Hi Ya'll, (in my best Paula Deen accent)Don't you just love her! Welcome, I am so glad you stopped in. I plan to share some simple pleasures in cooking and eating here with you. I love to cook, and have people over to share. You'll find simple home cooking type meals here, but I also like to make special meals for the different holidays. I hope you will find inspiration for some special "treats" for you family.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Copycat Golden Corral Rolls

 

1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup sugarGolden Corral Rolls
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot milk
1 egg - lightly beaten
4 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons melted butter - for brushing rolls

Sprinkle the yeast over very warm water in a large bowl. Stir
until yeast dissolves.

Add sugar, the 1/4 cup butter and salt to hot milk and stir until
the sugar dissolves and butter is melted. Cool mixture to 105 to
115 degrees.

Add milk mixture to yeast, then beat in egg. Beat in 4 cups of the
flour, 1 cup at a time, to form a soft dough. Use some of the
remaining 1/2 cup of the flour to dust a pastry cloth.

Knead the dough lightly for 5 minutes, working in the remaining
flour (use it for flouring the pastry cloth and your hands).

Place dough in a warm buttered bowl; turn greased side up. Cover
and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 to
1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down and knead 4 to 5 minutes on a lightly floured
pastry cloth. Dough will be sticky, but use as little flour as
possible for flouring your hands and the pastry cloth, otherwise
the rolls will not be as feathery light as they should be.

Pinch off small chunks of dough and shape into round rolls about 1
1/2 to 1 3/4 inches in diameter. Place in neat rows, not quite
touching, in a well-buttered 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Cover rolls and
let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 30 to 40 minutes.

Brush tops of rolls with melted butter, then bake in a 375 degree F
oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until nicely browned.

Source: The Secret Recipe Blog- http://www.recipesecrets.net/blog

A Great Pumpkin Cheese ball

 

pumpkin Cheeseball8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
10 ounce container sharp cheddar cold pack cheese spread
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon onion salt
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
one pretzel rod, broken in half, for garnish
assorted crackers

Blend together cheeses until smooth. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, celery salt and onion salt, adding more to taste if desired. Shape into a ball and set on serving plate; cover and chill for two or three hours, until firm. If desired or vertical lines with a knife to resemble a pumpkin. Toss walnuts with paprika; press into surface of Cheese ball. Break pretzel rod in half and insert in top for stem. Arrange crackers around Cheese ball. Makes 10 to 12 servings


source: Coming Home with Gooseberry Patch

Pumpkin Cheesecake

 

Pumpkin-Cheesecake 2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
two third cup butter or margarine, softened
sugar
five packages cream cheese, softened, 8 ounces each
1/2 cup granulated Brown sugar or packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
three-quarter teaspoon ground allspice
three-quarter teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
six eggs
one can pumpkin, 16 ounces
one can, 5.33 ounces, evaporated milk

In a medium bowl with a fork, mix well graham cracker crumbs, butter and 1/3 cup sugar; press on bottom and around sides of a 10 x 3 inch spring form pan to within 1/4 inch of top; set aside. Preheat oven to 350° in a large bowl with mixer at low speed, beat cream cheese just until smooth. Add Brown sugar, remaining ingredients and three-quarter cup sugar; beat until blended. Increase speed to medium; beat five minutes, occasionally scraping bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour cheese mixture into pan; bake one hour. Turn off oven; let cheesecake remaining in oven 30 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cover and refrigerate. To serve: remove side of pan. Makes 16 servings

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

 

2 cups canned pumpkin
pumpkin bread3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup oil
four eggs
3 1/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
three-quarter teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix pumpkin, sugar, water, oil and eggs in a large bowl; beat until well mixed. Set aside. Stir together remaining ingredients in another bowl; slowly add to pumpkin mixture, beating until smooth. Grease and flour two 9 x 5" loaf pans or six, 5.5 x 3" mini loaf pans; divide batter between pans. Bake at 350° for 60 to 65 minutes for regular loaves or 50 to 55 minutes for mini loaves, until a toothpick inserted in center tests clean. Let cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes; invert bread onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Makes two loaves or six mini loaves.
Source: Coming Home with Gooseberry Patch

Pumpkin Latte

 

4 cups milk
2 tablespoons canned pumpkinpumpkin_latte_nutrition
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups strong, hot brewed coffee
whipped cream, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon sticks, for garnish, optional

Stir together milk and pumpkin in a pan; heat over low heat until steaming. Stir in vanilla and cinnamon. With a handheld blender or electric mixer, blend for 15 to 20 seconds, until thick and foamy. Pour into 4 to 6 mugs or tall glasses; pour in hot coffee. Top with whipped cream; sprinkle with spice and add cinnamon stick stirrers. Serve at once. Makes four servings.


Source: Coming Home with Gooseberry

Monday, November 2, 2009

Yummy Apples

 

 baked_apples Got up this morning and decided to put some apples in the Crockpot  to make some baked apples.  So easy and so yummy.   I used Stayman Winesap apples, they are my favorite.  Since I am only making a few I am using my small Crockpot.  

Baked Apples in the Crockpot

3-4 apples
1/2 cup of water
1T. cinnamon
2 T raisins (I didn't use these today)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 pad of butter on each apple baked_apples1

Optional…sprinkle with walnuts towards the end of cooking

Peel and core apples, and place in Crockpot with water.  Mix together remaining ingredients and fill the center of the apple, sprinkle with cinnamon and add butter. Cook on low for 3-4 hours.  About the last hour I will add nuts.  So easy and so tasty.

It’s time to get to work on my dinner plans now…

Have a blessed Day!

Hugs,

Cindy

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pumpkin Pie Bites

Another little goodie I ran across that is going to be a MUST MAKE for me this year... you can find a picture tutorial at Bakerella.




2 refrigerated ready-to roll pie crusts
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter
Optional

1/2 cup chocolate morsels
vegetable oil
re-sealable plastic bags

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Use cookie cutter to cut 12 pumpkin shapes from each pie crust. You will need to roll the dough thinner than it comes out of the box.

Press dough shapes into a 24 cup mini muffin tray. (Make 12 at a time, alternating cups to make sure pie crusts don’t overlap each other.)

Apply egg whites from one egg to the top edges of each pie.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, canned pumpkin, remaining 2 eggs, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice together until thoroughly combined.

Spoon mixture into each pumpkin-shaped pie crust.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Remove pies to cool and repeat with second pie crust. Place the muffin tray in the freezer to cool it quickly for re-use
Makes 24 pies. Keep refrigerated.

To decorate, melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave on medium. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted. Add a little vegetable oil to make the chocolate more fluid. Transfer to a re-sealable plastic bag and cut the corner off. Drizzle or draw faces on pies.

Note: The cutter I used was 3 3/4 inches wide, but if you don’t have one, don’t worry. Just use a round cutter around that size or slightly smaller to cut circle shapes out of the dough. Then make stems with the scraps. Press each stem over the edge and down the side of the dough before filling.

Pumpkin pie spice is a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice.