This is a great breakfast cake. Goes well with tea or coffee.

Mix in bowl:
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 cup poppy seeds
1/2 cup partially melted (very soft) butter or margarine

Whip in:
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup buttermilk

Set aside:
3/4 cup chopped almonds
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (or 1/3 cup chocolate chips)

Spray a non-stick cooking spray into a 9 inch loaf pan. Pour half the mix into it. Sprinkle half the chopped almonds and two tablespoons cocoa powder (or chocolate chips) across the top. Pour remaining mix into the loaf pan and spread across the top. Sprinkle remaining cocoa powder and almonds across the top.

Bake at 350 for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness.

I’ve had black forest cake that I like, but usually they are far too sweet. This recipe doesn’t have any liquor and uses raspberries instead of cherries.

6 eggs
scant 1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup margarine or unsalted butter

Filling/Topping

2 ½ cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
½ tsp vanilla

1 to 1 ½ pounds of fresh blackberries or raspberries or mix of both

To decorate:
Grated chocolate (take a high quality milk chocolate bar–such as Lindt Milk Chocolate-and grate little frills. Sprinkle frills on the cake).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two round 9 inch cake pans. Mix eggs, sugar, vanilla and beat with electric mixer until very thick. Sift flour and cocoa and fold in lightly. Gently stir in melted butter. Divide the mixture between the two cake pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cakes are springy. Cool for five minutes and turn onto wire racks and cool completely.

Using a hand held mixer, whip the cream until it starts to thicken and then gradually beat in the confectioners sugar and vanilla until the cream holds it shape.

Assemble

Spread whipped cream on bottom layer of chocolate cake. Spread a thick row of berries across the cream. Add second cake layer and spread with sweetened cream. Spread the sides with cream as well. Lightly decorate the top of the cake with berries. Sprinkle the side of the cake with the grated chocolate. Add a few berries around the plate and you have a masterpiece!

Time Saving Note: You can make a boxed chocolate cake instead of making chocolate cake from scratch. Another good chocolate cake that can be used in this recipe is: Buttermilk Chocolate Cake. Simply make the cake in two pans instead of one, and substitute the whipped cream and raspberries for icing.

Note: For the more traditional Black Forest Cake, after they have cooled, prick the tops of the cakes with fork and drizzle with 1/8th cup of Kirsch. Use fresh pitted cherries instead of raspberries or blackberries.

Brownies are difficult to make–some people like poofy ones, some like gooey ones. In Texas, there’s the additional problem of it being so freakin’ hot in the summer, you don’t want to run the oven! As a result, I created/coerced this recipe so that it can be made in a small brownie pan in the toaster oven. Use an 8 x 8 pan or in my case an 8 by about 9 inch glass pan.

If you are using a toaster oven, you *must* preheat the oven. The heat elements heat very quickly and tend to overshoot–so preheat to 350.

In microwave melt:
1 70 percent Lindt fine chocolate bar (3.5 oz)
1 stick of margarine (1/2 cup)

In mixing bowl mix:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar

When the sugar and eggs are well blended, add:

1 cup flour
(If you want fluffy brownies, add 1 tsp baking power to the flour before adding the flour. For gooey brownies, leave out the baking powder.)

Stir well. Add the melted chocolate and margarine and stir well. Add:

2 tablespoons buttermilk

Add pecans if desired.

Spread in the 8 x 8 pan. Cook at 350 for 15 minutes. Turn the down oven to about 325 and cook until the middle is firm about another 5 to 10 minutes depending on your oven.

Remove from oven and cool.

The key here is to keep the oven from reheating too many times–or you can end up with burned marks right where the toaster elements heat. I put the pan up as high away from them as possible.

A very moist carrot cake with cream cheese icing; the best I have ever eaten! The original recipe came from a friend of mine, but of course it has been severely tweaked. He put raisins in his. Ugh. You can also use all granulated sugar or all brown sugar in this recipe. If you like coconut, you can double to a full cup. If you don’t like coconut, leave it out!

Ingredients:

3 beaten eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup buttermilk
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda

1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, undrained–I put it through the food processor again to avoid any large chucks as I have found the crushed isn’t always as crushed as I would like.

