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Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

December 9, 2010 by Laura 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s a very delicious guest post by Allyson at A Heart For Home. WOW, these look good!!
   

In case you’re like me and still looking for an excuse to eat more pumpkin goodies even after Thanksgiving, here’s a pumpkin cookie recipe we’ve really enjoyed this fall. So far, everyone loves the results. One family we shared these with even said they seemed healthy enough that they enjoyed them for breakfast!
 
We adapted the recipe a little to use healthier ingredients. Here’s our version:
 
Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese FrostingYum
Makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies
 
Cookies
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
 2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cup sucanat
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted and slightly cooled)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
 
Frosting
4 ounces room temperature cream cheese
2 Tablespoon coconut oil (melted and slightly cooled)
1/2 cup powdered sucanat
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
To Prepare Cookies:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.
2. Mix first set of cookie ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sucanat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
4. Add in the oil, vanilla extract and pumpkin. Beat until mixed.
5. Add flour mixture and beat until just combined.
6. Spoon batter onto parchment paper in heaping Tablespoon portions spaced 2 inches apart.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms begin to brown slightly and tops do not appear wet. You can check by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean you’re good to go.
8. Remove cookies from cookie sheet and place on a wire rack to cool.
 
To Prepare Frosting:
1. Whip all ingredients in a small mixing bowl.
2. Spread or pipe on to cooled (or slightly cooled) cookies.
 
Or you can do what I did and pipe that frosting onto the cookies right out of the oven, grab a glass of cold milk and call it a day.
 
You could leave the frosting off entirely, especially if you are trying to limit your sugar intake, but this frosting is Oh! So! Good!
 
Enjoy!
  
Allyson is the wife to an amazing husband and the mama to three energetic children ages 3 1/2, 2 and 9 months. She spends her days scrubbing counters and faces, washing dishes and bad attitudes and learning to lean on God’s grace. Allyson blogs about her family and their strivings to be good stewards of their relationships, home, time, finances, health and environment at A Heart for Home.

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Homemade Peppernuts (the best little cookies in the world)

December 7, 2010 by Laura 124 Comments

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Peppernuts

There’s pepper in these cookies? Surely not! Yes, that’s why they’re called Peppernuts. Oh, but there are no nuts in the cookies. They’re called peppernuts because they have pepper in them, they are tiny and you eat them like you would eat a handful of nuts. Thus the name Peppernuts.

The best thing about Peppernuts? They taste just like my Grandma’s. I was so excited after I ate my first one twelve (it’s okay, they’re tiny, remember?). I hadn’t had a peppernut for YEARS, because the only person I ever knew to make them was Grandma and she’s been gone since before my oldest was born.  Peppernuts…such sweet little bites of memories.

Peppernuts had actually fallen off my radar until my friend Gail mentioned them to me a couple of months ago. Suddenly…I NEEDED some peppernuts. Gail found a recipe and emailed it to me. Then of course I “whole wheat floured” and “sucanated” it…and woohoo…just like Grandma’s!

This experience gave me a whole new respect for Grandma because these tiny little cookies are a little bit time intensive. They’re not hard to make mind you…but the recipe makes a HUGE batch of dough, then you roll the dough into teeny tiny snakes and cut off teeny tiny pieces and you bake them into teeny tiny cookie bites. It took two to three hours to get through all of the dough. It was worth the time and effort, but I’m guessing I’ll only be making these a few times a year.

Homemade PeppernutsYum

Homemade Peppernuts (the best little cookies in the world)
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 2-4 cups sucanat
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon real maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 Tablespoon hot water
  • 6-7 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon allspice
  • ½ teaspoon cloves
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. Beat first five ingredients well.
  2. Dissolve soda in water then add to first five ingredients.
  3. Mix well.
  4. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture.
  5. Knead into firm dough (hand mixing will probably be required.
  6. This dough is too stiff for most electric mixers).
  7. Chill overnight or at least two hours.
  8. Roll into "snake-like rolls" a little smaller than dime size in diameter.
  9. Cut into small pieces about ¼" thick.
  10. Place on a cookie sheet and bake in 350° oven for 7-8 minutes.
  11. Store in an airtight container.
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And now, some Peppernut Pictures…

As you can see from the amount of ingredients, this recipe does make a huge big blob of dough:

If in fact you cut your tiny little pieces not quite tiny enough, they expand and bake together into one huge crazy looking…thing…on your baking pan. You will then learn that your idea of tiny wasn’t tiny enough and you need to cut them even tinier. Take note, the following peppernuts are cut too big (even though they look small) and are too close together on the pan.

