Mimi's Strawberry cake

0

By Christy

When Sarah and I were little we had a Saturday tradition. Back then Mom worked Saturdays and Dad farmed, so Sarah and I would hop on the 4 wheeler and drive down to my grandparents house for the day. We played dress up, played with the video camera, tea parties, watched tv, played on the computer, walked around in the pastures, used our easy bake oven… we got into anything and everything back then but one thing we never missed was lunch with my grandparents every Saturday when my dad and Grandpa Frank came in from the field for a break.

Mimi and Grandpa Frank

Everything Mimi cooked was (and still is) amazing. Mom was always watching her weight when we were little so it was always a treat to eat at Mimi's because everything tasted sooo good. (As Mimi says, "It's not what you eat, it's how much". lol) She always bought Sarah and me old fashioned cokes in the glass bottles to drink with lunch and she would make us our favorite foods. It was like a feast every Saturday. She served vegetables of every color, salad, sweet pickles, onions, baked apples, several different meats…. Sarah and I thought Mimi was a cooking genius because she could make even the most boring vegetables taste great.  We loved it so much we named our Saturday feasts. We called it "Grandma's Greasy Kitchen".  We would make Grandma's Greasy Kitchen signs and hang them up outside the house so my dad and grandfather would see them as they came in for lunch. LOL We really did think we were so clever back then. 

Me and Sarah when we were little

My favorite meal Mimi cooks is country fried chicken and gravy with baked apples and cream corn. I have watched her make that meal a hundred times but unfortunately I have never written it down or attempted to make it. But there is one recipe that was always something my sister and I could never get enough of (shocking that we've always had a sweet tooth lol) that I have made several times as an adult. My Mimi's Strawberry Cake. She makes it in a huge sheet cake pan and then puts the icing on top of it while it is still kinda warm and the icing sorta melts into the cake. And she ALWAYS serves her desserts with ice-cream. It is perfection! I am so happy to be blessing each and everyone of you with such a delicious and easy family recipe. 

Do you have any fun family traditions involving food too?

Ingredients:

1 box vanilla cake mix

1 - 3 ounce package of strawberry jello

1/2 cup of water

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 cup thawed frozen strawberries

Icing:

1 lb confectioners sugar

1 stick of softened butter

1/2 to 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix together the cake mix, jello, and water. Add eggs one at a time beating after each addition. Add oil and strawberries (including juices). Beat the batter for 2 minute. Bake at 350.

To make the icing, whip together the powdered sugar and butter. It will be a dry clumpy mixture but then add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of fresh sliced strawberries. Beat until the natural juices from the berries make the icing creamy.

Read More »

Strawberry Bread Pudding

0

by Cindy

Strawberries are starting to show up in the farmer's markets and are ready to pick in the fields.  My dad used to take my brother and me to pick strawberries every year and we loved it.  I think I ate more than I picked.  When I lived in the country it was so neat to get to do that again.  There were several strawberry patches in the area and you could pick them yourself or they would pick them for you, and when I was a mail carrier, I could take a break for lunch and stop at a house on my route and buy a big flat box of already picked strawberries.  Again, when I was preparing them, I seem to eat a ton right then.  So needless to say, I do love strawberries. 

I don't really have that many strawberry recipes and the best one I have is the one Christy is going to post, which was from her dad's mother's recipes.  I was looking around for different ideas and found this recipe for Strawberry Bread Pudding.  It is a simple recipe and I took it to work for an annual meeting event for the company I work for, and my nephew gave the recipe a "10."  Everyone seemed to like it too. It has a bottom  layer of brown sugar that makes it really delicious. 

Go get some fresh strawberries today and enjoy!

Strawberry Bread Pudding

1 1/4 cups (packed) brown sugar

4 1/2 cups 1/2-inch cubes bread

7 large eggs

2 cups half and half

 1 cup whole milk

2 T sugar

2 t vanilla extract

1/4 t cinnamon

2 pinches of salt

2 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Spread brown sugar evenly in bottom of an 8x8 inch baking dish.  Spread bread cubes evenly over the brown sugar. 

