German Apple Cake

I had to run some errands yesterday when I passed a sign that said ,"Cookbooks 1-4 dollars".  It was on an unusual sign because it was at an auto detailer.  "Mmm, interesting!", I thought to myself.  So of course I had to turn around and investigate.  So much fun. There were cookbooks from local associations and churches.  Recipes from many people that I knew (and many I did not know). 

I love local cookbooks because they are from true cooks   People sharing their favorite recipes.  Recipes that they are proud of and recipes for which they are known.

This recipe is not however one of those.  This is from a cookbook, Back Fence favorites, Recipes from Over the Back Fence Magazine.  This is a magazine that keeps people up on what is happening locally. Here it is the adapted version.  If you wonder about the peach pie filling, well, it was left over from waffles made in the morning.

 

 



German Apple Cake

1 cup canola oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 apples, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 can peach pie filling (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Beat eggs and oil until frothy, set aside.  Combine all the other ingredients.  Add egg mixture.  Combine well, mixture will be stiff.  You will think that there is not enough batter to make a cake but there really is.    Pour into a sprayed 9 x 13 dish and bake approximately an hour or until the cake springs back when touched and the sides slightly pull away.  Cool and spread with cream cheese frosting.  Store covered in a cool place.(  Ha, like there would be any left by morning.) 

 

 



Frosting. 

1 - 8oz. package of light cream cheese, soften
2 tablespoons soften unsalted butter
2 teaspoons almond flavoring
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth 

This morning when I got up there was a piece of cake the size of a regular file card.  This was enjoyed by my grandson.

This recipe goes together really fast.  I soften the cream cheese and butter in the microwave and used an apple peeler that peeled, cored and sliced the apples.  Quick , easy and yummy.

Caramel Pecan Dream Bars and Peanut Butter Fingers

It was the first snow of the season.  We had ice before the snow so thing were somewhat slippery.  We have a big driveway which I was not in the mood to shovel.  The man across the road had his tractor and snow blade out and when he finished he came over and did our drive.  Thank you, thank you thank you, Gene. 

To say thank you,  I decided to bake something tasty.  I had been sitting looking at a magazine when I thought," silly girl you have not been blogging!"  I apologize .  I forget to take pictures and then the food is gone or is not picture worthy.

Today's recipes come from ,Sharing Our Best  Mom's Club.  A collection of recipes by MOM'S CUB,
Preble and Montgomery County in Ohio.

 



 The first recipe is for Caramel Pecan Dream Bars submitted by Carla Eck  and Barbara Willeford. 

They were so good and  definite make again.  Also quick and easy. 

Base.
1 package of yellow cake mix
1/3 cup soften unsalted butter
1 large egg

Heat on to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 13 x 9 pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, butter and egg.  Mix on high until crumbly.  Press into a prepared pan.

Filling:

1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup heath toffee pieces

In a small bowl beat milk, egg, vanilla until well blended. Stir in the toffee pieces and pecans.  spread to cover.  Bake 25 -30 minutes or until golden brown.  Center may appear to be loose, but will set up while cooling.  Allow bars to cool completely before cutting.



Oops, Santa is a cookie head.


The second bar, was entitled Peanut Butter Fingers {Peanut Butter Bar Cookies)  submitted by Stephanie Vennard.  Again, another quick and easy bar recipe and equally as good.  These bars have oatmeal in them so a step to healthy eating , kind of! Oh, and Peanut Butter and eggs , protein.  Oh, we are heading in the right direction!

The Bar:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
6 oz. chocolate chips

Drizzle:
1/2 cup sifted icing sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
2-4 Tablespoons milk

Cream butter and sugars together.. Blend in egg, peanut butter, soda , salt and vanilla.  Add flour and oatmeal; mix well.  Spread into a buttered 13 x 9 pan  Bake 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  Let stand 5 minutes.  spread melted  morsels.  Combine the drizzle and drizzle over the peanut mixture.  I could not drizzle even after adding more mild so I lightly spread.

 

 

 

Now, I am on my way to thank the people across the road for plowing my drive. 

I hope he enjoys eating them as much as I did making them.

 

If you see this book anywhere , snatch it up because there are many great recipes.  Thanks, Moms.





Orange - Pineapple Bundt Cake

I was looking at some cookbooks this lazy, rainy, gloomy day when I came across Mrs. Miller's Family Favorite Recipes.  She has many wonderful recipes in this book.  One of the recipes that caught my eye was one for Pineapple Bundt Cake.  Mm mm, it sounded really good but as usual I sat and thought how to make it mine.  Here is the  recipe.  Forgive me but there are no pictures as the cake stuck when I flipped it and turned into an orange-pineapple crummy bundt cake.

It still was eaten and whipped topping covered up the traces of the bundt Cake murder!

Here is my adaptation of Orange - Pineapple Bundt Cake.

Put in to the bowl of an electric mixer:  Mix well

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
zest of one orange and then juiced ( I used a naval orange)
2 teaspoons orange extract
1 teaspoon baking soda

then add and mix with the above:

3 cups flour
1- 20oz. can crushed pineapple

Pour into a greased 10 inch bundt pan  bake 350 degrees for 55 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean.

