Spring Fling

We have an annual Spring Fling at work which is basically our company picnic. It's a day of volleyball, ping pong, barbecue, door prizes, visiting with our co-workers, etc. We always have a bake-off also and this year's category was chocolate cake. I realize now that I could never compete in a real bake-off as I am hypercritical and want things to be 'just right'. This is my 'go-to' recipe for chocolate cake. I started out making it a 3-layer cake. That looked atrocious and was very lop-sided. So I scrapped that and decided to make it in my heart-shaped pan which I have done before (see here). This one stuck to the pan. It was about midnight by now and I decided to heck with it, but I could not sleep so got up and made this AGAIN like the picture above. Well, all efforts paid off as I won FIRST PLACE!! Yeah! I won a gift card to a grocery store. It was a fun day for sure.

SPRING FLING CHOCOLATE CAKE

1-3/4 cups flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk (I used buttermilk this time)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup toasted almond slices

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and dust with cocoa a 9 x 13 pan. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until blended. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat will until combined, about 2 minutes. While beating, heat water to boiling. Stir water into cake batter and stir well.

Pour the thin batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup cocoa powder
4-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan, melt together butter and cocoa. Stir until smooth. Using a mixer, alternately beat in powdered sugar and milk until frosting is smooth and creamy. Stir in vanilla. Frost cake as desired. Garnish with toasted almonds.

Stuffed Strawberries

This recipe comes from the Deen Brothers Cookbook . Paula also made this on her show recently. These were a good addition to the strawberry shortcake (see below).

STUFFED STRAWBERRIES

32 whole large strawberries, hulled
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Cut a thin slice from the bottom of each strawberry so the berries stand upright. Place berries, cut sides down, on a serving platter. Carefully, cut the berries into 4 wedges, cutting almost to, but not through, the bottoms. Fan the wedges just slightly, taking care not to break them. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until combined but still stiff. Using a teaspoon or pastry bag with decorative tip, fill the strawberries with the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle chopped pecans on top of the stuffed strawberries. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Strawberry Shortcake

Another birthday at the office, so an opportunity to bake something. The birthday girl requested strawberry shortcake, so here is my version.

I made a yellow cake from the King Arthur recipe and split it apart and put strawberries and Cool Whip between the layers and frosted and topped with more strawberries and frosted with Cool Whip.

YELLOW CAKE

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 large eggs plus 2 yolks
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups milk, buttermilk, or yogurt (I used buttermilk)

16 ounces frozen sliced strawberries with sugar thawed
32 ounces Cool Whip defrosted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, salt, baking powder, and vanilla until the batter is fluffy. This should take at least five minutes. It's a good idea to have your butter and eggs at room temperature. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time. Beat thoroughly before adding the next. Then slowly fold in a third of the flour, then half of the milk, then another third of the flour, the remaining milk, and then the last of the flour. Only stir until mixed.

Pour into a 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed with Pam or butter. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool completely and split cake horizontally. Spoon 1/2 the strawberries and juice on bottom layer. Add Cool Whip. Place second layer on top. Place remaining strawberries and juice and then frost with remaining Cool Whip. Slice strawberries on top for decoration.

Bake Sale

Our local Chamber of Commerce had a bake sale to raise funds for their scholarship fund. I took a Lemonade Pound Cake and also this Fresh Banana Cake. I live in a small community, but I am impressed at what a great Chamber we have and what good things they do.

FRESH BANANA CAKE

1/4 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 very ripe bananas (medium), mashed
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
2-1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Dried banana chips for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 pan. (This can also be made into a bundt cake). In large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla, bananas and the buttermilk until well combined. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to banana mixture. Stir gently to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool cake in pan on rack 30 minutes before turning out onto platter. Cool completely.

EASY CREAMY FROSTING

1/3 cup cold milk
1 package vanilla instant pudding (4 serving size)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup butter, softened
3-3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix ingredients together until creamy. Spread on cooled cake. Sprinkle dried banana chips on top.

Texas-Sized Cookies

There are 100's of recipes for chocolate chip cookies. I got this recipe from one of my best friends and it has always been my 'go-to' recipe. I was thinking about making big cookies, kind of like what you would get at a deli where you buy just one cookie. I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup and pressed them down and they made some big cookies. I also made some normal-sized ones to take to work for New Employee Orientation today as well. The big cookies went to a 'nice home' as well.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1-2/3 cups shortening
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 12-oz. package chocolate chips
1-2 cups toasted chopped pecans (optional)

Beat shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs one at a time. In another bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda together. Add to creamed mixture. Add chocolate chips and pecans. Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. (Or in this case 1/4 cup measure). Bake 11-15 minutes until light brown. Cool on baking rack.