2 cups grated or shredded carrots
1 1/4 cup chopped pecans
½ cup flaked coconut (optional)

Combine eggs, oil, buttermilk sugar and vanilla and mix well. Then stir in all the dry ingredients and mix. Stir in pineapple, carrots, nuts and coconut.

Pour into sprayed (no-stick spray) 9×13 oblong pan. Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes. Do not over bake. Frost when completely cooked and refrigerate.

Cream Cheese Icing

I recommend that you cut this recipe in half, but I do that with a lot of frosting recipes. I have no idea where people use the icing from the full recipe because it makes so much!

½ cup butter or margarine softened
8 ounce package softened cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla

16 to 20 ounces of powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients, using about 16 ounces of sugar to start. Beat until creamy. Add more sugar to get the desired consistency. Spread on completely cooled cake.

Let’s talk about Chocolate. I know you want to. Sure, it would be even better to EAT the stuff, but that’s essentially what we’ll be talking about anyway!

Have you noticed that grocery stores (including Wal-Mart) are starting to carry better chocolates? Instead of just low-end Hersey’s there’s the high-end Hersey bars. Even better, there’s Lindt chocolate and some very nice Ghiradeli bars. I didn’t like Ghirardelli all that much the first time I tried them years and years ago. I drank their cocoa because it was one of the few decent ones on the grocery shelves–easy to obtain. Several years ago the internet made it possible for me to order from anywhere and I’ve tried a number of cocoas:

Scharffen-Berger: This is a lovely cocoa, especially for cooking. Very rich, non-dutched, deep cocoa. My favorite recipe for this cocoa is: Chocolate Buttermilk cake with chocolate buttermilk icing. Be prepared to swoon.

Guittard - I believe they supply chocolate to See’s Candies (My all-time favorite store candies). They also have some dynamite chocolate bars for baking or making your own chocolate. They have single region chocolates and mixed. Quite a selection to choose from. Single region chocolates have really unique notes. Many have what I describe as “fruity” notes–a blackcherry or an undefinable fruitiness that just…melts into your sense.

They also sell a wonderful dutched cocoa that is very similar to the more expensive French and quite well-known Valrhona cocoa. I have a cup of Guittard cocoa almost every morning.

What are your favorite chocolates? Where do you get your chocolate fix?

Me, I usually order the cocoa in bulk from www.Chocosphere.com. I enjoy the Ghirardelli bars from my local grocery story. The Citris Sunset has tiny bits of orange scattered throughout a luscious dark-chocolate; the Toffee Interlude is perfect for just a bit of crunch and when you want that extra sweetness; And their Twilight Delight is a wonderful 72 percent creamy chocolate bar with a hint of fruitiness that is all about chocolate’s deep base flavor. All of these bars are just dynamite. Expensive too. But really, really satisfy that chocolate craving.

I like the Lindt bars too, but they’ve gone up in price recently, so I don’t buy them nearly as often. Hersey’s has some new “fine” chocolates out as well, but I haven’t tried them.

Here’s my favorite chocolate recipe book:  Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate: Alice Medrich, Deborah Jones (Photographer)

I got this recipe from a lady that I used to work with. It is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made or eaten! It is very rich and buttery, a true chocolate lover’s chocolate. Splurge and buy a high-end cocoa for this recipe–I like Sharffen Berger, but there are many good ones out there.

In bowl sift:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda

Over low heat, stir until margarine is melted:

1 cup water
4 tablespoons cocoa
2 sticks of margarine or butter (1 cup)

Stir into the flour mixture until smooth.

Add:

2 beaten eggs
½ cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla

Beat with rotary beaters or mix until well-blended.

Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes in oblong baking pan.

Chocolate Icing

I have cut this recipe in half from the original because when making a “sheet” cake, I didn’t need anywhere near the amount of icing that the original ingredients produced.

Melt in pan until smooth:

1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons cocoa

Remove from heat and mix in powdered sugar to desired consistency. (About 8 ounces or so.)

You can icing the cake while hot, although I usually wait until it has cooled. Icing it while hot creates a top “gooey” layer. When icing after it is cooled, the cake is more like a regular cake. Either way, it is delicious and decadent!

I love the taste of fresh, hot, melt-in-your mouth cookies without the agony of having to make dough each time, so I store the dough in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for longer. When I’m in the mood for a cookie, I simply bake about four at a time in a little toaster oven. Cookies are my thinking food—I can barely write if I don’t have my cookies available!

