Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake was a tradition in my family. We always made it for my father’s birthday. My father doesn’t care for crowds, and I never remember going out for his birthday celebrations. Once, we threw him a party when he turned 40. But otherwise, his birthdays were a stay at home affair.

My mother would also make this carrot cake. Which was odd given on everyone else’s birthdays, we ate a lot of store-bought cakes (especially ice cream cakes) or my maternal grandma, the family cake baker and decorator, would make them.

Food processors are genius when making this cake. I have memories of using a cheese grater to grate carrots. Now, I just throw all those carrots in my food processor, and wham, they’re shredded.

This cake stood the test of time with my taste buds. It’s delicious.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup cooking oil
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Frosting:

8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar
lemon juice or milk as needed
chopped nuts to top cake (optional)

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together: sugar, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Mix the dry ingredients

In a small bowl, beat the eggs together. Then add the eggs, cooking oil, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the carrots. Gently mix it again and make sure all the carrots are evenly distributed into the batter. Fold in raisins and nuts.

Grease a 9×13 cake pan. Pour the batter into the cake pan.

Pour into the cake pan

Cook the cake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before adding the frosting.

To make the frosting, mix cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and lemon juice (or milk).

Mix the frosting

Apply frosting to the cooled cake. Top with nuts and enjoy.

Carrot cake ready to eat

Twin Peaks and David Lynch loves pie

For the pie crust, I used my grandma’s flour crust recipe. Which is great as it makes 4 to 5 pie crusts and is easy to refrigerate or freeze if you need to use the rest another day. And if you have some extra, as I did, you can make flaky cookies.

Smiley pie crust cookie Jason made

I used the rhubarb from my grandparents’ garden that I’d frozen that summer. Also used some frozen blackberries and raspberries.

Raspberry Rhubarb Pie with Lattice Crust

Recipe for the filling is from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook 12th edition.

Berry and Rhubarb Pie Filling

8 oz rhubarb
4 oz berry of your choice
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Mix the filling and pour into the pie crust. Create pie crust top.

Cook for 45-50 minutes.

Blackberry Rhubarb Pie

Cocoa Brownies with Peanut Butter Chips

Ingredients:

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups white sugar
3/4 cup, plus 2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 325°F and make sure rack is in the lower third of the oven. Coat an 8 inch baking pan with cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.

In a large heat-proof bowl, combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt. Set the bowl in a large skillet of water and simmer over medium low heat. Stir occasionally until the butter is melted and mixture is hot to the touch. The mixture will look slightly grainy. Remove from heat and cool until warm.

Add vanilla and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly after each one. When the batter looks well blended, smooth and shiny, slowly add the flour and stir until it’s combined thoroughly. Then stir vigorously for 30 strokes.

Stir in the peanut butter chips. Pour into the baking pan. Place a few more peanut butter chips on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely and enjoy.

In our Halloween card, my maternal grandma included $5, saying to use the money to buy Jason cookies. Apparently, she was very offended on Jason’s behalf that I didn’t indulge his cookie-buying whim.

Grandma, here are some cookies I made for Jason. He is not deprived of delicious cookies.

The original recipe is from Melissa.

Sunshine Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp ground ginger
Pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of finely grated lemon zest
2 large egg yolks

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Whisk flour, cornmeal, salt and ginger together.

Whisk cooled melted butter, oil, sugar, honey, egg yolk, and zest.

Stir in the flour mixture.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray or butter the cookie sheet. Place tablespoon-sized balls of the dough about an inch apart on the sheet. They should be about 1/4 of an inch thick. (In my picture, I flattened them a bit as the recipe called for it. However, I think the pan I didn’t flatten turned out better.)

Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. Until edges start to brown.

This is a combination of a recipe for pie crusts from my maternal grandma and a variation on the pie recipe from the back of Libby’s pumpkin.

Favorite Pie Crust

Makes 4 or 5 pie crusts depending on your pan size.

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
2 cups shortening
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup water
1 beaten egg
1 tbsp white vinegar

Mix together flour, shortening, sugar, and salt with a fork until crumbly.

Combine water, egg, and vinegar.

Add to flour mixture. Gently combine above ingredients to form a ball of dough.

Make the pie crust.

Pumpkin Pie

Makes 2 pies.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp all-spice
4 large eggs
1 can pure pumpkin (29 oz)
2 cans evaporated milk (12 oz each)
2 unbaked 9″ inch pie crusts

Preheat oven to 425°.

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and all-spice in a small bowl.

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Stir in pumpkin.

Stir in sugar-spice mixture.

Gradually stir in evaporated milk. (Jason assists as stunt cook.)

Pour into pie shells.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° and bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Server immediately or refrigerate.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Chocolate Guinness Cake

One 9-inch cake (12 servings)

Cake ingredients:

Butter for pan
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tbsp (1 stick plus 2 tbsp) unsalted butter
3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar*
3/8 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting ingredients:

1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream

*Don’t go out and buy super-fine sugar. You can just make it yourself with regular sugar. Put your 2 cups into your food processor or blender in order to make the grains smaller.

Regular to super-fine sugar. Presto.

For cake:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9″ pan and line with parchment paper.

In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add cocoa and sugar. Whisk together.

Mix together well

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well.

Combine sour cream, eggs, and vanilla

Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda. Whisk until smooth.

Pour into buttered pan and bake for 45-60 minutes until risen and firm.

Pour into buttered pan

Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

For the frosting:

Mix confectioners’ sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream and mix until smooth and spreadable.

Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or stand. Ice top of cake only, making it resemble a frothy pint of Guinness.

Make sure the cake is completely cool

Okay, I didn't take it out of the pan

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven 375°.

In a large mixing bowl beat butter until creamy. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until combined and then beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, rolled oats, and raisins.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are golden. Cool on a cookie sheet for 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

This cake came out really well. It’s very moist and delicious. The original recipe is from Favorite Brand Name’s Cake Mix.

Flower Power Strawberry Cake

Ingredients:

1 package (18 1/4 oz) white cake mix without the pudding in the mix
2 containers (12 oz) strawberry yogurt
4 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 package (4-serving size) strawberry gelatin
1 container (8 oz) thawed frozen whipped topping

Preheat over to 350°F. Lightly grease 13×9-inch baking pan.

Beat cake mix, yogurt, eggs, oil, and gelatin in large bowl with electric mixer at low speed for about 1 minute or until blended. Increase speed to medium and beat 1-2 minutes until smooth. Pour in pan.

Bake 38 to 43 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan.

Spread whipped topping over cake. The recipe calls for strawberries on the top of the cake. I ended up with strawberry banana gelatin, and I later put bananas on top of it. It was yummy. Make sure to refrigerate cake.