JUNE'S BROWNIES

Sunday the visitors to the Cafe Treats at church were treated to an assortment of treats as always and especially to these delicious Brownies made by Cafe Treats Baker June. I put one aside to eat later in the day as I placed them out on a platter. 

I couldn't help but notice what a perfect brownie they were. They didn't fall apart as I picked them up individually as June had cut them to lay them out on the platter so everyone would be able to pick one up with the plastic tongs. Some brownies will fall apart either as I pick them up or someone will attempt to pick one up, but not these. 

When I saw June as we were leaving church, I reminded her to send me her recipe. She laughed and said it was lots of sugar and eggs and butter. Later when I received her email with the recipe, I wrote her back that I saw what she meant. She said she would make them again sometime. I know everyone will be pleased.

As someone who tries to limit her sugar intake, this recipe is one I would make when I knew I was sharing the brownies with someone so I wouldn't be left eating most of them. Believe me I could.

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JUNE'S BROWNIES

2     cups sugar

1     cup flour

1     cup (2 sticks) butter (melted) 

4     eggs

1/2  cup cocoa powder

1     teaspoon vanilla

1/2  teaspoon baking powder

1/2  teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Beat the eggs and then just combine the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl until well blended.

Spread the batter in pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Cut into squares when cooled.

Decorate with powdered sugar or icing if you wish.

BARB'S MOLASSES CRINKLES

Molasses was the chief sweetener in the United States in the 18 and early 1900s. I remember when I was little that we used molasses on biscuits and pancakes.

Cafe Treats Baker Barb said she got the recipe from her son's second grade class's cookbook in the early 70's in Minneapolis. She said there are a number of recipes from that cookbook that she has made over the years, but many have nuts or peanut butter in them. (The Cafe Treats at church is a nut-free or peanut butter - free zone.) I have one of these kind of "cookbooks" from a school that my older son was attending. They are the best cookbooks ever. 

This recipe makes such a cute little cookie. Even children at church reached for it first (over the darling sugar cookies I made with red sugar - I'll be sharing that recipe later this week.) 

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BARB'S MOLASSES CRINKLES

3/4       cup shortening

1          cup brown sugar

1          egg

1/4       cup molasses

2-1/4    cups flour

2          teaspoons baking soda

1/4       teaspoon salt

1/2       teaspoon cloves

1          teaspoon cinnamon

1          teaspoon ginger

Mix together the shortening, brown sugar, egg, and molasses until well blended.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger with a whisk. Add to the creamed mixture.

Cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight or at least several hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Set aside.

Scoop out dough with a tablespoon cookie scoop. Roll into a ball and dip top only in granulated sugar.

Place on cookie sheet with sugar side up. Sprinkle each with 2 drops of water. (Barb says she just taps each "ball" with a wet teaspoon.)

Bake for 10  minutes - just until set - not hardened.

Remove and cool on wire rack.

ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL

 I am fascinated with cookbooks from cafes, diners, and other places that serve food. My latest great find is Jane & Michael Stern's Southern Country Cooking from THE Loveless CAFE - Fried Chicken, Hams, and Jams from Nashville's Favorite Cafe. According to the inside jacket cover, it began in the forties as a party house, "a private home that had one of the largest hardwood living room floors around, perfect for dancing the night away. In the fifties it was known as the Harpeth Valley Tea Room owned by Lon and Annie Loveless. In 1951 it became the Loveless Cafe and in the seventies and eighties the modest roadside eatery that once had been Nashville's secret went national." The Loveless Cafe

The Orange Blossom Special is a delicious cake that was named for the popular country song that was named for a train. I decided to finally make it for the Blankets of Hope Quilters from church Tuesday since it was a special meeting. It was special because it was our "summer member" eleven-yr-old Darby's last joining us before school starts back for her. She made two Blankets of Hope this summer and we look forward to next summer already when she will be back with us.

Darby brought donuts so I ended up bagging up a donut and a slice of my cake for everyone to take home with them when they left. It was really a special cake.

(I didn't have the orange juice for the glaze so I just used water but added the dried orange peel to the powdered sugar. Worked out fine.)

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ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL

1     (3 - ounce) package orange gelatin

3/4   cup cold water

4      eggs

1      box lemon cake mix

3/4   cup oil

1      cup powdered sugar

2      tablespoons orange juice OR 2 tablespoons water + 1/2 teaspoon dried orange peel

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a Bundt pan and set aside. (I used Baker's Joy to prepare my pan.)

