Blueberry Pecan Muffins

 

Ahhhh, the joys of summer harvest! A soft and oh so delicious muffin, chock full of luscious blueberries and pecans, and topped with cinnamon sugar, fresh from the oven. What better way to start the day? 

 

We are so very fortunate to be able to buy these berries in bulk at a reasonable price. I'm enjoying a lot of great produce from other sources, as well as our garden, so I will be sharing more delectable treats and recipes as the summer harvest progresses. For now, on to the muffin recipe!


Blueberry Pecan Muffins

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 T flaxseed meal
1 T baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
1 cup almond milk
2 T each canola oil and coconut oil, melted
Cinnamon sugar for topping

Turn the oven on to 375 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

Sift together all dry ingredients except for the nuts. Combine with the nuts in a medium mixing bowl. That's right, I still sift, and it does make a difference in how the muffins turn out. Whisk together all wet ingredients and gently stir into the dry ingredients. I was taught by my Home Ec teacher to only stir about 11 times, so I try to do that. I added the berries after the 11 stirs and then stirred 11 more times. The idea is to keep the muffins from turning out tough and full of air holes.

By ice cream scoopfuls add batter to the greased muffin tins. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and then bake for 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Gingersnaps for a Tasty Tuesday

Years ago, when I was a wee one, Mom would make all sorts of cookies. One of my favorites were what the C&H Sugar Co. called gingersnaps. I suppose they would snap if you cooked them long enough, but regardless, these are chewy, spicy, yumilicious. I did a little experiment with the recipe because well, I just wanted to. So I traded flaxseed meal for the egg, and added 3 T. water. The texture was wonderful, and Nature Guy says they are "too" good, probably because we are both trying to shed a few pounds and cookies are not a diet food. That's okay, we just need to not inhale the whole batch in one sitting right? So I will give  you two versions of the recipe and you can decide which you like better. The mixing and baking is the same for both recipes.

Gingersnaps    Bake at 350 degrees   Yield 4 dozen

1#  Original Recipe
3/4 c. shortening       1 c. sugar        1/4 c. molasses        1 egg          2 t. ginger      1 t. cinnamon           1/4 t. salt        2 t. baking soda      2 c. flour  

#2  My Recipe
1/4 c. coconut oil       1/2 c. butter       1 c. sugar         1/3 c. molasses       1 T. flaxseed meal+ 3 T. water     1 T. ginger        2 t. cinnamon       1/4 t. ground cloves       1/4 t. salt        2 t. baking soda
1/2 c. whole wheat flour        1 1/2 + 1/3 c. flour    

 In a medium size bowl cream fats, sugar and molasses until light and fluffy. Add egg or substitute (flaxseed meal and water) and blend well. Sift together dry ingredients and stir in until well mixed. Chill for one hour. In a flat bowl add about 1/2 sugar. Pinch off part of dough to make a quarter size ball and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Enjoy!                                                                

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars - Best In the West!

My grand daughters made a special request to make cookies together, sooooo we looked around the house to see what was available. Hmmm, time to run to the store for supplies! I was making chicken enchiladas anyway so we needed supplies for that as well. Off Mommy and I go to Walmart, which is different in every community I've visited so far. It took us a bit longer than expected to gather what we needed, so when we got home I plopped two cubes of butter in a bowl and tackled the enchiladas. We didn't get to eat until after 6:30 and grandma was running out of steam here, thus a bit of a compromise. Instead of cookies we made bars. I doubled a peanut butter cookie recipe from one of my daughters cookbooks and threw in some chocolate chips,  so we could have enough to keep everyone happy. I warn you that right out of the pan, these are so good you might not be able to stop eating them!

Best In the West Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
 preheat oven to 350 degrees
1 c. each butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, white sugar 
1 t. each baking soda, salt
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 10 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl cream butter and sugars, add peanut butter and mix in well. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Sift dry ingredients together and with vanilla, mix in well. Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread in large cookie sheet and be sure and spread the dough evenly. Bake for 15 minutes or until just turning golden brown. Let cool slightly as they will fall apart a bit when still warm, but hey, they are soooo yummy you probably won't care. Yield 4 dozen.

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

Moist and soft, with a bit of crunch from the walnuts, these nicely spiced cookies are perfect with a glass of milk or hot chocolate. Enjoy!

