Mom's Chocolate Frosting

Sometimes you just have to make your mom's chocolate frosting.

 And today, well, today was one of those times. Let me give you a breakdown of the things that happened this morning--all before 7am, I might add. 

• We discovered that a Sam's Club sized bottle of corn oil had somehow cracked during the night and leaked all over our pantry/laundry room floor. 

• Then, we discovered that we had somehow forgotten to start the dryer last night, which had our son's school uniforms in it, still wet, of course. 

• Then, the hubs discovered that one of our Golden Retrievers, Chewy, had somehow, without us even being aware it was happening, gotten diarrhea while in his crate. (I know, totally NOT what you want to read about when looking at a recipe…I'm really sorry.)

• Upon making that discovery, my hubs also noticed that somehow our other Golden Retriever, Sadie, had opened up her crate and escaped and had been roaming freely all night long and during that bout of freedom decided to leave a big pile of poop in the corner. 

• Then, upon entering our master bathroom to get dressed for the day, I encountered the fact that my 4-year-old son had decided to pee all over the seat, toilet bowl and floor…guess he forgot to aim…

You know the type: "THAT" kind of a morning! And all of this happened before we were even fully awake, i.e., before we'd even had a single drop of coffee in our systems. Needless to say, it was a super fun morning. :-) Somehow, we still made it out the door and miraculously got the kids to school on time. After that, I sort of expected one of "those" kind of days to continue, but after it all shook down this morning, we both took the time to really pray about it and ask God what He wanted us to do with our day…what we needed to take from this and how to go about making sure all the annoying things that happened didn't lead us to having poor attitudes all day long…and thankfully, we were both able to continue the day with the right perspective and attitudes and we were still able to have a good day in spite of the way it began.

But, since we did go through so much this morning, I felt we really deserved an awesome dessert tonight. So I made a yellow box cake mix and the most wonderful thing in the world to put on top of that is only my mom's delicious, incredible, rich, chocolate frosting. Oh man...

Frosts 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup cocoa
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon instant coffee
2 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Beat butter until creamy. Slowly mix in cocoa, stirring until well combined. Alternately add the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk, stirring well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Stir in the instant coffee until mixed in evenly. Frost cooled cupcakes or cake.

The instant coffee is truly the "secret" ingredient that MAKES this frosting. Of course, I am a huge coffee fanatic, so I like to err on the side of more is best if you know what I mean. So if you're not a big fan of coffee, just start with a single teaspoon or so and taste and add more if you want. The coffee really sets off the chocolate flavor and makes it so much richer and chocolatier…in my humble opinion, this frosting just isn't the same without it. But to each his/her own! :) I also like to use half dark cocoa and half regular cocoa because I love dark chocolate, but it's good either way. This is the frosting that I grew up on, the one my five siblings and I would fight over who got to lick the beater, the one we requested on our birthday cakes, the one I still love to sneak a spoonful of right after its all mixed up. Mmmm. It truly is the best!!

Moist White Cake with Almond Buttercream

When my daughter turned 14 in October, she requested a white cake with almond frosting. My husband was super excited because he loves almond also. I, on the other hand, was wishing for some chocolate! But it wasn't about me, it was about her and I was all too happy to make her whatever her little old heart desired. So, may I present this little beauty:

Makes 12 Servings

Cake:

2 sticks of butter, softened

2 cups of sugar

4 egg whites

3 cups self-rising flour

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease three 9" round cake pans. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Stir in sugar, one cup at a time and cream about 5 minutes. Add egg whites one at a time, beating well after each is added. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla and butter flavoring, mixing only until combined. Pour batter equally into the three cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes. Remove and cool about 10 minutes, then cover completely with plastic wrap and let cool on wire racks until completely cooled. 

Frosting:

3 sticks of butter, softened

5-6 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1-2 tablespoons of whipping cream

Cream butter, vanilla and almond together until fluffy. Slowly add in sugar and beat well after each addition. Stir in whipping cream to thin out, if needed. Frost over cooled layers.

