Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Fudge

Last Friday morning, I tried to make a new scone recipe. Despite my best efforts, they didn't exactly turn out the way I would have liked. The butter in the scones melted onto the bottom of the stove, which caused smoke, which in turn made the smoke alarm go off. Luckily, we have a self-cleaning oven and I set it on the longest length of time possible - four hours. After the oven had cooled off, I cleaned the residual that was left and on Saturday night made lasagna. Again, the smoke alarm went off. I finally came to the conclusion that the two racks in the oven needed to be cleaned. Ugh. Since I didn't feel like cleaning them immediately, I decided to make a "no-bake" recipe Sunday afternoon. Oh my, this is SO good. At Cathy's Kitchen, we aim to have happy "customers!" LOL.  By the way, I cleaned the two racks Sunday afternoon and then made a new Quarantine "favorite" for dinner - Hot Dog and Bean Casserole covered with Jiffy Cornbread!! This time the oven did NOT set the smoke alarm off!! Yeah - success!!

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, unsalted
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
16.3 ounce jar smooth peanut butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a large saucepan or stock pot, put the butter, light brown sugar, vanilla extract, peanut butter and powdered sugar. On low to medium heat, stir constantly with a large spoon until smooth and blended together. Remove from heat and pour immediately into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  In a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips. Pour the melted chips over the peanut butter mixture and again, spread evenly. Use a knife to "swirl." I swirled both diagonally and horizontally. Place in fridge for a minimum of two hours. When ready to eat, cut into squares. Store covered in the fridge. Enjoy!!!!

Chocolate Brownie Pie

Since being in Quarantine, we have definitely done more baking.  A few weeks ago, Lauren made homemade biscuits. Dominic and I have made my mother-in-law's Sour Cream Kuchen numerous times (we actually have it on the schedule to make today)! This past Sunday, it was the traditional "Bunny Cake." Besides our baked goods tasting super duper yummy, I have used the baking "sessions" with Dominic to reinforce life skills, like having him read the recipe and getting all the ingredients out, following directions and measuring out the flour, sugar, etc.

Since we had a teeny bit of vanilla frosting left over from the "Bunny Cake," I thought making some homemade brownies were in order! After looking through a few cookbooks, I found the perfect recipe (meaning we had all the ingredients)! Dominic and I made it before dinner, so it could cool while we were eating dinner. We even made it a bit more fancy by adding some green sprinkles! I have made brownies in all different shaped pans, but never in a pie pan. The hubby, Dominic and I ate ours quickly, but I set Lauren's piece on a plate on the dining room table. When she came looking for it, I told her where it was.  Much to our surprise, there were a couple bites taken out of it. The culprit was Dominic!!! He had helped himself to her piece when I wasn't looking, LOL. Guess he wanted a second piece! This morning, we discovered he had eaten two chocolate bunnies out of Lauren's Easter basket. He's a sneaky little thing.....

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup white flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch pie pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, put the sugar and butter and beat until smooth with electric mixer or by hand. Add the remaining ingredients in the order given and combine well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the pie comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool thoroughly. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, frost or enjoy as is!! Serves eight.

Layered Fruit Spritzer

*Picture courtesy of Mary Gajda - Capital Area Women's Lifestyle Magazine

This winter has definitely been the most unusual since moving to Michigan in December of 2001. Wednesday, the temperature outside when I was running around doing errands was 50. This morning, I had high hopes of putting a lighter weight jacket on Dominic for school instead of a heavy winter jacket that he has almost outgrown. My hopes were dashed when I saw rain/snow falling as his bus pulled up to our curb. I heard this Sunday it may hit 60! I may have to go sit out on our back deck with this drink in my hand, because Monday, it might snow!

Ingredients:

20-ounce can pineapple chunks, in pineapple juice

6-ounce container blackberries

1 cup strawberries, hulled and chopped

1 cup blueberries

1 cup ginger ale

Drain the juice from the can of pineapple chunks and reserve the juice. Set aside. It should be approximately one cup of juice and 2 cups of pineapple chunks. In a 16-ounce glass, put a 1/2 cup of the pineapple chunks, 7-8 blackberries, 1/4 cup strawberries and 1/4 cup blueberries. Pour 1/4 cup of the pineapple juice and 1/4 cup ginger ale on top of the fruit.  Makes four servings. Feel free to add a splash of champagne to make it more "bubbly!" 

Red Velvet "Crinkle" Cookies

I am fortunate and blessed to have been the monthly recipe contributor to a local publication called, Women's Lifestyle Magazine for the past couple of years. My contact person there and I have become good friends, and we typically plan out the recipes two months in advance. Generally, one of us will think of an idea and then we go back and forth about what the best recipe will be for that particular month. I really love being the recipe contributor, because it keeps me on my "toes" as far as thinking outside of my "comfort zone." These cookies are a great example of that!!!!  The original recipe for February was going to be a slice and bake cookie with a red heart in the middle of the cookie. I had recently watched one of the baking shows on the Food Network, where the bakers made it look so easy. Oh my. It took me HOURS to make the cookies (I tested it out using Christmas trees). Let's just say, it was a DISASTER. They looked pretty bad, but tasted okay. My family will eat anything, so those cookies are long gone! LOL. Plan B was to make the Red Velvet "Crinkle" Cookies!! They are pretty cool, because they can be for Christmas or Valentine's Day. The hubby needed three dozen for the cookie exchange at work yesterday, so I made him some and saved the rest. After work, he told me, "your cookies were very popular at the party!" AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cathy's Kitchen LOVES to hear that!!!!

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups white sugar
4 large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups white flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1-ounce bottle liquid red food coloring
½ cup powdered sugar (reserved)

Preheat oven to 350° and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a large bowl, put the butter and white sugar and beat by hand with a large spoon or with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the four eggs and vanilla extract and combine well. Next, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar. Mix well again and then carefully add the entire one-ounce bottle of the liquid red food coloring. Stir very gently by hand with a large spoon until the liquid red food coloring is entirely incorporated into the batter. In a small bowl, put the ½ cup powdered sugar. Using the palm of your hands, roll out four dozen balls approximately one inch each. Roll each ball into the powdered sugar until it is completely covered. Bake a dozen at a time for 12-14 minutes until they are starting to look done in the middle. Remove from oven and let them sit on the cookie sheet for five minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to let them continue to cool. If desired, you can sprinkle additional powdered sugar on top! 

Dill Pickle Soup

One of my very good friends and I have this running "joke" about pickles. It started a while back (I really don't remember how) and now, every time I find a food item that has pickles as an ingredient, I will send it to her. It's actually quite surprising how MANY pickle items are out there!! There are pickle flavored sprinkles, mints, ice cream, popsicles and my very favorite - the pickle flavored candy cane! There is even a National Pickle Day!! This year it is November 14 (in case you were wondering). Even if you weren't, you know now, LOL. In one of my conversations with my pickle "buddy," I jokingly sent her a recipe for Dill Pickle Soup. After discussing it a bit more, we decided I would make it and report back to her what it tasted like. Earlier this week, I went to the grocery store and picked up the ingredients to make the soup. This past Wednesday night, I whipped it up! It didn't take any time at all (the longest time was cutting the potatoes, carrots and pickles)!! It was really good if I do say so myself (and I just did)! In our house, we typically eat pickles that are heavily seasoned. After a little research, I learned that this type of soup is actually a Polish recipe. I've never noticed it before, but you can buy Polish dill pickles at the grocery store. We always get the kosher dill pickles. I was a teeny bit hesitant when I started eating this soup, just because I've never made it before. Wow, it was super duper creamy and delicious - I had two bowlfuls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients

2 14-ounce cans reduced sodium chicken broth +
      1 1/2 cups water
6 cups peeled and chopped potatoes
2 cups peeled and chopped carrots
1 cup Polish dill pickles, chopped
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
1/2 cup white flour
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup dill pickle juice
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

