Tastes Tart....Must be Lemon Pie

I do have to apologize, it's been over five months since my last posting.  Ok, I just realized I sounded like I was at confession and I'm not even Catholic.  Moving on....
I like tart tasting pies and cakes.  I just like the way it hits my tongue and makes me clench my jaw sometimes.  I found an easy lemon pie recipe again from Pinterest.  One of these days I'm going to have to talk about Pinterest because I've heard there have been *fails*.  Gasp!! A failure! It cannot be born.  Anyway, focus, Kelli.  This one uses canned lemon pie filling and cream cheese and a regular graham cracker crust but I had to change the graham crackers to ginger snaps.  How long has it been since you had a ginger snap?
So here is it, Layered Lemon Pie
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Crust:
2 cups ginger snaps crushed or 1 cup ginger snap and 1 cup graham crackers
3 TSP sugar
6 TSP melted butter
mixed together and press into a nine inch pie pan and then bake for about eight minutes and let cool.  Set aside.
Filling:
1 pkg cream cheese softened to room temperature
1 can lemon pie filling, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1 container of cool whip or other whipped topping

Using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Then beat in half of the pie filling.  Fold in about half of cool whip and mixed thoroughly.  Spread into pie crust and then spread other half of lemon pie filling.  Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.  After it is well chilled, then spread remaining cool whip on top and garnish with a few lemon slices.  Voila!!

Sweet Potato Pie with Pecan Streusel Crunch

My coworker who is diabetic asked me to make her another pie last week.  A sweet potato pie.  Not my favorite pie but since I grew up with it, I can still make it.  To me it's so plain, it clearly needs something else to jazz it up.  So I added a streusel.  Bam!!!

I took it to work and she allowed the office to devour it and took the little that was left over home to her husband.  But she said it was amazingly good.  So I can give myself a little pat on the back.  Thanks again Pinterest!!  It was a recipe I saw there and I tweaked the streusel topping since I didn't have any toffee bits and I didn't feel like leaving the house at that time.  Still tasted great.  Here ya go

Slightly tweaked Sweet Potato Pie with Streusel Crunch:

Heat oven to 350 degrees

• • 1 9-inch refrigerated pie crust
  • 2 cups pureed sweet potatoes ( I bought a can and used my hand mixer to puree it)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream (didn't have any in the house, so I used about 1/2cup of milk)
  • 3 large eggs, beaten
  • 2 tsp vanilla or rum extract
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (1tsp allspice, 1tsp nutmeg, and 3tsp cinnamon)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup crushed vanilla wafer crumbs( I'm lazy and there were graham crackers in the pantry)
  • 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 Tbsp cold butter, cubed
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/4 cup English toffee bits (skipped entirely)
  • 2 cups fresh sweetened whipped cream, for garnish (only if you want it)

• In a electric mixing bowl, mix the pureed potatoes, sugars, and mix together.  Add one egg at a time, then vanilla extract and the seasonings and salt.

• Roll out dough in a 9 inch pie pan and pinch edges together and fork prick the bottom the pan.  Put in over and let bake for about 7 minutes.
• Meanwhile, crush 1/3 cup of graham crackers or vanilla wafers with sugar and cinnamon and pecans.  Add the cubed butter and use a fork to make it crumble.
• Take crust out of the oven and pour sweet potato mix into pan and put back into oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Take out again and put crumble on top of pie and one more time put back in oven for another 30 minutes until set.  Let cool completely and then refrigerate.   I think it tastes better at room temperature.  
• Enjoy!!
• 
  

Brown Sugar Caramel Pound Cake~I'm going to need a moment please

Again Pinterest makes you believe that you can cook, bake, entertain, and craft.  I can bake but not always creative on my own so I have turned to pinterest to help with that.  I found a recipe for another pound cake.  Now not just another pound cake but something so rich and decadent tasting, you may need a moment alone.  May I present the Brown Sugar Caramel Pound Cake!!!

I know I should have put in a picture of it cut but that would lead to locusts descending on the plate.  But I need to give you the recipe for the deliciousness:

Brown Sugar Carmel Pound Cake

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups butter softened
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 8oz bag toffee chips
1 cup pecans, chopped

Carmel Drizzel:
1 – 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 spray a 12 cup Bundt pan with cooking spray with flour

Beat butter until creamy. Add sugars beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mix to batter alternately with milk, beat until just combined. Stir in toffee buts and pecans. Spoon batter into pan and bake 85 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. To prevent excess browning, cover cake with foil while baking.

Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack. Spoon Caramel Drizzle over cooled cake.

Directions for Caramel Drizzle
In a medium saucepan, combine condensed milk and brown sugar; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently. Reduce heat, and SIMMER for 8 minutes, whisking frequently. Remove from heat; whisk in butter and vanilla. Let cool for 5 minutes before using. NOTE: Make sure you drizzle the caramel while it’s still HOT. When cooled the caramel does somewhat harden.

 I have found that the toffee settles to the bottom of the bundt pan no matter what you spray on it.  A friend told me to coat chips whether its toffee, chocolate chip, butterscotch.  The will *float* better in the batter.  Trust me, as lopsided as it is, it will be eaten.  It's almost new years' eve.  Bring on the food and booze!!