Combine eggs, cream, milk, 2 T sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl: whisk to blend well.  Pour custard through sieve over bread in dish.  Spread strawberries over the top of the bread and mix into cubes and custard. 

 Let the pudding stand for 30 minutes, occasionally pressing on the bread and berries to submerge.

Position rack in center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Place baking dish in a roasting pan.  Pour enough lukewarm water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of baking dish.  Bake pudding until set, brown on top, and small knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Let cool in water for 20 minutes.  Serve warm.

Recipe adapted from achowlife.com

Read More »

Cookbook Giveaway!

9

Welcome to the Buttercream Baker's first ever giveaway! Buttercream Baker's loves providing our readers with delicious, simple and often semi homemade recipes. The cookbook for giveaway is a "best of" cookbook that gives you the recipes from the backs of boxes, bottles, cans, and jars provided by common kitchen products and foods. This cookbook is great because it puts all these delicious recipes organized in one location. This cookbook has been a part of the BcB's cookbook collection for many years and we are so excited to get to share it with one of our readers.

How To Enter: It’s easy! Just leave a comment on this blog post telling us what your all-time favorite semi homemade recipe is. Make sure to leave your email address so we can get in touch with you.

(If you have trouble posting a comment, please send us an email at thebuttercreambakers@gmail.com )

Bonus: If you share a link to this giveaway on your blog, through Facebook or Twitter, post another comment with a link to your shout out for a total of two possible chances to win.

Deadline to Enter: 12pm Central Sunday, April 29th.

A winner will be selected by the random number generator on Sunday and the book will be shipped to the winner on Monday.

Read More »

Aunt Fannie's Lemon dessert

0

By: Christy

This week we are baking with lemons. I wont deny that my mind drew a blank when I tried to think of a lemon recipe I wanted to share. I figured this was the perfect time to reach out to a few of our loyal readers for some ideas. I had a few requests for cupcakes and muffins but the winner ending up being a co-worker's beloved secret lemon dessert recipe. Thomas Kinnard gave me his Aunt Fannie's secret recipe that he swore up and down was absolutely amazing and even said the recipe is still a secret among some of his family members. Personally, family recipes are always a favorite and I was so excited I had struck such a good recipe for this week! I did warn him I was going to post his Aunt Fannie's secret recipe all over the world wide web but I don't think it is a shame because this recipe is perfect for people like me who only enjoy a lite lemon flavor paired along side some other delicious components.

If you ever have a family recipe you would like to have shared on our website please feel free to contact us. We are always open to expanding our cook book with our reader's delicious ideas and recipes!

Crust:

1 1/2 cups white flour

1 1/2 sticks melted butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans (more if desired)

Filling:

2 packages instant lemon pudding mix

3 cups milk

1 8oz package cream cheese softened

1 cup powered sugar

8 to 12 oz cool whip

Topping:

Cool Whip

Chopped Pecans

For the crust, mix all ingredients together. Press into the bottom of your pans (recipe is meant for 1 8 1/2 by 11 inch pan). Place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned. Let cool.

Filling: Place milk in a large bowl. Slowly mix in instant pudding (I used a whisk) until pudding texture. With a mixer, cream the cream cheese then add the powdered sugar, mixing until smooth. Fold in the cool whip (I made homemade whipped cream, YUM!). Spread this mixture over the cooled crust.

Spread the lemon pudding mixture over the cream cheese mixture. Finish the top off with more cool whip and sprinkle with chopped pecans if desired.

This recipe must be stored in the refrigerator.

