Monthly Archives: August 2014

Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

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Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

There are some foods that it is dangerous to leave me alone with. Set me in front of a dish of panna cotta and you’re likely to come back in 30 minutes and see that I’ve eaten mine, yours, everyone’s and am now sitting in a panna cotta stupor on the floor, grinning like a loon. Put creme brulee near me and I can’t be held responsible for my actions. Give me a bone in ribeye and some roasted brussel sprouts and soon enough, I’ll be that person moaning saying “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”.

There are also some foods that aren’t quite as “normal” that I’m not safe around. I eat fries when I have a ribeye. I also set the baking sheet full of overly greasy fries back in the oven and eat them for breakfast the next day. Yes, feel free to gag.  Then there’s Cheetos. I shamefully admit that I have been known (in the past, in my weight loss defense) to polish off the majority of a large bag of Cheetos in one sitting while watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory.

This cheesecake however, does not go into the not so normal category. It may go into the “omg, this is good!” category though. I have been making this cheesecake for years; more years than I care to admit. It originally came from yet another of those decades old paper Pillsbury cookbooks I have collected for…well, decades. Yes, I’m old. Fifty as of this past Tuesday, actually. *sobs just a little for lost youth, then gets over it and eats more cheesecake* Liiiiiike I said, I’ve been making this for years. I changed it some from the original but not enough to say it’s a totally different cheesecake, just added a few ingredients, took away almonds in the crust and bake it in a water bath to minimize cracking. It also originally had a sour cream topping and I do use that sometimes, but I prefer the topping I have here.

This is a wonderful base cheesecake to play with. You have a chocolatey, buttery crust, topped with a very creamy chocolate filling. I always add a touch of almond extract to the filling. It doesn’t make it taste almondy; don’t worry. It just adds that little something that makes people say, “what is in this?”. The filling is smooth, rich and creamy. Then I topped it this time with the worlds easiest strawberry sauce and dolloped it with a slightly tart cream and sour cream topping. In the past, I have also drizzled this with caramel sauce, cherry topping, peaches, etc. Like I said, this is a great base to play with. It’s also dam good on its own so try it like that first. This goes together quickly and if you bake it as directed, there will be little to no cracking on top.

You know the drill…. 🙂

Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

  • Crust- 2 cups finely crushed Oreo’s- about 21 cookies (I use my food processor)
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • Filling-
  • 2 8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temp
  • 3 eggs, room temp
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, melted per package directions and cooled
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • Topping-
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, ice cold
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, ice cold
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • Strawberry sauce-
  • 1 16 ounce bag frozen strawberries, thawed, NOT drained
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • Boiling water for water bath
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover a 9 inch springform pan with 2 layers of heavy duty foil, making sure it goes up about 3 inches on the sides. This helps prevent water from getting into the pan as the cheesecake bakes.
  2. Lightly butter the whole pan.
  3. In a large bowl (or your food processor), mix together the crust ingredients. Press them onto the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of the prepared pan. I have found that using the bottom of a small glass is the easiest way to press any crumb crust in. It is much more even and firmly pressed in that way. Set the crust aside.
  4. In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate and extracts; beat well.
  5. Add in the cream and melted butter. You’re best off whisking these in because trying to beat the liquid into the batter results in a lot of splashing, even on low speed.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared crust. Gently tap the pan on the counter to level it and help get rid of any air bubbles in it. Place pan inside of a deep baking pan. Slide into the oven and carefully pour boiling water around the cheesecake to a level of about one inch up the sides of the pan, being careful not to splash any water into the cheesecake.
  7. Bake at 325 degrees for 60 to 75 minutes (large time gap, but I have had it go to both extremes.), until the cheesecake is set around the outer third but the center is still rather soft. It will set from residual heat as it cools.
  8. Cool for five minutes on a rack then loosen the sides and carefully slide off the outside of the pan. Finish cooling completely until room temp, then refrigerate until 30 to 60 minutes before you’re ready to serve it.
  9. About 30 minutes before serving, make the sauce and the topping. The sauce couldn’t be simpler. In a medium bowl, combine the strawberries and the sugar. Let sit for about 30 minutes so the sugar has time to dissolve.
  10. For the topping, in a large bowl, combine the topping ingredients. Beat at medium speed (careful of splattering) until the mixture is thick and creamy with firm peaks, about 4 minutes.
  11. Top each slice of cheesecake with some strawberries and topping. Eat. Curse me as you loosen your pants. Know that I’m over here giggling at you.

