Royal Raspberry Cake

Thanks to eat8020.com I came across this DELICIOUS Raspberry Cake recipe! 

It's easy to make and SO YUMMY!!!

Serves 8-10

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk
3 cups fresh raspberries

GLAZE
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together butter, egg, sugar, vanilla and milk. In a separate bowl add flour, salt, and baking powder. Spoon dry ingredients into wet and mix until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spray a cheesecake pan (a round pan with removable sides- a 13x9" cake pan will work as well) lightly with baking spray. Spoon batter into pan and cover the top of the cake evenly with raspberries.

Bake for 35-45 minutes (somewhat dependent on pan), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

While cake is baking, whisk together GLAZE ingredients. When cake is removed from oven, gently brush the warm cake with glaze (I removed the sides of my cheesecake pan to brush the sides of the cake as well). Allow to set for 10 minutes and serve!

Zucchini-Feta Pancakes Topped With Sour Cream

You know, there are some foods that I just can't make when my husband is home. And seeing that these are called pancakes and yet are nothing like the traditional pancake, I knew there would be no way he'd be interested in eating them. So, Genevieve and I made them for lunch. Just the two of us. She made sure to let me know that we needed to save some for the boys, but half way through eating her first one, she stated that the boys didn't need any. She loved them and so did I. We halved the recipe and ate them all. Delicious!

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma's Cooking from the Farmer's Market

Here's what you'll need:

4 cups grated zucchini

salt and pepper

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

4 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

2 Tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint (I omitted this)

olive oil for frying

Sour cream for serving

Put the zucchini in a strainer set over a bowl. Sprinkle with 2 tsp. salt and let stand for 15 minutes. Squeeze out any excess liquid. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, 1/4 tsp pepper and 1 tsp salt. In another bowl, stir together the zucchini, feta, egg yolks, green onions, parsley, and mint. Stir in the flour mixture. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold into the zucchini mixture.

In a frying pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Drop 4 spoonfuls of batter into the pan and fry the pancakes until crisp, about 2 minutes per side. Keep warm while cooking remaining pancakes. Serve topped with sour cream. The melted feta really makes them delicious. Enjoy!

Remy's Ratatoulle

Have you ever watched Disney's Ratatouilee and really wanted to eat the Ratatouille he makes in the end? Well I don't know if I am wierd or not but it just looks so good to me! So a while back when I got an eggplant in my Bountiful Basket, I tried it & I loved it!! I googled the recipe, found the one I liked the best, added a few of my own elements & went to town. So here is my modified version. (The original version is from www.smittenkitchen.com)

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

1 cup tomato puree

1 small eggplant

1 smallish yellow zucchini squash

1 smallish zucchini

1 longish red bell pepper

1/2 tsp. Thyme

1/2 tsp. Basil

2 garlic cloved, very thinly sliced or minced (I like mine minced)

2 tbls. olive oil, divided

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

Italian blend cheese

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish. (I don't see why this wouldn't work with a square or rectangular dish if you don't have an oval one.) Stir in garlic, onion, one tbls. olive oil and seasonings. Salt and pepper to taste.

Slice all vegetables into thin slices and arrange concentrically on top of tomato mixture. (For really big pieces, most of the eggplant, I cut them in half so they would fit better.)

Drizzle remaining olve oil over vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Add a bit of cheese on top and a few sprinkles of thyme.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.

Bake approx. 30 to 35 minutes to where the veggies are cooked but not totally limp. The tomato sauce should be bubbling up around the veggies. I like to put a little more cheese on the top of mine after I serve it, because I LOVE cheese!!

I was going to be all fancy & make my own garlic bread, but got lazy & just threw some frozen stuff in the oven. We had this last night with some breaded chicken strips & it was so very yummy!!!

Peanut Candy Bar Treats

One of my favorite candy bars are paydays. I love the sweet and salty combo. I think that's why I love these treats so much, they taste a lot like a payday.

I have always made them with peanuts and peanut butter chips, but I've also made a batch with cashews and butterscotch chips for Tyler who can't have peanuts. They were so good! I'm not sure I can pick a favorite. I guess you'll just have to try them both ways.

1 box of yellow cake mix
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine, divided
1 egg
3 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups rice crispy cereal
3 cups salted peanuts or salted cashews

Preheat oven to 350. Beat cake mix, 1/3 cup melted butter and egg in a medium bowl. Press mixture into an ungreased 9x12 glass baking dish. Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Sprinkle on your marshmallows and bake for another 10 minutes or until marshmallows are all puffy. Let cool.

Combine corn syrup, remaining butter and peanut butter chips in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until chips are melted, about 5 minutes. Stir in your vanilla. Add the cereal and peanuts, mix well. Spread over slightly cooled marshmallows. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Store in an airtight container.

