M for Mud Pie

this was so good!
I remember begging my mother if we could make this recipe many times as a child, and her telling me no every time. for some reason she was dead set against this recipe. too much sugar for one thing and I think maybe the name put her off. but the recipe is for a chocolate gooey goodness, how can one go wrong with that?

the reason we never just went ahead and made it anyway I do believe is the lack of ingredients as a child we never kept chocolate syrup in the house and even now that I am grown its not something I keep around either, and chocolate syrup is a main ingredient in this recipe it is part of what makes it so gooey. it definitely makes this recipe what it is. A delicious, mouth-watering chocolate feast of scrumptiousness. yep I liked this one. a lot.

the chocolate base is an very rich brownie (emphasis on rich.) that goes together fairly easily. its basically just mix everything together in the order given then bake.

as soon as the brownie base is taken out of the oven you poke holes with a toothpick then spread chocolate syrup all over it, letting the syrup soak in as is cools. this is what gives it that lovely gooiness.


once its completely cool ,whipped cream is spread on top, or if your feeling fancy one could pipe it on. which would be very pretty and I kind of wish I had done. although with the way I pipe it probably wouldn't have been any prettier anyway. seriously piping is not my forte. but looks in cooking only matter if your selling, entering a contest, or on a baking show. and since I was not doing any of that its ok if its not over the top pretty. its all about the flavor. nothing I make is ever going to be very showy, its just going to come as it come.

I was ever so excited to finally make this recipe and it was everything I thought it would be. it turns out some dreams do come true. its nice not to be disappointed by a recipe that has been so highly anticipated. this book really does do a good job at having basic recipes that turn out so yummy.

the hardest part of the recipe was of course the waiting to eat it. waiting for things to cool completely can be so hard sometimes. and I actually had to wait even longer then that, as I made it to take to a party. which is the reason the cut piece is on a paper plate and not the usual plates I use. I thought about bringing one of the plates but I thought it might be a bit odd to show up with a fancy plate to such a low key party.

it was a hit though, so that made me happy. in fact the mud pie was well received everyone asked me for a copy of the recipe, that is definitely a way to tell if something actually tastes good.

I loved this recipe and will make it again.

L for lemon bars

I have always loved a good lemon bar. that being said though they have been the bane of my existence for many years. I have spent so much of my life trying to make good lemon bars, and failing exponentially each time.


yes me and lemon bars have a sad history, I have tried many, many recipes in hopes of finding that perfect one and each time there is something wrong with it. if the crust is perfect the filling is not. and if the filling is perfect the crust is not. one week I made lemon bars daily trying to get it right, repeating some recipes because they were close and maybe if I just tweaked this little thing it would work. swapping around fillings from one recipe to the other because the filling was good on one, but the crust was good on another. then feeding them to various family members till they were so sick of lemon bars they begged me to stop trying. none of them were ever quite right. and so I am beginning to believe I am the common denominator in this.

I do have to say though that this recipe is the closest I have ever come to perfecting lemon bars. the filling in this is really good. which I have found other recipes I have tried to be mostly lacking in this department. lemon bars I feel should have a nice lemon tartness to them, while still being sweet. but it seems most recipes call for an overwhelming amount of sugar to lemon ratio. lemon should never be so sweet the tartness is gone. its just wrong. but at the same time you don’t want it taste like a straight lemon and I have also made them where the lemons tartness is too over powering. I have also tried recipes that call for too much baking soda in the filling. and that I have too say is horrible. it not only tastes incredibly salty, it also changes the consistency of the filling causing it to be gloppy, bubbly and sharp where the bubbles on top burst then crystallized on top during the baking, and this has happened to me on more then one recipe. those recipes I didn't even bother trying again, they were gross.


I feel as if we made this recipe when I was a kid and it turned out fine. but I do believe it is because either my sister made them or my mother did. my sister is better then baking then I am so I am sure she could probably make these no sweat. I should have had her help me. I figure it still counts as me finishing this book if someone helps me. as long as I do a good portion of the work.

so what in this recipe did I not like? it was the crust in this one. it actually tasted ok, and this was my fault, I didn’t par bake the crust long enough, so it wasn’t quite set. I am not exactly sure how its supposed to look when its only half baked what is that magic look that gives the shortbread that perfect texture? definitely not what I did as it was a bit too soft. I suppose I should try making them again sometime to figure it out. because being slightly underdone was the only thing wrong with this recipe, and that was entirely my fault.

the taste was good, both crust and filling, so this is the recipe I will work to perfect, and one day I will get my perfect lemon bars.

once I get them perfect the worst thing about lemon bars will be the waiting for it them to cool completely. recipes that one has too wait hours to indulge in are some of the hardest recipes in the world. even if they are simple to make inpatients is hard to cure.

found out gold metal has this recipe on thier website!

