Archive for December, 2009
Delicious Holiday Gingerbread Cookies
For a scintillating holiday taste explosion, consider these awesome gingerbread cookies! In addition to the ingredients, you will need a couple insulated cookie sheets, cookie cutters, and a rolling pin.
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup melted butter
½ cup evaporated milk
1 cup molasses
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups flour
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F, and grease your cookie sheets. In a sizable bowl stir together all the dry ingredients, then combine the butter, milk, molasses, vanilla and lemon and mix them into the dry ingredients gradually. The dough should be stiff but not stick to your fingers; add a little flour if necessary. When the dough is smooth, use your rolling pin to roll out the dough about ¼ inch thick on a floured surface. Cut out the cookies with your favorite cookie cutter, and place on your greased cookie sheets. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, and let cool on a wire rack. Great for holiday gatherings or gifts!
It’s That Time of The Year to Bake
We all know that the holidays are fast approaching & one of the big things that we normally do this time of the year is get together with our family & friends. Since we all enjoy eating, it seems that everyone likes to eat homemade baked goodies. We usually have cookies, cakes, pies, bars, fresh bread and anything else that comes to mind. Since I enjoy baking myself, I have already started my baking for the holidays – variety of cookies, bars and pies.
I have a huge collection of cook books to select from even though I have my favorites. Every so often I will try a new recipe for a change.
Sweet German Chocolate Cake
1 package (4 oz.) Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate
2 1/3 c. sifted Cake Flour
1 1/2 c. Sugar
1 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Baking Powder
1/2 t. Salt
2/3 c. Butter or Margarine
1 c. Buttermilk
1 t. Vanilla
2 Eggs
Melt chocolate over very low heat; cool. Sift flour with sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir butter in mixer bowl to soften. Add flour mixture, 3/4 c. of buttermilk and the vanilla. Mix to dampen flour; beat 2 minutes at medium speed using one of your electric handheld mixers, scraping bowl occasionally. Add melted chocolate, eggs and remaining buttermilk. Beat 1 minute longer. Pour batter into 3 8-inch layer pans, lined on bottoms with paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 15 minutes; remove from pans and cool on racks. Spread filling on layers and stack.
Coconut Pecan Filling and Frosting:
Combine 1 cup evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar, 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, 1/2 cup butter or margarine and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a saucepan. Cook & stir over medium heat until mixture thickens, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add 1 1/3 cups shredded coconut ad 1 cup chopped pecans. Cool until spreading consistency; beating occasionally.
“A traditional favorite for special occasions and special company“
Is There a Cutting Board In The House
Every kitchen around America has to have a cutting board as one of their main kitchen tools. Before you start cooking your meat, vegetables or fruit, you first have to prepare them by either slicing, chopping or cutting them up. In order to do this, you have to have a cutting board, whether it’s wood, plastic, glass or some other type of cutting board.
Just remember that you should not use the same cutting board to prepare your raw meat, cooked meat, vegetables and any other food due to the bacteria that collects in the groves of the cutting board. Make sure that you sanitize your cutting boards accordingly.
Cathedral Cookies
“This is a great holiday cookie recipe”
1 12-ounce pkg Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 c. Butter
Dash of Salt
2 t. Vanilla
1 c. Chopped Nuts
4 c. miniature colored Marshmellows
Melt chocolate chips & butter slowly over low heat in a stainless steel cookware saucepan. Remove from heat; add salt & vanilla. Let cool till lukewarm; add nuts & marshmellows. Mix well by hand. Sprinkle a piece of wax paper w/ powder sugar, nuts or
coconut. Spread cookie mixture on wax paper & roll into a roll. Chill in refrigerator. Cut in thin slice servings.
Get Dependable Blades
A good ceramic blade is about 50% harder than stainless steel. Thus, ceramic knives have started gaining popularity. The ceramic material is made of heated zirconium oxide. The process is called sintering where ceramic powder particles are bonded together.
High quality ceramic knives won’t need to be re-sharpened for years. Since they’re made of very hard materials, the blades won’t yield to the wear and tear of daily use unlike stainless steel. Ceramic also has no effect on the flavor or appearance of food. Moreover, there will be no transfer of taste or smell between different types of foods.
Baking Pans – What Should We Use
Anyone who bakes or cooks in the kitchen knows how critical it is to have the proper baking pans on hand. We have a variety of kitchen gadgets which include baking pans that come in all different sizes & shapes. Since I bake a lot, I have a variety of different sizes & types of pans which includes round cake pans, 9 X 13 glass or metal rectangular pans, pie pans and other baking pans. Depending on what I plan to bake will determine what type of baking pan I will use.
I have a lot of the old cookware that Tupperware had sold years ago that you can microwave or use in the oven. I don’t remember the name of the type of cookware but I’m sure there are many of you know what I’m talking about. To this day, I use the various pieces to bake cakes, pies, brownies & any other sweets that I want to fix. If I plan to take a sweet dish to a family function, I usually take it in this type of pan since I have the cover that goes along with the pan.
Chocolate Cheese Cake
CRUST:
1 c. Flour
1 1/2 c. Chopped Pecans
1 Stick Butter or Margarine (Melted)
Combine & mix together. Press in bottom of a 9 X 13 glass pan or metal pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
1st LAYER:
1 8 ounce package of Cream Cheese
1 1/2 c. Cool Whip
1 c. Powdered Sugar
Using handheld mixers, mix cream cheese & powdered sugar together; add cool whip & mix together. Spread over cooled baked crust.
2nd LAYER:
1 large & 1 Small box of Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding
4 c. Milk
Mix until thick. Spread over cheese layer. Spread cool whip on top & grate Hersey Bar over top of cool whip if desired. Refrigerate.
Note: I used an 8 ounce & 12 ounce container of Cool Whip