Delicious!

Surprise Cookies

Surprise Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 12 large marshmallows, cut in half horizontally
• Chocolate Frosting for Surprise Cookies  (I used store bought frosting)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
   
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add reserved flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined.
   
3. Using a tablespoon or 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies begin to spread and become firm, 10 to 12 minutes.
   
4. Remove baking sheets from oven, and place a marshmallow, cut-side down, in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Return to oven, and continue baking until marshmallows begins to melt, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
   
5. Spread about 1 tablespoon of frosting over each marshmallow, starting in the center and continuing outward until marshmallow is covered.
   
   (From marthastewart.com)
   

Broccoli Slaw Salad

Yum.

If your looking for an easy, light salad for a summer get together, this is it! It is one of our favorites!

1 pkg. Broccoli slaw (found by the bagged salad in the produce section)

2 or 3 stalks of green onions, chopped

sunflower seeds

sliced almonds

2 pkgs. chicken flavored Ramen noodles (it has to be the chicken, I tried the beef flavored once & it was awful!)

crasins

Dressing

2 chicken seasoning packets from the Ramen noodles

1/3 cup vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

*Smash the Ramen Noodles, them mix with the broccoli slaw. Sprinkle the green onions, sunflower seeds, almonds & crasins onto the Broccoli slaw & mix together. Now I know there are no exact measurements for those last three ingredients, it's because some people like their salad stuffed (me) while others would prefer the taste of the Broccoli slaw to be the main thing (my hubby). So add the ingredients slowly until you find your perfect combination. Set aside.

*In a separate bowl, mix the chicken seasoning, vinegar, sugar & oil together. Pour the dressing mixture slowly over the noodle mixture. BE CAREFUL not to dump the entire dressing mixture on all at once, I don't like my salad drenched so I add it slowly while mixing just until it's coated. Most of the time I don't use all of the dressing. Mix well & serve immediately.

DELIGHTFUL!!

Double-Decker Fudge

Double-Decker Fudge

1 cup REESE'S® Peanut Butter Chips

1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S MINI CHIPS Semi-Sweet Chocolate

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme

3/4 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Line 8-inch square pan with foil, extending foil over edges of pan. Measure peanut butter chips into one medium bowl and chocolate chips into second medium bowl. In heavy 3-quart saucepan, combine sugar, marshmallow creme, evaporated milk and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils; boil and stir 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Immediately stir 1/2 of hot mixture (1 1/2 cups) into peanut butter chips until chips are completely melted; quickly pour into prepared pan. Stir remaining 1/2 of hot mixture into chocolate chips until chips are completely melted. Quickly spread over top of peanut butter layer. Cool; refrigerate 1 1/2 hours or until firm. Remove from pan; place on cutting board. Peel off foil; cut into 1-inch squares. Store tightly covered in refrigerator.

Makes about 5 dozen pieces or about 2 pounds candy

Peanut Butter Fudge: Omit chocolate chips; place 1 2/3 cups (10-ounce package) Reese's® Peanut Butter Chips in large bowl. Cook fudge mixture as directed above; add to chips, stirring until chips are completely melted. Pour into prepared pan; cool to room temperature.

cherry brown butter bars

It's cherry season!

We went to my Mom's house and picked baskets of cherries. When I came home I immediately hopped online to see what I could make with these delicious fellas. I found this recipe on SmittenKitchen and loved it so much that I made it twice. The second time I changed it up a bit. You see, I love cherries and almonds together. So I substituted half of the vanilla extract with almond extract and ground up some almonds to use in place of half the flour. So so so amazing! One more thing I changed the second time around, I thought it needed more cherries, so I covered the crust with them. It really just depends on you.

Here's what you'll need for the crust:

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1/8 vanilla and 1/8 almond)

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour (or 1/2 cup finely ground almonds and 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour)

pinch of salt

And for the filling you will need:

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

pinch of salt

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla (or 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 almond)

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

2-3 cups of sliced, pitted cherries

First you need to make the crust. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 8x8 pan with foil, set aside. In a medium bowl mix together your melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the flour and salt and stir well. Press mixture into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake for 17 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool a bit on a wire rack.

While your crust is baking you need to brown your butter. By the way, brown butter is sooooo good! It tastes a little nutty. I love it! So, to brown it you'll need to cook your butter in a small saucepan. A lighter colored one is best so you can see the color of the butter change. Cook it over medium heat stirring often and watching it closely. It'll take about 6 minutes to brown. Once brown, immediately pour it into a glass measuring cup to cool slightly.

