Apple Butter Cake

Faith and I made a trip to the apple orchard last weekend and we came home with a large jar of their apple butter. We all like apple butter during the season, but honestly we eat it a few times and then we are done with it. I guess we really prefer fruit jam on our toast and biscuits (and PB sammies), but like the "idea" of apple butter. I found a cake recipe that uses that wonderful butter to suffuse wonderful spicy flavor into a moist delicious cake. Oh Yum! The recipe (found at allrecipes.com) called for pecans in the streusel, but because of my son's nut allergies, I used an equal amount of old-fashioned oatmeal -- just for some texture. As it turned out he turned his nose up at the oatmeal -- give me a break! The rest of enjoyed it, however, with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

Apple Butter Cake 

 serves 15-20

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1 cup packed brown sugar 

1 t. ground cinnamon 

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used old-fashioned oatmeal) 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 t. baking powder 

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt 

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 cup white sugar 

3/4 cup apple butter 

1 t. vanilla extract 

2 eggs

1/2 cup whole bran cereal or wheat germ (I used wheat germ) 

1 cup sour cream 

  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray or grease 9x13 inch pan. 

Prepare the topping by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and chopped pecans (oatmeal). 

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Blend together butter and sugar; add eggs and beat well. Add apple butter, vanilla, wheat germ or bran cereal. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with sour cream; mix well after each addition.

 Spread 1/2 batter into pan, sprinkle 1/2 the topping over top. Spread remaining batter and top with remaining topping. 

Bake for 40 minutes until tests done with a toothpick.

Source: modified from allrecipes.com

Grocery shopping...revisisted

Back a month or so ago when I posted about how much I hate to grocery shop, a kind reader suggested that I stretch my shopping to every two weeks instead of once a week. Hmmm. I've tried to do a month before, but it took so long to shop with two carts, bring it home and put it away that I was discouraged from doing it again. But two weeks? Maybe I can handle two weeks.

Because I plan my menus, it really isn't that hard to make my grocery list. And besides a few produce items I knew wouldn't last into next week, two weeks worth of food fits in my pantry and two fridges, so why not? Yesterday was the experiment. My son was home because he doesn't have class on Tuesday and so I left my daughter at home with him. You would think I would have brought a kid with me to help, but kids slow me down, and kids make impulse buys. No kids.

I fit everything in my cart (it was very full) and I even bought for my college kid on campus. I realized when I checked out and spent a full $100 less than I normally would for shopping two weeks in a row (one week times two), that I probably spend a lot on "I'll just grab that" items, and shopping once instead of twice really cuts down on that. I think also because I didn't want to push two carts I really only bought what I absolutely needed (except that Snicker's bar!).

