Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake
This recipe can be done without the lemon. It's just my FAVORITE way to do it. Please be aware that the recipe makes a large amount of batter. I usually end up with a bundt pan AND a loaf pan of cake made. Also, it is best to make this with all of your ingredients at room temperature.
2 cups softened butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour (I prefer cake flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sour cream
Zest and juice from two lemons
Topping:
Zest and juice from one lemon
Confectioner's sugar
Milk
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour your pans.
2. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. This could take some time. Be patient. You want a lot of fluffiness to this. Add eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly with each one. Add yolks and vanilla.
3. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add alternately with sour cream until blended. Be careful not to mix too much. You don't want the gluten to stiffen.
4. Add juice and zest mixing until just blended.
5. Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool on a wire rack for at least ten minutes before inverting, tapping cake out and completing the cooling.
7. For the topping, if you choose to do without the lemon, just dust with confectioner's sugar. If you choose to use lemon, the amount of ingredients you use for your topping is up to you. I like to start off with a cup of the confectioner's sugar and add the lemon juice and zest. From there, I decide how thick I want it and whether or not I need to add milk or more sugar. Then, I just drizzle it over the top.
05/06/20
EASY Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix the ingredients listed until completely combined.
Make dough balls about 1-1 1/2 inches around and set on parchment paper.
Using a fork dipped in sugar, make a crisscross pattern on the cookies.
Bake 9-10 minutes until cookies are just set on the edges. Cook on baking sheet for several minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
06/28/2019
Buttermilk Pie
Buttermilk Pie is a staple at our holiday celebrations. It sounds terrible to people who have never had it. But, once you've had it, you are hooked!
1 9-inch pie crust (I seriously DESPISE making crusts, so, I buy them)
1 1/4 cups white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 stick of melted butter (use REAL butter please, salted or unsalted, I personally don't care)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
Extra sugar for sprinkling
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix together sugar, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Add in the butter (make sure it has cooled a bit). Stir in the flour making sure to leave no clumps. Add the salt and stir well. Pour into your pie crust. Sprinkle a light layer of sugar on top. Bake 45-50 minutes until set in the middle. Cool and store in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Make sure you top it with whipped cream!
**Some people like to add things like 1/2 tsp of nutmeg of a bit of lemon juice and zest to their pies. I prefer mine just as the recipe is written.
06/28/2019
Chocolate Chip Cookies
It seems to have been a while since I posted in this spot and for that, I am truly ashamed. I have SO many great recipes that I need to get them all in one spot for everyone to see and use. This is, for us, THE best recipe for chocolate chip cookies. We love soft cookies in our house. I will give some modifications at the bottom if you prefer crispy cookies.
1 1/2 cups of butter-flavored shortening
1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
1 1/4 cups of white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp HOT water
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups or one package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. (This isn't a necessity. I just prefer it for ease of cookie removal and cleanup.) In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in water. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Once all of the eggs have been added, add the vanilla and mix well. Pour the soda and water mixture in and incorporate throughout the mixture. Add the flour mixture about a third at a time. Stir in your chocolate chips. Place dough on prepared cookie sheets. I use about a heaping tablespoon to two tablespoons of the mixture per cookie. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Allow to cool for at least three minutes before removing to a wire rack for continued cooling.
***I used the base recipe to make "Junk Cookies" a while back. I used about 1/2-3/4 cups each of chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, m&m's and mini Reese's pieces. My kids DEVOURED these cookies.
***Crispy cookies You can make the cookies crispier by using half shortening and half butter or all butter in place of the butter-flavored shortening. You will also want to eliminate the baking powder and use plain all-purpose flour instead of the cake flour.
07/28/2012
Abbi begged me to buy this "chocolate chip bread" she saw in Wal-Mart one day. I told her it was a pound cake and I could bake one. Of course, she had to know if I could. So, here's the recipe.
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup butter flavored shortening
3 cups sugar
6 eggs at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan AND a loaf pan. TRUST me, this recipe makes a LOT of cake! In a bowl, sift flour, salt, soda, and powder together. Combine butter, shortening and sugar in a large mixing bowl. I like to start mixing the butter and shortening, then add the sugar a half cup at a time. Once the sugar is completely incorporated and the mixture is lighter in color and fluffy, start adding the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla with the last egg. Start adding the flour mixture and alternate it with the sour cream. I like to do them in fourths. Once you have added all flour and sour cream, stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into the pans making sure you leave AT LEAST an inch of room at the top. I know it's a pound cake, but, it DOES rise! Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn your pans 180 degrees and reduce the oven temperature to 325. Bake for another 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. You can garnish this with powdered sugar, a light sugar glaze, or a chocolate syrup glaze for a REAL treat. I hope you enjoy this one!
10/15/2011
This is the one dessert I get more requests for than anything else. You can make your own toppings to go with it and enjoy or simply eat it alone.
New York Style Cheesecake
5 packages of cream cheese
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sugar
1 stick of butter
Preheat oven to 250. Line bottom and sides of a spring-form pan with parchment paper. Make sure the parchment paper ring comes a couple of inches above the top of the pan. Mix the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter together. Press it into the bottom of the pan. In a mixing bowl, add cream cheese and start mixing. Add sugar and blend well. Once sugar has added, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well. Add the yolks one at a time and blend well. Add in the flour and then the cream, mixing well after each addition. Pour the mixture into the pan on top of the crust. Bake for three hours until springy and solid on top. Let the cheesecake cool for at least an hour and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
09/11/2011
Ok, Ladies, I don't know about you all, but, when I get PMS, I get cravings. I usually want sweet and chocolately and immediately after, I want salty. I might have succeeded in calming the beast with this one, so, I will call them PMS cookies. You can cut the quantity down, if you want, but, for my family, this was the way to go!
