Blackberry Pie

If you are either from here in Oregon or know anyone that is you probably know we have had a very hot and humid summer. Us native Oregonians just aren't cut out for this weather so we have been whining a lot about it. On the other hand the local blackberries are enjoying and thriving because of it. They seem to love this hot humid sticky weather and are rewarding those of us that take the time to pick them with some of the best berries I have seen in a few years. And lots of them too.

This last week or so I have spent a bit of time out picking berries. I really haven't had to work all that hard at it and was able to come away with around 8 cups of berries each time. Mind you I am not the best berry picker either, that title would have to go to my daughter she and my mom used to both spend hours every summer out picking berries. Both of them were much faster at the picking and ended up picking way more than I ever did. This year however if I want berries to use here in my kitchen I am on my own to do the picking so I get what I can and there are plenty to get.

If you happen to have some berries on your property be sure to go out and pick at least some of them it will be well worth it. If you don't ask around and find someone that will let you come and pick some.

However a couple of things you should never do. Don't go onto someone's property without permission and pick berries. Even if the berries are right next to the road. First off they are not yours and secondly you have no way of knowing if they have been sprayed. Every year I see people pulled over to the side of the roads out here picking berries that they see growing there. Many of these areas have been sprayed for both weeds and bugs and they are risking their health by eating them without knowing.

Next thing to remember is if someone lets you pick berries on their property and you have to go through gates be extra careful to make sure any gates that were closed when you got there remain so and any that were open also remain so. They are there for a reason.

A few things to keep in mind when picking berries. Dress appropriately this is not the time for shorts and a cute sleeveless top or for those cute little sandals you got on sale. You need to wear long pants, long sleeves and real shoes. Okay I admit I break the long sleeve rule most of the time. Remember those berry plants are going to fight back and they have thorns to do that with.

So now you have gone out and picked berries now what do you do with them?? There are so many things that come to mind but today I am going to tell you all about my favorite Blackberry Pie. That's right I said pie!!!

Remember I said I got about 8 cups of berries each time I picked? Well that amount is perfect for 2 pies. What I like to do is make one pie to eat right away and freeze a batch of berry pie filling for another one next winter. It is super easy to do and you will be so happy when you have that pie filling next winter.

Here is my favorite blackberry pie recipe complete with some pictures to help you along the way. After the recipe I'll tell how I go about freezing more pie filling to use later.

Blackberry Pie

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit

Sort and rinse 4 cups of fresh blackberries and set aside to drain.

Meanwhile:

Line pie pan with bottom crust

and

In a large bowl combine:

¾ cup plus 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar

1/3 cup flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

stir well then add the berries.

Gently combine until the berries are coated with the sugar mixture. They usually start to release some berry juices during this process.

Dump the berry/ sugar mixture into the pastry lined pie pan.

Cut about 2 Tablespoons of butter into small chunks and add to the top of the filling

Dip your finger into cool water and run it around the edge of the pastry in the pie pan. (this is your glue to hold the top crust to the bottom crust)

Carefully top with the second rolled out crust. Use a fork to press the edges together.

Cut the edge of the crust off even with the outside edge of the pie pan.

Cut some slits in the top crust (these allow the juices to bubble up and the air to escape during baking)

Sprinkle top of crust with a pinch of sugar- optional

Set pie pan on a foil lined baking sheet and place in pre-heated oven.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The pie is done when the crust is nicely browned and there are berry juices bubbling through the slits in the crust.

Cool on a wire rack

Berry pie filling for later.

Measure out 8 cups of berries and rinse them off just like when you made the pie.

Now combine you dry ingredients in a gallon size freezer bag. Add the drained, rinsed berries. Label the bag and seal it (making sure you have gotten as much air out as possible without crushing your berries. Now freeze this bag of berry pie filling. When you are ready to use it simply thaw it out (be sure to place the bag in a container just in case some of the juices decide to escape) 

 

You can do many things with this bag of filling once it is thawed out. You can of course make a pie following the directions for baking that we used today for our pie. Or you could put it into a casserole dish and cover it with a “crisp topping” (butter, flour and oatmeal) and bake that, you could heat it up and put it into a casserole with some biscuits on top and bake it into a cobbler, or just bring it to a boil (to cook the flour and thicken it a bit) and then cool and put over ice cream.

