The Toffee Bar Search Is Over!

The search is over for the elusive toffee bars of my husband's youth. After trying several excellent recipes and having him say, "These are good but not THE ones", I finally came across his Mom's recipe in a cookbook published by our high school band in the 1960s.

His remembrance of the recipe was that it was topped with chocolate, which is not included in the original recipe. When I asked him if the chocolate topping was a variation, he said it was his contribution to the recipe - lol!

His Mom's recipe is titled "Pecan Crisps" and no chocolate is necessary for these softly crunchy, praline-ish bars. The toffee-like consistency is achieved by adding no leavening and spreading the batter into a large pan. And even though there is a teaspoon of cinnamon, the bars do not taste spicy.

I am so excited to find this recipe and spent the morning thumbing through this and other old cookbooks from my hometown. With all my love of new cookbooks and bookmarking scores of recipes on the internet, my favorites are still from my old, shabby, full-of-memories community cookbooks and those hand-written recipes lovingly shared on recipe cards, notebook paper, or any scrap of paper the writer found convenient.

Pecan Crisps
From my Mother-in-Law

1 cup soft butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, separated
2 cups sifted flour
½ teaspoon salt (I left this out because I used salted butter)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar until light. Beat in vanilla and egg yolk. Add sifted dry ingredients and 1/2 cup of the pecans. Mix well. Press into greased 15 X 10 X 1 pan and brush top with slightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup pecans. Bake in moderate oven (350) about 25 minutes. While warm, cut into 50 bars and remove at once to rack to cool. (I cut mine into larger bars.)

Dulce de Leche Carrot Cake

My husband loves carrot cake, so for his birthday I made Dulce de Leche Carrot Cake with Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting from Bakespace.com, and it was a hit! I did make changes, both in the cake and in the buttercream, and those changes are reflected in the recipe below.

Dulce de Leche is a wonderful addition to moist carrot cake, lending its creamy, caramelly sweetness and reducing the sugar usually found in carrot cake recipes. Adding it to the traditional cream cheese frosting took it to another level.

Dulce De Leche Carrot Cake
Adapted from the original recipe at Bakespace.com

1 (14 ounce) can Dulce de leche, 1/4 cup removed
1 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups grated carrots, packed firmly
zest of one orange, finely minced

Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Buttercream and Filling

1/2 cup salted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup Dulce de Leche
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two 8-inch cake pans with cooking spray and place circle of parchment paper in bottom of each.

In large bowl using hand whisk, blend dulce de leche, oil, applesauce, sugar, and eggs. Stir in vanilla extract and lemon juice. In smaller bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Fold flour mixture into wet ingredients and add carrots and zest, stirring well. Spoon into prepared pans.

Bake until cake springs back when gently pressed, about 25-30 minutes. Cool about 30 minutes before removing from pans to cool on wire rack. Make sure cake is room temperature or chilled before icing.

For buttercream, cream together softened butter, cream cheese, and dulce de leche until smooth and fluffy; add 1 cup powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add cream and vanilla and mix to incorporate. Add remainder of powdered sugar gradually and beat on medium speed until smooth. Fill and frost cake layers as desired. Sprinkle with ground nuts and touch of cinnamon. Unfrosted cake freezes well.

Guinness Chocolate Birthday Cheesecake

My birthday was extra special this year because our kids and grandkids traveled from Texas to spend a few days with us. My daughter arrived bearing a Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake by Closet Cooking, and it was the best cheesecake EVER! It is hard to describe what Guinness does for chocolate, but it is a bit like the enhancement coffee provides for chocolate - it is marked by a depth of flavor not achieved by mere chocolate. The creaminess factor, combined with the richness of the chocolate, made me smack my lips.


I asked my daughter if she changed anything about the recipe, and she said that she ran out of dark chocolate and had to supplement with milk chocolate, and she used butter and chocolate graham crackers instead of grahams with cocoa. These changes are reflected in the recipe below.


Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake
adapted from the blog of Closet Cooking
8 servings

1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons heavy cream
8 oz dark chocolate, chopped
4 oz milk chocolate, chopped
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup Guinness

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix graham cracker crumbs and butter and press into bottom of 9-inch spring-form pan. Melt chocolates in cream in a double boiler; set aside. Beat cream cheese until smooth, then mix in sugar, chocolate, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and Guinness. Pour mixture into spring-form pans. Bake for 60 minutes. Turn off heat; leave cheesecake in oven with door slightly ajar for 60 minutes. Let cool completely, and chill in refrigerator overnight.

My hubby also provided a beautiful and delicious chocolate cake with chocolate and frosting, complete with a hot pink Happy Birthday. And yes, I had generous portions of both birthday cake and cheesecake. In my world there is no such thing as too much chocolate.

Salsa Pasta

I recently harvested the first Sungold tomatoes and sweet onions from my garden and combined them with Archer Farms Bean, Corn, and Roasted Red Pepper Salsa and fresh spinach for this simple and satisfying pasta dish.

