Category Archives: Easy

Ham & Swiss Scones (And Keeper Of The Memories)

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Ham & Swiss Scones

Ham & Swiss Scones

 


Every once in a while, I’ve brought up my family outside of my husband and kids. Sadly, as one ages, one finds that family circle getting smaller. In my life, since my sister Sandra and both our parents have passed away, there is only myself and my brother left. We also have two half sisters, whom I love dearly, but they didn’t grow up with us so don’t have the same set of memories or same history, unfortunately.

Steve and I have always been fairly close. We’ve had our ups and downs, times our relationship was splintered (Lilo And Stitch quote- “This is my family. I found it all on my own. It’s little and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good“. I love that movie.), but all in all, we’ve stayed close.

Since childhood, I’ve had a faulty memory. It seems to be due to an accident in youth. Add in the stroke from a few years back and a lot of my past is missing. Well, Steve and I have a habit of spending a fair amount of time on the weekends texting each other and many of his texts start out with, “Do you remember…”. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, I don’t. Steve has become, in my eyes, the Keeper Of The Memories. He is the one who reminds me of things we did as kids, the people we knew and the things we did, many of them crazy and probably dangerous and illegal, keeps me up to date on which relative has died, which was one that was nasty in the past, etc etc. He’s the one that helps me recall certain movies we watched 73 times as kids, which songs were important to us, usually for silly reasons and keeps the memories of our parents and sister fresh.  I’m the one that still rags him about using my Barbie Make Up Doll Head as Franken-Barbie for his garage haunted house one year and reminds him of the time we stood in the kitchen for an hour, him 18, me 13, while I tutored him in the fine art of talking to girls. Steve and I are the only people we each have who remember each others pasts. We remember the bad hair cuts (I still have the picture of you in 7th grade when your hair was shoulder length), the teen years when we both were rather hard to get along with, the fights with our parents. We know about the times of eating ketchup sandwiches cause there wasn’t anything else to eat even though our mother worked her butt off, the trips to Alabama, the nights up watching Creature Feature, the night mom kicked her then b/f out of the house for kissing another woman and “do you doubt my veracity?”. We remember “doodles” and “ewww, you “blew it” “. Siblings have their own language, their own inside jokes and memories. They make us laugh, they make us nostalgic and sometimes, they make us sad. But there is a bond there that can’t be shaken. It’s different than the one you have with parents, because for a lot of your growing up years, parents are the enemy. Siblings are the ones who can beat the crap out of you, but no one else better try it. They are the ones who are sad with you when your parents age and die. They are a tie to your own past and a part of your forever. You don’t see the age, you don’t see them as the grown ups they are. They always stay the kid you played with, argued with and made memories with.

What does any of this have to do with Ham & Swiss Scones? Not a thing. But make the scones anyway. They are completely delicious. 🙂

Ham & Swiss Scones

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill weed
  • 1 tablespoon dried minced onions
  • 10 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, sliced thin
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 12 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) diced ham
  • 12 ounces Swiss cheese, cubed into about 1/2 dice
  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a greased baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, dill weed and dried onion.
  3. Using a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
  4. Break the egg into the heavy cream and whisk to combine. Pour all at once into the flour/butter mixture. Stir well with a fork until the mixture comes together into a ball. Add in the cheese and ham and use your hands to (as quickly as possible) mix them into the dough.
  5. Dump it out onto a lightly floured board or counter and knead a few times just to incorporate the ham and cheese.
  6. Pat down into a 3/4 inch thick circle and cut into 12 wedges. They don’t have to be perfect. Mine are usually misshapen and ugly and I have come to prefer that; there is something homey and rustic about them that way.
  7. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown. See all the cheese that oozed out and clung to the sides of the scones? Don’t be upset… that crispy browned cheese is one of the best things about these!
  8. Let cool for at least 30 seconds before eating them. 😀

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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.

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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.

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Blueberry Peach Yogurt/Granola Parfaits

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Blueberry Peach Yogurt Granola Parfaits

Blueberry Peach Yogurt Granola Parfaits




Back in the day, when they first came out, I loved McDonalds Yogurt Parfaits. They were a quick fix when I wanted something light, relatively nutritious and still sweet. They were also cheap at a dollar for a good sized serving. Now though, the serving size has shrunk, the price has gone up and they just aren’t as good as they used to be anyway.

So I made my own.

A lot of blogging isn’t even recipes, it’s just helping your readers think outside the food box. This is one of those times. I am giving specifics here on amounts and fruits and the granola I used, etc etc, but unlike this recipe and when you buy these at a store for a bazillion dollars or at McDonalds and wonder if the 16 year old making it sneezed in it, this can be made to YOUR specifications, with the fruits and granola YOU like, the yogurt brand and flavor YOU favor. These just happen to be mine is all.

You know the drill… 🙂

(This makes enough fruit for quite a few parfaits. But that is deliberate. The fruit is wonderful on its own, just mixed with yogurt as is, over ice cream or frozen yogurt, etc. Feel free to halve the quantities if you don’t think you’d use it all within three days or so.)

Blueberry Peach Yogurt/Granola Parfaits

  • 2 cups vanilla or vanilla honey yogurt (my bottom layer was Oikos vanilla, top layer was vanilla honey from Greek Gods)
  • 1 pint fresh blueberries
  • 3 peaches, chopped into bite sized chunks
  • juice and zest of one large lime (about 2 tablespoons each juice and zest)
  • 3 tablespoons honey (and a little extra for drizzling over the top)
  • 1 cup of your favorite granola (I used Trader Joes Pumpkin granola)
  1. In a medium bowl, combine the peaches, blueberries, lime juice and zest and the honey. Stir well to combine. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes to get some juices going in the fruit and for the flavors to meld.
  2. Now comes the oh so hard part lol; in 4 purty glasses, layer the yogurt, fruit, granola and top with another dollop of yogurt. Drizzle with some extra honey.
  3. They can be served right away or let them sit in the fridge for a while if you prefer softer granola.
  4. Enjoy!! 🙂

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Chewy Salted Caramel Hazelnut Cheesecake Brownies

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Chewy Salted Caramel Hazelnut Brownies

Chewy Salted Caramel Hazelnut Brownies




I’ve come to the realization that, during the Summer, I am NOT a prolific blogger. I bake like the dickens (what IS a dickens anyway and do they even bake?) during the fall, Winter and early Spring, but I live in Kentucky in a house with an A/C system that barely works when it’s hot out and I have asthma; not a good combination when trying to bake lol.

Weeks ago I said I was going to make some Nutella Brownies. Today the temp wasn’t bad so FINALLY I got around to it. Erhmmm, kind of. You see, I have the great honor of being mom to six kids, three of whom still live at home, with two of those being teenage walking stomachs boys. So what did I find when I went into the cabinet to grab the Nutella? An almost empty jar with incriminating spoon marks in it. Gee, wonder how THAT happened? So I went to the back up jar of Nutella wanna be imported from Italy that I got at Big Lots. And know what? That crap is Nasty with a capital nas! I wouldn’t feed that to my worst enemy. Welllll, I know of one woman I used to be friends with that I might feed it to as well as one ultra controlling ex boyfriend. 😀

So, being the inventive soul that I am (be nice and work with me here…) what did I do? I got out the jar of Jif Salted Caramel Hazelnut Spread that I keep on hand for emergencies. Those emergencies being when I am craving something sweet and delude myself into thinking that since this is made with nuts, it’s good for me. Point being, this is some yummy stuff! Not Nutella, I admit that, but it has a unique flavor of its own; sweet, salty, with an undertone of caramel to go with the hazelnuts.

Then when I was in the fridge getting eggs, I saw the cream cheese and I immediately thought of cheesecake brownies! So that’s what we have here- deep dark and chewy chocolate brownies swirled with a salted caramel hazelnut cheesecake, then topped with some salted caramel sauce. Can we spell decadence, class?? And OMG? Wait, that one is rather self explanatory. My bad. And maybe even “please don’t share these with anyone that you don’t want to have following you around the house whimpering like a puppy to get more from you”. Just sayin’. And you don’t really have to spell that last part. I understand.

You know the drill….

Salted Caramel Hazelnut Cheesecake Brownies

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup Jif Salted Caramel Hazelnut Spread
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (not a typo; you need some for the swirl and the brownie batter)
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup baking cocoa
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • salted caramel sauce for drizzling n top (I used Trader Joes brand)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a greased 13×9 inch pan with parchment paper and lightly grease the paper.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the hazelnut spread, 2 tablespoons sugar and vanilla extract. Beat well to combine. Set aside while you make the brownie batter.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and the 2 1/4 cups sugar. Beat well for 3 to 4 minutes. Add in the eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Beat well.
  4. Add in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to mix the batter just until it is combined.
  5. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth down.
  6. Drop spoonfuls of the cheesecake batter on top of the brownie batter and swirl it into the brownie batter using a butter knife.
  7. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean with no liquid batter on it, though a few moist crumbs are fine.
  8. Let cool in the pan on a rack for about an hour.
  9. Use the parchment paper to carefully lift the brownies out of the pan. Let them cool completely on the rack. Wrap loosely and refrigerate for about 2 hours or overnight. Take them out about an hour before you’re ready to serve them so that they will be easier to cut. Cut into squares of whatever size makes you happy; no 1/2 inch tidbits mentioned in THIS blog 😛
  10. Drizzle each square (chunk, half pan…whatever, I don’t judge) with some salted caramel sauce. Serve these with ice cold milk or some hot coffee. Thank me later.

