Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I know it's not quite the right season for this recipe, but I thought I'd go ahead and share it anyway. We were given a huge white pumpkin last week. One of my favorite parts about fresh pumpkins is roasting the seeds. Here's how you do it:

Take your seeds out of your pumpkin and put them in a bowl of water for a little while. This makes it a little easier to separate the pumpkin membrane from the seeds and washes off your seeds. Drain them & rinse them (getting as much of non-seed off as possible). Pat them dry.

Melt a tablespoon of butter and stir it into the seeds, giving them a nice tasty coating.

Spread the pumpkin seeds out on a lightly greased cookie sheet and sprinkle them with salt. Roast at 300F degrees until they're golden brown. It may take an hour. Stir them once or twice while baking.

Enjoy!

Cobbler

The summer fruit is here: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, etc...! This cobbler is an easy & delicious way to use them. Recently, my 7yr old son collected blackberries from our woods and he and one of his big sisters made a cobbler with them for Father's Day.

Here's how ya do it:

Ingredients:

1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup Bisquick*
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 cups fruit

Melt the butter and put it in a 9x13" pan. Stir together the Bisquick, sugar & milk and pour it into the pan. Sprinkle the berries or whatever fruit you're using evenly over the top. Don't try to push the fruit down into the batter. Bake at 350F until the top is golden. Enjoy with vanilla ice cream!

*If you don't have Bisquick, you can use 1 cup all-purpose flour mixed with 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt in its place.

Strawberry Shortbread Bites

The strawberries in the garden are still coming in! My girl Sugar Baby whipped up a batch of shortbread yesterday & just as it came out of the oven, one of the boys brought in another bowl of strawberries. I looked at the shortbread & I looked at the strawberries & the wheels started turning... there was cream cheese in the fridge... we could do some kind of fruit pizza! So eventually we ended up with these cute little delicious bites.

For the shortbread:
5 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of butter, cut into little pieces (yes, that IS a lot of butter!)

Combine all of the ingredients until it forms a dough. A mixer with a paddle attachment works well for this. Press it into a greased 15x10" pan & prick all over with a fork. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes or until set in the middle. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then cut into 1 1/2" (approximately) squares. Leave in the pan & let cool all the way.

For the cream cheese part:
2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat the 3 ingredients together until smooth.

Place a dollup - about a tablespoon - of cream cheese on each shortbread square. Top with a strawberry slice - or even a whole berry if they are small.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I love these cupcakes! They have real strawberries in them and are moist and perfectly paired with a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting.Ingredients:

1 cup of thoroughly squashed strawberries
3 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp strawberry extract
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs

Cream the butter & sugar. Gradually beat in the eggs and extracts. Combine the flour, baking powder & salt in another bowl. Stir the milk & strawberries into the butter mixture and then stir in the dry ingredients until everything is combined.

Fill the muffin liners 2/3 full - this batter doesn't rise very much. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool before frosting.

Makes about 4 dozen cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 cups of powdered sugar

Thoroughly beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy and no lumps remain. Beat in the remaining ingredients, adding enough sugar to get the consistency you want. (For piping, add more, for spreading, add less...)

Frost your cooled cupcakes and try not to eat them all at one time! If you do have some left, store them in the fridge. :)

Strawberry Trifle

Our strawberries have ripened and this dessert is one of our favorite ways to use them! It is simple, elegant and DEElicious!

Ingredients:

about 4 cups sliced strawberries
2 boxes cheesecake pudding, prepared according to package
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
about 4 cups cake, cut into chunks (I used leftover cupcakes)


Sprinkle about 2 tsp of sugar over the strawberries and set them aside. This will allow them to make a little yummy syrup. Go ahead and make the pudding now, if you haven't.

Whip the cream until peaks form, gradually adding the 1/4 cup of sugar while whipping.

Layer in this order:

1/2 of the cake chunks
1/2 of the strawberries (drizzling their juice over the cake and placing some of the prettier slices against the side of the bowl)
1/2 the pudding
1/2 the whipped cream

Repeat & top with a whole strawberry. Chill for several hours before serving. Makes about 12 servings.

Note 1: A crushed pineapple layer also tastes good. And blueberries. And bananas. And...

Note 2: You can use any kind of cake - sponge, angel food, chocolate, or even Twinkies!

Sugar Cookies

I just love Christmas baking, and in case I haven't posted enough sugary recipes here lately, here's another one...

This is another slightly altered allrecipes recipe. I love the flavor of these cookies. If you roll them out a little thick (1/2") they are just soft enough without being cakey. Thinner and they will be a bit crispier, but still tasty. The flavor is sweet, but not too sweet, which is important because most of my decorators like to really pile on the icing & sprinkles!

This is important & will save you lots of mess: instead of rolling the cookies out on a floured surface, I have found it much easier to roll them out on floured parchment paper and transfer the paper to pans for baking. The dough is rather sticky and may bunch up or tear if you try to transfer it with a spatula.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Overnight Caramel Sticky Buns

This recipe came from allrecipes.com. The buns are so sticky, gooey and delicious [how could they be otherwise, with all that butter & sugar?] and make a great special breakfast (i.e. Christmas!). The best part is that you do all the work the night before, so that in the morning all that is left is to stick them in the oven. I changed the recipe to double the caramel goo, because they weren't quite gooey enough for me.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups milk
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg
• 7 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 cup pecan halves
• 
  
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine yeast mixture, milk, sugar, oil, baking powder, salt, egg and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Heat brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter until melted. Remove from heat; stir in corn syrup. Divide mixture between two 9x13 inch baking pans. Sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans in each pan.
4. When dough has doubled in size, punch down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a large rectangle and spread with butter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Starting with the long side, roll up the rectangle into a log, and slice into 1 inch wide rolls. Place the rolls slightly apart in pans. Wrap pans with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least 12 hours but no longer than 48.
5. Remove rolls from refrigerator and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
6. Bake uncovered in preheated oven until golden 30 to 35 minutes. Immediately invert pan on heatproof serving plate. Wait for 1 or 2 minutes before removing pan, so that caramel drizzles over rolls.

Gingerbread

Every year for the past 4 (I think!) we have made gingerbread houses. It is a lot of fun & is something the kids talk about and look forward to all year. I got this recipe from friends who make incredible gingerbread constructions (Noah's ark, lighthouses, etc...) every year. It is very dependable and makes yummy cookies, too.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup shortening
7 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine first four ingredients. Stir in the remaining ingredients until well blended. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. (I've even made the dough up to a week ahead of time.)

Heat oven to 350F. Roll dough 1/4" thick on floured surface. Cut with floured cookie cutter or knife or pizza wheel, etc...Place about 1" apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake until no indentation remains when touched, about 10-12 minutes. Cool before using for construction.

For icing glue, beat together 4 egg whites and 4 cups of powdered sugar until smooth. If you're building houses, you may need to support the structures (canned vegetables work well for this) until the icing hardens.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love Fall... leaves rustling, candles burning, goodies baking... and pumpkins, lots of pumpkins...

These muffins are so moist & yummy, and even the pumpkin flavor-haters in my family will eat them.

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cups pumpkin (I used a 15oz can)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine the sugar, butter, pumpkin & eggs. Stir in the dry ingredients. Bake in a greased muffin tin (or use liners) at 400F until springy to the touch. Makes 4 dozen mini-muffins.

Hint: I have found that my kids are far more likely to try new muffins if I make them mini. Of course, chocolate chips help too. :)