hot fudge sauce

i came upon this recipe so innocently. honest.

i was trying my best to cook more healthy. and found this amazing set of books. i think i have mentioned them before....the Sue Gregg Eating Better Cookbooks.

well...there are some healthy ones in there and then there's this little gem

this is ALWAYS requested for birthdays that include ice cream (we have several who don't like cake--go figure)

and....it calls for fructose. i buy fructose and keep it on hand for this recipe....and this one alone.

i have tried making it with sugar and it just doesn't work.

try it

you'll see. it is so good. it gets real thick and gooey once its on ice cream.

it's love at first bite.

hot fudge sauce

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 or 2 - 1 oz squares unsweetened chocolate (to taste)
• 1/3 c. crystalline fructose
• 1/2 c. evaporated milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In saucepan melt butter and chocolate over very low heat. Whisk in fructose and milk. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla

YUMMO!

eggnog cookies

eggnog is one of our very favorite holiday drinks. along with hot chocolate, hot apple cider, and spiced tea. hey...we love all holiday drinks!

and eggnog usually gets fought over.

i think these kids sip it like water.

but. i noticed we had some eggnog left in the fridge and it was about to expire. so. i did what any creative, cheap person would do....looked at pinterest.

i found a few recipes for eggnog cookies and decided to try them....

wow.

they were great! the family loved them and now i have to hoard the eggnog just to be able to have enough for the cookies...which actually is not a lot.

here is the recipe i landed on and have been using for a few years now

eggnog cookies

• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup eggnog
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Eggnog Glaze:
• 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons eggnog

Directions: Preheat oven to 300°F combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. cream sugar and butter until light. add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks; beat at medium speed with mixer until smooth. add flour mixture and beat at low speed until just combined. spoon onto un-greased cookie sheets. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg.

Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until the edges barely start to brown.

while cookies are in the oven, make the eggnog glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar with 3 T eggnog. glaze your cookies warm or cooled and top with cinnamon.

When cinnamon rolls are too much

I found this recipe on Pinterest a while back and decided to give it a try. Oh my. This has become my 'go to' for any event. It makes a great coffee cake or dessert or just a snack cake. It's really not a ton easier than my cinnamon rolls but much more fool proof. 3 cups flour 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup sugar 4 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 cup milk 2 eggs 2 tsp vanilla 4 T butter, melted 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened 1 cup brown sugar 2 T flour 1 T cinnamon 2/3 cups nuts (optional) Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar 5 T milk

1 tsp vanilla

With an electric mixer, mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in 4 T melted butter. Pour batter into a greased 9×13? baking pan. In a large bowl, mix the 2 sticks of softened butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nuts until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoon and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center. Place powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. stir until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature-or straight out of the microwave ;)

I usually make a double or even triple batch, but I always mix it all separately.  I just do all the dry ingredients at the same time in different bowls, then mix one batch up and pop it in the oven.  While that one is baking, I mix the next one up.  It works pretty well for me.

gingerbread men

this is one of my all time favorite cookie recipes and it has great story to go with it! ok, i think so, anyway. i love collecting recipes...obviously.  and i found myself with mountains of magazines to keep all the recipes i loved.  one year, i decided to purge the magazines by pulling out the recipes i loved and had saved the magazine for.  i got one of those 'magnetic' photo albums and put all my scraps of papers in the album. i still have this album and it has to be 20 years old.

but.  somehow, this recipe got lost.  i had written it down several times.  it was in a good housekeeping magazine from 1983.  i remembered the front of the magazine, and had saved it for many years, but it was gone.  i had even given it to friends and no one could find it.

what i love about this recipe, is that the cookies are soft....if you roll them thinner, they would be crunchy, but the flavor is mild....i think it has to do with the maple syrup in it...and i use the real thing.  they are easy to handle and roll out and transfer to a cookie sheet....just all around good cookie dough to work with.

well.  every Christmas, i think of these cookies and have not, for the life of me, been able to replicate the recipe.

i have been looking for probably 10 years now.  and decided to go online to find it.  i didn't know this, but there is a magazine clearing house....so, i went on that and ordered the magazine...for a mere 19.95.  it came in and i got the year wrong.....it wasn't the right one. BOOOOOOO.  NOW what what i going to do?????  well, I called the company and explained what I did....hehe....the guy felt sorry for me and copied and emailed me the copy of the recipe from the correct years' magazine.

so...now i have it and i knew if I didn't make these and get the recipe on my blog, i might lose it again!!!  here it is :)

gingerbread cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 c flour

mix butter, sugar, syrup and egg until smooth.  mix dry ingredients together and add to butter mixture.  mix well. put on floured board and roll out to desired thickness.  add currants for eyes and buttons, or leave plain and decorate after cooled.   bake at 350 for 5-8 minutes.

pecan cranberry biscotti.....YUM!!!!

