Dirt Cake

I first made this for a family 4th of July party ten or more years ago. The kids are all grown now and we rarely go to my mom and dad's for the Fourth, but every year we did I was asked to bring dirt cake. (I don't really know why it is called cake. - It is really a pudding or parfait.) I love it in a bucket. We also made it in a wheelbarrow and dump truck. I wish I had pictures of those. While the recipe doesn't call for gummy worms, they are a necessity in our house.

Start by crushing the Oreos, then set them aside.

Make the pudding mixture. If the cream cheese sets out for several hours it will mix in much more smoothly. (Microwave it 15 or 20 seconds if it isn't room temperature.)

Then layer the pudding and cookies ending with cookies. A straight sided bowl will work, but a bucket or foil lined terra cotta pot (that is new) are much more fun. You could add a silk flower to a flower pot.

 

When I made this recently, I created a more adult version. I crushed a sleeve of Graham crackers and mixed the crumbs with two tablespoons of sugar and maybe three tablespoons of butter to create a crust. I pressed the mixture onto a baking sheet and baked it for 10 minutes at 350 degrees to toast the crumbs. (Plain Graham cracker crumbs work, but I like the flavor after they are toasted.) I also used blueberries and raspberries and Lemon Fruit Tart filling (I found it at Wegman's. Lemon pie filling would work.) The tart filling was a little thick so I mixed a tablespoon of lemon juice into about one half cup so it would spread better.

I really enjoyed the fruit version. It isn't quite as sweet or heavy as the Oreo dirt cake, but I'm a sucker for any fruit dessert and I love citrus. The Oreo version seems to be most people's favorite.

Since I had made two versions, I layered everything in Mason jars. (I have also used eight ounce plastic cups when I was taking dirt cake to someone's home.)

Now that fall is here, I may have to try mixing some pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice into the pudding mixture and layering it with ginger snap crumbs.

Dirt Cake

1 large package Oreos

2 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 small packages vanilla instant pudding

3 cups milk

1 12 ounce container Cool Whip

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Crush cookies to fine crumbs.  (Easiest in a food processor.) Combine cream cheese and confectioners sugar with an electric mixer.  Add pudding mix and milk; mix well.  Fold in Cool Whip and vanilla extract.  Layer pudding mixture with cookie crumbs.  Chill until ready to serve.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (gluten free)

I had planned to make these banana oatmeal breakfast muffins, on Debbie Riechert's blog, one morning, but between the time I went to bed the night before and the time I was ready to bake, the ripe bananas had disappeared. That was fine since Jenny had been asking for Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins too. I just made a few changes and they were amazing.

Jenny requested them again today and when I forgot to add the chips to the batter, I decided I needed to rewrite the recipe instead of following the one I had found. Putting the chocolate chips on top just isn't the same. I also have made a significant procedural change.

 Instead of mixing everything in the food processor, I transferred the oat flour to a mixing bowl and added the remaining ingredients. Stirring just until blended.

Without the structure gluten provides, these don't rise as much as they would if made with wheat flour so they can be filled to the top. 

When I changed this recipe to pumpkin, I added some sugar since pumpkin puree isn't as sweet as banana. You might be able to add more honey instead, but that would throw off the ratio of dry to wet ingredients and I don't know how they would turn out.






Pumpkin Oat Muffins with Chocolate Chips - GF


2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
 ¼ cup sugar
½ cup chocolate chips, optional

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a food processor or blender, grind the oats into flour. Pour into a mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Grease 18 muffin cups. Divide batter into pans. (You can fill the cups almost to the top. These don’t rise like muffins made with wheat flour do.) Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

German Chocolate Pound Cake

Years ago my mom and dad created a cookbook of family favorites. It included this gem that I'm sure Mom found, but Dad makes. He has become the baker in the family since he retired. I love that this cake is moist, chocolatey and not too sweet.

You will get better results if you use an electric mixer instead of beating the batter by hand. (Kate, you can beat it by hand since you don't believe in using electric mixers.) Since there is very little leavening in this cake, you have to work a lot of air into the batter for it to rise properly.

Start by preheating the oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan or two loaf pans (8 1/2 x 4 1/2).


Cream 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter. You need to beat this for several minutes or until the butter is light colored and most of the graininess (is that even a word?) is gone.

Can you see how much creamier the second picture is?

Add 4 eggs, one at a time mixing  well after each addition.

Melt a 4 ounce bar of German Sweet Chocolate (you can find this near the chocolate chips) in the microwave in thirty second intervals. If the chocolate is almost melted, the heat in the bowl will probably finish the job, if you stir it a bit. Mix the chocolate, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1 cup of buttermilk, and 1 teaspoon of instant coffee granules into the batter.

A couple of notes here: If, like me, you grab a quart of milk instead of buttermilk, you can put one tablespoon of white vinegar into a one cup measuring cup and add milk to get one cup. If you don't have instant coffee, just leave it out. (The original recipe doesn't call for it.) For some reason, coffee makes chocolate more chocolatey without making the finished product taste like coffee.

Sift together 3 cups of flour, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of salt. (If you don't have a sifter, you can stir the ingredients in a large bowl, with a whisk.) Mix the dry ingredients into the batter with the chocolate chips, if you are using them. You only need to stir until all of the flour is incorporated. Over-mixing will toughen your cake.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake for 1 ½ hours. (70 to 80 minutes for loaf pans.) Cool 5 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap or place in a sealed cake keeper. This cake is unusual because it is wrapped while it is hot, which keeps the cake really moist. Cool completely before serving.

It was a good thing these got wrapped while they were hot, since I needed to take one to someone half an hour after they came out of the oven.

German Chocolate Pound Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

4 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsps vanilla extract

1 pkg (4 oz) German sweet chocolate, melted

1 tsp instant coffee granules, optional

3 cups flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 bag miniature chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan or two loaf pans.

Cream sugar and butter, then add eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla, buttermilk, and melted chocolate. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Mix into batter with chocolate chips if you are using them. Pour into pan and bake for 1 ½ hours. (70 to 80 minutes for loaf pans.) 

Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and wrap or place in sealed cake keeper while hot. Cool completely before serving.

Chocolate Pie

Last night, we went to Towson to take Carrie out to celebrate her birthday. It is nice that she is nearby so we can celebrate with her. Dan and I got to have dinner out with five beautiful young ladies. (Carrie, her sisters, and her roommates. Then we went back to her apartment for dessert and presents.

Two thirds of our family love this pie. The other third might if they didn't know it contains tofu. I also love that it is ready to be chilled in fifteen minutes or less, and there is no cooking. This is one of very few recipes that I actually follow as written. It is Alton Brown's Mooless Chocolate Pie. Follow the link to get the measurements for each ingredient.

 There are just six ingredients, if you buy a chocolate cookie crust instead of making one. You could use 1/3 cup of coffee instead of the Kahlua, or a little less than 1/2 teaspoon of instant coffee mixed in 1/3 cup of water. Leave it out altogether if you must, but coffee brings out chocolate's flavor, so it will make a difference. If you are not using Kahlua, taste the filling after everything is blended.  You may want to add another tablespoon of honey since the Kahlua would have added some sweetness.

 A B uses a double boiler to melt the chocolate chips with the Kahlua. I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stir and microwave another 15 seconds. I stir the honey into the chocolate with the vanilla extract since I sometimes have a problem with honey sinking to the bottom of my blender and not getting mixed in.


Pour the chocolate into the blender with the tofu and mix until smooth. Stop and scrape the sides once.



















Finish blending and pour into the crust. A note about the tofu: Silken tofu makes a creamy pudding-like pie. I have used firm tofu when I can't find silken and like the firmer texture almost as well. The firmer pie is a lot easier to serve. Chill for two hours before serving.

There wasn't room for all the filling in this crust, so I got to sample the pie without waiting. Some whipped cream or berries would have been good on top. I wish I had thought of that yesterday.