Kahlua Chocolate Cake

First off, apologies for letting it be so long (almost a week!) since my last post. Time flies when you're not getting much done!

Now, onto... cake! I first had this when hanging out with a couple friends on Valentine's Day two years ago. We were missing one of the ingredients - the sour cream, I think? - and it still came out pretty yummy, but if you get this recipe right, it's perfectly moist and chocolatey.

Ingredients

1 box devil's food cake mix
1 small (4-serving size) box chocolate instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup Kahlua

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine all ingredients except the chips in a large bowl. Blend well and beat either by hand or on medium speed with electric mixer for 4 minutes. Stir in the chips.

Pour cake batter into greased 10" tube or Bundt pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until cake tests done. Let sit in pan until slightly cooled (10-20 minutes) before removing the cake.

Blah blah blah

This cake is so good that it doesn't need frosting, but if you wanted something super-decadent I think a ganache frosting would be a great way to go. And though you do have to let this cool a little bit to get the cake out of the pan without breaking it, eat it warm!

Quigley's Cookies

The story of how I invented these cookies is a long, complicated tale that - okay, it isn't; I was bored, craving sweets, and my mom mocked the way I pronounced the name "Quigley" (I said it kinda like, quig-uh-lee. Hey, I think it's cute). Thus, deliciousness was to be had.

Some credit should go to Jif and to Tollhouse; this recipe is basically a mash-up of their respective peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies recipe. Because of the cinnamon-sugar coating, these are also part snickerdoodle.

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 2/3 cups chocolate chips

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp white (granulated) sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla until well-blended. Add the egg and beat just until blended.

In another medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to the peanut butter mixture (by hand, or on low speed if using a mixer) just until blended.

Stir in the chocolate chips (I find using a large spatula the easiest for mixing in the chips).

On a plate or in a shallow bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon until thoroughly mixed. Roll tablespoonfuls of cookie dough into balls, then roll them in the cinnamon-sugar until coated on all sides. Bake on ungreased baking sheets for 12-14 minutes or until browned.

Apple Pie Cake

This is a no-fail recipe... unless you do something really freakish. Simple and fantastic on a cold autumn or winter night!

Ingredients

2 cans apple pie filling
ground cinnamon, if desired
1 box yellow cake mix

2 sticks butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spread the apple pie filling in a 9"x13" baking pan and sprinkle with the ground cinnamon if desired. Evenly sprinkle the dry cake mix over the pie filling. Pour the melted butter on top of the cake mix. Do not stir!

Bake 35-45 minutes or until the cake/butter mixture has formed a crust and has turned a golden to dark-golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or Cool whip if you're into that kind of thing.

Variations

I've tried this with a couple of other pie fillings, but apple really is the best. Cake mix flavors other than yellow wouldn't be as good, either, although I intend to try it with spice cake someday - yum!

Peach Tart, and: Peeling Peaches!

Some time back, I made an apple tart that was very good but also... explosive. Not really thinking about the purpose of why I was doing it, I added baking powder and baking soda to a recipe that didn't really need to rise. Thus, there was overflow of yum stickiness into the bottom of the oven that left it smelling like burnt marshmallows for weeks - not fun.

Anyway, having learned from my mistake, I went ahead and made a non-explosive but still delicious peach tart this evening. Here's the recipe, and a tip afterwards on a seriously easy way to peel peaches (I didn't believe it would work either, until I did it!)

Ingredients

1 refrigerated 9" pie crust

fresh ripe peaches, peeled and cut into small chunks (2-3 large peaches, or 4-5 small peaches)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
few dashes pumpkin pie spice (or mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice)
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped or finely ground
2 graham crackers, crushed/finely ground
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 stick of butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Remove pie crust from fridge and set aside until soft enough to unroll. When ready, press it into the bottom of a pie pan or quiche dish.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. When thoroughly combined, stir in the milk until it resembles melted caramel. Stir in the peaches. Pour the peaches and "sauce" into the ready pie crust.

In a medium bowl, combine the walnuts, crushed graham crackers, sugar, and cinnamon. Stir in melted butter until the entire mixture is moist. Sprinkle on top of the tart.

Bake for 35-45 minutes; tart will be ready when the fruit is "bubbling" and the crust is golden brown.

Peeling Peaches

This was so surpisingly easy to do, but you'll need to have your supplies ready:

- Deep pot or saucepan that can hold water to cover the entire peach
- Tongs that you can grab the peaches with, or a long handled spoon
- Deep bowl of ice water

Fill the pot up with water and heat until it is rapidly boiling. Carefully place one peach in the pot and let sit for 30-60 seconds. Remove the peach from the boiling water, and immediately put into the ice water. Let the peach get cool enough to handle (probably only 10-15 seconds), remove from the water, and peel off the skin with your fingers.

Repeat the process for more peaches as necessary; if you're doing several, keep some extra ice on hand to add to the bowl. If the peel is not easily removeable (sp?), try submerging in boiling water again, and cold water again.