Was out buying materials to begin making Thumies today when I had an idea. While standing and waiting to check out, I had visions of chocolate cupcakes with an orange candy melt in the middle; frosted with an orange colored frosting with a Fall themed pick; would make such a pretty presentation. Since the Wilton candy melts were being promoted right by the check out counter, I reached over and grabbed a bag. Now I have to make some, so tomorrow afternoon will be using these pretty little orange candy melts by pouring the cupcake liner half full, then placing a candy melt on the batter then putting a teaspoon full of batter over the candy melt. When done, I wil frost with orange tinted frosting. Michael’s Arts & Crafts had such a great collection of Fall decorations and food decorating goodies. I love to buy from Hobby Lobby when possible, but today just didn’t have time to drive out to Rancho. Had to hurry home to begin to make our new creation, “Thumies” Already have orders coming in. Will have two different sizes, the larger one for regular size cupcake tins when you are making brownie cups called Thumbo’s and for the mini cupcake pans, Thumpkins. Am excited to get these cuties out there since we are entering the baking season. You will never have cookie dough under your fingernails again.
Baking Frenzie (Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies)
It is getting serious, I can’t stop myself from baking the last two days. Why is it that when the temps drop below 80, I feel it is my obligation to plop myself in the kitchen and not come out until flashes of cookies, cakes, cobblers are imprinted on my eyeballs.
Yesterday I made a batch of mini smore bites. I ate so many I didn’t have enough to serve last evening for a meeting. So I made another batch of 24. Because I feared that some who were coming last night might not eat chocolate, I ended up making pumpkin-gingerbread bars. Then this morning I started in again. I have made chocolate mint chocolate chip cookies and peach cobbler from a recipe that I got off Face Book. Because I felt that surely I must be burning calories with the standing and mixing, taking cookie sheets in and out of the oven, my body must be deprived of energy, thus…finishing off the smores from yesterday. I am now on a sugar rush and trying to decide which room I rearrange. While I’m trying to decide how to work off all this sugar, I will post the cookie recipe that I just made. I saw it on Just A Pinch and it sounded intriguing. It is as good as they said. The instant pudding in it can be substituted for any flavor you want. I went with Hershey’s brand chocolate instant pudding because I had bought dark chocolate-min flavored Toll House Chips. The cookies turned out so good and chocolatey.
1 small box of any flavor instant pudding
2 eggs
1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teas vanilla
1 teas baking soda
1/4 teas salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 (12 oz) bag of chocolate chips (whatever flavor you want)
Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and both sugars together. Add eggs, one at a time and vanilla. Blend and mix well. Add dry pudding; blend well. Add the flour, salt and baking soda that you have stirred together before adding to creamed mixture. When thoroughly mixed, stir in a 12 oz package any flavor chips you want.
Thummies
A few years ago, after wearing a Thummie out that I had received as a gift, hubby made me a second one which is one of my favorite kitchen tools. Because I made so many thumbprint cookies, indentions in brownie cups and mini cheesecakes, It is so great not to be constantly getting dough under your fingernails and all the indentions are exactly the same size. We have made several for friends and they really use them and have told us we need to make some to sell. So…after seeing the Pattispattie on Shark Tank, I decided that there was room in the market for a Thummie! We will be making them shortly and putting them on the web to sell.
Heavenly Smore Bites
A great dessert that you can make in 10 minutes! You will never make smores outside again! The little bit of powdered sugar in the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter make these little gems something special.
1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup powdered sugar
6 tables melted butter
12 regular sized marshmallows
1 large (7 oz) Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar
Mix crumbs, powdered sugar and melted butter together in small bowl with fork until well blended. Place a tablespoon of mixture in each of 24 mini muffin tins. Place in preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 5 min. Remove from oven and place 1/2 of small square of Hershey bar in each cup while still hot. Cut a marshmallow in half and place over chocolate. When you have finished with all 24 cups, put back in oven and cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until marshmallow is melted and covering the cup. Let cool in tin for 10 minutes before removing. (I had one the minute they came out of the oven, as I just couldn’t wait. They are amazingly good…will probably have them all eaten by this afternoon and will have to make more for our meeting tonight. But, as they say, a girl has to do what a girl has to do.)
Baked Zucchini In Sour Cream
Well, here it is folks, another (and I might add, probably the last veggie recipe this week, as I’m dying to post several new desserts) veggie recipe and since yesterday I said I would post a squash recipe, I thought that this one would be well received. It is from a cookbook that my aunt gave me back in the 60’s and each book of the set specializes in one of the following: salads, meats, vegetables and of course, desserts. The first cake I ever made came from the dessert book and I still make it today. A one bowl…oops, I always go back to desserts, don’t I? Back to the squash (did Adam name it that? and if so, how did he come up with that name? Squash) Was there a vegetable in the Garden of Eden that he accidentally sat or stepped on or did he taste something he didn’t like and wished that it would “squash away?” in the flood? Anyhow, this recipe is a great one for fall and is easy and really rich and flavorful. BTW, do not email me that the flood was years after Adam, I was just trying to be funny.
