So... tried the Carnivore Donuts.... you know, the ones made with just egg, milk powder, baking powder....

 

In the last 3 or 4 years, I don't pay much attention to recipes online and almost never to recipes on social media.  Life has been .... different.... over the past few years so this website came to a screeching halt more or less and is just now showing signs of life again.

If recipes come across my feed I'll sometimes stop to watch, once in a great while I'll save one.  Almost no time or interest to try many of them but it just so happens I was free today, saw this one, and had the inclination and the ingredients to test it.

Carnivore Donuts.

There are a few (many, actually) different versions of this floating around.  I initially saw one in which a young woman who looked and acted like she'd never baked a day in life, was trying a recipe video she saw of a man who was making them.  She was using a video inside a video type thing that is so popular on social media.  

The recipe used just eggs, milk powder and baking powder (although she had baking soda out on the counter when she started to make it... and then when she did the 'add ingredients' part of her video had switched to a tiny little packet of something instead of the baking soda - she called it baking powder so I assume it was.)  I also assume someone told her the difference between baking soda and baking powder so she redid that part of her video.  ANYWAY!

Supposedly these have a texture and taste of donuts and are often topped with a mixture of honey and cream cheese.  Well, I just literally made cheesecake yesterday which has a similar flavor of the glaze so I decided I'd just use that on them when it came to that point.

I halved the recipe since it was a 'test recipe' and I also just have one donut pan (these are baked donuts, not fried).

CARNIVORE DONUTS

2 eggs
1 c whole milk powder
1/2 t baking powder

Whisk like crazy to get good air, and place into a well buttered donut pan.  Bake at 310 for about 10-ish minutes.  


WHAT I CHANGED

I added just the tiniest dusting of nutmeg powder as I really like the taste of old fashioned donuts.  Not even enough to measure - not even a 'pinch' - less than that.  I also added a couple drops of vanilla and lastly, because I saw a commenter say their Carnivore Donuts didn't raise without a little bit of baking soda as well, I added about 1/8 t baking soda.   

I mistakenly baked at 350 degrees so they got a bit dark on top.  I baked for 11 minutes.  



FIRST THE PHOTOS then my opinion at the bottom 



The batter - a nice yellow, thick batter that reminded me of the consistency of royal icing when you make it into a flowing 'base'.    Because it's a MINI donut pan, it's easier to pipe in the batter and it just so happens I had a reusable icing bag out as I was product testing them for a company.   Immediately after filling - before even using, they did this.  Safe to say it went into the trash right after this recipe was made.   

Because it split, the batter was running down (and out the tip) so I just filled the donut cavities up and they looked more like pop-overs or cream puffs.  

Here you can see how I just gave up trying to pipe the batter in nicely and instead, just squished the batter out of the broken bag the best I could, and filled them up all the way instead.

  Even though the pan was buttered well, a couple still stuck a bit.
They browned more than I'd liked as the oven was preheated at 350 instead of 310.
I baked 11 minutes.  The outside top got a bit brown on a few.
 
They looked like donuts on the bottom and a cream puff on top.
The texture is... a bit 'eggy' typical of keto and low carb, wheat-free baking.
Immediately out of the oven were soft and reminded me more of a cream puff than a donut.

 I topped a couple by spreading with the cream cheese filling to be a 'donut'.
Meh.
Because they reminded me of cream puffs I grabbed the whipped cream and filled a couple.
Still meh.

FINAL THOUGHTS:   I'm very glad I took a little smidgen of time to try these.  They were and are nothing like donuts except maybe the fragrance and they must be enjoyed immediately out of the oven while they are still warm.  As they cooled, even 10 minutes later, the texture changes.  They are then more dry and not nearly as edible as when they were still hot, fresh or warm.

I'm not a fan - and have other recipes that are similar but far better.  Very happy I tried this silly 'egg and milk powder' recipe but it's not one I'd make again.  I might 'play' with the idea a bit and see if I can improve it, but I don't know if I'll even do that.  

Pavlova from freeze dried egg whites

 

PAVLOVA

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Be sure your mixing bowl and beaters are clean (even wipe them with vinegar to be sure) so no fat or oils are on them.

6 T Freeze dried egg whites along with 2 T water per egg white 
3 T powdered sugar (or powdered natural sweetener for low carb)
2 t vanilla 

Mix the egg white powder and water in your mixing bowl to soft peak stage.  With the mixer running on low, add in the powdered sugar or sweetener and the vanilla very slowly, once it's all added in and dissolved into the egg whites, increase speed to medium until it's thick and glossy and stiff peaks.

Turn it out onto parchment in a big blob and then use the back of a large spoon or a large icing knife to pull up the sides, and use your big spoon to scoop out the center a bit.  

Turn your oven down to 225 degrees and bake for 1 1/2 hours, turn off your oven and leave it in (without opening your oven) for at least 6+ hours.  I made mine in the late afternoon and left it overnight.

Served the next day with homemade lemon curd and fresh berries (strawberries and blueberries are good - as well as raspberries).  

 

 

 

 

 

Low Carb Sugar Free Carrot Cake with my Coffee (and cream cheese frosting on it)

 

 

 

 

We have been enjoying a keto carrot cake this weekend with our coffee as I had to use up some leftover baby carrots from when we had houseguests... I snapped a couple quick pictures with my cell phone to show it as I don't know that I care enough to try to make it look 'pretty' - I literally take a photo just before I'm going to eat it!

I have a version of it I posted back in 2016... Some of those ingredients are not made any longer and others, I don't use anymore or use newer versions.

Here is the carrot cake (sugar free, low carb) I posted back in 2016.  Very similar to the one I typically make now - just a couple changes.  About 10 years ago I started to add heavy cream to my frostings as well - so similar base - but add a huge dollop of heavy cream and you get more volume, a smooth silky frosting, and even better flavor. 

https://www.housewifebarbie.com/2016/05/ 

 

The current cake I've been making for the past almost 10 years though is this one (based on Carolyn Ketchums recipe!).

  
Low Carb Carrot Cake

 
2 c almond flour
1/3 c coconut flour
1/3 vanilla whey protein powder (I use Isopure and have for 20 years)
1 T baking powder
2 t cinnamon
1 t salt
dash of ground cloves
4 eggs
1/2 c avocado oil
1/2 c brown sugar style sweetener
1/2 c granular style natural sweetener
1 1/2 c shredded baby carrots
2 t baking vanilla
optional - a few tablespoons chopped pecans

Grease and line the pans (I use 2, 8" or 9" pans).  Blend together the dry ingredients (flours, powders, seasoning).  

Mix the eggs, oil and sweeteners, add carrots and vanilla.  Beat in the dry ingredient mixture and add chopped nuts if using.  

Divide batter between the 2 pans and bake in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes, until done in the center.  Let cool.  Remove from pans.  

Spread frosting between layers, top and frost all.

For the Frosting I used:

1 stick butter
8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 c powdered natural sweetener (depending on the brand you use some are sweeter than others so adjust to taste.  1 cup of my allulose/splenda/stevia blend is TOO sweet so must cut back to 2/3-ish.)
1-2 t vanilla

dash of salt
Enough heavy whipping cream to taste and amount you need (I use about 3/4 cup)

In a mixing bowl whip the butter and cream cheese and sweeteners with the vanilla.  Slowly pour in the heavy cream while on low speed and increase to medium high.  Beat until it's whippy and spreadable.   Use on your cakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An American Housewife: Thanksgiving Pies for 2025! A different pie crust this year, and 3 pies; pumpkin, pecan and caramel apple (PIE CRUST RECIPE with sour cream)

I LOVE my regular pie crust and have been making it since my children were itty bitty babies, but this year, I was flipping through an old catalog of King Arthur I found tucked into one of my 1000 recipe binders, and saw a random pie crust recipe that used an addition of sour cream and baking powder.  Two items I don't typically use in my pie crusts.  But I had sour cream on hand that wasn't earmarked for any meal in particular and I was in a grumpy mood in which I did not feel like taking on any of the tasks at hand and making a pie would keep me busy and give me a reason for not doing 'all the things' I should have been doing.  I also had been given a can of caramel apple pie filling by someone who couldn't/wouldn't use it, a year or so ago (which we never use either), and have never used, and will never use... so it's just been sitting in the back of the pantry.  I decided to make a pie, and then gift the pie to someone.  

