Grasshopper Cake

Basic Chocolate Cake
Bake 2 cakes in 9" Round Cake pan

There are lots of recipes out there for a basic chocolate cake.  I have to admit, I used a cake mix.  Remember, you only need to beat the cake batter for only 30 seconds.  The Bosch Mixer is so powerful you do not need to do the full mixing time that recipes call for.

The Filling:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup raw sugar
3 Tbs cornstarch
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 large egg
1 to 2 drops green food coloring

Whip all ingredients together.  In sauce pan, heat over low heat whisking constantly till thick.  After thickened, refrigerate for at least one hour.  It needs to be cold.

The Topping:
1 1/2 cup cold heavy cream
2 Tbs powder sugar

To assemble:
Put 1 cake on plate and then cover with the filling.  Place the other cake on top and top with whip cream topping.  I garnished with green chocolate chips in keeping with my St. Patrick theme.

Note From Paula:  My filling/pudding could have been firmer, if I had left it in the fridge longer.  My kids were wanting it made fast, so I assembled the cake a little too quickly.  Thus, you see the pudding oozing out the sides.  It was still good!  Enjoy!  Our cake went fast...this is a good one! :)

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

This is a new twist to shortcake and a fund Valentine Treat! My kids loved it...humm, so did I. In fact, I liked it a little too much. :) This is really easy to make and sooo good. I didn't try it, but I am sure you could make the shortcakes in advance and freeze them. This would make an easy dessert to pull from the freezer and 'wow' your guests. Very elegant with a beautiful presentation. Hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake
1 quart fresh sliced strawberries

Shortcake: 

1 3/4 cup sifted whole wheat pastry flour
2 T honey
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1 egg
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Topping:
1 cup whipping cream
2 T Xagave
1 tsp vanilla extract

Step One: Mix whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Cut in cold butter. Add honey and sour cream. I use my Bosch universal mixer with the wire whips to cut the butter. It makes things so easy. Form into 3" diameter cakes and place on stainless steel cookie sheet.

Step Two: Beat egg white till frothy. Brush over shortcakes. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

Step Three: After shortcakes are cool, cut horizontally; spoon whip cream and sliced strawberries between cake layers. Spoon whip cream on top and drizzle with chocolate syrup. Garnish with a whole strawberry.

I use the Bosch Slicer/Shredder with the whip to make my whipping cream. Everything is made fast and easy with the Bosch Universal Mixer! :)

Caramel Popcorn!!

We are a movie family.  We love watching old movies with great popcorn.  My hubby makes the best.  In fact, here is a funny story about us.

We had just had our fifth baby.  We would have a full day with the kids and want to go to bed but our precious little guy didn't like to go to sleep until around 1 a.m.  My hubby sympathized with me and would stay up till our little guy would finally give it up to sleep-land.  We passed the time by watching old movies.  He would pop a huge bowl of buttery popcorn for me and a huge bowl of buttery popcorn for him.  When I say huge, I mean HUGE!  They were 12 quart bowls!!  After a week+ of eating these wonderful buttery bowls of popcorn, we both began to notice our clothing was getting snug.  At this point, we had a ah-ah moment.  I wondered if this low cal snack food could be the culprit!  YIKES!! Have you ever looked at the calorie count for popcorn laden with butter and Parmesan cheese??!!

Okay here is the nutritional info for ONE CUP of popcorn:

Calories: 78; Fat: 5.27 g; Carbs 7.27 g; Protein .96 g

Calorie breakdown: 59% fat, 36% carbs, 5% protein

There are 78 calories in 1 cup of Buttered Popcorn popped in oil.

Can you get the picture of how many cups of popcorn my hubby and I single-handedly ate each night?  Let me help you with the math...that is at least 24 cups of butter-laden popcorn which adds up to 1872 calories just in our midnight snack.  Now, you have to add calories to this 1872 as the calories spiraled up to even greater heights due to the extra Parmesan cheese we sprinkled...okay poured onto the popcorn.  Call us overachievers! :)  

To add insult to injury for our snack food delight, we would usually start eating around 11 p.m.!!  Okay, I got the message loud and clear as I could only blame the extra weight gained on just having a baby for so long.  We curbed our snacking to occasional treats, which leads me to my new popcorn recipes that our WHOLE family indulged in eating.  I just make sure I give myself a small bowl and don't go back for seconds. :)  Hope you enjoy the popcorn as much as we did/do.

Caramel Popcorn

16 cups lightly salted popped popcorn
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup karo syrup

Step One:

Heat in butter, brown sugar and light karo syrup in saucepan and boil for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and pour over the popped popcorn.  Mix well.

Step Two:

Place on parchment paper covered cookie sheet.  Bake 300 degrees F for 15 minutes.

If you have any left, store in sealed container. :)

Dessert in A Skillet

A dear friend of mine made this WONDERFUL recipe and brought it to our home. Need I say that it was eaten fast and devoured in minutes. This is definitely a rich dessert and IF you like chocolate, which I do, you will want to add this chocolate cake to your holiday baking.

