Category — Tea Parties

My Special Blueberry Muffins
 by: Andrew Krause

This is my special blueberry muffin recipe that I created over 30 years ago and I like it so much that I have never stopped using it, it has a magnificent flavor and a wonderful texture, the freshness life of this muffin is about 4days but if frozen it will last for months.

The part that I like about this muffin is that it is very versatile, you can use any kind of fruit in it besides blueberries, for example you can use cranberries, raspberries, apples, and if you add some solid pack pumpkin with seasonings you have pumpkin muffins and so on, let your imagination run away with you.

OK, here is the recipe. You know that all ingredients should be room temperature.

12 medium eggs
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups oil (not peanut oil)
5½ tablespoons baking powder
3½ cups sugar
3 cups milk or water
8 cups flour
2 to 3 cups blueberries (frozen)

In a 5 quart mixing bowl place your eggs, salt, oil, using a paddle mix slowly until blended then add sugar and baking powder, and continue mixing on slow speed then add water or milk and add flour slowly, when all flour is added scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until smooth, remove bowl from mixer and place 2 or 3 cups of blueberries in the mixture and blend in by hand (frozen blueberries preferred) dip out into lined muffin pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in convection oven and 35 to 40 minutes in regular oven at 350 degree preheated oven. This recipe makes 2 ½ dozen large muffins.
About The Author

Andrew Krause is a Chef and Pastry Chef for over 30 years, at persent I own a Gourmet Bakery called The Cheese Confectioner. You can visit my site at http://www.andies.cashhosters2.com

Technorati Tags: blueberry muffins recipe

Pumpkin Cookies

With all the pumpkin carving you’ll be doing this Halloween, you might just wonder what to do with the leftover pumpkin flesh. Well, here’s an idea:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening/butter
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts
cinnamon stick
Method:

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a second bowl, cream the shortening and work in the brown sugar and eggs. Mix well.

Stir in the pureed pumpkin. Add the nuts and raisins.

Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, mixing well.

Drop spoonfuls of the batter on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375F degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

Technorati Tags: pumpkin cookies recipe

Teddy Bear Tea Party – Start The Tradition Now!
 by: Annette Yen

Children of all ages love stuffed teddy bears and for good reason! They’re cuddly, warm, and cute and they don’t make a mess on your living room floor before guests arrive! The joy a stuffed animal can bring to a child is a wonderful and amazing thing and I believe every child should have at least one favorite bear in her lifetime.

Now, combine this great love of all things fluffy with a little girl’s tea party and you have the makings of the grandest event of the year for your daughter. The Teddy Bear Tea Party!

There are several ways you can create this memory-filled event for your little one. Obviously the two main elements must be accounted for… the tea and the teddy bears. So let’s look at both in just a little more detail.

1. The tea. Assuming you’re planning your party for the younger of the young ladies, you’ll want to keep the tea simple and SWEET! Not too much scrimping on the sugar here, mom…this is the event of the year remember? Choose a tea with some added flavor. Blackberry, apple or vanilla are a few of our favorites. You can go with the varieties from the tea aisle in the grocery store or find some fine lovely teas at various upscale tea shops or even online. Don’t make the tea too strong and remember to have plenty of sugar (get the cubes…little girls LOVE the cubes) and cream for those who have not yet acquired the taste for afternoon tea yet. More sugar is required in the form of cookies, little chocolates and other tea fancies to complete the tea table. Remember mom; all the little ones will probably have a good toothbrush at home anyway!

2. The Teddy Bears. As you know, not all children choose a bear as their favorite stuffed animal so you might want to offer some flexibility here! The most economical way to include the animals is to ask each child to bring their own favorite teddy or other animal along for the event. Providing a simple craft for the girls to make a teddy tea shawl (an inexpensive cloth napkin and some fabric makers or rubber stamps will do nicely) will help to make the stuffed animals more at ease at the tea table. Or, if you want to get even more elaborate, have a make your own stuffed animal event as part of your party, where each guests can build a bear or other stuffed animal to take home.