So that is the back story to why I tried a different pastry recipe this year and why I actually made a caramel apple pie using a store bought can of pie filling - which I've never done before.  I got rid of the odd-can of filling AND tried a new recipe.  

The pie crust made with sour cream and baking powder was... interesting.  Different, but good enough that I made it two more times and made all three (3) pies with it this year.  There is a bit of tang to it from the sour cream, but it's good, flaky, yet durable and easy to work with.

Here is the apple pie I gifted after it was baked... and was well received, and I asked for feedback on the pie crust from.   

 

Going into the oven to bake....

 

 

 

 

 

Pie Crusts 2025

2 c flour (Used a mixture of AP and flour I ground myself from soft white wheatberries)
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
2 sticks butter, cold
1/2 c sour cream

Put the dry ingredients in a food processor bowl (or a plain mixing bowl if you wish to mix by hand).  Give a couple whirls to mix the dry.  Cut the butter into dices, pats or pieces.  For a food processor, add and pulse until it is a crumb mixture.  If by hand, smoosh and blend with your fingers (or use a pastry cutter) until it it is a crumb mixture and bits of butter are throughout the flour.  Add the sour cream last, mixing in by hand or give a couple pulse whirls in the food processor just until the dough comes together.  

Turn out on parchment paper sprinkled with a bit of flour.  Divide dough into 2 disks.  If it's still cold, you can roll out immediately, or just form a disk, wrap in plastic and chill in fridge until you are ready to roll.  Make a circle just a bit larger than your pie dish, and lift in.  Finish the edges however you wish.  Can be pre-baked for cold or custard pies, or freeze them until needed for filling pies - or fill immediately and bake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making the pies for Thanksgiving... a traditional pumpkin pie this year except made with part raw, organic honey to cut back on the dreaded corn syrup it traditionally uses.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

And pecan... 

 

 

Which  you can leave like this after adding the pecans....  or you can quickly decorate the top with a design of whole pecans as well.

 

 

 

 

Coffeecake Muffins (low carb, keto, yada yada)

It's been a long, long time since I've posted.  Life is still... life-ing.
It's been a tough past couple years.  Most of the time I don't even think of my old cooking and recipe blog!

This afternoon I was taking a break from convincing myself NOT to do all the things my brain is telling me should get done.  I had Coffee Cake Muffins on the counter so I stood there eating one when I suddenly thought about the cooking blog, "An American Housewife" Cooks. No idea why but it popped in my head.  I was SURE I had posted this recipe... probably at least 2 or 3 times, as I've made it at least 50 times in the past 10 years.  I snapped a picture with my cellphone as I was eating, and then later, came online to see if it was here.

Well, I have no idea... because I didn't find it within the first 8 seconds of searching so I just opted to post again.

Carb count depends on the products and brands you use.  Also, when I first started to make this recipe, there were VERY FEW products available... so my original hand written recipe card calls for things like Splenda and I think (?) Brown Sugar Twin or something like that.  Because back then the market had almost no sugar-free, low carb, keto products.  So things change over the years.  Use what you use.  Count your carbs and sugar using your products. 

 

Coffeecake Muffins

Topping:

1/2 c almond flour
3 T brown sugar style natural sweetener
2 T coconut flour
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 c melted butter

Mix the topping ingredients together to blend well and set aside.

 
Muffins:

2 c almond flour
1/3 c sweetener of choice
1/4 c whey protein powder (unflavored or vanilla - zero carb, zero sugar)
3 T coconut flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
1/2 c melted butter
4 eggs
1/2 unsweetened almond milk

Preheat your oven to 325.
Whisk together the dry ingredients for your muffins.
Stir in the butter, eggs, almond milk and vanilla.  Mix well by hand or briefly with mixer.

Fill lined muffin tins (makes 1 pan of 12-ish or about 6 jumbo with some leftover).  Place some of the crumble topping on each muffin tin of batter.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until done.  Cool complete in pans.  