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Lemon/Lime Pudding Cake

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Lemon/Lime Pudding Cake

Lemon/Lime Pudding Cake



Honey, I’m home! I haven’t made a post in two whole weeks! I’d love to say that the reason was because I was in the Bahamas, sunning on a beach as a 25 year old buff pool boy named Julio brought me Pina Coladas and rubbed sun tan lotion on my suddenly skinny back, but alas, that was not the case. I’ve just been dealing with one of the perks of aging… aka “I’m not capable of just getting a cold. I have to get a cold that then leaves me whimpering and gasping for air at deaths door as Satan giggles and kicks me in the rib cage for jollies.” Getting older… it’s a blast. 😛

But while I was sick, I got lots done!!! Ok, while I was sick, the only thing I got done was reading various magazines, playing Farmville on my Kindle 38 hours a day, riding my exercise bike and watching my lungs fall out on the floor and fun stuff like that. Don’t be hatin’. We can’t all have my life…..and my respiratory system. I’m just that special.

BUT!!!! I am now cooking again. And it’s yummy. I haven’t lost my touch. I’ve lost my sense of smell recently, but my touch is still there 😀

Back a few weeks ago, before I began practicing death, I had let my facebook followers decide what dessert got made first; a chocolate one or a lemon one. Chocolate won by one vote. ONE…VOTE. Not that I minded. I got chocolate. So now I’m posting the lemon one. Everyone has heard of lemon pudding cake, right? Ok, you in the back… go away. You shouldn’t be on a food blog if you have never heard of pudding cake. What is pudding cake, you ask? It’s heaven on a spoon. Lemon Heaven in this case. Pudding cake is one of the easiest desserts ever. It is a layer of creamy pudding covered by a layer of moist cake. It can be a family treat or is even interesting enough to be served to company. Cover it in berries and slather it in whipped cream and your guests will love you. Did I mention how easy it is?

I, of course, couldn’t make this normally. I can see the surprise on your face. I added some freshly grated ginger to it to give it some zing. I love the combo of lemon and ginger. They complement each other so well. The original recipe from Food & Wine had no vanilla extract in it and found that sinful, so I added some 😀 along with some lemon oil and lime zest and juice. Made it better and made it mine. 🙂

You know the drill…. 🙂

Lemon/Lime Pudding Cake

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 3 eggs, seperated
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 6 6 ounce ramekins. You could also do this in one souffle dish, but make sure to adjust cooking time.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour. In another bowl (don’t forget to clean as you go… it makes me happy :-p ), whisk the egg yolks with the softened butter. Whisk in the milk, lemon and lime juices, zest, vanilla extract and lemon oil.
  3. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the flour/sugar mix and whisk to combine until smooth.
  4. In a scrupulously clean bowl, beat the egg whites at high speed with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the other mixture until no white streaks remain.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins, then transfer the ramekins into a large baking dish.  Slide the dish into the oven and carefully pour hot water into the pan (not the ramekins) until it reaches about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
  6. Bake at 350 until they are puffy and golden, about 35 minutes. Carefully transfer the ramekins to a rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Serve warm with berries and whipped cream. 🙂

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Pasta With Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce

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Pasta With Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce

Pasta With Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce




Sometimes, you just come upon (and yet still change lol) a recipe that is absolutely amazing. I was looking through an old issue of Bon Appetit (I have approximately 40,00000 old magazines. It’s a sickness.) when I saw the recipe that has ultimately ended up here with all of its changes. As it was, while it was definitely intriguing; I mean….butter… But it seemed….lacking, rather boring. But still interesting enough to try. I had never even considered making pasta sauce in the oven. But what a game changer this is. No splatters all over the stove and oh…my…gosh….the flavor of this is fantastic. The tomatoes that roast in all their juices in the oven, mixed with the butter, the sausage (my addition), the garlic, the onions, oregano and basil (also mine)…honest. You want to try this recipe. Trust me on this one. You throw this all together after cooking the sausage and that’s it… just cook it. You end up with a thick, rich, full of flavor pasta sauce and no messy stove top. Win Win.

