Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Fool-Proof Pop-Overs

Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter, divided
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk, warmed for 30 seconds in the microwave (should be lukewarm to warm)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
Special equipment: muffin tin
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Using a pastry brush, coat 8-12 muffin cups with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter and put the tin in the oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the eggs in a blender, or with a hand-held mixer until light yellow. Add the warmed milk and blend. Add the flour, salt and remaining melted butter, and blend until smooth. Pour the batter into the warmed muffin tin and return it to the oven to bake until golden, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

(I've made them without buttering the pan, just spraying with cooking spray, and it worked no problem.  Just cut the butter that's added to the mix down to 2 Tbsp)

Posted By: Megan

Monday, August 29, 2011

Black Bean Brownies


Ingrdients
  • Butter, for greasing pan
  • 3/4 cup cooked black beans 
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil, or olive oil 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, divided
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 9-inch square baking pan.
In a blender, puree the beans with the oil. Add the eggs, cocoa, sugar, coffee (if using), and vanilla. Melt half the chocolate chips and add to the blender. Blend on medium-high until smooth. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the blender and pulse until just incorporated. Stir in the remaining chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake until the surface looks somewhat matte around the edges and still a bit shiny in the middle, about 20 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before cutting and removing from the pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.

Posted By: Megan

Monday, July 18, 2011

Red Velvet Ooey Gooey

1 box red velvet cake mix
1/2 c butter
3 eggs
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese
1 box (16oz) powdered sugar

Mix the cake, butter, and one egg together and pat into a greased 9x13 pan. Beat the cream cheese until it's fluffy, then add in the remaining eggs and powdered sugar. Pour over the cake. Bake at 350 for 3-45 minutes until the top is set. Cool completely before serving.

Posted by: Erika

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Monkey Bread

I was in the mood for something sweet, but I didn't have everything I needed for any of my usual favorites. So I sort of cobbled a few recipes together to make monkey bread.

1 can biscuits (I think I had an 8ct. of Pillsbury Grands)
1/2 c sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1 c sugar
6 tbsp butter
1/2 c heavy cream, half & half, or milk (the higher the fat content, the thicker the caramel)

Mix the 1/2 c sugar with the cinnamon on a plate or in a shallow bowl. Cut the biscuits into quarters and dredge each piece in the cinnamon sugar. Place the biscuit pieces in a well-greased (I lined mine with foil and greased that, just to cut down on clean-up) 8" cake pan.
Put the sugar in a heavy sauce-pot (at least 3 quart size because the caramel will foam up as it cooks), and cook at moderately high heat. Whisk constantly until the sugar melts and starts to boil. Once it's dark brown, add the butter and whisk until it's combined. Remove from the heat and add the cream, stirring well to combine. Pour this over the biscuits and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until the biscuit pieces are no longer gooey. Cool for about 15-20 minutes, then turn out onto a platter to serve.

Posted by: Erika

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 325. Grease two loaf pans. Beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, soda, powder, salt, and nuts. Add the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Divide into pans and bake 60-75 minutes.

Posted by: Erika

Monday, June 20, 2011

Caramel Rolls

1 pkg Rhodes Rolls (thawed for 2 hours)
cinnamon-sugar mixrture (1 c. sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon)

Caramel Sauce:
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c butter, softened
1/4 c light corn syrup
1/2 c chopped pecans

Heat brown sugar and butter to boiling-stirring constantly). Remove from heat and stir in corn syrup and pecans. Pour into greased tube pan.
Roll thawed rolls in sugar mixture and place evenly in pan.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 mins, or until golden brown.  Let stand 1-2 mins and then invert to plate.

By: Tonya

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Nilla Wafer S'mores


These were fun and dangerous! There could be an easier way with less steps or easier ingredients...but...I made it up as I went along. And I don't have measurements. Just what looked good. Okay, here we go.
Nilla Wafers
Almond Bark Chocolate
Marshmallows
Butter
Peanut Butter
Honey
I melted the marshmallows with a double boiler and added a little scoop of butter as they melted along.
While that is going, mix the honey and the peanut butter together in any amount you want. I like mine a little more honey than peanut butter but still peanut butter sticky.
Then, I melted the almond bark chocolate (1 square) in the microwave 10 -12 seconds at a time so the chocolate wouldn't burn. Stirring in-between each set tell it is all melted.
I dipped a Nilla Wafer in the chocolate and put it aside on a plate to harden. That is the top one. On the 2nd wafer, I put a small dab of peanut butter mix.
By this time the marshmallows have melted. VERY CAREFULLY spoon the melted marshmallow on the peanut butter half of the wafer. This burns worse than a hot glue gun if you get it on your fingers!
Put the chocolate dipped wafer on top. You can set it out to finish cooling or put them in the frig for a few minutes.
Make as many as you want!  Eat as many as you want!
*after thought. How about a sliced fruit in the middle too? Strawberry or banana?
Michelle