My sister worked at Half Price Books a couple years ago and got her hands on this neat cookbook from the Cook’s Country editors.  It contains recipes that have been around for a while that have been shared by home cooks.  Stories accompany each recipe telling who they came from, and how and where they originated.  The goal of this cookbook is to bring back recipes that are worth remembering.

This simple chocolate sheet cake is called “Scotch Cake” in the cookbook.  The note about this recipe says:

“The origin of the name of this simple sheet cake, with its unique pecan and coconut topping, was a mystery to Melinda and her mother, whose recipe card for it included a note that said: “I don’t understand the name of this cake.  I just call it my “boil it” cake”.”

I brought this cake to a potluck dinner, and it received a few compliments.  It’s a great potluck dessert because you can make it a day in advance and keep it in the fridge, it’s simple to prepare, you can take it in the pan and it cuts really nicely.  After being refrigerated the cake becomes almost fudgy and the coconut pecan icing gets that nice sugary crunch.  You know what I’m talking about.

Chocolate Snack Cake with Coconut Pecan Icing

From America’s Best Lost Recipes

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup water
• 4 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Bake or Break posted this recipe which is from a cookbook from Baked in Brooklyn.  I visited Baked last summer when I went to see my sister and her family.  I highly recommend making the effort to go there if you find yourself in New York City.   Here is the link to Bake or Break, and here is the link to the cookbook…which I am seriously considering purchasing.

Due to a lack of time, resources, and the memory to get cream cheese at the grocery store, I did not make the cream cheese frosting.  I instead opted to make a simple glaze of milk, powdered sugar and a little almond extract.  I glazed the cake in the pan after it had cooled.  The glaze is nice on this cake, but I am a huge fan of cream cheese frosting and will probably make this again to see how the two variations compare.

The method of soaking the oats in boiling water and melting the butter with that mixture was something I hadn’t seen or done before.  I think it gave the cake a moister and more delicate texture than if those ingredients were combined separately.  Mixing the chocolate chips with liquor (I used Courviosier…don’t ask me why I have a bottle of that) and then tossing in the flour was supposed to keep them from sinking to the bottom, but most of mine did sunk anyway.  Not a big deal.

I really like this cake.  It’s dense, moist, and has great contrasts in texture with the oats, chocolate chips and glaze.  Skipping the glaze and serving this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce would be crazy delicious.  Why do I get these great ideas after I make something?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

Ingredients

• 8 ounces chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon liquor, such as bourbon or Scotch
• 1 & 1/2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 & 1/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9″x13″ baking pan.
2. Toss chocolate chips with liquor in a small bowl. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over the chips and toss until coated. Set aside.
3. Heat 1 & 1/4 cups water to boiling. Place the oats and butter in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over oat mixture. Wait 30 seconds, then stir to moisten oats and melt the butter. Seat aside for 25-30 minutes.
4. Whisk eggs, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Fold in oatmeal, stirring until well combined. Fold in remaining flour, and then stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.

In my fridge was half a container of sour cream, and plenty of eggs and butter.  In the pantry I had a box of spice cake mix and half a bag of chocolate chips.

I searched “sour cream cake” and found a marbled sour cream cake that sounded easy and quite good.  Instead of the vanilla cake mix I used the spice cake.

The end result was quite pretty, and smelled delicious baking.  The texture of the cake was a bit dry, and I wasn’t terribly impressed by the taste either.  A glaze of some kind might be a nice improvement.  I might also add some whole chocolate chips or maybe nuts to the batter.

But this was incredibly easy to prepare, and not bad.  I can’t say that Ben and I will finish the whole thing, but I will give it another chance tonight.

Marbled Spice Cake

Ingredients

• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 package spice cake mix
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease and sugar 10-cup bundt or tube pan.
2. Microwave chocolate chips in medium, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave at additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth.
3. Combine cake mix, eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil, water and sugar in large mixer bowl. Beat on low speed until moistened. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Stir 2 cups batter into melted chocolate. Alternately spoon batters into prepared pan, beginning and ending with yellow batter.
5. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Invert onto wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

I’m not cooking anything really worth posting about.  And even if I was, I don’t really have time to post!  I really miss my kitchen.

This recipe caught my eye on allrecipes.com a few weeks ago, right after Carson was born.  My mom even bought a box of Nilla Wafers that day so that we could make it, but we didn’t have a chance.  Ben and I were having company last night, so I decided to try it out.

I wasn’t too impressed with this, but the people who ate it were very nice to be complimentary!  It wasn’t very sweet, and the texture was quite dense and a little rubbery.

