March 23, 2012

We had a great St. Patrick's Day - did you? We had a traditional dinner with friends and I made a really fun dessert! Have your kids made Leprechaun traps in school? Mine did in the early years of elementary school, and when I saw this cake it reminded me of those traps they made. And of course, if you're Irish (even only on March 17th), then you need to have some Soda Bread.

I did make a few other new recipes this week, but none were "blog-worthy" as we say around the dinner table! Better luck next week!!!

New Recipes
Irish Soda Bread
Leprechaun Trap Cake

Leprechaun Trap Cake

For St. Patrick's Day we had dinner with friends, and I was asked to bring dessert. I saw this really cute cake, and gave it a whirl. Using a white cake box mix and some food coloring I was able to get a rainbow inside the cake! I used a grass tip to frost the cake so it would like a meadow, and butterscotch disks for the gold. The ladder was two pretzel rods with stick pretzel rungs. The pretzels were "glued" together with almond bark. All the kids loved the dessert, and were surprised when we cut into it and the rainbow was revealed!

This is the original post for the cake I saw and used as inspiration for our St. Patrick's Day dessert! Leprechaun Trap Cake

Ingredients
* white box cake mix
* gel food coloring
* white or vanilla frosting
* 2 pretzel stick rods
* 8 stick pretzels
* almond bark for "glue"

Directions
1. Make the cake as directed on the box.
2. Separate the cake into 7 bowls:
6 ounces – dye it red
5 ounces – dye it orange
4 ounces – dye it yellow
3 ounces – dye it green
2 ounces – dye it blue
1 ounce – dye it purple
1 ounce – to be kept white

3. Fill the angel food pan with the remaining white batter that has not been dyed. Then begin to layer with the dyed colors, making each ring successively smaller.
4. Bake it at 325 in an angel food pan for the time directed on the box. This temperature will keep it from rising too much.
5. Let it cool completely, and then slice the top so that it is flat.
6. Place the cake on the serving platter, and then begin to frost. I used vanilla frosting that I dyed greed. I used a grass tip to pipe the frosting to make it look like grass (imagine that!).
7. I made the ladder using the pretzels and melted almond bark.
8. Fill the middle with butterscotch disks for gold.

Notes
I ended up measuring the batter and dying it in Ziploc bags. This made it easy to layer and put in the cake pan.

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients
* 4 cups flour
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
* 2 eggs
* 1 stick butter, softened
* 1/2 lb raisins

Directions
1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add butter to flour mixture and blend.
3. Add raisins to the mix.
4. Beat eggs in a separate bowl, then add buttermilk to the eggs.
5. Slowly incorporate the egg and buttermilk mixture a little at a time, and blend will with a spoon.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Cook in a 9 inch greased pan, for about an hour, to an hour and fifteen minutes.

Notes
I doubled the recipe and made it in 3 loaf pans. I cooked the 3 loaves for 65 minutes, and they came out great!

The original recipe calls for 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar, the less sugar the more bread like so it could be served right with dinner. Additionally, if you make it in one round it comes out easily and perfect in a spring form pan. The high sides tend to keep it nice and straight. This recipe has been in the family for a long time... enjoy!

March 16, 2012

It's almost St. Patrick's Day - are you celebrating tomorrow? And I have to ask....are you watching these basketball games???

This week I tried a few new things, and we ended up with 4 keeper recipes. One is Owen's birthday cakes, which I think turned out really cool! He loves Legos, and I saw a picture of a Lego cake someone ordered. I used it as inspiration and made a few bricks for his birthday cake - and they came out looking fairly authentic, but you can be the judge.

Other keepers - basically Rice Krispy Treats using Golden Grahams, waffles using club soda, and a long skinny biscuit-type dinner treat called a Cheese Straw. One extra note about the Chewy S'mores bites.

Well...back to March Madness...more next week, including some St. Patrick's Day favorites!


New Recipes
Chewy S'mores Bites
Light'n Crispy Waffles
Cheese Straws
Lego Brick Birthday Cakes

Lego Brick Birthday Cakes

Ingredients
* Your favorite flavor cake (box or scratch)
* Vanilla or white frosting
* Gel food coloring
* Joy Mini Cups (ice cream cones)

Directions
1. Make a 13 x 9 sheet cake.
2. After it fully cools, cut it into Lego brick shapes. Mix it up...make some 6, some 4, some 2.
3. Split up the frosting into smaller bowls, and tint each a different color.
4. Using a serrated knife, cut off the bottom of the mini ice cream cones.
5. Frost the bricks, then frost the bottoms of the cones the same color. Place the cone dots on the bricks.
6. Using a toothpick, push the cones into the cake slightly to make sure they are secure. Use the same toothpick to smooth out the frosting.

Notes
The mini cones really made the difference to give the appearance of being Lego bricks. Also, the gel food coloring works really well to get deep colors. This is important for the red bricks - you don't want to have pink ones, do you?

Cheese Straws

Ingredients
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
* 2 tbs plus 1-1/2 teaspoons cold butter
* 1/3 cup milk
* 2 tsp paprika (optional)

Directions
1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir in cheese. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually add milk, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-in. square. Cut in half lengthwise; cut into thin strips. Sprinkle with paprika if desired.
3. Place 1 in. apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Notes
I used skim milk and it worked well. I forgot to add the paprika - and these were still delicious. I will definitely try with the paprika next time.

Chewy S'mores Bites

Ingredients
* 3 tbs butter
* 2-1/2 cups mini marshmallows
* 3 cups Golden Grahams cereal, crushed
* 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
* 1 cup Kraft Marshmallow Bits

Directions
1. In a large pot over medium-low heat, melt butter.
2. Add marshmallows stirring gently until fully melted.
3. Remove from heat and stir in cereal.
4. Spray your hands with cooking spray to prevent sticking and roll chunks of the mixture into balls, about the size of a golf ball.
5. Set the balls aside on a sheet of wax paper to cool for 30 minutes.
6. Melt the chocolate in a small deep dish and dip half of each ball into it, followed by dipping the ball into the Mallow Bits.

Notes
Yummy! Mallow Bites are little dehydrated marshmallows - just like you would find in Lucky Charms. They are new, and I have only seen them in Target. They come in Vanilla and Peppermint varieties. So cute, and delicious!

These would still be great even without the chocolate, so if you don't have any chips on hand make these without that step. These are a fun alternative to Rice Krispy treats!