Perfect Lemon Pound Cake

Ingredients:

3 sticks Butter
3 cups Sugar
5 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Butter Flavoring
2 teaspoons Lemon Flavoring
3 cups All-purpose Flour
1 cup Sprite, 7-UP, Or Sierra Mist

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing after each addition. Add butter and lemon extracts and mix well. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add soft drink, then mix together until combined. Scrape sides of bowl, then mix briefly.

Pour into a greased Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until the cake is no longer jiggly.

Remove cake from oven and invert pan until cake drops out. Slice and chow down!

Ham and Cheese Tart

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp butter, cold and in pieces
1 egg yolk
1/3 tsp salt
4 tbsp cold water

Filling:
200g cup natural yogurt
300g heavy cream
4 eggs
3 tbsp parmesan cheede, grated
200g ham, chopped
200g mozzarella cheese, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 tsp oregano
1/4 cup olives, pitted

Directions:

Crust:
Preheat oven 350°F. Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the water and egg yolk. Process just until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Roll out the dough and cover the bottom and sides a greased 8,7 inch round pan.

Filling:
In a mixing bowl, using a hand-held mixer or a whisk, combine eggs, heavy cream, yogurt, salt and parmesan cheese together until mixed well. With a spoon, add the ham, mozzarella cheese, olives and oregano. Pour the filling over the crust. Bake for 45 minutes, or until is golden brown.

Banana Ginger Muffins
12 muffins

Ingredients:

300g self-rising flour
1 tsp ginger powder
115g brown sugar
75g crystallized ginger, chopped
60g unsalted butter
2 tbsp honey
125ml milk
2 eggs
240g mashed banana s

Topping:

125g cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp confectioner sugar
2 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

Preheat oven to 390 degrees F (200 C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Sift the dry ingredients.
Melt the butter and the honey. Beat the eggs with the milk. Mix the dry ingredients with the butter, the eggs, the crystallized ginger and the bananas with a spoon.
Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Classic Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 cup of finely chopped onion
1 celery rib, chopped fine
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 carrot, chopped fine
1/2 cup of finely chopped scallions (can substitute onion)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 teaspoon salt (use 1 1/2 teaspoons if using Italian sausage)
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tsp Worscestershire sauce
2/3 cup ketchup
1 1/2 pounds of ground chuck
3/4 pound of spicy ground pork sausage or Italian sausage (a mix of sweet and hot if you are using links)
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 large eggs, beaten slightly
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large heavy skillet cook the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and scallions in butter, over medium heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Cover the skillet and stir occassionally until the carrots are tender, about 5 more minutes. Stir in salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/3 a cup of ketchup. Cook for 1 more minute.
In a large bowl, combine the meats, eggs, vegetables, bread crumbs, and parsley. Form into a loaf and put into a rectangular baking pan with 2-inch high sides. Cover the loaf with remaining ketchup.
Bake the meatloaf in the oven for 1 hour.
Serves 4 to 6, with plenty for leftovers for meatloaf sandwiches.

Cherry Lime Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
3/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tsp lime zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup cherry preserves/jam (not cherry pie filling)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, melted butter and egg until smooth. Add in lime juice, lime zest, vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add in flour mixture and stir until no streaks of flour remain.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Carefully spread cherry preserves in a layer over the batter. Pour remaining batter into an even layer on top of the preserves.
Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let bread cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

So, this is the list, I advise you to test all the recipes…hehe…and also the others that aren’t on the list and I are delicious, like the Outrageous Brownies, the Guava Biscuits, the Brazilian Honey Bread, the Yogurt Cake, the Cherry Muffins with Crumb Topping … that is, all the other recipes…haha.

Enjoy,
Pam

Cinnamon Biscuits
Makes 40

Ingredients:

¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (184g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup + 1 ½ tablespoons (218g) caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 ½ cups + 2 ½ tablespoons (375g) all purpose flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 egg white, lightly beaten with a fork
granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

Place butter, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the flour, egg and egg yolks and process until a smooth dough forms – my processor wasn’t strong enough to process the dough, so I prepared it on my Kitchen Aid using the paddle attachment. Lightly knead the dough, divide in two parts and wrap each one in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of the dough to form a log (roughly 10cm/4in long). Carefully bend the top to form a candy cane and place onto prepared sheets, 2.5cm (1in) apart. Repeat with the remaining dough. Brush the canes with the egg white and sprinkle over the sugar. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks.