Stir the gelatin into the cold water to dissolve. (I just did this in the measuring cup I used to measure the water.)

Add the eggs and beat for 2 minutes. (I transferred the ingredients to a large mixing bowl.)

Add the cake mix and

beat 1 minute longer. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add the oil and beat for 2 more minutes.

Pour the batter into the Bundt pan and bake for 40 minutes being careful not to overbake.

Combine the powdered sugar and

juice or water (+ the dried orange peel)

to make a glaze.

Drizzle the glaze over the cake while it is still hot.

Remove the cake from the pan onto your serving platter.

When cool dust with more powdered sugar before serving.

GLUTEN-FREE, DAIRY-FREE, EGG-FREE RAISIN BARS

 I have a medium sized three-ring binder that holds recipes that I have had since I graduated from college. I have an assortment of recipes that I collected during my single years teaching school and the early years of marriage. Some I wrote in on the lined paper that fit it and a few I cut out of magazines and taped in. One of the interesting things to me is that so many of the recipes I have never made.

The one I am sharing with you today is one of those. Every time I considered making it, I decided against it. You see the name of it is "Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake". There are no added notes so I have no memory of where it came from. So just from the name it doesn't sound like much of a cake.

Jump ahead 50 + years and it still doesn't sound that delicious to me but it is more prevelent today. Eggless, Milkless, Butterless now means Egg-Free and Dairy-Free which is necessary for some people. Today people also want Gluten-Free and this recipe used flour, baking powder, and baking soda. 

One thing that has changed with me since I started this blog is my baking/cooking knowledge has increased enough that I don't hesitate in experimenting with recipes and fortunately with good success. So last week I was searching for a recipe to make and saw this one again, but this time instead of flipping by it, I stopped and studied the recipe for a while. That night when I was trying to fall asleep I got to thinking about the recipe and hit upon the idea of using some gluten-free baking mix I had bought for the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. 

I've never made anything that was gluten-free so I was surprised at the consistency of the baking mix, but I shouldn't have been since it was made using rice flour instead of wheat flour. Anyway, I followed the recipe but used 2 cups of the baking mix instead of the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. 

The ingredients mixed well and baked well. In fact, the cake was very pretty when I brought it out of the oven. I allowed it to cool completely before I cut it into bars before covering it for the night. I needed the bars for the next afternoon but made it the day before so if they didn't turn out, I still had time to make something else before I needed to go to the church.

There were not many kids or adults at the reception at the church for the end of VBS that required gluten-free, dairy-free, or egg-free, but the few who tried them thought they were really good. I did also. So good in fact that I will be making the recipe for the Cafe Treats. 

Sunday a man came by the Cafe Treats and asked if we had anything that happened to be egg-free. I was so excited that I could answer yes that we did. (I had some chocolate chip cookies that Cafe Treats Baker Michelle made from a box mix that she bought that were G-F, D-F, and E-F. Now I can make these Raisin Bars sometimes for an option.)

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GLUTEN-FREE, DAIRY-FREE, EGG-FREE RAISIN BARS

1     cup sugar

1     cup water

1     cup raisins

1/3  cup shortening

2     cups G-F baking mix*

1     teaspoon cinnamon

1/4  teaspoon cloves

1/4  teaspoon nutmeg

1     cup coarsely chopped nuts (I omitted)

Boil together for three minutes the sugar, water, raisins, and shortening in a boiler, stirring occasionally.

Allow to cool. (I waited 30 minutes.)

Stir together with a whisk the dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the cooled mixture and

stir until all mixed up. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom only of an 9 - inch square baking dish.

Pour the cake batter into the dish and spread evenly.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Cool before cutting into bars. 

*Note: If you are not making the bars G-F, use 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon baking soda.

STRAWBERRY BARS

 I have been eyeing a recipe for Strawberry Bars for several weeks but just haven't gotten around to making them. I have so many recipes that I want to try. I will never get caught up because I keep finding more every day that I want to make.

Anyway, Cafe Treats Baker Sharon signed up recently to make Strawberry Bars for this past Sunday. I could hardly wait for Sunday to come to taste one. I have to admit any time I look at a recipe, I am looking to see if I can tweet it to make it sugar-free or at least have less sugar. The one I have been wanting to make uses strawberry jam which means I could still make it sugar-free. I just have to buy some sugar-free strawberry jam, which I can do; it just costs more money.

