Submitted by: Tonya Wagner

This is a decadent and rich chocolate cake that tastes so good it must be a sin to eat! You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to make and the cake is sure to impress all your friends and family. Because of the mini chocolate chips, each bite you take will have extra chocolaty goodness!

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet mini chocolate chips

Chocolate drizzle icing:

• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the mini chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan before inverting onto a plate.
4. Once cake has cooled, prepare the icing by combining ingredients together in a pyrex bowl or microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir.  Repeat this process 2 more times until the icing is smooth.  Drizzle over cooled, inverted bundt cake using a spoon.

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes because it incorporates three ingredients that I love!  It is a great holiday recipe and is very pretty with the cranberries in it.  Because the recipe uses whole wheat flour, the cookies are a little heavier and do no spread when baking.  Flatten them out a bit when you place them on the cookie sheet to bake.  These are simple to make cookies. Store them in a tightly sealed container to prevent them from drying out. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
• 1 cup white chocolate chunks (may also use chips instead)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, applesauce and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Combine the rolled oats, flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the cranberries and white chocolate chunks. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
3. Slightly flatten cookies, bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Makes approximately 3 dozen.

A friend of mine gave me this recipe to use as my first attempt at a pie crust. It rolled out seamlessly and had a very good flavor and cooked up nice and flaky. It is an excellent dessert pie crust. You may substitute all butter instead of butter and shortening. Reduce the sugar by half if you are making a non-desert pie such as a pot pie. This recipe yields 4 crusts.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup ice water

1. Place flour in a large bowl. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture is crumbly.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Pour in all of egg mixture and half of ice water. Stir gently with a fork, adding more water as needed, just until mixture forms a ball.
3. Turn dough onto a floured surface and cut into 4 equal portions. Knead each piece briefly and shape into a disc. Chill 1 hour before rolling out.

This recipe for seven (7) layer magic bars is so easy to make and they taste oh so good!  They are always a hit at gatherings and have become one of my go-to recipes for parties and potlucks.  Because the seven layer bars are so easy to make, they are great if you are looking for a quick dessert recipe. They are great too for kids who want to learn to bake or for a slumber party snack that the kids can make on their own! Be careful though, these rich dessert bars are highly addicting! A perfect combination of butterscotch, coconut, chocolate, sugar and heaven!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs = 1 sleeve of crackers
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
• 1 can (14 fluid oz) sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Crumble the graham crackers. I find it easiest to place them in my food processor to crumble.
3. Mix the melted butter and the graham cracker crumbs. Spread the crumb mixture evenly in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the crumbs, followed by the chocolate and then the butterscotch chips. Add the coconut over all, and pour the milk evenly over the top.
4. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly brown on top. Cool at least 20 minutes then cut into desired sized magic bars.

7 Layer Magic Bars

Submitted by: Ellen Calderon

This is my favorite scone recipe…so yummy! You can use a regular baking sheet but I find that baking stones, or stonewear work best.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter

• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 c buttermilk
• 1 lemon

1. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and butter together until crumbly.  Next, stir in the oats and then add the buttermilk.  Add the zest from one lemon, then the juice from the lemon.  (Watch out for the seeds!)  Stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice until well blended with the mixture. Batter will be sticky.
2. Put ping-pong ball sized portions on a hot baking stone and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until light brown on top.

This cake is light and so good you can eat it just by itself.  I like to serve it with strawberries and whipped cream because that’s how I had it as a kid.
Ingredients:

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 12 egg whites
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Be sure that your 10 inch tube pan is clean and dry. Any amount of oil or residue could deflate the egg whites. Sift together the flour, and 3/4 cup of the sugar, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whip the egg whites along with the vanilla, cream of tartar and salt, to medium stiff peaks. Gradually add the remaining sugar while continuing to whip to stiff peaks. When the egg white mixture has reached its maximum volume, fold in the sifted ingredients gradually, one third at a time. Do not overmix. Put the batter into the tube pan.
3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake springs back when touched. Place the tube pan upside down on a cooling rack, to prevent decompression while cooling. When cool, run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto a plate.

My grandma used to make really good southern pecan pie.  In fact it is my dad’s favorite.  I think the brown sugar gives it a richer flavor than white sugar does. If you’re looking for an amazing pecan pie recipe, look no further! If you are adamant about making your pecan pie crust from scratch, look for a recipe for pie crust here on this site.

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe pie crust or frozen pie crust, thawed
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1 cup pecans, quartered
• 1 cup pecan halves

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, light and dark corn syrups, brown sugar, butter, salt and finely chopped pecans. Spread quartered pecans over bottom of pecan pie crust. Pour syrup mixture over top of pecans and then arrange pecan halves on top of pie.
3. Bake for one hour or until firm; let cool for at least one hour before serving.