Tonight we are headed to Babe’s for the best fried chicken in the state of Texas with my sister-in-law and her hubby. Because it will be served with creamed corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and biscuits, I thought it might be good to have a little lighter dessert afterward.
This morning, I made fresh lemon-blueberry scones (recipe is on the blog). Because it is still so hot out and the humidity is really high today, I thought I would cut up fresh fruit and serve over the scones with a spoonful of whipped cream. So that will be our dessert.
After sampling the peaches and blueberries, they weren’t exactly the sweetest, so I added cut up strawberries to the peaches and blueberries, and sprinkled a little strawberry jello to make a sweet syrup. This will be so fresh looking poured over the scones, which will be served in individual little triffle dishes. (Use pretty wine glasses or goblets if you prefer.) Topped with the sweetened whipped cream, and folks, I think we have a winner!
Great ending to our fried chicken dinner! Remember…All’s well that ends with a great meal!
Just can’t wait any longer, I am ready to celebrate temps falling below 100. And with that celebration comes pumpkins of all sizes and shapes. Peter Pumpkin (aka Randy) is just pacing the floor until I give him the go ahead to begin bringing all the boxes from the garage that store the Fall Trees and pumpkins that are just waiting to have a place in the house.
We have invited some friends over tonight to join us in celebrating It’s Almost Fall! Because I still had some fresh oranges, I decided to make an Orange Cake for dessert after we go to Smash Burger.
Thought I would share how easy it was and how fresh the cake layers taste with substituting orange juice for the water.
One Duncan Hines French Vanilla Cake Mix
Mix the cake mix according to directions except substitute half of the water called for with orange juice. I used fresh squeezed, but using orange juice is just fine. I used the zest of one of the oranges and added that to the cake batter. Mix well and pour into 2 (9″) round cake pans. Bake about 24-25 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool and frost with Orange Butter Cream Frosting or Cream Cheese Frosting (the CC Frosting was posted yesterday with the Key Lime Cake recipe)
Buttercream Frosting
1 stick of softened unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup of Crisco Shortening
5 cups of powdered sugar
1 teas vanilla
zest of an orange
Enough orange juice to make frosting to spreading consistency.
Whip up the butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, orange zest and the orange juice, (about 1 tables at a time).
Frost the bottom layer that you have put on a serving platter, then place the 2nd layer on top. Frost the sides and then the top with the buttercream.
Maybe the cake will get Peter in a festive enough mood to start bringing in the boxes!
Just watched Trisha make this cake on her program. It sounds so good and will be perfect for the last weeks of hot weather. The frosting is, of course, cream cheese frosting. So don’t forget the 3 oz box of lime jello at the grocery this weekend.
1 (3 oz) box of lime jello
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teas salt
1 teas baking soda
1 teas baking powder
1 1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup orange juice
1 Tables lemon juice
1/2 teas vanilla
5 eggs, slightly beaten
Preheat oven to 350
Mix the lime jello, sugar, flour, salt, baking powder & baking soda in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, mix oil, orange juice, lemon juice, vanilla and the beaten eggs. Mix well and then pour over the dry ingredients. Beat until batter is smooth and mixed well.
Pour into a 9×13″ greased pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 25-35 minutes or until cake tests done when pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cool in pan 5 minutes before turning out on a plate. If you are leaving cake in pan, wait about 5 minutes and then pierce cake with a fork and drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake, allowing it to sink into the cake.
Glaze for Cake
1/2 cup Key Lime Juice (about 25 small key limes or 4 regular size limes)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Mix the key lime juice and powdered sugar and stir until mixture is smooth.
Allow cake to cool completely then frost with Cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened
1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 (1 lb) box of powdered sugar (about 3 1/2 cups)
Beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat until sugar is well incorporated. Spread over the top and sides of completely cooled cake. (Or the top, if you left it in the pan)
Just put a lemon pound cake in the oven and am waiting for the cupcakes that I made with the left over batter. We sat down to watch AGT and realized that we didn’t have any dessert to eat during the millions of commercials. So while the lemon buttercream frosting sits while the cupcakes finish, I thought I would post this recipe that has so many of the favorite flavor combinations of the dessert world: peanut butter, chocolate and marshmallows.
4 (1 oz) unsweetened chocolate baking squares
1 1/3 cups butter, softened and divided
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
4 large eggs
2 cups flour, divided
1 teas vanilla
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teas baking powder
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups lightly salted roasted peanuts
Chocolate frosting
Preheat oven to 350. Microwave chocolate in microwave safe bowl at Medium (50% power) for about 1 1/2 minutes or until melted. Stir until smooth until all chocolate is melted.
Beat 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar at medium speed dwith mixer until ight and fluffy. Add 4 eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended. Add 1 cup flour, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla. Spread half of batter in a greased and floured 13×9″ pan.
