Cake Mix Chocolate Crinkles

I recently got a book out of the library called, Cake Mix Cookies. I read it cover to cover and wanted to eat every page, the cookies, not the actual book! The author is brilliant. She has created recipes for every type and flavor of cookie possible, in which the main ingredient is a box of cake mix. I thought this was incredibly clever, considering the way our economy is going right now, this truly will save you money, not to mention time. By the time you have purchased the ingredients in a typical cookie dough you are well into twenty dollars. If you use a cake mix, you can typically spend under five dollars, and that is if you really have NOTHING in your pantry, no oil, eggs or milk.

My sister and I were really inspired by this cook book and have decided to use cake mixes as the basis for most of our holiday baking. Seeing as tomorrow is December first, I thought I would start off the month by making a Christmas favorite in our family, the Chocolate Crinkle Cookie. My mother has made these every year for as long as I can remember. They are a rich cake like chocolate cookie that is rolled in powdered sugar before being baked. While baking the powdered sugar finds every nook and crannie in the cookie. They are actually a very pretty cookie, and so yummy!!!

Cake Mix Chocolate Crinkles

1 box Devil's Food cake mix
2 eggs
4 teaspoons milk
1/4 cup oil
powdered sugar


Mix cake mix, eggs, oil and milk in a large bowl. Dough will be very thick. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. use a teaspoon to roll dough into 1 inch balls, and roll in powdered sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Make sure you have a well greased cookie sheet, otherwise the powdered sugar will burn and make the cookies stick to the pan. Also, if you are a cookiholic like me, you might want to pop the dough in the freezer for 10 minutes instead of the refridgerator for 30 minuites. This is for those of us who have a I NEED TO EAT THEM NOW mentatlity. I include myself in this category.

German Apple Cake

My mother has always been a baker. Because of her, my sister and I have grown to love baked goods. It is a special bond. The yummy sweet aroma of a tasty treat from the oven is to me what the holidays is all about. Well, that and being with family and friends of course.

My mom is a lover of coffee and cake. Pound cake especially, as well as any kind of strudel or danish. At any time during my childhood you could wander into the kitchen and be sure to find some kind of baked good, whether it be homemade bread or cake.

I came across this recipe while searching for German recipes. It struck me because it calls for four cups of apples, which at first seemed like a ton! Upon making this cake, I found out that it is a perfect amount to achieve a really thick and dense batter, which by the way the batter was pretty tasty too! German Apple Cake


German Apple Cake

2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups of peeled and diced apples ( I recommend you dice this in a small dice, otherwise the cake seems too lumpy)

Preheat the oven to 350
grease and dust a cake pan with flour, 9x13 works best
In a bowl combine the eggs with the oil and beat with an electric mixer until smooth
Add sugar and vanilla and beat again until it is well combined
In a second bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon
Slowly add the dry ingridents to the sugar, egg and oil mixture, the batter will be VERY thick
Fold in the diced apples
Spread into your cake pan and bake for 30 minutes
Cake is done when a knife inserted comes out clean

The original recipe calls for this cake to be baked for 45 minutes. I checked mine and it was done at only 30 minutes, but my oven does cook a little hot. Adjust accordingly.

YUMMY! I sprinkled my cake with confectioner's sugar. This cake has a very crunchy top layer, which I think is excellent!!

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Everyone loves potatoes, right? My family is crazy for them. There are endless recipes that use potatoes, and since they are fairly inexpensive and very filling you can really get your moneys worth with them.

This recipe is my mother's, and she really does not measure anything anymore. All of her cooking skill is in her head, so when I asked her to write this one down for me, she gave me the "Are you kidding? " look! So instead, she verbally told me how to make this dish, which is a family favorite of ours. I made it just how she told me, layer by layer, and it did actually come out just like hers.

I was so proud of myself, I called her and told her as I was devouring a humongous bowl. My son ate all of his.....and some of mine! Yummy!


Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

2 cups cubed ham ( I use the precooked packaged kind you find near the bacon, don't be afriad.....its great)
8-10 potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
flour
salt and pepper
1 stick of butter
milk

Butter a casserole dish and preheat oven to 375
Slice potatoes thinly
place potatoes in an even layer on bottom of casserole dish
layer with ham cubes
sprinkle with salt and pepper
using a tablespoon, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of flour
break butter off into small pieces and sprinkle over the dish, leaving enough for several more layers
pour enough milk over dish to just cover the potatoes and ham
Repeat layers, potatoes, ham, flour and salt and pepper and butter until the dish is full, ending with a layer of potatoes.
pour milk over casserole until it comes to the top of the potatoes
I usually put my casserole dish on a baking sheet just in case it gets excited and decides to bubble over.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender and top is golden brown and bubbly.

This makes a fairly good size casserole. We usually eat all of it in one sitting, that's how incredibly rich and delicious this recipe is!

Cream of tartar?

I love food, and I love to cook! Astonishingly this was not always the case, well not the cooking part anyway. I have always loved to eat food. Probably a little too much more often than not. I never cooked before I had a family of my own. I think it was a fear of the kitchen rather than that I did not want to cook. I remember on one occasion calling my mother and asking her if I should put cream of tartar in my tartar sauce! It sounded right to me, even as my mother laughed and instructed me on the correct way to make homemade tartar sauce. I grew up in a family of people who loved to prepare and eat food, and I had a lot to learn.

My childhood is a cloud of memories full of tasty treats and meals that other families would be in awe of. I remember bringing a friend of mine to my Grandmother's for Sunday dinner when I was a child. Sunday dinner at Grandma's was a religion, you did not miss. We walked into my grandparents humble abode and were immediately aroused by the tantalizing aroma of what was in store for supper. Needless to say my friend was overwhelmed by how many people could fit into that house, let alone around the table. I believe we had boiled dinner that night, and she ate every last bite!

My heritage had had an impact on the foods I have grown up to love over the years, and I try to incorporate those traditions into the meals I prepare now for my own family. My Grandmother is Sicilian and my Grandfather is a mix of English and German. My mother of course grew up with the rich recipes of her grandmother which included things such as kuchen and sauerbratten.

My mother. She is the best cook I know, and of course has had no formal training in the field, but instead has learned everything she knows from my Grandmother and her Grandmother. Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are of food and my mother preparing it. She always cooked with love and we new that as we we ate every meal. Growing up in Central New York, foods were heavy and rich with flavor.

I hope to become half the cook my mother and grandmother were and still are. I hope that my children will look back on their childhood memories and be filled with happiness and hunger!!