Saturday, November 20, 2010

Apple Crisp - Betty Crocker

Apple Crisp

recipe photo

The perfect recipe for an abundant apple season. After one taste, you’ll want to make it again and again.

Prep Time

20

Minutes

Total Time

50

Minutes

Makes

6

servings


4
medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)
3/4
cup packed brown sugar
1/2
cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2
cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/3
cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4
teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4
teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cream or Ice cream, if desired

  1. Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with shortening.
  2. Spread apples in pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients except cream until well mixed; sprinkle over apples.
  3. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with cream.
Makes 6 servings

Make the Most of This Recipe With Tips From The Betty Crocker® Kitchens
Purchasing
To ensure recipe success if using a vegetable oil spread, use a spread with at least 65% vegetable oil.
Substitution
Rise to the occasion! Self-rising flour can be used in this recipe.
Variation
If blueberry crisp is your cup of tea, simply use 4 cups fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) blueberries for the apples.

Nutrition Information:

1 Serving (1 Serving)
  • Calories 320
    • (Calories from Fat 100),
  • Total Fat 11g
    • (Saturated Fat 5g,
    • Trans Fat 1g),
  • Cholesterol 25mg;
  • Sodium 80mg;
  • Total Carbohydrate 52g
    • (Dietary Fiber 3g,
    • Sugars 36g),
  • Protein 2g;
Percent Daily Value*:
  • Calcium ;
Exchanges:
  • 1 Starch;
  • 1 Fruit;
  • 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrate;
  • 0 Skim Milk;
  • 0 Low-Fat Milk;
  • 0 Milk;
  • 0 Vegetable;
  • 0 Very Lean Meat;
  • 0 Lean Meat;
  • 0 High-Fat Meat;
  • 2 Fat;
Carbohydrate Choices:
  • 3 1/2;
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

roll dough adapted from King Arthur Flour
makes approximately 15-16 rolls

Ingredients:

Roll Dough:
1/4 cup warm water (not hot, about 110 degrees)
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm milk
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup pumpkin puree, either fresh or canned
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 cups (approximately) All-Purpose Flour
1 1 /4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Filling:
1 stick butter
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each of allspice and ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves

Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften. Let rest for 5 minutes before stirring. Add milk, eggs, pumpkin, butter, 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom to yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

Gradually add remaining flour (all purpose), a little at a time, until you have a dough stiff enough to knead. Start with about 1 1/2 cups and increase if necessary. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.

Put dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Combine the white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a small bowl, set aside. Transfer the risen dough to a lightly greased work surface, and pat or roll it into a 16" x 12" rectangle. Spread softened butter over dough and then sprinkle with the sugar mixture.

Roll the dough into a log the long way; it'll stretch to about 20" long as you roll. Using a very sharp knife, slice the log into 15 slices. In order to cut down on drag, it helps to rinse the blade in hot water, and wipe it off, between slices. Place slices in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan (or in two 8 or 9 inch round cake or pie pans). Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven. Bake the rolls till they're brown around the edges and beginning to turn golden brown across the center, about 20-30 minutes.

While rolls bake, prepare the cream cheese frosting. Add the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and lemon juice to a small food processor. Blend until smooth and combined. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, blending in between, until well mixed and desired consistency is reached. (I used 2 cups powdered sugar)

Frost warm rolls with the cream cheese frosting and serve immediately.

For night before prep: Prepare the rolls up to the point where you roll and place in the pan. Then, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove the pan from the fridge and proceed with the instructions where you left off. Rising time may be slightly longer than noted in the recipe due to the dough being cold vs room temp.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Pumpkin Streusel Bread

Pumpkin Streusel Bread


This is a recipe I got from Whole Foods Market several years ago - but it has been a keeper and I make it every year. It is really good and truly a fall time treat!!

For the streusel topping:

3/4 C brown sugar
6 TB flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 TB melted butter

Mix in small bowl and set aside.

