Chocolate Oreo Goodness

So I do not think I posted this recipe before...if I did, I apologize, blame it on baby brain...

This recipe is perfect for the upcoming holiday parties where you volunteer to bring a dessert or cookie to share with the group. This is way easier than baking cookies from scratch and it is almost as easy as the already made cookie dough. These Oreo Balls (there is no other word to use for them, they are balls) are soft, moist, and delicious in the middle and surrounded by a firm chocolate coating on the outside. They don't taste like oreos so you will have everyone guessing as to what your ingredients are...

Ingredients:
One package of oreo type cookies (I have used the store brand and reduced fat before and they have been great)
One package of cream cheese (again, store brand, reduced fat is great)
One package of Chocolate Bark (it is in the baking aisle by the cocoa powder and chocolate chips)

Steps:
In large food processor (I do this in two batches) process the oreos and cream cheese together. Make sure it is well blended. Put in fridge for at least one hour. After mixture is chilled take out and begin forming into little balls (I use my cookie scoop, a melon baller would work well too). Heat a few squares of chocolate bark at a time in the microwave (20 sec, stir, repeat until melted). Drop the oreo balls into the chocolate bark and make sure it is covered. Use forks or fingers to remove and place on wax paper. When chocolate coating is set, consume with pleasure!

If you would like to top with crushed candy canes, a bit of cocoa powder, or cinnamon, do so when the coating is not set (immediately after taking out of the coating). This way the bits will stay attached into the coating....





If you want a candle in one for a birthday, just press in before the coating is set.

I have thought about trying this with mint oreos around Christmas but haven't...yet. My sister-in-law has a similar recipe that involves making a red velvet box cake and breaking that up with a container of cream cheese frosting, then repeat the same method with the chocolate bark. The red velvet cake is pretty at Christmas.

Enjoy!

Traditional Bread Pudding

Because fall is approaching and I was perusing food pictures that are waiting to be blogged, I decided to post the Luby's Bread Pudding recipe. I know what you are thinking...Luby's...yuck! I happen to love Luby's and treasure my eating there with my family dearly. There are definitely some items I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, but most of their items are quite good. I also like that I can go and eat the veggie plate (with either 3 or 4 veggies and a roll) and Matt can still get his carnivorous intake (by ordering the Luann with a meat, two veggies, and a roll).

The bread pudding recipe is good. I cannot vouch for the bread pudding in the actual restaurant. In fact, restaurant bread puddings in general should be avoided (except for Madden's blackberry pudding...which I might have the recipe for...I'm not at liberty to say). The recipe for this bread pudding is traditional and comes out slightly crunchy on top with perfect bread pudding softness under the top layer. The egg mixture, bread, raisins, and pecans mix well together. My Grandaddy loved this bread pudding so much that he would specifically go to restaurants, order it, taste it, then proceed to tell the waiter and manager that mine was better!




Here is their actual recipe, I will add my modifications at the bottom...

Luby’s Bread Pudding with Lemon Sauce
“A Most Requested Recipe”

CINNAMON SUGAR
6 T granulated sugar
2 T ground cinnamon

PUDDING
3 c milk
7 extra-large eggs
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/2 t vanilla

6 oz. (6 to 8 slices) white bread,
torn into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 c raisins

LEMON SAUCE
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
2 T cornstarch
1 T plus 1 1/2 t water
4 drops yellow food color

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. For cinnamon sugar, in small bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon.
3. For pudding, in large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla until well blended.
4. Place bread in 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle raisins. Pour milk mixture over bread and raisins. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. 5. Cover with foil.
6. Bake 45 minutes.
7. Remove foil and continue baking 10 minutes.
8. For sauce, in small saucepan, combine sugar and lemon juice. Mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
9. In custard cup or small bowl, mix cornstarch, water, and food color until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Add to saucepan,
stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Serve over pudding.

Serves 8.

We usually add more raisins (sprinkle them in until "it looks right") and add pecans (same amount as raisins). We also make extra cinnamon sugar and sprinkle a bit throughout the bread mixture. Lastly, we have never made the lemon sauce, instead we serve it warm with a healthy dose of heavy whipping cream poured on top. So enjoy this decidedly fall/winter dessert. It always makes an appearance at my Dad's for Christmas dinner with Prime Rib and other traditional Charles Dickens like fare...

In case you are traveling

Here is an article about 10 of the must eat foods in different parts of the USA...I have always talked about making a foodie trek to do some of these things...

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-35710989

Blackberry Cobbler

A quick little thumbs up for a store bought item...

Today we took a Blackberry cobbler over to a friends house to share with ice cream. We bought the HEB brand because it was considerably less and we had read that many stores offer a satisfaction guarantee on their items (so we wouldn't lose anything monetarily...just immediate enjoyment of cobbler). We popped in the oven according to the directions and let it sit after an hour of cooking until we were ready to partake. The cobbler was great! The crust was flavorful and crusty (how ironic, I know) with nice butter flavor, but without imitation butter feel. Their was also a top and bottom crust which for me is a definite deal breaker! The filling set up nicely and didn't get watery juice everywhere. There was a nice fruit to syrupy goodness ratio and the blackberries tasted fresh. So give it a try if you are looking for an easy dessert. It was only 2.96 and paired nicely with a 1.50 pint of Blue bell vanilla ice cream. You would be hard pressed to make a homemade cobbler for less than 3 bucks...

Good looking food on Yahoo

This recipe on yahoo looked simply delicious...I had to share...

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/4-easy-dinners-packed-with-summer-vegetables-2224993/;_ylt=AlvyqkjkvpbLJmwfVibHfpLkgKU5

Italian Cream Cake

As requested by a dear friend and my sister-in-law, here is my recipe for Italian Cream Cake. It is borrowed from Emeril Legasse, but there are small changes that I believe make all the difference!

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup shortening, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 eggs, separated and at room temperature
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 cups shredded coconut
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the frosting: (I would either double or one and a half this recipe to frost the whole cake)

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• powdered sugar, to taste (some people like cream cheese icing to taste cheesy, others like it sweet)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together onto a sheet of waxed or parchment paper twice. With the mixer on low speed, add the sifted ingredients in batches alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. I do this in three batches.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, and gently fold into the prepared batter. Add the coconut, pecans and vanilla and fold into the batter. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown and a tester comes out clean when inserted into the middle of each cake. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. When the cakes are completely cool, stack the layers with the frosting and frost the sides and top.

While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla and, using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy. Add the sifted powdered sugar and mix until thoroughly combined. Add the nuts and fold together. Keep refrigerated until you are ready to frost the cake.

Mixing...

This is how your beaters should look when the egg whites are stiff enough. They should slide out of the bowl in one large, foamy clump...

Fold gently...

Make sure not to overbake this cake, frost, and enjoy...

I sometimes top this cake with orange zest or mint leaves for decoration.

Make sure the shortening you use is clean. I once made this cake for Matt's family for Christmas, not realizing that Matt's dad uses the shortening to rub on the outside of potatoes before baking. Potato skin flavoring is very pungent and makes for a cake that does not taste light, fluffy, and delicious, but more like dirty dishwater or pencil shavings.

Pulled pork

So I failed at putting up other recipes...o well, that might be an ongoing project. In the mean time...

Pork butt (tee-hee) was on sale for .97 cents at Kroger this week. I grabbed the smallest one I could (10 pounds), an onion, a jar of pickles, and some bbq sauce. Once home I grabbed my handy dandy crockpot, rough sliced the onions and threw them in the pot. Matt cut the pork into smaller chunks to help expedite the cooking and breaking down process (pork butt is a wonderful piece of meat, but has a lot of connective tissue that needs to slowly cook away to become wonderful flavor). We topped off the onions and pork with some of the sauce, 1/2 cup or so of pickle juice, 1/2 cup of water, house seasoning (garlic powder, salt, pepper, red pepper) and it is now cooking away on the high, 4 hour setting. This started at 1:30 and the flavor is great, but it needs more time to become tender and delicious. Give it a shot! We are serving it on yeast rolls, with the pickles, and sliced onions at small group tonight. I think we are also having potato salad and a green salad so it should be a great time to be had by all!