Eclairs

Eclairs have always been one of my absolute favorite desserts--creamy filling, puff pastry, and chocolate icing. Does it get any better than that?

Well, to my surprise, they were easy to make and made for a fun Easter family activity. The kids loved watching them puff up in the oven, poking the wholes in the pastries, frosting the eclairs and sprinkling them with colored sprinkles. Even though there are three different steps to these dessert pastries, they were actually quite simple to make. Give them a try, your family and friends will think you slaved all day in the kitchen!


FIRST STEP: ECLAIR PASTRY SHELLS

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour (I used bread flour and it worked well)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring until butter melts completely. Reduce heat to low, and add flour and salt. Stir vigorously until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and begins to form a stiff ball. Remove from heat. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to incorporate completely after each addition. With a Ziploc gallon bag or a pastry bag fitted with a No. 10, or larger, tip, spoon or pipe dough onto cookie sheet in 1 1/2 x 4 inch strips (mine were more like 1 inch x 3 inch strips).
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 325 degrees F and bake 20 minutes more, until hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom. Cool completely on a wire rack. (I made my eclairs a little smaller, so they only needed 15 minutes at 450 and then 5-8 minutes at 325--it depends on the size of your eclair)
4. Remove pastries from pan and let cool on the counter or a wire rack. Poke a small whole in the side of the pastry to let the steam escape-this prevents them from getting soggy.


STEP TWO: THE FILLING

1 (6oz.) Instant (or Cook n' Serve) Vanilla Pudding
2 1/4 c. milk
1/2 t. vanilla

1. Combine pudding mix, vanilla, and milk in medium bowl according to package directions. Let pudding set in the fridge until firm. Fold into pudding an 8oz. container of Cool Whip (or, you can make real whipping cream and use that instead).

**I actually made my homemade Vanilla Custard and used that instead of the packaged pudding. If you want a richer eclair, use this recipe. Fold the Cool Whip into the homemade custard just as you would the instant pudding.
2. Put cooled pudding into a pastry bag or Gallon Ziploc bag that has been cut on the corner. Squeeze filling to the corner of the bag. Place the corner of the bag or the pastry bag into the whole in the side of the eclair. Press the pudding mixture into the pastry, trying to fill the entire pastry cavity. This works best with a pastry bag, but will work with the Ziploc bag as long as you push as much of the corner of the bag into the whole as possible. This part can be a little messy--have fun licking up the drippings! 
3. To make frosting the eclairs easier and to help the pudding set up, freeze the eclairs for a few minutes (or hours) until ready to frost.

STEP THREE: CHOCOLATE ICING

3 T. cocoa powder
2 T. hot water
2 T. butter
1 to 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

1. Melt the butter and water slightly in the microwave, until soft. Add the cocoa powder and vanilla to mixture. Mix until smooth. Add the powdered sugar gradually until icing is smooth and shiny. Icing will want to be a little soft for the dipping of the eclairs.
2. Take the eclairs out of the freezer. Dip the tops of the filled eclair into the chocolate icing. Sprinkle eclairs or decorate as desired. Keep eclairs cool until ready to serve.

Cornbread Cake

Cornbread Cake 
1 c. sugar
1 c. margarine
1 ½ c. flour
1 c. cornmeal
2 t. baking powder
2 t. salt
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ c. milk

Cream sugar and butter. Add rest of ingredients. Put in a greased 9x9 pan. Bake 350 for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Can be doubled and baked in 9 x 13 for approximately one hour.

Southwestern Chicken Egg Rolls

One of my FAVORITE quick and easy meals (or appetizer). Southwestern Egg Rolls (like the ones at Chilis). Another added bonus is that almost ALL of the ingredients are staples in your food storage, or items I recommend having a 3 month supply of in your freezer (these items have a * next to them). It makes for a quick meal in a hurry! Enjoy ;)

Southwestern Egg Rolls

1 chicken breast fillet, diced *
½ red bell pepper, minced *
2 T. green onion, minced
¼ c. white onion, minced
1 can corn (or frozen about 1 c.) *
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained *
2 T. spinach, sliced very thinly (optional)
1 small can green chilies *
½ T. parsley *
½ t. cumin *
½ t. chili powder *
¼ t. salt *
dash cayenne pepper *
1 c. Ceddar Cheese, shredded*
Flour Tortillas *

Avocado-ranch dipping sauce:
1 c. ranch (any style) *
1 whole avocado, mashed (Or more if you like it!)
1 tsp. minced onion *
Salt & Pepper *
Blend together with blender.