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

1     cup butter
1     cup brown sugar
3/4  cup white sugar
1     cup applesauce
1     egg
1 t.  each salt, baking soda, and vanilla
1/2 t. each cinnamon, cloves, and allspice
1/4 t. cardamom
2    cups flour
4    cups oats
1 c. each chopped walnuts and raisins

In a large bowl beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add applesauce, egg, and vanilla, blend well.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices, stir in butter mixture. Add oats and stir in, then stir in walnuts and raisins. Drop by spoonfuls on greased baking sheet. Bake at 375, for 12 minutes. Yield 5 dozen.

Tasty Tuesday - Coconut Layer Cake with Raspberry Filling

 Somehow the coconut supply keeps replenishing itself in my mother-in-laws refrigerator. Don't know how, and neither does she as I've not ever seen it used for anything since I've been taking care of them. Be that as it may, I decided to try a luscious coconut cake recipe she kept telling me about.

 The recipe for the layers is pretty basic. We cut the sugar by 1/2 a cup and I can see why now that I've tasted the finished product. It would be way too sweet...
Start with 1/2 cup of butter, cream that and then add 1 cup of sugar, and cream until the sugar is almost dissolved. Add 2 eggs and beat well, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Combine 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and add to creamed mixture gradually, alternating with 1 cup of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Beat until well blended and pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until toothpick tested in center of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes then turn layers out of pans onto rack to cool. Grandma's kitchen is rather primitive so we don't have a cooling rack here so I had to use waxed paper. It works.

 For the seven minute frosting I had to be creative and use a bowl as the top of a "double boiler". Next time I will use a larger bowl. You start with 2 egg whites. The yolks will be used in French Toast for breakfast. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar to the egg whites in the bowl or top of double boiler, and a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon of corn syrup, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1/4 cup of water. blend with hand mixer and then put on top of pan of boiling water and beat for 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

 Place one layer of cake top side down on cake plate and spread the up side with raspberry jam, just about 1/2 inch to the edge of the cake all the way around. Darn I wish I had photos. Then top with other layer, flat side down, and start spreading the frosting up the sides and over the top of the cake, being somewhat generous. Now sprinkle fresh coconut over the top and press into the sides of the cake, covering the frosting most of the way. If you like, top with fresh raspberries.

Taadaa! This cake is actually lighter and deliciously wonderfuller than I thought it would be. Okay I know that wonderfuller is not a word per se, but hey, it's my blog...;-)
Coconut Layer Cake with Raspberry Filling
1/2 cup butter, creamed
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon each salt and vanilla
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon baking powder


Raspberry jam for filling
Seven minute Frosting
2 egg whites
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon corn syrup
pinch of salt

Fresh coconut

Gingerbread House 2011 done! Now the waiting begins....

 Can you see the stash of candy in the background? I had to really be creative this year as the candies I used 12 years ago, the last time I created a house, are not available anymore. Luckily, Red Vines are still easy to be found, which I used for the bricks, as well as sugar wafer cookies, although these were doubledecker, which I didn't notice until I got them home. Eeek! They kept trying to separate in layers and were a bit bulky. I tell you this in case you want to create a gingerbread house using some of the elements I have.

 Lifesavers were used to make the stained glass windows, although I would really try to find some yellow candies to crush with the lifesavers as I couldn't find the rolls and in the bagged ones don't have the yellow lifesavers anymore. I put a tealight through the back door to illuminate the windows so you could see them better. Note to self, if wanting to use tealights, make the door big enough for them to go through all the way. :-)

 Spearmint gum drop leaves were harder to find this year, it took me trying at 3 stores before I found them, but I also found some very cool Kukaburra licorice that is similar to millifiore flowers, and were easy to slice. Yay! I wanted to get some pastel mint parielles, but the only store that carried them wanted $8 for them, no way was I going to pay that! Note to friends, they would make a nice Christmas present....I'm just saying.....the Smooth and Melty mints are the best!

 This was the first year I used Necco wafers for the roof, and I like the way they worked out. I used chocolate non-parielles and silver draggies as embellishments which my mother-in-law says looks like diamonds.

 

All parts of the house and grounds are edible, which to me is the best part of a true gingerbread house. Now the waiting begins, we shall see who the winner is. I did have one woman pass me as she and her son were leaving the store and she gasped as she saw the house and said, " Oh, your house is so beautiful! It's the prettiest one here that I've seen!" So, if nothing else, I know that at least two people were delighted at what they saw, and that's the reason to created these. To delight the adults and evoke memories of childhood past, and to delight children and conjure dreams of sugar plums....

