Spudnuts

We have a new favorite treat at our house! I got this recipe when I was in Home Economics (not sure if it was Jr. High or High School but it was a while ago either way). They are yummy! And we justify them by saying they have potatoes to add nutritional value!

2 cups scalded milk, cooled to lukewarm
2 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1 cup instant, prepared mashed potatoes
6 Tbsp butter flavored shortening
6 Tbsp salted butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp lemon flavoring
1/4 tsp vanilla
6 to 8 cups flour (I think I ended up using 9)

Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Scald 2 cups of milk and allow it to cool to about 115 degrees. Dissolve yeast in water (110-115 degrees) and 1 tsp sugar.

Once yeast is dissolved and milk cooled, add all ingredients except 1/2 the flour. Beat well with mixer. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 15 minutes. Let rise until double in size.

Roll out 1-inch thick. Cut into doughnut shapes. If you don't have a doughnut cutter, no worries. This is what we use:
Yes, that is a lid for a glitter container. We just make sure we clean it out really well. The cup is just shy of 3 1/2 inches in diameter and the lid is 1 1/4 inches. They are the perfect sizes!

Oh, I should warn you that this makes a LOT of doughnuts!

Let rise 1/2 hour. Fry in hot oil. They need to get pretty brown to be cooked all the way through.
Dip in glaze. We dip ours in the glaze and flip them over to make sure they are good and coated. Then we set them on cooling rack that is sitting on a cookie sheet (to catch the drips).
ENJOY!!

Cake Tutorial

Lately, I've had a lot of people ask me how I make my cakes. They really are easy (but only because I cheat) so I figured I would do a little "demo" just to show how easy they are!

First, make sure you have EVERYTHING you need! I say this because with this very cake, I had to run to Walmart TWICE at 10:00 at night to pick up things I thought I had (pastry bags and the right colors of food paste).

These are the pastry bags I use. They are disposable which I like because I don't want to clean out a pastry bag when I'm done. Call me lazy!


As far as tips go, in the past, I have only used tips #3 and #21 for all of my cakes. There have been times when other tips may have been nice but I have always been able to do what I need to with those two tips. BUT, my awesome hubby gave me an early birthday present so now I have a set of 56 tips! I can't wait to use them!

Make sure you have the colors you need. Food coloring will not work. I use Wilton food paste (pictured below) but I am sure there are others out there that would work just as well. You can pick these up in the party section at Walmart (by the wedding stuff) individually or in packages with multiple colors. Here is a really good site for mixing colors to get other colors: http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/coloring/colormixingchart.htm. I just buy the basic colors and then mix them myself. Just start with very small amounts - a little bit goes a long way! You can always add more but you can't take any out!


First, I grease the bottom only of my pan. I very rarely use shaped cake pans. I think they are harder to use than the way I actually make them. I just use a 9x13 pan.


When I make my cake, I use applesauce in place of the oil. It not only makes the cake a little healthier, I think it makes it easier to work with (it's a little more dense). Other than that, I make the cake as directed on the box. This is one area where I have not had good experiences with generic cake mixes. It is worth the money to buy a name brand.
While the cake is hot, I loosen the edges with a knife or spatula (I push the spatula as far as I can under the cake too just to make sure it doesn't stick)...


Then place a cooling rack on top of the pan and flip so the cake comes out.
This time around, I didn't flip while hot and this is what happened:
Now I know why I always flipped it hot before! No worries, it will be frosted anyway!

While the cake is cooling, find an image online that you can use for a template. Copy the image into any photo editing software and enlarge (or shrink) the image to fit within 8x12 (to allow for the edges on the cake). If you don't have software, this can be done in Paint. You'll want to print several of these so they are all the same size.

It doesn't matter if the printed image is pixelated or hard to see as long as you can get the basic shape. I cut the image out and place it directly on my cake.

Using a good serrated knife, I cut around my template...

...until I have the shape for my cake!

Now I turn a cookie sheet upside down and cover it with aluminum foil.

Now I place a plate (or another cookie sheet if a plate is too small) on top of the cake, flip it over, remove the cooling rack, place the foil covered cookie sheet on top of the cake, flip it over and voila:
Because the edges will not be smooth, it is much easier if the cake is frozen after this step. I just place mine in the freezer right on the cookie sheet for a couple of hours until it hardens. The sides need to be frosted quickly once removed because it does thaw fast. I have put the cake back in the freezer to refreeze (with frosting on it) if it becomes to crumbly to work with. Freezing won't hurt the cake or the frosting.

Now I frost the cake one area at a time. For flat areas (this will make more sense later), regular frosting will work just fine. For Elmo, I started with the eyes. I took my template, cut the eyes out and put it back on the cake.

Using white frosting, I frosted where the eyes would be going right onto the paper.

When the paper is removed....perfect eyes!

Next, I did the nose (with a new printout).



And finally, the mouth (again, a new printout):

I did learn a little trick for black. If you start out with chocolate frosting, it takes a lot less black paste to make the frosting black! I just used white because that is all I had and I wasn't making that much black but it is a nice little piece of information to know!
And then I got lazy and forgot to take pictures. All I did for the rest of it was used tip #21 and put red stars all over the rest of the cake. When doing stars (or anything raised or shaped) regular store bought frosting is not thick enough to hold the shape. Most people will make their own frosting, but again, I am lazy, so I just add powdered sugar (1 1/2 to 2 cups per container) to thicken the frosting so it will hold it's shape. Don't add the powdered sugar for flat areas. It is much easier to work with on flat areas when it is thinner (yes, I learned that the hard way...with THIS cake). For the eyes, I used tip #3 and made and filled in black circles. I then smoothed the circles with a knife. I also touched up the lines on the mouth with this same tip.

See! Super easy!!

I hope this all makes sense!

Whachamacalits

1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
5 ½ cups Rice Crispies
1 cup chocolate chips

Bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil and remove from heat. Add 1 cup peanut butter and stir well. Combine Rice Crispies and press into a 9x13 greased pan. Immediately drop chocolate chips over the top. As the chocolate chips begin to melt, spread over the top with spatula.

Crepes

2 eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil

In a blender combine eggs, milk, flour, salt and oil. Process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and brush with oil. Pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter into pan, tilting to completely coat the surface of the pan. Cook 2 to 5 minutes, turning once, until golden. Repeat with remaining batter.
From here

A cute way to start off October

Trix or Treat Spider Cookies

1 package Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix
1 can of chocolate ready-made frosting
1 can of vanilla ready-made frosting
24-48 Trix orange and green sweetened corn puffs
Toothpicks
Re-sealable plastic bags

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
* Mix ingredients for cookies as directed on the package.
* Use a small ice cream scoop to get similar sized cookies or just use a spoon and vary the amount for different size cookies.
* Place cookie dough on a parchment covered baking sheet.
* Bake for about 7-8 minutes.
* Cool completely on a wire rack.
* Makes about two dozen cookies.

To decorate:

* Spread chocolate frosting on the top of each cookie.
* Fill a re-sealable plastic bag with a couple of heaping spoonfuls of frosting and snip a tiny hole out of the bottom of one corner.
* Pipe on three circles of white frosting for each cookie. Start in the middle with the smallest circle and work your way out.
* Take a toothpick and beginning in the center, drag it lightly through each circle. Repeat all the way around the cookie.
* Take remaining frosting and separate it into two bowls. Tint one frosting with orange icing color and the other with green.
* Fill two re-sealable bags with the orange and green frosting and snip off the corner of each.
* Pipe eight small legs with each color and place a matching orange or green Trix Cereal puff on the top of each pair of legs. Add one or several spiders on each cookie.

Low Fat Strawberry Dessert

Ingredients

Yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup applesauce
4 egg whites

Light Cool Whip

1 pound strawberries

Mix cake, water, applesauce and egg whites as directed on cake box. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350 in 11" x 15" pan (or until toothpick in middle comes out clean). Cool. Cut off crust. Cut remaining cake into 1" squares.

Slice strawberries lengthwise.

Layer 1/2 the cake, 1/2 the strawberries, and 1/2 Cool Whip (I used the small Cool Whip but would recommend either two containers or one large container). Repeat layers leaving out 2 strawberries (sliced) for garnish on top of the Cool Whip. Enjoy!

Caramel Krispies

2 bags (12 oz) marshmallows
1 cube butter
1 box (15 oz) rice krispies
1 bag (12 oz) miniature marshmallows
1 lb. caramels
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cube butter

Put 2 bags marshmallows in mixing bowl, slice butter on top of marshmallows. Put in microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes (when marshmallows start to expand, they are done). Take out and stir well (mixture will continue to melt as it is stirred). Mix marshmallow cream and cereal together. Divide in half and spread half on a cookie sheet. Place miniature marshmallows on top of first layer of rice krispie treats. Melt caramel, milk and butter in microwave on high for 5 to 7 minutes. Keep checking and stirring until melted. Pour over marshmallows. Cover with remaining rice krispie mix. Note: these cut better if refrigerated but serve better at room temperature.

I guess I better stop nagging you about posting diet friendly recipies!

Moo Goo Mud Pie

This is a lot of work but it is SO WORTH every drop of work that is put into it!


Ingredients

½ gallon ice cream (butter pecan, maple nut, vanilla, cookies and cream, etc.)

Crust:
1 - 15 oz pkg chocolate oreos
1 cube melted butter or margarine

Chocolate sauce (better if this is doubled):
1 oz semi sweet baking chocolate
¼ cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
5 oz evaporated milk
⅔ cup sugar
⅛ tsp salt

Optional topping:
¼ cup slivered almonds

Crush cookies in a blender (use pulse setting and only do 1/3 package at a time). Mix crumbs with melted butter and press firmly into bottom of a 9x13 pan. Soften ice cream and spread over cookie crust. Freeze. Melt chocolate. Add butter, sugar, vanilla, salt and milk (in that order). Boil slowly for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. Spread over frozen pie. Sprinkle with almonds and return to freezer.