Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups King Arthur all purpose flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

3/4 cup Challenge Unsalted Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup White Sugar

1 Egg plus 1 Egg Yolk

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Combine the dry ingredients separately

Melt the butter and pour into mixing bowl

Add the brown and white sugars

Cream the butter and sugars together

Beat in the vanilla and then add the egg and egg yolk and continue beating until ceamy

Add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined together

Stir in the chocolate chips. Put the dough into the refrigerator to chill

Use a 1/4 measuring cup to measure cookie dough and place onto parchment paper

Space cookies about 3 inches apart

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven until edges are golden in color

Cool the cookies before removing from parchment paper

Store in zip lock bags

ORANGE DREAM CUPCAKES (Eggland’s Best)

Ingredients for Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 fresh orange, zested

2 large eggs

Icing

1/2 cup butter softened

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

1. Line up a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Stir with a fork to combine and make a large well in the center.
3. Pour in orange zest, milk, vanilla extract, eggs and oil into the well and stir until just combined.
4. Spoon into prepared tins to be 3/4 full and bake 15 to 18 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Directions for Icing

Whip butter, heavy cream, zest, and vanilla together. Slowly stir in powdered sugar until it starts to mix in. Scrape sides and whip 30 seconds until light and fluffy. Frost cupcakes and store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

SWEET CORNBREAD

Sweet Cornbread

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal

3 cups King Arthur all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt 

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 tablespoon melted butter

2 tablespoons honey

4 eggs, beaten

2 1/2 cups milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9X13 baking dish or cast iron skillet

In a large mixing bowl, stir the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Pour in the vegetable oil, melted butter, honey, beaten eggs, and milk. Stir just until moistened.

Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Watch for the cornbread towards the end, you want it to be turning golden and starting to show some cracks.

Remove from oven, serve warm with butter or honey or simply plain.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE BITES

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INGREDIENTS

4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups lemon curd

INSTRUCTIONS

Place egg whites in a large bowl and whip on medium/high speed until they’re foamy and form soft peaks. Add the cream of tartar and mix well, and then add the powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time, continuing to whip the mixture on high speed. Wait to add the next spoonful of sugar until the previous one is well-incorporated.

When all sugar has been added, continue to beat until the whites forms stiff peaks. Gently scoop the meringue into a piping or zip-top bag. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a piping tip or cut the corner off the bag to prepare to pipe the meringue. Gently squeeze the bag (don’t squeeze too hard, as that will make a thicker line of meringue and result in too big nests) and pipe a 1 1/2 inch circle, filling in the middle. Without lifting the tip, add two more circles of meringue on top of the outside of the bottom circle, forming a nest.

Repeat until meringue is gone. Bake meringues for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 250 degrees and bake for 10 minutes more, or until nests are barely golden. Turn off heat, leave meringues in for ten minutes more, and then remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Add lemon curd to a sandwich bag, cut off the corner, and pipe the curd into the meringue nests.

Mom’s Ultimate Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients

3 pounds potatoes, thinly sliced

½ onion chopped up

9 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided

6 tablespoons butter, diced and divided

salt and ground black pepper to taste

3 cups milk

1/4 cup Le Gruyere Cheese shredded

Paprika

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.

Spread about 1/3 of the potato slices into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with about 1/3 of the onion slices. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons flour over the potato and onion. Arrange 2 tablespoons butter on top of the flour. Season the entire layer with salt and pepper. Repeat layering twice more

Heat milk in microwave 60 seconds until warm. Pour enough warm milk over the mixture in the baking dish so the top of the liquid is level with the final layer of potatoes

Spread the Le Gruyere Cheese all over top

Sprinkle some paprika over the top if desired

Bake in preheated oven until potatoes are tender, 45 to 60 minutes.

