Rum Raisin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 Tbls rum

1 cup butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup organic raw sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbls wheat germ (or a little more if you like)

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 cup chocolate chips (more if you like)

Put the raisins to soak in the rum.

Preheat oven to 370 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar

Mix in the egg and vanilla.

Combine the flour and salt and baking soda and add to the creamed mixture.

Add the raisins and the rum, then the chips and nuts, and finally the oatmeal.

Mix well.

Bake for about 8 minutes. Your oven will influence the baking time.

They want to be lightly golden brown.

Cool and a baking rack, and store.

Moist and yummy chocolate cake

This is really a yummy moist cake, and it's great for when you need a cake but don't want to spend too much time making it because you have other things to do. It stays moist for days if covered. And it can be eaten by just holding a piece in your hand.

2 cups flour (9 ounces)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa (preferably Drost or Hershey's Special Dark)
1 tsp baking soda
1/s tsp salt

1/3 cup cooking oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cups cold water
1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350.
Grease and flour a bundt pan, not too big will do, but bigger is okay.
Combine the dry ingredients in a big bowl.
Add the wet ingredients and stir well, but don't stir to death or the baking soda will be spent.
Pour into the prepared pan. It should not fill more than 3/4 of the pan. If it does you will have cake overflowing its pan.
Bake until the cake springs back to the touch and a pick comes out clean.

This cake is very moist so you must make sure it is done enough.
I'd start the timer at about 50 minutes. This is probably not long enough, but you need to sneak up on it. Let cool for maybe 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a serving plate.

German Chocolate Cake

My youngest daughter has asked for a German chocolate cake for her birthday - she'll be thirty. I am quite excited for the opportunity to make one, as I've never made one before. So here's a recipe I've found, and I'm going for it.

Prepare three 9" cake tins lined with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 350.

4 oz German's Sweet Chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup boiling water

8 oz butter
15 oz of superfine sugar

4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla

10 oz cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Melt the chocolate gently in boiling water.
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add egg yolks, vanilla, and chocolate.
Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk, then fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour into the three 9" pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Frost only the tops of the layers with the traditional German chocolate cake coconut pecan frosting, leaving the sides unfrosted.

coconut pecan filling and frosting:

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecan nuts

Combine all ingredients except coconut and pecans in a saucepan.
Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 12 minutes. When the mixture thickens, remove from heat.
Stir in the coconut and pecans.
Cool until the mixture is spreadable.

Or should I use this classic old recipe from the inside of the chocolate package.

GERMAN Sweet Chocolate Cake

1 pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER'S GERMAN'S Sweet Chocolate
1/3 cup boiling water
2 cups sifted cake flour
3/4 tsp. Baking soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
1-1/3 cups Sugar
3 Eggs, separated
3/4 tsp. Vanilla
3/4 cup Buttermilk

Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting

4 Egg yolks
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1-1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1-1/2 cups Sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
1 pkg. (7 oz.) BAKER'S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut (about 2-2/3 cups)
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans

BEAT egg yolks, milk and vanilla in large saucepan with wire whisk until well blended. Add sugar and butter; cook on medium heat 12 min. or until thickened and golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
ADD coconut and pecans; mix well. Cool to room temperature and of desired spreading consistency.
USE to frost your favorite cake or cupcake recipe.

Creamy Fetta Vinaigrette

1/4 olive oil

1/4 rice wine vinegar

1/4 water

juice of 1/2 lime

heaping Tbl sugar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

pinch salt

dash pepper

some Sunny Paris (Penzeys) , if you have some, or some herbe de Provence

1 clove garlic

a little piece of red onion or a piece of green onion

about an inch square hunk of fetta

Put it all in the blender and process on liquify until liquified.

Sunny Paris: shallots, chives, green peppercorns, dill weed, basil, tarragon, chervil and bay leaf

Tyler Florence's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Cointreau Carrots

.

This is not exactly Tyler's recipe. I like the cake, but his cream cheese frosting was more cream cheese than I can handle. The only reason I make carrot cakes is because my mother really likes them. And I actually don't like cream cheese frosting. But for those who would like to know what Tyler's cake is like, here's the link. I'm making this for my mother's 90th birthday cake.