Coconut Cream Pie - To Die For!

I've never made one before, but coconut cream pie just sounded so good! I have a great pie recipe book, THE PERFECT PIE by Susan G. Purdy. So here is her version of

COCONUT CREAM PIE
PASTRY
1 1/2 c. unsifted all-purpose flour
1 to 1 1/2 T. granulated sugar
1/2 t. salt
6 T. cold or frozen butter, cut up
3 T. cold shortnening, or canola oil ( I used oil)
1 large egg yolk
2 t. lemon juice, or white vinegar
3 to 4 T. ice water, or as needed  (because of the oil, I only used 2)


FILLING
2/3 granulated sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt
2 1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. heavy cream
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
2 T. butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. shredded coconut

WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
1 c. heavy cream, chilled
2 T. powdered sugar
1/2 c. toasted coconut

Okay, let's get started by putting together the crust. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar) in a large bowl and whisk to blend. Add the cut-up chilled fats/oils. Working quickly and lightly, pinch and slide lumps of dough between your fingertips until the mixture resembles dry rice. This process layers the shortening and flour together, creating "leaves" that will form flakes when baked. If you use the oil like I did you may find it will be a bit lumpy but that's okay, don't overwork things, just get rid of big butter lumps. Add the yolk, lemon juice or vinegar, and the minimum amount of iced water. I only needed 2 tablespoons. Toss lightly, just until it clumps together. The dough should not be sticky, but clumps easily. The oil helped with that. Now form a flat 6 inch disk, wrap with plastic wrap or waxed paper and chill for at least 30 minutes. When ready to roll out and bake, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, I used the wrap to roll it out on. Be sure to flour the wrap though as the dough will stick to the plastic or paper if you use the oil. Fold in half and place in pan, opening and tucking into pie pan without stretching it. Crimp edges. Chill again then blind bake by lining the crust with foil and filling it 2/3 with dry rice or beans. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then remove liner and rice or beans and turn oven down to 350 and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. Cool before filling.
To make the filling combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. In a bowl, whisk the milk and cream into the egg yolks. Whisk the egg-milk mixture into the cornstarch-sugar in the pan. Whisk well to be sure all the cornstarch is picked up off the bottom of the pan and dissolved.
Set pan over medium heat and cook the mixture for about 12 minutes, until thickened and brought to a boil. Stir on and off with a wooden spoon for the first 5 minutes, then stir constantly for abot 7 minutes longer, until the mixture really thickens and reaches a boil and you see fat heavy bubbles work up to the surface and burst. Use the whisk instead of the spoon occasionally to remove lumps. Boil for 1 full minutes while stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Stir in the coconut and spoon into the cooled pastry shell. Cover with plastic wrap to keep from forming a skin and refrigerate until just before ready to serve. In a cool bowl whip the one cup of cream, the powdered sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Spoon over chilled pie and sprinkle toasted coconut over the top. This is the BEST coconut cream pie I've ever tried, bar none. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Foodie Friday - No Knead, Dutch Oven Bread

"Without bread, everyone's an orphan" is an Italian phrase any foodie should live by! Okay, that's if you aren't allergic to wheat...:-). I pooh pooh anyone who tries to say you should never eat bread though. What good is a bowl of hot steaming soup on a cold Autumn day without a nice hunk of crusty bread to sop up the juices with?! I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I got it out of the Mother Earth News - Guide to Fresh Food All Year. An article by Roger Doiron shares his love of bread and a search for bread like he found in Europe. This loaf is easy to make although it does take time. It's well worth it though as it has that chewy crust and soft fine texture on the inside that you love in a good bread for soups and such. It makes a wonderful french toast as well, and the nice thing is that there's no fat or sugar and it uses very little yeast, as well as no requirement to knead the dough. I have to say that my bread came out just like the photo in the article and Kent loved this, so we will be having this again.
NO KNEAD, DUTCH OVEN BREAD
1/4 t. yeast
1 1/2 c. warm water
3 c. all purpose flour, wheat flour or a combination of. I used 2 cups white to one whole wheat

