Just a Georgia peach ....
OVER the TOP: Butter Pecan Cake with Maple Meringue Frosting
I found this recipe and thought it sounded totally over-the-top and something he and my Mom would love. It turned out very well and even though it's a bit laborious..... I enjoyed every minute since I was baking for KB an my family.
It turned out very pretty -- here's a photo of the entire cake and below is a photo of an individual slice.
BUTTER PECAN CAKE WITH MAPLE MERINGUE FROSTING
For the cake:
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 sticks butter, cut into 16 pieces, softened
1 3/4 cups pecans, toasted, divided
For the frosting:
3/4 cup maple syrup, divided
1/2 cup sugar
3 large egg whites
scant 1/2 tsp maple extract
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper, then grease parchment, and flour. Finely chop 1 1/4 cups of pecans in food processor and set aside. Reserve remaining pecans.
Whisk milk, eggs, and vanilla in large liquid measuring cup.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer or large bowl until combined. With mixer on low speed, add butter, 1 piece at a time, ad beat until only pea-size pieces remain. Pour in half milk mixture and increase mixer speed to medium-high. Beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Slowly add remaining milk mixture and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
Using rubber spatula, fold in chopped pecans until evenly distributed. Scrape equal amounts of batter into prepared pans ad smooth tops. Gently tap pans on counter to release any trapped air bubbles. Bake until tooth-pick inserted in center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking.
Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack. Cool completely, at least 1 hour.
For the candied pecans:
Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set wire rack in sheet. Simmer 1/4 cup syrup in small saucepan over low heat until reduced by half, 2-3 minutes. Stir remaining 1/2 cup pecans into syrup, then pour onto wire rack. Let sit until coating is firm, about 10 minutes.
For the frosting:
Whisk sugar, remaining 1/2 cup syrup, egg whites, and extract together in bowl and place over medium saucepan with 1/2 inch of barely simmering water. Using hand mixer, whip mixture on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and whip until mixture has cooled and is very thick and glossy, 8-10 minutes.
To assemble:
Place 1 cake round on serving platter. You may need to spread frosting before starting. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake, then top with second cake round. Spread remaining frosting evenly over top and sides of cake. Garnish with candied pecans. Serve.
Sweet and tart --> Lemon Strawberry Bars
This is an absolutely must-try recipe -- you are going to love it! Not only do these bars taste yummy -- but they are so pretty!
I do believe that these would be perfect for a bridal shower, baby shower or ladies lunch!!
LEMON STRAWBERRY BARS
For the Bars
2-¼ cups All-purpose Flour In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the large bowl of your electric mixer cream together the sugar and butter. Mix in egg, lemon juice and zest. Mix in the flour mixture. Fold in diced strawberries by hand. Press dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. Remove from oven and let the bars cool before cutting and glazing. For the glaze -- whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over cooled cut bars. Garnish with sliced strawberries
½ teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt'
¾ cups Granulated Sugar
1 cup Room Temperature Butter
1 whole Beaten Egg
1 Tablespoon Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
3 Tablespoons Grated Lemon Zest
½ cups Diced Fresh Strawberries
For the Glaze
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 whole lemon, juiced
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 baking dish with foil - lightly spray with Pam. Set aside.
Sweet and sassy ....... Kickin' Chicken
When I first started dating James (about 28 years ago.....cough, cough).... his Mom used to make a wonderful baked bbq chicken dish. I've never really been able to duplicate it, but I keep trying.
Recently I came across this recipe and knew I wanted to try it. The recipe calls for only chicken legs but I do believe that it would be excellent using an entire cut-up chicken --- some white meat and some dark meat. Of course, since James and I scarfed up the entire dish, I'm guessing that the chicken legs were a big hit too. LOL!
KICKIN’ CHICKEN
8 chicken legs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
3/4 cup bottled BBQ sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons light molasses or maple syrup
Several "heavy" dashes of hot pepper sauce
Lightly coat a baking pan with cooking spray. Skin chicken. Arrange chicken in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, stir in barbecue sauce, garlic, catsup, orange juice, brown sugar. maple syrup and hot pepper sauce; heat through.
Carefully brush chicken with sauce. Turn chicken and brush with additional sauce. Bake for 25 minutes more or until chicken is no longer pink. Reheat any remaining sauce; drizzle some of the sauce over chicken; pass remaining sauce. Makes 4 servings.
Paprika Roasted Potatoes -- a new kind of potato dish!
