Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake

The leftover-day-after-Thanksgiving dinner is over; I made turkey sloppy joes and they were great. But that's not what you are here for, so here we go!

Like I said in the last post, I saw a Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake on $40 a Day with Rachael Ray and got the inspiration for this cake. It's sloppy but easy to make, and there are several ways that you can construct it.

You will need:

Butter cake mix

Butter cream frosting (optional, read recipe to help you decide)

2 packages of strawberries

1 can Thank You brand vanilla pudding

1 small container of Kool Whip

2 cups powdered sugar

1. Bake cake as per package directions in round cake tins (this is a layer cake). Let cool completely.

2. While cake is cooling, combine entire can of pudding, an equal portion of Kool Whip, and the 2 cups of powdered sugar. This is your Bavarian Cream.

3. Also while cake is cooling slice one container of strawberries and cut off the leaves from the other package.

4. After cake has cooled, take one of your layers and remove a shallow bowl shaped section from the top of the cake. Pour about half of the cream mixture into this section. Then top with sliced strawberries

5. Place second layer on top of first.

Here's where your options come in. At this point you can either

A. Frost cake with butter cream frosting (messy but do-able; just make sure you fill in the entire space between the two layers with frosting) and top cake with remaining strawberries. Refrigerate if not serving immediately. This will help harden the cream a bit.

B. Pour the remaining cream mixture over the cake and top with strawberries (you will have to chill this cake until the cream is harder if you aren't going to serve the cake immediately).

It is super good and drew rave reviews. My son ate close to 3/4 of the cake over the course of yesterday and today and everyone else ate the rest and was satisfied with their servings. Let me know what you think!

Cookies, Muffins, and Pies, Oh My!

I have been incredibly busy this week, but am enjoying myself. You see, I have been a baking maniac, and if there's one thing I love to do, it's bake. The regular baking lady at the local Farmer's Market is having her knee replaced and my husband mentioned to her that I am a good baker. She told me all of her prices, what she usually bakes, and gave me her blessing.

Thus far, I have baked 5 varieties of cookies in quadruple batches. Do you know that I used to hate creaming butter and sugar? Now, it's calming, meditative. And using my great grandmother's pastry tool, which prepared many a pie crust (though I am told that they were as heavy as bricks) makes the act even more special. Today is muffin baking day, and try as I might, I could not find large muffin cups, so it's going to be regular sized muffins this week (apple streudel, blueberry, and banana nut, maybe chocolate chip). And then there's pies. She usually bakes 25 pies the day before, small, large, sugar free and high test, apple, peach, blueberry, cherry, etc. That intimidates me, but I CAN DO IT!

Unfortunately, this may all be for naught, as it's been raining all week and may rain all weekend. Thankfully we have a large freezer and baked goods freeze well. And I have a family with a sweet tooth. So I may not have to freeze a thing, as it will all be eaten up and my family will be found in a sugar coma by the neighbors!

I found the most Ah-Mazing Snickerdoodle recipe. Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles are absolutely, bar none, the best snickerdoodles I have ever eaten. They are like chewy Spritz cookies (German butter cookies) with cinnamon and sugar on them. I did learn that they have to be pressed down before baking or they will be very thick, but you might like them that way. Give them a try, but I'm going to warn you, it's hard to stop at just one. Smitten Kitchen's oatmeal cookie recipe is also divine, but unless you make minuscule cookies you will only get 1 dozen cookies from a batch. And that batch might not last long once you taste them!

Super Delicious S'mores Bars

Before we went camping over Labor Day weekend I whipped up a batch of these super delicious cookie bars. They are really easy to make and use only a few ingredients. You might just melt into a pool of mush when you try them. They are best eaten just a little hot (or with a spoon right out of the oven, if you just can't wait).

You will need:

11 full sized graham crackers, made into crumbs in a food processor
1-1/2 cups melted butter
2 eggs
8 regular sized Hershey bars
A bag of mini marshmallows

Here's how you make them.

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Combine melted butter, 3 cups of the graham cracker crumbs, and eggs in a large bowl. Mix well.
3. Spread mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
4. Place whole chocolate bars in a single layer over the graham cracker mixture. Cover from edge to edge.
5. Spread bag of mini marshmallows evenly over chocolate.
6. Sprinkle remaining graham cracker crumbs over marshmallows.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, check at 10. Bake until marshmallows are as brown as you would like them to be.
8. Let cool considerably, or at least until chocolate is cool enough that it wont burn your mouth to a pulp, and then eat lots of amazing s'mores bars!

