But I (with a quick tense change) should be back online this week – I will be bringing you this year’s teacher appreciation gift and on Friday this week – hopefully the video how to on making a rustic apple pie I promised a couple of weeks ago.

So, onwards and upwards! I shall sally forth!!

Hi! This is the second part of my Thursday baking tutorials :) I decided, since there was so much interest in the post I did recently about making my own marshmallow fluff, that I would share with you all. I did make one change to the recipe that I posted here however. This recipe is made with honey, rather than with corn syrup.

Why you might ask? Well two reasons really. I was curious AND I really don’t like using corn syrup or more importantly it’s evil cousin high fructose corn syrup.  I was really pleasantly surprised with the results. There is a depth of flavor that is non existent with the regular creme, the honey melds so well with the vanilla. I’ve made nothing BUT this recipe since I tried it out and I have to say it tastes sooooo much better in a fluffernutter sandwich. It just can not be beat!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is the recipe, just in case it goes too fast for you on the video. Try it! I promise you will be pleasantly surprised!

Marshmallow Creme (No corn syrup method)

2013-04-18 14:33:19

Yields 2

Marshmallow creme made with honey instead of corn syrup - best fluffernutter sandwiches EVER!

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Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

20 hr

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

20 hr

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

1 cup honey (I used Suebee)

1/2 water

2 pinches of salt

1 1/2 cups of sugar

4 large egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 TBL double strength vanilla extract

Instructions

Put the egg whites and cream of tartar in the electric mixer and mix on medium until the egg whites reach a soft peak stage.

In a metal saucepan, put in the honey, sugar, salt and water.

Using a candy thermometer, bring the sugar mix up to 240F.

Turn the electric mixer onto low and slowly, using the side of the mixer bowl, pour the sugar mix into the eggs.

Once the saucepan is empty, slowly crank the speed up to high until it reaches stiff peaks.

Add the vanilla and beat again for 2 to 3 minutes.

DONE! :D

Notes

Use a ziplock bag to put the fluff into the container for storage.

This creme tastes awesome when you use it in: whoopie pies, fudge, rice crispie treats, no bake cookies, inside cupcakes, fluffernutter sandwiches and of course... if you eat it by itself!

By Beth Ennis

Diary of a Pinterest Addict http://apinterestaddictsdiary.com/

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Oh God in heaven was she ever right – though I don’t remember being so disgusting to my mother at the grand old age of 10 1/2. If I could have, yesterday I would have sold DD#1 to the gypsies. In fact, I probably would have paid them. Does that make me sound horrible? Probably. 

Yesterday marked the 6th time in two weeks that my eldest daughter has “disappeared” after school. She rides her bike, which causes me stress because she has to cross a major road and there are a distressingly large amount of sexual  predators around according to the internet. Yes, she has a cellphone. However, she did not have it charged or turned on or whatever that days excuse was. *sigh*

So yesterday, I already got stuck at home because she lost my car keys, so her two middle sisters where unable to go to school, because I couldn’t get them to their bus stop. Her school gets out just before 4 pm  so I gave her until 4.30 pm to get home. No show. I call her cellphone. Straight to voice mail. 5 pm still no-show. I start searching the caller ID on the phone to locate her friend’s phone numbers – no luck there. My hubby calls and I tell him to start calling her friends – he has their numbers. I have them too… on my cellphone… which was dead… because DD#1 took the charger into the car… and then lost my car keys, so I couldn’t charge it.

DD#1 is located. She’s off playing at another friend’s house. So the friends mother calls over, DD#1 goes back to the original friends house and calls me. I tell her to come home NOW. She gets all defensive and comes home. I clearly tell her that she is grounded and banned from riding her bike for the next two weeks. At this point she decides to freak out on me and slams into her room, slamming and making her door come off its rollers.

I had to walk away. She then spends the next hour alternately screaming and crying, to trying to bargain with me.  If she does this, then I’ll let her do that. Definitely didn’t like it when I wasn’t up for any negotiations.  

So…. for all the internet to see, I officially apologize to my mother for all the horrible things I did and said to you during my “queen death bitch” years as my brother so succinctly put them and when I find myself a Ouija board,  I am going to “call” my Grandmother, apologize and ask her to please lift the curse.

In other parenting moments this week, DD#3 decided that it was too hard to ask her father if she could get some gum at the store. So, she decided to just take it. She got away with her pilferage until I went to grab her quilt for our weekend family camp out in the living room. I asked my husband discretely if he had purchased the gum, because DD#3 is notorious for sticking the gum either in her hair or getting it stuck on the carpet. Anyways….

