German Pancakes with Wine-y Strawberries

Have I ever mentioned that I am a big fan of dessert? No? Well let me clear the air – I am a big fan of dessert. I feel so liberated now. Whew. So, on to the german pancake. I have been eyeballing this treat for some time, but never gotten around to making it.There are SO many recipes out there. Some that are super simple with few ingredients, others that are multi-layered, therefore making something that should be simplistic complicated. It’s called a pancake for goodness sakes! I had a hankering for dessert one day and figured what better time to try one out than right now? But wait. I would totally need a topping of some sort. What a surprise – I had frozen chopped strawberries portioned out into 2 cup servings from when they were fresh and on sale. Ta-da! And I wanted them to be juicy and warm on my warm german pancake. So Wine-y Strawberries were born!

I found the german pancake recipe in one of the old church cookbooks from my Bubba’s collection that were saved and given to me. It was as simple sounding as I was looking for and fairly quick to whip up. I cheated and didn’t sift the flour or really measure out any of the other ingredients. It turned out to be delicous as is. I don’t know the name of the cookbook since the cover has long since been MIA. But it’s got some good old fashioned recipes in it. Along with some weird sounding ones that I wouldn’t feed to an enemy. The recipe makes 2 pancakes, but hubs and split one because I didn’t want to force myself to eat a whole one. He had the other one the next morning for breakfast. Said it tasted great all by itself at room temp and a day old.

This pancake is a nice canvas to add anything you want as a topping, from the sweet to the savory. Just omit the vanilla for a savory dish. It would be good topped with some goat cheese, spinach and artichokes. Mmmm.

German Pancake

Serves 2

adapted from an old church cookbook

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon sugar

2/3 cup milk

2/3 cup flour

2 tablespoons butter, divided

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a food processor or blender, add the eggs, salt and sugar and process/blend until a light yellow color. Add the milk, vanilla and flour and process/blend again until combined.

Grease 2 8 or 9 inch cake pans and divide the batter in between them. Add a tablespoon of butter to the center of the pancake.

Cook for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, rotate your cake pans and turn down the oven to 350 degrees, cooking another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and plate up, topping with Wine-y Strawberries. You could also top these with some jam or preserves, fresh berries and whipped cream, or just eat them like a pancake and douse it in maple syrup.

Wine-y Strawberry Topping

2 cups frozen strawberries, chopped (if using fresh, see note)

2 tablespoons sweet read wine

1 tablespoon sugar

In a small saucepan, place the berries, wine and sugar, stirring to combine everything together. Over medium-high heat, cook the berries until the are bubbling and the juices & wine start to cook off and thicken a little. Turn off heat and place the hot berries on top of your german pancake. These would also be a good topping for regular pancakes or even a chocolate sheet cake. Yum!

Note: if using fresh berries, chop them and place them in a small bowl. Add the 1 tablespoon of sugar, stirring your berries to coat and let sit for 10-15 minutes. This will get the juices in your berries to come out, helping you increase your sauce to berry ratio. Then just add the juicy berries to your pan with your wine and cook as directed above.

Recipe Test: Joy the Baker’s Strawberry Upside Down Cake

I love Joy. From her wittiness in her posts to her down to earth recipes with a little twist. When I saw her post a recipe for a Strawberry Upside Down Cake, well I was just smitten. And HAD to make it ASAP. So I did. It was FANTASTIC. Really. I followed her recipe with the exception that I did not use any Cardomom, because I didn’t have any to use. I increased the amount of vanilla in mine from 1 teaspoon to 2 teaspoons. Also, I increased the brown sugar from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup for the topping. It turned out wonderfully. Took it to a cookout and shared it with family and friends. They very much enjoyed it. It was very easy to make and took only a small amount of time to whip up.

I’m noticing an obsessive pattern here with me and strawberries lately. I can’t help it! Every sweet treat I make has these ruby red beauties and the fruit portion. I may need an intervention.

These photos below were taken just after it was freshly popped out of the pan. The strawberries didn’t stay that bright red. Once they are exposed to the air and cool down they turn from bright red to a dark shade of mauve. Don’t worry. This happens with all recipes that cook strawberries. They can’t keep that brightness once all the juices soak into the cake. So don’t worry if yours goes from BLAM! Bright Red to Meh Mauve. It will still taste fantastic. I promise.

Get the recipe HERE, straight from Joy. Drool over my pictures. Ya. That’s right. You know you want a piece of this cake. I sure want another one.

Hope & a Strawberry ShortCake PanCake

Heidi, a fellow blogger over at Lightly Crunchy, has tagged me in a blog relay to write about the subject of hope. What better time to write about it than now?