So, I went and looked at the recipe again.  I FORGOT THE SUGAR!  2 C UPS OF SUGAR!  Maybe the lack of sleep is catching up with me.  Maybe it was just a result of my haste to get this made while Carson slept.  Whatever the explanation for my mistake, it was a bad one.  This ranks up there with making a cup of coffee at my parents house over Christmas with one of those Tassimo makers and putting the mug upside down.  I have lost my mind.

I might try it warmed up in the microwave or possibly toasted with some butter.  I will probably try this again sometime.  I like the idea of the using the cookie crumbs as the flour, and I am interested to see the difference 2 cups of sugar makes.

Nilla Wafer Cake

Ingredients

• 6 whole eggs
• 3.5 oz can of coconut (if you use bagged sweetened flaked coconut, just use 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 12 ounce box vanilla wafers, crushed
• 2 C sugar
• 1 C chopped pecans

Directions

1. Beat eggs well.
2. Mix wafers and all other ingredients into eggs.
3. Pour into greased and floured tube pan.
4. Bake at 350 for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book………and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

The dough for the stollen was quite easy to prepare and work with.  While I was given the option to let my imagination run wild in what I added to the dough, I just used cranberries and sliced almonds.  As a new mom I decided it was OK for me to opt out of making the candied citrus peel.  It would have been quite nice in this bread though, so I wish I’d taken the time to make it.

I used orange juice instead of rum to soak the cranberries and it was a good substitute.  The citrus flavor was subtle, but nice.  If you’re really into citrus then definitely use the juice, more zest and the candied peel as well.

I froze half of the wreath and plan to bring it down to my parents for Christmas.  The other half I have been snacking on over the past week.  It is incredibly tasty toasted with a little spread of butter.  Now, the only issue I had was the bottom of the bread.  It was beyond browned.  It was beyond dark.  It was burnt.  Solution?  Slice off the bottom before enjoying!

You can find the recipe and photos here.  Merry Christmas!

In fact, the only problem I encountered in making this cheesecake is that my pan wasn’t deep enough to add the sour cream layer on top of the cheesecake, and without this layer the cheesecake had a visibly cracked top.  But that issue was hidden by the chocolate ganache layer.

In the past I have been known to cut corners in the time department.  I have very little patience.  I don’t allow things to set up or chill completely, usually because I have not given myself enough time to complete the dessert.  I gave myself plenty of time for this cheesecake, and my planning and patience paid off.  The cake cut nicely and had a terrific creamy texture.  So, give the cake the time is deserves to set in the oven, chill in the fridge overnight, and chill with the chocolate layer as well.

This recipe is from allrecipes.com.  Here is the link to the recipe.  I left out the sour cream layer completely, but other than that I did not make any changes.  You will need one package of Oreos…unless you plan to snack on them along the way.  I crushed them in the food processor, which is tons easier than banging them in a plastic bag that inevitably breaks and creates quite a mess.

Cheesecake alone is decadent, but this one is especially so thanks to the Oreo crust, the layer of Oreo in the middle and the lovely chocolate top.  This was a hit at the Christmas party I took it to.  You will not be sorry if you take the time to make this!  Enjoy.

Oreo Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 2 cups chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 pounds cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine 2 cups cookie crumbs, melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; firmly press mixture evenly onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 5 minutes; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually mix in 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1/3 cup whipping cream, flour, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Pour 1/3 of batter into prepared pan. Top with 1 1/2 cups cookie pieces; pour in remaining batter.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes.  Turn oven off and leave in oven for 45 minutes. Remove cheesecake, and let cool completely on a wire rack.
4. Combine 1 cup whipping cream and chocolate chips in a saucepan; stir over low heat until chocolate melts, and then stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour mixture over cheesecake while still warm. Refrigerate until serving time. Should be at least 8 hours for refrigerator time, remove about 1/2 hour to 1 hour before serving, remove ring from springform pan, decorate to choice

Ben is not a sweets person, but he really liked this cake.  He even ate it for breakfast on 2 mornings last week, and he always has cereal.  When I make something that Ben eats without being asked to or having a piece served to him, I am pretty excited about it.  The cake is moist, the raisins and pecans add nice contrasts, and it is delicious.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes or yams, fresh or canned
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chopped raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

1. Grease and sugar a bundt pan.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Beat sugar, sweet potatoes and butter until smooth.
4. Add eggs and blend well.
5. Sift together flour, baking powder, spices and salt.
6. Add alternately with milk to sweet potato mixture, stirring just to blend. Do not overmix.
7. Fold in raisins and nuts.
8. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until firm to the touch, and cake tester comes out clean.