If you wish at this point you can add a simple sugar free drizzle on top:
1/4 c powdered natural sweetener
2 T water or almond milk
1/2 t vanilla

Or top with a sugar free frosting.  I used a cinnamon flavored frosting on the ones in the photo above. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keto Brownies (Note to self: THIS ONE!!!!!!)

Last night, spur of the moment, decided to make brownies before bed.

I don't like chocolate and rarely crave sweets but I've been starting back on keto after a long, long time off  due to... things; and after a couple days, I was mentally craving foods I knew I didn't even really like. However, I know when I am re-starting keto or sugar free, low carb, I always start to crave crazy things around days 3 and 7 just because I want something sweet.  (25 years of eating mostly low carb/sugar free you start to know yourself!)

Chose a cast iron skillet this time for no particular reason.  When I was going to add the sweeteners, I grabbed my current mixture of allulose, monk fruit and stevia but saw a bag of Splenda Magic Blend I forgot I even had.  Used half that and half the allulose blend (that I'm trying to use up as it's used in so few recipes as it's a 'softer' finish so it's best in things like homemade ice cream... not baked goods that you like with a crisp edge).

I ended up eating it warm, straight from the oven, with a spoon.
Then I went to bed.

  
Brownies

3/4 c almond flour
1/2 c natural sweeteners (used Splenda Magic Blend, and Allulose, Monk Fruit and Stevia)
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
3 oz cream cheese
1/4 stick melted butter
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 c sugar free chocolate chips (used Lily's this time)

Oven to 325.  Buttered pan.  Combine the dry, add the wet.  Mix.  Pour into pan and smooth the top.  Bake 30-35 minutes.  Let cool completely.

A really ugly photo of the brownies literally right out of the oven.  It was night time, and my kitchen lights always make things look ugly even in the day (with a yellow cast) but at night, even uglier.  They are actually a deep, deep dark chocolate color and were oh-so good!!!! A quick photo of one I ate at lunch today.

   And to make it easy to 'grab one' I sometimes do this with brownies or cheesecake... make them into little "brownie bites" or "cheesecake bites" so I can grab just one and not have to rely on myself for portion control.

  

Homemade Sugar Free No Churn (No Machine) Ice Cream - Coffee flavor!

Was craving ice cream lately but never wanted to add it to the grocery budget.  I lent our ice cream maker to our daughter and haven't borrowed it back yet so I had to make the 'no churn' 'no machine' kind which takes making the sugar free sweetened condensed milk first (which is what takes the most time).  Luckily I was home yesterday and could start it and let it simmer away without standing there willing it to go faster.

 

 

Homemade Sugar Free Coffee Flavored Ice Cream

1 c heavy cream
1 1/4 c heavy cream
1/2 c unsweetened almond milk
3/4 c sweeteners - mixture of allulose, bochasweet and monk fruit
2 T butter
1/2 - 3/4 t Thick It (a xanthan based thickener available online)
1 T espresso powder
1 t vanilla
1-2 t instant coffee (I use one full single packet)


In a saucepan mix the 1 c heavy cream and almond milk along with about half the sweetener.  Bring to a brief boil, then reduce to a constant fast simmer for about 45 minutes until it's thickened up a little. Stir every now and then and make sure your heat isn't too high or it will scorch.  Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and the ThickIt (by sprinkling over the top and whisking briskly).  Add the espresso powder and vanilla.  I used a stick blender briefly pulsed a couple times to make it super quick.  

Cool this mixture either in the refrigerator or let it set until completely cool.

Whip the 1 1/4 c heavy cream to stiff peaks along with the last half of the sweeteners.  Fold in the coffee mixture.  When combined, stir and swirl in a teaspoon or so (1 packet) instant coffee.  Leave it swirled to give that look or mix it in completely if you prefer a solid color soft brown ice cream.   Transfer to the container for the freezer, seal and freeze for about 5-6 hours.

 

Coffee mixture after whisking.  Now let it cool completely before adding in the whipped cream

Vintage Recipes: Custard Rhubarb Pie, Roast Turkey in a Paper Sack, Mexican Squash and Sunday Night Waffles

This cookbook from my pantry isn't especially old, I couldn't find the publication date inside the cover pages like usual but looking it up online, it is listed as published in 1971.  