Beat peanut butter, brown sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar at medium speed with mixer until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Stir together baking powder and remaining 1 cup flour and add to peanut butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.
Spoon peanut butter mixture over brownie batter; top with remaining brownie batter and swirl together.
Bake at 350 for about 40-45 minu or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs stuck to it. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and sprinkle with marshmallows and peanuts immediately after removing so the marshmallows will melt.
Prepare chocolate frosting and drizzle over brownies. Cool completely.
Chocolate Frosting
Melt 1/4 cup butter with 3 tables unsweetened cocoa and 3 tables milk in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat an whisk in 2 cups powdered sugar and teas vnilla. Beat until smooth.
Taken again from the Gooseberry Recipes, a great pie for the cooler days that will soon be here. Surely, cooler days are coming, right?
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2 unbaked pie shells
Apple Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tables flour
1/2 teas cinnamon
1/2 teas nutmeg
1 Tables lemon zest, grated
5 cups Granny Smith applies, peeled and sliced
4 tables butter
Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add apples and stir to coat. Turn into one of the pie shells and dot with slices of the butter. Top the pie with the remaining pie crust and cut a 2″ slit in the center of the crust for the air to escape while pie bakes.e ( usually sprinkle a little sugar over the pie crust before putting it in the oven.)
Bake for 10 minutes at 425 and then 30-35 minutes at 375. While the pie is baking, cook the crème sauce
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 tables lemon juice
3 oz package of cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
In a saucepan, combine eggs, sugar and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add cream cheese and sour cram. Take off heat and stir until well combined. Pour over slices of the apple pie when serving.
I just can’t help myself. When I know that Fall is almost here, I start to pull out pumpkin recipes. Today, I even pulled out an orange shirt in honor of the first cool day being just around the corner (probably 40 to 60 days, but we will take it when we can get it). Orange shirt…orange pumpkins! Randy knows what this means. That the time is very near when he will be bringing in the boxes of Fall decorations from the garage. He is so excited! I told him that this year, I will find him a pumpkin t-shirt to get him really in the festive mood for our week of bringing all the pumpkins out. Does life really get any more joyous?
1 egg yolk
1 extra large graham cracker pie crust
2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (your preference, I use 3/4, does this really surprise anyone?)
2 eggs, room temperature
15 oz can of pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling but just plain pumpkin)
1 1/2 teas cinnamon
1/2 teas ginger
1/4 teas cloves
Garnish: whipped cream and toasted pecan sprinkled over the top, if desired
Beat the egg yolk and brush on the pie crust. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 5 minutes.
Set crust aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar.. Add the pumpkin and remaining spices and mix until throughly blended. Pour into pie crust and bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes or until set.
Cool and refrigerate several hours or overnight (covered after the first couple of hours of cooling)
Once again, taken from Desserts for Two by Christina Lane, probably brownies are one of those “cravings” that attack more than any other. Just finished baking the Mini Sour Cream Pound Cakes and they are delicious. Randy is ready to be the official tester for all her recipes that I will be making.
Some days, the only thing that will satisfy that sweet tooth is a delicious chocolate brownie. When your husband or wife is out of town, or you live alone, you don’t want a huge pan of brownies. You want enough to eat during that Hallmark movie that you recorded last week and this one will not disappoint. Christina Lane, you are a genius for these amazing little recipes.
Yields 2 large or 4 small brownies
4 tables unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup plus 1 tables granulated sugar
1/4cup plus 2 tables unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teas salt
1/2 teas vanilla
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 325. position Rack in the lower third of the oven. Line a bread loaf pan (9x5x3″) with parchment paper.
In a medium size microwave safe bowl, combine the butter, sugar and cocoa powder. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and microwave for another 30 seconds.
Stir the mixture very well, then add the salt and vanilla. Stir for 1 min to let the mixture cool down. Add the egg and stir until it’s incorporated.
Sprinkle in the flour and then give the batter about fifty brisk strokes, using a wooden spoon.
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 20-23 minutes. Test doneness with a toothpick. The top of the brownies will be shiny an dry when done.
Let cool completely in the pan then use the parchment paper to remove the brownies from the pan. Slice into either 2 or 4 brownies.
My son, Cameron and daughter-in-law, Mandy, gave me a great cookbook called Dessert for Two, by Christina Lane. It is wonderful and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves dessert as much as we do, but hates the thought of baking 4 dozen cookies, knowing that unless you give them away, you would eat the entire 4 dozen, making it necessary to go out and buy a size bigger blue jean. This once again proves just how much everything tends to cause a ripple effect. Anyway, back to the recipes. Last night, thumbing through the book, which has colored pictures on almost every page, I found the first thing I am going to make: mini sour cream pound cakes. We are hitting the road again tomorrow and there is nothing better that to have a large sack of snacks to grab to make going through the desert a little less deserty. I have baked oatmeal cookies and brownies, but will be making these Mini Sour Cream Pound Cakes for Randy, hoping he will leave the brownies for me.
