Lemon Cranberry Bundt Cake (half whole wheat)

Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Truffles

Lion House Rolls

Grandma Vance's Fudge

When I was younger, one of the things I looked forward to most at Christmastime was my Grandma's fudge. It was heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth fudge. It is the fudge recipe I now make for my family at Christmas, and although it never tastes quite as good when Grandma made it, it is pretty amazing (and pretty simple!)

Grandma's Vance's Fudge

4 cups sugar
2 12oz. packages of chocolate chips, one semi-sweet, one milk chocolate (you can use two semi-sweet's but do NOT use two milk chocolates!)
2 cubes of butter sliced in pieces
1 12oz. can evaporated milk
1 15oz. jar marshmallow fluff/creme
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts

Prepare a 9x13 pan by lining with parchment paper. You can also grease the pan really well, but parchment paper makes it much easier to lift out and slice.

Combine milk and sugar in a large pot (the milk froths up and will boil over if you don't use a large enough pot). Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Boil for 7-8 minutes.

In a large bowl add chocolate chips, butter, marshmallow creme, nuts & vanilla. Pour hot mixture over ingredients in bowl and mix well.

Pour into parchment lined 9x13” pan and let sit for 3 days at room temperature, then chill in fridge until firm. Slice into squares.

*I rarely have the patience to let the fudge sit for three days. It does taste better when I am patient, but I usually just put it in the fridge overnight, then it's ready to slice and eat.

Pumpkin Bars!

Pumpkin Bars
2 cups flour (I use one cup whole wheat flour)
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup oil (I use 1 cube (cup) melted butter and 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
16 oz. (2 cups) pumpkin (I prefer fresh pumpkin or butternut squash)
4 eggs
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8oz cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
lemon juice (I like to juice a whole lemon)
milk to thin (1 to 2 Tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients, pour into 13x9x2 greased pan. Bake 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Cool completely.
*For tips on cooking fresh pumpkin or butternut squash see this post.
*This makes a very thick pumpkin bar which is perfect for feeding a crowd (I half the recipe if I'm not sharing).

Prepare cream cheese icing by whipping softened cream cheese with butter and vanilla until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar until smooth. Add lemon juice to taste. Stir in milk to thin frosting to spreading consistency. Frost bars and serve!

Rainbow Pancakes

In honor of St. Patrick's Day we made rainbow pancakes. It's super easy and the kids just love it.

Simply mix up your favorite pancake mix, set out bowls for each color, pour enough for one pancake into each bowl, add food coloring and mix!

Just be sure not to let the pancakes brown- cook at a slightly lower temperature than you normally would and use cooking spray instead of butter on the pan. Aunt Jemima never looked so good!

        

Cranberry Cream Cheese Salad

This is my new favorite fruit salad. I'd never had it until last Thanksgiving when we ate with Anthony's relatives here in Kentucky. I don't know how I have been deprived of this for so many years, I think I enjoyed it more than the pie! I really recommend you use real cranberries here, your kids with thank you for not torturing them with the jelled kind. Also, the first time I made this I wasn't brave enough to try sour cream, so I used cool whip instead. It tasted good, but after trying both I prefer the sour cream (if you're going low-fat for everyday eating then you can use cool whip, for Thanksgiving or Christmas use the sour cream).

Salad:
1 package whole cranberries
1 1/2 cups boiling water

2 small packages raspberry jello (can also use strawberry)

1 20oz can crushed pineapple with juice

1/2 cup sugar

Topping:

1 cup pecans

2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups sour cream (you could also use cool whip)

Cook cranberries according to package directions (boil water and sugar until cranberries pop). Drain. Boil water for jello. Stir water and jello in large bowl and mix until dissolved. Stir in cooked cranberries, pineaple (with juice) and 1/2 cup sugar. Pour into large 9x13 dish.

In a small bowl beat cream cheese and powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Stir in sour cream. Spread over cranberry salad and top with pecans. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. YUM!

Deep Dish Apple Pie

When I saw Grandma Ople's apple pie on Allrecipes had over 4,000 ratings, I knew it was a keeper. Here is the recipe with modifications. You can't go wrong with this one!

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

1/2 cup butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

6-8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced (I also like macintosh)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

Place the bottom crust in your pan. Mix apples with 2/3 of cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour apples into pie crust, piled high.

Cover with a lattice work of crust. I roll mine out into a rectangle and cut with a pizza roller, pretty simple! Gently pour the remaining sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft

*I pre-bake my crust at 425 for 8 minutes before I add my apples so that it doesn't get soggy, you could brush it with egg whites instead.

Lemon Meringue Pie

It's just not Thanksgiving without a piece of lemon meringe pie! 

1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced & zested (about 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks, beaten

1 9" pie crust baked

4 egg whites

6 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350. To make lemon filling, mix sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter.

Mix about 1/2 cup of hot mixture into the egg yolks, beat and stir back into saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue to cook until thick (about a minute). Be sure to continue to stir or the sugar will burn on the bottom of the pan.  Pour filling into baked pastry shell.

In large glass or copper bowl whip egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over warm pie, sealing the edges at the crust. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until meringue is golden brown. Cool completely.

