Amy

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

August 6, 2014 by Amy

I have a new favorite dessert.

I recently came across this chocolate waffle cookie recipe during a Gooseberry Recipe Round-up, and it sounded great. Who wouldn’t love homemade cookies without having to wash numerous cookie sheets and heating up the oven – and therefore the whole house – during the hot summertime?

Since today topped out at 96 degrees here, I decided it was the perfect day to try these cookies. But, since I’m trying to avoid as much white flour and sugar as possible, I played a bit with the ingredients. This is what I came up with.

Chocolate Waffle Cookies
Ingredients:
4 T butter, softened
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. kosher salt
4 T. cocoa powder – I use Hershey’s
1 c. whole wheat flour

Combine butter, honey, and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and stir well. Stir in the dry ingredients slowly. Cook on a very hot waffle iron for at least 3 minutes or until well after the steaming has stopped. For the waffles to come out of the iron in one piece, they must begin to crisp just around the edges.

**While the cookies are good by themselves – I didn’t ice them – I decided to try them with ice cream. While scrounging, I also found some hot fudge and fresh strawberries. YUM!

Grandma’s Peach Pudding

August 6, 2014 by Amy

We often visited my great-grandparents on the family farm on Saturday mornings when I was a kid, and if Grandma had her way, she’d ‘twist our arms’ into staying for lunch. It was much more of a hardship on her part than ours as she was a fantastic cook.

Grandma always had something to offer for dessert, but I remember being very confused when she said we were having peach pudding. I could only picture the vanilla or chocolate variety that came from a boxed mix, so when she served this fruit-and-cake concoction, I was hooked!

Grandma served her pudding with ice cream or farm-fresh milk poured over top, with maybe a sprinkle of extra sugar. Either way, this is a delicious and different use for summer peaches!

We had to make some last night …

the kids were so excited that they even ate the peelings from the peaches!

To make the real thing, here’s what you need:

Ingredients:
1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1 egg
1/3 c. milk
1 t. baking powder
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. shortening

Cover the bottom of a baking dish 1″-2″ deep with sliced peaches (in the above small dish, I used four large peaches). Sprinkle with sugar and drizzle a bit of water over the top. Then mix all above ingredients to make a batter and pour over the top of the peaches. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with ice-cold milk or a scoop of ice cream. 🙂

Yum!

Grandma eventually showed me how to make it, and I remember watching her hands as she showed me how it was done. Last night my Big Helper and I made this together. I hope that someday she can show her own little ones!

Grandma’s Best Ever Gingerbread

August 6, 2014 by Amy

Since yesterday featured decorating gingerbread, I thought I’d share a good recipe for making some.

Years ago I spent some time copying recipes from my great-grandmother’s cookbooks, and she had a note beside this one that intrigued me: “This makes a very thin batter but the best gingerbread you ever ate.” Who wouldn’t want to try that?

So when My Little Man and I were studying gingerbread a few weeks ago, this is the recipe we pulled out. We weren’t sorry.

Grandma's Best Ever Gingerbread

2014-08-05 20:42:26

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

1226g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 3509

Calories from Fat 926

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 105g

162%

Saturated Fat 62g

310%

Trans Fat 4g

Polyunsaturated Fat 7g

Monounsaturated Fat 28g

Cholesterol 616mg

205%

Sodium 2846mg

119%

Total Carbohydrates 604g

201%

Dietary Fiber 10g

42%

Sugars 295g

Protein 46g

Vitamin A

68%

Vitamin C

Calcium

95%

Iron

128%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

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Ingredients

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. dark molasses (we used King's syrup)
1 t. cinnamon
2 t. ginger
1/4 t. cloves
2 eggs
2 1/2 c. white or white wheat flour
2 level t. baking soda
1 c. boiling water

Instructions

Mix the ingredients in the order given, except for the baking soda and water. At the very last, when everything else is mixed, put the soda into the boiling water and add to the rest.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Notes

We topped ours with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, but whipped cream or some great vanilla ice cream would be good, too. YUM!

By Elizabeth Laughlin

beta

calories

3509

fat

105g

protein

46g

carbs

604g

A Nest in the Rocks https://anestintherocks.com/

Have you ever made gingerbread?

