Tiffany King

Toffee

December 15, 2008 by Tiffany King 11 Comments

Of all the delicious ways to eat a stick of butter and lots of sugar, Toffee is one of the best.

This is easy to make, but you do need a candy thermometer. I clipped the recipe out of an old Southern Living magazine. There are all kinds of yummy variations but we go for plain and simple at our house.

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5 from 2 votes

Toffee

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 Tbs. light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Bring the sugar, butter, corn syrup and water to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture is golden brown and the candy thermometer reads 290-310 degrees (or Hard Crack)
Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet.
Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and let them stand for a minute until they begin to melt. Spread them out evenly over the top.
Chill for an hour and break into pieces.

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

December 11, 2008 by Tiffany King 25 Comments

Like chocolate chip cheesecake, only easier.

Gather up your ingredients:

Santa begged me to be in the picture. He’s old. He has no beard because my sister and I used to rub the soft little beard when we were little and now the beard is just gone. He was part of a salt and pepper set that belonged to my Grandma.

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbs. brown sugar

3/4 cup miniature chocolate chips (plus some for the outside)

Graham crackers

Cream the cream cheese and butter together with the vanilla. Gradually, add the sugars and mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Place the mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape into a ball and refrigerate. Roll in more chocolate chips (or chopped pecans, if you like).

I make 2 small cheeseballs, but you could make just one big one.

Enjoy!

Honey Apple Ham Glaze

December 9, 2008 by Tiffany King 15 Comments

This Honey Apple Ham Glaze couldn’t be easier. Stir a few ingredients together and pour it over your ham. It makes a big difference in the flavor and is so simple.

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5 from 1 vote

Honey Apple Ham Glaze

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Calories: 966kcal

Ingredients

½ stick butter
½ cup apple juice or apple cider
⅓-½ cup honey
1-2 Tbs. corn syrup or use extra honey if you prefer
2-3 Tbs. brown sugar
¼ tsp. nutmeg
cloves optional

Instructions

Melt the butter in the measuring cup and add the remaining ingredients until blended.
You can also stick some cloves in the ham if you like.

Nutrition

I ended up with about 1½ cups of glaze. I don’t think you could really mess this up. Use the sweet, fruity ingredients you have in your kitchen. There was plenty of liquid after the ham cooked. I covered the ham tightly with foil to bake it. It tasted delish!

As I’m typing this, I’m thinking it would be great poured over the top of cut-up sweet potatoes and baked. Yum!

Chipped Beef Gravy over Cornbread

December 6, 2008 by Tiffany King 27 Comments

This is one of those recipes that is so humble it’s a bit embarrassing to post it. But since I found the recipe in an old Frugal Gourmet cookbook, I’ll go ahead. Plus, it is the warmest, creamiest comfort food. Perfect for a cold winter day.

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5 from 2 votes

Chipped Beef Gravy over Cornbread

Servings: -4 servings

Ingredients

3 Tbs. butter
3 Tbs. chopped onion
3 Tbs. flour
2 cups hot milk
1 jar of beef you know the kind from the canned meat section that you use for cheese balls
1/4 tsp paprika
pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

Rinse the meat under running water to remove a bit of the salt and then chop it up.
In a sauce pan melt the butter and saute the onion until it’s clear.
Stir in the flour with a whisk and then add the hot milk, stirring until the mixture thickens.
Add the remaining ingredients.
Serve over Cornbread, Biscuits or toast.

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

December 3, 2008 by Tiffany King 14 Comments

This cake is perfectly Christmasy. It smells wonderful while it bakes and it tastes yummy too.

I found the recipe on a message board I frequent. The woman who posted it said it originally came from Fine Cooking Magazine. It’s easy to make.

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5 from 1 vote

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Prep Time15

Cook Time55

Total Time1 10

Servings:

Ingredients

½ lb. butter very soft
1 cup brown sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
2 cups cranberries fresh or frozen - at room temp. (if frozen, thaw, rinse, drain and dry them)
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk at room temp.
2 large eggs at room temp.
⅔ cup sour cream at room temp.
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt
1¾ cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda

Instructions

Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature. I used White Lily flour the first time I made the cake (NOT the self-rising kind) and I thought it came out a bit less dense than the cake flour version, but both were good.
Position the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 350°
Lightly butter the sides and bottom of a 9" cake pan. (I don't have a 9" cake pan so I used a 10½" iron skillet. My friend used a springform pan.) You want the sides of the pan to be at least 2½" high.
Put 1½ sticks of butter in a bowl.
With a wooden spoon cream together the butter, sugar and one egg yolk.
Switch to a whisk and mix in the additional eggs one at a time. Whisk until the sugar begins to dissolve and the batter is smooth.
Whisk in the vanilla, sour cream and salt.
Sift in the cake flour, baking powder and baking soda directly into the wet ingredients. I don't have a sifter so I just ran a fork through the flour mixture before adding it. Stir until all the ingredients are combined and the batter becomes satiny.
Put the remaining 4 Tbs. of butter into the pan and set it in the oven to melt.
Then mix the brown sugar and cinnamon into the butter. Spread this out as evenly as you can and put the rinsed and drained cranberries over the top.
Spread the batter over the top of the cranberries and pop it into the oven.
Bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool for 5-10 minutes and then dump it out on a plate.

Don’t forget to lick the sticky yummy stuff from the pan!