I'm always looking for new recipes for side dishes. Ir's easy to get in a rut with side dishes..... same old potatoes.... same old beans, etc. I love finding new recipes and especially love it when they turn out well. Wash potatoes thoroughly and cut out any parts that are sprouting. Stab them several times with a sharp knife and place on a microwaveable plate. Heat on full power for approximately 7 minutes. Remove potatoes from the microwave when they are soft enough to easily poke with a fork but still not quite edible. Set the potatoes aside to cool for a several minutes until cool enough to handle, and then halve them. Slice a grid into each half, only cutting to the skin, not all the way through (I used my pizza cutter - which worked like a charm). Place each half on a baking tray and sprinkle liberally with paprika and salt. Drizzle a little oil over each half and roast for around 25 minutes. In the last 2-5 minutes - turn on your broiler and this will really crisp up the potatoes.
I found this recipe on The Tasty Kitchen and since I love smoky paprika, I new I had to try it. This recipe is kind of a cross between roasted potatoes and baked potatoes. Very yummy and very easy. One of the things I really love about this recipe is that the potatoes start out in the microwave and then you pop them into the oven. This cuts down the entire cooking time and gives you plenty of time to fix your main dish.
Plus -- don't you love the way these potatoes look??
PAPRIKA ROASTED POTATOES
3 large potatoes
2 teaspoons smoky paprika
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoon Salt
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Perfectly easy Southern dinner: Creamy Chicken & Dumplings
AND I still do. In fact, I made a huge batch of home-made chicken and dumplings this past Thanksgiving when the Mid brought 4 of his mid-friends home with him. They are sooooo good, but they are somewhat time-consuming - especially for a work/school night.
Considering that I love chicken and dumplings -- when I saw this EASY recipe, I knew I wanted to give them a try.
Whoo-wee..... for a cheater version.... these are mighty fine!!
These use canned biscuits and a perfect for a week-night dinner.
CREAMY CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts/thighs - cut into one inch pieces
4 tablespoons butter
2 stalks celery, sliced
4 carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, cut into small wedges
1-1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 can cream of chicken with herbs soup
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup frozen peas
1 - 7 oz can of refrigerated biscuits (mine contained 10 biscuits)
Put carrots in small bowl with 1/ cup water and cook in microwave for 4 minutes. Place flour in a plastic bag. Add chicken pieces and shake until coated.
Drain carrots and put in large saucepan with butter. Add chicken, celery and onion and cook on medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until chicken is brown. Mix corn starch into condensed soup and add to mixture along with broth and pepper. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer covered about 20 minutes or until chicken and vegetables are tender.
Meanwhile separate biscuits. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Stir peas into chicken mixture: return to boiling. Place biscuit pieces on top of chicken mixture.
Simmer, covered over medium-low heat 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of biscuit comes out clean. Serve in bowls.
ENJOY!
There's brown sugar and then there's "brown sugar"..... Brown Sugar Cookies
As you might already know, dark brown sugar has more molasses in it than light. I have found that you can use light & dark brown sugar interchangeably in most recipes, depending on the kind of flavor you're craving. Light brown sugar is delicate, while dark brown has a stronger, more intense molasses flavor.
In this recipe - you really do want the earthier molasses flavor so you will definitely want to use dark brown sugar in these cookies.
BTW, did you know that if you run out and don't have brown sugar in your pantry, you can actually make your own? Simply combine the following ingredients and whiz away in your food processor (or you can mix vigorously by hand):
1 cup white sugar + 1-1/2 tablespoons molasses = Light Brown Sugar
1 cup white sugar + 3 tablespoons molasses = Dark Brown Sugar
Cool, huh?
Anyway -- this recipe originally came from Bon Apetit and has only been tweaked a tiny bit. One really neat thing about this recipe is that you can make the cookies plain or if you're feeling like walking on the wild side - you can add some semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter. I did both!!
I made the first two dozen plain (with just some turbinado sugar sprinkled on the top) and the last dozen cookies have chocolate chips in them. BOTH are yummy!Check out these babies -- oh my, aren't they gorgeous??
(L - Chocolate Chip Brown Sugar Cookies & R -Brown Sugar Cookies)
BROWN SUGAR COOKIES
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Set aside.
Place butter and brown sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat on medium speed for one minute more.
Add the dry ingredients, all at once, to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat on low speed until the dough begins to come together and the flour disappears. Stop the mixer and finish incorporating the ingredients with a spatula. Once all the flour is thoroughly mixed in, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Place a rack in the center and upper third of the over and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats. Dollop tablespoon-size balls of dough onto the baking sheet. For the plain cookies, you can sprinkle some raw/turbinado sugar on top for a little pizazz. Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
ENJOY!!
A blast from the past: Corned Beef & Cabbage Casserole
I know don't about y'all -- but I can remember as a child my Mom used to make a dish that was basically a corned beef hash and she would serve it for dinner. I liked it a lot and as I grew older I discovered that I really liked corned beef -- any way it was prepared. When I came across this recipe, it was literally a blast from the past! Do you remember these little cans??
I don't believe that I have bought a can of corned beef in over 15 years! Remember the cute little key on the side of the can? You don't open these with a traditional can-opener -- you use the little key on the side and twist it all the way around the can and the bottom "pops" off.
