Tiny But Intense Chocolate Cake

 Ingredients:

6 TBS butter (plus more for pan)
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
3 large eggs, separated
1/3 C light brown sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 sea salt
Pinch of cinnamon (optional)

To Finish:

1/2 C whipping cream
2 tsp granulated sugar

Preheat your oven to 350. Line a 6-inch round springform pan with a circle of parchment paper. Generously butter sides of pan and parchment round.

In a small saucepan, melt your butter over medium heat, stirring for even cooking. After the butter melts, it will hiss and spatter a bit as the water cooks off, and then fragrant brown bits will form at the bottom of the saucepan. The whole process will take about 3 minutes. Quickly remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it is melted and smooth. Cool the chocolate mixture to lukewarm, a process that can be sped up by transferring the mixture from the hot saucepan to a small bowl set in a puddle of cold or ice water. If quick-cooling the chocolate like this, be sure to stir it every minute or two for even cooling. 

With an electric mixer, beat egg yolks, brown sugar, and vanilla together until the mixture thickens and takens on a, frankly, kind-of icky pale-yellow-brown color. Slowly beat in the lukewarm chocolate mixture, and a pretty color will return. The mixture will become very thick but loosen significantly once we add the egg-whites. 

Wipe clean, wash, and dry your electric beater(s), and beat egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until firm peaks form. Add a pinch of cinnamon if using. Stir one-third of egg-white mixture into chocolate mixture. Fold the remaining two-thirds in gently, trying to keep the batter as light as possible. Pour into the prepared pan, and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until it is puffed with a lovely dome on top (which you shouldn't get too attached to), and a tester or skewer comes out clean or with just a couple crumbs attached. 

To Serve

Let cool on rack for 10 minutes--it will immediately begin to sink in the middle--then run a knife around the cake to make sure it's not stuck to the pan, and release the springform sides. Let it cool the rest of the way on its base. Once it's cool, flip out onto a plate or second rack, remove parchment round (if it's stuck) from the bottom, and flip cake back onto a small plate. To serve, beat whipping cream with granulated sugar until soft peaks forms. Dust cake with confectioners' sugar and dollop with whipped cream and berries. 

Smoked Pulled Ham

 Ingredients: 

1 Bone-In Ham Shank (un cut. Mine are usually about 9 lbs)
2 TB mustard 

Dry Rub:
2 1/2 TBS brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
3/4 tsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 cloves

Glaze:
3/4 C brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cloves
grated zest of 1 orange
3 TBS fresh orange juice
1 1/2 TBS dijon mustard
1 1/2 TBS apple cider vinegar

Additional Ingredients:
2-3 C Apple Juice

Preheat your oven to 300. 

Rinse your ham with cool water and pat dry with paper towels. Score ham as directed in recipe and then place in a roasting pan. 

Pour 2-3 C water (or apple juice) in pan. The exact amount is not as important as the water reaching 1/4-1/2" up the sides of the pan. Heavy duty foil is helpful here. Cover pan tightly with foil. 

Roast until internal temperature reaches 200-205 degrees. My 7lb shank was absolutely falling apart at 6 hours. I'd say 5-7 hours is a good target range for how long this will take depending on the size of your ham. If you have the time, let your ham sit, covered, for about 20 minutes out of the oven before you shred. 

Increase oven temperature 375. 

Remove meat onto a cutting board, discard fat, bones (or save bones for soup). I also discard the pan drippings because they tend to be salty, but you can taste yours and decide if you want to keep any to drizzle over your meat. 

Place your shredded meat in a 13x9 pan. Or if you have a particularly large ham and a smaller roasting pan, you can put them back in your clean roasting pan. 

At this point the ham is great as is! You could set some aside, or pile it on buns with bbq sauce. 

If you'd like to make orange brown sugar version, whisk together all glaze ingredients and drizzle over meat. This will not create a traditionally stick glaze, it will simply add flavor. Toss together, cover pan with foil, and pop back in the oven for 15-20 minutes. 

For Smoker: 
Preheat your smoker to 225. 

Lightly rinse your ham with cool water to remove extra salty residue from the juices its often packed in, and pat dry with paper towels. I like to place my ham on a foil-lined baking sheet for easy transfer at this point.

Use a knife to score your ham in a criss-cross patter across all sides. 

Rub ham on all sides with mustard. A 9-ish pound shank usually uses about 2 TBS.

Combine all spice rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Sprinkle rub on all sides of ham. 

