Friends Janice and Leon hosted this month's gathering of the Tasty Bunch. The Tasty Bunch is a group of four couples who meet once a month at a restaurant for dinner and then enjoy dessert, conversation, and games back at the house of the hosting couple.
For dinner we went to a newly opened restaurant, Riverpark Pub, in Parkville in an old power plant building that was constructed in 1918. Just a hundred feet away on the Missouri River was one of Lewis and Clark's stops on their historic expedition. It has been the home to a number of restaurants each never lasting very long. I hope this one success. When our younger son, Patrick, and Lori got married, we had the rehearsal dinner in a private upstairs room that opened out onto a balcony. Then it served really good BBQ.
When we got to Janice and Leon's house, we enjoyed this delicious cake with a big scoop of ice cream and then played a few rounds of Family Feud with the men vs the women. (The men won.)
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER EARTHQUAKE CAKE
1 box Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake mix + oil, eggs, and water as directed on the box
1 8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup Reese's cups, cut up (Janice used the mini ones and cut them in half.)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish. Set aside.
Prepare cake according to box instructions and pour into baking dish. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl combine cream cheese, butter, peanut butter, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and then gradually add the powdered sugar and continue beating til smooth.
Spoon dollops of the cream cheese mixture onto the cake batter. Top with cut up Reese's cups and chocolate chips.
Bake 45 - 50 minutes or til done with a toothpick.
Cool and cut into squares
to serve with vanilla ice cream.
I could have so easily eaten a second one of these bars, but I only left two at the house and one of those was for my husband, Wayne. When my shift was over and I went by the Community Room at the thrift shop to get my pan, it was completely empty with not even a crumb left.
Jim Walter certainly knew which recipe to contribute to the Hochstedler Family Cookbook, A Collection of Edible Treasures from the family of Emanuel and Mattie Hochstedler. Mr. Hochstedler was Bishop of the Rich Valley Mennonite Church in Kokomo, Indiana. My copy of the cookbook that I got at an estate sale is signed by their great granddaughter, Shileen Hochstedler.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
O HENRY BARS
2/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white or dark corn syrup
4 cups quick oats
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 6 oz (1 cup) chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet chips)
2/3 cup peanut butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. Set aside.
Combine butter and brown sugar in mixing bowl;
beat til smooth.
Add corn syrup, oats, and vanilla.
Beat til smooth.
Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Pat dough in pan.
I always leave a little in the bowl to fill in the "holes".
Bake 15 minutes ONLY.
While bars are baking, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in small saucepan over low heat;
stir til smooth. Spread on baked dough after cooling slightly (I waited 5 minutes.).
Cut into bars. (I cut 24 bars.) When ready to serve recut along previously cut lines.
It seems like I have made an overnight coffee cake before but didn't wait until the next morning to bake it. I didn't take the time to check because I figured it was probably a different recipe anyway. When I took it to the thrift shop Tuesday morning after baking it and told Volunteer Laura what I had brought, she said she had a recipe for one. Then she said it had sour cream in it. That did it. I didn't remember the recipe exactly but I did know it did not have sour cream in it.
This recipe was from Cathy Lemoyne from Ontario, Canada and was in a Gooseberry Patch Quick & Easy family favorites. I haven't bought many cookbooks lately, but I do like Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and it was only a dollar. I may have even gotten it for half price. Either way, it has a bunch of recipes in it that I want to try.
A really nice thing about this recipe is you can prepare it the night before and then just get up and bake it the next morning. That's certainly a good thing if you have company and don't want to be rushed in the morning to make breakfast for them. You can also go on and bake it after you mix it up if you prefer. I was a little concerned how the topping would look the next morning (thinking it might sink to the bottom) but it didn't. It looked like it did the night before when I sprinkled it over the batter.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
OVERNIGHT COFFEE CAKE
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed and divided
2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Grease and flour a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. (I sprayed my pan with nonstick cooking spray and then lightly floured it.) Set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a large mixing bowl with a whisk.
Add the buttermilk, butter, and eggs.
Blend on low speed of an electric mixer until moistened; increase speed to medium and beat 3 more minutes.
Spoon batter into pan; set aside.
Mix together in a small mixing bowl, the rest of the brown sugar (1/2 cup) and the cinnamon (1 teaspoon) and pecans with a fork.
Sprinkle over the batter.
Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the cake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
If you prefer to bake it after mixing it up, just follow the same directions for baking.
