Family Heritage Recipes

Fruit Cheesecake Squares

2013-05-21T14:05:00.001-05:00

This Fruit Cheesecake Square is such a unique dessert. The bottom layer (or crust) is similar to one found in a lemon bar--you press it in the pan and bake for several minutes. Then, you sprinkle on some fruit, pour on the cream cheese layer, cover with some reserved crumbs, and bake some more. It comes together fairly quickly. I used blueberries, but peaches or another fruit would be great.

Fruit Cheesecake Squares
2 cups sliced ripe peaches or other fruit
2 tsp. cinnamon sugar
2¼ cups flour
1½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Toss fruit with cinnamon sugar and set aside. Combine flour and powdered sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Reserve 2 cups for the topping and press the remainder into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake the crust for 15 minutes.

Beat cream cheese until fluffy.Gradually beat in condensed milk until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix well. Spread peaches over the baked crust and pour the cream cheese mixture over the peaches. Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture over the top of the cream cheese filling. Bake for 30-35 minutes until brown in a 350° oven.

Tiffany's Notes: I enjoyed making this recipe from our family cookbook. It is different from many other desserts! I tasted it warm, room temperature, and chilled. I preferred it room temperature or chilled--but depending on what you like any or all would be great. Keep them covered and chilled to keep leftovers.

This cookie would be great cut into small pieces and served as part of a brunch or dessert buffet. Although it is technically a cookie you might consider serving it as a sweet part of a breakfast.

Decorator's Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

2013-05-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

A fluffy, light, but rich chocolate frosting. The addition of meringue powder makes this stable--it can stand at room temperature for hours without spoiling or melting. I've used this frosting recently on two different birthday cakes.

The first time was when my sister Melinda introduced me to this frosting. She made a cake for my daughter's birthday when we were visiting for Spring Break. We used this frosting to fill and cover the cake--this is a double layer 10" cake on a 10" cardboard round. Then, she lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and placed the cake on top of a smaller cake pan.

Next, she gently poured a rich chocolate ganache over the sides and then top of the cake. Find Melinda's ganache recipe here.

After it was coated with ganache the entire cake and pan was placed in the refrigerator to chill. A while later, when the ganache set up, we finished by piping on the remaining decorations with the Decorator's Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

Decorator’s Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup vegetable shortening
1½ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1½ tsp. almond extract or pure vanilla extract
9 c. powdered sugar
½ cup milk or water
3 Tb. meringue powder

Cream butter and shortening together in a mixer using the cookie paddles. Add the cocoa and mix well. Add extract and blend well. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time. Add meringue powder and mix. The icing will look really dry at this point. Add liquid and beat until light and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Add just a little more liquid one Tb. at a time until you get the right consistency for decorating. Makes about 10 cups frosting.

This is a nice, stable frosting with the consistency of mousse, and the advantage is that it can stand at room
temperature for several hours without spoiling or melting. It also makes a good base frosting for a ganache coating. You can refrigerate leftover frosting, but you will need to rewhip the frosting before using.

And here is the second cake...

A while ago I made a cake covered with Chocolate Mousse roses. It looked great and was really was quite simple to make. This decorator frosting reminded me of that Chocolate Mousse cake--so I made another rose cake, but with this frosting. This cake has 3 round 8" chocolate cake layers. (So, it's taller than the other rose cake and has more room for the rose swirls on the side.) Check out the links on the Chocolate Mousse recipe for the rose cake tutorial.

Actually for this cake I didn't have meringue powder so I made the recipe without. It still worked great.

Zucchini Casserole {with bread cubes}

2013-05-10T10:35:00.001-05:00

This recipe always seems to me the ultimate fresh-summer-garden-produce-make-it-work-with-what-you've-got meal. It combines fresh zucchini, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and toasted bread cubes.

Zucchini Casserole
6 (6-inch) zucchini
1 pkg. spaghetti mix
1 tsp. oregano
2 Tb. parsley flakes
¼ cup butter
2 cups bread cubes
2 to 4 tomatoes, sliced
1 (8 oz.) pkg. mozzarella cheese, cubed
Parmesan cheese

Quarter squash lengthwise and parboil 15 minutes. Prepare spaghetti sauce according to directions. Add oregano and parsley. Melt butter in skillet and add bread cubes. Toss until golden brown. In casserole dish arrange squash and spoon part of sauce over. Sprinkle with Parmesan and half of the bread cubes. Top with mozzarella and tomatoes. Add remaining sauce, Parmesan, and bread cubes. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes at 375° until casserole is bubbly.

Tiffany's Notes: One very obvious substitution that I made was to substitute a jar of prepared spaghetti sauce for the spaghetti sauce mixture and spices. I also used shredded cheese instead of cubed cheese. A firmer bread works best for the bread cubes. The bread gets soaked with sauce so if it is soft to begin with it will be overly soggy. I did try to use some croutons once--that didn't work well (the spices clashed!). You may be able to use some dried bread cubes, however.