The corned beef inside is soft and easily "smushable". This is perfect for this recipe and I have to tell you that James & I were both VERY surprised at how incredibly tasty this casserole turned out. It is SO flipping easy that I couldn't resist trying it. I mean c'mon -- only 6 ingredients??? Sweet!!
CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE CASSEROLE
4-5 medium potatoes
2 medium onions
1/2 head cabbage or 1/2 bag of cole slaw mix
2 cans corned beef
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of onion soup
Rub butter over bottom of a 9 x 13 inch dish. Slice potatoes (with skin on) in round slices and place in bottom of dish. Chop onions and put on top of potatoes. Put shredded cabbage on top of onions. Break up corned beef and put on top of cabbage.
Open both cans of soup and put in small bowl. Microwave for about 1-2 minutes and stir. Spread the soup mixture over the top of the corned beef and wrap tightly in foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.
YUMMY!
Again -- my photo does not do justice to this dish -- but it is excellent! It's very old school, but I promise you will love the taste!
Oh yeah, it's magic!! Black Magic Cake
I've been baking cookies and other goodies like crazy..... I've been sending them to my boys at school, baking them for Cutie-pie and one of her sweet bridesmaids and taking them with me to the office for my co-workers. Of course, I've also been sampling them myself. LOL! This weekend I was in the mood to bake a cake and I've had my eye on this recipe for a long time. This is a very moist, dark chocolate cake with a "surprise" ingredient! It has a full cup of coffee in the batter which gives the taste a little kick. The frosting is a fluffy light chocolate frosting. Oh my - the smell of this while it was cooking was heavenly!
Gorgeous huh?
BLACK MAGIC CAKE
For the cake:
1-3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong black coffee, cooled
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 oz melted unsweetened chocolate, cooled
3 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla.
Beat at medium speed for two minutes. Don't panic - the batter will be thin. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Combine frosting ingredients and beat well in a mixer. Spread frosting on a totally cooled cake. If the frosting is too stiff, add a little more milk and mix well.
Cut into squares and enjoy!!
NOTE: You could easily bake this in two 9 inch pans (only bake for about 35 minutes) and then stack and frost.
(P.S. I do feel quite guilty since my boss is a rabid chocoholic and I made this while she is traveling out of the country on business! Bad me..... I guess this just means I'll have to make it again when she is back in the office.)
Chow Mein Casserole -- perfect for a week-night dinner!
CHOW MEIN CASSEROLE
1-1/2 lb Ground Beef
1 cup Chopped Celery
½ cups Chopped Onion
1 can Cream Of Mushroom Soup (10 Ounce Can)
1 can Chicken Rice Soup (10 Ounce Can)
1 can Veg-all (15 Ounce Can)
1-½ cup Chow Mein Noodles
Brown ground beef, celery, and onion in skillet. In a casserole dish, mix the soups and can of mixed vegetables (including the juices). Add the ground beef mixture to the casserole dish ingredients and mix well. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. When hot and bubbling and the celery is tender, cover with the crunchy chow mein noodles. Bake another 5-10 minutes.
This is a simple and filling dish that is crunchy and tasty!
I am soooooo in love...... Raspberry M&M Cookies
Last Friday one of my co-workers brought me a bag of raspberry chocolate m&m's and I fell in love...... I mean, seriously in love!! These babies are larger than regular m&m's and are dark chocolate - not milk chocolate.
Aren't they glorious?? They taste and smell wonderful AND I was so tempted to eat the entire bag! SO - to avoid that happening, I zipped onto the internet and found a recipe for cookies that contained these fab m&m's and OH MY, I found a winner!! They are chocolate-y and chewy and oh so hard to resist!! YUMMY!
RASPBERRY M&M COOKIES
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 stick butter, cold
8 oz. bag raspberry M&M's (reserve around 20 M&M's for garnish)
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a microwave safe bowl, combine butter and chocolate chips. Microwave 30 seconds and then stir well. Microwave again for 30 seconds. Stir well. Microwave another 30 seconds. Stir until the chocolate is smooth. Be sure not to overheat the chocolate. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine flour, unsweetened cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Stir well to incorporate.
In a stand mixer or large bowl, add melted chocolate, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until just combined. Gradually add flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. The mixture should resemble cookie dough now.
With a spoon, stir in raspberry M&M's.
Line a baking sheet with a silplat mat. Using a 1 inch cookie scoop (or tablespoon) scoop dough onto baking sheet, spacing each cookie 2 inch apart. If there are not enough M&M's in the cookie, press 1 m&m onto top of dough.
Bake cookies 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack and cool completely.
Aren't these gorgeous???
NOTE: This recipe makes three dozen (good-sized) cookies!!
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