Fresh Strawberry Frosting
1 cube softened butter
1 cup strawberries
splash vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
cream (amount varies due to differences in strawberries) -
Variations:
Lemon zest/juice added.
Banana mashed added.
Peaches added.

Milk Chocolate Frosting (for brownies.)
1 cube softened butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
splash vanilla
Melt chips, beat together , then add
4 cups powdered sugar
and
1/4 cup cream (or correct amount to make the consistency you want)
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Recipe makes enough frosting for an 11 x 15 sheet of brownies to have the frosting almost exactly the same height as the brownies.

Another variation of Stephanie's cookies
Cherry Chocolate Cookies
1 white cake mix
1 cup Hershey chocolate syrup
3 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
Cover 1/2 cup of dried cherries, 1 cup of chopped almonds & a shot of cherry brandy with boiling water and soak overnight. Drain and grind.
Grind chips.

Combine all ingredients into stiff batter.
Spread the dough in a jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides).
Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

This is the frosting for the previous cookies, sprinkled with chocolate jimmies.
Got it years ago on Gail's Recipe Swap from: Dawn/NYS -- VERY sweet
caramel/butterscotch frosting
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
5 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
Sift sugar if lumpy, and combine sugar, butter, and salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Add milk and reduce to low heat; simmer for about 3 minutes. Let cool.
Add powdered sugar and whisk until thickened.

Chocolate Butterscotch Bar Cookies
1 Devil's Food cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup chopped butterscotch chips

Mix together.
Spread thick dough in 15x11 cookie sheet
Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Cool, remove, frost, cut in small squares.

Making toasted coconut/butterscotch blondies, blueberry cookies, and cowboy cookies for the apartment house this month.
Found the recipe for the blueberry cookies here - http://www.phuocndelicious.com/2011/05/20/marblised-chocolate-and-blueberry-cream-cheese-cookies/
We skipped the chocolate dough for marbling and used only the blueberry dough, They are a nice blue color with bits of fruit. The first pan at 12 minutes was a little too overdone, so the others were in for only 10 minutes.

The ladies have requested more delicate, ladylike cookies; so I made some coconut macaroon-like ones using the recipe from the December 10th post.
Yellow cake mix,
1/2 cup oil,
2 large eggs,
3/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries and juice,
1 cup or so of coconut (ground finer in the Magic Bullet) and
2/3 cup finely-ground almonds.

Spread in a jellyroll pan.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
The pink icing uses the remaining maraschino cherry juice and more coconut. It's a lovely pink.
Will post photos later.

Well I made the cookies using the recipe from the December 10th post.

Instead of individual cookies, I spread the dough in a jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides) with 6 pulverized candy canes in the batter, and candy cane flavor Hershey Kisses dotting the top of each cookie bar. The dough raised up around the kisses, sinking them in a little bit. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
The folks went mad for them... snitching them from the bowl before hubby could get them arranged on the platters. The peppermint scent was very strong and you could smell them as soon as they entered the room.
I had been afraid that 6 candy canes wasn't enough, but we tasted the edges without the Kisses, and the peppermint flavor came through beautifully.

I made these for the first time Christmas 2 years ago. People still ask about them, so I'll be making them again this year.
I got the original recipe from Stephanie over on mrssurvival.
Cherry Chocolate Cookies

1 chocolate cake mix,

1/2 cup oil

3 eggs

handful of shredded coconut and cherry chips

Combine into stiff batter , drop by rounded spoonfuls, bake at 375 , for about 10 minutes.
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I used a cup of maraschino cherries, chopped, instead of the chips and coconut. It was a nice texture dough, very glossy; we made 48 balls - or would have if folks hadn't kept stealing the dough as they went by! They smell divine!
The tops crinkled, with a slight pinkish tinge from the cherries. Needed to sit for a few seconds on the cookie sheet before trying to remove them.
They are yummy; rather like brownies. I think they would be good as bar cookies. The texture was like a bar cookie, not like a cake.

I made these for the apartment house last month. Soft, sweet and nicely spiced.
They must have liked them as much as we do, because the next day they were requested for December.
Soft Molasses Cookies - Makes over 2 dozen cookies.
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 +1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 Tablespoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
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Sift together dry ingredients, set aside.
Cream butter and sugars.
Blend in egg and molasses.
Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing well.
Shape dough in balls, roll in sugar and flatten on un-greased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

When cool, put in plastic bag to equalize moisture.

