MONTEREY SAUSAGE PIE

I had this quite a while ago and used to make it for my boys. It really filled them up and is a delicious guilty pleasure. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Bulk Pork Sausage
• 3 teaspoons Minced Garlic
• 2-½ cups Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese, Divided
• 1-⅓ cup Milk
• 3 whole Eggs
• ¾ cups Biscuit/baking Mix
• ¾ teaspoons Rubbed Sage
• ¼ teaspoons Pepper

Directions

In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Stir in 2 cups cheese. Transfer to a greased 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.

In a small bowl, combine the milk, eggs, biscuit mix, sage and pepper. Pour over sausage mixture.

Bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with remaining cheese; bake 1-2 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

 

The Best Carrot Cake In The World

This is my husband's favorite cake so it gets made a lot. For his birthday I make two 9" cake rounds and layer with cream cheese frosting. ~Cheryl

The Best Carrot Cake In The World

 

This is the best carrot cake I’ve ever tasted, it’s juicy, soft, full of wonderful aromas and not too sweet. You can garnish the cake with this creamy frosting that gives it a delicate sourness, but you can make it without the cream as well.

The Best Carrot Cake

Ingredients 

2 cups peeled and grated carrots
½ cup roasted pecans
⅓ cup raisins
1¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt (Fleur-de-Sel)
1¼ cups sugar
½ cup Muscovado sugar (or dark brown sugar)
1 cup canola/grape seed or other vegetable oil
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 large eggs

Creamy Frosting:

1¼ cups heavy whipping cream
⅓ cup confectioner's sugar
¾ cup Philadelphia cream cheese
½ cup Mascarpone cheese
pinch of ground cinnamon

Preparation 
1. Carrot Cake: Place the grated carrots, pecans and raisins in a food processor and process until chopped. Add 2 tbsp of the flour and process for a few seconds. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.
2. In the same processor bowl process together all the rest of the ingredients till smooth. Add the carrot mixture and process for a few seconds. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. line 2 x 19cm loaf pans with parchment paper.
4. Pour the mixture into the loaf pans and bake for 40-45 minutes or until just cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the pan.
5. Creamy Frosting: In a mixer bowl whip together cream, confectioner’s sugar, cream cheese, mascarpone and cinnamon until stiff peaks form.
6. If you want to get fancy, pipe the cream on the cake.
Tip: The cake can be kept for about a week out of the fridge, without the cream cheese. You can make the cream and not pipe it on the cake but serve it next to it, so the cake will last longer. 

Hôtel de Crillon Famous Chocolate Cake - Paris

This is a wonderful chocolate cake with no flour, so it's gluten-free. It's become quite famous and I needed somewhere to save it. Let me know how you like it!

8 oz (227g) best-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I used Callebaut, Valrhona, or Guittard)

8 oz (227g) unsalted butter

1 c (200g) granulated sugar

1½ t kosher salt

2 t vanilla extract

4 eggs, room temperature

cocoa powder and/or chocolate curls, for garnish

Grease an 8" or 9" round cake pan. Cut a parchment circle to fit in the bottom of the pan. Grease the parchment as well. Dust with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder and tap out the excess. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place chocolate, butter, and sugar in a microwave safe bowl. Carefully microwave in several 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until butter is melted and chocolate has softened (or melt using a double boiler). Remove and stir to melt chocolate and smooth mixture.

boiler). Remove and stir to melt chocolate and smooth mixture.

Add eggs, one at a time and whisk well after each addition. Whisk in vanilla and salt. Pour batter into pan and place pan into a larger cake pan or a baking dish. Fill larger pan with water to come 1/3 of the way up the sides of the cake pan. Bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool at least one hour.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Place a serving plate over pan and invert, carefully banging several times to dislodge the cake. Leave the parchment round on the cake and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the fridge, and let stand 30 minutes until sides are soft enough to be smoothed with a knife. Remove parchment round and sift cocoa powder on top. If desired, decorate with chocolate shavings. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Cheryl's Amazing Crusty Peach Cobbler

You'll need: 

- 2 boxes Pillsbury pie crust (refrigerated section at store)

-  1 gal can of sliced cling peaches in light syrup. (Smart & Final)

- Cinnamon; Butter; white sugar; one egg yolk (optional to add shine and crisp up top crust even more)

- Use the very largest pan you have. 10x13 at least, and 3" deep. Mine is a little bigger.

Directions: 

Set both boxes of rolled pie crust out of frig about 30 minutes before using - no more . Makes it easier to unroll then without breaking

1.  Preheat oven to 425°.

2.  Drain peaches in colinder, keeping the juice in a bowl. Spoon half of the peaches into the pan, spread around. 

3. Whisk 4 tablespoons of cornstarch into the peach juice which will thicken while cooking. It's ok if a bit lumpy. Pour half of that over the peaches.

3.  Sprinkle good with cinnamon. Dot all around with chunks of real butter. 

4.Carefully unroll one box of pie crust  which has 2 crusts. Lay the two crust side-by-side over the peaches. A little  Overlapping is fine and it doesn't need to look pretty.

5. Pop in preheated oven on middle shelf and cook till crust golden. Watch so it doesn't burn. 

6. Remove from oven and chop the crust up in the dish. This cobbler was double layered.

7. Now put the rest of peaches, pouring most of the rest of thickened juice. Dot liberally with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. Don't want it bubbling over while cooking so use judgement when pouring in the rest of juice.

8. The top crust (the two other ones in box 2) you will carefully arrange covering all the peaches. You can try and make edge  pretty. But really nobody cares! 

9. (Optional) Separate  one egg so all you have is the yolk. Whisk it with a tablespoon of cold water. Use a pastry brush to brush it over the crust. 

Sprinkle the top with about 2 T. tablespoons white granulated sugar and cinnamon to your liking. Just enough! 

10. This time use a fork to prick several places on crust - about 5-6 places fine -whichever releases air so it doesn't bubble up. 

11. Back in 425 oven on middle shelf until beautiful golden color. Doesn't take but maybe 15 min. Just watch it. (If your pan is very full you might want to put a foil lined cookie sheet on shelf below it to catch drips)

Voila! Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

If made a day ahead, no need to refrigerate. Keep covered and to reheat, use 250° preheated oven for about 15 minutes with a sheet of foil lightly laying over the top. 😘

Southern Fried Hoecakes (Cornbread)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup of cornmeal
1/3 cup of self-rising flour
1/3 cup of low-fat buttermilk
Oil for frying
1 large egg

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, self-rising flour, low-fat buttermilk, and large egg. Mix the ingredients thoroughly until well blended. The mixture should have a moist consistency, but not be too runny.

2. Heat a skillet with oil. (You can use ~3 tablespoons of coconut oil, or use your preferred oil.)

3. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil, being careful not to overcrowd the skillet. (The cooking technique used is similar to traditional pancakes.)

4. Cook the fritters until they turn brown on one side, then flip them over to brown the other side.

5. Once the fritters are cooked, transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels. Blot any excess oil by gently pressing the fritters with the paper towels.

6. Serve!