The Week of Baking!

Last week was a fun (if sometimes stressful) week for me.  I am a proud member of the Alamance County Service League, and we had a great fundraising event this Saturday, the Holly Days Bazaar!  One of the biggest parts of of Holly Days is our bake sale, where you can purchase homemade cakes, pies, cookies, spiced nuts, cheeseballs and other yummy treats.

I made a lot of great desserts last week, and I planned to post this before the event (to entice all you locals to come buy our fabulous desserts and do a little shopping from our vendors)! But that didn't happen. So here are my favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy them this holiday season!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

1 c sugar

1/2 c flour

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 stick melted butter (cooled)

1 c chopped pecans

1 small bag (8 oz) chocolate chips

9-inch deep dish pie crust

Melt butter and let cool. Mix in sugar, eggs, flour and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Pour in pie crust and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

    

When I make this pie, I usually make two of them! It is really easy to double it (and a regular, 12 oz bag of chocolate chips split in half is enough chips for two pies, although buying the big pound bag and splitting it in half works, too).

Yum Yum!

Oatmeal Caramelitas

14 oz bag of caramels

1 sm can evaporated milk (or a little less than 1/2 c regular milk)

2 c flour

2 c oats

1 1/2 c brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 c (3 sticks) butter, melted

12 oz chocolate chips

Unwrap caramels and put in glass bowl.  Add milk.  Put in microwave and melt (start at 3 mins., stir, then keep heating until fully melted).

  

Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and melted butter.  Press 1/2 of crumb mixture in a 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

  

Take out of oven, and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust.  Spread caramel mixture over chips.

Top with remaining crust crumbs.

    

Bake for 20 minutes.

Cut when completely cool.

Can you see the ooey, gooey, yumminess from this picture????

Chocolate Cake with Truffle Frosting (from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

2 1/4 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 c butter

1 3/4 c sugar

2 eggs

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 c water

     

Grease and lightly flour two 9 x 1 1/2 inch round baking pans or one 13 x 9 x 2 pan; set aside.  Melt chocolate and set aside to cool.

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In large mixing bowl, beat the butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until well combined.  

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in chocolate and vanilla.  Add dry mixture and 1 1/4 c water alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined. (What that means - add 1/4 of flour mixture, and beat, then 1/4 of water, then beat, then next fourth of flour mixture, beat, then more water, and so on, until you've added it all.)  Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).

            

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Cool layers in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Remove cakes from pans, and cool completely on racks.  Or, place 13 x 9 cake on wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

Truffle Frosting

1 1/2 c whipping cream

1/4 c light colored corn syrup

1 12 oz package (2 c) semisweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

In medium heavy saucepan, bring whipping cream and corn syrup to a simmer.  Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate pieces and vanilla; let stand for 2 minutes.  Whisk the mixture until smooth and melted. Cover and chill for about 1 1/2 hours or until mixture reaches spreading consistency, stirring occasionally. Beat with electric mixer until fluffy. This frosts tops and sides of two layer cakes.

NOTE: For Holly Days, I make this a three-layer cake.  While the cake recipe itself does not need to be increased (usually, you have to make 1 1/2 times of a recipe to go from a two-layer to a three-layer, but I tried that, and believe me, the three layers did NOT fit in my cake dome!), I do usually need a bit more frosting.  I tend to just double it, and have extra frosting (YUM!).

I forgot to take a picture of the cake, frosted in all its glory, so you'll just have to take my word that it looks yummy!

I think the best part about the Holly Days bake sale is that everything is homemade (and sometimes looks it). Yes, we do a great presentation, with beautiful bows, and some of us are talented enough to put pecans around the edges of our cakes, or top our cakes with crushed nuts or shaved chocolate.  But we take pride in our baking, and do our best to sell cakes, pies, cookies and other treats that taste as good as they look!  And if we are not great bakers, we find someone who is to help us out who is.

Happy holidays, everyone!