Cranberry Orange Scones

CRANBERRY ORANGE SCONES

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter

1/2 dried cranberries

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons orange juice

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cranberries and zest. Measure buttermilk into small bowl. Break egg in and beat together. Pour into dry ingredients and mix with a fork. Use your hands to get mixture into a ball. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat and form the batter into a large circle, about 10 inches. Cut it into 8 triangles, leave on baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-25 minutes, until golden on top. Mix powdered sugar and juice into a glaze and dribble over the scones.

Lemonade Pound Cake

I don't usually like baking with cake mixes, but I have had this recipe in my files for a while and I'm trying to work through some of them to try them out.


LEMONADE POUND CAKE

1 package plain white cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1 container (6 ounces) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
3 large eggs

GLAZE:

1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Place the cake mix, sour cream, lemonade concentrate, cream cheese, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Spoon the batter into a bundt pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray, smoothing out the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. Prepare the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind in a bowl. Turn the cake out onto a serving plate. Spoon the glaze over the top.

MEIER & FRANK BEER ROLLS

I was inspired by Em at Sugar Plum Sweets when she made her beer buttermilk biscuits. I have had this recipe in my 'to try' files for years. I've made beer bread lots in the past but never thought of making it into rolls. This recipe calls for a beer that I had not seen before. My son brews his own beer and I was thinking I could use some of his home brew, but he gave me this beer to use and I think it worked well. In the past I could always taste the beer in the bread, this is very subtle. I tried to do some research on what Meier & Frank was and it points to a department store in Portland, Oregon that was kind of a precursor to Macy's. Apparently there was a restaurant there called the Georgian Room that served these rolls. I think they would be a nice addition to any meal and they go together really quickly and are easy.

MEIER & FRANK BEER ROLLS

1 12-ounce bottle hefeweizen beer
1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 tablespoons granulated sugar (I only used 3)
3-1/4 to 3-1/2 cups self-rising flour
Melted butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the beer, oil, and sugar. Add 3 1/4 cups flour and stir until just combined. If the mixture is too wet, add an additional 1/4 cup flour and just barely mix in. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and knead 4 or 5 times. Pat or roll the dough 3/4 inch. Cut rolls with a 3-inch biscuit cutter and arrange the rolls in the greased pan. Reroll and recut dough scraps as necessary. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool slightly. Makes 12 rolls.

Pecan Pralines

It's not often that Paula Deen lets a guest come into her kitchen. On a recent episode she had "The Candy Man", Stan Strickland of Savannah's Candy Kitchen on and he made his pecan pralines. I happened to have the ingredients so I gave them a try. I've made pralines before and sometimes they turn out, and sometimes not. This recipe was easy and worked like a charm. These pralines are not gritty like some. I didn't quite let them cool down enough before I spooned them onto the paper, so they spread a little too much. Next time I will wait until they are a bit more 'cloudy' before I spoon them out. One of my 'taste testers' said it was better than a praline she ate in New Orleans, so I think that was a good compliment.

PECAN PRALINES

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup half-and-half
1/3 stick butter
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups whole pecans (I used large pieces)

Combine all ingredients except the pecans in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat stir mixture until it comes to a boil. Turn heat down to medium-low and continue to stir. Spoon mixture up on sides of pan to melt any sugar that hasn't melted. Cook until mixture reaches soft ball stage (240 degrees) on a candy thermometer. Stir in the pecans. Remove from heat. Stir until the mixture begins to thicken and becomes creamy and cloudy. Drop onto parchment paper, or buttered pan using a spoon or ice cream scoop. Let cool.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. Probably because I love hearts. I am taking treats to the office (wellness will have to be held for one day).

The mini-cheesecakes are a nice little treat and you can jazz them up any way you like. The brownies are from a recipe I tried a few years ago when we had a brownie bake-off at our company picnic. I didn't win, but I think they are a great brownie.

MINI-CHEESECAKES

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Vanilla wafers
Cherry pie filling (or topping of your choice)

In a bowl mix cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix with mixer until smooth. Place a vanilla wafer in the bottom of a cupcake liner. Spoon filling into liners, filling 3/4 full. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Chill. Garnish with pie filling. Recipe said it made 12, but I got 16 out of this recipe.

ULTIMATE BROWNIES

8 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
5 eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups toasted chopped pecans

In a saucepan on low heat, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool. In a bowl mix eggs, sugar, and vanilla on high for 10 minutes. Mixture will be light and creamy. Slowly add chocolate and butter to egg mixture. Blend in flour. Do not over mix. Add pecans. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan and bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cool and cut into squares. I baked these in individual heart pans that had been sprayed with Pam at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cappuccino Cheesecake Bars

Boring Sunday. Looking through old recipe files and came across this recipe. I'm going to have to find a homeless shelter or someone to bake for!

CAPPUCCINO CHEESECAKE SQUARES

Crust:
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups flour

Filling:
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon Kahlua or brewed coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Line 13x9 pan with foil. Crust: Beat butter and powdered sugar until blended with mixer on low speed. Gradually add flour. Press into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 until light golden brown (don't overcook!)

Filling: Combine instant coffee & Kahlua or brewed coffee in a bowl, stir and let sit 5 minutes to dissolve. In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth. Take 1 1/2 cups of batter and stir into coffee mixture. Spoon plain filling onto crust. Top with coffee batter. Run a knife through to marbleize. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until puffed around the edges firm in the middle. Cool on wire rack (in the pan) and then cover & chill for at least 4 hours (overnight is better). Remove from pan by lifting foil ends. Cut into squares.

Tag and Tag Again

I've been tagged twice now with memes that are generally the same, one by Val at More than Burnt Toast and one by Emiline at Sugar Plum who told me I had no excuses. My biggest excuse is that my life is pretty much an open book and quite boring and there is not much that people don't know about me (well, there was that one time...........). So here is a feeble attempt at completing the meme task.

1. I was born on President Lyndon Baynes Johnson's birthday (not the same year!) He was from Texas (like me)

2. When I was 14 I had my gallbladder removed. At the time I was one of the youngest people to have it done. Oddly, it was on the same day as Lyndon Baynes Johnson had his gallbladder removed.

3. I went to New York City with a friend once and we got a $40.00 ticket for parking in front of Macy's. (The sign said 'no STANDING' -- who knew that meant parking???) In thinking back, I realize why would one be able to just pull up in front of Macy's in Manhattan and park anyway?

4. The first recipe I ever baked on my own was for Texas Sheet Cake. I have to wonder if this same recipe is called Arkansas Sheet Cake or whatever other state a person lives in?

5. And lastly, if you haven't dozed off just yet. Zzzzzzz.....sorry, I dozed off myself. I have upon occasion broken chain letters, so I will end this meme with saying that most all of the blogs in my circle of reading have been tagged, so I will just stop here.

Thanks ladies, for including me. The blog world really puts you in touch with some fascinating people that is for sure.

Cheese Ball

My grandson turned 2 last week. Gosh, where does the time go, seems we were just celebrating his arrival into the world! We had a family party on Saturday. This is a quick and easy recipe if ever you need something to take to a party.

CHEESE BALL

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2 green onions diced real fine, tops and all
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon Hidden Valley Ranch Dip mix
Dried parsley
Crushed pecans

Mix the softened cream cheese and all other ingredients until well incorporated. Roll in pecans to make a ball (can also make a loaf or log if you choose). Chill until firm. Serve with crackers. I've also made this with chopped black olives or bacon bits mixed in. You can also use dill if you like. Use your imagination for whatever things you like. It's a good base for a cheese ball.

Pineapple Angel Food Cake

This is an old Weight Watchers recipe that has only 2 ingredients. I served it with some Light Cool Whip.

PINEAPPLE ANGEL FOOD CAKE

1 box Pillsbury Angel Food cake mix

1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple in its own juice

Mix cake mix with pineapple (do not drain). Mix with a mixer until smooth. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Can also make cupcakes.

Healthy Pot Luck

At the beginning of the year we began a wellness initiative at work. Each facility is doing their own thing with a wellness coordinator to help us along. We are lucky to have our wellness coordinator be a young lady who has lost 30 pounds recently. She puts out a wellness newsletter each week. We started bringing healthy snacks and fruit in order to stay away from the vending machine. Also, when our schedules allow we have been doing a 7 minute workout in the mornings and afternoons. It doesn't sound like much but it really is quite a focused muscle on muscle toning DVD we do. Once a month we are going to have a pot luck of healthy foods and sit at lunch time and discuss different options of staying healthy. This week was our first pot luck and brought this salad. I also brought a recipe for a pineapple angel food cake that is an old Weight Watchers recipe.



BROCCOLI SALAD

There are many, many recipes for this salad with variations being sunflower seeds, raisins, green onions, bacon, and even cheese. In an effort to make it healthy, this is my version.


2 heads broccoli cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 of a small purple onion sliced thinly
1 cup thawed frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced almonds
3/4 to 1 cup Craisins


Dressing:
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup Ken's Steakhouse Light Raspberry/Walnut Vinaigrette



Mix broccoli with peas and onions. Blend dressing together. Pour over and mix. Add Craisins and almonds.