This recipe comes from a modified recipe I learned from my grandmother. Hers was a high altitude recipe and contained two eggs, 2 1/4 cups of flour and 1 cup of oatmeal. The recipe below is adapted to Austin, Texas and is also a “gooier” cookie! Add up to another 1/4 cup of oatmeal if it’s humid or the cookies are too gooey.

Blend in bowl until creamy:
1 cup soft margarine
¾ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar

Beat in:
1 egg

Stir in:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp water

Finally stir in:

¾ cup uncooked oats (not the fast cook kind)
Half to three quarters of a bag of semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
1 tsp real vanilla extract

My husband likes pecans, so I cut the batch in half and put pecans in his half. Cook at 350 degrees on tin foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray until done, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Refrigerate leftover dough until the dough is cold (probably a couple of hours or overnight). You can then make cookie logs with the remaining dough, roll it in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. To cook after frozen, just cut off a cookie-sized chunk, flatten slightly with the palms of your hands and cook in the toaster over!

Enjoy!

April is strawberry season in Texas and we always go to a self-pick farm and stock up. This year, in an ever-expanding effort to create delicious, simple strawberry concoctions, I’ve managed a nice little chocolate pudding pie with strawberry whipped topping.

You’ll need:

1 9-inch graham cracker pie shell
1 package of chocolate cook and serve pudding (3.4 oz)
heavy whipping cream
sweet strawberries
cocoa powder

Mix two tablespoons cocoa powder and the package of chocolate pudding in a saucepan. Cook according to directions on the package (2 cups of milk, stirring constantly.) I use a high quality cocoa addition to the packaged pudding to get a dark chocolate flavor–you can leave the extra cocoa out if you don’t like darker chocolates. I also wouldn’t recommend adding extra cocoa if you decide to substitute instand pudding in the recipe–the cocoa needs heat in order to dissolve properly.

When the chocolate pudding is ready, pour it in the pie shell and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Prepare the strawberry puree:

In blender puree enough strawberries to get 1 to 1.5 cups of puree. I don’t add any sugar because we pick the berries fully ripened and they don’t need it. With store berries, you may want to add a tablespoon or two of sugar. If you aren’t going to use the puree within a day, squirt a bit of lemon juice into the puree to help preserve color.

When the pie is set, whip 1 cup of heavy whipping cream with 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tsp vanilla until soft peaks have formed. About a quarter cup at a time, add one cup of the pureed stawberries. (You can add more, but be careful not to let the peaks get runny–add some, stir, then add more if the cream can handle more liquid without losing its shape.)

Cover the pie evenly with the strawberry topping and serve. To decorate, add slices of strawberries to individual plates and dust with cocoa powder.

Easiest, best pumpkin pie ever–not too strong a pumpkin taste and quick to prepare.

Bake and cool one 8 or 9 inch pie shell.

Prepare:
1 package Dream Whip: 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla prepared as on package.

Mix:
1 package instant vanilla pudding
2/3 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Combine 1 cup prepared dream whip with pudding, milk, spices and pumpkin mix. Beat slowly until mixed well about 1 minute.

Pour into baked and cooled pie shell. Refrigerate about 2 hours until set. Top with remaining dream whip.

This pie is quick to make and pleases even people that don’t much care for pumpkin pie!

One of the benefits of a garden is fresh herbs. (If you grow mint, grow it in pots–otherwise it will take over any area that is watered including grass, garden, the side of the house if wet enough, the dog’s water dish…)

When making mint icing from fresh mint, it is going to have a lighter mint flavor than if you use extract. It’s quite subtle and delicate; a top-note to the chocolate.

To make fresh-mint chocolate icing, you need to prep the night before:

Cut three or four fresh sprigs of mint, wash, pat dry with a paper towel and then discard the stems, saving the leaves. I use about ten leaves.

Chop the leaves or fold and crush them a bit.
Place the leaves in a very small container with about 4 tablespoons of buttermilk.
Leave the mint in the buttermilk at least overnight in the refrigerator. The fat in the buttermilk will soak up the mint oils. The longer you soak and the more leaves you soak, the stronger the mint flavor will be.