6 zucchini
2/3 cup sour cream
1 c grated Cheddar cheese
1 tables butter
1/2 teas salt
3 tables fresh bread crumbs
2 tables grated cheese
Cut squash into 1/2″ slices; simmer in water for 10 minutes. Drain water from squash well. Place in 8″ casserole dish that has been lightly greased. In a medium size bowl, combine sour cream, Cheddar cheese, butter and salt. Pour sauce over squash. Combine bread crumbs and remaining cheese; sprinkle over casserole. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, or until bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Serves: 6
Cauliflower VS Chocolate
I learned something yesterday. I learned that when I posted the recipe for oven-fried cauliflower, it got the 2nd highest views my blog has ever received. It was shocking to see that a veggie would out shine some fabulous dessert, like pumpkin bread pudding, or chocolate truffle cake, but who knew that on a blog called Chocolate Castles, a vegetable would win. So I am thinking that when I post a dessert such as “Chocolate Upside Down Cake” I think I will title it “Chocomato Upea Dosquash Cakeabean” That should get a lot of hits. With the many health conscience blogs out there just waiting for us to click on their tofu recipes and wheat germ pancakes recipe, it just never occurred to me that I should be posting more veggies. There is a diet dr. (you know who you are) that follows my blog and seems to always “like” some of the most fattening desserts that I post. That makes me wonder, is he a closet junk food junkie or does he just read and dream about eating all the desserts that we know we shouldn’t be eating? Maybe he is just waiting for me to get to 500 lbs then I would be yelling to him for help. This reminds me of the grocery store story that my daughter told me to tell you about. The incident made me feel like I weighed 500 lbs.
I was at Kroger in Dallas and was hurridly getting what I needed to head home and cook. Almost finished, I headed to the frozen food aisle. I opened the door to get frozen rolls, but before I knew it, I dropped the packages of frozen rolls down in the frozen case. Bending over to retrieve them, the door of the frozen food section, closed, hitting me on my rear end. Trying not to fall over, I quickly put my right food over the bottom bar of the grocery cart, trying to regain my balance, when the grocery cart began to roll away from me. The next moment, I found myself with one foot stuck between the two bottom bars of the cart and the other leg, straddling, trying to stand up. I ended up spread eagle on my stomach, with one leg still in the grocery cart and the frozen food laying in front of my face. Knowing I wasn’t hurt, I hurriedly looked around to see if anyone saw my little acrobatic stunt. Thank goodness, I was the only one on the aisle, but when I was finally able to pick myself up from the floor, my daughter called. I began to tell her my story and she was laughing so hard she started crying. She put her phone on speaker and told me I had to repeat the whole story so my son-in-law could hear. As fast as I could, I checked out, thinking that it was all probably caught on camera and all the Kroger employees would be spending their 15 min breaks watching the blonde trying to shop the frozen food section. To this day,Jodi breaks up laughing when we talk about how all these things always seem to happen to me.
Tonight, I will be in search of a new healthier veggie dish to post tomorrow. It was exciting to see so many visitors that apparently are in love with veggies. Yesterday…cauliflower, tomorrow…something squash. But, if I have to go get any frozen veggies for the recipe, I am going to be sure I’m alone on the frozen food aisle;just in case, history really does repeat itself.
I have now added Kroger to my list of “never going back there” stores!
Oven-Fried Cauliflower
Everywhere I go, friends are substituting cauliflower for potatoes. I have to admit, that I have actually mashed cauliflower and seasoned it as you would potatoes and served it without really missing the mashed potato taste too much. Of course, with enough cheese in anything, it taste good, right? But this caught by eye and indeed, when you are cutting back on starches, this one will give you that rich deep flavor that you expect sitting down to a great dinner, without all the starch. Taken from yet, another SLM, what would I do without you?
1 cup light mayonnaise
1 medium cauliflower, broken into flowerets
1 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
Place mayo in a large heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Add cauliflower; seal and shake to coat.
Place breadcrumbs in a large heavy-duty plastic bag. Add half of cauliflower mixture. Seal and shake to coat. Spread in a single layer onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cauliflower mixture and breadcrumbs.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Makes 6-8 servings
Pumpkin Fruit Dip
Peter Pumpkin and Penelope were in charge of treats at church today. Knowing that I wanted to take a tray of green/red sliced apples on a platter around a bowl of fruit dip, I went in search of a new dip. When I came across this one, I decided that it was the one that would sit in the middle of the apples. This one sounded intriguing, combining a can of pumpkin puree with just a couple of other ingredients. The crowd went wild…I saw several of the hubbies going back and getting a huge spoonful on their plates, several even came up to me and ask me what was in it. Simple put, it was a success. It looked so pretty, with it’s light creamy pumpkin color, very complimentary to the apples which surrounded it. I think you will agree, this one makes a great Fall dip. As I was sitting in class, watching several going back to get more, my mind started racing. If the dip was this good with sliced apples, what else would it go with? I began to imagine it spread between thin slices of pumpkin bread, making pretty tea sandwiches. Or between sliced date-nut bread. Celery stuffed with it or stuffed dates. The possibilities are endless. But before I really get carried away, I think I will just post the recipe and let you come up with how you would like to use it.
