Double Duty Brownie Mix

One of the extra moist brownies makes a nice simple dessert. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Double Duty Brownie Mix Recipe

There are several good reasons to add this little brownie recipe to your recipe collection.

First, in less than 5 minutes you can make several batches of the dry ingredients to store for later use. This is how I used to use this recipe; having pre-made brownie mixes in jars that I could quickly mix up and bake.

Secondly, these also make nice little gifts when you add the wet ingredients on a card or label. I write it on the lid.

Brownie Mix Recipe

Add 2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla.

Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven; allow to cool.

My handwritten label on top of one of my jars of homemade brownie mix. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

See how pretty this could be with a ribbon and gift card?

Friends who have received this in the past have commented at how easy, and delicious, this was to use.

You can make this with special dark chocolate if you want to ramp it up, this is basically a classic American cuisine recipe.

One homemade brownie mix batch ready for wet ingredients. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Now if you took a close look at my hand writing on the label, you will know how I came up with this second version of this recipe. Instead of the original 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, I misread the label and made this with 1 cup of vegetable oil, doubling the original recipe.

If you want to make them into little chocolate pies, use 3/14 cup vegetable oil.

I like to bake brownies in cupcake pans, which makes them easier to have in single servings.

This is how the additional vegetable oil changes the brownies, into extra moist brownies with a depressed center.

These are the brownies made with 3/4 cup vegetable oil. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I ended up with these tiny pie-looking cupcakes where I can add cut up fresh fruit in the center. Strawberries are my favorites but most berries will work; raspberries are another delicious combination. For the photo I added blueberries.

If you don’t have fruit, serve it with whipped topping or vanilla ice cream.

You can also easily freeze these for later use.

It’s an easy little dessert to dress up for a nice treat at the end of your meal and you can make both from the same brownie mix!

Charlotte

Levee High Apple Pie Recipe

Blue Owl Bakery in Kimmswick, Mo., home of levee high apple pie. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Levee High Apple Pie Recipe

Is there a better combination than Mom and apple pie?

We’ve had a wet spring this year lately, wet enough for the forecasters to start comparing current river and levee levels to previous record-holding years. One community hard hit with flooding is Kimmswick, Mo., a self-made small tourist spot near St. Louis.

Typical of an adventure, what I thought I would enjoy turned out to be the least fascinating part about the visit, which included a stop at the Blue Owl Restaurant, known for its levee high apple pies.

Can you spot the levee high apple pie? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The apple pies were designed to celebrate the levee that keeps the town from getting flooded. The unique aspect of this well-known apple pie is the pie shape.

Closer look at the shape of levee high apple pies. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

When I asked the waitress how they make it, she said it was a secret so I checked around to find the recipe.

Before trying to make it, though, I decided to taste test the real thing.

The caramel cover to levee high apple pie. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The caramel coating was delicious but what fascinated me was how the apples were added as the pie filing.

How the applies are piled high for levee high apple pie. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Levee High Apple Pie, The Blue Owl Restaurant Bakery, Kimmswick

Author: From Let’s Do Lunch, a cookbook from The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery

Recipe type: Pie

Cuisine: American

Prep time:  45 mins

Cook time:  1 hour 15 mins

Total time:  2 hours

Serves: 8 slices

A storied and award-winning apple pie.

Ingredients

• 2 deep-dish unbaked pie crusts

• Filling

• 12 cups (14-16 apples) of peeled and thinly sliced Granny Smith apples

• 1 cup sugar

• ¼ cup flour

• 2tsp cinnamon

• Dash of salt

• 1 Tablespoon butter

• 1 Tablespoon sugar

• ¼ cup milk

• Topping

• 1 ½ cups melted caramels (21 oz).

• ½ cup chopped pecans

• 2 Tbsp evaporated milk

Instructions

1. For the Filling

2. Combine apples, sugar, flour cinnamon, and salt. Mound filling by hand or use a small, deep mixing bowl for a mold. Invert the filling into the bottom crust and dot with butter. Cover mounded filling with top crust. Moisten, seal and flute edges tightly. Brush top crust with a small amount of milk and sugar mixed together. Prick crust to allow steam to vent. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 1 hour or until the crust is golden brown.

3. For the topping

4. Melt caramels in the microwave. Add evaporated milk and stir until smooth. Add chopped pecans and stir. Spread over pie starting at the base and working up.

The Blue Owl Restaurant sign at Kimmswick, Missouri. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I tend to make pies without pie crusts but in this case, I think a pie crust will come in handy to hold all of those sliced apples together!

Charlotte

Chocolate Mice Recipe

Hershey kisses form the face of chocolate-dipped maraschino cherries with stems.

Chocolate Mice Recipe

My bee buddy David turned 70 years old this year. To celebrate, his sons joined him for a weekend of fine dining, theatre and catching up on family stories, including a chocolate birthday cake with white icing decorated with, what else – bees.

There’s another passion in David’s life, besides his lovely wife. Three cats have found refuge at David’s house, each with a story sadder than the next one until you see them today, coats shiny as they happily lounge on the grass outside David’s basement office.

There is Shirley, a one-eyed calico suspected of being at least 18 years old who is the self-designated house greeter. Chatty Shirley will let you know it’s time to pick her up when she rolls over after telling you all about her day.