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Blog Tour! Get On Your Traveling Clothes!

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Remember those old Herbal Essence commercials where the one model turned into two, then into 4 and within seconds your TV screen was covered with a bazillion models, all sporting gorgeous hair? Well, this is like that. Except for the gorgeous hair. Mine is a mess right now. That’s one of the perks of running a blog. I can do this with messy hair and a pink nightie on. Wait… was that too much info? Sorry.

But really… bazillion blog time. Ok, so maybe just me and three others being mentioned here. But those three I mention are so darn awesome that they may as well be a bazillion! So what exactly am I going on about? Well, my friend Donna from over at the very tasty blog “Cookistry” invited me to be a part of this. This being…well…this. In her post, she said wonderful things about me and some other bloggers. Don’t believe her btw, when she says she wasn’t drinking. How else could she have come up with wonderful things about me? And now, I and those other bloggers say wonderful things about her, answer a few questions, then say wonderful things about some other bloggers too. The point being to introduce our readers to some bloggers they might not know of and shouldn’t be missing. So here we go! Put on some comfy shoes and your backpack, cause we’re going to a few different parts of the country now!

First, there’s Donna, who invited me. I “met” Donna (someday, I hope to take the quotation marks from around that word and make it for real) because we had a lot of friends in common. We both tend to have the same rather smart alecky, sarcastic sense of humor and are near the same age. Well, I think she may have me by a decade or two, but don’t tell her I said anything. I very bravely sent her a friend request on facebook.  I say brave because I always have these doubts that awesome bloggers will want anything to do with me lol and she is darn awesome. I mean, look at these Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls! ! Can the woman bake or what!? Donna is one of those people I strive to be like. She is smart, funny, can bake like no one else, has a gorgeous smile and makes me laugh. What else does one need?

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls by Donna of Cookistry

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls by Donna of Cookistry

Donna has a cookbook coming out soon. Run over to Amazon and put it in your cart for pre-order! And go check out her blog! You won’t be sorry!

Now, on to my questions. I was dreading this part cause it means I have to talk about myself. I much prefer we just talk about cookies. How bout you? Sigh. Ok, ok, I’m talking.

1) What are you working on?

Usually, I’m just trying to get through the day still kicking by bedtime. Barring that though, I have been working on a handful (yes, all at once. This is MY mind, after all) of book ideas. No, not cookbooks. I am that anomaly among food bloggers. Someday, I may try a cookbook, but now, these ideas are all fiction. I’ll keep you posted.

2) How does my work differ than others of its genre?

You know, I’m not really sure. I’d say the one basic difference is simply that I don’t cater to trends. You won’t see me labeling things as gluten free here unless I just happen to find a recipe I like that is gluten free, won’t see me posting things as “Healthy! Low Cal! Great for low carb diets!” etc, unless, again, I just happen to like a recipe that fits that criteria. I am a home cook, a comfort food cook. I take great joy in knowing that when someone eats something I baked or otherwise created, their arteries are going to be crying and they won’t even mind. Butter, sugar and cream are my bff’s.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I’m that person who can’t really remember a time I DIDN’T cook. I know I was about 9 or ten when I started is about it. I do this because I love to cook and it is a high for me to hear about it when someone has made something I developed and tells me how good it was. I do this because writing, for me, whether I’m good or bad, is second nature. My mind creates plots and stories and jokes and I have to share them or bust. I have another blog where I, as I put it, “really” write. In this one, I tend to be more joking, more lighthearted. But no matter what, I have to write… I have to cook and create recipes. It’s just…me.

