Snicker Bar Cake

This cake is so easy. Everything goes into the bowl, mix it up....done! What you end up with is fantastical! Moist, chocolatey, candy bar goodness in every bite. A little goes a long way so this cake works well for a large crowd. I've said it before and I'll say it again....cold cake is the bomb! Maybe that's one reason I love it so much...because you need to let it chill for a few hours before digging in....if you can wait that long.

Snicker Bar Cake

2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
3/4 cup  cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
2 2-ounce Snicker Bars - chopped
1/3 cup peanuts – rough chopped
1 cup caramel topping - warmed
1 16-ounce jar hot fudge ice cream topping


Preheat oven to 300 degrees. (Low and slow is the name of the game here.) Spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray then line then bottom with parchment paper.

Place all the ingredients, except the cup of boiling water, into a mixing bowl.

Mix at medium speed for about 1 minute. Then add the cup of boiling water. Continue to mix until all ingredients are blended and smooth.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Batter will be thin.

Bake for 1 hour until toothpick inserted comes out clean. An additional 5 or 10 minutes might be needed, depending on your oven.

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan then invert onto a large platter.

With the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the cake. Pour the warmed caramel sauce over the cake.

Warm the hot fudge topping a little bit to make it spreadable and spread over the cake, letting it run over the sides.
Sprinkle with peanuts and chopped Snicker bars.

Place in fridge for several hours. 

Whoever thought to cook a potato, mash it up and add stuff should get a medal or something. My mom gave me some chive and onion cream cheese the other day...sent me out the door with instructions to "put it in some potatoes or whatever". So...I did. Of course I had to add all the other goodies, too. This "recipe" isn't anything special, I know that. It's mainly about the cream cheese. If you've never put Chive and Onion Cream Cheese in your mashed taters, you should consider it. What a delight!! Really snazzes them up!!

Mashed Taters With Lots of Stuff

6 - 8 Yukon Gold potatoes - washed and unpeeled
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup half & half
1/2 pound bacon
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 8-ounce container Chive and Onion Cream Cheese - use half
Salt and Pepper

Boil the potatoes until soft.

Dice the bacon and cook until crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Drain potatoes and give them a rough mash with a fork or a potato masher.

Add the cooked bacon, half & half, cream cheese, butter and salt and pepper. Stir until combined.

Add cheese and toss it around a little bit.

This is what you need....

...but this is REALLY what you need. 
Made these potatoes fab!!! 
I'm sure Philadelphia makes this same flavor...
but this is a local store brand.

Dice the bacon then fry it up.

Throw the cooked bacon into the pot with the cooled potatoes and everything else...except the cheese. Stir it up...

 

 

 

 

 

..THEN add the cheese and give it a quick toss. 




Yummers!!

These were the bomb! I don't mean they bombed..I mean they WERE the bomb! So, so, so delicious that I don't even know how to describe them. You're just going to have to make them for yourself. *shaking head and walking away*

Raspberry Swirl Sweet Rolls



2 cups milk
2 eggs
¼ cup butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages yeast
½ cup sugar
6 cups flour

Melt milk and butter in microwave, together, until very warm…about 1 ½ minutes. Set aside. In mixing bowl, with dough hook attachment, combine 2 cups of flour, salt, yeast and sugar. Set mixer speed on low and add milk/butter mixture. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well. Add remaining 4 cups of flour and mix until well blended. Place mixed dough on floured counter and knead until smooth…adding more flour as you go to keep dough from sticking. Grease a large bowl and place kneaded dough in bowl. Spray dough with a shot of Pam. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled…about 30 minutes.

Turn risen dough onto floured surface and cut in half. Roll each piece of dough out to a 9x13 rectangle.

Here's what you'll need for the dough.

Combine 2 cups of the flour, the yeast, 

sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.

Warm the milk and butter together 

until the butter is melted.

Pour the milk mixture into the mixing bowl.

Drop in the eggs then the rest of the flour.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. 

Put the dough into a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap until doubled....about 30 minutes or so.

I place my bowl on a heating pad.

Berry Mixture

1 12-ounce bag frozen, thawed raspberries, drained
2/3 - 3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Combine in a medium sized bowl and set aside.



Turn risen dough onto floured surface and cut in half. Roll each piece of dough out to a 9x13 rectangle. Spread dough with half of the berry mixture.  Roll up from the long side and cut into 1” – 1 ½ “sections. Place in greased baking dish. Repeat with second half of dough. Scoop up any berry mixture that has seeped out and sprinkle on top of rolls. Let rolls rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. Bake rolls in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Spread with frosting.

Here's the stuff for the berry filling.

Combine the ingredients into a bowl and stir.

Divide your dough in half and roll out to a 9 x 13 inch rectangle. Spread with half the berry mixture.

Then roll up from the long side. It's okay if 

some of the berry mixture oozes out...you know why???

Because you just scoop it up and plop it onto of the sliced dough. Slice the dough into 1-inch slices and place in a greased pan.

Let them rise until doubled....like this!! Then bake it up...

..until it looks all golden and irresistible.

Frosting:

½ stick butter
1 bag of powdered sugar
Milk

Whip butter in mixing bowl. Add powdered sugar. Add milk to achieve spreading consistency. Spread frosting on warm rolls.

This is the ingredients for the frosting....

Milk, powdered sugar and the butter.

Pour a little bit of the frosting over the fresh-out-of-the-oven rolls and let it ooze between all the cracks and crevices. Let them cool for about 30 minutes then spread with the rest of the frosting. Good, good, good!!!!