My husbands reaction (he was skeptical) was “you can make this any time you want”. Even my five year old ate all of his serving. One thing. I am posting this how I made it. The original was half the amount of tomatoes. I doubled it and that was just enough to serve five of us with my husband having two servings.  I did however, not use the full amount of butter doubled. It would have been a full stick and at 3/4 of a stick, it seemed like more than enough.

Go. Make this. Thank me later.

You know the drill….. 🙂

Pasta With Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce

  • 2 28 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes
  • 10 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • 1 large onion, diced (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups)
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced
  • 1 lb Italian sausage links
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar (cuts the acidity of the tomatoes)
  • black pepper to taste
  • cooked pasta (I used 2 12 ounces boxes of spaghetti)
  • Parmesan cheese for serving
  1. Cook your sausage in a pot of simmering water until tender. Then drain the water, lay the links in the pan and brown them all over. Let cool until easily handled and then cut into bite sized slices.
  2. Preheat your oven to 400. Dump the tomatoes in a large deep baking pan and break them up. Easiest way I’ve found over the years is to pierce the back of the tomatoes with your finger cause if you try to just break them, you’ll end up with a face full of juice. Add in the rest of the ingredients, ending with the butter.  Stir well to mix.

    This is what it looks like before you put it in the oven

    This is what it looks like before you put it in the oven

  3. Bake at 400 for 35 to 50 minutes or until the sauce has gotten almost jammy in consistency, stirring once or twice during cooking. If you like a looser pasta sauce, take it out sooner. If you like a thicker one, cook longer. Simple as that.

    Here's what it looks like when it comes out (I know; the photo stinks)

    Here’s what it looks like when it comes out (I know; the photo stinks)

  4. Serve over pasta with Parmesan cheese.

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Triple Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

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 Triple Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies


I doubt it’s a secret anymore that I have six kids (and eleven cats…and one husband). For the newbies to my blog….ummm…I have six kids. 😛 I think of them as separate batches. There’s my three oldest, all within a few years of each, my next two, also close in age and then my baby, who is only five while the rest are grown or almost grown. I swear; it was something in the water.

When my oldest were young, I was baking all the time then too. I had to if my kids were going to get any treats at all, because we were stone broke. With, at one point, five kids at home, plus myself and my ex husband, I had to learn to bake (and cook) in bulk. No “this makes four servings” foods for my household; not if I wanted to let everyone eat. These cookies are one of the first things I ever made. I remember that the first time I made them, all I did was double the recipe for Toll House Cookies and that was that. Yummy, sure, but over the years, it has morphed into what I make now.

For the most part, these are like the back of the bag cookies. The changes are subtle. But they are enough to make this a very different cookie. I lowered the amount of sugar, I added orange zest and extra vanilla and when I have it in the house, I use some Fiori di Sicilia from Williams Sonoma. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that this used three different types of chips? Yep. Semi Sweet, White Chocolate and Butterscotch. All three of these chips go so well with the subtle orange flavoring (and it IS subtle, so don’t worry; it’s NOT a “chocolate/orange” flavor by any means.) and the Fiori di Sicilia, plus they complement each other as well.

This makes a TON of cookie dough, so you can either half the recipe or do as I do when I make them now (since I’m not feeding as many anymore and I’m more careful with how much sweets I keep in the house) and just bake half of the dough and  freeze the rest. You can either make preshaped balls of dough, freeze them and then transfer them to ziploc bags or just wrap the full half of dough in heavy duty foil and freeze it that way.

No matter what you do, definitely make these cookies. They are totally fantastic, if I do say so myself. 😀

You know the drill….get to cookin’!

Triple Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 12 ounce bag semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 bag butterscotch chips
  • 1 bag white chocolate chips
  1. In the bowl of your stand mixer (you can also do all of this with a hand mixer, but make sure it’s a strong one; this is a lot of dough), combine the butter and sugars. Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until smooth and creamy.
  2. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, orange zest and Fiori di Sicilia, if using.
  3. Beat well, until the mixture is well combined.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to blend. Pour into the butter mixture, put on the splatter shield and beat at low speed until the dough comes together in a soft dough.
  5. Add in the three bags of chips (make sure to snag a few first; quality control and all) and beat on low speed until combined.
  6. The dough will be soft. Transfer it to another bowl, cover and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 24.
  7. When ready to bake, either grease your cookie sheets very lightly or use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat ( I love these mats) and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  8. Scoop rounded tablespoons (or do as I do and use a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop. What? I like large cookies! :-P) of dough onto the prepared sheets and bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tops are firm and golden brown. If making the big cookies, bake for 14 to 17 minutes.
  9. Let cool on the sheet for one minute, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

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