Holidays

Sweet Potato Bread

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Happy New Year, Everyone! Having a New Year’s Eve party? Try serving this yummy quick bread; it’s full of flavor. The taste reminds me more of Amish Friendship Bread than of sweet potato, but the yams make it healthier–or at least make you think it is so you don’t feel as guilty when you eat half a loaf in one day…

Ingredients:
3 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t salt
2 t baking soda
2 t ground cinnamon
2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground allspice
1/2 t ground cloves
3 C white sugar, plus topping
4 eggs
1 C vegetable oil
3/4 C orange juice
2 C mashed sweet potatoes aka yams (I used canned; see link below for instructions on how to use from fresh)
1. If you haven’t already done so, mash the sweet potatoes in a bowl with a flat bottom using a potato masher. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix most of your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl: flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, beat together sugar, eggs, and oil. Stir in orange juice and sweet potatoes. Stir flour mixture into egg/sweet potato mixture until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepared pans. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour 25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. (This recipe yields 2 9×5 loaves. If you’re making mini loaves like I did, check them after 30 minutes.)
Source: lightly adapted from Sweet Potato Bread II as submitted to Allrecipes.com by Umm Asiyah

Butterfly Crescent Rolls

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Nothing takes me back “home” more than the smell of freshly baked bread permeating the air. Grandma and Mom are the best bread bakers I know and, with Grandma’s permission, I share this delicious recipe. Big holiday dinners just would not be the same without these rolls!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Boiling Water
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2  Cup (1 stick) BUTTER
1 Egg
1 Tbsp Yeast
4 Cups Flour (divided)
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In your favorite mixer* (I own a Kitchen Aide, which I LOVE–but I’d prefer a Bosch for bread…here’s to someday!), mix the water, sugar and butter until the butter is melted.
3. Add the eggs and the yeast. (Test the temperature before dumping in your yeast. If it’s too hot, the water will kill it.) Mix well.
4. Add half of the flour, and all of the salt and baking powder. Mix until fully incorporated.
5. Add the remaining flour. The dough should be slightly stiff.
6. Let your machine knead the dough for 10 minutes.
7. Move your dough to a Large Bowl (optional) and cover with a towel. Let rise until doubled in size.
8. Punch the dough down.
9. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1/2 of the dough out in a circle (pizza shaped) until 1/2 an inch thick.
10. With a sharp knife (I use a pizza cutter), cut the dough like you would a pizza into several slices. The number of slices depends on what you’re making the rolls for. The fewer the slices, the bigger the rolls–good for sandwiches. The more slices, the smaller the rolls–good for a dinner side!

11. Take a slice by the fat end and roll it up to the point.
12. Place on a slightly greased cookie sheet, point down so it doesn’t come unrolled while baking and make bird shaped bread–NOT that I’m speaking from experience! *ahem*. Place them about 2 inches apart.
13. Continue until all the slices are shaped into rolls and on cookie sheets.
14. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled.
15. Repeat steps 9 – 14 for the other 1/2 of the dough.
16. Bake rolls for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the rolls are a nice golden brown color.
Doubles easily.

*If you don’t have a mixer, that’s fine! I used to make these by hand. When you get the kneading part, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand, turning about 200 times or for 10 minutes.

Source: My wonderful grandma, KaraLyn Taylor

ENJOY!
~Kara

The Great Pumpkin Dessert

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More Pumpkin, anyone? 
Ingredients:
1-15oz can pumpkin
1 can of evaporated milk (shake well)
3 eggs
1c sugar
4tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 package yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
3/4c butter, melted
1 1/2c chopped walnuts (or make it 2c if you really like nuts…I thought 1 1/2 was enough)
  1. Preheat oven to 350* and grease a 9×13 pan
  2. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. 
  3. Transfer the pumpkin mixture into the 9×13 pan
  4. Sprinkle the cake mix over the pumpkin, drizzle with butter, then top with walnuts!  
  5. Bake at 350* for an hour*  or until knife comes out clean.
*I think baking it for an hour was a little to long.  I like stuff a little more on the gooey side.  So, if you’re like me…go with 45-50 min.  The fork/knife test should still hold true (for the most part).  =)
*This recipe was one that I copied down at a potluck in in DeKalb, IL.  I thought for SURE I wrote this lovely sister’s name on the card, dag nab it!!  

