dessert

Brownies with Chocolate Glaze

February 17, 2009 by Tiffany King 22 Comments

The picture doesn’t do these brownies justice. They are deep chocolate. The glaze is smooth and creamy – a perfect pairing with the brownie.

The brownie recipe is Baker’s One Bowl brownie. You’ll need:

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 sticks of butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup nuts (optional) I leave out the nuts so that my kids will be happy

Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave for two minutes. Stir until completely melted. Add the sugar and blend well. Mix in the eggs one at time. Add the vanilla. Add in the flour and nuts, if you’re using them. Stir just until blended. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 min. Don’t over bake.

While the brownies are cooling, make the chocolate glaze. This recipe comes from my mom. You’ll need:

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3 Tbs. butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2-3 Tbs. water (use 2 first and add more if needed)

Melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove from heat and add the other ingredients, being careful not to add too much water. Spread on the brownies and restrain yourself from eating the whole pan.

Frito Candy

February 3, 2009 by Tiffany King 24 Comments

Every time I make this candy it is a hit. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and salty. I found the recipe on Cookie Madness, an excellent blog that you should enter at your own risk (try not to drool on your keyboard when you visit that site!).

Gather up your ingredients:

2 cups of pretzels
1 cup fritos
8 mini peanut butter cups
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips

Break the pretzels and fritos up with your hands. Place them in a 9×13 pan that is lined with parchment paper or no-stick foil. Coarsely chop up the peanut butter cups and scatter them in the pan as well.

Melt the butter over medium heat, then stir in the brown sugar. Bring it to a full boil and boil 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Pour this mixture over the pretzel/frito/peanut butter cups. Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. Take the pan out of the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Pop it back in the oven for a minute to melt the chips. Spread the chocolate over the top. Cool and then refridgerate for a while. Take it out of the pan and break it up, using a knife to cut it into rough pieces.

Monster Cookies

January 25, 2009 by Tiffany King 25 Comments

There are two recipes for Monster Cookies in the Amish Cookbook I have. The original version calls for 12 eggs, 3 lbs. peanut butter, 18 cups of oatmeal. Yikes! Thankfully, Mrs. Leroy B. Schwartz didn’t want to be tied to her stove all day, so she cut the recipe down to a more reasonable amount.

Gather up your ingredients:

1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 sticks butter
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 1/2 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups M&Ms
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. corn syrup
2 tsp. baking soda

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the peanut butter and eggs. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Don’t overbake.

This is how many cookies I had left 5 minutes after the first batch came out of the oven. Maybe I should have made the Monster version of this recipe given by Mrs. Jake E. Zook. Actually, I ended up having plenty of cookies for the kids to eat, some to serve to our small group and two gallon-size ziplock bags left over. Not bad for an afternoon in the kitchen.

Cranberry Braid Bread

December 22, 2008 by Tiffany King 26 Comments

I get frustrated when my pictures don’t show the food very well. This is one of those times. This bread is beautiful, golden brown braid with cranberry filling peeking out. Use your imagination, because my photography just isn’t going to help you see it.

Oh, and it tastes wonderful too! The recipe is from the Country Living: Country Morning cook book. It makes 2 loaves.

Gather up you ingredients:

Filling:
1 12oz package cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs. cornstarch
1/3 cup orange juice

Bread:
1 1/3 cup water
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
7 – 7 1/2 cups flour
2 packages rapid-rise yeast
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbs. finely grated orange rind
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs

Prepare the filling: Rinse the cranberries. In a 3-quart saucepan combine the sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the orange juice and cranberries. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly until the berries are crushed and the mixture thickens to the consistency of preserves, about 10-15 min. Remove from heat, cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

Prepare the dough: Heat the water and butter till melted together. In a mixer bowl combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar orange rind and salt. On low speed, gradually beat in the water-butter mixture. Beat for 2 min.

Separate 1 egg, reserving the white for later. Add the yolk to the dough mixture, then beat in the remaining 3 eggs and 2 cups of flour until if forms a soft dough. With a wooden spoon, stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.

Lightly oil a large bowl and set aside. Knead the dough, working in more flour if necessary until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 min. Shape it into a ball and put it in the oiled bowl, turning to bring up the oiled side. Cover it loosely and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour or 1 1/2 hours.

Grease 2 baking sheets (or use baking stones). Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut it in half. Shape each half into a ball and let them rest 5 minutes. Use a floured rolling pin to roll each ball into a 14 x 10 inch rectangle and place on the baking sheets. Lightly brush the top of each with the slightly beaten egg white.

Spread half of the cranberry mixture in a 3 inch wide strip lengthwise down the dough. Cut the dough crosswise on each side of the filling into 1 inch wide strips. Fold these over to braid. Cover and let them rise again for 20 min. Brush the braids with the egg white and bake at 350 degrees for 20 min. Brush again with the white and bake 10 more min.

You can see my dough was a bit too long for the baking stone.

Braiding is easy.

I ended up cutting off the ends to make it fit the stone. I have no perfectionist tendencies. Your bread will probably look prettier than mine. I also tried to make a round braid on my round stone, but there wasn’t enough dough to go all the way around. I’ll spare you the picture. It might not have looked good, but it sure tasted great!

Peanut Butter Balls

December 20, 2008 by Tiffany King 39 Comments

If you’re from Ohio I know it’s bothering you that I fully dunked the peanut butter balls in chocolate instead of making them look like buckeyes. I have a problem with all you Ohio people leaving little naked places on your candy. That’s just not right.

These are my must-have Christmas treat. I remember playing Barbies with my sister and we would break to go get a snack of peanut butter balls. Yum!

Gather up your ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened
2½ cups graham crackers
1 cup peanut butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

12 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
⅓ bar paraffin wax

Cream the butter and peanut butter together in a mixer bowl. Mix in the remaining ingredients until it’s all well blended. Roll into balls about the size of a walnut.

Melt a bag of semisweet chocolate chips with the paraffin wax in a double boiler. The wax thins the chocolate to help it coat better and also gives a glossy shine. Dip the balls into the melted chocolate and put on wax paper to set up. Store in the fridge.

If you have leftover chocolate, throw in some pretzels.