Gingerbread with Warm Orange Sauce

I love the smell of gingerbread baking; it makes the entire house smell so warm and inviting making this the perfect dessert to make if you have guests coming for dessert. They will be hungry for it the moment they step in the front door. I love to put the chopped candied ginger into the batter; they are such a wonderful little surprise sprinkled through the moist cake. I know that candied ginger or crystallized ginger as it is called sometimes can be very expensive, especially when you get it on the baking aisle. I try to always get mine at Cost Plus World Market; they carry bags of it in the candy aisle. I am sure other stores probably do too. I am also going to try making some of my own in the next couple of weeks, if I get a good recipe I will be sure to share it here.

The warm orange sauce is a wonderful team player with the gingerbread and would also be wonderful on pancakes or waffles too. I store it in the fridge and just reheat the amount we need as we need it in the microwave.

Gingerbread

2 1/3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup finely chopped candied ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

1 cup molasses

¾ cup hot water

½ cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Grease an 8”x8” baking dish well.

Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit

Combine the flour, sugar, candied ginger, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and stir to mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a mixer on low for about 30 seconds to combine. Turn the mixer to medium and beat for an additional 3 minutes to thoroughly combine. Be sure to scrape the bowl several times during this process.

Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until it tests done with a toothpick in the center.

Serve warm with Warm Orange Sauce

Warm Orange Sauce

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoon flour

Pinch of salt

1 ¼ cup orange juice

½ cup water

¼ cup lemon juice

1 Tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Combine dry ingredients in a medium size sauce pan and stir to combine.

Slowly whisk in the liquids.

Cook over medium heat whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue to whisk constantly while boiling for 3 more minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the butter and grated peels.

Serve warm, store any leftovers in the fridge in a covered container.

Stir and Drop Sugar Cookies

This is the very first cookie recipe I remember making as a young girl and I have made them on a regular basis ever since. I love how easy they are, no mixer required, and they still taste wonderful. I can have fresh from the oven cookies ready to serve in a matter of minutes. They have a wonderful hint of lemon but if you don't like lemon just leave the extract out, they will still be wonderful. The recipe makes a small number of cookies, I usually get between 24 and 30 per batch. The only down side I see to them is they do get stale a bit quicker than some of the other cookies I make but since they are so good they seldom hang around long enough for that to be a problem.

If you have never made cookies before these are a fantastic recipe to try as your first exploration of baking. Also if you have a young child that wants to bake cookies this is a good place to start. Adult supervision is necessary for getting the cookies in and out of the hot oven but other than that these are very kid friendly.

If you want to really make them special substitute some decorator sugar in a festive color for the sugar that you dip the glass in to flatten your cookies before putting them in the oven.

Stir and Drop Sugar Cookies

2 eggs

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp lemon extract

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

more sugar to use while flattening the cookies

Chocolate Cake for Sara

I developed this recipe a few years ago for a good friend. At the time her daughter (Sara) was having a lot of food allergy issues and was on a very restricted diet. This is hard for anyone but for a teenage girl whose friends go out for pizza and ice cream is is doubly hard. Her mom asked me if I knew of any kind of dessert recipe that she could make for Sara. Among the long list of other items not allowed were wheat, dairy, soy, and corn (I won't bore you with the entire list) Luckily she could have chocolate as long as the other ingredients were okay. Well, my first thought was a flour-less chocolate cake. The problem was all the ones I could find had at least on ingredient from the list of forbidden foods. I put on my thinking cap and did some experimenting. I came up with this particular chocolate cake that has only 4 ingredients, all on the approved list and it was a hit. Sara and her mom loved it as well as my kids. (Good thing my kids liked it, we ate several versions to get to this one)

This is a very dense, moist chocolate cake with a slightly bitter taste (like that of dark chocolate) so good. It is best the first day or so after it is baked but it seldom lasts very long at my house.

Obviously, if you are making this for someone with allergies be sure to read all the labels on the ingredients you are using. And I can say from personal experience read them every time you purchase. Manufacturers do change formulas sometimes and just because the last one you purchased was fine there is no guarantee that the one on the shelf today will be. When you are trying to work with food allergies you have to read those labels every time not just sometimes.