I will probably have to get more milk at some point, and I definitely will have to pick up those produce items that won't last, but I'm really happy that I have all the meat (went to the butcher shop on Saturday) and groceries I need for two weeks!

~~~~~~~

And speaking of grocery lists, a couple months ago we talked about grocery list apps. I had a few suggestions, and went ahead and loaded Grocery IQ. It's free and at first I really liked it. I could scan UPC symbols of items I use a lot and keep a list of favorites that transfer to my weekly grocery list at the touch of the screen.

But two things drive me nuts about it. First, it freezes all the time. It might only be for ten seconds, but when you are trying to do something quickly (aren't we all always trying to do something quickly?), and the device freezes for ten seconds every few minutes, it's very frustrating.

The other thing is, the app is loaded with all sorts of brand names that I don't use. Because each list is divided into sections of the grocery store -- canned goods, dairy, fruits and vegetables, if it doesn't recognize your input, it puts it in "other." Because I shop in a discount grocery store and many of the brands are unknown to Grocery IQ, a lot of my items go into "other" and then I have to change them manually to the section the item is in. If it was just one or two items, I wouldn't mind, but it ends up being a lot of items. That is probably confusing if you've never used this app, but suffice it to say it takes longer to make a grocery list than it should.

I also thought since my college son could load it on his Droid that our lists would interface, but they don't. He can only email the list and then I have to manually put the items on my list.

So, back to the drawing board and I'll try another of the suggestions I originally got.

Peach Crumb Bars

About midway through the month of August I stopped by a local orchard and bought myself a couple pecks of peaches, one to eat and one to bake with. The peach I bought to bake with were seconds -- not perfectly shaped, but perfectly usable. They were white peaches, which are not quite as "peachy" as the old-fashioned peaches, but they were mighty tasty in these Peach Crumb Bars. This was a simple recipe, quick to put together, and they were a wonderful treat. I sent the leftovers to work with Doug so I wouldn;t be tempted to eat the whole pan by myself.

The recipe came from Brown-Eyed Baker and the only change I made was to omit the spices. Because the peaches were so mild I didn't want to over power them.

Peach Crumb Bars

24 bars

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3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
1 egg, lightly beaten

5 cups diced or sliced peaches (about 7 peaches, peeled)
2 T. lemon juice
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (I did not use)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (I did not use)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.

in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter, and then the egg. The dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the prepared pan. Place the pan and the remainder of the dough in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

Place the diced (or sliced) peaches in a large bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix gently. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and spices, if using. Pour over the peaches and mix gently.

Spread the peach mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the peach layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Source: Brown-Eyed Baker

On my honor

Yesterday for dinner I prepared a Rachael Ray dish -- Pasta Carbonara with Corn and Chiles. Sounds good doesn't it? I think it might have been, if someone else had prepared it.

I just don't do pasta very well, I think. I can cook the noodles, and make the sauce, but it's the combining of the two that is really apparently very difficult for me.

In this dish you are supposed to add the pasta and the eggy pasta water at the same time and toss quickly "to form a silky sauce, 1-2 minutes."

Mmmmm, not happening.

After about 30 seconds of tossing I had corn and bacon pieces flying every where, and my eggy water had pretty much dried up. Not exactly the scrambled eggs I always fear in this dish, but definitely not " a silky sauce."

The flavor was good, but it was dry, and unlike me, my family does not eat dry pasta. They like it really saucy.

I vow to never again create a pasta dish that needs to be tossed. Really. I do. And for a while (like a couple months) I vow to not try any new dishes that aren't guaranteed to be yummy and foolproof.

On my honor.

Triple Layer Cheesecake

These photos have been sitting on my desktop for a month now, since my son's birthday in August. Everytime I sit down at the computer they are a reminder of its yumminess. ;-)

I love cheesecake and so do all of the members of my family, but I always forget just how very easy it is to make. It's easier than pie because there is no bothersome crust to fuss with, and in many ways easier than cake -- no fussy frosting after it cools. Simple ingredients and great awe factor!

For his 15th birthday last month my son asked for a triple layer cheesecake. He wanted a super duper chocolate layer, a medium chocolate layer, and a vanilla layer. It sounded complicated, and truly until I was in the midst of it, I thought it would be. But the layers are dense -- especially the bottom one, so they don't run into each other at all. I made the base of the cheesecake and then added different quantities of melted chocolate to two of them, giving me the three layers.

Noah requested a graham cracker crumb crust, but this would be just as good (and more chocolatey!) with chocolate cookie crust. I added a little bit of cocoa for some chocolate flavor.

Triple Layer Cheesecake

serves 12-14  

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1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 cup 

melted butter 

3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened 

 3/4 cup sugar 

4 eggs 

1/4 cup heavy cream

 2 t. vanilla extract

 pinch salt 
1 T. flour

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) bittersweet, or extra dark, chocolate chips, divided 

1 t. shortening

You'll need a 9" springform pan and a portable or stand mixer.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and cocoa. Stir until combined. Add butter and mix until mixture resembles sand. (If you crush the crackers in the food processor just add the other ingredients one at a time until you have the sandy mixture)

Pour into 9" springform pan and press against bottom and about 

1-1/2 inches up the side. I use the flat bottom of a glass for good compression.

Set crust aside.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until very smooth. Gradually beat in eggs, heavy cream, vanilla and salt, beating until well blended; set aside.


Saving 2 tablespoons of the chocolate chips, place remaining chips in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds on high. Stir. Continue to microwave on high for 30 seconds, stirring after each period, until chips are melted. It should take about 1 min 30 sec.

Cool for several minutes.

Gradually blend 1/3 of the cheesecake batter into melted chocolate. Spread 3/4 of that mixture into the prepared crust (just a rough guess -- not science).

