Amy's Recipe of the Day

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Location: Texas, United States

Friday, May 30, 2008

Turtles


1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 baking bars Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate (chocolate chips don't melt as well)
1 big bag pecan halves
A few Tbsp butter or shortening

Remove label from unopened milk can. Place in a deep pot with water completely covering can. Boil water with can inside for about 3 hours. Keep checking on can and add more water if it goes below the level of the can. Milk will not caramelize if not completely covered. Cool completely before using.
(Some people on the internet warn that cans can explode when you do this. This has never happened to us. It is safest to make sure water level never goes below top of can.)

Arrange three pecans in a Y-shape on parchment on a cookie sheet. Repeat until cookie sheet is filled. You will need about 3 cookie sheets.

Open can of milk (now caramel). Spoon a little bit of caramel (half tsp?) into center of each Y-shape.

Break up half of chocolate bar and put into Pyrex dish with about ¾ Tbsp of butter or shortening. Melt in microwave 30 seconds. Stir. If not completely melted, put in microwave a little longer and stir again.

With spoon, drop melted chocolate over caramel on turtles. Try to completely cover turtles. Melt more chocolate as needed. Reserve 2-3 squares chocolate for turtle bottoms.

Refrigerate turtles until firm. Then remove, turn over, and put chocolate on bottoms of turtles. Refrigerate again until firm. Yum.

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Orange Dessert Loaf


Measure and sift together:
1 1/8 cups flour
¾ cups sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Make a well and add:
¼ cup oil
2 unbeaten egg yolks
juice of one orange plus water to make ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp
1 Tbsp grated orange rind (rind of 1 orange)

Beat with spoon until smooth. Set aside.

Measure into large bowl:
4 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar

Whip until whites form very stiff peaks.

Pour egg yolk mixture gradually over egg whites – gently folding with rubber spatula just until blended. Do not stir. Pour into ungreased pan immediately. Bake at 325 Degrees 50-55 minutes. Use loaf pan: 9.5 X 5.5 inches.

Immediately turn pan upside down, resting edges of pan on two other pans. Let hang, free of table, until cold. Loosen from sides with spatula. Turn pan over and hit edge sharply on table to loosen. Split cooled cake crosswise into 3 sections. Spread orange filling and whipped cream between layers. Cover with whipped cream. Cool.


Filling:
Mix in saucepan:
1 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
4 Tbsp cornstarch

Stir in slowly:
1 cup orange juice including pulp

Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Blend in:
1 to 2 Tbsp grated orange rind
1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp butter

Cool.

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Monday, May 12, 2008

White Chocolate Cake


2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 1-oz squares white chocolate
½ cup hot water
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Frosting:
6 more squares white chocolate
2 ½ Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together 2 ½ cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In small saucepan, melt 6 oz white chocolate (chop for quicker melting if you like) and hot water over low heat. Stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 1 ½ cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix in melted white chocolate and 1 ½ tsp vanilla. Pour batter into two 9-inch round cake pans, or one 9 X 13-inch pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make frosting: In a medium bowl, combine 6 ounces white chocolate, 2 ½ Tbsp flour and 1 cup milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick. Cool completely. If not cooled completely, frosting will not turn out.

In large bowl, cream 1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add cooled white chocolate mixture. Beat at high speed until it is the consistency of whipped cream. Spread between layers, and on top of cake.

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Sunday, May 04, 2008

Marinated Cheese


Thanks to one of my recipe exchange pals for this one. :) [If you have found this and are wondering why it looks different from yours, I am typing it from memory. I don't feel like going downstairs to get the card.]

I didn’t notice until I got home that the crackers I bought were tiny bite-sized ones. So, I sliced up my cheese into tiny blocks and then sliced the tiny blocks and put them in a shallow plastic container for marinating. It worked very well.

1 block white cheddar or mozzarella cheese
3 tsp olive oil
1 small jar roasted red peppers (I bought a larger jar and used 2 whole roasted peppers from it)
½ tsp dried basil or several fresh basil leaves
3 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 tsp sugar
3 cloves garlic

Slice block of cheese and arrange slices back in a block form in a shallow dish with lid. Puree remaining ingredients in food processor. Pour over cheese. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour. Serve with crackers or baguette slices.

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Saturday, May 03, 2008

Slow Cooker German Potato Salad with Sausage


8 bacon strips, diced
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound smoked Polish sausage, halved and cut into ½-inch slices
2 pounds medium red potatoes, cut into chunks
1 can condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted
1 cup sauerkraut, rinsed and well-drained
½ cup water
¼ cup cider vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels. In the drippings, sauté onion for 1 minute. Add sausage; cook until lightly browned. Add potatoes; cook 2 minutes longer. Drain; transfer sausage mixture to a 3-quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the soup, sauerkraut, water, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour over sausage mixture. Sprinkle with bacon. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until potatoes are tender. Makes 8 servings.

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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Angel Lemon Creme Cake Roll

When looking at the picture, imagine that the cake roll slice is round. After carrying the roll wrapped in foil around in an ice chest all day, we ended up with a flat side to the roll and lemon creme oozing out. Still tasted yummy.

1 angel food cake mix
1 jar (10 oz) lemon curd
1 3-oz pkg cream cheese
½ cup whipping cream, whipped
powdered sugar
Smucker’s Raspberry PlateScraper or strawberries and sugar processed in the food processor
Fresh raspberries or strawberries for garnish

Mix up angel food cake batter according to instructions on box.
Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit on the bottom of a 10 X 15-inch jelly roll pan. Put in pan and then pour angel food cake batter into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Meanwhile, put lemon curd and cream cheese into electric mixer and mix until smooth. Fold in whipping cream. Set aside.

When cake is out of oven, sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and then put a towel over cake. Put a large cutting board over pan and turn cake out on cutting board so that cake is sitting on towel. Remove parchment. Using towel to help you, pick up LONG side of cake and roll up. Let cool 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, open up cake and spread lemon mixture on it, leaving a 1-inch border around edges. (It will spill out the sides anyway, so I guess this doesn’t matter, LOL) Carefully roll up and carefully set on platter or another jelly roll pan, seam side down. Place in freezer, covered lightly with plastic wrap. Then eat all the spilled lemon creme.

Serve slices frozen. (Cake and filling will not be hard.) Spread a little PlateScraper on plate, place cake on top, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and garnish with strawberries or raspberries. Eat, and then get yourself another piece.

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