(A few recipes follow.)

Notes: I’m not a fan of having to melt caramel candies, so just get a good jar of caramel (or make it yourself) and add flour to thicken.  I also prefer pecans to walnuts.  It reminds me of pecan pie.  Also, make sure you allow them to cool in the pan completely (or overnight).  I pulled it out of the pan the first time… NOT pretty.  ;)

Recipes:

Oatmeal Carmelitas

Carmelita Bars (Better Homes & Gardens) (This is the recipe I used.  I’m going to play with it a bit more in the future, namely with the crust in the recipe above!)

Carmelita Bars @ Eddybles

Nutty Caramel Squares on Foodaphilia

Black Forest Bread Pudding

Measurements are approximate. Any bread pudding recipe that you like can be adapted.

Ingredients:
4 large eggs
3/4 c. milk
3/4 c. heavy cream
6 T. sugar, divided (or more to taste)
1/4 c Sharffenberger cocoa, sifted
8 slices white bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 – 3 T unsalted butter
8 oz frozen Cascadian Farm organic cherries (or pitted fresh cherries) – reserve 4-6 cherries for garnish, if desired.
Garnish: whipped cream and 4-6 cherries, drained & reserved

Directions:

Generously butter a 2-quart baking dish, or 9″ pie plate in a large bowl
Whisk together eggs, milk, cream, 1/2 cup sugar, & Sharffenberger cocoa.
Stir in bread cubes and cherries to mix evenly. Let stand 10 minutes or more to let bread absorb custard mixture. (if it seems a little dry, add another tablespoon or two of milk & mix gently)
Pour mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with 2 T sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees  for about 20 min, until pudding is puffed and set.

Cut into 4 to 6 pieces. serve warm, garnished with whipped cream & reserved cherries if desired

Notes:

• This is a really satisfying way to get the flavors of black forest cake without the fuss and bother. You can whip this up just about any day.
• If you have guests, you could get fancy with the garnishes, adding (Sharffenberger) chocolate shavings to the cherries and whipped cream, for example, or baking them in individual souffle dishes/custard cups.

Margaret Lukens CPO®, owner of New Leaf + Company LLC, is a professional
organizer and productivity trainer who takes her clients from overwhelmed to
organized with her “Getting Organized for Business” program. Visit her
website at www.newleafandcompany.com.
Her first foray into entrepreneurship was starting a gourmet food store in
New England, where she was allowed to exercise her love of cooking. The
store was sold years ago, but the love remains. She has written about food
(and the business of food) for many publications, including Bay Food,
Pacific Sun, Santa Rosa (CA) Business Journal, and Litchfield (CT) Times.

Wine Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 C sherry (any white-ish dessert wine is also good)
4 eggs
3/4 C oil (canola is good)
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix (3.5oz.)
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F (or 325F for a dark non-stick pan).
Add all ingredients to a bowl, and beat 3 minutes on medium speed. Put in a greased & floured bundt cake pan.
Bake 45-50 minutes. Test with a skewer – when it comes out cleanish, it’s done. This cake is very moist!

Cool 5 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack. When cool, sift powdered sugar over top.

Other ideas:
- Try using other flavors of pudding like cheese cake or french vanilla
- Instead of all oil, try 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce + 1/4 cup oil.  I haven’t noticed much difference in flavor or texture.
- Use a glaze: whisk powdered sugar an a teaspoon or two of lemon or orange juice, to the consistency of buttermilk. Drizzle on cooled cake. (I do this in a measuring cup with a spout so it’s easy to pour.)
- If you’re a citrus nut, try adding lemon or orange zest to the batter.  In this case, just use the sifted powdered sugar on the top.

It was quite a sight…

Fall is in the air… and the lovely children of our neighborhood were out raking up the leaves.  I was also proud to learn that my little one was the instigator!  He was the “boss”, and was out directing his friends to work together and rake up all the leaves in our yard.  Then, they proceeded to move to the next house.  I watched him for a while, with pride in my heart at his enterprising and helpful spirit. 

