Midnight Milky Way Brownies

Midnight Milky Way Brownies (Done up MY way! :-D )

Midnight Milky Way Brownies (Done up MY way! πŸ˜€ )




Is there anything like the smell of something chocolatey baking? Well, maybe baking bread could rival it, but it’s a close call.

Today, here in my part of Kentucky, it’s grey, stormy and just downright perfect for baking. I knew what I’d be making; I gave a small tease about it on the Facebook Page the other day. But I had no idea how yummy it would smell!

When I was a kid, I never cared for the original Milky Way candy bar. Even then, it was just too sweet. I would still eat it of course if it crossed my path. Kid-dom has rules you MUST abide by. It’s the law. But it wasn’t a favorite. When they came out with the Midnight Dark Milky Way though, I had to try it because…well…new…and food….and sweet…and that’s the way I roll. I’ve loved it ever since. Using the more or less dark chocolate on the outside and changing the nougat part made it far less sweet. I love it frozen. πŸ˜€ Frozen caramel for the win!

So when I saw a brownie recipe in the cookbook “The Good Cookie” (excellent cookie cookbook btw… you need to buy it!) using FIVE of them in it, I knew I had t try it. But I did it all for you. Everything I do, I do it for you *cue Bryan Adams* Never in me is there any wish to indulge in gooey, dark chocolate brownies just oozing with chunks of melty Dark Milky Way candy. Not I.

These are ultra rich. Even the batter was rich. I mean, just look at the ingredients! So cut these small. The recipe says to cut into 16 squares and that’s about right and honestly, one of those squares will still go a long way towards curing a chocolate craving…for days. πŸ˜€ But you’ll still find yourself going back and grabbing a bite even though you just ate seven one of them. My advice? Let them cool, except for that one you can’t resist eating while it’s still gooey. Then wrap them each individually, store them in the freezer and take them out as you need some chocolate comfort. Just make sure to label them “raw liver” to keep the kiddos out. πŸ˜›

Not much changed in this. I changed the directions a bit to make it more user friendly and added both 1/2 an ounce more unsweetened chocolate and an extra teaspoon of vanilla.

You know the drill…. πŸ™‚

Midnight Milky Way Brownies

  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 5 1.76 ounce Milky Way Midnight candy bars, chilled then coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, sliced thin
  • 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I actually used 5.5 ounces, because it’s what I had & I wasn’t wrapping back up .5 an ounce of chocolate. It worked fine)
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with foil, then lightly grease the foil. Set aside.
  2. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Toss the candy chunks with 1 tablespoon of the mixture and set aside. This help them not sink to the bottom.
  3. In a microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Microwave for one minute at a time, at 50% power, stirring after each minute to help it melt. Mine took 2.5 minutes to melt and become smooth.
  4. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs for about a minute to blend them, then add in the sugar, whisking just until incorporated. Add in the chocolate mixture, whisking just until combined. Then add the flour, again whisking just until combined. It’s ok if there are still a few small dry spots.
  5. Fold in the candy chunks. Then pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Try to make sure the candy is all inside. I had a few chunks peeking out and they left pits as they melted.
  6. Bake at 325 until the brownies are puffed and set and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with just a few moist crumbs on it. Do NOT overcook these. You have to remember that they will continue cooking some as they cool and that there is little worse than a dry overcooked brownie. Err on the side of undercooked and gooey. No one will mind hehe.
  7. Let cool in the pan, then refrigerate until they are firm enough to cut easily, then use the foil to lift the cooled brownies out onto a cutting board, Peel the foil down and use a serrated knife to cut them into 16 squares.

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Christmas Edition Of Ramblings And Reviews 2013

Hello!!! Have you gotten all your Christmas shopping done? If you haven’t, I’m here to let you know one thing. I have been finished with mine for weeks. It’s ok, you can hate me. I understand. I too used to be one of those people who waited until December 24th to get going. Ok, no I wasn’t. I just said that to make you feel good.

But I know there are some of you out there, avid gourmands all, surrounded by the same, who still need to get some treats for each other. So I, Momma J as I am known to my kid in laws (yeah, the title makes me laugh too; feel free to giggle) am here to help you. So prepare to get hungry.

Twice The Vice sporited chocolates

Twice The Vice spirited chocolates

Recently, I was sent some absolutely wonderful chocolates from a company called Twice The Vice. They make alcohol infused (aka “spirited”) chocolates ranging in price from $28.00 to $44.00 dollars and they are well worth every penny. Yep, you read that right. Booze and chocolate… together. Thus the name, obviously. Is there a woman out there who isn’t totally excited right now though? πŸ˜› As I already said, these are wonderful. I had to force myself not to gorge on them. If you are looking for a splurge, this is it. The outer shell of chocolate is thick and breaks neatly when you bite it. It is rich with no artificial flavor at all, just pure chocolate. The box I got was “The Classic Cocktail Collection” and had four flavors-  Pina Colada, Mint Julep, Margarita and White Russian. The White Russian is my favorite. There is a definite Kahlua “bite” to it. The ganache in all the flavors is smooth, rich and creamy. If you have a chocoholic to buy for (or just love good quality chocolates yourself), go to Twice The Vice. You will NOT be disappointed. This ranks up there in the top two chocolate experiences of my life. And yes, good chocolate IS an experience, not just a dessert. Go to his site asap!

