Monthly Archives: September 2010

Snowglobe Cookies

Posted by on 9 September 2010 No comments

Here in Utah the Fall weather reminds me of what Christmas weather in California is like, and once the fall chill in the air hits, I start wanting to watch holiday movies, and bake holiday treats. Jeremy named these cookies snowglobes, obviously because they are round and look like snow, but the name has stuck and so that is what our family likes to call them.

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  • 1 cup pecans, toasted and cooled
  • 1 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
  • 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

Heat oven to 325 F. Pulse pecans with 3/4 cup of the sugar, in a food processor until finely ground (do not over process); pour into a mixing bowl. Add butter, vanilla, and salt to the pecan, sugar mixture; mix well, scraping bowl often, to blend. Add flour; mix just until dough forms a ball.  Use a teaspoon to scoop the dough then shape into small balls. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 20 minutes or until tops are dry and bottoms are light brown. Cool cookies on sheet for 10 minutes. Gently roll warm cookies in remaining confectioners sugar to coat. Cool, then roll in sugar again.

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Cake

Posted by on 1 September 2010 No comments

Kyle’s mom gave us this HUGE zucchini from her garden. This sucker was about 2 feet long and maybe 14 inches around, it was just huge! In the past we have learned that when zucchini get this large, they are not good to eat steamed. By the time they get that big the seeds have matured and are hard and crunchy and the skin is tough,  and it’s just not pleasant to eat steamed zucchini with tough skin and crunchy seeds in it. So I was trying to figure out what to do with it, so that it wouldn’t go to waste. Enter this recipe!

Cake

  • 2 c sugar
  • 1 c vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 1/2 c flour
  • 1/4 c baking cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 c milk
  • 2 c fresh zucchini, shredded*
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Frosting

  • 1/4 c butter
  • 1/4 c cocoa
  • 6 tbsp evaporated milk
  • 3 3/4 c powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture. Stir in zucchini. Pour into a greased 15″ x 10″ pan and bake 40-50 minutes.

Frosting: Beat together frosting ingredients until smooth. When cake is done, remove from oven and frost while cake is hot.

*I used my Kitchen-aid shredder attachment to shred the zucchini. This made shredding SO much easier and lots faster than grating it by hand!