Make a glaze by mixing:
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon orange extract

(I get lemon and orange oil and extract from Penzey's)

Pot Pie Purses

Many years ago in the land of  OMG, I have to cook and I do not know how, I had two cookbooks, one was a Betty Crocker (1960's edition) and a  McCall's blue cookbook.  Out of the two, Betty Crocker was my go to.  I used that cookbook for everything.  It became a file cook book because I would file away recipes that I wanted to keep.  That book saw six moves but on the seventh move it vanished.  I do not know where I went but maybe it just disintegrated from use.

One day, not long ago, my daughter called and said she was at a yard sale and wanted to know if I was interested in some cookbooks that were there and they also had two Betty Crocker cookbooks for sale at a different price.  I told her to go ahead and get them and I would be more than happy to reimburse her.  When she gave them to me, you could not believe how excited I was to find that this was a copy of my long lost one. 

 

 



I made the Chicken Dinner Pie recipe ( p. 307)  .  It is made with a white sauce with light cream and chicken broth.   flavored with salt, pepper, dried onion  and thyme.  Then cooked chicken and a canned of mixed vegetable are added. You could used cooked frozen mixed veggies.  It is hard to believe that this is so good.

After I made the filling, I had to decide how to present it since my grandson is picky about what his food looks like.  I finally decided on crescent rolls.  I unrolled them, made square using two triangle to do so.  Then I brought up the corners twisting the tops and pinching the sides to make the purses.

  

I used two tubes of crescent rolls and had some filling left.  Baked them for 15 minutes.  Everyone loved them.

Follow this to get the book.

Quick Pear Tarts

I took a break from some late yard work and turned on Sunny Anderson.  She was making a quick pear dessert that her mother use to make.  She used phyllo dough, topped the dessert with cheese.

I was not excited about fruit and cheese so I took another road.  Here is my adaptation of her Quick Pear Tart recipe. 

1 package of premade, two crust pie dough          

1/4 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cans of pears in own juice
1/2 cup white chocolate morsels
1/2 cup chocolate morsels
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided

First , I did not have any phyllo so I enlisted a package of pie crust dough from my ice box.  I then rolled it out and cut it into squares (re-rolling the scraps).and place them on two parchment lined cookie sheets.  Brush each piece with the melted butter.  Sprinkle them with about half the sugar mixture.  Slice each pear into sections, leaving the small end attached.  Fan one pear half out on each piece of dough.  Sprinkle each pear with more cinnamon and sugar.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  keep an eye on them and when the dough turns tan remove.  Let cool.

While the tarts are cooling, put the morsels in separate bowls and mix in 1 tablespoon of oil with each
bowl of morsels.  Microwave on medium power in 30 second intervals until the chocolate has melted. Let chocolate cool slightly then put in a sandwich bag and use as a piping bag, drizzling the two different chocolates over the tarts.

 

I ran out of pears but had some dough left and used canned apricots.  Very good.  I would think you could vary the fruit and use spices that go with that fruit.  Quick, easy and yummy.  I also think I will give the phyllo a try next time.

The next day a family member came over and finished the tarts off.  That says it all!

Click here to see
Sunny's recipe--http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=quick+pear+tart&fnSearchType=context&fnType=talent&fnId=119&gosearch=

I am back. It is trick or treat tonight and I promise you that this is a treat.  If you like twice backed potatoes you will love this casserole.  It comes from a Circleville ,Ohio Church of Christ Ladies in a book entitled, Hidden Treasures- Casseroles and Cobblers.  There are many delicious recipes in this book.  The first one that I tried was one called twice baked potatoes.  Yes, if you liked twice baked potatoes, you are going to love, love, love this.  This recipe was submitted by Debbie Murphy and Dianne Malone.

Here is my adaptation of  Twice Baked Potatoes Casserole.

6 medium unpeeled potatoes, baked
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
3/4 pound of bacon, cut into lardens and cooked
1 carton of sour cream
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar
1/2 cup Asiago cheese
2 green onions, chopped

Cut baked potatoes into 1 inch cubes.  In a greased 12x9 casserole dish, put half of the potatoes.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and bacon.  Top with half the sour cream and cheeses.  Repeat layers.  Baked uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with onions.  Serves 6-8  Everyone ate with gusto and had very little left.

Really any cheese you have that you enjoy would work.  Also lardens are pieces of bacon that are cut into small pieces and fried.





Baked Spaghetti

My hubby is always giving laurels to his high school's baked spaghetti.  Baked spaghetti???  I never even heard of it and have never eaten it.  Of course, my mom was never an adventurous cook.  Spaghetti was dry pasta and jarred pasta sauce and then later a home made spaghetti sauce that did not really taste like the real stuff!!

My son -in- law makes baked spaghetti so I asked him how he made it.  Well I followed his directions but it was far from what Steve remembered and far from what I would want to eat again. 

I was surfing the Taste of Home web site when I came upon a Baked Spaghetti recipe .  It sounded good so I thought I would give it a try.  Good thing because this is wonderful.  I gave my non- cooking daughter a choice of steak or the baked spaghetti.  Needless to say, I put the steaks in the freezer for another time.  

I adapted the recipe by adding sauteed mushrooms, 32 oz. jar of Mids onion and garlic sauce, and I mixed it all together  then put it in a baking dish.

The above picture is a partial dish since it was under attack as soon as it was out.

Click here for recipe.