I used a loaf of french bread for this but you can, of course, use smaller buns. I also used store-bought pasta sauce but if you have your own sauce, then use that. I used cheddar/jack cheese but mozzarella would be great! So many options! Any way you "slice" this sandwich...it's pretty tasty!!

Giant Meatball Sandwich



2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes (optional)
1 small onion - diced
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 jar pasta sauce
1 loaf of french bread
2 cups cheese

In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic until soft.

Combine meat, bread crumbs, milk, egg, oregano, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Mix well but don't overmix.

Shape meat mixture into golf ball sized balls and place in skillet with the onion. Brown on one side then turn to brown on the other. Cover and allow to simmer for about an hour.

Pour pasta sauce over the meat balls and heat for about 10 minutes or so.

Slice the bread in half and hollow out one side. Place on a cookie sheet. Fill with meatballs then top with cheese.

Broil until nicely browned but not too dark.

Put the top on the sandwich and let stand for a minute or two then slice into 3 inch sections.

The stuff...

Combine the meat, egg, milk, bread crumbs, 

oregano, salt and pepper.

Saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes then add the meatballs. Brown them on all side then cover and simmer for a while.

Then add the sauce and warm through.

Slice the bread and hollow out one side.

Fill with meatballs...

..then top with cheese.

Broil for a bit until it's golden brown.

Plop the top on and slice it up!!

When IT Guy and I lived in Arizona we used to go to an eatery there called Lucky Wishbone. We loved their food! They had chicken sandwiches that were to DIE for but what we really enjoyed were the steak fingers! Nothing like 'em. As far as I know, Lucky Wishbone is still in business but we live far, far away from there now so I have to make my own.  I'm sure they're not exact, but mine sure do satisfy!!!

Steak Fingers



2 pounds round steak - cut into 1 x 3 inch strips
1 teaspoon onion salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Seasoning salt (I use Lawry's)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 1/3 cups self-rising flour
2 eggs - beaten
2 -3 cups milk

Heat 1 - 2 cups vegetable oil in a large skillet.

In a pie plate or large zip top bag, combine 2 cups flour with the onion salt, garlic salt, salt, pepper and seasoning salt.

In another pie plate or large zip top bag, place beaten eggs.

Coat all steak strips into flour mixture, then into egg, then in flour mixture again.

Working in two or three batches, place steak into hot oil and cook for 3 - 4 minutes then turn over and cook another 2 - 3 minutes. Remove to paper towels to drain the place on a warm plate. Keep in a 200 degree oven to keep warm while making the gravy.

Pour all oil out of pan except for 3 - 4 tablespoons. Leave the tasty bits in the bottom of the pan.

Add 1/3 cup flour into skillet and stir with a whisk. Cook until bubbly...about 2 minutes or so.

Pour in the milk until it blends well with the flour mixture and starts to thicken. Add more milk to thin if it's too thick. Give it a taste and add some salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with steak fingers.

The cast of characters.

Slice the meat into strips.

Add the seasonings to the flour.

Dredge the meat in the flour...

...then the eggs....

...then again in the flour.

Add them to the hot oil and cook for a few minutes until golden brown. Flip them over and cook the other side.

Pour all the oil off except for a few tablespoons, leaving the tasty bits in the bottom of the pan.

Add the flour...

..and stir with a whisk and cook it for a minute or two.

Then add the milk and heat until thick and bubbly.

Steak fingers and gravy!! Weeeee----doggies!!

This is a dessert from my childhood. When we lived in Arizona, we had a good family friend who would make this from time to time and I always loved going to her house when I knew she had this waiting in her freezer. I haven't made it in YEARS but I ran across it in my recipe box the other day and was determined to make it. It brought back a little bit of my youth when I had my first bite and it was really good....but it will never taste as sweet or as good as when I was 12.

Ice Cream Cake



1 gallon vanilla ice cream plus 1/2 of a 1/2 gallon - softened
3 colors/flavors sherbet or sorbet (I used the pint-sized Hagen-Daas)
1 12-ounce package chocolate chips
1 - 2 cups pecans

Arrange plastic wrap on the bottom and sides of an angle food cake pan or a bundt pan.

In a food processor, chop pecans and chocolate chips until crumbly.

In a large bowl, stir the pecans/chocolate chips into the softened vanilla ice cream.

Place 1/3  of the ice cream/pecan/chocolate chips in the bottom of the pan.

Start scooping the sherbet and place it on top of the ice cream.

Then add another layer of ice cream and more scoops of the sherbet, ending with the last 1/3 of the ice cream on top.

Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer overnight.

Unmold out of the pan...slice and serve!

Optional: Frost with sweetened whipped cream if desired.

The line-up. I only had chocolate chip ice cream in my freezer so I used that and it worked great. I just cut back on the chocolate chips a little bit.

Line a bundt pan with plastic wrap then set aside.

Combine the nuts and chocolate chips 

in your food processor until they look like this.

Stir the chocolate and nuts into your softened ice cream.

Place 1/3 of the ice cream mixture in the bottom of your lined pan.

Then scoop out some sorbet and place it on top of the ice cream. Add 1/3 more ice cream and more scoops of sorbet then the last of the ice cream.

Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for several hours. Overnight is best.

Allow the cake to sit at room temp for 10 minutes or so then flip it upside down onto a serving plate. Slice it up and eat. Serve with whipped cream, if desired. I always desire whipped cream!