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January 26, 2016 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

Karen’s Recipe File: Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Here’s my all-time comfort dessert – Hot Fudge Pudding Cake.

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake is an old fashioned dessert my mom used to make that has become a classic right along with Snickerdooles, Rice Pudding and cheesecake. My daughters prefer this to anything else for their birthdays. I love it so much, I’m willing to suffer the pain from my allergy to chocolate. Believe me, it is a dish that isn’t much to look at but the taste is beyond awesome.

It has to be eaten within ten minutes of coming out of the oven so it isn’t the greatest potluck or company dish. It can be warmed up the next day but isn’t quite the same. On the other hand, this is so wonderful some of us will eat it warm, cold, lefteover—should it last so long. Some, like my husband, want to adorn it with whipped cream or ice cream? Die hards like I and my daughters don’t want to minimize the awesome taste or waste time getting out the extra. Just give us a bowl of the good stuff.

So, the best way to serve Hot Fudge Pudding Cake? Invite some girlfriends over who need a chocolate fix and serve it straight out of the oven. Be sure to have the coffee or hot tea prepared beforehand. Another serving suggestion? Half the recipe and eat it in secret. But let’s face it. Chocolate is twice as yummy if you can share it with someone else.

If this recipe needs any improvement, try using dark chocolate cocoa. Oh my!

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp shortening, melted
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1-3/4 cups hot water

Blend flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and the 2 Tbsp cocoa in bowl. Stir in milk and shortening. Blend in nuts. Spread in greased square 9×9 pan. Mix brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa together; sprinkle over cake mixture. Pour hot water over entire batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. During baking, cake mixture will rise to the top and chocolate sauce will settle to the bottom. Cut into squares; invert each square onto dessert plate; spoon sauce over top. Or, invert entire pudding on platter. Serve warm. Can serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream but why would you want to do that?

December 2, 2015 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

Christmas Cookie Decorating Tips

Here’s my five decorating tips for making stress-free Christmas Cookies.

I woke up this morning, ready to mail a Christmas present to a friend. I found the box for the present. I found the shipping box. Ah! There’s room on the side of the shipping box. Just the right space for a package of cookies.

I had just bought a cool canister of sprinkles from Aldi’s. I’ll make iced sugar cookies. This would be a good time to make Great-Grandma Flossy’s Drop Sugar Cookies. I haven’t made those in years. I could ice them and decorate them and . . .

What am I thinking? I hate icing cookies! I don’t do it very well. I’ve got other things to do. Why not? My husband’s taking a vacation day today and I should too. Here we go.

As I iced my cookies, I learned a few things that probably apply to anytime I need to do something new. Here’s my decorating tips for frosting Christmas cookies.

Learn as you go. I haven’t iced sugar cookies in years. I fret over cake frosting. Christmas sugar cookies, like fudge and other holiday specialties, are one of those thing we don’t do often enough to remember what we did the last time. At first, my frosting was too thick. My husband thought I wasn’t putting on enough frosting. The goo of icing running over the sides made him realize why I was being chintzy. Then I thinned the icing too much. The icing dried before Jack could apply the sprinkles. I was icing cookies too quickly for him to keep up.

If he and I had been tense about every cookie being perfect, we would have ended the cookie icing session with a marital spat and un-iced cookies. Instead, we relaxed and talked through how to make each cookie better.

Do it with someone else. I could have done the cookies by myself. I’m sure many bakers do and they’ve got their method down to a fine art. Because of my vision, I knew the sprinkles part would be more frustration than it was worth. So I asked Jack to help me. He’s on vacation; he’s not doing anything. I’m glad I had the excuse of poor vision to get him involved. The job did go faster with two people. Besides it was fun. Just ask him. J

Enjoy the moment. I mean, someone has to destroy the evidence of burnt and broken cookies, and drippy icing. I should have painted Jack’s nose with icing. I could have added red sprinkles and called him Rudolf!

Give yourself a second chance. As I mentioned, I fret over frosting. My recipe was that of my great-grandma Flossy, a soft sugar cookie that I remember loving as a child but the one time I made them as an adult, they were horrible. My girls found the recipe in my file and wondered why I had kept it. I don’t know what compelled me to try them this morning or to put icing on them. I’m the one who chafes at icing anything. But I’m glad I did. It wasn’t that hard and we had fun. Maybe I have matured and learned to relax over the years. I’m the one that has changed. It’s refreshing to try things again that were difficult or scary in a younger season of life.

Risk it! I made the cookies this morning to ship to a friend in Ohio. What was I thinking? An old recipe, icing I don’t feel competent to apply, and shipping iced cookies that might get stale, broken and smooshed in the shipping process.

Why not? It’s Christmas. I love my friend. I love baking. I love spending time with my husband. Aren’t those things more important than perfect cookies? It’s time for me to observe the advice I gave my daughters countless times: the process is more important than the product.

Here’s Great-Grandma Flossy’s recipe for Drop Sugar Cookies. You can figure out your own icing.

Grandma Flossy’s Drop Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon rind
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
2 cups flour (part whole wheat if desired)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda

Blend together margarine ( used butter), salt, lemon rind (I used a ½ tsp lemon juice instead), and nutmeg. Cream in sugar, add eggs and beat well. Stir in milk. Stir together dry ingredients and stir into creamed mixture. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

November 6, 2015 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

My Best Brownies

A pan of brownies and a place to escape. That will keep any college student happy.

