Chocolate Pretzels

After making your cake balls, you may have left-over chocolate. Just break out the bag of pretzels in the pantry and dip them. Set them on wax paper to set up.

Cake Balls

Mix and bake your favorite cake as per its own directions.

While it is still hot, crumble it in a bowl and stir in about 2 cups (or one tub) of your favorite frosting.

Using a cookie scoop, shape the cake and frosting mixture into balls. If you wet your hands slightly it will help them shap easier and keep your hands from getting so sticky.

Put the balls into the fridge or freezer to chill. They are easier to dip that way.

Melt a brick of almond bark in the microwave, stirring often until fully melted.

Dip each chilled cake ball into the chocolate and place on wax paper to dry.

Taste kind of like a Hostess Cupcake without the creme filling. Very tasty!

Apple Toffee French Toast

I was just thinking about how sad I am that lately I've been the only one posting recipes here. And then I found this lovely looking recipe in my inbox from my friend. Can't wait to try it. I'd love to have your favorite recipe too!!

-from Kammy Thompson:

"MMMMM....good."

French Toast

8 Cups French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tart apples, peeled and chopped
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 sugar
1/4 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons vanilla (divided)
1/2 cup English toffee bits (next time I am adding a whole cup)
5 eggs (next time I'm going to do 6 or 7)
3/4 cup milk

Apple Syrup (to die for, in my opinion)

1 cup sugar
2 TBS cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups apple juice
2 TBS lemon juice
5 TBS butter


Grease a 9x13 baking pan, place half the bread cubes in, top with apple chunks. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugars, apple juice and 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth; stir in toffee bits. Spread over apples. Top with the remaining bread cubes.

In another large bowl, beat the eggs, milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla until well blended; pour over bread. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the fridge 30 mi nutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 F for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

Syrup:

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, apple juice and lemon juice; heat to a boil, whisking constantly. Boil for 1 minute, then stir in butter. Serve over warm Apple Toffee French Toast.

Makes 8 servings.

Fun with Squeeze Bottles

Meet my new best friends:

Have you tried these yet?? I began to search for them after seeing people make cookies like the ones you can find here and pancakes like the ones you can find here. I heard they were at Walmart, but am yet to find squeeze bottles there. Finally I broke down and just went to Michaels. The bottles were about $3 for a set of two and they are located by the candy making supplies. Best $6 I've spent in a long time.

Here were our first attempts at pancakes (good instructions for making these are here)

and here are my kid's first attempts (even though i like this smooth side better, I liked the colors on the unsmooth side shown in my pics better).

These were just our first try, so think how cool these will be once we've had some practice. And if I had a real pancake griddle (tell bry if you see him-mother's day is coming up!!)

As for the cookies, I think they came out fun. I don't think we mastered the art of the consistency, but with a little practice, I'm sure we will get it down. (Instructions for frosting the cookies here).

The first night they look shiny and runny:

This is how they look when they dry:

not perfect, but we are going to have a lot of fun trying to perfect this art;)

oreo cupcakes

Did I not put these on before?? I made these the first time for Mrs. Hart's baby shower (hence the pink tint, not sure how appetizing that is). It's one cupcake I can make that comes out consistently yummy everytime. It's a can't miss cupcake. I got the recipes from cupcake project. which is seriously one project I would love to be a part of.

The Cupcakes

(I can get 24 out of this recipe)

3/4 C butter, room temperature

2 1/4 C brown sugar

8 oz dark chocolate, melted

3 large eggs, separated

2 t vanilla extract

2 C all-purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 3/4 C milk

8 Oreo cookies, smashed to bits

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Mix in egg yolks.

Mix in vanilla and chocolate.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the butter/sugar mixture.

Stir in Oreos.

In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until peaks form.

Fold the batter into the egg whites.

Fill cupcake liners almost to the top - remember that you want these to be tall.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 F or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting

(I double this if I want this piled high on the cupcakes)

8 oz package of cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 C butter, room temperature

3-4 C powdered sugar (use more or less depending on how stiff you want the frosting to be)

1/2 t vanilla extract

3/4 C crushed Oreos (I crushed them in the food processor to be sure the pieces would be really tiny and wouldn't get stuck in my piping tips. If you are going to spread the frosting, it might be fun to use bigger chunks of Oreo.)

Whip cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.

Mix in powdered sugar one cup at a time.

Add vanilla extract.

