Chocolate Cream Brownies

Chocolate Cream Brownies

Dorcas Annette Walker

I’ve been busy canning green beans lately. In fact now-a-days my kitchen is like a canning factory. For the past four years I was unable to can much due to poor health and my bountiful supply of green beans became exhausted. We ended having to eat store-bought green beans. To a person who has always eaten the store variety of green beans they cannot begin to understand the quandary of going from home-canned to store-bought. There simply is no comparison. So this year I have been actively replenishing my pantry. Between loading my canner with quarts of green beans I decided to whip up a batch of brownies. Brownies are a perfect snack to give energy for canning, take along on a picnic this summer, or to have on hand for family reunions.

The first known recipe for brownies is published in an 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalogue. A demand for chocolate recipes emerged in the beginning of the 20th century when mass production of chocolate made chocolate affordable to everyone. Different companies began to aggressively advertise and promote chocolate. Folklore has it that the origin of brownies evolved from a careless cook who forgot to add baking powder in a chocolate cake batter. Since that first mistake of an unknown cook, there has developed almost as many brownie recipes as there are cooks. The name brownie comes from the deep brown color. Beginning brownie recipes and today’s classic brownies are rich in butter and melted chocolate with no leavening except for a couple of eggs and flour.

Brownies are often one of the first recipes children attempt to bake. Today there are several varieties of brownie mixes to choose from making it easy to turn out perfect brownies every time. Just be careful not to over-mix the ingredients, which can cause the brownies to be tough or over-bake the brownies, which results in dry brownies. Brownies are not considered a low-calorie treat, especially when frostings or toppings are added, but the rich chocolate mixture is an ultimate sensory delight.

My Chocolate Cream Brownie recipe evolved from wanting to jazz up a plain brown mix for a youth group. I decided to combine a jar of marshmallow cream and a bag of chocolate chips as a topping instead of my usual well-known peanut butter frosting. The rich moist chocolate with a gooey marshmallow chocolate topping was an instant hit with the teens. I have made these elegant easy-to-make Chocolate Cream Brownies several times since. My Chocolate Cream Brownies takes a total of forty minutes to prepare and this recipe serves sixteen.

Chocolate Cream Brownies

Bake a pan of plain brownies (your choice of brand) for thirty minutes at 350º.
While still hot spread a 7 oz jar of marshmallow cream on top and bake for five minutes. Sprinkle a 12 oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips on top of the melted marshmallow cream. Bake for five more minutes and smooth out the softened chocolate chips with a knife. Cool and serve. Store any leftover brownies in an airtight container!

Weekly tip: For chewy brownies always use two eggs. Also semisweet chocolate chips produce a creamier texture compared to unsweetened chocolate chips!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more recipes check out her Creative Mountain Cookin page at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Heavenly Peach Delight

Heavenly Peach Delight

Dorcas Annette Walker

This week I’m going to share with you my favorite peach dessert. It is a recipe that was passed to me from Granny a couple of years ago and without fail I make it at least once a summer when the peaches are ripe. I also make up a couple batches of fresh peach freezer jam every year to preserve summer days. One minister had his first taste of peach freezer jam at my table and instantly fell in love on the spot. He declared that my peach jam was good enough to drink. To his wife’s embarrassment he went from layering peach jam liberally on his rolls to eating spoonfuls of jam savoring each mouthful. It was the greatest compliment of my cooking that I have ever received.

Peaches are considered to be the Queen of the fruits and are second only to apples in popularity. Although the peach’s botanical name suggests that the peach is native to Persia, peaches originated in China and are mentioned as far back as the tenth century B.C. as the favored fruit of the emperors. The peach plays an important part in Chinese tradition and is symbolic of long life. The peach was brought to America in the sixteenth century and then on to England and France in the seventeenth century. In Queen Victoria’s day no meal was considered complete without a fresh peach presented on a fancy cotton napkin. Even though Thomas Jefferson had peach trees at Monticello, the United States did not begin commercial production of peaches until the nineteenth century. Although the southern states lead in commercial production, peaches are also produced in California, Michigan, and Colorado. China and Greece are the major peach producers outside the United States.