No, he had not brought the gum and as soon as I mentioned it to DD#3, she burst into tears and admitted to taking the gum because she didn’t think Daddy would say yes. I sat her in our time out chair to think about what she had done. She cried of course, but said it was wrong to take the gum, apologized to her Daddy and took my telling her that she needed to apologize to the store manager very well. I also told her she needed to clean windows to pay for the gum.

The next day, we went together to the local Publix, where I made her talk to the manager, apologize and pay for the gum. The manager said that he didn’t like that she had taken the gum,  but appreciated her coming back in and apologizing and to pay for her gum. She smiled at him, they shook hands, and we were done. Right? I thought so.

From right behind me, a woman speaks up and asks me what I hoped to accomplish by my actions. I told her that I was teaching DD#3 that there were consequences to her actions and that there is accountability for her actions.  She shook her head and told me that all I had taught my daughter was how to be humiliated. Um… wot? I just said no, she needs to learn right from wrong. The woman proceeded to tell me that it is only gum, and I should have let it go. WHAT? No. I think this woman was telling me it was okay for DD#3 to steal? I don’t think so. So, still being a little mouthy, I told her that apparently her parents didn’t teach her to mind her own business or teach her manners.

Unbelievable. I think I did the right thing. Since then I have heard DD#3 telling DD#4 not to take things – because it’s wrong and Mummy will make you clean windows! Lol!  

I tried my hand at making a video blog today – it’s the first in a weekly series I am going to try and post every Thursday. My aim to is to show new bakers how to make fun and relatively simple things.

These are my favourite chocolate chip cookies. I make them at least once a week and they never make it to the end of the night. My hubby, who is not a sweets fan at all, says that these are perfect. Not too sweet, light, fluffy and vanilla-y. Lol. My girls constantly ask for these to be sent to school on their snack days too, and my eldest daughters friends ask for them when they show up unannounced. So, without further ado, my first video tutorial on how to make soft chocolate chip walnut cookies! Recipe to follow the video!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Soft Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

2013-04-11 07:47:06

Yields 18

A delicious soft, white chocolate and milk chocolate chip cookie with walnuts.

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks of room temperature unsalted butter (12tbsp)

3/4 cup of packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp of vanilla (I use double strength vanilla - love that flavor)

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of corn starch

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 375F.

Cream the butter and sugar together, until it's light and fluffy. The longer the better IMO.

While they are creaming, add the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking powder to a large ziplock bag and toss it around to mix together. Set aside.

Add the vanilla and both eggs and mix well.

Cut the corner off the ziplock bag, set your electric mixer on the lowest setting, and gradually pour in the flour mix. When it's all added, turn the mixer up higher, until the flour mixture is well incorporated.

Pour in the chocolate chips and walnuts and mix for about 10 to 15 seconds.

Using your hands, roll the dough into balls - golf ball size works well for us!

Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, checking the cookies for doneness at the 10 minute mark.

Notes

About 5 minutes into baking, you can turn the cookie sheets 180 degrees to make sure they are evenly browned. Not necessary though.

These cookies also taste awesome when you use mint chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and crushed heath bars. I have also wrapped the dough around frozen rolo chocolates. OMG!

By Beth Ennis

Diary of a Pinterest Addict http://apinterestaddictsdiary.com/

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I woke up this morning with a craving. I wanted vanilla cupcakes and marshmallow had to be involved somewhere. I wanted something easy and quick and I got it by doctoring up a box of Duncan Hines yellow cake mix. The last box I own btw… I am really attempting to make everything from scratch these days. Anyways. I had a vision in my head. And, I was determined for it to come to pass. Thus these cupcakes were born!

A couple of months ago I came across a post on Pinterest that said how to make awesome cupcakes by following a few simple rules:

1. Use 1 more egg than the box says to use.
2. Use butter instead of oil and double the amount.
3. Instead of water, use whole milk.

You will not be sorry to follow those simple rules.  They make all the difference to the crumb of the cake. Really. Oh… don’t I sound all professional? Lol. Anyways. Do it :P ;)

Then I made the marshmallow creme used in the center – which I cut out using my smallest circular cookie cutter. I made a completely separate post for that…. I was and am still so proud of myself making it. Apparently my friends appreciate it too, though one has decided that I need to be called Lady Beelzebub because I keep tempting her with naughty things… Gotta share the calories around you know ;)

The frosting on top was super easy too. I’ll add the recipe at the bottom if you are interested to try it out for your self.  Perfect for a day like today – I think next time I might try adding some lemon to them. Give them a nice tingle!

I was just going to incorporate this into my post later today, but I can not resist well tooting my own horn really.

Today I made marshmallow fluff, or creme – same difference really. I’ve tried to do it before, and a thinner version of this can be made into cloud frosting, which is my go to frosting. I was never successful at making the fluff though.

I was today though, it took no time and I am never buying that stuff from the store again. Woot!

