Last week I went in to volunteer at Hillcrest Thrift Shop on Wednesday also. I don't usually take anything for a treat when I go on any other day. If anyone asks (and usually some one will), I just say I didn't have time to make anything at the last minute. This time though I knew I was coming back the next day.
On Tuesday, when Daniel asked Cain if he had eaten any of the cake I had brought, Cain told him he had and it was good BUT he wanted some brownies. Brownies?! I told him I would be back on Wednesday.
Later that day when I was home and looking for a new brownie recipe, my husband asked me if I was looking for something to make. I told him what Cain had said and he said, "Are they requesting things now?"
The next day when I got to Hillcrest, I told Cain they weren't quite brownies, but were chocolate and looked pretty good. He told me everything I made was good. Awwwwww.
Sara Whetstone's Chewy Fudge Squares (Heritage Country Harvest Cookbook) were rich and fudgy. In the ingredients, Sara listed 1 cup nuts or chocolate chips but then in the directions, she said to stir in the nuts and chocolate chips. I decided they needed both and used 1 cup nuts and 1 cup chocolate chips. Definitely a good decision!
CHEWY FUDGE SQUARES
1 chocolate cake mix (I used a Devil's Food Cake mix)
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips (I used 60% cacao chips)
2 tablespoons oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a rectangular pan 9 x 13 or similar size. (I used an 8 x 11 - inch pan which just made them thicker.)
Stir together the cake mix, eggs, and butter in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.
Add oil;
stir in nuts,
chocolate chips, and
marshmallows.
Press mixture in pan
and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until set in center.
Cool completely on wire rack.
Cut in squares to serve. (Oops! Looks like that rat (aka my husband) got to them again.)
OMG! Words escape me when I try to describe this cake. First of all, I simply LOVE butterscotch. Secondly, I really like spice cake. The crazy thing is when I was reading the recipe in my "new" Bundt Classics cookbook, I couldn't understand why they used a yellow cake mix and not a spice one. I really planned to use a spice cake mix instead, but changed my mind because the spice cake mix already had pudding in the mix. I knew I didn't want to use it when I would be adding a butterscotch pudding. Well, that would have been a big mistake not to mention a waste of a spice cake mix.
The finished cake not only looks like a spice cake, it tastes like a spice cake. Don't pass on the butterscotch glaze either. It's easy and oh so good! The volunteers at Hillcrest Thrift Shop couldn't say enough good things about it. (Terry and Roger both dropped by just to get some since they don't normally come in on Tuesdays.)
The instant butterscotch pudding mix I used was sugar-free. I didn't use a sugar-free yellow cake mix only because I didn't have one.
BUTTERSCOTCH SPICE CAKE W/BUTTERSCOTCH GLAZE
1 yellow cake mix
1 (4-serving size) instant butterscotch pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1-1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup Bundt pan. (If using a 10 cup pan, fill 3/4 full and make 3 or 4 cupcakes with the remaining batter.)
In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients.
(Stir on low until ingredients are moistened.)
Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes.
(Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.)
Spoon batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes.
Remove cake from pan and
cool completely on wire rack.
Reposition cake on platter to serve.
Prepare Butterscotch Glaze:
BUTTERSCOTCH GLAZE
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
In medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together butter, brown sugar, and milk.
(Cut the butter into slices so it will melt faster.)
Bring to a boil. Remove from heat;
stir in powdered sugar and vanilla;
mix until smooth.
If needed, add additional milk until desired consistency. (I didn't need to do that.)
Pour glaze over cake.
The joke's on me....
Not long after the shop opened, I glanced down and this is what I saw....
I just knew someone would notice and say something, but no one did. Here's how it happened....I put on the darker pair of shoes and the one on my right foot was uncomfortable. I changed out the right shoe and put on a different pair to see if it also hurt. I was just so comfortable, I ended up leaving the house with two different shoes on.
I had just about given up hope of ever getting any blackberries from the two bushes we planted about 6 or 7 years ago in our backyard on the ditchbank. The raspberry bush apparently did die as there is no indication of it at all back there. I am learning you should never give up. This summer we are getting an abundant amount of blackberries.