Next up is Raley’s Confectionary. I love this company too. Just looking at the candy takes me back to my childhood. How many of you, every Christmas, had a bowl full of various hard candies sitting there in the livng room, ostensibly for guests when they came over, just waiting to be swiped by you when your mother wasn’t looking?

Raley's Confectionary

Raley’s Confectionary

If you are one of those people, you’ll love this candy. Even if you weren’t, you’ll love this candy. Besides being beautiful to look at, it tastes great. I was sent three bags, each about 3 ounces. That sounds small, but this is hard candy, remember. That three ounces is a good amount of candy and it is so intensely flavored, one or two of the small pieces is sufficient. This candy is true art in its way. On the right, you can see that that is “The Christmas Mix”.  The piece at the middle left spot has the word NOEL in it. Now, this is not imprinted on each piece, it goes all the way through the candy. I’ve seen the technique done before and it is an amazing talent. So many of this type of candy can be bland however. NOT Raley’s Confectionary. Wesley makes sure his candy has a LOT of flavor. The Christmas Mix is my favorite of the three bags I was sent. You open it and a light peppermint scent wafts out but that’s not the only flavor in there, just the most strongly scented. There is also an eggnog flavor, which I loved. It tastes exactly like a glass of eggnog, minus the brandy πŸ˜› The above mentioned Noel is Figgy Pudding flavored. He touches all Christmas bases here lol. The Tutti Frutti is a yummy mix of strawberry, blueberry and banana. This man has so many more flavors I want to try that I can’t even count them, such as Grapefruit, Lime, Kiwi (yes, he has a Kiwi flavor!), Blackberry (one of my all time fave flavors in ANYTHING), Peach and Pumpkin Spice among others. The bags are small enough to give a child for a Christmas stocking stuffer, yet flavored so well that that same small bag will make an adult candy hound quite happy. Go… right now… check out Raley’s Confectionary. You need his candy. Honest.

Next up are some delicious Truffle Bars from Seattle Chocolates sent to me by a lovely lady named Casey. She sent me four bars- Birthday Cake Batter, Candy Cane Crunch, Lemon Ice and San Juan Sea Salt. All of them were fantastic.

Seattle Chocolate Truffle Bars

Seattle Chocolate Truffle Bars

Each of the beautifully wrapped bars is 2.5 ounces and sectioned into 4 nice thick sections, each section a perfect treat, so the 2.5 ounce bar can last quite a while. The San Juan Sea Salt is a milk chocolate bar with sea salt and toffee bits. The salt flavor is mild, just a little tantalizing bit in each bite you take, nothing overpowing as some salted chocolate candy can be. The toffee bits add a nice crunch to the bar and a well rounded caramelly flavor. This was probably my favorite. The Lemon Ice is a white chocolate bar and I love both white chocolate and lemon so I was excited to see this one in the package. When you open the bar, you can smell the lemon; YUM!  The white chocolate is good quality. This isn’t a cheap piece of chocolate. It’s creamy, mildly sweet and milky and the bar has crunchy lemon bits throughout adding a nice tang and texture. The Candy Cane Crunch is a seasonal bar. The first thing you smell is peppermint when you open it, but if you put it up to your nose, you get a wonderful deep dark chocolate scent. This bar smells like Christmas πŸ™‚ The dark chocolate is wonderful; not too dark, which I personally don’t like. This is a fairly mild dark chocolate. The peppermint is JUST enough, not overpowering the chocolate, but not wimpy either. The Birthday Cake Batter was my least favorite. Still delicious, but just not as good as the others in my humble opinions. The chocolate outer shell was still a wonderful quality and flavorful milk chocolate but the birthday cake part was rather bland; just a vague sweet flavor and a touch of crunch. Bottom line though? There is still time to get some of these for Christmas. So go… shoo… get over to Seattle Chocolates and buy some Christmas treats. Feel free to buy me the Rainier Cherry Truffle Bar, the Coconut Macaroon Truffle Bar and the Panoramic Pecan Truffle Bar. And throw in a few of the San Juan Sea Salt- they were my favorite πŸ˜€

Now we have is something I tried for the first time this year- Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Jo Jos. I know many of you have had these already, but for those who haven’t, nows the time. They won’t be at Trader Joes for much longer this year and then you’re out of luck until next year.
Trader Joe Peppermint Jo JosIf you like a certain brand of chocolate sandwich cookies, you’ll love these. They put the other ones to shame. These are covered in a thick layer of dark chocolate; a mild one here too, which I love as I mentioned. I don’t care for bitter dark chocolate and this is nowhere near that. It is smooth, creamy, not too sweet and downright dangerous to your waistline… aka yummy! The chocolate is covered with crushed peppermint candy- just enough t give it that crunch and a delicious peppermint flavor that mingles with the chocolate, not enough to overpower. The cookie itself is a crunchy chocolate peppermint wafer with a creamy peppermint flavor center. These are well worth the four dollar price tag and would make a cute addition to a cookie tray if you want to cheat and say you made them :-P. I won’t tell if you do.