Grandma’s Amazing Apple Pie

August 6, 2014 by Amy

Few things are as classically American as apple pie, and so is how I learned to make it. While spending the afternoon with my great-grandmother on the family dairy farm one afternoon, she decided to make a pie – only she stood beside me and coached me through the process. Together we made an apple pie, crimping the edges together and drawing her special pattern in the top crust, and that is now one of my most special memories of her.

Grandma was an amazing baker, and everyone loved when she “twisted your arm” and made you stay for lunch, especially if she had cookies or a pie waiting beside the fridge. Her apple pie was no exception.

So if you like those old-fashioned desserts that put you in mind of your own grandma’s kitchen, don’t miss Grandma’s Amazing Apple Pie.

Grandma's Amazing Apple Pie

2014-08-05 20:31:38

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

1502g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 2898

Calories from Fat 1037

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 118g

181%

Saturated Fat 33g

167%

Trans Fat 14g

Polyunsaturated Fat 31g

Monounsaturated Fat 45g

Cholesterol 31mg

10%

Sodium 1201mg

50%

Total Carbohydrates 459g

153%

Dietary Fiber 31g

125%

Sugars 279g

Protein 22g

Vitamin A

18%

Vitamin C

77%

Calcium

13%

Iron

22%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

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Ingredients

1 1/2 c. flour (white works best)
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 t. salt
3 T. ice-cold water
5-6 apples
3/4 - 1 c. sugar
1-2 t. cinnamon
butter for dotting

Instructions

Wash and peel the apples.
Slice them to a uniform thickness.
Stir together flour and salt.
Cut in shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Add cold water and form into a ball with your hands.
Divide in half.
Roll out the first ball on a well-floured board.
Put the first crust into your pie pan.
With a fork, poke holes randomly around the crust.
Layer the apples into the crust. Be sure that they fill the pan up well past the top edges because they will cook down while baking.
Add sugar to the top of the apples. The pie should look like snowy white mountain peaks. This is apple pie we're talking about - while I love being healthy, this is no time to skimp on the sugar.
Sprinkle on the cinnamon and dot with butter.
Roll out the top crust.
Cut steam vents into the crust and place it on top of the pie.
Fold the edges of the top crust under the edges of the bottom crust. Crimp to seal.
Poke again with a fork to create more steam holes.
Sprinkle a bit of water onto the top crust with your fingers. Sprinkle some sugar on top to stick.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes at 350 or until apples are cooked through. You may need to cover the pie with foil after about 30 minutes.
Serve hot or cold. Personally, I like my pie ice cold, so Grandma would run an inch of water or so into the sink, place the pie carefully into the cold water, and add a few ice cubes. By the time that lunch was ready, our pie was ready to eat!

By Elizabeth Laughlin

beta

calories

2898

fat

118g

protein

22g

carbs

459g

A Nest in the Rocks https://anestintherocks.com/

How do you like your pie?

Bunny Cake

August 6, 2014 by Amy

Every Easter, for as long as I can remember, we’ve made a bunny cake. When I was little, Mom made it with my sister and me. One year we even had four generations working on it. Now, my oldest remembers and asks for it each Easter.

The tradition isn’t in the flavor of the cake or a traditional recipe; rather, it’s all in the shape and the decorating. This year I used one of my favorite cake and icing recipes (chocolate Goofy Cake and peanut butter icing) to make it, though, and we’ll definitely be making it this way again.

After baking and cooling the cake in two round pans (recipes to follow), place one on the center of your board and ice. Pretend that the other is a baseball and cut where the seams would be. The outside pieces become the ears, and the center is the bunny’s bowtie.

Then, let the decorating begin! We like to choose the bunny’s fur color – usually white or brown – and then ice the center of his ears pink. We choose a color for the tie, and after all of the icing is finished, it’s time to decorate.

Like making a candy house, the best part is being creative with the candy that you have on hand. This year, we sliced a marshmallow in half and used that for the base of the eyes. A brown M&M became the pupils, a pink jellybean egg the nose, and a large, bent Tootsie Roll his mouth.

Our favorite part, though, his making the bowtie. We always make a polka-dotted tie with M&Ms. (My Little Man usually finds it necessary to push each candy into the icing with his finger, so that then he must lick it off after each and every one.) You could do it another way, I suppose, but this is just fun!