Good right out of the oven, but better after mellowing. They stay soft for at least a week; can't tell you any longer they are all gone.

Good morning!
The emptying of the storage unit and the sorting of all the boxes is done.
It's rather chilly this morning, so I'm baking a Blueberry Peach Crisp for brunch. I left out the nuts as Tommy hasn't had them yet, and couldn't find the sesame seeds.
I used this recipe from Cooks.com .
http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1637,150181-234207,00.html

BLUEBERRY PEACH CRISP Printed from COOKS.COM

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□ 1 1/2 pkg. frozen blueberries
□ 1 c. oats
□ 1/2 c. what germ
□ 1/2 c. brown sugar or honey
□ 1/4 c. nuts
□ 1 pkg. frozen peaches
□ 1/2 c. flour
□ 1/2 c. butter, softened
□ 2 tsp. cinnamon
□ 2 tbsp. sesame seeds

Butter a 9 x 13 inch pan, cover with blueberries and peaches. Combine remaining ingredients, sprinkle over fruit. Pat down. Bake at 350 degrees 20 to 25 minutes or until brown, and peaches are soft.

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I wonder if I shall ever get back to crafts?
I'm being very crafty fitting all the books and things into their places, but that doesn't seem quite the same.

My first time doing a wet-on-wet icing.
Next time I won't add more liquid to the recipe.

Toba Garrett’s Glace’ Icing

• 1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
  
  • 3/8 cup milk
  3/8 cup light corn syrup
  flavoring as desired

In a mixing bowl, mix the sugar and milk first. Add corn syrup just until combined.
1. Divide to flavor and add color.

Inside-out Chewy Peanut Butter 'Cup' Bars -
Yield: 70 cookies ; 350 degrees F 20 minutes
1 18.25 ounce Pillsbury Moist Supreme Golden Butter Cake Mix
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/3 - 1/2 cup Hershey Syrup
1 egg
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Dark chocolate candy wafers
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11 x 15 inch jelly roll pan, sprayed lightly with Pam
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Mix together cake mix, peanut butter, syrup and egg to make a very thick dough. Adjust syrup amount if needed.
Pat in sprayed pan. Dot with upside-down chocolate candy wafers (one per piece) in a 7 x 10 grid pattern.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Let cool in pan before cutting between the chocolate dots.
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Tastes like an inside-out peanut butter cup, with a brownie texture.
Here's the link to the original recipe before I changed it.
http://www.pillsburybaking.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=3284

Poop. MORE Rain.
Even people like me, who have lived here forever and usually love the rain are getting grumpy.


I'm GRU-MPING in the rain!
I'm gru-mping IN THE RAIN!
What a blechy-ish feeling, I'm gru-mpy again!
I plod down the lane, with a grumpy refrain...
I'm grumping.
and plodding.
in the RAIN!
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Soup is on - roasted turkey broth, barley, vegetables* and chicken. Trying to decide if I want to add beans and/or make it spicy.
*Dehydrated carrots, celery, cabbage, onion, bell pepper, leek and a little tomato. Fresh onion and celery.

I like to make bar cookies that fill a jelly roll pan rather than use a 13x9. They're thinner and I usually cut them into 64 pieces. I made these for the apartment house for tomorrow. ( There's only 62, because we always make sure they taste good enough.)
Basic Lemon Bars Makes 64 sweet & sour bars, just like lemon meringue pie.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup butter, softened (used 1/2 margarine, 1/2 butter)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
-
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice
4 large eggs (used 3 of Piper's HUGE eggs)
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1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Combine flour and powdered sugar, mix in butter until well blended. Press into a 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.
3. Meanwhile, to prepare the frosting, beat together flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon juice, and eggs.
4. Pour this mixture over the hot, baked bars. Bake again for 25 minutes.
Cool before cutting with oiled pizza cutter.

