Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole

I saw this recipe in my news feed last week posted by Cupcakes and Crinoline and I knew right away that I was going to bake it for Easter brunch!  It was the right choice and we all loved it.  It has made it’s way onto my permanent brunch list of recipes.

The cinnamon rolls that the recipe calls for were a bit hard to locate but I finally found them ~ they are different than the usual Pillsbury  cinnamon rolls we throw in a pan and bake.  These  are rolled up like homemade cinnamon rolls.

To get this delicious recipe, click on this link ~ Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole.

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!

Julie’s Ranch Pretzels

Julie has a great blog called Julie’s Eats and Treats.  I came across her blog’s page on Facebook and she had posted these delectable goodies.  I was looking for a snack for Easter weekend and decided these would be perfect.

I made them as Julie posted on her blog and while they were a bit salty, we could NOT stop eating them.  In fact, my daughter took what was left for her get-together on Sunday night.  They are highly addictive.

Somehow, I don’t think Virginia is the hotbed of pretzels since it took forever to find them.  Mr. Meat Eater found them eventually.  Don’t use the skinny little pretzel sticks,  Utz brand makes a bigger stick pretzel ~ plain and buttery.

Click on the link to Julie’s blog for the recipe ~ Julie’s Ranch Pretzels

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!

 

Emeril’s Roasted Asian-Style Chicken Wings

Wow were these wings delicious!  I’m sorry to say I made them for the Super Bowl and it’s taken me this long to post them.  I can be a  terrible procrastinator!

These were not hard to make but did take some time and planning around the other things I had in the oven.  The only ingredient that might be difficult to find is the mirin.  My grocery store happens to have a well-stocked Asian foods section so it was easy for me to find.  If you can’t find it, I would just leave it out.

Emeril’s Roasted Asian-Style Chicken Wings

5 lbs chicken drummettes
1 tbsp Emeril’s Original Essence
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 cups orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce (use low sodium if you can)
1/2 cup mirin
2 tbsps grated orange peel
2 tbsps minced garlic
2 tbsps minced fresh garlic
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsps minced green onions
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tbsps sesame seeds
2 tbsps chopped fresh cilantro (I left this out because it tastes like soap to me)

Preheat oven to 425º. Line a baking sheet with 1-inch sides with aluminum foil.

In a large bowl, season the wings with the Emeril’s Essence, salt and pepper. Toss to coat the wings all over. Place the wings evenly in the foil-lined pan and bake until brown, about 15 minutes.

While the wings are baking, in a large skillet, combine the orange juice, pineapple juice, sugar, soy sauce, mirin, orange zest, garlic, ginger, oil, green onion and red pepper. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves and the liquid has become syrup-y, about 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat and cover the pan with foil.

Remove wings from oven and reduce temperature to 350º. Place wings in a large, heatproof bowl. Drizzle half the prepared sauce over the wings and set the other half aside. Toss the wings in the bowl to coat and toss with sesame seeds. Take the old foil off the baking sheet, reline with foil, place a wire rack on top of the foil, and place the coated wings on the rack. Return to the oven and bake 20-25 more minutes or until cooked through and crispy.

Arrange wings on a serving platter; top with cilantro.

Serve with remaining sauce for dipping.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Adapted from Emeril Legasse in Parade Magazine.

Happy Cooking!

Guinness Chocolate Cake

Well, I’ve made Guinness cupcakes and brownies so it only stands to reason that I would eventually make a Guinness cake.

This cake is very moist and delicious.  After a day or two, it tastes even better.   For the frosting, the directions said to make it look like the head of a glass of Guinness but I am not thrilled with all that drippy frosting so I just frosted the top with no dripping on the sides.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

12 oz Guinness Extra Stout
1 stick plus 2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350º. Line the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper, then butter the parchment and the sides of the pan.

Pour the Guinness into a saucepan and add the butter by the tablespoonful and heat until the butter is melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar and set aside.

Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Pour the Guinness mixture into the sour cream mixture and whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the batter into the prepared ban. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Mine took 1 hour exactly.