PMS Cookies
2 cups butter flavored shortening
2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla (use the good stuff)
4 eggs
1 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 1/2 cups cake flour (trust me!)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 package chocolate chips
1 package Reese's baking candy pieces
1 cup Reese's chips
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Beat shortening and sugars until creamy.
3. Add vanilla, then eggs one at a time beating well between each.
4. Beat in the cocoa powder
5. Sift together flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. Then, add to mix a little at a time, blending well.
6. Add chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and Reese's pieces.
7. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheet. (I like to line my sheets with parchment paper for easier cookie removal.
8. Bake for 9 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from sheet. Place on cooling rack.
** Cookies will be soft so BE CAREFUL!
01/11/11
Today, I had a craving for lemon pound cake and decided to make one. I had to make up the recipe as I went and so, here it is.
Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake
The above was the general pound cake recipe. Here is how I altered it. I added most of the zest from a large lemon. I then used the rest of the zest, half of the juice and about a cup and a half of confectioner's sugar to make a topping. I added enough milk to make a slightly runny icing and drizzled it over the cooled cake.
10/04/2010
I totally made this recipe up this weekend. I was set a challenge by a friend of mine. We had decided to grill out and she said I couldn't come up with a grilled dessert. First time out, it wasn't bad, but, the grill got too hot and part of it burned. The part that didn't burn was very tasty!
Grilled Strawberry Pizza
1 small package goat cheese
2 tbsp honey
1 pint strawberries
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 package refrigerated pizza dough (in a tube)
chocolate syrup
Slice the strawberries and mix with sugar and vinegar. Set aside. Mix the goat cheese and honey in a small bowl. Set grill rack on top to middle of grill. Lay dough on aluminum foil. Spread goat cheese on dough. Cover with drained strawberry mixture. Lightly squeeze a layer of chocolate across strawberries. Place foil with pizza on grill rack. Cover pizza with another layer of foil. Bake until dough is done. This is imprecise due to coal temperature variations. Just watch it carefully and be prepared to remove when done.
08/09/2010
Today's recipe is a fan request. I posted on my facebook that I was making these and several people commented on it, so, I am going to share. These are sooooooo good!! My oh-so-picky daughter loves them. Of course, the fact that they are chocolate helps. The recipe only makes about two dozen cookies, so feel free to double, triple, quadruple, etc if necessary. I made two batches today and I have a feeling they will all be gone by bedtime!
Chocolate Truffle Cookies
3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter diced
1 beaten egg
1 Tbsp orange juice, strong coffee, or a chocolate liqueur
Powdered sugar
Sift together flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Stir in sugar (I like to use a fork for this). Cut in the butter until mixed well and granulated looking. Beat the egg and orange juice together (I used fresh squeezed). Stir into dry mixture until the entire mix forms a small ball. Refrigerate this mixture for at least 30 minutes. I actually chose to put it in the freezer so I could chill it well and it would stick together. Preheat the oven to 400. Roll the dough into balls about the size of a walnut, maybe a bit smaller. Roll in the powdered sugar, coating well. Bake for 10 minutes. I like to use parchment paper on my pan just to be sure that I prevent any sticking. Serve them up with ice cold milk and enjoy!
08/06/2010
Ok. Right here, I am giving up one of my secret recipes. This recipe took me a very long time to develop the way I Cook wanted. Now, I don't even have to look at it. I just know it by heart. I have made this for so many occasions and just because my family loves it.
Chocolate Fudge
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter
12 oz semi sweet chocolate ( can be chips or chopped up)
Bring sugar, milk, and salt to a boil over medium high heat. Stir this mixture often. Boil until it reaches the soft ball stage. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and butter. Let sit for just a couple of minutes. Add the chocolate. Stir rapidly until all the chocolate is melted. Pour the mixture into a buttered pan. I like to use an 8x8 or 9x9 pan so we get thick squares. I usually cool mine in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. I prefer several hours to overnight. When the time comes to cut the fudge, soak the pan in hot water for just a couple of minutes. It melts the butter and causes the fudge to loosen. I hope you use this and enjoy!
07/30/2010
If you want rich, I've got rich! This cake is so decadent and rich, you will love it, if you like rich. I LOVE chocolate. I mean, REALLY LOVE chocolate. At one point, I HAD to have a little every day. This is not exactly a bad thing, because, I married a man who enjoys chocolate just as much as I do! Before Chris, I had NEVER met a man who like chocolate so much! Try this recipe and let me know what you think about it :)
Flourless Chocolate Cake
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate squares chopped
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
3 eggs beaten well
1 tsp vanilla
In double boiler (or microwave), melt chocolate and butter together. Add sugar until well dissolved. Add cocoa and vanilla. Temper eggs in by slowly adding a bit of the chocolate mixture to the eggs. After two to three tablespoons of the chocolate has been mixed into the eggs, add this mixture to the chocolate. Pour into a greased and cocoa dusted 8" cake pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and then turn out onto a pretty plate. I like to dust this with powdered sugar or use whipped cream for a topping. This cake is dense and rich, so, I slice it small :) You can't use the traditional toothpick test for this cake. If it is no longer liquid or jelly-like in the center, it is done. I welcome comments!