I do like the combination of zucchini and spaghetti sauce or zucchini with Italian spices and herbs. I have to be honest and say that this recipe is not my favorite Zucchini Casserole recipe. That will always be the one with ground beef and rice--love that one and all my kids love that one! Well, I am amazed--I just searched back through our posts to link up to that recipe and realized we haven't ever posted that one. !!! We'll put that on our list of posts to write!

Oatmeal-Buttermilk Muffins {with blueberries!}

2013-04-25T13:30:00.000-05:00

We've posted the majority of the recipes in our family recipe collection (found in our self-published cookbook). But, there are a few we haven't posted, yet. This recipe for Oatmeal-Buttermilk Muffins is one that I hadn't tried before.

Oatmeal-Buttermilk Muffins
Mix and let sit for 15 minutes:
2 cups oats
1¾ cups buttermilk
¾ cup milk

Mix and add to oats and milk:
2 eggs
½ cup oil

Sift together:
2 cups flour (can use ½ cup whole wheat)
2/3 cup brown or white sugar
1¾ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. soda
½ tsp. salt

Stir the liquids into the dry mixture. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 375°. Makes about 24 muffins. You can add 1 cup of blueberries or other fruit, if you wish.

Tiffany's Notes:
This was an interesting muffin for me--it came together easily and baked up quickly. I was thinking about making blueberry muffins and decided to make these with the added blueberries. I used about 1 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries. With the blueberries it made 24 muffins--you'd likely get fewer muffins if you didn't add the blueberries. I used brown sugar and the suggested 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour.

I found the taste quite mild (even bland). A couple of my children enjoyed them and the rest weren't overly enthusiastic about them. My teenage boy ate at least 7. If you compare muffin recipes you'll see that this one has a much lower amount of added sugar compared to other recipes. Also, if you make a banana muffin or pumpkin muffin those fruits add a substantial amount of natural sweetening.

The muffin was moist. The blueberries added an important bit of sweetness to the muffin. If I made these again I would consider adding a flavoring like vanilla or additional sugar. It goes without saying that you need to like oatmeal to enjoy eating these muffins. :) These muffins would definitely be a more healthful choice than other varieties.

To compare recipes follow this link to some of our other muffin recipes.

Cream Cheese Pillows

2013-04-19T14:24:00.000-05:00

For a special occasion, you may want some butter mints, but can't find fresh ones, or don't want to pay a fortune for a specific color for your wedding reception, spring party, or whatever. My candy-making cookbook says butter mints are the trickiest recipe in the book. But if you are not a whiz at candy making, cream cheese pillow with mint flavoring are a good substitute for butter mints, and are one of the easiest recipes I've found for candy.

Cream Cheese Pillows

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese

1 tsp. flavored extract: mint, orange, lemon, etc.

Food coloring

6-8 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese until soft.

If you want all the candies to be one flavor, add the flavoring to the cream cheese. If you want more than one flavor, add the flavors later. Butter flavor added along with another flavor adds depth to the taste of the candy.

Also, if you want all the candies to be one color, add the food coloring to the cream cheese mixture. If you want more than one color, add the coloring later. You can make all the candies mint, and then have different colors, or whatever you like.

Add 6 cups of powdered sugar gradually, one cup at a time. If your mixer can't handle the thick mixture, you may need to knead the sugar in by hand.

Knead in up to 2 more cups of powdered sugar until the candy is not sticky. You can put the powdered sugar on your counter, table, parchment paper, or plate, and knead it into the candy like flour into bread.

At this point, if you decided to have different colors or flavors, divide the candy into equal portions and add the food coloring and/or flavor to each portion.

Knead the dough using powdered sugar to keep it from sticking to the surface, until the color is even all the way through.

Roll the dough into long snakes. If your dough is not too sticky, you won't need more powdered sugar to keep it from sticking.

Cut the candy into square pillow shapes with a blunt knife.

Move them to a sheet of parchment or wax paper to dry.

Dry them overnight on the counter before placing them in the fridge for storage.

Makes about 6 cups of Cream Cheese Pillows.

Melinda's Notes: These keep in the fridge for several weeks, so they can be made in advance for any occasion. Yum. I also added butter flavor to the mint flavor, because I like how they taste.

All-Day Suckers

2013-04-12T13:10:00.000-05:00

I remember making "All-day Suckers" with my Grandma Wessman when I was little, and what a treat that was! She made the hard candy and then poured big circles of candy around sticks on a buttered pan. So simple, and yet such a fun thing to watch the candy being made as a child. Now there are hundreds of hard candy molds available online, so you can buy lollipop molds in almost any shape. Or you can go the old-fashioned route and just pour big circles on a tray.

All-Day Suckers

2 cups sugar
2/3 cups light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1 tsp. oil-based flavoring or 2 tsp. flavored extract
1/2 tsp liquid food coloring

Prepare all your materials before you begin cooking. Oil the lollipop molds. You can use cooking spray to make it easy. If you are using a cookie sheets, line them with foil, and butter or oil it well.

Put all the sticks in the molds. If you are using cookie sheets, make sure you leave plenty of space between the sticks for the suckers to spread out.