1 1/2 cups finely minced carrots (7 ounces)
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (3 ounces)
2 1/2 cups, all-purpose flour, (12 ounces)

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
A pinch of kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup molasses
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a jelly roll pan and line with parchment. Set aside.
Take the carrots and chop into large pieces, then mince in a food processor until you have a fine texture. Drain pineapple and finely chop walnuts. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl add flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices together. In a separate bowl mix buttermilk, molasses, eggs, vegetable oil and dark brown sugar together.
Now combine wet and dry ingredients together to make a batter then fold in the carrots, pineapple and walnuts. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until cake is set and springs back when gently pressed in the middle. Remove the pan from the oven and allow cake to cool on a rack while you prepare the frosting and cointreau carrots (recipes below). Once the cake has cooled, cut into three rectangles by cutting the cake lengthwise twice. Stack the cake up into three tiers with cream cheese frosting in between each layer. Frost the outside of the entire finished cake - smoothing off the edges and corners (an offset spatula works well). Top with Cointreau carrot rounds and drizzle a little of the syrup on top as well.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Using a kitchen mixer, combine cream cheese and butter until blended and you have a smooth, light texture. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and powdered sugar and beat until combined. Continue to beat until smooth and glossy - about 7 minutes.

Cointreau Carrots:

1 medium carrot
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup Cointreau
pinch of salt

Slice carrot up into rounds. Add carrot, butter, sugar, cointreau and salt to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and reduce until syrupy - about 5 minutes.

Now when it came time to make the cake for the birthday I found I needed more than expected, and so I decided to go with making three bundt cakes. So this batter went very nicely into a large bundt pan, and I made the cream cheese icing, and this is what I got.

Note to self: Don't grease a bundt pan with olive oil, use shortening!

Molly's Egg Cream

For years I have wondered what an egg cream was. I first heard about egg creams on Sesame Street. It was made at Mr Hooper's Store. But for the longest time the recipe had eluded me. Then just the other day daughter #2 was reading a Jewish Deli cookbook and low and behold there was the recipe. Well it turns out that I have been making "egg creams" for years. The thing is, I called it my Italian soda.

a nice big glass, half-filled with crushed ice

1 - 2 tablespoon chocolate syrup, like Monin or Torani or Da Vinci (or any flavor you like, I like chocolate!)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup Pellegrino or Perrier or soda water

Put the ice into the glass. Add the chocolate syrup (or any flavor of syrup you like, there's a whole passel of them). Then add the milk and give it a good stir. Finally add the soda water and give it a gentle stir. Add a straw and you're good to go.

Chantilly Chocolate Tart

This is a really yummy tart, and when I make it everyone eats it right up and I hardly get any. I think I should also make a little one and hide it, just for myself.

crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbls butter
1 1/2 Tbls shortening
2 Tbls iced water

In a sturdy mixing bowl or in a food processor combine the flour and salt.
Cut in the butter and shortening until it looks like coarse cornmeal,
Blend in the ice water thuroughly but not to the point of looking doughy. It should still look like flour.
If using the food processor, dump the mixture into a bowl.
Smush the dough to for a solid mass.
Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, flatten to a disc, and chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes or so.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll out the dough and place in a 8 or 9 inch tart dish.
Tuck in the extra bits, leaving a bit sticking up above the dish, and crimp.
The reason for leaving the dough a bit above the dish is because when you blind bake the shell it will shrink a bit.
Bake for about 13-15 minutes, till gently browned.
Let cool.

Filling:
50 grams of bittersweet chocolate (this is not an exact science, a little more or a little less is okay)
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour
pinch of salt
1 2/3 cups milk, any kind you like (rich milk is nice)
3 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan (copper is great) combine the sugar, cornflour, and salt and give it a good stir to combine.
Chop up the chocolate and add to pan.
Stir in the milk and cook on medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring all the while, as you don't want the milk to be stuck on the bottom of the pan.
Remove from heat and use a bit of the mixture to temper the egg yolks.
Return to heat and quickly stir in the yolks and bring back to a boil. This should take no time at all.
Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla and pour into the prebaked tart shell.

Instead of vanilla one could stir in a bit of brandy or cointreau or ......
Let cool down a bit, and then chill in fridge. You can cover with plastic wrap or waxed paper if you like.

To serve:

Whip up 1 cup whipping cream and 1 Tbls sugar until a lovely stiffness, but not butter.
Stir in a little vanilla, and then spread cream over the cooled tart.

Lemon Lime Tart

I came up with this one for Riley's birthday, and it has been a really big hit. It is so so easy to make.




1 disc of pastry, about 6 ounces
7 inch (18 cm) tart pan, or whatever you have that will work, as this is not a large tart. I have these wonderful British fluted loose bottomed metal tart pans that I think are made by a company called Master Class.

2 eggs
2/3 sugar
pinch of salt
3 Tbl cream
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 lime, zested and juiced

1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbls sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out the pastry thinly on waxed paper, and place carefully into the tart pan.
Combine eggs, sugar, cream, juices, and zests, mixing well, and pour into the shell.
Bake for about 22 minutes.
Cool.

Mix the cream and sugar and whip with electric mixer until stiff. Add the vanilla.
Put the whipped cream onto the cooled lemon tart.
The whipped cream is optional. Instead you could leave plain or dust with icing sugar.

I made two for Easter dinner, and when dinner was over I was able to perfectly combine the left-overs. The one with whipped cream was the most popular.

