Sweet Little Piggies

You know those little cocktail wieners, well they are kind of a staple in our house, especially during the holidays.  I can have a whole elegant spread of food, and then I have to make those.  Everybody loves them.  All I do is wrap them in crescent dough, bake and set out ketchup and mustard for them.  Why they are such a hit, I don't know.  I found a new way of making them, someone on my old job made them for a party and I couldn't stop eating them.  I asked her for the recipe, you won't be disappointed. The ingredients are an odd combination, and you wouldn't think they would be good together, but surprisingly they are.  Who knew a little beef frank could taste good!

Recipe below.

To print recipe, click, highlight and print.

To view photos in a larger format, click on them.

So this is a package of those little beef franks, there are about 35 of them in a package, give or take.  Some of the ingredients I used, walnuts, honey, butter and brown sugar, that combo alone is good!

Melt the walnuts, honey, butter and brown sugar, this makes the sauce.

 After it melts, pour into the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish, layer the crescent rolled franks in a single layer.  Bake them, and the sauce becomes this thick, gooey, sweet sensation that sticks to the little wieners, it's awesome!  Now, I didn't get a picture after they were baked, they looked so yummy, because I had take them to a friend's get together and wanted to serve them hot. Trust me they were good, I had the hostess ask me for the recipe!

Sweet Little Piggies In Blankets

Ingredients

1 stick butter

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

3 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tube refrigerated crescent dough

1 package little wieners

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a small sauce pan, combine the butter, walnuts, honey and brown sugar, stir together as it starts to melt.

Meanwhile, unroll the crescent dough and pinch seams so they stay together.  You should have a large rectangle of dough.  Start cutting the dough in strips on the short end, until you have enough for all the wieners in the package.  Roll each wiener in a piece of the dough.

When the butter mixture has melted pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish and spread it evenly.  Line the wieners seam side of dough down, on top of the butter mixture.  Bake uncovered for 15 - 20 minutes or until the crescent dough is golden brown and the mixture is bubbly.  Be careful not to burn them, as always all oven temperatures are different.

All Natural Applesauce Cake

Trying to make desserts for a vegan is hard!  Almost everything you bake or make has butter, eggs or milk in the recipe.  My son, who is the vegan, does not eat any dairy products at all.  He drinks almond milk, and substitutes butter with coconut oil.  I do have a very good chocolate cake recipe, that he loves (check this blog for my Chocolate Dessert Cake featured for Mother's Day) that is all natural, but other than that I was at a loss as to what to make.  I now have this new recipe someone shared with me to try.  No mixer was required to mix it, just a whisk and 3 bowls.  Easy as that and good to boot!  This cake proves, you do not have to give up anything by not using dairy in baking.  It is full of flavor, raisins and walnuts.  If you don't like raisins or walnuts just leave them out.  You can top this cake with a glaze that is also non dairy.  So pull out your fork and enjoy a piece, or two or three, with a cup of coffee or tea.  This is certainly an Autumn, sit on your porch and watch the leaves fall, kind of dessert.  A little something extra - the house smells fantastic as it's baking!  Recipe below.  To print this recipe and other recipes in this blog, click and highlight the recipe then send to your printer.

All of my ingredients for the cake.

 Dry ingredients in a large bowl, then whisk them together.

 All the wet ingredients and the sugar in a medium bowl and mix together.  Dust the raisins and the chopped walnuts with flour in a small bowl.  This is so they do not sink to the bottom of the cake.

 Spray a Bundt pan with Bakers Joy, or grease with oil and flour.  The cake is baked and cooling.

Perfect Bundt cake full of raisins and walnuts, and so moist.

Glaze, cut and....

Enjoy! Rich tasting, moist and delicious.

Vegan Applesauce Cake

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups of unbleached flour

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of ginger

2 1/4 cups of unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 cups of dark brown sugar

1/2 cup of canola oil

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1/2 cup of raisins

Maple Syrup Glaze 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a Bundt pan with Baker's Joy, or grease with oil and dust with flour. Tap the pan to remove any excess flour.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Whisk together.  In a medium bowl, combine the applesauce, brown sugar, oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Whisk together.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Do not over mix the batter.  In a small bowl, add about 2 tablespoons of flour, and coat the raisins and the walnuts.  Fold into the the batter.

Fill the prepared Bundt pan and spread the batter evenly.  Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, depending on your oven, until a cake tester inserted comes out clean.  Rotate the cake halfway through the baking process. Remove from oven and let cool before turning out of the pan.  Loosen the cake around the edges with a knife and invert on to a cooling rack.  If you are glazing the cake, let it cool completely before frosting. Transfer to a cake plate to serve.

Maple Syrup Glaze

1 cup of confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

1 - 2 tablespoons of water

Mix together, using 1 tablespoon at a time to your desired consistency.  Drizzle over the cake.

Peach And Cinnamon Cobbler

I needed to make a dessert for after dinner, and was checking out all the food storage places in the kitchen  for something good.  I had a can of Grands Cinnamon Rolls in the fridge to use before they expired.  My family loves the "dessert after dinner" thing. But my oven was on the fritz, waiting for the repairman today as a matter of fact, so I did not want to get into or bake anything too extravagant.  I started pulling other ingredients out of the cabinets, this is what I came up with and it was really good!  Recipe below.

