Angel Food Cake

This is so light and perfect! I absolutely love the texture of this cake. It is most definitely worth the time and the effort to create this lovely piece of heaven! I tried this recipe out from Gourmet. I followed directions exactly with no adaptions. I would like to add cocoa to half the batter and try a black and white angel food cake! I think it would be to die for! You can go directly to the sight for the recipe by clicking here!

Angel Food Cake

Serves8
Active time:30 min
Start to finish:2 hr

ADAPTED FROM RICK ELLIS

February 2000

This classic spongecake is thought to have originated with German settlers—a thrifty use of the many egg whites left over after making noodles. Apocryphal perhaps…delicious nonetheless. My sister asked me to make this as her wedding cake. To dress it up, I flavored it with ginger and served it with sliced peaches tossed with sugar and bourbon.


1 1/2cupslarge egg whites (10 to 11)
1tablespoonwarm water
1cupsifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 1/4cupssuperfine granulated sugar
1tablespoonground ginger (optional)
2teaspoonsvanilla
1teaspooncream of tartar
1/2teaspoonsalt

Special equipment:

a 10- by 4-inch tube pan with removable bottom and a standing electric mixer


Accompaniment:

sweetened whipped cream and fresh berries

Make cake layers:
•
Preheat oven to 375ºF.

•
Put whites and water in a very clean large metal bowl and swirl over simmering water or a gas flame until barely warm. Sift together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and ginger 4 times onto a sheet of wax paper.

•
Beat whites in standing electric mixer on medium speed until frothy. Add vanilla, cream of tartar, and salt. Increase speed to medium-high and beat just until soft peaks begin to form. Gradually beat in remaining cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, occasionally scraping down side of bowl. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. (Do not overbeat.)

•
Sift one third of flour mixture over whites. Beat on low speed just until blended. Sift and beat in remaining flour in 2 more batches.

•
Gently pour batter into ungreased tube pan and smooth top. Run a rubber spatula or long knife through batter to eliminate any large air bubbles.

•
Bake cake in lower third of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Remove cake from oven and immediately invert pan. (If pan has "legs," stand it on those. Otherwise, place pan over neck of a bottle.) Cool cake completely, upside down.

•
Turn pan right side up. Run a long, thin knife around outer edge of pan with a smooth (not sawing) motion. Do the same around center tube. Remove outer rim of pan and run knife under bottom of cake to release. Invert to release cake from tube, and invert again onto a serving plate.

•
Serve cake with whipped cream and berries.

Cooks’ notes: Angel food cake was traditionally torn apart using 2 forks or a many-pronged cake breaker to preserve its prized texture; however, gently sawing with a modern serrated knife also works well.
Cake may be made 1 day ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.

Sweet Potato Casserole

I can not believe that I had not posted this recipe to the blog! I have used this for every holiday and every gathering that I have been to, ever since my friend Cheryl C. made it at her home for our Easter gathering with her family! My husband's Aunt Teresa makes a sweet potato casserole similar to this as well. My friend, C got it from her neighbor who may have gotten it from Southern Living! LOL.

I believe the topping makes this dish most unique and scrumptious. It is always requested my mother in law always asks me for the recipe and I believe she has it down now! It brings groans of delight and smiles of pleasure when this dish makes its presence at our table.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Yields: 9x13 pan          Bake: 350      Prep:  20 min       Time: 35 min

Ingredients:
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter
5 ounces evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla

TOPPING: mix in seperate bowl (should crumble)
1/2 stick melted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup pecan peices

Mix all together. Place in greased 9x13 pan. Top with topping and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Rainbow Waffles

We always have a great time for the holidays and I love to have fun and celebrate. We had many of our traditional St. Patty's traditions along with a few new ones. My children absolutely loved these and had a great time eating them. Their little pot of gold was sliced bananas! Way fun.

My recipe comes from Betty Crocker herself. It is my favorite go to, never fail nice and fluffy recipe!

WAFFLE RECIPE
Yields: 4 waffles com
INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 TBL spoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 egg whites

In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl beat egg yolks slightly. Beat in milk and oil. Add egg yolk mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir just til combined
but still slightly lumpy.

In a small bowl beat egg whites till stiff peaks. (tips stand straight). Gently fold beaten egg whites into flour and egg yolk mixture, leaving a few fluffs of egg whites. DO NOT OVER MIX!

Pour 1 to 1 1/4 cups batter onto waffle grid of preheated lightly greased waffle maker. Close lid, do not lift lid until done. use fork to lift out.

