Raspberry Pie

Raspberries are just starting to ripen around here, and I've been craving some good berry treats. My friend Kerri told me about this "Pick Your Own" raspberry farm near us. So we went out and got a small taste of what's to come :) (here's a link to the farm if you're in the area: www.westmountainraspberries.com.) They have a couple recipes on their site as well, and since I don't have a family or tried-and-true recipe for raspberry pie, I figured I'd give it a go. On the other hand, the pie crust recipe is a family recipe. It came from my Grandma and is very simple and delicious! Overall, I thought the pie was delicious. If anyone has any "tried-and-true" or family recipes for raspberry pie I'd love to try them out too :)
Pie crust
from Grandma Jane

3/4 cup butter flavored shortening
1/3 cup boiling water
1 Tablespoon milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Pour boiling water over shortening and beat until fluffy (like whipped cream) with a mixer. Add milk. Mix flour and salt with whisk. Add all at once to shortening mixture and mix just until blended. The less you work the dough, the better. Roll out. Makes 2 crusts.

Raspberry Pie
from westmountainraspberries.com

4 cups fresh raspberries (heaping)
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons tapioca (optional to grind the tapioca, but I honestly didn't notice them)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I actually left this out)
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons butter
1 Tablespoon cream or milk
Sugar for sprinkling

Gently mix together the raspberries, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt. Let sit for a few minutes. Pour into bottom crust in a pie tin. Dot with butter. Cover with other crust and pinch closed. Cut slits or decorations in top of crust. Brush with cream or milk. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Watch carefully. If it starts to get too brown, place a piece of parchment paper or foil over the pie. Let cool a bit and enjoy!

Sweet Summer

Whew! Can you believe it's already time for school to start up again? Where did the summer go? I've been baking like crazy the last couple months, just not had a moment to post anything... so I have lots to post in the coming weeks :) In honor of the first day of school, I'll have a new post this Wednesday (19th). So be sure to come back then and check it out!

English Muffins

When I typically try to make bread by hand, it flops fairly fantastically. I rely very heavily on my bosch and previously on my bread maker to make my doughs. I was a bit sceptical that the English Muffins would turn out, but they looked a little less intimidating to me than making a loaf of bread by hand. It became a fun challenge to see if I could recreate something as different as an English Muffin. Believe it or not, these actually turned out pretty well. Well enough, that my family decided it was a keeper and we'd have to try them again (If my kids ask me to make something again, that's usually a good indicator it turned out ok :) ). The only thing I messed up on was putting the salt in a step too early. It ended up killing the yeast a bit, so the english muffins didn't become as fluffy as they should have, but they were still good so next time when I do it right they should be even better, eh?

English Muffins

by cookingbread.com

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
4 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 small egg whites
fine cornmeal

In a large bowl pour in your lukewarm water. Add in the instant yeast, baking soda and 2 cups of bread flour. Mix till smooth. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes uncovered. In the meantime, add the egg whites into a separate bowl and beat with an electric mixer. You want the egg whites to become stiff and moist. Once the egg white have formed stiff peaks; add to the dough batter. Using a rubber spatula fold in the egg whites till all the eggs are incorporated into the batter.

Start to add in the rest of the flour, a 1/4 cup at a time. After the first 1/4 cup add in the salt and mix. When the mixture becomes to hard to mix in the bowl. Pour out onto a flat surface. Knead the dough for about 5 to 6 minutes till the dough becomes smooth and silky.

Add a little oil to a clean bowl and place the kneaded dough into the bowl. Turn over the dough till all sides of the dough are very lightly coated. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest till double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Afterwards, pour out the dough onto a flat surface. Press to release some of the air from the dough. Now, using a rolling pin roll out the dough to a 1/2 inch thick. Allow the dough to rest for 3 minutes to relax. Using a 3 inch cookie cutter, cut out the circles. Place the cut out pieces onto some cornmeal. When you have left over dough just gather together and cut out a few more circles. Sprinkle the tops of the dough with more cornmeal. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 45 minutes.

About 5 minutes before you are ready to cook the english muffins turn on your griddle or fry pan to 350F or medium heat. Spray with a little oil spray and once the griddle is hot. Place the muffins on and fry. If you are using a fry pan you may only be able to fry 3-4 at a time. Fry on one side for about 4 minutes. Then turn over and fry for another 4 minutes. Do this once more to a total of 16 minutes. Allow to cool if you can and enjoy!