Old School Chex Mix revamped

We had our Mad Men party last week and we had mixed nuts made with brown butter and thyme for one of the appetizers.  I wanted to make something for Christmas snacking so I thought I would do chex mix but add the mixture I added for the nuts and combine them both.  So I dried peanuts and pecans on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes in the oven heated to 350 degrees.  I let them cool and I put rice chex and pretzel knots on a cookie sheet in the oven separately for 15 minutes. Now I can start the sauce.  Here we go:
2 sticks of butter
1TBSP worchester sauce
1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
6 TBSP brown sugar
3 tsp coarse salt (I used regular salt)
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp tabasco sauce
6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only ( you can probably get away with the bottle stuff)
melt the butter in a pan and add all the other seasonings on low
get a big enough bowl to put the nuts and chex in and pour sauce all over and make sure your hands are clean and mix it thoroughly. Pour it out on the cookie sheets spread evenly and put it back in the oven for about 15-20 minutes.  Take out and let cool.
This can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.  I put them in freezer bags and stuck in the freezer because cooled nuts tastes better.
Thanks in part to Martha Stewart and Chex for helping me with putting more nuts in my mouth.

Giant Cupcakes!! Nom Nom Nommy.

So I was supposed to make a chocolate cake for Thanksgiving but when I went to my parents and started cooking, my mom tells me that she doesn't have any cake pans.  What? No pans? What did she do with them?  When they had their kitchen redone, she got rid of a lot of cookware so no pans.  What to do?  My mom kept her giant cupcake pans though.

I just used a basic yellow cake mix but of course I had to be different and add mango juice to it instead of water because you should never use water when baking.

Bake as usual.  Make sure to spray the muffin cups or line them!! No one likes to dig cake out with a knife.  So while it was baking, I got crushed pineapple, drained some of the juice, and put in a small saucepan and added about 1/4c of brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1tsp cornstarch to stir and let the sugar melt.  Take off heat and continue to stir to thicken it up.  There was still juice in mine so I drained it a bit more because I didn't want soggy cupcake.  Yes, it was going in between the slice of cupcake because that's how I roll. 

After the cupcake has cooled, I split them crosswise and spooned the pineapple on the bottom half and put the cupcake top back on.  Then I frosted those puppies!!!  I got complaints from my siblings about the pineapple and my sister acted like I was demon spawn for messing with a classic cupcake.  Still ate it.  

Giving Thanks for Dressing.

Now I grew up an army brat so I've heard different terms for this dish.  Stuffing and dressing are most common. I may have a hard time coming up with a recipe because this one wasn't really written down and was passed from my grandmother to my mother to me.  One of those pinch of this, scoop of that type of dish.  I'm going to organize it for you and hope you like it.  Now when I was much younger say, 12-17, I didn't like or eat this stuff.  My dad was convinced I wasn't his child because of it.  I and my tastes buds grew thankfully and this is something I can eat with giblet gravy and dark meat turkey and cranberry sauce all day and next day leftovers set into a sandwich (that may be another post).  Let's get started, shall we?

Cornbread Stuffing
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
I start off making regular cornbread.  Might want to double that recipe depending on how many people you are making it for. Add sugar if it doesn't call for it because it's a southern thing.  I like Pioneer brand cornmeal and just follow directions on the back and bake and set aside.
1 pkg gizzards and livers (chicken)
1 large onion
1 large green pepper
1 stick butter
1 pkg Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing mix
2-3 eggs
1 can chicken or beef stock4-6 TBSP poultry seasoning (yes, I said TBSP, I believe in if you can't see the seasoning, it's not enough)
4 TBSP sage seasoning
2- TBSP season salt
2- TBSP black pepper
2- TBSP onion powder
in a small pot, put gizzards and livers with chopped onions and green peppers with a tsp of poultry and sage seasonings and a bit of salt and pepper on medium heat for about 30-45 minutes.  Scoop out gizzards and livers and chop as fine as possible and return to pot on warm heat
Now you are going to need a huge bowl to mix everything.
crumble the cornbread, add the pepperidge farm, cut butter into 4 squares and put in bowl, Using a spoon, add the gizzards, onions, and juice a cup at a time so butter can melt.  You don't want it steaming because you are going to add eggs and you don't want them to cook right now.  Add 2 eggs first and see how moist the mix is.  If you think your mix is still a bit dry, then open the chicken or beef stock.  Now add the seasonings.  I gave amounts because it sounded right but sometimes you have to eyeball it.  Taste a pinch because that's what we do.  If it tastes bland add either poultry seasoning or sage and pepper.  Spread in a foil lined pan and up the oven degrees to 375 and cook 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on how much you are making.  It should look nicely brown and crisp on top.  Like this:

Going for office potluck tomorrow.  I'll let you know if there are any leftover.  Finger licking good.

Rhubarb what?

Ok, so when I was a kid, my godmother made rhubarb pie.  But she was "healthy" and she used honey and no sugar.  Now I'm about 11 or 12 and it's a pie so I put a piece in my mouth and my mom must have seen the look on my face because she hisses quietly, "do NOT spit it out.  Just swallow it."  And so starts my dislike of rhubarb.  It's funny looking and very tart and usually I like tart things but this wasn't one of them.  Present day, my coworker brings a strawberry-rhubarb crisp to the office and pretty much forced me to try it.  What is this?  It's slightly tart and yet sweet with a lovely oatmeal crumble on top.  Delicious.  Now I need the recipe.

Ingredients
4 cups fresh rhubarb, 1-inch diced (4 to 5 stalks)
4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved, if large
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest(skipped it)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup quick-cooking (not instant) oatmeal, such as McCann's( I used Quaker)
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the fruit, toss the rhubarb, strawberries, 3/4 cup of the granulated sugar and the orange zest together in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, dissolve the cornstarch in the orange juice and then mix it into the fruit. Pour the mixture into an 8-by-11-inch baking dish and place it on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

For the topping, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, salt and oatmeal. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and mix until the dry ingredients are moist and the mixture is in crumbles. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit, covering it completely, and bake for 1 hour, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream.

Thanks Barefoot Contessa!!!