Straw-berried Treasure Cupcakes

Bry saw these cupcake holders and decided we had to have them. So I decided I had to find a cupcake recipe that would go with pirate cupcake holders. This recipe is from I heart cuppy cakes and it is delicious with a fun surprise in the center;)

Recipe adapted from Cupcakes by Martha Stewart & 4 Ingredient Cookbook

Makes about 18 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

For one-bowl chocolate cupcakes
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (I used E. Guittard unsweetened red dutch process cocoa)
1-1/2 sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup warm water

18 strawberries, wash, pat dry and tops removed

For marshmallow cream cheese frosting
2 jars (7oz each) marshmallow creme
2-8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel cheese)

brown sugar, garnish

To make cupcakes—
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking power and salt. Reduce speed to low and add eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract and water.

Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting—
In a stand mixer, fitted with a flat beater, combine marshmallow creme and cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy.

To assemble cupcakes—
Remove the center of the cupcake using the cone method. (I used a 1.5" cookie cutter as a guideline.) Insert strawberry into the cupcake. Using a Magic Tip 7ST tip (or your favorite star tip) to pipe the frosting on the cupcake. Garnish with some brown sugar on top. (Don't skip the brown sugar. Trust me.)

ENJOY!

2 Versions of Peppermint Oreos

Seriously, these look so good, I feel like reaching into the computer screen and grabbing one. I kept seeing these on people's blogs and wanted to give them a try. They. were. delicious. There are lots of versions of these. I combined two recipes that met my requirements of ease, and not having to buy cream cheese.

For the cookies and general inspiration, I used the recipe off of I heart naptime (the girl who ate everything was guest blogging). You've probably seen this cookie recipe before. They are the easiest and softest chocolate cookies ever.

Cookie:

2 boxes Devil's food cake mix

4 eggs

2/3 C vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix the cake mix, eggs, and oil with a mixer. The batter will be very stiff. Pinch off pieces of batter and roll into 1 inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheeta nd flatten slightly with fingertips. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove immediately from the cookie sheets and let cool on a wire rack (like I have a wire rack!!)

Filling:

Since I didn't have cream cheese, I went over to Cupcake Project for the filling (you could also use her cookie recipe if you don't have the cake mix lying around).

Ingredients:

1/4 C room temp unsalted butter

1/4 C vegetable shortening

2 C sifted powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract (I used 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp peppermint extract for these cookies)

Directions:

Place butter and shortening in mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn mixer on high and beat until filling is light and fluffy.

To make the cookies, we (yes, the children helped!!) used pastry bags to pipe the frosting into the center of the cookies. You could just spread it on with a knife too. After putting on the top cookie, we rolled the cookies into candy cane bits (the kids used the end of an ice cream scooper to smash the candy canes while the plastic was still on. It was a big hit with them, no pun intended).

Then try and restrain yourself from eating the whole batch.

The very day after we went to all the trouble to make these, I found another version of peppermint oreo's on my sister in laws blog. She takes oreos, dips them in white chocolate bark, and then in crushed candy canes. I bought some white chocolate and we are doing those next.

Don' they look fun?

(picture stolen from Alicia Warnock. wahaha)

pizza muffins, a christmas tree, and one more snowman

Since we moved to VA, I only shop twice a month, once each pay day. (Well theoretically anyway). The commissary is too far to justify more than that, and the prices at the grocery stores are too much to justify shopping anywhere but the commissary. Since I'm not that great of a planner, I have to get pretty creative just before pay day.

Here are some recipes I made earlier this week based on desperation, that we happened to enjoy:

I had a bag of maybe 10 pepperonis and some cheddar cheese in the fridge, so I was thinking of doing some kind of pizza for the kid's lunch on Monday. But I was not in the mood to make dough or sauce. I searched around online and found this cute recipe which was fabulously transportable and yummy.

Behold, the pizza muffin:

I found the recipe at FreezerDinner.com. You can go here for the recipe. We will definitely be making these again, especially when we have more pepperoni and green onions (we just used white). I wanted to save some for the freezer, but they were too good. We'll be making a bigger batch when we do them again.

My next food crisis was family home evening, where a dessert is required. I had just used my last egg on the pizza muffins which seriously eliminated a lot of possibilities. I dug through the cabinets and found a box of ice cream cones (they were from my witch cupcakes). Perfect to make Christmas Trees. Luckily, I had about a 4th of a can of frosting in the fridge, but I could have made frosting. I have a cookie jar full of smarties from Sophie's candy girl costumes, so those were my ornaments. And I raided the kids halloween bags for starburst tree toppers. Cole put these together and I think he did a fabulous job.