Sharon's recipe has a homemade strawberry filling using fresh strawberries which excites me because I could make it and just substitute stevia for the 1/2 cup of sugar. I could even try to make it gluten-free if I just used some gluten-free "flour".

Anyway, Sharon's Strawberry Bars were so delicious. I did manage to eat one, but only because I snuck it before they were all gone. AND I'm so glad I did.

Trust me! These are definitely a winner and a must-have recipe!

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STRAWBERRY BARS

****

Crumble mixture:

1/2     cup packed brown sugar

1/2     cup granulated sugar

1        teaspoon baking powder

3        cups flour

1/4     teaspoon salt

1        cup butter, chilled (thinly sliced - see personal note)

1        egg

****

Strawberry filling:

4       cups strawberries, sliced

1/2    cup granulated sugar

1       lemon, juiced and zested

4       teaspoon cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix together the sugars, flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk.

Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. (Personal note: if you thinly slice the chilled butter first, this will be easier to do.)

Dough will be crumbly.

Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 - inch pan. Set aside the remaining mixture.

In a large bowl, combine the strawberries, cornstarch, lemon zest, and juice. Gently mix to coat.

Pour the strawberry mixture over the crust.

Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture on top.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the topping turns lightly golden brown.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.

KATHY'S LEMON COOKIES

Looking at this cookie offered with the Cafe Treats at PWUMC, you might think you were going to bite into a sugar cookie. Imagine then after that bite, how you feel to taste lemon. Yes. Lemon. That's what some of the people experienced when they chose Cafe Treats Baker Kathy's Lemon Cookies. And they were really lemony with all of the lemon flavored ingredients she added to the recipe. If that wasn't enough she decided to make a lemon powdered sugar glaze to brush on top. 

Awesome!

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KATHY'S LEMON COOKIES

1-1/2     cups flour

1           teaspoon cornstarch

1           teaspoon baking powder

1/2        teaspoon salt

1           stick - (8 tablespoons) butter

1/2       cup granulated sugar

1/4       cup light brown sugar, packed

1          tablespoon lemon zest - or more

1          tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2       teaspoon vanilla

1/4       teaspoon lemon oil

1/2       teaspoon lemon extract

1          large egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line with parchment paper cookie sheet. Set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat together the butter, sugars, and lemon zest until creamy.

Add the vanilla, lemon juice, lemon extract, lemon oil, and egg; beating until well incorporated.

Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in sugar or with a fork. (Kathy used a fork.)

Bake 11 - 13 minutes.

After they baked, Kathy made a sugar glaze with powered sugar, a little vanilla, and enough lemon juice to make a glaze of the consistency that she wanted and then drizzle each cookie with it.

JEAN'S CARROT CAKE COOKIES

 

I have a really hard time passing up carrot cake. Carrot Cake was a specialty of my aunt Corine. You could always count on her bringing one whenever the family got together. AND I don't even have her recipe. I need to put that at the top of my TO DO LIST to ask my cousin Marie if she has it.

When Cafe Treats Baker Jean sent a text saying that she would make Carrot Cake Cookies and then sent an email with her recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies, I was really pleased to hear this. Apparently everyone else was pleased also because there were only about 5 or 6 leftover after church. I brought them home to freeze for another Sunday, but I have to admit, I decided that wasn't enough to fool with freezing and I have been enjoying them myself along with my husband Wayne. They are so good. 

And they are so pretty also. Don't you agree?

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CARROT CAKE COOKIES

1     package (about 18 ounces) spice cake mix

1/2  cup flour

1/2  cup oil

1/4  cup water

1     egg, lightly beaten

1/2  cup shredded carrots (about 2 medium carrots)

2/3  cup raisins

Prepared cream cheese frosting

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or grease a nonstick sheet pan. Set aside.

Combine the cake mix, flour, oil, water, and egg in a large mixing bowl.

Stir in the shredded carrots and raisins until well blended.

Chill dough for 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared pans. 

Bake for 12 to 13 minutes or until they begin to set around the edges. 

Cool for 1 minutes before removing the cookies from the pan to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cool completely before spreading lightly with the premade cream cheese frosting.

