Snickerdoodles

 Made these for a friend, Makayla, per her request, for a treat on her last day at work with me. Really good and soft snickerdoodle. Another Modern Honey yummy. You don't need to chill them, but can if you have time. I also tap my cookie sheet 2 or 3 times on the counter when I pull them out so that they are a flatter cookie. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup Unsalted Butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups Sugar
• 2 large Eggs
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 2 3/4 cup Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar (for less tang, use 1 teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla. Cream for 1-2 minutes longer. 
• Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt, just until combined. 
• In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon. 
• If time allows, wrap the dough and let refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.  Roll into small balls until round and smooth.  Drop into the cinnamon-sugar mixture and coat well. Using a spoon, coat for a second time, ensuring the cookie balls are completely covered.  
• Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes.  Let cool for several minutes on baking sheet before removing from the pan.  

Reese's Cup/Chocolate Chip Cookie

I think this recipe originally came from Modern Honey. What I love about it, as someone with nut allergies in the house, but also peanut butter lovers, I can bake a few off for a really awesome chocolate chip cookie recipe before I add in the peanut butter cups. The original recipe also called for 4 ounces of cookie dough, but I didn't feel like it got done enough inside. It was still pretty gooey. So, we did 3 ounces. I would probably bake a couple off at ten minutes, too, and see if you like that bake. It's really easy to overcook the bottoms. I would take them off the sheet as soon as you pull them out of the oven. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup Butter, cold and cubed

• 1 cup Brown Sugar

• 1/2 cup Sugar

• 2 large Eggs

• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 

• 3 cups Flour

• 1 teaspoon Cornstarch

• 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

• 1 teaspoon Salt

• 1 cup Chocolate Chips, I also added in some mini chips, too. Double the recipe and do a cup of each. You won't be disappointed 

• 1 1/2 cup Peanut Butter Cups (chopped)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

• Add in eggs and vanilla and mix for 1 minute longer.

• Fold in flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Add chocolate chips and a heaping 1 cup of peanut butter cups, reserving about 1/3 cup for the top of the cookies.

• Roll into 4 to 6-ounce balls. If making 4-ounce balls, you should end up with about 12-13 cookies or if you roll into 6-ounce balls, you should end up with 8-9 cookies.

• Place on a parchment paper lined, light-colored baking sheet. If you are NOT using light colored baking sheets, reduce the oven temperature to 390 degrees to ensure the bottom of the cookies don't become too brown. Bake for 9-12 minutes. Do not overbake as these cookies are supposed to be slightly soft in the center. As soon as you remove the baking sheet from the oven, carefully place the extra peanut butter cups on top of the cookies. Allow to set up for 10 minutes.

Best Bread Pudding

 From the Taste of Home Test Kitchen, this is super yummy. Always a big hit for a sweet breakfast treat. That caramel sauce is the bomb-diggity. I also use Texas Roadhouse rolls that I cut up. Note: get the half and half, it makes it. Don't try to make your own. It is different. Also, one times this recipe really is enough for two 13x9's custard wise. I only put a little of the custard mix in with the casserole after I've gotten the bread good and wet. I don't like bread pudding that is super soggy. The brown sugar is a nice touch sprinkled on. Make sure you whisk all that butter in to the brown sugar for the caramel sauce before you add the cream. Also, about 20 minutes for the caramel sauce to thicken on low. Don't try to thicken it beyond that. It will break. It is a sauce. 

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2-1/4 cups half-and-half cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 20 dinner rolls (1-1/4 pounds), cut into 1-inch cubes (18 cups)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• SAUCE:
• 1 cup butter, cubed
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together the first 10 ingredients until blended. Gently stir in bread. Transfer to a greased 3-qt. or 13x9-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar; let stand until bread is softened, about 15 minutes. Bake until puffed and a knife inserted in center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, for sauce, melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar; stir until dissolved. Gradually stir in cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until thickened, 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add vanilla, sea salt and baking soda, stirring well. Serve sauce with warm bread pudding.

