Holiday Rum Cake

by Ronica Skarphol Brownson

This cake was made famous by the Bacardi company, and has become a popular one for the holidays. My husband's Grandma Mitzi made it every year, and it wouldn't be Christmas in our house without it! It stays moist and delicious for a long time due to the preservative qualities of the rum and butter glaze, and stays nice in the refrigerator or the freezer. It is one you can mail or give as a gift, and it's always a popular dessert. You can cook the glaze longer to make sure to rid it of the alcohol if you like, but it won't be as tasty or stay quite as moist if you do. I say leave it in. 

• ---Cake---
• 1 cup chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts
• 1 18-1/2 ounce yellow cake mix
• one 3.4 ounce package (4-serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix  

If your cake mix has pudding in it, you can skip the added pudding and reduce the number of eggs to 3 and the amount of oil to 1/3 cup.

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup Bacardi dark or gold rum

• ---Glaze---
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Bacardi dark or gold rum

Preparation:

Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt or tube pan. (Or use Wilton Cake Release. I love that stuff! Works on my most intricate pans.) Sprinkle nuts on bottom of pan. Combine all cake ingredients. Beat for 2 minutes on high with electric mixer. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert on serving plate. Prick top with fork or knife. Drizzle glaze (recipe follows) over top of the cake. Use brush or spoon to put extra dripping back on cake. Easiest to slice with a serrated knife.

Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Note: The rum will cause steam. Be careful not to burn yourself. 

Ultimate Double Chocolate Brownies

by Kathy Brasier Sikorski

Celebrating their 10th anniversary by feeding us lots of goodies? I love these people! Congrats to Kathy and Kevin, and thanks! Several recipes to come!

Ultimate Double Chocolate Brownies
¾ cup baking cocoa
½ teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup butter or margarine, divided
½ cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chunks

In a large bowl, combine cocoa and baking soda; blend in 1/3 cup melted butter. Add boiling water; stir
until well blended. Stir in sugar, eggs, and remaining butter. Add flour, vanilla and salt. Stir in pecans and chocolate chunks. Pour into a greased 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or untilvbrownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely. Yield: 3 dozen

Caramel Popcorn

by Jean Quinn

Another popular one! If I hadn't eaten so many Christmas cookies today, I'd make some myself. Yum!

2 - 7.5 oz. bags hull-less popcorn
2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks of butter or margarine
1/2 cup Karo Syrup
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. baking soda
2 T. creamy peanut butter

Put popcorn in a large pan. In a saucepan, melt butter, add Karo syrup and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes and remove from heat. Add vanilla, soda and peanut butter and mix well. Pour over popcorn and stir well. Bake 1 hour @ 250 degrees F, stirring every 15 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Dip

by Sylvia Musheno

This is the dip that was served last week and was a big hit with young and older alike! Before I left coffee hour, I tracked down Sylvia to demand this recipe for the blog, and was stopped in the hall on the way to my car with a request for it! So here you go--like a big bowl of cookie dough (without the salmonella fear of raw eggs.) Or, like one bite at a time cheesecake--either way, you win!

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup powdered (confectioner's) sugar
2 Tb. brown sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips (mini are a great size for this)

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in sugars until well blended, then stir in the chips. Serve with fruit, animal crackers, graham crackers, etc. for dipping. Stand back to avoid the stampede.

Creamsicle Fudge/ Marbled Orange Fudge

This was a hit at the Women of Faith Tea on May 1, 2011. All the fabulous flavor of a Creamsicle, without the tooth sensitivity! Delicious!!!

By Sue Ellen Krupa

This recipe is from Quick Cooking with some modifications.

3/4 c butter (no substitutes)

3 c. sugar   

3/4 c. whipping cream  ( I use evaporated milk) 

1 package (10-12 oz.) white or vanilla chips

1 jar (7oz.) marshmallow creme

3 t orange extract   

12 drops yellow food coloring   

5 drops red food coloring

Line a 9x12 pan with parchment paper, or grease with butter. In a heavy sauce pan, combine the sugar, cream,and butter. Cook and stir for 4 minutes. Remove from heat: stir in chips and marshmallow creme until smooth. (I pour my boiling sugar mixture into a mixing bowl, add my chips and marshmallow fluff and mix it at high speed with my mixer.)

Remove one cup and set aside. Add orange extract and food colorings to remaining mixture: mix until blended. Pour the orange mixture into prepared pan. Drop reserved marshmallow mixture by tablespoonfuls over top. Cut through mixture with a knife to swirl. Cover and refrigerate until set.

Yield about 2 1/2 pounds.

7 Layer Bars (One Pan!)

By Ronica Skarphol Brownson

These were taken from my Mom's KMOT TV Minot ND cookbook from the 70's. There were 3 versions of this recipe in there, and probably a million like it on the web. I figured that must mean they are good. I was right! Some people call these Dolly Madison bars, or 7 Story Bars. I love how easy they are, how great the house smells when they are done, how quick they go together, and of course, how delicious they come out!

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 small (7 oz.) bag sweetened coconut
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1 can Eagle brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the stick of butter in a 9x13 pan and put it in the oven to melt. When melted, swirl it around to coat the bottom and sides. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients, in the order given, as evenly as possible in the pan. Do not stir. Drizzle the milk evenly over the whole works. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool well before cutting. Store in the fridge.

Some tips I read:

If the coconut goes on last (or you save some for the top) it will get all toasty.
You can put half the milk over the crumbs, then the rest over the toppings to make it hold together better. I didn't have any trouble with mine, but it's a variation.
Line the pan with parchment paper or non-stick foil for ease of release.
You can mix the butter and crumbs in a bowl, then pat in for a more firm crust. Again, I had no trouble with mine, so I would skip this step.
Change the chips, nuts, etc. for your own variations. This week mine used peanut butter, milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips with pecans. Mainly this is because someone stuck the wrong kind of chips in the butterscotch spot on the shelf at Wegman's and I grabbed the wrong bag. But they were delicious so that was fine with me!

Cherry Pear Almond Crock Pot Dessert

by Sheila Merrill

 I made this and took it to one of the Wed. night dinners.  I came home with an empty crock pot.  It was a hit!

 

• 1  28 oz. can cherry pie filling
• 2  15 oz. cans diced pears in syrup
• 1   teaspoon almond extract
• 1   box yellow cake mix
• 1   stick butter, cut into small pieces
• 1   1.9 packet maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal
• Cool whip for topping 

 

Spray crock pot with butter flavored cooking spray, set aside.  In a large bowl, combine pie

filling, pears, (with juice) and almond extract.  Poor into prepared crock pot.  Sprinkle cake

mix over fruit mixture, dot with butter.  Sprinkle oatmeal over cake mixture.  Place a thickness of

 8 paper towels over crock pot and secure lid.  This helps to trap steam.  Cook on LOW 4-6 hours.

Do NOT lift lid for the first 3 hours.  Serve warm with Cool Whip.