I used to think brownies were finicky to make, had expensive ingredients, and contained more sugar than the food police allowed. Then a friend gave me this recipe and it’s been my go to recipe for something quick and easy to take to group gatherings.

I should have made these when Marcie invited us to the Barn Dance. Instead, I tried to use up some apples and made applesauce bars that didn’t turn out so well. My brownies would have been the failsafe thing to bring.

Marcie owns this 100-year-old large, airy barn that’s been renovated and updated several times in its long life. Every year, Marcie invites college students from the nearby University campus ministry group to come out for an evening of goodies, hot apple cider, and line dancing. This group of kids is great. They set up, enjoy themselves for the evening, and tear down. A small group even came out a week beforehand to help Marcie move furniture.

Marcie reminds me of Betty. When my daughter attended Ohio State University, Betty invited students from the campus ministry and her Sunday School class to a bonfire at her country home several times. They would roast hot dogs, make s’mores, and sing around the campfire. Other times, Betty would invite a group of college girls out to her home.They would pick apples at a nearby farm then return to Betty’s home where Betty taught them how to make apple pie.

“How old is this Sunday School class?” I asked my daughter.

“Oh Betty’s age.”

I got suspicious. “How old is Betty?”

“Probably in her seventies.” Uh huh. Wow. This is the lady whom, Christine tells me, goes on short term mission trips to Nicaragua and Zimbabwe.

The students loved going out to Betty’s house. It was a relief to get away from the compact, claustrophobic campus into the fresh open air of the country. Mingling with the older people was a good reminder of the real world, a world made up of more generations than just college aged students. As they sat around the fire, the older generation would share their wisdom and advice with the young adults.

How memorable. How meaningful. All it takes is a willing hostess no matter how old she might be, a meeting place, and a couple pans of brownies, some apple cider and maybe a few hot dogs. Or let the kids bring the food. They’ll just be happy you asked them to come.

MY BEST BROWNIES

brownies 2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 sticks butter, melted
2 cups flour
½ cup cocoa
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup nuts

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 10×15 jelly roll pan. Beat the sugar and eggs together. Add butter, flour, cocoa, vanilla, and nuts: beat well. Pour into greased pan, spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes or until edges start to pull away. Do NOT overbake! Cool in pan ten minutes; cut into squares and remove from pan.

September 30, 2015 by Karen Wingate 3 Comments

Gluten Free Apple Crisp

Do you have friends who struggle with Celiac Disease, gluten intolerance, or just prefer to stay gluten free? Next time, you’re in a group gathering, consider making a gluten free Apple Crisp. Your gluten conscious friends will be delighted at your thoughtfulness.

While we aren’t gluten intolerant, our family loves Apple Crisp. I call it my healthy dessert because it’s full of the goodness of apples and oats. It’s also easily adaptable to meet various health needs. I use half brown sugar and half Splenda for the sake of my diabetic husband. My recipe calls for ½ cup flour so I replace the white flour with whole wheat flour to make the carbs more nutrient dense. Alas, flour has gluten. For my recipe, I’ve replaced the flour with more oats and have ground part of the oats to make a course flour. That is a bit more work!

Apple Crisp with jasmine tea - a wonderful combo! — Apple Crisp with jasmine tea – a wonderful combo!

My literary agent, Linda Glaz, has a great recipe for gluten free apple crisp that also reduces the amount of processed sugar and is simpler than my adaptations.

Linda says she uses organic oats. While oatmeal is gluten free, for those who are very sensitive to gluten, Quaker Oats can be contaminated with other products. If you buy organic, Linda says, you have a better chance of avoiding cross contamination.

Here’s Linda’s recipe for Apple Crisp:

5-6 sweet apples. (If they are the firmer type, just slice VERY thin.) Put about 1/3 cup oats in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Spray or butter it first.

Slice apples into pan. After the first 3, add about 1/2 c white sugar or 1/4 c stevia and 1/4c sugar. (YOU can use all stevia which I usually do if it’s just for me, but for others I use all sugar or 1/2 and 1/2. Then finish slicing apples. Cover with another 1/2 cup of sweetener plus 1t cinnamon.

If they (the person who is gluten intolerant) can have cornstarch, I put about 1T of organic cornstarch in the sweet mix to thicken the apples just slightly, but it’s good without as well.

I use a good 2-3 cups of oats, I love it thick on top. A stick or butter OR even better, 1/2 stick and1/4 c coconut or mild olive oil. Add 1T brown sugar plus 3-4T stevia. Also, you can add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts, Walnuts and pecans. Gives it some protein and
is really delish in the topping. Be sure the oats glisten a bit, if not, add a tad more oil. They should have a light glisten to them.

Bake in 375′ oven for 50-60 minutes. If the top is browning too much after 30minutes, turn the heat down to 350. Push a fork in to be sure that the apples are super tender.

That’s it. Put on some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and enjoy!

Linda Glaz is one super agent who works for the Hartline Literary Agency, and is an encourager extraordinaire. Not only does Linda mentor and champion all her clients, she is also an author and a blogger. Linda writes on the writing life.

You can check out some of Linda’s latest titles here