Cream Puffs

If you don't love cream puffs, there's something wrong with you. Seriously, you might want to get it checked out.

This is my mom's recipe. Who knows where it originally came from. Back when we were kids, and she was looking for a "project" to do no doubt, she typed up her recipes into little binders. Three of them. One for her and one for each of her kids so they would know how to at least cook a few things when they moved out. They are filled with type-overs and typos (not the same thing, if you remember anything about the days of typing on a manual typewriter, clumping keys, ribbons of ink and no white-out), shorthand recipes that I have to call her for clarification on and a whole lot of family recipes.

This is one of those.

CREAM PUFFS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 eggs, room temperature

Directions:  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease them.

• In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and boiling water.
• Over medium-low heat, bring to a boil and then gradually add the 1 cup of flour and the salt.
• Beat vigorously until mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
• Remove from heat and cool slightly.
• Add the unbeaten eggs, one at a time, and beat this mixture until glossy.
• Drop batter from spoon onto cookie sheet, mounding into a circle with a little swirl on top.
• Space approx 2" apart.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool away from drafts on wire racks.
• Cut in half and fill with whip cream and fruit.
• Eat! and then eat another one! For quality control purposes of course.

You can also pipe these into eclair shapes or pipe whipping cream (or pudding if that's your thing) right into the middle of them. Or dust them with icing sugar. Or eat them just the way they are, like Blade does!



TIPS

• You can just grease your cookie sheet with Pam etc. but use parchment paper if you have it. And if you haven't discovered the joys of parchment paper yet, go to the store and get some! Can you say zero sticking and zero clean-up?
• It says to gradually add the flour, but I have to tell you, after the first initial small dump of flour, I just tossed the rest in. I was concentrating on beating vigorously with my spoon!
• You will definitely be able to tell when the mixture 'leaves the side of the pan'. I was a bit worried about knowing but you can't mistake it.
• When you add the eggs, the mixture looks gloopy initially. Just keep stirring until it combines before you add the next one.  Bet your arm is tired by now though!
• If you forgot to put your eggs out on the counter so they would be room temp, just put them in a bowl of really warm water for a few minutes. That will warm them up enough.
• Mine only took 30 minutes to bake. I did both paper and oiling to see the difference. The oiled pan produced puffs with a crispier bottom initially but I don't know as you could tell the difference once they cooled. I prefer the paper though, no washing to do.
• No one cares that your puffs might turn out wonky looking if you think you didn't swirl just right. They'll be too busy eating them to worry about it.

Apple Muffins

Storm had a craving for Apple Muffins.

I didn't have an actual recipe to turn to, but I did have an Apple Coffee Cake recipe I'd made a couple of times before (ripped out from a random magazine). I never did like the streusel they put on top so I made the crumb topping from my Grandma's Crumb Cake that I love.

One part coffee cake. One part Grandma's crumb cake. All yumminess.

Apple Muffins

Yields 12

CAKE

1 1/4 cup flour      1/2 cup sugar

2 1/4 tsp baking powder   1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt  1/2 cup milk

4 tbsp oil (or melted butter)   1 egg, beaten

2 apples, peeled and diced

• Mix the dry ingredients for the batter in a medium bowl.
• In a separate bowl, mix milk, oil and egg.
• Pour into dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in apples.
• Pour into lined muffin tin. Put on a generous tablespoon of Grandma's crumb topping.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry.

GRANDMA'S CRUMB TOPPING

1/4 cup butter, slightly softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

• Mix together until crumbly.



You can come over for one of these though, if you hurry. I doubled the recipe thinking that original cake recipe wouldn't make twelve and I had enough to make 24!

Quick! Come save my arse from getting any wider!!

French Bread

I can't take the credit for this recipe, but I can share it with you! I originally found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine, and then it sat on my recipe shelf for about .. oh, a year at least. But today I pulled it out and figured I'd give it a whirl.

Yum! Two amazing loaves of french bread in under 3 hours total.

French Bread

2 tbsp. active dry yeast       2 cups warm water

2 tsp. salt      1 tsp. sugar

4-1/2 to 5 cups bread flour*

1 tsp. cornmeal

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the salt, sugar and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
• Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hr.
• Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape into 12" long loaves.
• Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 mins.
• Sprinkle with cornmeal. With a sharp knife, make four shallow slashes across the top of each loaf.
• Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

* I used regular AP flour and they turned out great. I'm going to experiment with using actual bread flour and see what the difference is. They can only get better. I made the entire recipe in my large mixer bowl using my dough hooks. I took it out and kneaded it for maybe 2 minutes or so!