What better place to start than with the definition of hope?

hope/hōp/

Noun:

A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

* I hope that my garden does well because I am so looking forward to using my pressure canner to can pasta sauce for the first time (now that I’ve gotten over my fear of it exploding, covering myself and every kitchen surface in molten hot food lava)

* I hope my chickens start laying some eggs soon, because buying them from the store is for the birds. badum-bum. I’ll be here all night.

* I hope that I am able to find the motivation to get myself back into the swing of exercising so that I can lose that 10lbs of fat from overindulging in homemade beer. Whoops.

* I hope that the hubs and I can take a long weekend soon just to kick back and relax and not worry about having to DO anything!

* I hope that my dad being home on the one year anniversary of my mom’s passing helps to make it a less heart wrenching experience.

* I hope that my blog inspires other to cook, craft, and make as many things from scratch as they can.

I think that hope means different things to different people. That having hope makes you feel a little less lost out in this great big crazy world. That hope brings people together, just like food does.

I hope that you enjoy this Seasoned with Sarcasm original as much as I do.

Strawberry ShortCake PanCake

serves 6

1 box white cake mix

2 cups frozen strawberries, chopped (do NOT drain the juices from them) *see note

1 egg

1 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon vanilla

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9 inch round cake pans. In a medium bowl, add cake mix, strawberries & juices, egg, water & vanilla and mix until no large lumps of cake mix remain. Split the batter between the two cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick pierced in the center comes out clean. Let cool to room temp and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, or all by itself.

Note: If you are using fresh berries, chop them up and then place them in a bowl with a teaspoon of sugar. Let them sit for 15-30 minutes until you see them getting nice and juicy. You don’t want to skip the strawberry juice portion because it gives the cake a really nice well-rounded strawberry flavor and helps with the moisture. If using frozen berries, chop them up and make sure they are totally thawed. Once you chop them up and let them defrost there will a nice juicy puddle in with them.

And now it’s my turn to pass the torch to 3 fellow bloggers.

The Food and Wine Hedonist – because his posts are witty, funny, and down to earth.

Bonnie, over at Recipes Happen – she’s a new wife finding her way around the kitchen getting creative and crafty, willing to try new things.

Emily, also known as Yinzerella over at Dinner is Served 1972 – I love her wit, sarcasm, and the fact that she is on a mission to work and eat her way through all the DiS recipe cards. No matter how weird the recipes are!

 

Summer Lovin’ – Cornmeal Lemon Cookies

Here in good old western Pennsylvania, mother nature has our weather all over the place. Over Memorial Day weekend, the temps were in the high 80′s – low 90′s with hell on earth humidity. (I planted the garden in those temps. It was like taking a shower with your clothes on. meh) That being said, it’s not officially summer, but it’s hard not to think of summertime  flavors for desserts, snacks, and meals. Or the movie Grease…and the song Summer Nights….I remember a sleepover as a teen in the 90′s where I, along with 3 friends, re-enacted the scene in her living room. Ya. That’s how we roll. (Am I the only one that when someone says “oh, 10 years ago…” it makes me think of the 90′s? And then when I realize the 90′s were 20 years ago, I feel old.)  Here’s the video in case you want to give it a try yourself….

Ok…back on topic. Enter in the Cornmeal LEMON Cookie. Yep. LEMON. I love lemon. It’s got that bright tangy flavor that just makes me think of sunshiny poolside outdoor fun. Turn it into a cookie and you’ve got something magical. This recipe was originally found on thekitchn.com for a lime version. Now, I like lime too, but it’s just overpowering in comparison to lemon, so I adjusted the recipe to suit my tastes. There is more vanilla, and more lemon zest and juice because lemons are generally bigger than limes, and I used some big lemons. But the lemons do not overpower these cookies. The cornmeal gives them a nice flavor balance while making the texture more filling, rounded out. But not heavy. I’m not sure how they got only 14-16 cookies out of the recipe since my cookies were palm sized after baking – and I got exactly 24 cookies. But whatevs. The cookies are fantastic. They take almost no time to whip up. Great to take to a bbq, picnic, graduation party. Whatever you find yourself getting into this summer. Enjoy!

Cornmeal Lemon Cookies
Yield: 2 dozen cookies Adapted from thekitchn.com

For the Cookies:

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour ( I used white whole wheat)
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 sticks room temperature butter (16tbsps)

¾ cup sugar

Zest of 2 large lemons

Juice of 2 large lemons

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract (I used homemade)

2 large eggs

 

For the icing:

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Juice of 1 large lemon

Zest of 1 large lemon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together your flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Fit your stand mixer with a paddle attachment and add the butter and sugar to the bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the zest of the 2 lemons and the vanilla and mix until just incorporated.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add your eggs. (The mixture will separate. Do not fret. It will come together at the end!)

Add your flour mixture in 3 stages, mixing well after each addition.

Using a small cookie scoop, drop by heaping scoopfuls onto 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or silpat mats. Space the cookies 2-3 inches apart and press down with your fingers so the tops of the cookies are flat. Bake for 14 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through for even baking.