Shrimp Dip

Riley LOVES shrimp dip. Today I made him some for the Super Bowl Party we had at Heidi's house with Christian. It really turned out pretty darn good, so I making note of it.

8 ounces cream cheese, sort of room temperature
6 ounces of baby shrimp, fresh not canned
2 Tbls milk
1 tsp Sunny Paris (a herb mix from Penzeys consisting of shallots, chives, green peppercorns, dill weed, basil, tarragon, chervil and bay leaf), if you can't get this, improvise.
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Tabasco green pepper sauce, or more if you like
juice of 1/2 lemon

Put the cream cheese into a medium mixing bowl, and whip with electric mixer until well mixed.
Add the milk and beat it in.
Add the shrimp and beat until smooth. At first you think they won't break down, but they do.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Serve with anything you like to dip into it.

Austrian Bangers and Mash

This is traditionally an English meal. But I learned to make it from my first husband, who was 100% German in his ancestry. The differences are slight, but key. But then, my Germanic heritage is Austrian, so I'll go with that.

sausages, like banger or bratwurst, or any fat sausage you like that does need to be cooked.
mashed potatoes
corn
sauerkraut
good mustards
butter

Preheat oven to about 350 degrees.
To cook the sausages I put a big piece of tin foil into a baking dish big enough to hold the sausages into. Put in the sausages and add about a 1/2 cup of water and seal up the tin foil gently and put in oven. After about 15 or 20 minutes check on the sausages and maybe turn them. At this point you probably don't need to seal them back up again, as you want them to brown. The reason for the tin foil is to prevent the dish from becoming very hard to clean. The sausages should cook for maybe 25-30 minutes. I confess, I've never given the time any thought. You just want cooked sausages.

In the mean time, peel and boil your potatoes. I like to use one medium potato per sausage. I'm assuming most people know how to boil potatoes. When they're done and ready to mash, you want them to be a nice smooth mashed potato. Add butter and hot milk and salt and pepper as desired.

Right towards the end, maybe just before mashing the potatoes, cook up the corn.
Serve it all with the good mustards (I always put on at least two kinds), sauerkraut, and butter. Actually, put a nice dollop of butter onto the corn in it's serving dish.

It's the corn and sauerkraut, and possibly German mustard that makes this a German meal. The English would serve it with peas.

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

These are really yummy. My daughter Sarah first came up with them. I'm sure you can use other 'chips' if you want. And of course, you don't have to use cinnamon, any other spice or no spice. What you want to keep is the ratio of butter/flour/oats/eggs to remain the same.

6 oz butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups flour, 6 ounces

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick-cooking or regular rolled oats, uncooked

1 3/4 cups Butterscotch Chips, that's about 11 oz.

1/2 cup chopped nuts, (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar in large bowl until well blended.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips; mix well.

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

I use a scoop to ensure that I have even cookies and cooking.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

About 4 dozen cookies.

Oatmeal Raisin Buns

1 Tbls yeast
1 Tbl sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water

12 oz unbleached white flour
6 oz whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbls sugar

1 1/4 cup milk
2 oz butter
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup oatmeal
2-4 Tbls sugar

extra water to get dough just right

Put the yeast and sugar into a small bowl, add the lukewarm water, and let sit for about 10 minutes to gat all bubbly. If it doesn't bubble up, you need new yeast.

In a Kitchenaid bowl put the flours and salt and sugar.
In a saucepan put the milk, butter, oatmeal, and raisins and put over medium heat until it starts to bubble just a bit. Turn off the heat and let it sit for about 10 minutes, stirring to make sure the butter melts. Pour into the flour bowl and give it a good stir with a wooden spoon. Then add the yeast mixture. Put about 1/2 cup of lukewarm water into the yeast bowl to be used for adding to the dough to get it just the right consistency.

Put the Kitchenaid bowl into the mixer. Put in the dough hook, and start mixing. Add water or flour as needed, to get the mixture to be well mix and moist, but not gooey and sticking to the bowl. Just sticking a little bit to the bowl. Mix it for maybe five minutes. Then put a big handful of flour onto the bread board (or counter, if you don't have a big bread board). Spread the flour around somewhat and dump the dough onto the flour. Knead for just a bit, to get the dough into a nice ball. rinse out the Kitchenaid bowl and the put the ball of dough into the bowl, cover with a damp towel and let sit for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto the bread board, knead just a little bit, then cut the dough into about 16 pieces. Form each piece of dough into a ball, and place the balls of dough onto a parchment covered baking sheet. Cover with the damp towel and let sit for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees, and bake the rolls for about 15 minutes. Now since all ovens are different, keep an eye on the rolls. They want to be golden brown, not dark brown. They will be nice and soft because of the milk and butter. Let cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before eating.