Last but not least for this Christmas Edition of Ramblings And Reviews are something easily found but delicious. They are a new edition this year to the
Lindt truffle line and in my opinion, one of their best yet. These seem to be exclusive to Wal Mart, in the seasonal aisle.

Lindt Dark Chocolate & Orange Truffles

Lindt Dark Chocolate & Orange Truffles

Lindt makes wonderful budget priced truffles and these are no exception. When you open the bag, you immediately get hit with a wonderful chocolate orange scent. I am pretty sure I spent five minutes with my face practically hidden in the bag. The thin outer shell of the truffle is a mild, sweet dark chocolate. The inner ganache is a sheer melt in your mouth delight. Literally; you bite it and it just melts. The chocolate orange flavor is fantastic. Just one of these is more than enough to satisfy because they are so flavor filled, so a bag should last a while. I bought two bags and fully expect to still have some next Christmas lol. Maybe. If I can control myself.

Well, that’s it for the Christmas edition of Ranblings And Reviews.  I’ll close this with the best Christmas photo ever- Joshie being Santa. Was he adorable or what?

Joshie- ChristmasI wish all of you a Merry Christmas. God Bless and know that every single one of you is in my prayers for a blessed coming year. <3

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding



I’ve said before, and will probably say again because I’m getting old and like redundancy, that I used to have a love/hate relationship with bread pudding. Back before the world grew so much smaller (or larger depending on ones perspective) with the internet, recipes for bread pudding consisted of stale white bread, soaked in a custard base of plain milk. Raisins and cinnamon were usually added and then it was baked. British nursery food to the max. Great thing to feed a small child who likes bland or an invalid or say, someone with no taste buds who is also blind and can’t see the mushy mess in their bowl. The rest of us however would probably prefer something with a little oomph to it, some flavor, more than just soggy bread. And nowadays you can find whatever kind of bread pudding trips your trigger, including savory ones for that matter. But I prefer the sweet kinds for the most part.

So, being the time of year it is, I wanted to make one that fits the season and the flavors people love this time of year. If I do say so myself, I outdid myself with this one. This is sweet but not too sweet, crispy at the edges, covered in delicious satiny caramel as well as caramel bits inside plus tart sauteed apples all through it. This is damn good! It makes a ton though (you have to remember I have teen boys lol) so cut it in half if you’re not feeding a small country. I got a 2.5 quart baking dish and 3 ramekins from this. When I invent, I invent big lol.

You know the drill… πŸ™‚

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding

  • 8 large apples, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks (I used Braeburn apples)
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 loaf Kings Brand Hawaiian Bread, cut into about one inch pieces
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 jar ( 12.25 ounces) caramel topping (or you can make homemade caramel sauce I simply went the easy route this time)
  • 1 bag Kraft caramel bits
  1. In a large pan, melt the butter. Add in the apple chunks and over medium heat, stir to blend with the butter. Cover the pan and turn the heat to medium low (about 3 on an electric stove). Let the apples cook until soft and about half of them have broken down and turned saucy. Stir in the cinnamon.
  2. Add the 1/2 cup sugar into the pan. Stir well. Pour in the 1/2 cup cream and cook over medium heat until the cream has cooked into the apples. Remove from heat and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Pour in the 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 1/2 cup milk and the vanilla extract. Whisk in the 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Dump the bread pieces into the cream mixture and stir well. Press down with a spoon to make sure all the bread is submerged in the liquid. Let sit for anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes.  Pour the bag of caramel bits into the bread mixture and stir well.
  4. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease either a 3 quart baking dish or a 2.5 quart dish and 3 8 ounce ramekins with butter.
  5. Pour half the pudding into the prepared pan(s). Cover with half the jar of caramel topping. Cover with another layer of pudding and more caramel sauce. If doing a 3.5 quart dish and ramekins, I’d suggest filling the ramekins first so you don’t end up with too much in the baking dish. Put a 13×9 inch pan half filled with hot water on the bottom rack of the oven.
  6. Bake pudding at 325 degrees for about 45 to 55 minutes for the ramekins (if you insert a butter knife in the middle and twist it, there should be no liquid there, just a moist pudding) and 90 minutes for the baking dish (same test for doneness)
  7. Let cool a little and serve warm, drizzled with more caramel sauce. Can also be served chilled. Reheats well in the microwave.

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Streusel Bars

Pumpkin Cheesecake Streusel bars2

I remember Thanksgiving when I was a kid. I’ve mentioned before that my mom was not much of a cook. In her defense, as I’ve said, she was a single mom who worked ungodly hours and even had she been home, it just wasn’t her passion. Thanksgivings that I remember were fairly rushed because her long term b/f worked as a train engineer and we always had Thanksgiving dinner at like 2pm so he could get to work. Always pissed off my brother, sister and myself. I think that, being the children of divorce, we wanted that whole Norman Rockwell ideal on holidays and that just doesn’t happen in real life. I remember a fairly dry turkey, stuffing that was actually pretty good, mashed taters, the ubiquitous sweet potatoes covered in marshmallows which I still love, (on a side note, I remember the year my brother wanted something different and made sweet potatoes with oj in them and no marshmallows. No one ate them lol. Sorry, Steve.), plus two store bought pies- pumpkin and pecan.