After Easter lunch, there’s always a fierce debate about who gets to eat the ever-popular bowtie, who gets the eyeballs, etc. But really – with a chocolate and peanut butter cake, there’s never a bad piece!

What’s your favorite holiday foodie tradition?

Goofy Cake

August 6, 2014 by Amy

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This is a very traditional chocolate cake recipe that’s found everywhere in the central part of Pennsylvania where I grew up. This particular recipe came from a middle-school home ec class. This is our every day go-to chocolate cake. It’s super moist and rich. I prefer it plain or with this peanut butter icing. My grandfather used to eat it in a bowl with milk, and I remember sitting beside him, digging into my own milky bowl of cake. Sounds strange, I know, but the creaminess of the milk works well with the richness of the peanut butter and chocolate!

While I rarely eat it in a bowl now, I still love to make this cake for my family. It’s easy to make and comes together with simple ingredients that I always have on hand. Better yet, it can be halved if I don’t need a full cake – and I love the versatility of that. While I’m always happy to have a whole cake in my house, my waist isn’t – so this is a nice option to have.

Goofy Cake

2014-08-05 20:10:44

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

1404g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 3770

Calories from Fat 848

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 97g

149%

Saturated Fat 59g

297%

Trans Fat 4g

Polyunsaturated Fat 5g

Monounsaturated Fat 25g

Cholesterol 244mg

81%

Sodium 4920mg

205%

Total Carbohydrates 691g

230%

Dietary Fiber 13g

50%

Sugars 402g

Protein 41g

Vitamin A

57%

Vitamin C

Calcium

11%

Iron

31%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Does this look wrong?

Ingredients

2 c. sugar
3 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
4 T. cocoa
2 t. vanilla
2 c. water
1 t. salt
2 T. vinegar
1/2 c. softened butter

Instructions

Mix all ingredients together well.
Pour into greased pans and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
Chill.
Or, for cupcakes, bake for 20 minutes at 350.

Notes

You MUST use white sugar and white flour for this cake! It is decidedly different when white-wheat flour is used.

beta

calories

3770

fat

97g

protein

41g

carbs

691g

A Nest in the Rocks https://anestintherocks.com/

Peanut Butter Icing

2014-08-05 20:12:26

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

421g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 1431

Calories from Fat 11

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 1g

Saturated Fat 1g

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0g

Monounsaturated Fat 0g

Cholesterol 5mg

Sodium 36mg

Total Carbohydrates 362g

121%

Dietary Fiber 0g

Sugars 355g

Protein 2g

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Calcium

Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Does this look wrong?

Ingredients

3 c. powdered sugar
2 scoops of peanut butter
1/4 c. milk

Instructions

Mix together.
Taste.
If too runny, add some more peanut butter or sugar.
If too stiff, add a bit more milk.

Notes

This is one of those recipes that requires a bit of taste-testing, but it's well worth it. 🙂

beta

calories

1431

fat

protein

carbs

362g

A Nest in the Rocks https://anestintherocks.com/

What’s your go-to cake?

Candy Bar Fudge

August 6, 2014 by Amy

I found this dish over at Alli N Son and was fascinated immediately.

Don’t let the name of this dish scare you away: it’s completely wonderful any time of year. Better yet, it’s made with candy bars, and so you can change the flavor and texture of this dish merely by adding a different type of candy.

The pros of this recipe don’t stop there. It’s super simple to make – which makes this candy-challenged girl very happy – and it’s kid friendly. My two had a fantastic time chopping up the candy.

Finally, the taste: this fudge is rich, smooth, and creamy. A little bit goes a long way, but unlike most fudges, I wasn’t done for the year – only for the day. This sweet will keep you coming back for more.

We shared a few pieces with My Big Helper’s teachers, and that night we were surprised to get a phone call from one. She wanted to personally thank us for the fudge and to ask us for the recipe!

Here’s how you make it:

Line an 8X8 or 9X9″ pan with parchment paper, leaving extra on two sides for handles.
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 3 c. of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk, 2 c. mini marshmallows, a pinch of sea salt, and 1 1/2 t. vanilla until smooth. Since my microwave was still out of commission, I did this on the stovetop with low heat and lots of stirring.
Stir in 1 1/2 c. chopped candy bars. We used peanut butter cups.
Pour into the prepared pan, smoothing out. Chill for two hours.
Cut into small pieces and store in the fridge.

