Mississippi Mud Pie

With it being Thanksgiving [Happy food coma to all and to all a good night!], I baked again for dinner. We always switch between my grandmother's [my dad's mom] and my aunt's [my mom's sister]. My uncle texted me earlier this week and asked if I was going to my aunt's and said the only reason he asked was because he wanted to know if I was bringing Inside Out Oreoes... Of course he was kidding but I just rolled my eyes.

I spent a lot time yesterday trying to figure out what I wanted to bake.  With all my cookbooks and the fact I love Pintrest so much, it would have been easy but it was not. But I actually went back to something I made many years ago for a Christmas party with my friends. I made something known as Mississippi Mud Pie and it is very delicious, albeit rich and very chocolaty. Apparently it gets its name because it looks like the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. According to Wikipedia [but you can't exactly trust them], "it is believed that this dish was created by home cooks after World War II because it was made of simple ingredients that could be found at any supermarket and did not require any special cooking tools. Its earliest known reference in print is 1975."

It's supposed to be a bit gooier than mine came out but I think that is because I made mine last night rather than earlier today. But it was still pretty delicious nonetheless. Everyone that had a piece seemed to like it so, success! I was going to make homemade whipped cream. I bought heavy cream for it but completely forgot to bring it to my grandmother's house so I was only able to use canned whipped cream. I didn't have to double the recipe for the most part. Just the crust because my springform pan was a bit larger than suggested.

I need a new springform pan. I had a bit of a problem getting my pie out of it and I ended up chucking it out. So, for those who know me and read my blog. Baking stuff. Christmas is coming up. That's what I want! So keep a springform pan, a loose-bottom cake pan, mini cake pans and a food scale in mind. [Hint hint, Santa!]

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time with their families. I definitely thanked God for everything that I have been blessed with. My father is alive and as healthy as he can be, my mother is in good health, I have a full-time job and I have quite a few amazing people in my life. I'm very grateful for all the opportunities I have and everything I have been giving. Until next my next baked good my friends! I'm giving you fair warning that there will be a lot of posts for December. 'Tis the season for a butt load of baking!

 

Mississippi Mud Pie

 

 

Ingredients:

[crust]

10 ounces graham crackers [I used two sleeves]

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup butter, melted

[filling]

1 cup butter

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup corn syrup

4 large eggs, beaten

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

 

Instruction:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a nine inch springform pan or loose-bottom cake pan.

 

To make the crumb crust, put the graham crackers, pecans, sugar and cinnamon into a food processor and process until fine crumbs form - do not overprocess into a powder. Add the melted butter and process again until moistened.

 

Tip the crumb mixture into the pan and press over the bottom and about one and one-half inches up the side of the pan. Cover the pan and let chill while making the filling.

 

To make the filling, put the butter, chocolate and corn syrup into a pan over low heat and stir until melted and blended. Let cool, then beat in the eggs and pecans.

 

Pour the filling into the chilled crumb crust and smooth the surface. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until just set but still soft in the center. Let cool on a cooling rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled with whipped cream.

 

 

 

Hell yeah I added sprinkles to that. How could I not? Happy holidays, guys!





Chocolate Cake with Hot Chocolate Frosting

Today was a wonderful day. My beautiful cousin Kelly had her baby shower today. She is due to give birth to a baby boy in January. I'm so excited. Kelly and her husband Jerry are some of the most amazing people in the world and have been there for me through a lot of rough times. I love them like no other.

My aunt and Jerry's mother asked if I would bake a few things for the shower. I wasn't the only one who baked something, but I went all out. This time I made brownies with chocolate chunks and chocolate cake with hot chocolate frosting. And it was delicious. At least I thought so and so did my other aunt and my mother. Jerry and his father seemed to like my brownies, which is always good. He texted me to tell me they were really good. It always makes me happy when people enjoy what I make.

I normally don't make cake. I'm more of a cupcake girl when it comes to the cake variety of things. I mean, as long as I'm baking something, I'm pretty much happy. It also gave me the opportunity to whip out my mixer which hasn't seen some love in a bit. I doubled the frosting recipe because there is never enough sometimes. Except I really should have tripled or quadrupled it. I literally had just enough to cover the entire cake and the inside layers. I was relieved that I had enough, but it would have been better to have a cushion of frosting! No worried about that though.