Nowadays, even before I blogged, I go a bit more all out. Holidays give me an excuse to make all those seasonal things that I’ve had tabbed in cookbooks and magazines for like 37 years. The end result is enough food to feed 478 people which was great when I had a ton of people at home, not so much now, especially this year when there will be only 5 of us here. But will that stop me? No. I’ll still make far too much and be grateful we are able to do so. That will include a pumpkin pie or two, a pecan pie and quite possibly this cheesecake.

One of the holiday-ish recipes I have had tabbed forever was this recipe. I found it in a 2006 issue of Bon Appetit, their 50th anniversary issue which was pretty awesome as magazines go.

Now, if you try this, like I told my husband, remember, this is a cheesecake, not a typical pumpkin pie. So it’s tangier and the texture is different. But trust me, this is NOT a bad thing. The crust and the topping are one and the same, just used differently. Both are crunchy, sweet enough to be a good foil to the filling and topping and just plain yummy. The filling is creamy, spicy, slightly tangy and nice and pumpkiny.  I doubled the recipe (because it used only a partial can of pumpkin and I HATE that) and added a good bit more in the way of spices as well as some vanilla plus the crust/crumbs didn’t have any spice at ALL which bored me so I added some there too. If you like pumpkin pie, if you like cheesecake, if you like “normal” pumpkin cheesecake, you need to try this one. It’s pretty yummy and I’m glad I doubled the recipe though I’m sure my thighs and hips aren’t so happy with me. For the record, I’m posting this in the quantities they used, If you want to double it as I did, it’s easy enough to do πŸ™‚

You know the drill…

This looks like it has a lot of steps and ingredients, but really, it all comes together quickly since the bulk of the ingredients are just the spices.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Streusel Bars

  • Crust/crumb topping-
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 3/4 cup old fashioned oatmeal
  • Filling-
  • 1 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temp
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • Topping-
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 9 inch square pan (or use something like Bakers Joy which is what I did) and set aside. Have ready a 9×13 inch rimmed baking sheet.
  2. To make the crust/crumbs, combine the flour, salt, brown sugar and spices. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the cold butter until it resembles small crumbs. Stir in the pecans and oats.
  3. Press 3 1/2 cups of the mixture firmly into the bottom of the 9 inch pan to form the crust. Spread the rest of the mixture onto the 13×9 inch pan. Put both in the preheated oven.
  4. Bake the sheet pan for about 15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once or twice during baking. When it’s done, break it up into smaller bits and set aside. For the crust, bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown and firm.
  5. For filling- Using a hand mixer, combine all the filling ingredients. Beat until smooth. Pour onto the hot crust and return to the oven.
  6. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, until it is set, looks dry at the center and is beginning to puff up around the edges.
  7. While it bakes, make the topping. Simply combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
  8. When cheesecake is done, remove from the oven and spread the topping over it. Return to the oven for five minutes. Take out and set onto a rack to cool completely, about 2 hours. When it is totally cool, take the reserved broken up crumbs and sprinkle evenly over the cheesecake. Press down lightly to make them adhere. Chill the cheesecake until cold. To serve, use a sharp knife dipped in hot water to make clean cuts.

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Oatmeal Raisinet Cookies

Oatmeal Raisinet Cookies

I feel sorry for my husband at times. Why? He’s type 2 diabetic but man, does he love his sweets. Though he would deny that to his death bed. He also loves his savory snacks mind you but when I bake, he is all over it. There was a time I would buy him sugar free treats from the store, but he has come to realize that he prefers a few of the ‘real thing” as opposed to more of the artificial ones. He gets jealous as can be of me (in a loving way of course lol) because, even though I’m overweight (perils of food blogging) I have great blood sugar readings. If anything, I run too low. He also hates me for my low blood pressure too hehe. I am one weird fat woman physically. :-p

One of the things he loves is cookies. Non sweet lover or not (yeah, right. You know better, darlin’), he can eat his weight in cookies. Especially if it’s chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin. So I have had to make sure I have good recipes for both to keep the man supplied. The things we do for love, huh? *Bats eyes in my husbands direction and attempts to look flirtatious* But hey, the man willingly makes me cups of tea whenever I ask and sometimes, I don’t even have to ask. PLUS, he is the one who gets our 16 year old up for school in the mornings. He’s pretty awesome.

Ok, I’m done gushing now lol.