Microwave Fudge

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Okay, it’s 3 days before Christmas, you are in a wrapping, baking, last-minute-shopping frenzy!  Oh snap, the neighbors dropped off some goodies!  You were so not expecting that!  What do you do?  You pull out this recipe and whip up a batch (or 2 or 3…) of yummy, quick fudge!

Ingredients:
1 box (1 lb.) powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
chopped pecans ( opt.)

1.  Pour ingredients in microwavable bowl.  Cook 2 minutes 30 seconds on high.  Stir until smooth.  
2.  Pour into greased pan and cool.
3.  Cut into pieces and ENJOY!!

And for you, Mom, on January 2, when the kids are back in school…a glass of fudge and a good book.  Ahhhh…..

Butter Brickle Bars

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Yet another I don’t make very often because I can’t leave them alone. My mom made some of these for my wedding reception and though not a true “freezer item” it froze pretty well. Maybe that’s what I should do to “ration them out” for myself.

Butter Brickle Bars
1 box graham crackers
1 stick butter
1 stick margarine
1/2 c. sugar
Slivered or sliced almonds (I usually use slivered-almonds are not pictured above)
milk chocolate chips (can also use milk chocolate melting wafers)

1-Break graham crackers on lines to get 58 rectangles.
2-Lay rectangles on a greased pan.
3-Bring butter, margarine, and sugar to an easy boil.
4-Boil for 3 minutes.
5-Spoon the mixture over the rectangles.
6-Sprinkle sliced almonds on top
7-Bake at 350 for 10+ minutes.
8-Separate bars.
9-Put bars on aluminum foil.
10-Melt chocolate chips and drizzle over top of bars.

Source: Lollita Riley

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins

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Christmas is creeping ever nearer, and I am sure you are planning the menu. But what about all the leftovers? Here’s a great recipe for all that cranberry sauce you will have left over. I have to give big credit to www.twopeasandtheirpod.com for this recipe. If you want to see the original post check out their site. When all the family went home after Thanksgiving all that was left in my fridge was homemade cranberry sauce. I had no idea what to do with it! It was a delicious sauce, but without turkey to pile it on, it wasn’t going anywhere. Then I found this recipe and it was amazing! Save this one for a post-Christmas breakfast!

Yield: 6 large muffins
Ingredients:
1 1/2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 C. sugar
1 T. orange zest
1/4 C. canola oil
1 large egg
1/3 C. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 C. fresh cranberry sauce (about 2 tablespoons per muffin)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease well. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Rub in sugar and orange zest together; whisk into dry ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk canola oil, egg, milk, and vanilla together.
4. Incorporate the wet ingredients into flour mixture. Add slowly and gently stir. The batter will be thick.
5. Place half the batter a the bottom of six muffin cups. Spoon about 2 T. of fresh cranberry sauce on top of the muffin batter. Top muffins evenly with remaining muffin batter.


6. Bake muffins for 15-17 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pan and let cool on a rack.

Instant Christmas Wassail

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Just in time for Christmas! If you’ve never had wassail before, I’ve been told it’s similar in taste to Russian tea. I’ve never had Russian tea, but I know I like wassail!
Ingredients:
1 C Tang
2 C sugar
1 1/2 C lemonade mix
2 t cinnamon
1 t ground cloves
1. Mix well.
Source: My mom

When serving I like to pour the water in first and then add the wassail mix and stir; I think it incorporates better that way as opposed to putting the mix in your mug and then adding the water.
Yields more than the quart pictured above (not more than a cup more–I didn’t measure it).

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

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Mr. Blue Eyes (yes, my husband cooks!–Thankfully!) and I made these earlier this month for my birthday. They. were. DELISH! You must try them! The frosting was a little complicated for us, being our first time using a meringue-type, but it was worth it! I don’t generally care for frosting. I’m the weirdo at all the parties who scrapes the frosting off the cake to eat it plain. But I’m telling you I REALLY liked this frosting. Very light. Truly worth every minute!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
18 Paper Cupcake Liners (plus a few extra…we needed them)
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose Flour
1/2 Cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder (we used Hersey’s Cocoa Powder)
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp, cut into small pieces
1 1/3 Cups Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Milk, at room temp
*3/4 – 1 Cup Fresh Raspberries (or frozen, thawed and well drained)–OPTIONAL

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place paper liners in all wells of Cupcake Tins (we used one 12 cup tin, and one 6 cup tin.)

