White Chocolate Snowballs - Last Minute Holiday Baking

This weekend I had a million things I needed to do, including packing and preparing to be gone for a month. But yet I found myself in the kitchen, baking up some holiday treats. My friend gave me this recipe card a few weeks ago, from the Real Simple Magazine. It has a base cookie recipe and then you can choose addition ingredients to make different types of cookies. The White Chocolate Snowball looked the most interesting to me, with lots of coconut and white chocolate. It is a multiple step cookie so it takes a little more time, but the results were tasty. Enjoy!

Chicken & Biscuits - Good, Old Comfort Food

This weekend was one of those dreary, cold wet New England Novembers. Perfect for cooking up some comfort food to fill the belly and soul. Typically I would make up a batch of Mac and Cheese but this time I went with chicken and biscuits. It wasn't a fancy recipe; just chicken, soup, peas and store bought biscuits. But what it lacked in fanciness it made up in yumminess. Here is a recipe to get you started on your own comfort food adventure. Enjoy!

Mini Pecan Pies - Perfect for your favorite nut lover

It is a mini miracle that I actually found some time this weekend to do some real baking. It was for a good cause, a birthday gift for the man that made Baker Babe (aka my dad). My dad has always been a big fan of nuts, pecans being one of his favorites. So I whipped up a batch of these mini pecan pies (or pecan cups I call them). They are perfect for calorie control (as long as you don't eat 10 in a row). I couldn't find our original family recipe so I used one from online, except I did add a secret family ingredient to the nut mixture before baking, a nice shot of Jack Daniels. Enjoy!

Pot Luck Potatoes - Gearing up for Thanksgiving

This weekend I went down to my mother-in-laws. Like always, there was food galore. We had baked chicken, green bean casserole and these Pot Luck Potatoes. Lots of heavy food, but with Thanksgiving only four weeks away I considered it spring training before the main event. These potatoes are not for Weight Watcher followers with plenty of cheese, butter and sour cream to keep the antacid business going strong. But just follow my motto and you will be OK, enjoy everything in moderation!

Pot Luck Potatoes

2 lbs hash browns, thawed

1 tsp salt

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp pepper

1 pint sour cream

Mix all the above ingredients and put into a 9x13 pan. On top put (mixed together) 2 cups crushed cornflakes and 1/4 cup melted butter. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars - Cookies for the Lazyman

One of the down sides of being the Baker Babe is that people expect you to bring home baked goods to events, work, play dates, etc. And since I never like to disappoint, I usually end up whipping something up at the last minute. My regular readers know I haven't been baking as much lately due to both being busy and lazy, so I I had to come up with something that was quick yet good. I have had the ingredients on hand to make Oatmeal Scotties, but haven't felt like spending a whole night waiting for the batches of small cookies baking. The solution are these Oatmeal Butterscotch bars. Same great taste, half the time. Enjoy!

Warm Pumpkin Pudding Cake - Using up the Gourmet Goods

As many people know I am what you call a thrifty person (or some of you may call me just cheap). One of the things that really bothers me is throwing away good food that can be eaten. So once in a while I scan my pantry to find hidden treasures that I can use to bake. This time I fond two jars of maple pumpkin butter. Given out as freebies at a charity food event I went to last spring, I knew I had to put them to work. I have been enjoying it on toast and biscuits, but two jars is a lot to use up so I am also planning to make Warm Pumpkin Pudding Cake with it. If anyone else finds themselves with odd jars of speciality treats that they don't know how to use, the Stonewall Kitchen Website is filled with recipes. They make it easy to look up the recipes by the product you have. So when "Aunt Mildred" gets you Apple Jalapeno Jelly or Lemon curd this year as your holiday gift give this site a try. Enjoy!

Apple Cake - Something new for the pile of fruit staring at me

The past few weeks of my full time job have been CRAZY leaving me with more hours of night work and less time to bake and blog. Tonight was looking the same, until my work computer decided to give me the "blue screen of death" this morning and my hard drive crashed. Luckily, I do back up to a server so most of my work was saved (so I am not drowning my sorrows in beer and I am sober enough tonight to type). It also leaves me a night of no work, and all baking! Yippee! Tonight the pile of my apple picking adventures are staring at me from the counter, so I am obligated to use them up. I have done apple crisp and apple pie before, so here is something slightly new - Apple Cake. Enjoy!

Apple Cake
4-6 med apples, peeled and diced
2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 lb melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 T. lemon juice
3 cups flour

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T. water

Pour 2 cups sugar over apples Add beaten eggs and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix well by hand. Add margarine and 2 T. lemon juice. Add flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Mix well. Add nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes in a 9x13 pan.Mix topping ingredients together and spread on top of hot cake and return for oven for 3 minutes longer.