Gooey Chocolate Skillet Cake Ice Cream Sundae

Cake Ingredients:
1 cup pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raw sugar
dash salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup oil

2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 tablespoons cocoa
3-4 tablespoons milk (as needed for consistency)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
ice cream (for serving)
caramel sauce (for serving; this one is delicious!)
whipped cream (for serving)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In Bosch Universal bowl, whisk pastry flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt together and set aside.

In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, bring the butter, oil, cocoa powder, and water to a boil. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the dry ingredients well. Mix in the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla. Bake the skillet cake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

While the cake starts to cool, make the frosting. In a medium saucepan, bring the butter, cocoa, and milk to a boil. Remove them from heat and add the icing sugar, nuts, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over the warm cake, spread with a spatula.

Serve with vanilla bean ice cream, caramel sauce, and/or whipped cream.

Ginger Pumpkin Triffle

This is a keeper recipe. I adapted/combined it from several that I found online. Remember, use ingredients that you might like to add to the recipe you are looking at. For instance, if you love clove or nutmeg add a little bit. I love cinnamon so it seems to sneak into a lot of my cooking. :)

If you are in a hurry, use box mixes for ginger bread and vanilla pudding. I prefer to make them from scratch. I have both ideas posted for you.

When I made this dessert for company, my kids told me that we needed to have this on our menu as a regular. It is REALLY good and it was not hard to make. Great presentation without lots of prep. Hurray for fast and easy recipe.

Ginger Pumpkin Trifle!
Ginger Bread (you can use a box mix or make your own*)
Vanilla Pudding (5 oz. box) or homemade pudding
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin *
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Make gingerbread cake. Make either boxed vanilla pudding OR homemade pudding. Combine pudding, pumpkin and spices. In separate bowl, beat heavy cream with powder sugar.

Step Two:
Layer crumbled gingerbread; then pudding; then whipped cream. repeat layers and top with lop of whipped cream and crumbled gingerbread.

* True confessions....I used the pumpkin pie mix can as I didn't have the pumpkin on hand and company was coming.

Here is our homemade gingerbread recipe:

Gingerbread
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
3 cups pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground clove
1 cup hot water

Cream oil, raw sugar and beaten egg. Stir dry ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Stir in molasses. Slowly add the hot water.

Bake 375 degrees in greased 9x13 pan for 20-25 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.

Easy Danish Rolls

Once again, another fun idea that you can do with your Basic Bread Recipe (click here)!

Now that your bread dough is made...

Step One:
Roll 1 pound of dough into a rectangle about 1/2" thick. Cut into 1" strips.

Step Two:
Twist the strips and then roll them into a tight circle.

Step Three:With Pastry Brush, brush the bread dough with a watered down apricot jam. Let rise and bake 350 till golden brown.

Step Four:While still warm, dab (1 Tablespoon) of jam that you like (peach? blueberry? strawberry?) on each Danish roll.

Natural Halloween Candy

Well our family does not celebrate Halloween but we do hand out candy to trick or treaters with Gospel tracts. The kids are so used to having candy put in their sacks that they actually get more excited about the tracts than the candy! To have the tracts in time for Halloween, you will need to order them now!!

We buy ours from Living Waters Ministry. They have a large selections of fun tracts!! We like giving the "Million $ bill" It really wows everyone! :) Click here to see the large selections of tracts!

For those of you who want to have candy for your kids but not all the chemicals and sugars, I found a web site that has healthy candy!! I haven't tried any from this company as the health food store is too convenient for the small amount I would buy. I have true confessions that we simply buy the candy at the local grocery store which is probably laden with more chemicals and junk that I care to read. We don't eat candy all the time so I give on the occasional candy. sigh

This site is for you more healthy people...enjoy! Click Here!

Caramel-Apple TurnOvers

Since fall is in the air, I have been baking and creating foods surrounding apples.  I am so excited to finally have fruit from our own tree.  It makes me feel like a real pioneer woman baking apples from our own trees.   I think this is a passing fad as I don't see myself doing this on a regular basis as the pioneer women did.  The novelty of baking and putting up my apples would quickly wear off, if I had to do it!

Have you ever watched Food Network show Chopped?  I got to thinking about it and realized the chefs were given ingredients and had to create a palatable recipe using familiar ingredients or things they liked to make the foods seem normal.  Not that I am anywhere near a chef nor planning on going on Chopped, but I have definitely branched out and creating some of my own recipes.   I made a new recipe combining ingredients I love to make Apple Turnovers.  I hope you enjoy the Caramel Apple Turnovers you will be able to make as much as our family did!  They really are to die for!! :)

Caramel-Apple Turnovers
5 apples peeled and chopped
2 Tbl butter
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs honey
13 oz. caramel squares (melted) *
Easy Pie Crust (click here)
3 Tbs raw sugar + cinnamon to sprinkle on turnovers
Step One:
Cook the peeled/chopped apples w/ butter till tender.  Add the ginger, cinnamon and honey.  Simmer about 5-10 minutes.  Add the melted caramels and stir well.  Set aside to let cool slightly.

