Breads · Cakes · Desserts

Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake

If you are like me, your pantry has about 5-8 cans of pumpkin just sitting there waiting to be used in all types of new and exciting recipe this week. When I came across this one, it just yelled out to me, “make me, make me” so I did. It has a delicious streusel topping that just makes it even more delightful to serve for breakfast, coffee or dessert with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream or dollop of whipping cream.

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 teas vanilla

3 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teas baking powder

1 teas baking soda

1 cup sour cream

1 3/4 cups (16 oz) can of Libby’s Solid Packed Pumpkin

1 egg slightly beaten

1/3 cup sugar

1 teas pumpkin pie spice

Streusel:

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 teas cinnamon

1/3 cup butter

1-2 cups chopped pecans (your preference)

Cream 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla in mixer bowl. Add 3 eggs and beat well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and add these dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with sour cream. Combine pumpkin, beaten egg, 1/3 cup sugar and pie spice.(DO NOT ADD THIS TO BATTER, YOU WILL BE SPOONING IT OVER THE BATTER). Spoon half of batter into a 9×13 greased baking dish. Spread to corners. Prepare Streusel as directed (see below). Sprinkle half over batter. Spread pumpkin mixture over streusel. Carefully spread remaining batter over pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle remaining streusel over top. Bake in slow oven at 325 for 50-60 min or until toothpick comes out clean.

Streusel: Cut 1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup butter and 2 teas cinnamon together with pastry blender until blended and looks like crumbs. Stir in pecans.

Chocolate · Desserts

Chocolate Buttermilk Pie (Micah, this is just for you)

I couldn’t help but post this. One of my favorite pies is buttermilk. I don’t like buttermilk, but you never know this pie is made with it in there, for all the butter and eggs. I just saw this on Just A Pinch web page and it will be the next pie I bake this week.

 

2 unbaked pie shells
2 stk butter, room temperature

get recipes @ goboldwithbutter.com
3 3/4 c sugar
1/2 c flour
1/3 c cocoa powder
6 eggs
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c plus 2 oz. buttermilk

Combine sugar and butter and mix until well blended. Beat in the eggs and mix well. Whisk in flour, cocoa and salt until mixture is blended. Add vanilla and buttermilk stirring until all is blended. You can mix all of this by hand or hand mixer if you desire. Pour into pastry shells and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Cool before slicing and adding delicious whipping cream to the top.

Desserts · Fruit

Baked Peaches with Almond Frangipane

When I began this blog, I promised myself I would never share a recipe that I couldn’t pronounce. But……this one just looks so delicious and really enticed me to go buy almond paste and make.  I still cannot pronounce “frangipane”,  so let’s just call it Baked Peaches with Yummy Yummy Flling! Plus you can make the “Yummy Yummy Filling” up to 2 days ahead and just keep it refrigerated in an airtight container.

8 oz almond paste, broken into small pieces

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3 tables sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 large fresh, ripe peaches

Put the almond paste, butter and sugar in the bowl and beat on high until well mixed, 1-2 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until egg is blended before adding the other egg.

Scrap down sides of bowl and reduce the speed to low. Mix in the flour and blend until the “yummy yummy sauce” becomes a thick, wet paste. This just keeps sounding better and better, doesn’t it. Nothing better than a thick, wet paste to whet your appetite.

Preheat oven to 400. Cut the peaches in half and take out pits. Put the pitted peaches cut side up in a shallow baking dish the will hold them snugly. (now there’s a great invention, a peach snuggy)

Bake just until heated through, abut 10 mins. Spoon 2 tables of the paste into the hollow of each peach half and bake until the filling develops a golden crust, 10-15 min. As it bakes, the sauce will spread over the cut surface of each peach. Serve warm with whipping cream or ice cream, if desired.

Desserts

Dee’s Ginger Cookies

Dee is the friend which gave me the recipe for Heavenly Hots that has won the heart of one of our son-in-laws and we have to have them for breakfast anytime he is here or I go there. Dee has graciously given us this recipe which makes a great ginger cookie. They make a great gift during the holidays, put in a clear bag and tied with Christmas plaid ribbon. 

This recipe was taken from a cookbook I bought while I was in Juneau, Alaska. We took a float plane to the Taku Glacier Lodge for lunch and these cookies were served for dessert

 

1 cup butter 1 Tbps. cinnamon

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar 1 Tbps. ground ginger, plus

¾ cup brown sugar 2 tsps. ground ginger

1 egg 1 tsp. cloves

1/3 cup molasses 2 tsps. nutmeg

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour ½ tsp. salt

1 ¼ tsp. baking soda raw sugar

 

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy

Beat in eggs and molasses

Mix flour, baking soda, spices and salt; add to the above, mix until blended

Using a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop, form a walnut sized dough and dip (or roll) into the raw sugar

Place on ungreased cookie sheet

Bake 10-12 minutes for softer cookies, longer for crispier cookies; cookies will crack on the top, that’s ok.