The finished product?

Yum! Thanks, Alli!

Daddy’s Ice Cream Cake

August 6, 2014 by Amy

I tried to get a picture of JUST this ice cream cake – but nobody would let me.

They were too busy eating it.

A long, long, long time ago, when I was spending a few weeks in the summertime with Nana, she made an ice cream cake. I was amazed that you could make such a thing at home. The only ones I’d ever seen were bought from Dairy Queen and served for super special occasions. Nana shared her recipe, and I happily took it home.

But when Mom and I tried to find the ingredients, it wasn’t so easy. Zero bars aren’t easy to find anymore – even then – and eventually we decided to use something else.

So Nana’s recipe has morphed into this one. I made this for my husband back when we were engaged, and then when the kids were small, I realized that they could help with most of the process to create this dish.

So now we make this every year for Father’s Day. This is one tasty tradition!

What yummy dishes do you prepare for Father's Day?

2014-08-05 19:48:37

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

259g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 930

Calories from Fat 449

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 50g

77%

Saturated Fat 24g

120%

Trans Fat 1g

Polyunsaturated Fat 5g

Monounsaturated Fat 16g

Cholesterol 90mg

30%

Sodium 398mg

17%

Total Carbohydrates 107g

36%

Dietary Fiber 3g

13%

Sugars 86g

Protein 14g

Vitamin A

18%

Vitamin C

Calcium

27%

Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Does this look wrong?

Ingredients

1 carton vanilla ice cream
2 Snickers bars, frozen
3/4 package of Oreos, separated and icing removed
1 tub of whipped cream
caramel and/or chocolate sauce for drizzling

Instructions

Put the Oreos in a zipper-seal bag. Use a rolling pin to crush.
Press the Oreo crumbs into a pie plate or 8X8 baking dish.
Unwrap the Snickers bars and put them into a freezer zip-seal bag. Crush them until you have crumb- to small-bite size pieces remaining. For us, this means taking the bag of bars out to the concrete carport and letting the kids have at it with a hammer. They love this! FYI: Watch for holes in the bag.
Carefully open the ice cream carton by the ends. Unfold it so that it's completely flat on the counter with the ice cream sitting on top in a block shape.
Slice the ice cream and arrange it on top of the Oreo crumbs. This is easier if you're using a square pan! Use half of the ice cream.
Refold the carton and return to the freezer.
Top the ice cream layer with crushed candy bars and chocolate/caramel sauces. If you have any extra cookie crumbs, this is a great time to use them, as well.
Unfold the ice cream carton and add another layer to your cake. This will use the rest of the carton.
Add more chocolate and caramel sauces to the top of your cake.
Cover with whipped cream. Use your knife to create fun shapes in the top - it will freeze that way!
Cover the cake and put into the freezer until firm.
Serve quickly - if your family is like mine, it won't last long!

By Amy Bradsher

Adapted from Nana Roman

beta

calories

930

fat

50g

protein

14g

carbs

107g

Adapted from Nana Roman

A Nest in the Rocks https://anestintherocks.com/

What yummy dishes do you prepare for Father’s Day?

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

August 5, 2014 by Amy

When I was a kid in Pennsylvania these were my favorite treat. My mom used to make big batches, wrap them individually in waxed paper, and hide them in tins all over the house. When she was at work, Dad and I would hunt for them. I distinctly remember finding a tin of whoopie pies waaayyyy in the back of their closet – and another deep in the freezer. Those we ate even before they thawed – just let them hang out beside the wood stove for a bit and then ate them frozen. Yum!

While Mom didn’t make them nearly as often as I would’ve liked – I wouldn’t have, either, at the rate we went through them – whoopie pies can be found at every Amish stand, market, or store at home in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (home of Belleville, the purest white top community in the world). Some markets even have them in different flavors, but the basic chocolate remains my favorite.

Since my Big Helper’s book club is meeting this week to discuss Suzanne Woods Fisher’s Life with Lily, we decided to study Amish culture this month. Today we made my great-grandmother’s Chocolate Whoopie Pies.