Allow cookies to cool completely.

Icing: in a small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients. Spoon over the tops of your cooled cookies, letting it drip over the edges. (to help minimize the mess, I put a tea towel under the cooling racks to catch any runaway icing)

Store any leftovers in an airtight container and eat within 3 days. Can’t eat them that fast? Freeze them in a single layer. To serve after freezing, let thaw at room temp for 2hrs before serving. The icing will sweat out a little bit out moisture, but it’s all good. They taste as fantastic as they do freshly made! Enjoy!

Gooey Butter Cookies

Ok, after the holidays it wasn’t like I needed to make another cookie recipe, but this one was posted on thekitchen.com and I just couldn’t pass it up. It’s simple, it’s quick, and it is OMG delicious. For real.

The original recipe is one from Christina Tosi, owner of the Momofuku Milk Bar in New York. They are delicious. It is gooey and sweet. Did I say they are delicious? Because they are. I baked mine 10 minutes longer than the original recipe called for since the center was still wiggly and not set completely. Once cooled, I cut them into two-bite pieces and put them in mini muffin papers. Do not skip the papers…otherwise all that gooey goodness will run all over the place and people will feel cheated! I kept these covered on the counter and two days later they were still fabulous.

Enjoy!

Gooey Butter Cookies
adapted from the Momofuku Milk Bar recipe

Cookie Base
1 box french vanilla cake mix
4 ounces butter, melted
1 egg

Gooey Butter Topping
8 ounces cream cheese at room temp
2 eggs
1 pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8 cake pan with nonstick spray and line with a piece of parchment cut to size, leaving two edges longer to ease removal from the pan.

Make the base by mixing together the cake mix, 1 egg, and the melted butter. Press the base into the pan in a nice even layer.

Make the gooey butter topping by creaming together the cream cheese, remaining 2 eggs, powdered sugar and the vanilla. Pour it over the base, smoothing it to the edges in an even layer. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes.

The edges should be golden brown and the center set but still melty and gooey.

Let cake cool completely. Take a butter knife and run it along the edges of the pan to loosen the cookie bar. Using the parchment edges, pull from the pan and put on a cutting board. But into two-bite squares and transfer to mini muffin papers.

Snickerdoodles!

I have to admit, I love eating these cookies, but have only made them one time in my life – for this post! I don’t know why. It’s not like they are hard to make! But when I thought of cookies, this wasn’t one that popped into my head as an Oh, I gotta make those! My husband requested them for Christmas so I obliged. I’m glad I did. This recipe is an adaptation of Martha Stewarts cookie recipe. I got around 4 dozen of them. They are nice and fluffy and chewy. And they taste just as great out of the freezer. Get your bake on!

Snickerdoodles

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar + 2 tbsp for coating
2 large eggs
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silpat mats.
Cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, and mix until well incorporated. Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing well after each addition.
In a small bowl, stir together cinnamon + 2 tbsp sugar. Set aside
Using your fingers, roll cookie dough into balls, about 1-1/2 inches. Roll cookie dough balls in cinnamon sugar, and place on prepared baking sheets. Space cookies at least 1 to 2 inches apart.
Bake for 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks and serve! Or layer between waxed paper and freeze in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Spice Gingersnaps

So if a pumpkin mated with a gingersnap, you would have these cookies. There, I said it. They have that ginger bit with the smooth pumpkin aftertaste. mmm. Oh, and they are HEALTHY. I know. A healthy cookie. I decided to make these because I do love pumpkin (DUH!) and gingersnaps, and why not have a cookie option that isn’t going to go straight to my ass this Christmas!

This recipe is an adaptation of this recipe over at Simple Bites. I had to make some modifications due to what I had on hand, but it was still healthy changes!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Gingersnaps

1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup turbinado sugar plus 1/4 cup for rolling the cookies (unprocessed raw sugar, I got mine from Trader Joes)

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon ginger

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.

Sift together flours, baking soda, kosher salt , ginger and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. In the bowl your stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together with the paddle attachment until fluffy and creamy, about three minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. To the butter mixture add: molasses, pumpkin puree, white vinegar, and the egg. Beat well. Add dry ingredients and stir on low speed to combine. Turn off mixer and remove paddle. Roll the dough into 36 1-inch balls.

Combine the 1/4 cup turbinado sugar and the 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Roll each dough ball into this mixture and return to baking sheets, 12 per tray, evenly spaced. They will puff up and spread only a little bit when baking.

Bake cookies for  8 minutes on the middle and lower shelves of the oven, rotating the pans once midway though the baking time. Let cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets before moving to wire racks. After cooling completely, eat up, or layer between waxed paper and freeze in an airtight container.

Drool! Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies. Half dipped in white chocolate. Wipe your mouth.