I think I ended up adding a couple teaspoons of almond extract and 1 tablespoon of whipping cream, but it's definitely personal preference. You may find you prefer your frosting not as sweet, so you can customize the amount of powdered sugar you add also. Pretty versatile, basic buttercream recipe. I also poked holes in the layers, using a chopstick, and sprayed a little simple syrup in the holes to give it more moisture. This recipe is adapted from Bakerella's yellow cake recipe. My girl was super happy with this cake and we didn't have any leftovers at all. The perfect size for each of our 12 people to get a thin slice, which is just enough when it's so rich and sweet like this one is. Delicious! Happy Valentines Day! 

Southern Peach Cobbler

One of my husband's very favorite desserts is peach cobbler. Most of the time I do a simple dump cake (1 can of peaches + 1 box yellow cake mix + 1 stick of butter, melted and drizzled on top in an 8x8 pan for 30 minutes) which is really delicious also, but every once in awhile I get the ambition to do a "real" one like all the nice ladies used to bring to dinner-on-the-grounds at the church I went to growing up. There were casseroles galore, chocolate brownies with the perfect thin, chocolate crusty layer on top, corn casserole, fried chicken and neverending amounts of sweet iced tea. Mmmm. My brothers and sisters and I LOVED dinner-on-the-grounds day at church! We got to hang out with our friends after church, eat lots of good food, and play lots of kickball, going home worn out and exhausted at the end of the day. Which was the part I'm sure my parents loved the most. It was the best!

Makes 8 Servings

2 28oz cans of peaches, drained (or 3 cups fresh, skinned, pitted and sliced)

2 cups baking mix

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups milk

1 stick of butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix the baking mix, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon together with a wire whisk. Slowly stir in the milk and melted butter until combined and a soft dough is formed. Tilt the dough into a greased 9x13 baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle peach slices on top evenly and bake on the middle rack for an hour. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Oh yeah, I love me some peach cobbler! Sad to say on this particular evening, we were all scarfing ours down so quickly that I never got a shot of it on a plate! Oh well, you get the idea. :) I personally like mine plain, without the ice cream--and I can eat it warm or cold, I like it either way. Something about the silky peach slices mixing up with the amazing combo of crusty and mushy, bready goodness just makes my mouth oh-so happy and brings me back to the days of running around with my friends after church for dinner-on-the-grounds. I have a particular fondness for peaches...must be the Georgia Peach in me coming out! Now I've got a hankering to go mix up some peach cobbler right now to satisfy my sweet tooth that is craving a big bowl of the stuff right now. I know no one in my household would be complaining one bit! It's Friday! What's everyone got going on this weekend? Tonight is sushi night here and we've got some friends and family coming over to roll up some yummy rolls and drink some sake so we're really looking forward to that. My Spicy Mayo will be mixed up in a bulk batch, of that I am certain. Have a great weekend!

Summertime Eats!

I really can not believe it's summertime again already! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE summer. I love having my kiddos home with me and we always make a summer bucket list of things we want to do and try to do a different thing at least 4 out of the 7 days in a week, if not more. We also love taking road trips together. One of my very favorite type of vacation is a road trip. I just love seeing the country; all the different cities and states and scenery and stopping at lots of different restaurants and local eateries, visiting museums and state parks and even playing all the silly car games. I love it all! ABC license plate? You got it! Ahem, back to my point: so summertime gets really hot and humid in my lovely state of Florida. So we try to eat a lot of sandwiches and cold salads and we do a bunch of grilling and eating outside. So we hardly ever eat a big, hot dinner that requires a lot of oven and/or stovetop cooking--it's just too darn hot for that! So I thought I would share some of our favorite Summertime Eats. I'm always on the lookout for new favorites and we like to mix those in to our traditional standards.

Summer Meal #1: Meatball Hoagies with a big garden salad.

This is pretty quick and easy and won't heat up your oven for long--the hoagies only need to bake for 15 minutes or so. I usually make some homemade ranch dressing to go with it--I love Pioneer Woman's version!