Peach trees are deciduous producing pink flowers in the early spring that form into fruit by late summer with red-brown seeds. While there are hundreds of different peach varieties basically there are only two types of peach trees; the freestones and the clingstones. Peach trees have a limited range as they have a chilling requirement and yet are not cold-hardy while being subject to insect pests and disease. The fruit has a short storage life and has to be kept in temperatures near 32F in a high-humidity atmosphere to preserve quality.

Peaches are delicious eaten fresh or sliced, sprinkled with sugar, and cream. While the fruit is safe to eat peach pits are poisonous. Peaches are also used in ice cream, pies, cobblers, shortcakes, preserves, and mixed fruit desserts. Fresh peaches contain antioxidant vitamins of A and C along with potassium and fiber.

My Heavenly Peach Delight is a must-have summer dessert. With its cream cheese filling sandwiched by a graham cracker crust on the bottom and topped with fresh peaches swimming in a clear peach glaze, each bite is a culinary delight. The Heavenly Peach Delight takes around thirty total minutes to prepare and this recipe serves sixteen.

Heavenly Peach Delight

Make a graham cracker crust in the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish by mixing together:
1 pkg graham crackers (crumbled)
1 stick margarine (melted)
1 tb sugar
Bake at 350º for ten minutes and cool.

Beat together with a mixer until smooth:
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1 c powdered sugar
1 (16 oz) cool whip
1 tsp vanilla
Layer over cooled graham cracker crust.

In a large saucepan bring to a boil until thick and clear:
1 c sugar
1 c water
3 tb cornstarch
Take off the stove and stir in until dissolved:
1 (3 oz) box of peach jello
Finish by folding in:
4 c peeled and sliced fresh peaches
Pour over the cream cheese filling. Chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving!

Weekly tip: To keep your refrigerator smelling fresh, place a box of baking soda (with the top removed) on a middle shelf. Replace twice a year!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more recipes check out her Creative Mountain Cookin page at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Tune Noodle Casserole

Dorcas Annette Walker

I thought this week I’d balance out my dessert recipes with a main dish that I have made throughout the years without using a recipe. I discovered this easy-to-make version of the baked casserole as a newly-wed, while visiting out-of-state at a parsonage, and instantly fell in love. I always keep the ingredients on hand for my Tuna Noodle Casserole and have made this dish more than once when unexpected company showed up. When my daughter started cooking as a new bride, Dawn, loved this casserole so much that she made it several times a week. My poor son-in-law ate so many Tuna Noodle Casseroles that today he avoids any casserole with tuna in it. While I promise that you will love my Tuna Noodle Casserole, I would urge restraint in making it more than once a week.

There are eight species of the tuna fish with a range of different colors of flesh. Tuna are ocean-dwelling fish and are fast swimmers. They have been clocked at 45 mph. Several species are warm-blooded allowing them to survive in cooler water by raising their blood temperature above the water through muscular activity. Tuna is an important commercial fish, so much so that some species of tuna fisheries are being over-fished until some tuna fisheries are at the verge of collapse. Japan’s huge appetite for tuna has put them at the top- 17% of all the world’s tuna catch and consumption- with Taiwan in second place at 12%. Because of this wildlife campaigners warn that unless more rigid quotas are agreed on tuna may become commercially extinct. More quantities of tuna are entering the market from operations that raise tuna in net pens fed on a variety of bait fish that in return have accumulated metal from their diet causing high mercury levels. As a result the United States FDA issued guidelines of recommendations for eating tuna in March of 2004 for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children.

Canned tuna was first produced in 1903 and quickly became popular in the United States as it is easy to prepare. Only Albacore “white meat tuna” can be legally sold in canned form here in the United States. Since tuna is caught at a great distance from where it is processed the tuna is pre-cooked for 45 minutes to three hours then cleaned, filleted, packaged into cans, and sealed. The second cooking of the tuna meat is carried out inside the cans for two to four hours to kill any bacteria at processing plants and labeled. While there still remains conflicting reports of dangerous levels of mercury in certain varieties of tuna, canned tuna is very high in protein and is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Many weight trainers’ diets use canned tuna as a prominent component.

