Pineapple Upside Down Cake

So I couldn't get pictured because everyone ate my cake before I could get a camera near it. Oh well saves you from an over photoshopped bad pic from me!

link

This cake is super simple and very easy and very moist. You'll love it.
This is my favorite comfort food. I love pineapple upside down cake, it reminds me of my dad and grandma. We always bake ours in a caste iron skillet so got buy one! Or not it's ok but your life will be so much better if you get one. We usually double this recipe and bake it in a 13 1/2 inch monster skillet but bake in any pan you wish.

What you need:

1 20oz can Crushed Pineapple, very well drained-reserve the juice!

1 20oz can Pineapple Chunks or Rings, drained-juice reserved

1 Box Yellow Cake mix, yea it's a box mix so sue me. For the love of cake, do NOT get pineapple flavored cake. 

1/3 cups of Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs
1 1/4 cup reserved Pineapple juice
2/3 cup of Brown Sugar
about 7 tablespoons of butter

Preheat oven to 350º.

In a large bowl add the cake mix, oil, pineapple juice, and eggs and beat well. Mix about 2 minutes. Once it's all nice and combined, add the drained crushed pineapple.

Grease you pan very well. Evenly sprinkle the brown sugar. Evenly place the pineapple rings or chunks on top of the brown sugar. Slice the butter thinly and place it, once again, evenly over the brown sugar and pineapple. You want a lot of butter so when you flip the pan the cake doesn't stick to the top. If you don't think you have enough, add more. Any extra butter will just soak into the cake. Hey! Don't give me that look! It's cake, it's supposed to be fattening.

Carefully pour the batter into the pan. Bake at 350º for 40 minutes. Depending on the pan you use you might need to decrease or increase the baking time. Just test with a toothpick!

Let cool for about 30 minutes and run a knife around the edge of the pan, and carefully place a cake plate or whatever you are planning on serving the cake on and flip! Sometimes there are remnants of pineapple or sugar left in the pan, if you used enough butter there shouldn't be much, But just run a spoon around the pan and scoop all the goodness and eat it or put back on the cake.

Kay

Christmas Colored Ribbon Layered Jello!

Sorry, Nicole... I know you dislike jello, possibly even hate it.  BUT... THIS IS DELICIOUS and it is SUPER EASY TO MAKE!!!!

Serves 10-15 people

2 (3 oz.) pkg. orange jello

2 (3 oz.) pkg. lemon jello

2 (3 oz.) pkg. lime jello

2 (3 oz.) pkg. cherry or raspberry jello

3 (13 oz.) can condensed milk

Lightly grease a 9x13 glass pan with oil.  Mix 1 package with orange jello with 3/4 cup hot and 3/4 cup cold water.  Pour into pan and let set for 30 minutes in refrigerator.  Next layers take about 15 minutes.  Make second package orange jello with 3/4 cup hot water and 3/4 cup cold condensed milk (mix but do not whip: STIR). Pour over first layer and refrigerate.  Proceed in same manner with each package of jello in order given. 

WE used Lemon,  Cherry, and Lime jello for Christmas and topped it with whipped cream!

 MMM... Delicious!  

This makes a wonderful dessert for a party or other occasion!  You can  use whatever jello you wish for your holiday or event!

Holiday Thumbprints

Trying to think of another holiday cookie I could make, holiday thumbprint cookies with a Hershey Kiss in the middle came to mind. I always see them at Christmas parties or on cookie plates but I've never had one. These are good cookies but have a cake like texture.  
            
Yields approx. 36 cookies
         
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Butter
1 Egg
1 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 cup Milk
1 cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/3 cup Cocoa powder
1/4 tsp Salt
Approx. 36 Hershey Kisses, one 10 oz bag had more than enough. I used the peppermint ones


Preheat oven to 375º
Beat the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl until well blended. Mix together in a separate bowl the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Than add this to the butter mixture alternately with the milk in about three additions. Blend well. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about one hour. 


**Scoop the dough, a tablespoon full, onto the baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool a few minutes on cookie sheet then transfer to a cooling rack. 


