Tag Archives: butter

Toffee Bars

Cookies, Recipes, , , , , ,

This is one of those recipes that I have had in my family for a lot of years and I have made it many times.  It is great for the summer, because it is a bar cookie and you can just bake it all at once in one pan, and you don’t have to heat up your house for very long! It also has very basic ingredients that you probably already have at your house.

Back in the day, I used to make this recipe with shortening, but if you think about it, Toffee is made with real butter, so I changed out butter for the shortening and oh my, what a difference it made!  I asked my husband if he wanted one last night and he said, “No…I want two!”  They are that good!

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Buttermilk Syrup

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This recipe is a great one to make for a Mother’s Day Breakfast or Brunch, even if you have to make it for yourself, you are totally worth it!

I got this recipe from a friend and fell in love with it.  It is like melted caramel and once you try it, you may never want to go back to maple syrup! I make this every once in awhile when I really want to splurge for breakfast, and then again for dessert, because the leftovers make a great caramel sauce for ice cream!

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Strawberry Shortcake

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My husband and I have been gone on vacation for the last week or so and now it is time to come back to reality and the real life.  Ugh.  We had a great time in Sunny Arizona and enjoyed many fun activities like spring baseball training, shopping, sunny skies, shopping, eating out, shopping, going to the fruit stands, shopping…OK I think you get the picture!  I will do a post later about some of my fun finds!

But I had a major computer disaster and ended up buying a brand new computer when we got home!  It is a pain trying to re-load everything onto a new computer, but it is so fun to have a new, clean, faster computer!  So now this is my first post on my new computer and it is great.

My husband and I have made this trip to AZ every year now for about 7-8 years.  It is something that we both look forward to.  My husband loves all the Spring Training baseball games and I love being in the warm (hot) weather so it is a great match!  We have gotten so that we know the area pretty good and are learning all the road names and how to get around the Phoenix area.  One of my favorite places to go every year is a big fruit market called Superstition Market.  They have so many different fruits and veggies for so cheap it makes my head spin!  I would totally go here every week if I lived anywhere around there!  So I had to load up with all kinds of goodies to bring home. It was great!

One of the things that I brought home was strawberries and so I HAD to make a strawberry shortcake for a birthday that we celebrated on Sunday. This is a fun recipe, using a cake mix that is really easy, but yet looks so pretty!
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Baked Potato Soup

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Some of my friends and I and my girls have attended the Taste of Home cooking school a couple of times.  They are always fun to attend and you always get some great ideas. At one of the ones we attended they did this Baked Potato Soup.  It is such a good comfort food and it is so easy to make. I usually have most of the ingredients in my pantry and fridge, so I can make this at any time.

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Famous Mint Brownies

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We had a couple of birthdays last week in our family and one of the recipients requested these instead of Birthday cake!  They are so moist and full of flavor that they are hard to resist!

They also have an entire pound of butter in them, so they had better be good!  I feel like I am the Pioneer Woman when I make these!  Which by the way, is where I found this recipe a couple of years ago, at Tasty Kitchen, which is a sister site to the Pioneer Woman.  I hope that you can make some of these sometime.  These wonderful brownies look and taste professional. But they are so easy to make. Bake them today and share them with your friends. They may make you famous!

Famous Mint Brownies (tastykitchen.com)

Ingredients

  • FOR THE BROWNIES:
  • 1 cup Melted Butter
  • ½ cups Cocoa Powder
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 4 whole Eggs Beaten
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • ½ teaspoons Salt
  • 1-½ cup Flour
  • _____
  • FOR THE MINT FROSTING:
  • ½ cups Butter, Softened
  • 2 Tablespoons Milk
  • 2 cups Powdered Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Peppermint Extract
  • 5 drops Green Food Coloring
  • _____
  • FOR THE GANACHE TOPPING:
  • ½ cups Butter
  • 1-½ cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Note: Increasing amounts to 1 1/2 times the original amounts will yield a baker’s half sheet (large cookie sheet) of brownies, to make 4 dozen brownies.

For the brownies, whisk together melted butter and cocoa powder. Then add sugar, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt. Mix well and then add sifted flour. Stir in by hand. Do not over mix.

Pour into a 9×13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. If making 1 1/2 recipe, pour into a baker’s half sheet (large cookie sheet).

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and then place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

While brownies are in the freezer make the first layer of topping. Mix the mint frosting ingredients thoroughly. Evenly frost brownies and put back in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Make the chocolate ganache top layer. Melt the butter and chocolate and whisk together. (I melt them together in a Pyrex measuring bowl in the microwave for one minute. Be careful not to overheat. It won’t look melted but once whisked, it will.)

Drizzle warm chocolate over brownies and spread smooth with a spatula. Put back in the freezer for another 20 minutes.

I think that these would also be great with red food coloring for the holidays!

 

Salted Caramel Butter Bars

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How many of you did the Black Friday thing?  I do not do that anymore, but my daughter did and I have to tell you what happened to her!  She decided to meet up with one of her friends and they decided to meet at Wally World at 10:00 pm.  My daughter left her home at a little after 9:00 pm to drive about 15 mins away.  (She wanted to get there a little bit early.)  She pulled onto the freeway and looked up ahead and the traffic was stopped!  There was a 4 car pile-up wreck, and the freeway was totally blocked!  It took her almost an hour and a half to go 15-20 miles!  Needless to say she did not get very much of what she had set out to get, because she was 1/2 hour late.  (Oh how I do not miss those days!)  They then went to Kohl’s for the midnight opening and the line was clear down around the store, but at least she got the things that she wanted in there!  She got home at about 1 am and went to bed for a couple of hours and then got up and ordered some more things online!  Oh my! What we as mothers don’t do for our little beloved children!  Boy am I glad that all of my little beloveds are grown and I can just go to bed at night!
So here is a recipe for all of you that did the Black Friday thing and need to reward yourself just a little bit.  One word of warning, these are very, very rich but very, very yummy!
My daughter made these and brought them for Thanksgiving.

Salted Caramel Butter Bars

For the Crust:
1 lb. salted butter room temp
1 cup sugar
1½ cups powdered sugar
2 Tbs vanilla
4 cups all purpose flour
For the Filling:
1 bag 14 oz. caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped or 14 oz Peters   caramel
1/3 cup milk or cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 T. coarse sea salt (optional)
To make the crust:
In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugars. Using mixer on medium speed, beat together until creamy. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Sift the flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until a smooth soft dough forms.
Spray a 9×13 inch baking pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Press one-third of the dough evenly into the pan to form a bottom crust.
Preheat to 325F.
Bake until firm and the edges are a pale golden brown approx 20 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool about 15 minutes.
While the bottom crust is baking and the remaining dough is chilling, make the caramel filling. Place the unwrapped caramels in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the cream. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If caramels are not completely melted, microwave on high for 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.
Pour the caramel filling over the crust.  If you are going to salt the caramel sprinkle it on caramel layer now.
Remove the remaining chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble it evenly over the caramel.
Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is bubbly and the crumbled shortbread topping is firm and lightly golden, about 25 – 30 minutes.
Let cool before cutting into squares
When I make these I  just use 14 oz of the  Peters caramel, then you do not have to unwrap all the individual caramels. I am lazy that way!)
Have a great weekend!

Grandma’s Icebox Pie

Family, Recipes, , , , , ,

I have a recipe for you today that was a secret in my husband’s family for many years! My husband’s grandma would make this pie every year for Thanksgiving.  I mentioned that I would like the recipe, and everyone just laughed and told me that I would never get it from Grandma.  They said that Grandma  always made the pie and so I didn’t need the recipe.  A few years later I was talking to Grandma and just decided to asked her for the recipe, and well, guess what?  All you have to do is ask!  I have very fond memories of Grandma every time I make this pie.  Grandma had the loving nickname of Grandma AlkaSeltzer!  Not because her cooking was bad, quite the opposite!  She was such a fantastic cook and she cooked everything, and I mean everything!  You had to try it all and by the time you did you were so stuffed that you were almost sick.  But what a way to go!:)  I am so glad for the fond memories that I have of Grandma and Grandpa.

This pie is so rich that you can only eat just a sliver of it.  At least at a time!

Okay, shall we make an Icebox Pie?

First you will need to crush 1/2 box of vanilla wafers.  Just put them in a zip lock bag and let all the air out and seal it.  Use a rolling pin, a glass or a jar to crush the cookies into crumbs.  Melt 1/4 c. butter and add it into the zip lock bag and mix it well to make a cookie crust.

Put the crumbs into the bottom of a pie dish and using your fingers pat it down in the bottom and up the sides a bit.Next mix 1/2 cup butter and 2 eggs and 1 lb powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.  I know that some of you will not want to try this recipe because it has raw eggs in it!  But all I can say, is to use good quality, fresh eggs.  I have been making this pie for years and no one has ever gotten sick.  I have tried to substitute other things for the eggs and have not liked the quality of them, so I have gone back to using the eggs.  If there is anyone out there that has a good substitute, please let me know!Put the filling into the pie crust, (for some reason I did not take a pic of that, so just pretend ok?)  Next take a can of crushed pineapple and drain it really well.  Take the back of a spoon and press all the juice out.  You want the pineapple to be as dry as possible.Layer the pineapple on top of the filling.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. (This is great, because you can make it the day before!)
Just before serving, slice fresh bananas on the top. (sorry about this picture the lighting was horrible)Then add a dollop of “REAL” whipped cream.  The fake stuff does not cut it here, you have to have the real thing!  When I make whipped cream, I use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar.  A tip that Grandma AlkaSeltzer taught me!

A word of warning:  This pie is very addicting!  You start out with just a sliver, but before you know it, you need another sliver only just a little bit bigger, then you have to have another….well you get the idea!

 Here is the recipe:

Grandma’s Icebox Pie

1/2 box vanilla wafers-crushed

1/4 cup melted butter

Mix together and pat into the bottom of a pie dish and up the sides.

1 lb. powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter-softened

2 fresh eggs

Mix in mixer until smooth and creamy.  Carefully spoon onto the cookie crust.

1 can crushed pineapple-well drained

Spoon pineapple on top of filling.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Before serving add sliced bananas to top and add a dollop of real whipped cream.

Refrigerate any leftovers.