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Forget that the house isn’t decorated, and we haven’t dyed a single egg yet…and then there’s the girls Easter dresses that I havne’t even started, and yes Easter is only a week away…

…Rather than do any of that, we decided to try something new and make candy eggs yesterday.

This is a simple project, but definitely not quick.  In fact, we actually only got about one-third of the eggs completely finished yesterday.  There’s about 70 more left to dip in chocolate today.  But it is alot of fun for the kids, and the eggs are very tasty and much much cheaper than store bought candy eggs.

To start, you only need a few simple ingredients.

1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter

1 8oz. package of Cream Cheese

1 1/2 cups of Creamy Peanut Butter (about 1container)

2 pounds of Powdered Sugar (yes 2 whole pounds…it is candy after all)

1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp. Salt

24 oz Milk Chocolate or Semi Sweet Chocolate (for dark chocolate eggs) Chips

Mix the softened butter and cream cheese together in a large bowl.   Add about half of the confectionary sugar one cup at a time then add the peanut butter, vanilla and salt.  Mix well and then with a wooden spoon (and then your hands), mix in the rest of the powdered sugar one cup at a time.

Place the mixture in the refrigerator or freezer to harden the dough.

Form the peanut butter mixture into egg shapes (the dough is very easy to work with and not sticky) and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  Then refrigerate again for at least an hour.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, adding a bit of shortening if it needs to be thinned.  Dip the eggs about two thirds into the chocolate then spread the chocolate over the rest of the egg with a knife so that the chocolate coating is not too thick. 

Place the finished eggs back on the wax paper till the chocolate has hardened.

Store in an airtight container and try not to eat too many at once.

NOTES:

The kids really enjoyed making these, and were thrilled to find out they could make their own candy.  They’re even more thrilled that there are now about 100 peanut butter eggs in the house for consumption. 

For cute (and inexpensive/green) packaging wrap each of 12 eggs in a small piece of plastic wrap and place them in an egg carton.  Tie the egg carton with a big bow.

We have been meaning to make homemade play doh for over a year….and now that I know just how easy it is, and how good it turned out, I wish we’d gotten around to making it sooner. 

There are literally dozens of recipes on the internet and I’m not sure why I chose this particular one (or where I got it), but it turned out fantastic and it is the recipe I’ll stick to.

You’ll need..

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Salt

2 Cups Water

4 Tbsp. Oil

4 Tbsp. Cream of Tartar (found in the spice aisle)

TIP  Add Peppermint Extract to help preserve the play doh and give it a great scent. 

 Mix all the ingredients together in a large pot.

Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes.  It will start to clump as you can see in the above photo.

Then it almost instantly all clumps together and looks like this.

At this point it is really soft and smooth and can be picked up and put on wax paper and kneaded and split into 3 or 4 balls depending on how many different colors you want to make.

Add several drops of food coloring and let the kids have fun mixing it in.

Then it’s playtime.

 And a picnic…

..and Alexandra is not liking the looks of the play doh hot dog too much.

I would be remiss if I didn’t share my very very very favorite pie recipe that I have been making the last few weeks.  Berry Custard.

It’s a pie my mom and mammy and aunt made when we were kids and it’s not just my favorite pie but that of most of our family.  So I assume it is an old Pennsylvania German recipe.

The twins and I can actually eat a whole pie ourselves at one sitting, ok, truth be told, my mom and I could probably eat a whole one ourselves. And  luckily, Brian does not like the consistency of it, or the fact that berries have seeds, so there’s more for us.

The best part is you can use your favorite berries in season.   We’ve tried strawberries, blueberries, black raspberries, red raspberries and black berries, with our favorite being the raspberries.   And it’s so simple that you can whip it up in 3 minutes, if you don’t include the time to make the crust (I timed myself this morning.

2 cups Milk

1/ 2 cup White Sugar

2 Eggs

2 heaping Tbsp. Corn Starch

1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 1/ 4 cup Berries

9 inch pie crust

Mix all ingredients (except berries) in a medium bowl and wisk.  I generally stir the sugar and cornstarch together first so the cornstarch blends in more easily.

Stir in the berries.

Pour into the pie crust.

Add a few extra berries if the top of the pie is not covered with one layer of berries.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes and 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.

(this is the only part of the pie that is ‘difficult’, it has to bake a long time and it is usually at least an hour.)

The pie is done when the top is a little firm and very slightly brown.  Insert a knife in the center to test the firmness.

These are the black raspberries that we used in this pie.  We find and pick them wild in July here in Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately they aren’t a fruit that is generally found in stores.   But red raspberries can be found seasonally in many grocery/produce stores and are my personal favorite in this pie.

We had so many sour cherries this year that after we made  lots of pies, and lots of jam, I needed to use them for something else.

