Category Archives: YUMMY RECIPES

Birthday Update...The Cookies

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LOL.........well, I guess I already knew that the whole birthday thing wasn't going to go off without a hitch. Everything turned out GREAT, thankfully. Was just personal expectations I set too high for myself. If I had built-in camera in my house...the entire thing would have been worth taping & sharing, but elbow high in cookie dough, cake batter, and frosting...had little chance to use the camera. Unfortunately...no fiasco pictures! And, where my skills are concerned...that's honestly what it was...a fiasco!

I did make some amazing tasting cookies though! I used organic, whole wheat flour, and they turned out super-tasty, with that nice, heirloom look. I'll include the recipe at the bottom of this post. The icing I messed up on a little. Tried a quick recipe I got online, and should have known better. Was just powdered sugar and corn syrup....took forever to dry. They got a crust on them, but weren't set enough...and a minute after handing the cookie basket over to James....they were pretty much all destroyed. Still tasted good though! Always use the old fashion Royal Icing recipe with egg white, or meringue powder!!! Did I mention I was making a Cookie Basket for James?

Grampa & Auntie M came for the weekend, so on Thursday, as a quiet party....James opened his gifts from me, and I made him a Handy Manny cookie basket. Thought I could pull that off fairly easy, but he was up a lot that night, and all said....I was up till 4am. Making the cookies was pretty easy, even though I had to sketch out all the characters on paper, and cut out the cookies by hand. It's the icing that was a drag....so many colors for all those tools. Not worth making individual pots of colors, since each just needed a tiny amount here & there...I ended up pouring the un-colored icing onto a plate, then using it like an artists palette. Dabbing little dots of color, and using a toothpick.

handy manny iced cookies

handy manny cookies pat the hammer cookie

I rolled out the dough pretty thick to make sure they could withstand James' interest. They turned out nice & hard...like teething biscuits, which is good for him. Still tasted great though, which....is also good.

ROLL OUT COOKIE DOUGH RECIPE

Ingredients:

Makes: About 3 dozen cookies.

instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F. In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill dough. Divide dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 in. wide and 1/8 in. thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

Recipe may be doubled.

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I'll have to make a few more posts about the weekend/birthday. Have to try and clean up some, before baby wakes up. :Weary:

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Quick Christmas Gift: Popcorn Tins

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homemade popcorn gift tinPack two kinds of homemade flavored popcorn in one bucket tin. Here,  Macadamia Butter-Crunch and Chocolate-Almond. Purchase bucket tins at a home store. Then cut card-stock dividers to fit the diameter and height of the tins. Fill the containers by holding the divider in place and adding popcorn a handful at a time, alternating between the two flavors to keep divider from slipping. Finish with curled paper ribbon and gift tags.

Macadamia Butter-Crunch

Ingredients

  • 25 cups (from about 1 cup kernels) popped popcorn
  • 4 cups raw whole macadamia nuts, toasted (about 1 pound)
  • 1 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
  • 5 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put popcorn in a large bowl. Add the nuts; set aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture comes to a gentle simmer, about 4 minutes. Stop stirring; continue cooking until mixture lightens in color, 5 minutes more. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda.
  2. Pour sugar mixture over popcorn and nuts; toss to coat. Transfer to rimmed baking sheets; bake, stirring every 20 minutes, until almost dry, about 1 hour. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Chocolate-Almond

Ingredients

Makes about 30 cups

  • 25 cups popped popcorn (from about 1 cup kernels)
  • 3 cups unsalted whole skin-on almonds, toasted (about 1 pound)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup light corn syrup
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons coarse salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put popcorn in a large bowl. Add the nuts; set aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, butter, cocoa, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture comes to a gentle simmer, about 5 minutes.
  2. Pour sugar mixture over popcorn and nuts; toss to coat. Transfer to rimmed baking sheets; bake, stirring every 20 minutes, until almost dry, about 1 hour. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Martha Stewart Recipes

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4 Easy Christmas Recipes for Kids!

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All these recipes are from parenting.com (I've made some changes to make them even easier!) :)

snowman pizza SNOWMAN PIZZA

The original recipe (which you can find here) had instructions for homemade dough. Depending on how picky your little one is...you can buy pre-made pizza dough at most grocery stores (in the deli section), or...cut circles out of pita bread, or any flat bread. Kids can help with this recipe...cutting out circles, and decorating their own snowman!

