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2010/02/06
These two yummy chocolate dessert recipes are budget wise and fun to make. Why not make these easy recipes with the special children in your life. Help them make these Valentine’s Day chocolate desserts for their Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Teacher, or Classmates. What a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day…bake some love together and make it love at first bite with an indulgent token of affection. Duncan Hines® makes it easy to create delicious Valentine’s Day moments on a budget with innovative mouthwatering recipes. Your Valentine won’t believe you made these decadent chocolate desserts from a box. Show your love for your family with Classic Red Velvet Cupcakes or bake your sweetheart Valentines…bake Conversation Heart Browniess decorated with personal messages.
For more recipes, log onto www.duncanhines.com.
CLASSIC RED VELVET CUPCAKES
| Originally from Down South, and once the signature dessert at the Waldorf-Asotria in the 1920s, the Classic Red Velvet Cake has become an American favorite. It’s hip, fun, and easy to make. Red Velvet — in cake or cupcake form — is a hit at every party. |
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Ingredients:
• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Red Velvet Cake Mix
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tub Duncan Hines® Classic Vanilla Frosting or Duncan Hines® Creamy Home-Style Cream Cheese Frosting
• Sprinkles or additional garnishes
1. Preheat oven to 350°F for metal or glass pans, 325°F for dark or coated pans. Grease sides and bottom of each pan with shortening. Flour lightly. (Use baking cups for cupcakes).
2. Blend dry mix, water, oil and eggs in large bowl at low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter in pans and bake
Baking Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F for metal or glass pans, 325°F for dark or coated pans. Grease sides and bottom of each pan with shortening. Flour lightly. (Use baking cups for cupcakes).
2. Blend dry mix, water, oil and eggs in large bowl at low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter in pans and bake immediately.
3. Bake following in a 13 x 9-inch pan for 35-38 minutes, or bake cupcakes for 19-22 minutes. Add 3-5 minutes to bake time for dark or coated pans. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.
5. Garnish, and enjoy!
CONVERSATION HEART BROWNIES
| Spread the love with Conversation Heart Brownies, a delicious romantic treat. Heart-shaped Duncan Hines Double Fudge Brownies with luscious chocolate and vanilla frosting are sure to create some passion. |
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Ingredients:
• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Chocolate Lover’s® Double Fudge Brownie Mix
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tub Duncan Hines® Creamy Home-Style Classic Vanilla Frosting
• 1 tub Duncan Hines® Creamy Home-Style Classic Chocolate Frosting
Baking Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom of 8×8-inch pan.
2. Prepare and bake brownies according to package directions. Cool completely.
3. Cut into hearts using a heart-shaped cookie cutter; carefully remove from pan.
4. Frost with Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style Vanilla and Creamy Home-Style Classic Chocolate Frosting and decorate.
Hint: Since these chocolate desserts are easy and also easy on the budget, make an extra batch of each. The Red Velvet Cupcakes and the Conversation Heart Brownies can be made anytime you want to do something special for those close to you or for yourself. Store them in an airtight container in the freezer to enjoy anytime – frozen chocolate desserts are especially delicious in the summer months!
2009/12/21
Chocolate Reindeer Cookie
Are you looking for an easy Christmas cookie recipe to make with your children or grandchildren? This Reindeer Cookie from Betty Crocker is easy to make – just bake chocolate cookies, add salty pretzel “antlers”, and decorate the reindeer’s face with M&Ms. Kids of all ages will enjoy these Reindeer Cookies…Santa, too!
Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 min
Makes: 5 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
| 1 |
cup butter, softened |
| 1/2 |
cup powdered sugar |
| 1/2 |
cup packed brown sugar |
| 1/4 |
cup unsweetened baking cocoa |
| 3 |
tablespoons milk |
| 1 |
teaspoon vanilla |
| 1 |
egg yolk |
| 2 |
cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour |
| 60 |
large pretzel twists |
| 60 |
M&Ms |
| 120 |
chocolate chips |
Directions:
| 1. |
Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in sugars and cocoa until well blended. Beat in milk, vanilla and egg yolk. On low speed, slowly beat in flour until well blended, scraping bowl occasionally. |
| 2. |
Fit heart template in cookie press; fill cookie press with dough. Place pretzels onto lightly floured surface. Force dough through template on top of flat, bottom end of each pretzel twist (two rounds at top of pretzel will form the antlers). Press 2 M&Ms at upper part of heart to make eyes, and 1 chocolate chip to make nose on each reindeer. Place reindeer on ungreased cookie sheet. |
| 3. |
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are firm, but not browned. Remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes. |
Kitchen Tips
If you don’t have a cookie press, shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Press 1 ball over bottom of 1 pretzel, pinching bottom in to form nose.
2009/11/22
Here you are searching for Thanksgiving dinner ideas. Have you included Thanksgiving appetizers? While the real bird is roasting and you are finishing up the other Thanksgiving dinner recipes you’ll be serving, present your guests with Thanksgiving appetizers to hold them over. You don’t need to serve a lot of appetizers, just a few delicious ones are all you’ll need such as the clam, artichoke spinach, and simple spinach dip recipes below. I’ve found that it’s worth the extra effort to include appetizers with your traditional Thanksgiving dinner recipes even though you’ll be serving a lot of food…just in case dinner takes longer than you anticipated. It can be torturous for your guests to be surrounded by mouth-watering aromas and not being able to eat anything.
