Strawberry Angel Cake

I made this for a dessert get together on Wednesday and it was a bit hit.  Of course, it was also one of three things that were actually homemade :)  This is one of the simplest recipes I know for a strawberry dessert and I'm pretty sure it was the only thing my grandmother could make that actually tastes good.  Yay!

1 3oz. pkg. strawberry jello
1 3oz. pkg. frozen strawberries
1 Tbsp. Sugar
6” angel cake
1 pkg. cool whip
    
     Dissolve jello in 1 ¼ cups boiling water. Add thawed strawberries and sugar. Cool until it jells and the fold in cool whip. Lightly fold in angel caked (in pieces) and place in a 9x9 pan. Refrigerate and when ready, serve with more cool whip on top.

Side note, when it says "until it jells" it just means thick and almost jelled.  If you wait until it is completely jello, the cool whip will not mix in or set correctly.  If you do wait too long and it will not mix in, just add about 1/4 cup of hot water and stir, then add the cool whip and angel food cake.

This is a great dessert for a summer cookout.  It's not too fancy and its fruity and light.  I'm not a big fan of desserts like cake in the summer unless there's fruit involved  :)
Enjoy and Happy Friday!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

I made these from a cake recipe so they produce a lot of cupcakes (around 30), so they were perfect for bringing over the family's for Thanksgiving!  The cream cheese frosting is perfect with it, even for those who don't usually like super sweet frosting. These also make a very festive dessert for Christmas celebrations due to the really nice color the recipe produces. 

If you want to make a regular cake, the originally recipe uses two 8x2 inch round pans.

For the cake:

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 oz. red food coloring

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 ¼ cups cake flour)

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8 inch round baking pans with cake release or pan spray. In large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs and food color. Blend well. Stir together flour, cocoa, and salt.  Add alternatively with buttermilk to batter mixture, beating until blended. Blend in baking soda.  Add vinegar and fold in carefully.  Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely.

For the Frosting:

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

1 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese

2 tsp. vanilla

4-6 cups confectioner’s sugar

         In a mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese.  Add vanilla. Add 4-6 cups powdered sugar depending on desired consistency. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

    This is the fudge me and my mother make every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It is absolutely amazing and creamy and rich.  Its always a hit for anywhere you go.  Try to make it on a day when there is very little rain/snow. We always use Jif traditional creamy peanut butter because it just makes it really creamy and sweet.  You can use your favorite, whatever that may be, but I suggest you use one that isn't a natural or organic because they tend to separate and I'm not sure it would turn out the same.

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

¾ cup butter or margarine

2/3 cup evaporated milk

6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips.

2 cups Marshmallow fluff

1 tsp. vanilla

½ cup peanut butter

 Directions:

                Combine 1 ½ cup sugar, 6 Tbsp. butter, and 1/3 cup evap. Milk in a heavy 1 ½ quart saucepan.  Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.  Continue boiling 4 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.   Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate pieces until melted.  Add 1 cup marshmallow and ½ tsp. vanilla.  Beat until well blended.  Pour into greased 13x9 pan. Repeat with remaining ingredients, substituting peanut butter for the chocolate.  Spread over chocolate layer. Cool at room temp. Cut into squares. Makes 3 lbs. 

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  More holiday recipes to come I hope :)

Rolled Sugar Cookies

So, when I was home for Halloween, I made some of the best sugar cookies I have ever tasted.  They actually come from food network and is an Alton Brown recipe,but I just have to share this.  I really cannot wait until I get to go home and cook over Thanksgiving.  I forsee fabulous fudge and wonderful red velvet cupcakes in my future!

So with out further wait:

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Directions:

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

It makes about 3 dozen cookies but it really depends on what size you are cutting out. I used my frosting on this cookie that I used on the Chocolate Cupcakes as well but you can just as easily eat them alone or with any other frosting you desire :)
Happy Baking!

Chocolate Cupcakes

So!  I finally was able to go home and bake this weekend!!  I was so excited.  Not so excited that I won't be home until Thanksgiving, but still excited enough to bake!  So I make chocolate cupcakes with traditional buttery frosting.  I decorated them with green colored frosting and mini pumpkin peeps- yup they have mini pumpkin peeps!!  These cakes are moist, chocolaty and delicious!!

This recipe as written makes 22 cupcakes:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 1/2 full. (if you want to decorate them)
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.

The frosting is simple but you will definitely want to use a stand mixer.
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 lb bag of powdered sugar
1/4 cup of more of milk

Beat the butter and Crisco together until smooth.  Add vanilla and beat until mixed. Alternately mix in powdered sugar and milk.  The resulting consistency should be easily spreadable or your desired consistency.