NEEDED INGREDIENTS: Tomato or Pizza sauce, Mozzarella cheese, Pepperoni, Capers, Carrot (or orange bell pepper).

Assemble each snowman on the baking sheet. Cover each circle well with cheese....cheese will work to hold the rounds together. Decorate like the picture....or however desired! Bake till cheese is melted. Not brown. :P

rudolph pancakes

RUDOLPH PANCAKES

What you need: "Complete" Pancake mix, Red & Green food coloring, Plastic squeeze bottles (or a careful hand)!

Prepare batter using directions for 2 cups pancake mix, or more....depending on how many hungry mouths you have to feed! Divide batter: Half for Reindeer, and 1/4 each for red & green colors. That's an estimate...use your better judgement to divide batter, and to add food coloring.

Pour each color batter into a squeeze bottle, or spoon into griddle carefully. Although, squeeze bottles can be found cheap at the dollar store. The kind for ketchup, mustard, etc. Heat griddle to medium heat. THIS PART IS IMPORTANT: For reindeer, make a dot for eye FIRST in green. 2ND, add plain batter on top of eye to form a 2 inch circle. 3RD, add the red nose and collar. To form antlers, make a thin line touching head and then make a small branch coming from first part of antler. Antlers will spread, so only make them pretty thin! Keep heat medium-low....might be better. Kids can help mixing the batter, and coloring....but probably not the actual cooking part. Depending on their age, they might get frustrated with the outcome. (Original recipe here).

festive christmas salad for kids FESTIVE CHRISTMAS SALAD FOR PICKY KIDS

Kids can help:
Assemble the pieces of the salad and sprinkle the coconut.

What you need: Green Pear, Celery sticks, Red Apple, Carrot slice, Coconut (optional), JuJubee Candies.

Cut a slice of pear from one side of the pear and then trim off lengthwise edges to form a tree trunk. Leave peel on. From a slice of the apple, with peel, cut a pot for the tree. Celery stick should be cut into thin strips, making an angled end cut so tree "branches" fit flush with the trunk. Use a carrot slice to make a small bird that will top the tree. Assemble each tree on a plate, using either carrot "ornaments" or little colored JuJubee candies. If using coconut, sprinkle along the bottom edge of the plate for "snow". (Original recipe here).

white chocolate christmas popcorn snack WHITE CHOCOLATE POPCORN SNACK

What you need: 4 Cups popped popcorn, 1/2 Cup white chocolate, 1/4 Cup Craisins

Pop popcorn and set aside. Over a double boiler, melt white chocolate. Immediately stir popcorn into the melted chocolate, coating evenly. Spread popcorn onto a piece of waxed paper and let cool thoroughly. Toss with Craisins in a bowl. If you will be eating the popcorn at a much later time, add Craisins at that time.

(Original recipe here).

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Yummy Blender Corn Cake Recipe

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yummy blender corn cakeThis recipe was snagged from CherrySpoon Blog

This is a “Blender Cake”, there are many recipes for such a thing here in Brazil, cake mixes are a somewhat recent addition to the market, so blending cake batter might have been pre-cake mix time saving solution.

This cake albeit very tasty, is hard for me to really describe as cake, it’s almost a baked flan (consistency wise). It’s great for a snack or breakfast! It’s not very sweet and it also has Coconut Milk and Grated Parmesan, just go with it it’s very yummy!

Corn Cake made in a Blender

  • 4 Eggs
  • 2 cups of Sugar
  • 1 Tbs Butter
  • 7 oz Coconut Milk
  • 7 oz Milk
  • 3.5 oz Grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 1 Tbs Baking Powder
  • 2 Tbs Corn Meal
  • 2 tsp All Purpose Flour

This is the part if the recipe that becomes a little vague however baker common sense will guide you through it.

Pre-heat oven to 350, blend all the ingredients until smooth, pour batter in a greased pan (she said a SMALL pan, I’m guessing a 9×13 will work) and bake until the toothpick comes out dry. (I asked for an estimate as how long that would take and she gave me the “really, you’re asking me that?” look!)

Enjoy!

I will try this on my own time and then add more details to the process, at least how long it took!

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I LOVE TROPICAL TRADITIONS!!!