Using food coloring tint waffle batter in separate bowls or cups or for easy pouring use Wilton bags or Ziploc bags. Starting with red place in center of waffle grid and as each color out will need more batter. ROY G. BIV
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet

How to make Hawaiian Haystacks

Hawaiian Haystacks! It seems like if you stick a pineapple on it, it's called Hawaiian. LOL, but this is such a wonderful dish. I know my sister in law made it for us many many years ago. Then I haven't had them since. It's been 10 long years since these have graced my palette. Some friends had us over for dinner and this is what she served. I have craved them ever since that night! What was I thinking never to make them. I finally did it and I'm so glad I did! The basic ingredients is chicken, cream of chicken, rice and any topping you wanted to put on it!

Hawaiian Haystacks


Sauce: 2 cans cream of chicken soup 2 cups chopped cooked chicken 1 cup chicken broth Mix and heat. Toppings (in order): Rice chow mein noodles chopped tomatoes chopped celery chopped green,red,and yellow peppers, cheese, pineapple, mandarin oranges, olives, almonds, coconut,etc.

Mix the cream of chicken soup with the chicken broth on medium heat. Add cooked chicken (shredded or chopped).

Place a scoop of rice into each bowl. Spoon one to two ladles full of sauce over the top of each scoop.


Set out toppings in small bowls on the table. Add cheese first, so it will melt, then other toppings, to individual taste. Although it may seem strange to combine pineapple and coconut with savory flavors.

Cake Mix Corn bread

A good friend of ours came to one of our dinner nights and brought a new recipe that she tried out. It's corn bread and is made with a cake mix base. Interesting! It was really very delish. I would catergorize it under a dessert because of its sweetness. Thanks Lisa for sharing! I got this recipe from COOKS.COM

Yields: 32 servings Prep: 15 min Bake: 350 Time: 30-35min
Cake Mix Corn Bread
LOS ANGELES SWEET CORN BREAD
1 (18 1/2 oz.) pkg. yellow cake mix (the kind without pudding)
1 (15 oz.) pkg. corn bread mix

Mix cake and corn bread batters according to package directions. Blend together and turn into 2 greased 9 inch square baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until corn bread springs back when lightly touched. Yields: about 32 servings.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Ever since A fell in love with my recent recipe of snickerdoodle bundt cake I knew I had to let him experience the love of the Snickerdoodle cookie. In our ward in NC, the Fort Mill ward, a family named the Jensen's shared this great recipe. It was perfect. It was slightly crunchy on the outside and ever so delicate and buttery and soft and even a bit chewey on the inside. I have no idea why I don't make these more often. They are magnificent. They are delicious the Mr. as well as A absolutely love these.
This is definitely my go to recipe for snickerdoodles!
YIELDS: 2 dozen cookies  Preheat: 400 degrees  Time: 8-10 minutes.
SNICKERDOODLES

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Topping: combine in seperate bowl
2 TBL spoons sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs. Blend in dry ingredients.
Shape dough into balls and roll in topping mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 min. I will also dip each baked cookie once they come out of the oven in the sugar mixture again.

Snowballs, Russian Tea cakes, Italian Butter nuts, Mexican Wedding Cakes

This is a cookie with a thousand names but whatever you call them they are delicious! I think even the Greeks have a wedding crescent tradition using this recipe!

I have always loved these cookies. I have loved them from my childhood. No one else liked them because they were powdery and maybe a bit on the dry side but that was what I adored and I loved the texture and the way they would stick to the roof of my mouth! They have a small crunch on the outside, smoothe and buttery on the inside met with small flecks of chopped pecans. I am so nostalgic just reminiscing of this little ball of powder! I adore these and will find any excuse to make them. My sister calls them snow balls and once again, Jennifer made them for her Christmas platter. I too add them to my holiday platters. I have a word of warning for these cookies. You must be careful not to over bake. They can easily serve as golf balls or knock a tooth out.

This recipe originates from the Betty Crocker Cookbook

Yield: 4 dozen Prep time: 20 min cook time: 12 min Preheat: 400 degrees

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sifted powdered (confectioners') sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour ( if you don't want to patiently watch these you can reduce the flour to 1 3/4 cup flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped toasted nuts*
Powdered (confectioner's) sugar

* How to toast nuts - Spread nuts in a single layer on a baking pan (one with walls is best) for toasting in the oven. Cook at 400 degrees F for 7 to 10 minutes or until the nuts start to turn golden. Shake the pan halfway through toasting.

Preparation:In a large bowl, cream butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Sift in flour and salt; stir until well mixed. Mix in nuts. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls.
Place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from oven and cool slightly on wire cooling racks.
While still warm, roll cookies in powdered sugar. When cookies have cooled, roll them again in the confectioners sugar to give them a nice even coating of sugar.
Store in an air tight container.

Variation: Substitute 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips for the nuts.

Chocolate Crinkles

My sister, Jennifer had made these wonderful little delights while we were home for Christmas two years ago! These too, will adorn my Christmas platters! They are slightly addictive and may leave evidence behind that you have been scarfing a few.  My recipe hails from Allrecipes and you may click here to go directly to sight.

CHOCOLATE CRINKLES

Yield: 6 dozen    Prep time: 20 min    Cook time: 12 minutes   Ready in: 5 hours     Bake at: 350 degrees

 Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

• Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls. I like to use a number 50 size scoop. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.
  

Snickerdoodle Bundt cake

Snickerdoodle bundt cake! Whomever would have thunk it? Well, this gal did here!

When I was googling new recipes I came across this idea and figured I would give it a go!

A, my 10 year old absolutely adores this cake! I gave a 1/4th of it away to share with a friend and when he found out, he almost had a grand mal seizure! This is a two thumbs up in his opinion! In fact, everytime I would plate a piece for picture I would grab my camera or my card on two seperate occassions and the piece would be gone!!

I just know he will love the snickerdoodle cookie recipe that my daughter brought home from church! I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon so I don't bake much with it but since A is I will be looking for more goodies with cinnamon.
I did add 1/2 tsp more cinnamon then called for because in my opinion cinnamon can sometimes get lost in a recipe. It was a good call.
I had a few apprehensions while baking and once the cake was done but all was well. I was careful to grease well my pan and then coat it with the sugar mixture. This is key to giving the cake a nice crust. I feared it may be too crunchy with all the sugar. I would also take note while adding the cinnamon sugar mixture to the cake to pour the sugar as close to the middle as possible. Mine baked closer to 70 minutes. It could be my oven. But, once complete. The knife slices through it beautifully and the inside is so moist and wonderful. So, put aside your fears.

WHAT makes this cake so incredible? It has a beautiful slightly crunchy crust and a very moist dense texture. Your tongue just sings and sends these incredible messages to your brain that says, "FEED ME MORE". I think the crust is what defines this cake as being a sugardoodle. My son, also specifically asked, "Mom, how do you get the cinnamon in the middle?" the sweet band of cinnamon that swirls through the middle is divine. Serve it up for breakfast, brunch or dessert. It is perfect for any occassion and at any time.

SNICKERDOODLE BUNDT CAKE... my notes in boldA printable version can be found here.ingredients
Yield 10 servings, Time 25 minutes prep, 60 minutes to bake
Ingredients
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I added another 1/2 tsp)1 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt (I used regular salt)1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

Method
In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Mix together really well and Preheat oven to 325F. Here’s the exact way Julie made the crust: Using a spray product like Pam with Flour, generously spray a 9 inch Bundt pan, being careful to cover all the nooks and crannies, as well as the center tube. (Note: If you don’t want to use Pam with Flour, you can just grease the pan with shortening.) Gently dust the entire inside of the pan with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. You should only need about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, but you want to try and evenly coat the inside surface of the pan, including the tube. Save the remaining sugar and cinnamon mixture and set everything aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Beat just the butter on medium speed for one full minute. Add the white sugar and mix for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and blade and add the brown sugar.

Mix for 2 minutes until the mixture looks light brown and uniform in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each for 1 full minute. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream; beat well.

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture over top the cake. Spread the rest of the batter into the pan and sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over the top. (If you run out of cinnamon sugar, you can mix just 1/4 cup of sugar + 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon together for the top of the cake. It should be more than enough.)

Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. aside.

This will leave your house smelling delicious!

Homemade pistachio ice cream

Home made Pistachio Ice Cream
This is among the favorites in our household. I believe the Mr. still enjoys his old and true plain vanilla ice cream but he pampers us by making pistachio and it is most decadent and divine!

Ingredients for Pistachio Ice Cream
1 can condensed
1 can evaporated
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 small pkgs of pistachio pudding
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 TBL spoon vanilla extract
Add WHOLE MILK to ice cream churn to top off to line.

1 large bag of ice
1/2 box of rock salt

Our ice cream churn comes with directions on how to use. But the basic ice cream recipe is as listed as above. It is rich it is decadent and I LOVE it best the day after! It gets very creamy and dense. Good luck having it last the day after.


