Wake up and smell the coffee.. cake
I have started making breakfasts on Saturday mornings! I know, most of you probably already do that, plus do it Monday mornings and Tues mornings and Wed mornings… Anyway, I do try to steer clear of recipes that require me to get up early though! Here’s one we had recently on a Saturday morning…
Peach Coffee Cake… which actually ended up being Apple Coffee Cake. Recipe taken from the 2006 Quick Cooking Annual Cookbook
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 can (21 oz) peach pie filling (I used homemade apple pie filling that Mom gave me, or was it Grandma? I am blessed!)
ICING:
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp. almond extract
3 to 4 tsp. milk
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder; add to the creamed mixture and beat until just combined. Spread 3 3/4 cups of batter into a greased 15″ x 10″ x 1″ baking pan. (I didn’t measure out 3 3/4 cups!)
Carefully spoon the pie filling to within 1″ of edges.
Spoon remaining batter over filling.
Ok, THIS is harder than it looks! At times like this, I’m glad I’m not a perfectionist. At this point in the recipe, I had decided I might not feature this after all. Thankfully, it came out of the oven looking much better with the ‘islands’ more connected and not so choppy and oddly shaped!)
Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 min or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean (cover loosely with foil if edges brown too quickly).
Cool on a wire rack. In a small bowl, combine the icing ingredients. Drizzle over coffee cake. Yield: 16 - 20 servings.
Mmmmmmm! Just delicious! I came back to them later for a late-morning snack and I thought it actually tasted even better at room temp than when it was warm from the oven… just my opinion. I’ll bet this would be good with about any fruit. I do want to try it with peach sometime… I didn’t have any peach filling on hand when I went to make these.
Thanks to those of you who tried the biscuits and then mentioned it. It’s always fun to hear feedback from you if you try recipes on here! Also, a big thanks to heidirhodes for taking time to post your recipe! I’m planning to try that one next time I make them.
Scones…
I always run across scone recipes in my cookbooks and wanted to try them sometime, but didn’t know how or when to serve them. The recipes didn’t give any tips except ’serve warm’. I guess you’re just supposed to automatically know! 
Anyway, after a little research and asking questions, I got a few tips. So here’s the ones I made, although in my research I found out that chocolate chip scones are too American. I want to try some that are more authentic sometime. They’re kinda like fancy biscuits.
Chocolate Chip Scones …recipe from an Easy to Bake, Easy to Make recipe card.
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 400. Grease a baking sheet. Combine flour, sugar, b. powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Stir in cream until a dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips. Knead dough gently on lightly floured surface 8-10 times. Pat dough into an 8″ round, about 1/2″ thick.
Cut round into 8 wedges with a sharp knife. Place on prepared baking sheet. I put the chunk of dough on the baking sheet, THEN shaped it into an 8″ round.
At the bottom of the card it said “Helpful Hints: If you prefer soft scones, arrange the wedges on the baking sheet so they are touching each other. For scones with crispy edges, place the wedges about 1 1/2″ apart on the baking sheet.” I thought soft would be better, Shannon thought crispy would be better. So, that’s why they’re arranged like they are, that way we’d have some of each. 
Bake scones until golden brown, 20-25 min.
Serve warm. Tips I got were to split them apart and spread butter and/or jam in them and to put whipped cream on top. I did the butter and whipped cream… didn’t know if jam would go with choc chips.
I know, I should have a cup of tea sitting beside the plate. These were really good! Easy to make too. Another note on the recipe card was “For biscuitlike scones, do not knead dough. Drop dough into 8 mounds on prepared baking sheet. Bake about 20 minutes.” So, I guess they’re not necessarily all wedges.
————————————————————————————————
Note: On the post before, I forgot to say where the recipes came from. The Broccoli Casserole and the Pudding Pumpkin Pie both came out of the 2006 Quick Cooking annual cookbook.
“Mom, how do you make… ?”
From my mom…
Easy Cinnamon Biscuits (not sure of the real name, if there is one)
2 7.5 oz cans Pillsbury biscuits (10 biscuits per can)
2 handfuls brown sugar
Cinnamon
8 oz Cool Whip
Grease 9×13 pan and put biscuits in.
Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top.
Spread Cool whip on top.
Looks more like a dessert now, doesn’t it? 
Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.
These are great!!!!! There’s a goo at the bottom and next time, I’m planning to add some pecans on top before putting on the Cool Whip. They take very little time to assemble, plus no rising time. Very good! Keep on hand for a warm breakfast on busy mornings!
From my mom-in-law…
Yum Yum Pudding
60 Ritz crackers
1 stick butter
2 qt vanilla ice cream
2 boxes instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups milk
Crush crackers. Mix with melted butter. Spread out in a 9×13 pan and bake at 350 for 5 min. (I made a half batch for us, so used a smaller pan here and should’ve used a smaller bowl later!)
Beat softened ice cream. Add milk and pudding. Put crumbs in the bottom of a serving dish, saving some crumbs to sprinkle on top.
Pour ice cream/pudding mixture over crumbs.
Top with remaining crumbs.
Store in refrigerator (not freezer). Yum is right! I didn’t remember having it before and as I was making it, I was so tempted to add some chocolate for an extra layer. Glad I didn’t because it was so good!!!! Lots of buttered toasted crackers!
Totally “off the wall” recipes (sorry to those of you who don’t like puns… I couldn’t help myself)
If you remember my cookie baking/candy making post, the kitchen that we were at had the neatest wallpaper!!!!
It was in the kitchen at Sandra’s (xsenergyo5) church. Sandra, have you guys ever tried them? The wallpaper has 4 recipes repeated on it. So, I took pictures of each recipe and made them. I hope you can read them ok… I’ll see how it looks after it’s uploaded and if I can’t read them, I’ll type them out. *Edit*…I just checked to see if I could read them and it’s a little hard, but if you click on the picture, it opens a new window that it’s bigger and more readable in.
Blueberry Muffins
Some notes: I didn’t know what double-acting baking powder was, but my baking powder in my cupboard said ‘double-acting’ on it, so maybe all baking powder is????? I also just used my regular nutmeg from my spices instead of getting a nutmeg and grating it for ‘freshly grated’. 
I used frozen blueberries, not fresh, but I think fresh would be better and not as juicy, so I want to make it sometime with fresh. The batter was more of a cookie dough consistency, which kind of surprised me, but the muffins were great!!! Some of the best I’ve had! They were moist and dense, which I like! We loved them!!! I will definitely make these again!!! Now for the pictures…
Farmer’s Market Soup
Some notes: I used baby carrots and figured 9 would equal one big one. I’ve never in my life peeled a tomato before! What a juicy mess! I put just enough water in to come up to the level of the veggies, they weren’t totally covered… that way it wouldn’t make alot of broth. Um, now for what we thought of it… I thought it was good in a but-I’d-never-make-it-again way. I made a half batch and was glad I did because I had the whole thing to myself! It sure is healthy though!!!! It took a long time to cut up all those veggies!
Chicken Pot Pie
Some notes: After it simmered for 20 minutes, I thought the broth didn’t seem thick enough, so I put in an extra tablespoon of flour. I missed a picture of the chicken/veggie part of the pot pie before putting the dough on top. 
For the biscuit dough, I used a recipe that was very good, but it ended up sort of limp and sticky and hard to work with, so the pot pie ended up looking pretty messy. I used all but about 5 biscuit’s worth of the dough (the recipe took 2 cups of flour to give you an idea of the size batch it was), so then I just baked those biscuits and served them with the meal. We really liked this! It was good and flavorful. Not sure if I’d make it again, just simply because it took awhile to make and we don’t do much in the way of casserole-type dishes. But I would definitely recommend it!!!!
Apple Pie
Some notes: Too many apples! I used a 9″ deep dish pie plate and as you will see, it was piled high! I cut up 8 and used probably 6 apples, and they were medium sized, not huge. I used Golden Delicious mainly because that’s the only kind I recognized (and I used to live on an apple orchard! ). I used brown sugar. Before the height of this pie scares you off, it’s not actually that huge. The crust stays up and the apples settle, as you can see in the last picture after we took a couple pieces out. This pie was absolutely tops! The winner of all the “wall” recipes! I will definitely make it again. Great flavor and so perfect warm with a serving of ice cream!!!
Brunch
Ham/sausage/bacon & egg & cheese muffins
Raspberry Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls
Fruit and dip
We had a brunch for Lexi’s 4th birthday party, then she opened her gifts and we had the cake and ice cream closer to noon then. I tried a new recipe for the brunch. It was a hit!!! I was replenishing the fruit tray and the eggs and was going to eat after everyone else was done… until… people started coming out for seconds and saying “these rolls are awesome” type of comments. So, I got a plate and got a roll before they got all. They were soooo good! My mom copied the recipe down and my mom-in-law confirmed that I would put it on this site and said she’d get it then. So, this is something I will DEFINITELY make again and it wasn’t just the taste I liked… they were so easy to make too. By the way, if you remember back around Thanksgiving, I was planning to make these T-giving morning, well, it didn’t happen then, so here they are finally!
