Chapter 13 Making the Most of Your Oven Part 2 “Impressive & Luscious Desserts”

Delicious Deep Dish Apple Pie

As I shared with you earlier, this was my first attempt at baking with the help of a friend. So I am placing it at the beginning of the chapter so that you, too, will gain the courage and confidence to begin baking from scratch.

1 pkg. Pillsbury pie crust (these are not the crusts already in a pie pan. They are folded in plastic wrap. You can find them in the refrigerated section, often by the butter, of your grocery store.)

5 lg. Granny Smith apples (green & tart)

1 C sugar

2 T. flour

1/4 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

4 T. butter

Remove the apple skin with a knife and remove the core.

*The first time I tried to make this, I took out a “peeler” to peel the apples! Maybe I was just nervous—LOL! I was told back then that peelers only worked on potatoes and some vegetables; however, now that I watch all kinds of cooking shows, I have seen great chefs use a peeler. If you have television, watch some of these shows to see how easy it is and to get to know how to do more things around the kitchen!

Slice the apples very thin for more flavor and tenderness. Mix all of the five dry ingredients together. Follow the directions on the piecrust box to prepare the crust.

Layer apples along the bottom of the crust, and sprinkle the dry mixture over each layer until all the dry mixture covers all the apples. (The first time I did this, I sprinkled the mixture on like I sprinkle sugar on my children’s cereal—sparingly. My friend laughed and told me that I had to get all of it over the apples—well, then I understood.) Now put the four sliced tablespoons of butter on top of the apples and cover with the top crust, then pinch together. Put slits in the top crust and paint with milk to make the crust shine. Bake in preheated 400˚ oven for 50 minutes.

My daughter, Tyler, made dozens of pies while we lived on our farm using the Jonathan apples from our tree. We took them out in the morning to thaw and baked them the usual way. They were absolutely wonderful—even the ones that were more than a year old, after we moved, were delicious!

French Apple Pie

For French Apple, just leave the top crust off and spread the cinnamon mixture from the “Overnight Coffee Cake” recipe (below). Bake for the same time and temperature as the pie above.

Cobblers

I keep pre-made pie crusts (see above) on hand in my freezer and some pie filling (in cans) in my pantry. Just flour the pre-made crust well and place in a pie pan. Now pour a can of pie filling in the middle, and pull up the sides to “try” and pinch it closed, covering the top (leave a little hole). Sprinkle with sugar (and cinnamon if it’s apple filling) and bake in a preheated 400˚ oven for 20–30 minutes. Scoop and serve hot with vanilla ice cream—easy and delicious!

**This is a great recipe to teach young girls to make because it is so easy and fairly foolproof.

Cookies!!

Cookies are my family’s favorite dessert. My ex-husband used to be our cookie baker, and then I took over. Next my oldest daughter took over baking our cookies and quickly became our most famous and requested baker. Then my second daughter had this job until recently when my youngest daughter, who began baking at 10-years-old, took the job and loves it! Many evenings she is asked by everyone to “make cookies tonight—ppplllease!”

As I said earlier, cookies or the cobbler seems to be the best way to teach your daughter to cook. Always begin with baking since it is easier to mix and bake something than it is to have to regulate a burner or a flame. But I think the key reason this works so well is because just about everyone loves homemade sweets; therefore, your daughter instantly gets rave responses (if she doesn’t, make sure you tell your family to “make a fuss,” if they ever want homemade baked goods again!). This gives her the confidence and motivation to learn to bake more (to get the attention and compliments), which will lead to also being a great cook!

Cookie Tips

Melted butter: Microwave your butter for all of your cookie recipes, while you get your ingredients out. My ex-husband used to let the butter sit out and cream the way he saw his grandmother and mother do. Since my mother didn’t bake, I never knew any better, so I microwaved mine until the butter was melted. Everyone raved about my cookies, so I taught my daughter to do the same thing. In our microwave, it takes one minute for each stick.

Organizing your ingredients: Ladies, I put all my ingredients out in a row along the counter according to the order of use (left to right). After I measure and put it in the bowl, I put the container back. This is not only a good method for keeping your kitchen clean, but it also helps me to remember what I have already added, since I am usually interrupted at least a dozen times when I am trying to concentrate.