For the bread:

1 15oz. can pumpkin
3/4 C canola oil
4 eggs
2 C sugar
3 C flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground clove
2 C chopped apples
(nuts in the bread and/or streusel topping are optional)
(the recipe suggests roasted chestnuts or walnuts)

Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs and sugar. Then mix in the dry ingredients. (sift them first if you want.)

I chop my apples pretty small. I like the taste of them in the bread but not the feel of big chunks of apple.

Fold in the apples (and nuts, if you choose). This makes 2 loaves. After the bread mixture is in your bread pans, sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. As an added bonus, this bread actually freezes well.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
yield 2 dozen cookies

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  1. Cream the butter, sugar, and pumpkin puree
  2. Add the egg to the creamed mixture and beat it all together
  3. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl
  4. Dump half of the sifted ingredients into the egg mixture. Stir with a mixing spoon. Then add the rest of the sifted ingredients and stir some more
  5. Cover the mixing bowl and put it in the refrigerator for one hour
  6. preheat oven to 400*
  7. mix one tablespoon of sugar and one tablespoon of cinnamon on a small plate
  8. Break off a bit of cold dough, about the size of a walnut, and roll it into a ball
  9. Roll the ball around in the dish of cinnamon-sugar.
  10. Put it in the cookie sheet and make more balls the same way.
  11. Leave a lot of room around each one on the cookie sheet.
  12. bake for 10 minutes. These cookies are really soft when you take them off the cookie sheet. lift them up carefully with a spatula and set them on a wire rack to cool.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Homemade Flour Tortilla Recipe



  • 2 cups of white flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup warm water


Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl combine the warm water and oil.

Add the water/oil mixture to the flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time and mix the dough with a fork. Once the water is mixed in, add another tablespoon of water and repeat the process until all the water is mixed into the dough.

The dough will be sticky.

Kneading The Dough

Lightly flour a wooden cutting board and knead the dough.

Kneading is done by pushing the dough with the heals and palms of both hands down onto the board. Fold the dough back onto itself, give a quarter turn and push again with the palms and heels of your hands. Just repeat the process of pressing, folding and turning for about 4 or 5 minutes. Add a dusting of flour when the dough gets sticky.

If the dough sticks to the cutting board while kneading, scrape up the dough and dust the board with a little flour and continue kneading.

Eventually the stickiness will go away and you will have a nice smooth dough.

Place the dough back into the bowl and cover it with a damp towel or damp paper towel. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into golf-ball-size balls by pinching off the dough with your thumb and fore finger. Form each ball into a nice ball shape.

Place the balls on a flat dish making sure they don't touch each other and cover with the damp cloth.

Let the dough rest again for 10 minutes.

Rolling The Tortillas

Preheat a skillet or cast iron pan on medium high heat. You really can't beat cast iron pans for even heat distribution and their ability to withstand high heat without warping.

Lightly dust your wooden cutting board with flour. Take one of the balls of dough and flatten it out on the cutting board to a 4 inch circle. Rub flour on your rolling pin and begin to roll out the dough starting from the center out. Roll the tortilla until it is 6 or 7 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick.

It's difficult to roll out a perfectly round tortilla so if that is important to you, you can always trim the tortilla with a knife.

I like their irregular homemade looking shape. No one can mistake these for store bought, especially when you taste them.

Don't be surprised if your kids take this flour tortilla recipe to new heights by making shapes out of the dough. Their creative little minds will be making homemade star shaped quesadillas!

Cooking The Tortillas

Back to the flour tortilla recipe...

Once you have rolled out the tortilla, place it on a preheated skillet. You don't need to add any oil or butter. Cook the tortilla for about 30 seconds. You will notice brown spots all over your tortilla. Flip it over and cook an additional 30 seconds.

Don't over cook it as you want the tortilla to be nice and soft.

Keep your tortillas warm by covering them in a towel on a plate or in a tortilla warmer.

Storing Tortillas

Tortillas are best eaten hot right off the griddle, but you can refrigerate and freeze them too.

If you freeze the tortillas, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put them in a ziplock bag. When you are ready to use them, first thaw at room temperature and then wrap them in foil and place them in a 250 degree oven for a 10 to 15 minutes.

