No Bake Chocolate Fudge Cookies

 Today was my first day of class at my new work from home job. So to celebrate, we decided to make some No Bake Chocolate Fudge Cookies!

This No Bake Chocolate Fudge Cookie recipe is the most requested recipe that my kids ask me to make. Most of the time, the cookies turn out perfect.  Not too hard or too crumbly. Not so soft that they don't become firm. 

I have learned that the kind of day you make these cookies on has a lot to do with the end result.  If the humidity is high, the cookies will not set  up properly.  Believe me, I’ve tried.  However, if you decide to make them on a humid day and they don't harden, don't despair or throw them out. They are still good to eat.  Just grab a spoon and dig in!!!

Ingredients 

1 c. butter 
4 c. sugar
1 c. milk
1 c. cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 c. peanut butter
6 c. oatmeal 

Directions

Line your counter or cookie sheets with waxed paper. You will need this done before you start to cook, because the mixture hardens rather quick.  
 

In a large sauce pan, combine butter, sugar, milk, cocoa, and salt.
 

Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture come to a full rolling boil. Stirring constantly, boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.Add vanilla and peanut butter. Mix until peanut butter is well blended.  

Stir in the oatmeal. Working quickly at this stage, drop spoonfuls of the cookie dough onto waxed paper. The cookies will start hardening pretty quickly at this point. Set them someplace cool so they will set up sooner. Enjoy.

Scalloped Potatoes With Homemade White Sauce

 

Scalloped Potatoes With Homemade White Sauce

Growing up, my mother and I made scalloped potatoes often. Potatoes were cheap and we really didn't have the money to spend to buy the boxed stuff. It was good, homemade comfort food that filled you up. And, best of all, it was made with love.

It is easy to make your own homemade white sauce and it's the sauce that makes the meal. You can add cooked ham, sausage or hamburger to the dish as well. 

Ingredients

5 Tbs. butter
5 Tbs. flour
5 c. milk  (Or use 3 c. milk and 2 c. chicken broth)
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 to 1/2  tsp. black pepper
6 c. potatoes sliced about ⅛" thick
1 onion, thinly sliced into half rings
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

Preheat oven to 305°.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in the flour and raise the heat to medium. Cook and stir for 1 minute.  Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until the sauce is thickened. Stir in the minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

In a 3 quart baking dish, add a fourth of the sliced potatoes and onions. Pour a fourth of the sauce over the top.  Repeat layers.

Bake 60 to 70 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Makes 8 servings 

To make the potato and onion slices uniform slices, use a mandoline or a food processor with a slicing disc. 

You can also add some cheese over the top of each layer for cheesy scalloped potatoes.  

We often put the baking dish on a baking sheet, just in case the sauce bubbles over as the potatoes are baking. 

Soft Gingersnap Cookies

One of our favorite cookies to make and eat are ginger cookies. We have been making these cookies for over 40 years. When you boil sugar cane juice or sugar beet juice three times, you get a dark, sticky syrup called molasses.  Blackstrap molasses contains iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6 and selenium. It may have started out as sugar cane, but cooking it down produces a more nutritional product with very little sugar left.

 

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. shortening (or use 3/4 c. shortening and 3/4 c. butter)
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 c. blackstrap molasses
5 c. flour
3 tsp. soda
1/2 t. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
Granulated white sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. 

Cream shortening and/or butter and brown sugar well until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and molasses, beating well to combine.

Turn the mixer to low. Add the soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and cloves.

Mix in the flour until thoroughly combined.

You can begin to roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls at this time, and then roll them in granulated white sugar. However, the dough is usually too soft and will stick to your hands a lot. I often cover the bowl and refrigerate for several hours until the dough firms, but does not become hard. If it becomes hard, just leave out on the countertop for a little bit and it will soften.

Place the cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8 to 12 minutes depending on how hot your oven is. When the balls flatten and are lightly browned with cracks on the top, they should be done. Allow the cookies to rest on the cookie sheet for about one minute then remove the cookies to cool on wire racks.

Caramel Popcorn

The Best Caramel Popcorn

Caramel popcorn is one of our favorite treats. This wonderful, sweet snack is so easy to make.  Best of all, it is fresh and all natural without the preservatives and caramel coloring that the store bought caramel popcorn contains.

Ingredients

1 c. butter * see note below
2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
24 c. popped popcorn (makes a big roaster full)
1 lb. peanuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 250°.

Pop the popcorn kernels until you have 24 cups of popped corn. For me, that almost fills my large roasting pan. Pour the popcorn in a large roasting pan, or a big bowl. Add the peanuts to the popcorn.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, over low heat. Stir in brown sugar, syrup, and salt. Turn the heat up to medium. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Boil, without stirring for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Carefully stir in the vanilla and soda.  The baking soda causes the caramel sauce to bubble and rapidly grow in size. This is normal. So, don’t be alarmed when you see it rising toward the top of the pot.