A reward & a recipe…

After a while, my son came inside and was preparing to make nametags for all of his “employees”.  Then, I got an idea… think of it as positive reinforcement.  They were doing a wonderful job, and I had a recipe I was dying to try out.    So, I fired up the waffle iron and busted out the recipe.  Let’s just say the kids liked it… as evidenced by the empty plate below.  Well done kiddos! 

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Waffle Cookies

Notes:   These whip up in a hurry, using a minimal amount of dishes.  The one thing I added the second time I made them (about 30 minutes ago) was a couple dashes of cinnamon.  I would highly recommend you do the same.  Delish!

Here’s my mish-mashed personal recipe (it took about three or four recipes and a fair amount of experimenting).  Enjoy!

Classic Apple Pie

Pastry:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cup unbleached unsifted all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoon  unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup  vegetable shortening, chilled
6 tablespoons  very cold water
2 teaspoons  apple-cider vinegar

Filling:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup  granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon  ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon  fresh-grated nutmeg
2-3 tablespoon  tapioca flour or cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon  salt
3 pounds  apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch wedges (about 5 or 6 apples)
1 tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon  unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

cinnamon sugar: 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

Prepare Filling:
In a large bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, tapioca flour, and salt. Add apple slices and toss to combine. Drizzle lemon juice over apple filling, toss again to combine.
Pour apples into colander placed over a large bowl.  Leave them to drain while you prepare the rest.

Make pie crust:
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with chopping blade, process flour & salt about 5 seconds. Add butter & pulse 4 times. Divide shortening into 4 chunks and add to bowl. Pulse 4 times & scrape bowl. Combine vinegar & cold water.  With machine running, slowly add water/vinegar mixture in steady steam through the feed tube and pulse just until dough almost gathers together. (It will be a lumpy mess – this is a good thing!) Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Press together gently & then divide into two pieces – one slightly larger than the other. Shape each piece into a small disk, wrap in plastic.  Refrigerate 60-90 minutes.

Put the pie together:
When ready to bake, place one oven rack in lowest position and another in the center of the oven.   Place a heavy baking sheet on the lower rack and heat oven to 450 degrees F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out larger crust disk into a 13-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate, being careful not to stretch.  Leave the excess dough hanging over edge.  Roll out remaining disk into about a 12-inch circle.

Fill ‘er up!
Remember your draining apples?  Spoon them gently into your pastry lined pan, mounding the apples in the center.  Dot the filling evenly with the butter bits. Lightly brush overhanging edge of pastry with water. Place remaining disk over top, and press edges to firmly seal.  Trim excess pastry to about 1/2 inch of rim.  Flute (or fork) the edges. Lightly brush the top crust with water and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. With a sharp knife, cut a few vents in the top crust.

Bake the pie:
Place pie on baking sheet (on the lower rack in oven) and bake 15 minutes. Transfer the pie and baking sheet to center rack and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking until crust has browned and thickened juices are bubbling — about 1 hour more. Transfer pie to wire rack; let cool completely before serving.  (Completely – not warm, or you’ll have a runny mess!)

I like it served at room temperature, which isn’t a problem because it rarely lasts 3 days around here. 

How fun are these?  I used my chocolate cake recipe, and make these little mini-cupcakes for my hubby for Valentine’s Day.

Oh, what are those crumbs?  Well, most of the cupcakes disappeared overnight. 

I have a new obsession:  Amanatto

My husband and I were at a local asian market, and ran across these.  I happen to love beans, of pretty much any flavor.  It wasn’t always so, and sweet beans were something that had to grow on me.  Almost two decades later, I’m all in with the sweet beans!  These little beauties go quite nicely with a cup of green tea.  The sweetness of the beans and the fresh grassy flavor of the green tea…. ah, heaven! 

Want to try them and don’t have an asian market close by?  Here’s a recipe I found so you can make them yourself!

