MANGO BREAD

4 cups of flour

4 cups of sugar

5 teaspoons of cinnamon

4 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

 2 1/4 cups of oil

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla

7 eggs

4 cups of fresh diced mango

1 cups of walnuts or pecans

1 cup of coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil then flour your bread pans.

Stir the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

In your mixer bowl, mix the oil, lemon juice, vanilla, and eggs. Gradually add the dry ingredients from the first bowl. Then fold in the mango, nuts, and coconut.

I use three rather large bread pans when I make this recipe. I usually bake them for at least an hour and then I use a cake tester to test doneness. You may have to adjust your time if the loaves are not completely baked in the middle. Feel free to use smaller loaf pans or min-loaf pans, but you'll have to adjust the baking times.

Freezes well.

 

PEANUT BUTTER PIE

A no bake pie, rich in chocolate and peanut butter flavors. It is a dense pie, due to the cream cheese.

FILLING

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of creamy peanut butter

1 tablespoon of melted butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of heavy cream, beaten until stiff

 1 (9 inch) chocolate cookie crumb crust

hot fudge sauce

TOPPING

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

3 tablespoons of brewed coffee

chopped peanuts for garnish

First, melt about 3-4 tablespoons of the hot fudge sauce in the microwave. Spoon it over the bottom of the pie crust. If you must spread it, be careful; those pie crusts are very delicate.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter, butter, and vanilla in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Fold in half of the beaten cream. Then fold in the remaining cream until blended. Then place filling into the pie crust.

Combine the chocolate chips and coffee in a microwavable container. Microwave until melted and smooth. Cool slightly, and then pour over top of pie. Place chopped peanuts on top of chocolate. Carefully place plastic lid from pie crust onto the pie and refrigerate over night. Yes, really . . . over night.

Take that pie traveling!

APPLE CRISP

A simple, uncomplicated crisp. I use a mix of apples.

4 medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

1/3 cup butter , softened

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 375ºF. Spray bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with no stick baking spray.

Spread apples in pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients until well mixed; sprinkle over apples.

Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork.

Makes 6 servings.

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE WITH GINGERSNAP CRUST

I make this every year for the holidays, always to rave reviews. One year my husband dropped it on the floor and they still ate it.

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups ground gingersnap cookies
• 1 1/2 cups pecans (about 6 ounces)
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling

• 4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin
• 9 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 4 large eggs

• 1 tablespoon (about) purchased caramel sauce

For Crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind ground cookies, pecans and sugar in processor. Add melted butter and blend until combined. Press crust mixture onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter spring-form pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. 

For Filling:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until light. Transfer 3/4 cup mixture to small bowl; cover tightly and refrigerate to use for topping. Add pumpkin, 4 tablespoons whipping cream, ground cinnamon and ground allspice to mixture in large bowl and beat until well combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined. Pour filling into crust (filling will almost fill pan). Bake until cheesecake puffs, top browns and center moves only slightly when pan is shaken, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack and cool 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around cake pan sides to loosen cheesecake. Cool. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. 

Bring remaining 3/4 cup cream cheese mixture to room temperature. Add remaining 5 tablespoons whipping cream to cream cheese mixture and stir to combine. Press down firmly on edges of cheesecake to even thickness. Pour cream cheese mixture over cheesecake, spreading evenly. Spoon caramel sauce in lines over cream cheese mixture. Using tip of knife, swirl caramel sauce into cream cheese mixture. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) 

Release pan sides from cheesecake. Cut and serve.

BLACK BOTTOM CUPCAKES

My grandmother always made these for me. This recipe will yield about 30 cupcakes. The cupcakes also freeze well, so you don't have to eat them all at one time. But good luck trying to get them to the freezer.

Filling

8 ounces of cream cheese
1/3 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon of salt
6 ounces of chocolate chips

Cupcakes

2 1/4 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
3/4 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 cups of water
1/3 cup of oil, plus 2 tablespoons of oil
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, and salt until smooth. Add chocolate chips. Set aside.

Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add water, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth.

Fill paper muffin cups 1/3 full with cupcake batter. Top each with a heaping teaspoon of cream cheese mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for thirty minutes.

DELUXE FUDGY BROWNIES

Super rich and fudgy.

4 squares of unsweetened chocolate
1 stick of butter
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of chopped nuts

Melt chocolate and butter in microwave. Beat eggs and add sugar. Beat together. Add chocolate mixture and blend. Stir in flour. Add vanilla and nuts.

Spread in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes. Check middle with cake tester or tooth-pick. If needed add more time but keep watch on the brownies. Allow to cool before eating.

