Magic Chocolate Flan Cake, a lighter version

I have to add one dessert before getting to some healthy eats to kick off the new year. Be prepared – this is a scrumptious dessert! Rozanne Mullin of John Day, my sister-in-law, made this cake for a recent birthday party and shared the recipe with me. It's called a "magic" cake because it is made by first pouring the cake batter in the bottom of the bundt pan, topped with the flan mixture, and while it cooks, the cake and flan mixtures "magically" switch places.
She originally found the recipe in a "Cook's Country" magazine and made adjustments to lower the fat content. She used fat-free sweetened condensed milk and 1/3-fat neufchatel cream cheese. It still tasted pretty devilish – like something you shouldn't eat very often! This is definitely not a low cholesterol treat as it calls for eight eggs and four egg yolks, but it serves 16 - so share with family and friends!

Cake ingredients:
1/2 C. caramel sauce, ice cream topping
1/2 C. plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/3 C. cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 C. buttermilk
1/2 C. sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Flan ingredients:
2 (14-oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk, fat-free
2 1/2 C. whole milk
6 oz. cream cheese, (1/3-fat neufchatel cream cheese is optional and works well)
6 large eggs plus 4 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions for Cake:
Place oven rack in the center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan. Microwave caramel until easily pourable, 20-30 seconds. Pour to coat the bottom of the pan. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in bowl and set aside. Combine chocolate and butter in large bowl and microwave at 50 percent power, stirring occasionally, until melted, 2-4 minutes. Whisk buttermilk, sugar, eggs and vanilla into chocolate mixture until incorporated. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Pour batter over caramel in prepared pan.

Directions for Flan:
Process all ingredients in blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Gently pour flan over cake batter in Bundt pan and place pan in large roasting pan. Place roasting pan on oven rack and our warm water into roasting pan until it reaches halfway up side of Bundt pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in cake come out clean and flan registers at 180 degrees, 75-90 minutes. Transfer Bundt pan to wire rack. Let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours, then refrigerate until set, at least 8 hours. (Remove roasting pan from oven once water has cooled.)
Place bottom third of Bundt pan in bowl of hot tap water for 1 minute. Invert onto a completely flat cake platter by placing the platter over top of Bundt pan and gently turn platter and pan upside down. Slowly remove pan, allowing caramel to drizzle over top of cake. Serve.

Serves 16

Chinese Chicken with Rice

I discovered a recipe for a Chinese steamed bun filling which also works well served with rice. The ingredients are fairly basic, and the result is delicious! Served up with Jasmine rice, everyone in the family loved it, even my pickiest eater - now that’s saying a lot!

Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
4 green onions, sliced
2 Tbsp. fresh ginger root, chopped (use 2 tsp. powdered ginger if you don’t have fresh on hand)
2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, plus 1 Tbsp. for cooking chicken
2 Tbsp. white sugar
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 C. water

Directions:
Chop chicken into bite-sized chunks. Heat a skillet over medium heat, add 1 Tbsp. oil. Cook chicken until no longer pink. Season with salt and set pan aside.
Mix together green onions, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, oil, sugar and pepper. Stir into the meat. Add water, mix thoroughly, warm through and serve with rice.

Serves 4-5

Homemade Christmas Goodies

Keep warm in your kitchen and add a personal touch to Christmas gift-giving this year by making homemade goodies. These recipes, most of these are circulating around on Pinterest, can be doubled or tripled for the family, friends or teachers on your list.
Dress up the packaging to add color and flair. For example, if a canning jar is used, add a circle of fabric and a bit of fiberfil to the top of the lid then twist on the cap or glue a circle of scrapbook paper or Christmas wrap to the lid and add the same paper to the gift tag. Add candy canes to ribbon or raffia tied around the cap. Alphabet stickers spelling out the item in the jar, such as “Cookies” or “Caramels” could be added to the glass.
I will add more photos as I make more of these recipes. I wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

Cranberry Hootycreeks
Cookies in a Jar

5/8 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 C. rolled oats
1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C. brown sugar
1/3 C. white sugar
1/2 C. dried cranberries
1/2 C. white chocolate chips
1/2 C. chopped pecans

Layer the ingredients in a 1 quart jar, in the order listed (be sure to sift together the 1/2 C. flour with the baking soda and salt). Pack each ingredient down as it is added to the jar.

GIFT TAG DIRECTIONS:

Cranberry Hootycreeks

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper. In a medium mixing bowl, beat together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until fluffy. Add the entire jar of ingredients, and mix together by hand until well blended. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 36 tasty treats.