Which resulted in something freaky like this:

Instead cut them teeny-tiny like this:

So that they will look like this:

It is a little bit fun if they are too close together on the pan and you get a peppernut snowman:

Or a peppernut worm:

After you have rolled and cut your twenty sixth snake, you will realize that it’s easier to line up a snake or two and cut them at the same time. This revelation saves you 18 precious seconds.

 

 

 

These Peppernuts fill up the biggest bowl you have and then some. They’re great to package up in small bags to give as Christmas time gifts to coworkers and neighbors.

 

But of course, you should put some in cute jars and keep them in your kitchen for family time munching with Hot Cocoa.

You know what’s better than eating  Peppernuts?

Looking at Peppernuts in cute jars.

Or is that just me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Save your holiday season by letting Simple Meals do your thinking for you. Imagine! You can still put healthy meals on the table even during the hubbub of all your holiday duties!

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Healthier Coconut Cream Pie (and a Tropical Traditions Baking Supplies giveaway!)

November 22, 2010 by Laura 541 Comments

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It’s “pie time” right? Otherwise known as “the holidays”. I know we typically think about pumpkin pie (er, squash pie) right now, but Tropical Traditions just sent me a fabulous big box of baking supplies and I decided that a Coconut Cream Pie was in order. And just you wait until you finish reading about this recipe because you’ll have a chance to win an even bigger box of baking supplies! I couldn’t be happier for you! This is one great baking supply box giveaway!!!

I received from Tropical Traditions:  Organic Coconut Flour, Organic Palm Shortening and a big bucket of Organic Shredded Coconut. See, told ya I just had to make a Coconut Cream Pie.

With my Organic Coconut Flour, I could have made a gluten free pie crust, which is so cool. I opted to use this Whole Wheat Pie Crust recipe instead, using the awesome Organic Palm Shortening. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again..I LOVE TROPICAL TRADITIONS PALM SHORTENING. Among other things, it makes wonderful, delicious, healthy, flaky pie crusts!

So, to make a Coconut Cream Pie, you need a pie crust. Bake it and let it cool. 

For the filling, I used my Creamy Vanilla Pudding recipe and  threw in some shredded coconut.

Coconut Cream Pie FillingYum

2 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks (save your egg whites in a separate bowl for the meringue!) (yes, that’s “muh-rang”, not mar-in-goo”)
1/2 cup real maple syrup (grade B is best for you) or honey
4 T. arrowroot powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, maple syrup, arrowroot powder, salt and shredded coconut. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until pudding begins to thicken. Remove immediately from the heat, and continue to stir until pudding is creamy. Add butter and vanilla and continue to stir until mixed. Pour this mixture into your baked and cooled pie crust.

You saved your egg whites, right? Whip ’em up good with beaters.

You can stop whipping when they look like this:

Add about one Tablespoon of real maple syrup to the beaten egg whites, beat them just a little bit more, then spread the meringue onto the pie. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded coconut over the meringue.

Put the pie into a 350° oven for about 10 minutes or until the tips of the meringue are slightly browned. Watch it carefully so that it doesn’t over-brown!

Tropical Traditions is going to supply one of you with everything you  need to make a Coconut Cream Pie and then some!! Okay, you’ll have to get your own milk and a few other goodies, but here’s what you could win in this Tropical Traditions Baking Package:

Organic Coconut Flour(2.2 pounds), Organic Palm Shortening (one gallon), Organic Shredded Coconut (one gallon), Organic Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil (one quart), Organic Coconut Cream Concentrate (one quart)

Is that not the most exciting baking prize? You can make so many tasty holiday treats with this package! This gift works for those of you with gluten free needs, and those without! Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. I’ll draw a random winner on Saturday!

