Favorite Recipies

Actually, these are the recipies I get asked for most often. As I have time, I'm sure I'll expand on the list.

Oh, and the truth in advertising disclaimer: these are the base recipies; when I'm actually cooking, I tend to vary from them in differing ways.

Chocolate Gooies

Ingredients

Directions

Unwrap caramels and melt in double boiler with 4 oz. evaporated milk. Keep warm. (Note: microwaves can be used for melting/warming anything that usually requires a double boiler.)

In mixing bowl, combine melted butter, 4 oz. evaporated milk, and cake mix. Stir until smooth. [Machine mixing is not cheating.] If dry and crumbly (not likely) add evaporated milk. If sticky (more likely), add flour, 1/4 cup at a time. The dough should be something that pats into a flat "pancake" without cracking or sticking to your palms.

Pat half of the dough into a well-greased and floured (or teflon) 9"x13" pan. Bake at 350 deg.F. for 12-15 minutes.

Remove and cool for 5 minutes (more is ok). Sprinkle dough with some of the chips, then pour and spread the caramel mixture to cover. Sprinkle remaining chips on top of the caramel.

Put the remaining half of the dough across the top. The best way I've found to do this is to pat the dough into palm-sized cakes, lay them out side-by-side, and then fill in the cracks and holes. Bake 15-20 minutes more. Cool in pan for 1 hour.

This next step is the hardest -- I ususally try to time it so I start this right before going to bed! Chill in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Gooies are easiest to cut when cold, taste best at room temperature. They can be stored in the fridge for quite a while, in the freezer almost indefinately. The piece size can vary: I've cut a batch into as few as 8x10 pieces, or as many as 10x12.

Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Use a 4 quart pyrex (e.g. corningware) casserole dish: prep it with PAM (or equivalent).  [Note: one of the nice things about this recipe is that this is the only dish which gets dirtied: so cleanup is easier.]

If you haven't already, dice the celery.

Place dish on stove burner, medium-high.  Slice margarine and place in dish to melt.   Add minced onion and celery, then stir.  When the stirring no longer keeps the butter from bubbling -- or you've been stirring for at least two minutes -- take the dish off the heat.

Add the minute rice, mushroom soup, water, cheez whiz, and salt; stir around until well mixed.

Add the frozen broccoli to the center of the mixture, cover it if the dish is deep enough, but don't try to break it up or stir it in.

Bake, with the dish's top on, for 35-40 minutes.

Bring out, and now do stir the broccoli in with the rest of the ingredients.

Bake for another 25-20 minutes (for a total of 60).  If, when you brought it out, it looked too "liquidly", leave the top off for this second round of baking. 

Hint: reheating, or heating again after taking it somewhere, works well at 350° for 25 minutes.

Scalloped Corn Pudding

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream style Corn canned:  17oz      21.5oz     42.5oz
Milk:                                  1 cup     1.75 cup  2.5 cup
Eggs (well beaten):              1           2              3
Cracker crumbs, buttered:  1 cup     1.75 cup  2.5 cup
Chopped onion:                  2 tbsp    3.5 tbsp    5 tbsp
more Cracker crumbs:        1/2 cup   1 cup      1.5 cup

dish size, round:                   8"            9"           10"

mix corn, milk, & egg(s)

add first cracker crumbs, onion, palm salt, dash pepper

pour into greased baking dish (usually round)

top with second cracker crumbs

bake for 30 - 35 minutes

Coleman Family Eggnog

From Charles Coleman:

For ~ one gallon:

Beat the yolks of 6 large eggs (or >6 if not large) until they are uniform light color & do not change further.

Beat in 1 lb granulated sugar (one pint is a good approximation).  Try to get it all dissolved in the yolks (impossible, but long beating may be important).

Stir in one pint of good bourbon (preferably 86 or 90 proof; 80 or 100 might be noticibly different) and ½ pint dark Jamacia-type rum (good Costa Rica rum is much cheaper).  Let sit at least a few hours (cold if possible) to cook the egg yolks.  Overnight is good.

Stir in 1 qt whipping cream, & then ½ pint cognac (I can't afford cognac for this, & have always used Coronet brandy.  Never Spanish- or Portuguese-type brandy.)

Beat the egg whites till stiff & float them on top.  Carefully & slowly cut them into the nog with the ladle or a large spoon.  Repeat that whenever a floating layer has collected.

Annotations from Franklin:

I use extra large eggs.  And I love Pampered Chef's egg separator.

Using a Kitchen Aid makes getting the sugar into the yolks far easier - or at least not impossible.

Bourbon: 
I use George Dickel Original Tennessee Whisky, Superior No. 12  (90 proof)

Rum: 
I use Myers's Rum, Original Dark, 100% Fine Jamaican  (80 proof)

Cognac:  I also use brandy instead.  Most frequently:
Coronet VSQ  (80 proof)
St. Remy Napoleon  (80 proof)

I use heavy whipping cream. 

I never thought to ask him, but I suspect that dad used "½ pint" instead of "1 cup" because of his Chemist background: considering a "cup" to be not just a unit of measurement, but also a common kitchen utensil of indeterminate size; and therefore considered the "½ pint" to be less prone to misinterpretation.

While dad implies that the yolk "cooking" doesn't need either cold or many hours, I've never tried it without letting that mix sit about 24 hours, and somewhere that was definately below 40°.   I'm sure that there's a lower range to the temperature, but with all that alcohol, it must be way below freezing.

Page last edited: 2011/08/17  by franklinccoleman@gmail.com