Grandma’s Rhubarb Cake

I have rhubarb and am making my Grandma’s rhubarb cake.  It is a very old recipe with a bit of a twist on it.  It reminds me of a fruit cobbler/coffee cake/bread pudding/dump cake.  It is all those yummy desserts in one. You can pick what flavor you want but I love it with rhubarb and it is a great way to use up your rhubarb.

Cake

1 cup sugar

2 cups  flour

½ tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups of rhubarb and 1 cup simple syrup

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

Milk Topping

1 can condensed milk

1 stick of butter (I cut to ½ stick of butter)

1 tsp. vanilla

Begin by making your simple syrup and rhubarb.

Rhubarb

2 cups of rhubarb

1/2 cup of water

1/2 cup of sugar

Add water and sugar in small pan and heat over stove on medium heat. Make sure when you heat the simple syrup that you do it just until the sugar melts.  You do not want to over cook the fruit and have it fall apart.  Let it cool.  Make sure that it has cooled when you add it to the batter with eggs or you will scrabble your eggs. 

Cake Batter

Mix the sugar, flour, salt, soda, eggs and cooled rhubarb together and pour into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Sprinkle the top with brown sugar and one cup chopped pecans. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

After the cake has been baked and still hot out of the oven, pour the milk mixture over the entire cake.

Milk Mixture

Heat the condensed milk and butter in the microwave for 1 minute and then stir it to incorporate the butter.  Add the vanilla last and poured over the cake.

Refrigerate the cake. This is an extremely sweet, dense, and moist cake. 

I made mine in two 9 X 9 inch pans so only baked it for 25 to 30 minutes.  

Try this rhubarb recipe.  People that don’t like rhubarb even like this.  If not you can always substitute another fruit with it or try rhubarb and strawberries (1 cup each) for a rhubarb strawberry cake. 

Have a great day, be happy and may God bless you and yours.  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Need something for my son's lunch tomorrow so trying a new recipe.  He loves peanut butter to a point of taking tablespoons full of it and eating it plain.  He also loves chocolate chips cookies so when I asked him if he wanted peanut butter cookies or chocolate chip he said both. So I made a peanut butter chocolate chip bar for him. It made it easier on me than making cookies and pleased his love of chocolate and peanut butter.  I'll send a whole plate for his co-workers.

2 ¼ cups flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ sticks of butter

¾ cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter (you can use chunky if you like)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°.  Spray a 13 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray.  I like to use the aluminum ones so I can turn it upside down and cut the bars.

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugars until combined. Use a whisk or a rubber spatula to mix in the eggs,  peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the flour mixture until just combined (be careful not to over mix the dough or the bars will be tough). Fold in the chocolate chips.

Scrape the dough into the prepared pan, pressing and smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until the top is slightly golden and firm to the touch and the edges are starting to pull away from the sides of the pan, approximately 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely.

Lift up on the foil overhang to remove the bar from the pan and transfer it to a cutting board.  Cut 2 inch squares.

Variation - You may add additional peanuts for more crunch if you like.

They are roofing and in the heat, these should give them the energy they are going to need for the job.

Hope you have a great day.  Be happy and may God bless you and yours. 

Enchiladas

Since this week was Cinco de Mayo, I made enchiladas for book club yesterday and thought I’d share.  I made beef/chicken enchiladas (fickled and could not make up my mind J) .  You can make just beef or chicken if you like.  Saylor is spending the weekend and he can’t have dairy so he made his own without cheese.  They are already gluten free.

I have simplified the dish by using salsa instead of chopping onions, tomatoes, jalapeño, etc.  Pick your favorite salsa.

Enchiladas

3 tbs. olive oil

1 pounds chicken (I use both dark and white meat.  You may use chicken breasts if you like)

1 pound lean ground beef

Kosher salt and pepper

1 tsp. cumin powder x 2

1 tsp. garlic powder x 2

1 tsp. chili powder x 2

1 cup salsa 

20 corn tortillas

2 cans enchilada sauce (you can pick hot, medium or mild)

2 cup shredded Cheddar and Jack cheeses (Mexican blend)

Garnishes

Sour cream

Green chilies

Green onions

Black olives

Guacamole

Chopped tomato and lettuce

Coat large sauté pan with oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink. Sprinkle chicken with cumin, garlic powder and chili powder before turning. Remove chicken to a platter, allow it to cool.  Shred it or cut into small pieces.