I based this recipe on unsweetened baking cocoa for a simple reason that is all that is in it. There are no other ingredients (at least my brand) added to it. Many of the unsweetened chocolates have other ingredients and they were not allowed for Sara at that time.

Chocolate Cake for Sara

1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and move the rack to the middle of the oven.
Oil an 8" cake pan
In a mixing bowl combine the cocoa powder and the oil and beat with a mixer until smooth.
Slowly beat in sugar until well combined .
Add eggs and beat well after each.
Pour/ spread in prepared pan
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until  the top of the cake forms a thin skin.
Cool in baking pan for 5 minutes and then invert onto a serving plate.

Serves 8

Bread

I have been working on this bread recipe for several months now and I think I have it just where I want it. My goal was to make a loaf of bread that used the bread machine to do the tedious part of the bread making and still have a normal shaped loaf.

You may have noticed on my blogs in the past that I often refer to my bread machine and my slow cooker as the “hired help” in the kitchen. They really can be if you use them on a regular basis. I love my bread machine and use it a lot. Sometimes I let it do all the work from start to finish but more often I use it like I do in this recipe. I take advantage of the Dough setting and then transfer the bread to a regular loaf pan to finish up.

Since I am home working most days it is convenient for me to do this. I can still get a lot of work done while the machine does most of the work on the bread. Then at the sound of my timer I can take a break to see to the needs of the bread. At the end of a few hours I have a loaf of bread just as good as the ones that my mom and my grandma put so much work into. That being said I do still make bread the old fashioned way that I learned as a young girl. I still enjoy to work with the dough but face it most days I just don't have the luxury of the time it takes.

I want to cover a few things about this bread before I give you the recipe.

I use ¼ cup of sugar in this recipe. I do that for several reasons the first being that it helps the yeast to get maximum rise. The yeast does need sugar to give it the energy and it helps to make this a practically fool proof recipe (as long as you measure carefully and follow the directions) Also with the addition of sugar you get some of the best toasting bread since the sugar is what helps to brown it in the toaster.

I designed this bread to use plain old All Purpose flour. I love that because I don't always have special bread flour on hand, if you want to add some variety and boost the nutrients a bit you might try replacing up to half the flour with whole wheat flour. The resulting loaf will be a bit denser but equally as tasty. Or try your favorite flour and see how it works. I would recommend that you replace no more than half of the flour with another flour.

About 10 minutes after I start the bread machine I like to go and make a visual check of the loaf. At this point I adjust the liquid/flour ratio. When I lift the lid I want to find a nice ball of dough being worked by the machine. If it is too hard or there is a batch of flour that isn't getting mixed into the dough I add just a bit of warm water (no more than a Tablespoon at a time) if on the other hand the dough is too loose to form a good ball I add some more flour (again about a Tablespoon at a time) After the machine has a few minutes to work this addition in I re-check to see if the dough is forming a nice ball, if not I make another adjustment and re-check.

Another way to add some variety to your loaf of bread is to change the liquid you use. You can always use water but why? There's an entire world out there of wonderful liquids to try. I have used many things I think our favorites so far have been various fruit juices (orange is really good and makes fantastic French Toast) and buttermilk. Be warned the juices will allow your bread to raise a lot taller so keep an eye on it while it is rising in the loaf pan you might want to bake it before the hour is up. My nest experiment will be with some broth to see how that works. What can you think of to try?

At the end of the video I share a tip I learned from my mom (and she most likely learned from her mom) and I wanted to pass it on to you. As soon as you take the baked loaf out of the oven and out of the pan brush it with melted butter and wrap it in a damp towel and then onto a cooling rack. This process not only gives the bread a wonderfully flavored crust but it steams the loaf and softens the crust just the right amount. Don't use your best towels for this, you might get some stains from the melted butter and the steam but it is well worth it.

Bread

1 cup milk (heated to just warm)

1 egg

2 Tablespoons melted butter

3 ¼ cups All Purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

¼ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon dry yeast

Pumpkin Pies in a Jar

I am sure you have seen the cute little pies in jars around. I think they are just adorable and I decided way back over the summer I wanted to adapt one of my pumpkin pie recipes to use in jars for Turkey Day. Over the last month or so we have tried a couple of variations and this was our favorite (and will be on the table on the holiday)

I have made the original recipe a few times with whipped cream instead of Cool Whip but found we like the flavor and the texture better with the Cool whip.