Since the arrival of Carson, I haven’t been doing much cooking or baking.  Carson was born on Sunday and Ben’s parents and my mom made it to Amarillo in time to be some of the first to meet him.  My parents have been here since then and my mom has been making breakfast, lunch and dinner for us as well as cleaning up and doing laundry for me.  I don’t know how we’re going to survive once they leave this afternoon!  Thankfully Ben’s parents and Aunt Claire will be here on Tuesday, so we won’t be on our own for long.

Last night Patti brought over a pork roast, rolls and gravy; my mom made mashed potatoes and a salad; and my mom and I made this apple cake.  It was a simple dessert and I’m planning to make it again for Thanksgiving.  The ingredient list is short, and there are no special skills required to make this cake…which is more tart- or pie-like, really.  I found the recipe here on A Whisk and a Spoon.

We ate the cake with a scoop of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream.  It was the perfect combination.

Apple Cake

Courtesy of A Whisk and a Spoon

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped and reserved
• 1 1/4 pounds (3 to 4 small to medium) Granny Smith apples
• 1/2 cup AP flour, plus mor for dusting the pan
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line the base of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment, then smear with thick layer of butter. Dust with flour; turn pan over and tap lightly to remove excess flour.  Melt butter in small saucepan (you can take it a step further and lightly brown it, if you like). Set aside.
2. Beat together eggs and half the sugar in a bowl (it’s not hard to do by hand). Continue to beat while slowly adding remaining sugar until thick; it should form a ribbon when dropped from a spoon.  Add the vanilla seeds to the batter and add the pod to the melted butter.
3. Peel, quarter and core apples, then trim ends and slice thinly.
4. Remove vanilla pod from butter and stir butter into egg-sugar batter. Combine the flour and baking powder, then stir it into batter alternately with milk. Stir in apples, coating every piece with batter. Pour batter into pan, using fingers to pat top evenly.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate pan; bake for about 25 minutes more, until cake pulls away from pan and is brown on top; a thin-bladed knife inserted into center will come out clean when it is done. Cool 30 minutes on a rack.
6. Remove the sides of the springform, cut the cake into wedges and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

The only unexpected thing about this pound cake is the baking process.  The pan goes into a cold, as in DO NOT PREHEAT, oven.  It then cooks for an hour and a half.  I’m not sure if the time the cake is sitting in the heating oven is what creates such a nice crusty exterior, but that crust is lovely.  Encased within the crust is the soft, sweet, buttery cake that just melts in your mouth.

I absolutely love plain pound cake.  It’s for the same reason I would rather have a plain slice of cheesecake than one with caramel, chocolate or fruit sauce.  Simple is just the only way to go sometimes, and with pound cake you can focus on the textures and delicate sweet vanilla flavors instead of whatever extras are interfering.  I know even while I type this that sometime very soon I will probably have to eat my words and fall in love with some fancy pants pound cake.  But, for today at least, I am a plain pound cake lover.

The only complaint I have with this cake is that it gave me some trouble coming out of the pan.  I can grease and flour a pan with the best of them, but it still stuck…not terribly, but it wasn’t exactly picture perfect.  Despite this minor imperfection in appearance, the cake is delicious and definitely worth trying.

Cold Oven Pound Cake

America’s Best Lost Recipes

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup skim milk (or 1%)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 eggs, separated
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 3 cups sugar

Directions

1. Grease and flour a 12-cup tube pan.
2. Whisk flour and salt in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk milk, vanilla and egg yolks.  In a separate bowl beat egg whites to soft peaks.
3. In a separate bowl beat butter, shortening and sugar on medium high until fluffy.
4. Reduce speed to low and flour mixture and milk mixture alternately, in 4 batches, beating after each addition until just combined.
5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the egg whites.  Scrape batter into prepared pan and place in a COLD oven.
6. Heat the oven to 300 F and bake for 45 minutes.  Increase the temperature to 325 and bake for an additional 45 minutes.
7. Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, run a knife around the edge, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Serve plain or with fresh berries and whipped cream.

For our anniversary, we couldn’t decide what to do.  We figured we’d eat at home, so I decided to make something a little out of the ordinary.  I made two different kinds of calzones, and they were both pretty delicious.

The meaty version was a Philly Cheese Steak Calzone.  I grilled a strip steak, sliced it up thinly, sauteed onion and green peppers and topped it all off with provolone cheese.

The veggie version was spinach, cheese and mushroom.  I sauteed the spinach with some garlic and squeezed it dry.  Then I mixed the spinach with ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  These ingredients alone would be perfect, but I added some sauteed mushrooms.

I tried a new recipe for dough, and I liked it a lot.  It rose well and was incredibly easy to roll out and make the calzones.  The only issue we had was that we had to break out the steak knives to cut through the bottom of the calzone.  Other than that, the dough had a good chew and good flavor.

