Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This moist cake is so delicious it doesn't need a frosting or glaze. The pecans are optional; one of my brothers has a nut allergy so we used to make this without nuts and it was still wonderful. There's enough sugar and cinnamon that there's no need to even increase the amounts if you choose to omit the pecans. But I like using the pecans and because I buy them in bulk and keep them in the freezer, the expense isn't too bad.


Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
1 box yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup oil

Mix sugar, cinnamon, and pecans; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients and mix with an electric mixer for the time indicated on cake box. Generously grease a Bundt pan with butter. Evenly spread some batter into the bottom of the pan. You want to use no more than one-third of the batter for this and using a little less than one-third is ideal, since the next two layers will hit where the pan is wider. Sprinkle half of the pecan mixture over the batter in the pan. Drop about half of the remaining batter by spoonfuls over the pecans. Gently spread the batter evenly, being careful to not displace the pecan mixture below. Cover the batter with the remaining pecan mixture. Top with the remaining batter, gently spreading evenly and making sure to completely cover the pecan mixture. Bake at 325° for 1 hour. Cool completely before removing from pan.

Basic Pie Crust

I have a confession: I usually buy ready-made rolled pie crust. I knew that it's supposed to be easy to make your own, but since I don't own a pastry blender (and I'm not even sure why... it's a cheap enough kitchen gadget!), I just assumed it wouldn't be that easy for me. Then I learned from Food Network's Melissa d'Arabian that I could make pie crust in my food processor! I was so excited about this brilliant concept that I couldn't wait to try it out. Well, it was mostly a success. The only snag was the fact that the recipe was for a double crust and apparently my food processor (4-cup capacity) is not big enough to comfortably accomodate two crusts at a times. So I ended up having to divide up the butter and flour - after I started - and finish each crust separately. But despite that, both crusts turned out great! Here is a halved version of the recipe I used; this one yields only one crust. If you have a food processor large enough (ie, greater than a 4-cup capacity) and need two crusts, definitely try doubling the recipe and making both at once to save time.

Basic Pie Crust

1 stick butter, cubed and chilled
1 1/8 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 to 5 Tbsp. ice water

Place butter, flour, and salt into a food processor. Pulse just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add water, 1 tablespoonful at a time, and pulse for a few seconds after each addition. Continue adding water until the mixture just begins to gather into larger clumps. With hands, pat the dough together into a large ball and place in a resealable plastic bag. Flatten the dough down into a disk and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. (If you're in a hurry, 15 minutes in the freezer works too.) Roll dough out on a flour-coated surface.

Recipe from Melissa d'Arabian.

Kahlua Cake

I got the recipe for this delectable cake at our local supermarket. At first, I was intimidated by how expensive it looked to make it, but since I already had a bottle of Kahlua on hand and bought the remaining ingredients at Aldi, it really wasn't too bad. In searching online for recommended Kahlua substitutes, I noticed that some suggest using strong coffee with a hint of powdered cocoa. However, plain Kahlua does not actually contain any cocoa/chocolate. If I were going to substitute it, I would just use double-strength coffee with a dash of vanilla extract; this wouldn't give the exact same flavor as using liqueur but the cake should still taste wonderful.


Kahlua Cake

4 large eggs
2 pkgs. instant vanilla pudding
1 box devil's food cake mix
16 oz. sour cream
3/4 c. Kahlua liqueur
1/4 c. canola oil
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 block (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 container (8 oz.) whipped topping, thawed
1 c. whole milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Mix in 1 package of pudding, cake mix, sour cream, Kahlua, and oil. Add chocolate chips and stir until just blended. Spread batter evenly into a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan. Bake at 50 to 60 minutes or until top springs back when lightly pressed. [I recommend checking the center with a toothpick also.]

Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake plate to serve warm, or cool completely on wire rack.

Meanwhile, prepare vanilla topping: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth; fold in whipped topping. In a small bowl, whisk remaining package of pudding with milk. Stir pudding mixture into cream cheese mixture until well blended. Serve warm cake with vanilla topping. Yields 16 servings.
　
Note: 2% milk works just fine. :) Also it's important to beat the cream cheese thoroughly. I didn't and it ended up rather lumpy. Still tasted good though!

Orange Juice Balls

This unique no-bake "cookie" (it's not a true cookie, but I'm not sure what else to call it) tastes delicious served right out of the freezer. Other recipes I've seen only call for refrigerating the balls, so it really just depends on your preferences. I served these at a party last week where they sat out for about 5 hours and still tasted fine, but were a bit mushy at that point.

Orange Juice Balls

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 c. melted butter
1 box (12 oz.) vanilla wafers, finely crushed
1 c. finely chopped pecans
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 c. coconut

Beat orange concentrate and butter together until well combined. Mix in vanilla wafers and pecans. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until incorporated. Form dough into small balls (use approximately 1 tablespoon of dough per ball) then roll in coconut. Freeze on wax paper in an airtight container until just before serving. Yields about 7 dozen.

Time-saving Tips:
To easily crush the vanilla wafers, place about half of them into a gallon ziplock bag and use a rolling pin until finely crushed. Repeat with remaining wafers.

Use a Pampered Chef small scoop or something similar to get perfectly-sized balls. This was a lifesaver - the scoop shaped them for me into a mostly round shape and they all ended up roughly the same size.