These are some pretty good oatmeal cookies. The original recipe came from food.com and I have just barely adapted it. One thing I do is just make half the recipe because the full recipe makes an ungodly amount of cookies, which is fine for say, Christmas goodie trays but not for everyday unless I’m serving cookies for dinner. The half recipe makes about 5 dozen smallish cookies. I also added the raisinets as the original just called for chocolate chips as we love raisins in oatmeal cookies here, plus I added more vanilla, some cinnamon and a little less sugar because they were far too sweet as written. Ok, so maybe I adapted it a bit more than I thought lol. When cooking these, watch them carefully. With a 375 temp, they can get overdone quickly. If you want chewier cookies, go for the lower cooking time. If you prefer crispier, go for the higher cook time. Either way though…

You know the drill. πŸ™‚

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temp
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 cups oatmeal, divided in half
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 18 ounces raisinets (one bag and 2 individual sized boxes equals this amount)
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets (I do two at a time) with cooking spray. Set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (you can do this with a heavy wooden spoon or hand mixer but it’s a fairly thick dough so it will be harder to stir) cream together the butter and sugars.
  3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed, then add in the eggs and vanilla. beat well on low speed.
  4. In a food processor or blender, pulverize 1 1/4 cups of the oatmeal. In a large bowl, combine it with all the other dry ingredients, including the rest of the oatmeal. Don’t add the raisinets yet. Stir well to combine.
  5. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ones, about 1/3 at a time, and mix well.
  6. Scrape down the bowl again, take the bowl off the base and stir in the raisinets.
  7. Use a small scoop to make cookies on the prepared sheets.
  8. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes. Let sit on sheet for one minute, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.


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Ramblings And Reviews #2

It’s been an…interesting… couple of weeks here. Some good, some bad. My favorite Kitty, Horatio, died on the 19th of last month. He was about the best cat ever and I still miss him.

me and horatio

When he died, I told myself that that was it… no more indoor cats for me, just the cats we have that live outdoors. But, fate, as it often does, intervened. I was just fiddle farting around online one day and found myself going to the page for the local shelter. So what happened? We now have not one, but two, kittens in the house. Go figure. When I first thought about it, I was just going to get this little girl whom we have named Sierra-

SierraBut then she seemed lonely. Extremely loving, but lonely. So I had to get her brother. I justified it by reminding myself that they were rescue cats. No crazy cat lady here *coughcough*

This is her brother Opie. So named because he is a whiny sidekick but yet still cute as can be, like his namesake lol. If Sierra leaves his side, he whimpers and follows her around.

Opie

I have come to the conclusion (ok, I came to the conclusion years ago, but I’ve been in denial) that I have a serious lip balm addiction. I can barely make it through a store w/out buying another one. The bottom of my purse, which btw, I only keep lip balm and old receipts in, is covered in lip balms. Many many of them. One of my favorite brands is Eos. I absolutely love their products. They aren’t oily or greasy feeling on my mouth, just smooth. Plus they taste great. That can of course defeat the purpose of not getting chapped lips if you find yourself constantly licking your lips like a starving fat girl, but hey, I’ll deal with that drawback by just putting on more. I also love the lip balms from Kiss My Face, especially their Sliced Peach, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere in months now. *Sobs* I would LOVE to try their Maple Sugar one, but I’ve never seen it in stores at all.

EosLately, I have been on a binge with the new “Hello” bars from Lindt

LindtOh. My. Gosh. I would say which one is my favorite but for the life of me, I can’t decide. When I try a piece of the coconut one, I’m in love. Then I try one of the others… same thing. They are pretty darn awesome!

On a non food addiction, beyond the bazillion lip balms, I have, for months now, loved this Body Butter from Trader Joes.

Trader Joes Body ButterIt smells fantastic; a strong but not overpowering coconut scent and it leaves you oh so smooth and soft. Just don’t eat it, tempted as you’ll be. πŸ˜›

Onto an actual good for you treat… I’ve been loving both of these products below lately. I found mine at Whole Foods.

ButtersThe Justins Vanilla Almond Butter is amazing. Smooth and creamy with just the slightest hint of vanilla. I would tell you that I use it in all sorts of wonderful recipes, but so far all I do is squeeze it out of the little pack into my waiting mouth hehe.

While I enjoy the Cacoa Bliss the texture takes a bit of getting used to. it has that slightly gritty texture that anything made with real coconut is going to have. But the taste is pure heaven. Coconut Chocolate Heaven. Go. Buy some.

Joshie

Why yes, that IS a pair of underwear on his head. And yes, I have every intention of saving this and using it for blackmail purposes when he becomes an ornery teenager. πŸ™‚

Last but not least, here’s your silly child pic for the week. I think my son needs massive therapy. πŸ˜€ I’m so proud!

Have a great rest of the week, everybody! Go cook something decadent and fattening!

 

 

 

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Caramel Pie With Salted Caramel Sauce

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie With Salted Caramel Sauce-001

I am one of those weirdos who owns enough cookbooks to fill a room. It would be a small room yes, but a room nonetheless. Adding in cooking magazines like those Holiday ones that come out yearly and old issues of Gourmet and Food And Wine, etc etc, as well as paper cookbooks like the ones Pillsbury used to put out monthly (do they even still do that?) I have over a thousand cookbooks. It’s a sickness. Honest. And in our modern era, it’s a sickness that has gotten worse. How? Because now, I can get a cookbook out of the library and if it’s one that I find I’ve put about 10 or more sticky tabs in to save the pages, that means it a keeper. That used to mean that I would have a bazillion overdue books lol. But now it means that I can find the same cookbook on Amazon and buy it, sometimes for as little as 4 bucks with shipping, and tab the hell out of that bad boy.

