Boston Cream Pie from Game Day Fan Fare

I just realized I never let you all know my favorite teams ~ NY Mets, NY Yankees, NY Giants, Miami Dolphins 

Don’t forget to that I’m giving away one copy of Gooseberry Patch’s Game Day Fan Fare.  To enter the giveaway, comment on THIS POST.

You can have 3 chances to win!

This is the last recipe that I tried from this cookbook.  I chose it because I LOVE Boston Cream Pie and the cake in this recipe is from scratch which I like so much better than a mix.  I think you could make the cream from scratch as well instead of using pudding mix.  All in all, it’s a delicious recipe!

Boston Cream Pie
Submitted by Flo Burnett, Gage, OK

5 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
4 1/2 tsps fresh lemon juice
2 tbsps water
1 cup cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3.4 oz pkg cook & serve vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/8 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter
2 (1 oz) sqs unsweetened baking chocolate
1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat together egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together zest, juice, and water. Gradually beat zest mixture into yolk mixture until fluffy. Fold in flour until completely blended. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Beat remaining sugar into egg whites until combined. Gently fold egg white mixture into yolk mixture until fully combined. Divide batter between 2 lightly greased 9 inch round cake pans. Bake at 350º for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks.

Meanwhile, prepare pudding mix according to package directions using milk. Refrigerate until well chilled; fold in whipping cream and vanilla. Set aside.

Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler (I used the microwave). Remove from heat; whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.

Assembly: Place one cake layer on a cake plate. Spread with all the pudding filling. Top filling with the remaining cake layer. Pour chocolate mixture over the top and spread to cover top of cake.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Vintage Recipes Series ~ Cream Cheese Squares

I have a collection of old handmade recipe albums, recipe card boxes and a box full of recipes that I have been collecting for several years.  If I see someone’s recipe card collection for sale, I just can’t pass it up.  I feel bad that someone’s hard work collecting these recipes is being sold so I buy them and put on my bookshelf.  I have recipes from the 20s through about 2005 or so.  Some are not vintage but I have no idea what to call them.

Some recipes are written on the backs of envelopes and some are typed out neatly on cards.  It’s really a treasure trove of someone’s life in the kitchen.  It’s fun to go through them.

I decided that a few times a month, I would pick a recipe, make it, and blog about it.   Many of these recipes have no attribution or even a publishing date and are handwritten.  If it does have any publishing info, I’ll post it.  Except for the box of recipes that I have collected, I have no idea who even belonged to these boxes/albums.

As you can see from the picture, the ingredient list in this recipe ~ Cream Cheese Squares ~ is a mess.  Luckily, there aren’t too many ingredients.  The recipe looks like it’s from the late 70s or early 80s from a column called Common Sense Cooking by Ruth McDaniel.  I did a bing search and it looks like Mrs. McDaniel has passed away.

These cream cheese squares are delicious!  They are cheesecake in bar form.  The recipe is easy however, saving 1 cup of the base to sprinkle on top is too much.  One-half cup would be plenty.

Cream Cheese Squares

1/3 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts ~ I used pecans
1 (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsps milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350º.

Cream butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add flour and chopped nuts and mix to make a crumb mixture. Reserve 1/2 cup and set aside. Press remainder in greased, 8-inch square pan. Bake 15 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool while you make the cream cheese mixture.

Blend sugar and cream cheese in a medium bowl with a mixer until smooth. Add egg, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat well until smooth. Pour over warm crust and sprinkle the reserved crust mixture over the cream cheese mixture. Bake for 25 minutes.

Cool and cut into squares.

I keep them in the refrigerator because I like cheesecake cold but the recipe doesn’t say anything about keeping them there.

Makes 9 bars.

Happy Cooking!

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies

Oh my ~ these are delicious!  I know red velvet everything is big right now and I don’t usually follow trends but this recipe sucked me in.   I actually made them around Valentine’s Day and I put the recipe aside and forgot about it until I downloaded the pictures and there they were.

I chose to try this recipe because it made the brownies from scratch ~ no boxed brownie mix was involved.  I am trying to stay away from boxed mixes especially since it’s so easy to bake from scratch without all the preservatives.  I also liked that it didn’t use a whole bottle of red food coloring like so may recipes do.  Be careful when using it because it turns everything red.  The only thing I did different from the recipe was to leave out the nuts.

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies

Brownies:
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp red food coloring
1 tsp white vinegar
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup toasted almonds

Cream Cheese Layer:
8 ozs cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350º. Butter an 8×8 baking pan and set aside.