Salsa Pasta
Cooked pasta of your choice
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion or shallot, chopped
1 generous handful fresh baby spinach
1 cup salsa of your choice
5 or 6 green olives
Fresh tomatoes

In small skillet heat olive oil over medium heat and add onion. Saute for about a minute then add spinach. Stir and toss briefly to coat spinach leaves with oil/onion mixture, then add cooked pasta. Toss with tongs, then add salsa and olives. Keep tossing until well mixed. Plate it with fresh tomatoes on top.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

While searching online for recipes, I found several recipes for donut muffins. I chose one and adapted it and made them for our visiting kids and grand-kids this past weekend, and they could not stop talking about how good they were. And honestly, if I hadn't doubled the recipe, we wouldn't have had enough for the seven of us. The muffins themselves were just perfect - tender texture, not too sweet - and the cinnamon/sugar topping made them really special. I love the addition of nutmeg and used extra in mine. My family was eating these late in the day as well as for breakfast! Seriously, they are that good.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins
24 muffins or 36 mini muffins

Muffins:
3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk

Topping:
1 stick salted butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon in large mixing bowl. In small bowl whisk together oil, sugar, eggs and milk. Make well in center of dry ingredients, add liquid ingredients, and stir until just combined. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Bake until muffin tops are pale golden and springy to touch, 22 to 24 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Mini muffins might take less time.

While muffins are baking, combine sugar and cinnamon. Place melted butter in small bowl. When muffins are finished baking, dip tops in melted butter and then into sugar/cinnamon mixture.


I served these with homemade turkey sausage and OJ. This recipe will be a definite repeat at my house.

Red Gold Salsa Guacamole

A few days ago a package arrived in the mail from Red Gold Tomatoes. I have consistently been choosing the Red Gold brand over Hunt's for several months, so when I was contacted by a Red Gold PR rep about receiving a "pretty cool tomato kit", I was stoked. However, I never anticipated the quality and care that was put into preparing and mailing the package. It was in a large box with a fruit crate-type label announcing that it was TOMATOES, so when the mail lady brought it to my door, she expressed surprise that anyone would mail fresh tomatoes in the dead of winter.


The box inside was a cardboard replica of a wooden crate and was beautifully packed and generously filled with four cans of tomato products, jar of salsa, reusable tote bag, magnetic clip and frame magnet, key chain, cookbook, recipe cards, coupon, AND a die cast metal SSR Model replica with doors, hood and trunk that open and a steering wheel that turns, which was immediately confiscated by my husband for his office bookshelf!


Red Gold has very attractive packaging and features my favorite kitchen color red!


This family owned company in Indiana has an interesting history. It was begun in 1942 as a venture to help feed the US Army after Pearl Harbor and has continued that humanitarian spirit through donations for 9/11, hurricane relief, and national food bank assistance, including the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank. The Oklahoma event occurred in conjunction with the unveiling of a billboard featuring America's largest tomato cans in March 2010.

The website is very attractive and user-friendly, with interesting articles about the company and an online store, and features a recipe contest -"Release Your Inner Red Gold Chef" where everyone who submits a recipe is a winner!



Other blogs have featured giveaways for their tomato kits, but I have selfishly chosen to keep my products.



I found my inspiration for the guacamole here. I used meyer lemon juice instead of lime, forgot to add the cilantro, and I subbed salsa for the can of tomatoes and onions. The salsa, which is colorful and chunky with juicy tomatoes, onions, and peppers, has a natural sweetness from the tomatoes since there is no sugar added. I love simple and fresh when it comes to guacamole, and this one is deliciously simple and fresh. I am looking forward to trying other recipes from my new cookbook and from the website!

The Great Blizzard of February 2011

The storm some have called "Snowpocalypse" generated this satellite picture detailing the massive coverage of this monster storm. Here in Oklahoma records were broken by The Great Blizzard of February 1 - 2, 2011. Oklahoma City and surrounding towns experienced whiteout conditions, heavy snow of 2 inches per hour, and high winds gusting to 50 mph. Our new Governor Mary Fallin placed Oklahoma under a state of emergency.

These are some of the area snowfall totals:
Owasso, OK 21"
Miami, OK 20"
Tulsa, OK 15"
Oklahoma City, OK 12"

It was 0 degrees on our patio this morning, and the forecast is for minus 5 tonight. Here are a few initial photos from my house.

My garden in the middle of the blizzard



Looking out the front window



These trash cans are about 4-1/2 feet tall



Patio chairs and table during the storm; thermometer is around 5 degrees



Night-time solar lights next to our drift-covered sidewalk



Early morning after



Deck chairs and table



In spite of our equipment running constantly, the pool had a thick layer of ice



Buddy had a great time running



The yard has 3 foot drifts



The drift on our side garage door



We haven't ventured out of the front of the house yet, nor have we opened the garage door to see what awaits us there. I was bundled so much I could barely move, and the parts of my body that were exposed to the bitter cold this morning - my thumb, which was operating my iPhone camera, and my face - began to hurt. We might even try the roads later. If so, more photos to follow.