Pineapple Drop Cookies

Well, I'm not adventurous enough to try the prune cake originally slated for this week.  Not to mention, the whole stewing, mashing, but "not too much" process seemed a little daunting.  Instead I decided on the pineapple cookies.  This is a lesson in read directions thoroughly and trust in Grandma.  Although I failed to read the 1/2 C crushed and drained pineapple, it didn't hurt the recipe too badly.  Just so you know 1/2 C is slightly less than a full small can.  The pineapple flavor is a little on the subtle side so I don't know that it would hurt to add the full can, but draining would be a bigger issue as it may muck with the liquid v dry ingredients ratio.

The recipe also calls for a 425F oven.  I scoffed at this notion and tried 350F first.  Silly me.  The cookies at 425F are softer and "fluffier" than those at 350F.  Always trust in Grandma.

I must say I love pineapple.  We're even attempting to grow our own pineapple, although it's time for a pot expansion I think.  If you've ever wondered about the history of pineapple, Perdue's horticulture department has a pretty interesting page.  For instance, "Caribbean Indians placed pineapples or pineapple crowns outside the entrances to their dwellings as symbols of friendship and hospitality."  The practice was then followed by carving pineapples in doorway entrances in Spain, England and later New England. Did you know hummingbirds aren't allowed in Hawai'i (there's a big sign hanging in the sky)?  They're primary pollinators of the pineapple plant and could produce inferior seeds for fruit growth. 

Since there are no pictures of last week's creation, I took a few extra this week.

Nice and sticky pineapple cookie dough

16 per tray x 4 trays = 64 cookies



Turn your head sideways to view this one! These are the 325F oven cookies

 

These are the 425F cookies



Left 3 columns = 325F Right 3 colums = 425F
All are tasty!!



Orange Kiss-me Cake

First, let me say I have no idea where the name came from.  However, this is one tasty cake, perfect for brunch, dessert or any other time.  It does have raisins and, had I been thinking about it, I might have substituted Craisins (something not available at the time this recipe was created) since I love the cranberry-orange flavor combination. 

Reading this recipe is a bit like reading one long run-on sentence. Grind 1 large orange, pulp, and rind (reserve juice for topping) 1 C raisins and 1/3 C nuts sift 2 C flour 1 tsp soda 1 tsp salt 1 C sugar... 
This is another one of those occasions when reading the entire recipe helps.  You need to reserve 1/3 C of juice for the topping.  Billy, who took charge of the orange portion of this recipe poured the orange pulp, rind, and juice through a wire mesh strainer into a measuring cup.  We had just barely 1/3 C.  I am not sure if you could use OJ for this or not, but I believe you'd need to remove the excess liquid anyway - waste not! 

Finally, I used the topping from the recipe and then I put a cream cheese frosting over that.  Instead, I would probably mix in the cinnamon to the frosting and sprinkle the nuts on top of the frosting.  I would still drizzle the extra orange juice over the hot cake.

No pictures for this one, sorry!

Beau-Catcher Cookies

So in honor of Valentine's Day, I searched (a little) for a fun, somewhat representative cookie.  I found these cookies.

Beau is an interesting word and not heard too often.  Dictionary definition:

Beau - (via dictionary.com) –noun

1. a frequent and attentive male companion.

2. a male escort for a girl or woman.

3. a dandy; fop.

–verb (used with object)

4. to escort (a girl or woman), as to a social gathering.  

I had to hunt for the pudding.  Jell-O makes a lot of instant/sugar-free varieties, which according to the recipe is NOT (in specific capital letters) what you want.  However, it is exceptionally difficult to find NOT instant pudding, especially when the handy grocery store employees (and the rest of the general public) aren't paying attention and mix them all together.  For the record the NOT instant Jell-O brand pudding is called 'Cook 'n Serv'.  It comes in 3 varieties: chocolate (easy to find), vanilla and butterscotch (not found with the chocolate at the grocery store I went to). I finally (after some panic) found the butterscotch pudding and bought an extra box or two just in case.

The butterscotch pudding lends the very tasty flavor to the cookie, and also turns it bright orange thanks to the yellow 5, red 40 and blue 1.  Beware of this if you go the traditional "roll into balls" route.  In addition to the lovely orange coloring it is also a very sticky dough.  We gave up and used a cookie scoop. 

The cookies spreeeeaaaaaaaad and become nice and thin.  The orange turned a caramel brown. 

I did discover that there is a bit of finesse in the timing of these cookies.  In my oven it was exactly 11 minutes for 12 to 16 (the 16 tried to merge together) cookies.  The last 8 or so were left in for 11 minutes and got a little crispy.  They might also have been a little smaller than the first rolled balls.

 

Coffee Spice Cake

Sorry I'm a little late in posting, life happens.

I made this cake for "breakfast duty" two weeks ago. The recipe called for 1.5t "mixed spices".  Let me tell you, "mixed spices" is not made by McCormick.  After some debate I decided to go with 1 tsp cinnamon and a quarter each of cloves and nutmeg.  The overall flavor was pretty good, although very light and kind of non-descript.  The cake does, interestingly enough, call for half a cup of black coffee - you can't really taste it though.  I used a Bundt cake pan and adjusted the time a little and sprinkled powdered sugar over it to serve.