Butterscotch Brownies

Today is just a lazy day. There is no other way to put it. Last night's weather forecast was for 1 to 2 inches of snow. We did not see any. That is very disappointing for children living in Mississippi. It is so rare that we have snow. The whole state basically shuts down at the mention of the 's' word. When we woke up this morning, I ran to the windows...no snow. So we have just sat around all day in a funk. I did finish a book, Coffee Rings by Yvonne Lehman. My family wanted something sweet to eat. I dug out a recipe that I received from Cats Recipes. Cat is a real recipe freak. She has catalogued over 1 million recipes. Her philosophy is to try to save family recipes. She goes all over her area and purchases estate recipes. Check out her yahoo group-Catsrecipes.

Butterscotch Brownies

1/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup coconut

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and cool.
Add well beaten egg and vanilla.
Fix and sift dry ingredients then stir into butter mixture.
Add chopped nuts and coconut.
Bake in small cake pan at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Graham Cracker Cake

This recipe definitely makes me think of days gone by. When I hear the words 'graham crackers',my mind quickly returns to my childhood. I remember when one of my favorite snacks was graham crackers and milk. Just to take those plain graham crackers and dip them in cold milk. They would get slightly soft and tasted fantastic. Today we are bombarded with snacks. Children have so many to choose from. Perhaps, I will share the remaining graham crackers with my children. We can dip them in milk and talk about their day. Hope yours is good-

Graham Cracker Cake

24 graham cracker squares, crushed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
3-oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 TBS. butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 TBS milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Grease(not oil) 9-inch square pan. (Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off.) In large bowl, combine 8 ingredients; beat 1 minute at medium speed. Stir in nuts. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool. In small bowl, blend frosting ingredients until light and fluffy. Spread over cooled cake.

Source: Pillsbury Fireside Favorite Recipes 1978.

Peanut Butter Balls

Today is overcast and cold. Well, cold for the deep south. Today's high is 45. Yesterday the high was 80 degrees. We had a terrible storm. The sirens went off several times. Since today is dreary, I decided to make something of a comfort cookie. This recipe is from a small pamphlet that I got at a thrift store. The title is Party Jewels for Modern Living Using Swift's Jewel Oil. I believe it was published in 1957. The artwork is very 50's-ish. Whoever owned it had labeled the pictures with names of people in their life. A picture of a child's birthday party is labeled with the names of Jenny, Robin Lee and Mary Sue. Personalized notes in cookbooks really excite me. I love to think of the fun times someone must have had. I hope my notes in my cookbooks will make someone smile one day.

Enjoy-

Peanut Butter Balls

1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat together oil and egg. Stir in sugars and vanilla. Mix in peanut butter. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Blend into peanut butter mixture. Shape into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Place on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes. Store in a loosely covered container to keep cookies crisp.

Scrumptious Apricot Squares

These are delicious. Perhaps it is the butter I used for the crust. I truly believe that butter is such a plus in any recipe. I just love the richness it adds when it is an ingredient. For years, I used margarine when cooking. A fav baker of mine suggested I try two "real" ingredients. One being pure vanilla extract and the other butter. I had no idea what a difference these two ingredients would make in my baking.

This recipe is written a little different than most. It is easy to follow. Try it for a scrumptious treat. Psst..use butter and pure vanilla.

Apricot Squares

1/2 C. butter, softened
1/4 C. white sugar
1 C. all-purpose flour
1 C. water
2/3 C. dried apricots
2 eggs
1 C. packed light brown sugar
1/3 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/3 C. confectioners sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 325. In medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar, and 1 cup flour. Press into bottom of 9x13-inch pan. Bake for 25 minutes in preheated oven. In small saucepan, put apricots and water. Bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes. Drain, chop and set apricots aside to cool. In bowl, beat eggs and brown sugar. Stir in 1/3 cup flour, bakiing powder, salt, vanilla and lemon juice. Fold in apricots. You may add 1 cup chopped nuts at this point if you desire. Pour over the prepared crust. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven or until firm. Cool and dust with confectioners sugar before cutting into squares.

Indoor S'mores

Today is the 47th birthday of my husband. We have been married 25 years this year. I can not believe he has put up with me for that long. He is a wonderful man, great father and super provider for our family. For his birthday, Brooke(5 y/o) and I made him Indoor S'mores. The recipe is from Taste Of Home Brand Name Cookbook-Fall 2006. This recipe would be terrific to take to potlucks or bake sales.

Indoor S'Mores

8 cups graham cracker cereal (13 ounce box)
6 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate morsels
5 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pour cereal into large bowl. Heat 5 cups marshmallows, morsels, butter and corn syrup in a medium heavy-duty saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. pour marshmallow mixture over cereal; stir until well coated. Stir in remaining marshmallows. Press mixture into a greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Cut into bars. Yield: 2 dozen.

Microwave method: Microwave 5 cups, morsels, butter and corn syrup in a large microwave-safe bowl in high power for 2 to 3 1/2 minutes, stirring every minute. until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Proceed as above.
Enjoy-

Pecan Pie Cake

I am actually ashamed of my lack of posting. Not that anyone else really reads this. Bowever, I do enjoy posting and sharing my recipes.

I decided to try to conquer a box full of recipes. I stuck my hand in and pulled out around 5 different recipes. I chose this one to bake. Super easy. Ingredients can easily be found if not already on hand. It was baked yesterday. I believe the taste is even better today. This recipes appears several times on the internet. It is very good. Love the pecan pie taste.

Hope you enjoy-

Pecan Pie Cake

1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups pecans, chopped

Heat oven to 325. Place cake mix, melted butter and 1 egg in large bowl. Beat on low speed until well combined, about 30 seconds. Measure out 2/3 cup batter; set aside. Spread remaining batter in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes or until top lightly browns and puffs up.

Remove dish to wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Leave oven on. Place reserved 2/3cup batter, corn syrup, sugar, remaining 3 eggs and vanilla in large bowl.

Beat on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down sides. Beat on medium until well combined, about 1 minute. Fold in pecans. Pour mixture on top of warm cake in baking dish, gently smooth out evenly over cake. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until edges are browned but middle is still soft. Remove to wire rack, and cool 30 minutes. Slice.

Reeses Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Finally, I bake again. It has been a little crazy around here. With all the church activities, birthday and Christmas parties, it seems like we are always on the go. Yesterday I took the time to bake some cookies. I substituted one ingredient. I had gone to the grocery store(which shall remain nameless...it is one of the mega markets). The aisles were so crowded with stock that I felt like I was in a maze. It really felt like I was imposing on them by being there. Employees would just glare as I tried to squeeze around boxes. On the baking aisle, a man started asking me questions about what I was shopping for as soon as I entered the aisle. I became so flustered that I just grabbed the closest orange bag of (what I thought was) morsels. It turned out I had picked up a package of Reese's mini pieces. I meant to get a package of Reese's peanut butter morsels. Oh well...just another holiday blunder. Believe me, I have a few.

The recipe for the cookies is from Hershey's Fabulous Desserts.

Enjoy-

Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

1 1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsps vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups (12-oz pkg)Reese's Peanut Butter Chips

1/2 cup finely chopped nuts(optional)

Heat oven to 350. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually blend into creamed mixture. Stir in peanut butter chips and nuts, if desired, Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet, Bake 8 to 9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten when cooling.) Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.