This recipe makes about 10-12 suckers, depending on how big they are. All the molds hold different volumes, so your first batch will be guesswork. You can set out a tray with oiled foil in case you end up with extra candy.

Using a candy thermometer will take the guesswork out of the temperature. Make sure you test your thermometer for accuracy. Candy burns very easily above 300°F. (Don't ask how I know.)

In a large saucepan, mix together sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Wash down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush or damp paper towel to make sure there are no sugar crystals on the side.

Once the sugar is dissolved, stop stirring and attach the candy thermometer. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Boil without stirring. When the temperature reaches 260°, add the food coloring. Do not stir. The food coloring will gradually mix itself into the candy as the syrup boils.

Watch the temperature carefully, since it can change quickly. Remove from heat at 300°F (or hard crack stage: threads of hard candy form when the syrup is drizzled into cold water.) If your pan retains heat well, remove it from the heat a couple degrees below 300, as the candy's temperature will continue to rise.

Allow the mixture to cool until the all of the boiling stops. Add the flavoring and stir well, keeping back from the steam that will puff up from the pan. As soon as the flavoring is incorporated, pour the syrup into the oiled candy molds or onto the oiled, foil-covered cookie sheets, making sure the stick is covered with candy.

Allow to cool completely. Remove from molds or sheets. Wipe off excess oil and place in individual wrappers, or an airtight container.

Melinda's Notes: If you want very strongly flavored suckers, add more flavoring. For darker colors, add more food coloring. The good thing about making your own candy is that if you do not like food coloring, you can leave the suckers a natural color, which is about the shade of cream soda.

And, as long as you don't forget to watch the candy, and accidentally burn it into a hunk of black sugar, clean up is actually quite easy. Not that I would know from personal experience :-)

Deviled Eggs

2013-04-05T12:38:00.000-05:00

Whether you are creating a side dish for your picnic, or just trying to use up leftover Easter Eggs, Deviled Eggs are a yummy option.

Deviled Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp. mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Paprika, optional

Peel the hard boiled eggs.

Cut the eggs in half lengthways.

Slide the egg yolks out of the eggs into a mixing bowl.

Finely mash the egg yolks.

Add the mayonnaise and mustard to the mashed egg yolks. (Usually instead of measuring, I use a little less mayo than egg yolk, which lets me make any number of deviled eggs without getting a measuring cup dirty.) You can use dry mustard powder or prepared mustard. You can add salt and pepper, or any spices you think will taste good in the egg.

Mix well. For piping, make sure there are no egg yolk lumps in the mixture.

Spoon (or pipe) the mixture back into the egg halves.

Sprinkle a little paprika on top of the eggs for garnish.

Melinda's Notes: I piped these eggs for the blog photo. I usually just spoon the mixture back in. I found that if the mixture is not absolutely smooth, the lumps in the egg yolk will block the piping tip, which is very frustrating. However, if you were filling dozens of eggs, and got the mixture very smooth, and used a large open-star decorating tip, you could save time instead of messing with spoons and fingers. Plus, they look really pretty.

Cream Fondant for Chocolates

2013-03-30T06:59:00.000-05:00

When you make your own chocolates, you can control the ingredients and the flavors. And fresh homemade chocolates sure beat cheap store-bought chocolates.

Cream Fondant

4 cups sugar

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. salt

Flavoring

Nuts, coconut, dried fruit, etc., optional

Mix all ingredients together and cook over medium-high heat in a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Use a wet pastry brush or dripping paper towel to wash all the sugar crystals off the sides of the pan down into the hot candy. A little water will not affect the recipe, but the fondant will be ruined by any sugar crystals remaining on the sides of the pan. While the candy is cooking, butter the countertop or pan you will pour the candy in, or get out your Bosch mixing bowl.

Stir occasionally until the fondant begins to boil. Do not stir again! Cook to soft ball stage at 235°F to 240°F. The hot fondant mixture dropped into cold water will form a soft, flexible ball under water. When you remove the ball from the cold water, it will flatten out into a pancake in your hand. (An accurate thermometer takes out the guesswork.)

Pour on a buttered counter, a buttered marble slab, or into a buttered glass pan without scraping the saucepan at all. If you hate to waste what is left in the pan, scrape it into a separate container, and then if (when) it crystallizes, it won't ruin your whole batch. Cool until warm to the touch. How long it takes to cool depends on the temperature in your kitchen. You can put the pan in the fridge to speed the process, but it may still take 45 minutes to an hour. A double batch took 2 hours to cool enough for me.

Beat with a wooden spoon (or a silicone spoon or spatula) until the fondant forms. Have someone else help take turns beating it... it may take a while. When it changes to a lighter color and a consistency like play dough, stop mixing immediately.