Red velvet cake is delicious. Shortbread cookies aren’t too bad, but not my favorite. I as willing to give them another try though because I do love Red Velvet flavored things. And these are decadent half dipped in white chocolate! I doubled the recipe below to get about 30 cookies. What your recipe yields depends on the thickness of your dough and the size of your cookie cutter.

My pup was napping in his bed in the dining room while I was making these up. He then got curious and had to come out and see what the heck was going on since I was rocking out to Christmas music like I Elvis. His look says ‘my human is an idiot’. However, it loses its bite when you see the fact that he couldn’t make it totally OUT of his bed since his blanket is still on his back like a shawl. Bahahaha…take that weenie dog

 

This is what the dough looks like prior to working it with your hands and adding the water.

Naked baked cookies. You could easily skip the step of  the half dipped white chocolate sprinkled in Andes peppermint chips. The cookies are still delicious alone. But the white chocolate? It elevates them to phenomenal. Just sayin’.

 

Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, cut up
1 Tbsp. red gel food coloring

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1 1/2 tsp. shortening
andes peppermint chips for sprinkling (or the sprinkle/topping of your choice)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Cover and pulse until combined. Add the butter and red food coloring. Pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Then continue to process until mixture begins to clump together.

Scoop dough onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons water –  knead lightly until nearly smooth. If the mixture is still crumbly, sprinkle with 1 additional tablespoon of water. Roll or pat dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Using a floured cutter of your choice, cut out dough (i used a heart shaped cutter and it was about 3 inches wide at the top of the heart). Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press scraps together and reroll.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until centers are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.

In a small saucepan, melt white chocolate chips and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Smear half of each cookie with the melted chocolate. Sprinkle with the Andes peppermint chips (or sprinkles of your choice) and place on waxed paper until set.

Eat or freeze, layered between waxed paper and stored in an airtight container.

Childhood Memories – Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

I love chewy oatmeal cookies! Warm from the oven, still soft enough that they may lose their shape a little when being taken off the cookie sheet. Mmm. And the smell in the house when these are baking! oh.ma.gawd.

This recipe yields about 4+ dozen – be sure to space them out far enough because they do ‘melt’ onto the cookie sheet and can run into each other if you don’t leave enough room.

Oatmeal Cookies

• 1 1/4 c. softened butter
• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 3 c. rolled oats

Heat oven to 375 degrees F and line 2 cookie sheets with baking parchment or a Silpat mat. Beat together butter or margarine and sugars in a large bowl until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a smaller bowl. Add flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and blend well. Stir in oats. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 9 minutes for a chewy cookie (or if you want them crunchy, 10 to 11 minutes) rotating cookie sheets on shelves halfway through for even baking. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, then remove to wire rack.

Cool completely and store in tightly covered container, or layer between waxed paper and freeze.

It’s the Holiday Season….

Wow, did this year go fast! I’m still in shock that Thanksgiving is behind us and we will soon be celebrating Christmas! WHERE does the time go???

Every year over Thanksgiving break, I take the week off and get my holiday baking accomplished. I throw on Pandora and listen to the Christmas station and tackle that years cookie recipes. This year, I made 6 types of cookies and a pumpkin roll. I cleaned the whole house in between, top to bottom. We did our yearly gingerbread houses after Thanksgiving dinner, complete with sarcastic rivalry at who’s would be best, and who would get done last (always my sister-in-law!). I got to spend some time with friends and catch up, and lastly, got to transform my house for Christmas. I love this time of year. It’s not about the presents, it’s about the cozy atmosphere that the lights on the tree give. It’s about sharing good food with friends and family. It’s about honoring traditions, and making new memories. And this year will be about remembering my mom as we move forward in life without her, but keep her near us.

Now for the cookies – I will be sharing these recipes with you over the next few weeks.

Ginormous Chocolate Chip Cookies – click here to be taken to the recipe. These are AMAZING!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies

Oatmeal Cookies

Snickerdoodles

Healthy Pumpkin Gingersnap Cookies

Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Filling

I baked every recipe above in 3 days. The shortbread cookies I would say took the most amount of time on same day assembly since there was the dipping in the chocolate and sprinkling involved, after waiting for them to cool. Baking time/prep time wise, the Ginormous Chocolate Chip cookies took the longest (1hr chill time after mixing and dropping dough). I made the Red Velvet Shortbread one day, did the Ginormous Choc Chip Cookies and Snickerdoodles another day, and everything else on the third day. If you are pressed for time, I’d recommend mixing up a few batches of the dough and baking them throughout the week. Most of these recipes yield about 4 dozen, so you’re looking at about 1/2hr of baking time with rotating the cookie sheets.

Baking these up and freezing them makes for an easy, homemade dish to take to a party – just pull out of the freezer and go! They’ll be thawed by the time you get to your destination!