Coconut!

A couple weeks ago I was staying with my Grandparents with 2 of my other cousins. One day we went grocery shopping and came across this coconut on sale, we decided to get it and see what it looked like inside and better yet taste it. So when we got home my grandpa drilled 3 holes in the eyes of the coconut and we drained out the coconut milk. The milk, we decided, tasted rather bland. Then he sawed it in half and rinsed it out. This is what it looked like. (see picture.) We used a knife to shave off some of the coconut (the white stuff) and ate it. We decided that dipping it in sugar made it taste a lot better. : ] But all in all it tasted like coconut, which is one of my favorite foods. And I Then after we cleaned all the coconut out of the shell (it came out pretty easily) I sanded off the outside and a bit inside and use it as a bowl. I think it's the coolest bowl in the world. What do you think?

My Birthday Cake!!!!

Hi all! I celebrated my birthday this week, which meant I got a delicious birthday cake and something to blog about! Not to mention the presents... This year I wanted an ice cream cake with mint chip ice cream. So I mixed 2 recipes together and came up with a really good cake! And the very first "Dagmar's name the dessert contest". So after you read my recipe please comment with what you think I should call it.

Crush 1 sleeve thing of oreos and 2 Butterfinger bars. Reserve a little of the Butterfinger crumbs to sprinkle on top. Melt 1/4 c. butter and mix it with the crushed oreos and Butterfingers to make the crust. Pack the crust onto the bottom of a lightly greased 9X13 cake pan. Then spread 1/2 gallon of mint chip ice cream on the crust and on top of that put cool whip. Sprinkle the crushed Butterfingers on top for decoration. Freeze until you want to eat it. Enjoy!

Dinner Rolls, My 4-H Project

Hey ya'll, want to see my 4-H project? Yes, they are dinner rolls. They go into judging today, I'll post how they do when I find out. I also brought them to the Farmers Market and they did really well there. (Sorry I can't get the picture to work right now, I'll come back later and see if I can get it fixed.) Here is the recipe.

Dinner Rolls

Quantity: About 60 rolls, depending on the size.
Time: 35-40 minutes
Temp: 350 degrees

½ c. water
2 pkgs. Dry yeast or compressed yeast
4 c. lukewarm water
1 egg or ½ c. dry skim milk powder
½ sugar
12 c. unsifted flour
1 tbsp. Salt
¼ c. soft shortening


Sprinkle yeast over the ¼ cup water. Mix sugar and 4 cups water. Add 6 cups of flour and dry milk (or egg) and beat to a smooth batter, using mixer if you wish. Add yeast mixture and beat until bubbles appear. Add salt and shortening. Gradually add remaining flour. Mix well and knead 10 minutes. Let rise until double. Punch down and let rise again. Form into loaves or rolls, let rise until light and then bake.

Farmers Market!!!

Finally a town near us has decided to have Farmers Markets!! (There have been rumors around that they used to have them...but I don't know if it's true or not.) Anyway, This year I got a table. Which meant I was baking and baking and baking so more! Yeah, a lot of baking. I brought some cookies and a couple different kinds of bread. It was a great experience and I can't wait till next week. I also learned quite a bit, some of the thing include: Be sure you bring chairs, they really come in handy. Package neatly. Hand write price tags. If you can, bake some of your stuff earlier, otherwise it's a whole lot to do that morning! Smile. And give free samples! If you have a Farmers Market near you, you should really consider at least going! They are really fun!
I'll be back later to post about some of the things I brought.

Cream Filled Cupcakes

Last week 2 of my cousins got to come and stay with us for the week. We had a ton of fun! One of them, Indie, loves to cook (Just like me!). So we had a marvelous time in the kitchen together. We made these cupcakes Mom found and wanted to try. They ended up really well and tasted delicious, even though in the process of inserted the cream in the middle of the cupcakes sometimes if would start coming out the top, so we made a big mess! But it awesome anyway! Come and cook with me again Indie!

Cream Filled Cupcakes

Combine: 3 cups flour, 2 cups of sugar, 1/3 cup of baking cocoa, 2 tsp. baking soda, and 1 tsp. salt.

Add: 2 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup of water, and 1 tsp. of vanilla. Beat until smooth (about 2 minutes.)

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin tins half-full of batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove from muffin tins and cool completely on wire racks.

For Filling: Combine 1/4 cup butter or oleo softened, 1/4 cup shortening, 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tbsp. milk, 1 tsp. vanilla and a pinch of salt. Beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Place a very small tip into a pastry pr plastic bag. Fill with the cream filling. Push the tip through the bottom of the cupcake and fill each one.

Frost each cupcake with your favorite frosting. We used Nana's butter cream frosting recipe and added cocoa powder.
Nana's Butter Cream Frosting

1/3 cup butter or margarine, slightly softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 or 2 Tbsp. milk or cream
If chocolate add 1-2 Tbsp. cocoa powder.

Place butter in small bowl, and using an electric mixer, beat several minutes until creamy. Add sugar about 1/2 cups at a time and beat well after each addition. Add vanilla, then milk or cream, a little at at time and beat well. Store in an air-tight container in refrigerator and whip up again before using.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are killer cookies! I got the recipe from my lovely fabulous Aunt Becky. They are super sweet and chocolaty. Really good cookies! Thank you Aunt Becky!

Mix together:
1-1/2 c. sugar
1-1/2 c. brown sugar
2 c. shortening (Aunt Becky and I use: 1 c. butter flavored Crisco and 1 c. margarine or 100% veg. oil)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. water

Beat in:
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
4 c. flour
12 oz. chocolate chips

Roll into balls and place on greased baking sheet. Bake 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Or as bars 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Cook for 7-8 minutes, take out of oven before they look completely done. Let cool 1-2 minutes on cookie sheet before you remove them to cooling racks. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

For my younger sister's birthday she specially requested this for her breakfast. Cinnamon Swirl bread. The bread is a simple recipe but the surprise is inside. You roll cinnamon and sugar inside the bread before you bake it. So you see the perfect swirls when you cut into it. We like to toast ours on a cookie sheet in the oven and spread butter over it while it's still hot. Yum!

1 package (or 1 tbsp.) active dry yeast
1/4 c. warm water

2 c. milk, warm
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
2 tsp. salt
7-1/2 to 8 c. flour
2 slightly-beaten eggs

Mix yeast and water together and let set. Combine next four ingredients; cool to lukewarm. Add 3 c. of the flour; mix well. Stir in yeast and eggs; mix well. Add enough of remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn out on lightly floured surface. Knead till smooth (8 to 10 minutes), or if you have a mixer with a dough hook, let that do the kneading for you for 8 to 10 minutes. Place in lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and it rise in warm place till double (1-1/2 to 2 hours). Punch down and divide dough in thirds. Cover and let rest 1o minutes. Roll each half in 15x7-inch rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick. Spread softened butter over the dough and spread some cinnamon and sugar thickly on top. Carefully roll each rectangle up beginning on the narrow side. Seal long edge. Place sealed edge down in 3 greased 91/2x5x3-inch loaf pan. Let rise till almost double. (45 to 60 minutes). Bake at moderate over (375 degrees) 35 to 40 minutes or until done. Turn out of pans and let cool on rack. Enjoy!