**Here is one thing I can't decide on; when to add the Hershey Kisses. I pressed some into the dough balls before I popped them into the oven and let them bake with the cookies. They held their shape nicely but the tips of the kisses did start to brown a little, which isn't really a big deal. 

These were baked with the Hershey Kiss. See still pretty. 

And I added some powdered sugar to distract from the brown candy. 

I also pressed some of the Kisses into the dough right after they came out of the oven. These ones melted into a nice puddle of chocolate, which also isn't a big deal. But to me they just weren't as pretty so I sprinkled them with a little bit of crushed candy cane and I was happy with the results. You could sprinkle them with red and green sugar or some nice festive holiday sprinkles. 

Both look nice and they taste the same so it's completely up to you!

recipe adapted from Hershey's
  
Kay

Chocolate pie - FAIL

I had pie crust I needed to use and chocolate I wanted to use. I found this recipe, grandmas chocolate pie, not my g-ma, her g-ma. I thought it would be easy to make. A no brainer. Well apparently, I have no brain. 


My pie was a failure. A complete failure. I shouldn't even show you this but even thought the pie looked terrible and was a little lumpy, it still tasted pretty darn good. 


I've been using this crust. I rolled it out, no problems there. I preheated the oven, no problem. I put the pie crust in the pie dish, no problem. Then I put it in the oven and thats where things started to go wrong. 


The oven ruined my pie. Lets take a look at a crappy picture that just emphasizes my failure. 

Please note the giant air bubble in the center of the crust, even though I pricked it many times with a fork. Also note the edges of the pie crust, which have decided they do not want to stand tall and proud and have folded over and sunken into the air bubble center. 

Oh what's that? You want a closer look at failure crust? Well here ya go!

I call this one Fail of Life. 


After this failure, I thought well its not too bad, I can just finish making the filling and pour it over the crust and make a sort of chocolate tart. 


Yes! A Chocolate Tart is the solution to my failure. I have found the answer!


Then I began making my filling. I melted my chocolate, added the milk and sugar, some flour and a few egg yolks, I added everything I was supposed to and began to cook the filling. I made sure the temperature was just right and whisked my little heart out, trying to make sure that no lumps would form but guess what? Failure pie decided it wanted lumps despite my attempts to keep lumps out.


I then decided I didn't care anymore and just poured the lumpy disaster into the crust that gave up on life and called it a day. I didn't even bother making the meringue that the recipe called for. I couldn't bear anymore impending failure. 


Lets take a look at the completed pie now. 

See the lumps?  They are there, mocking me. 

Here is a large, complete view of my failure. Feel free to gawk and point and giggle a little. 

Here is the recipe if you so choose to try and make this pie. Don't let the ugly appearance of mine keep you from making this pie. It still tasted great. Hope it works out better for you than it did for me.  

Grandma’s chocolate pie
1 pie 8 inch crust, pre-made or homemade

Filling ingredients:
4 tablespoons of cocoa or 1 1/2 squares of baking chocolate
3/4 cups of sugar
5 tablespoons of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
2 egg yolks, beaten slightly
1 tablespoon of butter

Meringue ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of sugar

Method:


Mix your sugar, flour, salt, cocoa, eggs and milk (all except vanilla and butter) with a whisk.
Cook while stirring on medium until it bubbles and thickens, about five to 10 minutes. If it becomes lumpy, just beat out the lumps.

Remove from heat and stir in your vanilla and butter. Meanwhile, poke holes in your pie crust with a fork and bake it at 350 until it’s brown, about 20 minutes.

Beat your egg whites with salt and when they start to get fluffy add the sugar. Pour the chocolate custard into the baked pie shell and top with the beaten egg whites. Bake it until it the peaks on the meringue are lightly browned, about 10 minute.  

Cinnamon sugar Almonds

Love Almonds? Love almonds covered in cinnamon and sugar?  I love them. Even thought I am mildly allergic to tree nuts, I love them. A few asthma attacks and some benadryl later, I'm still eating these by the handful. Health risk, sure, but totally worth it. 
Here is a very simple recipe that takes under an hour to make!