Easy Peasy Pizza

I've always been intimidated by pizza crust. Anything with yeast in it just always seemed like much more work than I was prepared for. I don't know what I was thinking! This week, I decided to tackle my fear of pizza crust and found that pizza is deliciously easy!

I grew up eating at a mom and pop pizza shop called Minelli's. Do you find that the pizza you grew up on is the best pizza in the world? Well, I feel that way about Minelli's. The most pleasing thing about this recipe is that it has the crust that I grew up on. The toppings are totally up to you.

Pizza Crust

1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2-1/2 to 3 cups of white flour (if you want whole wheat crust, substitute 1 cup wheat flour for 1 cup of the white four)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil (I used garlic infused oil)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons garlic powder
cornmeal for sprinkling

1. Add sugar to the warm water, then the yeast. Put aside for about 10 minutes, or until the water mixture becomes foamy.

2. In the meantime, combine 2-1/2 cups flour, salt, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder in a large bowl.

3. Put olive oil into the water/yeast mixture, then pour into dough.

4. Flour your hands, then combine all ingredients with your hands. Knead dough for 6 to 8 minutes, until it forms a nice dough ball. If this mixture is too wet, add more flour until the dough ball is no longer sticky.

5. Place dough ball into a bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes (until dough has doubled in size.

6. When the dough has risen, divide in half.

7. Place half of dough on a liberally f1oured surface and work with your hands or with a floured rolling pin until it is the size of a 12 inch pie (or the size of your baking sheet). Sprinkle cornmeal onto baking pan, then place the dough on the pan.

8. Place dough on the top rack of your oven at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes.

9. Remove dough, then top with whatever topping you want.

10. Put back into the oven for about 10 minutes more, or until cheese is golden brown and fully melted. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.

Eat your yummy homemade pizzas!

I made a pepperoni and cheese pizza and a traditional tomato, basil, and mozzarella cheese pizza. I used marinara spaghetti sauce for the pizza sauce, but I used only about 2 - 3 tablespoons of sauce for each pizza. Of course, the beauty of pizza is that you can load it with whatever toppings you like. Want a whole wheat broccoli, garlic, and cheese pizza? Make it! I like onions, tomatoes, and basil, but I have to warn you that it smells like an old shoe! Soon, you too will be a pizza baking fool!

Toulouse-Lautrec: The Art of Cuisine

So I thought I'd share some of my treasures with you. This cookbook by Toulouse-Lautrec and Maurice Joyant is one of my absolute favorite books. It is filled with art by the artist and is, most definitely, a serious cookbook. Toulouse-Lautrec was apparently well known for hosting lavish dinner parties and this book was a result of his gourmet prowess.



The book is supposedly filled with Toulouse-Lautrec's most requested recipes. A delightful thing about the book is that most pages also are illustrated by the great artist. Here, a recipe for Roast Turkey for a Shooting Lunch:



Dindon Roti Pour Dejeuner de Chasse
"For a 14 lb. turkey use 1 lb. each ground beef, veal, and sausage meat and 1/2 lb. chestnuts. If no boudin (blood sausage), chop turkey liver and 3 chicken livers, sauteed, plus 1/2 lb. extra sausage meat."

Each section (game meats, desserts, vegetables) is introducted with a full color painting:



And then there is my favorite section, Ultima Ratio Finis, which includes recipes for Grasshoppers Grilled in the Fashion of Saint John the Baptist, Saint on the Grill, and Ancient Recipe.



Saint sur la Gril
"With the help of the Vatican try to procure for yourself a real(!) saint.

Treat him as St. Lawrence was treated on August tenth, A.D. 258. When you have whipped him, lay him on the grill over a big bed of charcoal. Like his predecessor, if he is a real saint, he himself will ask to be turned over in order to be grilled to a turn on both sides"

This is one of my favorite books and believe it of not, Amazon has a few copies of it. The new copy is $75.00, but the collectible copies sell for much less. Here's a link of you are interested. I promise that if you are an art lover and/or a cook, you will get hours of enjoyment from this amazing book!

Delectable Danish Wedding Cookies

Do you remember those delectable Danish Wedding Cookies that Pillsbury (I think) used to make? They came in a pink bag and my mom used to buy a bag of them for me every time I got really sick. They quit making them and I have been mourning their loss every since.

THEN . . . I looked up the recipe on Recipezaar, and lo and behold KittyKitty, one of the great recipezaar contributors, posted "I Love Danish Wedding Cookies" and my life became a little more complete.

The only thing that I did differently with the recipe was that I toasted the pecans. I will even admit that a few of them got burnt, but I used them anyway, and they tasted AMAZING! Oh, and I always add about 3 times the amount of vanilla. I love the vanilla.