Then there is black Henry with yellow eyes, who hides from most people but who talks to me, especially when he wants inside the house. One time he led me to all house doors to see if I could let him inside. Unfortunately I didn’t happen to have a key and he let me know what he thought of my shortcomings by dashing off.

Finally, there is black and white Smokey, who played hard to get for 3 years and now won’t let David, or Henry, out of his sight. I, on the other hand, Smokey can easily do without and tries to, every time he sees me.

When I heard about David’s landmark birthday, I knew the furry family had to contribute – actually Shirley asked me, she has a lot to say every time she sees me – so I made one of my favorite gift treats, chocolate mice.

Chocolate Mice Recipe

You need:

Unwrapped Hershey milk chocolate kisses

Maraschino cherries with stems

Dark almond bark

Almond slivers

Storage container

Tin gift can

Wax paper

Paper Towel

Chocolate mice close up include Almond slivers for ears.

To Make Chocolate Mice

Drain cherries and place on paper towel.

Unwrap Hershey kisses.

Melt dark almond bark in microwave for 1 ½ minutes until melted. Dip cherries in chocolate until covered; place on wax paper to dry.

Add dab of melted chocolate to flat Hershey kiss; add 2 Almond slivers. Press against cherry. Allow to dry.

Store in air tight container.

Photo 2:  Package chocolate mice in a tin container to keep the almond ears from breaking and add toy mice on top instead of a ribbon for a feline treat. (Photos by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

How to Package Chocolate Mice

To make these even more special, I packaged them in a tin container. Make sure the tin is tall enough not to break the almond sliver ears. If you want to make sure they don’t move, you can use a tiny dab of chocolate to “glue” the mice to a cardboard bottom.

For fun, I added three catnip mice to the tin instead of a ribbon. The gift card was “signed” with the three cats footprints, a cat foot print stamp my cats have been known to use for their gift-giving. I added names just in case David couldn’t distinguish between one set of prints against another one but he seemed to know who had contributed to the birthday sentiments.

These also make wonderful Halloween and Christmas treats.

Charlotte

Simple Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Simple Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Every kitchen should have as standard issue an ice cream maker. Not the old-fashioned kind with a hand crank that requires adding ice, it should be one with an electric motor that produces ice cream in 20 minutes so one can finish another chapter of that great book. Don’t look at me, those are my niece Rachel’s requirements for an excellent home ice cream maker.

Since I was given one as a gift, I haven’t had to go shopping for one but I have felt grateful the machine passed Rachel’s standards. This is our favorite chocolate ice cream recipe and yes, we have tested several, all of course in the interests of achieving a higher culinary standard.

You’re welcome. 

Simple Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

 Ingredients:

*¾ cup sifted cocoa powder

½ cup sugar

**1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

A pinch of salt

***1 cup whole milk (or skim or powdered milk)

2 cups heavy whipping cream

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Other Possible Recipe Alterations

Miniature chocolate chips

Spearmint flavoring

Fresh strawberries

Fresh bing cherries

This special dark Hershey blend is usually only available in summer so get an extra one for Christmas time baking. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

*Rachel and I have experimented with a variety of cocoa powders, our favorite is Hershey Special Dark Chocolate, “a blend of natural and Dutched cocoas.” It has a paper red ribbon towards the bottom of the container, usually only available at a big box grocery store.

**You can also use either dark or light brown sugar; the darker brown sugar gives the ice cream a richer flavor.

***We experimented with cutting calories with the milk, substituting skim milk and prepared powdered milk. The lighter milks made the ice cream not as rich, which was fine with me. I preferred something lighter for at least summer.

Other Possible Flavor Alterations

 In terms of alterations, we have also tested adding miniature chocolate chips and substituting a spearmint flavor for the vanilla to make a mint chocolate chip ice cream. I was told by Rachel’s father that it was delicious, I never made it to the tasting step.

I did, however, taste test adding chopped Bing cherries in one batch and cut up fresh strawberries in another batch and would recommend those combinations.

My niece Rachel refreshing her ice cream-making skills whipping up a chocolate ice cream batch.

How To Make Simple Chocolate Ice Cream 

In a medium bowl, sift together the cocoa, sugars and salt. Add the milk and ,using a hand mixer on low speed, or a whisk, beat to combine until dry ingredients are dissolved.  

Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla, or add another flavoring at this point.

Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight.

Turn ice cream maker on; pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, 15-20 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture.

Chocolate ice cream is ready when it starts shaping into mounds.

Add chocolate chips in the last minute or so. If you are adding fresh fruit, add that by hand and mix with a wooden spoon.

If you want a firmer consistency, transfer ice cream into an airtight container and place in freezer for a couple of hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

 Makes about 5 cups (10 ½ cup servings) 268 calories per ½ cup serving, not counting anything else you may add.

Oh, don't worry, you will!

Charlotte

The Secret to Soft Chewy Cookies

The back of Nestle's Tollhouse Cookie Chips bag doesn't tell you this but, like even meals cooked at the White House, there is a secret to making soft, chewy cookies.

After mixing the cookie batter, place in the refrigerator overnight. The resting gives ingredients a chance to blend together.

When baked, your cookies will come out soft and chewy.

They really should add this to the recipe; it makes all the difference in the cooked cookie!

Charlotte