Old enough, to be called vintage?  I consider my collected books from the early 1900's to about 1940's to be vintage.  But 1971 is old enough I suppose.

This one is called Americana Cookery; An illustrated cookbook of regional America's traditional recipes. 

I'll grab a couple recipes at random to share while I sip my coffee and wait for a delivery this afternoon....

 

 

Custard Rhubarb Pie

4 c diced rhubarb
2 c sugar
1/3 c flour
3 eggs, separated
1 unbaked pie shell
1 T butter
1/4 t cream of tartar
6 T brown sugar

Combine rhubarb, sugar, flour and egg yolks in a bowl.  Stir.  Let stand for several minutes until the juice begins to form; pour mixture into pie shell.  Dot top with butter.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 250 degrees; bake for 30 minutes longer.  Place egg whites and cream of tartar in a bowl; beat until soft peaks form.  Add brown sugar gradually; beat until stiff glossy peaks form.  Add meringue to top of pie.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  

Mrs. Doris Patterson, Shelbyville Jr. High, Shelbyville, IN
Notation:  I did find a Doris Patterson who lived in Shelbyville and was a retired teacher.  If this is her, she passed away in June of 2016.

Sunday Night Waffles

2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 c oil
2 1/2 c milk
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 T sugar
3/4 t salt
4 t baking powder

Combine eggs, oil and milk in mixer bowl.  Blend flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.  Add to egg mixture, stirring to mix.  Beat with electric mixer for about 2 minutes.  Bake in hot waffle iron until golden brown and done.  

Marthanne Limehouse, St. Paul's HS, Yonges Island, SC

Mexican Squash

1 1/2 lb. yellow squash
1 med onion, chopped
2 T fat
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 c tomatoes
1 or 2 t cumin seed
salt to taste
2 or 3 hot peppers (optional)

Wash and remove seed from squash; do not peel.  Cut into 1 inch cubes.  Saute onion in fat until  crystal clear; add squash, garlic, tomatoes and seasonings with 1 cup water.  Simmer until done, adding water, if necessary.  Add the hot peppers the last 15 minutes of cooking. 

Mrs. Nan Dryer, Mission HS, Mission, TX

Roast Turkey in a Brown Paper Sack

1 16-20 lb. turkey
salt to taste
1 recipe poultry stuffing
fat or shortening

Rub inside of turkey with salt.  Fill neck cavity with stuffing; fasten neck skin with skewer or pin.  Fasten opening with skewers; lace shut.  Tie leg ends to tail.  Brush entire bird with fat.  Place in brown paper sack; seal.  Place in shallow baking pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 5 hours and 30 minutes.  Remove paper sack.

Frances Schneider, Menomonie HS, Menomonie, WI
I found what is possibly a match for Ms. Frances, if it is her, she passed away in April of 2023.

Knafeh Bars (the viral Dubai Bars with Pistachio Cream Centers)

 

So apparently there was a 'viral' recipe on social media this Fall.  I had no idea.  My personality is such that I don't pay attention to what people are doing - I rarely use social media and frankly, I'm too dang busy in my own life to bother.  I actually stumbled upon this fad honestly - and accidentally.

Two things.  First, I've been wanting to find a cheap 'candy bar' style silicone mold to have on hand.  Have wanted this for about 2 years.  Didn't want one bad enough to buy one, but I'm part of a product review group and after a year of waiting, searching, keeping my eye out and looking, I stumbled upon one!  Ordered it post haste.

Within a couple weeks I stumbled upon shredded phyllo dough.  Yes please!  I LOVE phyllo dough and had never heard of nor seen shredded.  But I had it, so I had to find something to do with it.  That is when I put those words into a search engine and realized there was something called a Knafeh Bar - or a Dubai Bar.  It used shredded phyllo AND it used a silicone candy bar mold.  BINGO.

I also happened to have pistachio's on hand (always) and cream and other ingredients (always).  It was meant to be.

 

 

 My pistachios were roasted and salted. I simply ran them under water to get rid of some of the salt.  Next time I probably won't bother - I'll just not put any salt in the rest of the filling to make up for it.