Snowflake Mix

Makes 16 cups. Preparation 20 minutes, cool one hour.

Ingredients:
3 C. bite-size rice Chex
3 C. bite-size corn Chex
1 C. small pretzel twists or pretzel sticks
1 C. honey-roasted peanuts
1 12-oz package white chocolate baking pieces
1 12-oz package M&Ms

Directions:
1. In a very large bowl combine cereals, pretzels and peanuts; set aside.
2. Melt baking pieces according to package directions. Pour melted chocolate over cereal mixture. Stir gently to coat. Spread on a large piece of waxed paper or parchment paper. Sprinkle with M&Ms. Cool and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or in the freezer for 1 month. Makes 16 cups.


Chocolate-dipped pretzel rods

Ingredients:
8 oz. milk chocolate, broken into pieces
27 (8-inch long) pretzel rods
Green, red, and white sprinkles (for topping)

Directions:
1. Place chocolate in microwave-safe measuring cup or mug. Heat, covered with waxed paper, in microwave on High 1 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring occasionally until smooth.
2. Meanwhile, place each topping choice on separate sheet of waxed paper or on individual plates.
3. Holding 1 pretzel rod at a time, dip in melted chocolate, tipping cup to cover about half of rod with chocolate. Allow excess chocolate to drip off pretzel back into cup. Immediately sprinkle coated pretzel with choice of topping. Carefully place coated pretzel rod in pie plate or shallow bowl, leaning uncoated portion on edge.
4. Repeat with remaining pretzels, keeping pretzels from touching one another in pie plate. Refrigerate about 20 minutes to set up coating. Store pretzels in tightly sealed container, with waxed paper between layers, at room temperature up to 1 week.

Rolo Pretzel Turtles

Ingredients:
Rold Gold Butter Snap pretzels
Bag of Rolos candy
1 C. pecans

Directions:
Place pretzels in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Top each on with a Rolo. Place in oven preheated to 250 degrees. Closely watch for Rolos to soften, about 2 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a pecan into each. Allow to cool.

Tip: Other candies could be used such as Hershey’s Kisses or slices of Snickers. For extra decoration, drizzle with melted chocolate or white chocolate.

Microwave Sea Salt Caramels

I worried a little when I made these caramels – thought they wouldn't turn out because the cooking time wasn't precise. But they are wonderful! The only difficulty I had was that I didn't have cooking spray, and used canola oil but apparently didn't use enough because the caramel stuck tight to the foil. My big tip is: Be sure to use enough oil! My family, including my nephew, couldn't get enough of this good stuff and the caramels look pretty all wrapped up in waxed paper and packaged in a canning jar. This recipe was very easy, and tasty - I highly recommend it!

Makes 24-40 caramels

Ingredients:
1/4 C. butter, cut in 8 pieces
1/2 C. white sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 C. light corn syrup
1/2 C. sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
coarse sea salt

Directions:
In microwave safe bowl (at least 2 quart), add butter, white and brown sugar, syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Stir together and place in microwave, uncovered. Cook in microwave on full power for 6 minutes (for soft and chewy texture) or 7 minutes (for firmer yet still chewy texture), stopping and stirring thoroughly twice during the cooking time (every 2-3 minutes).* Remove from microwave and stir until well mixed. Pour hot caramel into prepared pan.
Line an 8x8 baking pan with aluminum foil, generously coat the inside with cooking spray, pour in the hot caramel, sprinkle lightly with sea salt while the caramel is warm. Place in fridge until firm enough to remove & cut (approx. 40-60 min). Pull up on sides of aluminum foil and remove the whole slab of caramel at one time. Place caramel slab on cutting board covered with parchment or waxed paper and cut into pieces of desired size.
If the caramels are oily from the cooking spray, blot them off with a paper towel. Wrap each caramel in a piece of waxed paper and twist.

Tips: Adjust cooking time for your microwave wattage
*The recommended cooking times in this recipe are based 1100 watt microwave. If yours has a different wattage, you will most likely need to adjust the cooking time accordingly. Because microwaves vary, there may be some trial and error involved to determine exactly the correct cooking time. Click here for a cooking conversion chart for different wattages. (Microwave wattage can usually found on a label that is visible inside of the microwave.) If caramels are too hard, cooking time should be reduced. If they're too soft cooking time should be increased.

Store caramels in fridge or at cool room temperature. If refrigerated caramels are too stiff to eat, bring to room temperature before eating.