 This Thanksgiving appetizer recipe creates a whimsical Thanksgiving themed turkey-shaped bowl to hold your favorite dip and is a recipe that the children can help put together. The tail can be made using the children’s handprints or craft store feathers to simplify it. The Thanksgiving turkey-shaped bread bowl is made out of bread and vegetables and is the perfect vessel to serve a delicious clam dip, hot artichoke spinach, or spinach dip (see below for 3 dip recipes).
THANKSGIVING APPETIZERS – INGREDIENTS
TURKEY-SHAPED BREAD BOWL
- 2 round bread loaves
- 1 round bread loaf
- 1 oval French roll
- 2 carrots
- 1 red pepper
- 2 raisins
- 1 zucchini
- 1 summer squash
- Skewers and toothpicks
CLAM DIP
- 1 16-oz. container sour cream
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 6.5-oz. can minced clams, drained
- 1 bunch scallions, chopped (optional)
- 1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped (optional)
- Crackers or vegetables for dipping
HOT ARTICHOKE SPINACH DIP
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
- 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
SIMPLE SPINACH DIP
- 1 package Knorr vegetable soup mix
- 16 ounces sour cream
- 1 box frozen spinach, thawed
THANKSGIVING APPETIZERS – INSTRUCTIONS
TURKEY-SHAPED BREAD BOWL
- Cut the top off the round loaf and then slice the resulting oval in half (these halves will become the bird’s wings). Use toothpicks to attach a half to each side. Then hollow out the center for dip.
- To make the head, cut an X in the roll and insert a carrot tip for the nose.
- To make the wattle, cut red pepper to hang around the carrot nose.
- Use toothpicks to attach the head and raisin eyes.
- To make the “feathers,” slice the zucchini, summer squash, and remaining carrot lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick slabs. (see Tips below)
- Push bamboo skewers through the middle of these slabs. To make them look feathery, use a small knife to cut jagged edges and carve lines on the surface.
- Stick the “feathers” into the turkey’s tail.
Serves 10 to 12.
CLAM DIP
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings.
- Open and drain the minced clams and mix into the sour cream.
- Add the scallions and red pepper, if desired, for more color and for a chunkier texture.
- Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Makes 3 cups.
HOT ARTICHOKE SPINACH DIP
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a small baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic, basil, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish.
- Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.
SIMPLE SPINACH DIP
- In a large bowl combine soup mix and sour cream.
- Strain excess water from spinach and add to dip mixture. Stir to combine.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
- Slice a circle around top of bread and remove inside and cut into bite sized pieces.
Finishing Up:
- Fill hole with spinach dip.
- Cut other bread loaf into cubes and serve with dip.
Tips for these Thanksgiving appetizer recipes:
- To add to the festive holiday theme, place the turkey-shaped bread bowl on top of some artificial fall leaves.
- To simplify creating the turkey-shaped bread bowl, use feathers purchased from a craft store for the tail – or children’s handprints painted different colors – attached to the back end of the Thanksgiving turkey-shaped bread bowl.
Nana’s Comment
The recipe for the Thanksgiving turkey-shaped bread bowl recipe was given to me by my daughter. I was also able to find the bread bowl on Disney’s FamilyFun.com. FamilyFun.com allows me to use their content.
Happy Thanksgiving!
2009/11/08
 Creating holiday recipes with children is a wonderful time to create a greater bond and lasting memories for you and your grandchildren. Special occasions are always coming up on the calendar. Find easy Thanksgiving recipes, or other easy recipes for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, or Fourth of July…any day can be a special occasion… that the children in your family will enjoy making with you. It can be the start of a holiday tradition that they can pass on to their children and grandchildren that follow.
I found this easy recipe in a cookbook my daughters gave me some years ago. This fun recipe is one that can be used for any season, holiday, special occasion, or any day you choose. Just create your own holiday designs on the faces of the lollipop cookies. You can decorate them as a Christmas ball, star, snowman, pumpkin, flower, happy face, flag or any design that fits the occasion. Mix them up! I hope you’ll enjoy cooking with your children and grandchildren as you prepare and bake these festive, yummy Lollipop Cookies. My granddaughters and I are planning adding this easy recipe to our Thanksgiving recipes. We’ll be decorating them with pilgrim hats, pumpkins, and turkeys. We’re not quite sure how, but we’ll have fun trying!
These lollipop cookies are great edible favors for birthday parties, too! Write each child’s name on them for personalized gifts. Another idea is to spell out Happy Birthday, with one letter per cookie and the birthday child’s name spelled out, also.
When you cook with children or grandchildren, it is best to choose easy recipes. It is also advisable to have all the ingredients organized and ready to go along with the cooking tools you’ll need. We all know how quickly children can lose their attention or patience if we take too long getting to the point where they can help prepare the recipe. There are plenty of easy steps that younger and older children, both, can help with in creating these fun Lollipop Cookies.