But a lot of my favorite cookbooks are older ones that have proved to be tried and true. My Fanny Farmer Baking Book is one that I use often as are, surprisingly enough, a handful of the old Pillsbury paper cookbooks. Probably because, back when I was still learning to cook for a family, I found many recipes that went into our traditional holiday routine from them.

Another that I use is an old spiral bound Nestle Toll House cookbook. I was looking through it for inspiration the other day when I saw a recipe for Toll House Pie. It’s one that many home cooks have made… a chocolate chip cookie dough set into a pie shell. Sounded like something I could play with. The first time I made it, I undercooked it. Plus, the recipe had NO vanilla in it at all and far too much butter, to the point where I had to clean my oven because it lefts puddles of scorched butter on the bottom of it.

This time, I did it MY way. I added in some vanilla extract, used less butter, browned the butter for a nutty flavor (on a side note, with the browned butter, this batter was good enough to just eat out of the bowl! OMG, it was yummy!), added some caramel bits and topped the slices with some salted caramel sauce and chocolate sauce. All in all, made that way, it can be either a special dessert for the family or something worthy of guests.

Don’t be tempted to add extra chocolate chips or caramel to this. You know you’ll want to (we ALL do it πŸ˜› ) but I think that was part of the reason my first pie didn’t cook correctly. There was just too much in it for it to cook through even though it seemed done. Stick to the measurements here.

You know the drill. πŸ™‚

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Caramel Pie With Salted Caramel Sauce

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, browned to a golden brown, then cooled to room temp
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup Kraft caramel bits (you can also use whole caramels; just cut into quarters to get the 1/2 cup measure)
  • 1 9 inch pie shell, unbaked (you can use store bought or homemade. I went the lazy route this time and used a frozen shell)
  • A half batch of this caramel sauce or you can use pre-jarred (I used Trader Joes Salted Caramel sauce because it’s amazing and almost as good as homemade) for drizzling…pouring…eating plain…bathing in…whatever
  • Chocolate sauce for drizzling
  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until foamy.
  3. Add in the flour, sugar, dark brown sugar and vanilla extract.
  4. Blend in the browned butter, then fold in the chocolate chips and the caramel bits.
  5. Spoon into the pie shell and smooth top with a rubber/silicone spatula. Eat what’s left on the spatula. Make sure it’s a lot. You can thank me later.
  6. Bake at 325 for 60 to 70 minutes. The top should be golden brown and dry looking. Let cool to room temp before slicing then use a hot sharp (preferably serrated) knife to get clean cuts. Cut this into VERY thin slices as it’s quite sweet and rich. You should be able to get ten slices from this pie easily.
  7. Top each slice with a (large) dollop of salted caramel and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Sprinkle each slice with a little sea salt if you’re so inclined. If you’re really into overkill and diabetic comas, spoon on some whipped cream too. I won’t judge.

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Lemon-White Chocolate Pound Cake With A Lemon Honey Glaze

Lemon White Chocolate Pound Cake With A Lemon Honey Glaze

Lemon White Chocolate Pound Cake With A Lemon Honey Glaze


I have a thing for pound cake. I may have mentioned that before. While I love fancier desserts too, especially those that are rich, creamy and filled with 5000 sticky calories per serving, I also love the simple desserts. Pound cake is just so homey, comforting, and darned easy. And if you want creamy, all you need to do is top it with whipped cream, 12 scoops of ice cream and chocolate sauce. Not that I’d do that of course. Nope, nope, nope, not me *wipes chocolate sauce off chin*


I was torn between making a lemon pound cake, which I’ve been promising my husband for weeks lol, or Pumpkin Bread, because personally, I’m ready to get my Autumn on. But the followers on my facebook page voted for the pound cake (you meanie butts you!!! You’d better be glad I lurves you all! πŸ˜› ) so here you go.

As I mentioned to them, I can’t, however, make just a “normal” pound cake. I’ve said before (and will probably say again because I’m getting old and forgetful. Did I mention that I’m getting old and forgetful?) and will say again (because I’m old and forgetful) that I lack the gene that makes me capable of making a recipe as listed. Nope… gotta either drastically change one so that it is like giving plastic surgery to Justin Bieber and making him look like Madonna or I have to just make up one of my own.

This one is just your basic pound cake incarnation. But I added a ton of lemon flavor as well as a touch of ginger for zing to the batter. Then for good measure I dumped some white chocolate chunks in there. They melted entirely into the batter, leaving these little pockets of slightly crispy sweetness. And if you’ve never had white chocolate with lemon, you’re in for a treat. They go SO well together! Then I topped this with a tart lemony glaze that has a subtle hint of honey.

This is NOT a mild little cake. It’s quite sweet, so serve small slices.