Place ham in your smoker at 225. Place some apple juice in a clean spray bottle reserved for food purposes and spritz ham every 2-3 hours. 

Continue to smoke until internal temperature reaches 155-165. (This generally takes about 6 hours).

While ham is smoking, whisk together the glaze.

Reserve 2 TBS glaze in a small container and set aside. The remaining glaze is what you will use in the following step. 

Transfer ham to a roasting pan. Add 1 1/2 C apple juice (or water) to pan. Use a silicone brush to brush perpared glze onto all sides of ham. Cover tightly with foil and roast in oven, or back on your smoker, at 350 until ham reaches an internal temperature between 200-205. This step usually takes an additional 3 hours. The thermometer should slide in and out very easily and you should be able to pull a piece of ham off and have it shred nicely. At this point, remove ham from oven, keep it covered, and rest for 20-30 minutes before shredding.

Remove ham from roasting pan and transfer to cutting board. (Avoid shredding your ham in the pan juices because those are often overly salty). If your ham is falling apart and hard to transfer, that's a good thing! Shred ham, discarding extra fat and bones. 

Add 1-2 TBS apple or orange juice to the small amount of glaze you reserved. I like to drizzle this over the finished ham and toss it before serving. Go by taste, you may not want to use all of it--its personal preference!

Rich Cream Scones

• 1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling and cutting
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Salt
• 1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream, plus more for brushing
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract   

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers. (The largest pieces should be the size of small peas.) With your fingertips, flatten butter pieces into small disks. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until butter is very firm, about 20 minutes.
2. Combine cream and vanilla in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture with a wooden spoon until almost absorbed and dough just comes together. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface; roll out into an 8-by-10-inch rectangle. With a short side facing you, fold rectangle into thirds, as you would a letter. Rotate dough a quarter turn clockwise. Repeat rolling out, folding, and rotating dough 2 more times. With floured hands, pat out dough to a 1 1/4-inch thickness, and cut out as many rounds as possible with a floured 2 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter. Gather scraps, reroll once, and cut out more rounds (you should have a total of 12).
3. Place scones 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush tops with cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on sheets. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Microwave Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

4 bags of microwave popcorn popped with uncooked hulls removed. Put hulled popcorn in brown paper sack (like from Braums)

1 stick of butter--melted (in a medium dish)

Add to melted butter and stir the following:

1/2 C white corn syrup
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp white vinegar

Directions:

Once blended; microwave 3 minutes. While still hot add 1/2 tsp baking soda and beat. The mixture will become foamy--beat until you see this. Pour mixture over microwave popcorn in paper bag and stir. Fold up bag top and put in microwave for 45 seconds. Take out and shake. Put in microwave second time for 45 seconds. Take out and shake. Put in microwave for 45 seconds. When you take out, mix well, then pour out on foil and let cool. When I made this, I will pop 12-16 bags so I have plenty to share.
 

Meringue Kisses

Ingredients

3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Red or green food coloring (optional)
44 milk chocolate kisses

Directions

In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Sprinkle with cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peak form. Gradually add sugar and vanilla, beating until still peaks form, about 5-8 minutes. If desired, divide batter in half and fold in red and green food coloring.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 1-1/2in apart onto lightly greased baking sheet. Press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie and cover it with meringue using a knife. Bake at 275 degrees F for 35 minutes or until firm to the touch. Immediately remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Butterscotch Cream Pie

1 1/3 C sugar
2 1/2 C milk
3/4 C Cream
5 TBS cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBS butter
1 C cream
Baked 9 inch crust

Measure sugar into a heavy saucepan or skillet. Stir constantly over high heat until sugar is nearly melted. Reduce heat to medium and continue stirring until all sugar is melted and a light amber color. In the meantime, heat milk; stir hot milk into melted sugar cautiously. Sugar will bubble and steam, then harden. Keep heat on low and stir occasionally until the hard sugar completely dissolves in the milk.

Add the table cream to the cornstarch gradually to make a smooth paste, then stir into hot milk mixture; cook and stir until a smooth, thick pudding is formed, Let it boil a minute or two, stirring vigorously, then remove from heat. Add salt to egg yolks, then stir in some of the hot pudding. Stir the egg mixture back into the pudding and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add vanilla and butter. Cool 5 minutes, then pour into baked pie shell. Chill 3 to 4 hours.

When ready to serve, whip the cream and spread over pie. 