I used a 3lb bag (or approx. 9 cups) of almonds. Feel free to use less or more depending on how many people will be eating them. Also this recipe isn't like the cinnamon sugar almonds you get from the fair, these ones are not really sweet, its more like a large hint of sweet. Feel free to add more sugar than I did if you want!


Ingredients:
1 - 3lb bag of Almonds, or about 9 cups
1 egg white + 1 tablespoon of water, lightly beaten
1 cup of sugar (feel free to add more if desired)
2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (add more if desired)
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice (completely optional but I highly recommend it!)

I begin by spreading the almonds in an even layer on two baking sheets (the ones with a lip) and roasting them in the oven 350ºF for 30 minutes. Watch your nuts and stir them after 15 minutes so they roast evenly. Don't forget your nuts! Once I did and I burnt all my nuts. I was sad. Don't let burnt nuts ruin your day. Ok sorry enough saying nuts.

Pull the roasted almonds out of the oven (don't turn it off just yet thought!) Dump them into a very large bowl and pour over the cinnamon, sugar and optional chinese 5 spice. Then very quickly add the beaten egg white and start stirring! If you work fast, the egg won't scramble and you will get fantastically coated almonds.

Once everything is combined, here you can add more sugar or cinnamon if you want.  If you do, do it fast. The egg yolk works as the glue for the cinnamon and sugar so if it dries, the extra sugar won't stick as well.


From here, I cover one baking sheet with parchment paper and pour all the almonds onto the cookie sheet and cook for an extra 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. Let cool completely and store however you like!

Sugar Cream Pie

Ever had sugar cream pie? It goes by many names. Old Fashioned Sugar cream pie, Hoosier sugar cream pie, Indiana cream pie, Indiana farm pie, and finger pie. Weird huh?  

P.S. I have no idea what the heck a Hoosier is. I know it is referring to a person from Indiana, but other than that, no clue. I know what a Buckeye is. A tree nut AND a person from Ohio. 

I had never heard of it until I moved to Indiana. Another weird mid-west thing I guess. 


Basically sugar cream pie is sugar and cream. Wonder of wonders. Who'd a thunk? 


I looked at a few recipes and found they are all. exactly. the same. They all used the same ingredients, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, flour. The only difference is some add milk, some corn syrup, some cook the filling before they fill the pie.


I eventually ended up using the one below. I think it turned out well. 


I used the recipe for pie crust from this post that I originally got from this blog. This recipe makes two balls of  pie dough, I made three mini 5 inch pies from one dough ball. 

For the pie you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup butter, chilled and diced

1. Preheat oven to 450ºF.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together sugar, flour, and cream. Add milk and vanilla, and stir until mixture is smooth. Pour into pastry shell. Sprinkle top with nutmeg and dot evenly with small chunks of butter.
3. Bake at 450º for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350ºF and bake an additional 45 minutes.

original recipe found here.

Let it cool completely before you slice. It tastes amazing if you pop it in the microwave for a few seconds before eating it. 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Have you carved the obligatory pumpkins for the season? If not, chances are good that you will be doing just that in the next few days. Here's a photo of one that my nephew carved this year.

Tip: If you haven't carved a pumpkin before, or if you're still trying to carve with your kitchen knife, Stop. Just stop. Then run to Target and pick up one of those pumpkin carving kits. They're cheap and the little saw that's included may save a finger or two.

I'm a huge fan of carving pumpkins. What I am not a fan of is the squishy, ewey, gooey, guts-feeling part where you have to scrape and pull the pumpkin innards out. It's kind of gross. Okay, a little more than kind of. Usually, after all of that hard work, I just throw them out in the garden. 

This year, I decided to make all of the pumpkin guts worth it and make roasted pumpkin seeds. Believe me, they seem easy to make after you spend oodles of time pulling them out of the pumpkin.

Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups of seeds (from the guts of approximately 2 pumpkins depending on size)

2 tbsp. salt (divided into 1 tbsp. + 1 tbsp.)

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 tsp. garlic powder

 

First, you have to sort through your pumpkin guts to separate out the pumpkin seeds from the gooey mess. This is easiest to do right after you've carved your pumpkins. Then give the seeds a good rinse with water.

