Butterscotch Cake

I have fond memories of this cake.  When Lydia was born my mother-in-law came and stayed with us for close to two weeks.  She did alot of the cleaning, baking, laundry, and took shifts with Lydia so I could get some rest.  This cake was one that she made while she was with us.  I'm normally a huge chocolate fan but will pass it up for this cake! 

We're having Marc and Ruthie over to play Bridge tonight and I'm using their visit as an excuse to bake this rich yet somewhat light and fluffy dessert.  I appreciate how few ingredients there are!

Butterscotch Cake
1 Yellow Cake mix
1 can (15-16 oz) Butterscotch pudding
2 eggs
6 oz Butterscotch chips
1/4 cup sugar
2-3 oz slivered almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat together cake mix putting and eggs.
Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. 
Sprinkle with chips, sugar and if desired almonds.
Bake according to directions on the cake mix box.

Note: You can also make it Triple Chocolate! Just use chocolate cake mix, chocolate pudding and chocolate chips.

Cool experation date

I took this picture of the date off a bag of sugar in December.  This was the bag that I went through in a week with all the Christmas baking:).

Saving a seat for Elijah (again)!

Ahh the life of a youth director's wife, always interesting and never according to plan!

One of our youth volunteers has a son in the military who was home for Christmas.  We had a great time playing games with them Sunday night and Fig suggested inviting them over again last night.  So Lydia and I got to work making a snack. . .we decided to make Reformation Day Bars (they used to be called Halloween Bars but Halloween doesn't exist in the Glenn Palmer Household).  Well, around four pm Fig called and said that there was a rivalry game at the local high school and that we should all go to that instead.  We ate early and took off for the basketball game.  We watched the JV game and then half of the Varsity game but ended up leaving at half-time because of the little girls. . . At the game we had randomly gotten a call from my cousin (who lives in Iowa).  We didn't check the message until we got home and found out he was at Calvin and wondered if he could stop by with his fiance to say hi!  We said sure and around ten they showed up.  The night turned out differently then we originally thought it would but we had fun and shared a yummy snack with them! 
Here's the recipe:

Place a stick of butter in a 9x13 pan and turn the oven on to 350.  While the butter is melting, crush one package of graham crackers.  Once the butter is melted, sprinkle crumbs into the pan to form the crust.  Then add 12 oz of choc chips (one bag) and 6 oz of peanut butter chips into the pan.  Pour the entire can of sweetened condensed milk over the pan.

Bake at 350 for 17-20 min.  Let sit for about 45 min (if you can:).  Good warm or cold.

Joanna was a huge help. . . she entertained herself by taking a sock and shoe off, emptying the Tupperware cupboard and gnawed on kitchen utensils Lydia threw to her!

Almond Bars and Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares

Unbeknown to most Dutch descendants in West Michigan the Almond flavor they love so much isn't that big of a deal in the rest of the country.  Until I moved to Grand Rapids I had no idea how many desserts and pastries could be made with Almond flavoring or Almond paste.   It just wasn't something I was even all that aware of.  Now I'm hooked.

I have some good friends Marc and Ruthie who are the sweetest couple. Here they are pictured at a recent wedding we went to with them.  We enjoy their company and especially their cooking!  Marc is Sicilian and Ruthie is Dutch so the food is always a fun combination!  The last time we enjoyed dinner at their house we had Almond Bars for dessert.  These were made from a special family recipe passed down from Ruthie's ancestors, who owned a bakery in the Netherlands.  These bars are similar to "banket" but are topped with a melt-in-your-mouth meringue.  Ruthie graciously walked me through how to make the meringue a few times and Thursday night I tried my hand at making these bars.  Amazing!   Her family recipe is a secret so if you want a taste you'll have to have me make them for you sometime! 

I made the bars and the Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares for a ladies special Advent night at church. 
The second recipe is from a cookbook Marc and Ruthie's church made, it was one of her favorites so she passed it on to me!  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares
1 box of yellow/white cake mix
1/2 c. Melted butter
29 oz. can of pumpkin
2/3 c. milk
1 c. sugar
2 eggs

Topping
4 tsp cin.
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
Preheat oven
Reserve 1 c. of cake mix.  Combine rest of mix, 1 egg and melted butter.
Press into bottom of greased 9x13 pan.
Prepare filling by beating pumpkin, 2 eggs, milk and sugar until smooth. Pour over crust.
Prepare topping by combining reserved cake mix and remaining ingredients.  Sprinkle over filling.
Bake for 50 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.