 

Chocolate Cake with Hot Chocolate Frosting

 

 

Ingredients:

[cake patter]

1 cup butter

1 3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

[frosting]

2 cups heavy cream

6 packets of hot chocolate mix

 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, unsweetened cocoa and salt together. Set aside.

 

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at time then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternatively with the milk, mixing until it's just incorporated.

 

Pour into two round greased cake pans. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

After the cake cools, cut it in half horizontally so it becomes two layers. With the second layer, cut of the rounded top off the cake. Put off to the side.

 

Place the mixer bowl and whisk in the freezer for 15 minutes until cold. Beat the cream for two minutes on high. Mix in the packets of hot chocolate mix [I used dark chocolate Swiss Miss mix though you can use anything. Three packets equals 1/2 cup of hot chocolate mix.] and beat on high until stiff peaks form.

 

Frost the cake and its layers. Serve, eat and enjoy!!!

 

 

 

She doesn't even look pregnant!

 

So many presents!

 

Everything at the shower was very cute! They live in South Jersey so everything was Eagles and Flyers-themed!

 

Some of the best people in the world! And they're ridiculously cute together.

 

Banana Bread Pudding With Caramel Sauce

Happy belated Halloween to my lovely readers! I like to spend my Halloween down at Danielle's, my college roommate, house. She's one of my best friends and like me, loves to bake. This is the first time in a few years I've been able to get down to South Jersey to see her around this time. We spend a lot of time together when she has off for her job and I'm lucky enough to have a four-day weekend after being weekend reporter. This year we went to a charity Halloween party to benefit the Dream Foundation. My other roommate Shannon and our friend Derek came with us and we had a blast.

Myself and Danielle from Friday's party

Yesterdaywas my last day there before it was back to the daily grind of work. Danielle, her mom, brother, grandma, great-aunt, her grandma's boyfriend and I went to her aunt's house for dinner and we decided to make a dessert. She looked up something up and we ended up combining two. Thus we have our banana bread pudding with caramel sauce. It made the house smell delicious. Like fall! And everyone really seemed to like it. Her grandma even wants the recipe for a church gathering. We didn't have time to make biscuit dough, so we cheated and used Pillsbury Grands biscuits. Next time I make it, I won't cheat! I'll make biscuit dough from scratch.

Banana Bread Pudding With Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

4 bananas, sliced

2 cans Pillsbury Brands biscuits, cubed

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 cup pecans, crushed [optional]

35 Werther's chewy caramels

1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9x13 glass dish with butter or cooking spray. Cube the biscuit dough in one-half to one inch pieces. Slice up the bananas. In a separate bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar to make cinnamon sugar. [You can add as much cinnamon as you'd like, but I'm not a huge cinnamon fan.] Dip the dough into the butter, then in the cinnamon sugar mix. Dip the banana in the cinnamon sugar mix as well.

Layer about half of cinnamon sugar-coated dough and all the bananas. Sprinkle in around half of the pecans. Layer the rest of the cinnamon sugar-coated dough over the bananas and sprinkle the rest of the pecans on top.

 

Combine the caramels and cream in a medium sauce pan, stirring continuously over medium-low heat until smooth. Using a large spoon, drizzle a few spoonfuls of the caramel sauce over the dough.

 

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Drizzle caramel over the pure awesomeness and serve!

 

 



Apple Butterscotch Blondies

Every year, my mother's job at Kateri Environmental Center has this Halloween night hike, where children and parents get to learn about Samhain [pronounces sow-win] and the origins on Halloween. Tradition states that the veil between the spirit world and our world is at its thinnest at this time and people wore masks to hide and confuse the spirits. This Halloween hike teaches students about that and the origins of the Jack O'Lantern through the tale of Irish Jack.

I volunteer at Kateri's events when I get the chance, which is difficult now that I have a full-time job. I think it got rained out on the Friday session last year and I didn't get a chance to participate. This year, I'm a trail guide and will be leading the children through all the different stations. Not only am I a volunteer, I usually bake for their events as well. This event is no different.