Here are links to some of Tropical Traditions free and awesome recipes:

  • Coconut Cream Concentrate Recipes
  • Coconut Flour Recipes
  • Dried Coconut Recipes

Also, you can subscribe to learn about Tropical Traditions sales and specials…a great way to learn about discounts and free shipping!!

This giveaway is now closed…thanks!

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Homemade Healthy Poptarts

November 16, 2010 by Laura 422 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Yay…the promised homemade poptart recipe!!

Homemade Poptarts

I truly don’t like boxed poptarts…blech. But these I DO  like…which is why I hesitate to even call them poptarts. Can we call them Delightful Little Jelly Pastries? Maybe we could call them Flaky Fruity Melty Yumminess?

At our house, I suppose I’d have to call them “Gone“. Or “The Empty Plate“. They don’t last long. :)

For the crust, I found that using the same recipe I use for my Homemade Pizza Pockets and Mini Apple Pies works the best. Buttery and flaky…and oh so easy.

Homemade Healthy PoptartsYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Homemade Healthy Poptarts
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 15-20
Ingredients
  • 3½ cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • About 5 ounces of 100% fruit jelly or jam - any flavor you like!
Instructions
  1. Begin by mixing the flour, salt, butter, and yogurt.
  2. Knead the dough just a little bit to make it nice and workable.
  3. Roll out the dough on a large, well floured surface.
  4. Use a knife to cut the dough into the desired poptart size you would like.
  5. Place about a ½ teaspoon of jelly on ½ of the dough rectangles (squares?).
  6. Spread the jelly around, leaving the edges free.
  7. Find a second square or rectangle or thingamajigger that matches closely with each jellied one.
  8. Place it on top and use a fork to seal the edges.
  9. Lay each poptart in a single layer on a baking sheet.
  10. Bake in a 350° oven for about 25 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned.
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This recipe makes around 15-20 poptarts, depending on how big you make them.

I have found that making them ahead of time and then putting them in our toaster oven to re-heat makes for a very fast and popular breakfast! These CAN be frozen as well. Bake them first, let them cool and the freeze until you’re ready to re-heat and eat!

Is it just me, or is it more than a little bit tempting to reach through the screen to lick the jelly oozing out of that poptart?

Edited to add:  Many of you who are new to this site are commenting that while this is a healthier poptart, this isn’t necessarily a healthy breakfast. Sure, good point. I totally hear what you’re saying. This was a reader requested recipe. Many are taking baby steps toward better nutrition and working their way “out of the box” when it comes to feeding their families. If you’re looking for a healthier variety of Poptart…this is your recipe. If you’re looking for a special treat for your family…here you go. If you’re looking for a well balanced diet…don’t eat these Poptarts for every meal. :)

Want to see my menu plans to know how I feed my family regularly? I’d love for you to click over and take a peek!! Maybe you’ll even find more recipes you’re interested in!!

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Easy Alfredo Sauce

November 11, 2010 by Laura 92 Comments

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High Five Recipes 2

I love a good alfredo sauce. Want to know why this recipe is so good and rich? It’s full of butter and cream. Indeed, this recipe is neither fat free nor dairy free. I am very much not afraid of real and healthy fat. For those of you who need to eat a dairy free diet, I’ll try to come up with something a little less “cow” next time. ;)

Easy Alfredo SauceYum

Easy Alfredo Sauce
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • One pint of cream (2 cups)
  • 1-3 garlic cloves
  • 2 Tablespoons cream cheese
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Bring the butter, cream, garlic and cream cheese to a boil.
  2. Turn down the heat, simmer and stir for about two minutes.
  3. Add the grated cheese and stir until melted.
  4. Simmer the sauce for 15-20 minutes until it becomes "thick and saucy", stirring occasionally.
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And now, a few alfredo pictures:

Into the pot go the butter, cream, cream cheese and garlic…

The parmesan cheese is shredded and ready to add once we’ve boiled the other ingredients for a couple of minutes.