Whew. I got through that without too much heavy breathing and sweating. Now I can tell you about the two bloggers I picked.

My first here is my friend Christine of Texanas Kitchen. Christine is one of a kind. She is kind, she is witty, she has a biting sense of humor, killer legs, perfectly manicured toes that she likes to flaunt in front of all of us to make us jealous and she can cook to boot. You think I jest? Just lookee here. Uber Dense Fudgy Brownies You know you want those. I just want to stick my face in the plate and lick up the sauce after inhaling the brownie. 😀

Uber Dense Fudgy Brownies

Uber Dense Fudgy Brownies from Christine at “Texanas Kitchen”

Christine also has a habit of making one think with some of her posts. She is willing to say what many of us think, but are too timid to say. Fine, she says what I wish I had the cojones to say. Like in this post,- “Retarded, Gay And Fat” she talks about how hurtful those words can be and how hard it can be to get people to realize that. So g’wan. Shoo. Check out Christines blog too. Again; you won’t be sorry. I promise!

The last person I am highlighting here today is another friend; this lady is a fairly new friend but we have already found out that we have a lot in common, one of those things being that whole love of butter, sugar and cream thing. Sara runs the blog My Imperfect Kitchen. Sara is wonderful. She is sweet, makes a person feel comfortable talking to them right away (trust me; I know. I stink at conversation and she made me comfortable within seconds), also has a great sense of humor (see a theme here in how I pick my friends?) and also can cook to beat the band! Did I also mention the gorgeous head of auburn hair I envy!? Here’s just one example of what I mean and it’s making me hungry! I absolutely LOVE Homemade Fried Rice but when I make it, it never looks that pretty. it tastes good, but it’s always a large mass of rice covered in about 12 cups of soy sauce. I, ummm, have a sad soy sauce addiction. But Sara’s rice? Omg, do you just want some chopsticks right now or what?

Fried Rice from Sara at "My Imperfect Kitchen".

Fried Rice from Sara at “My Imperfect Kitchen”.

So there you have it. I have, I hope, introduced you to three mind bogglingly wonderful bloggers, all three, smart, funny, and great cooks and bakers. Go check them out; add them to your daily reading list and hunt them down on Facebook and “like” them there. You’ll be glad you did and I won’t nag you. Otherwise…no cookies for you!

Luvsome Pet Foods (Sponsored Post)

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Luvsome Cat Food1

A while back, a gentleman by the name of Josh (I happen to really like his name, considering what the name of my youngest child is :-D. Just thought I’d throw that in there hehe ) contacted me. His company wanted to offer me a chance to feed my kitties some of their Luvsome cat food. He had seen me mention our two indoor kittens, Sierra and Opie, on my facebook cage, so he knew a cat lover when he saw one 😀
Now, anyone who knows me or has followed me for a while knows that yes, I DO love cats. I happily admit to having ten of the little critters. Two of them are indoor cats, the rest outdoors. We live in the country, with a fair amount of land and people have a tendency to dump cats out this way. We, of course, can’t bear to see them go hungry or homeless, so they join our outdoor menagerie.
We did, as I mentioned, have Sierra and Opie as our indoor family. But sadly, Opie has disappeared. She got out one day and we haven’t seen her since. I try not to think about what may have happened, so I just tell myself that she found a new forever family somewhere and is living a pampered kitty life. Her brother Sierra is still with us and joining him indoors is a kitten my daughter had to get rid of because he was too wild around my one year old grand daughter. So Sierra and Ozone are now the subjects of the Luvsome taste test.
First, from a human perspective. You know how some cat foods, be they dry or wet, you open and immediately want to cover your nose or worse, almost make you gag? Luvsome is NOT one of those kinds. The dry food has a rather mild, meaty cereal smell to it (I used to tease my kids and say that if we ever ran out of cereal, I’d just fill a bowl with cat food and milk and they’d never know the difference hehe). The wet food also has just a meaty smell to it and nothing off putting that makes one think they used God alone knows what part of the animal to make the food.

Now, the kitty perspective. I would type this in “Kitten”, but I know that not all of you are as fluent as I. So we’ll stick to English and picture talk. Look at the following photo. it was taken abouuuuuut 7 seconds after I put the can of food down lol.

Sierra & Ozone- Luvsome Cat Food

Sierra & Ozone- Luvsome Cat Food

Want to know something else wonderful about this company beyond the fact that my cats loved it? Every time you or I use the hashtag #luvsome, Luvsome  will donate a bowl of their food to The Best Friends Animal Society. There are so many wonderful animals out there who don’t get enough to eat. I personally think it’s fantastic that a large company is willing to go the extra mile to take care of animals. You can go to Luvsome-Cares to find out more about how #luvsome helps out.

Not sure how many know this, but you should never just decide to give your pet a new food without phasing them into it. Their digestive systems are not like ours and not easing them into a new food can cause some not so pretty issues. Luvsome has that under control too with a great schedule gradually easing your pet into a new food.

Luvsome GuideSee how easy that is? Want another plus? Luvsome is less expensive than many of the leading competitors brands. I mean, really, what else do you need to hear here?
1) No bad smells to upset the human nose
2) Your cat will love it
3) Luvsome is a company that gives a helping paw to animals in need
4) It’s less expensive.
The ONLY drawback? #Luvsome is only available at Kroger brand Stores. Now that doesn’t mean just Kroger, so stop pouting. It means stores that may be Kroger in MY state may go under another name in YOUR state. So just do a search on the Luvsome site to find out where you can buy the food in your area.
Bottom line?
Go buy Luvsome. Your kitty will thank you with purrs and cuddles.
Oh! They also have dog food for those of you who have furry friends of the barking variety! 😀
This has been a sponsored post for Luvsome Pet Food. I was compensated for my time and also provided coupons for food for my cats. But all opinions ARE my own and 100% honest. 🙂

Blueberry Raspberry Mascarpone Crumbcake

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Blueberry Raspberry Mascarpone Crumb Cake

Blueberry Raspberry Mascarpone Crumb Cake

 

My gosh, can you believe it’s almost September!? Wasn’t it just yesterday you and I were whining that we wanted warmer weather and pool season and bikinis and…wait, I never would have whined about wanting bikinis. That must have been you.

Where was I? Oh yeah, September…you whining over bikinis. But yeah, what happened to Summer? It can’t really be almost Fall, can it? My last two school age kids started back to school on August 12th with one in his senior year and the other in Kindergarten. I know, I know, my kids are spaced rather strangely. Kindergarten and senior is nothing, though. I also have a 19 year old and three in their mid to late 20’s as well as 7 grandkids, three of whom are older than my kindergartener hehe.

Man, I can NOT stay on topic today, not that there was really a major topic going anyway. Do you do that? “Ooo, shiny thing!” your way through life? I get distracted easily. Crap, I just did it again. I give up

Berry season is almost over sobs cause I love berries and I had cartons of both blueberries and raspberries I wanted to use before they went bad, but I didn’t know what to make. So what do I fall back on when I’m unsure what to do? I go for the crumbs! C’mon, you know me. Give me streusel or give me death! Because…streusel. Crumbcakes call it crumbs, but we all know it’s streusel with a nickname.

I have a cookbook that I frequently take out from the library. This time around I think it’s about 17 weeks overdue. Sorry, library people! Honest, I’ll get it back there! I really need to buy my own copy she says, channeling Captain Obvious The book is The Best Quick Breads by Beth Hensperger. I love this book (obviously). I have about 900 tabs in it for recipes I want to make, which is of course, why I keep forgetting to return it. One of them was for a Blueberry Cheese Crumbcake. I didn’t change a ton in this, but the changes I DID make made this so much more yummy. Sorry, Beth. No offense.