Microwave Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

4 bags of microwave popcorn popped with uncooked hulls removed. Put hulled popcorn in brown paper sack (like from Braums).
1 stick of butter -- melted 

Add to melted butter in bowl:

1/2 C white corn syrup
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp white vinegar

Once blended, microwave 3 minutes, while still hot add 1/2 tsp of baking soda and beat. The mixture will become foamy -- beat until you see this. Pour mixture over microwave popcorn and stir. Fold up bag top and put in microwave for 45 seconds -- take out and shake -- put back in microwave for 45 seconds. When you take out, mix well and then pour out on foil and let cool. When I make, I will pop 12-16 bags so I have plenty to share.

Empty Tomb Rolls

Ingredients:

1 (10 oz) package jumbo refrigerated crescent rolls
1/4 C sugar
1 TBS cinammon
8 large marshmallows
1/4 C butter, melted

Instructions:

Preheat over to 375. Prepare muffin pan, with nonstick cooking spray.

Separate rolls into eight triangles and set aside. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.

Dip each marshmallow into butter, then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture and place on a triangle dough. Pinch dough around marshmallow, sealing all edges. Make sure to seal well or all marshmallow will escape. 

Dip tops of dough into remaining butter and then into the cinnamon-sugar. Place roll with the sugar side up into prepared muffin tins. 

Bake for 13-15 minutes. Eat warm.

Activity:

Read the Easter story from the Bible found in Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23-24, and/or John 19-20. 

Jesus -- Marshmallow
After Jesus died on the cross, he was wrapped in linen -- roll in butter and sugar
Jesus was put into a tomb -- crescent roll dough
On the third day, Jesus was risen and was no longer in the tomb -- open cooked roll to find no marshmallow 

Turkey Brine

Via: Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

3 C apple juice or apple cider
2 gallons cold water
4 TBS fresh rosemary leaves
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 C kosher salt
2 C brown sugar
3 TBS peppercorns
5 whole bay leaves
Peel of 3 large oranges

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Stir until salt and sugar dissolve. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat and cover. 

Allow to cool completely, then pour into a large brining bag or pot. Place uncooked turkey in brine solution, then refrigerate for 16-24 hours.

When ready to roast turkey, remove turkey from brine. Submerge turkey in a pot or sink of fresh, cold water. Allow to sit in clean water for 15 minutes to remove excess salt from the outside.

Discard brine. Remove turkey from clean water, pat dry, and cook according to your normal roasting method.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Serves 16-20

Ingredients:
 
1 C butter, softened
2-3/4 C sugar, divided
4 Eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 C sour cream
2 TBS ground cinnamon

Instructions:

In a large bowl, cream butter and 2 C sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add alternately with sour cream, beating just enough after each addition to keep batter smooth.
 
Spoon a third of batter into a greased 10 in tube pan. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle a third over batter in pan. Repeat layers two more times. Bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Apple Cider Doughnuts

INGREDIENTS

Makes 12-14 doughnuts
2 ½ cups apple cider, (reduced down to ½ cup)
¼ cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup sour cream
4 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Canola oil for frying
Cinnamon sugar for coating

PREPARATION

Bring apple cider to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce down to ½ cup (takes about 20-25 minutes). Pour into a large glass measuring cup.
Add butter to hot cider and stir to melt. Set aside, cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs with white and brown sugar. Add cooled cider/butter mixture, sour cream, and vanilla extract.
In a large bowl or in a fine mesh strainer set over the wet ingredients, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Using a wooden spoon, mix dry ingredients into the wet until just incorporated. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
On a very well-floured surface, roll out the cooled dough to about ¾-inch thickness and cut into donut shapes using pastry cutters or a mason jar/cup and a bottle cap/shot glass. Chill cut donuts 10 minutes more if necessary.
Heat oil to 350˚F.
Fry donuts, 3-4 at a time, flipping occasionally until golden on both sides.
Remove to a paper towel lined baking sheet to drain. Roll in cinnamon sugar while still warm.
Enjoy!

Ham and Cheese Sliders

 Ingredients:

24 white dinner rolls
24 pieces honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup miracle whip
1 TBS poppy seeds
1 1/2 TBS yellow mustard
1/2 Cbutter, melted
1 TBS minced onion
1/2 tsp.Worcestershire sauce
 
Instructions:

In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and miracle whip. Spread onto both sides of the center of each roll. Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll. Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. You do not have to use all of the sauce! Just use enough to cover the tops. Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes or until tops are slightly brown and crispy. Serve warm.

Note: Sandwiches can be assembled a day ahead and kept in the fridge ready to bake.