Chocolate Coffee Sauce

• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 2/3 cups white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups strongly brewed coffee*
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cocoa, sugar and coffee. Bring to a boil and let boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.


* The ratio of coffee grounds to water that I used was 2T of grounds per one cup of water, and it was a perfect strength.

Ginger Ale

I've made this recipe a couple of times now and it's turned out great both times! Our whole family loves ginger, so this spicy drink is quickly becoming a favorite.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar - I've been using organic cane sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon baker's yeast
• cold water

Directions:

• Pour sugar into a 2 liter PLASTIC bottle. Yes, I would use plastic. If the ginger ale "ripens" too long, it can explode.
• Add the yeast and shake to disperse.
• In a separate dish, combine ginger and lemon juice. Stir to make a "slurry." Add this to the sugar& yeast mixture and shake (with the top on, of course).
• Now, rinse the dish used for the ginger & lemon juice and add the rinsings to the mixture.
• All you lack now is to fill up your bottle with water, leaving about an inch of head space, and cap it.
  
• Set it in a warm place for, normally, 24-48 hours. As our house has been quite warm lately, it's only taken around 8-12 hours. In any case, once the bottle is hard, so you can't squeeze it (or, not much), it is ready to be put in the refrigerator. Once it is in the refrigerator, you are in no danger of explosion. In the freezer, on the other hand...
  

Fresh Mint Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 2 cups cream

• pinch of salt

• 2 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves

• 5 large eggs

Put eggs and sugar in medium sauce pan. Beat well. Add milk, cream, salt, and mint. Heat until thickened (almost boiling). Remove from heat. Strain out the mint leaves while transferring to a heat proof container. Cool thoroughly. Freeze, and enjoy!

This is a modified version of a recipe I found online HERE. I would eventually like to try steeping the mint longer, but as it is, it's got an incredible minty flavor!

Clark Bars ( a.k.a. peanut butter & chocolate bars)

Here it is, Mrs. Bradshaw!

• 1 (16 ounce) package graham crackers, crumbled
• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Press the mixture into the prepared pan.

3. In a small pot melt chocolate chips and condensed milk together over low heat. Stir until well mixed. Spread the chocolate mixture over the peanut butter mixture. Chill the cookie-bars for 4 hours. Cut and serve.

I actually came across this recipe because Mom wanted me to make something (anything!) with condensed milk in it. These things are AWESOME.
Texture? Perfect. Taste? Fantastic. Easy? Extremely!

Blueberry Crunch

2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup melted butter
1 quart blueberries, fresh or frozen

Mix all but blueberries together. Press half into a 9x13 pan. Pour blueberries on top. Sprinkle with rest of crumble. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly.

Enjoy!

Cold Peach Soup

Surprise! A new post at last! This is from our Tennessee Magazine this month, and sounded too good (and easy!) not to try. It is delicious, and we think, though we haven't tried it yet, it would make delicious popsicles too!

Serve in teacups with shortbread cookies or alone as a light meal starter.

• 2 lbs of fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and halved

• 1/2 cup of orange juice

• 1/2 cup of plain yogurt

• 1 tablespoon of honey

• 2 teaspoons of fresh lime juice

Puree all ingredients in blender.

Adjust thickness with more orange juice or water if necessary. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour before serving or up to eight hours.

Yield: 6 servings

---

Okay, now for the small changes I made.

First of all, I didn't serve it in teacups, with cookies, or as a meal starter. I served it as a main dish with salad and fresh rolls, and it was delicious! :)

I made two recipes of this; the first I made exactly (well, without exactly measuring everything...) like it says. The second, which we all thought was a bit better, I used a quart of our frozen peaches from last year, and I used homemade honey vanilla yogurt instead of plain.

Also, I, of course, didn't leave myself enough time to let it refrigerate for even one hour, so I put it into the freezer while the rolls were baking... 15 minutes or so. They came out pleasantly cool.

Olive Cheese Balls

48 olive
1/2 pound cheddar cheese sharp
1/2 cup butter soft
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika


Four or five hours ahead, blend cheese with butter. Stir in flour, salt, paprika, and mix well. Mold one teaspoon of dough around each olive. Arrange on greased baking sheet. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving, or freeze. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake 10-15 min. or until golden brown. Serve warm. Makes 24 hors d'oeuvres servings.

Chocolate-Coffee Ice Cream Pie

This is so easy, and it's so good! For added garnish, I whipped up some heavy cream and topped the pie before I sprinkled on the pecans and cookie crumbs and drizzled on the syrup.


1 chocolate pie crust
1/2 cup nuts chopped
cooking spray
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pint coffee ice cream
1 pint chocolate ice cream
1 package chocolate sandwich cookies
1/4 cup butter
chocolate syrup

Place pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; sprinkle evenly with sugar.

Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Cool.

Stir together ice cream, 3/4 cup cookie chunks, and 1/3 cup pecans; spoon into pie crust. Freeze 10 minutes. Press remaining cookie chunks and pecans evenly on top. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze 8 hours. Drizzle individual slices evenly with chocolate syrup.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

This has got to be an all-time favorite! I have also made it in a 9in. x 13in. pan instead of the two pie crusts, making my own crust with graham crackers; it works just as well.


16 ounces cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups chunky peanut butter
1 cup milk
1 pint whipped topping
1/2 cup peanuts chopped
1 cup chocolate chips
2 graham cracker pie crust
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chopped Lindt or Ghirardelli

Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and milk in a large mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed until blended. Fold in whipped topping, peanuts and chocolate chips. Spoon mixture into the two pie crusts and freeze for approximately 2 hours. Remove from freezer and top with ganache. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Use a hot knife to cut, and clean knife between slices. You can sprinkle a few of the chopped peanuts on top of the ganache for garnish.

To make ganache, boil the heavy cream, milk and sugar. Place chopped chocolate in double boiler. Add hot cream mixture to melted chocolate and stir until smooth. (Ganache can be prepared ahead of time and reheated in a double boiler.) Cool about 5-10 min. before topping pie.

King Aurthur Classic Sourdough Bread

Laura requested this recipe. It is my variation on a sourdough recipe from my King Aurthur cookbook. If you've never made sourdough before, it's a good place to start. I've been experimenting with it for a few weeks and plan to experiment some more. The original recipe doesn't call for any whole wheat flour, but it is healthier, and I think it tastes better to use some in the sponge. The starter will rise the bread very slowly, so if you want to speed up the process, add the optional yeast. Also, I usually double the recipe, but still use 1/2 cup of starter. 

Have fun bread-making, and experiment with it yourself. Let me know what you try, and if it works.

-Tricia Ann

Yield: 2 small loaves or 1 big loaf

Prepare the following sponge 8-24 hours before you plan to bake.

Sponge:

• 1/2 cup sourdough starter
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 -2 cups stone ground whole wheat flour (or unbleached white flour)

Pour starter into a large bowl and add water. Stir to loosen. Add flour and mix well. Let this mixture sit in a warm place for 8-24 hours. The longer it has to work, the more sour the finished bread will be.

Bread:

• 3-4 cups unbleached bread flour
• 1 TBS salt
• 1 TBS sugar
• 2 tsp. yeast (optional)

Mix the flour, salt, and sugar. Set aside. Add yeast to the sponge, if you are using it. Add the flour mixture to the sponge, stirring well. Add remaining flour, a half-cup at a time, until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. Knead by machine or by hand for about 8 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Let the dough rise for 1-2 hours (1 if you used yeast, 2 if you did not). Shape into loaves or baguettes or whatever shape you like, and proof (rise) for 1-2 hours again, depending on whether or not you used yeast. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. It is delicious eaten straight out of the oven!

Southern Butternut Squash

I finally found a butternut squash casserole (and I bet you could substitute sweet potatoes for the squash with equally delicious results) recipe that uses sweetened condensed milk. I just KNEW there had to be some recipe with that in it! Anyway, this recipe is absolutely delicious! Daddy made a pie with some of the left overs after dinner the other night. Although, I thought (of course) it wasn't quite sweet enough for a pie. :)

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups mashed, cooked butternut squash
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup white sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter one 2 quart casserole dish.
2. Blend together the butternut squash, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, butter, vanilla, cream and sugar.
3. Pour into prepared casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 45 minutes or until set and edges begin to bubble.
4. Prepare a topping if desired by combining 1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup chopped nuts. Mix together and sprinkle over squash before baking.

I did the brown sugar, flour, and butter for the top, but we didn't have any nuts. The topping melted into the rest of the casserole, but that only made those spots that much more delicious!

LINK

Mocha Sauce

1. 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
2. 2/3 cup of whipping cream
3. 1/4 cup of sugar
   
4. 1 teaspoon of instant espresso coffee powder or regular instant coffee crystals

In a small saucepan heat and stir chocolate over low heat until melted. Stir in cream, sugar, and instant coffee. Cook and stir over medium-low heat about 3 minutes. or until mixture just boils around edges. Remove from heat. Cool for 15 minutes before serving. Cover and store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Almond Panna Cotta

This recipe is so good! It would be really quick too, if you bought almond butter instead of making your own.

• 1 cup of whole, blanched almonds, toasted
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups of whipping cream
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1//8 teaspoon of salt

Place the almonds in a food processor and process until finely ground into a smooth butter. We got this to work a little better in the blender.

In a medium saucepan stir together sugar and gelatin. Add whipping cream Heat and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat. Stir in the almond butter, the milk, and salt. Pour into six 6-ounce ramekins or custard dishes. Cover and chill for 6 to 24 hours, or until set.

Prepare Mocha Sauce (I'll post that recipe in a different post). To serve, loosen panna cotta from sides of dishes with a knife. Invert onto six dessert plates. Spoon or drizzle some Mocha Sauce around each panna cotta. Serve with additional Mocha Sauce and, if desired, garnish with sliced almonds.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Drops

Kaliste requested this recipe - Enjoy!!

Cookies:

• 4 squares BAKER's Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour

Glaze:

• 1 tup (8 oz.) frozen cool whip
• 6 squares BAKER's Semi-sweet baking chocolate

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350. Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Add sugar; mix well. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour; mix well. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart, on greased baking sheets.
Bake 8 min. or just until set. (Do not overbake.) Let cool for 1 min.

Glaze:
Place frozen whipped topping and semi sweet chocolate in microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1 1/2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted ad mixture is shiny and smooth, stirring after 1 min, Let stand 15. min. to thicken. Spread over cookies. Let stand until glaze is set.
Makes 5 dozen.
I got this recipe on the back of BAKER's chocolate bars - very easy and delicious - it's our new favorite cookie & snack!



~Camille~

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake

• 1 3/4 c. boiling water
• 1 cup uncooked oatmeal
• 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1 stick butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 c. unsifted flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 12 ox pkg of chocolate chips
• 3/4 c. chopped walnuts or coconut (optional - I didn't use them)

Pour water over oatmeal. Mix and let stand at room temp. 10 minutes. Add brown sugar, gran. sugar, butter and eggs to oatmeal mixture, stir well. Add about 1/2 pkg of chocolate chips to batter, stirring until distributed. Pour batter into a greased and floured pan - either bunt or 9by13. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

ENJOY!!!


~Camille~

Cheese Phyllo Triangles

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
1/2 pound feta cheese
2 tablespoons fresh parsley minced
2 teaspoons dill weed dried
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound phyllo dough leaves
3/4 cup butter melted

CHEESE FILLING:
In a small mixer bowl at medium speed, beat cheeses, parsley, dill weed, and garlic powder 3 minutes or until smooth.