K for Kartwheels

these are one of those pastries that scream make me! and so I have several times. but alas I can not seem to perfect it. I do seem to improve upon the recipe every time I make them though so I feel there is still hope to get that perfect buttery melt in your mouth texture I feel these deserve.


I think my problem is over mixing them. it seems tobe a temperamental type dough. kind of in the same was biscuits can be, though this is in no way a biscuit , its more of a shortbread cookie. but when I fist started making biscuits I struggled with over mixing them at first and then under mixing them till I finally got the right formula and now after so many failed attempts I make a delicious fluffy biscuit without even thinking about it. I just know how, and its not really in the ingredients or the instructions its all in the feel. while recipes are important its amazing to me how much there is to knowing how its supposed look and feel before the cooking process, and the only way to find that is to keep making and keep failing till one gets its right. one day I will get this right.


I by no means feel that these were a failure, in fact they were quite good, definitely the best I have ever made, but still not quite perfection. which can only mean one thing. I need to make them more often. Kartwheels however are not like biscuits, they are not something I can make nearly everyday , they need to be farther spaced out, and right now I am trying not to repeat any of the recipes in the book until I have finished them all. so perfecting must wait.


the cookie part of these are a shortbread type that is then filled with a pie filling. I used a strawberry jelly that I combined with fresh blueberries and cornstarch and lemon for the filling. I really liked the way the filling turned out. but really how can one go wrong with that combination?
this could be made with a variety of different jellies or jams. I used what I had on hand. at some point I think I would try this with a cherry filling. and maybe even an apple filling. obviously I like this recipe. so this is one I will definitely make again.

J for Jelly roll

I had never made this before, but I always would look at the recipe and think how delicious it sounded.
the sponge was a easy yellow cake that was mixed in the mixer then poured into a jelly roll pan

I wasn’t actually very fond of this recipe. which is disappointing because I always wanted to make this. I thought the cake part was too thin. which was my own fault as it called for a slightly smaller pan, but I had to use what I already had. I was not about to go on a pan hunt for a specific size pan when I am not sure its a standard size. I have done that before and all it does is cause a lot of frustration.


I also thought the cake was too sticky. which may have had to do with the larger pan as well but I’m thinking not. it seemed to have a lot of sugar in it which is what I assume made it seem so sticky. the flavor of the cake was okay, but too sweet for my tastes. I like to taste something other then the sugar.


it did roll very nicely though which I was worried about. in fact the whole reason I had never made this cake is I was scared of the rolling. I have seen people make jelly rolls on cooking shows and have seen the disasters they can become. while this cake should have been thicker the thinness definitely made it easier to roll.


I used a strawberry jelly for the filling. and it matched nicely in flavor with the cake. and actually brought the sweetness down just a bit, bit not quite enough.
I really don’t think I will be making this one again unless it was requested by someone else, and even then I think I would discourage it.

I for Ice cream sandwiches

these were an all day kind of treat. first I had to make the cookies, let them cool completely then put the ice cream between them and freeze till solid, after that I had to dip them in chocolate then refreeze. but they were worth the wait!
I used strawberry Ice cream as I felt it would go well with the chocolate dip, and the nut cookies. the cookies are meant to be peanut butter but as I can not eat peanuts I made them almond butter, which turned out really well.


I was nervous about using almond butter as I wasn’t sure if the consistency would be correct being that peanuts and almonds have a different oil ratio but it seems to have worked just fine.


my sister told me they had the same consistency as peanut butter cookies. they were chewy and firm at the same time. they were a easy mix all in one bowl cookie dough. I actually think I would like to make the cookies on their own they were that good.


the ice cream though did take it to the next level and the chocolate dip elevated it even that much more. the ice cream had to thaw a bit before putting it carefully between the two cookies. I did put a bit more ice cream between the cookies then the recipe called for, since I had bought a 1.5qt container rather then the pint they called for. and the amount they called for seemed a bit on the skimpy side.


I just really like the simplicity of the breyers ingredients, and that it didn’t take away from the cookies but rather complimented it.
I am sure these would taste good with pretty much any ice cream, the cookies are just that versatile.
the chocolate dip was a simple melting of chocolate chips and shortening on the stove top. they everything was re-frozen and enjoyed as a delicious treat.

I kind of wish I had an ice cream maker because I think it would be awesome to make these completely from scratch but i think it would be a bit frivolous to buy such a thing simply to make one recipe and they take up so much room. if I was a huge ice cream freak it would be something to consider but yeah it would be basically for this recipe so no I will not purchase one, and really the bought ice cream was pretty tasty in the sandwiches


would I make these again? I sure would. I do believe they would be the perfect thing on a hot summer day.