This is my little antique nut chopper that I found when I was a kid at an antique store. I always use it instead of my food processor because it works so much better and it's just so darn cute.



The dough is then shaped into balls (that are supposed to be littler than these; as usual, I ended up with less than 1/3 of the cookies that I was supposed to get from the batch). Do you see the pastry tool in the background? That was my great grandmother's. When I got it after my grandparents died, I really wasn't sure what it was. But I use it all the time now - it helps me make pie crusts that are to die for! I think it's all those years of German pastry love that have infused into it.



The cookies are then cooled a little and then rolled in powdered sugar. I love that if the cookies are a little too hot, the powdered sugar melts all over the cookies and my fingers (Yum!). Adds that extra little bit of sugary amazingness.

So now I can delight in Danish Wedding Cookies again. I also made a tiny batch of chocolate chip and a bigger batch of peanut butter cookies. I'd also like to make some thumb print cookies and we have some gingerbread mix, too. We'll see if I can get to all of this. I might be in sugar shock from the Danish Wedding cookies, so I'm not making any promises!

We Love Cake!

This post is dedicated to cake. Originally I was going to post one cake recipe then do my this-is-what's-happening-in-my-life deal, but I found all of these amazing pictures of cakes on Photobucket that I had to share. Also, you get two recipes for the price of one in this post. Both are my late grandmother's well-loved, often requested recipes. I hope you love them, too.

Watergate Cake

I must admit, when I was a kid, I wouldn't go near this cake. Pistachios? And the dang thing is green! But this is by far my favorite cake and has been since the first moment I got brave enough to try it. It reminds me of spring (probably because it was my grandmother's traditional Easter cake) and is light with a yummy, creamy frosting.



You will need:

2 boxes of pistachio instant pudding
1 box white cake mix
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup of a carbonated lemon-lime beverage
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 envelopes of Dream Whip
1-1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine 1 package pudding, cake mix, oil, eggs, and lemon-lime drink and beat according to cake box directions.

Fold in Walnuts.

Bake in a greased 9x13 pan for 35 - 40 minutes.

Let cool thoroughly.

Beat together 2nd package pudding, Dream Whip, and milk until of spreading consistancy. Frost cake.

Enjoy!

My grandmother was all about the sheet cake. I'm sure that if you wanted to, you could make this as a layer cake; refer to the cake package directions and adjust baking times accordingly.

Feast for the Eyes

Now, let's admire some beautiful cakes. All pictures are from Photobucket, the names below the pictures are the photographers.

I love robins. I love the fuzzy, huge hatchlings, the way they hop around looking for insects, their orange breasts, and their beautiful call. That is why I love this cake!


photo by katmin_album

I also love butterflies. I have plants all over my garden to attract them and am always adding more (perhaps I should write a blog about this - hmmmm . . .). These cupcakes make me happy.


photo by lovelyandfierce

Don't you admire bakers who can make beautiful sugar flowers? This cake is amazing and incredibly beautiful.


photo by Misha_Wolf

Wedding cakes. Us girls dream about them. We want ours to be beautiful and the best tasting cake that we ever had. I don't know what these taste like, but they sure are beautiful.


photo by mchper21

I love this cake. I really, really love it. Love it. Really.


photo by katmu_album (who must be an awesome baker)

This is so pretty. It makes me feel like a total girl.



This is our wedding cake. It's not the greatest picture (taken by a disposable left on one of the tables) but it was (really) the best tasting, most beautiful cake ever. Some advice: if you know anyone that is good at cake, have them bake it for you. We spent $100 on this cake baked by a lady who lives the next street over and used to cater. We bought the flowers and greenery at Kroger for $65. It was a Christmas wedding, thus the evergreens, and I had always wanted red roses on my wedding cake, so I bought 2 dozen and let Karen do her thing with them. I couldn't have been happier with this wonderful cake.



Pina Colada Cake

Who doesn't love a pina colada? O.K., I'm sure there are plenty of people, but I'm not one of them. Been drinking virgin coladas since I was a wee one. This cake that my grandmother often made always draws rave reviews. My family eats it up like there will never be another cake baked in the world again. And it is super easy. What more could you want from a cake?



You will need:

1 yellow cake mix
1 can Eagle Brand milk
Pina Colada mix (the same amount as the Eagle Brand milk)
8 oz. of Kool Whip
Coconut (enough to cover the cake

Bake cake in a 9x13 pan according to cake directions.

While still hot, punch full of holes with a fork.