Summer Meal #2: Chicken Salad Focaccia Sandwiches with Carrot Sticks, Potato Chips and PW's Ranch Dressing.

Again, the focaccia doesn't take long to bake and you chill the chicken salad, so you've got a nice, cool but filling meal that even the kids love!


Summer Meal #3: Grilled chicken with macaroni salad and corn on the cob. (Recipes Coming Soon!)

I love to make a quick marinade for chicken in the morning, put it and the chicken in a ziploc in the fridge in preparation for the hubs to grill it later that night. My mom's Basic Macaroni Salad is always a popular side dish in the summer and there's just something about pairing it with grilled chicken that brings back all the memories of my childhood during the summer.


We love to wash all our food down with a big glass of ice cold sweet tea or my Homemade Strawberry Lemonade and serve up some delicious Blueberry Cobbler for dessert--made with fresh from the farm blueberries! We go blueberry picking every summer and freeze enough fresh blueberries to last us until the next summer. This delicious bounty leads to muffins, pancakes, cobblers, ice cream...and just blueberries eaten by themselves accompanied by little bluish purple faces and fingers. :)

Here's a recipe that is quick and easy as well as SUPER delicious. I mean, it's got bacon in it, you just can't go wrong. If you love BLTs like I do, you'll go gaga over these roll-ups. They're great to serve for lunch, as a snack, or to bring along with you to those summer BBQs where everyone brings a dish to share:


BLT Roll-Ups

Makes 12-14 Servings

8 oz cream cheese, softened 
1/2 cup mayo 
16 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled 
1 cup of chopped, seeded tomatoes 
4  8" flour tortillas
1 cup shredded romaine lettuce 

Directions:

Mix cream cheese and mayo in a medium bowl. Add bacon and tomatoes and mix well. Spread evenly onto tortillas and top with lettuce. Roll up tightly, place on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more. Take out and cut each wrap into 7 one-inch slices and serve.


Another easy one we love to make for parties:


Ham Roll-Ups

Makes 10-12 Servings

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 (2 1/4 oz) can chopped black olives, drained
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
8-10 slices fully cooked deli ham

Directions:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Stir in olives and onions and mix well. Spread evenly over ham slices and roll up tightly starting with the short side. Chill for at least an hour or overnight. Cut into 1-2" slices and serve.


Well, I hope that gets you started on some yummy summer food. I've already made a few items on this list and have plans to make the rest of the list and then some. I LOVE summer! Happy dance!!!

Divinity Cookies

Makes 2 Dozen Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat butter and shortening together until combined, then stir in powdered sugar and beat until creamy, about 2 minutes. Stir in egg white and vanilla and beat well. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar and baking soda. Slowly add to creamy mixture, mixing well until soft dough is formed. Stir in nuts. Roll dough into 1 1/2" balls and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Dip a the back of a spoon in water and then powdered sugar and flatten dough balls slightly. Bake for 11-13 minutes until slightly browned on the edges. Cool 10 minutes on the pan then move to wire rack to finish cooling. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar if desired.




   When I was a little girl, my mom frequently made shopping trips to Publix supermarket, a store we kids loved because we could get a free cookie (up until age 12). Back in my day, you could pick ANY cookie from the bakery display cabinet. Nowadays, when I'm the one shopping at Publix with my own kiddos, they have a specific small case with cookies available to choose from for free for the kids--usually either a sugar cookie with sprinkles or chocolate chip. Sprinkles are my three year old's first choice, but my six year old and eleven year old go for the chocolate chip every time! 
   
   But, as I was saying, back in my day (a LONG time ago!) we could choose whatever kind we wanted. I remember my two favorite constant choices were Iced Oatmeal and Divinity. NEITHER of which are available anymore, not even for purchase! Such a shame! Divinity Cookies were these big, thick pillows of buttery, crumbly, nutty goodness. I have never seen them anywhere else, and once Publix stopped offering any choice of cookie for free, the Divinity disappeared along with it and I've never seen them there again and can't seem to locate them anywhere else either. Big sad face! I've done tons of googling, hoping to find a recipe that would suffice, but so far, I haven't had any luck getting an exact replica of my long-lost favorite, Publix divinity cookies.    