I used mascarpone instead of plain old boring cream cheese, plus I doubled the vanilla in the cake batter and changed the plain milk to buttermilk, as well as adding both some almond extract and a touch of lemon oil. Plus, I added vanilla in the mascarpone filling and a bit of lemon zest. and a smidgen of vanilla in the crumbs too. I also used raspberries as well as blueberries and probably doubled the recipe amount. Ok, so maybe I did make a few changes lol. Imagine that. This cake take a 10 inch springform pan, which I know some don’t have, but it’s worth the investment. I got a 3 pack of pans, 8, 9, and 10 inch, at Wal-mart, for under 15 dollars. They come in handy for more than just cheesecakes.

This is fairly easy to toss together and smells fantastic when baking. Because…well…crumbs…and mascarpone. Need I say more?

You know the drill 🙂

Blueberry/Raspberry Mascarpone Crumb Cake

  • Mascarpone filling-
  • 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temp
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • Crumb topping-
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold and sliced thin
  • Cake-
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon Boyajian Lemon Oil (or sub 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract)
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 pint blueberries
  • 1 pint raspberries
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a ten inch springform pan.
  2. Make your cheese filling and set it in the fridge while you make the rest- In a small bowl, beat together the filling ingredients until smooth and well combined.
  3. Make your crumbs- In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add in the butter and vanilla and cut it in with a pastry blender. What I like to do is use a pastry blender to cut it in, then when it’s fairly well combined, use my fingers to mix it more. The heat from your fingers will help make some of the crumbs a bit chunkier, which is a nice textural contrast in the topping.
  4. For the cake, in a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add in the extracts and beat well.
  5. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, to the butter mixture, beating until smooth and fluffy looking. Start and end with the flour, i.e., flour, milk, flour.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan, then top with half of the berries. Top with the mascarpone filling, then the rest of the berries, Finally, sprinkle the top with the crumb topping.
  7. Bake at 350 for 60 to 70 minutes or until the top is light brown, the filling is set and the cake has started to slightly pull away form the edge of the pan.
  8. Cool for at least 30 minutes in the pan before removing the side for serving. Store leftovers in the fridge. This can be reheated gently in a slow oven or in the microwave for about 5 to 10 seconds per slice.

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Caramel Apple Pie Bread With Streusel Topping

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Caramel Apple Pie Bread With Streusel Topping

Caramel Apple Pie Bread With Streusel Topping

 

I remember when I was a child… or maybe I’ll be poetic and say, “I be remembering when I was but a wee tyke”. No, that doesn’t work. I feel like I should be wearing a Leprechauns outfit and eating Lucky Charms. So… I remember when I was a child, back in the Stone Age. Every Autumn our school would start selling caramel apples, or “Affy Tapples” as they were named. Yes, that was the specific brand name. I think they are still available in the Midwestern area. I always loved when they came around. End of the school day, there people would be, small booth set up in the school lobby, selling Affy Tapples for 25 cents. I would wager that the kids today pay a dollar or more for theirs; damned inflation. But, I would go there, tarnished quarter grasped in my dirty little hands and then I got it…. that much loved apple. Is there anything better in Autumn than a caramel apple? You get that tart juicy apple dripping down your chin, a blanket of sweet chewy caramel that gets stuck in your teeth and then the crunchy peanuts. The perfect treat when it comes to a mix of flavors and textures.

I wanted to recreate that experience with this bread, with one exception. I don’t use nuts a whole lot, one, because I am not a huge fan, though I have my times when I like them and two, I just can’t eat them much anymore, what with aging teeth lol. So no nuts in this bread. You could easily add a half cup or so of your favorite nut (would have to be salted chopped peanuts to be authentic though) to the batter.

This is a really good quick bread that goes together fairly quickly. One tip though- don’t shred your apples until just before you get to the step of adding the flour to the batter or they may have time to turn brown. It doesn’t take long for an apple to oxidize at all.  Sweet, moist, great for dessert or a quick breakfast. Have some hot coffee waiting, or tea if you’re like me, and enjoy.