Read More »

Lemon Meringue Bars

0

by Cindy

This week the category is lemon and I decided to make a new recipe that I cut out of a magazine years ago.  I have collected probably over a hundred recipes over the last 20 years that I want to try. The problem was that there have been many years in my life that I was dieting, so I didn't really want to put the added temptation on myself, so I didn't try them.   Now since we have started the blog, I have had a the opportunity to start trying out all those recipes that looked good enough to cut out of magazines and papers. 

I have been wanting a lemon ice box pie or bar recipe for a long time, and that's why I cut this recipe out of Woman's Day magazine in 2004.  These bars have a light flavor of lemon and are very sweet and rich.  I love meringue so of course that part I really like.  I simplified the recipe by using a refrigerated sugar cookie dough, but I think a graham cracker crust would have worked well with this too.  I also think it would be good  made in a baked pie crust.  The lemon filling is so simple and  is made like a chess pie, by just mixing the ingredients together and baking them.  If I make this recipe again, I think I might try putting the filling into a baked pie crust and then following all of the instructions after that.  Lemon is a fresh taste and these lemon bars are delicious and easy to make. 

Lemon Meringue Bars

1 batch of cookie dough

Lemon Filling

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1 T freshly grated lemon peel

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (I used the juice from one lemon

which I used for the grated peel and added the bottled

 ReaLemon Juice to 1/2 c)

Meringue

Whites of 3 large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 t cider vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with foil, letting foil extend above pan at both  ends.  Coat foil with nonstick spray.

2.  Pat dough over bottom and slightly up sides of pan.

3.  Bake 15 minutes or until pale golden.

                                                          

  

4.  Meanwhile make Filling:  In a mixer beat eggs then add the sugar.  Add the rest of the filling ingredients.  Pour over hot crust.  Bake 20 minutes until filling sets slightly.

                                                                                                               

  5.  Meringue:  Beat egg whites in a medium bowl with mixer on high speed until foamy.  Add vinegar; beat until soft peaks from.  Beat in sugar, about 1 T at a time.  Beat 5 minutes more or until stiff peaks form when beater is lifted.

6.  Spread the meringue over filling to cover, making swirls with back of spoon.

  

7.  Bake 15 to 18 minutes until peaks of meringue are golden brown.  Watch closely toward the end.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Lift foil by ends onto a cutting board; cut in bars.

Recipe by Woman's Day Magazine

4/1/04

Read More »

Grape Salad

0

By: Christy

With my love for being social in combination with my love for food makes potlucks, picnics, and cookouts some of my favorite activities. It just so happens I actually hosted a cookout this weekend and I figured this was the perfect opportunity to share some of the food I served.

Grape salad is a recipe I have had at my grandmothers house many times. I love it. It's sweet. It's tangy. It's fresh. And if those aren't strong enough selling points...It's fruit smothered basically in sugar and cream cheese and it's (proven this weekend) a huge crowd pleaser!  My cookout was about 20 people and this recipe fed everyone and luckily left me some delicious leftovers. You can make this salad the day before and can easily cut this recipe down depending on how many people you expect (but trust me you wont be sorry if you make more than necessary! YUM!)

 

Ingredients:

4 lbs of grapes (green or red. I used red because they are sweeter)

8 ounces cream cheese softened

8 ounces sour cream

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Topping:

Brown Sugar

Pecans

Wash and stem your grapes. Pat dry and set aside. Mix cream cheese, sour cream, white sugar and vanilla. Stir grapes into the mixture coating each grape with the sauce. Pour into a large serving dish (I used a trifle bowl). Top the grape salad with a generous layer of brown sugar and chopped pecans covering the top of the dish completely. The brown sugar will kind of melt into this mixture making a super delicious topping!

Read More »

Decadent Chocolate Filled Cookies

0

by Cindy

I love the theme for this week because I could pick out almost any recipe and it wouldn't matter.  Christy asked me the other day what catagory I would like to pick for the next week, and I was super busy at the time and didn't want to think about it so I said "chocolate."  She sent back "lol"and I laughed out loud myself at her reply.  It was kind of funny but that's my go to food.  I think I would choose chocolate over many many things. Chocolate seems to comfort me and I do love it!

