Monthly Archives: May 2015

Recipes - Desserts

Mississippi Mud Cake

Perhaps it was watching our beloved St. Louis Cardinals slugging it out in the mud last night at Busch Stadium (only to lose the game) but I woke this morning with a Mississippi Mud Cake on my mind. Whether the State of Mississippi or the mighty Mississippi River as it flows beside the city of St. Louis, I will leave to my readers!

This well-known Southern favorite is rich with melted butter, cocoa, sugar, and eggs.  Make it in a jelly roll pan and cut in squares.  The chocolate cake layer is the perfect complement to a sweet-crunchy topping made of mini-marshmallows and chopped pecans.  Allow the marshmallows to soften for five minutes after returning to the oven. When they begin to brown on top, take the cake out and drizzle the chocolate frosting over the top.  Yum Yum GOOD!  The chocolate frosting recipe makes 2 cups; I saved half of it for another purpose.

A great cake for sharing as it serves 15-18 easily, and a great ball game today: Cards win it 3-1!

Mississippi Mud Cake

Ingredients

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1 (10.5-ounce) bag miniature marshmallows
Chocolate Frosting

Directions Whisk together melted butter and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in flour and chopped pecans. Pour batter into a greased and floured 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; top warm cake evenly with marshmallows. Return to oven, and bake 5 minutes. Drizzle Chocolate Frosting over warm cake. Cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup milk $
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Beat all at medium speed until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Store leftover frosting in fridge to be used for frosting cookies.

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Bakery Miscellaneous

Toffee Chip Cookies

Oh, how I have missed blogging! A family situation found me away from my computer, and my kitchen, for the past two weeks, but hopefully we are on a good track again health-wise, and today I couldn’t resist some much longed-for kitchen time! This recipe for Toffee Chip Cookies is a real winner; if you are also desirous of some upcoming kitchen time, do bake up a batch of these fabulous cookies!

The recipe, from HersheysKitchen.com is for a basic sugar cookie with the addition of the toffee bits and, for me, some chopped pecans for even more crunch. Soften your butter before beginning and then cream the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla and add the dry ingredients. The cookies are chewy inside with crisp outer edges with the buttery-toffee flavor that is so perfect with coffee or a tall glass of milk when you want something sweet and chewy.

If you’re a cookie fan, this one will put a smile on your face! Enjoy!

Toffee Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1-1/3 cups (8 oz. pkg.) HEATH English Toffee Bits
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in toffee bits.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 48 cookies. Store airtight.

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Recipes - Entrees

Company Chicken

Don’t let the name fool you; this dish is so delicious you won’t need the excuse of company coming to wait to prepare this for your family! The recipe is from my mama’s recipe box and my sisters and I have been making this for many years because it is tried-and-true and there’s no way to make it without success!  This is a late post for sure as we enjoyed this dish when my friends, Micki and Mark, were here last week and it was mightily enjoyed!

Though the recipe calls for 8 pieces of chicken breasts, I normally use only 4 and those I cut in half if they are large because the soup-wine mixture adds bulk as well as the herbed stuffing mix so half a breast is usually enough for one serving. The prep is very quick: place the chicken in your baking dish, top each breast with a Swiss cheese slice, mix the soup and the wine, then toss the dry stuffing mix with melted butter. Layer in your dish in this same order and it’s ready to bake! The soup-wine produce a creamy gravy along with the melted cheese and the stuffing mix adds a buttery crunch. You won’t believe what fantastic results you get for such a small amount of effort! Cooks Note: I always buy just 4 large breasts, not the 8 that the recipe calls for but don’t change anything else. The “gravy” is delicious so I make it all!

This is truly one of my favorite dishes and it serves as the anchor of a delectable meal served with vegetables, a salad, and corn muffins. At least that was the menu on Tuesday, and I tell you, truly, it was marvelous, darlink!  Do give this one a try soon!