Instructions for using a Bosch: This method saves a lot of time and will spare your arm muscles. While the fondant is cooking, prepare your bowl by putting in the dough hook. When the fondant is ready, pour the boiling hot fondant directly into your Bosch, remembering NOT to scrape the pan. That's right... boiling hot candy right into your plastic Bosch bowl. I know... eek. Don't worry... it works just great. It won't melt your plastic bowl. Let it cool in the fridge (or on the counter if your fridge is full) until the bowl is just warm to the touch. If you wait too long, the fondant will solidify (and might break your Bosch), so let it cool in the fridge for half an hour, and then check it every five to ten minutes until the bowl is warm to the touch instead of hot. A single batch is supposed to cool in about 45 minutes. My double batch took almost 2 hours to cool on the countertop. Once it is cool enough, turn the dough hook a few turns by hand to make sure it's not too cold. (If it's too hard to turn, you will have to scrape it out and beat it by hand.) Then put the bowl on the mixer and turn your mixer to high and watch the mixture carefully. It will mix for a while and then suddenly change to fondant. Immediately turn off your mixer. It may look crystallized, but as you work handfuls of the fondant, it should turn into a beautiful, soft dough.

Rescue Measures: If you have been beating your fondant forever-and-a-day (15 minutes or more) and it still hasn't changed into fondant, add powdered sugar a little bit at a time until it changes to fondant. You may need one or two cups. This will change the texture a bit, but may keep you from losing the whole batch.

Take a handful of fondant and knead it until the texture is smooth and consistent.

Decide what flavors you want. If you want more than one flavor, divide the fondant into several bowls. Oil based flavorings are the best to use, but they are very strong, so add just a bit at a time.

Add a drop or two of food coloring to match the flavor. Green for mint, yellow for lemon, etc.

You can also add chopped nuts, dried fruit, cherries, coconut, or anything else that sounds good.

Form the flavored, colored fondant into small balls, ovals, pyramids, etc.

Place the chocolate centers on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper or wax paper. Allow them to dry overnight, or for at least a couple of hours. This will form a crust so the chocolates will be easier to dip.

Melt about 2 lbs of chocolate using your favorite method. Double boiler, saucepan, microwave. Using a high-quality chocolate and tempering it is the optimal choice for dipping the chocolates and avoiding the "bloom" that overheated or cheap chocolate can develop.

If tempered chocolate is not your thing, then at least let the chocolate cool for a while before you dip the centers. Dipping chocolate should be about 90 degrees. Stir the chocolate frequently while dipping to keep all the chocolate the same temperature.

Dip the semi-dried fondant centers into the chocolate and drop them onto the parchment paper to harden. Using a special chocolate-dipping fork helps. Some people have had luck using plastic forks with the center tine broken off. Otherwise, use a regular fork to simply lift a chocolate covered center from the bowl, tap off the excess chocolate, and transfer to the tray.

To differentiate the chocolates, here are a few suggestions:

Use different shapes for each flavor

Dip half in milk chocolate, and half in dark chocolate

Place a slivered almond on almond flavored centers

Add a chocolate chip to the top

Drip white chocolate on vanilla centers

Draw swirls or lines on different flavors

...Be inventive!

Makes about 60 chocolates.

Easter Treats

2013-03-29T15:35:00.001-05:00

Here are some Easter treats you might want to try!

The first listing is our most-viewed blog post this week: Hard boiled eggs. Easter eggs! Dying eggs is one of the fun Easter traditions of our family. Even my 17-year old son will take the time to dunk a few eggs in dye. Or you could make some beautiful ones like Tiffany...

Hard Boiled Eggs... Fun, easy, and delicious. See the egg salad sandwiches below.

Egg Salad Sandwich... What to do with all those eggs you dyed.

Raspberry Meringue Kisses... So easy, and eggs are on sale this week, right?

Cream Cheese Chocolates... Rebecca's yummy alternative to traditional fondant centers. And you need to have Easter candy. Lots of Easter candy.

English Toffee... See? You really do need lots of Easter candy.

Pecan Logs... Do you have a little extra time to make a special treat? Store bought stuff just not cutting it? These are a delicious, special treat from Grandma Beverly.

Chocolate Mousse... Our top blog post ever, and you can see (and taste) just why the post is so popular with Tiffany's beautiful cake frosted with Chocolate Mousse.

Sugar Cookie Icing... This recipe makes it very easy to quickly frost lots of sugar cookies for Easter. Just dip them into the frosting! For the cookies, use one of these recipes: Sugar Cookies, Sugar Cookies with Sour Cream, or Sugar Cookies with Lemon Zest.

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2013-03-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

A recent request for Blueberry Muffins led me to make this cake. If I am remembering correctly my roommate and friend Amy made it for a bridal shower she hosted for me many years ago. I accessed the recipe on her recipe blog breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's a tender and sweet breakfast cake and always gets eaten rather quickly. This cake is the perfect addition to a brunch or breakfast party.

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Batter

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Cinnamon Swirl Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir in to the batter just until blended. Fold in blueberries. Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan.

In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle half of the mixture over the batter in the pan. Spoon remaining batter over the top, and then sprinkle the remaining pecan mixture over. Use a knife or thin spatula to swirl the sugar layer into the cake.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the crown of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack. Invert onto a serving plate, and tap firmly to remove from the pan. Dust with the powdered sugar just before serving.