Kouign-Amann

I've been making these for a few years after going on a hunt for a mystery pastry that I ate at a French cafe a million years ago. These are delightfully both sweet and savory with hints of a salted caramel. Buttery, crunchy with that layered bready goodness. They are from a video from Chef John, but he just talks you through it and doesn't have the recipe transcribed, so I did my best.  

Ingredients for 12 Kouign-Amann:

For the dough:

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon dry active yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more as needed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the seasoned sugar (mix, taste, and adjust):

2/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons of sea salt or kosher salt (less if you’re using a fine table salt)

For the rest:

8 ounces ice cold unsalted butter (2 sticks) for the pastry

1 tablespoon melted butter for the muffin pan

Put water, sugar and yeast in a bowl to proof for about 10 minutes. Once you're sure it's alive, then add a little bit of melted butter and most but not all of our flour and a pinch of salt. Then it makes a very sticky dough. Put the last ½ cup of flour of on your work surface and then fold and kneed your dough together until it feels right. Soft, slightly sticky, elastic dough. Then transfer to a buttered bowl and cover, let rising to double in size, about an hour and a half.

Make seasoned sugar. Set aside.

Prep muffin pan by coating with melted butter. Then coat the muffin pan with your seasoned sugar. Then knock out extra sugar into your bowl for later.

Transfer dough onto a floured surface and press it out into a rectangle shape. Then, using your rolling pan, roll it out to a ¼” to 1/8” thickness, making a large rectangle. Pulling on your corners as needed.

Then taking a very cold, even frozen stick of unsalted butter, grate that over the dough. Try, if possible, to leave an inch unbuttered around the edges. Then, after flouring your hands, gently, but firmly press that butter into the dough. Then fold the dough into thirds like a letter. Square up the edges the best you can.

Next, place on a parchment lined, flour sheet pan and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Take it out of the fridge and place on your lightly floured surface and roll again to your large rectangle shape to that ¼ to 1/8 inch thickness and repeat the butter fold step again.

Instead of chilling it again, at this point, we'll roll it back out to a rectangle and dust it with flour, folding it into thirds again. (Not adding any more butter now. ;) )

Then roll it back out and give it one more fold into thirds. We're creating a laminated dough if you hadn't figured that out.

Transfer back to your lightly floured parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and chill in your fridge for at least an hour.

Sprinkle a bunch of your seasoned sugar onto your work surface and then place your dough on top of that. Then more of that seasoned sugar onto the top of the dough before you roll it out. Keep adding sugar to both sides periodically as you are rolling out the dough.

Try to do this last rolling out quickly because the sugar and salt will start to pull moisture out of the dough.

You will continue to roll it out, adding your seasoned sugar, until you get a rectangle of about ¼ to 1/8 of an inch thick.

Using a pizza cutter, trim your edges to make that perfect rectangle. You will then cut that into 12 squares; so 3x4. Sprinkle again with the seasoned sugar mix. Then transfer to the pan.

Shape so that all four corners meet in the middle and press center into pan. Once they are all panned, then top with a little more sugar.

Let sit for 10 minutes before baking to give a little tiny proof.

Transfer to the center rack of a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes until beautifully golden brown and puffed.

Very important: remove them from the pan to a cooling rack while they are still hot, or you won't be able to get them out. Cool at least 15 minutes before diving in.

Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole

 My kitchen manager, Paula, told me that this was her go to recipe for sweet potato casserole. Now, I am not a huge sweet potato girl but want to make them for the two people in the house who are, Aaron and Abby. This was super yummy. It was one of the things that I hit up for seconds on Thanksgiving dinner today. Bonus, I was able to use some of the leftover roasted sweet potatoes from Roadhouse, so I didn't have to cook them! 

