Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween Sugar Cookies

This is it Halloween is tomorrow…I hope you’ve had fun with some of this month Halloween treats.


This week I decided to make my famous Sugar Cookies, they are perfect for any holiday. Great for cutting into shapes and decorating for the kids.







very easy to decorate





delicious






too cute!!







Recipe


2 sticks butter softened
1 1/8 c sugar
1 lg egg
1 ½ t vanilla
2 1/8 c unbleached flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cream of tartar
½ t salt

Bake 375


Cream together butter and sugar, beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt. Mix well chill for at least 2 hours.


Tip



1.Allow cookie dough to chill for an hour or two, I usually make my dough the night before.

. Roll your dough out on a floured surface

3. Make sure to flour your cookie cutters




*If you have a dessert recipe that you are having trouble with or afraid to try, please send it to me along with a picture and I will give it a shot….


P.S. I don’t like coconut 

hope you enjoy


Bon appétit in Greek - Καλή όρεξη! (Kalí óreksi!)




Sorry last week I had a spelling error (careful) oops!




\

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Pecan Caramel Apples

This is week 8, following with my Halloween/Autumn theme...I decided on carmel apples yum..This is also a very easy week, however this treat should be made by an adult, or an older teenager, supervised by an adult. The reason being is the carmel gets extremely hot and will burn....ouch it sticks to your skin. PLEASE BE CAREDFUL!!


Yummy!!!





Ready to eat!!



More pecans please... lol



Only Three Ingredients !!!

4-5 medium apples
1 bag 14oz caramels
2 T milk

Wash, dry and insert sticks into the stem end of the apples, set aside.

Microwave:
Melt the caramels and milk together in a microwave safe bowl on high power for 2-2 1/2 minutes stirring every minute until melted and smooth. Dip apples into caramel mixture, twisting to coat. Allow excess caramel to drip off. Place or wax or parchment paper add pecans (roll) while caramel is still warm.

Conventional:
Melt caramels and milk in saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Continue as directed above.

Tips
1. Safety is number 1....be very careful when making this treat.
2. Pecans are optional.


*If you have a dessert recipe that you are having trouble with or afraid to try, please send it to me along with a picture and I will give it a shot….



P.S. I don’t like coconut


I hope you enjoy

Bon appétit in Croatian - Dobar tek!




Monday, October 18, 2010

Rice Crispie Treats

Sorry I'm a couple of days late, however this week is very easy, very simple.

This week I decided to make something easy for the kids, the old kiddie classic Rice Crispie Treats...lol since it’s getting close to Halloween they’ll probably need a treat to take to school for the party. It's easy, very reasonably priced, and you will have enough to feed the entire class plus the teacher...lol

The older kids can make it themselves. The younger kids will need a little assistance especially with the stove.





cut into squares and ready to eat!!




 ready to eat!!




cut into shapes and decorated...The kids can do a better job at decorating..lol


Follow the recipe on the back of the marshmallow bag or back of the cereal box...

ONLY THREE INGREDIENTS!!!!

Butter
Marshmallows
Rice crispie cereal



Tip

1. I use butter, the taste is wayyyy better

2. When melting butter and marshmallows keep the heat low to medium to keep from burning.


3. Make sure to butter your cookie cutters


4. If you have smaller/thinner cookie cutters you can spread you treat mixture out on a cookie sheet or spread on buttered wax or parchment paper, that way the cutters can go all the way through the treat mixture.


*If you have a dessert recipe that you are having trouble with or afraid to try, please send it to me along with a picture and I will give it a shot….


P.S. I don’t like coconut



I hope you enjoy

Bon appétit in Czech - Dobrou chuť!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Neelys Maple Glazed Donuts

Autumn/Fall I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful foliage as much as I am, it’s amazing!!!

Here in Michigan and Ohio where I grew up, this time of year is all about apple orchards, donuts and cider, pumpkin patches and hay rides

I decided on this very nice and sunny day we need donuts !!!

I got this recipe from the Neelys I didn’t tweak it because I’ve never made donuts before so I thought I’d better follow the recipe and not try anything fancy…lol even though I wanted to replace the allspice and pumpkin puree, lol I’m always thinking, what can I change, take out, or add in…lol

This recipe was a little difficult to work with, the dough was very sticky and hard to handle, the flavor was ok… now on to the glaze it was bland next time I will use my cinnamon roll glaze yum…

I made donut holes...so cute :)  you can sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or drizzle with glaze.



plain w/cinnamon sugar

drizzled with glaze


I also made regular sized donuts

plain



drizzled w/glaze



 Recipe:

• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 3 tablespoons melted salted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• Cinnamon sugar

• Maple Syrup Glaze, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oil in a large Dutch oven to 375 degrees F.

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Whisk eggs, yolk, buttermilk, pumpkin puree, melted butter and almond extract together in another large bowl until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and thoroughly mix together using a wooden spoon. The dough will be very sticky.

Dust your counter top and hands with flour. Using your hands pat out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Dip a 3-inch round cutter in flour and cut out donuts. Cut out center of donuts with 3/4-inch cutter. Gather scraps and re-roll. Continue cutting out donuts.

Fry donuts, in hot oil, until golden brown and crisp, approximately 1 minute per side. Drain on wire rack over sheet tray to cool.

Once cool, dust with cinnamon sugar, if desired, or dip tops of the donuts into the Maple Syrup Glaze. Also, a butter knife can be used to spread on the glaze.



Maple Syrup Glaze:

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon maple extract
• 1/2 cup milk

In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, maple extract and milk; stir well. Add additional milk, if needed, to reach

desired consistency. Drizzle over donuts (about 24)



Tip
1. make sure your surface and hands are well covered with flour....
2. sprinkle your cinnamon sugar on while the donuts are still hot



*If you have a dessert recipe that you are having trouble with or afraid to try, please send it to me along with a picture and I will give it a shot….

P.S. I don’t like coconut  


I hope you enjoy

Bon appétit in Latin - Bonum appetitionem!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Double Chocolate Fudgy Brownies

October begins the month of Halloween, preparing the kids for the big day Oct 31 and my favorite season is beginning to kick in, Fall/Autumn…if you’re like me my kids are grown and gone, however you’re never too old for Halloween goodies.

The entire month of Oct I will make treats geared toward Halloween and Fall and since Autumn is in full effect. I decided to make a delicious fudgy brownie.

The only way to eat a brownie is warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you're like one scoop turns into two...lol

,




Where's the ice cream!!!



Where are the pecans...lol






 I'll have a scoop of ice cream please..lol



As usual I tweaked it
1 stick butter
8 oz.– 4 oz dark chocolate chips - 4oz semisweet chips
1/4 cup unsweetened-cocoa powder
3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 9x13”  Spray with cooking spray

1. Melt together butter, chocolate and cocoa in a heatproof bowl over simmering water or in the microwave stirring every 15-20 seconds. Stir until smooth and remove from heat/microwave to cool slightly.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Add eggs, sugar and vanilla into a mixing bowl fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until pale
4. Beat in melted chocolate mixture.
5. Add flour mixture, beating until combined. Scrape sides of bowl with spatula/spoon as needed.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan, spread evenly
7. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, testing with tooth pick around 20 minutes. Do not over bake.

Tip1
the recipe called for semisweet chocolate I used 4oz dark and 4 oz semisweet, however it’s your call. I’ve tried the recipe with all dark chocolate and it was delicious. Depends on your taste

Tip 2
Use a larger pan to make brownies thinner, take Halloween cookie cutters cut into shapes & decorate

*Optional pecans or walnuts can be added, of course I wanted to add pecans but I didn’t because September was pecan month…lol


*If you have a dessert recipe that you are having trouble with or afraid to try, please send it to me along with a picture and I will give it a shot….
P.S. I don’t like coconut  


I hope you enjoy

Bon appétit in Italian - Buon appetito!