Tag: Baking

Food

Bacon in the Oven

thestlouiscooks

Bacon

There is nothing better than the awesome aroma of bacon being cooked at home.  The smoke alarm goes off almost every time we make bacon.  We love bacon at this household.  We cook it at least twice a week.  Bacon is a very common ingredient in several of our dishes. Some may think bacon is very easy to cook, but there’s really quite a science to perfecting bacon.

First, your bacon selection is key.  It’s ok to be picky about your bacon. I’ve learned it’s worth paying a little extra money for good quality bacon. Recently, we’ve become fans of the Farmers Applewood Bacon sold at Costco.  It’s a great choice for bacon in the oven because it’s a thicker cut.

Secondly, how you cook your bacon is super important as well. For years, I cooked it on the stove top which I still enjoy.  Of course, I’ve used the quick and easy microwave at times too, but it fails to get crisp.  Most recently my husband has been cooking our bacon in the oven on a broiler pan.  It’s amazingly delicious, crisp, and close to perfection.  Bacon in the oven is super easy with less mess.  Check it out!

Ingredients:

  • Bacon – any kind of your choice – thicker cut works best for the oven.

Directions:

  1. Set the oven to 450 degrees.  While the oven is preheating, arrange slices next to each other on a broiler pan.
  2. Cook the bacon in the preheated oven for 12-16 minutes. The time depends on whether you have a thicker cut of bacon or how crisp you like your bacon.  Keep a close eye on it so it’s cooked to your liking.

Enjoy!

Family, Food

Pumpkin Spice Cake

thestlouiscooks

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Wow!  The trees are amazing colors of red, yellow, and orange.  It’s sweater and boot weather.  We had another red October and its football season. Yes, that’s right its Fall here in St. Louis and it’s beautiful.  One of the best things about living in the Midwest is the change of seasons.

Nothing goes better with the Fall season than pumpkin although I’m not a fan of pumpkin…at all! However, I must tell you that this was delicious.  It doesn’t taste anything like pumpkin pie. The pumpkin in this cake makes it very moist. It’s a must try during the fall season or better yet, a great desert for Thanksgiving. Pumpkin lover or not, this one is a keeper.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

  • Servings: 10-12
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 3 Cups of Flour
  • 1 Tablespoons of Ground Cinnamon
  • 2 Teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice
  • 2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
  • 1 Teaspoon of Salt
  • 1 Cup of Butter, softened
  • 1 Cup of Sugar
  • 3/4 Cup of Brown Sugar, firmly packed
  • 5 Large Eggs
  • 1 Can (15 oz.) Pure Pumpkin
  • 1 1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
  • 3/4 Cup Whipping Cream

Icing

  • 5 Tablespoons of Butter
  • 1/4 Cup of Pure Maple Syrup
  • 1/4 Cup of Whipping Cream
  • 2 Cups of Powdered Sugar

**Optional – Candied Pecans to Top

Directions:

For the Cake –

  1. In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; Set Pumpkin before icingaside.
  2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars at medium speed, scraping the bowl often.
  4. Add eggs one at a time beating well in between.
  5. Beat in flour mixture alternating with cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
  6. Pour batter into a 12 cup bundt pan that has been lightly coated with Pam.  Bake in the oven for approximately 50 minutes or until a wooden tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  7. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes.  Invert cake onto a wire rack to fully cool.

For the Icing –

  1. In a small saucepan, combine butter, maple syrup, and cream over medium-high heat; bring to a boil.
  2. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
  3. Slowly whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. Let cool until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
  4. Drizzle over cooled cake. Optional – Sprinkle with candied pecans.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Cake 5

Family, Food, Kids

Chocolate Strawberry Trifle

thestlouiscooks

Chocolate Strawberry Trifle 1

I love desserts, and chocolate. This is one of my favorite desserts! Hi, my name is Melanie Sievers and I am taking over my moms blog today. Plus I made this all by myself and I am calling it “Melanie’s Ultimate Chocolate Trifle.” I hope you all enjoy this wonderful and delicious dessert.

Chocolate Strawberry Trifle

  • Servings: 8-10
  • Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 large pound cake
  • Trifle bowl
  • 1 package of instant pudding mix (prepare as directed)
  • Strawberries
  • Raspberries, Blueberries, and white chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Gather all of your ingredients, which are listed up above.
  2. Cut the stems of the strawberries off and cut each one in half. This will make it easier to put on the trifle. Place Mel's Trifleall the strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle some sugar on it.
  3. Get the package of pudding and pour it in the bowl. Now you want to put three cups of milk in the bowl with the pudding. Stir until it is thick enough to be like pudding.
  4. Slice the pound cake into cubes.
  5. Get your trifle bowl and place pound cake cubes in bowl until the bottom is full.
  6. Put your pudding on top of the pound cake until you don’t see anymore pound cake.
  7. Place about 6-8 strawberries on the pudding and the repeat steps 5-7 three times.
  8. You can now place other ingredients on top of the pudding like: raspberries, with sugar, blueberries, white chocolate chips and any other yummy ingredients that you would like to put on your trifle.
  9. Put your trifle in the fridge for about two hours or more.

Enjoy your delicious dessert!

Trifle

Family, Food, Kids, Snacks

Pretzel Rolo Snacks

thestlouiscooks
Pretzel Rolo M&M's

I’m a huge fan of sweet and salty mixed together.  I love pretzels and I love Rolos!  Unfortunately I can’t take credit for this recipe, but I still wanted to share it with you because it’s so good and easy!  Plus, it’s always a big hit at any party and my kids always help out in the kitchen.

There are tons of different variations of these pretzel Rolo snacks floating around.  My all time favorite ones include the pecans on top, however my third child has a peanut and nut allergy so I do not get to indulge in those anymore.  I decided that there had to be something else I could use as my topper on these awesome snacks. I came across a few different options.  I must admit that these Pretzel Rolo M&M’s are just as good as the Pretzel Rolo Pecans. Plus, my little one can eat M&M’s with out any problems so it was good for all of us!

Ingredients

  • 2 bags of Rolo’s
  • 1 Bag of Pretzel Snaps ( can use regular pretzels but I prefer to use the Snaps)
  • 1 (12.60 oz.) Bag of M&M’s
  • Foil

Directions

  1. Place foil on baking sheets.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Place pretzels on foil until entire sheet is full approximately 1/2 inch in between.Nick making Rolo Pretzels
  4. Open all the Rolos and place in the center of each pretzel. I usually have the kids do this part because they love to pop a few in their mouth.
  5. Place the pretzels with the Rolos on top in the oven for 3 minutes. Remove from oven. Then add one M&M to each one and gently push down to spread the Rolo all over the pretzel.  I also take a few of them and make a pretzel sandwich by adding another pretzel on top instead of an M&M.
  6. Cool the pretzel snacks and then place in the refridgerater so they can set.

The best way to serve them is at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Stage 2
Stage 1