Showing posts with label easy-recipes. Show all posts

Holiday Cake: Chocolate Chip Gingerbread

From Denny: Would this make a beautiful holiday food gift or what? Who doesn't like chocolate or gingerbread during the holiday season? The winter white vanilla glaze gives a strong visual contrast for presentation. We do eat with our eyes...

This beautiful cake would be great for those holiday gatherings to beautify the dessert table. Come on; if you are able to slightly warm the servings, melting the chocolate chips, then one whiff of that gingerbread and chocolate and this cake will go fast!

Santa Jingle Picture Ornament

Make some merry this holiday season! Jingle Jingle! This design also available in teapots, cocktail platters, serving trays, lots of bedding, area rugs, blankets, pajamas, pillows, clocks and so much more; come see!

Chocolate Chip Gingerbread

Servings: Makes 16 servings

From: McCormick spices

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Chocolate chips and cocoa added richness to traditional gingerbread. For an elegant touch, bake the cake in a Bundt pan instead of the typical square.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp McCormick® Ginger, Ground

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp McCormick® Cinnamon, Ground

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup molasses

1 egg

1 cup boiling water

1 cup chocolate chips

Vanilla Butter Glaze (recipe follows)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 10-cup Bundt pan with no stick cooking spray with flour. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, ginger, baking soda and cinnamon in medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter, sugar and molasses in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in egg. Add flour mixture alternately with water, stirring just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Prepare Vanilla Butter Glaze. Spoon over cooled cake. Let stand until glaze is set.

Vanilla Butter Glaze: Mix 3 tablespoons butter, melted, 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons water and 1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract in medium bowl until well blended and smooth. Let stand 5 minutes.

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Christmas Confetti Round Ornament

Check out the riot of holiday color to brighten your tree! This design also available in teapots, cocktail platters, serving trays, lots of bedding, area rugs, blankets, pajamas, pillows, clocks and so much more; come see!

And here is a site for: Easy DIY Thanksgiving Crafts Kids Can Make

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Comfort Food From Louisiana: New Orleans Recipe: Crescent City Shrimp Jambalaya

Comfort Food From Louisiana: New Orleans Recipe: Crescent City Shrimp Jambalaya: From Denny: Not in the mood for the chicken version of jambalaya? No problem; make it with shrimp and andouille sausage for a change of pace. Shrimp is ridiculously popular down South that we are forever creating new dishes to keep up with the demand.

Louisiana cooking is based off of French cooking and with the same mindset of employing whatever food sources are at hand. From the bayous or spillways teeming with yummy crayfish to the gorgeous shrimp and oysters from the Gulf of Mexico we create recipes around our bountiful food.

Louisiana Seafood Reusable Shopping Bag

Check out awesome Louisiana eating: oysters, shrimp, crawfish, gumbo, jambalaya

* * * Support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home. Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - see what's new!

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Christmas Gift Recipe: Peanut Butter Fudge

From Denny: This is an easy unique way to cook fudge - in a slow cooker! What fun, a super simple fast recipe! It has our name all over it and think how you can make up many batches of this to give as hostess gifts at Christmas parties or other seasonal gift giving.

It's also a kid friendly recipe it's so easy to do. You cook the fudge on High in the slow cooker for about 20 minutes total and then pour it out into a pan lined with waxed paper. Place in fridge to cool and harden.

Angels Rejoice Snowflake Ornament

'Tis the season, let the angels Rejoice!

Peanut Butter Fudge

From: Ramon Biggio

Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients:

1 (18-oz.) jar peanut butter, crunchy or creamy
12 ozs. semisweet chocolate chips
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Spoon out peanut butter into slow cooker and add in chocolate chips.
2. Cook on High for 10 to 15 minutes or until melted. Stir.
3. Pour in condensed milk and vanilla. Stir and continue cooking on High for 10 minutes.
4. Pour into 9x9-inch dish lined with wax paper. Refrigerate until firm and cut into squares.

Santa Rejoices Music Round Ornament

Santa loves the music of the season!

* * * Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - helping homeless female military veterans come home. Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - see what's new!

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Fast and Easy Dessert: Pound Cake S'mores

Photo provided by FAMILY FEATURES Pound Cake S'mores are a rich and delightlful twist on an old favorite.

Photo from Family Features

From Denny: Want something fast and easy to serve for a family dessert or unexpected guests that drop by for a visit? This is a simple one from Sara Lee. It involves a prepared pound cake of your choice.

FYI, pound cake, even one made from scratch, freezes well so it's easy to have on hand for a last minute dessert. When I make a pound cake I slice it when cooled and then freeze the slices separately so I'm ready to go for whatever portions are needed.

For the lovely melted gooeyness of the S'mores genre, add some miniature chocolate chips of your choice. We like the dark 60 percent Ghiradelli chips at our house because it has less sugar and a far superior chocolate taste.

Then add some miniature marshmallows. I'm not a marshmallow gourmet so you are on your own for a great brand on this one. :)

This recipe calls for chopped peanuts but you can substitute walnuts, pecans, almonds or macadamias to enjoy just as much. Since we live in Louisiana we prefer the local fresh pecans found at the farmers' markets. I'm of the opinion that for great taste pecans - or walnuts - and chocolate pair better than peanuts and chocolate. And you don't have to be concerned about who might have peanut allergies so everyone can enjoy this easy dessert!

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Comfort Food From Louisiana: Tailgating Pancakes: Beer and Bacon Man Cakes

Comfort Food From Louisiana: Tailgating Pancakes: Beer and Bacon Man Cakes: From Denny: More ways to use beer and bacon in delicious recipes, two favorites men love. OK, if it uses dark beer even I'm intrigued. After all, many dark beers - like Boston's own Samuel Adams Cream Stout - have chocolate in the brew.

A favorite recipe from the Betty Crocker site is this one that includes bacon that is baked and candied with brown sugar. Then you crumble the bacon into the Bisquick mix, along with the eggs and beer. The result produces a large and fluffy pancake.

Talk about a cool recipe to use for tailgating. Can you imagine the smell of the bacon and brown sugar wafting through the RV parking lot outside of the stadium? You will have new best friends in no time! :)

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Comfort Food From Louisiana: Mardi Gras: Winner Meatloaf and 3 Sauces

Comfort Food From Louisiana: Mardi Gras: Winner Meatloaf and 3 Sauces: From Denny: Looking for a healthier recipe for the Mardi Gras season? While the kids are busy jumping off and on to the porch to grab fistfuls of chips and quick sandwiches and then run back to the parades, the adults might enjoy taking a plate of this crowd pleaser.

This recipe is so easy to make it's kid friendly. The versatility of this meatloaf is that it can be topped with something as simple as a warmed can of cream of mushroom soup or any of the three sauce recipes that follow.

One is a tomato sauce with brown sugar and mustard. Another is a sweet and sour taste. The final one is an Asian flavor using hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger and ketchup.

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Easy Triple Layer Mud Pie

Another delectable version of mud pie from Hummingbird Bakery and minniephoto @ flickr

From Denny: This is an easy recipe for those chocolate lovers who are in a hurry to whip up a dessert and then forget about it for a few hours while it chills in the fridge.

Simple pies like this are also perfect for tailgating to those special sports events.

All you need for this simple dessert is part of a can of sweetened condensed milk, 3 squares of semi-sweet chocolate, a prepared chocolate cookie crumb pie crust, a chocolate instant pudding mix, some two percent milk, 1/2 cup chopped nuts and a small tub of frozen whipped topping of your choice.

What could be easier than that? Hmmm... buying it already made at the grocery store? :) But this pie will taste so much better since you made it!

Triple Layer Mud Pie

From: Gevalia coffee - my fav coffee site that started putting up recipes lately

Gevalia customer and chocolate lover, Jennifer Birdsley, shared this creamy, crunchy, chocolatey treat with us. To add even more oomph, she serves it with a chocolate flavored Gevalia coffee.

Prep Time: 3 hours 15 min

Serves: 10

Ingredients

3 squares (1 oz. each) semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1/4 cup canned sweetened condensed milk
1 ready-to-use chocolate cookie crumb crust (6oz.)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
2 pkg. (3.9oz. each) chocolate instant pudding mix
2 cups cold 2% milk
1 tub (8oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

Mix chocolate and condensed milk; pour into crust. Sprinkle with nuts.
BEAT pudding mixes and 2% milk with whisk nuts. Stir half the whipped topping into layer in crust.
Top with remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate 3 hours.

Flavor Tips

Mocha: Steep 2% milk and 2 Tbsp. coffee until heated through; stirring occasionally. Strain, cool. Use coffee milk to prepare pudding as above.
Coconut: Substitute nuts with 1/2 cup toasted coconut.

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Cookies: Chocolate Bliss

From Denny: A melt-in-your-mouth cookie favorite. A local food writer received it from a friend in Nashville, Tennessee. "And she told two friends - and she told two friends..." :) This cookie has been making the rounds with chocolate foodies.

It's an easy recipe, fast enough to whip up for the holidays. Part of what makes this cookie so delectable is that half of the chocolate chips are melted and added to the batter along with the unmelted ones. It's like what chef Paul Prudhomme practiced with the concept of layering the same taste in a dish.

A note about melting chocolate: Remember to use dry utensils. Even a tiny amount of water can cause the chocolate to stiffen and not melt properly. We can't have that, now can we? :)

If you want to make clean up faster and easier, think about lining your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Note: You might want to do one cookie as a test cookie to see how long it takes your oven to get to the puffy stage, usually 9 to 10 minutes in most cases. But take the time and do the test because your cookie size may differ from the recipe. It's always worth the effort to do a test when it comes to chocolate. Everyone has a personal preference of how they want the cookie to taste and the texture.

Want a new cookie recipe for Christmas? This one may just become your family's new holiday tradition!