   This recipe is the closest that I've come so far. I've made it with just butter, just shortening, almond flavoring, pecans rather than walnuts...and this one is just the closest I think I'm gonna get until someone rescues me! :) I made these tonight and the kids and hubs raved over them and cleared out the first dozen in no time. So, even though I'm still searching for That Perfect Divinity Cookie, at least my family is excited! I must admit, they're pretty yummy and buttery and crumbly...they remind me a lot of Pecan Sandies. 

   Make sure you use walnuts (or whatever nut you go with) that are as fresh as possible--anytime you use a stale nut in baking, it flavors the entire cookie/cake/pie/bread, etc., with "staleness". Just not a happy thing. So always use as fresh as you can! Hope you like these cookies! If you ever come across another recipe for Divinity (not the candy...the cookie!), don't forget about me over here in my kitchen full of sunshine, wishing and hoping for the perfect one to drop in my lap! Happy Monday!

Peanut Butter Chip Banana Bread

Makes 1 Loaf

3/4 cup butter, softened (12 tablespoons...1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas, overripe and soft
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped
1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter and sugar together 2 minutes until pale yellow. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well between; then beat 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in bananas until incorporated well, then peanut butter and vanilla, mixing well until combined. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and gently fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients a little at a time, mixing only until JUST combined. Gently stir in peanuts and peanut butter chips. Pour into well greased loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes in the center of the oven, on the center rack. *If you bake on the upper or lower racks instead of center, remember to rotate halfway through the bake time or you'll end up with overdone edges and/or bottom* Remove from oven and let cool in pan 10 minutes before running a butter knife along the edges and then tipping on a pan, flipping it over right side up until cooled; can serve warm or cold. 



One of our family's favorite things is a peanut butter and banana sandwich with a tall glass of cold milk. I made some banana bread earlier this week and had a couple bananas left so I decided to  try something new: peanut butter banana bread! And it turned out amazing. This will definitely be a regular in our household from now on! I only had two bananas so I used a teaspoon and a half of banana flavored extract also, but I definitely prefer to use three bananas rather than the extract. I could see this served with some peanut butter spread on top or warm from the oven with a pat of butter on it. Give it a try! It's yumm-o. 

5 Layer Bars

Makes 32 bars

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, peanuts or even a combo)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 for a metal pan; 325 for a glass pan.

Put butter in a 13x9 pan and place in hot oven for a few seconds to melt the butter. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over the melted butter. Sprinkle with nuts, then coconut, then chips and pour condensed milk evenly over the top. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool, cut into bars and serve.

One of my absolute favorite desserts and SO easy too. These taste similar to the famous Samoa cookie by the Girl Scouts. These are the type of bars you find yourself eating too many of! And the recipe is just so flexible, you can really make so many different types of bars by using this one as your base! Use chocolate cookie crumbs rather than graham. Try white chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips or milk chocolate and peanut butter chips. Experiment with different nuts or a combination of nuts. So many ways to make this, you could try a new one every day and not run out of ideas for weeks. So much fun and so much mmmmm!

French Silk Chocolate Pie

Makes 8 Servings

1 baked pie shell
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 1 oz squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
Whipped cream
Chocolate, chopped, shaved or curled

Directions:

Cream butter, gradually adding sugar, until light and fluffy. Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating 5 minutes after each. Turn into a baked pie crust and chill until firm, 2-3 hours. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls or shavings. Cut into 8 wedges and serve.



Absolutely, positively one of my all-time favorite desserts! We have this at Christmas and at Easter and any other time we are craving it! My mom has been making it for years and the combination of salty, flaky pie crust with semisweet, creamy chocolate is TO DIE FOR. I love, love, love this pie!

