Peppermint Marshmallows

This recipe has been a long-time favorite of the Row kids, especially when plopped into a mug of steaming hot chocolate. We found it on the internet a decade or more ago, attributed to Food.com user JanetC-KY (who may also be known as JanetB-KY).

Ingredients

• ½ cup confectioners' sugar
• ⅓ cup cornstarch
• 2 (¼ ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 1⅓ cups sugar
• ⅔ cup light corn syrup
• ½ cup crushed peppermint candy
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Directions

Into a small bowl, sift together the confectioners sugar and the cornstarch; line a 13x9 inch baking pan with non stick foil and spray foil with non stick cooking spray; sift 2 tablespoons of the sugar/cornstarch mixture into the pan, tilting to coat the pan; set the rest of the mixture aside for later.

Place ⅔ cup water in a large bowl; sprinkle with gelatin; let soften for five minutes.

In a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, heat sugar, corn syrup, candy pieces and salt over medium heat until sugar and candy pieces are dissolved, stirring occasionally; slowly mix into bowl with gelatin.

Beat gelatin/sugar mixture on high speed with electric beater until light and fluffy, about 15 minutes; spread into prepared pan and smooth top; dust with 2 tablespoons of the reserved sugar/cornstarch mixture and let set at room temperature for 2 hours.

Lift marshmallow block from pan using foil; with a wet knife, cut into six squares.

Spread remaining sugar/cornstarch mixture onto a baking sheet; invert marshmallow blocks onto baking sheet and cut each square into 9 smaller squares.

Toss marshmallows in sugar/cornstarch mixture ans set on a pan to set for an additional hour; store loosely covered at room temperature.

Lower-Carb Persimmon Pudding

¾ cup buttermilk
¾ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups persimmon pulp

1½ cups swerve confectioners

24 short squirts of liquid Splenda

3 eggs, beaten

⅛ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1¼ cups finely-ground almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour

½ stick butter

Mix buttermilk, cream, soda and baking powder together; set aside and let foam. Mix pulp, sweeteners, eggs, salt, vanilla and cinnamon together. Add to buttermilk mixture and add flours. Mix well. Melt butter in 9"x13" pan; coat pan. Pour mixture into pan and bake at 325°F for 45 minutes.

The whole dish has 212g carbs, 64 protein, and 198g fat
If cut into 24 pieces, each piece will have 9g carbs, 3g protein, and 8g fat.

Ken's Ultimate Cauli-Mac-n-Cheese

In September 1995, I came across a recipe in Bon Appetit called the Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese, and for years it had been my go-to recipe for a special mac-n-cheese. Its taste wasn't for everyone -- some either love, love, love it (as did I), or they dislike it (maybe because they're accustomed to mac-n-cheese from a box!)

On LCHF, macaroni's out, as is flour, but neither of those made this recipe special.  Instead, this recipe's magic comes from the various creams, the extra-sharp cheddar, and the spice mixture... all of which carry over perfectly into LCHF wonderland.

Ingredients

3 cups roasted cauliflower, diced (1/2" chunks)

5 oz. extra-sharp cheddar cheese, diced (1/2" cubes)

1 1/3 cup half-n-half

1 1/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

3/4 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

5 oz. extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350º

Combine the roasted cauliflower and the cubed sharp cheddar cheese in a buttered 9x13 pan.

Mix together the creams, eggs and egg yolks, the worcestershire sauce and the dry ingredients, then pour over the cauliflower and cubed cheese.

Top with the grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350º for 45 mins -- the cauli-mac should be set and starting to brown.

Low Carb Chocolate Gravy

1/4 c. Cocoa powder
3/4 c. Splenda
1 qt. Heavy Cream
4 oz baker's chocolate, unsweetened
Xantham Gum
1/2 stick butter

Grandma Row's Coffee Cake

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
2 cups flour, divided
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°

Mix together the sugar, brown sugar, butter, and 1 cup of flour.
Set aside 2 tbsp of the mixture to use later for a topping.
To the main batter, mix in the remaining cup of flour, as well as the egg, buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla, and raisins.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9x13 cake pan.
Sprinkle the reserved sugar/flour/butter mixture over the top, along with the ½ cup chopped nuts.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until done.