Brown your ground beef adding the cumin, chili powder and garlic powder.  When done add your chicken to it.  Add your salsa and sauté for a minute.  Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed. Let cool.

Microwave your pile of tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable so they don’t crack when you roll them.  I set up an assembly line of tortillas, sauce, meat, cheese and your pan.

Coat the bottom of 2 (13 x 9 inch) pans with a ladle of enchilada sauce (I did one 9 x 13 inch pan and two 9 x 9 inch pans with the recipe so I could freeze the 9 x 9 for another day). Using a large shallow container, dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce to lightly coat. Spoon 1/4 cup meat mixture in each tortilla.  Add a small amount of cheese.  Fold over the tortilla and roll.  I placed 10 enchiladas in the larger baking dish with seam side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and lots of Mexican cheese.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated 350° oven until cheese melts.  Have individual garnishes such as chopped scallions, sour cream, guacamole, black olives, green chilies, shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes for each person to garnish the way they like.  I like a little sour cream, lettuce, tomato and black olives on top of mine.

To top it off I made churros cheese cake for the dessert. 

Churros Cheesecake

1 package of Pepperage Farm Puffed Pastry (use both sheets)

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) whipped cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 cup sugar (divide in half)

2 tbs. cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350°.

Unroll pastry dough and press one sheet into the bottom of a greased 13 × 9 inch baking pan. 

Using a hand mixer, mix the cream cheese, vanilla, egg and 1/2 cup of the sugar well until completely blended.

Spread it evenly onto the bottom crust.

Mix ½ cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Top the cream cheese mixture with the remaining pastry dough.   Sprinkle it with ½ cup of sugar and the 2 tbs. of cinnamon mixture.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

I served mine with homemade chocolate syrup at the table.

Syrup

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of kosher salt

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugars to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and whisk in the cocoa powder, salt, and corn syrup, whisking until all of the solids have dissolved.

Allow the mixture to simmer until it has slightly reduced and thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and cool to room temperature.

If you want it to taste more like a Mexican chocolate add a pinch of cinnamon to the cocoa powder.  I didn't because I was putting it on a lot of cinnamon already.  This goes great on ice cream or use it to make chocolate milk.  

Pour into a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.   

Had a wonderful day with friends.  Hope your day is as full and great.  Have a wonderful Mother's Day, be happy and may God bless you and yours. 

Lobster Pizza

Sam and I made lobster pizza today for lunch.  It is our version of something we had similar at Red Lobster sometime ago.  We loved it and I’ll be making this again.  We put our own spin on a copy cat recipe that I had saved. 

4 thin crust pre-baked pizza crusts

Alfredo Sauce (use your favorite store brand to save work)

1 medium tomato

Sprinkle of dried basil or chopped fresh basil (what ever you have)

2 lobster tails 

Shredded Italian 5 blend cheese

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Lemon juice

Butter

Boil lobster tails and cut the shell in half to pull the lobster meat out of the shell. Chop into bite sized pieces.  Add a small splash of lemon juice (1/2 tsp.) and a pat of butter and let it melt.  Set aside.

Dice and drain your tomato on paper towel.  Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 450°.

Spread a bit of olive oil on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle a very small amount of Kosher salt and a bit of pepper on top of the oil.  Lay down 2 pizza crusts.  Lightly spread 3 cheese Alfredo sauce on top. Sprinkle the blend of cheeses on top. 

Spread the diced tomato evenly on the top.   Sprinkle a small amount of fresh or dried basil over the top. Top with pieces of lobster.

Bake it for five minutes or until the cheese is melted and browned a bit.   Everything is already cooked.  You just need to heat and serve allowing you to make up in advance and just heating before serving.

Slice the pizza into eight pieces.  Recipe made 4 small pizzas. 

These make great individual pizzas or appetizers. 

Variation - You can substitute the lobster and use crab, imitation crab or small shrimp.  I will be buying the thin crust pre-baked pizza crusts again in the future and making my own little mini pizzas with my own twists on them. 

They  would make a great appetizer for a Kentucky Derby party this afternoon.  Hope you have a great Saturday.  Be happy and may God bless you and yours.  