You know the drill…

Lemon-White Chocolate Pound Cake With A Lemon Honey Glaze

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract (if you have an emulsion, even better, Use 1 teaspoon)
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 2/3 cup oil
  • GLAZE-
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch loaf pan with a non stick spray such as Bakers Joy.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, lemon zest and white chocolate chips. Stir well.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, extracts, lemon juice and oil. Whisk to combine.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones, all at once. Stir well to combine until there are no dry floury spots left.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan Bake at 350 until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 60 minutes. If it starts to get too brown on top, cover loosely with foil.
  6. When done, cool in pan for five minutes, then run a butter knife along the edges to loosen the cake and turn it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
  7. For glaze, combine all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk to combine, making sure to get rid of all the lumps.
  8. Pour or spoon glaze over the cooled cake.

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Raspberry Coconut Sweet Rolls With Orange Cream Cheese Icing

Raspberry Coconut Sweet Rolls With Orange Cream Cheese Icing

Raspberry Coconut Sweet Rolls With Orange Cream Cheese Icing


What kind of idiot bakes in 90 degree weather, while living in a house with a central air unit that hates to go below 80 degrees inside when it’s hot outside!!? What kind of idiot I ask you!!??

Erhmmmm *looks sheepish*, that would be me.

I can’t help it! It’s a sickness. Many many food bloggers have it. We tell you and ourselves that it is all because we love you and want to create yummy things for you to drool over but in reality we’d bake anyway. Like I said, it’s an illness.

And ill is what I’m going to be if I keep shoving these sweet rolls into my chubby mouth. But oh my gosh, I’m rather proud of myself here. These are delicious! You get a tender sweet roll with a touch of coconut flavor in it, then the raspberry/coconut filling with it’s tang and mild crunch, then the rich creamy orange cream cheese icing. When this idea first came to me (lying in bed, trying to get to sleep. Many ideas come to me then. I’m strange.), I wasn’t sure how it would work. I was afraid that all of the flavors would clash with each other but they don’t do that at all. As a matter of fact, this will be going down as one of my favorite ways to make a sweet roll.

You know the drill. Git to cookin’.

Raspberry Coconut Sweet Rolls With Orange Cream Cheese Icing

  • Sweet Roll Dough-
  • 2 packages dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
  • 1 cup milk, warmed (about 110 to 115 degrees)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons coconut extract
  • 2/3 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 3 eggs
  • 5 1/4 cups to 5/12 cups flour (you can use bread flour or all purpose- I use bread flour when making almost any yeast dough)
  • Filling-
  • 12 ounces raspberry preserves
  • 12 ounces fresh raspberries, rinsed, drained and gently blotted dry
  • 1 7 ounce bag sweetened grated coconut, toasted at 350 degrees until light brown
  • Icing-
  • 1 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temp
  • zest of one large orange (about 3 tablespoons zest)
  • 4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
  • 2 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  1. Preheat oven to 150 then immediately turn it off. The purpose is to have a nice warm oven to proof the dough in but not to have it too hot. Butter 2 9 inch round cake pans (or one 13×9 inch baking pan) and set aside.
  2.  In a small bowl, combine the yeast and warm water. let sit for about 5 minutes to activate the yeast.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle hook (can all be done by hand but it makes it a bit more work and work scares me πŸ˜› ), combine the milk, extracts, sugar, salt and butter. On low speed, mix just until combined.
  4. Pour in the yeast mixture and again, mix just until combined. Change over to the dough hook, then add 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Beat on low speed until it is a shaggy mass. Add another 2 1/2 cups of flour and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes. Feel the dough and if it it is still very sticky or tacky, add about another 1/4 cup of  flour. You want the dough to be just a tiny bit sticky, not enough that it sticks to your hands or fingers. By the same token, you don’t want dry dough because that equals dry finished product. Either way, beat on low speed until the dough is smooth, silky and has come away from the bowl in a solid mass, about 5 minutes.
  5. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Knead for just a minute (that is the reason you did all this in a stand mixer, so you didn’t have to knead by hand) then put into a greased bowl, turning it so that all sides are greased.
  6. Cover with a damp cloth and put into the previously preheated, now nicely warm oven. Let rise until it has doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
  7. Punch dough down and then turn out onto a lightly floured board or counter. Roll it into a rectangle that is roughly 28 by 12 inches.
  8. Spread the dough with the raspberry preserves. Then sprinkle all but 2/3 of a cup of the toasted coconut on top of the preserves. Then place the fresh raspberries on top of that.
  9. Starting at one of the long ends, carefully roll up the dough into a tight log. Don’t squeeze too hard though or you’ll squeeze out the preserves.
  10. Cut the log into 16 large rolls. Place them in the prepared pan(s) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Again allow the dough to rise in a warm place (NOT the oven) until doubled in bulk, about 30 to 45 minutes.
  11. Meanwhile, make the icing- In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, orange zest and orange juice. Beat at medium speed until smooth.
  12. Add in the 2 cups powdered sugar and at LOW speed (unless you like being covered in sugar), beat until smooth and creamy. Add  in another half a cup sugar if the icing is too thin to spread. Cover and set aside.
  13. Bake the rolls at 350 degrees until they are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Set on a wire rack to cool completely.
  14. When cool, frost with the cream cheese icing (if you haven’t already eaten most of it straight from the bowl πŸ˜€ ) then sprinkle with the reserved toasted coconut.