Since we liked the pies so much, I decided to make pie filling to use when cherries are no longer in season.

I looked up a recipe and gave it a try.  After taste tasting, I think it’s a winner. 

I wish I could have made more, but the black raspberries started coming in (and black raspberries trump sour cherries), so we left the rest of the cherries for the birds to eat.

But the pie filling was so fun to make, and I love pie SOOO much, that I’m excited about making blueberry pie filling next!

Sour Cherry Pie Filling

(for EACH Quart that you make you will need these ingredients)

3 1/3 Cup Pitted Fresh or Thawed Sour Cherries

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/ 4 Cup + 1 Tbsp. Clear Gel (Cooking Gel)

1 1/ 3 Cup Cold Water

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Bottled Lemon Juice

Red Food Coloring (Optional)

For Fresh Fruit

Pit Cherries and then boil for 1 minute.  Drain and  keep in covered colander (to keep them warm). 

For Frozen Fruit   Drain.

Combine Sugar and Clear Gel in a large saucepan and add water and food coloring.  Stir mixture and cook over medium heat till it bubbles and thickens.

Add lemon juice and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Fold in the cherries. 

Quickly fill quart jars leaving 1 inch space at the top.

Put on lids and process 20 minutes in boiling water.

The sour cherries are ripe on our tree.

Now it’s just a matter of beating the birds to them, and finding the time to make stuff with all of them.

So far I’ve made pie….There’s always time to make pie.

Three of them to be exact. 

And there is no pie left.

I wasn’t quick enough with my camera, so I didn’t even get a picture of one of the completed pies before it was cut into.

It was very very yummy.

Sour Cherry Pie

2 - 9″ Pie Crusts

4 cups pitted sour cherries

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup Flour

1/4 cup Corn Starch

Mix together the cherries, sugar, flour and corn starch.  Pour into pie crust.  Top with second pie crust and cut 3-5 air slits into the top crust with a sharp knife.  Bake at 375 for approximately 1 hour or until pie filling is just starting to bubble through the slits.

I swear that I did not go searching for really yummy looking, diet ruining recipes today;  but yet I stumbled upon these two that I just have to try this weekend.

I love pie crust and jam, so what could be better than some homemade poptarts that include both!  And if you prefer toaster struedel over pop tarts then check out the mouth watering photos at the Idea Room where she uses pastry sheets instead of pie dough.

And since Father’s Day is coming up soon a recipe for Cookie Dough Pie that involves chocolate chip cookies, milk and cool whip is a must for Brian.  And yes, I know Father’s Day is a few weeks away, but I have to make it now just to ‘test’ it.  I wouldn’t want to go making him something that isn’t any good on Father’s Day.

If you have kids that like to cook or want to learn how to cook (or if you just want them to learn how to cook so you don’t have to) you need to check out Spatulatta.There are over 200 great recipe videos of kids showing kids how to make really good food.

The twins always enjoy watching some of the videos and then choosing one of the recipes for us to make together.  It’s a great way to take a break and spend some fun family time together.

I was making four pie crusts yesterday for the obligatory apple crumb and pumpkin pies this year and thought of how many times people have said they can’t make good pie crusts. 

They oooo and ahhh over how good mine are and when I try to say they’re easy to make they don’t believe me.  Apparently there’s some pie crust myth floating around out there about how difficult it is to make them.  Trust me, they’re not hard to make, my seven year old twins can make them with just a little assistance with the rolling.

So while making my crusts I decided to take pictures and will do my best to describe exactly how to make very good, very simple pie crusts that will have everyone complimenting you.

I believe this recipe comes from Betty Crocker or Fanny Farmer, but I’m not sure since I’ve been making it from memory since my mom taught me 30 some years ago.   Back then my cousin Dawn and I would steal raw pie crust (it is very good, although probably not too healthy) while my aunt and mom were baking and they would tell us we’d get worms from eating it. 

To spite them, I now eat unbaked pie crust whenever I want, and I let the kids and dogs have some too.  I can testify that none of us has ever gotten worms.

For one recipe that makes 2, 9 inch Pie Crusts you’ll need.

2 cups Flour

1 tsp Salt

¾ cup shortening (I use a little extra to make the crust flakier)

6 Tbsp. Ice Cold Water (I drop an ice cube in a cup of water and scoop it out of there to add to the mix)

Wax Paper

 Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl.

Add the water one tablespoon at a time and mix in with a fork.

Gather half of the mixture together in your hands and press into a ball.  (If it is too dry and doesn’t stick well, add additional water.)

Tear two pieces of wax paper and place a ball of dough between the two. 

Roll the dough out into a circle always pushing from the center so the crust is an even thickness.  (If it’s not looking like a circle then tear off the section that is out of shape and put it where you need more dough)

Once your circle is about 10” in diameter (a bit bigger than the pie plate) carefully peel the wax paper off the top of the dough and replace it again.  (this loosens the dough from the paper)

Next flip the dough over onto the other side while keeping it between the two pieces of wax paper.

Carefully peel the wax paper from the top side to loosen it, but do not replace the wax paper.

Set your pie plate face down in the center of the crust.

Your crust should now be sitting on top of your pie plate.

Press the crust into the pie plate.

Cut any excess crust off that is hanging over the edge of the pie plate and crimp the edges of the crust either pie pinching together with your thumb and index finger, or with the tines of a fork.

Your pie crust is now ready to be filled.

Happy Baking!

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching… I actually thought it was still two weeks away until someone corrected me yesterday, uh oh, it’s only a week away.

So I came home and broke out the recipe books, recipe websites and favorite recipe file and started searching.  I got as far as bread. 

I love bread.  Forget all the carbohydrate stuff that says it makes you fat, it has yet to make me fat.  Even when I used to make fresh bread nearly every day and would eat a whole loaf just out of the oven by myself I didn’t get fat.  In fact, the whole reason I started making bread 20 years ago was to stay thin in college.  I’ve always loved to bake, and in college I baked a lot of cookies, pies and cakes (cheesecakes to be more specific…mmmmm).  And baking was ok when I had guy roommates to eat the stuff.  But when I moved into an apartment with just one girl roommate, we ate too much of my baked goods.  And as we all know, women cannot eat baked goods as successfully as men and not get fat,  so I learned to bake bread instead of cookies and cakes.

But back to today.  In hunting, I found two of my favorite bread recipes which are quick and easy to put together.  Buttermilk Biscuits (no need for buttermilk, just add a little white vinegar to your milk), and Homemade Cornbread (compliments of a tattered old Fanny Farmer cookbook that was my grandmothers (and she was born in 1899, so that tells you how old and tattered the cookbook is).  Neither of these breads contain yeast so we’re not talking any special ingredients and they’re both very yummy and can be made in a hurry for your Thanksgiving feast.

Now before I get long winded again, here’s the recipes.

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

2 Cups Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Salt

One quarter tsp. Baking Soda

One third cup Margarine or Butter softened

Three quarter cup Buttermilk (we use regular milk and 1 Tbsp. White Vinegar)

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.  Cut in margarine with a fork until mixture is crumbly.  Add milk and stir until it forms a soft dough.  Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead lightly a few times.  Shape dough into 16-18 biscuit shaped balls (the quicker way that we usually do it), or roll the dough out and cut with a circle cookie cutter that is about 1 and a half inches wide.

Place the biscuits 1 inch apart on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake at 425 for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

For years I used to roll out the dough and cut into circles but have found that just shaping the dough with our hands works just as well and is quicker.

Quick Corn Bread

1 Cup Flour

Three fourth Cup Corn Meal

One Third Cup Sugar

3 tsp. Baking Powder

Three fourth tsp. Salt

1 Cup Milk

1 Egg Beaten

3 Tbsp. Melted Butter

In Large Bowl mix flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Stir well.  Add milk, egg and melted butter.  Mix until smooth.

Bake in a greased 8 by 8 inch pan at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Tip:  We first line our 8 by 8 pan with foil, and then spray it so that the cornbread pops out easily.  To line the pan quickly and without wrinkles in the corners we take a piece of foil and ‘mold’ it on the outside bottom of the pan then take it off and press it inside.

If you have any favorite bread recipes to share I’d love to hear them, I’m always trying new bread! 

Yum!  We love pancakes in our house.  I always make a double batch so we have some left over for another time.  We have them for breakfast and sometimes for supper.  We have leftover pancakes for snacks, sandwiched together with jelly between them, or everyone’s favorite, pancakes with ice cream on top. 

 But what makes pancakes even better, according to my kids, is pancakes in different shapes.  Oh sure, it takes mom longer to make them, and the shape requests get more and more difficult to make, but ‘they taste so much better in shapes.’

There’s the basics, snowmen and flowers, and now we also do hearts, butterflies, cars and airplanes.  The biggest hit recently was pancakes in the shape of their intitials.  The only problem I’ve found with the shaped pancakes (other than my husband telling me how much I spoil the kids by making speciality pancakes) is that the kids want one of a couple different shapes and then they can’t eat them all.  So we have pancake rules.  Two shapes each and any after that are just circles.

We always make them from scratch since you don’t have to add too much more than you would if you used a pancake mix.

Here’s our favorite recipe originally found at allrecipes.com

Fluffy Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

3 Tbsp Sugar

4 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

One and one half cup milk

One half cup shortening, melted

In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients. 

Combine the egg, milk and shortening and mix well.

Stir wet ingredients into dry just until moistened.

Pour batter onto a greased hot griddle.  Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes.  Cook until other side is golden brown.