Baking Time

Did a little baking yesterday. Made some roasted pumpkin seeds and Cherry Delight Cake. I don't like cherries much, but really liked the cake and it was super easy. Now what to do with all the pumpkin I have. Probably start with some pumpkin cookies. Any suggestions?

Cherry Delight Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs butter or margarine (melted)
1 egg (beaten)
2 cups fresh or frozen pitted pie cherries (lightly drained - reserve 1 cup juice)
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnut, pecans, or hazelnuts)
Cherry Sauce (see recipe below)
Prepared whipped topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a medium-size bowl, combine butter or margarine, egg, sour cherries, almond extract, and nuts: add to flour mixture. Bake, uncovered, in an ungreased 9-inch square pan 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cut into squares.

Prepare Cherry Sauce. Serve the Cherry Delight Cake with Hot Cherry Sauce and prepared whipped topping.

Makes 8 servings.

Cherry Sauce
1 cup cherry juice
1 tbs cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
1 tbs butter or margarine

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine cherry juice, cornstarch, sugar, almond extract, and butter or margarine; cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Hot Cocoa & Chai Tea

I made up some Hot Cocoa and Chai Tea Mixes this evening. Very fast and easy. I love having these on hand during the winter and they make good gifts!

Chai Tea Mix
2 cups powdered milk
3 cups dry creamer
1 cup vanilla carmel dry creamer
2-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups instant tea(unsweetened0
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp clove
1 tsp cardamon
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in and store in container or jar. Mix 3 tbs with 6 oz hot milk or water.

Hot Cocoa
2 cups dry milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup creamer
dash salt

Mix all ingredients in and store in container or jar. Makes 4 cups of mix.
Add 3-4 tbs to hot water.

I think I'm going to put some cookie and brownie mixes together next. Will share when i do.

Sugar Biscuits

Image credit joythebaker.com
I saw this recipe recently for Orange Poppyseed Sugar Biscuits and thought I'd give it a try. They turned out great, just a little small(I'm not to good at guessing what 2 inches is), so a little hard for dipping in sorbet. But still tasted delicious. I made a double batch and had the dough to make cookies each day over the weekend.

Earache: Recipe for Ear Drops

The other night Clint went to check on Gavin and he had fallen asleep holding onto his ear. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Then today he kept tugging at it. He's been teething and drooling for a few days. So I think he may be getting an earache too. I got this recipe from a friend of mine for ear drops. I'm going to give it a try, and hopefully we won't have to make a trip to the doctor.

Ear Drops
1 Garlic capsule
1 tsp Olive Oil
5 drops Tea Tree Oil
1 tsp CBG Extract(can be used alone)
4 drops Lavender