Read on for the recipe:

Chocolate Bliss Cookies

From: StyleBluePrint blog in Nashville, Tennessee

Makes: about 100 small cookies

Ingredients:

2 (11.5-oz.) bags milk chocolate chips (use Ghiradelli brand), divided

½ cup butter, softened to room temperature

1½ cups light brown sugar

4 eggs, beaten

2 tsps. vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

4 cups chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In dry, medium-size mixing bowl, add half of the chocolate chips. Melt in microwave on 50 percent power for 1 minute. Remove and with a dry spatula stir then put back into microwave and continue cooking on 50 percent power for an additional minute. Remove and stir for about 1 minute until all chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

3. Add butter and stir until butter is incorporated and melted.

4. Stir in brown sugar, eggs and vanilla.

5. Stir flour and baking powder together and add to the chocolate mixture. When almost combined, stir in remaining half of chocolate chips and chopped pecans; mix well.

6. Drop by rounded teaspoonful, 2 inches apart, on parchment-lined baking sheets. Since this makes a large batch, if possible, work with 2 or 3 parchment-lined baking sheets. If you place the cookie dough on a cooled cookie sheet, they will not spread as much when baking.

7. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven until cookies are puffy and shiny, about 9 or 10 minutes. Don’t overbake. Cool on wire racks. Make sure cookies are cool when you handle them.

Store in plastic container or freeze.

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Comfort Food From Louisiana: Tailgating Recipes: New Orleans Ugly Dog Saloon BBQ Chili Beans

Comfort Food From Louisiana: Tailgating Recipes: New Orleans Ugly Dog Saloon BBQ Chili Beans: From Denny: Check out this recipe to make bean style chili for a huge crowd - just perfect for tailgating during football season - and affordable.

If you want you can always add meat for a heartier version but this recipe is all about the spices and vegetarian since the majority of their menu is meat.
This recipe comes from the amusing folks in New Orleans at the Ugly Dog Saloon in the Warehouse District, a few blocks from the Convention Center (401 Andrew Higgins Blvd, New Orleans, Louisiana). Be sure to pay them a visit when you visit the Crescent City!

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Dennys Food and Recipes: Easy Dessert: Blueberry Yum Yum Cake

Dennys Food and Recipes: Easy Dessert: Blueberry Yum Yum Cake: "From Denny: What could better describe a trip to Heaven than fresh blueberries, sugar, real butter and a creamy whipped filling for this delectable cake? A simple recipe that is as easy to make as it is to eat!

We love pecans at our house so you might enjoy sprinkling a few more chopped pecans on top of the blueberries for more crunch. There is nothing like the flavor of a toasted pecan.

After you put this cake together it goes into the fridge for chilling time, about an hour. Make it before you start dinner and it should be properly cool by the time everyone finishes dinner. Try not to cheat and choose the dessert as the first course!"

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Dennys Food and Recipes: Easy and Simple: How To Make The Best Key Lime Pie

Flounder's Key Lime Pie, in Pensacola, Florida, a stacked key lime pie

Dennys Food and Recipes: Easy and Simple: How To Make The Best Key Lime Pie: "From Denny: Making your own key lime pie is so simple - and rewarding! It's definitely one of my favorite desserts, especially in the heat of the summer. The tartness really cools you off. FYI, any tart food cools down your liver, which, in turn, cools off your body in hot weather. So, think apples, limes, grapefruit and blackberries if you want to cool off the healthy way.

Florida is known for their key lime pie and there are fans of it all over the country now. The real secret to making this simple and easy famous pie is to purchase real key limes for the recipe. Key limes are very small, very tart and thin-skinned. When ripe they turn from green to yellow.

Most limes in our American grocery stores are those large beautiful, neon green and thicker-skinned Persian limes. Persian limes are also much less tart so they don't deliver that full flavor to the pie cooks, and tasters alike, desire.

How simple is this pie recipe? Really simple: 100 percent key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk and a good graham cracker crust with a little melted butter, brown sugar and chopped nuts. At our house we make the chocolate graham cracker crust while others choose to use traditional pastry crust. It's your preference."

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ambrosia dessert

Pages

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Holiday Cake: Chocolate Chip Gingerbread

Santa Jingle Picture Ornament

Christmas Confetti Round Ornament

Comfort Food From Louisiana: New Orleans Recipe: Crescent City Shrimp Jambalaya

Louisiana Seafood Reusable Shopping Bag

Christmas Gift Recipe: Peanut Butter Fudge

Angels Rejoice Snowflake Ornament

Santa Rejoices Music Round Ornament

Fast and Easy Dessert: Pound Cake S'mores

Photo from Family Features

Pound Cake S’mores

Comfort Food From Louisiana: Tailgating Pancakes: Beer and Bacon Man Cakes

Comfort Food From Louisiana: Mardi Gras: Winner Meatloaf and 3 Sauces

Easy Triple Layer Mud Pie

Flavor Tips

Cookies: Chocolate Bliss

Comfort Food From Louisiana: Tailgating Recipes: New Orleans Ugly Dog Saloon BBQ Chili Beans

Dennys Food and Recipes: Easy Dessert: Blueberry Yum Yum Cake

Dennys Food and Recipes: Easy and Simple: How To Make The Best Key Lime Pie

Pages

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Photo from Family Features Pound Cake S’mores

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Photo from Family Features

Pound Cake S’mores