The night before, Sunday, is also a night where dessert is essential, don't you think?? I had cupcakes in my freezer (again, cupcakes I put aside when doing the halloween ones) and snowmen still on my mind. I have the book Hello, Cupcake!, and have always wanted to try their snowmen which are darling. I didn't have all their accesories, but used what I could find. The only thing I bought was the pull apart licorice for the scarf and earmuffs, but I used my extra care bucks from CVS to do it (in case you are concerned that I went to the store before pay day;).

Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares

Ingredients:
2 boxes Jell-o No Bake Pumpkin Style Pie Dessert
4 Tbsp. Sugar
10 Tbsp. Butter, melted
5 cups cold Milk
8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Confectioner's Sugar
16 oz. Cool Whip, separated

Mix the crust mix from the box mixes with the sugar and butter and press in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Beat together the cream cheese and the powdered sugar in a bowl then fold in 8 oz. of the Cool Whip. Spread on top of the crust. In another bowl, mix the pumpkin part of the boxed mixes with the milk as directed on the box. Pour on top of the cream cheese layer. After it sets for a bit, spread the rest of the cool whip on top. One of my all time favorite creations!!

mini cheesecakes

Thought I'd post what I am making for fathers day/celebrating Cole's bday.

Bry is a big fan of cheesecake, but we like different toppings. He's more into fruit-I'm into chocolate. The kids don't really love cheese cake, but they are into anything in a cupcake liner that they can top. So I'll be making mini cheesecakes and putting out mulitiple toppings (blue berries, strawberries, rasberries, toffee bits, crushed oreos, mini chocolate chips and chocolate sauce for us).

I got the idea and recipe by stalking Rebecca Price's facebook page. Her friend suggested this mini cheesecake receipe from Iheartnaptime.blogspot.com (sorry, having troubling adding the link in. . .). Here's the recipe as seen on their site. PS. kind of an amazing crafty site. You should check it out.

Ingredients:

14 Nilla Wafer Cookies
2 8oz packages cream cheese
3/4 C sugar
2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs powdered sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Foil cupcake liners

Optional Toppings:
canned pie filling
fresh berries
whipped cream
chocolate sauce
caramel sauce
lemon curd

Preheat oven to 375. Soften cream cheese if needed. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar. Add in flour and baking powder and beat to combine. Then add in eggs, one at a time, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat to combine.

Fill a muffin pan with cupcake liners and place two vanilla wafer at the bottom of each one. Divide batter between 12 muffin papers, filling each cup up to about 1/4 inch from the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. They'll puff way up during baking, but they'll settle after being chilled.

When you take them out of the oven, place them on a cooling rack and let them cool completely. While they cool, they will sink down in the center. Don't worry- that's normal! It makes the perfect little well to fill up with the fruit filling. Before you top them, chill in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours or preferably over night. Then top and serve. I used a strawberry glaze and then put strawberries on top.

Cheese cake ball

Ingredients
1 - 8oz pkg softened cream cheese
1/2 c. Softened butter (no substitutes)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c confectioner's sugar
2 T. brown sugar
3/4 c. mini chocolate chips (must be mini)
Graham crackers or graham cracker stix

Directions
1. In mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add sugars, beat until just combined. Stir in Chocolate chips.
2. Cover and refrigerate two hours
3. Place cream cheese mixture on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a ball.
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. If you choose, just before serving, roll cheese ball in pecans, chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips. Serve with graham crackers (you can even add flavors such as toffee chips or butterscotch)

Enjoy,
Jessica

Todd Mangel's Streusel Cake

I made this for book club and it was delicious. Thanks Todd and Nellie for lending out the recipe!!:

Directions:

• Cream: 1/2 cup butter with 1 cup sugar.
• Add 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3/4 cup milk, and 2 eggs.
• Mix and spread into a cookie sheet w/ sides.
• Topping: 1/2 cup cold butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour.
• Mix the topping with your hands until small clumps form, then form a gentle ball and crumble it on top evenly. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown.
• Enjoy!

Sweet German Waffles

One of our German girls and her mother taught us how to make these at our YW activity last week. There is nothing healthy about them, but they are SO good!

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

5 eggs; add one at a time and mix well

1 heaping Tbs. cornstarch, mixed with 3 cups flour

1-1 1/2 cups milk

Mix and pour into heated waffle iron, batter will be thick.

topping:

bottled (sour) cherries, add 2 Tbs. cornstarch to cherry juice and heat until thick, add cherries.

-can also use canned pie filling

These waffles are served as a dessert. Top with cherries (or whatever) and ice cream while warm. Yum.