Here’s our sauce, simmered and ready to serve…

OH. YUM.

pasta alfredo

Are you wondering about the pasta I served with our Easy Alfredo Sauce? It looks like WHITE pasta, doesn’t it? Ah, but it isn’t!! I’m very excited to tell you that this was Gluten Free Corn Pasta  from OliveNation. My OliveNation friends told me that their GF pasta tasted awesome and wow they were right!!! It’s great stuff! AND, if you recall, just like with vanilla beans, OliveNation offers Heavenly Homemakers readers a 10% discount (use the code home).

Now, you can of course add chicken to this dish if you like. Just saute a little chicken in some olive oil and toss it into the sauce. For that matter, that steamed broccoli I served on the side tasted great stirrred right into the sauce and noodles on our plate!

Are you a red sauce or a white sauce kind of pasta lover? Or does it depend on the day?

Take a peek at all of our High Five Recipes –
High Quality Recipes…Five Ingredients or Less!

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Healthy Caramel Frosting – with Homemade Sucanat Powdered Sugar

November 3, 2010 by Laura 17 Comments

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healthy_celebrations_med

Click here to see all of the recipes in the
Healthy Celebrations section of Heavenly Homemakers!

This Caramel Frosting recipe is very exciting because you can make it with your very own homemade powdered sugar!!! If you don’t have sucanat or you don’t feel like making powdered sugar, DO NOT substitute regular pre-made powdered sugar. This recipe won’t taste very caramelly if you use the white stuff. (I made up that word. It is pronounced:  care-uh-mellleeeeee. I like it.)  If you do need to make a substitution, use regular ol’ brown sugar.

You do need to know that this recipe takes several minutes to make. It isn’t hard to make, you just have to beat it (and beat it and beat it…) for several minutes to turn it into frosting. I had my kids take turns holding the beaters while I made the donuts to go with the frosting. They were making frosting…they did not mind holding the beaters.

Oh look, only four ingredients!!!

Caramel FrostingYum

2 cups homemade sucanat powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place sucanat powdered sugar, butter and cream in a pan on the stove. Cook until butter is melted. Bring mixture to a boil and boil for one minute, stirring allthewhile (I made up that word too. It is pronounced ahll-thuh-wyle. It means – keep stirring for the whole minute and whatever you do, don’t stop). Remove this from the heat and pour it into a mixing bowl. Beat mixture with electric beaters for 15 minutes or until it thickens and becomes spreading consistency. Add vanilla and beat for a little bit longer, because you just love beating your frosting and you know it.

Here is the mixture as it is beginning to boil…

Now, we have poured it into our favorite stainless steel bowl and we are beginning to beat it…

Hello there. We are still beating our mixture. 
It has been only a few minutes but already it is getting thicker…

Wow, will you look at that? It’s been about eight minutes and not only is the frosting getting thicker, it is turning a nice shade of…what shade of brown would you call that? Caramelly?

Eleven minutes and counting. Thicker and thicker it becomes allthewhile we have been beating it. We have switched beater holders a few times. Life is getting more and more exciting as we see that this really might become frosting after all…

Almost done. I think we’ve been beating for longer than fifteen minutes. What is that about?

Okay, we are going to pronounce that the Caramel Frosting is now finished. It’s not as thick as we may have expected, but we can certainly spread it on our donuts. (Or on a cake if that’s what we were making this for.)

Sure enough, we were able to spread this Caramel Frosting on our donuts.

The moral of the story is this:  Just when you think you can’t possibly keep beating your frosting, stick those beaters back in the bowl and KEEP BEATING. Hey, if you’re alone in your kitchen, it’ll be good prayer time. Who says you can’t pray over your bowl and beaters? 

The other moral of the story is this:  Good things come to those who beat. For a long time. When you eat this frosting on a cake or on donuts or on cookies…you will recognize that the beating was all worth it.

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Heavenly Homemakers Recipe and Cooking Tips Parade – Share YOUR Recipes!