organized chaos posted these chewy granola bars over on Zombie. I've made them twice, the first is the original, the second I changed around a bit.
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Homemade Granola Bars
Ø 2 cups quick cooking rolled oats
Ø 1 cup flour
Ø ¾ cup packed brown sugar
Ø ¾ cup dried cranberries
Ø ½ cup wheat germ
Ø ½ teasp salt
Ø ½ teasp ground cinnamon
Ø ½ c chopped pecans
Ø ½ cup vegetable oil
Ø ½ cup honey
Ø 1 large egg
Ø 2 t vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, cranberries, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and pecans.
In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. I use rubber gloves for this. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan. Make sure it is packed in tightly.
Bake 25-30 minutes in the oven or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
Notes
They freeze well (wrap them up two bars to a bag for an easy trail snack out of the freezer.) Yes, they are high in fat, but if you are hiking hard, you will burn it off. And they are better for you than a candy bar. These bars take well to using applesauce or baby prunes as part of the oil. Any nut can be used, and feel to change the fruit or add chocolate chips, etc to the batter. These bars are dang good- no matter how you change the recipe. With homemade items try to eat your product within 3-4 days of baking it. Most homemade items can be frozen safely in advance (cut into individual portions, wrap, and store in large freezer bags.) Most frozen items are good for 1-2 months in a freezer.
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Homemade Granola Bars -- my variation, Leah
Ø 2 cups old fashioned oats
Ø 1 cup flour
Ø ¾ cup packed brown sugar
Ø 1/4 cup coconut, 1/4 cup choc chips, and 1/2 cup raisins (chopped in the Magic Bullet)
Ø ½ cup wheat germ
Ø ½ teasp salt
Ø ½ teasp ground cinnamon
Ø 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Ø 1 Tablespoon flax seed
_,½ cup vegetable oil
Ø ½ cup honey
Ø 1 large egg
Ø 2 t vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, cranberries, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and pecans.
In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. I use rubber gloves for this. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan. Make sure it is packed in tightly.
Bake 25-30 minutes in the oven or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
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With the flax seed, whole grains and dried fruit, these are very good for... ahem, shall we say - bowel issues? LOL
I made them again.
I chopped the 1/4 cup coconut, 1/4 cup choc chips, and 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup toasted almonds until it was like jam, and added it that way.
It was even better; moist and every bite was fruit-filled. I'll be making them that way from now on.
--

Christmas card #15. Snowfolk Joy. The words are metallic.
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Posting this recipe, because I keep losing the silly thing.
Coconut Macaroons - bake 8-10 minutes at 350.

1 can Eagle Brand Condensed Milk
14 oz. Shredded Coconut
2 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
Cherries, Pecans etc for garnish.

Mix all ingredients together.
Make balls or drop on greased cookie sheet.
Top with 1/2 cherry or Pecan etc. if desired.
Remove immediately. Don't cool on cookie sheet. Cookies will stick.
Store loosely covered at room temperature.

The snow is melting, but it's still cold. I'm making a big pot of bean and ham soup with the leftover ham from Christmas. It's steaming up the kitchen nicely.

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Sandra's Bean and Ham Soup Makes a ton.
Made this for Rosie's outdoor wedding-- Only had 2 cups left over...

8 cups chicken broth (my homemade chicken broth is condensed)
8 cups water
2 cups mixed beans and barley (soaked)
2 cups pureed carrots
1/2 onion, minced
1 pound chunked spiral-sliced honey ham
spices--paprika; onion powder; oregano; thyme; sage
1 Tablespoon Kitchen Bouquet

Cook two hours. Chill in fridge overnight. Warm slowly and gently.
(Note: The overnight chill allows the barley to soften, making for a creamier soup.)

DH made some gingerbread men for the meals-on-wheels folks. He used this recipe. It has very mild spices, and is very soft - good for old folks with bad teeth.
Soft Gingerbread HUBBY LIKES AND WORKS ON HIS DIET - mild spices - excellent!
1 (3.5 ounce) package cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, cream together the dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover, and chill dough until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets. On a floured board, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into man shapes using a cookie cutter. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.

This morning I'm making 'Rice Krispie Treats' without the Rice Krispies. I'm using MaltoMeal's DinoBites instead. I thought they would be a good choice for making nice cheerful Day of the Dead -type skulls. Lots of fruity flavor, too. I don't have enough molds to do a whole batch at once, so I'm doing half at a time.
DinoBite Treat Skulls
16 ounce bag of marshmallows
a big bag of Dino Bites
about 3 Tablespoons of butter

Melted a little over half of the marshmallows, and 2 Tablespoons butter in the microwave on 30 power for 3 minutes. Stir, then dump in a pan with about 5 cups cereal, mix well. Pushed tightly, with buttered hands into the buttered molds, and now I'm waiting for them to cool so I can make the other half.
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For face molds I have a large skull, large demon, large witch, and 2 small skulls. There was enough mixture for one of each.
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I found the skull molds at http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/
Good prices, and the folks there are very nice.