Homemade Fudge Brownies

In a bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until well mixed. add butter and shortening. Combine flour, cocoa and salt. Stir into egg mixture and mix well. Grease a 9x13 inch pan and pour batter into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool in pan and enjoy. How many you end up with depends entirely on how big you cut the pieces. :) Bright and yellow. All that butter and eggs and sugar.....mmmmmmmmmmmm Chocolatey! NOW it's looking really good! Cooling in the pan. Earl wanted his with a dollop of whipped cream on top. Yum!!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Christmas is almost upon us (ok...not really. I'm just thinking ahead for a change.) and I found this recipe. What a perfect gift idea, yes?? I think so. Little bottles, a custom label and ribbon. How cute would that be? The vanilla beans are a little expensive, but since you can reuse them for at least a year they'd be worth the investment.

Ingredients
10 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
1 liter vodka

Directions
Place the vanilla beans in the bottle of vodka and seal. Store in a cool, dark area such as a kitchen cabinet for 3 weeks, shaking the bottle every week. Three weeks is the minimum, store it 6 months for the best flavor. After using, replace with more vodka. The same beans will continue to flavor the vanilla for up to a year.

Did you know that imitaion vanilla is made with synthetic vanilla from glycoside found in the sapwood of certain conifers and from coal extracts? Ugh! So I'll be making my own from now on. Here's an interesting site about vanilla and where it comes from. http://www.joyofbaking.com/Vanilla.html

And here's another good site. You can buy vanilla beans here, too. http://www.amadeusvanillabeans.com/ Enjoy!

Easy Biscuits~Really!

I just tried this recipe tonight and it is so easy and so good! They come out a lot like KFC biscuits. The only thing I did different from this recipe is that instead of patting out the dough and cutting it I took balls of the dough and put them in a greased muffin pan. That's how I usually do my biscuits because it's quicker and easier for me than rolling it out and cutting them. And I'm all for quicker and easier!

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup milk

Directions
Combine and mix ingredients together. Pour out on floured waxed paper. Pat the dough out with your hands until dough is not sticky (add a little flour if necessary). Fold double. Cut biscuits with a biscuit cutter.
Bake on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes.

Zucchini Crisp

I was looking through my recipes on here and couldn't believe I hadn't added this one. It's Earl's favorite and I've been making it for him for more than 8 years. Honestly, if you don't tell anyone it's zucchini they'll swear it's apples. An especially good recipe if you over did zucchini in the garden!

Crisp Mixture:

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 pound butter or margarine (3 sticks)

Filling:

8 cups prepared zucchini (About 3-4 medium,which have been peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced. I sometimes just grate them.)

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup Crisp Mixture (see above)

1 to 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg1 tablespoon cinnamon

To prepare the Crisp Mixture:

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar and salt . Using a pastry
blender, cut in butter or margarine until mixture is crumbly; set aside.

To prepare the Filling:

In a large saucepan, over medium-high heat, cook the zucchini, lemon juice and vinegar together, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is very tender, but still retains its shape. Stir in 1/2 cup of the prepared Crisp Mixture, and the brown sugar, nutmeg and salt. Simmer over low heat several minutes, stirring constantly, to allow the filling to thicken, and the flavors to blend.

Pat half of the remaining crisp mixture into a 9 x 13-inch pan. Spread the zucchini filling over the base. Sprinkle the rest of the crisp mixture evenly over the filling; press lightly. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until bubbly hot throughout, and top is lightly browned.

Serve warm or cold. Very good with vanilla ice cream.

AWESOME BEER BREAD!!

I have to thank my Facebook friend, Brooke for this recipe. She posted it on her forum and it sounded so good I had to try it! It was FABULOUS!! A heavy, dense bread that I was thinking would be perfect with a big bowl of chili. Of course, that's if it lasts until dinner. My Earl ate almost the whole loaf by himself. LOL

3 cups of self-rising flour (or all purpose flour + 1 T baking powder)
1 T sugar
1 egg
1 12-oz can of beer

Mix it all together and dump in a greased bread pan. Bake at 375F for about 46 minutes. Best to have the oven pre-heated.

I added parmesan cheese and garlic powder to my loaf. You could also try dill, rosemary, oregano and shredded cheese. I was thinking about using sharp cheddar or pepperjack next time. Easy Peasy!

STICKY BUNS

Yummy, good and quick.

STICKY BUNS

3 rolls buttermilk biscuits

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

chopped pecans

cinnamon and sugar

Nuts and cinnamon sugar amounts to taste.

Melt butter, ice cream, sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Pour mixture into 8x10 inch glass dish. Add pecans over mixture. Section biscuits into 4's (each single biscuit). Drop into tupperware bowl with cinnamon and sugar. Cover and shake up so all pieces have sugar and cinnamon on them.

Place dough quarters on mixture. Add the leftover cinnamon and sugar on top of biscuits.

Make sure all mixture is covered by biscuits. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes. Flip dish over onto plate.

Greasy Duck

This is a duck.....duhhhhhhh

I have tried duck one time and have come to the conclusion that you will NEVER find a recipe in this blog having to do with duck. I found it tough and greasy and blechhhhh. Anyway...I haven't posted here in awhile and it's about time to come up with something else scrumptious to let you know about. It will NOT, however contain duck.