Pebbernodder

This recipe was originally published elsewhere but can no longer find the blog to credit it. This is the recipe I use for pebbernodder and it is much enjoyed.

"Eva Jersild's Pebbernodder

This makes a stiff, heavy dough that, by the third cup of flour, is difficult to mix. I've burned out more than one hand mixer during pebbernodder season. Grandma Jersild use to do it all by hand.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup butter

1 egg

1 tablespoon molasses

3 cups flour

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon cloves

pinch pepper

Cream together brown sugar, butter and molasses. Add egg and mix.

Sift together flour and spices. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until combined.

Chill dough until firm and easy to work with. Pinch off palm-sized piece and roll into a strip about the width of a pencil. Chop into half-inch pieces. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown."

One of the alterations we like to make (other than rolling them in colored sugar which I can take or leave it makes them look more festive but makes it a little crunchier.) is to make wreaths out of them I really enjoy these.

Caramel Apples

I love caramel. Also caramel apples.

I am honestly not totally sure where I came across this recipe the first time but it is easy to make and easy to remember.

1/2 Microwave caramel:

1/2 a stick of butter (1/4 cup)
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk.

Microwave for 6-8 min stirring every 2.

To make caramel apples I find it easier to start with cold apples so put the sticks in them and put them in the fridge the night before. If you don't have them cold it will still work but I think it helps the caramel set if they start cold. Also I like to work with smaller apples I find the big ones to be a bit overwhelming to try to sit down and eat and I prefer to have my caramel apples be on a more manageable scale.

One of the tricks for getting good coverage is to not only dip the apple but to spin it in the caramel and if you like the caramel up to the stick like my kids do have a spoon in hand to drizzle the caramel higher up the apple. Be sure to let the excess caramel drip off before putting it on the wax paper. I usually scrap the bottom free of caramel you will get enough drip from the sides to make your foot as the caramel sets.

 Any left over caramel goes on apple slices for a "right now" snack.

Peach Upside down Cake: Hot Milk Cake

I love love love hot milk cake. Its easy and simple and fast and a very flexible base. We had a recipe for hot milk cake I used all the time when I was baking in high school and after I moved out I have several times tried to find the cook book that the recipe was in but it appears to have vanished. So I have been on the hunt for a hot milk cake recipe that matches the ones I used to use. I think this one is pretty close.

I found it on http://www.heritagerecipes.com. And to test it out I made one of my favorite summer cakes. Peach Upside Down cake. since the recipe uses canned peaches you could make it whenever but it just feels more Right to me when the weather is warmer.

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill GF all-purpose and 1 tsp Xanthan gum)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1tsp vanilla extract or other flavoring
1 cup milk
1/4 pound (1 stick or 8 tablespoons) butter 

To make this Peach Upside Down cake you will also need

cinnamon

sugar

1 large can of peaches in light syrup
 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8- or 9-inch cake pans.  (sprinkle well with cinnamon and sugar then lay our peaches to cover the bottom of the pans evenly, top with a little more cinnamon.) 

Beat eggs well -- until light (5-10 minutes). Gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture and fold together. Heat milk and butter in a saucepan until hot. Add hot milk mixture and vanilla to cake batter and stir until combined, then pour into prepared pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Frost with favorite icing.

Makes two 8- or 9-inch layers. 

Let them cool in the pans for a little while. Then run a knife around the edge to loosen and invert one on to a plate. If it sticks then a good whack or two should get it loose. You will want to repeat this with the second right on top the first.

Pictures are a little dark because I baked this as night but the cake is amazing. It was cried wonderful by everyone even The Husband who rare says more than "it was really good, I like it."

Gluten Free Coffee Cake in a Mug

This amazing thing happened tonight I am sharing it with you now so that you may also have your life improved by it. So I was craving coffee and coffee cake. Which is harder to fix when eating "normal" cake makes you sick. The Husband suggested that I see if there was a Gluten free coffee cake that we could make in the microwave. Because you know, he is brilliant.

Well after an extensive 2 minute google search I found a coffee cake in a mug by Prudent Baby. I suggest you go there and look at the step by step pictures (and the normal recipe).

