Chipper Date Brownies

While looking for a cookie recipe I ran across a cake-like brownie recipe that incorporated dates.  I have had dates in my fridge for the last month that have been calling for me to use them.  Today was the day! My family just enjoyed at least two pieces each (the boys begged for more) with a glass of milk. These were uber chocolately and good!

Chipper Date Brownies
Source: Better Homes and Gardens: Cookies and Candies (C) 1966

Wet ingredients:
1 8oz package (1 1/2 cups) pitted dates, chopped
1 cup boiling water
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1/2-1 cup chopped Walnuts
1 6oz pkg (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Combine chopped dates and boiling water; cool to room temperature.  Thoroughly cream shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla; stir in date mixture.  Sift together dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture.  Pour mixture into the pan.  Sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips evenly over the top.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or till done.  Cool for 10 minutes or so.  Cut into squares.

Notes: I greased the pan with Wilton Cake Release. My boys are not fans of nuts so I only made half with walnuts (see picture above).  But to my surprise Ehric asked for a piece with nuts and liked them.  Go figure!  Also, I cooked these for a lot longer than the recommended time.  They seemed a little too moist at 25-30 minutes, just check them every few minutes.

Printable Recipe

Apple Dumplings

Yesterday when Ehric got home from school I asked him if he wanted me to make anything special to eat. He usually comes up with some pretty good ideas and yesterday was no exception. He said that in school they read a book that mentioned apple dumplings. So he said he was thinking all day that we should make some. So make some I did!

I had never made or had apple dumplings before last night. These reminded me of the baked apples my Memere would make for my sister and I when we were kids, but wrapped up in a pie crust. It took me a few hours to make this delicious dessert but it was definitely worth the effort!

Apple Dumplings

(Source: Classroom Cooking: Recipes for Teachers and Children by Jamien Morehouse (C)1978)

"a fairly time-consuming recipe...The pastry dough can be made a day in advance or packaged dough substituted."

Pastry:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup chilled margarine or butter

4 Tblsp lard or shortening

1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water

Mix flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add butter and lard. Cut into flour with knives (or pastry cutter) until mixture is "sandy". Sprinkle 1/3 cup water over the flour and mix with a fork. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate.

Dumplings:

6 Red Delicious apples, peeled and cored

lemon juice

1/2 cup raisins soaked in water for 30 minutes or so

butter

brown sugar

Syrup:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3/4 Cups water

2 Tblsp butter

Roll the pastry to 1/4" and cut into six squares. Place an apple on each square, sprinkle with lemon juice and fill the hollowed out apple with raisins. Top with 1/4 tsp butter and 1/2 tsp brown sugar. Brush the edge of the crust with water, pull up the sides of the pastry, and pinch closed so the apple is completely covered. Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate half an hour.

Meanwhile make the syrup: combine the syrup ingredients in a heavy saucepan, bring to a boil over moderate heat, and boil gently for 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 425F. Brush the dumplings with some of the syrup and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake 30 minutes longer, brushing dumplings with the syrup every 10 minutes or so. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla icecream.

Note: I ended up having a lot of syrup left over. I saved it in a jar to use with oatmeal or pancakes.

Printable Recipe.

Celebrating Valentine's Day

Yesterday we started to prepare for Valentine's Day by making homemade cards for each other and for my son's classmates. Ehric made us each a mailbox to put our Valentine's cards into, which you can see above. We had fun stuffing them full of our homemade cards and a few candies, which were eaten on the spot!

Last night I baked these Chewy Ginger Snap Cookies for Ehric's Valentine's Day class party. Even though they were not heart shaped they were well received. My son's teacher emailed me this afternoon asking for the recipe for "the-most-delicious-ever ginger cookies." I would have to agree. These are some of the best ginger cookies I have ever had. I wish I could claim the recipe!

I was inspired by this recipe for Snicker Bears and decided to make some for the boys as a special Valentine treat. I made a few substitutions (all-purpose flour instead of gluten free flour and white sugar instead of cane sugar) so my bears didn't come out exactly like the original recipe, but they still tasted yummy and were still cute in their own way. If I made these again I would either follow the original recipe or find a good Snickerdoodle recipe.

For breakfast this morning I decided to make a heart shaped pancake. I mixed up my regular pancake batter then poured it into the pan which I greased with Wilton Cake Release. I sprinkled on some Rainbow Sprinkles on top and then baked it at around 400 degrees for maybe 20-25 minutes or so. I played around with the temps and time so don't quote me on this. We split this four ways and ate it with maple syrup. It was delicious!