I'd invite you over for a slice or two, but in this family, homemade bread doesn't last long!

L*O*V*E

Friends, I'm in love.

For Family Friday (that's a lot of capital F's!) and Easter I made this new iced chocolate cake recipe I found from another blog with the recipe actually coming from Martha Stewart's website.  Oh my.  I don't even like chocolate cake, and I certainly don't like chocolate icing.  But this, this is GOOD.  I'd share a picture of my masterpiece cake but of course I didn't remember to take a picture at home with my good camera.  I snapped a picture with my blackberry while I was waiting for Ryan to get gas.  Here's my craptastic picture.

Sorry! But if you don't judge this recipe on my BB's photo skills and just make it, you won't be sorry!

I'm just going to write out the icing recipe and leave you with the link to Martha Stewart's site instead for the cake.  The cake was amazing.  The icing even more amazing.

Chocolate Frosting

4 1/2 cups of icing sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

12 ounces of cream cheese (that's a pkg and a half for us Canadians)

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

18 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, melted*

1 1/2 cups sour cream

Mix the icing sugar, cocoa and salt in a medium bowl.  With a mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high until fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Reduce speed to low.  Gradually add sugar mixture, beating until combined.  Beat in melted chocolate and sour cream until combined.

*Now for my suggestions.  This makes a crap ton of frosting, so if you aren't looking to ice two double layer cakes, cut the recipe in half for sure.  I still have a big tub in the fridge left over.  (poor me, as I sit here eating it with a spoon as I type out this recipe).  It calls for 18oz of bittersweet chocolate melted.  I only had 8 squares of semi-sweet baker's chocolate and some chocolate chips.  I ended up melting the squares and 1 2/3cups of chips to make up the 18 oz.  Yes, it sounds like a lot of chocolate to me too! I was worried it would be way way too sweet ( I mean, 4.5 cups of icing sugar!!?!) but it's yummy and creamy.   I hate sour cream.  Hate the smell of it, the look of it, the fact that someone out there wanted me to put it in my icing.  Do it anyways.  You can't taste it and it gives it an amazing creamy lighter texture.

The cake recipe was amazingly good as well.  The rum, well Screech in my case, adds a delicious smell and slight taste to it.  Here's the link to her site with the cake recipe.  Chocolate Cake

And no, mine didn't look much like hers!  But like I have time to make a fake bird's nest and put fancy grass on the top of it as well! 

Now if you'll excuse me, my ass has a date with this:

Oh dear.

Easiest Play-Doh Ever

One more day until Winter break is over!

The kids are not so excited, but Mom is!!

Today, we broke out the play-doh recipe and I had a solid two hour break from things that I just needed to be told about.

Here's the recipe for the easiest way to get a 2 hour break.

Kool-Aid Play-Doh

2 1/2 cup flour  

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tartar

2 pkg Kool-Aid

2 cups boiling water

2-3 tbsp oil

• Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and kool-aid thoroughly in a medium sized bowl.
• Add the oil to the flour mixture. Stir.
• Add boiling water to mixture and stir until completely mixed
• Knead together with hands, adding more oil if it seems sticky.
• Let cool a bit in a plastic bag before using. Easily cut in half or doubled, we only made half batches today

This playdoh smells awesome, doesn't stick to anything, takes 5 minutes to make, is easy to mold and make shapes with and doesn't keep* 

Yes, that is a plus by the way.  That way you don't have it around so long that they want you to participate in making fabulous creations such as:

Happy kids

Hunter's "Shrek"

Storm's Cinnamon Buns

Blade's crab

*This actually keeps for 2-3 weeks in the fridge or a week or so on the counter, but let's not tell the kids okay.  You shoulda seen my carpet under the table! Oy!


Bonus Picture:

I don't have to tell you what I see when I look at this 'tank'..... LOL

Sweet & Sour Sauce

Possibly the easiest and the best tasting sweet and sour sauce.

3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup water

• Combine brown sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan.  Add ketchup, vinegar and water.
• Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture bubbles and thickens

That's it.  Just that simple, and yet it tastes SO much better than the store bought stuff. 

Mmmm.