1/4 c. flaxseed meal
1 1/2 t. salt

In a large bowl dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add the salt and flour and blend well. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. If it's too dry add a tablespoon or two more warm water. Cover the bowl with  plastic wrap if you have it and let the dough rest in a warm place for at least 8 but up to 12 to 18 hours. I started mine in the evening so I could finish it up the next day.
The dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles. With a rubber spatula scrape the dough away from the sides of the bowl, and turn it in the bowl to make a ball. Take parchment paper, and tear off a square about 12"X12".  Somewhat generously sprinkle with flour and place the dough on it. Sprinkle the dough with a little flour and fold the dough over on itself once or twice. Cover with inverted bowl and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the paper or your fingers, gently shape it into a ball.  Cover with the inverted bowl and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it's ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
About 30 minutes before the dough is ready, heat your oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, or enamel) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Grab two corners of the parchment paper with the dough on it and set it into the pot. Yes, you bake the bread on the parchment paper in the dutch oven. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing. Enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday - Hot Cross Buns for any time of year...

We tried a new Easter sweet bread this year, these cinnamon flavored, currant filled buns. Traditionally served on Good Friday, they are so good, I wouldn't wait until then to bake and serve these soft little gems.
HOT CROSS BUNS
4 - 4 1/2 c. Best for Bread flour
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 T. active dry yeast
3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. each butter and canola oil
3 eggs
1/2 c. currants
1 egg white, beaten
FROSTING
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 T. soft butter
1-2 T milk
1/2 t. vanilla
Grease a 15x10 jelly roll pan. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl combine 1 1/2 flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and yeast; blend well. In small saucepan heat 3/4 cup milk and fats until very warm.
Add warm liquid and eggs to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in currants and an additional 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups flour until dough pulls away cleanly from sides of bowl.
On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl and cover. Let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.
Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. Allow to rest on counter  covered with inverted bowl for 15 minutes. Divide dough into 24 parts; shape into balls. Place in prepared pan; brush with egg white. Cover; let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, about 35 to 45 minutes.
Heat oven to 375 degrees and bake buns 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly. In small bowl combine all frosting ingredients; beat well. Using a pastry tube or bag, pipe crosses on each bun. If frosting is too thick for pastry tube, stir in additional milk a drop at a time until desired consistency. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

Warm fragrant bread, fresh from the oven, it's comfort food for the gods. I have a dear friend that shared her way of making whole wheat bread just a bit lighter on the fat without losing flavor and consistency. She uses all applesauce for her bread, which is great the first day or two, but if you don't eat it quickly it can dry out. So I use half applesauce and half oil. We now have the best of both worlds, bread that stays soft and yummy a bit longer, and if you use olive oil or canola oil, you get the benefits associated with them. We also save the potato water from boiling potatoes as it helps with the soft nature of the bread.
I'm participating in a weight loss challenge, to jump start my previous attempts. Right now I'm hanging out at 167, which is much better than I was, but I still have a ways to go. I thought I would share this recipe as it is a family and friends favorite.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
2 1/2 c. very warm potato or regular water
1 cup rolled oats
2-4 T. flaxseed powder
2 scant T. yeast
1/3 c. honey
2 T. molasses
1 1/2 t. salt
3 T. applesauce
3 T. olive or canola oil
3-4 c. whole wheat flour, 3 c. white flour
Pour warm water into a mixing bowl and add yeast, oats, honey and molasses. Let sit for 5 minutes for yeast to start to work.  Add applesauce, salt and oil, plus all the whole wheat flour. Mix for 10 minutes to help get the gluten working in the flour. Start adding the white flour a half a cup at a time until you get a nice smooth dough. If you have a heavy duty mixer such as a Kitchenaide let it do the kneading for you, which takes about 5 minutes by mixer. If not, then as soon as the dough starts to pull away from the bowl, through a handful of flour on a counter top or table and start kneading your dough. Keep adding white flour until it no longer sticks to the counter and you have a nice smooth ball, about 10 minutes. Place the dough ball back in the bowl, and no, you don't have to oil it. Cover and let rise for about 30-45 minutes. It rises pretty fast. punch down and knead all the bubbles out. Divide in half, form loaves and place in oiled pans. Brush with a little oil and let rise until double or more in bulk. You don't need to cover the dough this time. Set your oven rack to one from the bottom and turn on to 375 degrees. When ready bake your bread for 35 minutes. Take out and immediately turn out onto cooling rack. This makes two nice large loaves.

