cakes · Celebrations

Chocolate Cake From Scratch – Easy and Delicious!

Birthdays and cake just go together! I think it would be a sad celebration without one! When my girls asked me to make a cake for our family vacation and family celebration, I looked at lots of options, then landed on our long-time favorite – Triple Chocolate Cake. I think deciding which cake to make was harder than actually making it! First on the list was making sure I had all the ingredients on hand. That didn’t mean a run to the store because I am enjoying the blessing of occasionally having my Kroger grocery order delivered. I was able to get a rate for being a Kroger Boost member $35 for the year. That allows me to have groceries delivered the next day at no charge. For the most part it’s been wonderful. Why?

  • It keeps me home.
  • If I forget something, it allows me to add things to my order up to about two hours prior to my delivery time.
  • For the most part, I’ve gotten everything I’ve ordered.

However, a happy accident happened when the Devil’s Food Cake Mix didn’t show up in my delivery. I was planning to make the cake layers for the Triple Chocolate Cake on that day. Since I didn’t want to undo the blessing of the delivery, I went looking for a cook chocolate cake recipe that I could make from scratch instead. The happy accident was that the recipe I baked made the Triple Chocolate cake recipe so much better that I’ll never use that box mix again!

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baking · cakes · Celebrations

My Favorite German Chocolate Cake

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The holidays usually leave all of us feeling like our jeans certainly must have shrunk in the wash, right?  Cough!  Cough!  I know I have eaten more than my share of sugar and carbs over Christmas and New Year’s and should be staring at a simple salad for the next month!  But life happens!  Things like birthdays come even after the holidays and we find the need for a great cake in order to celebrate.  If you can celebrate with tofu, I applaud you!  My family would cut my branch off the family tree! So…

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baking · Cookies · No Bake

A New Flavor of “No-Bake Cookies

When do you like trying a new cookie recipe? One time for me is when I hear a friend/neighbor say they love a certain cookie and wish they could have one! My neighbor told me about a Caramel No-Bake cookie that he had that was the best cookie ever and he wished he could find a recipe! That’s when I went on the hunt to find and make them for him and his family.

I ran to Pinterest and found what I’m sure is the best recipe for a new flavor of No-Bake cookies! Little Dairy on the Prairie had a great looking recipe. It turned out perfectly! There’s LOTS of butter and sugar, but this recipe made about 4 dozen cookies, so you have to take that into consideration. Like the traditional no-bakes, these were fast and easy! Oh, and my neighbors declared them the BEST cookies they’d ever had! Mission accomplished!!

Caramel No-Bake Cookies

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

15 mins

Smooth salted caramel, crunchy toffee chips, and chocolate wrapped up in one super easy No Bake Caramel Cookie! I can’t think of a thing not to love about these cookies!

Serves: 36

Ingredients

• 2 c. granulated sugar

• ¾ c. butter

• ⅔ c. evaporated milk

• 1 5.1 oz. pkg instant butterscotch pudding

• 3½ c. quick oats

• sea salt to taste (I used a few grinds)

• 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

• ½ c. toffee chips

Instructions

1 Bring sugar, butter, and evaporated milk to a rolling boil over medium heat. Stir frequently.

2 Remove from heat and add oats, dry pudding, and salt. Let sit for a few minutes until it cools a little bit.

3 Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.

4 Add chocolate chips and toffee chips to cookie mixture. Gently stir being careful to not over stir or else the chocolate chips will be totally incorporated.

5 Drop by cookie scoopfuls onto wax paper.

6 Let sit for at least 15 minutes.

Fifteen minutes, friends! That’s all the time these take to make! Do a friend or two a favor and make a batch! I gave away every cookie but one! They were too tempting to keep on hand, and too good not to share!

If you get the urge to bake, this recipe has you covered!

With love from my country kitchen,

baking · Bread · breakfast · Cooking · dessert · Gifts

(L)Oven Monday – The Best Food Gifts from Your Kitchen

As I make my preparations for a more “simple” Christmas this year, I’m reminded that giving gifts from what you love is the best kind of gift to share.  If I do what I love – I bake and the receiver knows that it was prepared especially for them with lots of (L)oven from my oven!

I have many recipes on my blog that I have given away, and I’m going to compile a short list of some of my favorites for you today.  These are simple to make and are LOVED by those that receive them.  Let’s get shopping/baking…

  1. Nutty Orange Coffee Cake – – This is a fancier form of Monkey Bread.  It’s made from canned biscuits, cream cheese and cinnamon and sugar.  It’s pretty, it’s easy to make and is so good it became a Christmas tradition for our breakfast!Nutty orange Coffee cake.jpg
  2. Cranberry Crumble – Another great coffee cake that anyone would LOVE to receive!
    cranberry-coffee-cake
  3. French Bread Loaves – A good old crusty bread tied up in a linen kitchen towel is as lovely as it is delicious!
    French Bread 1.jpg
  4. Homemade Granola – Gifted in a jar with a pretty ribbon, this granola is perfect for any breakfast lover!
    Granola.jpg
  5. Cream Cheese Coffee Cakes – These are more like Danishes and who doesn’t love a Cream Cheese Danish????  This recipe makes four, so it really makes great use of your time in the kitchen!
    danish 1.jpg
  6. Deep Dish Hershey Brownies – This is my family’s favorite brownie recipe and I’ve made them for years.  Any chocolate lover will be delighted to receive a plate of these!
    Deep dish brownies.jpg
  7. Microwave Caramel Popcorn – This is the easiest caramel popcorn!  It makes a nice pile of popcorn for the snacker on your list!

caramel corn.jpg

You can also go here for a list of some fabulous cookies to bake up and place in cellophane bags or pretty Christmas tins.

Food is a wonderful gift of love from your oven to the recipient.  Get baking and finish your gift list!

Which of these recipes will you make and give away?

With love from my country kitchen,

Denise Signature 150 px