I always try to take something really good to potlucks, because it can be a real competition to see what gets eaten first.  It's a silent competition because no one really admits there is one.  That's one of the best ways to get good new recipes too.  You get to try new foods and ask for the recipes when you're finished.  

I have been wanting to make this chocolate cookie recipe for a while, and these cookies would be perfect for a cookout or potluck and they are chocolate (lol).  Donna, who works in the office next door to my office gave me this recipe.  It has a cookie crust with a gooey chocolate layer and  cookie dollops on top.  It's a easy recipe and really is decedantly good!!  Thanks Donna for sharing this really delicious cookie recipe.  I loved it!

Decadent Chocolate Filled Cookies

1 cup semi softened butter (or margarine)

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 t salt

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 6-oz pkg (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate pieces

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 t vanilla

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds.

Add flour, sugar and salt, beat on low speed until combined  Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13x9x2 baking pan.  Save remainder for topping cookies.

In a large saucepan, combine condensed milk and chocolate chips.  Stir over low heat till chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat.  Stir in nuts and vanilla.  Spread chocolate mixture over crust.  Use remaining crust mixture to "sprinkle/dollop" over chocolate mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until golden.  Cool.  Cut into squares.

Read More »

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups and Vanilla Icecream

0

By: Christy

In Nashville, March and April have not really felt like spring. Not only did we have the mildest winter I have witnessed in Nashville, but spring came early. (Despite what the groundhog said. LOL)  With spring here and summer coming up, that means potlucks, picnics, and cookouts are in our midst.

When I think of spring and summer one of my favorite summer memories is my family making homemade ice-cream. I can remember Sarah and I would anxiously wait by the ice cream machine as we constantly loaded it up with ice and rock salt. Just the sound of hearing the ice-cream machine the other day flooded my mind with great memories of my family and growing up. It's funny, now that I live in the city, I am always shocked when I hear how many of my city folk friends have never had the opportunity to eat homemade ice-cream. I don't know if I'm more sad they haven't tried homemade ice-cream or more sad they don't have those wonderful memories wrapped around making it….  either way, in my opinion it is always better than store bought.

To add to the excitement I also wanted to try something I have seen a few times on pinterest…. Cookie cups. I googled them and saw that most recipes called for sugar cookies but I wanted to make mine chocolate chip. I mean honestly, what sounds better than homemade chocolate chip cookie cups with homemade vanilla ice-cream? (yeah, I know your mouth is probably watering right now… don't worry, so is mine!) It was really like a more amazing version of cookies and milk. It ended up being an amazing combination that I will definitley have to do again.

The cookie cups were super easy! I just whipped up a batch of my ultimate favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe. Using a clump of the cookie dough, I shaped the dough around the bottom of a muffin pan, putting the cookie dough only about 1/2 way down the depth of the muffin indention. My first run with them (see the picture below), I actually put the cookie dough on the muffin pans almost the full depth of the indention. This caused the dough to melt into each other and I had to cut the cookie cups apart after they baked. When I only put the dough about 1/2 down they made perfect little cups! If you choose to make the cups here are some important tips: Bake the cookies until they are firm. You do not want the middle of these cookies to be ooey and gooey because they wont hold together as a bowl replacement. Secondly, make sure to use a non stick pan and do NOT spray it with cooking or butter spray because that will cause the cookies to melt way too much and not work. Thirdly, let the pan cool completely before attempting to remove the cookie cups. 

I didn't have a copy of a family owned ice-cream recipe when I got the sudden whim to make it so I worked with Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla Ice Cream recipe. He uses peach preserves in the recipe and I was unsure how that would turn out but it really was super delicious and actually didn't have the flavor of peaches at all (I siphoned the peach clumps out before making it to ice-cream).