I thought this was pretty cool...  My stick of butter said it was 113 grams on the wrapper.  I wondered if it would really be exactly that?  I weighed it. 

IT WAS.  Exactly 113 grams in one stick of butter.  I didn't actually need exactly one stick, I'm just a geek and wanted to weigh it.

 
The shredded phyllo (fillo) has to be cooked with butter to make it brown and crisp.

 
This is the mixing of the pistachio cream with the crispy phyllo.

 Getting ready to mix the candy bar filling - the phyllo, pistachio cream, vanilla, peanut butter, extra chopped pistachios...

 The candy bar mold was already lined/filled with a thin chocolate layer.  This is the molds being filled.

 By this point I was over it... I sent this message to my family.

 But in the end... they turned out quite well!  Here I am un molding them... they were dusted with edible gold dusting powder and drizzled with a tiny bit of green as well.

 Taste test..

 Bagged up and ready for my family to enjoy.

Knafeh Bars

In a candy bar silicone mold, dust a little bit of edible gold luster dust and green if you have it or use white chocolate colored green and drizzle that.  Or just use luster dust and forget the green - not sure why people insist there should be green.  Gold is just fine and looks pretty.

Brush or pour/spread melted chocolate of choice.  I used what I had on hand and mixed a bunch different bits.
Chocolate almond bark, sugar free chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips and some chocolate bars from Turkey.

Pistachio Cream

2/3 c pistachios
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c chopped up white chocolate or white chocolate melts
1/3 c butter
1/2 c cream or half and half
vanilla
almond extract
salt

Put into a blender and blend smooth.    Chill until needed if you've made it ahead of time.

Crisp the Shredded Phyllo

In a pan on the stove, heat some butter.
Add the shredded phyllo (kataifi)
Cook and stir until it's golden brown and crispy.  Set aside.

Filling

1 c shredded phyllo (kataifi)
1/2 cup of the pistachio cream you made
1 T peanut butter
2 T extra chopped pistachios

Fill the chocolate lined bar molds with the filling, be sure to flatten and smooth the filling and leave enough room to top with more melted chocolate.  When the bars are topped and you can't see any filling - it's totally encased in the chocolate in the molds, place them in the refrigerator to harden.

When the molds are cold and the chocolate hard, pop them out of the molds.

Using up Fruit "Everything" Pie with a Crumble Topping and Traditional Pumpkin Pie

 

Everything Fruit Pie with a Cinnamon Crumble Topping

This pie is to 'use up' lots of different fruit.  Over the course of a couple months I'd toss 'extra' fruit into the freezer.  I also had extra jars of home canned apples I wanted to use up.  I also had bought our favorite frozen fruit mixture at the store many times, but the peaches in frozen fruit mixes are always terrible - never ripe or sweet - so the peaches area always picked out and tossed into a ziplock in the freezer to use for other things.  Like this pie.

Into a big pan on the stove I added a bunch of fruit.  Everything I had on hand that needed to be used that could go into a fruit pie.   This time the mixture was/is:  apples, cranberries, strawberries, rhubarb, peaches, mango and... maybe something else.  I can't remember.   Brought to a boil, then reduce to be simmered on the stove with sugar and cinnamon added, along with a cornstarch/water slurry to thicken.  I didn't want to use it right then so I let it cool, refrigerated it, and put it into a food sealed bag and popped it back into the freezer.

I tossed the bag into the refrigerator last week to thaw and sit until needed.  Yesterday was a pie making day. 

1 unbaked pie crust
Crumble topping (recipe below)
Fruit of choice, with sweetener and flour to thicken (you could also use just apples, apples and cranberries, blueberries, etc)


Topping:
12 T sugar
6 T butter
1/2 c flour
6 T quick cook oatmeal
3 t cinnamon
1/4 t dried lemon zest

Crumbled together with your fingers, a fork, or pulsed a few times in a food processor.  Crumble onto your unbaked pie and bake as directed.

Baked at 350 for about 45 minutes.  Cool completely.

 

 

Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs
3/4 c brown sugar
5 oz. evaporated milk
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ginger
1/8 t nutmeg
(or just use about 2 t pumpkin pie spice instead of all the above)
2 T boiling water
1 t vanilla extract
1 2/3 c pumpkin puree
1/4 c half and half
1 pie shell, unbaked

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Put the pie crust into your pan.
In a food processor or a bowl, beat the eggs, add the sugar, milk, spices and boiling water.  Beat.  Add the pumpkin and half and half, beat again briefly just to smooth.  Pour into your pie shell.

Bake 15 minutes at 425.  Lower the temp to 300 and continue to bake until the center is 'set' - about 30 minutes.  Cool completely.  Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

 

Chewy and Fudgy Brownies

 

 

Beat 2 eggs slightly with a spoon in a bowl (these work great with powdered eggs!)
Stir in 1 c sugar
1/2 t salt
2 t vanilla

Then add in:
1/3 c melted shortening
2 squares melted unsweetened chocolate (if they are thin rectangles, use 4 to make 1 square)

Stir in 3/4 c all purpose flour
Add some nuts if you wish

Spread in a buttered pan - size of your choice.  Small pan = thicker bars, larger pan, thinner bar. 
Bake to the size of the pan - and your choice.  We like them fudgy and thin so I baked this pan about 22 minutes, took it out, a little under done and let it set on the counter for 30 minutes.  The result is slightly underdone, fudgy, amazing brownies.

You can bake them up to 35 minutes if you prefer them more done, dry, crisp around the sides, etc.

 

Homemade White Cake

My favorite white cake that I make for weddings and birthdays starts with a cake mix that is 'doctored up' quite a bit.  However, I've been searching for years for a good homemade from scratch white cake because I rarely have cake mixes on hand.

Here is today's cake.

This photo is literally as I was snitching some cake with my morning coffee... because this FROSTING.  Yum.

Homemade White Cake

2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
4 egg whites
1/4 sugar for the egg whites
1 c sugar for cake
1/2 c Crisco shortening
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t almond
1 c milk

Preheat oven to 350 and grease/flour your pan or pans.
In a bowl, place the flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk and set aside.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they are soft peak, sprinkle in the 1/4 c sugar and beat to stiff peaks.  Set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the shortening and 1 c sugar.  Add vanilla and almond.  Add part of the flour mixture, part of the milk, more flour and more milk, mixing between.  When just to the point of being blended and smooth, fold in the beaten egg whites, 1/2 at a time.  Pour into your pans and spread.  Bake according to pan size.  Usually 25-35 minutes for any of the sizes.  Cool in pans 10 minutes and then turn out to cool completely.

Frost.

(Frosting:  2 sticks butter, whipped until pure white.  Add 3 c powdered sugar and some vanilla/almond extract.  Beat.  Use on cake.  Double for 9X13 and double or triple for layer cakes.)

Cookies starting with a pancake mix... chocolate chip and raspberry macadamia nut

My kitchen lights turn everything yellow-tinted... and I don't feel like going through the time and hassle to edit them.

 

A couple weeks ago I posted this recipe I used to make chocolate chip cookies using a pancake mix I had in food storage.  Since then it's become a 'go to' recipe that I mess around with and make various different kinds.

Here was chocolate chip version.

 

Pancake Mix Cookies

2 cups pancake mix
1 egg
1/2 c butter

1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar
2 t vanilla
1 c chocolate chips and optional:  nuts, like Walnuts

Mix the soft butter and sugars in a bowl.  Add the vanilla and egg.  Blend.  Add the pancake mix and blend but don't over beat.  Stir in the chocolate chips and/or nuts.   Place by spoonfuls on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 about 15 minutes.  Cool on the baking sheet about 2-3 minutes, remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

 

Tonight was another batch of chocolate chip cookies and then I messed around with the recipe and made a batch of raspberry macadamia nut cookies since I had the ingredients on hand (freeze dried raspberries and macadamia nuts).

Using the same recipe, I added a small box of cheesecake flavored pudding, and 1 extra egg.
Stir in about 1/2 cup of freeze dried raspberries and 1/2 cup macadamia nuts.

I baked about 12-14 minutes.  Cool on pan for a couple minutes, then remove to cool on a wire rack.

 
Here's a couple random photos of the chocolate chip cookies.