Add another 1/3 of the base into the chocolatey base remaining in the bowl. Carefully spoon it over the first layer.

Add 1 T. flour to the remaining vanilla base, mixing well, and then carefully spread it over the second layer.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from oven to wire rack. With knife, immediately loosen cake from side of pan. Cool to room temperature.

Place reserved 2 T. chocolate chips and shortening in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at until melted.  Drizzle over top of cheesecake. Cover; refrigerate several hours until cold.

Leftover buns

For some reason I have been finding myself with lots of leftover buns lately. Hot dog, hamburger, sub buns -- we're using about half of what I buy and the rest is going uneaten. Must be mismatched numbers of eaters and buns is all I can think. I don't like freezing them because they are never as good after they thaw. Besides feeding the ducks (and they should really eat cracked corn instead) I came up with a few uses for all my leftover buns. What do you do with yours?


Fresh bread crumbs -- just throw the bread/bun into the food processor and give a whirl. Place the fresh crumbs in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer until you make a meatloaf or meatballs.

Toasted bread crumbs -- put the bread in a 300 degree oven until it's completely dry and then do the same as you would with fresh crumbs. 

Make a delicious bread pudding for dessert.

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My brother John's Ginormous Double Chocolate Cookies

Over Labor Day weekend we had a family gathering at our house and my brother John promised he would bring his latest culinary invention -- 1/2 pound chocolate cookies. My brother is a perfectionist when is comes to cooking, so he tries a recipe and tries it again until he gets it perfect. These cookies are pretty near perfect if you ask me, but if you're not a chocaholic, they might be just a little too much cookie for you.

Am I baiting you? Maybe  ;-)

Really, I couldn't even eat a whole cookie at one sitting -- not even a half, so they really are a lot of cookie. But if you have the need, these cookies definitely fit the bill. One recipe would make a whole batch of cookies, but with this recipe you divide the dough up into six or seven giant balls and end up with six or seven half-pound cookies. The texture is wonderful -- soft and chewy but not gooey. They would be a great addition to a tailgate party or home football party -- even if you had to cut them in quarters to give them away.

My brother's notes are in italics.

John's Ginormous Double Chocolate Cookies

 3 cups flour

1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1 T. corn starch
1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar (I use dark but it can be either)
2 eggs
1 cup butter
1 t. kahlua

2 cups quality chocolate chunks (I use Graeter's dark chocolate)

In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients.  (I didn't sift, just made sure they were well mixed)

In a separate bowl cream butter with the sugars.  Add eggs and kahlua, and mix.

Slowly mix in the flour mixture.  (I did it about a cup at a time).  This is a very heavy dough.

Stir in 2 cups of chocolate chunks.

Bake (on a parchment paper covered pan -- extra large cookie sheet) in preheated oven at 375 for 8 minutes.  

Without opening oven door turn temperature down to 325 and bake an additional 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on sheet for 10 minutes. 

NOTE: When placing the dough on the cookie sheet I go with 6 at a time.  I make them somewhere around tennis ball sized, maybe a touch smaller.  I've never weighed them but I would go with somewhere between 6 - 8oz each. 

Grocery shopping

Just curious today....when do you do your grocery shopping?

I used to get up bright and early on Saturday and get it done. Sometimes grocery shopping involves two grocery stores and I would not get home until almost lunch time. It took a lot of my day and the worst part was when I got home, the house was usually a mess because no one did anything while I was gone. So then, I was faced with groceries to put away and a mess to clean, or direct the cleaning of. It wasn't a good start to the weekend.

Lately I have been shopping on Friday night. During the fall, or more specifically high school football season, Doug and at least one of the boys take off on Friday evening to a game. That leaves Faith and I to head to the store, which is o.k., but still not great. On Friday evening, I'm pretty wiped out, and I could find about 600 things I'd rather do that grocery shop, followed by unloading and putting groceries away.

But that really is the crux of my problem, at any given time I can find 600 things I'd rather do that grocery shop. I just don't like grocery shopping.

So, my question is, when do you do it? How do you make it a more enjoyable task, or is that just not possible?

;-)

Bacon pancakes

That one in the middle needed more time.

My friend Jamie sent me a photo a while back -- this one below from an old Aunt Jemima ad. I guess she thought it looked like a dish I might make. Hopefully it wasn't because I remind her of bacon. ;-)

I showed the picture to my kids and they almost died at the possibility -- two of the most wonderful things ever, bacon and pancakes, together in one dish.

It didn't take long for me to try it -- I used breakfast for dinner as the opportunity. They thoroughly enjoyed them, and so did my husband. The salty, smoky bacon with the sweet, soft pancakes were so yum! I wouldn't do it all the time, because it is a lot of bacon, and thus a lot of fat, but an occasional treat would be fine.

I'm not going to post a recipe, because if you have a recipe for pancakes, you really don't need a recipe, but I will tell you what I did.

I made this batter for Buttermilk Pancakes. It's a pretty thick batter, so you might have to add extra buttermilk if it's too gloppy.

In the meantime I had bacon cooking in the microwave. If you normally cook bacon on the stove, you can use that method, but doing it the microwave way cuts down on the fat and the slices are cooked nice and flat so they work better overall. I got them fairly crisp so they would be easy to cut with a fork -- if they are too chewy I don't think you could cut through the pancake very easily. When the bacon is done remove it from the paper towels and place it on a platter, saving the greasy paper towels for greasing the griddle.

When the bacon was cooked to my liking and the batter was ready, I heated up my griddle. I use a Lodge cast iron griddle for pancakes, but any pan will do, a well-seasoned cast iron or non-stick. A griddle is not necessary but it made it easy to make several cakes at the same time.

I used a greasy paper towel from the bacon to smear grease all over the hot griddle. I placed several strips of bacon on the griddle, leaving room in between for the batter to spread a little. Then, with a spouted measuring cup I poured my batter on top of the bacon from one end to the other. I let it cook until bubbles appeared around the edges, and then flipped. I cooked them until they were completely done and them removed them from the griddle to a warming platter.

I served them with butter, syrup, and fresh fruit and milk -- for a complete breakfast!