This cake has been a family favorite for years - it’s a pretty light cake and reminds me a lot of a breakfast coffee cake.
You’ll need:
- 1 yellow cake mix
- 1 box vanilla instant pudding (4 serving size)
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 2 eggs
Streusel ingredients:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 tbsp. butter, melted
Glaze ingredients:
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.In a large bowl, blend cake mix, pudding mix, oil, water, and eggs. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed.
3. Spread 3/4 of batter evenly in greased and floured 10-in. tube pan.
4. In separate bowl, combine streusel ingredients.
5. Sprinkle 2/3 cup of streusel mixture over batter in pan.
6. Spread remaining cake batter over streusel; top with reserved streusel.
7. Bake 40-50 minutes at 375 degrees until done.
8. Cool right side up in pan 25 minutes.
9. Remove from pan and glaze streusel side up.
10. To make glaze, blend 3/4 cup powdered sugar with about 1 tbsp. milk; drizzle over cake.
11. Cut and enjoy!!
This is a recipe I made over the holidays which combines two things I love - chocolate and coffee. Like all good shortbread, you can’t eat a lot of it because it’s so rich, but man, this stuff is delish! Especially if you dip it in some of the leftover chocolate ganache we used for another cookie recipe…. bet you can’t tell I like chocolate, huh? :D
[recipe adapted from here]
what you will need…
- 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
- 1 tbsp boiling water
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) softened unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, chopped
getting down to business…
» Dissolve coffee powder in boiling water.
» Cream butter, add powdered sugar and mix until smooth [about 3 minutes], then add coffee and vanilla.
» Add flour and mix just until incorporated.
» Chop up chocolate chips and fold into batter.
» [This is my OCD self’s favorite part… ha] Place dough into a gallon sized Ziploc bag and with a rolling pin, roll out dough until it’s approximately 1/4” thick.
» Throw into the fridge for at least two hours, then remove and slice bag open, then cut dough into ~1 1/2” squares and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325* for 18-20 minutes.
These taste better at room temperature, but [as usual] I couldn’t wait that long to try one, haha. I’ll definitely be making this again, but with espresso powder like the recipe calls for just to see what the difference is… I’m bad about substituting what we have here rather than buying all the ingredients. This is probably because I’m also impatient and want to go ahead and make the recipes haha.
Tis the season… to make lots of delicious food that for some reason only gets made once a year! Since I’ve been super neglectful of the blog this week, here are not just one, but three recipes we’ve made this year for your perusal [come to my house if you want to try any of it/so I don’t eat it all myself haha]. The first two are two of my favorites! They’re super easy if you have a party to go to and want to bring some food or to give to people you like :D
I love that these are called oysterettes [I didn’t actually realize this till I was double checking the ingredients]… sounds so fancy!
- 3 boxes oyster crackers
- 1 package Ranch dressing mix
- 2 tbsp dill
- 1 cup canola oil
Place crackers in a large bowl. Mix together remaining ingredients till dressing mix is dissolved, then pour over crackers. Stir until evenly coated.
PS - they usually taste better the next day if you can stand to wait that long to try them [I never do… haha]
This stuff. Is crack. I’m not sure what happens in that microwave, but it must be magic, because this stuff is impossible to stop eating. My mom started making it a couple of years ago, and since then it’s my favorite thing to make around Christmas. So bad for you, but soooooo good!
- 1 box chocolate Chex cereal
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp light corn syrup
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
Place sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a glass bowl and microwave for 30-second intervals until everything’s melted [usually takes about a minute in my microwave]. Remove and stir in baking soda, then stir in cereal. Return to microwave and heat for another minute, then stir again to make sure the cereal’s evenly coated. Pour onto a cookie sheet and let cool, then try not to eat it all in one sitting!
This is a new recipe my mom tried this year that’s supposed to be a knockoff of the peppermint bark Williams-Sonoma sells. It’s more time-intensive than the other two, but it’s definitely worth the extra time, and it looks so Christmas-y, too… bonus!
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into small-ish (1/4-1/2”) pieces
- 16 oz white chocolate, chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract, divided into 2 x 3/4 teaspoons
- 10-12 crushed peppermints
Line a 9x13 baking dish with aluminum foil [shiny side up]. Melt all but 3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate in a double boiler slowly over low heat, then gradually add the remaining 3/4 c until it’s melted as well. Remove from heat, stir in 3/4 tsp of peppermint extract, then pour and spread into an even layer in the baking dish. Let sit for about 10 minutes until the chocolate is almost set.
While that’s setting up, melt the white chocolate [all but 1 cup] in the double boiler, then gradually add the rest until it melts. Remove from heat and stir in the rest of the peppermint extract, then pour over the semi-sweet chocolate and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle immediately with the crushed peppermints. Let sit about an hour, or until completely cool, then lift out of the pan using the aluminum foil and break the chocolate into pieces.
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What are some of your go-to Christmas recipes? We have a couple different cookie recipes we always make, so I might have to share those too :D
I almost titled this post ‘the most awesomest chocolate chip cookies in the history of forever’ but in an effort at brevity, thought I’d shorten it a bit. Totally not hyperbole though… these cookies are magical :D
My mom is pretty health-conscious, and was reading up on using coconut oil when you cook as a butter substitute, and [after asking me to make these cookies, I might add] suggested that I try it in this recipe. You can swap it into a recipe using the same proportion you’d use for butter, so it’s really easy.
what you will need…
- 1 cup coconut oil [or butter]
- 1 cup each of brown sugar and granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups ground oatmeal
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp each of baking powder and baking soda
- 2 cups chocolate chips [I like the milk chocolate kind :D]
getting down to business…
> Cream coconut oil/butter and sugar.
> Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.
> Mix together dry ingredients and add to egg mixture.
> Stir in chocolate. I like to chop up about half of the chocolate chips so there’s a more even distribution of chocolate :D
> Scoop out tablespoons-ful of dough and place on parchment paper. Bake at 375* for 9-10 minutes.
I was skeptical at first, but after eating the final product, I give it my full seal of approval, five stars, etc etc [and so does everyone in my family + my sister’s bf who all tried them too]. I thought these were awesome before, but wow, SOOO delicious; they taste like something you’d buy at a fancy bakery or something. And they’re marginally healthier too?! Sounds like a winner all the way around.
I love crescents. I love chicken. And I love cheese. This recipe is a trifecta of goodness. You could mix up the ingredients and include broccoli or more or less of any ingredients as desired.
You’ll need:
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 2 pkg crescent rolls
- 3 shredded, cooked chicken breasts
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
- 1/4 stick melted butter
1. First, you need to cook your chicken. We cooked it for severeal hours in the crock pot, but you could also boil your chicken breasts for 40 minutes or so.
2. Gather your ingredients and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Shred cooked chicken in large mixing bowl.
4. Add all ingredients except parmesan cheese and butter. Mix well.
5. On a greased baking sheet, spoon chicken onto crescents and then seal.
6. Melt the butter and spread on top of crescents. Sprinkle freshly grated parmesan on top.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!
My brother’s home for fall break so we’ve had several of his favorite meals, including burgers (and grilled chicken for me). I love this roasted potato recipe as a simple side dish. We made these for years until we made one change that made all the difference - the trick is to mix it in a bowl first so the potatoes are all nicely coated on all sides. You’ll need:
- 6 large potatoes (about 2lbs.)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 to 2 teaspoons seasoned salt (we ran out so substituted Old Bay seasoning + salt)
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. In mixing bowl, combine potatoes and all ingredients.
4. Mix thoroughly and then spread onto shallow baking pan.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until potatoes are browned and crisp.
6. Enjoy! They taste great plain, but I love them with ketchup. (And please note where the ketchup exploded on my plate and I awkwardly tried to wipe it into formation for a photo.)
p.s. fall in Virginia is beautiful! Fall weekends (with food & family) are some of the best. Hope everyone has had a great weekend too!