Easy Edible Favor Recipes: Lollipop Cookies
Ingredients:
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
Royal Icing (recipe below)
Decorator Frosting (recipe below)
Equipment and Decorations:
Craft sticks
Liquid or paste food coloring
Toothpicks
Assorted decors (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Place chocolate on cutting board; shave into small pieces with paring knife.
Melt chocolate in heavy, small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon until smooth. Set aside.
Combine flour and baking powder in small bowl with wooden spoon until well blended. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down side of bowl once. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well blended. Gradually add flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended, scraping down side of bowl once.
Remove half of dough from bowl; form into disc with lightly floured hands. Wrap disc in plastic wrap; refrigerate while working with remaining half of dough. Add chocolate to remaining dough in bowl. Beat at low speed until well blended.
Place chocolate dough on lightly floured surface; press into 6-inch square with lightly floured hands. Cut lengthwise into 4 equal strips with utility knife. Cut crosswise into 4 equal strips to form 16 squares.
Roll each square into a ball. Place balls 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Place craft stick under each ball.
Press balls into 2 1/2 inch circles using lightly floured bottom of drinking glass.
Bake, 1 sheet at a time, 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are set. Immediately remove cookies with spatula to wire racks; cool completely. Repeat with remaining colored and uncolored dough.
To marbleize cookies, prepare Royal Icing. Divide icing among bowls. Tint with desired food coloring. (Liquid food coloring will thin frosting to the right consistency. If using paste colors, stir in water, 1 drop at a time, with spoon until slightly thickened.)
Place large sheet heavy-duty foil on counter. Place cookies on foil Spread thin layer of icing on cookies to within 1/8 inch of edge with small spatula. Dip spoon into contrasting color of icing. Drizzle or drop icing onto base color. Repeat with 1 or 2 more colors.
Swirl colors with tip of toothpick. Do not over mix or colors will turn muddy. Decorate with candies or sprinkles while icing is still soft, if desired. Let stand 30 minutes or until icing is set. (Icing is set when it is firm when tapped with fingernail.)
Source: America’s Favorite Brand Name Holiday Recipes
2009/10/16
Halloween is such a fun holiday for kids of all ages. It is a wonderful time for grandparents and grandchildren to become closer. Cooking with children during holidays provides a great opportunity for grandparents to share childhood memories of their own with their grandchildren. Here are six fun – yet healthy – easy Halloween recipes to prepare together with your grandchildren for Halloween party food, after-school snacks…or just because you want to…from Disney FamilyFun magazine. (I especially love the “brain” - it will be center of attention on your Halloween party food table…see below!)
Black Bean Cat Crudite´s
No bones about it, this kitty skeleton makes a healthy centerpiece for Halloween parties or school gatherings. Just arrange assorted fresh vegetables and a bowl of your favorite black bean dip in the shape of a spooky cat.
Edible Eyeballs
Set out a platter of these creepy peepers, and your party guests are bound to do a double take. Simply slice carrots into 1-inch-thick chunks, top each with a blob of cream cheese and one half of a pitted black olive, and they’re ready to serve.
Salty Bones
It wouldn’t be Halloween without a skeleton—in this case, one that’s been disassembled into a pile of tasty bones to pick. Unroll a tube of refrigerated breadsticks we used an 11-ounce tube to make 12 bones) and separate the rectangular pieces. Working with one piece at a time, stretch the dough to lengthen it a bit and then use kitchen scissors or a knife to cut a 1K-inch slit in the center of each end. Shape the resulting four flaps of dough into knobs that look like the ends of a bone. Place the dough bones on an ungreased baking sheet, spacing them a few inches apart, and sprinkle on a little coarse salt. Bake the bones at 375° until they are light golden brown, about 12 minutes.
English Mummies
These yummy mummy pizzas make a quick and fun Halloween lunch or dinner. To create one, first spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto half of an English muffin (toast it first, if you like). Set olive slices in place for eyes and add round slices of green onion or bits of red or green pepper for pupils. Lay strips of cheese (we used a pulled-apart cheese stick) across the muffin for the mummy’s wrappings. Bake at 350° until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty, about 10 minutes.
Pumpkin Roll-Ups
Here’s a wholesome snack to serve before the kids head out to trick-or-treat. Lay American cheese slices or spread cream cheese on sun-dried-tomato tortillas, then roll them up and cut them into 1-inch sections. Use a toothpick to secure each roll-up, topped with a sprig of cilantro or parsley.
Melon Brain
Created from nothing more than a small, round seedless watermelon, this spooky cerebral creation is bound to turn heads. First, use a vegetable peeler to remove the entire green rind, exposing the inner white rind. Then slice off the bottom of the melon to make a flat base that will keep it from rolling. With a toothpick, outline squiggly furrows that resemble the folded surface of a brain. Finally, carve narrow channels along the tracings with a sharp paring knife (a parent’s job) to expose the pink fruit beneath the rind.
 
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