Makes 4 Servings

INGREDIENTS

Crust Mixture:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans preferred)
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Sweet Potato Mixture:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1/4 cup butter

PROCESS

1. Combine Crust Mixture in mixing bowl and put to one side.
2. Combine Sweet Potato Mixture ingredients in a mixing bowl in the order listed. Combine thoroughly.
3. Pour Sweet Potato Mixture into buttered baking dish.
4. Sprinkle Crust Mixture evenly onto surface of Sweet Potato Mixture.
5. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Allow to set for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Creamy Italian Sausage Soup

This came from the land of Facebook and was soooo good. Notes from it when I made it: I tripled it so that we would have extra for us and extra to share. It did fine. I only did a rough chop on the spinach. I like bigger pieces of spinach, and I thought it did well. That mirepoix (carrots, onions and celery) needs a lot more than five minutes. Just cook until your onions start to get translucent. I put the Ditalini in like the recipe says though I saw that some people kept it separate and stirred it in as they served it so it wouldn't suck up all the juice in the fridge. Which it totally did but was still amazing. I don't want it not to take on any of the yummy broth flavor. So, not a big deal to me. 

Ingredients:

1 lb Italian sausage (turkey or chicken sausage as a pork alternative)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium carrots, sliced

2 celery stalks, chopped

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup Ditalini pasta

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

Cook the Sausage:

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the Italian sausage, breaking it into small crumbles, and cook until browned. Remove the sausage from the pot and set aside.

Sauté the Vegetables:

In the same pot, add diced onion, minced garlic, sliced carrots, and chopped celery. Sauté until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.

Add Broth and Herbs:

Pour in the chicken broth, then stir in the oregano and basil. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Cook the Pasta:

Add the Ditalini pasta to the boiling broth. Cook for about 8 minutes, or until the pasta is tender but still firm.

Make it Creamy:

Lower the heat to medium. Stir in the cooked sausage, heavy cream, and grated Parmesan cheese. Simmer for 5 minutes, allowing the soup to thicken slightly.

Add Spinach:

Stir in the fresh spinach until it wilts into the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve and Garnish with parsley if desired and parmesan.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. Very simple and very creamy vanilla buttercream recipe. 

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 4 – 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• salt, to taste

1. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add 4 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar, the heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Taste. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. I always add 1/8 teaspoon.
2. Adjust if needed: You can control the consistency at this point—add up to 1/2 cup more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or more heavy cream if frosting is too thick (add only 1 Tablespoon at a time, beat together, then taste and add more if desired).
3. Use immediately or cover tightly and store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed.

Carrot Cake

I am not generally a fan of carrot cake because of the cream cheese frosting. These cakes were delicious, especially with all the mix-ins and the walnuts. This was a request for Abby's 17th birthday and was found on All-recipes with the most positive reviews. Frosting was one brick of cream cheese softened with one stick of softened butter, a teaspoon or two of vanilla and then enough powdered sugar, added in slowly, until I like the consistency. 

Ingredients

• 6 cups grated carrots

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 cup raisins

• 4 eggs

• 1 ½ cups white sugar

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Combine grated carrots and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Let sit for 1 hour, then stir in raisins.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 10-inch round cake pans.

3. Beat eggs in a large bowl until light. Gradually beat in white sugar, oil, and vanilla. Stir in pineapple. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, then stir into egg mixture until absorbed. Stir in carrot mixture and walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing cake layers from the pans; let cool completely.

Peach Bundt Cake

 Trying to use up some peaches from our Peach Truck order and made this delightful cake from Spicy Perspective. This we will definitely make again. 

1 cup unsalted butter softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour divided

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 pound diced peaches fresh or frozen, with or without skins

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon orange juice or pineapple juice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan (10- to 15-cup pan.)

In a medium bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the sour cream and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

Scrape the bowl, then slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Scrape the bowl again.

Toss the peaches with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Scoop a third of the batter into the Bundt pan, then sprinkle a third of the peaches on top. Repeat two more times with the remaining batter and peaches.

Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 60-80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and orange juice. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.

Grandma Jackson's Pot Roast

 This is my Grandma Jackson's pot roast recipe. Absolutely the best pot roast I've ever had. Made only more special because it was hers. 

Chuck Roast

Potatoes

Carrots

Onions

Better than Bouillon or your favorite beef broth soup base

First, you will coat both side of your chuck with vegetable oil and a liberal amount of salt and pepper. Then, on medium heat, you are going to sear both sides of your chuck roast. Add your seared roast to your baking dish. Then add your beef broth or water/bouillon mix. For the water/bouillon mix, you add three spoonfuls for every four cups of water and mix well. Then pour this over your chuck. 