Pearl's Spudnuts

These little jewels are pillowy soft on the inside with a light crisp outside. The first time I ever tried these was when we were stationed out on Adak, 1400 miles waaaay out on the Aleutian chain of Alaska. A sweet round grandma named Pearl, who was an amazing baker, shared this with us in Relief Society. When I was Young Women President in our branch we went Christmas caroling and I brought the girls over to my home for hot cider and cocoa with doughnuts. A couple of weeks ago one of the young ladies came up to me and told me she would really love it if I would make doughnuts and hot cider for the girls so I did, between getting ready to decorate for a church dinner tonight and taking care of Family History stuff. These life "events" never come one at a time do they? This recipe is so yummy you will want to make it often.  I hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

Pearl's Spudnuts
1 1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. oil
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 T. yeast
1 c. sugar
1 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
2 t. nutmeg
5 1/2 to 6 c. flour
Powdered sugar for glaze or cinnamon sugar


Combine warm water, yeast, and a little bit of the sugar in a mixing bowl. Let yeast start to bubble. Add the rest of the ingredients except for 3 cups of the flour and mix well. Start adding the rest of the flour while keeping the mixer set at stir. The dough will be very soft. Let sit and rise, then stir down, rise again and stir down. Flour a surface and take half the dough out. Flour your hands and pat down the dough to about 1/2 an inch. Cut with favorite doughnut cutter or glass. In a heavy cast iron skillet or deep fryer heat the oil to 350-375 degrees. Drop cut dough shapes into oil and let puff up until golden brown. Turn and do the same with the other side. Drain on paper towels and dredge in cinnamon sugar or glaze. For my glaze I put about 1 cup powdered sugar in a bowl and then added a touch of orange juice, just enough to have a thin but not watery glaze. This will make about 4-6 dozen depending on the size of your cutter. Bon Appetite!

Christmas Cookies - Maple Melt-away Crisps

Tender, crisp and oh so buttery maple, these cookies are an adaptation of a recipe I found years ago. It was too crumbly and dry so I revamped it to come up with these. They are a family favorite. I hope you enjoy!

MAPLE MELT-AWAY CRISPS

1 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 t. maple flavoring

1/2 t. salt

2 c. flour

1/2 c. ground walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add flavoring and the dry ingredients, mixing well. Chill for about 1 hour. Form into 1" balls and roll in white sugar. Flatten on un-greased cookie sheet with the back of a glass. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Yield about 5 dozen.

Cran-Apple Dream Pie

 The other night we were having friends over for dinner. Hubby was fixing his delicious Chicken Curry with a lot of spice so I decided to create a creamy yet refreshing pie with a holiday flare. although there are several steps, this really is an easy peasy and so yummy pie, well worth the little bit of time put into making it. The cranberries can be rough chopped in the blender or food processor. Save yourself the headache of trying to chop each little cranberry or chasing them around the counter or floor. It's amazing the places you will find them later. ;-)
I used crumbs created from stale doughnuts that I cubed and lightly toasted before turning to crumbs as part of my crust ingredients but there are more possibilities such as crumbed short bread cookies, or the regular graham cracker crust. So I'm stating graham cracker crumbs in the recipe, but be creative! I never let anything go to waste, so if cookies are getting a bit dry or the same with cake, I just cube or crumble them up and dry them in the oven so I can use them for sweet crumb crusts later.
This pie has two main layers, one a creamy dreamy whipped cream cheese and whipped cream layer with a touch of grated orange peel. The other a fresh chopped cranberries and apples in jello. I used cherry jello as I didn't have raspberry, but try either and see which you like better. Cherry was very good, but I really want to try raspberry next time. Okay enough of this nonsense, on to the recipe!

CRAN-APPLE DREAM PIE

Serves 8

CRUST

1 1/2 c. sweet crumbs from graham crackers or shortbread cookies

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. butter, melted

In a 9" pie plate combine ingredients and press onto bottom and up the sides of the dish. In a pre-heated 350 degree oven bake for 5 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

CREAM CHEESE LAYER

1- 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream, whipped, buy a pint container of whipping cream so you have some for topping as well.

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1-2 t. greated orange rind

1/2 - 3/4 c. powdered sugar, to taste

In a mixing bowl beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and orange rind, mix well. Gently fold in whipped cream until fully incorporated. Don't beat heavily as whipped cream will lose it's stiffness and the creamy filling will be too soft. Spread into the cooled crust and let set in the refrigerator while preparing jello layer. 