You know the drill…. 🙂

Caramel Apple Pie Bread

  • 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 2 teaspoons baking powder (Don’t mix this till just before you need it or you could end up with a volcanic science experiment hehe)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1 /2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups shredded tart apple (I used Granny Smiths and just shredded them on a box grater, I also didn’t peel mine; feel free to peel yours if you want, but there’s really no reason to do so) (remember; shred just before using so they don’t turn brown)
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup quartered Werthers Baking Caramels (takes about 20 caramels to get that amount)
  • Streusel-
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside.
  2. Make your streusel first and set it aside until ready for it- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in the softened butter until the mixture is crumbly.
  3. In a medium bowl on low speed with a hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add in your sugars and beat well. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract. beat well.
  4. Add in the buttermilk/baking powder mixture. Mix well (darn, I’m using that phrase a lot)
  5. Dump in the flour, salt and spices. On low speed, mix just until combined.
  6. Gently fold in the caramels, the apples and the raisins. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  7. Sprinkle the top of the bread with the streusel.
  8. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 65 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. A small bit of moist crumb is ok; liquidy is NOT.
  9. Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling. Be aware, this one is touchy to unpan due to the streusel. Make sure you have it totally loosened before trying or most of the streusel is going to end up on your counter and not on the bread.

Copyright Notice: From Cupcakes To Caviar images and original content are copyright protected. Please do not publish these materials anywhere without prior permission.

 

 

 

 

Apple Cinnamon Gooey German Butter Cake

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Cinnamon Apple Gooey German Butter Cake

Cinnamon Apple Gooey German Butter Cake




I think I’ve mentioned before (probably many times. I’m getting old and forgetful. Hey, did I mention that I’m getting old and forgetful?) that I was lucky enough to live in Germany for three years in the mid 80’s. Yes, I’m well aware that many of you were barely crawling in the mid 80’s. Just get me my Geritol and call me Granny.

I had my first two children while there and when my oldest was little, one of my favorite things to do was to go to the local Konditorei and by a pastry or nine two. My sons favorite was always one that was similar to American Mallomars but 900 times better. It had a thin wafer bottom covered with a mound of fresh soft marshmallow then coated in chocolate. It was delicious.

My favorites however were anything gooey, messy and preferably with crumbs on or in it. No way to go wrong with gooey and/or streusel, now is there?

German Butter Cake is one of those desserts that you can also serve for breakfast based simply on the fact that it resembles a coffee cake/crumb cake and it is a yeast based cake. Anything with yeast means it’s a bread and you can always serve bread for breakfast. This gooey cake is, as I said, yeast based instead of baking powder, but don’t let that scare you away. It’s extremely easy to toss together. The most time consuming part of this recipe is peeling, slicing and sauteing the apples. The rest is pretty much wham, bam, thank you ma’am.

This isn’t the prettiest cake but it’s delicious. I covered the base with a layer of sweet buttery sauteed apples before I coated it all with the crunchy, crumbly topping. The topping stays partly gooey, as it’s supposed to, but it also get a nice crunchy, crackly edge.

Serve this as it or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You’ll devour it no matter what. 🙂

You know the drill… git to cookin’!

Apple Cinnamon Gooey German Butter Cake

  • Cake-
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 packet dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup milk, warmed to between 110-115 degrees
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon each of cloves, cardamom and nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • Apples-
  • 4 small Granny Smith (or other tart) apples, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • Topping-
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon Fiori De Sicilia flavoring (optional. If you don’t have it, don’t sweat it)
  • 2 eggs
  1. Start your apples first so they have time to cool. In a medium pot, melt your butter. Add in the sliced apples and cinnamon. Cover the pot and saute the apples over low heat until the apples are crisp tender.
  2. Toss in the sugar, mix well and crank the heat up to medium. With the cover off, saute until they start to caramelize, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
  3. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. Let sit for five minutes.
  4. For the cake, in the bowl of a stand mixer (this can all be done by hand or hand mixer if need be), combine the butter, sugar and salt. Mix on low speed until creamy. Add in the milk mixture, then the egg and vanilla extract, then the flour and spices.
  5. Put your dough hook attachment on and let it knead the dough for a minute or two. It is not a dry dough, so expect it to be a bit sticky and tacky. Remove it to a small bowl and let it rise until double, about one hour.
  6. In the stand mixer bowl with the beater hook, combine the butter, flour and sugar. Mix on low for a minute; just to get it all combined.
  7. Add in the eggs, vanilla and Fiori De Sicilia (if using). Beat at low speed until you have a mixture that rather resemble s crumbly cake batter. Set aside.
  8. Spray a 13×9 inch pan with cooking spray. Punch the dough down and then press it onto the bottom and half an inch up the sides of the pan. Pour the cooled apples and any saucy mixture in the pot over the top of the base. Use your fingers to arrange the apples so they cover the bulk of the dough.
  9. Carefully spread the topping over the dough, taking care to not move the apples all over the place. After this is done, let the cake alone for 20 minutes or so so that it can rise a bit. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
  10. bake the cake at 375 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, just until the base is cooked through and nicely golden brown. The topping will still look gooey. Thus the name 😛
  11. Let cool for about 20 minutes before trying to cut it or it will just ooze everywhere and you’ll end up with half the topping in the pan rather than on the cake.

