CINNAMON-APPLE CAKE

CINNAMON-APPLE CAKE Made 27 Oct ‘08 JULIA CRUMLEY

1-¾ cups sugar, divided
½ cup stick margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 ozs block-style cream cheese, softened (about ¾ cup)
2 large eggs
1-½ cups all-purpose flour
1-½ teasp baking powder
¼ teasp salt
2 teasp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
3 cups chopped peeled apples (about 3 good sized apples and I do not peel, but put in food processor and chop - just take the core out and start chopping - the peeling is actually very good for you)
½ cup nuts, chopped
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat 1-½ cups sugar, margarine, vanilla, and cream cheese at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 4 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, beating at low speed until blended.

Combine ¼ cup sugar, cloves and cinnamon. Combine 2 tablesp cinnamon mixture and apple in a bowl, and stir apple mixture into batter. Pour batter into an 8-inch spring form pan coated with cooking spray, and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool the cake completely on a wire rack, and cut using a serrated knife.

NOTE: You can also make this cake in a 9-inch spring form pan, just reduce the cooking time by 5 minutes.

NOTE BY JULIA: I have a convection oven and the cake is finished in 1 hour. I would advise you watch it to see when it is done. Also I’ve made a caramel topping to put on top of each slide just before serving - totally delicious.

Yield: 12 servings.

CAPPUCCINO MUFFINS

CAPPUCCINO MUFFINS Made 6 Sep ‘08 JULIA CRUMLEY

Espresso spread:
4 ozs cream cheese, cubed
1 Tablesp sugar
½ Tsp instant coffee granules
½ Tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate chips)

Muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
2-½ Tsp baking powder
1 Tsp ground cinnamon
½ Tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 Tablesp instant coffee granules
½ cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 Tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (again I use milk chocolate)

In a food processor or blender, combine the spread ingredients; cover and process until well blended. Transfer to a small bowl; cover and refrigerate until serving.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir milk and coffee granules until coffee is dissolved. Add butter, egg and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Folk in chocolate chips.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 375 degrees for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Serve with espresso spread.
YIELD: about 14 muffins (1 cup spread).

DELICIOUS

EGG NOG

When I was a tiny little girl, my mama always made me "Egg Nogs" to drink because I never liked a glass of milk. She did not cook the eggs and I am still living. Her recipe was like the RECIPE #2, but she did not put nutmeg in her mixture. It's totally your choice of taste.

RECIPE #1

EGG NOG
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 quart milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Preparation:
Beat eggs, sugar and salt together in a saucepan. Stir in half the milk (2 cups). On low heat, cook until mixture is thick and thinly coats a spoon. Make sure to stir constantly. Remove from heat and mix in the last of the milk and the vanilla. Cover and chill overnight. Serve eggnog with a dusting of nutmeg and cinnamon.
CAUTION: Be VERY careful as you cook as it could become lumpy and nasty - STIR CONSTANTLY!!!
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RECIPE #2
Easy Eggnog
6 eggs
3 cups milk
8 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
In a large bowl, beat the eggs using an electric beater (if available).
By turn, add milk & sugar.
Continue beating until mixture thickens slightly.
Add in the vanilla essence & ground nutmeg.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled (at least 3 hours).
Serves: 8.

BRUNSWICK STEW

Brunswick Stew - Family Size Recipe - will freeze well.

Family Size Recipe

2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken (I had a bag of frozen chicken breast, thawed and cut into tiny pieces and put olive oil in pot and put chicken in cooking until almost done)

2 pieces celery

1 small onion

2 quarts tomatoes, fresh or canned

1 cup chopped onion

3 medium white potatoes, peeled but still whole (I cut my potatoes in small size)

1 quart green butter beans (drain if canned)

1 quart whole kernel corn (drain if canned) (I also added a can of Mexican Corn)

5 tablespoons of sugar

salt to taste

Red and Black pepper to taste

Place chicken, celery and onion in a large kettle. Add about a quart of water. Simmer until meat is tender or begins to loosen from bones. Lift chicken from broth. Cool the broth and discard the celery. Remove meat from bones and cut into small pieces.

Add tomatoes, chopped onions and whole potatoes to broth. Continue cooking over medium heat. Remove potatoes when tender, mash and return to stew. (Some cooks omit this step and dice the potatoes before adding them to the stew. It has been noted, however, that the stew freezes better when the potatoes have been mashed; otherwise, they’re soggy.)

Add cut-up chicken, butter beans, corn and sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil while stirring. Cover, lower heat and simmer slowly, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, for 3 to 5 hours, or until tomatoes have cooked to pieces.

Makes about six quarts. This could all be put into a crock pot and cooked all day.

TOFFEE BROWNIES

TOFFEE BROWNIES (Yummy good)
Ingredients:
1 (17.6 oz) package brownie mix with walnuts
Vegetable oil cooking spray
3 (6-oz) candy bars with almonds and toffee chips (I like the BIG Symphony-Milk Chocolate/Almonds and Toffee Chips - takes two of the BIG ones)

Directions:
1. Prepare the brownie mix according to package directions (I like to do the "cake-like brownie" recipe.)
2. Spray a 13X-9 inch cake pan with the cooking spray. Spoon in half of the brownie batter and smooth with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Place the candy bars on top of the batter. Cover the candy bars with the remaining batter.
3. Bake according to package directions of brownie mix. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

MY TEXAS-CHILI

MY TEXAS-CHILI

2 lb. ground beef
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 cups water
2 cups Pace Picante sauce
Sweet onion - chopped
A blob of Chocolate Syrup
A spoon of Instant coffee
1 sm can tomato paste
1 can Coke
2 cans Ranch Style Beans (your choice, I use one can of the onion type and one can of the japaleno type.)

1. In saucepan over medium-high heat, cook beef, chili powder, cumin, salt and garlic powder until beef is browned, stirring to separate meat. Add Chocolate syrup and instant coffee.

2. Add *flour and stir - cooking 1 min, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the rest of the ingredients and cook until it suits your taste.

*If you are afraid of lumps from the flour - mix it with a little of the coke and then pour in.

LOVE THESE CHEDDAR BISCUITS

LOVE THESE CHEDDAR BISCUITS

Serves/Makes: 10-12 (or drop bigger “blobs“ and get about 6)……..Ready In: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups Bisquick baking mix
2/3 Cup milk
½ Cup Cheddar Cheese - shredded (I often use the "mixed shredded cheese")
¼ Cup margarine or butter - melted
¼ Teaspoon Garlic Powder

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450. Mix baking mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms; beat vigorously for 30 seconds. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix margarine and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet. Serve warm. Makes 10-12 biscuits.