Hot Fudge Sauce–Can Freeze

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butter, Can Freeze, Chocolate, Chocolate Sauce, cornstarch, Dark Chocolate, Desserts, Food, French Vanilla, homemade, Hot Fudge Sauce, Hot Fudge Sundae, Ice Cream, salt., Semi-Sweet Chocolate, sugar, Sundae, Unsweetened Chocolate, Vanilla, Vanilla Ice Cream, water

Do you ever get in the mood for things you should not have?, For instance a nice bowl of vanilla ice cream (my favorite is French Vanilla) with luscious Hot Fudge Sauce gracefully flowing down over the scoops of ice cream? What a treat on these hot days of summer!

Well I have to tell you I do, however over the years since all the fat free craze has simply ruined the ice cream topping that you can buy in the stores. I know my favorite of the past was Evans brand Butterscotch, that was back in the day when they actually used butter in their sauces, I do believe those days are gone forever now. I have not bought store bought in years.

Now this recipe my mother and grandmother made and it is their recipe, the wonderful thing about this is that it contains no milk, and you can make a large batch and freeze it if you wish. (we always made a large batch and froze it)

Also a note here, my mother loved it with semi-sweet  chocolate, I have made it that way, as well as 1/2 semi-sweet and 1/2 unsweetened, I have also made it with Dark chocolate, this is a recipe that you can experiment with the ingredients to find what you like.

HOT FUDGE SAUCE – CAN FREEZE

2 cups Sugar

6 Tablespoons Cornstarch

4  1 ounce  Squares Chocolate

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups Boiling Water

6 Tablespoons Butter

2 teaspoon Vanilla

In a medium size sauce pan,

Mix Sugar and Cornstarch together

Add Chocolate, Salt, and Boiling Water

Cook until it thickens.

Remove from heat and add Butter, and Vanilla

This can be frozen and when ready to use thaw and heat what you want in the microwave.

 

Ice Water Cake

Tags

almond extract, baking, butter, Cakes, cooking, custard, Dessert, egg whites, egg yolks, flour, Food, ice water, layer pan, recipes, sheet pan, strawberry short cake, tube pan, Vanilla

It is really hard to believe that you can make a cake with Ice Water, but you actually can! My mother loved this cake  for Strawberry Short Cake, she always said it was like it was in between a Hot Milk Sponge Cake and an Angel Food Cake. It is denser and heavier than an angel food cake but still light. (if this make sense)

We always like baking this in a 10 inch tube pan, however the recipe calls for  two layer pans or a sheet cake pan. I am thinking the tube pan makes a little fancier cake than just a sheet or layer cake, as we never did ice this cake.

Since the cake calls for just egg whites, we always used the yolks to make homemade custards to go with the strawberries  to serve with or over the cake.

I am sure you will love this cake as much as we do.

ICE WATER CAKE

1/2 cup  Shortening (we use butter)

2 cups Sugar

3 1/2 cups  Cake Flour (we use regular unbleached)

3/4 tsp  Salt

3 tsp  Baking Powder

1 1/2 cups   Ice Water

1 tsp.  Vanilla

1/4 tsp  Almond Extract (if we have it we use it if not good with just Vanilla)

4  Egg Whites

Cream Shortening

Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.

Sift Flour; measure and add salt and baking powder and sift again.

Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with Ice Water and flavorings.

Beat thoroughly after each addition.

Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Pour into greased, layer pans, or a sheet or tube pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (tube pan will take slightly longer about 40-45 minutes) test with a knife or cake tester.

An excellent white cake.

 

Old Fashioned Potato Candy

Tags

10x sugar, confectioner sugar, dough, Old Fashioned, peanut butter, potato, Potato Candy, powdered sugar, Vanilla

I imagine a good many of you out there, remember potato candy growing up, especially if you had parents from the 1920’s and 1930’s. Times were much simpler back then, you did not run to the store to pick up the needed ingredients for that special recipe you wanted to make. If you were on a farm back then often town and the stores were 10-20 miles away, Going to town was an all day event you might do once a month. You learned to use what you had on hand. Potato Candy is born.