I also do this when I’m getting ready in the morning and putting on my make-up, since I am always “thinking of something.” Prior to this method, I would forget to wear deodorant or look in the mirror hours after getting dressed only to notice I forgot to put on mascara!

Some more baking secrets: 

• When baking cookies, bake only one pan at a time and turn it when they are halfway through baking, unless some like the cookies crispy then leave it the same way for a variety of doneness (crispier will be in the back of the oven).

 

• My girls also drop the pan to get the cookies to “fall” that make the cookies chewier.

 

• Also, let the sheet cool before putting more dough on it. If you put the dough on a hot cookie sheet, they will spread out and very thin.

 

• Make an investment in a metal cookie scooper to have evenly baked cookies that are easier and faster to make. Metal scoopers may be hard to find, but well worth the hunt.

The Easiest Cookies Ever

My youngest daughter wanted desperately to bake, but I thought was a bit too young, then I found this recipe that proved to launch her into becoming an extremely talented baker!

1 box cake mix

1/3 C oil

2 eggs

powdered/confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350˚ then stir (by hand) dry cake mix, oil, and eggs in a large bowl until dough ball forms. Dust hands with sugar and shape into 1inch balls. Roll balls into sugar and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until center is set, not gooey. Remove from pans after setting about a minute and cool on wire racks.

• Macy made chocolate crinkles first by using a dark chocolate cake mix.
• Next she made Snicker Doodles by using a yellow cake mix and rolling them in cinnamon sugar.

The possibilities are endless, and so are the compliments she received. One of her older brothers was thrilled to take a bag of these to work to share with his coworkers who could not believe that his 10-year-old sister made them!

Once your daughter has mastered these, then it is an easy step to the rest of the cookie recipes!

Extraordinary Chocolate Chip Cookies

No matter how great your chocolate chip cookies are, they can never match this recipe! My brother, who is a professor in Japan, requests these cookies within minutes after stepping through our front door when he visits.

I am going to give you the double, double batch measurements that we use. Allow everyone to get “their fill” as they are coming out of the oven. Then fill the “cooled” cookies in an airtight container and freeze the rest.

When company comes, or someone just “drops by,” take these (and any other kinds of cookies you make) out of your freezer and put them on a plate. Make some great coffee or a pot of tea, and by the time the coffee is done, the cookies are thawed to serve to delighted guests!

Mix in medium microwaveable bowl:

2 sticks of butter, melted 2 min. in microwave

1 C Crisco

1-1/2 C sugar

1-1/2 C brown sugar

2 t. vanilla

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mix in big bowl:

4-1/2 C flour

2 t. baking soda

2 t. salt

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Pour dry into wet ingredients and add four eggs then two bags (or four cups) chocolate chips. Bake at 375˚ for 9–11 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I know. I sound like a broken record when I tell you how delicious something is, but these are the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever eaten. The secret is that you use “chunky” peanut butter!

Mix in medium microwaveable bowl:

1 C (2 sticks) butter, melted

1 C chunky peanut butter

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

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Add:

2 eggs and 1 t. vanilla

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Mix in smaller bowl:

2-1/2 C flour

1 t. baking powder

1-1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

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Combine both bowls

CHILL IN REFRIGERATOR FOR THREE HOURS

Scoop and roll in sugar. Press down with a fork making a criss-cross pattern. Bake at 375˚ for 10–12 minutes.

 

Chewy Toffee Rancher Cookies

You will find that these are the best cookies you’ve ever eaten, guaranteed! Unfortunately, we had a run of guests that begged us to make them and we “over-dosed” on them.

Mix in medium bowl:

1 C shortening

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

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Add 3 eggs

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Mix in small bowl:

2 C flour

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. soda

1 t. vanilla

2 C oats

2 C corn flakes

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1-1/2 packages of English Toffee bits (10 oz. bag)

Mix dry, mix moist, combine, then add toffee bits.

Bake on WELL-GREASED cookie sheet at 350˚ for 10 minutes. Make sure they are dark on the edges; if they are underdone they really are no good. Cool on wire rack before eating for best flavor.

Note: Your spatula will stick when removing the cookies from the sheet. So, after removing three cookies, wipe off the end of the spatula with a moist cloth.