Lime Coconut Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting

This almost makes me want to break my ban on ever making cupcakes again. Or eating sugar. I'm considering making these for Bry's bday, so someone else try them and tell me how they are! I found and copied this recipe from CuisineNie.blogspot.com

Lime Coconut Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting

{adapted from Food Network}
Makes a whole lot.
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp grated key lime zest
1 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup loosely packed sweetened coconut flakes (3.5 ounces)

The Frosting:
5 ounces good quality white chocolate, chopped into small chucks 1/2 cup
(1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp lime juice (bottled or freshly squeezed)
1/4 cup sour cream Fresh lime slices, for garnish

* Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla extract, key lime zest and juice and mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 5 parts total, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold the coconut into the cupcake batter.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners and fill each liner almost to the top with batter. A spring loaded 1/4 cup ice cream scoop works great for this and ensures the cupcakes are all the same size. Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer cupcakes to a baking rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling you can make the frosting. In a small heat proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, carefully and slowly melt the white chocolate. Remove from heat and let cool until just slightly warm. Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar until well combined. Add the salt, vanilla extract, key lime juice, and sour cream and mix until very smooth. Add the melted white chocolate and mix just until incorporated. Frost the cupcakes and garnish with a bit of grated key lime zest. * If you don't want to place fresh lime slices atop, you can always candy your lime slices so they are more edible. Google "candy limes" to find the how-to.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1 package Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup firmly packged brown sugar
1 (20 oz) can pineapple slices, drained
*Red Maraschino Cherries, drained and halved

Preheat oven to 350 F

Melt butter in ungreased 13x9 inch pan.  Sprinkle brown sugar evely in pan. Arrange pineapple slices on brown sugar. Place maraschino cherry halves, cut side up, in center of pineapple slices.

Prepare cake mix following package directions for basic recipe. Pour batter evenly over fruit in pan. Bake at 350 for 43 to 48 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes in pan. invert onto heat resistant serving plate.

* I use whole Maraschino Cheeries but have used them halved also.

melt in you mouth sugar cookies

This is one cookie I remember making with my mom at Christmas time. It always seemed like so much fun to get to press the cup in the cookie dough!!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 C butter, softened (no substitutions)

1/2 C confectioners' sugar

1/2 C granulated sugar, plus

2 tbl granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter, confectioners sugar, and 1/2 C granulated sugar on medium speed about 2 min or until creamy. Reduce speed to low, beat in egg, then beat in oil and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl.

Place remaining 2 tbsp sugar in a small bowl or saucer. Shape dough by rounded tsp into 3/4 inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Dip punch cup or glass with raised or cut design on bottom, or coarse side of meat mallet into sugar in bowl, use to flatted each ball into a 1 1/2 inch round (I use food coloring in the sugar to color the cookies).

Bake 10-11 min until edges are golden. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Store cookies in tightly covered container at room temp up to 1 week or in freezer up to 3 months.

sweet chex mix

got this recipe from good friend Janae Black. it's a favorite and an easy treat to make for neighborhood christmas treat gifts.

1/2 box corn chex

1/2 box rice chex

1/2 box golden grahams

2 C coconut

1 C silvered almonds

mix above ingredients together

Sauce

3/4 C butter

1 C sugar

1 C white karo syrup

pour sauce over dry ingredients

stir

pour a single layer on waxed paper to set.

Thanksgiving Basics

Here are some basic, no-frill, but tried and true recipes for Thanksgiving.

ROLLS
This recipe is from Liz Zimmerman. A cute young mom and wonderful cook in my last branch. I like that it doesn't add extra fat (just from the milk) since all of the rest of my Thanksgiving recipes are full of butter. Makes 32 big, fluffy rolls.
2 T yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp salt ( I prefer 1 T salt)
2 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup very hot water
4 cups flour
3 1/2 cups flour

Mix yeast in 1/2 cup water and let stand while mixing sugar, salt, eggs and can of milk. Add hot water and yeast mixture. Mix, then add 4 cups flour, beat well. Add 3 1/2 cups more flour (may need more). Let rise until double (1 - 1 1/2 hours?). Punch down. Divide into 4 parts. Roll each part into a circle, cut into 8 pie shaped wedges with a pizza cutter or knife. Roll from wide end, place on greased sheet. Let rise until double. (The first sheet is usually ready by the time the rest are assembled.) Cook at 400 degrees for 12 min. Brush with butter while hot if desired.

I also use this recipe as a cinnamon roll base. Just roll into rectangles instead of circles, spread with butter and liberal amount of cinnamon/sugar, also raisins and chopped nuts if you like, roll like a jelly roll and slice with dental floss.