Now you need to whisk your eggs, sugar and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Add flour and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Slowly whisk in your browned butter into your egg mixture. Whisk until smooth. It should look something like this....

Did you notice the cherries in the photo above? Not enough for me, I added another cup to that. Arrange your cherries on your slightly cooled crust. Carefully pour on your browned butter mixture over your cherries. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool your bars before removing from pan and cutting into squares. They should look something like this (but with more cherries)....
Check out that shortbread crust and speckles of browned butter. Heaven.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

Breakfast, it's the best!

And it's even better with these....

They are so full of apples and cinnamon-y goodness.
recipe from smittenkitchen.com

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp.
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
3 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped small

Preheat oven to 450. Grease 18 muffin cups and set aside. Mix together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter. Add sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and mix well. Mix in the buttermilk gently so it doesn't start to curdle. Stir in your dry ingredients and fold in your apples.
Pour it all into your muffin cups. Sprinkle on the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, turn down the heat to 400 and bake for another 5-8 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool them a little before serving, those apples get super hot!

Pumpkin Roll

This recipe comes from my Grandma Lucy's cookbook. She put this cookbook together for her kids years ago with all of her recipes from over the years (she was the best cook/chef/baker I have ever known). That's what my grandma did, worked as a cook/chef & also owned her own bakery. My mom made all of her kids a copy & it is one of my most treasured possessions. I remember Grandma Lucy making these pumpkin rolls when I was little & it was my first time trying it. It turned out perfect! Just like I remembered! (Sorry for the trip down memory lane!)

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp. lemon juice

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

Beat eggs for 5 minutes, gradually beat in sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt together. Fold into pumpkin mixture. Spread onto a greased and floured cookie sheet. (I sprayed mine with the non-stick spray that has flour in it & it worked great). Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Do not overcook!

This is what mine looked like after I pulled it out of the oven.

Filling:

2 cups powdered sugar

8 oz. cream cheese

1/4 cup butter softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat filling ingredients together (I did this while my pumpkin roll was in the oven).

DELICIOUS!

Sprinkle a dish towel with some powdered sugar. When cake is removed from oven, turn it out onto the towel and sprinkle with more of the powdered sugar. (Make sure you sprinkle the towel well so that your roll doesn't stick.) Roll in towel and cool in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Unroll cake and spread with filling. Re-roll and wrap in wax paper. (If your roll does stick to the towel, let it sit for a minute & warm to room temperature. Then add a little flour to the roll before putting it in the wax paper.) Store in refrigerator. Serves 8-10.

You just cut thick slices off of the roll. It is so delicious! Even my husband who is not a fan of cream cheese frosting loved it! YUMMY!

Snickers Bars

It looks like a stuffed brownie and tastes like a really amazing stuffed brownie. That's what confuses me. How is it that when you take a chocolate cake mix and add butter and sweetened condensed milk does it somehow transform into a brownie and no longer a cake? But it is still a cake that tastes like a brownie. Have I confused you yet?

My Wayne loves snicker bars! So when I came across this recipe I immediately thought of him. Of course, they don't really taste like a snickers bar. They just have the same goodies inside. You know, like the caramel and peanuts and chocolate..... Heaven!

1 box chocolate cake mix

3/4 cup melted butter

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 (14 oz) package of caramels found in the candy isle

1 cup peanuts

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Mix the chocolate cake mix with melted butter and 1/3 cup of the sweetened condensed milk. It will be super thick. Spread 2/3's of this mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, unwrap the caramels and put in a microwave safe bowl. Add 1/3 cup of the sweetened condensed milk and microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave for 45 seconds. Stir. Microwave for 30 second or so until the caramel mixture is super smooth.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on the hot cooked cake mixture as soon as it comes out of the oven. Pour on the caramel sauce as evenly as you can. Next comes the peanuts. Make it pretty. The last layer, drop on the remaining cake mixture. Oh wait! Remember how we only used 2/3 cup of the sweetened condensed milk? Well, I'm not a fan of wasting. So I tossed the rest of the can into the remaining cake mix mixture. It made it a little thinner for the top layer. Then I made sure to lick that can clean as well as the spoon. I LOVE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK!

Okay, now bake it for another 16-18 minutes.

MAKE SURE YOU LET IT COOL BEFORE CUTTING! The caramel needs time to harden a little. So just be patient and drool over it for about 2 hours.

Enjoy your brownie-like-deliciousness!