Coney Dogs

Since it is throw back Thursday I thought I would share a 1966 and 67 memory.  When I lived in Milwaukee on the near South side, there was a little dive called Coney Island.  Living on a very limited budget and it being very near where I worked as a VISTA volunteer, I visited it often and always ordered the Coney dogs. 

I saw this recipe and had to save it for the memory and for future use.   It is super simple and a wonderful memory.  You can’t beat that.

1 ¼ lbs. hamburger

1 large onion

½ cup sugar

½  cup chili powder

½  cup ketchup

1 ½  cup water

Chop your onion in a food processor.  Brown hamburger and onion until done. Drain well and place back in the skillet. Add all of the remaining ingredients. Simmer 1 hour, stirring from time to time. You can also freeze it for later use.

Steam your hot dogs.  I use 100% beef.  Brown your buns a bit.  Pile lots of chili on top of your hot dog.  What a meal.  What great memories.  

Make some memories today and make it a great day.  Be happy and may God bless you and yours.  

Bunny Buns

Want to have a little fun with your Easter brunch or dinner.  Try these bunny buns I made yesterday.  They were really quite easy and not that much extra work.  They will be a real conversation piece over your meal.  Serve them with a great jam, jelly or honey butter.

2 tsp. active dry yeast plus 1 tsp sugar

¼ cup warm water

1 cup milk

1 tbs. melted butter

¼ cup sugar

 3 ½  cups flour plus a little extra for dusting

1 egg

1 tsp. salt

Add yeast and 1 tsp. sugar to the warm water (not over 110 degrees F). Set aside.

Place milk in microwave for 45 seconds. Add butter to milk and stir in until butter is completely melted. Check the temperature of the milk; it should be lukewarm, if not then allow it to cool until it is lukewarm.  If it is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

Once the yeast has doubled in volume, add the yeast mixture to the milk and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar and about 1 ½ cups flour and mix until it reaches the consistency of a muffin batter. Let rest for 10 minutes.  This is allowing the yeast to do it’s job.

Add the egg and salt to the mixture. Beat well. Add 2 cups of remaining flour until the flour forms a soft dough ball.

Knead dough in mixer with dough hook until smooth and satiny.  You can knead by hand if you do not have a mixer.  Make sure you knead for about 10 minutes if you do by hand.

Leaving it in the mixer bowl, cover and let rise in a warm area until it has doubled in size (about 2 hours).  I put on top of my stove and turned my oven on.  Don’t put it over the vent of your stove though or it may begin to bake.  Put on the front of the stove and cover with a dish cloth.  I let it rise for 2 hours using this method.  It may take longer to double if you do not have a warm place to place it.

Once it has doubled in size, punch down the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Press out and roll the dough on a lightly floured surface. Shape into a long rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half and then cut each half into 6 pieces making 12 rolls.  Pull the dough into round biscuit shapes and place on greased baking sheets or Siltpat.  Save a little of the dough for the tail and put a small tail the size of a raspberry on each round biscuit.  Let the biscuits rise until it has doubled (about 1 hour or more).  Make sure you sit the buns far apart on a cookie sheet so they do not touch once they have risen.  Put a dish cloth on top of them while rising.

Before baking take a tooth pick or skewer and poke holes for eyes.  Using a kitchen scissors cut ears.  Cut from the back of the body to the head and ears will pop up. 

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 minutes. 

Practice and make some bunny buns before Easter so they are perfect for Easter.  Have fun.  Mine weren't too bad for the first attempt.  You can microwave them just before serving so they are warm. 

Have a great day, be happy and may God bless you and yours.  

White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have had a bag of white chocolate chips since Christmas and thought I better use them up.  They are the cheap store brand that was on sale and I used them in this new recipe I have never tried before.  I will be trying it again in the future.  It is goosing up the regular chocolate chip recipe into a chocolate cookie and adding white chips.  It is as good as a chocolate chip cookie.  Still very moist and chewy ewy good.

2 ¼ cups flour

3 semi sweet Baker’s chocolate squares

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

¾ cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Melt you butter and chocolate together on low or over a double boiler.

Combine flour, melted chocolate and butter, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat your sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by heaping teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets covered with parchment paper or a Siltpat.  It made 4 dozen for me.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Do not over bake them.  10 minutes is just right in my oven. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.  I store them in baggies to keep them moist.

Going to be a rainy day here so thought I’d do some baking and perfume the house with the smell of goodies.  Hope you have a great day.