One of my favorite things about the pies in jars is they seem to take up so little room in the fridge. Face it on Thanksgiving the average fridge is way too full and a big pie takes up a lot of valuable real estate in there. The jars can be stacked up and spread to small free spaces to they are much easier to work into the already full fridge.

I like to make these the day before I am going to serve them so they are nice and cold and set up. If you don't have time the day before you will need to get them done early in the day so they have some time before you want to eat them.

I used the 4 oz quilted jelly jars made by Ball for my pies. It is much easier in the straight sided jelly jars than if you got ones that are curved. I like the small size too, just right after the huge holiday meal.

Pumpkin Pies in a Jar

Crust

1 cup Graham Cracker crumbs

2 Tablespoons sugar

¼ cup melted butter

Filling

2 cups cold milk

1 (3.5 oz) package instant vanilla pudding

1 teaspoon pumkin pie spice

1 small can pumpkin

1 (8 oz) tub cool Whip

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place 12 (4 oz) jelly jars on a rimmed baking sheet.

Combine the cracker crumbs and sugar then add the melted butter. Divide this mixture evenly between the jelly jars and press down firmly to make a nice flat crust. I used the bottom of a narrow juice glass.

Bake the crusts for about 5 to 8 minutes until lightly browned. Set these aside to cool completely.

When the crusts are cool you can begin making the filling.

Combine the milk, pudding mix and pumpkin pie spice in a mixing bowl. Stir until thickened and smooth (about 2 minutes) Stir in the can of pumpkin.

Measure out 1 ½ cups of this filling reserve the remaining fillign for the next step. Divide the 1 ½ cups of filling among the jelly jars.

Add 1 ½ cups of Cool Whip to the reserved pudding mixture and add this as your next layer in the jelly jars trying to divide it as evenly as possible.

Put the lid/rings on the jars and place them in fridge for at least 2 hours.

At serving time remove lids/rings and top each serving with a dollop of the remaining Cool Whip. 

 

Basic Bread Machine Dinner Rolls

This is my all time favorite recipe for dinner rolls year round. It's the recipe I pull out almost everytime I need to make some basic rolls. Not only are they a very tasty dinner roll but the bread machine does most of the work for you.

You can make these ahead; shape the dough as directed, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for anywhere from 4 to 48 hours. Take them out of the fridge, remove the plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for 2 hours then bake as directed.

If you want rolls that a are crispy all around put them on a rimmed baking sheet to rise and bake as directed.

If you want rolls that are soft on the sides use a 13”x9” baking dish.

I've also used a muffin tin to make rolls that were more muffin shaped.

You can brush the tops before you bake with beaten egg for a chewier, brown crust (also this will allow you to sprinkle them with sesame seeds) or with milk if desired. Or do like I do and brush them with melted butter after they bake for a wonderful buttery crust. (wrap them in a damp towel briefly too for a softer crust)

You can make these the day before and simply re-heat them in the oven wrapped in foil too. Like I said they are really versatile.

showing 3 variations on shape

Basic Bread Machine Dinner Rolls

1 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons room temperature butter

1 egg

3 ¼ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon yeast

Measure all the ingredients into your bread machine in the order specified in your owner's manual. If you don't have the manual anymore the order I listed them in is the order my machine calls for.

Use the dough cycle on your machine to form the dough.

At the end of the dough setting remove the dough from the machine to a floured surface. Cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Grease your pan (see above)

divide the dough into 15 equal sized pieces, shape each piece into a ball. Place in prepared pan. Cover and rise in a warm (draft free) place for 30 to 40 minutes or until double in size.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Brush the tops with melted butter if desired.

Serve warm or cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Cookies

Okay, I have to admit these are one of my favorite things to make in the fall!! I love these and they are pretty easy to make. They have all the wonderful spices you would normally find in a pumpkin pie. So good and since I only make them in the fall they remain special. I usually make a batch sometime in the month of September or October and that is it. If you missed them you have to wait for next year (well, if you asked really nice I might make another batch)

These also freeze really well so some years I divide the dough up and use fall cookie cutters for part of it and Halloween for the rest and then freeze the Halloween ones for a few weeks.