Pastel Easter Candies

1/4 cup granulated sugar
Food coloring of choice
1/4 cup butter, softened
4 ounces regular cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon flavor extract of choice*
4 cups powdered sugar (1 pound)
2 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut (7 ounces)

Place 1-2 Tbsp granulated sugar in a small bowl, add a small drop of food color and stir to thoroughly mix and color the sugar. If color is too dark, add additional sugar. If color is too light, add more food coloring. *For fun, create a variety of colored sugars to match the extract flavoring used (yellow for lemon, orange for orange flavor, etc) Can also use Almond extract.

Soften butter and cream cheese, add flavor extract of choice* and powdered sugar; stir to blend. Add coconut and mix well (using clean hands or cookie dough attachment on a stand mixer).

Roll candy into small egg shapes then roll in colored sugar; place candy on a cookie sheet to set up. This is fun for the kids to help make! I will add a picture very soon!

Sugar Cookies

You know how some sugar cookies need frosting because they taste pretty much like flour? Well, these cookies stand alone. No frosting needed at all.

They are perfect!

This recipe came from my Great Grandma Genevieve Gilder that my little Genevieve was named after.

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

4 1/2 cups flour

With a mixer beat oil, butter, sugars, vanilla, cream of tartar, baking soda, and eggs until fluffy. Add flour. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Form dough into 1-inch balls, roll in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press balls down slightly with a glass cup dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes or so. The tops will not brown at all, but my bottoms did when I left them in too long, so watch them carefully. Cool on a flat surface.

And then I got creative...

This black raspberry ice cream from Dreyers is amazingly refreshing!

You know what else would be cuter? If I added a little sprinkles on the chocolate before it hardened. Or better yet, just use colored chocolate like yellow or pink or light blue. How Easter-ish would that look?!

Have fun. Get creative.

Triple Chocolate Oreo Bars

I found this on the blog: cookies and cups, this is a great blog for dessert/treat ideas!!! I made this at bunko for our dessert and it is super yummy!!!

1 16.6 oz pkg of Oreo cookies

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips, melted

Preheat the oven to 325°

Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil (shiny side down) and spray with non-stick spray.
Set aside 8 Oreo cookies.

Crush the remaining Oreos with either your food processor or in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin. (I did the ziplock method)

When the Oreos are crushed transfer them into a medium bowl and add your salt and melted butter, stirring to combine.
Press your Oreo mixture into your prepared pan.
Chop your remaining 8 Oreos into coarse pieces and set aside.

In a double boiler (a bowl fitted over a pan of boiling water) add your sweetened condensed milk, the semi-sweet chips, the milk chips and the vanilla. Stir until all melty.

(OR you could do this in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted, I did it this way!)
Remove from heat

Pour your melted chocolate mixture over the Oreo crust.
Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips and the Oreo cookies chunks over the top of the filling.

Press down gently into the chocolate topping.

Bake for 20-22 minutes in preheated oven.

Cool pan on a wire rack for approx 1 hour.

Melt the white chocolate chips.

Drizzle the white chocolate over the top of the bars.
Chill in refrigerator until completely cooled, an hour or two.

Make sure they are completely cooled, otherwise they are a bit mushy...still delicious, but hard to cut.

When ready to serve, using the foil remove from the pan and cut into squares.
Enjoy the rich chocolatey taste!!! mmmmmmmm!

Grapefruit Cake

I cringed as soon as I saw my Bountiful Basket a few weeks ago. Two grapefruits? Really? Who really likes grapefruit anyway? I can't imagine any reason to eat one....until now.

This cake reminds me of a cake my mom makes for my brother, Brian. She uses orange juice in it then pokes the top after it's baked to pour on this amazing citrus glaze. Oh man...delicious!

The best part about this cake? It tastes nothing like a grapefruit. It just tastes citrus-y. It's quite refreshing.

Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 2/3 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk, not skim - you need that fat in there!

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon grapefruit zest

1 teaspoon vanilla

Grapefruit Syrup - Oh yum!:

1 cup strained fresh grapefruit juice

2/3 cup sugar

Grapefruit Icing:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon or so fresh grapefruit juice

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 10x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and eggs with an electric mixer. Mix for about 3 minutes. Be patient....you won't regret it! Add the milk, oil, zest and vanilla. Mix well. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Pour it all into your prepped pan. Bake for an hour and ten minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

While it's baking make the syrup. Combine the juice and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Let cool a little.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven take a skewer and poke lots of holes about an inch deep into the top of the cake. Pour on your syrup.

Now, you have got to let it cool before removing or slicing ! or else you will have a cake that looks a lot like this....

Not pretty at all, but oh my goodness, it tastes amazing!

One last thing, make your icing. Just stir together your powdered sugar and juice. Add more juice if needed and pour it all over the top. My mouth is salivating.

So, now I will no longer make a face when I spot those huge grapefruits in my basket. I'll actually smile because they'll give me an excuse to make this cake again.