LIME BARS

I just made these to take to a party at Marilyn's. I use the same recipe for my lemon bars - I just add fresh lemon juice rather than lime.

Crust:

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

16 tablespoons of butter, melted

To prepare crust combine flour and sugar. Add butter and mix well. Press into 12x15 baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Filling:

4 eggs
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder

To prepare filling, beat eggs with fork. add lime juice and mix well.

Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Beat. Pour over crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into squares  and serve. These cookies freeze well.

Pound Cake Cupcakes

I guess I can post some things I made while on my blogging hiatus.

These are soooooo good!! When you look at the ingredient list, you may think that these would be extraordinarily heavy cupcakes, but they aren't. I did use my KitchenAid mixer to mix them so that might have helped.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 6 large eggs
• 2 cups softened (not melted) butter
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. (I put it all in my mixer bowl.) Add butter, milk, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Stir until just mixed and then up the mixer speed to medium and mix for about four minutes. Make sure to scrape down the bowl before adding your eggs. Add eggs one at time and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds after eacg egg. Once all the eggs are in the batter, mix at medium speed for one minute. Batter will be thick and fluffy.

Spoon batter into cupcake liners until half full. Don't fill them any more than that or it will get messy!! Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick, inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes completely in the cupcake pans. Makes about 40 cupcakes.

Brunch Cakes

I hate bundt pans. I can't tell you the last time was that I managed to get a cake out of a bundt pan successfully. I made a Coffee Swirl Cake for the "booze and breakfast" or "brunch". I can use about 2/3 of the cake since the rest of it either stuck to the pan or broke away from the bottom of the cake. It's good and I'll eat it. I just can't use it for presentation, dammit.

Betty Crocker's Coffee Swirl Cake

1/4 cup instant coffee granules or crystals

1 tablespoon hot water

3 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups butter or margarine, softened

2 3/4 cups sugar

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 12-cup fluted tube cake pan or 10-inch angel food (tube) cake pan with shortening; lightly flour. In small bowl, mix coffee and hot water; cool 10 minutes.

In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in flour mixture, milk and sour cream on low speed until blended.

Remove 1 cup of the batter; stir into cooled coffee. Pour remaining batter into pan. Drop coffee batter by about 12 tablespoonfuls onto batter in pan. Cut through batters with knife for marbled design.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in pan on wire rack; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool at least 1 hour 30 minutes. Serve warm or cool.

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I had better luck with the Buttermilk- Lime Tea Bread. That at least came out of the pan. Next time though, I'll double the lemon/sugar syrup.

Betty Crocker's Buttermilk- Lime Tea Bread

Oh, I'm too lazy to type this recipe right now.

Buttermilk Chocolate Cake with Peppermint and Chocolate Mint Buttercream

The finished cake, with some mint and bergamot for garnish.

I love this cake. I don't make it much because it's pretty labor intensive. Plus my mint was kinda straggly this year. But it's always worth it when it's finished.

Cake Ingredients and Directions

2 1/2 cups of unbleached flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
10 TBS unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 extra large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup milk, steeped with 1 cup packed peppermint leaves (see directions below)
1 cup nonfat buttermilk
1/2 cup fresh chopped peppermint

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 nine inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with a circle of wax paper, and dust lightly with flour. Sift the flour with the cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, whip the butter with an electric mixer for a minute. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and chocolate and blend well.

Stir half of the peppermint milk into the buttermilk, reserving the remainder for the buttercream . Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in thirds alternately with the milk mixture. Fold in the chopped mint.

Place the batter in the prepared pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake starts to pull away slightly from the sides of the pan. Cool the pans on a rack for ten minutes. Turn the layers out of the pans and carefully peel away wax paper.

After assembling cake with the buttercream, I try to allow the cake to sit overnight, so that the mint permeates the cake.


Mint Milk


Put 1 cup of milk in sauce pan. Add 1 cup of mint. Use the back of a spoon to bruise the leaves against the side and bottom of the pot, while heating over medium heat. Do not allow milk to boil. As soon as the milk begins to bubble around the edges, remove from heat and allow the milk to cool to room temperature.

I leave the mint in the milk for at least 30 minutes.

Chocolate Mint Buttercream


8 TBS unsalted butter, softened
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
reserved peppermint milk
1 pound confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, whip the butter with an electric mixer for a minute. Add the chocolate and blend well. Add the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, alternating with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the peppermint milk, using only enough milk to make a spreadable icing, 4 to 6 tablespoons. Discard the rest of the milk or use for another purpose.

When the cake has cooled, assemble it with the buttercream, spreading it on the tops and sides of both layers.