Tiffany's Notes:

Go look at Amy's photo and recipe and notes for the cake here. Her cake came out beautifully from the pan. Mine stuck in a few places but it still tasted great!

I did cook the cake a little longer than the time listed. It may just be my oven, but it took me several minutes longer. You do want to make sure it is cooked through and isn't under-cooked. Maybe using frozen blueberries changes the baking time?

The next time I make this cake I want to try it baked in a muffin tin!

Large Layer Cake Instructions

2013-03-11T17:23:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you need to make a cake for 12 or more people. Sometimes you need to make a cake for a big event. And sometimes you need to make a wedding cake. These instructions will help you to make a large layer cake that will taste like a bakery cake instead of a mix cake.

These instructions are for Duncan Hines Cake Mixes. These instructions won't work with any other brand of cake mix. Apologies to anyone who adores whatever brand (or bakes from scratch), but in my experience Duncan Hines brand cake mixes taste better and bake better. It's not a cake from scratch, but it's easy to bake with these instructions that they used to print inside their cake boxes. And apparently don't post online, as far as I could find.

The ingredients include less oil than the standard box recipe. The cake will be more dense and hold up to the weight of multiple layers. If you want to make a stacked wedding cake, find one of the many helpful tutorials online, or get a book to help you learn how to build the cake. There is a little engineering involved!

Large Layer Cake Instructions

One cake mix makes 5-1/2 cups of batter. Check the chart below to see how much batter you will need to fill your pan. If your pan is not on the chart, fill your pan with water, counting how many cups it takes to fill just over halfway.

Preheat the oven to 325° F. You will bake all pan sizes at this temperature. Grease and flour the pan well, including the sides. Pans deeper than 2 inches are not recommended.

Chocolate or Flavored Cake Large Layer

This recipe is for a Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix (Devil's food, Dark Chocolate, Swiss) or any other flavor (orange, strawberry, lemon, etc.) but not white cakes. They do not recommend using the Golden Butter, Fudge Butter, or Angel Food cakes with these instructions.

For each box of chocolate or flavored mix add the following:

1-1/4 cups water
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil

White Cake Large Layer

This recipe is for a Duncan Hines white cake mix. For each box add the following:

1-1/3 cups water
3 egg whites
1 Tb. oil

Instructions:

Add any flour for needed for high altitude cooking. If you are making a big cake, you can use two mixes at once, but don't combine more than two mixes at a time, unless you have a big commercial-type mixer (or a Bosch).

Blend at low speed until moistened. Beat at medium speed for two minutes.

Pour batter into pan (just above half full – no more than 2/3 full) and bake immediately (very important to the texture of the cake). Don't under-fill your cake pan, or your cake will be a skinny-inch thick on the sides, and three inches tall in the middle. If you have extra cake batter left over, put it in the fridge, and after your cake is done baking, re-beat the batter for two minutes and make cupcakes. They still turn out fine, just not as good as if you had baked them immediately.

Bake using time on the chart below, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool 15 to 30 minutes in the pan on a wire cooling rack. Cut the top off evenly with the top of the pan to level the cake if you want to. Remove from pan using the wire rack to support large layers.

Pan sizes and baking times

Pan Size	Pan Volume (amount of batter)	Bake Time
6" x 2" round pan	2 cups	30-40 minutes
8" x 2" round pan	3-1/2 cups	35-45 minutes
10" x 2" round pan	5-1/2 cups	40-50 minutes
12" x 2" round pan	7-1/2 cups	40-50 minutes
14" x 2" round pan	10 cups	45-55 minutes
16" x 2" round pan	13-3/4 cups	45-55 minutes
18" x 2" half round pan	10 cups	50-60 minutes
11" x 15" x 2" rectangle pan	11 cups	45-55 minutes
12" x 17" x 2" rectangle pan	9 cups	35-45 minutes

Melinda's Notes: When I actually do make a birthday cake, I use these instructions, because I like the texture of the cake better. I like the 10 inch round, because it uses one box of cake mix for each layer. So, two boxes of mix, and I have a two-layer cake that will feed 18-20 people. Frost using decorator's icing, mousse, ganache, etc.

Basic Brownies

2013-03-06T07:00:00.000-06:00

Basic Brownies

Melt together:
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup unsalted butter
Add to the chocolate and butter mixture and mix well:
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Stir in:
1¼ cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup nuts, chopped and toasted

Spread in a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Don’t over bake these or they will turn out dry. This recipe makes brownies similar to what you get from a good box mix brownie, but they taste better.

