Texas Sheet Cake

This is one of my favorite cakes. It is so moist. I love chocolate cake!

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Chocolate Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons buttermilk
2 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

Cake Preparation:
Grease a 15X10X1-inch or jelly roll pan or a 13X9X2-inch baking pan; set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In a medium saucepan combine 1 cup butter, 1/3 cup cocoa, and 1 cup of water. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. With an electric hand-held mixer on medium speed, beat chocolate mixture into the dry mixture until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute (batter will be thin). Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in a 350° oven about 25 minutes for the 15X10-inch pan or 35 minutes for the 13X9-inch pan, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Pour warm chocolate frosting over the warm cake, spreading evenly. Place cake in pan on a wire rack; cool thoroughly before cutting.


Frosting:
In a medium saucepan combine 1/4 cup butter or margarine, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, and 3 tablespoons buttermilk. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat; add 2 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth. If desired, stir in 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans.

Candy Crunch Bar Recipe

These are so good. I make them every year at Christmas. They are very easy and make a great gift packed in a pretty tin or box.


1 sleeve (approx. 35 crackers) of saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
½ teaspoon vanilla
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 15” x 10” x 1” jelly roll pan (or a cookie sheet pan with sides) with foil. You could also use a 9” x 13”—bars will just be thicker. Spray foil lightly with Pam or cooking spray. Spread saltine crackers evenly in pan. They should touch and cover entire foil area. In a 15” x 10” pan, you should use almost the entire sleeve of crackers (and break crackers in half if you need to at the end).

Combine butter and brown sugar in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly until it comes to a boil. Continue cooking 3 more minutes, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and stir. Pour mixture evenly over saltine crackers. Bake in 375 oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven.

Sprinkle pan evenly with chocolate chips. Let sit for 5 minutes. The chocolate will start to melt. Use a spoon to spread the melted chocolate over the crackers. Sprinkle pecans over chocolate and lightly press into chocolate. Set in freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and peel away foil. Break into pieces (however big or little you like). (This is sort of a messy process, but they are worth it!) These are best stored in the freezer or refrigerator.

Party Punch

I made this years ago for a baby shower. It is such a delicious punch! The only drawback is it is RED and will stain. Not for a young kid's party!

2 46-ounce cans Hawaiian Punch
2 cups orange juice
1 2-Liter of Cherry 7-Up
1 Package of Frozen Strawberries

Combine all ingredients in large punchbowl or pitcher. The frozen strawberries help keep the punch frozen.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

I made these last year for a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. The cupcakes and icing (even though I'm not much on icing) are the best! The cupcake batter makes a great pumpkin bread, too. They were featured on the cover of the November 2008 Family Circle magazine.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 can pumpkin puree
4 eggs

Whisk flour pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together until well blended. Set aside. Beat sugar, oil, buttermilk, pumpkin puree, and eggs in a large bowl on low speed for 2 minutes or until combined. Add flour mixture and beat for 2 more minutes or until just combined. Fill liners about 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes. Makes 30 cupcakes. This is the first cupcake recipe that I have ever made that made exactly 30 cupcakes and baked for the 18 minutes. Family Circle must have an awesome testing kitchen!

Frosting:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese softened
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter softened
1 box (16 ounces) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk, plus more if needed
Orange food coloring
Fine & course orange decorating sugar
Pretzel sticks or rods

Beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl on high for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and beat until smooth and a good spreading consistency, about 2 minutes. Add an additional tablespoon of milk if its too thick.

Divide the frosting into two bowls and tint to different shades of orange with food coloring. Mound the frosting on top of the cupcakes and make rounded. Roll the entire cupcake in the sugar to coat or just roll the edges. Add pretzel sticks or rods as stems.

No Bake Oat Bars

These are a delicious and quick treat. I usually put them in the freezer because I can't wait to eat them.


1 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter

DIRECTIONS
Grease a 9x9 inch square pan.
Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Mix in the oats. Cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until ingredients are well blended. Press half of mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Reserve the other half for topping.
Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture over the crust in the pan, and spread evenly with a knife or the back of a spoon.
Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate layer, pressing in gently. Cover, and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Bring to room temperature before cutting into bars.

Brown Sugar Fruit Dip

8 oz. package of cream cheese softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
8 oz. container sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup milk
3 1/2 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix

Blend cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, mixing well. Cover and chill for at least one hour before serving. Makes 3 1/2 cups.

This is a great dip for parties with fruit skewers.

Mary's Oatmeal Crisps

These are some of the best oatmeal cookies. My old babysitter and friend's mom, Mary, used to make these. I could eat a ton!

1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup choppend pecans

Cream shortening & sugars. Add eggs & vanilla. Beat well. Sift together flour, salt, soda & add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats & nuts. Mix & make into small loose balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 mintues. Makes 5 dozen.

5 Minute Mug Cake

I'm not sure if you have seen this recipe before, but I received the following recipe in an e-mail yesterday. It says it is the most dangerous cake in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night. So, I couldn't resist trying it. Besides, chocolate cake is my favorite dessert. I did make some modifications to the recipe.



5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa I would use 1 1/2 tablespoons
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
A small pinch of salt
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug extra large if you have one / or a bowl would work, too

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.

Add the egg and mix thoroughly. A fork works great for mixing.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.



Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. I think my microwave is 1200 watts, so my first one was a little dry.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. Mine broke in half. I'm not much of an ice cream person (I know how strange is that?), but I'm sure if you like ice cream, this would be great with it.
Then EAT! (This can serve 2). It was actually pretty yummy, and defininately helped with the chocolate cake craving.