and put it in the refrigerator/ freezer, depending on when you are going to use it. It should be wrapped in plastic wrap first and then in freezer paper if you are going to put it in the freezer. Before using, remove from freezer and let come to room temperature. Then roll it out. Sometimes I take it out the night before and leave it on the counter if I want to get started on baking early in the morning. If you have a heavy duty breadmaker it is best to mix the dough with that because it gets pretty heavy to handle. If you don’t have a breadmaker, you can still do it the old fashioned way and do it by hand.

Recipe:

5 lbs. flour

3 lbs shortening (I prefer Crisco)

1 oz. salt ( approx 5 tsp.)

Mix together with mixer or by hand pastry blender. It will look somewhat like putty.

3 cups water

Add all at once and just mix a few turns until the dough absorbs all the water or mix with your hand until it does the same.

Sprinkle about a ½ cup of lour over the top of dough and just mix until the dough is the right consistency of pie crust dough.

Separate dough into 8-10 roll and wrap well and freeze or refrigerate. At least refrigerate for up to 2 hours before using. This is an important step. This dough will keep for a very long time if wrapped properly.

Enjoy,

Gogi

Baking&Cakes&Cooking&Holiday Recipes23 Mar 2008 05:49 pm

ORANGE KISS ME CAKE

This was a recipe given to me by my mother-in-law 48 years ago. It is absolutely scrumptious!

I large orange

1 cup raisins

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup sugar

½ cup shortening

¾ cup milk

2 eggs

¼ cup milk

Topping:

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup sugar

¼ cup chopped nuts

Squeeze juice out of the large orange. Set aside. Cut stem off of the end of orange rind and grind. Set aside.

Measure and set aside l cup of raisins and l/3 cup of walnuts.

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and sugar together.

Add ½ cup shortening and ¾ cup milk to flour mixture above. Mix with mixer.

Add 2 eggs and another ¼ cup of milk to the mixture and fold in the orange juice, rind and raisin mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees in a greased 12 x 8 x 2 or a l3 x 9 pan for 40-50 minutes.

While still warm sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and nut topping.

Serve with a nice cup of coffee or hot tea. Enjoy, Gogi

Cooking&Holiday Recipes19 Mar 2008 06:42 pm

TIME FOR A BREAK AWAY FROM COOKING

Good morning from my kitchen to yours. I grabbed a cup of coffee and decided to sit down and chat for a while. It is a beautiful morning, about 70 degrees, and the sky is a blue as can be. I love this kind of morning because it rejuvenates my energy and my spirit.

I’ve been thinking about Easter and what to plan in the way of cooking and baking. Of course there will be the traditional ham with scalloped potatoes, some kind of green beans, and of course deviled eggs. Our family goes for the simple comfort dishes. I guess that is why I love watching Paula Dene. Instead of being hooked on soap operas every day or evening, I am hooked on Paula Dene and her cook shows. When she prepares something you not only feel the love she has for what she is doing but can almost taste and smell the food she is preparing.

I was looking at a blog this morning on cupcakes. Cupcakes in the past were becoming a dead pan item. The “regular, normal cupcake” of yesteryear just doesn’t have the appeal that it used to. Today there are so many different ways of preparing and decorating cupcakes that they have become an exciting item in the world of recipes. I have been thinking; this might be a different twist to one of the desserts I will attempt to prepare for our Easter celebration. (Of course there will probably be coconut cream pie and banana cream pie to go along with the cupcakes!) Nevertheless, I believe I will give them a try.

Let me know if you have any great ideas on this subject.

Until later and Happy Easter,

Remember the reason for the season,

Gogi

Baking&cookies&Holiday Recipes19 Mar 2008 01:00 am

BAKED PRETZEL COOKIES

This is something the kids would probably just love to help you bake.

1 tube of refrigerated cookie dough (16 ½ ounces)

1/3 cup cocoa powder (not sweetened)

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Chocolate icing to dip cookie in:

¼ cup water

1 ½ cup powdered sugar

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Mix to consistency that will stick on cookies when dipped.

White icing dip:

¼ cup water

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

Roll heaping teaspoons of dough one at a time into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 9 inch rope. Form into pretzel right on an ungreased cookies sheet. Place cookies two inches apart.

Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheet for one minute. Move cookies to wire rack to cool. Out a piece of waxed paper under the wire rack so when you are dipping and putting the cookies back on the rack to firm up, the excess icing will fall on the waxed paper. Decorate with nonpareils, coconut, ground nuts or whatever you choose.