Step Two:
Cut your pie crust in 3x3 or 4x4 squares.  I actually used a Tupperware container as my 'cookie press.'  Place the square whole wheat pie dough on parchment covered cookie sheet.  Put a spoonful of caramel/apple mixture in the center of the pie square.   The apple mixture will be a little soupy.  Though you could spoon it over the turnover, it will run out and make a mess.  I used a spaghetti spoon to spoon the caramel-apple mixture so only some of the caramel-apple mixture liquid would be on the turnover.   Fold it over and pinch the sides. Sprinkle top with raw sugar and cinnamon.

Step Three:
Bake 350 for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

*Note from Paula: You can melt the caramels in a sauce pan but I found it easier to put them in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  You just want them melted enough to blend well with your apple mixture.  If you put the whole caramel squares with the apple mixture, they will take too long to melt and the apples can get mushy.

Cinnamon Knots

These are the easiest desserts...breakfast treat to make.  Just because of the shape, people/your family will be intrigued.  They will be convinced you are a gourmet cook!  Go for it and make them keep believing we are gourmet cooks and keep our little secret of how easy these are to make. :)

You start with your Basic Bread Recipe!

Step one:
Roll out ropes of bread dough about 6 to 7" long and about 1/2" in diameter.  Roll these ropes in melted butter and then a cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Step Two:
Tie the 'rope' once and then stuff it into a greased stainless steel muffin pan.  No need to let it rise but pop it right into your 350 degree oven and bake until golden brown (about 15-20 minutes.)

This is like eating the center of a cinnamon roll with every bite.  My mouth is watering as I type.  I think I will go eat one with my cup of coffee that is calling me....enjoy. :)

Strawberry Shortcake

I really love strawberries and am always trying to find new ways to serve...eat them. This shortcake is a little different due to the sour cream. It is rich and can I say delicious?! I hope you enjoy making/EATING the shortcake with lucious strawberries as much I did...will. I am making this again!!

Strawberry Shortcake!
1 quart fresh sliced strawberries
2 T Xagave

Shortcake:
1 3/4 cup sifted whole wheat flour
2 T honey
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1 egg
3/4 cup sour cream

Topping:
1 cup whipping cream
2 T Xagave
1 tsp vanilla extract

Step One:
Combine the strawberries & Xagave and set aside.

For shortcake: combine dry ingredients; cut in butter till crumbly; add sour cream and egg and mix well. Knead the dough in the bowl. Press into round circles (3").

Bake 400 degrees for 10 min. or until golden brown.

Topping: Cream whipping cream, Xagave and vanilla till peaks form. Remember your Bosch Universal Plus Mixer will make this whipping cream FAST!

Step Two:
Cut biscuits in half. Spoon berries and whipping cream on bottom layer; put top on and dash with more strawberries and a dab of whipping cream!

Slow Cooked French Toast!

Have you ever wanted a new and different idea for Mother's Day. There is always the traditional breakfast ideas, but this one is soooo different!! I must admit, I don't think I would make it for breakfast as it only has to cook about 3-4 hours which means I would be getting up way too early in the morning to have this breakfast ready for breakfast. I have become a morning person but this would be over the top. I would be like all those doughnut shop/bakery people who get up at 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. to have those fresh baked goods ready for us to consume. I just don't have the DNA to do that. Kudos to those who do get up and have those fresh pastries ready for us.

So how would I use this luscious recipe? I would make it for the dessert finale of the Mother's Day Meal. It would be cooking through the morning and be hot and ready for dessert. I can't tell you how good this breakfast...dessert is. My kids kept asking me when it would be ready as the smell permeated the house. Then, it was like holding back a starving animal from its food. My kids were far from starvation but you would have thought they hadn't seen food in years the way they dug into this breakfast dessert!

Humm? Am I recommending this dish? YES!!! It is worth trying. So without further ramblings...here we go!

Slow Cooked French Toast
Found & Adjusted from Taste of Homes

1 1/2 cup raw sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
12 slices whole wheat bread
2 cups fresh blueberries
6 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
garnish with fresh blueberries and whip cream

Step One: Butter inside of the crock pot. Mix raw sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. Put 1/4 of sugar mixture on bottom of the crock pan. Put 4 slices of bread on the bottom. Cover with another 1/4 sugar mixture and sprinkle with blueberries; Repeat this step with each layer of bread.

Step Two:
Mix eggs, milk, vanilla extract, salt. Pour over the bread mixture.

Step Three:
Turn crock pot on Low Setting. Cook for 3 to 4 hours or until egg mixture is solid/cooked.

Garnish with whip cream and blueberries.

Note from Paula:

If your mom is not a blueberry fan, try peaches...strawberries. This is a fun, delicious breakfast OR dessert for Mom! Can I say YUM!! Enjoy!

Don't forget the Mother's Day Sales!! You can see them at www.paulasbread.com!