Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

I'll confess before I say anything else - I Love Pumpkin! Pumpkin roll, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin granola, pumpkin creme brulee, even pumpkin pie, but I don't like the crust. I'm making myself hungry. Here's another pumpkin recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. (This recipe is gluten free because it uses oats instead of flour. They are more dense and chewy than muffins made with flour, but just as tasty.)

These bars are moist and not too sweet., and closer to cake than cookies. The original recipe is from this cookbook that I have had for over twenty five years. I have used many of it's recipes in all of those years and definitely not just at Christmas. Even though I have always preferred savory foods to desserts, close to half of the recipes in my personal cookbook are desserts. I wonder why.

Note: I used the stoneware pan because my metal sheet pans that are the right size were in the dishwasher. This was a mistake. By the time the bars were cool enough to serve, they were overcooked and tough. I should have taken the pan out of the oven a few minutes early to adjust for the heat the pan holds - I wish I had thought of that before I baked them.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 16-ounce can pumpkin

1 ½ cups sugar

¼ cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (6 oz.) chocolate chips

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In a medium mixing bowl beat eggs, pumpkin, 1 ½ cups sugar, oil, and vanilla extract until well blended. Add flour mixture and mix just until moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spread in an ungreased 15x10x1 inch baking pan. Stir together remaining sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool and cut into bars.

32 bars

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.

Banana Pudding in a jar

When we had friends with kids coming for dinner, I wanted to make a fun dessert. Since I have gotten caught up in the craze for making everything from no-cook oatmeal to salads in Mason jars, banana pudding came to mind. It seemed like a perfect recipe to adapt to individual servings. We have loved Paula Deen's Not Yo' Moma's Banana Pudding since my mom introduced us to it years ago so I started there.


(Our friends' son liked it so much he used two spoons.)


  I did use Trader Joe's Ultimate Vanilla Wafers since the Chessmen cookies wouldn't fit in 8 ounce jars. I also have changed the procedure to dirty fewer bowls.

You could use regular vanilla wafers, but these are really rich and good and have vanilla beans - see the black flecks.

 After gathering the ingredients, I mixed the cream cheese, condensed milk, milk, pudding mix and whipped topping. Then it was time to start layering.The pudding mixture set quicker than I would have liked. It doesn't need to be as firm when it is going in jars as it does in a large pan, so I think I will change things next time. (I didn't need as much filling as this made either.)







 This recipe makes a large dish of banana pudding, so after I filled the ten jars I had pudding left. I layered it in a casserole with strawberries.











 Banana Pudding in a Jar

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened (I use reduced fat)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 

2 cups milk (I use skim)
1 (5-ounce) box instant vanilla pudding

1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed

1 pkg Vanilla Wafers
4 large bananas, sliced

12 8 ounce Mason jars

In a large mixing bowl mix cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth. Add the milk and pudding mix and mix until well blended. Add the whipped topping and mix until just combined. Place one cookie in the bottom of each jar. Add a couple of Tablespoons of the pudding mixture, then top with about half of the bananas. (5 or 6 slices in each jar.) Add a cookie to each jar and press down to remove some of the air space. Add some more of the pudding and the rest of the bananas. Top with pudding almost to the top of the jars and finish with a cookie before putting the lids on. Refrigerate at least several hours before serving.

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.