Enjoy,

Gogi

Cooking&Holiday Recipes&Tips and Shortcuts14 Mar 2008 07:57 pm

ROUND STEAK – 3 STEAKS IN ONE

ROUND STEAK is divided into 3 different sections: (A) the top round; (B) the bottom round; and (C) the eye of round, which is part of the bottom round. Because the three parts are so different, markets usually divide them and price them differently. You can save yourself some money by buying whole round and cutting it up. This is simple to do because the round steak has natural seams and if you follow them exactly, the meats will cut apart easily. Each section varies in tenderness and requires different methods of cooking.

The TOP ROUND, consisting of one large muscle above the bone is more tender and can be oven broiled or pan broiled in the U.S.D.A. Prime and Choice grades, or used for braised dishes.

The BOTTOM ROUND, consisting of two smaller muscles below the bone, is not as tender as the top round. The bottom round tastes best when cooked with moist heat in all grades.

The smaller muscle of the bottom round is often separated and sold as EYE OF ROUND. Eye of round is also a less tender cut, but when sliced thin, U.S.D.A. Prime and Choice grades can be pan broiled.

Although the three sections vary in tenderness, they are all high in nutrition.

The TOP ROUND is best when it is about 1 ½ inches thick and marinated overnight in your favorite tenderizer or marinade. Score about 1 inch cuts diagonally on the meat so it can easily absorb the marinade. Turn once or twice.

The BOTTOM ROUND is best when cooked slowly in a liquid such as tomato sauce or some kind of soup. Bottom round is sometimes referred to as Swiss Steak, suggesting that this is the best way to prepare it. It can also be roasted, used in stew or beef burgundy.

EYE OF ROUND steaks are usually cut into thin round pieces and called breakfast steaks, minute steaks, or cube steaks. You need to gently tenderize them with a meat mallet. Cook them quickly so as to not overcook. A simple and good way to cook them is to flour and brown in skillet. It doesn’t take long because they are so thin.

Try looking for a nice whole round steak the next time you see them on sale. See how you can stretch the meat budget.

Baking&Holiday Recipes12 Mar 2008 12:58 am

OLD FASHIONED APPLE CAKE

Here is a recipe that takes basic ingredients and pleases everyone. Grab about 6-8 apples at the market, depending on the size, and go for it!

Cream together:

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup shortening

Add:

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

L tsp. salt

I tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

Nuts, as desired

Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for on hour.

This a great year round cake and is so tasty.

Later,

Gogi

Baking&cookies&Holiday Recipes&Snacks09 Mar 2008 06:57 pm

HOW DOES YOUR COOKIE CRUMBLE? Part 6 of 6

PART 6

Congratulations!!! You have just read 5 of the series of 6 tips on how to become the COOKIE QUEEN. Once you have put them in your memory bank, they will just automatically pop up when you pull the recipe/s out to make cookies.

LEAVENING. The last part of this series, #6, like all the rest is of major importance. In most cookie recipes, baking powder or baking soda provide puffiness. Without this leavening, the cookies would be hard and dry instead or light and flaky. Adding leavening is another way of incorporating air in the dough.

Baking powder and baking soda contain an alkaline and an acid that react when they get wet. The reaction forms carbon dioxide gas, which expands in the hot oven and fills the cookie with tiny air pockets. The pockets remain after the cookies are baked, creating light, tender cookies.

Double-acting baking powder is the most common leavening. It contains cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda and salt. It starts to react as soon as it comes in contact with moisture, though the majority of the leavening occurs in heat. This double action ensures that baking powder is effective even if the cookies aren’t baked immediately. BAKING POWDER DOUGHS CAN BE REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN.

Some recipes call for a small amount of baking soda in addition to baking powder. In most cases, baking powder is used in recipes that contain an additional acid such as buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt or molasses. However, baking soda starts to produce gas as soon as it is wet, so BAKING SODA COOKIES SHOULD BE BAKED IMMEDIATELY AFTER MIXIING.

Remember to follow directions EXACTLY!! Do not add a little bit more of this or that because you think it will enhance the cookie. It just doesn’t work. The only place I have added a little bit more of this or that is in the nuts and other goodie parts of the recipe. I like whatever I am adding to the dough to be very visible and exciting.

Please continue to watch my blog. I will continue to have some tried and true everyday recipes for you to master as well as enjoy. There is nothing more satisfying than to be able to prepare food for family and friends and watch them enjoy it.

Gogi

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