Becky's Note: The other day my girls wanted to make brownies and Oh Horror we were out of brownie mix. I felt like I had failed as a mother when I told them to make brownies from scratch and they stared at me with big eyes and asked "Can you do that?" Now we have made the brownies two days in a row- yesterday they disappeared in 2.3 seconds and today as treats for a youth group. I enjoy a good brownie mix especially as a base for treats like Brownie Bites, Brownie Cheesecake, and Brownie Trifle. However, I think brownies from scratch are a big step above a box mix.

notes on slicing homemade bread

2013-03-04T20:25:00.000-06:00

I posted a few months ago about freezing bread and gave some tips for getting nice thin slices so it can be used for sandwiches. Here were the tips:

1) Make sure the sides and bottom are cooked enough. If they are too soft then your bread will squish and fall apart as you slice. If they look too light when you take them out of the oven, put the loaves directly on the rack in the oven for a minute or two.

2) Make sure the loaves are completely cool before slicing. (Sacrifice one loaf to the great cause of eating warm, fresh bread if you need to.) And remove the loaves from the bread pan as soon as you take them out of the oven so the moisture inside the bread doesn't make the sides and bottom soggy.

3) Don't use too much force with your knife. Start with a gentle sawing motion until you get through the top crust, and then slowly continue to slice downwards. Let the blade do the cutting, not the force of your arm. (This takes some practice.)

Since then I've realized that rising time can also make a big difference in the structural stability of the bread loaves. I made a six-loaf batch and forgot about it while it was rising, and as a result the top half of the loaves had big bubbles and fell apart very easily after baking. Slicing all of that bread was an incredibly frustrating experience because it just wouldn't stay together if I sliced it thinly. And then we had to try to eat sandwiches with that bread for a couple of weeks!

So when you let your bread rise in the pans before baking, make sure it doesn't rise for too long. In my kitchen half an hour is about the right amount of time. Bread rises quite a bit more in the oven, so you don't need to wait until the bread is as tall as you will ultimately want it. I have found that if I let it rise just until the top is about even with the top of the bread pan it ends up being the right size and is pretty stable. If you let bread dough rise for too long, eventually it starts to deflate and flatten again, and that is when you get bread that falls apart and doesn't slice well. Bread that has risen the right amount will still be smooth on top. It takes practice to recognize the difference, but hopefully that description is somewhat helpful.

Lemon Ice Cream

2013-03-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

Bring a little bit of sunshine to your meal with this lovely Lemon Ice Cream for dessert. This recipe has a delicious, light, lemony flavor. Choose the freshest lemons, since the flavor of the ice cream depends on the lemons you use!

Lemon Ice Cream

¾ cup lemon juice [¾ cup]
4 cups sugar [4 cups]
2 cups cream (1 pt.) [4 cups]
Milk to fill [4-6 cups]
½ tsp. lemon extract [½ Tb. lemon zest]

Mix all ingredients together and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you are using an ice and salt freezer, you probably need to get it extra-cold with more salt. This makes 4 quarts. The amounts in brackets make 6 quarts.

Pecan Banana Swirls

2013-02-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

Pecan Banana Swirls

2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup finely chopped pecans
3 thinly sliced bananas
1 package puff pastry

Mix the sugar and pecans and set aside. Thinly slice the bananas. On a floured surface, open one sheet of puff pastry. Sprinkle top with sugar mixture and gently roll with a rolling pin to imbed the pecans and sugar. Turn pastry to other side, spread with sugar mixture and roll with rolling pin. Cover the top of the pasty with bananas. Working from one end, roll the pastry into a spiral (like a cinnamon roll). Slice the roll into 12 slices. Place slices on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes in a 400 degree F oven. Serve with carmel or ice cream.

Becky's Note: I don't usually care for cooked bananas (except in banana bread) and was really hesitant to make this recipe. However, I had 1/2 a package of puff pastry and some old bananas to use and decided to give it a try. These pastries were really good! I think this recipe would also be great with apples instead of bananas. I found the original recipe here.

Porcupine Peppers

2013-02-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

Peppers can be stuffed with many different fillings and roasted for a fragrant, delicious, and colorful dinner. A simple Porcupine recipe is a yummy filling for an abundance of peppers.

Becky's Note: I love the smell of roasting peppers! I did not fry the porcupines and just used the ingredients to stuff the peppers. Meatloaf is another great filling for peppers.

Baker's Frosting

2013-02-15T11:59:00.000-06:00

Although cream cheese is the most popular frosting for a red velvet cake, this version of a Baker's Frosting is the more traditional icing. It's a delicious, fluffy alternative to cream cheese and balances the flavor of red velvet. Since the frosting uses flour instead of sugar for the structure, it is less sweet than a typical buttercream.

Baker's Frosting

1-1/2 c. milk
4-1/2 Tb. flour
1-1/2 c. butter (no substitutes)
1-1/2 c. sugar
1 Tb. vanilla

Whisk together the milk and flour in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. When the mixture is thick, remove from heat, cover the pan, and cool completely.

Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add the cooled flour mixture, and whip about 5 minutes until the frosting is a light, fluffy texture. If you rub a bit of frosting between your fingers, you should not be able to feel any sugar crystals.

Melinda's Notes: This was a very nice frosting that would be a great alternative to a buttercream if you don't like the sweetness of so much sugar. There is too much butter for this recipe to qualify as "light" but that is how it tasted. This icing would be a good, stable alternative to whipped cream frosting.