I have been freezing them all so we can enjoy them the rest of the year. I haven't kept a record of how many packages (4 cups in each bag) I have made, but I bet I have 8 or so bags so far. Well, Tuesday night I decided it was time to enjoy some. I found a new recipe for blackberry cobbler that only has 199 calories in a serving (mine had even less because I used stevia on the berries instead of sugar) and between fixing dinner and eating dinner, I made it so we could enjoy it afterwards.
The recipe belonged to Leslie Browning from Lexington, Kentucky and was in that crazy titled cookbook from Taste of Home called Comfort Food Diet Cookbook. As I said when I shared another recipe from it Swiss Chicken Supreme, that seems like an oxymoron - comfort food and diet.
This recipe is definitely a keeper. (I have shared several other recipes for blackberry cobbler so you might want to check them out also - Amish Blackberry Cobbler, Blackberry Cobbler with Pecan Coconut Cookie Topping, Blackberry Pudding Cake another recipe from the Amish, Skillet Blackberry Cobbler, and one last one from Friend Sue simply called Blackberry Cobbler.)
We didn't, but you might want to enjoy a little ice cream with it. I am looking forward to finding other recipes for my blackberries and trust me I will be sharing them with you (as long as they pass the taste tests).
BLACKBERRY COBBLER
1/2 cup sugar (I did use stevia for this cup)
4-1/2 teaspoons quick-cooking tapioca
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
5 cups fresh or frozen blackberries, thawed
2 tablespoons orange juice
DOUGH:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup reduced-fat vanilla yogurt (I used greek yogurt)
1/3 cup fat-free milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
In a large bowl, combine sugar, tapioca, and allspice.
Add blackberries and orange juice, toss to coat. Let stand 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 2-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Spoon blackberry mixture into baking dish.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt to make the dough.
Combine the milk, yogurt, and butter.
Stir yogurt mixture into dry ingredients and
stir til smooth.
Spread over the berry mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. (I sprinkled the remaining sugar on top before baking the 20 minutes.)
Bake 25 to 30 more minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm.
The 90+ temperatures may have kept some of the members away, but a number did show up for the church's picnic Sunday afternoon. With the humidity, I am not sure what the temperature felt like. It was hot and even though the park was by the Missouri River, there was no breeze at all. Fortunately, they provided lots of bottled water to keep everyone hydrated. The BBQ team, led by one of our ministers, had smoked quite a few pork tenderloins and everyone brought either a side dish (hot or cold) or a dessert to share.
I know you think I took a dessert but I didn't. I found a recipe for creamed corn cooked in a slow cooker and wanted to make it so I could share it here. I almost didn't take it because it didn't look like I thought it was going to look, but since I had cooked it actually longer than it was supposed to be cooked, I decided it looked like it was meant to look. (The recipe said to cook it for 3 hours on LOW and I failed to notice that and cooked it on HIGH. Personally I would recommend cooking it on HIGH and not LOW. You want the cream cheese and butter to melt and the corn to heat.)
Imagine my surprise when we finally got to the table in I saw that it was almost all gone. I took only two small spoonfuls (there were other people in the line behind us) in case anyone else wanted some. Well, it was so good I was sorry I had such a small portion. It was also good that I decided to bring a side dish since there were so many desserts. I'm only sorry I didn't get to try several of them, but I enjoyed the key lime pie even though it was not homemade.
I did make some changes to the original recipe and have listed them in the recipe. I omitted the sugar because the packages of corn I used said "super sweet corn". My husband thought I should have included the sugar, but I didn't miss it.
SLOW COOKER CORN
2 16-ounce bags of frozen corn (I used 3 - 12-ounce bags instead.)
1 8-ounce package cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat Neufchatel.)
1 stick oleo (I used butter.)
2 tablespoons sugar (I omitted.)
2 tablespoons water
Place corn in slow cooker.
Cube the cream cheese and slice the stick of butter. Add them along with the sugar if you are using it and the water.
Cook on HIGH for 45 minutes. Stir mixture with wooden spoon.
Continue cooking for 3 more hours stirring the mixture several times to break up the cream cheese and butter.
Serve warm.
Stir together the cake mix, eggs, and butter in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.
Add oil; 
stir in nuts, 
chocolate chips, and 
marshmallows.
Press mixture in pan
Cool completely on wire rack. 
Cut in squares to serve. (Oops! Looks like that rat (aka my husband) got to them again.)