Broccoli Apple Salad

INGREDIENTS

4 cups fresh broccoli florets (about 2 medium heads)

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup diced red onion

2 large apples finely chopped (I used gala apples)

1/2 cup pecans coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Creamy dressing ingredients:

1/2 cup lite mayonnaise

1/2 cup low fat greek yogurt

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

INSTRUCTIONS 

In a large bowl combine broccoli, carrots, red onion, apples, pecans, and dried cranberries.

Whisk together mayonnaise, greek yogurt, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper.

Add the dressing to the salad and toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups pretzels crushed

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

3/4 cup butter melted

1 6 ounce box instant strawberry jello

1 16 ounce container of fresh strawberries sliced, or 1 10 ounce package frozen strawberries

1 8 ounce package cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 8 ounce container of cool whip

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine crushed pretzels, brown sugar, and melted butter. Press into a lightly greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 8 minutes and remove from oven. Let cool completely.

Make the jello according to package directions. Mix in the fresh strawberries. Let refrigerate for an hour or so to let it partially set.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together with a hand mixer until creamy. Fold in the cool whip with a spatula. Spread the mixture over the top of the pretzel crust completely to the edges so the jello won’t leak through.

Pour the jello over the cream cheese layer and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Mississippi Caramel Cake

Mississippi Caramel Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• 6 large eggs room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks room temperature
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Caramel Icing

• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 2 cans evaporated milk 12 ounces each
• 2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, oil and sugar on high until fully incorporated and light and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes.
• Turn mixer to medium speed and mix in eggs and egg yolks one at a time until well incorporated.
• Add in vanilla extract and mix.
• Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt into a medium sized bowl.
• With mixer on slow speed, alternate adding in flour mixture and sour cream ending with flour mixture until mixed through.
• Do not over mix.
• Spray three 9 inch round cake pans with baking spray or grease and flour them.
• Pour batter into individual cake pans evenly.
• Bake in preheated oven for 23-30 minutes.
• Remove cake pans from oven and cool on cooling racks for 10 minutes.
• Remove cakes from pans and wait until completely cooled to ice.

Caramel Icing:

• Add butter, evaporated milk, and sugar to saucepan over medium heat until everything has melted together.
• Leave over medium to low heat stirring periodically for about 1 1/2- 2 hours (watch the entire time to make sure it does not burn until thickened and caramel has darkened to a beautiful golden brown.
• It should also thickly coat the back of a spoon to ensure thickness.
• Be careful to watch, adjusting heat temperature to not let it burn.
• Remove from heat and add in vanilla extract.
• Cool for about 15-20 minutes to allow it to thicken before icing the cake.

Company Cheesecake

 

Company Cheesecake

Combine 1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs, ¼ cup of finely chopped walnuts, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tbsp sugar and ½ cup butter, melted.  Press on the bottom and up 2/3 of sides of a spring form pan.

Beat smooth 3 well beaten eggs, two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese softened, 1 cup sugar, ¼ tsp salt, 2 tsp vanilla, ¼ tsp almond extract.

Blend in 3 cups of dairy sour cream.  Pour into crust.  Bake at 375 degrees about 35 minutes or just till set; cool.  Chill 4 to 5 hours. 

Serves 12-16

Boiled Cabbage with Bacon

Ingredients

4 to 6 thick slices of bacon, diced

1 large sweet onion, chopped

1 medium head of cabbage

½ to 1 cup chicken broth or water as needed

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large Dutch oven or deep sauté pan, cook the diced bacon until cooked through but not crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove the bacon pieces to paper towels to drain; set aside. Leave about 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in the pot.

Add the chopped onion to the bacon drippings and cook, stirring, over medium heat until tender and lightly browned. This will take about 4 to 5 minutes.

Coarsely chop the cabbage.

Add the chopped cabbage to the browned onions and add 1/2 cup of chicken broth.

Cover the pot tightly and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add more broth or water, if needed, and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes longer, or until the cabbage is tender. Add the bacon pieces and stir. Heat through.

Serves 6