Blackberry Bars

Yum!

Some things are learned the hard way. Sometimes I feel like the only way I learn is the hard way, like the time I accidentally burned down the house. It was bad. The smoke filled the house, and I was coughing as if I had an asthma attack. Also, my ears were ringing from the smoke alarm.

 Fortunately, this recipe is a whole lot easier and calmer. This time, most of the noise around here was from laughter. =)

The Ingredients + Amy, this ingredient is very hard to find.

We had three options for this part: food processor, blender, or manpower.
We decided on woman power. =)

Tea, a drink with ^jam^ and...crust. That will bring us back to...

    
The recipe! This girl also came up with the "Fourth of July Flag Cake."

     
 BTW, If you go to acronym finder.com, they actually have my definition of GB2 on there...it's on the very bottom, but at least it's there! 

(Amy, sorry this took soooo long to post.) =(

Buttermilk Pie

Wow!  So pretty!

I think this is the last recipe I have from our visit to the east coast this summer. (Hint! Hint!  That means you should come visit me Grandma, so we can bake!) This recipe was actually a surprise to me. I came back from camp and found a bunch of pie pictures on my sister's camera...but that's great because now I can blog about it!

BTW, I guess I should give some credit to my Mom for taking all these pictures for me while I was away at camp. =)

Grandma in the "pie crust zone" of intense concentration.  Maybe that's why they always turn out so nicely.

It's like a sculptured work of art.

Look out everyone, she's got her rolling pin and crust.  You never know what may happen next...

This is what happens. This is base of the pie which looks a little like mashed potatoes.

Be careful that it doesn't overflow!

My 96-year-old great-grandmother eating a piece of pie.

I know how much grandmothers like to brag about their grand-kids,  so I'd like to take a moment to tell you how incredible my Great-Grandmother Brown is...

Almost everyday she'll sit in her rocking chair and crochet a blanket (baby blankets, sofa throws, etc.) either to give away or to donate to my cousins' school fundraisers, etc.
   
She likes to have some background entertainment going on while she's crocheting so the TV is usually on the Game Show Network to watch her favorite game shows. She tops it off at 8PM with an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" and then goes off to bed at 9PM.  Oh, I almost forgot...she also likes to read and works on word-finds most afternoons too!  When you're 96 you can pretty much do what you want and get away with it, including having a stash of unending M&Ms by your side during the day.

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp. flour
dash salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
4 tbsp. margarine (softened)
2 cups buttermilk
beaten egg whites  (with mixer)
9 inch unbaked pie shell.

Directions:

Blend the first five ingredients then carefully add the buttermilk with a whisk.

Fold in the beaten egg whites. You can do this with a whisk too.  Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Unless your pie pan is extra large it may not all go in, so be careful!

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!

Supreme Cheesecake

Would you like to know how this blog got started? I wasn't visited by the ghost of Cooking Past that showed me all of my horrible baking mistakes or told me how this world would be a terrible place without my scrumptious desserts. The world would still be fine without my desserts. It was sort of a random idea that popped into my mother's head as a good way to get me to write more. Well it's worked AND it's been fun along the way!

Wanna know a secret? This recipe calls for walnuts and cinnamon which makes it uniquely different from other cheesecakes... in a good way!!!

I got to bake it in a real cheesecake pan, not one of those 9x9 squares. 
Cheesecake is a sophisticated dessert and it needs a proper pan!

Vanilla?
Vanilla is just a bit too plain for me so I swirled in some strawberry flavoring.

I had some tough competition for dessert that day (a store-bought cheesecake sampler), but tough competition is always welcome!

My Mom's handy-dandy egg separator that she got at a craft fair. I think it likes me!

Some of our guests on Sunday trying out the cheesecake.  They're smiling - that's a good sign!

Notice the band aid.  I got a  bunch of cuts on my
hand trying to make some chocolate curls that probably won't be on the blog anytime soon!

It seems there are a lot of "mini" versions of things out there like mini cheesecakes, mini pancakes, and Mini Mouse.

Adapted from Better Homes and Garden"s Cheesecake Supreme.

 Prep Time: 15-20 min 

 Bake Time 35-45min

CHEESECAKE SUPREME
1-1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs and 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel or 1/4 tsp lemon juice (optional)
(I swirled in most (6oz.) of an 8oz. container of Yoplait Strawberry yogurt, and it tasted really good!

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. For crust, in a bowl combine crushed graham crackers, walnuts and, if desired, the cinnamon. Stir in melted butter. Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of an 8- or 9-inch springform pan; set aside.

2. For filling, in a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, the 1 cup sugar, the flour, and vanilla with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in milk until smooth. Stir in eggs and, if desired, lemon peel.

3. Pour filling into crust-lined pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes for an 8-inch pan, 35 to 40 minutes for a 9-inch pan, or until a 2-1/2-inch area around the outside edge appears set when gently shaken.

4. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a small sharp knife, loosen the crust from sides of pan; cool for 30 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan; cool cheesecake completely on rack. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours before serving. Makes 12 servings.



Oh, and if you haven't noticed yet, my blogging schedule is really weird. You see it goes like this: finish school and anything else I have to do and then post; therefore I haven't had much time for blogging, but I'm working on it!  Pleeeease cut me some slack, I'm in high school now! =0  

Anyway, it's almost a week later and all of the homemade cheesecake is gone and we've got like 4 pieces left of the store bought...stuff.                                    

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

( BTW, the Jets lost their first preseason game...the team probably just needed some cheesecake. Hey! I've still got 4 pieces of that store bought stuff. =) )

Shoofly Pie

People ate the pie so quickly so unfortunately this is all that
was left to take a picture of - the last piece!

This summer has been filled with many sights and states and foods and friends. The last thing left on my "Grammie would you please make this list" was a shoofly pie! I never really liked the idea of eating something that had a fly in its name but I made an exception with this recipe. News Flash! It contains no flies, but I have a feeling that it attracts flies...thus the name "shoo fly!"

Grandma stays very focused even when you ask her to "smile for the camera" or maybe she was tired from all the picture taking. =)

Everything all mashed up, with our handy, dandy pastry blender.

"Amazing Reaction!"

No, this is not a pumpkin pie, it's a shoofly pie.  It's not very good at shooing away the flies though. =P

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 rounded tbsp. Crisco
1 cup molasses
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup hot water
1 tsp. baking soda
9 inch unbaked pie crust



Directions:
1. In a large bowl add flour, brown sugar, and Crisco and blend with a pastry blender or fork. (And as grandma said, "blend until your arm is tired.") Lay aside 1/2 cup of the crumbs.

2. Pour molasses and whisked egg into the large bowl and stir. In a separate small bowl combine water and baking soda and carefully pour this into the large bowl. After you finish stirring, pour contents of large bowl into pie pan then sprinkle the 1/2 cup crumbs on top.

 3. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 min.



 This little baker went to Aunt Shannon's, this little baker went to Grandma's, and finally this little baker went to Aunt Lori's. After all that, she's back home and baking in her own kitchen with her own potholders, pans, and dishcloths to clean up all of her own messes...

Sorry it took soooo long to post this. School has officially started which ends the late nights of blogging and the sleeping in AND the extra time to bake but I'll see what I can do during the school year...

GB2- God Bless, Go BAKE!!!