March 28, 2013

Lemon Crinkle Cookies with Lemon Frosting

Cookies:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp. lemon zest (or more)
1 TBS. fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking powder
⅛ tsp. baking soda
1-½ cups  flour
½ cup powdered sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease light colored* baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. (Or just use parchment paper or silpats.)

2.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients (excluding powdered sugar) slowly until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.

3.  Place powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

4.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte (not melty or shiny). Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

5.  When cookies are cool, frost (frosting recipe follows) bottom of one cookie and stick the bottom of another cookie to it to make a sandwich cookies.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, very soft
3-4cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
zest from 1/2 to one large lemon 
Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 2 cups of sugar, then the juice and the zest. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.

From The Food Charlaton


March 23, 2013

Andes Mint Cookies

1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 package of Andes Mints

1.  Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs together.

2.  Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 ℉ for 6-9 minutes. Don't cook any longer than that! They should not be overdone.

 3.  Take cookie sheet out of oven and while the cookies are still very hot, place an Andes Mint on top of each cookie. In about 5 minutes, the mint will be melted. Take a spoon and smooth out each mint like frosting.

From Six Sister's Stuff

March 19, 2013

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 pkg. Ranch style dressing mix
1 pkg.  taco seasoning mix
1 cup water
2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
2 (15 oz.) cans pinto beans
1 (15 oz.) can black beans
1 (15 oz.) can cream style corn

1.  Brown beef with chopped onion in a soup pot.  Drain excess grease.

2.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes before serving.

You can also put everything in the crockpot and let simmer on low until ready to serve.

From Bev

March 12, 2013

Vegetable Dip

1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1-1/2 TBS dill weed
1-1/2 TBS bon appetite seasoning****
dehydrated onions

1.  Stir all ingredients together.  Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Use to dip vegetables, crackers etc. 



***Can't find bon appetite seasoning (I don't think it's made anymore) make your own
1 TBS celery salt
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp onion powder

mix until well blended; store in tightly covered jar 

March 4, 2013

Cinnaburst Bread



1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup sugar
2-1/4 tsp. yeast (1 packet)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 TBS salt
1 egg
4-1/2 to 5-1/2 cups flour
1 cup cinnamon chips (I got them from Amazon)

1.  In a mixer combine water, milk, sugar and yeast.  Let it bubble for about 5 minutes.

2.  Add in oil and egg.

3.  Slowly add 2 cups flour.  Mix well; then add salt.

4.  Add 1/2 cup of flour at a time into mixture comes away from sides of bowl.  Add the cinnamon chips when its gets close to the right consistency.  The dough will be sticky but the softer the dough the lighter the bread.  Use the least amount of flour you can handle.

5.  Let rise in mixing bowl for about 30 minutes.

6.  Form into 2 loaves (or whatever shape you want.)  Place in greased loaf pans.  Let rise an additional 30 minutes.

7.  Bake in a preheated 350 ℉ oven for 30-45 minutes.

From Rae Gun Ramblings