Homemade Amanatto

Have you tried some sweet beans today?

photo by johntrainor on flickr.com

So today we are snowed in, and looks like it will be that way for another week or more.  My lovely neighbors have brought over two rounds of fudge.  For whatever reason I want to make it.  Badly.  However, I don’t have all the ingredients on hand.  So, what’s a girl to do?  A Fudge Link Roundup of course!  Here’s some fudge I just may be making once the streets lose their slippery ice layer…

Balsamic Fudge, Cupcake Project

Simple Chocolate Fudge, Joy of Baking

Fantasy-ish Fudge Recipe, 101 Cookbooks

Chocolate & Walnut Fudge, London Foodie in New York

Dad’s Favorite Fudge, Simply Recipes

Dark Chocolate Fudge, Culinate (from the new Joy of Cooking)

What can you do on a cold, snowy, icy winter day?

Drink hot chocolate of course! My obsession with recipe tinkering continues with this one.  This hot chocolate recipe is what I make when I’m craving a cup of frothy, liquid chocolate.  (It also easily doubles to share with a friend or sweetie.)  It’s got all the right stuff: low notes, high notes and everything in between.  Oh, and it goes down like a cup of thick, liquid chocolate heaven.

I reveled in some inspiration from these two recipes, and then adapted it from there:

Nigella Lawson’s Alcoholic Hot Chocolate

Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Hot Chocolate (Tyler’s Ultimate Cookbook)

My version starts with this:

Hot Chocolate (1 serving)

1 cup milk (vanilla soy + touch of soy creamer or dairy milk)

1.5 teaspoon whole coffee beans

1 cinnamon stick

1-2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 oz. bittersweet or dark chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

drizzle of honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (if using plain milk)

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.  Stir (or whisk) frequently over medium heat, careful not to scorch the chocolate.  Add vanilla extract, strain and serve hot.

(Tip: Whip with a milk frother and add a peppermint or vanilla marshmallow as pictured below…Oh yeah baby…)

I’m a baker first, cook second.  I’ve been searching for a chocolate cake recipe for a very… long… time.  I’ve made no secret that I’m a Barefoot Contessa fan, and I own nearly every cookbook she’s written.  I love how simple the recipes are, not to mention they are delish.

Sometimes I just can’t leave well enough alone. I like to mess with recipes and make them just that much more healthy.  This one is no exception.  I traded out a little less than half of the flour for whole wheat pastry flour, which is something I use nearly every time I bake.  I also traded out the eggs for egg whites, and cut back the sugar a bit.  Lastly I replaced the vegetable oil with canola oil.  Does it taste just as good?  Oh yes.

We took this cake to my neighbor’s house for a dinner party last weekend.  They said two things:  “I don’t think you could get any more chocolate in this cake.  This is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten!”  Mmmm…. chocolate…  See what you think. 

Chocolate Cake, My Way

1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour, plus more for pans
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup canola oil
4 egg whites (large eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh brewed decaf coffee

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Spray two 8-inch round cake pans with canola oil.  Line bottoms with parchment paper, spray again and flour pans.

Sift dry ingredients together (flour through kosher salt) into large mixing bowl.  Mix ingredients together thoroughly on low speed with paddle attachment.  In another large bowl, mix together buttermilk, canola oil, egg whites and vanilla.  Using low speed, slowly add wet ingredients to dry.  Once combined, slowly add coffee until just combined (scrape bottom of the bowl once).

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, until knife comes out clean.   Cool cake in pans for 30 minutes, gently move to wire racks to cool completely.

[Psst... you can also make mini cupcakes like I did here: use paper liners and only cook them for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer comes out clean.]

*This recipe was adapted from “Beatty’s Chocolate Cake” from the cookbook, Barefoot Contessa at Home

Chocolate Cocoa Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegan margarine, softened
3-4 tablespoons soy creamer (plain)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift sugar and cocoa together into large bowl. In large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar mixture with butter, margarine and 1 tablespoon of creamer.  Continue adding another cup of sugar mixture and tablespoon of creamer, beating well each time.  Beat until frosting is fluffy, and then beat in vanilla.

Adapted from this Chocolate Frosting recipe on Food Network.