I doubled the dough recipe and only baked 6 calzones for dinner and for leftovers this weekend.  I made the other 6 dough balls into calzones and froze them to thaw out and eat later.  It is so nice to have homemade meals in the freezer.  As long as you can remember to put them in the fridge the morning before you plan to enjoy them, kitchen time is cut to a minimum….as is clean up!

The recipe for the dough came from My Kitchen Cafe.  It is a French dinner roll recipe used as calzone dough, so I will probably try it for rolls at some point.  You make the dough as you would for the rolls, but divide the dough into about 6 pieces after the first rise for the calzones.

The Philly calzones recipe is also courtesy of  My Kitchen Cafe and the spinach and cheese came from Tyler Florence, although I did make a few changes.  All the recipes are at the bottom of this post.

Now, on to the cake.  I had planned for us to eat my Daring Bakers July dessert for our anniversary.  But when Ben got home from work he had a lovely pink box with him that contained this beautiful cake!

It was such a great surprise.  The cake was made by Cara Linn Cakes in Amarillo.  I took a cake decorating class from her a few months ago.  She is a great teacher, and is incredibly talented.  I am so pleased to have someone like her in Amarillo.  If you are a fan of the Food Network challenges, then you may have seen Alisa Strauss on a few of the cake challenges.  Cara interned for her in New York, before opening her own store.  If you’re not impressed by this, you should be!

The cake not only looked beautiful, it tasted even better.  The cake itself was a dense vanilla that was sweet and delicious, but not a fake sweet like cake mixes and most bakery cakes.  The buttercream was strawberry, that had actual pieces of strawberry in it.  Yum.  The fondant that covers the cake is unique in that it looks smooth and beautiful and it tastes good!  Cara changed my opinion of fondant.

If you are in need of a cake, cupcakes, or other sweet treats, please call Cara.  She was a huge help to my husband when he ordered the cake and she does an incredible job.  The cake classes are well worth your time and money.  I had such a fun time and I learned a lot.  You also get to take your cake creation home!

Read on for the calzone recipes.

Calzone Dough (French Bread Rolls)

From My Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes OR mix with the bread dough hook on your mixer for about 8 minutes.
4. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
5. Punch dough down, turn out onto a floured surface and divide into 6 equally sized pieces.  Place on a cookie sheet, cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
6. Roll each piece out into an 8-10 inch diameter circle.  Place desired fillings onto half of the circle, leaving an edge.  Fold over and pinch edges to seal.
7. Bake according to recipe instructions.

Philly Cheese Steak Calzone

Ingredients

• 16 ounces deli roast beef, thinly sliced OR one strip steak, grilled and thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow onions, cut in half and sliced into thin half moons
• 1 green peppers, sliced thinly
• 8 ounces provolone cheese, grated or thinly sliced
• 1 recipe calzone dough

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add the onions and cook, stirring now and then, until the onions begin to become translucent, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the peppers and continue to cook until the vegetables are tender and most of the liquid has cooked off, about another 3-5 minutes.
4. Toss in the roast beef and cook until the beef is warmed through (if there is still a lot of liquid left in the skillet from adding the roast beef, either drain the liquid or cook until the liquid evaporates). Take the skillet off the heat.
5. Put meat mixture in center of each dough round, top with cheese, fold over, press together and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Spinach, Mushroom and Cheese Calzones

Courtesy of Tyler Florence, Food Network

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound baby spinach, washed and dried
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
• Salt and pepper
• 15 ounces ricotta (low fat is fine)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 egg
• 1 recipe calzone dough

Directions

1. In a saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes until lightly browned. Add the spinach, season, and continue to cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer to a colander and squeeze out the excess liquid. If necessary, drain the ricotta in a sieve to remove excess moisture also. Calzone filling should be fairly dry.
3. Saute mushrooms in a bit of olive oil until softened, about 10 minutes.
4. Combine spinach, cheeses, egg, and pepper in a large bowl.
5. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. If you don’t have a stone, simply grease a baking pan. Roll or spread the dough discs into 10-inch circles, leave the dough slightly thick so that the filling will not ooze out.
6. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the filling onto 1 side of the dough round, then top with some of the mushrooms.  Be careful not to over-stuff the calzone.
7. Fold dough over to enclose the filling and form a large turnover. Roll up the edges with your fingers to close tightly and prevent leaking.
8. Cut a few slashes in the top to allow steam to escape during baking and brush with egg wash if desired. Repeat with remaining rounds.
9. Sprinkle a pizza peel (or prepared baking pan) with cornmeal and carefully transfer the calzones to the oven.
10. Bake directly on pizza stone for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.