Quickly pour the sauce over the popcorn in roaster. Stir the popcorn with a wooden spoon, making sure that all the popcorn has an even coating of yummy caramel sauce.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove the roaster from oven and allow it to cool. However, if your family is like mine, we usually can’t wait to grab a bowl and fill it up with the caramel popcorn.  Store the leftover caramel popcorn in an airtight container, if you have any left. 

* You can use margarine instead of butter,  or use half butter and half margarine.
You can add nuts in with the popcorn just before you pour the caramel coating over the top.     

Half Hour, Or 30 Minute Dinner Rolls

Fresh, hot dinner rolls served with dinner is a wonderful treat! Best of all, these do not take all day to make, either. In about 30 minutes, you can have fresh dinner rolls that taste just as good as doing them the convectional way. They are perfect for those who have a limited amount of time to make and serve supper.

Ingredients

2 Pkg. active dry yeast
3 Tbs. sugar
1/2 c. warm water
1 1/2 c. lukewarm milk
1/2 c. butter or shortening
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsp. salt
5 1/2 to 6 c. flour

Directions

In a large bowl, soak yeast and sugar in the warm water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes in a warm location to make sure the yeast is active.

Combine the milk and salt, stirring to dissolve. Add this to the yeast mixture. 

Add milk, salt, butter or shortening, egg and 2 cups flour. Beat with a mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon until it is a smooth batter.

Add remaining flour until dough becomes too stiff to mix with a spoon. Turn the dough out on a floured board and knead for about 8 to 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic and no longer sticky.   You can also knead the dough in a bread machine or with your mixer using the dough hook according to manufacture's directions. 

Cover the dough with a tea towel. Allow it to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.  

Divide the dough into 24 even pieces, and form into balls. Place on greased baking pans and cover with wax paper. Let raise in a warm location for 15 minutes. 

Bake at 375° for 15 to 20 minutes, or until browned.

Remove the pan from the oven and rub some butter over the tops of the rolls for a soft top, and a delicious butter taste.

Caramel Rolls

Who doesn't like sweet rolls! They are so yummy and delicious. For my dad's birthday, I always made him a pan of caramel rolls, cinnamon rolls and yeast donuts. He loved eating those treats and looked forward to getting them every year.  Plus several times throughout the year!

Ingredients

1 Tbs. yeast or 1 package dry yeast. or 1 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. water water (110° F. or very warm to touch)
2 1/2 c. warm milk
1/2 c. butter or margarine
3 eggs
7 c. flour

Filling

Butter or margarine, softened
Brown sugar
Cinnamon

Caramel  

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
4 Tbs. cream or evaporated milk
2 Tbs white sugar

Directions

Grease two 9×13 pans. 

In a large bowl, mix yeast and 1 Tablespoon sugar in the warm water.  Set aside in a warm location for approximately for 5 to 10 minutes, so the yeast can bloom. This tells you whether the yeast is active.

Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan.  Do not bring to a boil, you only want the butter or margarine to melt. Allow to cool slightly to 110°.  

Add the eggs, and 2 cups of flour into the yeast mixture.  Pour in the milk and butter. Beat with a mixer or a wooden spoon until smooth. 

Work in enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic on a lightly floured board. The kneading takes between 5 and 10 minutes.

Place the dough into a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double in size, about 40 minutes. 

Prepare the Caramel

In a saucepan, add the brown sugar, butter, cream and white sugar. Stir constantly and bring to a boil.  Pour half the caramel mixture in one pan, and the other half in the second pan. Set aside while you finish making the rolls.

Turn out the dough and divide in half. Roll out half the dough to an 18 x 12 rectangle.  

Spread the softened butter over the top of the dough, going out almost to the edges. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top of the butter. Then sprinkle cinnamon over the top of the brown sugar, almost to the edges of the dough. I rarely measure the filling ingredients. I just smear butter over the dough and sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the top. For this step, you can add as much or as little brown sugar and cinnamon as you want or like.

Roll up, jelly roll fashion, starting at the narrow side. Cut into 12 slices and place in a pan.  Repeat for the other half of the dough. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. 

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.  

Remove the pans from the oven and allow them to sit for 5 minutes.  Carefully place a platter or cookie sheet over the top of the pan. Invert the pans, then remove the pan that you baked the rolls in. Sit down and enjoy. You can allow them to cool, but we find that these rolls, fresh out of the oven, are the best!

Cheeseburger Casserole 

 

This Cheeseburger Casserole is a delicious and easy meal to make that your family will love.

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 sweet pepper, chopped
1 can tomato soup
1 (8 oz.) can peas, undrained
Salt and pepper to taste
1 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. shortening
1/3 c. milk
8 (3/4 inch cubes) cheddar cheese

Directions

Brown the ground beef, onion and pepper until no longer pink.  Drain off excess fat.  

Add the tomato soup, peas, salt and pepper to taste. Turn into a 1 1/2 qt. casserole.

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the shortening until particles are fine. 

Make a well in the center and pour in the milk. Stir until dough clings together. 

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Mold each piece around a cube of cheese and place on top of casserole mixture. Bake at 425° for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.