Enjoy!

 

Cakes · Chocolate · Desserts

Mini Peanut Butter Cheesecakes

I love any recipe that has the word “mini” in it. It makes me think that even if I eat them, it will make me “mini”, no matter how much butter or cream cheese are in them. My neighbor, Nancy, has given me a couple of folders in which she and her twin sister have gathered recipes for years. I am so honored that they have allowed me to look through them and pick out ones I want to use. These are the same ladies who took me to the Pasadena Ladies club you might have read about in the blog. Sally, one of the twin sisters, has written a couple of cookbooks and is such a great hostess.  So when I saw this recipe, I knew it was a good one to try.

Makes 24

1 pkg (9.5 oz) Keebler Fudge Shoppe Peanut Butter Filled cookies (now, after seeing the first ingredient, you know these are going to be good)

2  (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 large eggs, at room temp

Chocolate Glaze:

3 oz semisweet baking chocolate

2 tables unsalted butter

2 tables light corn syrup

1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

Heat oven to 325. Line muffin pans with 24 paper baking cups.

Break cookies into a food processor. Pulse until fine moist crumbs form. Press about 1 tables crumbs into each muffin paper liner and spread over the bottom of liner. Freeze while you are preparing the cheese mixture.

Beat next 4 ingredients in a large bowl with mixer on medium until smooth. On low speed, beat in eggs, 1 at a time, just until blended. Spoon about 2 1/2 tables into each cup.

Bake 20 min or until puffed. Some may crack on top but that’s ok. Cool completely in pans on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, prepare glaze. Melt the chocolate, butter and syrup together in small saucepan until smooth. Do not boil. Cool slightly. Peel liners off each cupcake. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Spoon glaze over tops. Sprinkle with nuts. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving to give glaze a chance to set and cheesecakes to be cold.

Desserts

Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake

Today, we have listened to thunder for about 4 hours and it has been heavenly. There is nothing I like better than being at home when it is dark and rainy with thunder and a stove. I don’t know if it is the cool weather, the thunder or just knowing that we are in the Fall season, that makes me want to make everything pumpkin.  We are having company this weekend and I wanted to make something different for dessert. I looked through cookbooks until I found this pie that combines cream cheese and pumpkin with a gingersnap cookie crust. I was hooked. Because the crust is made with cookies, it is so easy.

1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 teas vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 teas cinnamon

1/4 teas ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, mix the crushed gingersnaps, pecans and butter. Press this mixture into the bottom and 1″ up the sides of a 9″ springform pan. (if you don’t have a springform pan, you can a deep pie pan)

Bake crust 10 min. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time, blending well after each egg. Set aside 1 cup of this mixture.

Blend 1/4 cup sugar, the pumpkin, cinnamon & nutmeg into the remaining batter.

Spread the pumpkin flavored batter into the crust and then drop the plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.

Bake 55 min in oven or until filling is set. You might need to adjust the baking time if you used the pie pan. If you used the spring form pan, run a knife around the edge of the pan. Allow to cool before removing pan rim.  If you used a pie pan, cut servings as you would a pie after chilling at least 4 hours before serving with whipped cream.

 

Cakes · Desserts

Pumpkin Pound Cake

This weekend will be ever so busy and I needed a cake I could bake now and freeze for Sunday so I wouldn’t have to bake all weekend. Found this on Land O Lakes Butter web site. With six eggs and butter, how can it not be good?

Pound Cake

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups Land O Lakes® Butter, softened

6 Land O Lakes® All-Natural Eggs

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 cup milk

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons Land O Lakes® Butter, softened

4 to 6 teaspoons milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.Combine sugar and 1 1/2 cups butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Continue beating, adding eggs one at a time, until well mixed. Add pumpkin; continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low. Beat, gradually adding flour mixture alternately with 3/4 cup milk, until well mixed.

Spoon batter into greased and floured 12-cup Bundt® pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely.

Combine powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons butter and enough milk for desired glazing consistency in small bowl. Glaze cooled cake.

*Substitute 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and cloves.