Dinosaur Chow

This is just a basic no-bake cookie recipe. I'm still trying to track down the recipe of the one I really like. This is just a fun take on the traditional recipe, and having all boys, it's a huge hit. Feel free to apply it to your favorite no-bake recipe.

Dinosaur Chow

1/4 cup Dirt (cocoa)
1/2 cup Swamp Water (milk with green food coloring)
2 cups Crushed Bones (sugar)
1/2 cup Fat (butter)
2 cups Dead Grass (oatmeal)
1/2 cup Squashed Bugs (peanut butter)

In a large pot over medium heat mix dirt, swamp water, bones and fat. Let boil about 2-2 1/2 minutes. Add bugs and grass and stir until melted and mixture is thickened. Remove from heat. Drop by tablespoons onto wax or parchment paper. Cool, eat and enjoy!

Italian Cream Sodas

As much as I love food, I actually love drinks more (non-alcoholic of course!). On our honeymoon, my husband and I discovered the Old Spaghetti Factory. We really enjoyed their food, the inexpensive-ness and, of course, their italian cream sodas. Since then, we've discovered many places that make them, but until I go to Italy and try them there, my 2 favorite places to get them are: Old Spaghetti Factory and Jaxies (they have tons of flavor options and are just an incredible place anyhow....if you haven't been yet--GO!). If you'd like to make them at home, the syrups are available online or at the grocery store (usually down the coffee aisle).

Italian Cream Soda
2-3 Tbsp flavored syrup (we like the Torani ones)
Club Soda
2-3 Tbsp Half and Half
Ice

Pour syrup in bottom of glass. Add some ice. Fill the glass with club soda leaving room to add a few tablespoons of half and half. Stir really well and enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Crunch Bread

Mmmmm! Banana bread is delicious, but who can argue when you add chocolate to it? Ok, perhaps some people, but I'm not one of them, so I will add chocolate to a lot of things :). This recipe has the added bonus (for me :) ) of not only a chocolate banana bread, but chocolate chips and toffee bits as well. yum... sweet!


This recipe comes from one of my favorite bread blogs thekneadforbread.com (this is the blog for it's parent site: cookingbread.com which I've found to be a valuable resource with plenty of fun recipes and how-to's.)

Chocolate Banana Crunch Bread
from cookingbread.com

4 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
2 tsps baking powder
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup soft butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsps vanilla
6 ripe bananas
1/2 cup powdered cocoa
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup toffee bits
extra 1/4 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Using a wire whisk, mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, peel and mash your bananas. Add in the eggs, butter, vanilla, and 1 cup of buttermilk. Mix together with a whisk till well blended. Add in the white adn brown sugar to the liquid mixture; stir till well blended. Now, separate the flour mixture into 2 bowls (make sure there are equal amounts in each bowl, us a measuring cup to separate). In one of the bowls add in the cocoa powder and blend with a whisk.

Take the banana mixture and separate into 2 bowls again (make sure there are equal amounts, use a measuring cup to separate). In the bowl that is going into the chocolate flour mixture, add an extra 1/4 cup of buttermilk and stir. Add the banana mixtures into each bowl of flour. Now, mix each bowl just until blended. Add the chocolate chips into the chocolate bowl and the toffee bits into the plain bowl.

Grease two 5x9" loaf pans. Add a little of each mixture into pans being sure to alternate between the chocolate and plain mixtures. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 55-60 minutes (15-20 minutes for muffins) or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the loaf pans for 10 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies are just so fun! And you just can't beat a good chocolate chip cookie. This one is thick, chewy, and very vanilla-y :) . Although you can change things up a bit and use different flavored puddings and candies/nuts. We've tried chocolate. It was good, but not as good as the vanilla. Butterscotch might be nice, and who knows what else? Coconut? White Chocolate? Pistachio? :) The sky's the limit!Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter flavored crisco
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 (3 oz) package vanilla instant pudding
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a large bowl cream together the crisco and sugars. Add the eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Mix in vanilla pudding and flour. By hand add the the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree over for 11-12 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes on sheet then transfer to a cooling rack. For variations try other flavors pudding or candies/chips/nuts.