Cover with foil and cook for one hour at 375. 

Turn down to 275 and cook that puppy all day. You definitely need to have it in by noon if you're serving at dinner time. 

Add your vegetables to the baking dish. Cut your potatoes in quarters, long ways. I don't know why, but it makes a difference. Salt and pepper the veggies, leaving covered. Bake at 350 for an hour and then uncover for the last 15 minutes or so. 

It is important that you don't let the juice run dry. If you need to make up more of the broth mix, do it. 

Note on the Better than Bouillon. That is what my store had that was like what I was told to use. The original recipe called for a beef soup base from an Amish supply store, and I didn't have it on hand. But I've eaten it both ways and I think the taste is very similar, if not identical. 

Belgian Lemon Tea Cake

 I made this recipe for my last tea party and it was so good! So much lemon flavor in the curd filling with the cake on the bottom. Really good. This was a gluten free recipe or you can use regular flour. Recipe originally from itsnotcomplicatedrecipes.com

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup (150 g) self-raising flour I used Orgran Gluten Free SR Flour
• 1/2 cup (115 g) caster sugar super fine
• 1/4 cup (60 g) butter
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• icing sugar/confectioners' sugar optional, for dusting

Filling

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) lemon juice strained
• 1/2 cup (115 g) caster sugar super fine
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup (60 g) butter chopped

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 180 Degrees C (350 F)

  Grease and line the base and sides of a 17cm/6.5” spring-form tin* with non-stick baking paper.
• Add flour, sugar, butter and lightly beaten egg to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.

  Pulse until the mixture just starts to come together.

  Don’t process until the mixture forms a ball of dough, you want it to still be a little crumbly.

  Tip the mixture onto some cling wrap.
• Divide the mixture and gently press 2/3 into the base of the prepared tin, reserving the remaining 1/3.
• Make the lemon curd as per the instructions below. Pour the hot lemon curd onto the cake base.

  As evenly as possible, crumble the remaining mixture over the top of the curd.
• Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

  Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan.
• Gently remove the side of the spring-form tin.

  Remove the baking paper, place the cake on a serving platter and dust the tea cake with icing/confectioners’ sugar.

  Lovely served on its own, or with a dollop of cream.

Lemon Curd Filling

• Place all filling ingredients in a saucepan.*
• Over a low heat, stir until the butter has melted and the curd thickens, just below boiling point.

  Don’t be tempted to use high heat to make the process quicker; you will end up with scrambled egg.

Broccoli Salad

 I have made some version of this salad for every holiday since I was a teenager. This is how it's ended. 

6 cups of broccoli, chopped small

1lb of bacon cooked crisp

1 red onion

1 box of raisins, golden or purple

3 ounces of sunflower seeds, roasted, hulled and salted

2 cups of mayo

1 cup of granulated sugar

4 tablespoons of white vinegar

Cut your broccoli, onion and bacon and put in bowl. Add the raisins and sunflower seeds. In a small bowl, mix the mayo, sugar and vinegar until the sugar has dissolved. Add to your broccoli bowl and mix until well coated. Chill. This is best made the day before, but keeps getting better. 

Mexican Street Corn or Elote

Another yummy recipe from Gracie. So good.  

4 T Butter

4c Corn Kernels (I used fresh and cut them off the cob but I’m sure you could also use frozen or canned) 2 Jalapenos, seeded and diced ¼ Mayonnaise ½ Cotija cheese (You can use crumbled or grated) 1 t Chili powder 2 T diced Garlic Juice of 1 Lime Melt the butter in a skillet, add the corn kernels and diced jalapeno and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through and slightly charred. Add in the garlic for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking time. Stir in the cotija, mayo, chili powder, lime juice. Can be served immediately or kept warm in a covered dish in a low oven.

Queso Blanco

 This recipe is courtesy of my sister, Gracie. It is super easy and hands down the best homemade queso I've ever had. 

