One Egg, One Cup of Milk and a Sweet Tooth

Put that title to music and you could be singing the blues!  But I am about to set out on an experiment adventure to turn the blues into a jazz remix.

Well, I tweaked the recipe for the White Chocolate Whisper cake.  I left out the eggs, baking powder and (sadly) the white chocolate (only because I STILL do not have any!).  Added 4 ounces of applesauce in place of the eggs.   Increased the flour to 4 cups, cut the milk to 1/2 cup and added 1/2 teaspoon of almond -with only 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Rolled the cookies into balls and rolled them in sugar.  Viola!  Just my luck my nephew came over and was able to test the cookies for me.  Half a cookie jar later I am told that they were not any good and he would gladly take the rest of them off my hands. :)   I would have taken a picture of them, but with only 2-3 left it would not make a very appetizing picture.  Poor Jimmy... if I hurry up and eat the rest of them, he will never even know what he missed.  hehehehe.... luckily I saved some of the dough and can make another pan and my dear hubby will be able to have his dessert after our supper of "Clean Out The Fridge Stew". 

These need to be cooked on a greased cookie sheet.  Otherwise they will scorch on the bottom.   

Easter Suggestions

Easter will be here before you know it.  Time to have the family and friends over for some Easter fun.  We usually get together the Saturday before and visit, hunt eggs, play games and EAT!  This year I would like to create a cake, but am having a hard time coming up with an idea or theme.  Seems I have the desire to create something, but the creativity is missing this time.  Anyone have any suggestions on a theme for a cake for Easter??

White Chocolate Whisper Cake

**If you even think you might need to try this yourself... go ahead and take a stick of butter out of the fridge and let it soften!~~

Many years ago I was give the Cake Bible, which is a great compilation of recipes and great ideas for cake baking.  One of the kids favorites has been the White Chocolate Whisper Cake.  It truly has a very special, unique taste that comes from the melted white chocolate that is added to the batter at the last minute.  

I have had a desire for this cake for several weeks so I thought today would be a good day to put one together.  After getting my taste buds all set for the chocolaty taste of this cake I realized I had used the white chocolate for something else and had forgotten to replace it!!!  So, I just substituted the white chocolate for some milk chocolate.  This changed the flavor of the batter only slightly.  I am about to taste the actual cake and see if it is worth repeating.  

***Well, the texture is still light and fluffy.  The color is the color of spice cake, yet the flavor has a hint of chocolate. Not bad, but I think the original is still my favorite.  So, to make the original best:

Melt 6 ounces of white chocolate in a double boiler.  Can use white chocolate chips. 

combine together 2 large eggs, 1/4 cup of milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

In your mixing bowl combine 3 cups of flour, slightly heaping cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon and 1 1/2 teaspoon of  baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt. After this is mixed add that softened butter that I reminded you take out earlier and 3/4 cup of milk.  Mix this well.  Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture in three batches.  Otherwise there could be a big mess on the counter. :)  Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the melted white chocolate.  Mix to incorporate.  

Fill the prepared cake pans about 1/2 full and bake at 350 for 24 - 30 minutes.  A toothpick will come out clean when inserted into the center.  

I have not found a suitable icing for this cake yet.  Everything I have tried only takes away from the flavor of this cake.  We usually eat it without icing.   

Pizza

Thought I would make homemade pizza today.  Many years ago Pizza "Somebody" had a very tasty crust they had actually put seasonings in.  So, the kids and I started to experiment with making pizza at home to see if we could make a crust that was close (or at least tolerable).  We actually came up with a recipe that we really loved.  I have not actually made this recipe in several years, but Jimmy wanted homemade pizza and I thought of the old recipe.  As I was making the pizza I was brought back in time to when my kids and I would make pizza together in the kitchen.  I would slice the vegetables and they would place them on the pizza.  My son would hide an olive in each corner of the pizza with a folded over piece of the dough.  Every time we made pizza there was always an olive hidden in the corner.  I smiled as I thought of that memory and tucked an olive into the corner for old times sake. 

All we did was add some spices to our regular bread dough.  We used:
1/2 teaspoon of Basil
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of oregano

These (and you could use your favorites) seasonings were put in the pot of milk that we heat on the stove so that the flavors of the seasonings would be awakened.  It turned out quite delicious.  

Chocolate Dumpling

Because of a slight craving for chocolate Jimmy and I made a chocolate dumpling last night for our chocolate "sweet tooth".  Chocolate Dumpling is a dessert that has been around since I can remember.  We always thought that this was a recipe that came from my grandmother.  This is a simple recipe and worth every effort to make at least once.  But like Lays Potato Chips you can not eat just one.  

If you would like to try it for yourself... here is the recipe.  The syrup needs to be cooked so that the sugar melts and the chocolate dissolves.  



The syrup.
1 1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
4 cups water
6 Tablespoons of sugar (this is about 1/2 cup)
Pour this into an oven proof baking dish or dutch oven.  


The Dumpling
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
6 T cocoa
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
2/3 cup milk
Mix these ingredients together and spoon over the syrup.  Bake in 350 oven for about 30 minutes.


Try it and let me know what you think.