A Cup of Coffee Cake (in Under Five Minutes) By Prudent Baby

For those of you who want it without the Gluten I have a recipe below for you. Same basic steps as the original but you know without the wheat.

1 tablespoon of butter (soften in microwave for 10-15 sec)
2 tbsp sugar (mixed into softened butter until creamy)
1 egg
1 teaspoon milk (or sour cream)
small splash vanilla
1/4 cup GF flour (I use Bob's Red Mill's)
1/8 Tsp baking powder

Mix everything into the butter and sugar mixture and make the crumb topping in a small bowl.

Crumb topping:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon GF  flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
Smoosh together with fingers until evenly crumbly
add crumbs ontop of mixed batter
Microwave for 2 - 3 min more or less. I would watch it. I started at a min and kept adding and adding so I am honestly not sure how long I had it in there but every microwave is a little different.

Banana Bread Gluten Free

Banana Bread is a rare treat in our house. Mostly because bananas never last long enough to need to be turned into banana bread. The Boy has literally eaten an entire bunch by himself in one day, (not with permission of course) The is also the competition of the slightly browned bananas which is smoothies. I love smoothies.. and banana bread. So I was very excited to find a highly recommended gluten free banana bread recipe on Taste of Home.

I made a slight adaption of the recipe, because honestly I never actually follow a recipe. Here is what I did. 
2 cups gluten-free all-purpose baking flour (I use Bob's Red mill)
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt 
4 eggs 
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4-5 medium) 
1 cup sugar 
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup white chocolate chips 


Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, sugar, applesauce, butter and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Add the nuts and chocolate chips.


Transfer to a 9 x5 loaf pan coated with butter. Bake at 350° for 55-65 minutes (not sure on this one my over is having a hard time keeping a consistent temp right now so that is just a guess) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire racks. I think two pans would have been better and would have cooked more evening than I ended up with.

More on Mousse

Now that you have a wonderful Chocolate Mousse recipe, here is something you can do with it. This is a neapolitan cake and was my reason for coming up with the Mousse recipe to begin with. You see my mother's birthday is in April and she loves ice cream cakes and I was trying to come up with a good cake to make her. And this idea struck me so I just needed to find a good mousse and cake recipe to make it work.

This is a great cake recipe for freezing. Moist Yellow Cake Recipe from Bakerella
Or if you are the boxed Cake mix sort you can just use the pudding trick

For the middle layer Ice cream of course as this was an ice cream cake and the top My Chocolate Mousse.

First things first make your cake and plate it. I made mine an 8x8 square. When its cool put the whole thing in the freezer.
Line the pan you used to make the cake with wax paper, then fill with your ice cream and put into the freezer also so it can set up in its new shape.

Now make the mousse.


I found when I did this that it helped to let the mousse set up in the fridge a little before attempting to combine it all, so while your mousse is doing that take out the cake and ice cream.

Set the cake (upside down) on the ice cream while its still in the pan and flip the whole thing over so that its now sitting plate side down with the pan of ice cream on top. Squish it down to help conform the ice cream to the top of the cake then unmold. This maybe a bit tricky but if the wax paper did its job you should be able to remove the pan and then the wax paper with little problems.
 You will now have your ice cream in the same shape as your cake happily stacked. return it to the freezer for another 15-20 min to let the ice cream refreese some and the mousse to set up a little more before the final step.

Finally take out the cake and ice cream and the mousse and spoon the mousse on pile it up and spread it gently around until the cake is evenly covered and freeze. Bring it out to sit some before serving to let it all soften up a bit.

Now Imagine with me here the possibilities for this cake:
Chocolate cake, coffee ice cream, Chocolate mousse
White cake, orange sherbet, Chocolate orange mousse
Almond cake, Cherry Garcia ice cream, Chocolate Cherry mousse
White cake (heavy on the vanilla), Strawberry Ice cream, Chocolate peach mousse
Carrot cake, ginger bread ice cream, Chocolate Mousse with a spiced rum and cinnamon extract.

I mean YUM!

My Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse so light and creamy and rich <3

 I wanted to make a chocolate mousse, so I started reading recipes. I went to the three people I thought would have something worthwhile to say on the subject. Nigella Lawson, Alton Brown and of course Julia Child.

Nigella wanted me to use marshmallows and as much as she knows chocolate I decided to skip that one.

Alton's was cream based which was along the lines of what I wanted but it used gelatin which seems I don't know, like using the marshmallows since marshmallows are made of gelatin.

Now far be it from me to question Julia on the subject of French food as I am sure her recipe is the best, but it being a true mousse was egg based with no cream at all and the idea of eating that much raw egg made me just a bit nervous.

So I made my own, and I love it. I hope you do too.

McGough Chocolate Mousse
Makes about 8 servings

Ingredients:
12oz good chocolate (the better the chocolate the better the mousse feel free to splurge here)
1 3/4 cups whipping cream (ice cold)
1 good, fresh egg with no cracks in the shell
1/4 cup espresso, or strong brewed coffee
2 tablespoons dark rum
1 teaspoon good vanilla. (As this recipe is not cooked you can bring out the best you got here it will make a difference. )
4 tablespoons butter

Separate the egg setting the whites aside.

Put a large bowl for whipping your cream and the mixer's whisk in the freezer.

In the microwave (or in an oven preheated to 275 then turned off, let it sit about 20 min or so, or over a double boiler if you don't have a microwave) melt your chocolate and butter at about 30 sec intervals string as you go.
When you have a smooth mixture add the espresso and rum mixing well until smooth, it will start to seize on you just keep stirring if it does not loosen up you can add more rum or espresso to get it going but not too much. In then end you want a silky smooth mixture with no lumps.
Beat the egg white until its at the stiff peaks stage.

You will want the chocolate still fairly warm at this point, if it is not heat it up again just slightly, then add the yoke mixing well to combine. Then carefully fold in your whipped egg white to lighten the chocolate and prepare it for the whipped cream. Set this aside to cool now.

In your prepared bowl beat your cold cream until it is at the stiff peak stage then add your vanilla to it and gently mix.

Working quickly but carefully add the whipped cream a little at a time to the chocolate fold it in and working to get a well incorporated mixture.

 As soon as it is mixed evenly and has no streaks put your mousse into your the cups you plan to serve it in and refrigerate for at least an hour. We had some in our fridge for 3 days I am not sure how much longer it would last in the fridge.You can freeze them if well covered I am not sure how long but I would get a up to a month.

You can drop the rum entirely and just use more coffee if you wish, or you can use brandy (I did for this batch) or you can use a liquor to make say Chocolate Orange Mousse or something equally as lovely. Please let me know if you try it I would love to hear how it turned out or answer any questions.

Cake Pops!

These are a new favorite in my house, and are super easy!

1 13x9 cake (1 box of cake mix)
1 tub of frosting
Candy coating
Decorations
Lolly pop sticks

In a large bowl crumble the cakes and then add the whole tub of frosting and mix well.

It will clump together and make a play dough like consistency when squeezed which should then be rolled into a ball an inch or so, too much larger will make them crumble on the stick.

 Melt the candies as instructed but only a few at a time and cover the cake balls in the candy by rolling them through the melted candy, dip a lolly pop stick in the candy and stick that into the cake ball, and set in the refrigerator to set up. Or leave with out the sticks and just eat cake balls. Yum!

S'more Cookies

So not really a new recipe here but it was a hit in my house so here is a variation on my chocolate chip cookies that you may love.

First I started with an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, you may have you one like or look at my recipe

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

at about 7 mins in the oven I pulled them out and put a precut half of a marshmallow in the middle of the still soft cookie and put them back in the oven for another 2-3 min until the marshmallows are toasted up nice and brown.

Lemon Blueberry Zebra Cake

Here is the original vanilla and chocolate recipe I found. Zebra Cake

Photo from original recipe at www.realepicurean.com

And here is what I did:

4 eggs
1 cup sugar

3 cups of flour
4 tsp of baking soda
1 cup oil

1 cup lemon lime soda
3/4 cup frozen blue berries (or 1/4 cup blueberry juice)
1/4 cup lemon juice


Mix eggs and sugar until creamy and smooth.

