Halloween Cookies

These are the cookies my youngest daughter and I made on the weekend. We had alot of fun making them. She helped in the making of the dough, not very patiently waiting for it to be ready in the fridge, cut them out and monitored them while baking. I did the decorating and she watched. I offered her to decorate some but she wanted me to do it this time so she could watch and learn. The recipe has been in my family for generations. We make them on special occasions like Christmas. All my cookie cutters are Christmas themed. I need to acquire some other ones so I can make them at other times of the year. My Mom has a better selection so I used her cutters.

Grandmothers Sugar Cookies
Combine in a large bowl
3 c sifted flour and 1 cup of shortening. Mix together with a pastry blender.
In another bowl mix 2 eggs slightly beaten and 1 cup of sugar. Beat until light. Add 3 tbsp milk, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix until well blended. Add to flour mixture. Beat until smooth. Chill in fridge for 1-2 hours. Overnight is good also. Roll out a section a a time to 1/4 inch thick. The surface you roll on and the rolling pin needs to be lightly floured.  Cut with a floured cutter. Return unused portions to fridge until ready to roll out. Bake at 375 for 8-10 min until the bottoms are lightly golden. Cool before icing.

Sugar Cookie Frosting
4 c icing sugar
1/2 c shortening
5 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix together well.
Divide and colour as needed.
I used a knife to spread it on the cookies. I smoothed it out by dipping my knife in hot water and spreading over cookies to get lines out. Keep dipping it in hot water and scrape excess frosting on knife on the side of the cup of hot water. I then used an icing bag and tip to add the coloured frosting on top of the cookies.

This made 6 ghosts and 6 pumpkins. My Mom usually doubles the recipe but I didn't have enough Crisco to double it. I also used half crisco and half butter for the icing as I ran out of crisco and it still turned out great. The sad thing was the cookies were gone by the next day and I only got to eat half of one. :(
And that is why treats like this are a rare occurrance in his house.

5 Crust Pie Dough

This is my pie dough recipe. I got it from my mom. Thanks mom. It's a great crust. Better than Crisco's if you ask me. The dough keeps in the fridge for a week and for a month or two in the freezer. Just wrap in saran wrap and defrost in the fridge overnight. The crisco is best used cold from the fridge when you make the dough and it's best to roll it when cold from the fridge. Don't bring to room temperature. Makes for a better crust when cold.

5 cups all purpose flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 lb of Crisco. Blend together well with a pastry blender.

1 tbsp vinegear, 1 egg slightly beaten. Add enough water to make 1 cup. Mix with dry ingredients until well mixed.

Divide into five balls and wrap with saran wrap. Store unused portions in fridge or freezer.

Raspberry Sourdough Muffins

OK these have been the best things I have made with the sourdough so far. I was impressed. They were better than what you'd get at Starbucks. My youngest helped me make them but she didn't like them. My son devoured them. I used local raspberries grown organically and froze them myself. I washed them, put them on a cookie sheet and stuck it in the freezer. When frozen I stuck in a ziploc bag and kept it in the freezer. I do the same thing with blueberries when they're in season. This is worth keeping the sourdough for. So is the zucchini bread recipe I'll post in a few days.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper cups for 24 muffins.

Crumbles:

1/3 c.brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
2 T. butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

In a bowl, blend until crumbly. I used a hand mixer.

Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sourdough starter
3/4 cup butter milk (to make use 1 tbsp lemon juice and add enough milk to fill to 3/4 line. Let sit 5 min)
1/3 cup oil
1 cup frozen raspberries (I froze mine fresh and organic from the farmers market)

Measure flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix to combine. In another bowl beat the egg. Then add sourdough starter, buttermilk and oil. Mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet. Stir until just mixed. Do not over mix. Add raspberries and spoon into muffin tins filling to 2/3 full. Sprinkle crumbles over the muffins. The spots in the muffin tins that you don't use (I believe I had like 4) fill 1/2 way with water. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from tin and let cool on wire rack before storing in air tight container.

Apple Bread Pudding

My mom got a basket of apples from a coworker who has an orchard. They had spots on them so you can't eat them plain but they are perfect for baking. I've made an apple pie, apple cinnamon buns, apple crisp and this. I also have 6 bags of milk that need to be used up. You know the bags that 3 come in a big bag. Well I have 2 of the big bags that need to be used up by Monday. So I'm trying to get rid of the milk. This recipe was perfect. I've never had bread pudding before and this was delicious. The kids liked it too. I'm saving the rest for an after school snack for them. I don't understand how they can be so hungry after school. LOL. I did add more raisins. I used 3/4 cup. But only because I love raisins.

8 slices of bread with the crust trimmed
Butter to butter the bread and 1 TBSP for the frying pan
3 apples, peeled cored and sliced
8 tbsp sugar
2cups milk
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon.