Our churn then requires you to pour ice around the cannister and put rock salt on top. Keep checking your ice maker and adding ice so that it stays near the top of the cannister and then rock salt again. Repeat as necessary. Until ice maker stops churning. You can immediately turn out and place in storage containers or serve. If you would like your ice cream more firm wait a few minutes and the ice cream will harden as it sits.

Eggs Eggs Eggs... helpful tips

My favorite site:tipnut.com

If you ever have a ton of eggs to boil. Don't bother with wasting water or getting out a pot. You can have hard boiled eggs straight from the lovin' of your oven! Gotta love that!
Here’s a way to cook lots of hard boiled eggs without having to work with big pots of boiling water, cook them right in the oven!

Put a baking sheet on the bottom of the oven then place all the eggs you need cooked directly on the oven rack. This is in case they break, it will be got by the sheet. Bake the eggs at 325°F. for half an hour (do not preheat).

Take the eggs out of the oven then put them directly into a big bowl of very cold water (with ice added). This will stop the eggs from cooking and make them easier to peel too.

■When cream will not whip, add the white of an egg to your cream–chill it and it will whip.
■If egg yolks become stringy after being added to hot puddings, especially tapioca, use a beater; the lumps will adhere to the beater and leave the pudding smooth.
■A well-beaten white of egg added to mashed potatoes will add to the looks and taste of the dish.
■If an egg has a very thin shell, or is chipped, and likely to crack when being boiled, add a few drops of vinegar to the water.
■When making mayonnaise add the white of the egg to the mixture after the vinegar is added. This will prevent curdling.
■Eggs beat up lighter and make finer cake when not too cold. They should be at cool room temperature (60°F. to 70°F.) for best results. When making sponge cakes, especially angel food, remove eggs from refrigerator several hours before using.
■Don’t wash eggs before storing. Water destroys the protective film that keeps out air and odors.
■The fresher the egg, the harder it is to remove the shell of hard-cooked eggs. Use eggs you’ve had the longest.

■Many cook books advise taking eggs out of the refrigerator long enough before using them to allow them to warm up to room temperature. This is only necessary if making recipes where fat, sugar and eggs must be blended together. Cold eggs will harden the fat and the batter looks curdled, and this may affect the texture of the finished product.

■To prevent curdling when making custards, mix sugar with egg, add hot liquid, a little at a time. Cook over hot not boiling water or over very low heat. Do not overcook.

■■The color of the egg shell has nothing to do with the quality of an egg. Buy brown or white eggs, whichever are cheaper. Old ones are smooth and shiny while fresh eggs are rough and chalky in appearance.

Egg tip information found from this site.

To easily remove the shell when boiling eggs add a good amount of salt or vinegar to the water. The salt helps the egg whites to firm up faster and stay separate from the shell. (Also, if you happen to crack an egg as you put it in, this will help the white to seal up the crack)

To prevent eggs from cracking when added to boiling water, let stand in warm water a few minutes while cooking water is being brought to boiling point.

Over-cooking a hard-boiled egg results in a greyish green ring around the outside of the yolk. To avoid this when you are wanting your eggs to look pretty, chill the egg in cold water immediately after cooking. (The grey ring is just unappetizing to look at)

If you have some boiled eggs in the fridge and you can’t remember which ones are cooked and which ones aren’t, just give them a good spin.
A hard boiled egg will spin like crazy and a raw egg will only spin a few times.

When baking, it is best to use large eggs. And, a good way to judge whether your eggs should be used straight out of the fridge or should be at room temperature is based on the butter. If the butter in the recipe is supposed to be cold then the eggs can be too, but if the butter is supposed to be room temperature or warmer then the eggs should be room temperature as well.

When a recipe calls for eggs to be whipped they should be at room temperature for maximum volume. The whites of eggs will whip more readily if a pinch of salt is added to them.

To warm eggs quickly to room temperature, place the eggs (shell on, of course) in a small bowl and cover them with steaming hot tap water. Let them sit for a couple of minutes until no longer cold to the touch.

Not sure how old the eggs are in your fridge? An easy way to tell if an egg has gone bad is to drop it gently into a cup of water. If it floats, throw it in the trash.

Interesting fact: The egg carton was invented to solve a dispute about broken eggs between a farmer and the owner of a Hotel. Joseph Coyle from British Columbia was the smarty-pants behind that one.

I really like this gals sense of humor, she asks:
And, the age old question that must be asked. What do you think came first: the chicken or the egg? :)

If you have any other egg tips I would love to read them, leave me a comment