Mix flour and baking soda well.

Add Oil, flour mixture and lemon lime soda to egg mixture about 1/3 at a time mixing well with each addition.

divide in half and set aside.

Take frozen blueberries and microwave for about 1.5 min. Then pour into a bowl through a sive crushing berries to fully juice (or crush with a fork and strain out berry skins and things.)

Mix blueberry juice into one half of batter. add lemon juice to other half, mix quickly and well this will foam up a bit as the acid works on the baking soda.

Now to stripe it. In a well greased round cake pan (8in will work, 9 is better), take 3-4 tablespoons of one batter and poor directly into the middle of the pan. Then add 3-4 tablespoons of the other right in the middle of that. alternating until you have used all of the batter (great pictures of the process with the original recipe.) 

bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees and start checking for doneness in about an hour.

Sliced for dipping. YUM!

 Now to be honest if we were not smothering it in chocolate this would not have been that good. The texture was great but the flavors just did not really come out all that much so I would stick with the chocolate vanilla version and add some whipped cream, berries, and a good cup of coffee. It was not all that sweet and so would make a great breakfast cake.
(We did have the leftover pieces for breakfast it was in fact good.)

Homemade candies

We just had our anniversary, we have been married for 6 years. The traditional gift for a 6th year anniversary is candy. So my children helped me make some candy for The Husband.

One of his favorite candies are nerds. So we made some nerd truffles.

To make the nerd truffles I started with an eggless cookie dough recipe.

But did not add any vanilla, rather I added a strawberry Kool-ade powder packet, which colored it and flavored it and added a nice tartness very similar to nerd candy.
This was then rolled into balls and then rolled in the chocolate had made for fondue. sprinkled with actual nerds and set in the refrigerator to set up.

It was super easy, and that safe to eat raw cookie dough recipe is perfect.
I will make it add to ice cream, or chocolate chip filled truffles, or you know just because I want to eat cookie dough...

The results?

The Husband,"These are pretty good... you could sell these."

Meringue and Marshmellow Mushrooms

Here are two candy mushroom recipes with instruction I used both in decorating my yule log, the Meringue are more traditional but the marshmallow were inspired by my families love of marshmallow.

Meringue Mushrooms

2 egg whites 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/2 cup) powdered sugar Melted chocolate, for assembly Preheat oven to 225°F. Line baking sheet with baking parchment or wax paper. Beat egg whites and salt until foamy. Add vanilla and beat in. Add sugar gradually, spoonful by spoonful, and continue to beat until the mixture is thick, glossy and forms stiff peaks. Spoon the meringue mixture into a plastic bag and cut off the corner to make a piping tip. Pipe out equal quantity of button shapes for the mushroom caps, and little blobs, like tall kisses, for the mushroom stalks. At this point you will want to wet your finger and pat down the peaks to smooth out the tops. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until crisp and dry. Remove and let cool. To assemble, spread the flat side of the mushroom caps with melted chocolate and attach the stalks. A tip for melting the chocolate, take the chips (or if using bars brake up into smaller pieces) place them in a plastic baggy and submerge the bag in a bowl of water. microwave the whole thing for a few minutes, then check it and microwave again of the chocolate is not melted. You can then just snip the tip off the bag and use it to "pipe" the melted chocolate on to what you are working on. Serve with coffee or tea anytime, or use to decorate Yule Log. Makes approx. 15-20 mushrooms, depending on size

Marshmallow Mushrooms

Large marshmallows powered sugar cocoa powder for dusting Heat a burner on the stove to medium high and skewer the marshmallow. You will want to hold the marshmallow over the heat such that the bottom half is very soft and melty with out browning or crisping too much. It should slightly bell out at the bottom as it melts. I found for best results you should rotate the marshmallow to get the sides and top just slightly melty. Take the now melty marshmallow and put it on a cool plate dusted with powdered sugar and press down on the less melted side squishing the marshmallow flat. be sure the sugar covers the now exposed gooey insides. Dust lightly with cocoa powder. When ready to decorate your yule log cut these in half and glue to the side of the log with frosting to create shelf mushrooms.

