{Blueberry Pie with Crumb Topping}

Crumb topping

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling

1/2 cup granualted sugar
1/4 cup flour
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 tsp. fresh finely grated lemon rind
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. butter, unsalted cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the pie, 9 inch pie crust. Mix crumb topping ingredients together until mixture resembles crumbs about pea size. Don't overprocess. If you are using a food processor use the pulse button. Set aside.

Make the filling. In a large bowl stir together the sugar, flour, until well mixed. Gently stir in the blueberries and lemon rind, juice. Pour the mixture into the pie crust, dot with butter. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the pie.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Place the pie in the oven and bake until the topping is golden brown 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving. This is great with a dollop of vanilla icecream!

(recipe from Sweetie Pies)

{Black Forest Cake}

(Serves 12-16)

Ingredients

* 1 (18 ounce) box devil's food cake mix, baked as directed in 9 x 13 inch pan and left in pan
* 3 eggs (or as called for by your cake mix)
* 1/3 cup oil (or as called for by your cake mix)
* 1 1/3 cups water (or as called for by your cake mix)
* 1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip, thawed
* 1 tablespoon almond extract
* 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
* 1 (5 1/8 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding, prepared as directed 
* 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
* chocolate sprinkles
* maraschino cherries

Directions

1. Mix cherry pie filling and almond extract.

2. While cake is still warm, poke top all over with fork and spread the cherry filling mixture all over the top.

3. When you prepare vanilla pudding, make it as directed on box, but add the vanilla extract to it with the milk.

4. Fold Cool Whip into pudding.

5. Spread pudding mixture over cake, covering the cherry pie filling.

6. Decorate with chocolate sprinkles and or cherries.

7. Chill until serving time.

{Cornflake Biscuits}

Recipe #1

* 3 tbsp yogurt
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp chili powder
* 3 cups flour
* 250g butter
* 1 cup cornflakes, crumbled
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1 egg yolk, beaten

Preheat the oven at 180C.

Make a mixture from yogurt, olive oil, salt and chili powder. You can decrease or increase the amount of chili acording to your taste.

Make a hard dough by combining flour, butter, cornflakes and baking powder with the yogurt mixture.

Take small balls from the dough and roll them out on the counter. Cut them with cookie cutters.

Lay the baking sheet in an oven tray and place the biscuits on it. Then spread egg yolk on each.

Cook them for 25 minutes and then let them cool on wire rack.
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Recipe #2

The recipe doubles and triples very well. These were made teaspoon-size, but if you like big cookies you can make them larger.

(Serves 24 cookies)

* 4.5 ounces butter at room temperature
* 3.6 ounces sugar
* 1 whole egg at room temperature, lightly beaten
* 1 cup all purpose flour
* 1 cup fresh walnuts, cut in small pieces
* 1 cup cornflakes
* 3 cups cornflakes to roll biscuits
* 1 pinch salt

1. Beat the butter with the sugar until white and fluffy.

2. Add the lightly beaten egg and beat until very well incorporated and batter is very fluffy.

3. Sift the flour with the salt and add to the batter. Beat until incorporated, scraping down the sides and bottom.

4. Add 1 cup of walnuts and 1 cup of cornflakes and beat just until mixed, to divide the ingredients in the dough. Scrape down the sides, make into a ball and chill for 20 minutes.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 350º F with rack 1 shelf up from middle. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

6. In a large bowl add 2 cups cornflakes and lightly press on them just to break the bigger flakes.

7. With 2 teaspoons, make little balls of dough and put in the cornflakes. Roll them around to stick the cornflakes to the dough. Put them on the baking tray, seperating them about 1 inch from each other.

8. Bake in the oven for 8 minutes and then lower the rack to the middle and continue baking until they are golden and crispy.

9. Allow them to cool on the baking tray and store in an airtight jar.

{Pistachio Walnut Cake}

Preheat over to 350. Combine 1 box yellow cake mix, 1 package instand pistachio jello pudding, 4 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1 16 ounce container of sour cream. In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Pour 1/2 the batter into a greased 10" bundt pan. Sprinkle 1/2 the sugar/cinnamon/walnut mix. Pour the remaining batter and sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture on top. Bake at 350 for an hour or until center browns and springs back when lighly touched. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from bundt pan. Enjoy!!

{Candace's Cupcake Buttercream}

Buttercream Frosting Recipe


Ingredients
* 3 cups powdered sugar
* 1 cup butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 tbsp whipping cream

Directions:

1. Cream the butter with the sugar.

2. Then add the liquids.

Note: To make it chocolate, add 3/4 cup cocoa and an extra tbsp of whipping cream. Easy!!  Oh, that only makes enough to frost about 12 cupcakes (depends on how much frosting you use on each one, though), so I doubled it.

(source: Candace M)

{Cherry-Chocolate Chip Cookies}

Prep: 25 minutes
Bake: 9 minutes per batch

Ingredients

* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1 tsp. salt
* 2 eggs
* 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 12-oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate pieces
* 1 cup snipped dried cherries
optional - add walnuts, pecans, etc.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugars, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in chocolate pieces and cherries.

2. Drop dough by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9 minutes. Transfer to racks. Cool. Makes 6 dozen cookies.