Caramel Apple Scones

I made these about a month ago when the weather had gotten crazy once again.  Crazy weather, one day almost 70 the next 15.  I was craving something different that day so I thought hmmmmmm wonder how a caramel apple scone would taste.  So I took my scone recipe and adapted it to this yummy Scone.

Dough
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 TBL cold butter *in chunks*
3/4 cup half and half
3 jonathan apples, peel and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 TBL white sugar
2 TBL butter
3 TBL cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup caramel pieces *see picture*
Directions:

Peel and slice apples, to fry pan add butter, then apples, cinnamon, salt and sugars.  Stir until a little juice appears, add caramels.  Add the wine and reduce, it will thicken as it cooks (about 5-7 minutes)  Let cool.

For the dough combine all the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until you have crumbly, coarse dough.  Add milk all at once and gently fold mixture and then fold in the apple mixture.  Do not overwork dough.  Put in floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes.  If dough is sticky add just a bit of flour.  Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and form in a disk about 1 inch of so high.  Cut into 8 sections and separate so they are not touching, bake at 400 for approximately 15 minutes.   Do not overcook or they will be dry.  Remove and cool on rack.

 Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the time to do ALL the things YOU LOVE.
Donna

Potatoe Rolls

I made these on St. Patty's Day to go with our meal.  These are no yummy.

Ingredients
1 large potato, cooked and mashed (you need 1/2 cup mashed potato)
1/4 cup of the potato water
3/4 cup butter, soft
1 egg
1/2 cup of warm milk (110-115) *I used half and half ....1/2 milk 1/2 water*
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/8 tsp yeast
2 1/2 - 3 cups AP flour

In a stand mixer combine the mashed potato, egg, butter, salt and the egg.  Mix with the paddle blade for about 2 minutes.  Combine the warm milk, potato water and yeast together, add to the potato mixture, mix until combined.  Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until you get a soft dough.  Switch to the dough hook and continue to add the flour until you have a soft tacky dough but not sticky.   Your flour amount will depend on the weather.  Transfer to a very lightly oiled bowl and let rise until doubled.   When they have doubled remove and punch down.  Shape into rolls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet 1 1/2 inches apart, dust lightly with flour.  Cover and let rise until doubled about 45-60 minutes.  Bake in 400 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

Hope you try these, they are worth the effort.  They also make a nice bread for sandwiches.  Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to find the Time to do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

  Belated St. Patty's day all.  Of course we had our Corned Beef and Cabbage.  This is my daughters favorite meal.  On her birthday she always wants me to make it.  I always make 2 corned beef, one in the pressure cooker and the other in a pot cooked very slow on the oven.  Well I got to thinking last night laying in bed and said to myself, why can't I just cook the second one in the slow cooker.  I wasn't sure on how long to cook it so of course I searched the net.  It  took 6 hours.  This is the one from the slow cooker.

Ingredients:
3 lb corned beef
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch slices
4 medium carrots, cut large pieces
2 stalks celery, cut in large pieces
1 small head of green cabbage
I cooked it for 3 1/2 hrs on high and then 2 1/2 on low.  Next time I will put the cabbage in a bit later, maybe just the last 2 1/2 hrs.  The potatoes were very good but we always have mashed potatoes with our cabbage and never have carrots or the celery.  I will for sure make this again this way.
Thanks for stopping by and Remember to Find the time to do ALL the things you love.
Donna

Pineapple Upside down Cupcakes

Recently I went to my good friend Patsy's house, we get together about once a month to craft.  We both scrapbook and make cards, what fun.  Anyway we usually alternate houses and we also cook a meal.  Well this time we had Turkey Stir Fry, fried rice and I brought egg rolls and these wonderful Cupcakes.  I wanted to bring something different so what better than these.  They go together very quickly  and taste as good as they look.  I used fresh pineapple, because I had one on hand and wanted to use it before it went bad, but you can use canned as well.  Instead of making the norm cupcake I made the big ones so this recipe makes 12 regular or 6 large ones.

Ingredients:

Topping:

 1/2 fresh pineapple cut into pieces or1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

Cupcake Batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice or milk (I took the fresh pineapple with a bit of water  and put it in the blender to get a liquid puree)
1 egg Makes 12 regular cupcakes or 6 large cupcakes

Don't use paper  liners for these, or the pineapple will be hidden. 
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray or grease a nonstick muffin pan.
Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving 1/2 cup juice for the batter, if desired. Place the pineapple on a double layer of paper towels to drain completely.
In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and melted butter. Divide evenly among the muffin pan cups. Arrange the pineapple chunks decoratively on top of the sugar mixture. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder. With an electric mixer, mix in the butter and pineapple juice, beating for 2 minutes to make a smooth batter. Beat in the egg.
Spoon the batter over the fruit in the muffin pan, filling each cup three-quarters full. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes in pan then flip them out to rack to cool completely.
Enjoy

 Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and hopefully it's starting to look like Spring in your part of the world.  Remember to Find the time to do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna

Spudnut Doughnuts

I saw this recipe last year sometime when I first started to blog.  It's from Coleen's site, again if you have not visited her site try to take the time to she has some wonderful recipes.
It was a beautiful day here in Kansas,  just maybe Spring is on the way.  I prepared the dough and then went outside to rake leaves.  Oh how I hate doing that chore.  Hate it, hate it....but I wanted to get some of the flowerbeds ready.  *sigh*  I spent about an hour and a half  outside so when I came in the dough was ready to roll and cut and then leave to rise again.  NO I didn't go back outside.  I think the next time I make these I will leave out the lemon extract, to me it was not the flavor I wanted.
Also the glaze I used was a bit sweet so will try something else for that too.  I put plain white sugar on some, powdered sugar on some and some with chocolate ganache.  The doughnut holes I filled with raspberry jam and then topped them with all the same toppings.

