Never too much chocolate!!!

1 stick butter softened

2 1/4 cup light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup chopped unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup chocolate syrup

2 1/4 cup cake flour

1 cup sour cream

1 cup BOILING water

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350*

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth, then add the eggs until fluffy. Beat in vanilla, then beat in baking soda and salt.

Starting on low speed add all of your chocolate. 

Alternate sour cream and flour blending until well mixed. Add boiling water and stir until thoroughly blended. Your batter will be VERY loose. 

In two 9 inch round pans line with vegetable oil and flour and bake for 40 minutes.

Let cool COMPLETELY before frosting/icing.

Frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips (melted in a double boiler)

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream butter and sugar. Add chocolate, sour cream and cocoa. Beat in milk and vanilla. Add 1/4 cup more powdered sugar at a time if needed to thicken until you reach your desired consistency.

To assemble, cut the "hump" off of the cake and level each one. On the bottom cake put about 1/2 cup of frosting and carefully spread. Lay the other cake upside down on the frosted cake so the FLAT bottom is on the top.

Completely frost the outside of the cake and decorate as you please. 

If you have a big enough freezer frost it there. It'll be cold, but your frosting will be less likely to run. Especially in warm weather conditions. 

The sour cream adds so much flavor and moisture to this cake. For sure a new classic to add to the list!! 

Squash or sweet potatoes?!

Described as "moist, rich and nutty" butternut squash can be used the same way you would use a sweet potato.

Fairly easy to cut, peel and clean:

To peel the outer skin i used a vegetable peeler and just went around it a couple of times.

Dice and cook with butter, brown sugar, and nutmeg in a skillet with the lid on.

My daughter doesn't know the difference, she actually calls them sweet potatoes!!! 

Serve with your favorite meal...!!!

Chicken and biscuits

Biscuits:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 stick of butter, cold and cut into cubes

3/4 cup milk

Blend the dry ingredients and cut the butter into in with your fingertips. 

Rub the butter into flour blend until very well blended.

Add the milk and stir just until the dough starts to come together.

Knead on a floured surface until the dough is workable.

Roll out the dough and cut the biscuits about 1/2 an inch thick with a cookie cutter.

Enlarged to show detail

Filling:

4 Tablespoons of butter

1 small red onion

4 cloves of garlic chopped

1/3 cup flour

1 1/2 pounds of chicken (about 3 chicken breasts, boneless)

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 small bag frozen mixed vegetables

1 1/2 cups of milk

1 1/2 cups of chicken stock

Cover the chicken breast in olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast your chicken breast in an oven on 375* for 30 minutes cover with foil. Once cooled dice and set aside. 

Melt the butter in a large skillet then add the garlic and onion. Cook until tender and add the flour.

Cook until thick and brown, and add the chicken broth. Once that thickens add in the milk.

Now add the chicken, sage, thyme and frozen veggies. Cook on medium heat 7 or 8 minutes.

In a 9x13 casserole dish pour the filling in and layer the pre made biscuits on top barely touching.

Crack an egg and mix with 1 Tablespoon of milk (egg wash) and brush the top of each biscuit. 

Bake in the 375* oven for 20-30 minutes or until the biscuits are golden and the filling is bubbling. 

Let cool before serving.

Enough to feed the entire family yet quick. 

Perfect biscuits are the centerpiece of this warm old fashioned favorite!!

Its easier than u think!!

White cake scary? No way!!! The difference between a white cake and a yellow cake is the separation of the yolk from the white. That thick yellow egg is what gives your yellow cake its color. Ill break it down for you so it shouldn't be too difficult.

3 cups cake flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

3/4 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup milk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

6 egg whites

PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 325*

Cream the sugar and butter until fluffy. I just set a timer for 5 minutes and let the machine do all the work. It you dont have a tabletop mixer you can use a hand mixer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Set to the side.

Sift the cake flour and baking powder and set aside.

Now for the tricky part. Separate 6 large egg whites from there yolks. RULE OF THUMB: If even a DROP of yolk gets into your whites, your cake will be yellow. Gently tap an egg to crack it, and over a bowl rock the yolk from each half of the shell to the other. Careful, don't break the yolk!! Unless you have another use for the yolks you just toss them in the garbage. Whip the egg whites on medium high speed.

What you are doing is whipping air into the eggs. Egg whites hold very high volumes of air when whipped. This helps the cake rise and gives it its fluffy texture.

The more air you add into the eggs the stiffer they become.

You know what meringue is?? You want your eggs "pre meringue", stiff but not dry.

Now, in a large mixing bowl mix the flour mixture and creamed butter/sugar mixture. Add the vanilla to the milk and slowly add it to the batter. 

Now gently FOLD the egg whites into the batter. That means, take the bowl off of the mixer and grab a spatula. Folding is not stirring, it is just that. Fold from the bottom to the top.

Bake inside cup cake liners 15-18 minutes.

Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

 

You can find the strawberry buttercream recipe here:

http://insidekrystleskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/06/strawberries-on-her-birthday.html

Now that wasn't hard at all was it??

Upload your white cake photos and lets see what ya got!!!

Donut, say what?!

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter (melted)

1 cup milk

4 cups flour

Oil for frying

(optional donut toppings: cinnamon, sugar and powdered sugar)

Mix the sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Crack your eggs in a separate container 

(to avoid getting shells in your dough) and add the melted butter (not hot!!! you dont want to scramble your eggs) and milk and whisk before adding to your sugar mixture. Now add in your flour one cup full at a time making sure all is incorporated before adding the next cup full. If the dough is still sticky add about 1/4 cup more flour. The dough should be slightly tacky but workable. Grease a bowl and let the dough chill for about an hour.

Once you pull the cold dough out roll it to about 1/2 inch thick. You can use any round objects if you don't have cookie cutters. Make "tire" shaped cutouts.

Combine the left over dough and middles to make more donuts.

Fry in oil rotating sides as the donut puffs.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar as soon as you pull them out of the fryer.

If using powdered sugar, they coat better once they've cooled only slightly.

Who says you can't have your cake donut and eat it too???!

Oh my gosh...its goulash!!

Goulash "happens" when you cook pasta in tomato sauce with spices, meat, and cheese. When baked you have a less liquidy product. Here's my recipe for "Spicy Italian goulash".

Cavatappi or "double elbow" pasta has "rigate" or ridges that hold the sauce on the noodle. I just adore the way they look.

Boil off about 8 oz (or half a box) of cavatappi. 

Brown a tube of italian sausage, drain and mix with an entire jar of pasta sauce, a handful of cheese , can of tomato paste, 2 Tablespoons of Sriracha, and cooked pasta saving a little sauce.

Mix well and place in a casserole baking dish. Bake covered 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and add about a 1/2 cup of cheese to the top and replace in the oven uncovered 10 minutes.

If you dont enjoy spicy, omit the sriracha. You can add veggies and have an entire new creation!!