My Tuna Noodle Casserole is a filling main dish comprised of creamy noodles interspersed with chunks of tuna topped by crunchy bread crumbs. Adding a green vegetable or a tossed salad quickly rounds out your meal. Preparation time for the Tuna Noodle Casserole is about thirty minutes and this recipe serves six.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

1 pkg (12 oz) noodles
1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1 can (6 oz) tuna- drained
½ c milk
Cook the noodles in hot water with 1tsp salt until soft and drain. Stir in cream of mushroom soup, milk, and drained tuna. Heat the noodles on low until heated through. Garnish with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, parsley flakes or fresh parsley, and toasted bread crumbs!

Toasted Bread Crumbs:
1 stick margarine
6 slices of bread (your choice)
While the noodles are cooking, melt the stick of margarine in a frying pan and crumble up the slices of bread. Stir until the bread crumbs are golden brown.

Weekly tip: To keep pasta from sticking when cooking add a tablespoon of cooking oil to the water, then run the pasta under hot water when draining!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more recipes check out her Creative Mountain Cookin page at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Red, White, and Blue Dessert

Red, White, and Blue Dessert

Dorcas Annette Walker

This week we celebrate the Fourth of July. Lots of activities in our community are being planned for the weekend up here on the mountain. I’ll hang out our flag on the front porch to begin our celebration and we will end the day by enjoying fireworks at the local fairgrounds. As I watch brilliant colors light up the sky in an awesome display and hear the boom of the fireworks resound across the mountain peaks, I will sit tall, proud to be an American. Once again echoes of fireworks will sound out across the land uniting us into one nation as we celebrate the birth of our country.

Our anniversary celebration started out with a bang early when my husband discovered that Billy Boy and Bessie (our two goats) were missing from the pen. A farmer friend that had brought some hay Dana bought helped him hunt for the goats in our woods. We were worried that our goats might wander down onto the main highway. My husband headed out to work after notifying the store at the end of our road and told me to keep an eye out for the goats as he had left the gate open in case they came back. Midway through the morning I spotted Billy Boy and Bessie inside the pen.

Like I’ve said before my idea of having animals is a couple of cats and dogs. My husband though is quickly turning me into an active farmer’s wife- not by choice mind you, but by sheer necessity. I slowly edged around the inside of the pen ducking through brush and briars so I wouldn’t spook the goats until I reached the gate on the other side. With of sigh of relief I shut the gate thinking my work was finished. A call to Dana and our friend to let the fellows know the goats were safe resulted in them telling me I needed to blockade the gate as they were sure that’s where the goats had gotten out. I spent another couple of hours hauling wood to put up a temporary reinforcement.

Billy Boy and Bessie were still inside the pen when Dana got home. We went out to eat to celebrate our anniversary, after Dana checked on the goats. By the time we got back home it was dark. Dana went once more to check on the goats only to find them missing again! Instead of a romantic evening, we spent the night wandering out in the woods with flashlights trying to hunt down the crazy goats. By then I was convinced that somewhere along the line kangaroo was part of our goat’s genetic line. We finally gave up, staggered inside, and collapsed into bed. When Billy Boy and Bessie showed up the next morning, Dana tied them up until he ran an electric wire around the fence. Meanwhile I shall always remember our goat anniversary.

My Red, White, and Blue Dessert will bring raves of praise at any Fourth of July celebration. While this elegant dessert is not something you quickly put together, yet it can be fixed while you are in the kitchen preparing other holiday foods. The Red, White, and Blue Dessert filled with berries submerged in jello tied together with a creamy middle is sure to be a winner. This recipe is made in three steps and serves fifteen.

Red, White, and Blue Dessert

Step One:
Add 2 c boiling water to 2 (3 oz) pkg raspberry jello and stir until dissolved. Then mix in 1 can of cherry pie filling. Place in clear glass dessert dish and refrigerate until firm.

Step Two:
Beat together 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, 1 c powdered sugar, and 1 (8 oz) container of cool whip until smooth. Layer over jello and chill for a couple of hours.

Step Three:
Add 2 c boiling water to 2 (3 oz) pkg grape jello and stir until dissolved. Then mix in 1 can of blueberry pie filling. Cool in the refrigerator for an half an hour then pour over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until firm. Garnish with flags or any Fourth of July decorations!

Weekly tip: For easy outdoor summer entertaining buy a cheap child’s round wading pool and fill with ice setting it up on a picnic table. Set your salads, drinks, and desserts in the ice and relax. You can garnish your ice with flowers and greenery!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Peachy Peach Cake

Peachy Peach Cake

Dorcas Annette Walker

The peaches in my orchard are ripening causing the branches to hang heavy with fruit. I go out daily to check the status of the fruit anxiously waiting my first taste of a fresh peach. June signals the start of the canning season that will last into the fall. The month of June is also a peak season for weddings. My husband and I were married on a June evening in a candle-light ceremony thirty-two years ago in the college chapel where Dana was enrolled.

I should have read the signs that marriage to Dana would be far from ordinary when, as guest began to arrive for our wedding, a gang of motorcycles decided to rip and roar through the campus. The local police were called and arrived to the scene with lights blinking and siren’s blaring. My poor mother was a nervous wreck as we watched the chase from an upper window. Thankfully things settled down and the ceremony went off without a hitch. At the last minute, due to someone double-booking events at the local community center we had arranged for the wedding reception, we had to move the reception to another nearby town. That morning we decorated an upstairs’ room thankful to have found a last minute spot. Unbeknown to us a Boy Scout carnival was also scheduled for that evening. We arrived at our wedding reception making a grand entrance in front of the entire community. By then my dear mother was ready for a nervous breakdown after trying to corral wedding guests upstairs for the reception among the milling crowd who had come for carnival. Whether it was from the extreme heat from cooking that had been done in the kitchen underneath all day, or the fact that reality hit the groom, Dana nearly passed out at the reception. Outside the band serenaded everyone with love songs including, The Fight Is On, as wedding guests and the carnival blended together.

Thirty-two years later life is still full of the unexpected. My husband decided to expand our farm buying two goats to raise for meat. He kept talking about trying to raise a calf or a milk cow, but thankfully we don’t have enough pasture land for such an endeavor. I had just relaxed when he came up with the idea of goats. That is how Billy Boy and Bessie entered our lives. Since the fence for the pen wasn’t completed, Dana tied the two goats up in the orchard while he and a friend of his finished the fence. Both goats looked adorable with soft brown eyes; Bessie has matching brown fur while Billy Boy’s fur is brown and white. Our two half-grown goats were quite contented until it came time to move them to the pen. Dana tried to lead them, but we quickly discovered that goats don’t believe in following sedately behind so I was positioned in the rear to help move them along. Billy Boy began kicking up his heels and voicing his protests loudly. Our chocolate lab decided to turn into a sheepdog and help. Unfortunately, since Sandy had never herded sheep before she ran at them from the front and sides adding her voice to the confusion. While Dana worked at unwinding Billy Boy’s rope from around his knees and hollering directions at me, I struggled with Bessie, who tried to drag me in the opposite direction. The dust flew and chaos reigned. We had all the makings of a rodeo. Halfway to the pen Bessie flopped down on the ground and refused to budge another inch. By then I was ready to join her. At last we succeeded in getting Billy Boy and Bessie into the pen. Since I’m out of space next week I’ll tell you how our goats helped us celebrate our anniversary.

My Peachy Peach Cake can be made year round, but is especially delicious made with fresh peaches. The Peachy Peach Cake is a cool crunchy summery dessert set off by the tang of fresh peaches. Preparation time for my Peachy Peach Cake is fifteen minutes and this recipe serves twelve.

Peachy Peach Cake

In a medium sized bowl cut margarine into the cake mix until it becomes coarse crumbs:
1 yellow cake mix
1 stick of margarine
Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.

Then mix together:
1 (16 oz) container sour cream
2 eggs
Slice and chop 4 fresh peaches or1 quart of peaches drained
Pour over crumb mixture. Sprinkle on cinnamon and bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Let cool and then spread over top:
1 (8 oz) container cool whip
Garnish with sliced peaches and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve!

Weekly tip: When using fresh fruit for a garnish lightly coat the slices of the fruit with lemon juice to help the fruit retain its color!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com