In a large stockpot, combine the chicken broth, water, potatoes, carrots and butter and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes).  Add the chopped pickles and return to boil. While the soup is boiling, you need to make up the "paste." In a small to medium bowl, put the flour, sour cream and water. Using a whisk or a large spoon, stir until the mixture is smooth. Drop two tablespoons of the "paste" at a time into the boiling soup, stirring constantly. Some of the potatoes might get broken up a bit, but don't worry.  You might also see some small balls of flour form as you are doing this, but they will eventually almost completely disappear. When you are done adding all of the "paste," add the pickle juice, Old Bay seasoning, black pepper and the crushed red pepper flakes. Boil an additional five minutes. If the soup is too thick, add a little water until you get it to the consistency you want. *Garnish with a spring of dill or sliced pickles if desired. Serve immediately.

Easy Caramel Apples

Did you know that October is National Caramel Month? Growing up, I had NO clue that each month had one of more foods associated with it! Did something like that even exist 50 years ago?!?!? Anyways, I made these caramel apples recently for the October issue of the Capital Area Women's Lifestyle Magazine, a local monthly magazine. The gal that I collaborate with over there is fabulous to work with. We share the same sort of "food humor." We bounce ideas back and forth, until we find a recipe we both can agree on. I think my first thought was to make candy apples, until I saw how involved they were. It usually takes us a little while to decide what to make! It has to be able to photograph well and easy to make. I am not a trained chef or baker and though sometimes recipes may look great, they can be VERY difficult to master. I guess I could have attempted to make homemade caramel, but why should I? I bought a bag of Kraft caramels at the store. Why make it hard, when it can be easy?!?!?!

Five medium-large apples (I used Gala)
11-ounce package Kraft Caramels
Two tablespoons milk
Sprinkles (for decorating)

Five “Treat” Sticks (I used the Wilton brand)

 

Wash, completely dry and remove the stems of the apples. Sometimes apples have a “wax” coating. You want to make sure you get that off or the caramel won’t stick, it will slide right off. Place the apples on a plate and put in the freezer for 15 minutes. Cover a plate with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. Unwrap the caramels and put in a medium saucepan. Add the two tablespoons of milk and bring to a medium-high boil, stirring constantly with a large spoon until smooth. Remove from the heat and let it sit about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, so it doesn’t harden up. Put chopped nuts and/or sprinkles into small bowls. Put a “treat” stick into each apple and push down. Dip the apple into the caramel, covering it completely. You can also spoon it on and smooth with a dinner knife. Roll in the nuts and/or sprinkles and place on the parchment paper. You will use a lot more sprinkles than you think you will need. I used over an ounce of sprinkles to cover ONE apple. Put in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool. These must be kept refrigerated!

Vanilla Sugar Wafer "Pencil" Cookies

I don't know about you, but I really feel that this summer is just whizzing by! School will be here before you know it!!  I really can't believe that Dominic will be going into 10th grade in about five weeks, YIKES!!! A friend posted this recipe on her personal Facebook page and they looked so easy to make I just knew I had to make them. Aren't they so cool to make for "back-to-school?" Plus, you don't have to heat up the oven. Dominic and the hubby LOVED these cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still have a little more "practice" to do, but this first batch came out pretty well if I do say so myself! One thing I discovered is that out of a 14.1 ounce package of Vanilla Sugar Wafers (I used the Voortman brand), some had broke and others the top came off. They are way more fragile than I thought. 

Vanilla Sugar Wafer "Pencil" Cookies

 

14.1 ounce package Vanilla Sugar Wafers

1 cup white candy melts

1 cup pink candy melts

24 chocolate chips

Using a sharp knife, cut one end of 24 vanilla sugar wafers, so it resembles a point of a pencil and place on a large cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Melt the  white candy melts in a small bowl in the microwave until smooth. Dip the pointed end of the vanilla sugar wafer in the white candy melts and place on the parchment paper. Place a chocolate chip on the "point." Let dry. Melt the pink candy melts in a small bowl in the microwave until smooth. Dip the other end of the vanilla sugar wafer in the pink candy melts and place on the parchment paper to dry. Keep covered at room temperature. Makes 24 "pencils."