Cook chicken and dice. In large bowl mix all ingredients together.
Sauté all ingredients (including chicken) until warm. Remove from heat and add shredded cheese. Mix well. Warm tortillas. Place ½ c. or so of mixture inside a tortilla. Fold completely together so mixture can not escape. Place inside a panni grill or George Forman to grill and melt cheese. You can also make like a grilled cheese sandwich, just put something heavy on top of burrito to grill. Serve with dipping sauce.

Zucchini Cake

Favorite Zucchini CakeMargaret Taylor (Hyrum, UT)
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
2/3 cup oil (also good with 1/3 cup vegetable or fruit puree and 1/3 cup oil)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups oats
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
¾ tsp. ground cloves
3 cups shredded zucchini

Homemade Wendy's Choc. Frosties!

Homemade Chocolate Frosties
1 1/2 - 2 cups ICE water- really, really cold.
1 1/2 cups non-fat dry milk powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2-3 cups ice cubes
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (yes, really- it’s an emulsifier)

Place ALL the ingredients in the blender, including the oil. Use less water for a thicker milkshake or more for a shake that’s easier on your blender motor. With lid on, process for two minutes. Makes about 4 shakes.

Peach Jam Recipe

6 c. peaches, mashed (skins removed)

1 pkg. pectin

1/4 c. lemon juice

Stir above ingredients and let sit for 5 minutes. Bring to a rolling boil and add 5 c. sugar. Mix well and continue to boil for 5 more minutes (at FULL boil). Check jam after 5 minutes with a metal spoon. If the spoon is coated with jam and if the jam is no longer runny, then jam is done. If it is not thick enough, you can continue to boil for 5-10 more minutes or until thick. When done, put in canning jars and wet bathe them for 30 minutes, or freeze them.

Banana Bread

If you have ever had dry, flavorless banana bread, you need to give banana bread another try! This recipe is a family favorite and once you try it, you will NEVER go back to your old recipes again! It is fabulous as a bread..or you can put the batter in a 9x13 cake pan and frost with homemade cream cheese frosting! Yum! Give this old time favorite another try :)

Banana Bread

1 ¼ c. sugar
½ c. margarine
1 c. banana pulp (2 bananas)
4 T. sour cream
2 eggs
1 ½ c. flour (wheat flour tastes great in this recipe! You could also do 1/2 white & 1/2 wheat)
1 t. soda
1 t. vanilla
½ t. salt

Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs and add. Dissolve soda in sour cream and add with flour and rest of batter. Grease bread pan and flour. Cook at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean). Check at 1 hour. 

**Tip: Do you ever have bananas on your counter that are too dark and ripe to eat, and you feel badly throwing them away. These are PERFECT banana bread bananas. If you don't have time to make banana bread right away, peel the banana and put it in a ziploc bag to freeze. I keep a zip loc bag with ripe bananas in my freezer at all times. When you are ready to bake, pull them out, microwave or let them thaw and you will have delicious banana bread in about an hour. You know the saying..waste not, want not :)

Whole Wheat Bread

Okay...so I thought I could bake a pretty good loaf of whole wheat bread, until... I had my friend Emilies bread & WOW, she put mine to shame! For the longest time we couldn't figure out what the difference was in our bread. Mine was great right out of the oven, but hers was AWESOME out of the oven AND several days later. It was moist, soft & elasticy (is that a word??) like store bought bread. We compared recipes & realized she does three things different. First, her recipe has Vital Wheat Gluten in it, second, she 'sponges' her dough (I will explain this process below), and third she uses special bread pans (not really...just ones that acctually make your bread come out without ripping the sides apart!) These three additions to your homemade bread will make ALL the difference! So...here is the 'secret' recipe:

Emilie's Whole Wheat Bread

Makes 4 8/4 inch loaves.

7 c. whole wheat flour (grind your own if you have a wheat grinder)
2/3 c. vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 T. instant yeast

5 c. steaming hot water (120-130 F)

2 T. salt
2/3 c. oil
2/3 c. honey or 1 c. sugar (I like honey the best!)
2 1/2 T. bottled lemon juice

5 c. whole wheat flour

Mix together the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging). Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and beat for 1 minute. Add last flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This makes very soft dough.

Pre-heat oven for 1 minute to lukewarm and turn off. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into loaves place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes until dough reaches top of pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks. This recipe can be halved to make 2 loaves.

*She ONLY uses Bakers Secret 8x4 inch non stick pans (we could only find them at Smith's grocery store, strange enough).

**Another tip..when the dough is put into the bread pans, squish the dough softly into the corners of your bread loaf pans. This will make your bread cook more evenly and not have the large lump in the middle of your loaf.

Creamy Bolognese and Spaghetti

I don't know if it is the Italian blood in me or not, but I LOVE pasta! I don't know who doesn't, especially kids. Well, if you are tired of the same old spaghetti sauce and noodles, here is a little twist that might make you excited to eat pasta again! Make some homemade French Bread (recipe in past posts) or Macaroni Grill Bread and you have a dinner that tastes as good as any Fancy Shmancy Italian Restaurant....only, for 1/4 the price!!

Creamy Bolognese and Spaghetti
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. extra lean ground beef, sausage or ground turkey (I like Jimmy Dean sausage from Costco)
1-2 c. pre-made spaghetti sauce (my homemade marinara recipe that is to DIE for is one of the first posts on this blog)
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
¼ c. Italian Salad Dressing
4-6 oz. cream cheese (depending how creamy you like it--the 1/3 less fat works great)
2 t. dried basil (fresh is even better!)
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 t. Garlic Spread (from Costco--yummy on anything!)
16 oz. spaghetti noodles
Parmesan cheese

Saute onions in a large skillet on medium heat until they begin to be translucent. Add meat and cook until cooked through, stirring frequently. Drain any excess grease from pan. Stir in spaghetti sauce and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream cheese, seasonings and Italian salad dressing. Serve hot over cooked & drained noodles. Garnish with Parmesan cheese. Serves 6.
*VEGETARIAN OPTION: OMIT MEAT

Margarita Pizza....

Around our house we LOVE making a quick tasty pizza on Saturdays. This is one simple and fairly fast homemade pizza. Start to finish about 1.5 hours. So forget delivery pizza and make your own. You can use this dough for any type of toppings, be we personally LOVE this tomato sauce because we make it with tomatoes from our garden.

Pizza Margherita...Here is the recipe:

Dough: 2 3/4c. All-purpose flour

2 T. cornstarch

2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. table salt

1 1/4 tsp. instant dry yeast

1 cup warm water

Pizza Sauce:
2 T. Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can crushed tomatoes
Salt & Pepper

Directions for dough:
Combine flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt and yeast together. Mix until blended. Add warm water while mixer is on low. Combine for 2 minutes or until all dough is thoroughly combined and pulled away from edges of bowl. Allow to sit for 2 minutes and then mix once more for 30 seconds. Remove from bowl and place in lightly greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Allow to rise in warm area for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Until the dough has doubled in size.

**Preheat your oven with your baking stone in it to 500 degrees for 30 minutes.**This is the key to making a GREAT pizza at home!

Directions for sauce:
Cook the oil and garlic together in a pan over medium heat until sizzling and fragrant. About 1 ½ minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and simmer until the sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Once finished add ¼ c. fresh basil, gently stir until combined.

Directions for pizza:
Remove dough from bowl onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two balls. While working with one dough ball place the other in greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin roll dough out until it is very thin about 14” pizza. Once the dough is to the desired size place on a clean parchment paper on a backing sheet. Then begin by placing the red sauce on the pizza until 1” from the edge. Place olive oil around the crust of the pizza. Remove from baking sheet sliding the pizza and the parchment paper onto the baking stone that is HOT in the oven. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place 1 c. of sliced fresh mozzarella cheese on top. Return to oven for another 4-5 minutes until cheese is slightly cooked but warm through. Remove from heat and place on baking sheet and add tsp. Olive oil, ¼ c. fresh basil and coarse salt. Serve hot. Repeat process for the other pizza dough. ENJOY!!!

Homemade Pretzels

These homemade pretzels were absolutely amazing! Dip them in mustard and you will feel you are the mall at the Pretzel Maker (only BETTER!!). I am going to make these again and play around with different flavors--Parmesan, cinnamon & sugar, etc. They were not hard to make either, so give them a try! They made the perfect after school snack.


*Wrapping the pretzels took a little practice. Don't give up, just keep twisting and you will get it.


*Boiling the raw dough pretzels was an unusual step, but made the pretzels have that perfect chewy texture. Don't over boil them though, or they get soggy and too mushy.

Homemade Soft Pretzels
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2007
Makes 8 pretzels 
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water 
1 tablespoon sugar 
2 teaspoons kosher salt 
1 package active dry yeast 
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups 
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted 
Vegetable oil, for pan 
10 cups water 
2/3 cup baking soda 
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water 
Pretzel salt 

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size. 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan. 

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan. 