Eating Snow Like An Adult

You will need:
Good Deep Snow, (at least 8 inches)
Cream (you can use whole milk)
Sugar
Real Vanilla Extract

Optional:
Mulled wine or cider
A Roaring Fire
A snugly Blanket
Someone to cuddle with



Mix 1/4 cup sugar into 1/2 cup cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until sugar is dissolved.

Get a large bowl filled with snow from the middle layers of the white fluffy stuff.

Slowly mix the cream mixture into the snow.

Share a large bowl with someone cuddled under a blanket next to the fire with a warm mug of mulled wine.

Carrot Cake

This is my families favorite carrot cake recipe, its not exactly a "Fall" recipe but it make me think of fall. I think its the combination root vegetable and canned pineapple that makes this a good late fall and winter cake, the spices used help as well I think.

Carrot Cake

Cake 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons Baking Powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg Dash of ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 eggs 1 1/4 cups oil 2 cups granulated sugar 2 cups grated carrots 1 (19 ounce) can crushed pineapple, well drained Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Beat eggs and oil in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Gradually add granulated sugar, mixing until blended. Add flour mixture, carrots, pineapple and walnuts; mix well. Pour into greased and floured 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch (3-L) tube pan. Bake 50 min. to 1 hour or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 min.; loosen from sides of pan with spatula or knife and gently remove cake. Cool completely on wire rack. Cream Cheese Frosting: 8oz cream cheese 1 stick butter 2 cups powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla Combine and blend until smooth. whip it! whip it good!

I will be posting pictures tomorrow once I have finished frosting and decorating this cake for The Boy's birthday.

For some other good Autumn recipes I have posted look through the links below:
Honey Apple Cookies
Caramel Apple Pork
Parson's Pie
Pumpkin ravioli
Pumpkin Cake
Split Pea Soup
Chicken and Slip
Winter Birch Tree Cookies
Visit LifeasMom for many other great ones!

My Chocolate Chip Cookies

So for the Girl's parties I made cookies. I had gotten some Raspberry chocolate chips and so they did not come with the cookie recipe on the side of the bag that I usually use. I did a quick internet search and found tons of chocolate chip cookie recipes! I was surprise by how many there were for such a staple cookie. How was I to know which recipe to use?
So I asked for favorite cookie recipes from friends on Facebook I got quite a few suggestions and after filtering through tons of recipes and looking over the few I collected from friends I started to get a feel for the basic chocolate chip cookie and what changes could be made to get say a chewier cookie or a nice a crispy one. I decided that rather than picking a recpie I'd make my own.

MY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1C sugar 1C brown sugar 1/2C (1 stick) butter 1/2C margarine 2 eggs 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 2 1/2C flour 1C quick cook plain oatmeal 1tsp salt 1tsp baking soda 12oz. chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix wet ingrdiance and dry separatly. Then add dry to wet. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 min.

I imagin it makes about 4-5 dozen but I started with an inapporprate flour to butter ratio and the cookies were a disaster. So after scraping the sheet clean and washing the stuck bits off I added another cup of flour and these turned out much nicer. But they were harder than I like cookies to be so the above recipe has a half cup less flour than I used in the cookies.
Thanks for visiting!

Cheery-up Cherry Cake

One box of white cake mix
Milk
Applesauce
one can of cherry pie filling
one tub of white frosting.

Prepare cake mix as instructed on box. I usually substitute milk for water and applesauce for oil. Then pour it into two round cake tins.
dollop cherry pie filling in four even dollops per pan.
then swirl it around some and bake as box instructs.

Frost with white frosting. This part is a little more complicated as it does not rise evenly and can be gooey do to the fruit.

For anyone who has not seen "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends." The name for this cake was pilfered from there. Cheery-up cherry cake is the simple sweet and happy sort of treat the makes any too-rainy-for-park day okay again. Plus this super easy to make cake is one that The Girl can easily help with.



I try to keep the ingrediance on hand at all times and keep an eye out for when the ingrediance go on sale and grab a few. It is my hope that is cake will be one of those taste from childhood that is looked back on fondly with a hint of Mommy magic to know just the right time when a cheey-up is needed.