Bourbon Brownies.

These brownies are great, with or without the bourbon. Gooey, chocolatey, and not cakey, as so many brownies are. Personally, I prefer a lighter dose of the alcohol than what is recommended, or none at all, but feel free to adjust to your own tastes. Be warned though, the alcohol DOES NOT cook out.

Best-Ever Bourbon Brownies, from Better Homes and Gardens Easy Everyday Cooking

 

Ingredients:

1/2 c. sugar

1/3 c. butter (5 1/3 T.)

2 T. water

1 c. semisweet chocolate pieces

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. chopped pecans

2 to 3 T. bourbon

1 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted (or mini chocolate chips, not melted)

1 recipe Butter Frosting (see below)

Directions:

Grease an 8x8x2-in. baking pan; set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium saucepan combine sugar, butter and water. Cook and stir over medium heat just until mixture boils. Remove from heat. Add chocolate pieces, stirring until melted. Add eggs and vanilla, beating with a wooden spoon just until combined.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir flour mixture and pecans into chocolate mixture. Spread batter in the prepared pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges are set and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Using a fork, prick the warm brownies several times. Drizzle bourbon evenly over brownies. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Spread butter frosting over brownies; drizzle with melted chocolate. (We used mini chocolate chips here.) Cut into bars. Makes 16 to 20 brownies. Enjoy!

Banana Cookies.

I love these cookies. I remember coming home from school and my mom pulling these out of the oven.  I'd always sneak one before they were completely cool, but they were so delicious I couldn't wait! 

When I introduced my family to these, along with a few friends, they were gone so quickly I forgot to take pictures! These bake up nice and fluffy, with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top, which makes them completely irresistable. They remind me of extremely light banana muffin tops. Yum.

Banana Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c. sugar

2/3 c. butter (original recipe calls for crisco, but they turned out great using butter)

2 eggs

1 c. mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)

1 t. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. soda

1/4 t. salt

Topping:

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 c. sugar

Directions:

Mix together well the sugar, crisco/butter, eggs, bananas, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt, and sift it. Slowly add to the banana mixture, beating in a little at a time until all is incorporated. When all is mixed, drop in small spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and sprinkle with a bit of the topping. Bake at 350° until done. (About 10 minutes in my oven, just be sure to watch your first batch and gauge from that how long you want them cooked.) Enjoy!

Krum Kake.

This cake is light, flavorful, and completely satisfying as a dessert, or in place of coffee cake with your morning coffee. The recipe is my great aunt Hazel Imsland's recipe. I remember making this with my mom when I was a little girl, but I really hadn't made it since, until I needed to bring a snack for our Sunday school. It was a hit, and as good as I remember it.
The only trouble I really had with this was that the recipe calls for a 7x11 pan. I have never heard of such a thing, so I had to choose between a 9x9 and a 9x13. I went with the 9x13 simply because I needed it to feed more people, but I think it'd be even better, thicker, in a 9x9 pan. Whatever you choose, beware, you can't have just one piece!

Krum Kake
Recipe from Hazel Imsland

Ingredients:
2 c. Flour
1 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Marg. or Butter, chilled (I used butter)
1 t. Cinnamon
1 c. Sour Milk (1 scant c. Milk with 1 T. Lemon Juice)
1 t. Baking Soda
1 egg
1/2 t. Ground Cloves
1 c. Craisins, chocolate chips, nuts (opt., I didn't add any of these)

Directions:
Combine and mix flour, sugar and butter as though making pie crust. When the butter is blended well and in small bits, set aside 1 cup of the mixture. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined. Batter may be slightly lumpy. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Pour into grease 7x11 pan. (Again, a 9x9 or 9x13 will work.) Bake at 350°F (325°F for a glass pan) for 34-40 minutes. Cook time may be a bit shorter if using 9x13 pan, so check often nearing the end. Enjoy!

Banana-Pecan Cookies.

Note: This entry was set to publish the day before christmas, and as I was away from the computer for vacation, I didn't realize it had not published. My apologies!

The post is up a bit early this week, for those of you trying to figure out which type of cookie Santa likes best. I highly recommend this cookie, as it's soft and chewy, yet will provide wonderful sustenance for his very long night out. :)

My mom used to make banana cookies when I was growing up. I remember always grabbing one fresh out of the oven, because I couldn't wait, (and really, they're best warm) and almost burning myself trying to scarf it down! While this recipe is a bit different than Mom's, (I'll be getting that recipe this week while we're visiting!) it has the same banana bread top taste. Delicious!

Banana-Pecan Cookies

From the Turton, SD Centennial Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. Flour
1 c. Sugar
1/2 t. Baking soda
1 t. Salt
1/2 t. Nutmeg
3/4 t. Cinnamon
3/4 c. Shortening (I used unsalted butter)
1 egg, well beaten
1 c. Mashed bananas (2-3) (I used 2)
1 3/4 c. Rolled oats (uncooked)
1/2 c. Chopped nuts(I used pecans)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a bowl. Cut in shortening/butter; add egg, mashed bananas, oats and nuts. Beat thoroughly until well blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes or until edges are browned. (I baked till about 13 minutes time, but i like mine very soft.) Remove from pan immediately and cool on rack. Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies. Enjoy!

Sugar Pie.

A long, long time ago, (and by that I mean about two years ago,) I made this pie for my college bible study group cookout. It was a huge flop...though it tasted pretty good anyway. It was soupy, messy, and not at all pie-like. I had made my own graham cracker pie crust, which you're NOT supposed to use, and the filling had simply absorbed the graham crackers into itself to make a gloopy sweet mess. I decided that I must try the recipe again in the future, though perhaps with a store-bought crust. This I have done, with little better results.  This could have something to do with the fact that I used a store-bought oreo graham cracker crust. I know, I'll never learn. Also, I had less cream than I thought I did, and had to supplement about a cup of whole milk into the pie filling mixture, which could have contributed to the continued failure of this recipe. Nevertheless, I shall share with you this recipe, and, if you are as intrigued as I was by the name, perhaps you'll make it the right way and it will turn out beautifully for you. I wish you much luck with your endeavors.

Sugar Pie, from the Turton, SD centennial cookbook

Ingredients:

1 c. sugar

3 T. flour

1/4 t. slt

1 1/2 c. cream or half and half (I used half and half and whole milk)

2 t. vanilla

cinnamon

1 unbaked pie crust (DON'T use graham cracker crusts! Please! Don't do it!!!)

Directions:

Combine sugar, flour and salt. Add cream and vanilla. Pour into a 9-in. pie shell. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.  Bake at 425° for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 325° and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. (We had to tack on an extra half hour to get this recipe to (sort of) work.) Cool before serving. Enjoy!