These whoopie pies are chocolatey and moist. They don’t rise up super high, but they definitely grow in the oven, and that’s good – a tiny one just wouldn’t cut it.

I couldn’t get a picture of the actual mixing process – they were so excited that it flew by. They were even happier to get their fingers into the icing, though!

Our finished product.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

2014-08-04 22:37:02

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

2196g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 8274

Calories from Fat 3289

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 373g

573%

Saturated Fat 100g

498%

Trans Fat 45g

Polyunsaturated Fat 100g

Monounsaturated Fat 151g

Cholesterol 391mg

130%

Sodium 4192mg

175%

Total Carbohydrates 1209g

403%

Dietary Fiber 42g

169%

Sugars 770g

Protein 85g

Vitamin A

14%

Vitamin C

Calcium

84%

Iron

111%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Does this look wrong?

Cake Ingredients

2 c. sugar
1 c. shortening
2 egg yolks
4 c. flour
1 c. cocoa or a little less
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 c. sour milk
3/4 c. hot water

Icing Ingredients

3 c. powdered sugar
2/3 c. shortening
2 t. vanilla
pinch of salt
5 T. milk

Instructions

Cream sugar and shortening.
Add egg yolks and beat well.
Add the rest of the ingredients and blend slowly. (If you don't have any sour milk, you can put 1 T. of milk into a liquid measuring cup and then fill to the one-cup line with milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes, stir, and add.)
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Drop batter onto the parchment by the tablespoon. Leave 2 inches between each dollop - this batter will spread!
Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees F.
Remove from tray onto a tea towel or cooling rack.
When pies are completely cool, match them up with others their same size and shape.
Fill each pair with icing. (To make the icing, cream all ingredients.) One batch of icing should be enough for one batch of whoopie pies.
Store in an air-tight container.
Try to keep some in that container. Go ahead- I dare you!

By Elizabeth Laughlin

beta

calories

8274

fat

373g

protein

85g

carbs

1209g

A Nest in the Rocks https://anestintherocks.com/

Chocolate-drizzled Strawberry Crepes

August 5, 2014 by Amy 7 Comments

It’s been a while since we ate crepes, and with an abundance of strawberries and a reader’s suggestion, we made them for dinner the other night. Now, we do not normally serve chocolate as part of our main course; we rarely even eat dessert, but with ganache in the fridge, this meal just screamed out for it.

Because my husband was away and a batch of crepe batter makes oodles of crepes, I made only half a batch, and that was barely enough. I think my Big Helper would’ve happily eaten a few more.

“Mommy, these are DELICIOUS!” she kept shouting. “I need another one!”

So, with reviews like that, we might just have to have these a bit more often.

Here’s how to pull together your own Chocolate-drizzled Strawberry Crepes.

You’ll need fresh strawberries, washed and sliced; chocolate ganache, crepes, and whipped cream.

For the chocolate ganache, simply measure out equal parts of chocolate chips and heavy cream. Put the chips in a heat-safe bowl and heat the cream on the stove until bubbles just begin to form – do not boil! Whisk the cream into the chips into smooth. Cool.

For the whipped cream, I put 1 c. of heavy cream into my KitchenAid with the whisk attachment and let it go to town. It took less than 5 minutes to get seriously fluffy whipped cream – and the machine did all the work.

For the crepes, we made 1/2 batch of our Creative Crepe batter. Just whisk the following together:

1/2 c. flour
a few grains of Kosher salt
1 1/2 t. honey
1 c. + 2 T. milk (I just eyeballed the tablespoon part.)
1 T. melted butter
1 egg

Over medium heat, butter a small non-stick frying pan and let it get hot. Add a few tablespoons of the batter and rotate the pan until covered. Pour the rest back into the bowl and let it cook until the top appears dry. Flip with a rubber spatula. The second side will cook in seconds. Slide out of the pan and repeat until batter is gone.

To assemble the crepes, lay a crepe flat on a plate. Spoon strawberries down the middle, fold the ends over, and top with ganache and whipped cream. Or, as my French friend says is often done in France, simply fold the crepe into quarters and pile everything on top. Either way, you can’t go wrong with chocolate and strawberries.

See? He liked it so much he dove right in. 😉

Shared at: Home to 4 Kiddos