My mother made the best chicken and dumplings. I can't help but judge any that I eat to hers. I haven't been able to duplicate them. Whenever they came to visit my one request was she had to make them for us before they left. I have plastic containers of her recipes and there must be half a dozen or more little pieces of paper with dumpling recipes written on them. I should say the ingredients are written down. She didn't have a recipe memorized. She always looked through my few cookbooks for a recipe. But no matter what, her chicken and dumplings always turned out great!
So many times when I see recipes for chicken and dumplings, they basically make a biscuit and drop dollops into the broth. I have to admit I have never tasted any of these, but I like the rolled out dough cut in slices/blocks like Mother made so much, I'm not really interested in trying them.
Feeling as I do about dumplings, the name of this recipe caught my eye first and then I looked at the ingredients and saw ... 12 - oz tube refrigerated biscuits, quartered. Not to be outdone though since the rest of the recipe sounded good, I decided to basically use the recipe but with my personal changes.
CHICKEN & DUMPLIN' SOUP
1 10-3/4 ounce can cream of chicken soup
4 cups chicken broth or a 32 - ounce carton of chicken broth
cooked chicken, shredded (I used one large chicken breast that I cooked by boiling/simmering it in a pot of water until done. Measured about 2-1/3 cups of shredded chicken.)
2 (15 - ounce) cans of mixed vegetables
9 strips frozen dumplings (* see picture below) or 12 - oz tube refrigerated biscuits, quartered
Combine soup and broth in a 6 - quart stockpot with a whisk. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
(If you are using the frozen dumpling strips, add them to boiling broth/soup, breaking them up as directed. Cover and cook for 35 to 40 minutes.)
If you are using the refrigerated biscuits, add the chicken and vegetables, bring to a boil. Drop biscuit quarters into soup; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Let soup sit 10 minutes before serving.
(If you used the frozen strips, add the chicken and vegetables after the dumplings are done. Simmer 10 to 15 more minutes to heat chicken and vegetables.)
Sprinkle each serving with pepper, if desired.
* These are the frozen dumplings I buy. They are not as good as my mother's but until I get to where I can make my own, they will do.
I haven't picked up my Tasteful Treasures from the Horse and Buggy Country of Conewango Valley, New York cookbook in a while. I'm not surprised that I found this recipe for Fudge-Filled Bars that I had missed before. That's one reason I can't seem to part with any of my cookbooks. It just depends on my mood when I am looking through a cookbook and if I am looking for something in particular. When I am making something to take to the thrift shop, I am always looking for a cake or bar recipe that will serve more people - a tube cake or something using a 9 x 13 - inch pan or a jelly-roll pan 10 x 15 - inch pan. When I am making something for the canasta group, I can make a pie or dessert baked in an 8 or 9 - inch square pan since there are only six of us. The other gatherings just depends on how many people are coming. So it is easy for me to miss a good-sounding recipe.
These Fudge-Filled Bars are absolutely fantastic! Rich, but that means you can cut them into smaller pieces. I usually cut a 9 x 13 - inch dessert into 24 pieces. Some of the volunteers will come by the register to tell me how much they enjoyed the dessert and then tell me they took two pieces, but that's okay. I just tell them that's fine.
I did make a few substitutions that changed the taste a little but that was because I didn't have any M & M's or semisweet chocolate chips. I had a bag of Limited Edition of dark chocolate and mint morsels - Winter that I needed to use and I had some peppermint bark chips leftover that I thought would go well with the mint morsels. I could taste the mint too and loved it.
This cookbook includes poems and sayings on the pages. Below this recipe was this thought:
Strangers are only friends you haven't met.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
FUDGE-FILLED BARS
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
1 cup chopped pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6 oz (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips (I used a combination dark chocolate and mint morsels - winter)
2 tablespoons shortening
1/4 cup plain M & M's (I used peppermint bark chips)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt with a whisk.
Cut butter in chunks or slices and cut into dry mixture until crumbly. (You can do this using your mixer to save some time.)
Stir in pecans.
Set aside 1-1/2 cups for toppings.
Press the remaining crumb mixture into the prepared pan.
(I sprinkled the crumbs evenly to cover the pan and then pressed them down.)
In a saucepan, combine the milk, chips, and shortening.
Cook and stir over low heat until chips are melted.
Spread over crust.
Sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture.
Top with candy and press down lightly.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until edges are a golden brown.
Cool on wire rack.
Cut into squares to serve.