Serious Vanilla Ice cream

2 cups half-and-half

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup minus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons ,peach preserves (not jelly)

1 vanilla bean split and scraped or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients (including the bean and its pulp) in a large saucepan and place over medium heat stirring occasionally. Bring the mixture to 170 degrees (or right before a boil--don't actually let it start boiling). Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the hull of the vanilla bean if you used one and pour mixture in a lidded container and refrigerate mixture overnight to mellow flavors and texture.

Freeze mixture in an ice cream maker according to the unit's instructions .The mixture will not freeze hard in the machine. Once the volume has increased by 1/2 to 3/4 times, and has reached a soft serve consistency, spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harder in the freezer for at least 1 hour before serving.

Read More »

Coconut Cake

0

by

Cindy

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity.....This is my Easter bunny cake.  LuAnn, who works at the library, gave me this recipe.  I'm always asking people for any good recipes so that we can share them with you.  So if any of you have a great recipe you would like to share, send them to us.  We would love to try them out.  Thanks LuAnn for the great recipe!  I miss you all.

This is one of those really easy and so good recipes.  It's quick and easy to follow and makes a really moist cake that has a good coconut flavor.  If you're looking for a great coconut cake, you should try this one!

I'm excited for Easter to be here because my family is coming over to my house for Easter dinner after church.  I've gotten the cake done now.lol  I do a little work every night so it's not too hard on the weekend.  I'm excited for Carter, my grandson, to have his first Easter egg hunt - I've stuffed all the plastic eggs and his Easter basket is ready in case he doesn't get very many eggs. 

I'm excited for Easter too because it's really about new life and the raising up from the dead, our savior, Jesus Christ.  We would be lost without him!  I thank God everyday for all the blessings he has given me, and I'm thankful for new beginnings in my life.  Have a wonderful Easter!!

Coconut Cake

1 pkg cake mix

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can Cream of Coconut

1 medium container of Cool Whip

1/2 - 1 cup flaked coconut

1.  Bake a sheet cake (9 x 13). - White, yellow or chocolate.  Cool for 5 minutes.  Poke holes in the cake with a large fork. 

2.  Mix together sweetened condensed milk and 1/2 can of Cream of Coconut (not coconut milk).  Pour this slowly over the hot cake. 

3. When the cake is completely cooled, mix together cool whip and the rest of the can of Cream of Coconut and spread this on top of the cake. 

4.  Top with coconut and store in the refrigerator.

note:  The Cream of Coconut is sometimes in the baking area of grocery store and other times in the mixed drink section (for cocktails).  Whisk the Cream of Coconut before using.

Read More »

Sam's Famous Carrot Cake

0

by
Cindy

Since last week was carrot week and this week is Easter inspired week, I'm going to add another carrot recipe.  Carrot cake would be a great dessert to follow your Easter dinner.  I wanted to try a recipe that I saw online for a carrot cake that someone's grandfather used to make.  I've made other carrot cake recipes and they were good but I thought I'd try this one since it was "famous."  The ingredients were very similar to my carrot bread that I posted last week except that it used buttermilk and coconut, but I forgot to add the coconut, so I'm sure it would have been just a little better with the coconut.  It was a very simple recipe just like most cake recipes, and I iced it with Christy's cream cheese icing recipe that she posted last week.  It was very good with lots of chunks of pineapple and nuts.  The cream cheese icing was good and topped the cake off really well.  Enjoy the beautiful weather this week.  We are going to have possible record breaking highs here.

Sam's Famous Carrot Cake

3 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cup white sugar

2 t vanilla extract

2 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 t baking soda

2 cups shredded carrots

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice

1 cup raisins

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 x 12 inch pan.

2.  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside

3.  In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add flour mixture and mix      well.

4.  In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins.

5.  Using a large wooden spoon or a very heavy whisk, add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.

6.  Pour into prepared 8x12 inch pan, and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for one hour.  Check with toothpick.

7.  Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

recipe from allrecipes.com

submitted by Brian D'Amico

Read More »