2 pkgs. Dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening (do not use butter)
1 - 1/2 cups cold instant mashed potatoes (I used leftover real mashed potatoes)
3 eggs well beaten
2 cups scalded milk (cooled to Luke warm)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon extract
6 to 8 cups all purpose flour

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside. Cream the sugar and shortening and beat in the cold potatoes, eggs, cooled milk, yeast water, salt and lemon extract. Gradually add the flour to make a soft dough, knead well. The dough will be quite sticky.

Cover dough with plastic and let it raise in a warm place until doubled in size  about an hour to hour and a half). After an hour or so, pull dough out of bowl and onto the counter.  (dust hands with flour)  Sprinkle with flour and knead it a little to get most of the air out of it.  If dough seems really sticky,  just flour your work surface.   Roll the dough out to a half inch thickness.  Cut with well-floured cutter. 

Spray a piece of parchment paper (or waxed paper) with a little vegetable spray and then wipe it down with a paper towel.  Cut the paper into squares and put a cut out doughnut on each square.  This will help you when it is time to transfer the raised donuts from the counter to the hot oil.  Let the doughnuts raise until they get nice and puffy, then  Deep fry the donuts in 375 degree vegetable oil until they are deep golden . Only fry two or three donuts at a time.  Drain on paper towels. Glaze while still warm 

SIMPLE SUGAR GLAZE

1/3 cup melted butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract

4 tablespoons hot water 

Mix everything together (starting with 3 tablespoons hot water, then adding the last tablespoon if you need it).

Doughnuts ready to rise:

The different types and the filled doughnut hole

And one almost devoured.  :)

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.  Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna

Oreo Cupcakes

When I made these (one day last week) it had been  yet another winter day in Kansas.  We had been having 70 degree weather and as usual for Kansas we had a snow storm the next day.  So what better to do than to bake.  I have made oreo cookies before and have been on a cupcake kick so thought I would made an oreo cupcake.  I adapted a recipe from good ole Betty Crocker, which is a basic vanilla cupcake and then after I had them in the oven thought I would search the net for an icing to put on them.  Didn't have much luck but did find a blog that made these cupcakes just like I did.  Here is her link, she has some great things.  Pop over and visit.  Guess great cooks and bakers get on the same wave length at times.  Yes, I think I'm a great baker and cook. :)  In the end I made a vanilla butter cream frosting with a tiny bit of Chocolate Liqueur. If I didn't tell you, you would never know it's there.
Makes 24 cupcakes or 48 mini's.
Bake 350 degrees for approximately 20-22 minutes (until tester comes out clean)
You'll need 24 oreo cookies or you can do 12 without the cookie on the bottom and 12 with just the crumble mixture.
Dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup half and half mixed with 1/2 cup water( *can use reg. or 2% milk)1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
7 TBL egg whites (I buy the egg whites in the container)
In a bowl beat butter until fluffy.
In a separate bowl combine, flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
Add the vanilla and milk to the butter and beat for about 2 minutes.  Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat for about 2 minutes.  Add the sugar and beat until well incorporated.  Before putting batter into cupcake liners twist the cookie apart and put the side with the cream on the bottom of the liner, cover with mixture to about 3/4 full.  As you can see I did 12 square cupcakes and 12 regular ones.  The round ones have the cookie in the bottom.
See...

 Here they are without the icing.

And them iced

And a peek without the liner.

These would be a great treat for the kids.  They just love finding a surprise in the snacks.  With the cookie part on the bottom it gives it a bit of a crunch too.  This is a fun cupcake.  Hope you'll give it a try.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonder day and Remember to Find the Time to Do all the things YOU love.
Donna

Popovers

I was at Coleen's blog a couple of weeks ago and she posted Popovers. ( If you have not been to her site, please take the time to stop by she has such wonderful recipes to share. )  Boy did they bring back memories for me.  When I was in high school I took Home Ec and the very first thing I ever made was popovers.  All I can remember about them was WOW they look terrific and also that I really liked them.  I had only made them once before and that was AGES ago, maybe in the late 60's.  Geesh showing my age.  Oh well don't mind.  ;)  After seeing these on her blog I just knew I had to make them.  So off I went hunting for the pan.  Wanted to do it right ya know.  I did find pans up at Prydes in KC.  They have soooooooooooooo many wonderful things there.  You could spend days just looking and looking.
Adapted from Coleen's recipe:
Please read the recipe all the way through before starting so you understand the directions.
3 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of milk (see below)1 1 /2 tsp melted butter
1 cup AP flour

I don't ever had milk in the house so I used 1/3 cup of heavy cream and the rest water.  If I didn't have heavy cream I could have used 1/2 cup of half and half with the rest water.  Coleen used 1/4 cup of heavy cream and the rest 2% milk, so you can do it that way too.
Preheat your oven 425 degrees and put the popover pan in to heat.  
Diretions:
Whisk the eggs, salt, vanilla and milk in a bowl or extremely large liquid  glass measuring cup.   Whisk in the flour and whisk until creamy
Take out your pan and spray with cooking spray (next time I will omit this step, because my pan is nonstick) and place the pat of butter in the bottom of each cup, fill each cup 1/2 full and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 325 degrees and cook for an additional 15 minutes.  (my oven took only 12 additional minutes)  Now don't these look good.  My daughter and grandson had them right after they came out of the oven..  YUM!

 

Here they are cut and with some butter and orange marmalade.

 Thanks Coleen for yet another great recipe to try.  Also thanks everyone that stopped by.  Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU love.
hugs,
Donna