CHOCOLATE ANGEL FOOD CAKE

Last night, we had my mother-in-law over for her late birthday/mother's day dinner. It was a great time. It was a beautiful day and we were able to cook hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill. With grilled food must come baked beans, of course. Quite a simple dinner, but it tasted so good. After a long winter it is just so so nice to be able to pull out the grill. Well, my mother-in-law LoVeS chocolate and I have made it our little tradition to make her a CHOCOLATE ANGEL FOOD CAKE with CHOCOLATE WHIPPED FROSTING for her birthday every year. I used to deliver it to the greenhouse where she worked, but this year she decided to not go back to work. So, I delivered it to her from the fridge to the table! This is a recipe that I only make for special occasions just because it needs to be set up on a pedastal and I don't want it to be one of those "everyday cakes"... :-) It's just too good!

Chocolate Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Whipped Frosting

printable recipe

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup cake flour

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 1/2 cups egg whites (12-15 eggs, usually)

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

Frosting:

2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together confectioners' sugar, flour and cocoa three times; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold in cocoa mixture, about a fourth at a time. Spoon into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Carefully run a metal spatula or knife through batter to remove air pockets. Bake on lowest oven rack at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched and cracks feel dry. Immediately invert pan; cool completely. Run a knife around edges and center tube to loosen; remove cake. In a mixing bowl, combine the first five frosting ingredients; cover and chill for 1 hour. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spread over top and sides of cake. Store in the refrigerator. Garnish with grated chocolate or mini chocolate chips. Yields: 12-16 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Teauna

Sugar Cookie Bars

One word to describe these YUMMY cookie bars! WOWZA! So, when you want sugar cookies, what exactly is it that you're looking for? With me, it's a nice, soft, chewy, and flavorful cookie without the chalky flavor that some sugar cookies have. Now, the ReAl question: Why is it that you talk yourself out of making sugar cookies 9 out of 10 times? Is it perhaps because they take FOREVER? Or maybe because you don't want to wait for chill time, roll time, cook time, and frosting time to eat one of those lovely little handfuls of yum? Well, do I have a deal for you! Now you can think sugar cookies and have a huge pan placed in front of you within an hour or so of deciding to bake them.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Recipe from Mare @ Meet me in the kitchen

Printable Recipe

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon soda

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13x18 cookie sheet. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and soda and gradually add to creamed mixture. Press dough into cookie sheet with greased hands. (spray your hands with PAM and press dough into pan)... Bake for 10-15 minutes. 15 minutes was perfect for me! They will be a beautiful golden brown around the edges when done. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

1 cup butter, softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-4 Tablespoons milk

Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla and just enough milk until desired consistency is reached.

Frost cookie bars with frosting... DON'T FORGET THE SPRINKLES!

Enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Teauna

Banana Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip Cookies

I went thru the kitchen today and realized I had no cookies in the cookie jar! In my house, this is a CRIME! Especially when all the daycare kids are ready to leave and they have to take an apple instead of a cookie... OH NO!!! So, I looked around and realized I had two bunches of bananas that were looking pretty ripe. The last time I tried a banana cookie recipe, they were not good at all (it may be safe to say they were nasty), so I was a little hesitant. But then I thought, "If at first, you don't succeed, try try again!" I'm only trying to live by the words I preach to all these little kids running around here. (Truthfully, my motto is more like, "If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried!"lol) So, I found this recipe that I printed off from The Tasty Kitchen. I doubled it because I have the next two days off from babysitting and I don't want to have to bake cookies in those two days :-)... There are a couple other things I need to concentrate on! Anyway, I didn't put quite as much cinnamon as the original recipe called for because some kids aren't too sure about the spice. They are GOOD! I was so pleasantly surprised! They remind me of applesauce cookies, chewy, moist and soft. But the flavor of banana is just perfect, not too strong... and... they don't taste like banana bread. I like that too because if I'm eating a cookie that tastes like banana bread, I might as well have made banana bread, right??? Well enough of my blabbing, here's the recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

Banana Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip Cookies

printable recipe

1 1/2 c butter, softened

2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 c flour

3 1/2 c old fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 bananas, ripe & mushed

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mis well. When the wet ingredients are thoroughly combined, add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix everything together well. Then add your mushy bananas and your chocolate chips, stirring until just combined. Drop scoops ( I use a large cookie scoop) of dough onto lined cookie sheets or lightly greased cookie sheets. (Of course I used my SILPAT). Make sure there is about 2" between the cookies, as they do spread. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until they start to brown around the edges. (10-12 mins for cookies when you use the smaller cookie scoop). Cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container!

Yield: 6 dz large cookies

The original recipe was half of the recipe posted. So, if you don't want this many cookies, half this recipe... :-)

Happy Cooking!

Teauna