Birthday Cake - repeating stars in M&Ms

This cake is pretty self-explanatory.  Just make a star in the center (lightly pressing a star-shaped cookie cutter works well), in the M&M color of your choice, and then repeat over and over.  I've done this cake a few times.  It looks best if the outlining M&Ms are close together--especially that second and third level.  So don't worry about even numbers or anything--just keep them almost touching.  You can keep all the outlines solid, but the girls really like how this one kind of drapes down the sides.

Birthday Cake - number and heart M&M's, Kit Kats, Whoppers

This cake is simple and easy to make, but has a big wow factor.  I like that.  All you do is make a two-layer cake and frost it (both layers are upside down so that the top is flat).  Lay down a row of Whoppers.  Press on Kit Kat sections (use a knife to cut the sections apart--you'll have neater edges).  This cake used nine Kit Kat bars.  We like how they look like exclamation points, but I don't sweat making sure the Whoppers and Kit Kat sections line up.  Then create the number and heart, and then the outlines, all in M&Ms.  And there you have it!

Snickerdoodles

I got this recipe from my trusty 1981 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, now out of print.

Dough

3 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cinnamon Sugar

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Grease a cookie sheet.  Stir together first four ingredients.  In a separate bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds; add the 2 cups sugar and beat till fluffy.  Add eggs, milk, and vanilla; beat well.  Add dry ingredients to beaten mixture, beating till combined.  Form dough into 1-inch balls; roll in Cinnamon Sugar.  Place balls 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet; flatten slightly with the bottom of a drinking glass.  Bake in a 375 degree oven  about 8 minutes or till light golden.  Makes about 66.

Hollilyn's Chocolate Pudding Cake

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix

1 large box Chocolate pudding (cook and serve)
3 cups milk (whole milk of possible)

Chocolate Chips (about 1 cup)

Prepare pudding as directed on the box (Only Cook and Serve works). Mix pudding with cake mix until well blended. Put in a greased 9x13 pan. Top with chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. The top will be shiny, but as long as the toothpick comes out clean, it is done.

Thanks Hollilyn!

Dulce de Leche Brownies

1/2 cup cocoa (dutch-process if possible)

1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon flour

1 cup - 1 Tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, whisked, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup Dulce de Leche

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease an 8x8 baking pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, sugar and salt.  Make a well in the center and add the eggs, vanilla and butter.  Mix just until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Pour half the batter in prepared pan.  Distribute half the Dulce de Leche by spoonfuls evenly over the batter.  Take a knife and swirl slightly.  Pour the remaining half of the batter into the pan.  Repeat the spoonfuls of Dulce de Leche and swirl.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Don't over-bake.  A toothpick poked in the center should have a few moist crumbs attached.  These are best served warm--not straight out of the oven, but still warm.  If you're given a cold one, a few seconds in the microwave will bring back the ooey goodness!

Aunt Cheryl's Potato Salad

Cooked and Peeled Potatoes* (large russet) - large dice
Hard Boiled Eggs - diced

(Potato/Egg Ratio 1:1)

Miracle Whip (until it looks right)

Mustard (about 1 Tablespoon)

Salt

Pepper

Sweet pickles w/juice (or Sweet Pickle Relish)

Optional Add-ins:
onions (small dice, any kind)
celery (small dice)
Parsley
Crumbled bacon

*To cook and peel potatoes:  Bring water to a boil.  Score center of potatoes all the way around.  Place potatoes in boiling water (doesn't need to be a hard rolling boil, but harder than a simmer).  Boil about 15 minutes.  Prepare an ice bath (bowl of water with ice in it).  Remove potatoes from boiling water and put in ice bath.  Move them around in the ice for about ten second or until the are cool enough to handle.  Then squeeze off the skin.

Watch Maryanne from Gilligan's Island for a wonderful demonstration!

Tips for Potato Salad

If you want measurements

Alfajores and Dulce de Leche

The recipe I used for Alfajores is found here, but I had to add 2 Tablespoons of water to get the ingredients to form into a dough, and instead of rolling in sweetened coconut, I just sprinkled them with powdered sugar.  They were tender and delicious!  My good friend Barbara (who also served in Argentina) tells me the cookie could be thicker and there's usually a lot more Dulce de Leche sandwiched between them, but she still gave them a thumbs up for flavor!  You can see commercial and homemade images of the real thing here. 

The Dulce de Leche recipe was obnoxiously simple.  You just take a can of sweetened condensed milk (unopened, but with the label removed), submerge it in a pot gently simmering water and let it cook for 3 hours--checking the water level from time to time to make sure it is still submerged.*  When it's done, let it cool (I filled the same pan with ice water to hurry it along), and when you open it up you have Dulce de Leche. 


*Caution:  if the pot is allowed to boil dry, the can will overheat and explode!  I found this recipe that is just as simple (and takes less time!) but it's done in the oven and out of the can so there's no chance of an explosion.  It would also remove the necessity of scrubbing the bottom of my pot with steel wool to get it clean.  So I might try it this way the next time.  This recipe inspired me to try my own version of these Dulce de Leche Brownies.  Look for the results next week!