1lb White American Cheese (Any brand from the deli works, I always ask them to slice it in about ¼” slices and then crumble it) 1 cup Half and Half 4oz can Diced mild green chilies 2T diced pickled Jalapenos 1 T Pickled Jalapenos Juice For a milder queso, leave out the pickled jalapenos, but I recommend leaving in the juice if you have it on hand for more flavor.

This can be made on the stove, in a crockpot or in the microwave. I always do the crockpot. Combine all ingredients and melt in your chosen manner. If you use the crockpot, set it to low and stir every 15 minutes until melted and combined. For the microwave, stir every 1-2 minutes until fully melted and combined. If you use the stove just make sure the heat is really low so you don’t burn the cheese and stir frequently until melted.

Peach Pie

 7-9 peaches, peeled and sliced

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1/3 cup of sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon of kosher salt

4 Tablespoon of cornstarch

1. peel and slice your peaches

2. Mix peaches with lemon juice

3. Add everything else

4. fill crusts

5. lattice or vent. (for lattice, make 12 strips.

Note: maybe my peaches were a little small this year, but it seemed to take 10 peaches per pie. 

Lemon Blueberry Pie

 This recipe came to me in the form of a lemon blueberry tart from my friend, Allison. Changes have been made slightly to "Americanize" it. But, because it is originally a French recipe, the measurements are in grams. You will need a kitchen scale to measure it out. That's okay; you should have one anyway. 

Blueberry Filling

Fresh or Frozen Blueberries 227 grams

Sucrose (sugar) 22.5 grams

Fresh Lemon Juice 5 grams

Cornstarch 6 grams

Pectin .75 grams

Boil the berries and sucrose mixed with the pectin at medium heat. Once boiling, add lemon juice and cornstarch to thicken. Then cook the berry mixture at low heat for about 10 minutes to cook the cornstarch taste away. 

Pour the berry mixture in a parbaked pie shell. (425 for about 10-15 minutes with fork holes)

Streusel Topping

Cold Cubed Butter 48 grams

Sucrose (sugar) 70 grams

flour 56 grams

Almond flour 56 grams

kirsh (optional) 5.25 grams

Make up your streusel topping with either your hands or a pastry blender. Then sprinkle over the top of your pie. Bake at 425 for about 10-15 minutes until lightly browned on top. So yummy. 

Vanilla Butter Cake

This is my go to fancy, vanilla cake recipe. It is very easy, but has amazing flavor. I usually serve it with a raspberry layer and a buttercream frosting. I usually spread it over a whole sheet pan, then cut it in half for my layers. Then you don't have to do surgery to split a cake. I'm not entirely sure where the original recipe came from, except her name was Rose. 

2 3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup salted butter, softened

3/4 cup shortening

2 tsp. vanilla extract

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1tsp. salt

3/4 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Cream together the sugar, butter and shortening until smooth; then beat in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, until fluffy. 

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt). Add this flour mixture and the evaporated milk to the original mixture alternately; ending with milk. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed, then fold in the sour cream. 

4. Spread onto a parchment lined half sheet pan. Bake for 25-35 minute, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (check at 25 minutes).  

Fresh Fruit Tart

Recipe Courtesy of Paula Deen. Often her stuff is too sweet, but this was just right and got lots of good comments. 

Crust:

• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and sliced

Filling:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

• Fresh strawberries, kiwi slices, blueberries, raspberries

Glaze:

• 1 (6-ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• Whipped cream, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust: In a food processor, combine the confectioners' sugar, flour, and butter, and process until the mixture forms a ball. With your fingers, press the dough into a 12-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, taking care to push the crust into the indentations in the sides. Pat until the crust is even. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until very lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

For the filling and topping: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Spread over the cooled crust. Cut the strawberries into 1/4-inch slices and arrange around the edge of the crust. For the next circle, use kiwi slices. Add another circle of strawberries, filling in any spaces with blueberries. Cluster the raspberries in the center of the tart.

For the glaze: Combine the limeade, cornstarch, lime juice, and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until clear and thick, about 2 minutes. Let cool. With a pastry brush, glaze the entire tart. You will not use all of the glaze.

Keep the tart in the refrigerator. Remove about 15 minutes before serving. Slice into 8 wedges and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.