My dear neglected blog

I haven't been able to do much cooking but now that the kids are back in school and the weather is cooler, I plan to stay on top of things again. I found this recipe about a year ago and just had to try it. That never happened so I figured what a better way to welcome this crisp fall day with a new recipe. Hope you enjoy!

Cranberry Bliss Bar

cake:

1 cup of butter softened

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt (I omit this if I am using salted butter)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup diced dried cranberries

6 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks (I used a half a bag of white choc. chips)

Frosting:

4 oz. cream cheese softened

3 cups powdered sugar

4 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

top with 1/4 cup dried cranberries (I used 1/2 cup)

Drizzled Icing:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

2 teaspoons vegetable shortening (I used butter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make cake by beating butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger and salt and beat well. Gradually mix in flour until smooth. Mix 3/4 cup diced dried cranberries and white chocolate into the batter by hand. Pour batter into a well greased 9x13 in baking pan. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (I did 35 and it came out perfectly!) or until cake is light brown on the edges. Allow cake to cool.

Make frosting by combining softened cream cheese, 3 cups powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. When the cake has cooled, use a spatula to spread frosting over the top of the cake.

Sprinkle the 1/4 cup (1/2 cup) cranberries over the frosting on the cake.

Whisk together 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk and shortening. Drizzle icing over the cranberries in a sweeping motion or use a pastry bag with a fine tip to drizzle frosting across the top of the cake.

Allow cake to sit for several hours, then slice the cake lengthwise (the long way) through the middle. Slice the cake across the width three times making a total of eight rectangular slices. Slice each of those rectangles diagonally creating 1 triangular slices.

Pics to come in a bit! I am waiting for it to cool. Will also post update on how they taste!

Homemade ice cream in an ice cream machine

Mmmmm, this has grown to be one of our favorites as a family. Every summer we make this and usually it is our go to fourth of July treat. This is a soft serve ice cream.

ICE CREAM

1 cup whole milk

1 cup sugar (granulated)

2 eggs

3 cups whipping cream

2 tablespoons vanilla

more milk

In a saucepan combine 1 cup milk, sugar and eggs. Whisk ingredients while bring it to a boil. You will want to bring it to a boil slowly and stir constantly or the eggs will clump. If they do clump, simple skim them off the top once the mixture is done boiling. Boil for 2 minutes and remove. Cool completely.

Pour into ice cream machine container. Add whipping cream, vanilla and pour milk up to the fill line. Turn on according to the manufactures instructions.

Rhubarb Custard

Brandon, my dear hubby, grew up eating rhubarb. It was everywhere in Montana. His favorite pie is strawberry rhubarb and for father's day we decided to go pick our strawberries and our rhubarb to make him a yummy treat. When we got there we found rhubarb and pick a lot (about 20 lbs) only we later found out the strawberries are not ready yet because of a cold spell the state of WA has had. That said, I had to make something out of some of this rhubarb. I put some feelers out for some recipes and I was given a few to try. This is the first one that I tried. My husband cannot stand custard so we told him it was rhubarb surprise. In my opinion it does not have the traditional custard texture. He loved it as did the kids. This is something that I will put in the recipe book to be made again.

A huge thank you goes out to Corinne (my mother-in-law) as she shared this recipe passed down from her mother-in-law. I love how recipes can be passed from one generation to another!

RHUBARB CUSTARD

1 1/2 cups rhubarb cut into small pieces (fresh or frozen will work)

1 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven at 425 degrees. Beat egg yolks until frothy (set aside the egg whites for later). Add sugar, flour and melted butter. Add rhubarb. In a separate bowl beat egg whites until frothy, then spread on an unbaked pie shell to keep it from getting soggy. Pour rhubarb mixture into unbaked pie shell and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Then lower the heat to 350 degrees until done. I cooked mine on 350 for an additional 45 minutes. Center should not have liquid. The center will be soft as the rhubarb is not a hard solid however you want the center to maintain when the pie plate is shaken. Cool for 20 minutes before serving. This is also yummy served with vanilla ice cream or even cold the next day!

Mmmm, A little taste of fall

For my first post I am going to share one of my favorite recipes. My children love pancakes and Brandon tolerates them. I found a recipe that even he asks for on a regular basis. The recipe originally called for sugar and I have cut it down because I wanted more of a spice pancake and the maple syrup makes it sweet enough.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES

1 1/2 cups pancake mix

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3/4 cup puree pumpkin

1 cup water

I combine the pancake mix, cinnamon and nutmeg. Next stir in the pumpkin. Mixture will be thick. Add in oil, egg and water. Whisk until chunks are gone but no longer. Don't over mix as the pancakes will not be as fluffy. Cook on the griddle until completely done. Top with real warm maple syrup or dust with powdered sugar. I always triple my batch so that I have enough for breakfast the next morning. Just reheat in the microwave and serve.