Mocha Fudge Pie

I made this pie for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It was so delicious that I made it again 2 days ago. It's just about gone. It is that good. And so easy.

Mocha Fudge Pie

6 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 can sweetened condensed milk (this is not as disgusting as it sounds -- it is simply mil & sugar)
1/3 cup water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp instant coffee
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup walnut or pecan pieces
1 tsp vanilla

1 unbaked pie shell (I made my own regular old crust, but I think this would be good with a graham cracker crust too)

Melt the butter in a saucepan. While still on a low flame, stir in cocoa until dissolved. Stir in sweetened condensed milk, eggs, instant coffee dissolved in the 1/3 cup water and the chocolate chips. Whisk until completely blended and the chips have melted. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour into pie crust.

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes.

This is such a rich pie that I recommend slim slices! I tried to capture the density of this pie in the photo, but I wasn't very successful.

Nut Bar Cookies

I've been making these cookies for about a year. My friend Christine gave me the recipe and it is ridiculously simple. She was going gluten free and these cookies satisfied the need that she often felt for traditional cookies. Me? I just think they're delicious and have no plans to go gluten free.

Nut Bar Cookies

2 cups almond meal/flour *
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg

Mix all of the above in a bowl until well combined. It will seem like 1 egg is not enough "wet" to incorporate all the "dry", but just keep mixing. It will happen.

Press into a very well greased 11 x 7 pan. If you don't have that size pan, you can use a square pan. It may take a few more minutes to cook.

Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes. At this point, you need to carefully cut the bars into the size desired. But be very careful to NOT try to remove the bars from the pan. That can only be done after it is completely cool.

Fresh from the oven and cut into small squares.

Cut and ready to be eaten!

Almond flour or almond meal is readily available, usually in the health food section of your grocery store. I often make this recipe with other nut flours. The cookies in these photos were made with a combination of hazelnut flour and pistachio flour, hence the green tint.

I found a great source for these alternative flours at nuts.com I've purchased yummy pecan meal in addition to the almond, hazelnut and pistachio. I find that I prefer the cookies with one type of flour, as opposed to combining as I did in this particular batch. While you're shopping there, have a look at their dried fruits too.

The Best Bran Muffins . Ever

I've been making these bran muffins for over 15 years.  I worked on the recipe for a few years before I got it just the way I wanted it.  The truth is, it is a conglomeration of several recipes, with enough changes that I feel I can call it Mine.

Vicki's Bran Muffins

1 egg
3/4 cup milk (I use 1 %)
1/2 cup oil
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups All Bran cereal (that's the one that looks like twigs)
1/3 cup honey
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup raisins

Pour the milk on the cereal and let sit 1 - 2 minutes. Beat the egg with the oil, then add the milk/cereal mixture.  Stir to blend.  Add the honey, flour and baking powder, stirring just until moistened.  Stir in the raisins.  Spoon into 12 muffin cups, lined with papers.  Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

This etsy shop has some really cute cupcake liners: Cupcake Social

Happy baking!

Cherry Plum Crisp

So, I had a bowl full of cherries and a few very ripe plums.  What to do, what to do.  A crisp!  I haven't made a fruit crisp in ages -- obviously a long overdue dessert.

Cherry Plum Crisp

Fruit Layer
4 cups of fruit (I used about 3 cups of pitted cherries, halved and 1 cup of chopped plums)
  (I think this recipe could have benefited from another cup or 2 of fruit)
1 1/2 TBSP brown sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon (I completely forgot this)

Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 TBSP chopped walnuts
1 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP melted butter

Combine all of the fruit layer ingredients and turn into a greased 9"x9" baking pan.  Combine topping ingredients until well mixed.  Bake at 375  for 30-45 minutes.  Keep an eye on this so as not to burn the oatmeal.  Of course, this is best served topped with vanilla ice cream. 

Two notes about this recipe:

I adapted in from my favorite apple crisp recipe, so feel free to substitute any fruit for the cherries/plums.
The oat topping will be chewy, but I like that kind of texture.  If you don't, you may want to either grind up the oats, use the quick cooking type or pre-cook them.

Lemon Layer Cake

Last week was Rick's birthday -- I'm married to an old geezer -- he turned 60! --  and he requested a lemon cake.  I scoured my recipe collection, as activity I thoroughly enjoy.  As a matter of fact, I think I enjoy that more than the actual baking.  Anyway, I found a recipe for an orange cake that looked exactly like what I was looking for, except it was orange flavored instead of lemon.


I knew I would probably need to add some additional sugar, because lemon juice is much more tart than orange juice.  Bottom line: I didn't add enough extra sugar.  Rick loved this cake, but it was a tad too tart for me.

I baked two layers and split them.  The filling (the part that needed a bit more sugar) is similar to the filling you would find in a lemon meringue pie.  I used it between each of the layers and on top.  The frosting, which was only applied to the outside, is a simple lemon enhanced butter cream.

It was definitely a pretty cake!

Fruitcake!

No, I'm not talking about me ... or my husband, silly.  I'm talking about real homemade fruitcake.  I know what you're thinking -- nobody really likes fruitcake.  Well, this one is the exception.  It's moist, tasty and full of chunky goodness.  This recipe comes from my (first) mother-in-law, who was a fabulous cook and baker.

The photo is  not a particularly good one, but I wanted to show you that it has no disgusting green and red candied cherries in it. :)

Theresa's Fruitcake

1 cup oil
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup orange juice
5 cups mixed fruits (I used i cup each of candied orange peel, candied lemon peel, figs, dates, raisins.  I think dried cranberries would be an interesting addition if you don't like the candied peels)
3 cups chopped nuts (I used 1 cup each of walnuts, pecans and almonds)

Combine oil, eggs and brown sugar.  Beat for 2 minutes until smooth.  Stir in 2 cups of the flour, baking powder and spices (feel free to make substitutions here too -- if you don't like allspice, just omit it) alternately with the orange juice.  Mix remaining flour with the fruits and nuts.  Mix into the batter.

Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.  Place a pan of water on the lower oven rack (I'm not sure what affect this would have, but I did it anyway).  Bake at 275 for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  Let stand 15 minutes before removing from pans.  Then cool on wire rack. 

At this point, I wrapped one of the loaves in foil for immediate consumption.  The other loaf has been wrapped in cheesecloth that we soaked in Drambuie (because we didn't have any brandy on hand).  Then it was wrapped in foil and refrigerated.  I'll let you know how that one fared sometime in December!

Butter Cakes

It should be no surprise to you that I enjoy cooking and baking.  This has been true for most of my adult life.  Recently, while going through one of my recipe boxes (I'm very organized with recipes I've collected), looking for a simple cake recipe, I found  -- way in the back -- a folded up article from Cuisine Magazine dated September 1982.

While still living in upstate New York, I have a fairly clear memory of spending many evenings going through piles of Cuisine, Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines copying and/or cutting out recipes.  This was done in 1988 in preparation for moving on board our sailboat, where there would be no room for piles of said magazines.

Apparently this article, entitled Butter Cakes, a Classic Collection, really spoke to me.  I know for a fact that I've never made any of the recipes in this article.  I don't even think I had ever unfolded it.  Until now.  And wow, am I glad I did.

I made the Chocolate and Vanilla Butter Cake and we are both thrilled with the results.  I plan to make the Fresh Coconut Butter Cake for company today.  If you would like any of the recipes, let me know and I'll email you a copy.

The chocolate glaze looks grainy in this photo, but it was not.

Lemon Tea Bread

I bought a big bag of lemons at Costco the other day, without any specific plans to use them.  Silly me.  They don't keep all that well, so I've been doing some serious lemon-recipe-hunting the past few days.

Here's an old favorite from a great cookbook, Coffee Cakes & Quick Breads by Renny Darling.  Click the photo to go directly to the listing on Amazon.

Sour Cream Lemon Tea Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 lemon, grated, about 3 TBSP (use the fruit, juice and peel.  Remove large pieces of membrane)
  (I cut the lemon up into about 8 pieces and put it in the blender for a few seconds. So much easier than    grating)
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup chopped pecans ( I substituted almonds)

Beat together first 5 ingredients until blended.  Combine and add the next 3 ingredients and stir until dry ingredients are just moistened.  Do not overmix.  (don't you just love simple instructions like those?)

Divide batter between 4 greased mini loaf pans.  Bake at 325 for 45-50 minutes.  Cool in pans for 15 minutes then remove from pans and continue to cool on a rack. 

Drizzle with lemon glaze:
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 cup sifted powdered sugar.

Stir together until blended.

Here's what the lemon looks like when I'm done blending.  It's an aerial view from above the blender.

I know you want one of these pans for yourself.  It's from Pampered Chef and I love it.  So does Rick :)

And the finished products, cooling:

Mexican Brownies

We had some friends over for dinner over the weekend. I had not seen these friends in a long time and wanted to spend plenty of time with them. That meant making a meal that required little fuss. I put a huge pork roast in the oven early in the afternoon and prepared (with help from Rick) a butternut squash and potato gratin. Those things basically cooked themselves while we chatted with our friends over wine and smoked salmon spread on crackers.

Early in the day I made a batch of Mexican brownies. Here's the easy-peasy recipe:

1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 TBS cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts

Stir into the melted butter, the sugar, flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, milk and vanilla until well combined. Stir in walnuts. Spread in greased 13 x 9 pan. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

For the frosting: in a heavy saucepan, melt 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 can (14 oz) of sweetened condensed milk, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Spread on hot brownies.

I served these with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream -- a make-your-own sundae dessert! It was a big hit.

The Best Chocolate Cake

I know, everyone thinks they have the best chocolate cake recipe ever devised. The truth is that this one really is the best (stop laughing, Patty). This is Rick's absolute favorite thing I've ever created in the kitchen. The photo on the right shows just how dense and moist this cake is. Here goes.

1 cup cocoa powder (for this recipe, I splurge and use Dutch process cocoa)
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
3 sticks unsalted butter
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 eggs (yes, 5)
1 cup buttermilk (I mix 2 tablespoons lemon juice with milk to make 1 cup)
1/4 cup water

An electric mixer makes this cake a snap, so if you have one, use it!

Cream the butter until fluffy.
Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
Mix in the dry ingredients alternating with the liquids.
Beat until super smooth.
Pour into buttered bundt pan.
Bake in preheated 325 oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes (check it at this point to see if it needs 10 more minutes)

A Day for Baking

Rick decided to redeem one of his Christmas coupons the other day. I love to bake, but I also love reading recipes. Sometimes this can lead to lots of reading and absolutely no baking. Letting Rick choose what he wanted was a real help to shortening the whole process.

Today, I share with you the easiest recipe for Mixed Berry Cobbler.

2 TBSP butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 cup sugar (yes, again)
3 cups of mixed berries (I use frozen berries. Don't make me tell you how difficult it can be to find cobbler-worthy fresh berries in Alaska. In the winter.)

Mix all but the berries and the second half-cup of sugar, and fit into a greased square (9 x 9) pan. Mix the berries with the second half-cup of sugar and pour this over the "crust". Here's the strange part: Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and pour it over the berries. Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes. Sometimes (don't know why) it takes 40 minutes. The crust will float to the top and brown. It's magic. Really.

I have successfully doubled this recipe and baked it in a deep 9 x 13 pan. Double everything except the boiling water.

Enjoy!