I got this recipe from a friend, who when one day, I went into her home and she had biscotti laying around EVERYwhere!  I took a bite and was smitten.  She graciously gave me a bag to take home and i took it along our trip to Tennessee for Christmas.  I had to fight for every piece I wanted...the kids LOVED it, too.  it has become a holiday tradition and favorite.  its a lot of work, but soooo worth it!  i make a quadruple batch, freeze most of it and give it in mugs to the kids' teachers--ok, what we don't eat first.  it is so yummy in coffee, but as you can read below, really, REALLY yummy in hot chocolate which you can find an amazing recipe here :)  .  when my friend sent the recipe to me, she included her own notes, which i have posted below the recipe with my additions.  ENJOY!!!

Pecan cranberry biscotti

Makes 24

• 1 1/2 cups pecan halves, toasted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups Sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• Zest of 1 lemon--I have used orange it is just as good.  neither one overpowers the cranberries or pecans.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Finely chop half the pecans, and leave remaining ones in halves; set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine baking powder, flour, sugar, and salt. In a bowl, beat eggs, yolks, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients; mix on medium low until sticky dough is formed. Stir in pecans, cranberries, and zest.

Turn dough out onto well-floured board; sprinkle with flour, and knead slightly. Shape into 9-by-3 1/2-inch logs. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 275 degrees.

On cutting board, cut logs on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Return pieces cut side down to baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, about 20 minutes. Turn over. Bake until slightly dry, about 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Store in airtight container.

SIDE NOTES:

1. this is not worth making in a single batch. I usually make a quadruple
2. it will burn out most hand mixers. I would tread very carefully, turning it on and off smelling for the smell of burning motor. I do not trust it for my Kitchenaid stand mixer. It could probably handle it, but if not, I am out a bunch of money. It is beyond sticky. The only liquid is eggs and some of those are only yolks.  note from me:  I use my Bosch mixer and it works very well.
3. Do not forget to toast the pecans. There are very few ingredients and each one is very important to the taste and the difference betweentoasted pecans and non toasted pecans is amazing.
4. when you cut them into strips there are end pieces that I do not toast and my girls think they  are better than the toasted ones. They are cooked, but not toasted.
5. they are even better in hot chocolate than coffee in my opinion. yep
6. About 6 pieces and 2 individual bags of gourmet hot chocolate mix are a great teacher present.

hot chocolate!!!

I got this recipe from my sweet friend april, who got it at a women's christmas event.  the original recipe calls for white chocolate.  i, for one, do not even think the stuff exists, but that is my own personal opinion :)  I tried it with the 'white chocolate' and it was SO, WAY, WAAAAAY too sweet for us!  So, I did some experimenting....and we found a recipe that has, in the 2 or 3 years we have had it, become a tradition and special treat and expectation during the fall/winter/spring and rainy summer days.  Don't be fooled by the ingredients....the water added to it dilutes it enough that it is just perfect!  You can always add more water, or less chocolate or whatever :)  I will write the recipe as given and then 'my' recipe...with some of the variations we do....get ready for those cold nights and have these supplies on hand....you WON'T be disappointed!!!

White Hot Chocolate

• 1-14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup white chocolate pieces
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• 2 cups water
• whipped cream if desired
• grated chocolate optional
• crushed peppermint optional

Heat sweetened condensed milk and white chocolate pieces over medium heat. Stir in vanilla, cream, and water while stirring constantly.  Heat through. Pour into individual cups. Serve with whipped cream and topping of choice (grated chocolate, crushed peppermint, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.)

Chocolate hot chocolate :)

• 1 Can Eagle Brand

• 2 squares unsweetened chocolate

• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

• 4 cups water

• 1 tsp vanilla

Follow the directions above.....NOW, sometimes we only have cocoa powder, so what I do then is the equivalent of 2 squares, which I think is 4 Tablespoons.  I add that in with the milk and stir until it is dissolved and the proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Let me know if you like it!!! We have become kinda famous around here for this hot chocolate and for a while I contemplated keeping it a secret....but was convicted that it really wasn't mine to begin with :D ENJOY!!!!

OH.my.WORD!!