Fresh Fruit Pavlova

Makes 24 Servings

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons white vinegar
6 egg whites
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
4 tablespoons sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
2-3 kiwis, sliced
1 pint strawberries, washed, dried and sliced
1 pint blueberries, washed and dried


Directions:

Preheat oven to 275

Mix together cornstarch and vinegar in a small bowl until combined. In mixer, beat egg whites with wire whisk attachment on high until stiff peaks are formed. Stir in cornstarch and vinegar combination on low. Beat in sugar until thoroughly combined. Cover a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with wax paper. Spread shortening on wax paper, coating evenly and thoroughly. Pour mixture evenly over wax paper and spread with an offset spatula until even, or you can form peaks if you like. Bake at 275 for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let sit until cool. Meanwhile, whip the whipping cream in the mixer with a wire whisk until stiff peaks form. Beat in sugar until combined; gently stir in vanilla. Spread evenly over cooled pavlova and sprinkle fruit over the top, covering evenly. Cut into wedges and serve.



Pavlova is one of our favorite summertime desserts. It is light and fresh and so delicious and the sweetness is balanced with the fresh fruit and cream. Named after a famous ballerina, Anna Pavlova, you could eat this for any occasion, or even as a midday snack. My husband has requested this as a birthday cake before, and we've had it at many family get-togethers. It's a popular one for Fourth of July also, as we'll cut out the kiwi and do an American flag design on the top with the strawberries and blueberries instead.

Cherry Almond Cake

Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
4 tablespoons cherry syrup, from jar of cherries

Frosting:
10 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup half & half
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups sugar

Filling:
2 cups frosting (above)
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
1-2 tablespoons cherry syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Cake:
Cut circles of parchment paper to fit in three 8" round cake pans. Spray pans before placing paper and again after paper. In a mixer, combine cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Using the whisk attachment, stir on low until combined. Add eggs, sour cream, water, almond extract and cherry syrup. (What I do is get a cup of warm water in a pyrex measuring pitcher and add the eggs to the water and let them sit while adding the rest of the ingredients, this way the eggs reach room temperature quickly.) Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to combine, then increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add in chopped cherries and stir to combine. Pour the batter evenly into all three pans and bake for 30 minutes, checking with a toothpick. Can bake an additional 3-5 minutes if needed. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool.
Frosting & Filling:
In small-medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine milk, half and half and flour, whisking constantly until thickened, this takes about 5-8 minutes. Make sure you whisk constantly to avoid scorching. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely--I usually put my saucepan in the fridge on a heating pad about 10 minutes or so and this cools it quickly. Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar in your mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Once the flour mixture has cooled, whisk in the vanilla until combined and pour into the butter and sugar mixture. Turn the mixture to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Take 2 cups of the frosting and put in another bowl and mix the chopped cherries & cherry juice into it; this will be your filling.
Assembly:
Place your first cake layer on your cake stand or plate or whatever you will use to serve and spread half of the filling on that layer, using an offset spatula to spread evenly to the edges. Repeat for second layer. Place third layer on top and put about 2/3 of the frosting from the mixer bowl on top and spread evenly with your offset spatula to cover as well as possible, creating a crumb layer of frosting. Refrigerate the entire cake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from fridge and frost with remaining frosting, spreading evenly to cover any thin or bare spots. Dip offset spatula in warm water to smooth out the frosting, repeating until you reach the desired look. You can now accent with decorating tips or additional cherries as desired.



This cake is absolutely just as delicious as it is pretty. My husband requested it for his birthday and immediately proclaimed it the best cake he's ever had. I recommend having 2-3 large jars of maraschino cherries on hand as you will go through them a lot quicker than you think! I was hoping to have some to top the cake with, but I ran out of cherries and only had the syrup left so instead I flavored the filling with a bit of extra syrup since I was short on cherries. It seems like a lot of directions, but it's actually really easy to make compared to a lot of others I've done, and quicker also. One of my cake pans was MIA so I used a foil one, which led to a smaller top layer, but I just filled it in with frosting to make it even--you can see this in the photo, the top layer has a thicker outer coat of frosting than the other two. Also the middle layer got more brown on the bottom than I would've liked, so next time I will rotate the cake pans a little more than halfway as opposed to right at halfway through the baking time. This cake will definitely be a regular in our house, it was a hit in our family and everyone got up this morning wanting it for breakfast!