Desserts · Fruit

Twinkie Dessert

Unbelievable, I really cannot tell you how surprised I am that I actually found this recipe in a very good recipe book. But there it was in black and white. Randy use to tell me about this and how he and his roommates use to buy Twinkies and make this back in college. So that tells you how old this recipe is. He has informed me that I should try it, because he loved it. He  is thrilled that I have agreed to make it. So, here it is….Twinkies, I still cannot believe I am going to the store to buy Twinkies. Think I will go right before the store closes when no one is in there. I’m afraid that if people see me buying them, they will think, “poor lady, she obviously cannot control her eating habits and had to run into the store to stock up on sweets to get her through the night.” They will probably picture me, sitting in front of the TV, watching soap operas with unwrapped Twinkie packages all around me on the floor. But, anything for my man, so here it is.

1 large box Twinkies

1 can Eagle Brand

1 large box vanilla instant pudding

1 large Cool Whip

2 packages frozen strawberries

Cut Twinkies in half and put in a 9×13 inch dish. Slice strawberries on top. Mix pudding according to directions on box. Stir in Eagle Brand and Cool Whip. Spread on top and chill several hours before serving. (And please don’t tell your company or family where you got the recipe) Just tell them you saw this on-line and it sounded interesting…I owe you!

Desserts

Snickerdoodles

Soft, Chewy Snickerdoodles

I know, I know, there are a million zillion recipes out there for these delightful little cookies, but I happened to buy bagged  4.25 lb Gold Medal flour instead of the flour that comes in the paper sack and this recipe was on the back. It is different than the others I have made because of the cream of tartar. This told me immediately that this cookie would be softer and not as crisp as the other snicker doodles I have made, and that made me immediately just go to the kitchen to make them. I just ate 4 of them. There are so soft and delicious and just perfect to leave for Randy when I go out of town to see grandkids. I always use more cinnamon sugar mixture than they call for because I can never get enough cinnamon flavor.

Makes about 5 dz.

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup softened butter (I use 1 stick butter and 1 stick Parkay or you can use 1/2 cup shortening added to the butter) Just end up with 1 cup, whichever mixture you want to use. But if you use all butter, the cookie will tend to be crispier)

2 eggs

1/2 teas vanilla

2  3/4 cup flour (all purpose)

2 teas cream of tartar

1 teas baking soda

1/4 teas salt

1/4 cup sugar added to 2 to 3 tables cinnamon (this is to roll the cookies in before baking them)

Heat oven to 400. Mix the 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter, shortening or margarine and eggs together. Add 1/2 teas vanilla to mixture and beat until creamed well.

Mix the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt together. Add to creamed mixture and using mixer, mix on medium until flour and butter mixture are well blended.  At this point, I cover the bowl and refrigerate for a couple of hours to make handling the dough to form little balls so much easier. You should put about a tables of dough into each ball. Mix the sugar and cinnamon tougher and roll each ball into this. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake about 8-9 minutes, depending upon your oven and size of balls that you made. I like them to be soft and chewy, so I tend to take them out before they feel completely done. Remove them from cookie sheet and place on paper towels you have laid out on the counter. I like the paper towels instead of cooling racks. It keeps the cookies a little softer and not as crisp as they tend to get on cooling racks.

Desserts · Fruit

Apple Cobbler

In the 70’s, my neighbor Cam, who was the best cook and would always bring us samples of her goodies, made these and brought them to us one night. I had forgot about them until I saw the recipe posted on JustAPinch.com…..they are just so different. Easy, even if you don’t like to make pie crust, you can do this, I promise….so great to take to dinners and have to serve company…the perfect way to begin your Fall season of apple recipes.

INGREDIENTS

APPLE FILLING
– 6 c apples, peeled and sliced
– 1/2 c cup flour
– 1 c cup sugar
– 1 tsp tsp cinnamon
CRUST
– 3 3/4 c flour
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1 Tbsp sugar
– 1 1/2 c shortening
– 2 eggs yolks plus water to equal 1 cup , reserve 1
egg white.
ICING/FROSTING
– 1 c powdered sugar
– 2 Tbsp milk or light cream approximately
– 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS

1.   Mix apple slices, sugar, 1/2 cup flour and 1 tsp cinnamon for the filling. Set aside.

2.   Mix the remaining ingredients as pie crust, reserve 1 egg white. Divide dough in two pieces. Roll out 1/2 of the dough to fit a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan with sides.

3.   Cover with apple mixture. Roll out top crust. Cover with top crust. Brush top with egg white. Slit crust. Bake at 350 for 45-60 min.

4.   Mix 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla with enough cream or milk to make thin frosting. Mix well and spread over hot crust.

70’s my neighbor, Cam, who was the best cook and would always bring us samples of her goodies, made these and brought them to us one night. I had forgot about them until I saw the recipe posted on JustAPinch.com…..they are just so different. Easy, even if you don’t like to make pie crust, you can do this, I promise….so great to take to dinners and have to serve company…the perfect way to begin your Fall season of apple recipes.