I well remember when my mother would boil a potato and mix the confectioners sugar into the hot potato, make a fondant like dough and knead it until it was soft and pliable. (sounds like a long time) but it only takes a minute or two. Usually the main words of wisdom were “GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN”  I will let you know when it is done!!

Also the most important words of wisdom any mother can impart concerning potato candy is SMALL, SMALL, SMALL potato, I learned this very quickly my first time making it as an adult, of course I did not heed those words of wisdom, I used a medium sized potato, and it took pounds of confectioner’s sugar and I don’t think I ever added enough,, tossed it out, I would have had enough potato candy to feed a small town!!

Now for the easiest candy you can make.

OLD FASHIONED POTATO CANDY

 

1 “SMALL POTATO”  ( I use one that will fit in the palm of my hand that I can almost make a fist around)

1 lb  Confectioners Sugar (10x)

1 tsp Vanilla

Peanut Butter

Peel and boil your potato (I cut mine in quarters), takes about 10-15 minutes.

Remove from pan, drain

Place in mixing bowl or you can mash with a fork, and add powdered sugar, and stir, will look runny at first, add vanilla, and more powdered sugar until a soft dough is formed, the consistency should feel soft but moist, but not wet.

Sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar on the counter,  knead the dough sever al time just like working bread dough, it will become smooth.

I take two sheet parchment or wax paper and put on on the counter press the dough flat like you are going to roll out a pie crust. Place the second sheet on top and roll out to about 1/8 “ inch thickness, spread with peanut butter, then roll up like a jelly roll.

Take a knife and trim off the ends (of course you have to taste test the ends) then slice  about 1/2 inch thick, and place on plate, we always kept our plate in the refrigerator so the peanut butter would firm up some.

Enjoy!

Flavored Sugars-So Easy to Make and to Use

Tags

baking, citrus, citrus sugars, Flavored Sugars, frozen citrus, frozen lemons, fruits, grapefruit, grated zest, Lemon, Lime, oils, Orange, Vanilla, Vanilla Beans, zest

Do you like lemon In your tea? How about making a lemon pie? Perhaps you don’t care for Lemon, perhaps Orange, Lime or even Vanilla!

Flavored Sugars can be made so easily anytime you need them or well in advanced and kept until ready to use. They also make great gifts anytime of the year for any occasion.  Who ever the recipient is, even yourself, they will love this simple homemade gift from the heart.

I will start by telling you most citrus fruits can be used, thought I personally have not tried grapefruit. There are several things that will make the job easier, depending on what you want to do.

Most citrus will yield more juice if frozen,and thawed. Have you ever gotten a lot of oranges over the holidays only to see them go bad, simply put the Oranges in the freezer, this works for all citrus fruits, when you need zest, take out a frozen fruit and grate the zest off with a rasp  or nutmeg style grater. while still frozen, if you don’t need the juice put the lemon back in a freezer bag until just the juice is needed. 

     A citrus zester, works easier on non frozen fruits for nice long ribbons of zest, or you can chop these ribbons fine if you wish with a good sharp knife.

Place whatever form of zest you prefer into a bowl of sugar mix and allow to set, as the days go by the sugar draws the vital oils into the sugar.The amount of sugar you use and the amount of zest is up to your personal preference. I prefer to put mine in mason jars, if you are ever feeling down just open the jar and smell, it will brighten of your day, the aroma is heavenly!! You might say it is like Aromatherapy for Cooks

The same can be done with Vanilla Beans,  simply slice open length wise and scrape the seeds out and mx with the sugar, I usually will put the bean itself in as well.

I would suggest you start with a cup of sugar and the zest of one lemon, lime or orange, then try it and and if to strong add another cup of sugar, if to weak, add more zest.