BREAD STUFFING
This recipe comes from the Lion House recipe book and makes a lot. You can cut it down for smaller meals.
1 cup butter or margarine
3/4 to 1 cup chopped onion
2 cups finely chopped celery
3 to 4 quarts stale bread cubes (Just leave your bread bag open so it dries some.)
Salt to taste (the recipe says 1 T but I always go with half that or less)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

Heat butter in large skillet: add onion and celery and cook until transparent but not brown (about 10 min.) Add bread cubes (1/4 to 1/2 half inch cubes) and seasonings. Heat until butter is absorbed, stirring constantly. This makes a somewhat dry stuffing. If you like it moist (I do) add 1/3 to 1 cup chicken or turkey stock or water. This stuffing is supposed to be put into your turkey and baked. I prefer to spread it in a baking pan and bake it for 15 min. or so, just until crunchy on top.

APPLE PIE
From Lion's House again.

Pastry for 9-inch 2 crust pie (see below).
4 to 5 cups tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (I like JohnnyGold)
1/4 to 1/2 cup water (depending on how juicy your apples already are)
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1 to 2 T flour
12 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 T lemon juice
2 T butter or margarine (if you don't use a butter based crust)

Steam or simmer apples gently in water until they wilt and begin to become transparent (to partially cook). Combine the sugar and other dry ingredients. Mix well. Spread half over the pastry-lined pie pan. Lift apples from cooking liquid into crust. Add 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dot with butter. Roll, fit and seal top crust. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Bake on lower shelf of oven at 425 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. (I use a pie shield for the outer edge of the crust or you can put strips of aluminum foil on outer edge to keep it from over browning.)

RHOTON FAMILY'S FAVORITE PIE CRUST
This is a recipe I've toyed with and it changes periodically. Here's the current version. I usually can get 3 "discs" from it which makes one 2 crust pie and one 1 crust pie. If you haven't rolled out a crust before maybe just use it for one 2 crust pie so that you have lots to work with. Sprinkle the leftover pieces with cinnamon sugar and bake for extra treats.

3 cups flour
Scant teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup cold butter (not margarine)
3/4 very cold water

Place flour in bowl and stir in salt with a fork. Cut in shortening and butter with a pastry cutter until largest pieces of butter are the size of peas. Sprinkle water around the bowl and blend softly with a fork until moist. Don't over mix. It should still appear somewhat crumbly. Pour 1/2 or 1/3 of mixture on a piece of plastic wrap. Pull up the edges and press lightly into a disc shape. Repeat to make 1 or 2 other discs. Chill while you make the filling.

To roll out crust, wipe your counter with a wet rag then place a large sheet of plastic wrap on it. It will stick. Place the disc on the plastic wrap with another piece of plastic wrap on top. Toll with the dough between the two pieces of wrap. Roll until the dough is atleast an inch larger than the pie pan. Remove one sheet of plastic wrap and carefully put dough in the pan removing the other as you go. Fill as recipe indicates. If you are making a 2 crust pie, add the top crust, pinch the edges and cut a few small vents on top.
Note: You can use all shortening instead of butter. This works well if you want to make a more defined/decorative edge, it just doesn't taste as buttery.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Cheesy Pumpkin Squares

2 Jell-O No-Bake Pumpkin Style Pie Desserts (in a box type mix)
10 Tbsp. Butter
4 Tbsp. Sugar
5 cups Cold Milk
8 oz. Cream Cheese
1 cup. Powdered Sugar
8 oz. Cool Whip

Mix the crust mixes from both boxes of the No-Bake Pumpkin Style Pie Desserts with the butter and sugar. Press the prepared crust into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.

Next, mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together and fold in the Cool Whip. Put this mixture on top of the pressed crust.

Mix the Pumpkin mix from both desserts with the milk following the instructions on the back of the box. Pour this on top of the cream cheese layer. Cover it and refrigerate at least an hour (the longer you chill it, the better it sets).

If you want to make this into a round pie, or make a smaller square baker size, cut the cream cheese layer ingredients in half and use just one box of the Jell-O dessert mix.

This is NOT the recipe on the back of the Jell-O box. It is a bit more rich in the flavor of the cream cheese layer. I came up with it by combining the pumpkin idea with part of another layered dessert recipe I have and loved the results. I hope you love it too!

lime jello salad with pears

out of all the jello recipes i've tried (and i've tried a lot) this one is still my favorite. i guess it's hard to compare to the first one you've ever tried.

Ingredients:

1 3 oz pkg lime jello

1 16 oz can pears, drained and reserve juice

1 8 oz pkg softened cream cheese

1 small container cool whip

Directions:

Dissolve jello in 1 C hot pear juice (add water if necessary). Put cream cheese and drained pears in blender and blend well. Add partially cooled jello and blend. Add cool whip and fold in well. Pour into a jello mold or dish. Chill.