Cheesecake with Cherry Topping

Ingredients:

Base:
140g digestive biscuits
56g brown sugar
84g unsalted butter

Filling:
500g cream cheese
170g sugar
2g salt
140g eggs (±3 eggs)
14g egg  yolks (±1 egg yolk)
75g single cream
3ml vanilla extract

Topping:
284g pitted cherries
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tsp corn starch
2/3 cup water, tawny port or other sweet red wine
4 tsp water
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 330°F/165°C.

Base:
Line the base of a 20-23 cm springform tin with a baking paper ( Wrap the outside (bottom and sides) of the springform pan with two layers of aluminum foil to prevent any leaking). Crush the Digestive biscuits finely, mix with sugar and melted butter. Press the biscuit mixture onto the base of the cake tin. Place into the fridge for 10 minutes.

Filling:
To prepare filling, beat cheese with a mixer at high speed until smooth. Combine sugar and salt, beat well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract and single cream.  Pour cheese mixture into prepared pan.

Bake the cheesecake in a water bath for 1h and 15min. Bake until the filling is more or less set (it shouldn’t wobble too much, when you lightly shake the cake tin). Remove from the oven and cool for 6 hours.

Topping:
To prepare topping, combine port(or water), 1/2 cup sugar, cherries, and reserved vanilla bean halves in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until cherries are thawed and mixture is syrupy. Remove vanilla bean halves; discard. Combine juice, cornstarch, and 4 teaspoons water, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Stir cornstarch mixture into cherry mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 3 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened and shiny. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature. Cover and chill. Serve over cheesecake.

Removing from pan:
When cheesecake is done, remove springform pan or cheesecake pan (if using) from “water bath” in oven. Carefully remove larger pan with water in it from oven. It will be very hot. Discard water when it has cooled. Remove aluminim foil from sides and bottom of pan after your cheescake has cooled completely in the refrigerator. When you are ready to release sides of springform pan, or remove cheesecake from a cheesecake pan with removable bottom (if using) and cheescake has cooled in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight; this is the best time to remove aluminum foil.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Squares
Makes 64 (1-inch) cheesecake squares

Ingredients:

For crust:
3 1/2 oz graham crackers, crumbled (1cup)
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling:
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-oz envelope, will be just about half an envelope)
1/4 cup whole milk
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
3/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup dulce de leche (12 1/2 oz) (recipe follows)

For glaze:
3 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), coarsely chopped
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Directions:

Make crust: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with 2 sheets of foil (crisscrossed), leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

Finely grind crackers with sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor. With motor running, add butter, blending until combined. Press mixture evenly onto bottom of baking pan. Bake 10 minutes, then cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes.

Make filling: Sprinkle gelatin over milk in a small bowl and let stand 2 minutes to soften. Beat together cream cheese, eggs, salt, and gelatin mixture in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes, then stir in dulce de leche gently but thoroughly. Pour filling over crust, smoothing top, then bake in a hot water bath (I was able to fit mine in a 9×13-inch baking pan) in oven until center is just set, about 45 minutes. Cool cheesecake completely in pan on rack, about 2 hours. Chill, covered, at least 6 hours.

Glaze cake within 2 hours of serving: Heat all glaze ingredients in a double boiler or a small metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth, then pour over cheesecake, tilting baking pan to coat top evenly. Chill, uncovered, 30 minutes.

Lift cheesecake from pan using foil overhang and cut into 1-inch squares with a thin knife, wiping off knife after each cut. (Don’t skip this step! A clean knife is essential for uber-neat squares.)

Note: Cheesecake (without glaze) can be chilled up to 3 days.

Dulce de Leche (Milk Caramel)

Most of the world makes this by boiling the milk inside a closed can, but  according to the Carnation can label , is not recommended by them. This method works just as well.

Pour one can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk into top of double-boiler pan; cover. Place over boiling water. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 50 minutes, or until thick and light caramel-colored.

Remove from heat. Whisk until smooth.