Not sure if I have talked about this, but for the past few months, every month, i cook for a group of senior citizens at CCA (Christian Community in Action) here locally.  i truly enjoy it and little by little i am learning the individuals who make up the group of 60 or so.  BUT....I am forEVER meeting with new challenges each month.  One month, I found out the morning of that this was the day :(  I had to run to Sam's and figure out how to make a meal for 60 in 2 hours.  this past month, i had bought all my meat the day before and instructed the child {grrrrrr} to put them into the refrigerator outside.  they put it in the freezer.  YIKES!!  I found that out 2 hours ahead also.....I am stretched every time...{I won't elaborate on the primal scream that was heard through the neighborhood upon the revelation of the frozen chicken thighs}.....

I am always trying to find really cheap, REALLY great recipes to make for crowds....with what is in my pantry.  Did i say i liked challenges?  well, i had a birthday dinner to fix for my crew and lunch to have ready by 10 the next morning.  I was determined to NOT go to the store....AGAIN.....so, I started hunting for recipes and found this little gem.  the cake is 'ok' but the frosting.....OH, MY!!!!!....it is sooooo good!!!  I could have eaten the whole pan of cake with the frosting!  WOW...this was a find....again, the cake--I am sure you have a general spice cake recipe--and this one will certainly do, but , again...this frosting....it would be really good on just about ANYthing :) .  I am going to experiment on different things, but for now....OH!!!...it would be so good on a pumpkin cake right now :)  I have a recipe for one (that I can't find) and that is why, again, i was on the hunt for something else....so, here ya go....lemme know if you make it, like it or already have it.....the frosting not the cake :D

Applesauce Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups applesauce
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts--the walnuts and raisins--I left out since it was for older people who might not have strong enough teeth to chew them up.
• Browned Butter Frosting (see recipe below)

Grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan (I used a sheet pan to make it thinner and go further ). Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, cloves, and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat margarine or butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or until softened. Add sugar; beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Alternately add flour mixture and applesauce, beating on low to medium speed after each addition just until combined. Stir in raisins and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan. (I just dumped everything in one bowl and mixed it up....it worked)

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Frost with Browned Butter Frosting. Makes 12 servings.

Browned Butter Frosting

In a small saucepan heat 1/2 cup margarine or butter over low heat until melted; continue heating until margarine or butter turns a delicate brown. Remove from heat; pour into large mixing bowl.

Add 4 cups sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat on medium to high speed, adding additional milk, if necessary, to make frosting of a spreading consistency.

yummy chocolate cake

this is probably the most requested cake for birthdays at our house.  there are a few others, and i will share those later....this recipe came from my dear, sweet friend, Patti Johnson.  it is called texas hot cocoa cake...i'm not sure why, but it doesn't matter...its GOOD!!!!  NOW, i will be sharing shortly about my interest and giftings in cooking from scratch, messing with recipes to change them and whatnot....what i tend to do with passing recipes on, is post the recipe as written and then post script what *I* do :) today, i had to make 4 of these cakes.  we are going to downtown dallas tomorrow to feed a group of special people and i volunteered the cake.  one reason is that it is sooooo good.  the other is that it is sooooo easy.  i almost always have the ingredients on hand and can pretty much whip it up in a few minutes. its a great cake to take to potlucks or to family in need.  after the first double batch, i decided to change it up a bit and will share what i did.

TEXAS HOT COCOA CAKE         serves 24

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup liquid shortening (another word for oil :))....i have used 1 cup of butter, too and like it better
• 1 cup water
• 6 Tablespoons cocoa (I use heaping)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional--some of my kids really don't like the cinnamon in it)

icing

• 1 1/2 stick butter
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons milk
• 1 box (1 lb) powdered sugar ( I usually use just a tad bit less than this--makes more of a glaze on the cake)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (very optional, we usually don't use them, since they are $$ and not everyone likes them, but used them on one cake today)

directions:  bring butter, oil, cocoa and water to a boil.  take off heat.  combine the flour and sugar and cinnamon.  add the cocoa mixture to that mixture.  mix together the buttermilk, eggs, soda, salt and vanilla.  (yes! do make sure you add the soda to the wet ingredients, NOT the dry--it does make a difference--ask me how I know).  mix in the egg mixture to the chocolate batter.  Pour into a greased (pam) 9x13 or sheet cake (I have done both and really like the sheet cake better)  Bake at 350 for 30-45 min for the 9x13.  15-20 for the sheet cake pan.  While the cake is cooking, combine the butter and cocoa in a pan ( I use the same pan I boiled the other mixture in--don't bother to even rinse it--its the same ingredients :))  heat and mix til butter is melted.  take off heat and stir in the milk, powdered sugar, vanilla and nuts....pour over a hot cake--just pulled from the oven....and watch everyone fight over licking the bowls

this is how it is every. single. time.  I promise, I didn't do this :)

its really, really, REALLY good with a glass of milk (don't tell my kids I said that)