Brownie layer: Melt the butter either on the stove top or in the microwave and pour into a large mixing bowl. In order, add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa, salt, food coloring, and vinegar, mixing between additions. In an small bowl, whisk the eggs and stir into the cocoa mixture. Fold in the flour until combined. Stir in the walnuts if using. Save 1/4 cup of this mixture and set aside. Pour what’s left into the prepared pan.

Cream cheese layer: Blend the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla together in a medium bowl. Gently spread this mixture on top of the brownies mixture in the prepared pan.

Using a spoon, drop the remaining cocoa batter over the top of the cream cheese layer. Using the tip of a knife or a skewer, drag it through the cream cheese layer and the dropped batter to create a swirl effect.  Try not to mix in the brownie layer on the bottom as much as you can.

Bake for 30 minutes and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Makes 8 servings

Adapted from Food Network

Happy Cooking!

 

Strawberry Mousse

I love any flavor of mousse but so many of them use raw eggs that I don’t usually make them.  Yes, I know I can use pasteurized eggs but  for some reason, I don’t.  Anyway, this recipe doesn’t have any eggs at all.  It tasted like fresh strawberries which I loved.  I hate when I can’t taste the flavor.  It is also very easy to make.

Strawberry Mousse

1 cup fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup hot water
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup whipping cream

Place the strawberries and sugar in a blender and process until pureed. Let stand for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, soften the unflavored gelatin in cold water. Add the hot water and stir until the gelatin dissolves.

Add the gelatin mixture to the pureed strawberries and process in the blender to mix well. Add the whipping cream and whip for 5 minutes. The mixture will not whip up like whipping cream usually does.

Pour into 4 dessert dishes and chill for 2 to 3 hours or until set.

Makes 4 servings. I made 2 large servings instead of the 4.

Recipe adapted from Something’s Simmering

Happy Cooking!

Apple Crumb Pie

Mr. Meat Eater and I are pie people.  We like cake, too, but almost always choose pie over cake.   Even though we love pie, I don’t make it very often because we would eat too much.  Last week I had some apples that were well on their way to spoiling so the first thing that came to my mind was…pie!

I searched around and found a recipe on Allrecipes that I changed up to suit us.  It’s easy and delicious.  I used MUCH less sugar than the recipe called for ~ I used barely 1/4 cup since my apples were sweet and 3/4 cup just seemed like too much sugar to me.

Apple Crumb Pie

Pie:
1 pie shell, unbaked
6 cups sliced apples
1 tbps lemon juice
2/4 cup sugar ~ I used less than 1/4 cup
2 tbsps flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Topping:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp cold butter

Preheat oven to 375º.

Place sliced apples in a large bowl and sprinkle lemon juice over the apples. Mix the rest of the pie ingredients (except crust) in a small bowl and sprinkle it over the top of the apples and mix until all the apples are coated evenly. Spoon into unbaked shell.

In another small bowl, mix together the flour and brown sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks crumbly. Sprinkle over filling in the pie shell. Cover loosely with aluminum foil.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Cool and serve.

Makes 8 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Key Lime Meringue Pie

This pie was another key lime recipe I made for Mr. Meat Eater.  I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted it and had to have my own piece.  It was delicious and I’ll be making this pie again in the near future.

Now, the recipe for the filling called for 5 egg yolks and the meringue called for 4 egg whites.  I used 5 egg whites for the meringue ~ no sense in wasting that last egg white.  I also used Nellie and Joe’s key lime juice instead of fresh lime juice.  I also made my own graham cracker crust instead of using a bought one.  I just followed the directions on the box.  I always find the meringue on pies gets really sticky after the first day so it would be easier to cut the pie into slices before refrigerating for the night.

I’m sure I got this recipe from Pinterest and it is attributed to the Deen Brothers.

Key Lime Meringue Pie

Filling:
5 large egg yolks
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsps grated lime zest
1/2 cup key lime juice ~ I use Nellie and Joe’s
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 prepared graham cracker crumb crust

Meringue:
5 egg whites
6 tbsps sugar
1/2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325º.

In a medium bowl, mix together the yolks and condensed milk. Stir in the lime zest, lime juice, and cream. Pour into crust and bake for 20 minutes or until firm.

Increase oven temperature to 350º.

Meanwhile, using a mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add the sugar mixture, a spoonful at a time, to the egg whites, beating between additions. Beat until sugar dissolves.

Spoon meringue over the hot pie filling. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the meringue is golden.

Serve pie warm or at room temperature.

Makes 8 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Rum Cake

This was a favorite of ours years ago and I decided it was a good time to bring it back.  It’s very easy to make which is a plus!

This is the same Bacardi Rum recipe that was in every magazine in the 70′s and can now be found in almost every community cookbook published.  It’s a winner!