Because there are no eggs or dairy products in these they are vegan so if you need to come up with a good cookie that is either vegan or dairy free these are wonderful. The combination of the pumpkin and the shortening along with the brown sugar and molasses gives these cookies a wonderfully chewy (almost cake like) texture.

You will want to roll the dough out to be ¼” thick before cutting with your favorite fall cookie cutters. Have you ever been unsure about how thick you are rolling the dough? I have a little trick that will help with that. Just go to the craft store and buy a basswood strip that is ¼” x ¼” and cut it into 2 pieces and you can lay them on each side of your dough. When your rolling pin reaches the level of the strips of wood it won't go any further and your dough is the perfect thickness. I have several sizes so I can easily roll dough to any thickness I want. I store them with my wooden spoons so they are easy to find when I need them. Just as easy and much cheaper than those rubber rings they make to put on your rolling pin.

Pumpkin Cookies

¼ cup vegetable shortening (I only use Crisco for this)

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

½ cup mashed cooked pumpkin

¾ cup molasses

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground allspice

Colored decorating sugars and/or fall sprinkles if desired.

Cream the sugar and shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add the pumpkin and molasses and stir to combine well.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and spices and blend into the cookie mixture.

Wrap in plastic and chill for 3 or 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

On a well floured board roll dough to ¼” thick and cut with a well floured cookie cutter

Carefully transfer to a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with decorator sugar and/or sprinkles if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

You should get around 2 dozen cookies depending on the size of your cookie cutter.

Pesto Tomato Bread

This has quickly become a favorite bread to go with some of the wonderful soups I that we all tend to eat more of this time of year. And the fact that the bread machine does all the work of mixing and kneading and getting it ready for you shape and bake it makes it fairly easy too.

The touch of sun dried tomatoes and pesto give the bread just a hint of those flavors making it go so well with soups. The sun dried tomatoes also lend it a beautiful color that would make it stand out in a bread basket.

Besides going wonderfully with soup this makes some of the best grilled cheese sandwiches too!

Pesto Tomato Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ½ Tablespoons dry yeast

1 cup Plus 2 Tablespoons warm water

1/3 cup pesto

1/3 cup coarsely chopped oil packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 egg beaten with a small amount of water

shredded Parmesan cheese

Add all ingredients except the egg and Parmesan cheese to your bread machine in the order directed by your owner's manual.

Set the bread machine for a Dough setting.

When the cycle is complete roll dough out to a 16” x 12” rectangle and cut in half crosswise. Roll up each half of the dough into 12” long loaves.

Using a sharp knife make 3 diagonal slices across the tops of each loaf.

Place on a well greased baking sheet and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes or until doubled.

Brush the loaves of bread with the egg/ water mixture and sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree (Fahrenheit) oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 2 loaves

Pockets of Lemon Cake

I remember the first time I ever made this, my mom had invited some friends over to her house and asked me to come too and bring a dessert. I had just seen this recipe in some magazine and was anxious to try it out. It was such a hit I have made it many, many times since.

The little pockets of lemon filling are such a nice surprise when you cut the cake and really add to the look of the finished cake.

Before you start though I am going to warn you this is going to look really bad coming out of the oven because of way the batter raises up around these little pockets of filling.

The topping is nice and light and does a fantastic job of covering up the top of the cake.

Pockets of Lemon Cake

Cake:

I box white cake mix (about 18 oz)

ingredients called for on box of cake mix

Filling:

1 can (15.75 oz) lemon pie filling

Topping

1 16 oz tub creamy vanilla frosting

1 teaspoon lemon extract

3-4 drops yellow food coloring (if desired)

zest of 1 lemon

1 8 oz tub frozen whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit

Grease and flour 13”x9” baking dish

Mix the cake mix up according to the directions on the box and spread evenly in the prepared baking dish. Using a spoon drop spoonfuls of the lemon pie filling evenly over the cake batter in the pan, these will become your pockets of lemon.

Bake cake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the edges pull away from the sides of the pan and the top is golden brown.