Black Forest Brownie Pecan Pie

The Cadet Dine and Sign fundraising dinner at church this month is a Western Themed Chili dinner with corn bread and salad.  The following recipe is the dessert I'm bringing!

Black Forest Brownie Pecan Pie sitting next to some of the decorations from the Western Dinner!

Black Forest Brownie Pecan Pie

Ingredients

3/4 cup	Corn Syrup
1/3 cup	sugar
1/8 teaspoon	salt
3 ounces	semi-sweet baking chocolate, broken into pieces
2 tablespoon	butter
3	eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon	vanilla extract
3/4 cup	coarsely chopped pecans
1	Graham Cracker Pie Crust
1 can (21 ounces)	Cherry Pie Filling

Directions

Combine corn syrup, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
Add chocolate and butter to syrup mixture, stirring until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes.
Pour chocolate mixture slowly over eggs, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and pecans; mix well. Place pie crust on a baking sheet or pizza pan (for stability).  Pour mixture into crust.
Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 to 35 minutes, until center of pie is slightly puffed; cool at least 1 hour.  To serve, top each slice of pie with about 1/4 cup cherry pie filling.

Scotch-a-roos

Made scotch-a-roos twice in two days!  I love these crispy peanut buttery chocolatey treats.  My first introduction to them was at my future in-law's house when Fig and I were dating.  Lydia and I made them Friday for a post-high event that later got postponed and today for Fig's trip to Lake City/Cadillac to visit with some of our former students.  The recipe says to refrigerate for 3 hours but the fridge was full of Thanksgiving leftovers so I stuck them in the garage!  The benefit to winters in Michigan is you have a really large walk in freezer :).  If you cut them right out of the fridge the chocolate will crack so let it sit out for  few minutes before breaking into them. . .I know it will be hard to wait but you can do it!


Scotch-a-roos
Ingredients

• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 cups crisp rice cereal
• 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 (12 oz bag) butterscotch chips

Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment or wax paper.
Add sugar and corn syrup to sauce pan and stir over medium heat until it reaches a rolling boil. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.
In a large bowl, add six cups of Rice Krispys. Pour on the peanut butter mixture and stir until all the cereal is coated. Spread in prepared pan.
In a microwave melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips together. Spread on top of cereal and refrigerate for 3 hours or until set. Cut into squares.

Thanksgiving leftovers

Sitting here eating leftover pie I realized I never recorded how they turned out! I didn't bake the Pumpkin pie long enough on Wednesday, I had skipped the first baking step.  Since it wasn't done I baked it in the oven for 25 minutes Thursday while we were eating the Turkey.  The perk?  We ate warm pumpkin pie. . . amazing.  Follow the directions (below for the baking temperatures) closely and you shouldn't have problems.  One of the best I've had.  The pecan pie was also wonderful you can't beat toasted pecans covered by carmalized sugar. . .oh wow!  Both recipes (including the tip about blind baking-see previous post) I took from the Grand Rapids Press, my fav!  Both crusts were delightfully light and flaky, which came from making the crust and putting them in the fridge to chill before rolling out and filling.

Shirley Bellmon's Pecan Pie
(Wife of the Oklahoma Govenor in the 1960s- she'd make a dozen or two and stick them in the pantry; her daughter didn't eat pecan pie for about 13 years afterward she couldn't take the smell!)

Ingredients:
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell
3 eggs
1 c. white corn syrup
1c. light brown sugar
1c. whole pecans

Directions
Make pie shell and chill or defrost if frozen.  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs, add corn syrup and sugar to the eggs and mix well. 
Pour mixture into pie shell and sprinkle the top with pecans.
Bake for an hour.

Pumpkin pie

Ingredients
3/4c. granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin- not premade filling
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9 inch deep dish pie shell

Directions
Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in a small bowl.  Stir in pumpkin and gradually stir in warm evaporated milk.
Pour room temperature mixture  into (chilled) pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes. 
Reduce tempature to 350 degrees and bake for 40-50 minutes until knife inserted near center comes out clean. 
Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve soon or keep refrigerated.