Mix Eagle Brand milk and pina colada mix together and pour over the cake, making sure to cover the entire cake.

Let cool.

Frost with Kool Whip and sprinkle with coconut.

Keep refridgerated.

Eat a delicious piece keeping in mind that this cake is very rich; warn your friends before they take a monster piece.

Chocolate Brownies, I Missed My Teflon

Chocolate Brownies

Well, I have a migraine today. I've gotten them since I was around 9, and they can be doozies. Took some Imitrex which, fortunately, works pretty well. Even though I am overwhelmingly nauseated when the migraines are at their worst, I always get a craving for chocolate. Unlike most Americans, I am not a huge chocolate lover (I prefer vanilla). My husband is a die hard chocoholic. I have gone on chocolate runs for him. He gets a little crazed around it. It actually can be a little frightening.



But I digress. Anyhow, when I get migraines, I crave chocolate intensely. So I invariably end up making a batch of homemade chocolate brownies. The original batch that I made many years ago came from my beloved Fannie Farmer Cookbook (aka The Best Cookbook Ever Written). You should have seen me when Collin borrowed it (he's a little fascinated with cookbooks, he even had a subscription to Cook's Illustrated magazine for a year but then decided that there was entirely too much cutting and chopping involved in cooking for it to EVER be safe) and lost it. I was a maniac searching for that book. But again, digression is occuring. I suppose that blogging while under the influence of Imitrex and Benedryl has it's consequences.

So, at this very moment, I have a batch of brownies going. I always make a double batch; these don't last long around my chocolate crazed man, not to mention my sugarholic son.

You'll need:

8 oz of semi-sweet chocolate
1 stick of butter
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1 cup of brown sugar *
2 cups of regular sugar
1-1/2 cups flour
5 eggs
pecans or walnuts if you like #

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Put the chocolate and butter into a bowl and microwave on high for 45 seconds. Stir the mixture to incorporate chocolate and butter. If the chocolate isn't completely melted, put it back into the microwave in 15 - 20 second intervals, stirring in between. ^

2. Add the vanilla and stir well.

3. Add sugar, mix, add flour, mix.

4. Add the eggs and spend a bit of time making sure that they are evenly incorporated into the mixture. %

5. Add nuts or other mix-ins if desired.

6. Pour all of this into a large baking dish that has been buttered within an inch of it's life and floured. You will never get them out of the pan if you skip this step.

7. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with little crumbs stuck to it.

It's easier to cut these if you let them cool for half an hour, but I would recommend running a knife around the edges of the brownies to facilitate their removal from the pan. If course, if you must have hot brownies, cut at will, just expect them to fall apart.

* You can use 3 cups of granulated sugar, I just like the taste that the brown sugar gives to the brownies.

# Other things you can add include crushed Oreos, M&M's (the mini's are great) on the top, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips (quite rich), or whatever strikes your fancy. Oh, and I prefer pecans to walnuts, but this is a matter of personal preference.

^ You can always melt the chocolate in a double boiler, but this method is a lot quicker, and if you check your chocolate frequently it shouldn't burn.

% I don't add the eggs until now because after you have added the sugar and flour, the chocolate has cooled sufficiently so that the eggs will not cook when you add them. If you melt the chocolate in a double boiler, you can add the eggs to the sugar and flour, stir well, then add the chocolate, butter, vanilla mixture.


The edges got a little burnt, but don't you just dig the Lazy Daisy dishes? My mom was going to sell them in a yard sale and I snatched them up. I grew up eating on these dishes; you can't blame me for being a little sentimental.

Enjoy!

I Missed My Teflon

I made Mongolian Beef last night for dinner in an effort to further my Americanized Chinese cooking skills. It came out really well, used the PF Chang's Mongolian Beef recipe that is widely published on the web. Anyhow, the combination of brown sugar, oil, corn starch, and more oil created a cement that took a huge amount of elbow grease and a slight amount of creativity to remove from the iron fryer. I scraped with a spatula to remove the lion's share of the stuck on yumminess, but there was still quite a bit of scrubbing that I had to do. I hated to do it, but I had a brillo pad from Lord knows when; it did nothing while at the same time creating the not so pleasant sensation of millions of steel shards lodging into my fingers. I would never have resorted to such measures for a lesser pan. In the end I had to fill up the pan about half-way with water, heat it to boiling, let it sit for a bit, and use a Dobie sponge and (gasp!) dishwashing detergent. I missed my carcinogenic Teflon. I'm just hoping that my husband never figures out that my old spaghetti pot/collander combo is made of aluminum! Our little secret, 'kay?