*Adapted from www.lemon-sugar.com*

Crockpot Apple Crisp

Makes 6-8 Servings

10 small apples
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter, cut up
-can substitute 1 box cake mix + 1 stick melted butter for oats & sugar if desired-

Directions:

Preheat your crock on high. Spray inside of the crock. Cut up the apples--peel or not, it's personal preference. Toss the apples with the orange juice, cinnamon, vanilla, cubed butter and brown sugar in the crockpot. Mix together in a separate bowl the oats, brown sugar and remaining cut up butter. Sprinkle over the top of the apples. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours, or low for 5. If you prefer the cake-mix-type topping, you can mix that with the cubed butter instead and sprinkle that on top of the apples instead of the oats and sugar. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Yum!



So easy and delicious. It's the perfect way to use up apples if you've got a ton like I do! My kids love this and I've made it with both kids of topping. I like to sprinkle a little cinnamon on top of my ice cream when I eat this.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 40 Cookies

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup of mashed bananas (2-3 ripened bananas)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda with a fork and let sit for a couple minutes. Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt and spices and sift into the wet mixture, mixing until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop in dollops onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden.



I have been trying to come up with recipes to use up brown bananas other than banana bread or muffins. We buy bananas by the ton (not really, but it feels like it!) and it always seems no matter how many we eat, there are always one or two (or three!) that don't get eaten before they get too soft to be appealing to the kids. This recipe is super easy and YUMMY. The cookies are not crispy, more cakey, but they taste delicious and are soft and moist right out of the oven. Delicious with a big glass of milk. You can leave out the spices if you don't like spice-type foods--this does have a "fall" spice to it similar to pumpkin pie or pumpkin bars, so leave out the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves if you'd rather and replace it with a teaspoon of vanilla for some flavor. These cookies are a delicious way to use up those over-ripened bananas! Yummy!

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Makes 16 Brownies

Brownies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup flour

Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Mix sugar, butter and eggs with a fork thoroughly. Add flour and cocoa and mix well. Spread in greased 8x8 square baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes until set. Let cool before icing.

Frosting: Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until boiling. Remove from heat and beat until it starts to thicken, then spread over cooled brownies.



This is a simple chocolate brownie recipe that tastes delicious with the fudgy icing on top. If you like nuts in your brownies, you can mix in 1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans are the best!) to the batter before baking and/or you can put a single nut half on top of each brownie after frosting.

Rich Chocolate Bread Pudding

Makes About 10 Servings

1 loaf of French bread or 2 Baguettes, 1-2 days old and starting to harden
2 cans evaporated milk
1/4 cup half & half
1/2 cup brewed coffee
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
6 large eggs
1 - 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Slice and cube the bread--this may require some elbow grease if it's hardened already. (Be prepared for lots of crumbs! I usually do mine over the sink or put a big kitchen towel under the cutting board.) Spray a 13x9 glass baking dish and spread the bread in it evenly. In a large bowl, whisk together the evaporated milk, half & half, and coffee (try to resist drinking this). In a medium sized bowl, mix the sugars together with the cocoa. Slowly stir this into the milk mixture in the large bowl. In another bowl (medium sized or so), beat the eggs then add the vanilla, almond and cinnamon and stir. Pour egg mixture into the large bowl with the milk mixture and stir until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour evenly over the bread cubes in the baking dish and let stand, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes, or until the bread has absorbed most of the liquid. Bake for 1 hour until set and a knife inserted into the center of the pudding comes out clean (except for melted chocolate chips). Serve warm or cold.



This dessert is really simple to make and tastes delicious! I like to serve ours warm with some fresh whipped cream on top. Yummy! It's good cold too though or with ice cream or even hot fudge on top. And by the way, you can use REALLY old (non-moldy of course...lol) bread with this too. I have made it with some poor forgotten loaves of bread that were rock hard and about 2 weeks old and it tasted just as good as with 2 day old baguettes!