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 (16 oz) container Cool Whip
1 package (3 oz size) of French vanilla instant pudding
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teas pumpkin pie spice
Mix all ingredient, except Cool Whip together. After ingredients are well bended, add the Cool Whip and stir just until it is well blended with other ingredients; keep covered in the refrigerator at least 8 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Windows are open, the Tunnel of Fudge cake I made yesterday is long gone (no I didn’t eat it by myself, I had a little help from my friends, which reminds me of a little song..although if they were truly my friends, they wouldn’t have eaten so much and left more for me.) so today am trying this new recipe. Was just a little blurb inserted at the bottom of a page in my new SL, advertising Domino Sugar. Will make it and let you know how good it is. Sounds really delish and fallish!
Serves 8 to 10, depending on serving size
4 cups white bread, cut into cubes
4 eggs (FYI, unless a recipe specifies differently, use large eggs in recipes, as the recipes are written with that size in mind)
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teas salt
1 tables rum or brandy or vanilla
1/4 teas nutmeg
1 teas cinnamon
1/4 teas cloves, ground
2 tables butter; cold, cut into pieces ( I can tell you right now, that I will be using probably 4-5 tables)
1/2 cup nuts, if desired
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13x9x2 baking pan. Dry bread cubes on cookie sheet in oven 10-15 minutes. Place bread cubes in pan; in large mixing bowl, whisk together all pudding ingredients except butter. Pour mixture over bread cubes. Let sit 10 minutes until bread is fully soaked. Dab butter over top. Bake 40-50 minutes. Pudding should be set in center by not dry. Serve with warm Crème Anglaise sauce. Recipe for that below.
Crème Anglaise
Whisk together 1 cup heavy cream, 2 large egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar in a 2 qt saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly so mixture doesn’t scorch or scramble, 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture thinly coats back of a wooden spoon. Add 1 teas vanilla and 1 cinnamon stick, if desired. Pour mixture into a bowl. Fill a large bowl with ice. Place bowl containing cream mixture over ice and let stand. Stirring constantly. 30 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick. Cover and chill 1 hour to 3 days.
Gas Station Blues
The windows are open today and Fall is in the air. I came home before finishing errands, as I was just to embarrassed to even be seen on the street. I was afraid someone would recognize me from the gas station. Now, before you laugh or think, “how in the world could she be that (I prefer the word scatterbrained instead of stupid) well, scatterbrained, you need to know that my mind was already on going to eat Italian food tonight with friends and on hurrying home to cut a big chunk of the Tunnel of Fudge Cake that was just waiting for me to walk in the door. So I pull into the station, but there are about 12 cars there waiting to pull up to a pump. I decide that I am going to do what I see other people do; not concern myself with which side of the car the gas tank is on. I will just make it work. People stretch that gas arm all the time. After 15 minutes, it is finally my turn. Well, the gas tank was on the other side, but no problem, I can do this. I try to insert the credit card in the island pay machine, but there is something blocking it and the card won’t go in. Luckily an attendant was out emptying the trash so I tell him that the machine won’t take my credit card. He comes over, takes my card and puts it in the machine. I am already embarrassed. I select #8 pump and go back to select the grade of gas and swing the gas hose over the back of my car. It won’t go. The attendant comes over and tells me that it is not going to reach; to just pull out and back into this side. I put the gas hose back and proceed to try and back up, but another car has already pulled in behind me, making it impossible for me to back up. Well, as luck would have it, the car in front of me is pulling out, so I tell the young man, let’s cancel this pump (why did I tell him that, like he is responsible for cancelling my card) and I will just pull up to the front one. He stares at me and shakes his head, like, “I don’t care what you do and why are you telling me all this? Why does he keep looking at me? Driving the car to the front gas tank, I quickly get out of the car, look up to find the number of the pump, ‘ah, #6, insert the credit card (all by myself this time) into the slot and the machine rejects my card. There are two people waiting behind me to pay, watching all this, when I realize I never cancelled the first pump station. All of a sudden, it dawns on me that I am still on the wrong side of the pump, the hose is still not going to reach my car. I quickly jump in my car, pull around to the side of the station and park. I now have to go in to be sure Pump #8 (the first pump is cancelled and there is a man in front of me that is giving the attendant his money for pump #8. The attendant says, “no sir, it shows that there is already someone at that one.” The customer says, ‘no, I am at pump #8″ So that was why my card didn’t work, it was still on the first pump I tried. This is when I move ahead of the 4 people in line, all the time trying to explain what happened. Why did I just make my hair red, why didn’t I leave it blond so I would have an excuse for all this? I go back to my car and wait in a different line, the line with the pumps on the right side of my car this time. After another 15 minutes, I finally fill up with gas. It was all worth it, I saved 3 cents a gallon. I ate 2 pieces of the chocolate cake the minute I walked in the door. I deserved it today. It will be awhile before I return to that station. Or that part of town.