I started with my rolls, lined a baking sheet with parchment paper so they didn't stick, sprinkled on some walnuts, or you can use pecans too.  Save that there little container of icing you get in the rolls for later, you will need it to top your cobbler.

 Brown sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and cornstarch in a saucepan.

 Stir it up and add water.

Add the peaches, you can also use fresh peaches, cooking time will be longer, stir as you are cooking, the sauce will thicken.

 Cinnamon rolls are baked and hot. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream, top with cinnamon roll, top with peach sauce and then drizzle on the frosting, YUMMY!

Peach And Cinnamon Cobbler

Ingredients

1 roll of Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 teaspoons cornstarch

zest of a lemon

1 - 16 oz. bag of frozen peaches, thawed and drained, or 4 large peaches peeled and sliced

1/2 cup of water

Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Unwrap rolls, split apart and place on baking sheet, sprinkle the top of each roll with nuts and bake. While the rolls are baking, in a large saucepan stir together the brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and lemon zest.  Add the peaches and the water, stir and cook until the peaches thicken and are bubbly.  When the rolls are done, remove from oven. Microwave the frosting for about 30-45 seconds.  For each serving - In small serving bowls, add two small scoops of vanilla ice cream, place a cinnamon roll on top of the ice cream, pour some of the peaches over the roll and then drizzle on some of the icing. Makes 5 servings.

Chocolate Dessert Cake

HAPPY   MOTHER'S   DAY!

I had a hankering for something chocolate and didn't have anything homemade in the house.  I am not big on store bought bakery items unless I am in a hurry.  I had an old recipe for a chocolate snack cake but wanted to dress it up and give it a punch.  I added strong coffee to the batter instead of water, you can certainly use water,  I like the coffee because it brings out the richness of the chocolate.  I doubled the recipe for the snack cake and added some toppings to make it richer and sweeter.  This is how I made it, recipe below. 

A big bowl and some of the ingredients.  You do not need a mixer for this, a whisk and a spatula will do the job.

Start pouring the measured ingredients into the bowl and whisk them together.

 

Get all the lumps out and it should look like the bowl on the right.

Then pour in the liquid measurements and it will foam a little, that's the vinegar and the baking soda reacting.  Spray your pan with Baker's Joy this stuff is great for baking and no mess, if you don't have that use butter and flour.

 I used walnuts and mini chocolate chips dusted with some sugar to make them sweet and crunchy.

 Baked and ready to be served.  Some like it plain.......

 I like mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce or syrup, it's so good!  The cake is moist, crunchy, chocolaty and sweet, it's a party in a pan and is easy to make, bake and take.  This recipe is keeper!

Chocolate Dessert Cake

Ingredients for the cake

Bakers Joy or 1 tablespoon of vegan butter and flour for dusting the pan

2 1/4 cups of unbleached four

1 1/2 cups of granulated cane sugar

1/3 cup of Hershey's unsweetened baking cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 cups of strong coffee, cooled (can replace coffee with water if you like)

1/2 cup canola oil

4 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Ingredients for the crunchy topping

1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup Enjoy Life mini vegan chocolate chips

1/3 cup of cane sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with Baker's Joy or butter and flour set aside.  In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together until all the lumps are gone.  With a a spatula, stir in the coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Scrape bowl from the bottom up to make sure everything is combined.  Pour the batter into the baking dish.  Mix together the crunchy topping ingredients and sprinkle it over the top of the cake batter, making sure to cover the whole cake.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted, comes out clean.  Cool the cake for about 1/2 hour. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate fudge sauce or Ben and Jerry's Vegan Ice Cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup. Can also be served cold.  Makes 12 - 14 servings.  

Apples, Apples Everywhere!

Fall is a big season for apples, so use them in cooking, eat them plain, or decorate with them.  We eat a lot of apples, with caramel dip, apple sauce, in baking.  I bought a big bag of apples at my grocery store and made two recipes from them.  One was apple crisp (earlier blog), and this is the other recipe - Apple Crostata.  You can use fresh apples, or save time and use canned apples you find in the grocery store, I have made it both ways and they were delicious.

Peel, core and slice the apples, add butter, sugar, cinnamon and cook up in a pan with some walnuts.

I used a ready made pie crust and rolled out some leaves to decorate my Crostata.

Decorated and ready to go in the oven.  All baked, ready to eat for dessert.

Look how pretty it looks and is so easy and cheap to make!

Served warm with vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce, yum.......

Apple Crostata

Ingredients

6 Golden Delicious apples, or 1 - 21 oz.can of apple pie filling

2 Tbsp butter

1/3 cup of sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1 egg beaten with 2 tsp water (egg wash)

1 Pillsbury Pre-Made Pie Crust

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Peel, core and slice the apples if you are using fresh apples.  On medium - high heat, melt the butter in a large size frying pan and add the apples, whether you are using fresh or canned.  Add the sugar and cinnamon and stir to mix.  Toss in the walnuts and stir them.  Cook the apples for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. 

Remove the crust from the package, and unroll it onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Fill it with the apple mixture.  Fold the edges over by tucking and folding as you go around the shape of the crust.  Brush the egg wash on the crust.  Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  Makes 4 servings.

TIP:  Try this recipe with dried cranberries too, just mix in the apples while they are cooking.