sweet berry dumplings

i found a recipe for strawberry drop dumplings. it's similar to a crumble or crisp or cobbler or you get the idea. i had some strawberries at home but not enough so i mixed some blueberries in it. the blueberries were so tiny. in the end it turned out to be tasty. the little blueberries attached themselves to the dumpling dough. it kind had a caviar consistency.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

1 pint (about 2 cups) strawberries, hulled and rinsed

1 tablespoon sugar

Preparation:

In a saucepan, combine 1/3 cup sugar and the water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, the 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture is crumbly. Add milk and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Place strawberries in a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish; pour hot sugar mixture over strawberries. Immediately drop dough evenly in 8 to 10 spoonfuls over strawberries. Sprinkle dumplings with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar (and a little cinnamon, if desired). Bake at 450° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until dumplings are lightly browned. Serve hot with whipped topping or ice cream, if desired.

Makes 4 to 5 servings.

old fashioned rice pudding

i made a breakfast rice pudding. i had found this recipe that doesn't include egg but it needed to be baked. i just cooked it on the stove top but i can see why it needed to be baked because the rice wasn't completely cooked. it was fine with me. it reminded me of the rice pudding i would buy at lizzette's bakery in sunset park when i was a kid.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raisins

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ground cinnamon

Directions

In a saucepan, combine milk, rice, sugar and salt if desired; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Pour into a greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Cover and bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Add raisins and vanilla; cover and bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired. Serve warm or chilled. Store in the refrigerator.

buttermilk pie

i made a buttermilk pie. i really love pie and i'm really interested in chess/buttermilk/custard pies. i wanna try them all and find the perfect recipes. the butter milk pie is very similar to a chess pie except it has flour instead of cornmeal.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons flour

3 eggs, beaten

1 pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1 deep dish pie shell (either your own recipe or storebought)

Directions

1Preheat oven to 400°F.

2Beat the butter and sugar together until light.

3Add the eggs and beat; then beat in vanilla.

4Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the batter alternatively with the buttermilk; beat until smooth.

5Pour into a deep dish pie shell and bake at 400F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350F and bake for 50-60 additional minutes.

6Pie should turn a nice golden brown and a knife inserted should come out clean.

amy sedaris' pound cake

last night gillian came over and had this idea to make pound cake with canned apricots that daniel's grandmother made from her own apricots tree and homemade whipped cream. we used a pound cake recipe from amy sedaris' cookbook 'i like you'. holy crap this was so excellent. i can't even describe how delicious this was. everything went together so perfectly. i could eat this dessert everyday. those apricots were awesome.

butter cookies

we had a lil fried food feast at my place. we made buffalo wings, potato chips and quesadillas. afterward i baked up some butter cookies. we were supposed to eat them with chocolate frozen yogurt i made but the frozen yogurt needs to stay frozen just a bit more. i still have enough dough for one more batch so maybe we'll have that for dessert tomorrow. butter cookies and raw milk will have to do and i'm not complaining mmmmm

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup Butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 Egg

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Combine 1 cup butter, sugar and egg in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add orange juice and vanilla; mix well. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed.

Divide dough into thirds. Wrap each in plastic food wrap; flatten slightly. Refrigerate until firm (2 to 3 hours).

Heat oven to 400°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one-third at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated), to 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 3-inch cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets; sprinkle with decorator sugar. Bake for 6 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. yield 3 dozen

my 8th catering gig

today was my final catering gig for the project management class at mesalands. i knew i wanted to make orange cornmeal cake and garlic potato kugel but i had no idea what meat to make. i ended up making a version of chicken parmesan. i cut the chicken into strips, sauteed it in garlic butter, threw it in a casserole dish, topped it with garlic tomato sauce, italian cheese mix and then breadcrumbs. it was really good i wish i had leftovers!

potato kugel

serves 4

Ingredients:

1 large onion, minced (i used garlic instead of onion)

2 tablespoons butter or oil

2 large eggs, beaten

2 cups raw potatoes, grated and measured after draining

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

Directions:

Saute onions in butter or oil until lightly browned. Add eggs to potatoes. Sift the dry ingredients and add to the potato mixture. Stir in the onions and the fat used to cook them. Pour into a well greased 1 quart baking dish and bake in a preheated 350F oven until the edges are crisp. About 1 hour.

Note: Use either russet or Yukon Gold potatoes and keep in cold water until ready to use. Drain well. The potatoes can either be grated by hand or in a food processor.