October 28, 2010 by Laura 77 Comments

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Yum

I just can’t thank all of you enough for making this week SOOOOOO much fun! All of your comments and participation have been so great! After all of this, I haven’t even come close to running out of recipes to share…in fact several more recipe requests have come in this week. There is NO END to great, healthy recipes!! Just in case you wanted to see quick links for all of the recipes in our parade this week, I’ll put them together for you here:

  • Healthier Rice Crispy Treats
  • How to Cook Brown Rice
  • Cottage Cheese Ideas
  • Italian Pasta Bake
  • What to do with Butternut Squash
  • Powdered Sugar with Sucanat
  • Barbecue Brisket
  • Chocolate Fudge Frosting
  • Buttermilk Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake

There are still FIVE more winners to be chosen in the Parade Giveaway, so keep those comments coming in. PLUS, for more chances to win, each recipe you link up or share in the comments on this post will be counted in the drawing!! (You don’t have to share a recipe in the comments section, but you sure can if you want to!)  Also, be sure to sign up to win awesome Stainless Steel Bakeware from Paula’s Bread! I will draw the remaining giveaway winners and post them Saturday morning at precisely wheneverIgetaroundtoit-o’clock.

Okay everyone…it’s your turn now!!! What recipes have you been wanting to share with all of us? If you have a blog, link up your awesome recipes. You can link as many as you would like to share!! Here’s what I would prefer for each of you that link up:

  1. Please don’t link to your main blog page, link your actual recipe post so we can find it easily.
  2. Let us know what recipe you are sharing in your name/title, for example:  Laura @ Heavenly Homemakers (Turtle Soup)
  3. In your recipe post(s), please link back to this recipe parade so that your readers can come join the fun and discover new recipes too! You’re welcome just to copy and paste the following:  You’ll find all kinds of new recipes this weekend at Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Parade!!

If you don’t have a blog, please feel free to share your recipes in the comments section!

(I don’t really have a recipe for Turtle Soup -sorry if I got your hopes up.) 

Okay, are you ready? Start linking and visiting everyone’s blogs to learn more recipes!! Woohoo…I love a parade!!!

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Buttermilk Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake

October 28, 2010 by Laura 117 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Say, would you like a little chocolate cake with that chocolate fudge frosting? :)

This recipe is great because you can soak the flour to break down the phytates if you want. Or if you don’t, that’s okay too. 

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Chocolate CakeYum

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/3 cups sucanat
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1/3 cup melted coconut oil or melted butter
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
Chocolate Fudge Frosting

If you choose to soak your flour, mix the 2 cups of whole wheat flour with the 1 1/3 cups buttermilk. Cover and allow this mixture to soak overnight on the countertop. Add remaining ingredients (everything but the frosting, that is) and bake as directed.

Otherwise…

Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, oil or butter and buttermilk. Mix with beaters until batter is smooth and well mixed.

Work very hard to avoid grabbing a spoon and eating the entire batter directly out of the bowl before it has been baked. 

Butter two round cake pans or one 9×13 inch cake pan.

Bake round cakes at 350° for 25-30 or a 9×13 inch cake for 35-40 minutes. OR, leave the cakes in the oven until a toothpick poked in the middle comes out clean. Every oven is different, right?

Allow the cakes to cool completely before removing them from the pans. I used a butter knife to loosen the edges from the sides of the pan. Place the cakes on plates.

Did I forget to mention that you would need some of this Chocolate Fudge Frosting? Oh yes, you DO need a batch of this Chocolate Fudge Frosting. Plop a nice amount of frosting on one cake and spread it around well.

Like this…

Carefully place the other layer of cake on top of the frosted layer.

Oh look…it’s a chocolate fudge sandwich!!

Plop another nice amount of frosting on top of the second layer. Carefully spread the frosting over the top and sides. This step is not very easy for me and I’m usually messy and have to lick my fingers. Bummer.

All done.

Ah, a slice of chocolate heaven…

I will work (sometime within the coming months) to come up with a white cake and white frosting. However, when you’re using whole wheat flour and sucanat, the results are not going to be white. Anyone up for a Tan Cake?  Mmm, sounds good to me!

Get ready to share YOUR recipes Friday!!! Can’t wait to see what you’re going to share!!!

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Chocolate Fudge Frosting – the Healthier Way!