PHYLLO TRIANGLES:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease baking sheets.

Cut off a 2-inch section from one end of the rolled phyllo dough; cover remaining dough with a damp towel until ready to use. Unfold section of dough, place on a sheet of waxed paper and cover with a damp towel. Place two strips of phyllo leaves on a clean surface and brush with butter. Place 1 teaspoon of the cheese filling at end of one strip (two layers of phyllo). Fold one corner over to opposite side to make a triangle. Continue to fold to end of strip (like folding a flag). Fill and fold remaining cut strips, using two strips of phyllo for each traingle. Repeat until half of the phyllo leaves have been used. Place triangles 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets. Use ham filling on remaining phyllo leaves and proceed as above.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.

NOTE: These appetizers can be made and baked ahead; cover and refrigerate overnight or freeze. To serve, place triangles on ungreased baking sheets and bake in a preheated 350° oven 10 to 15 minutes until heated through.

Sweet Hot Peppers

Daddy got this recipe from the wife of a man he works with; it took a long time to convince her to give it up. :)

• 4 quarts of peppers, thinly sliced
• 8 cups of onions, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons of chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup of canning salt

Mix in a large plastic container, cover with ice and refrigerate for 3 hours. We don't usually do a plastic container, usually just a large metal bowl.

Drain.

In a larger cooker add:

• 4 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of turmeric
• 1 1/4 teaspoons of celery seed
• 2 tablespoons of mustard seed
• 4 cups of vinegar (5%)

Heat to boiling and boil for 10 minutes, stirring often. Liquid will thicken. Add drained peppers and onions to liquid and heat to boiling and place in jars. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Makes approximately 7 pints.

Seven minute icing

I made this for a Christmas cake, and it was delectable, in my opinion! It is also extremely easy.

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 2 egg whites (if you get just a tiny bit of yolk it it, it will be ruined!)
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup or 1/4 cup cream of tartar (I used cream of tartar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

In the top of a double boiler combine sugar, cold water, egg whites, corn syrup or cream of tartar, and a dash of salt. Beat 30 seconds on low speed of electric mixer. Place over boiling water (upper pan should not touch water). Cook about 7 minutes while beating constantly on high speed of electric mixer or till frosting forms stiff peals. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Beat 2 to 3 minutes till spreading consistency. Frosts tops and sides of cake.

Enjoy!

Homemade Kitkat Bars

• 75 Club cracker

• 1 cup butter

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

• 1/2 cup whole milk

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

• 1/2 cup butterscotch flavored morsels.

Line an ungreased 13x9 inch baking pan with 1 layer of crackers, cutting to fit if necessary; set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add cracker crumbs, brown sugar, milk, and sugar. Bring to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and pour half of the butter mixture evenly over crackers. Place another single layer of crackers evenly over butter mixtures, cutting to fit if necessary. Pour remaining butter mixture evenly over crackers. Top evenly with remaining crackers.

In a small saucepan, combine peanut butter, chocolate morsels, and butterscotch morsels. Melt over medium -low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over top of crackers. Cover, and chill for at least 1 hour. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator in another county if you want any.

Chipotle pepper and Chicken soup

Laura, I haven't ever tried this recipe but as I was browsing through a cookbook, I ran across it. It only uses 2 teaspoons of the peppers in adobo sauce, but that's better than none. :) And it looks like it would be good...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (hey, it's got garlic..!! :)
• 12 oz. skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 14-ounce can chicken broth
• 2 t. chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1/2 t. sugar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes or 1, 14 1/2 oz. diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4 cup snipped fresh cilantro

In a dutch oven cook onion and garlic in hot oil over medium-high heat about 4 minutes or until tender. Add chicken; cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Stir in broth, chipotle peppers, sugar, and salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in tomatoes and cilantro. This only makes 3 servings (about 4 cups) so you may have to double it.