I can hardly stand the Weight- Blogmas 21

I’m baked. Not high. I mean I baked all day. I’m baked as in I’m so exhausted I feel out of it. So a short post for you today. Here are some recipes that you may enjoy.

Blueberry Pie

For the crust, just use the recipe on the shortening container. The trick to flaky crust is to put the pie dough in the fridge for a bit before rolling out the dough. It’s the melting shortening combined with the flour that makes pie crust flaky.

The filling I made

• 4 cups frozen WILD Nova Scotia blueberries
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice

Place blueberries and syrups in pot. Heat. When blueberries start to form liquid, add tapioca and lemon juice. Continue cooking until thick and all the tapioca has dissolved.

Then add filling to your pie shells. Make sure to cut slits in your top crust. Bake at 375 F for about 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Grammy’s Shortbread Cookies

• 1 lb. butter (454 gram) or margarine
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 4 cups flour

Cream the butter. Add sugar slowly. Add flour slowly. Mix well and chill for at least an hour. Roll out dough and use cookie cutters to create shapes. If no cookie cutters, just form into balls and press balls down with a fork.

Bake at 300 F for 15 minutes.

Allow to cool and frost if desired.

 

 

Red Velvet Cake

The original- the red in the cake was created by the beets. Store bought Red Velvet uses food coloring.

• 2 cups fresh beets pureed
• 2/3 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
• 3  tsp baking powder
• 2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix beat puree, oil and eggs until well mixed. Add sugar and vanilla.

In a large tupperware container with a cover mix the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Put cover on top and shake the hell out of it. If cocoa sticks together either use a whisk or a fork to separate it.

Stir the flour mixture and the milk to the batter alternating in batches. Turn up mixer to high once flour has started to incorporate in. (You don’t want flour all over the place!)

Put into buttered cake pans (9 inch) and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when placed in the middle.

Ermine frosting 

Traditional Red Velvet Cake doesn’t have cream cheese icing either. This icing is to DIE for!! It’s so good. I use it for everything now and it’s pretty easy to make.

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp and 2 tsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 pound of butter or margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, combine milk, sugar, flour and salt. Boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. I mean it, all the time. No messing around!

Allow to boil for 5 minutes. Do not mess with the boiling. Every step must be exact.

Strain mixture using a metal mesh colander into a mixing bowl. Cool to room temperature. If you don’t do this, your icing will look fine at first but will turn into a runny mess that looks like… um… well… something you don’t want to eat that comes from a man’s nether regions.

Stir in vanilla.

Add butter a little at a time and whip. Once all butter is added, whip on high for 5-7 minutes until smooth and fluffy.

Frost your cake and ENJOY!

I don’t have any finished photos of my shortbread cookies or Red Velvet Cake because I’m still working on the icing. I didn’t let it cool to room temperature because I was tired and just wanted to go to bed. So I tried to take a short cut. I put my icing in the fridge and I’m hoping I won’t have to re-make it. I’ll keep you posted.

Authentic Red Velvet cake is a very different item to serve and everyone seems to love it.  Either that or they are LYING which is a cardinal sin.

If you make any of these recipes, please let me know. I would love to see your pictures or hear about your own variations.

Christmas, Christmas time is near
Time for junk and time for beer
I eat good, but this can’t last
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast

Want to be thin like Betty Boop
Maybe use a hula hoop
I can hardly stand the weight
Please Christmas, don’t be late.