While we were waiting for breakfast to cook Ehric and Aiden checked out their Valentine's mailboxes. They discovered that they also each had a little gift waiting for them as well. Here they are checking out their presents. Love must have been in the air today...the boys each decided that they liked each other's present better than their own and swapped gifts with one another with no bickering involved!

For lunch Aiden had a heart shaped grilled cheese sandwich. This made him very happy!

All-in-all our Valentine's was low-cost and low-key, but still special! I hope everyone had a great day with their families as well and didn't spend a fortune to show your love. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Since both boys are home today due to the snow I decided to bake a special treat this afternoon. I made Black Bottom Cupcakes*. Wow, I think I died and went to chocolate heaven! These are so rich and delicious; and I love that they have a cream cheese topping. The boys and I enjoyed these with a glass of milk.

*Note: In place of the sorghum, tapioca and rice flour I used 1 1/2 cups of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour. I also ran out of Baking cocoa so I used an 1/8 cup of hot cocoa mix. LOL! I cooked my cupcakes a little longer than I should have because I couldn't tell if they were cooked through since they are super chocolately. But they tasted awesome in my opinion! Once they cool I plan on putting a few in the freezer for another day.

Christmas Cake?

Last Monday while volunteering in Ehric's class his teacher made the following comment to the class..."All during Christmas break I kept wondering about Ehric's Christmas cake." I thought to myself, "Christmas cake?" A few minutes later I remembered that Ehric wrote a Christmas poem about Christmas being about Jesus' birthday and cake. I went over to his seat and asked him, "Is Christmas cake when we bake a cake for Jesus' birthday?" He said, "Yes!" Then it all made sense to me...for the past several years we have baked a simple cake on Christmas morning and have sung "Happy Birthday to Jesus" before eating the cake. In that moment I felt bad that I hadn't baked a cake this past Christmas. I told Ehric we would bake a Christmas Cake ASAP and sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus"!

Before Ehric got home from school I baked a spice cake. While it was starting to cool the cake split on the top. At first I was disappointed that the cake split, but when I looked closer I started to laugh when I saw that the split was in the shape of a 'J.' Apparently Jesus approves our our Christmas Cake!

Strawberry Shortcake!!

Yesterday on a whim, I picked up a few pints of strawberries from a local farm stand. It was the perfect opportunity to make Strawberry Shortcakes!

For the shortcake I made All-American Baking Powder Biscuits (A King Arthur Flour recipe):

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tblsp baking powder

1-4 tblsp sugar

4-6 tblsp butter or shortening (I used Butter flavored Crisco)

1 cup milk or buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 F

Mix together the dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender cut the butter or shortening into the flour mixture.

Add the milk, all at once, mixing quickly and gently for about 20 seconds until you have a soft dough.

Drop the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 8-10 times. Roll out or pat out the dough to about 3/4" thickness and cut the biscuits with a round cookie cutter.

Place on tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Prep Work:

While the biscuits cooked I cut up the strawberries and mixed them in a bowl with a little sugar.

When the biscuits where done I let them cool a few minutes. Then cut them open and spread a little butter on them. I put two halves in each bowl, spread strawberries on top, and sprayed whipped cream over the entire top.

Let's just say that they were so good!! We all devoured our Strawberry Shortcakes in no time at all!

Patriotic Cheesecake

I love cheesecake and this Patriotic Cheesecake sounds so good! Can't wait to make it.

Red, White, and Blue Cheesecake
(Credit: Farmer's Almanac)

1–1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/2 pint sour cream
About 1 pint small, ripe strawberries or raspberries
About 1 pint fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Generously butter a round 8- to 9-inch springform or rectangular pan.
In the large bowl of your electric mixer, or in a food processor, cream the softened cream cheese; gradually add the sugar and eggs, then the vanilla, flour, and heavy cream, and beat or blend just until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and set it on the middle rack in the oven.
Set a large roasting pan containing about an inch of hot water underneath the pan, on a lower rack.Note: Both the low baking temperature and the steam from the pan of water will help prevent cracking. If a crack should form, it is no disaster; simply hide it with the sour cream.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the center of the cheesecake jiggles slightly when you shake the pan gently.

Turn off the oven but leave the cake in it, letting the cake cool gradually (about 20 minutes), before refrigerating.

When you're ready to serve it, spread the sour cream over the top and arrange the berries, either in rings or, for the Fourth of July, make stars and stripes.