Grandma Row's Butterscotch Brownies

Ingredients
½ cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs (Note: Grandma's recipe calls for 2 eggs, but an extra egg helps the brownies cook in the center)
1 ½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º
Mix together the butter, sugar, and eggs.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add to the mix, along with the vanilla and nuts.
Mix together (may need to mix or stir by hand because the batter is very thick).
Spread into a well-greased and floured 9x13 pan.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Grandma Row’s Strawberry Cake

Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box strawberry jello
3 T. flour
¾ c. oil
4 eggs
½ c. water
16oz container of frozen strawberries with sugar, thawed
1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)
½ stick butter, melted

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º

Mix together the cake mix, jello powder, flour, oil, eggs, water, and half (8 oz) of the strawberries. Pour into a greased-and-floured 9x13 cake pan.

Bake 30min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While cake is baking, prepare the icing by mixing together the remaining 8oz strawberries, the powdered sugar, and the melted butter.

When cake is finished baking, remove from oven, poke holes in the cake with a fork, and pour the icing over the cake.

Novella's Banana-Nut Cake

Banana-Nut cake was a specialty of Mikesha’s grandmother, Novella Roberson. Over the past decade or so, Mikesha has taken up this part of her grandmother’s mantle, and Banana-Nut Cake is becoming a tradition at Williams-Row Thanksgiving dinners.

Ingredients for Cake
1½ cups sugar
⅔ cup shortening
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp buttermilk
3 mashed bananas (ripe or overripe)
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 eggs

Ingredients for Icing
¼ lb butter, allowed to warm to room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar
2 mashed bananas (ripe or overripe)
½ cup chopped walnuts

Cake Directions
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, beating lightly.
Stir in mashed bananas.
Sift in dry ingredients and stir to moisten.
Add vanilla and stir.
Bake in two 8-inch round pans at 350° for 25 minutes or until set.

Icing Directions
Make sure butter is at room temperature.
Cream butter and powdered sugar.
Mix in bananas.
If not thick, add more powdered sugar to reach desired consistency.

Note: This icing recipe never does get thick like butter-cream icing, it’s usually pretty runny or “gloppy”.  Meringue powder (from the cake decoration section) can help stiffen the icing somewhat.

Row Recipes: Chocolate Cobbler

Chocolate Cobbler,
originally uploaded by
ginnerobot.

a.k.a. Hot Fudge Cake
a.k.a. Chocolate Pudding Cake
a.k.a. Devil's Float

I first heard about Chocolate Cobbler this past Wednesday on the Pioneer Woman's site.

All the ingredients were things we keep on hand; so I made a mental note to try it sometime.

Thursday, my Comcast internet connection wasn't very comcastic, and I found myself with extra time on my hands -- enough time to try out the recipe.

Mikesha said it was "ridiculous" -- meaning ridiculously tasty.

The dessert was so good that we decided we should make a larger version on Friday for our family night.  And so we did.

And then tonight, after we spent most of the day painting our family room, we decided we needed a little something to reward ourselves for our hard work, and so we made another one.

One dessert, made three days in a row.  Ridiculous!

By the way, we made the regular 8x8 version the first time. That's much too small when you have 10 people in the house.

The following is our 9x13 version:

Chocolate Cobbler

Ingredients
2 cups self-rising flour (or 2 cups all-purpose flour + 4 tsp baking powder + ½ tsp salt)
7/8 cup coca powder, divided (into 6 Tbsp and ½ cup)
2½ cup sugar, divided (into 1½ cup and 1 cup).
1 cup milk
2/3 cup melted butter
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 cups hot tap water

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°

Stir together the flour, 6 Tbsp cocoa, and 1½ cup sugar.

Stir in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.

Spread the batter into a 9x13 baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup light brown sugar, and ½ cup cocoa.

Sprinkle the sugar and cocoa mixture evenly over the batter.

Pour the hot tap water over everything. DO NOT STIR! (Yes, this looks weird; weird enough to call in the kids and show them just how weird it looks and say, “Can you believe this is going to turn into something good?”)

Bake for 40 minutes or until the center is set. (This took 40 minutes Friday, but 45 minutes Saturday -- maybe the weather was different?)

Don't bother trying to stick in a knife to see if it comes out clean -- it won't -- there's way too much gooey goodness inside. Just look (or even prod with a finger) to see if the top of the cobbler in the center is firm. You should notice that some chunks of cobbler will be a little higher than the surroundings. These will be little ‘islands’, similar to cake-like brownies, which should spring back when prodded.

You won't know this yet, but those ‘islands’ are floating on a sea of chocolate sauce that somehow formed all over the bottom of the pan. This is magical stuff!

To serve, allow to cool a little (or not -- it's that good!), then plate up a good-sized spoonful (or two) of cobbler, ladle the chocolate sauce from the pan bottom over the cobbler, and add a scoop (or two) of vanilla ice-cream on the side.

Be careful! It's addicting!