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Glazed Key Lime Shortbread

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Glazed Key Lime Shortbread

Glazed Key Lime Shortbread

 

You ever have one of those days when you feel like you’ve run around like a crazy woman (or man as the case may be) all day, but haven’t accomplished anything of importance? That was my day today. I made homemade bread, made dinner, made cookies, did housework, etc etc, but somehow, I just don’t feel like I got anything done. All the floors still need waxed, I need to go weed outside, I need to vacuum, there’s more laundry, I did NOT write a New York Times bestselling novel nor did I manage to effect world peace by my mere presence or find a cure for paper cuts. So, see? Wasted day.

I may have no choice but to console myself about my laziness by being lazy and sitting down with 14 of these cookies and a cup of tea and watching all five of the Rocky Movies on Netflix. Want to come join me? If you get here in sayyyyyy, the next ten minutes, there may even be a cookie left.

I had seen this cookie (more or less) on the Land O Lakes web site. The idea intrigued me because I love shortbread. I mean, what’s not to love about shortbread? It uses lots of butter. What else did I need to know? I mean…butter! But so many of the reviews talked about it being dry and crumbly. Now, by its very nature, shortbread tends to be crumbly. It has very few ingredients and doesn’t really include anything that could be considered a binder or “cookie glue” as I think I’ll call it 😀

So I changed the recipe. I know, right! Whoda thunk it of me!? In all honesty, one reason I change recipes is because in the blogging world, it’s considered uncool to use anothers recipe without substantial changes. But mostly, I change things, as I’ve said many times, because I am genetically incapable of leaving a recipe alone. It’s a sickness! A sickness, I tell you!

What I did was to add an egg yolk to make a more manageable cookie that didn’t crumble if you looked at it funny and I also added a packet of Duncan Hines Key Lime Frosting Creations to up the zing factor of the lime flavor. It worked! These are yummy cookies, if I do say so myself. They are still very delicate, so you can’t like throw one at someone you’re wanting to give one to, or all they will receive is a handful of tasty crumbs, but handle them with common sense care and you’ll be fine. These are great for after school snacking (which is coming up far quicker than most of us parents want to admit!), great with some tea or coffee, late night noshing. Ok, fine, it’s good no matter what. It has a nice bright lime flavor with a melt in your mouth texture. I can see myself in the future using this same recipe with other packet flavors, so be on the lookout for some, especially near Christmas!