Keep the entire party short and simple for maximum memory making and remember your camera and film. You’ll want to take plenty of pictures of the little ones, pinkies high sipping their tea while enjoying their tea dainties. Finally, remember to take a photo of each guest with the guest of honor and their bears. Include the picture with your thank you notes so each will have a grand remembrance of the day as well.

Teddy Bear tea parties don’t need to be just for birthday parties either. Make this an annual event for your girls. Celebrate the start of the school year or celebrate the first day of spring. I bet you’ll find that the tradition you start when your girls are young will continue on into their teen years and beyond… and each year you can guarantee the teddy bears will come along too. One is never too old to love a stuffed teddy bear! At the end of each year’s celebration, create a special page for a scrapbook so your girls will have something wonderful to pass on to their daughters along with the annual tradition!
About The Author

Annette Yen and her two beautiful daughters love tea and adore stuffed animals. You can learn more about their stuffed animal parties and sign up for their free birthday club by visiting their website at http://www.funontheark.com. 

Technorati Tags: teddy bear tea party

Best Recipes: White Chocolate Brownies
 by: Donna Monday

Here’s a twist on the traditional chocolate brownies. Flip the script and make these delicious brownies made with real white chocolate. White Chocolate Brownies are a different, but equally yummy taste sensation. The chocolate chips sprinkled throughout, not only add traditional flavor, but make them look pretty too.

¼ cup UNSALTED butter
6 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease an 8×8x2-inch baking pan; set aside.

In a small heavy saucepan, melt butter and HALF of the white chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

In medium bowl, beat eggs with electric mixer on medium to high speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat about 3 minutes or until thickened.

Add melted white chocolate mixture, flour, salt, and vanilla. Beat just until combined. Stir in semisweet chocolate chips and remaining white chocolate. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake about 30 minutes or until top is evenly browned. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Keep covered and store in refrigerator.
About The Author

© Donna Monday
Brownies, Cheesecake, Fudge and more . . .
http://www.best-brownie-recipes.com 

Technorati Tags: white chocolate brownies, white chocolate brownies recipe

Best Recipes: Chocolate Goody Bars
 by: Donna Monday

Every once in a while, you’ve got to treat yourself for being good, you know? You work hard, you put up with other peoples wants, needs and desires. Well, now it’s time to take a break and give yourself a little chocolate TLC. These Chocolate Goody Bars are definitely an indulgence. A sweet indulgence of chocolate, vanilla, and peanut butter. You will adore the crispy chocolate, floating over a cloud of vanilla frosting, sitting on top of deep rich fudge cake. Mmm . . .

Ingredients

1 19.8-oz pkg. fudge brownie mix
½ cup cooking oil
2 eggs
¼ cup water
1 16-oz. can vanilla frosting
¾ cup chopped peanuts
3 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 12-oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 13×9x2-inch baking pan; set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together brownie mix, cooking oil, eggs, and water until well mixed. Spread mixture into prepared pan.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted 2-inches from side of pan comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Spread with frosting. Sprinkle with peanuts. Cover; chill in refrigerator.

Meanwhile, place rice cereal in medium bowl. In small saucepan, combine peanut butter and chocolate chips. Heat and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted. Pour over cereal. Stir to coat evenly. Spread mixture over frosting layer in pan.

Cover and chill in refrigerator until chocolate layer is set. Cut into bars.

Keep covered and store in refrigerator.
About The Author

© Donna Monday
Brownies, Cheesecake, Fudge and more . . .
http://www.best-brownie-recipes.com  

Technorati Tags: chocolate goody bars

Best Recipes: Banana Split Brownies
 by: Donna Monday

Your family and friends will absolutely do flips over these Banana Split Brownies. Just like the ice cream version, these delights blend the flavors of chocolate, banana, and strawberries to perfection. In fact, these brownies are so good, you can probably use them to bribe folks into just about anything. “If you do this, I’ll make you some Banana Spit Brownies.” Yeah, these are as good as gold.