Anyways, it’s tasty and easy to make :)

Homemade Marshmellow Creme

2013-04-08 11:20:46

Yields 3

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Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

¾ cups Sugar

½ cup Light Corn Syrup

¼ cup Water

Pinch Salt

2 large Egg Whites

¼ teaspoon Cream of Tartar

1 ½ teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Instructions

In a small saucepan, stir together the sugar, light corn syrup, water, and salt. Place the pan over medium-high heat and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan (being sure the bottom of the thermometer is touching the sugar mixture). Heat the mixture until it reaches exactly 240 degrees.

While the sugar mixture is heating up, place the egg whites and the cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk until the soft peaks form, and then reduce the speed to low.

Once the sugar mixture reaches exactly 240 degrees, remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour the mixture down the side of the mixer, with the mixer running on low speed. Once you had added all the sugar, increase the speed to medium-high and whip until hard peaks form and the mixture is thick, glossy, and white – It will take about 5-7 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat a couple more minutes.

Use immediately or place in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

By Beth Ennis

Adapted from Shauna Sever

Adapted from Shauna Sever

Diary of a Pinterest Addict http://apinterestaddictsdiary.com/

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Holy jumping jimminy! I like chicken about as much as the next person. It never really makes me crave a particular recipe though. I’m meh on it I guess you would say. That was until I tried this chicken recipe. Frankly I was a little dubious about it… Maple syrup and dijon mustard?

I decided not to be a culinary coward – after all, I’ve tried many strange and frankly disgusting things in my time – especially when I was stationed in Japan with my Hubby, and I was just dubious of the sweetness and flavor combination.

I am pleased to announce that I was completely and totally wrong. Wrong as wrong can be. Just like the original poster of this recipe, you will crave this chicken on a regular basis. You will have dreams about this chicken. I swear. Since making this recipe I have made it 9 times in three weeks. No joke. I’ve even figured out how to make it for my larger family and that it freezes really well. I make sure I make enough for my husband to take it to work the next day, where he is bombarded with requests by his co-workers to share. Makes a girl’s head spin ;)

So head over to the blog Table for Two and try her Holy Yum Chicken. You will NOT regret it. I’ve added my version of the recipe to my Favourite Recipes page at the top of the blog if you are interested or just click the link above. Please make it – right now. Whatever you were making for dinner, it will not be as good as this. I swear it. I’m eating leftover for lunch today!

Oh, and if you are like the look of the green beans I served with this, look below for the recipe!

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Green Beans with onion and bacon

Green beans pan fried with butter, sweet onions and bacon

Author: Beth Ennis

Cuisine: American

Recipe type: Side dish

Serves: 4 to 6 people

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Total time:  20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 lb of green beans (If using fresh, make sure to steam them to preferred doneness first. If using canned, use two cans of your green beans of choice)
• ½ sweet onion (my onion of choice, I am sure brown onions or red onions would be fine too)
• ¼ cup cooked, chopped bacon
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. On medium high, heat a heavy based fry pan and melt the butter in it with the olive oil to prevent burning.
2. When the butter is melted, add the onion and saute until transparent, but not browning. About 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add the bacon and stir around, letting the bacon render a bit. About 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Throw in the green beans and let stir it together.
5. Let it heat though.
6. Season to taste and serve. Enjoy!!

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3.2.1230

Making pie shells have always made me nervous. I always assumed that it was horribly tricky and it was just going to be beyond my baking skills. What I didn’t count on was how sick of high fructose corn syrup I would get, and my disgust over how many companies/products still use the nasty stuff. So, knowing that we had a holiday coming up, I decided to test out some recipes and make my family a pie.

Was I ever wrong about how hard pie shells were to make! The first one I made was based on Martha Stewart’s Easy Pie Crust, which worked out really well. However, this time I decided to use the recipe found here: The Idea Room: My Favorite Apple Pie Recipe. The dough was a stickier than I was planning, but thanks to covering the counter with wax paper, it was not an issue when I rolled it out. When baked, it came out so flaky and delicious! This pie was subtle in flavor, not too sweet, not too cinnamon-y and so tasty with vanilla whipped cream.

It was also extremely simple to make, which works for me!! Making the crust was a lot of fun. DD #2 insisted that our pie needed to be decorated with hearts and bunnies.  It was almost too cute to eat. Almost ;)

The pie filling itself was even easier than the shell!! Peel and thinly slice 6 apples. I mixed granny smith and galas – we also had a handy dandy machine that peels and slices at the same time.  Place them into the bottom of the pie shell, sprinkle over 3/4 cup of brown sugar, add the cinnamon all over, top with 3 tablespoons of butter (cut into three 1 tbsp squares). That’s it. Not too sweet and so very yummy! You have to try it!