Store in an airtight container with wax paper between layers. Store in the refrigerator for best results.

BRENDA'S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES with M & M's

 One of my favorite things to do with my grandkids is make something with them. It doesn't have to mean baking/cooking with them; it can be something crafty too. Both can be a lot of fun. I don't get to do as much as I would like to, but I try to do something with my MO grandkids whenever we have them for the day. It's a little harder with the CO grandkids since our time with them is less.

Cafe Treats Baker Brenda loves to make these chocolate chip cookies with her six-year old twin granddaughters. She modified the original recipe because they love the mini M & M's. It also makes a prettier cookie when you use mini add-ins, thus the mini M & M's and the mini chocolate chips.

Brenda is always quick to remind me she only uses King Arthur flour and Kerry gold salted butter. She also always uses parchment paper. Actually, a lot of my baking friends do the latter. I find myself tearing off a piece myself when I am baking cookies. 

Brenda has sent me several extra pictures over the last few weeks of different times she has made the cookies with her granddaughters so I was able to share more than just the picture of them at church. I may have to try the recipe with Madison and Tyler. No telling what add-ins we will use as they love to dig into my pantry and pull out different ones that I have on the shelf. I'll let you know.

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BRENDA'S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES with M & M's

3       cups flour

1       teaspoon baking soda

1/2    teaspoon baking powder

1       teaspoon sea salt (Brenda omits)

1       cup salted butter, softened

1       cup granulated sugar

1       cup light brown sugar

2       teaspoons vanilla

2       large eggs

1/2    cup mini M & M's

1/2    cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. Set aside.

Beat together the butter and sugars until creamy.

Beat in the eggs, and vanilla until fluffy.

Mix in the dry ingredients until combined.

Add the m & m's and mini-chocolate chips mixing well to distribute.

Use a small cookie scoop to form cookies.

Bake in the oven for 9 minutes.

Allow to cool for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

CHOCOLATE CHIP PUDDING COOKIES

 I have made several really good recipes for cookies that contain dry instant pudding mixes so I knew this recipe would be outstanding when I saw that was one of the ingredients. The title of the recipe from a dear friend's family cookbook that I bought at her estate sale when she died a few years ago is just Chocolate Chip Cookie. I decided to add the word "pudding" to distinguish it from all my other gazillion chocolate chip cookie recipes. 

I started with adding chocolate pudding to the title but as I was writing it up, I decided I would include vanilla in the recipe as that is what my late friend Linda's relative's recipe. Then as I continued through the recipe, my mind started wondering and I started thinking of all of the possibilities there were using other flavors of instant pudding. Can you imagine using butterscotch or pistachio or lemon...you get the idea. I can't wait to actually do it. Of course if you use a different flavor of instant pudding, you might want to try a different chip instead of chocolate chips, like butterscotch, or white baking bits, or toffee, etc.

I made the cookies with no sugar added using truvia brown sugar complete for the brown sugar and sugar-free chocolate pudding mix. Only the chocolate chips had sugar but I did use dark chocolate chips since it is better for you and doesn't contain as much sugar. I could have used some of my zero sugar chocolate chips but since I already had a no-sugar-added treat for the Cafe Treats, I would just save them for another Sunday and recipe. 

Needless to say, I love the cookie and recipe and especially it versatility. I think you will find it a special recipe also.

 

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CHOCOLATE CHIP PUDDING COOKIES

3/4        cups brown sugar

1           cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2           eggs

2-1/4     cups flour

1           teaspoon baking soda

1           4-oz package (4 - servings) instant pudding (chocolate, vanilla, or your favorite flavor)

2           cups (10 - 12 oz package) chocolate chips

1           teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Beat the brown sugar, butter, and eggs together until

creamy. This took several minutes. (I just let the mixer beat while I prepared the dry ingredients.)

Add the vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda, pudding mix, and chocolate chips together to blend.

Slowly add the dry ingredients until all mixed up.

Use a spatula to make sure all of the dry ingredients were mixed in.

Using a cookie scoop drop dough onto the cookie sheet. If you want a flatter cookie, press lightly with two fingers.

If you like a smaller looking rounded cookie, just place the scoop of dough with the flat side down on the cookie sheet. The cookie on the left was placed with the flat side up. Cookies do not spread with baking.

Bake for 8 - 10 minutes. Allow to cool a minute before removing to finish cooling on a wire rack.