It should look something like this:

Allow to completely cool to room temperature.

Combine the frosting, extract, food coloring and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Carefully fold in the thawed whipped topping.

Spread evenly over cooled cake.

Store in refrigerator.

Cut into 16 pieces to serve.

Reuben Sandwich Squares

This is another of my favorite make-ahead packable lunches. If you like a Reuben sandwich this is really worth making up. You bake off the sandwiches, cut into serving size portions, cool, wrap and freeze. Then in the morning you pull the frozen sandwich out of the freezer and pack in your lunch bag. It should thaw out in about 4 to 6 hours at typical room temperature and it will have the bonus of keeping the rest of your lunch cold too. If you use an insulated bag you might want to thaw it overnight before packing it to ensure it is thawed by lunch time.

These are great cold or at room temperature or if you have a microwave or toaster over available at lunch time go ahead and warm it up.

By starting with a box of hot roll mix most of the work of bread making is done for you. You don't even have to knead the bread to get the fabulous home-made bread experience.

Every time I make this I think I need to make some other versions of the sandwich squares. Almost any meat cheese combo you love in a sandwich would work wonderfully in here. How about swapping the corned beef with ham and the sauerkraut- thousand island dressing mixture for some honey mustard, keep the Swiss cheese and you would have a killer ham and Swiss to take with you. Or maybe turkey and provolone with some cranberry sauce. The possibilities are endless, just use you imagination.

Let me know if you try your own combinations and tell me your favorites so I can try them too.

Reuben Sandwich Squares

1 package hot roll mix (about 13.5 oz)

ingredients called for on box of mix

1 cup sauerkraut, rinsed and drained well

½ cup thousand island salad dressing

¼ cup tomato sauce

12 oz Swiss cheese, shredded and divided

8 oz deli style corned beef (or pastrami)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

caraway seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Grease a 13”x9” baking pan

Prepare the hot roll mix as directed on package through the mixing step. Divide the dough into 2 equal balls and let rest, covered for 10 minutes.

Set one of the balls of dough to the side for later (that will be the top layer of your sandwich.

Roll the other ball of dough into a rectangle that is approximately 13”x9” and place in your prepared pan. Stretch to fit bottom of pan. Set in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes then bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.

Meanwhile combine the drained sauerkraut, thousand island dressing and ketchup in a small bowl and set aside.

When bottom crust is baked remove from oven top with half the Swiss cheese, all the corned beef, the sauerkraut mixture and finally the remaining cheese. Don't go all the way to the edge of the crust, leave a border of bread so your top crust has something to grab onto.

Roll the 2^nd ball of dough out to 13”x9” and place over top of cheese layer. Press the top crust to the bottom crust.

Let rise 10 minutes

Brush top of crust with olive oil and sprinkle with caraway seeds.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until dark golden brown and cooked through.

Remove from pan and cool on wire rack 1 hour. Cut into 6 equal squares, wrap, label and freeze to enjoy in future lunches.

Will keep in freezer up to 1 month.

Dutch Baby Pancake

First let me make it clear that this particular recipe is for a special occasion! It is very rich, very calorie laden and just over the top but it is so yummy and looks so impressive. No one needs to know that this is one of the easiest things to make. That can be our little secret, okay.

I have been making these for way more years than I want to remember. We first had a similar item in a local restaurant and loved them but they were expensive to order. I decided that I had to figure out an at home version. Most of the recipes I found at the time were made in large pans to feed a group. I really wanted to make the individual version just like our local restaurant. I fiddled around with this one and we have been enjoying them ever since.

You will need to figure out how many pans your oven can hold safely at one time because these won't wait for anyone. When you are serving a larger group you will either need to use two ovens or eat in shifts (sorry)

Back when I came up with this we used to do a Sunday breakfast with a couple that were really good friends of ours. One week they would come to our house and the next week we went to theirs. I have to admit that Patty and I became very competitive over these breakfasts. LOL That is probably why I came up with this one.

You will need a blender for this recipe, it is just too hard to get the batter right without one. Also you will need a regular size pie pan for each serving. I have even used the disposable foil ones and they work just fine.