JELLO LAYER

1- 3 oz. box Cherry or Raspberry Jello

1 c. boiling water

3/4 c. cold water

1 c. each chopped apple and cranberries

1/2 c. sugar

In a medium size bowl combine jello, sugar and boiling water, stirring to dissolve. Add cold water and let soft set in refrigerator. Add fruit and stir gently. Carefully spoon over cream cheese layer in pie plate. Let set until firm, about 1-2 hours.

WHIPPED TOPPING
1 1/2 c. whipping cream
3-4 T. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
In a mixing bowl combine ingredients and whip until soft stiff peaks form. Add a dollup to each piece of pie when served.

Gingerbread Bats and Pumpkins, What fun!

Emmett and grandma, (that would be me) made some gingerbread bats, ghosties, and pumpkins last week. We had so much fun! Emmett especially loved testing the frosting.....
again.....
and again.....
and again. I wonder what time he went to sleep that night? Giggle! We used my favorite gingerbread recipe. It's definitely time tested as I used it numerous times to win grand champion of the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer Gingerbread House Contest. Here's the recipe so you can start planning now for creating your own gingerbread cookies, or even a house for the holidays.

Gingerbread Dough

5 c. flour, 1 t. salt, 1/4 t. nutmeg, 1/2 t. cloves, 3 T. cinnamon, 1 t. ginger
1- 1/8 t. baking soda, 1 c. shortening, 1-1/4 c. sugar, 1 egg well beaten,
1 c. light molasses, slightly warmed, 1/3 c. water

Sift together 1 c. flour, salt, spices and soda. Cream shortening, then add sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg, then slightly warmed molasses. Stir water into mixture. Stir in sifted flour and spice mixture gradually. Add the rest of the flour one cup at a time, until dough is soft and moist to the touch of your finger. Cover and chill 6-8 hours. Roll out on oiled foil to 1/4 or 1/8th inch thickness. Bake at 350 degrees 8-10 minutes. If you are making house pieces bake as dark as you can get it without burning. It's very important to bake house pieces long enough. Cookies don't need as long.

Tips for making gingerbread houses.
1. As soon as you take the pieces out of the oven lay your pattern over each piece and trim with a very sharp knife. This will insure that your pieces go together nicely. If the pieces start to harden before you get them all trimmed put them back into the oven just to warm them enough to trim easily.

2. In the widest frying pan you have, melt about 1 cup or more of sugar at a moderately low temperature until liquid. Dip one joining side into the hot sugar mixture and then quickly match up with other piece to make a corner. Continue to do this with all your pieces. The hot melted sugar makes a wonderful edible glue that hardens quickly and nicely. If you get drips on your pieces, wait until the sugar hardens and you should be able to remove them. This makes it a lot faster and easier to put all the sides and roof together, and it's much sturdier. I hope to make a small video to show you how it's done.
If you have any questions just drop me a line.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Recipe

Fresh Strawberries and Rhubarb go into this recipe to make a winner of a pie. Here's the recipe below.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c Sugar
1/8 ts Salt
1/3 c Flour
2 c Fresh strawberries
2 c Fresh rhubarb, cut in 1" pieces
2 T Butter or margarine
1 T Sugar
Nutmeg

1 Pastry for 2-crust pie
2 1/2 c. flour
1 cube butter
1/4 c. canola oil
1/2 t. salt
1 t. sugar.
5 T. cold water

Blend all dry crust ingredients together and then cut in the butter until evenly distributed.
The mixture should look crumbly with pea sized lumps. Sprinkle oil over mixture and toss
with a fork. Add water, one tablespoon at a time and toss with spoon. Form 2 balls of
dough and flatten into a disk. Wrap and chill while you are cutting fruit and preparing
filling ingredients. Roll out dough on lightly floured board or sheet of foil. Fit in
pie plate being careful not to stretch crust.

Procedure:

Combine 1 1/4 cup sugar, salt, and flour. Arrange half the strawbwerries and rhubarb in a pastry-lined 9 inch pie pan. Sprinkle with half the sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining fruit and sugar mixture. Dot with butter. Sprinkle a dash of Nutmeg over the filling before you cover. Install top crust and flute edges to make high-standing rim. Brush top of pie with cold water and sprinkle on 1 tablespoon sugar. Cut steam vents in top crust. Bake in hot oven (425 F) on lowest rack for 15 minutes then reduce heat to (375F), move pie up one level and bake for another 40 to 50 minutes or until rhubarb is tender and crust is browned.

Let cool for about 30 minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream.