Payday Cookie Bars - Every little bit helps out

In this day and age, every little bit of income counts. So this week I am offering a deal to my readers. I will give you a great recipe for a cookie that tastes like the Payday Candy Bar and you will help me grow my own "Pay days" (aka help me make more money). My income from my t-shirts has been down, so I am drumming up business the old fashion way. All you have to do is send a link to my blog to all your fellow baking friends. You can also help me network through my My Space site. If you can, sign up. Then all your friends can see how cool The Baker Babe is! Enjoy!

Payday Cookie Bars

1 yellow cake mix
1/4 cup softened margarine
1 egg
3 cups miniature marshmallows
2/3 cup white corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons margarine
12 oz peanut butter chips
2 cups salted peanuts
2 cups rice crispies

Blend cake mix, softened margarine and egg together. Place in an ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Spread marshmallows evenly over baked mixture. Turn oven off and put pan back in the oven to help the marshmallows melt. In a saucepan over low heat, mix corn syrup, 2 tablespoons margarine, vanilla and peanut butter chips together until melted. Add peanuts and cereal. Mix well and spread evenly over marshmallows. Let it cool completely before cutting into bars.

Celebrate National Ice Cream Month - Baked Alaska & Fried Ice Cream

Not that we ever need an excuse to eat ice cream but July is National Ice Cream Month (Developed by Ronald Reagan in 1984 - Go Reagan!). You may be wondering what ice cream is doing in a baking blog, but actually two of my favorite desserts that involve ice cream require additional cooking, The first one is Baked Alaska. A nice combination of ice cream, cake and meringue. The second one is Fried Ice Cream. Yes my friends you can do this. This dish brings back happy memories growing up. As a child/teenager I would go with my family to Chi-Chi's (once a Mexican food chain) and one of us would pretend it was their birthday (if you go within the same month it still counts). The wait staff would bring out the big floppy sombrero, sing happy birthday (with some clapping involved) and most importantly would give you a free fried ice cream dessert. I can still taste the combination of vanilla ice cream, with a light fried crunchy cereal coating on top, drizzle with honey and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Of course these dishes require a little extra preparation and baking so if you just want the good stuff may I recommend the Key Lime Pie Ice Cream from Brusters. My new motto, if you can't bake it, at least lick it. Enjoy!

Going on a camping trip and leaving the oven behind

Right now I am in the midst of preparing for an interesting camping weekend, six adults and three 3 year olds. I love camping as it brings back great memories of when I was a kid camping with my family and my summers spent at canoe camp (yes, it was as dorky as it sounds). But I quickly realized that camping as a kid is way more fun then camping as an adult for the simple reason that adults have to be in charge of organizing and packing everything. Although, we divided up the supplies and cooking duties I still feel like I have spent the last week writing out lists and going to the store. I guess I could do some baking while I am there (if I had a dutch oven and was feeling adventurous) but instead I baked up some banana bread and Rice Krispie treats to take along. And of course we will be making the real smores. The only thing I still need to master is cooking the sweat corn in the fire. Only a 40% chance of rain so I am crossing my fingers that we have a great trip. Wish us luck. We may need it. And of course I am not looking forward to all the clean up that will take place when I get back. I imagine the adults will be in charge of that as well.

Chocolate Raspberry Pillows - Spontaneous desert for a spontaneous gal

I like to be spontaneous in my plans, but when it comes to baking it is usually better to have items planned out and your ingredients bought a head of time. Case in point, we got invited to go up to our friend's lake house for the day. Since we were planning to stay for dinner, I wanted to bring up something to contribute. Faced with no extra time to run to the grocery store, I am a prisoner to whatever I have in the kitchen. Luckily my son and I just went blueberry and raspberry picking at the local farm and I had a package of puff pastry in the freezer. Using the trusty Internet, I came up with these Chocolate Raspberry Pillows. I had to break into my secret stash of chocolate and use my oven on the hottest day of the summer, but it was worth it. These came out quick, easy and good. Exactly what I am looking for in a recipe. Enjoy!

Ready for Raspberry Lemon Pie!

