Mint Brownies

Brownies:
Use Brownie Recipe  (or your own favorite brownie recipe)

Mint center:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, softened
1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
3 drops green food coloring

Chocolate glaze:
6 tablespoons margarine
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Make brownies according to recipe. Cool completely.

4. Beat together ingredients for the mint center in medium bowl until smooth.
Spread mint cream center on brownies.

5. In microwave, melt chocolate glaze ingredients. Stir until smooth. Pour glaze on mint layer and spread.

NOTE: On the Hershey’s website, they recommend chilling the dessert after putting the mint layer on and again after putting the chocolate glaze on. I have never done this because I am too impatient, but if you have time, you might want to try it

Brown butter

Yum have you ever tried brown butter ? If not you need to ! Here's the link http://www.makeandtakes.com/the-beauty-of-brown-butter
Go onto the Martha stewart link for more goodness

Honey Gingerbread Cakes with Caramel Apple Topping

Source

Cakes
1 3/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg, slightly beaten

Topping
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
5 medium cooking or baking apples, peeled, finely chopped (about 5 cups)
Dash salt
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

• Heat oven to 350°F. Place paper baking cup in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups. In large bowl, stir together flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, the baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the cloves. With spoon or wire whisk, stir in remaining cake ingredients until well blended. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on cooling rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan; carefully remove paper baking cups from cakes.
• Meanwhile, in 10-inch skillet, melt 1/4 cup butter over medium-high heat. Stir in 1 cup brown sugar, the apples and dash of salt; cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until brown sugar is dissolved and mixture boils. Boil 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until apples are tender and syrup thickens. Stir in whipping cream. Return to boiling; boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and apples look glazed. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
• To serve, cut cakes in half horizontally. Place bottom halves on small dessert plates; spoon a heaping tablespoon topping over each bottom half. Add tops of cakes; spoon a heaping tablespoon topping on top of each, letting topping run down sides and onto plates.

Makes 12 servings

Nutrition Information:
1 Serving (1 Serving).  Calories 390 (Calories from Fat 140),Total Fat 15g, Cholesterol 60mg; Sodium 320mg; Total Carbohydrate 59g (Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 42g),Protein 3g;

Soft Pretzels

1 pkg active dry yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp.)

2 TBS brown sugar

1 1/8 tsp sat

1 1/2 cups warm water

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup bread flour

2 cups warm water (110 degrees)

2 TBS. baking soda

5 TBS melted butter

2 TBS coarse kosher salt

parchment paper

I used my kitchen aid mixer for this part:

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast, brown sugar and salt in a 1 1/2 cups warm water.  Stir in flour, and knead dough (on a floured surface or in your mixer using kneading paddle) for about 8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface.  Cover, and let rise for one hour.

Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8" square pan.

After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces.  Roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, pencil thin or thinner.  Twist into a pretzel shape and dip into the baking soda solution pan.  Place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise for 20 minutes.

Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Brush (I dipped top surface into a bowl of melted butter) and sprinkle with coarse salt, garlic salt or cinnamon sugar.

Zucchini Bread

Source

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3 eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 1/4 cups white sugar 1 cup brown sugar 3 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups grated zucchini 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon cloves 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1.	Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2.	Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3.	Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4.	Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Candy Cache

Original Recipe

Ingredients:

• White Candy Melts® (3 ounces needed per each set)
• Primary Candy Colors Set
• Garden Candy Color Set
• Favorite crisped rice cereal treat recipe
• Cherry Sour Balls
• Candy-coated chocolate candies

Makes:

Each treat serves 1.

Tools:

• Mini Muffin Pan
• Standard muffin pan
• Cooling Grid
• Decorator Brush Set
• White Mini Baking Cups
• White Standard Baking Cups
• Parchment Triangles

Instructions:

Step 1

In advance: Make 1/8 in. thick candy shells in baking cups. You will need 1 mini and 1 standard shell for each treat. Chill until firm, then carefully peel baking cup off candy shell. Level top edge with knife or place on warming plate if necessary.

