January 25, 2012: Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread

Zucchini bread may sound healthy, but other than the nutritional value of the veggie, it doesn’t have any fewer calories or fat content than any other type of sweet bread. Still, it’s quite yummy – especially with the addition of chocolate chips.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 eggs

1 ¾ cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups peeled, grated zucchini (about 1 large or 2 small)

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

½ cup mini chocolate chips (I used regular chocolate chips; you could certainly add about 1 cup more if you’re a chocolate lover)

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.

In medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In another larger bowl, beat eggs until light in color. Gradually add sugar and continue beating. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, nuts, chocolate chips, and lemon zest.*

Fold in dry ingredients until combined and then pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees 50 to 55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Remove bread from pans to cool on wire rack.

*If you have a stand mixer, just mix all ingredients at once, starting with the wet ingredients and adding the chocolate chips and nuts after combining the rest of the recipe.

January 9, 2012: Honey Nut Cereal Bars Recipe

Here’s a recipe I devised use several others as a base. I wanted something somewhat nutritious to serve to my women’s Bible study group as well as have a bit left over that I could contribute to the kids in the Good News Club (an after school program to teach kids about the Bible and Christianity), for which my pastor and his wife are teachers. I used what I had on hand to come up with this yummy recipe.

Honey Nut Cereal Bars fresh out of the oven and waiting to be cut.

Honey Nut Cereal Bars

¼ cup peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

2 T. vegetable oil

2 T. vanilla extract

2 T. plain Greek yogurt

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup sweetened coconut

¼ cup roasted sunflower seeds

½ cup pomegranate flavored craisins (or any flavor of your choice)

½ cup blueberry flavored craisins (or any flavor of your choice)

2 cups rolled oats

2 cups honey nut Cheerios

In a large mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, honey, and vegetable oil. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, or until the peanut butter is softened enough to easily blend with the other ingredients. Add vanilla and yogurt and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and stir together just until combined. Press into bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool completely and stand for several hours before cutting into bars and serving.

Makes 32 bars with about 100 calories in each bar, 3.3 grams total fat and 29.6 mg sodium (as calculated on SparkRecipes.com).

December 21, 2011: Chocolate Caramel Pecan Turtle Pie Recipe

This recipe – which would make a wonderful holiday dessert – is courtesy of my dear mother-in-law, Judy. It’s special enough for Christmas dinner and the combination of ingredients will please the chocolate lovers as well as the traditional dessert lovers in your family.

Chocolate Caramel Pecan Turtle Pie

Filling:

1 14-ounce bag vanilla caramels

½ c. butter

½ c. heavy whipping cream

2 cups pecan halves, roasted

Chocolate cookie pie crust or regular pie crust, blind baked

Topping:

1/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips

2 T. butter

2 T. light corn syrup

½ t. vanilla extract

Prepared whipped cream topping

To prepare filling: add caramels, butter and cream to a heavy, medium-sized saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring often with a whisk, until caramels and butter melt. Remove from heat and whisk until completely smooth. Stir in pecans.

Pour mixture into prepared pie crust. Cover and chill three to four hours, until completely cooled and firm.

To prepare topping: stir chocolate chips and butter in a heavy, small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in cream, corn syrup and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Pour over chilled pie and chill an additional hour. Just before serving, decorate with dollops of whipped cream.

Serves 10

December 20, 2011: Homemade Irish Cream Recipe

Here’s another adult beverage very popular around the holidays that’s easy to make yourself (much less expensive, too) and enjoy while sitting around the fireplace on Christmas Eve. It’s not recommended that you give this one as a gift because of the raw eggs (in fact, it’s safer to use pasteurized eggs if you don’t have fresh from the coop eggs like I do; do be aware of health concerns related to raw eggs).

Irish Cream Liqueur

1 ¾ cup Irish whiskey (good quality)

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whipping cream

4 eggs

2 T. chocolate flavored syrup

2 t. instant coffee

1 t. vanilla extract

½ t. almond extract

Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Serve chilled. Do not store leftovers; drink the same day.

Makes 5 cups

December 8, 2011: My Mom’s Best Cutout Cookies Recipe

I recently got a letter (in the mail! – when’s the last time you got one of those?) from my Aunt Tillie in Wisconsin. She and Uncle Wayne visited us during the summer and of course, I had to feed them (not that I had to, but wanted to as I really enjoy playing hostess).

According to her letter, Aunt Tillie remembers the yummy limeade I made for her (she wants the recipe) and the pot I used to serve my mom’s macaroni salad recipe in (unfortunately, it’s a Desco coated cast iron Dutch oven that is no longer available). But along with her nice little note, she included a pair of hot pads she made and the recipe she uses to make “cutout” cookies (sugar cookies cut into shapes) each and every year because it’s the best. She got the recipe from my mom in the 60s and, in fact, there's a little handwritten note on the page that says "use this one always - no other as good".

It was so neat to find a copy of her original recipe in the letter from Aunt Tillie. I remember making these cookies with my mom but I never got the recipe before she died so I’m very thankful to my aunt for giving me something as invaluable as that.

Go ahead and give this recipe a try and see if it won’t end up being the one you make year after year, without fail.

I'm not the world's best decorator (I don't have the patience) but all that really matters is how the cookies taste (yummy!).

Dorothy’s Cutout Cookies

2 1/3 cups flour

2 t. baking powder

½ t. salt

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

Mix together dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, beating with a spoon until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and combine. Refrigerate dough at least two hours, or overnight, before cutting into shapes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bonus Recipe: Cutout Cookie Frosting

When making cookies with my mom, we never measured ingredients for frosting. This is the gist of the recipe:

In a deep mixing bowl, pour in about 2 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar. Add about 1 tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and a tablespoon of milk. Beat with hand mixer on high, adding more sugar, if necessary, to make a stiff icing.