This week I am bringing out another oldie, but goody recipe from my childhood days, Raspberry Lemon Pie. This pie brings me back to happier days when my older sister was the main cook in the house. Then she went to off to collage and we were all in trouble. That is when my mom started introducing ham balls into the menu. I guarantee you that is one recipe that I do not care to share with my friends or enemies. Since it is just starting to be raspberry season, now is the perfect time to whip this up. Enjoy!

Holy Flour Batman - Mocha Cookies

Word has gotten out that I am The Baker Babe. I haven't been stalked by the paparazzi yet, but at work people know I bake things and always ask when the next supply of goodies will arrive. It turns out, sometimes being known is a good thing. I recently had a fellow co-worker give me a 10 lb bag of flour from a school that could no longer use it. That is A LOT of flour, but Baker Babe is up to the task. After I confirmed that the flour was still good (I called the company for verification since I wasn't sure if the date stamped on it was a "born on date" or a "please use by date"), I decided on my first project to try to use up this bad boy. This recipe for mocha cookies stuck in my head every since in was my runner up for the thank you cookies I made a few weeks ago. So 2 cups of flour down, only 38 more cups to go! Enjoy!

Mocha Cookies

1 cup softened butter or margarine
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream first 3 ingredients. Stir in flour, cocoa, coffee and salt. Beat into a creamed mixture. Chill for 1 hour. Form into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool on rack.

Blueberries are here (well almost) - Make Blueberry Lemon Bread

Oh, another one of my favorite seasons is almost upon us - Blueberries! For this lazy person, this fun little "super food" is better than strawberries for two main reasons. There are easier to pick (no stooping) and easier to eat (no stems to remove, just pop in mouth). There are so many recipes to make with them, but I thought I would start with my favorite, Blueberry Lemon Bread. I believe the recipe came from an old general store in PA that my sister worked at in her teen years. They served up unique and fresh recipes for breakfast and lunch, setting them apart from the other restaurants in our redneck part of the state. One warning for this bread, once you put the lemon glaze on you will want to pick on the edges to taste test. I recommend just slicing off a big hunk and digging right in. Enjoy.

Blueberry Lemon Bread

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a large loaf pan. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside, In another large bowl, use a mixer at low speed to beat margarine/butter and 1 cup of the sugar just until blend. Increase speed to medium; beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time. Alternately add flour mixture and milk until blended. Gently stir in blueberries. Put into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes clean. Remove and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan. With a toothpick, prick top and sides of warm bread in many places. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar. With a pastry brush, brush top and sides of bread with lemon glaze. Cool cake on wire rack.

Whole-Wheat Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

Baker Babe is still enjoying the nice, relaxing weekend holiday, so enjoy this guest blog!

About a year ago, my husband and I started really watching our sugar and carbs in an attempt to lose weight and get healthier. As a result, I gave up the yummy sugary pancakes I used to have for breakfast and swapped them for eggs instead. However, I found that you can only eat so many eggs before you really get tired of them. In search of a healthier alternative for the pancakes, I was at my beauty shop one day and found a recipe for whole-wheat pancakes in a magazine. I modified it slightly to give it more flavor and my husband and I both gave it 2 thumbs up. It has all whole-grains and natural honey vs. sugar to give it some sweetness. Now we can still enjoy pancakes as an occasional treat and still know we are eating healthy. Enjoy!

Whole-Wheat Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

Pancakes:

1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 cups milk (I use 1%)
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 Tbs. white vinegar
2 Tbs. honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Syrup:
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup blueberries

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add milk, eggs, oil, vinegar, honey, and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Let stand for 5 minutes, allowing batter to thicken. (If batter is too thick, think with a little more milk). Cook pancakes in non-stick pan with a little cooking spray. Flip pancakes when bubbles appear and pop on the surface. About 1/3 cup of batter per pancake will yield about 10 5” pancakes.

To make syrup, mix blueberries and syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. The berries will start to burst and integrate with the syrup. Serve warm over the pancakes.

Happy 4th - New England Favorites

I apologize to all my faithful readers. I took a few days off work this week, got completely mixed up on what day it was and forgot to post on my regular Wednesday. So Baker Babe is not dead, just in need of a very overdue vacation. Today my family and friends are coming over for a traditional New England 4th of July picnic complete with lobsters, corn on the cob and baked beans. Should be a treat for all! Happy 4th!