Printable Recipe

Chicks and Food

When we got home last night I heard some peeping coming from under our front stoop. I tiptoed over and saw two little black chicks. Mama hen saw me and was not too pleased. She jumped at me twice and I shrieked! I really understood the term, "Mother hen!" Then I did the same with my brood, I protected them from the hen and quickly got us inside. Despite almost getting pecked to death I am so excited that our hens are hatching out their own chicks!

When I looked in the fridge I discovered a bowl of strawberries. Hubby had helped a coworker move a washer and he gave him a bunch of strawberries. They were so good! Aiden ate most of them! That kid loves his fruit!





Today must have been the day for attracting locally grown food. At Maine 4-H Days we spent some time helping out in the kitchen and the lady in charge gave us several bags of spinach, pea tendrils and turnips! I made Ehric and I bacon wrapped scallops and wraps made with apple slices, cheddar cheese and some pea tendrils. It was all really good! Aiden stuck to his favorite PB &J!



Today at Maine 4-H days we got to try a sample of Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp made with local maple syrup and oats. It was really good! When I got home I decided to try to make my own rhubarb crisp using maple syrup (I usually use sugar). I threw some frozen rhubarb into a glass pyrex, then added some maple syrup and a little bit of flour (figured the frozen rhubarb would get watery) to the mix. In a seperate bowl I mixed old-fashioned rolled oats, maple syrup and butter. I used a pastry blender to combine. Then I poured the oat mix on the top. I baked at 375 F for maybe 30 minutes or so. Next time I will probably look up a recipe and use fresh rhubarb because some of my pieces were not mushed up enough and were a little tart. It was pretty good though, but different!

Poundcake

The boys and I celebrated National Poundcake Day by making a poundcake. After dinner we ate poundcake with strawberries and whipped cream. It was very delicious and made me wish it was summer!

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

The boys and I made some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies this week.

A few changes I made to the recipe:

• I used homemade pumpkin puree (I have a bunch in my freezer from growing pumpkins last summer).
• I used home-made brown sugar (white sugar mixed with molasses).
• I substituted Organic Cane sugar for the white sugar.
• Instead of 1/2 cup of butter I used 6 tblsp butter and 1/4 cup natural applesauce.

These cookies were cake-like and really delicious. I ended up making 34 cookies (I used a large table spoon and just dropped the dough on a cookie sheet). The boys and I really liked these alot! By the next morning I am embarrassed to say that they were all gone! That is how much we liked them. What is great is that they were filled with pumpkin!!

Elephant Ears

This morning Aiden wanted "water and a cookie." I tried to tell him several which ways that we did not have any cookies. Since I was craving cookies the other day I decided to relent and make some cookies. What a push over!

I decided to look in one of the kid's cookbooks for a recipe. We have a really cute cookbook, called Alpha-Bakery by Gold Medal, that has a recipe for every letter of the alphabet. I settled for the E recipe, Elephant Ears.

Here is the recipe for Elephant Ears:

1/4 cup of margerine or butter
1 cup of all-purpose flour (of course it called for Gold Medal but I use King Arthur flour)
2 tblsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/3 cup milk
3 tblsp of sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Sugar

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Grease a cookie sheet with shortening (or use a coated cookie sheet or parchment paper)
3. Heat margerine or butter until melted; set aside.
Stir together flour, 2 tblsp sugar, the baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the milk
and melted butter until dough forms.
4. Sprinkle a surface lightly with flour and knead the dough 10 times. Roll dough with a rolling pin or pat with hands into a rectangle, 9x5 inches.
Brush with remaining melted butter, using a pastry brush; sprinkle with mixture of 3 tblsp sugar and the cinnamon.
5. Roll dough up tightly beginning at narrow end. Pinch edge of dough into a roll and seal. Cut into 4 equal pieces with a sharp knife. Places sides up on a cookie sheet; pat each into a 6" circle.
Sprinkle with more sugar.
6. Bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet with a spatula. Let cool on wire rack. Makes 4 elephant ears. (I doubled the recipe to make 8)

I always like to make notes in my cookbooks when I make a recipe. I write down the date, what we thought about it, and what I might do differently. For this recipe I wrote, 'Reminds me of a biscuit. Very mild flavor..not too overly sweet (probably perfect for kids tastebuds). Aiden said, "Thank you Mommy" several times. Ate for breakfast with hot chocolate. Not something I would make all the time, but occassionally.'

Its been several hours since I made them and the boys are still nibbling away at them. So now I am thinking that they are a hit with the boys. I even like them a little bit more. Ehric told me that he thought they were really good. So I guess now we will be making them again!