I don't recommend microwaving them as this tends to toughen them.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Carrot Cake

CARROT CAKE
by Made (blog)

2 - 4 carrots

1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup lowfat milk mixed with 2 tsp vinegar)

Heat the oven to 350º (turn it to 325º if using a non-stick pan or a glass pan).
Grease a 13x9 pan (or 2 to 3 round pans)

Grate 2 - 4 carrots. Measure 2 cups of loosely-packed carrots (don't cram the carrots into the measuring cup) and set them aside.

Prep your "buttermilk". If you ever have a recipe that calls for buttermilk, you can create an easy substitute by mixing 1 cup of milk with 2 tsp vinegar. Mix and let it sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a large bowl beat the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla together until light, about two minutes.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the creamed mixture. Beat for another two minutes. Stir in the carrots.

Pour into a 9x13 pan and Bake for 33 - 40 minutes or just until the center springs back when lightly touched. Cool on a wire rack before frosting.

For a layered cake:
Grease three 9-inch round cake pans. Cut three 9-inch circles of waxed paper and place in bottom of each pan. Pour evenly into the three pans. Bake at 350º for 18 - 25 minutes or just until done. Place pans on wire racks and cool for 20 minutes.

For mini Cupcakes:
Prepare recipe above, use candy-cup wrappers for cupcake holders (found in the candy making aisle at Michaels and other craft stores), and pour appx 1 Tbls of batter into each cup. Bake 7-9 minutes.

Since my little helpers are usually too antsy to wait for the cake to get out of the oven, I usually bake a few mini-cupcakes first. Immediate returns. All you need is one tablespoon of batter (and a steadier hand than me, spilling everywhere while trying to take a picture)
Bake them for 7-10 minutes, cool, and snack away.

LITE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
(for a Layered Cake, double the recipe)

4 ounces Cream Cheese (Lite Cream Cheese or Neufchatel Cheese...at room temperature)
1/4 cup butter (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla
2 - 3 cups powdered sugar
milk

Cream together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar and enough milk to make a creamy, spreadable frosting.
And, you're done!

Make sure it tastes okay.

And once your cake has cooled, we're ready to frost. I'll be making a layered cake but I didn't have 3 round pans, so I chose to bake the cake in a jelly roll pan (fancy word for a really nice cookie sheet). I usually place my cake in the freezer for 10 minutes or so, so that it's nice and firm for frosting.

I cut out a circle on paper and used it to cut three circles from the cake. This method leaves a lot of excess cake. But it's perfect for snacking on later.
Find a pretty serving platter. Place the first layer of the cake down and start spreading the frosting. Be liberal with your frosting. There's no point in having cake if there isn't a lot of frosting.
Put the second layer on top of that, more frosting on top, and repeat.

Then take your knife and frost all the way around the outside of the cake. There are tons of methods out there for making your cake pretty on the outside. If I'm really feeling ambitious, I frost the outside of the cake (which usually gets bits of cake stuck in the frosting. Not too pretty), then I place it in the fridge for an hour, then I frost another layer around the outside to disguise the first layer.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Banana/Zucchini Bread

(from Kathrine Paget)

2/3 c. Shortening
2 2/3 c. sugar
4 eggs
3 c. mashed banana/shredded zucchini
2/3 c. water
3 1/3 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. ground cloves
2 t. vanilla
2/3 c. nuts and raisins (each) (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans 9x5x3 inches or 3 loaf pans 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches. Sprinkle a cinnamon sugar mixture in bottom and sides of pan. Mix shortening and sugar in large bowl. Add eggs, banana/zucchini, and water. Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla (mix cloves with vanilla before mixing with others). Stir in nuts and raisins. Pour into pans. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean - about 1 hr. 10 minutes. Cool slightly. Loosen sides of loaves from pans and remove from pans. Cool completely before slicing. To store, wrap adn refrigerate no longer than 10 days.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 325° F (165° C).
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in egg then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes then remove sheets from oven and cool cookies on sheets for 5 minutes then remove to rack and cool completely.