2. In a small bowl, sift together Flour, Cocoa Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt. Set aside.

3. In a Large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy–about 2 minutes. (We used our Kitchen Aide for this.) Add sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Be sure to scrape the bowl once or twice. Beat in the vanilla and eggs, one at a time until they are each mixed in well.

4. Alternating about 4 times, mix in the flour mixture and the milk. Beat briefly between each add-in to make sure it’s well incorporated and the batter is smooth.

5. If you’re using Raspberries, this is where you fold them into the batter. We only did 3/4 Cup, but next time I think we’ll do a full 1 cup.

6. Divide batter evenly among the cupcake wells. Bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs.

7. Cool on racks for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to cooling racks to cool completely.

Italian Meringue Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:
Scant 2/3 Cup, plus 3 Tbsp Sugar
1/4 Cup water
4 Large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 Cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp, cut into small pieces
*3/4 Cup Raspberries (OPTIONAL)

1. Place 2/3 Cup Sugar and the water in a small saucepan. Stir to wet the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Dip pastry brush in cold water and wash down the sugar crystals from the sides of the pot once or twice. Turn down the heat to simmer gently.

2. Place the egg whites in a clean, grease-free mixing bowl and whip until frothy on low speed using balloon whip attachment to your standing mixer. Add cream of tartar and turn speed to medium-high. When soft peaks form add remaining 3 Tablespoons sugar gradually. (This is the meringue part of the butter-cream, and the frosting may be used at this point for low-fat, marshmallow-like frosting; it must be used immediately.)

3. Bring the sugar-water mixture to a rapid boil and cook until it reaches 248 – 250 degrees F. (We don’t have a thermometer *GASP!* and so the following directions were vital.) As syrup cooks, look for visual clues to assess temperature. It starts out thin with many small bubbles over the surface. The water will begin to evaporate and the mixture will become thicker. The bubbles get larger and sticky and pop more slowly. At this point the syrup looks thickened, but it has not begun to color. If you drop a bit of the syrup into a glass of cold water it will form into a ball. This is the firm-ball stage, and the syrup is ready.

4. Pour a thin, steady stream over meringue, without pouring any on the rotating whip or the sides of the bowl. (Be quick! We didn’t do it fast enough and had to make the syrup a 2nd time.) Whip meringue on high speed until cool. When the bowl is no longer warm, stop the machine and touch the surface of the meringue with your finger to check that it is cooled. With mixer on medium speed, add the butter, a couple Tablespoons at a time. Keep beating until the buttercream is completely smooth. It is now ready to use. Any flavorings or variations can be added at this time.

5. This is where you beat the raspberries into the frosting. Just keep the beater going and add the berries. The buttercream will turn pink and you will see bits of fruit (YUM!) suspended here and there. (Beautiful!)

6. Frost cupcakes smoothly using an icing spatula or a spoon. Top with garnish, candles, or whatever you prefer!

*You don’t have to use Raspberries. Use the cupcake and frosting recipes as is, or with your own variation. That’s what I love about these recipes! Make them your own.

Yield: The recipe says 18 cupcakes, but we got 18 big cupcakes + 10 small ones, and we weren’t skimpy when filling either!

Notes:
     ~Like I said before, the frosting was a little more difficult than we expected and we had a few hiccoughs in the procedure. Mr. Blue Eyes was in charge of the syrup, while I did the meringue. Having four hands worked well for us first-timers.

Source: A Baker’s Field Guide to Cupcakes: By Dede Wilson

~Kara

Homemade Pumpkin Butter

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This is one of my favorite fall flavors!  Pumpkin with all of the spices.  It’s pretty much pumpkin pie that you can spread on toast or pancakes and stir into your oatmeal.  This is for a large batch that will fill about 15 freezer jam jars (which is the recommended jarring method). Check out THIS link for more info.  
Ingredients:  
2- 29oz cans pumpkin puree
4 c apple juice or cider
3 c white sugar
4tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cloves
1tsp ground nutmeg
4tsp cinnamon
  1. Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pan.  Stir well. 
  2. Bring the mixture to a boil. Keep stirring.  Constantly.  Or it will bubble and spit pumpkin at you!
  3. Lower heat and simmer (while stirring) for about 30 min or until it reaches the desired consistency. 
  4. Cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to freezer jam jars.  Then cool another 10-20 minutes before you put the lids on.  
  5. Refrigerate or freeze.  Tie a cute ribbon or something crafty to it and give it as a gift!  
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

One-Ingredient Cinnamon Roll Waffles (and our FIRST GIVEAWAY!!)