The next day, when you are ready to make the chocolate icing, strain the buttermilk from the mint into a saucepan. You need about two tablespoons of buttermilk, which will make plenty of icing to cover an 8 to 9 inch brownie or cake pan. Discard the rest of the buttermilk or use it all if you want to double this recipe.

Add to the saucepan:

2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Heat over low heat, stirring until all butter is melted and the chocolate is mixed in well. Remove from heat, stir in powdered sugar until icing is desired consistency (about 16 oz of sugar makes a pretty standard icing. Less sugar creates a nice drizzle.)

Use the icing on brownies, on cakes or cookies. You can make a layer of mint icing without the chocolate by leaving out the cocoa. I’ve seen recipes that do the layer without the cocoa and use green food coloring. You can then layer another layer of chocolate icing on top for effect.

Another great icing is orange/cocoa. Substitute minced orange peeling in place of the mint (about a tablespoon). You’ll need more buttermilk when you soak the orange peelings because the peeling soaks up a bit of the moisture. Orange/chocolate icing is a great treat, especially on shortbread or sugar cookies!

These brownies cook with a brownie layer on top and form a syrup in the bottom of the pan (the hot fudge). The brownies are great served warm with vanilla ice cream and when cold, just with the rich chocolate syrup poured over the top!

Sift together the following dry ingredients:

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tablespoons cocoa
¾ cup sugar

Stir in:

½ cup milk
2 tablespoons melted margarine
Blend in half-cup of pecans (optional)

Spread in a 9 inch loaf pan.

Mix together the following ingredients and sprinkle on top of the brownie:

½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa

Pour 1 ¾ cup hot water over all and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. The syrup forms on the bottom of the pan. Serve the brownie over ice cream drizzled with the syrup.

We’ve all had marshmellow krispie treats. My niece, at a family reunion, made some that had a few twists–peanut butter flavor and chocolate icing on the top. I asked her for the recipe, but she didn’t come through in time for my craving, so I ended up making my own from her basic description. What follows is my recipe and then hers–hers are probably easier to make, but I don’t know. So far I’ve only tried mine, which came out pretty darn good for all my guesses.

Prepare a 9 x 11 baking pan by spraying with a non-stick spray.

Melt 1 tablespoon margarine or butter in very large sauce pan
Melt a 10 oz bag of marshmellows in the sauce pan

Heat over very low heat, stirring constantly so the marshmellows don’t scorch. When the marshmellows are almost completely melted, add 1 cup of crunchy peanut butter (you can use smooth if you prefer!)

Turn off heat to the pan and stir until marshmellows and peanut butter are combined well.

Add 6 cups of rice crispie cereal and mix. It’s difficult to mix–you’ll need a strong spoon, a hefty arm and you want to work quickly. As the mix cools, it gets less inclined to mix.

Spread in sprayed 9 x 11 baking pan. Use non-stick spray on your hands to make it easier to press into shape.

Combine 1.5 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels with 1/2 cup butterscotch morsels and melt in the microwave. I use the defrost setting at about 1 minute intervals, stirring between each interval to make sure the mix doesn’t burn.

Once the chocolate is melted, spread over the rice crispies! Cut and eat. Fast, easy and decadent!

Now, here is the recipe from my niece:

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
6 cups rice krispies
1 bag butterscotch chips
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt first 3 ingredients together until smooth. Add the rice krispies and
stir until well coated. Press into sprayed pan. Melt chips together and
spread over rice krispies (Note here- do not “over melt” the chips- they
will start to get too thick and fudge-like and won’t spread! Mistake I
made!) Refrigerate until the chocolate on top hardens.

My neighbor made these cookies once–the cookies were huge and the recipe made several dozen cookies. I looked around, tried two or three recipes and came up with my own:

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup peanut butter

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

5 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or more if you’re in the mood.)
1/2 cup M&M’s (or more if you want more color…)

Cream sugars, butter and peanut butter. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Add oatmeal and baking soda; mix well. Add chocolate chips and M&M’s. Chill in fridge for at least 1/2 hour. Drop onto cookie sheet and flatten. Bake at 350° F until done (about 12 - 15 minutes). Do not over bake.