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Pineapple Upside Down Cinnamon Rolls

Pineapple Upside Down Cinnamon Rolls-001

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You may have heard me say more than once that I lov(ed) Twinkies and Ho Ho’s and the like. basically, if it was Hostess, I was there, preservatives or not. I like to delude myself by saying that with all the Hostess cakes I’ve eaten in my life, I should have enough preservatives in me to live to be 400. So when Hostess went bankrupt, I was devastated. I held candlelight vigils every night for a month and still wear the “hair” shirt I made out of old ho ho wrappers.

So when I heard Hostess was coming back in July (bought by some company or another) I stopped the candle light vigils, bought a helicopter and had it flying a “Twinkies are coming back!” banner behind it and knitted a throw rug with a Ding Dong design in the middle.

One of the things I sheepishly admit to liking from them was their packs of cinnamon rolls. That slick icing you could pull off in one horrifyingly large piece, the somewhat dry rolls (especially once you pulled off and ate the vaguely plastic icing)… it was all high on my list of “I have no idea why I like this, but I do” foods, along with gummi candies, combos, liverwurst and lemonheads.

But even I’m not totally delusional. I know that homemade cinnamon rolls are better. And YOU all know ME.  I can’t leave well enough alone and just make something the normal way. I’m genetically mutated and must screw around with a recipe. So I made Pineapple Upside Down Cinnamon Rolls. I had seen the recipe originally in a cookbook and it intrigued me. Well, intrigued was all it could do. The recipe totally sucked.  The dough was soupy and even after adding a couple extra cups of bread flour, was far too sticky to work with and I knew if I kept going, i’d 1) waste more ingredients and 2) even if I got decent textured dough, it would end up overworked. So I tossed it and started over with my tried and true recipe for sweet roll dough from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, just updated a bit for a stand mixer. Then I made the same type of topping I put on a upside down cake, just different ratios and Bobs your uncle… Pineapple Upside Down Cinnamon Rolls. These are a wonderfully flavored tender yeast roll with a delicious cinnamony/ buttery filing then topped with a buttery/sugary/pineappley (lots of y’s here) topping. Basically, you get two desserts in one for the calories of one dessert PLUS you can feel all self righteous if you have this for breakfast. This is a longer recipe but it comes together fairly quickly and it’s definitely worth the time

You know the drill…

Pineapple Upside Down Cinnamon Rolls

  • Cinnamon Rolls-
  • 2 packages dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 cup milk, warmed
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 3 eggs, warmed up in a bowl of warm water
  • 51/4 to 51/2 cups flour
  • Filling-
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, very soft but not melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • Topping-
  • 2 20 ounce cans pineapple chunks in juice, well drained
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter
  • 1 1/3 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 small jar maraschino cherries, drained (optional)
  1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small bowl. Stir and let sit for a few minutes so yeast can dissolve.
  2. Combine the milk, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat will. Stir in the dissolved yeast. Put on the dough hook- add 2 1/2 cups of the flour and beat until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Add another 2 1/2 cups flour and on low speed, mix until the dough is smooth and firm.
  3. Feel it with your fingers and if it is tacky (unless your house is very humid, 5 cups should be fine. The original ingredients were for a hand mixer. A stand mixes better and you can usually use a touch less flour to get a good dough.) add about another 1/4 cup flour. Mix at low speed for about 5 minutes. Turn the dough out into a greased bowl; turn the dough to make sure all sides get greased, then cover with plastic and set aside. Let rise until doubled in bulk.
  4. Meanwhile, make your topping and filling. For the filling, in a small bowl, combine the one cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon. Set aside.
  5. For the topping, combine the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally to mix the sugar. Add the drained pineapple, stir and simmer over medium heat for five minutes. Mixture will seem thin but it will thicken and caramelize as it cooks in the oven.
  6. Grease a 13×9 inch baking pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the topping in and make sure to spread the pineapple out to cover the bottom of the pan. If using cherries, randomly top the pineapple mixture with some cherries.
  7. When dough has risen to double it’s original bulk, punch down. Turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly for a minute or so. Roll out into a rectangle of approximately 28 by 12 inches. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
  8. Spread the top of the dough with the very soft butter, Then sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Starting from one of the long sides, roll up tightly like a long jelly roll. Cut the dough into 15 pieces and lay each piece into the prepared pan. You should have the five rows of 3 rolls. Cover lightly with plastic or a damp towel and set aside to rise again. Let rise for about another half hour or until almost doubled in bulk.
  9. Bake at 350 degrees until the rolls are puffy and golden.
  10. Let sit for five minutes then invert pan over either some sheets of foil or a larger pan if you have one. Let excess topping drip down for a minute.
  11. Serve warm… cold…room temp… in a cave… on a horse…eat them any way, Sam I am.

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