You know the drill… 🙂

Glazed Key Lime Shortbread

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 packet Duncan Hines Key Lime Frosting Creations (can be done without this, but it makes the flavor pop)
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Key Lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon Key Lime zest (I have a confession; I used regular limes)
  • GLAZE-
  • 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lime zest
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons lime juice (amount varies by how thin you want the glaze)
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar and the frosting packet.
  2. In another bowl, beat together the butter, egg yolk, lime juice and lime zest. Add in the flour mixture and beat on low speed to combine. This is a fairly soft dough, so don’t add more flour when you see that.
  3. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a log (carefully or it will start to melt all over your hands) and wrap in plastic wrap or foil. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
  4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie sheet with either parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  5. Slice each log into 10 to 12 slices. Lay about an inch apart on the cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for about 12 to 14 minutes or until the cookies look set and are a nice light brown around the edges. You don’t want to overcook shortbread. That’s one of the things that will make it too crumbly.
  6. Let them cool for about 2 minutes on the sheet, then CAREFULLY transfer them to a rack to finish cooling.
  7. When they are cool, whisk together the glaze ingredients. You can then either carefully spoon it and spread it on top of each cookie or dip the tops of them in the glaze. Spooning tends to work better because if you dip, the lime zest gets left in the bowl for the most part and doesn’t adhere to the cookies.

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Chocolate Covered Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Chocolate Covered Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Covered Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mannnn, y’all know I hate long recipe titles! But sometimes, you have to have a long title to fully describe what you’ve made. Looking at this, you just see a chocolate chip cookie. But oh no, my friends (and yeah, you too, even though you annoy the crap out of me), this is NOT just an ordinary cookie. Watch carefully while I amaze you with my sleight of hand, don’t let your eyes leave me for a second or you will miss the amazement that is this cookie! Ignore that man behind the curtain!!

Sorry. I watched The Wizard Of Oz last night and I’m still in “We’re not in Kansas” mode.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the ubiquitous pudding chocolate chip cookies, right? They are everywhere on the web, from big food sites to well known bloggers to people no one has ever heard of and now including yours truly. But you also know I can’t do things normally, right? All of those cookies call for plain old vanilla pudding and while I’m sure that is good, it just seemed….normal. I don’t do normal well. I also don’t play well with others and have been known to dance with raw chickens, but those are stories for another time.

But today was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (who knew, right?) so I had to do SOMETHING! So I based these on one of my favorite childhood treats, chocolate covered bananas. Don’t worry; no bananas were harmed in the making of these cookies. All nice wholesome American artificial flavors here today! 😀 I took an amalgamation (darn, I’m into big words today… must be the caffeine) of several pudding chip cookie recipes and made my own. Instead of vanilla though, I used banana pudding mix and added a nice dollop of banana extract. I also used a butt ton of vanilla extract ( before cooks illustrated ever said it, I was saying that most recipes use far too little vanilla extract. What’s the point of using it if you can’t taste it?) and some Buttery Vanilla Emulsion. I know not everyone will keep that in stock though, so feel free to omit it. I love LorAnns emulsions though. I could just stand and sniff most of them for hours on end lol. Hmmm, Eau De Emulsion perfume?

Moving on….. you know the drill…. 🙂

This makes a lot of cookies btw, so feel free to halve this.

Chocolate Covered Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 4 3/4 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons vanilla extract (I use 2)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons banana extract/flavoring (LorAnn also has a banana emulsion but I don’t have that one *sobs*)
  • 1 teaspoon LorAnn Butter Vanilla Emulsion (optional but really yummy)
  • 2 small boxes INSTANT banana pudding mix
  • 4 cups semi sweet or dark chocolate chips or chunks
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and line your cookie sheets with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and the sugars. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down your bowl, then add in the various extracts and the 2 pouches of pudding mix.
  4. Dump the flour mixture into the butter mixture and beat on slow speed (I usually do this with the bowl IN the kitchen sink so I and the whole kitchen don’t end up covered with flour) until it is thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. A heavy wooden spoon is easiest.
  5. For the best results, chill the dough for about 2 to 3 hours. You can make them immediately, but they will tend to spread more.
  6. When ready, bake at 350 for between 12 to 24 minutes, depending on the size. I use a large cookie scoop (a 3 tablespoon one) and they can take a while.. But if you use a regular scoop or just a spoon and make smaller cookies, check them after about ten minutes to gauge how quickly your oven cooks them. They are done when they are golden brown and set. Let them cool on the sheet for about two minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling. Eat six one while they’re still warm, of course. It’s the law.

Copyright Notice: From Cupcakes To Caviar images and original content are copyright protected. Please do not publish these materials anywhere without prior permission.