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I will be a super happy blogger the day that Tropical Traditions starts letting me do reviews & giveaways!!!!!!!!! It's my secret mission!

Until then...I'm just gonna post about their special sales (which are frequent & great to say the least), and other bloggers giveaways. :?

Through midnight EDT, Wednesday, August 11th, 2010, use coupon code 06081015 in your cart before checking out and receive 15% OFF of your order! This offer is good for all products offered on TropicalTraditions.com and HealthyBuyersClub.com.

NOTE: To take advantage of this special, you MUST enter coupon code 06081015 in your cart before checking out! The discount is NOT applied automatically. Coupon offer is not retroactive for previous orders.

Enter coupon code 06081015 into your cart before checking out.

Coconut Cream ConcentrateTM
Buy 1 Get 1 FREE (16 oz.)!
until Thursday August 12th only

Organic Teeth Cleaners
Buy 1 Get 1 FREE!
until Sunday August 15th only

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THERE SALE ITEMS THIS WEEK!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THESE BLOGS ARE HOSTING TROPICAL TRADITIONS GIVEAWAYS...

The "Two Cutepeas in a Pod" blog is giving away one 8 oz. bottle of Moisturizing Lotion.

The "Thrifty Canucks" blog is giving away one 32 oz. bottle of All Purpose Household Cleaner.

The "Jamie's Precious Peas" blog is giving away a 5 pound container of Powdered Laundry Detergent.

The "Living Healthy in the Real World" blog is giving away a 17.6 oz. glass jar of Tropical Traditions Organic Canadian Raw Honey.

The "Luv My Two Girls" blog is giving away one 4 oz. jar of Organic Skin Exfoliator.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

AND JUST FOR FUN A TASTY RECIPE!

GLUTEN FREE COCONUT CUPCAKE RECIPE

Gluten Free Coconut Fudge Cupcakes

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 18-20 cupcakes

Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake papers.

Melt the butter and chocolate together over a double boiler or over very low heat. Set aside to cool.

Using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment beat the eggs, water, sugar and vanilla on medium high speed for about 3 minutes. Mixture should be foamy, pale in color and doubled in volume.

With mixer on low, slowly add the chocolate mixture. Increase speed to medium high and beat until well blended, 30-40 seconds. Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula once or twice as needed. Add coconut flour and cocoa and beat again for another 30 seconds. Scrape down once, if needed.

Fill the cupcake papers with the batter and bake in the preheated oven for 10-20 minutes. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out wet with gooey chocolate clumps.

Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing and cooling completely on wire racks. Chill until cold in the refrigerator if desired and frost with Whipped Vanilla Cream Frosting and top with coconut flakes. Store overnight in the refrigerator.

Whipped Vanilla Cream Frosting:

Pour a little milk into the corn starch to make a slurry. Add remaining milk to a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat. When milk is hot, add slurry, whisking constantly. Heat until mixture thickens, but do not let it come to a rolling boil. Milk should become extremely thick and almost paste-like.

Pour thickened milk into a bowl and cool to room temperature.

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape bowl down and add vanilla. Beat for another 1-2 minutes.

Add the milk paste to the butter a spoonful at a time, beating well after each addition. When the milk has been added beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy and resembles whipped cream. Thin out with a little heavy cream if needed.

Frost cupcakes and enjoy!

Sarah Shilhavy

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Earn FREE quart of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions!

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SUBMIT YOUR OWN ORIGINAL RECIPES USING COCONUT IN SOME WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM...AND IF IT'S ACCEPTED FOR PUBLISHING ON THEIR RECIPE BLOG....TROPICAL TRADITIONS WILL GIVE YOU A COUPON FOR 1 FREE QUART OF GOLD LABEL VIRGIN COCONUT OIL! SUBMIT ENTIRES HERE.

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CHOCOLATE-ORANGE COCONUT MACAROONS....YUMMY!

Servings: 20
Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together coconut, sugar, flour, zest and salt. Stir in egg whites, butter and almond extract. Fold in chocolate chips.

On parchment lined baking sheets, place rounded tablespoon-sized balls of dough approximately 2" apart. Gently roll the balls of dough for a more uniform shape.

Bake for 20 minutes or until they are firm to the touch and lightly browned on the bottom. Let cool before serving.

Recipe submitted by Dunne, Columbia, SC

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