Heart Fried Bread

2013-02-14T09:39:00.001-06:00

Sometimes a simple twist can make a basic recipe fresh and new. I used our basic Fried Bread recipe but cut the bread into heart shapes before frying. Happy Valentines Day!

{Heart} Cinnamon Rolls

2013-02-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for others who see something normal--a spiral shaped cinnamon roll--and with a small change turn it into a fun heart shaped treat for Valentine's Day. Thanks to inspiration found online--this is the breakfast Valentine I'm giving my family this year:

The change is easy--when you roll out a big rectangle of dough just roll in the two sides towards the middle.

Cut them as normal and place on your baking sheet.

Bake and frost with your favorite glaze or cream cheese frosting. I tried a pink colored glaze with mixed results (it reminded me of when I tried orange!). White frosting with colorful red and pink sprinkles would look nice.

Another site had the hearts placed in a round baking pan--with the points to the middle and the top of the hearts facing out. They were served all together--it was a nice presentation.

I used our Cinnamon Roll recipe (with potato water). That recipe has photos and a full tutorial for making cinnamon rolls. Another great Cinnamon Roll recipe is the one Eliza posted earlier.

Tikka Masala

2013-02-11T10:56:00.000-06:00

One of the best Indian restaurants in our area has a delicious lunch buffet. When our family went to lunch there, everyone's favorite was the bright orange tikka masala. I decided I could try to cook some, and after a bit of research found this recipe. All the color is provided by the spices, and the flavors are amazing. This dish was a big hit!

Tikka Masala

Sauce

2 tablespoons ghee or melted butter

1 onion, finely chopped

 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ground cumin

 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 (14 ounce) can tomato sauce

 1 cup heavy whipping cream

 2 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon white sugar

Chicken

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces

1 teaspoon curry powder, like garam masala

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste (optional) 

1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste (optional)

Heat ghee (clarified butter) or melted butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender and transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add cumin, salt, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes, until the spices are well mixed and fragrant.

Add the tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the cream, paprika, and sugar, and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

While the sauce is simmering, chop up the chicken. Heat some oil in a skillet and cook the chicken over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the curry powder, salt, and optional sugar. Cook until the chicken is brown and none of the chicken has any pink showing.

Add the chicken and any juices to the sauce. Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked thoroughly.

Serve over rice, with naan or another type of bread.

Takes about 1-1/2 hours start-to-finish. Most of the time is simmering time. Serves 6, unless you have a teenager who loves tikka masala.

Melinda's Notes: I doubled the sauce, and used about 4 cups of chopped chicken. Everyone ate tons, and we barely had leftovers. I also added a little extra garam masala, since the flavor wasn't quite strong enough for my taste. Some people claim you can substitute equal parts of plain yogurt and milk for the cream.

Update 4/5/13: It's pretty important to follow each step and allow the spices to work. The simmering, frying, etc. can't really be cut down, or the spices will not develop properly.

Naan

2013-02-08T10:45:00.000-06:00

Naan is a flat bread commonly served at Indian restaurants. This recipe is easy to make, although it takes quite a bit of time to raise. The bread tastes great eaten plain or served with your favorite curry.

Naan

2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. plain yogurt at room temperature
1/2 c. boiling water
1 tsp. yeast
2 tsp. sugar
1/4 c. melted butter
1 egg
1/4-1/2 cup melted butter for brushing on dough

Mix together the flour and salt in your mixer's bowl (Bosch, KitchenAid, etc.), or use a large mixing bowl. (If you are using a bread maker, mix the ingredients according to your instructions).

Put the yogurt in a separate bowl. I used a four-cup measuring cup. I didn't have the yogurt at room temperature, but it probably would help to minimize the rising time. Add the boiling water and whisk it together. Add the yeast and stir well. Add the sugar, butter, and egg, and stir well.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Using the dough hook, blend the mixture for a bit. The dough should hold together and resemble a soft bread dough. If the dough is too soft, add up to 1/2 cup more flour. The moisture content of your flour and yogurt will determine how much flour you need. The dough is the right texture when it looks like soft roll dough.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn the dough to coat with oil. (I just left mine in the mixing bowl.) Cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to raise for four hours, or until double in size. Punch down the dough and knead for about one minute. The dough will be a lot less sticky than it was before, but should still be soft.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball. Place on an oiled plate or non-stick surface and loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap. If you have time, let the dough rise again for a few minutes.

Place a baking stone on the middle rack of the oven. Heat your oven to 550° or set on broil. If you don't have a pizza stone or a baking stone, you can use a greased or oiled cookie sheet.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece of dough until it is very thin, about a 6-8 inch circle. If you want your naan in a traditional shape, roll out or pull the bread into a teardrop shape. Brush the entire top of the dough with melted butter. You can also sprinkle the bread with garlic, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, or other spices to add more flavor.

For a baking stone: Slide the bread onto the baking stone, and bake for 3-4 minutes, until some bubbles puff up and the tops of the bubbles turn golden brown. While the naan is baking, roll out your next ball of dough.