October 28, 2010 by Laura 112 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I won’t take up space talking about the loveliness of this recipe because well…it’s CHOCOLATE FUDGE FROSTING. Even if I thought of some cute words to write, you would likely be saying, “Yada, yada…show us the recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” And so…without further ado or ANY ado…here is the fudge frosting recipe made with homemade powdered sugar from sucanat I’ve been promising you…

Chocolate Fudge FrostingYum

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
4 (+) cups of powdered sugar (I suggest either making your own powdered sugar from sucanat, or using an unbleached powdered sugar)

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add water to the butter and bring it to a boil. Pour the boiling butter/water into a bowl with the cocoa and powdered sugar. Add vanilla and mix with beaters until thoroughly combined. Add a little more powdered sugar if the frosting is too runny, but keep in mind that it does thicken up just a little bit as it cools.

This recipe makes enough frosting for a two-layer cake or for a big sheet cake or for a nice thick layer of frosting on brownies or a 9×13 inch cake. Actually, it’s almost too much frosting for the brownies and 9×13 inch cake, so save some of it in your fridge and put the leftovers on homemade donuts another time. :)

Here’s our Buttermilk Chocolate Cake recipe! :)

 

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Barbecue Brisket (Easy!!!)

October 27, 2010 by Laura 123 Comments

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Yum

I’ve always been told that cooking a brisket is hard, which is why I avoided ever buying one…even though Matt always told me that it was his favorite cut of beef. Finally one day at the farmers market, I timidly went ahead and splurged on a small grass-fed beef brisket. I proudly brought it home and showed it to Matt (who was of course very excited to see me the brisket in my hands).

So what did I do next? I promptly put it into the freezer and avoided looking at it…for weeks. 

Good grief…I was afraid of a frozen piece of meat.

I’d paid good money for that little hunk of beef…I did not want to mess it up! No one I asked knew how to cook a brisket or they simply answered that same answer I’d always heard:  “Cooking a brisket is really hard. They can come out really tough.”

Well shucks.

I don’t know where the courage finally came from, but one day I pulled that brisket out and did a little research on how to cook it. A barbecue variety of brisket sounded better than anything, so that is what I decided on.

Um hellllllooooo!!! NEWS FLASH:  Cooking a beef brisket is REALLY EASY!!!!  And don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise!!!

The trick is this:  Cook it low and slow. Or slow and low, whichever works better for ya. 

I’ve now made many a brisket because after biting into THE most delicious and tender meat EVER I’ve decided to join Matt in the “Brisket is my Favorite Cut of Beef Club”.

Care to join our club?

Here’s a little tutorial, which is rather silly because why do you really need pictures to show you how to put meat in a dish and cook it, but whatever. And also, it really isn’t very fun to look at raw meat in a dish. Ah, but here’s a tutorial for BBQ Brisket nonetheless… (Apparently reading this is your initiation before joining our “Beef Brisket is my Favorite Cut of Beef Club”.)

I usually buy a 2-3 pound brisket. They aren’t the cheapest cuts of meat, neither are they the most expensive. I have been able to find them for about what I’d pay for a roast (grass fed, organic), so I feel like it’s a pretty good deal. 

Step number one:  Put your brisket in a cooking dish (Wow Laura, thank you for showing us a picture of this. We would never have been able to follow that step if you hadn’t shown us what you meant.):

Step two:  Whip up a quick batch of High Five BBQ Sauce. Spread the sauce over the brisket.

Step three:  Put a lid on the baking dish. (Again, what a fabulous tutorial.)

Bake the brisket low and slow and slow and low. I go with 250° for 4-5 hours.

Slice the meat “against the grain” (which, of all things, I don’t have a picture of) and serve.

This meat tastes so, so, so good served with Cream Scalloped Potatoes and some green beans or a salad.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that cooking a brisket is hard. And if anyone ever DOES tell you that it is hard, you give them a link to this tutorial because it could be that they’ve just never had anyone ever show them how to put meat into a dish before. Ah yes, I’m always here to help.

So what club are you in…as in…what’s your favorite cut of beef? Or do you have a favorite? (Hmm, maybe you have a favorite cut of…chicken?)

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