Brownies

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (3 medium)
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. tub cream cheese with strawberries
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
½ cup frozen strawberries, thawed, drained, and cut up
2 ½ to 3 cups powdered sugar

Garnish (optional)

Sliced bananas
Maraschino cherries

Directions for Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 13×9x2-inch baking pan; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium
to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda,
and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
Beat in banana and eggs. Beat or stir in flour and cocoa powder.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake about 20 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted into center
comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Spread with Strawberry Cream
Cheese Frosting.

Cut into bars. Garnish with banana slices and maraschino cherries. Cover and store in refrigerator.

Directions for Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

In mixing bowl, combine ½ of 8-oz tub cream cheese with strawberries, and 1 cup sifted powdered sugar. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Beat in ½ cup frozen strawberries. Beat in 2 ½ to 3 cups powdered sugar or enough to make frosting of spreading consistency (frosting will stiffen with chilling).
About The Author

© Donna Monday
Brownies, Cheesecake, Fudge and more . . .
http://www.best-brownie-recipes.com  
 

Technorati Tags: banana brownies, banana split brownies

Tips For Cookie Baking
 by: Dr. Freddy Maier

When deciding to bake cookies, a lot of questions come to mind. How to use baking powder. What is corn starch? What do I have to do if I don’t find some ingredients? Etc. In this article I will approach a few problems and give some easy answers and tips.

You decided to bake some cookies and at the last minutes a lot of questions arise. Oven temperature, chewy or crispy cookies, eggs size, and so forth. I tried in this short article to address a few common problems and give a quick solution or an explanation.

How to Make Chewy Cookies

The secret in making any cookie recipe into a soft and chewy cookie is to use Butter flavored Crisco instead of butter. If you want a crispy cookie use butter. Another trick to have chewier cookies is to cut your baking time by about 2 minutes (baked at the temperature stated on the recipe. Your cookies should be baked through but not yet crispy. You can also reduce your oven temperature by 25 degrees and bake for the time stated on the recipe. Always bake one batch according to the recipe the first time you try a new recipe and then make the adjustments based on how it came out. Make a note of your changes and keep your “customized” recipe for the next time.

Baking Soda or Baking Powder ? Baking powder is alkaline and needs to be mixed with acidic ingredients in order to react. Baking powder is baking soda with an added acidic ingredient, usually cream of tartar. In cookies, baking soda tends to make them spread out more and baking powder tends to make them rise and become puffy or more cake-like. If your recipe calls for baking soda, simply try to reduce it a bit.

Make Chilled Dough for Better Results

Make sure the dough is chilled and the baking sheets are cool before putting them in the oven. Otherwise the fat in the cookies will melt too soon, resulting in flat cookies regardless of the leavener you are using. Note that vegetable shortening (e.g. Crisco) melts a higher temperature than butter. You can try then to substitute half the butter with Crisco.

Beware of nutritional information

You might one day read a recipe that has, for example, 2 sticks of margarine or butter. The nutritional information will read ‘0′ cholesterol. Why so? It is because the nutritional for recipes are calculated using the first ingredient when two ingredients are given. For example, when it says “margarine or butter”, the nutritional are calculated using margarine. If butter were listed first, it would be calculated using butter.

Dark or Shiny Pan?

Remember the darker the finish on the pan, the faster the sheet will heat and the longer it will hold the heat. The shinier the pan you use, the longer it will take to heat up. Dark absorbs heat, so your bottoms will be done more quickly then the tops or centers. By the time your tops and centers are baked, your bottoms will be crispy if not downright burnt. Shiny reflects heat and your cookies will bake more evenly.

How many trays in the oven?

Don’t try to crowd too many cookie sheets into your oven at once.. Your best results will be one tray at a time on the middle rack of the oven with plenty of room for the warm air to circulate around the tray. Don’t keep opening your oven to peek. Every time you do that, you loose warmth and your oven will have to struggle to maintain the correct temperature.

The tips and answers that you just have read will give you a better reason to start cooking your own cookies at home. You will find all possible recipes in the various articles that are n the author’s website. Before baking your cookies check the website for new recipes and ideas.

About The Author

Dr. Freddy Maier owns a website specialized on cookies and baking. He sells an e-book with only cookie recipes. His website can be visited at : http://thecookierecipes.info . 

Technorati Tags: cookie baking, cookie baking tips