As you get older, you get told to eat oatmeal to lower your cholesterol and ease up on the salt. I’ve posted several low-salt recipes and recently I reinvented my chocolate chip cookie recipe to add more oatmeal to my diet (the doctor didn’t say how to eat oatmeal). After playing around with the recipe, it turns out I like these cookies even a bit more than my regular recipe!

Cream together:

1 cup margarine
3/4 cup regular sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Add and stir well:

1 egg (high altitude needs two)

Add and stir:

1 cup flour (high altitude needs 1 tsp baking soda at this time and an extra two tablespoons of flour)

Add:

2 3/4 cups oatmeal (2.5 cups for for gooier cookies)

Stir and then add:

1 to 2 tsp vanilla (I like 2 tsp, which is unusual for cookies)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or more if you prefer)

Stir everything well and chill for two hours. Form one and a half inch balls and flatten with a fork on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes.

Whew.  That’s so healthy, I think I’ll go have myself a big fat BLT!!! 

Christmas cookies–little round butter cookies shaped like a snowball and known by many names. These cookies are flaky, light and delicious–a bit messy to eat mind you, because the powdered sugar on the outside tends to explode over one’s shirt, but ah, well worth the sacrifice!

1 cup butter, (or margarine) softened to room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups of flour

3/4 cups chopped pecans

Extra powdered sugar for finishing.

Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla, stir well. Add flour and mix well. Add chopped pecans and mix. Note: Finer chopping of the pecans makes it easier to form the cookies into balls. Larger chunks tend to make lumpy cookies and the pecans may fall away from the main ball as you try to compress them into shape.

Chill dough for at least an hour. Compress about a tablespoon of the flaky cookie mix into a firm, round ball. Place on cookie sheet. These cookies will not rise or change shape during cooking so you can place them fairly close together.

Cook at 400 degrees for about 10-12 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are just lightly browned. When cooked, remove from oven. Cool for two to three minutes and then roll the cookies in powdered sugar. A second coating of sugar may be added after the cookies have cooled more.

These look wonderful on a gift plate.

In mixing bowl mix:

1.5 cups sugar
1 cup margarine or butter

Add:
2 eggs

Mix together in mixing bowl and then add:

3.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Mix well and add:

2 tsp vanilla extract

After mixing, refrigerate until the cookie dough is firm. On lightly floured wax paper, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie shapes or rounds.

Cook at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until bottom is very lightly brown.

These cookies decorate very well with a colored glaze frosting.

When I started searching for a tiramisu recipe, I was surprised at how many variations I found. I started with a simple one and then made modifications for my own taste.

8 oz mascarpone cheese (this is an Italian cream cheese—look in the specialty cheese section)
2 egg yolks
1/8th cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

3 tablespoons grated or shaved milk chocolate or cocoa

1 package of ladyfingers (usually found in the refrigerated bakery section.)
1 shot of espresso or a half cup of coffee cooled to room temperature

Prepare whipped cream:
Whip 1 pint of heavy cream with 1 tsp vanilla and 2 tablespoons sugar (Or to taste. Keep in mind much of the sweetness comes from the cheese mix.)

Coddle the eggs to kill any salmonella. (The basic idea is to get the yolks to 160 degrees—this kills salmonella without cooking the eggs.)

Beat the egg yolks with sugar and vanilla until smooth and light yellow. Fold mascarpone into egg yolk mixture.

Fold half of the prepared whipped cream into the mascarpone. Taste the result and add more or less whipped cream. Some people like the taste of the cheese and don’t add any whipped cream.

Dip the ladyfingers in coffee or espresso. If you don’t want too much coffee taste, baste the ladyfingers with the coffee rather than dipping them in. Arrange 6 of them in the bottom of an 8×8 inch dish. Spread half the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers. Dust the top with grated milk chocolate bar or cocoa. Repeat with remaining ladyfingers, mascarpone and chocolate. Cover and chill 1 hour.

For when you are in the mood for a light chocolate cake, perhaps on a summer afternoon with coffee or tea, this wacky cake is a good choice. (Look here for a decadent chocolate buttermilk cake.)

This recipe uses no eggs, and I don’t icing the cake. It’s more of a “coffee” cake type cake.

In large mixing bowl, sift:

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda

Add:
3/4 cup oil
2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups cold water

Blend until smooth. Spray 9 X 13 pan with nonstick spray. Bake cake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. Cool and serve.