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Okay, I know this is a really easy recipe since you don’t have to actually make anything.  But when I saw it on Pinterest I just had to try it.  You see, I love to have supplies on hand for emergency meals.  You know, when you don’t have time to cook but don’t want to get junky fast food or when someone comes over for a meal unexpectedly…..it’s nice to have a few quick-fix meals on hand.  THIS is an amazing quick-fixer.  In fact, I think this would be a fantastic Christmas morning breakfast.  I love cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, but who has time to make those amidst all the other goings-on?

 

Couldn’t be easier!

Ingredient:
refrigerated, uncooked Cinnamon Rolls

1. Place one roll on each square or section of your waffle iron.  Close the lid and cook until the done (when they don’t wiggle when you press on them).
2.  Drizzle with the icing that came with them (or make your own).

DONE!!  Seriously…is that not amazing?  They taste really good too.  I bought two packages (8 rolls in each can) and that wasn’t enough for my family.  Next time I’d do 3-4 packages.  They cook up so quickly that they would be great for a family get-together.  They’re not very big, so they look like baby waffles.  Great for a brunch!  Oh, and by the way, you can also use any other refrigerated sweet roll or biscuit.  I think I need to try Orange Roll Waffles next…….<drool>

One serving is 2-4 rolls, depending

Oh my.

Source:  A Hen’s Nest

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

And now, what you have been waiting for:  The giveaway!  

To celebrate Christmas, the Mormon Mavens are hosting a great giveaway from Pampered Chef consultant Heather Lima.  Heather has graciously agreed to offer some great Pampered Chef products that are sure to help you with your holiday baking!

Get on with it, you say? Okay, okay…..here’s what Heather is giving away to ONE lucky Mormon Mavens reader:

 

  • one set of Bamboo Prep towels–soft, plush, and absorbent towels; 22″ x 14″; machine washable and made from renewabale/sustainable bamboo; sells for $17.50
  • a set of Easy Read Measuring Cups–so great for measuring liquids (no more bending over and looking sideways);  standard and metric measures that you can read from above, flared rims prevent drips; set of 3 cups–1-cup, 2-cup, and 4-cup;  microwave- and dishwasher-safe; sells for $23
 
I don’t know about you, but I am drooling over those measuring cups!
 
Interested?  Yeah.  We thought you would be.  
 
Here are the details:
  • You can have up to 5 entries.
  • Continental U.S. residents only (sorry!).
  • YOU MUST LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY.  Leaving one comment with all your stuff in it counts as one entry!!
  • Giveaway will run from Monday, December 12 through Friday, December 16.
  • Winner will be announced on Saturday, December 17. (If we can get your address before Monday, we can get these goodies shipped to you by Christmas Eve!)
  • You MUST include your email address in each entry you submit so that we have a way of contacting you if you win!
  • Entries that don’t meet the above requirements will not be considered.
  • Winner will be chosen using random.org.
 
Here’s how you can enter:
 
MANDATORY ENTRY:  Send an email to Heather at heather_lima@yahoo.com and request a subscription to her Pampered Chef newsletter, then come back here and leave a comment telling us that you did so.  (make sure and tell her your first name so she knows how to greet you in your newsletter)
 
OPTIONAL ENTRIES:  
  • Be a follower of the Mormon Mavens in the Kitchen (and leave a separate comment telling us that you are).
  • “Like” Heather’s Pampered Chef page on Facebook (and then come back here and leave a separate comment here telling us that you did).
  • Leave a comment on Heather’s Pampered Chef page on Facebook telling her what Pampered Chef product you wish was under the Christmas tree for you (and then come back here and leave a separate comment here telling us that you did)!
  • Leave your contact info for Heather on her “Contact Me” page (and then come back here leave a separate comment here telling us that you did).
Good luck, everyone!  And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!