Thursday, December 18, 2008

Cookie Walk

I was reading the local City Paper and saw an add for the annual Cookie Walk in Lawrenceville, PA which is right near downtown Pittsburgh, and I'd never been to a cookie walk before so it sounded fun. Basically, you walk from store to store and get a free cookie and recipe for it; so the stores get new visitors and you get free cookies! I was a little disappointed though because all of the cookies at every store were made by a single bakery, but the recipes seem to be from the store owners themselves. Here is the link to an article about the annual cookie walk: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08339/932457-34.stm

And here are pics of the cookies:

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*The oatmeal was my favorite, it had sea salt on it, a really good flavor combination!

Cranberry Fluff

My boyfriend and his family would not stop going on and on about his grandmother's cranberry fluff-type thing she made every year for Thanksgiving, and since they were spending this Thanksgiving at the other side of the family, they weren't going to have any. So, I got the recipe from his mom and made it a few days later (I had never tried it before) and it was really simple and good!

Frozen Cranberry Salad (cranberry Fluff)

8oz softened cream cheese
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp mayo
8oz crushed pineapple (drained)
1 can whole cranberry sauce
8oz whipped topping


Cream cream cheese, mayo, and sugar with a mixer. Stir in pineapple, cranberries, and whipped topping.

Pour into an 8 x 8 pan, cover with foil and freeze. Let sit out 15 min before serving.

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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Blackberry Wine Cake

I haven't posted in awhile because of school taking up my time, and now I just had surgery on my left hand, so typing is a slow-go for me, but I'm going to try to get all my postings caught up.

First is this blackberry wine cake, the cook from my summer job told me about. He never got aroud to giving me the recipe but I found it online and made it in November for my boyfriend's mom's birthday. You can smell this cake a mile away!!! The glaze melted in, but that was all it needed, no icing necessary! As a bonus, the wine was only $5!!!!

Blackberry Wine Cake II
SUBMITTED BY: EYEPEAR


PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 40 Min
READY IN 55 Min
Original recipe yield 1 - 10 inch Bundt pan


INGREDIENTS
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package blackberry flavored gelatin
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup blackberry wine

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup blackberry wine

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and gelatin mix. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, oil and blackberry wine. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Pour 1/2 of blackberry wine glaze over top of cake while still warm. Let set for 10 minutes then remove cake from pan. Allow cake to cool fully before pouring the remaining glaze on top.
To make the Glaze: In a small bowl, stir together the confectioners' sugar and 1/2 cup blackberry wine.


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