Step 2

Prepare cereal treats. Shape into small (2 x 1 1/4 in. high) and large (3 1/4 x 1 in. high) mounds for icing tops. Cover with melted white candy. Attach cherry sour to top of small mound and mini candy cup to top of large mound. Let set. Using melted candy in cut parchment bag, pipe swirls; let set. Fill cups with chocolates and stack.

Homemade Artisian Bread

from Makes and Takes


3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or other course salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
cornmeal for pizza peel (optional)

1. In a very large bowl, add your flour, yeast, and salt.

2. Pour in your water and stir until combined, just a few minutes.

3. Cover your bowl with foil or greased plastic wrap for 2-5 hours. We left it for 5 hours and it turned out just fine, yay!

4. Divide your dough into 3 loaves with a knife. Cover each loaf with flour and form it into a ball.

5. Lay onto a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or onto a pizza stone sprinkled with cornmeal. Let this dough rest for about 30 or so minutes.

6. With a sharp knife, slash the top of each loaf into 3 lines or a criss-cross pattern. This helps let out some steam in the dough. If you don’t slash your bread, the bread will most likely make it’s own tear somewhere during cooking.

7. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and add a small pan filled with 1 cup of water on a lower rack for a water bath. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

8. Place your baked bread on a baking rack to cool

chocolate scones

           Here is a recipe  I tried from winning a batch of these  from the scout auction

Chocolate Chip Scones

2 c. flour

1 T. baking powder

½ t. salt

¼ c. sugar plus 3 T.

1 scant c. choc. Chips

1 ¼ c. cream

3 T. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients leaving the 3 T. of sugar for later.  Add cream and mix with fork till just blended. 

Knead dough ten times.  Shape dough into pie-sized circle.(or rectangle)  With sharp knife cut into 12-16 pieces ( make pie cuts)(or not).  Brush with butter and sprinkle 3 T. sugar.

Bake 14 minutes.(13)
my changes are in parentheses!

Indian Fry Bread

1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup water
Vegetable oil for frying

Sift together the flour, salt, powdered milk, and baking powder into a large bowl. Pour the water over the flour mixture all at once and stir the dough with a fork until it starts to form one big clump.

Flour your hands. Using your hands, begin to mix the dough, trying to get all the flour into the mixture to form a ball. NOTE: You want to mix this well, but you do NOT want to knead it. Kneading it will make for a heavy Fry Bread when cooked. The inside of the dough ball should still be sticky after it is formed, while the outside will be well floured.

Cut the dough into four (4) pieces. Using your floured hands, shape, stretch, pat, and form a disk of about 5 to 7 inches in diameter.

Heat the vegetable oil to about 350 degrees F. NOTE: You can check by either dropping a small piece of dough in the hot oil and seeing if it begins to fry, or by dipping the end of a wooden spoon in and seeing if that bubbles. Your oil should be about 1-inch deep in a large cast-iron skillet or other large fryer.

Take the formed dough and gently place it into the oil, being careful not to splatter the hot oil. Press down on the dough as it fries so the top is submersed into the hot oil. Fry until brown, and then flip to fry the other side. Each side will take about 3 to 4 minutes.
Indian Fry Bread can be kept warm in a 200 degree F. oven for up to 1 hour. They refrigerate well and can be reheated in a 350 degree F. oven for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Recipe Source

Au Gratin Ham and Potatoes (Dutch Oven Recipe)

From Dutch Oven Dude:

4 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 onion
3 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk
Seasoned salt and pepper
1-1/2 cups cooked ham
3 cups potatoes
1/2 cup cheese
2 Tbsp fine bread crumbs


(If using an oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees)
First, mince the onion and dice the ham.  You can either dice the potatoes, or slice them thinly.
In a heated dutch oven, make a roux by sauteing the onions until they are translucent, and then blend in the flour.  Once the flour is blended in, gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened.  Then add the pepper and season salt.
Then mix in the ham and potatoes, tossing them to coat them well.  Sprinkle the cheese and then bread crumbs on top and then cover and bake the potatoes at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.