For a cookie sheet: Oil the baking sheet, and fit as many naan on the sheet as you can (2-3 usually.) Bake for 3-4 minutes, just until some bubbles puff up and the tops of the bubbles turn golden brown.

Repeat rolling out the dough and baking until you have baked all the naan. As the naan comes out of the oven, store it in a clean, folded towel to keep it warm. Serve immediately, or while still warm. The bread doesn't keep for more than a couple of days, but will still be good the next day if you store it in an airtight container – it tastes best if you warm it up again before serving. Freeze leftovers immediately if you won't use them the next day.

Melinda's notes: I was pretty skeptical that the recipe would work, but the bread was soft and delicious. I left my naan plain, because I was serving it with tikka masala, which is quite spicy on its own. Naan is great with garlic butter and parsley, or other seasonings. Some people brush it with butter after baking, too, but that was too much butter for my taste.

Butterfly Decorations {for Cupcakes or Cake}

2013-01-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here is a relatively easy way to decorate a butterfly cake for a little girl:

Obviously, these butterflies are created using candies--they work great for cupcakes or on a larger cake.

Butterfly Decorations
multi-colored fruit smiles (jellied candies)
sour gummy worms (or regular gummy worms)
small round candies (M&M Minis, Skittles, regular M&Ms)
Pull-apart Twizzlers or other thin licorice candies

Frost your cake or cupcakes (any color you want--but sky blue is nice). Prepare all your different candies--cut the gummy worms down to size and prepare the candy antennae Cut a fruit smile in half (so you have two thinner smiles) and place them in position on the cake. Add a gummy worm between the two wings. Add the head and the antennae.

Tiffany's Note: I've done these easy butterflies for two daughters for their birthdays. These butterfly cupcakes were for the birthday girl's school class to share--the cake was for a family birthday party. :) They work great for a butterfly themed birthday party for a little girl!

The cake itself was from a boxed mix. It was filled with a chocolate buttercream and frosted with a blue tinted White Frosting.

Sweet and Sour Ham Stir Fry

2013-01-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

This is a great recipe to use up leftover ham. Stir together and cook this simple combination of vegetables, pineapple, and ham and spoon on top of some cooked rice.

Sweet and Sour Ham Stir Fry

20 oz. can pineapple chunks

2-3 cups diced, cooked ham

1 cup water

1/4 cup vinegar

2 Tbs. brown sugar

2 tsp. soy sauce

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 16 oz. bag frozen stir fry vegetables

3 Tbs. cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Drain pineapple chunks, reserving juice. In a large skillet add pineapple juice, water, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and garlic. Bring to a simmer. Add the stir fry vegetables and cook about half the time listed on the package. Add the diced ham and pineapple chunks and cook for another few minutes. Stir occasionally. Combine cornstarch and water; gradually stir into sauce. Cook, stirring, until thickened. Serve over cooked rice.

Tiffany's Notes: This recipe is adapted from one found in a church cookbook my mother gave me several years ago. However, the original recipe is for a chicken version and is called Hawaiian Chicken. So, you can obviously go with this basic recipe and substitute chicken or other meats--or make a meat-free version. I do like this sweet and sour sauce and pineapple combination!

Peanut Butter Frosting

2013-01-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

It was birthday time at our home recently--the birthday girl requested a chocolate cake. We decided to add a little something special by filling between the three layers of chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. Sadly, even though I make a lot of cakes I don't try other frosting recipes often enough. Wow--this recipe is surely a keeper!

The cake had three layers with the peanut butter frosting on the inside and a chocolate buttercream on the outside. We added some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups around the bottom for a special treat.

Peanut Butter Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 Tbs. milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat the softened butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the peanut butter and cream together until fluffy. Add the milk and powdered sugar alternately and beat until combined and fluffy.

Notes: This made a generous filling for this cake with some left over. It would easily frost a pan of brownies or frost several cupcakes. I found it on allrecipes.com titled Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting. It had over 1000 reviews and was rated 4 1/2 stars (out of 5).

Quick Punch

2013-01-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

This is a super-easy way to make punch for a party or special dinner--combine some concentrated fruit punch with soda pop.

Quick Punch
1 can fruit punch or fruit juice concentrate (like Minute Maid)
2 or 4 liters Sprite or Ginger Ale

Place the juice concentrate in the refrigerator to thaw (if desired—it makes it easier to mix). Pour the juice
concentrate and the soda pop in a punch bowl and serve.

Tiffany's Note: A friend frequently makes this for parties or church activities. It is a much requested recipe and everyone is happy to find out how surprisingly simple it is. You can take the basic idea to make sparkling lemonade or sparkling juice, etc.

When I made this recently I used a Wild Berry Punch concentrate (about 6 ounces or half the can) and combined it with 2 liters of lemon lime soda to make this light pink drink. {Sadly we also had a red tablecloth so you can't see the punch very well!} It might be a lovely drink for Valentine's Day!