Hot Cocoa Cookies to Enjoy with Hot Chocolate

It's that time of year again to plan our holiday menus. Do you bake your family favorites each year or do you like to try new recipes? Most of mine are passed down through generations of my family. As I bake them, I  picture my Mom or Grandmas in their kitchens baking cookies in preparation for the family.  

Occasionally I will make a new cookie recipe. If you love hot chocolate like I do, you might like this easy recipe I found on Kraft Recipes . You need 20 minutes prep time and the following ingredients.

2 (4 oz.) packages Baker's semi -sweet chocolate, divided.

3/4 cup butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons milk

17 Kraft Jet-Puffed marshmallows, cut in half

Chop 6 oz. chocolate and place in a medium microwaveable bowl with the butter on high for a minute or until the butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is melted and well blended.  Stir in the sugar and eggs and mix well.  Next add the flour and baking powder and mix well. The mixture will be very soft. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350.  Roll tablespoons of dough into balls about 1 1/4 inches in diameter.  Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake 8-9 minutes or until no longer shiny.  The cookies will still be soft.  Immediately, top each cookie with marshmallow half, cut side upside down.  

Bake another 1-2 minutes until the marshmallows start to puff up.  Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet and carefully transfer to aluminum foil sheets to finish cooling.

Melt the remaining chocolate as directed on the package, stir in milk.  Drizzle over the marshmallow tops.  Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm. 

 

*I place my cookies to chill in my garage for a short time,  In the winter, it's not a problem chilling with this method if you live in the Midwest!

Happy Baking!

Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels

~Sea Salt Caramels~

One of my favorite cookbooks is Patricia Heaton's Food for Family and Friends. This week I made her recipe for milk chocolate sea salt caramels. This recipe is easy to make. I will be making and gifting these over the holidays. The sea salt flakes send the taste right over the top and I promise you will love these caramels. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter cut into 16 pieces

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 milk chocolate chips

Flaky sea salt (I use Maldon)

Wax and parchment paper

Line an 8 inch loaf pan with parchment paper trimmed to hang over the sides.

Pour the sugar into a 4 quart saucepan put on medium heat. Let the sugar cook, undisturbed until it begins to melt around the edges. As it melts, gently tilt the pan back and forth as it cooks. 

When the sugar is golden, add the butter, heavy cream, and vanilla. Cook for 4 minutes while STIRRING CONSTANTLY. This step is important. 

Take the pot off the heat for a few seconds and add the chocolate chips. Return ti heat for 30 seconds more to melt the chocolate.

Pour the caramel into the prepared loaf pan. Let it set at rom temperature for 6 hours or if time time allows, overnight.

Sprinkle with sea salt flakes, slice into caramels and wrap in was paper if not serving right away. They will stay fresh for a week. 

Happy birthday wishes Penny. We love you so very much💗

Muffins for your Easter Buffet

Easter is just over a week away. This butterscotch muffin recipe pairs perfectly with fresh brewed coffee and offers the flavors of salty and sweet with its combination of butterscotch and toasty pecans. After you have tasted these, you will want to make them often. 

Ingredients are following:

2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 2 eggs, 1 cup milk (I substituted with almond milk), 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 3/4 cups Tollhouse butterscotch chips, and 1/2 cup toasted pecans.  (You can omit the pecans if desired without comprising flavor)

*To toast pecans, spread on a baking sheet and place in a 300 degree oven for 5-10 minutes.  Check them every couple of minutes to make sure they don't burn.

Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and brown sugar, eggs, milk, melted butter and vanilla until blended. Fold in the butterscotch chips and pecans.  

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the muffin cups.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  When you take out of the oven, run a knife lightly around the rims to release the muffins from the pan and transfer to aluminum foil to cool.  

Slight warning when baking these muffins... THEY SMELL AMAZING!

Let's get started by gathering all of your ingredients. 

Always serve on a special platter or plate.  Often I store my baked items on my favorite covered cake plate (pictured above).

The Baking of a Tradition

Our Family Christmas Morning
Cinnamon  Coffee Cake

Spray your baking pan well with non stick cooking spray before pouring in the batter

A sprinkling of powdered sugar right before serving gives the look of snow on the trees

Years ago when I married my husband and we began to celebrate both our families holiday traditions, my mother in law served a cinnamon breakfast cake before we would open our gifts. Years later my husband and I began hosting Christmas morning in our home and the traditional Christmas morning cake is still being baked every year. Over the years, I have transitioned into baking it in a Christmas tree pan I bought from Wilton. It can also be baked in a 13" x 9" pan and cut and served in squares. I remember the year this cake didn't come out of the pan as easily as I had hoped.  My solution was to cut into small pieces and serve in small glasses sprinkled with powdered sugar. Tasted great and I pretended I had it planned that way all along! I have modified it the past several years and now use a gluten free yellow cake mix as my base so it can be enjoyed by family members on a gluten free diet.  No one else in the family is onto this because it tastes as delicious as ever. This recipe is filled with cinnamon, sugar, sour cream and baked with a lot of love. I can feel the love of my wonderful mother in law each time I bake her recipe and know she is smiling! I love that I have my original hand written recipe that is kept in my spiral bound holiday recipe book . It makes me happy when I bring the book out in mid November to begin making my shopping list for ingredients so I can plan baking day with my girls. This cake is great all year long with hot chocolate or coffee. My recipe is shown above and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  

May you and your family and friends have a safe and Blessed holiday as we gather together.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HEALTHY NEW YEAR

Make Your Own Pumpkin Spice

Pumpkin spice is one of those spices you only use certain times of the year.  You will use a few tablespoons out of your store bought and back in the cabinet it goes until next year.  Now you can make your own pumpkin spice magic at home using spices you may already have in your  pantry and it tastes better than store bought.

Your ingredients are:  3 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground allspice, 1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves.

Mix together in a bowl and store in an airtight container.  This mixture will make 1/4 cup of pumpkin happiness you can use for months to come.  May you have a safe and happy Halloween trick or treating this weekend.  

My Banana Bread Secret (shhhhhhh)

From time to time, we all have bananas that are turning brown, right?  Turn them into this delicious banana bread that you will love with your morning coffee, afternoon coffee, or seriously any time of the day.  I often use disposable pans I keep a supply of for the purpose of gifting a banana bread to family or friends .  After you spray your pan with baking spray, my secret is sprinkling a liberal amount of cinnamon on the bottom and the sides of my pan before I pour in my batter.  The cinnamon smells and tastes amazing.  Here is my easy recipe that takes literally ten minutes to put together. 

Combine in a bowl:

1/3 cup melted butter

Teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cups sugar

1 large beaten egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Mix together with a large spoon or blend with your (clean) hands. 

 Slowly add 3 very ripe peeled bananas. 

 The bananas will bind the dry ingredients to make the mixture moist.

Pour into your prepared loaf pan with baking spray and cinnamon.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes.

Cool for 10 minutes before removing to a serving plate.

Next step.......Enjoy♡

Simple 4th of July Dessert

The 4th of July is all about picnics and easy entertaining.  You don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but rather enjoying your friends and family time.  Here's an easy way to decorate a simple sheet cake that will look festive on your table.  Simply bake your favorite yellow or white cake mix in a 13 x 9 pan, let it cool, and frost with white frosting.  Using star shaped cookie cutters, place them on top of your frosted cake, and sprinkle blue and red sprinkles into the cookie cutters.  Carefully remove and you have a cake that holiday ready.  My pan, frosting, cookie cutters and sprinkles were all purchased at Wilton's, my favorite store for cake decorating supplies.  

I will be enjoying the holiday with my family but will return Tuesday, July 10th.  Have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Portillo's Copycat Cake

If you live near Portillo's and have had a slice of their chocolate cake, then you have lived a full life..haha. If you haven't tried it yet, don't waste another minute.  (by the way, they serve lemon cake in the summer that will knock your socks off!).  I'm sharing a knockoff recipe that may be one of the easiest cake recipes you will ever bake.  I made this recently to serve at my husbands birthday family party.  We have a family member on a strict gluten free diet so I modified the recipe.  Here are the pictures and the recipe is below.  I was told it rivaled the famous Portillo's chocolate cake. 

~Portillo's Copycat Chocolate Cake Recipe~

1 box Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix (I used gluten free mix)

3 eggs

1 cup ice cold water

1 cup mayonnaise (regular not light)

Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.

Pour batter evenly between two 9 inch round pans sprayed with baking spray. I also used precut round parchment paper on the bottom of the pans.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until done.

Let pans cool for 15 minutes and remove gently from the pans.

Frost liberally with Betty Crocker chocolate canned (that's right) frosting.

I made this cake a triple layer so I doubled the recipe and used three round pans, 2 cake mixes and 2 cans of frosting.

It's that easy and it is the only chocolate cake I will make from now on.  

Let me know how you like it and thanks for reading.

Baking Makes Me Smile

Tollhouse Cookies🍪

There are so many of us in the world who have had unpleasant weather events in the last several months. Here in the Midwest, we are in our sixth month of winter temperatures, snow, sleet and ice.  As our tulips and daffodils pop out of the frozen ground in hopes of sunshine, they look as droopy as we feel.  

I decided to make a big batch of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies to lift our winter blues, and you know what? The house smelled divine as they were in the oven.   There is something magical about warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies and ice cold milk in a "glass" glass that brings out the smiles.  Recipe is on the bag of Tollhouse and it guarantees smiles!

*Fun Fact - The world's largest chocolate chip cookie made by Immaculate Baking Company in Flat Rock, North Caroline weighed 40,000 pounds and was 102 feet in diameter.  It was recognized by Guinness World Records in 2008. 

Bring on the smiles!

Welcome Back Pumpkin

It seems each Fall, my love for pumpkin EVERYTHING comes out!  I bring out my pumpkin candles, begin baking pumpkin scones, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies (my Mom loved this recipe and baked it for years for us), and we all make a date to gather at our local pumpkin farm for hayrides, and try to make our way through the corn maze.  Everyone chooses their favorite pumpkin for carving (or in some cases, painting).  It wouldn't be a visit to the pumpkin farm without picking out a favorite homemade jam or jelly,  salsa, or my favorite, the taffy apples.  Do you have a favorite Fall tradition?

I posted the recipe for my Mom's pumpkin cookies below.  Enjoy!

Photo Cookie Madness

King Arthur Flour
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King Arthur Flour

Once Upon a Chef
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Mom's Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Cookies

4 cups unsifted flour, 2 cups quick oats, uncooked, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon sat, 1 1/2 cups soft butter, 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin, 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Combine flour, oats, soda, cinnamon and salt and set aside. Cream the butter and gradually add sugar, beat until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Combine with the dry ingredients and pumpkin.  Drop on ungreased baking sheet (I like to use a sheet of parchment paper on the baking sheet to prevent burning the cookies) 3 inches apart.  

Bake at 10-12 minutes at 350.

*Happy birthday to my mother in law Dorothy.  You are missed more than I can say.