Oatmeal Crinkles

You have never in your life tasted cookies like these. Last year, our pastor announced how much he loved oatmeal cookies. Every one of my children leaned forward in the pew to motion to me that I needed to bring him some of mine! Isn’t it nice to have fans?

Mix in medium microwaveable bowl:

4 sticks of butter, melted

4 C sugar

4 eggs

2 t. vanilla

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Mix in small bowl:

2 C oats

2 C raisins (optional)

5-1/2 C flour

3 t. soda

1/2 t. salt

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Combine both bowls. Roll into a ball and then roll into 2/3 cups sugar. Bake in preheated 350˚ oven for 15 minutes until they puff and are lightly browned.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

This chocolate cake recipe, with the following icing recipe, is the most delicious cake you have ever tasted. For a fancier cake (this is what I do for my friends’ birthday cakes), spread the first (or bottom) layer with raspberry preserves, then the icing. Incredible!!!

I will warn you that it is very heavy and rich. Normally I use a box cake mix with the icing recipe below.

3 C flour (take out 6 T.)

1-1/2 t. baking soda

3/4 t. salt (1/2 & 1/4 t.)

3/4 C butter (1-1/2 sticks)

2-1/4 C sugar

1-1/2 t. vanilla

3 eggs

3 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

1-1/2 C ice water

Preheat oven to 350˚. Generously grease and flour three (nine inch) round cake pans. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium-sized bowl. Cream butter in a large bowl; then, gradually add sugar and vanilla, and beat until mixture is fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in melted chocolate. Now, add the dry ingredients alternating with ice water. Mix the batter for two minutes. Pour into greased and floured pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 30–35 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pans and cool completely.

The LIGHTEST Frosting

When my friends have a party, they ask me to bring my cake as their “birthday present”!

1/3 C powdered sugar

1 box (3-1/2 oz.) instant vanilla pudding

3/4 C cold milk

8 oz. tub of Cool Whip (I have tried, unsuccessfully to use real whipping cream but if you ever master it, please send me the recipe!)

Keep everything very cold by putting your bowl and beaters in the freezer. Mix the top three ingredients on high speed for about two minutes until thick. Carefully fold in Cool Whip with a rubber spatula. That’s it!

For more variety, use different flavors of pudding mix with different kinds of cake mixes and get creative. Our last birthday, Tara’s, I used fresh strawberries and used the juice (after slicing thinly, cover them with sugar and refrigerate) as the liquid in the cake, and in place of the milk. Then I spread the strawberries in the middle and over the top and sides. Not only delicious, but impressive!

Tasty Gingerbread

My mother tells me that she was known for delicious gingerbread, but somehow lost the recipe. She says that this is just as delicious as hers, but she still liked to tell me the story of how she used to make hers in a cast iron skillet whenever I made her some of my gingerbread.

This can be served as a dessert, a tasty breakfast treat, or as a snack. Amazingly delicious!

1 stick butter

3/4 C firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 C light molasses

1 C milk

2-1/2 C flour

1/2 t. salt

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 t. ground ginger

1 t. cinnamon

Sugar for the top

Preheat oven to 375˚. Generously grease a nine inch square baking dish. Cream the butter and sugar. Add egg, molasses, and milk; beat until well blended. Sift in flour, salt, soda, powder, ginger, and cinnamon. Beat until mixed. Pour into greased pan, sprinkle with sugar, and bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Sweet Cornbread

This recipe is not from the South. In the South, the cornbread is not sweet at all and is baked in cast iron skillets (I have never acquired a taste for southern cornbread). However, you will not believe how delicious this northern sweet cornbread is. It is so tasty that if there is ever any left over, it is eaten up the next morning by the first man (or woman) up!

1 C flour

1 C cornmeal

1/2 C sugar

4 t. baking powder

3/4 t. salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 C milk

1 stick butter

1/2 C sweet frozen corn

Preheat oven to 425˚. Generously grease a nine inch square pan. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, powder, and salt. Add eggs, milk, and butter. Mix only until well blended. Put into greased pan. Bake in preheated oven 20–25 minutes or until the wooden stick comes out clean, and the top is lightly browned. Serve warm.

If you need to double the recipe, you can mix them together, but bake them in two nine inch square pans, so that they will cook in the center.

This can be eaten as a dessert—it is so good; however, we usually eat it with our fried chicken dinner and our chili.