If I am making more than one of these I go ahead and put the pans in the oven to heat and line up some measuring cups or other containers to hold the individual serving worth of batter as I go. I then make up each batch of batter and transfer it to its own container to wait until I have all the batter finished. Then I quickly pour each batch into its own pan, I don't remove the pans from the oven I just pull out the oven rack and carefully pour in and then just as carefully push the racks back. Work quickly though so you don't loose too much heat from the oven.

Whatever you do DON'T open the oven door until these are done (or at least almost done) they need the heat to puff up.

Dutch Baby Pancake

(ingredients for each pancake, multiply by however many you are making)

2 Tablespoons buttermilk

2 eggs

½ cup milk

½ cup flour

powdered sugar

lemon wedge

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit

Place the butter in pie pan and place in hot oven to melt and get hot. It is alright if the butter browns a bit in this process.

Place the eggs in your blender and blend at high speed for 30 seconds, the eggs should become light yellow and gain volume in this process.

Slowly add the milk to the eggs with the blender running at a medium high speed. This must be done slowly. Now add the flour, again slowly and with the blender running. Replace the lid on the blender increase speed to high and blend for 1 minute.

Pour into hot pan on top of butter.

Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and well browned.

Sprinkle with a dusting of powdered sugar and a lemon wedge to squeeze over the pancake.

Cookie Dough Brownies

Back when my older boys were growing up they were involved in scouts  and there were potluck dinners to be attended both there and with other places, I was asked to bring these brownies to a lot of those potlucks. They are fantastic and very rich and because you start with your favorite brownie mix (a plain fudge one please) they are easy to put together. And who doesn't love cookie dough? Which is what the topping tastes like but with no worries about raw eggs like with real cookie dough.

The brownie layer of these brownies calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips and then there is another 1 cup of chocolate chips in the glaze. You will need a regular 12 oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips to make this recipe (using half in each place)

Cookie Dough Brownies

Brownie layer:

1 box (about 19 to 20 oz size) fudge brownie mix

the ingredients called for on the box of brownie mix

1 cup (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Filling layer

½ (1 stick) softened butter

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

Glaze

1 cup (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

½ cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (or temperature specified on your brownie mix) Grease the bottom of a 13”x9” baking dish and set aside.

Combine the brownie mix and ingredients called for on the box in a bowl and comine as directed on the box. After the ingredients are combined add the 1 cup of chocolate chips and stir just to distribute evenly. Pour batter in prepared pan and spread evenly.

Bake according to directions on your brownie mix box.

Be careful not to over-bake!

In a large bowl beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the milk and vanilla and blend well. Add flour and mix until well combined.

Spread this filling evenly over the cooled brownies.

In a small microwave safe bowl combine the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips and oil and melt in the microwave on medium for 1 to 2 minutes just until melted. Stir until smooth.

Carefully spread the chocolate mixture over the filling on the brownies and spread to cover. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the top and press down lightly.

Allow to cool completely, cut into bars (36)

Store in refrigerator

Raspberry Coffee Cake

I came up with this recipe years ago because my mom always had several raspberry bushes in the garden. Some years they produced just a few berries then there were those years that they went somewhat overboard. When all the weather conditions were right those few bushes produced so many berries that we had to find was to use them all up. After all you can only use so much jam and eat so many pies in addition to eating them fresh. So I came up with this coffee cake and we have been making (and enjoying) it ever since.

If you need to buy berries it will take about 2 of those little 6 oz containers of berries they sell in the store.

Raspberries are extremely delicate and there is really no way to not smash some (or all) of them as you mix them into the batter this results in a very pretty pink batter.

Raspberry Coffee Cake

Cake:

¾ cup sugar

¼ soft shortening

1 egg

½ cup milk

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh raspberries, washed and well drained.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Grease a flour an 8”x8” baking dish

In a mixing bowl combine the sugar, shortening and egg and mix together thoroughly (until well mixed and a little fluffy)

Add the milk and again mix well.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and mix into the batter. At the very end when everything else is combined add the berries and mix very gently.

Spread batter in prepared pan.

Topping:

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ softened butter

Combine all topping ingredients to make a crumbly topping.

Spread topping over coffee cake batter in pan

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the coffee cake tests done in center.

Serve warm or at room temperature