Let cool completely on a cooling rack. When completely cool, remove from pan and set on a cake stand. I put the cake stand on top of the cake and flipped it right side up so that the bottom of the cake became the top and I was able to remove the bottom of the springform pan and the parchment paper. The bottom is also smoother and flatter to frost.

Frost the top of the cake so that it looks like a head of a glass of beer.

Makes 10-12 servings.

Frosting

Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth with a mixer. Sift in the sugar and beat together. When smooth, beat in the heavy cream. Frost top of cake using all the icing.

Adapted from Paws-itively Good Chow

Happy Cooking!

Country~Style Chicken Kiev

This is an old recipe that was in ads in all the magazines back in the late 70s and early 80s I think.  I used to make it all the time and like many recipes, I forgot about it.

Lately, bone-in chicken breasts are so huge that I never use them except to roast them for cooked chicken dishes.  A couple weeks ago, I spied a package that had almost normal sized pieces in it so I bought it, came home, went through my recipes and found this one again.  I love this recipe for some reason.  Probably the butter!

The picture is not that great, sorry!

Country-Style Chicken Kiev

2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic salt
2 bone-in chicken breasts
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat oven to 375º

Melt butter in a bowl in the microwave. Combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, basil, oregano, garlic salt. Dip chicken in butter then roll in crumb mixture. Reserve remaining butter.

Place chicken skin side up in ungreased baking dish. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until chicken in thoroughly cooked and no pink remains.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the butter, white wine, green onion and parsley. Keep warm over low heat. When chicken is done, pour sauce over the chicken and stick back in the oven for 3-5 minutes.

Serve chicken with sauce spooned over.

Makes 2 servings.

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!

Beefy Chili

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again ~ I am not a fan of chili.  Mr. Meat Eater loves it so I continue to make it using different recipes hoping I’ll find one that I like enough to make again.

This recipe is very different from others in that there are no ingredients like onions, pepper, etc.  So in that way, it’s more like a stew I guess.  It’s really quite good and super easy to make.

Chili is still not a favorite but I will make it again so that’s something!  I found the recipe over at Southern Living.

Beefy Chili

4 lbs beef stew meat
2 tbsps chili powder
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
1 (32 oz) container beef broth
2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
2 tsps minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried organo
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Toppings: Tortilla chips, sour cream, cheese, chopped onion, etc., optional

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown the meat in batches if needed. Remove the meat but leave the drippings in the pot. Add the chili powder and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes.

Return the meat to the pot and stir in the beef broth and the next 9 ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Cook until beef is tender.

Serve with cornbread and toppings if desired.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Barbecue Baby Back Ribs in the Slow Cooker

Don’t forget to sign up for the Gooseberry Patch giveaway.  Comment HERE on this post to be entered.  Giveaway ends on Thursday!

I know ~ we have a great smoker so why did I put the ribs in my slow cooker?  It was cold and Mr. Meat Eater will only smoke ribs that have a rub on them that is too spicy for me.  And I like them saucey.  So I searched around for a recipe that would meet my criteria and found one on the Betty Crocker site with the one review I was looking for ~ the meat stays on the ribs.  I really don’t like it when the meat falls off the ribs.  Must be the cave woman in me.

Now, you can easily make your own barbecue sauce to use but in the spirit of laziness, I used Sweet Baby Rays which is my favorite.  I used the plain old barbecue sauce.  You will need about 2 or 2 1/2 cups of sauce.

Barbecue Baby Back Ribs in the Slow Cooker

Barbecue sauce ~ homemade or store bought
4 lb pork baby back ribs, cut into 3 rib sections
salt
pepper

Spray a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper and place in slow cooker. Pour about 1 1/2 to 2 cups sauce over the ribs.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 3-3 1/2 hours or until tender. I cooked mine on LOW for about 3 hours and then upped it to HIGH for another 3-4 hours. My slow cooker does not get really hot so you will have to adjust for your particular slow cooker. Make sure the pork is completely cooked before removing from slow cooker.

Remove from slow cooker and serve with extra barbecue sauce.

Makes 6-8 servings or 3-4 if you are serving Mr. Meat Eater.

Happy Cooking!