I love Italian food (almost as much as I love Mexican food!). I especially love pesto, and was really craving some pesto pasta this past weekend. We didn’t have any left in the fridge, but I happened to notice that our three basil plants were loaded with leaves… wouldn’t want all that tasty goodness to go to waste!
I had no idea it was this easy to make, either… it’s a bit time consuming if you do everything by hand, but you could make it in the food processor, too. The recipe I adapted sort of guilt tripped me into doing it the super official from scratch way, though :D Apparently, when you use a food processor, you’ll end up with pesto that’s the consistency of a paste instead of being able to differentiate between the ingredients. Whatever your preference, I’m sure it’ll taste much better than the store-bought kind!
what you will need…
- 3-4 cups basil leaves [total guesstimation… I have no idea how much I actually used, just took a big bowl outside and filled it up]
- 5 medium cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1 cup grated parmesan
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
getting down to business…
Wash and dry the basil, then start chopping. If you’re chopping by hand, using a mezzaluna is a loooot easier than a regular knife [advantage of living with your parents = taking advantage of their well-stocked kitchen]. It also helps to chop a little bit at a time, then add in more ingredients as everything gets chopped up.
The recipe said to chop about a third of the basil with all the garlic, then when that’s finely minced, add another third of the basil and chop till minced, then the rest of the basil, the pine nuts in two stages, then the parmesan in two stages.
One suggestion I would add is to loosely chop up the pine nuts by themselves before adding to the basil - they’re hard to chop up finely once they get mixed in with the rest of the ingredients.
After everything’s chopped up, press the ingredients into a ‘cake’ and transfer into a bowl; then cover with olive oil. Before you use it, make sure to stir to combine the olive oil into the pesto. Since it made a lot more than I needed, I ended up freezing what I didn’t eat in my pasta in 2 tbsp sized balls - perfect size when I just need a little bit to use!
Stole this recipe from Pinterest… it’s really good! I think if I made it again, though, I’d leave out the carrots and celery… I don’t think they really go with the tomato/basil flavor [I promise I’m not thaaat picky… I like celery and carrots under most other circumstances :D]
recipe adapted from here
what you will need…
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup finely diced celery
- 1 cup finely diced carrots
- 1 cup finely diced onions
- 4 tbsp fresh basil
- 1/2 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 cups diced tomatoes with juice
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups milk, warmed [I used 1-3/4c milk and 1/4c half & half]
- 1 tsp salt
getting down to business…
> Heat oil in 4 quart soup pot. Add celery, onions and carrots and saute for five minutes.
> Add basil, oregano, bay leaf, tomatoes, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender (15 minutes).
> While soup simmers, prepare a roux by melting butter over low heat, adding flour and cooking, stirring constantly, for 5-7 minutes. Slowly stir in 1 cup hot soup, then add another 3 cups and stir until smooth. Add back into soup pot.
> Simmer, stirring constantly, until soup begins to thicken [it won’t take long!].
> Add Parmesan cheese and whisk to blend. Stir in warmed milk/half and half, salt, and pepper. Simmer over low heat 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
I added some extra parmesan and basil as a garnish, because you can never have too much of either of those, right?!
The other night I made Caitlin’s delicious pound cake. As you might have guessed from previous recipes, I’m a sucker for all things chocolate, so I whipped up some fudge sauce to enjoy with my cake. This stuff is amazing. You will never be able to put that store bought stuff on your ice cream, etc. again. This makes a decent amount, which is awesome, because I love to store the leftovers and then pop it in the microwave before pouring it over my dessert the next night.
Ingredients:
- 1 large can evaporated milk
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cook 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Spoon on top of dessert.
Another tasty dip recipe to add to the arsenal, courtesy of my sister :D Looks questionable, but tastes awesome!
- 2 8oz packages of cream cheese
- 1 16oz container of sour cream
- 1 pkg of mild taco seasoning
- 1 qt spicy salsa
- 1 pkg shredded Mexican blend cheese
getting down to business:
