Molten "Lava" Chocolate Cake

 

A favorite game of my granddaughter's is Lava Floor. It involves jumping from chair or cushion to another furniture without touching the floor. Lava and volcanos are a source of curiosity. So this Molten Chocolate Cake got good attention when I served it. It combines favorite flavors of chocolate and peanut butter and nuts in a warm gooey way. The bonus is it is easy and quick to make and adds a hint of celebration to the meal. 

There are two options for this recipe. I used the Peanut Butter version. For a Raspberry Molten Chocolate Cake, omit the peanut butter step and top with 1 cup of fresh raspberries just before baking. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Molten Cake

 

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

Pinch (less than ⅛ teaspoon baking soda)

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

½ teaspoon instant espresso granules

1 ¼ cups bittersweet chocolate chips

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

4 large eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

9 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons chopped roasted salted peanuts

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 °. Coat an 8-inch square baking dish with baking spray. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and expresso granules into a small mixing bowl. Set aside. 

2. Place chocolate chips and butter in a medium microwave safe bowl, and microwave in high in 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until fully melted, about 2 minutes total. Set aside. 

3. Beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium high speed until pale and doubled in volume, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour mixture on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Gradually beat in melted chocolate mixture just until no streaks of chocolate remain, 30 seconds to 1 minutes. 

4. Pour half of batter into prepared baking dish. Dollop creamy peanut butter evenly over batter. Top with remaining batter. Sprinkle with chopped roasted salted peanuts. 

5. Bake in preheated oven until edges of cake start to pull away from sides of baking dish and center still jiggles slightly, 30-35 minutes. 

Serve immediately, with ice cream if desired. 

Blueberry Honey Muffins

Today was our County 4-H Day, a contest for 4-H members to present demonstrations, project talks, musical numbers, parliamentary procedure practices, and Favorite Food Contest. My granddaughter was busy with her demonstration of Blueberry Honey Muffins (and we now have a lot of muffins in the freezer from many practices!). She also used this recipe as her entry for the Favorite Food Contest. She did well on both and it looks like we'll be eating more muffins as she qualified to go to the Regional Contest in March. 

Here's her recipe and I hope you enjoy and like it as much as we do. It is an easy recipe, stirred together by hand. Also a favorite with our family as it uses honey, and her father is a beekeeper. 

Blueberry Honey Muffins

 

½ cup oil

¾ cup honey

2 large eggs

½ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup blueberries

 

Combine the oil, honey and eggs. Whisk until smooth. 

Add buttermilk and vanilla extract. Whisk together.

Mix dry ingredients together and add to batter.

Mix with a rubber spatula until just a few streaks of flour remain. 

Fold in blueberries until no flour is visible. 

 

Bake at 425 ° for 5 minutes, lower temperature to 350 and bake for 

15 more minutes. 

 

Makes 12 muffins

Lots of practice!

Finished product

Training a little beekeeper

Kansas Day Sunflower Seed Cookies

A special holiday in Kansas this month is KANSAS DAY! I don't know that other states celebrate their statehood quite as much as Kansas does. Maybe it is because Kansas Day comes at the end of January when we've settled into a glum mood after a month of cold, muddy, icy, snowy days. Sometimes those days all happen in the same day. 

So this year a friend and I are planning a Kansas Day party. Complete with Kansas trivia facts, sunflower decorations, and special cookies. Here is the recipe for the Sunflower Seed cookies that have been my favorite for years. 

I keep sunflower seeds and wheat germ in the freezer to keep these ingredients fresh since I don't use them often. 

SUNFLOWER SEED COOKIES

 

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1 ¼ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. almond extract

1 ⅓ cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3 cups oatmeal

¾ cup unsalted sunflower seeds (if using salted seeds, omit the 1 tsp. salt)

1 tsp. salt

½ cup wheat germ

 

Preheat oven to 375 °. Cream butter and brown sugar together. Beat in eggs and almond extract. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda, and stir into creamed mixture. Fold in sunflower seeds and wheat germ, then oats. Drop scoops of dough 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes. 

Italian Parmesan Casserole Bread

This week I was looking for a quick yeast bread recipe to take to a friend's house to go with soup. Also, it had to be simple enough that I had all the ingredients on hand! (I hadn't planned ahead well enough before grocery shopping). So I looked through my collection of Kansas Wheat Commission recipe books and this one from 2020 filled the need. It is actually a winner in the 1994 Kansas Festival of Breads baking competition. 

The recipe was tested and published using Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese in the plastic shaker container. But I used cheese from a parmesan wedge grated with a microplane grater. I think that added a better flavor and moistness. 

ITALIAN PARMESAN CASSEROLE BREAD

 

1 (1 ¼ oz) package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (110 ° - 115 ° F)

3 ¼ - 3 ¼ cups bread flour, divided

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon dried minced onion

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus ½ tablespoon

½ tablespoon unsalted melted butter

 

Instructions:

1. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle, dissolve yeast in water, let proof 5 minutes. Add 1 cup flour, butter, egg, sugar, salt, onion, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Beat on low speed 1 minute; increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. 

2. Stir in ½ cup cheese. Switch to dough hook and gradually add enough flour to form a soft dough that pulls away from sides of bowl. Knead with dough hook 8 minutes. 

3. Form dough in a round loaf and place into a greased 1 ½-quart round baking dish. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and towel; let rise until doubled. Near the end of the rise, preheat oven to 350 ° F. 

4. Brush top of loaf with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 35-40 minutes or until golden and internal temperature is 195 ° F – 200 ° F. If top brtowns too quickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning. The bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped on the bottom. 

5. Remove from oven and cool in baking dish 10 minutes before removing bread to rack. To serve, cut in wedges or slices. 

 

Yield: 1 loaf, 24 servings

 

Summer Spoon Cake

When a friend shared this recipe and a photo on-line, I thought it looked good! And King Arthur Flour recipes are usually top-notch. So, to the store for some of the special ingredients (almond flour). I had never used almond flour, but as the recipe notes, it gives the cake a buttery, tender quality that is key to its spoonable texture. If you prefer not to use the almond flour (it is a bit pricy!), you can use all-purpose flour but the result will be a more traditional cake-like texture. 

Other tips from the King Arthur bakers are to use a variety of summer fresh fruits.  used strawberries and blueberries. Frozen fruit doesn't work as well as it doesn't respond to maceration (when it sits in the sugar/lemon juice mixture) in the same way that fresh fruit does. 

Start the fruit macerating early, then stir the cake batter together quickly just before dinner for a warm, gooey dessert in about 30 minutes. We topped our dessert at home with vanilla yogurt, but when I later made it for a friend we used vanilla ice cream - delicious! 

            HOT SUMMER SPOON CAKE

 

Ingredients

Fruit:

2 ½ - 3 cups raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

 Zest of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Batter:

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup (King Arthur) all-purpose flour

½ cup (King Arthur) almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup milk, whole preferred

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 tablespoons butter, cut into 6 pieces

 

Before baking

Instructions

1.     Preheat the oven to 400 ° with a rack in the center. 

2.     To prepare the fruit: in a medium bowl, toss together the berries, sugar, zest, and lemon juice. Let sit until the fruit is glossy and has started to release its juice, at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. 

3.     To make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flours, baking powder, and salt. 

4.     In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the milk, egg, and vanilla. 

5.     Place the butter in an 8” square pan or 1 ½ - 2-quart baking dish and put it in the oven to meld; it’ll take 4 – 6 minutes using butter that’s cold from the fridge. 

6.     Once the butter has melted, swirl it around in the baking dish to it coats the sides, then pour it into the flour mixture and stir with a spatula to thoroughly combine. 

7.     Add the milk mixture and whisk well to incorporate.

8.     Immediately transfer the batter to the warm buttered baking dish, then gently spoon the macerated fruit and its juice over the top. The fruit mixture should cover the batter almost entirely with a few bare spots peeking through. 

9.     To bake the cake: bake until golden brown and puffed, 30-35 minutes. 

10.  Remove from the oven and serve warm. Whipped cream or ice cream dolloped on top is especially delicious. 

11.  Storage information: Refrigerate any leftovers, covered, for up to four days. 

Key Lime PIe - A Summer Treat

 "Summer time and the living' is easy"? That doesn't describe the time here on our ranch! The cattle work just finished and haying has started. Mix in 2 softball games and 2 T ball games and various other 4-H activities with my regular community activities each week and it is very busy! Time for a quick summer treat for dessert!

Key Lime Pie lets us imagine a vacation on the beach with cool drinks and friends. I made this last week and it is so easy and delicious it will be a treat again soon. Thanks to my friend Sharolyn for the recipe. This recipe was declared the best by a special panel of Sharolyn and friends touring restaurants of Key West. 

KEY LIME PIE

Ingredients:

1 large prepared graham cracker pie crust

2 - 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk

1 cup Key Lime juice

½ cup + 1 Tablespoon sour cream

1 ¼ Tablespoon lime zest

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust. 

Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pei. Do not brown! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired. 

Do you have a Favorite Food?

 

Do you have a Favorite Food? 4-Hers can not only have a Favorite Food, they have a Favorite Food Show to showcase their food, menu, table decor, and knowledge of preparation and nutrition. 

This week Granddaughter Stella entered her favorite food - a fruit salad - in the county contest. She planned a Bee Happy Brunch menu with scrambled eggs, bacon, Kansas Maid Butter Braid (locally made frozen pastry sold as a 4-H fund raiser), Fruit salad with Honey dressing, and milk. I think she did pretty well explaining the preparation (first wash your hands and tie back your hair), nutrition (purple and blue fruits help make your brain healthy) and antioxidants (a tough word for an 8 years old to remember) help keep you healthy. 

One of the best things about this salad is it is so versatile. Stella chose a spring type salad with strawberries she'd picked herself and other fresh berries. A Christmas salad could be red apples, green grapes, kiwi, and red grapes. Fall might be oranges, pineapple, apples and pears. 

And we loved the dressing and the fact that it used honey. Stella's dad is a bee keeper so the honey was fresh from his hives in our pastures. Honey adds sweetness and gives the fruit a shiny glaze. The lemon juice of the dressing helps keep the bananas from turning brown and adds a bit of tartness. Poppy seeds are crunchy and look pretty. 

FRUIT SALAD WITH HONEY 

About 8 cups fresh fruit, cut into bite sized pieces. Combine in a bowl. 

Mix together: 5 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, and ¾ teaspoon poppy seeds. Drizzle over fruit. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. 

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Refrigerate leftovers (if there are any!)

By the way, Stella received a top placing with her entry!