Pecan Pie- no corn syrup!

I have always loved pecan pie but the sweetness almost made me sick. I've since discovered pecan pie without corn syrup is so much better and is still sweet but not over the top. Allrecipes has the best pie recipes and this one is pretty good and about the easiest pie you could make.

1 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

1 pie crust recipe (http://ldsbaker.blogspot.com/2010/11/pie-crust.html)

Preheat oven to 400. In medium bowl beat eggs, sugar, butter and flour until well mixed. Stir in milk, vanilla and nuts. Pour into unbaked 9" pie shell and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees and bake for another 40-50 minutes or just until top starts to crack. Cool and serve!

All Butter Pie Crust

Pies are one thing I will not eat from the store. They just can't even compare to homemade, especially the crust. Homemade pie crust is so simple to make and tastes so much better. This recipe is for a 2-crust pie, if you're only making one you can half it, or if you're making more double it- I doubled mine and made 4 pies plus a lattice top and still had enough left over for mini pies or another lattice top.

King Arthur Flour 2 crust Pie Dough 

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter (2 cubes)

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Mix flour and salt. Work in crisco with a pastry blender (or mix in a food processor) until resembles fine crumbs. Slowly add water in, mixing until mixture starts to stick together. Then you need to mix with your hands. It's just like making tortillas, you can feel when it's done- you do not want it to be too wet- it should be soft, not sticky. Just keep kneading and adding water until the dough is soft, do not over-knead.

Sprinkle some flour and roll dough out. I love my marble rolling pin for starting the crust, but the pizza roller works best for forming into a perfect circle. Make the crust 3 or more inches larger than your pie plate. I roll on a pastry sheet and then simply invert over the pie pan. Trim the crust 1/4 inch if you're doing a pinched crust or trim along the pan line if you're doing a simple pressed fork crust. This website has some great tips: http://whatscookingamerica.net/piecrsthint.htm 

Pie crust is really so simple, if you tear it or are short on one end, simply roll another small piece and push it on top and smooth it in, you really can't mess this up! If you need to bake crust without filling, prick with fork all around crust then bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

  

Asparagus Scalloped Potatoes & Honey Glazed Ham

It's been a busy week! I'm finally getting around to posting the rest of what I made for Easter, but better late than never I suppose. Simple honey glazed ham and this yummy potato asparagus casserole was a big hit.

Honey Glazed Ham

Whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 325. Slice ham into thin slices and stud with whole cloves. Bring all other ingredients to a boil. Pour glaze over ham, between each slice. Cover with tin foil. Bake according to directions on package (about an hour). Every 15-20 minutes baste glaze on top of ham to keep it moist. During the last 4-5 minutes turn oven to broil, baste top with glaze and broil to carmelize the glaze.

Asparagus Scalloped Potatoes

1 cup chopped cooked ham

1 bundle fresh asparagus spears cut into pieces

5-6 medium potatoes thinly sliced (could use hash brown potatoes)

1/2 onion chopped

2 cups shredded cheese

5 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

Salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Thinly slice potatoes and chop ham, onion and asparagus, grate cheese. Beat eggs with milk. Layer in casserole dish potatoes, onion, ham, egg, salt, pepper, cheese and asparagus. Bake for 35 minutes. 

Mix bread crumbs with butter. Sprinkle over casserole and bake for 25-30 minutes longer or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Molten Chocolate Cakes & Chocolate Filigree Hearts

What better Valentine's Day dessert than this warm gooey chocolate cake? Make it even more romantic with these adorable chocolate filigree hearts! I recommend serving it with something yummy like praline sauce or sugared raspberries, you can also put a caramel candy in the center before baking. These babies even taste great cold the next day (if you're lucky enough to have any leftover!)

Molten Chocolate Cakes
Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine

8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, or bars, cut into bite-size chunks
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar (granulated or powdered)

1/3 cup flour

Praline Sauce
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions

1.Melt butter and chocolate in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds to avoid burning. Beat eggs and sugar until sugar dissolves. Beat egg mixture into chocolate until smooth. Beat in flour until just combined. (Batter can be made a day ahead)

2.Heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter 6-8 cups individual ramekins, dust with granulated sugar (or cocoa powder). Divide batter among muffin cups.

3.Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until batter puffs but center is not set, 8 to 10 minutes. Allow cakes to cool 10 minutes. To serve, turn out cakes, and place on serving plates, bottom sides up. Dust with confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder, and serve with fresh whipped cream and/or fresh fruit, or praline sauce!

Praline Sauce
In small saucepan, combine butter, pecans, sugar and whipping cream. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook about 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened. *Makes enough sauce for two batches of cakes or serve over ice cream.

Chocolate Filigree Hearts

1. Melt chocolate in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Allow to cool slightly. 

2. Scoop melted chocolate into ziploc baggie and snip the corner (or use pastry bag)

3. Pipe hearts onto parchment paper (or tin foil sprayed with oil) connecting loops together so it will not break when removed from paper
4. Freeze until firm, remove from paper and adorn your favorite dessert!

*Chocolate Heart Filigree from Martha Stewart Living