Next, you'll want to boil your pumpkin seeds in salt water (using 1 tbsp. of salt) for 20 minutes. The pumpkin seeds should look gray when you pull them out of the water (as seen in the photo above).

Once you've boiled and drained your seeds, pour them out on a baking sheet (preferably with sides to prevent them from spilling over) and place them in a safe place to dry overnight. We don't want robbers, cats, or flies to mess with them. 

The next day, your seeds should be mostly dry to the touch. Preheat your oven to 300*F. 

Then, mix the garlic powder with the butter and pour the mixture over the seeds. Toss to coat and pour your seeds out onto the baking sheet. I lined mine with parchment paper for easy cleanup. Sprinkle the rest of your salt over the seeds.

Bake your seeds at 300* for 90 minutes or until they turn a nice golden brown. Stir the seeds up on the pan every half hour so they bake evenly.

Pour into a pretty bowl and enjoy!

I think these would also be good if you flavored with with cinnamon and nutmeg. Pumpkin pie flavored pumpkin seeds. That would be interesting.

I would love to see photos of your carved pumpkins! Link them up in the comment section.

xo Nicole

Cookies & Creme Cupcakes

To say I like cupcakes would be a huge understatement. I love-love-love cupcakes! They are sweet, miniature cakes made with the individual in mind, that leave you feeling just a little more special. Granted, they are not at all figure friendly but they're so darn cute.

I think one of the reasons I love cupcakes so much is because they are so versatile. You can take any flavor and make it into a cupcake. After having some Oreo ice cream (during the way too hot Indiana autumn), I was inspired to make some cupcakes with Oreos. 

The recipe is fairly simple with a white cake recipe adding in some Oreos. The hardest part of this recipe is deciding how you are going to chop the Oreos for your batter. You could chop them up finely and leave yourself with a chocolate speckled white cake. I, however, went the chunky route. It was much more fun to take a bite of the cupcake and find a small chunk of cookie. 

I thought about giving the frosting a layer of Oreo dust as a garnish, but the texture was a bit too similar to sand. I decided to go with the chopped Oreos instead of pulverized Oreos.

My favorite part of the recipe is the half an oreo on the bottom of the cupcake. Trust me on this one, separate the Oreos in half and include only one side on the bottom of the cupcake liner. 

Cookies & Creme Cupcakes

Yields: approx. 2 dozen

Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups chopped Oreos

2 cups of flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 2/3 c. sugar

3 egg whites

1/2 c. butter - room temp

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. milk

12 oreo halves

Preheat your oven for 400˚F. Put your cupcake liners into the pan and place one Oreo half into each liner. Combine the flour and baking powder together in a bowl and place to the side. Then, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg whites one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then, mix in the vanilla. 

Add in half of the dry ingredients and beat the batter well. Mix in the milk and add in the rest of the dry ingredients. Then, add the chopped Oreos to the batter being careful not to mix too long. Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full. After putting the cupcakes into the oven, turn the temperature down to 350˚F and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool for a few minutes and then remove them from the pan to cool the rest of the way.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 block (8 oz.) cream cheese

6 tbsp. butter - room temp

4 c. powdered sugar

1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. heavy cream

Blend together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until it creates a smooth mixture. Slowly, add in the powdered sugar until just incorporated. Add the heavy cream and beat until it's blended into the mixture. Then, beat the mixture on high for about 5 minutes until it becomes light and fluffy. Once the cupcakes are cool, top them with frosting and garnish with any leftover Oreos. 

Adapted from Annie's Eats.

I prefer my from scratch recipe, but if you're in a bind for time here's my alternate recipe for you.


Easy Peasy Recipe
1 white cake mix + ingredients listed on box
2 1/2 cups of chopped Oreos
1 can of premade frosting
Oreos to garnish


Follow the directions of the cake mix box to mix up the cake batter. Add in the chopped oreos. Scoop into cupcake liners, 2/3 full, and bake as directed on the box. Allow your cupcakes to cool and finish them off with frosting and your Oreo garnish!


Enjoy!