This cook book uses Mason jar lids for little pies, bread loaf pans for bars and cookies. Do yourself a favor and get one of these cookbooks, (after you have ordered Princess On The Porch, of course).
Mini Sour Cream Pound Cakes
Makes 4
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tables unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 teas vanilla
1/4 teas almond extract
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
3 tables sour cream
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teas baking powder
1/8 teas salt
Preheat oven to 350. Place cupcake liners in four cups along the edge of a muffin pan.
In a medium size bowl, cream together the sugar and butter for 1 minute with mixer. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat until well combined. Next, add the whole egg, egg yolk and sour cream. Beat until combined.
Sprinkle the flour, baking powder and salt on top of the wet ingredients. Beat until just combined, do not over mix.
Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups. Bake for about 15-18 min, depending on your oven until they test done. It’s ok to remove the cakes when moist crumbs cling to a toothpick which has been inserted in the middle and the tops appear slightly damp. Let cook in the pan for 5 min and then allow to cool completely on a cooking rack.
Sprinkle powdered sugar on top if desired.
Some of our snacks for the road (Randy just walked in and saw all of the snacks and ask me when we were going to be able to eat all the snacks and how long did I think we would be driving. I told him that I just like to be prepared. They can save our lives in case we get stuck on the road or maybe can use them to bribe a policeman if we get stopped. (oops already tried that once and the officer told me in no uncertain terms not to keep offering him a brownie, my goodness, was just trying to show a little southern hospitality)
A friend of mine brought us some of these cookies to the luncheon where I took the shrimp salad. I was starving when I got there so before the blessing was said and we began to fill our plates with fruit and shrimp, I saw these little gems and had to have one. After the first bite, I was stuffing the rest of it in my mouth, when Cricket said, “aren’t they delicious? and they are even gluten free?” WHAT???I couldn’t believe it. Seriously, they were some of the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten and to think that there is no flour in them, well you don’t have to ask me twice to eat 10 of them…and to think they are healthy! Is life good or what? This precious friend who made them brought me my own bag of Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats this morning. I never knew that some oats had gluten in them, did you? So as soon as I post the recipe, I am headed to the kitchen to mix up a batch of the “best little gluten free oatmeal cookies in Texas”
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 teas baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 to 4 oz mini chocolate chips (the recipe calls for 6 oz, but Cricket said that she halved that as the 6 oz were to many)
2 eggs, room temp
1/2 cup nuts, such as walnuts or pecans
1 teas vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and butter. Beat until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla and baking soda and mix well. Add peanut butter and mix. Stir in oats, chocolate chips and nuts. Place teaspoon full of dough on a lightly greased baking sheet about 2″ apart. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly brown around the edges.
Thanks Cricket for sharing this with us. Just another fabulous cookie for me to get addicted to!
Love, love, love blueberries! This recipe is taken from Food Network Summer Favorites!
Cake:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp, plus more for the pan.
3 cups plus 2 tables all purpose flour
2 1/2 teas baking powder
1 1/4 teas salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs, at room temp
1 teas vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups fresh blueberries (about 1 pint)
For the toppings
1 pint strawberries, halved or quartered
1 to 2 tables sugar
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tables unsalted butter, at room temp
4 to 5 tables milk
To make the cake, preheat oven to 350. Generously butter a nonstick 12 cup bundt pan.
Whisk 3 cups flour, the baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat 2 sticks butter, the granulated sugar and the oil with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low; beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture and half of the buttermilk, beating until incorporated. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk. Beat, scraping down sides as needed, until all is combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat 30 seconds. Finish blending the flour to avoid overmixing.
Toss the blueberries with the remaining 2 tables flour in a bowl. Spoon 1/3 of the batter evely into the prepared pan. Sprinkle in half of the blueberries, then top with another 1/3 of the batter. Scatter the remaining blueberries on top and cover with the rest of the batter, smooth the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and tests done by inserting knife in center of cake and it comes out clean. It will bake about an hour to hour and 5 min. Transfer to a rack and let cool 30 minutes in the pan. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake, then invert onto the rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the toppings; Toss the strawberries with the granulated sugar in a bowl; let stand 30 minutes.
Just before serving, make the glaze: Whisk the powdered sugar, butter and 4 tables milk in a bowl. If glaze is still to thick, add up to 1 more tables milk. Pour the glaze over the cake. Serve with the strawberries and their juices over cake.
Tonight we are headed to Babe’s for the best fried chicken in the state of Texas with my sister-in-law and her hubby. Because it will be served with creamed corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and biscuits, I thought it might be good to have a little lighter dessert afterward.
Chocolate Castles 