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

pesto chicken sandwiches

Pesto Chicken Sandwiches
1 8 oz. package mushrooms, sliced thin
Mozzarella Cheese--a lot of it!
White Bread or Ciabatta Bread (Italian Bread)cut in half 
2 Chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
1 white onion, sliced thin

Cut bread in half and put on cookie sheet face up. Spread pesto on each slice of bread-generously. Saute the chicken in a little olive oil until nearly cooked through. Add the thin slices of onion and mushrooms and saute until tender. Season with Montreal Steak Seasoning. When chicken is cooked through and vegetables are soft, pour the mixture onto the tops of each bread halve. Smother sandwiches with cheese. Place cookie sheet on the bottom shelf in your oven and broil until cheese is melted and golden brown. Serve sandwiches with a spinach salad and you have a great weeknight meal.

Pesto (if you want to be adventurous and make your own):
2 c. Fresh Basil 
¼ c. pine nuts
½ c. parmesan cheese
¼ c. olive oil
1 clove fresh garlic
Salt & pepper

Mince all ingredients in processor except olive oil. When items are pureed, add the olive oil in slowly to help emulsify. Freeze pesto or keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Cinnamon Rolls

I am a BIG fan of cinnamon rolls and can not count the number of different recipes I have tried over the years. Some are too gooey, some too dry, some too thick, some that don't raise, etc. I have a friend Camille that is famous for her AMAZING cinnamon rolls. They are always the perfect texture, the frosting is PERFECT, and they are light and airy. So..I finally got the recipe from her and WOW, they are delicious! I don't think I will try another cinnamon roll recipe again. My only alteration would be that I would maybe 1 1/2 times the frosting recipe..I like a lot of frosting!

Now, my picture does NOT do these cinnamon rolls justice. I had to make FOUR pans of cinnamon rolls (64 rolls) for a church activity and when I got home there were only four cinnamon rolls left. After the children got to them for breakfast, there was ONE lone cinnamon roll left :( So, here is the day-old LAST cinnamon roll left on my pile of four cookie sheets...to show you just how GOOD they are and how fast they go!

Perfect Cinnamon Rolls
1 c. warm milk
1/3 c. melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. salt
4 c. flour
1 T. yeast

Put warm milk, sugar and yeast into your mixer and mix for a minute until combined. Let the yeast grow until foamy and bubbly (about 5-10 minutes). Then add the eggs, butter, flour, and salt and combine until smooth and mixted together. Let dough sit in the bowl until it has doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours). When it has doubled, put a small amount of flour on the counter and pour the dough onto the counter. Roll dough out until it measures 16 inches x 21 inches. 

Filling:
1 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 T. cinnamon
1/3 c. melted butter
Melt butter and spread on dough rectangle. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle all over buttered dough. Roll up and cut into 16 equal rolls.

Place rolls on greased cookie sheet 4 across and 4 down. Cover w/ greased plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour). Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.

Frosting:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. cream cheese
1/2 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt

Frost 1-2 minutes after finished baking.

Raisin Bread

Raisin Bread
* 4 C hot water
* 4 t salt
* 6 T butter
* 3/4 C sugar
* 2 T dry milk (I used 1/4 c)
* 4 t cinnamon
* 2 C raisins (tip for hard raisins that have been stored too long--put them in a bowl with a little water and microwave them for a minute or so. They plump up just like they were brand new and have a softer texture in the bread)
* 10-12 C flour (I found it was about 10 1/2 c.)--you could use all wheat flour or even 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat. The cinnamon gives the bread a brown color anyway, so why not add some wheat to make it healthier
* 2 1/2 T yeast
(1/3 c. vital wheat gluten--optional) Add during the first step with the water, butter, sugar, etc.

1. Put the water, salt, butter, sugar, dry milk, cinnamon and 4 C of the flour in the mixer, mix for 1 minute.

2. Add the yeast.
3. Keep adding the flour one cup at a time until the dough scrapes the side of your mixer clean.

4. Mix for 8 minutes.

5. Add the raisins and mix just until incorporated.

6. Let the dough sit for 5 minutes.

7. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and place each piece in a loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Pick each piece up, holding it in one hand, smack it repeatedly to get the air bubbles out. Shape it into a ball and place it back in the pan. Repeat with each section of dough.

8. Put the pans into a warm 170 degree oven and let rise for about 20 minutes, or until the dough has risen 1 inch above the rim of the pan.

9. Turn the oven up to 350 and bake for 25 minutes. (The 25 minutes includes the time it takes for the oven to increase in temperature)