In 8x8 dish layer 4 slices of bread butter side up. In sauce pan place 1 tbsp butter and melt. Add apples. Cook for 3-5 min. Sprinkle with 2 TBSP sugar. Cook for 5 min till golden brown. You do not want them mushy.
Combine eggs. Slightly beat. Add remaining sugar and cinnamon. Heat milk over medium low heat till warm. Combine with egg mixture.
Placed cooked apples on top of bread. Cover with 4 peices of bread buttered side down. Pour over egg and milk mixture. Let soak for 30 min to absorb most of the milk.
Place in roasting pan. Fill pan with enough water to come up half way of 8x8 dish. Bake at 375 for 40 min.
Serve room or at room temperature. I added milk to the serving bowl.

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My first post

I really wanted my first post to be full of pictures. Everyone loves pictures right. They give you a visual picture. I am a visual learner. I need to see pictures. But alas I cannot find my camera. My son used the SD card in it for his Wii and I'm sure the camera is in his room somewhere. But that place looks like a nuclear bomb went off in there. Just opening the door upsets me so I choose not to go in there. When he comes home on Monday I'll get the camera. So I can post pictures and make everybody happy out there in the blog world. Although I must warn you my camera is crappy. My expensive nice camera died around January. I didn't have the thousand dollars for a good camera so I bought a point and shoot thing. Supposedly it's suppose to be better than my ancient dinosaur of a camera but I don't think so. Maybe I just don't like change. Maybe I don't know how to work the new camera. But the bottom line is I don't like how the pictures turn out. Dark, blurry things. My old camera took crisp nice pics. How I miss it. Anyways onto the reason for my post.

Are you ready?
These are time consuming.
But so worth it.
A fall treat when apples are fresh and plentiful.
So good.
Better than cinnabun.
Which is saying alot because those buns are almost to die for.
Then I made these.
I usually don't eat my baking but I was hungry and had to try one.
So glad I did because when they were gone I had to make another batch.
The downside is you need a bread maker.
So if you don't have one go buy one.
I use mine all the time.
You need a bread maker.
But if your not going to buy one just stop reading.
Because your going to end up jealous over my awesome buns I can make and you cannot.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
I try to eat healthy.
These are so not healthy.
But everyone deserves a treat once in a while.
Moderation is the key.
The last batch I ended up giving half of them away. Or I would have ate the rest of the pan myself.
Going to have to find more willing participants in eating my baked goods.....any suggestions?



Apple Cinnamon Buns With Cream Cheese Icing.

Dough
1 cup of warm milk. Since I don't use the microwave (that is another post) I heated it on the stove.
2 eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup of butter melted
4 1/2 cup of bread flour or all purpose flour. (I use all purpose)
1 tsp of salt
2 1/2 tsp of yeast

Put in bread maker in order listed by manufacturer.  Set to dough cycle.

Apple filling
5 medium appes peeled cored and diced
3 tbsp of butter
1/4 cup of brown filling
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of corn starch

Filling
1/2 c of butter at room temperature ( I let it and the cream cheese sit out for a couple of hours)
1 c of brown sugar
2 1/2 tbsp cinnamon

Carmel Cheese Icing

8 oz of cream cheese softened
1/2 c of butter at room temperature
3 c of icing sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
5-6 tbsp caramel ice cream topping (I didn't have this and I'll never use it so I just omitted it...still good)

Butter to grease the pan. I used Pam no stick spray.

Make the dough in the bread maker. When finished remove and let rest for 15 minutes.

Take apples and ingredients listed there and cook in frying pan for 10-15 min till soft. Let cool.

Meanwhile roll dough which has rested onto counter or table. I use my kitchen table because I have absolutely NO COUNTER SPACE. It should be a large rectangle. Roll it out as big and as even as you can. The first time I did a great job. The next time I didn't roll it out enough and I didn't get nice buns.

Take the butter at room temperature and spread it with your hands all over the dough. I love the feeling of the butter on my hands afterwards. A mess to wash but a cool tactile feeling!

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle over dough. Add apple filling and spread over dough.

Roll up and taking one side from the long edge and roll up. Try to seal the ends as best as you can. Using dental floss (which works best) slip it under the roll and bring up cutting the roll. When the dental floss meets at the top it will have cut through the roll. Using a knife really doesn't work well. You could try thread but I find dental floss works the best. Cut the whole roll into 1.5 thick pieces.

The apple mixture will squeeze out. Don't worry.

Place the cut peices in the greased 9x13 pan. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. When you have placed all the peices in the dish take the apple filling that was squeezed out and spread over top of buns in the pan. Bake for 15 min.

Take the cream cheese and butter and beat with electric beater. Add icing sugar 1/2 c at a time otherwise you will end up with a cloud of icing sugar all over your kitchen. Add vanilla and carmel topping if using. Beat till smooth like icing. Icing buns while still warm.

Enjoy!