Company Chicken

Ingredients

8 chicken breasts, skinned and bones, cut in half if large
8-4” slices Swiss cheese
1-(10-3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/2 cup dry white wine
1-1/2 cups herbed seasoned stuffing mix, crushed
1/3 cup margarine, melted

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Arrange chicken in a lightly greased 9×13” glass baking dish. Top with the Swiss cheese slices. In small bowl, combine the soup and wine in a small bowl and mix well. Spoon evenly over the chicken in baking dish. Melt margarine and mix with the crushed stuffing mix. Drizzle this over the chicken pieces. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Do not over bake; just until golden brown and bubbly. Cool slightly before serving.

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Recipes - Salads

Mason Jar 7-Layer Salad

Here’s a fun post for today! With company coming tomorrow, I took time this afternoon to do some prep work for the big supper I’m planning. Mama and I spotted this great idea in a Spring issue of Southern Living Magazine for a traditional 7-layer salad served in a most nontraditional way. I knew it would be a great salad to enjoy around the supper table when guests are in the house. The recipe for this salad has many variations and today I made a few changes of my own so the recipe is the ingredients and method used when I prepared the salad today.  Use pint size Mason jars for this.

The prep work consists of tearing the lettuce into bite-size pieces, trimming the cauliflower into flowerets, allowing the frozen peas to thaw, slicing green onion, grating a hard block of Parmesan cheese, and frying the bacon for the bacon crumbles. I did add sugar to the mayonnaise before topping the salad with that mixture and the freshly grated Parmesan as I like mayonnaise sweetened slightly for dressing purposes. I’m saving the bacon crumbles for serving at the table for individual bowls. Many recipes use Cheddar cheese for this dish but my block of Parmesan seemed more enticing to me than the packaged Cheddar in my fridge so I substituted it.

Serve with a deep bowl for guests to mix their own salad right out of the jar. A fun idea and a flavorful crisp dish! What could be better? Allow the jars to sit in the fridge overnight then place on the table with a bowl for mixing. There are multiple reasons to love this recipe: seven layers, seven good bites, one great salad!

Mason Jar 7-Layer Salad

Ingredients

1 head iceberg lettuce, rinsed, torn into bite-size pieces, dried
1 head cauliflower, trimmed into flowerets
1 bag frozen peas
1 cup green onion, snipped small
1-1/4 cups mayonnaise
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
8 pieces bacon, fried, drained, and crumbled

Directions: Prepare all vegetables and fry and drain the baxon. Assemble the salad in individual jars beginning with the lettuce and then in the order listed. Wipe jar tops and rim of jar carefully, seal tightly, and store in fridge until ready for serving.

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Recipes - Desserts

New Post, Old Pie

Walnuts really are the best nuts for this pie I’ve decided; they add great texture, chopped to 1/4 t. size; flatter pecans wouldn’t add as much texture to this pie as only 1 cup of nuts is used.  I didn’t have my stick of butter softened much at all; just cubed the butter small and creamed it with the liquid from the egg yolks. You wouldn’t want the butter completely soft so this worked fine. Vinegar is the unexpected flavor in the pie and it is just enough to keep it from being overly sweet.   Beat the egg whites frothy and fold in to the batter gently. This results in a top crust that crumbles easily; use a serrated knife to slice this.  A just-right accompaniment tonight was a large dollop of Cool Whip.  Delicious!

If you’re after an easy to prepare dessert (completed in 30 minutes prep time, including rolling out a pie shell) then check out this savory “old timey” cupboard pie.  It’s a snap to make and definitely a real snap-crackely-pop for your palette.

Mrs. Bernie’s Chewy Nut Pie

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 T. vinegar
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 9” unbaked pastry shell

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vinegar in medium bowl. Add nuts and raisins. In separate bowl, beat egg whites slightly, and fold into first mixture. Stir well to blend all ingredients. Pour in unbaked pastry shell and bake for 45 minutes and allow to cool before cutting.

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