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Archive for the ‘Holiday Recipes’ Category

Seven-Layer Bars

Posted in Desserts, Entertaining at Home, Holiday Recipes, Recipes, tagged , , , on December 12, 2010| 1 Comment »

One of my favorite treats to make (Ok, I will admit it – eat) during the holidays is Seven-Layer Bars.

These are so easy to make and taste so delicious. People will think you have slaved over them when it is really so simple. The first year I made these my youngest niece, the one who got stuck wreath making with me, nearly floundered on them. Yes, they really are that good.

Last year, I took my two grand-nieces for a day of shopping and fun. We ended up eating lunch at a restaurant that offered the most wonderful dessert – a warm Seven-Layer Bar topped by vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. I thought I would melt in a puddle right there and the girls would have to find a ride home. I only half-melted because Katie, who shares my chocoholic genes, wanted a bite and then promptly inhaled the rest of my treat. Sweet little whippersnapper. Pulling out cute smiles and warm hugs while she steals my chocolate. My gracious goodness.

Anyway, here is the recipe! Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

 

 

Melt butter in the pan in the oven.

 

 

Top butter with graham cracker crumbs. Since I'm a lazy slug, I save the graham cracker packages from cheesecake mixes because they have just the right amount of pre-crushed graham crackers for this recipe (cheesecake filling goes in store-made graham cracker crusts, of course!).

 

 

Up next - sweetened coconut.

 

 

Chocolate chips followed by butterscotch chips make the next two layers.

 

 

Here come the pecans. If you have whole nuts and don't own fancy nut-crushing kitchen tools, a meat tenderizer and a ziploc bag do a bang-up job!

 

 

Finish it off with the sweetened condense milk. Remember, do not stir!

Seven-Layer Bars

 

Seven-Layer Bars

1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. butter

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 cup coconut

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chopped pecans

15-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Put butter in a 9 x 9 or a 11 x 7 inch baking pan. Put into oven and let melt. When it is melted pull out and top with ingredients in the following order: graham crackers, coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans, sweetened condensed milk.

DO NOT STIR! REPEAT – DO NOT STIR!

Just layer the ingredients and then place in the oven for about 30-40 minutes until bubbling and brown.

The smell will be heavenly when you pull them from the oven.

Cut into small squares because these babies are rich. Serve alone or with ice cream and caramel sauce. Just make sure no chocolate-thieving 7-year-olds are around!

Happy Holiday Entertaining,

The chocolate-less aunt

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Cinnamon Rolls

Posted in bread, Desserts, Holiday Recipes, Recipes, tagged , , on December 3, 2010| 3 Comments »

My BFF came over the other day and we had a flurry of floury fun in the kitchen (say that five times fast!). One of the things we made was cinnamon rolls. They were, to say the least, divine. Especially warm from the oven. We managed to restrain ourselves and at least wait until they were frosted to eat one rather than snatch them right out of the pan.

The recipe is simple to follow and the rolls are so yummy. The rolls also freeze well, so you can make them up in batches and freeze for yourself or for gift-giving. They can be reheated in the oven or nuked in the microwave for about 20 seconds to bring back that fresh from the oven warmth and gooey deliciousness.

Ingredients

Start by scalding milk with oil and sugar.

Once the milk mixture has cooled to lukewarm, you can add in a package of yeast.

Sprinkle yeast over the milk and let rest for a minute.

Stir in yeast and four cups of flour.

Place the pan in a warm area, cover with a tea towel and let the yeast do its thing for about an hour. I like to put my pan in front of the fire. It is warm and makes the dough smell heavenly.

Next, stir in the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. You will have a lovely lump of dough.

Roll the dough into a long rectangle.

Pour on melted butter.

Followed by cinnamon and sugar.

Roll the dough toward you, keeping it tight (or as tight as you can when the dough is smooshy and the filling is gooey!)

Pinch the outside edge to create a seam and keep all the filling trapped inside.

Slice into 1 1/2 inch rolls and place in prepared pan.

Leave a little space around the rolls for rising. Cover with a tea towel for about 15 minutes before baking.

Warm, brown and ready to be iced!

Icing is easy to make, just blend cream cheese, butter, milk, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. It should be thick but pourable.

Smother the rolls with icing. Don't miss any spot!

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

2 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 package active dry yeast

4 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/3 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tbsp. salt

Filling

1 cup melted butter

¼ cup cinnamon

1 cup sugar

Icing

4 cups powdered sugar

¼ cup milk

3 tbsp. melted butter

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Scald the milk, oil and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat (bring heat to nearly a boil, but don’t let it boil!). Set aside and cool to lukewarm (think temperature of a baby’s bottle). Sprinkle yeast on top of milk and let rest for one minute.

Add four cups of the flour and stir until just combined. It is going to be sticky. Cover with a tea towel and set in a warm place for an hour.

Remove the towel and add baking powder, baking soda, salt and final 1/2 cup of flour. Stir to combine.

On a floured surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle, somewhere in the proximity of 10 inches by 30 inches.

Pour melted butter over dough. Use your fingers or a knife to spread evenly. Sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar. You can also mix cinnamon and sugar into the butter before pouring over dough. Either way works fine.

Beginning at the long end farthest from you, roll the rectangle tightly toward you. Use both hands and work slowly, keeping the roll nice and tight. Some filling may ooze out and that is OK (and give you something to snitch later.)

When you have the roll finished, pinch the outside edge of the roll to create a seam. You should now have a long log. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 1 1/2 inch slices. You should get about 25 rolls.

Spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray and place rolls in the pan. I like to use smaller pans and freeze them. If you want to give cinnamon rolls as a holiday gift, put them in disposable aluminum pans, then they are ready for gift giving!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover the pans with a tea towel and set aside for about 20 minutes. Remove towel and bake for about 15 minutes or until rolls are golden brown. Do not overcook! While the rolls are baking, whip up the icing.

Mix the powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese, milk and vanilla in a bowl. Icing should be thick but pourable.

When the rolls come out of the oven, pour on the icing. Make sure you cover every last bit of roll. This step is vitally important for the overall happiness of your taste buds.

Put one on a plate, take a deep breath inhaling that decadent cinnamon aroma, and enjoy!

Happy Holiday Entertaining,

Shanna

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Pumpkin Bread

Posted in bread, Entertaining at Home, Holiday Recipes, Recipes, tagged , , on November 18, 2010| 2 Comments »

Easy Pumpkin Bread

What can I say? It is nearly Thanksgiving and other than chocolate, my head is filled with thoughts of pumpkin delights. This easy pumpkin bread comes together quickly and has a nice mellow texture and flavor. You can add all sorts of wonderful goodies to it like chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, cranberries, whatever tickles your fancy. Or enjoy it plain!

Pumpkin Bread ingredients

Start by mixing sugars and spice - and everything nice.

Add eggs, butter, milk and pumpkin.

Add flour mix and whip it up.

Pour mix into a greased bread pan. Isn't this one pretty? Thanks, Hubby!

If you are a chocolate freak like me, this is where you realize chocolate chips or chunks would be really good and stir them into part of the batter.

Finally, the bread is ready to bake. (Please ignore the few chocolate chips giving away my chocolate addiction and the fact I forgot to add them until the batter was already in the pan.)

Hot out of the oven and ready to be devoured.

Yum!

Pumpkin Bread
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin pie filling
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

Mix together sugars, cinnamon and spice. Add in eggs, milk, butter and pumpkin. Mix well. Add in flour mixture. If you want to go crazy and add nuts or chocolate chips, now would be the time to do that (as opposed to after you have the batter in the pan and end up poking things through the batter with your spoon – not that I have ever done that).

Bake for about an hour or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cool. Thank yourself for making the bread from scratch and enjoy!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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Cupcake Flag

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Holiday Recipes, Holidays, tagged , , , on July 2, 2010| 4 Comments »

Patriotic Cupcake Flag

Here we are, ready to start our entertaining for the 4th of July with barbecues, picnics, and so much more.

If you are looking for an easy but attention-getting dessert, try making a cupcake flag. So simple and easy to make and even easier to serve!

Enjoy!

Ingredients for Cupcake Flag

Line a muffin tin with patriotic cupcake liners.

The baked cupcakes, looking so uniform and delicious, just waiting for the cream cheese frosting.

The frosted cupcakes.... oh, the temptation.

The cupcakes in all their berry bedazzled glory.

Cupcake Flag

1 box Betty Crocker French Vanilla Cake Mix

1 1/3 cups water

1/2 cup oil

3 eggs

1 cup raspberries, washed and dried

1 cup blueberries, washed and dried

1/2 cup flaked and sweetened coconut

Cream Cheese Frosting (you can make your own or use it out of a can. The homemade version is sooo good, I encourage you to try it! The recipe is below.)

Combine cake mix, water, eggs and oil.  Line a muffin tin with patriotic cupcake liners. Fill cups with batter and bake according to  directions for cupcakes on back of box.

While the cupcakes are baking, mix up your cream cheese frosting, wash and dry the berries and try not to eat all the frosting before the cupcakes come out of the oven.

Once cupcakes are out of the oven and cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting and line up on a large serving tray. Place blueberries for the stars on the cupcakes in the left-hand corner and alternate rows of raspberries and coconut on the rest of the cupcakes to make the stripes for the flag. Make sure your outside rows are raspberries.

Try not to eat the cupcakes before the guests arrive or pick off the berries now covered in delicious frosting!

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

1 box powdered sugar

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients until smooth and creamy.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Safe 4th of July!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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