The recipe comes from madisonsmom2 . If you click on that underlined username, you can go visit her site… you’ll like her and her style of writing. You’ll also love Madison’s imagination and Reagan’s antics, esp if you go back several posts.
Raspberry Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 3/4 cups warm water
Mix.
Then add
7 to 8 cups donut mix
Mix dough and let rise till doubled. Reserve 1/4 of dough. Roll out the 3/4 and spread with melted butter (I used a little over a half stick) and brown sugar ( I had it maybe about an 1/8″ deep) and cinnamon. Roll it up, cut into 12 pieces, and lay in a 9×13 pan.
Tips for cutting rolls: I use a string… slide it under the rolls, bring the ends up over, cross them and pull, and it makes a nice cut without smashing… ok, maybe everyone cuts rolls like that… I learned it from my mom. Also, to get them an even 12 pieces, cut in the middle first, then each section in half, then thirds from there (if you count my pieces, there are 14 because I cut the ends off first).
Swirl raspberry filling and cream cheese filling on top of rolls. 
I piped it on, then tried to swirl them together with a knife, but as you can see, it didn’t get too good. I stopped after doing 3 and just left them like that.
Edit: If you don’t have access to the cream cheese filling, try this:
8 oz softened cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Beat till smooth. Put it in a plastic storage bag (or a decorating bag), cut the corner off, and pipe it onto the rolls.
Roll out the rest of the dough. Spread with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and cut into small pieces. Lay on top of filling. Let rise about an hour.
Bake 25-30 min at 350. Drizzle with glaze (1 c. powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 2 Tablespoons milk).
They sorta billowed out of the pan… maybe because I used the 2 ends after all. I drizzled the glaze on right away and it kind of melted and pooled. Next time, I’ll let them cool for a few minutes first. Madisonsmom2, I don’t know if this looks like yours did. ?????
Anyway, they were just scrumptious and another great thing about them is that the dough was not at all sticky! I didn’t get my hands or the rolling pin messy. I could just roll on top of it without it sticking to the rolling pin or the counter!!!
Here is the rest of our meal…
Ham is in the closest crockpot, eggs are in the farthest crockpot… we just used those to keep them warm. I should’ve made a sandwich and taken a picture of it… didn’t think of it.
————————————————————————————
There were some questions about the birthday cakes in the last post.
Before my first child was born, I had decided that I want to make special birthday cakes for my children. I didn’t take classes, just took a lot of time, did stuff over if it didn’t get right, etc. I was afraid someone would ask how long it took… I’ll make a deal… I’ll tell you how long it took if you don’t get after me for poor stewardship and wasting time. The building blocks one took 4 hours. The house one took about 5 hours. Those times are just the decorating, baking and cooling time not included. I don’t remember how long the snowman one or the ice cream cone one took, but the i.c. cone one didn’t take long because I baked a reg cake, baked cake batter in cones, then frosted them and laid them on. That i.c. cone one was supposed to be a big 3D icecream cone, but that didn’t work, so I just did it like that, so that one sorta bummed out.
I’d try to go with what Lexi was into right then for what cake to make. The last one, she picked. And she probably will pick from now on. I have a book, but I haven’t used it yet. The cakes in there are very hard-looking! Like cell phones, doctor kits, slumber party (2 girls in bed), veggie stand, etc. It has directions and everything looks so real, but I’m not at that level, even with directions. If you want to see an amazing cake, go to mochamat’s site and go back 2 pages to her August 24 & August 26 posts. She made a flower garden, complete with a pond and other details… very creative!
About Me
Hi! Welcome to my kitchen! My name is Kay. I'm from northern WI. I love cooking and baking. Especially baking. It's thereapeudic for me. I'm not a professional or gourmet cook by any means. I'm a Mennonite homemaker who happens to take pictures of some of the food I make. I have 2 little 'helpers'... Lexi (5) and Tiffany (2), who are young cooks in training. I don't do anything on the grill... that's where my husband comes in! He grills quite a bit, especially in the summer. So, sit back and enjoy browsing thro' the recipes. If you try some of them, I'd love to hear feedback on how you liked them!
Blogroll
- Cookie Madness - Great recipes and pictures of cookies that leave you with a helpless craving.
- Mama’s Southern Cooking - Comfy site with good cookin’ and lots of tips.
- The Pioneer Woman Cooks! - Home-cooking, lots of pictures and fun reading
Her Blog Directory