I just filled up the middle with fresh fruit but otherwise made exactly as the recipe states.

Rum Cake

Cake:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 pkg yellow cake mix ~ DO NOT add ingredients on the box
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark rum ~ I used spiced rum

Glaze:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark rum ~ I used spiced rum

Grease a 10 inch tube pan or a bundt pan and sprinkle pecans over the bottom of the pan.

Mix together the cake mix, pudding, eggs, water, oil. and rum. Pour over the nuts in the prepared pan.

Bake at 325º for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Invert onto a serving dish. I did it a bit different. I inverted onto a cookie sheet until it was glazed and then I carefully moved it to my serving plate.

For the glaze: Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in the water and sugar. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the rum.

Brush glaze over the top and sides of the cake. Allow cake to absorb the glaze. Repeat until glaze is used up.

Makes 10-12 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Key Lime Fudge

Mr. Meat Eater loves all things key lime.  I, on the other hand, could cheerfully live without it.  Since he’s such a nice guy, I make something key lime once in awhile.

I had seen a picture of key lime fudge on Pinterest but there was no recipe attached (that makes me crazy, btw) so I hunted around and found this recipe on Real Mom Kitchen.  We had a few friends over and I was tired of making chocolate fudge so I decided to try this fudge.  Much to my surprise, everyone loved it!  I took a bite and found it was not as sweet as I thought it would be and I would have liked more lime taste to it.  Everyone else thought it was perfect as is.

For the crust, I just followed the pie crust recipe on the box of graham cracker crumbs (just like Real Mom Kitchen did) so I am not going to write it out here but if anyone needs it, let me know.

Key Lime Fudge

Graham cracker crust following recipe on graham crumbs box
16 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp butter
1 lime, zested
3 tbsps key lime juice or lime juice ~ I use Nellie and Joe’s Key Lime Juice

Preheat oven to 350º and line a 9×9 baking dish with aluminum foil. Butter the foil and set aside.

Place the mixed graham crust ingredients and spread in the pan evenly and press down slightly when even.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Place in a saucepan, the chopped white chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and 1 tbsp butter. Cook on low heat until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in zest and lime juice.

Carefully pour this mixture over the crumb crust and even out carefully with a spatula.

Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.

Before cutting, sprinkle a few graham crumbs from the box if desired.

Using the foil, remove the fudge from the pan and cut into small squares. Discard foil.

Makes about 24 pieces of fudge depending on how large you cut the squares.

Happy Cooking!

Red, White and Blue Trifle

This trifle is another recipe that I’m reblogging since it’s perfect for July 4th.

It’s very easy to make and looks very patriotic.  You can make it with all sugar-free products like I do or use the regular products ~ it’s great with either.  This recipe uses help from prepared products, but you can always make yours from scratch.  I always use more fruit than necessary and I never use the banana since I’m not much of a banana fan.

Red, White, and Blue Trifle

1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 (4 ounce pkg.) cheesecake flavor instant pudding
1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed
16 ounce frozen pound cake, thawed
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup blueberries
1 cup sliced banana

Mix together the milk and pudding mix and beat with a wire whisk for 1-2 minutes or until well blended. Gently stir in the thawed Cool Whip.

In a trifle bowl or large glass bowl, layer half the cake cubes, half the fruit, and half of the pudding/Cool Whip mixture. Repeat layers, ending with pudding/Cool Whip mixture.

Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Makes 12 servings

Happy Cooking!

Lemon-Sugar Grilled Pineapple

When we lived in Hawaii, we could get pineapples practically off the vine.  They were so sweet and delicious (and cheap!).  We ate so many of them that I’m surprised we still like them!  This recipe is perfect if you get a not-so-sweet pineapple like I did recently.  A super easy grilled dessert that only uses 3 ingredients. The hardest part is peeling and cutting the pineapple ~ although it’s not really hard, just time-consuming.

We grill the pineapple after we finish eating dinner so it’s still warm when we eat it. This would also be great with some vanilla ice cream.

I found the recipe in an old All You magazine.

Lemon-Sugar Grilled Pineapple

1 fresh pineapple
2 tbsps grated lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar

Trim off the top and bottom of the pineapple. Peel the rind off being sure to get as many of the eyes off as possible as they are hard to eat. When peeled, cut the pineapple in half lengthwise and then into sections, making sure to cut the rind off each section.

Mix the sugar and zest in a ziplock bag.

Put a couple of the pineapple sticks into the bag at a time and shake until coated. Transfer to the grill and cook for 5-7 minutes or until you have grill marks and pineapple is softening up.

Cool slightly before eating so you don’t burn your mouth.

Makes 8 servings.

Happy Cooking!