Being that is now my favorite season, I decided to go with something a little more autumn-ish. About two weeks ago, I was dog sitting for the people I normally dog sit for and I was lucky enough for them to have the October issue of Food Network magazine, which happens to have about a million recipes with apples. Good things last weekend a friend from work and I went apple picking and purchased 18 pounds of apples... I saw these and I fell in love. I hope everyone at the bake sale enjoys them. As per usual, recipe was doubled [but I'm putting the original recipe on here]!

Apple Butterscotch Blondies

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 apple, peeled and finely chopped

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a nine-inch square baking dish with foil, leaving a two-inch overhang on two sides. Lightly coat with cooking spray and set aside.

Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook, swirling occasionally, until it starts browning slightly. Remove from heat and whisk in the brown sugar and vanilla until dissolved and let cool slightly. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture, then the apple and butterscotch chips. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake until the edges set and top is slightly browned, around 25 minutes. Transfer to rack and let the blondies cool completely.

Vegan Brownies

Well, the vegan baking chef's hat is back on. It is my fearless leader's [as I call me editor at times] birthday today and I told her that I would bake for her birthday as I do for many people's birthdays. She has been a vegan for a while and I always feel badly because I don't typically bake vegan things and she can never eat anything I make.

So I ventured into the vegan baking once again and decided on brownies since I made cupcakes the last time. Like last time, I replaced the oil with applesauce because, let's be real... I'm not going to dump a cup of oil. Yuck. And applesauce is much healthier and works just as well. I am not a fan of vegan baked goods because I love butter and eggs. I baked Friday and made caramelitas, which everyone at work loved, which made me happy. I hope these are as good as my vegan cupcakes especially since I altered this recipe just a bit. I did not realize it said a cup of water so I added two cups of applesauce instead. Whoops.

Vegan Brownies

 

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Instructions:

Preheat the over to 350 degrees F.

 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Pour in applesauce and vanilla and mix until well blended. Spread evenly in a 9x13 inch baking pan.

 

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven until the top is no longer shiny. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into the squares.

 

 





Happy Autumn

Well this happens to be my favorite time of the year. I love Autumn and it is one of the best times to bake. I have a few events and birthdays coming up so there will be a lot of new recipes popping up. I've been somewhat lax about baking in the past month or two.

My editor's birthday is this weekend so I will make more vegan stuff as is another coworker's birthday who is vegan. So expect some vegan recipes popping up. My cousin's baby shower is coming up and my aunt and her mother-in-law requested I make a few things. I also volunteer at my mother's job and bake stuff for the bake sale. My next new recipe will be butterscotch and apple blondies.

Until then, happy baking!

EDIT: Sorry to those who were reading this previously. I wrote it on my Kindle and for some reason it kept turning recipes into recipients... Thanks auto correct for making me look like I have no idea what I am talking about.

Also, baked caramelitas for the office last night. Huge hit! Success!

Salted Caramelitas

As I've said many times, I am the designated baker for just about everything, including things for my parents. My father is apparently going to hang out with friends in Belmar and I guess they're having some kind of barbecue and my mom asked me to make something for it. Since I have a sordid love affair with Pinterest, I browsed through until I found something that looks utterly delicious.

Last time I made something with caramel it was not exactly 100 percent. But then again, I was going for homemade caramel and I think something went wrong there. This is more of a caramel sauce and was made with baking caramels and heavy cream. I did taste the sauce and it was delightful! I wanted to eat the whole sauce pan.

 

Salted Caramelitas

 

 

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

35 caramel squares

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. [I normally don't do this but with when working with caramel, it's probably a good idea.]

 

In a large microwave bowl, add butter and heat on high power to melt [about 90 seconds]. Add the brown sugar and vanilla and whisk until smooth.

 

Add the flour, oats, baking soda and stir until combined. The mixture will be thick. Add half the mixture to the pan and smooth it with a spatula or the back of a spoon to create an even, smooth layer. Set the remainder aside.

 

Combine the caramels and cream in a medium sauce pan, stirring continuously over medium-low heat until smooth. Stir in the salt for salted caramel sauce.

 

After 10 minutes, remove pan from the oven and evenly sprinkle with chocolate. Slowly and evenly pour the caramel sauce over the chocolate. Evenly crumble the reserved oatmeal-brown sugar mixture over the top.

 

Return the pan to the oven and bake for about 15 to 18 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and center is bubbling.