Double Chocolate Coca Cola Cake

Try saying that 3 times fast! The only thing that I can say about this cake is YUM! It was gone overnight in my house. Although, I am not sure about the Cola, you really can't taste it. Maybe it helps with the moistness, not sure but I will be making this over and over again!

Double Chocolate Coca Cola Cake
1 cup Coca-cola
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
3 Tbsp cocoa
2 cup sugar
2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla


In a saucepan, bring Coca-Cola, oil, margarine and cocoa to a boil; mix
the sugar, flour and salt, Pour in the boiling liquid and beat well. Add
the eggs, buttermilk, soda and vanilla and beat well. Pour into a greased
and floured sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.


Frosting:
1/4 lb. margarine
3 Tbsp cocoa
6 Tbsp cream or milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. confectioners' sugar


In a saucepan, combine butter, cocoa and milk and heat until the butter
melts. Beat in the remaining ingredients, and spread on the hot cake. Cool
and cut.

Honey Rolls

I cannot tell you how excited I am that these actually turned out and taste fantastic! One of my personal goals is to make yummy tasting bread that is fluffy and yeasty...these were all of those! These have a hint of sweetness due to the honey you add in the dough and the honey and butter mixture you brush on the top before you bake them, although despite the sweetness, I think this bread would be great as a loaf for your favorite sandwich!

Honey Rolls
Yields 12 rolls

2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup honey, plus 1 Tbsp for brushing
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp butter, melted

In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the water and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add the honey, salt and egg to the yeast mixture and stir until blended. Add 3 cups flour and mix until the dough comes together, it will be sticky. On a lightly floured surface knead the dough until soft and elastic, about 8 minutes, adding more flour to keep the dough from sticking if necessary, being careful not to add too much flour. The dough will become more workable the longer you knead it. If you have a stand mixture, attache the dough hook and knead the dough for 5-7 minutes, or until it becomes elastic.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 2 hours.

Punch the dough down and divide into 12 equal portions. Shape into round balls and place in a lightly greased pan. Cover and let rise for another 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the melted butter and the 1 Tbsp honey. Brush over the rolls and bake 10-13 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Strawberry Mango Salsa

I have been kicking myself all weekend because I did not make this sooner. I saw this recipe about a month ago from Maria and just couldn't get it out of my mind. I knew that I would have to make it so my brain could rest. Just for the record, it has still haunted me because I have ate it all weekend and can't wait to make another batch. It has that sweet/spicy combo that I like and is a great snack (or meal) on these hot days. Make it, you will love it!

Strawberry Mango Salsa
From: Two Peas and Their Pod

1 cup strawberries, hulled and chopped
1 medium mango, peeled and chopped
1/2 half of a large jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1/4 of a purple onion, chopped
1/2 of an avocado, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

I like my chunks in the salsa on the small size, so chop them how you like them. :)

Mix all the ingredients together and toss to coat with the lime juice. Enjoy!!

I'm back and I brought you a Peach Pie Bar

I can't believe it myself, I am posting a blog post! It has been way too long, how is everyone?...that is if I have any readers still lurking around these parts. Well, let's not waste any time and get to these bars. Tennessee weather is so strange this year. This past winter we had so much snow. Not like blizzard snow, but for TN when you have and inch or two several times in the season, that is alot. And what happened to spring? One day we are in the 50's and the next we are in the 90's. There is no in between. So with the 90 degree weather, I want the summer fruits. There is a roadside stand that have fresh peaches from South Carolina and I just had to have them, so glad I didn't skip them..they hit the spot. We made peach jam, peach amaretto jam, sliced some up to freeze, some to eat by themselves and these bars. These bars are quick to throw together and a few ingredients. Perfect for an afternoon snack, or breakfast :), they won't last long.

Peach Pie Bars

For the dough:
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold butter, cut into cubes

In the bowl of your mixer, dump in flour, sugar, and butter. Beat with the paddle attachment for a couple of minutes until the dough comes together in small chunks.

Press half of the dough into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan. Set aside the remaining dough.
Bake the dough for 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Let cool for 10 minutes.

For the filling:
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 cups peaches, peeled, sliced and coarsely chopped

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add sugar, sour cream and flour to the eggs. Mix well and then fold in peaches.

Pour mixture over baked crust and spread evenly.

Sprinkle the reserved dough on top of the peach mixture and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Let cool one hour before serving.

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies Finale

This is the final week of the 12 WOCC, and although I don't have a cookie for you, I am linking up so that I can see what everyone else baked!

Thank you so much for baking along this year, it was a ton of fun and so many new recipes to try!

Happy Holidays!!!


Week 12 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

Holidays....

The holidays are here and upon us and I honestly am having a hard time finding the time to even sit and think for a few minutes to myself. With that said I am taking a break until after the first of the year. I know, my fellow cookie bakers, I am bailing on you the last 2 weeks, and I am sorry, but honestly don't see cookie baking in my future until the week of Christmas. The next 2 weekends I am out of town and with holiday parties, kids chorus concerts, high school wrestling...they come first and then baking is second. That is just life for me right now.

I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thumbprint Cookies-Week 10

One of my favorite cookies...I know, I say that alot, is thumbprint cookies. I am not sure what it is about them that I will choose first off of a goodie tray. I have shown you the Butter Meltaways that were filled with that sweet cream cheese filling, this week I am going with a butter cookie filled with your choice of jam. I have used raspberry, strawberry and apricot and all of them went well together, although my preference would be the tanginess of raspberry.

So here we are at week 10, only 2 more to go. I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season so far!

Giant's Thumbprint Cookies
from: Gale Gand

8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, soft insides scraped out
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 cup jam of your choice

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3 sheep pans or use 1 pan and bake the cookies in 3 batches.

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until fluffy. Add the vanilla scrapings and salt and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix at low speed until incorporated.

Using your hands, roll the dough into golf ball size balls and arrange them 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet flattening them out a bit as you go. Using your thumb, press the top of each cookie to make a shallow well. Roll your thumb back and forth to widen the well. Using a small spoon, fill the wells with jam.

Bake until very lightly browned around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling. Store in an air tight container.

Week 10 Twelve Weeks of Christmas: