Dill Pickle Dip

Dill Pickle Dip

 8 ounces Cream Cheese-softened

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons pickle juice/brine

1 cup diced dill pickle 

1 teaspoon Worcestershire 

1 tsp onion powder 

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried dill

Mix together the cream cheese-whip plenty of air into it do that it’s light and airy, add sour cream and mix until smooth, add spices, pickle juice and Worcestershire. Mix in the diced pickles. Garnish with fresh dill, and more pickles. 

Chill for an hour to overnight to allow flavors to develop. Serve with bagel chips, pretzels or toasted crostini.

Crunch Top Apple Crisp

Crunch Top Apple Crisp

A great fall recipe, tastes great served warm or room temperature. Easily double recipe in a 9x13 baking dish to serve a crowd. Tastes even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  If you prefer a less sweet Apple Crisp, adjust the filling by using less sugar. This Apple Crisp gets a traditional oat, flour, butter and brown sugar-cinnamon topping, followed by an after-bake maple-cinnamon sugar corn flake mixture that gets added to the top for the last 5-7 minutes of baking. 

Butter 8x8 baking dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Filling

5-6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick (about 4 cups)

1 tsp lemon juice

3 Tbs apple cider 

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

2 Tbs flour or cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

2 Tbs butter to dot mixture 

Pinch of salt

Oat Topping

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup quick-cook rolled oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon or apple pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

8 tablespoons melted or very soft  unsalted butter.

Directions:

Mix together the oat topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Should look crumbly.

In a buttered baking dish, add the prepared peeled and sliced apples and sprinkle with lemon juice and cider. Add the sugars, flour, spice and salt, stir to coat. Dot with butter. Add the prepared oat topping. Bake on middle rack of preheated oven for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and add the crunch top (recipe follows), and bake 5-7 minutes more.

Crunch Top-goes on last 5-7 minutes of baking.

3 cups cornflakes

1/4 tsp apple pie spice 

4 tablespoons butter

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbs maple syrup

In a nonstick skillet-over medium low heat, melt butter, add sugar and maple syrup. Stir to melt the sugar granules for 3-5 minutes. Add spice, and salt and stir. Turn off heat. Mixture will be like a thick buttery syrup.

Add cornflakes to the pan and coat the cornflakes. Let the warm cornflake mixture rest in the pan. When apple crisp has baked 40 minutes-and is bubbling throughout, top with the cornflake mixture. Bake an additional 5-7 minutes to toast the crunch topping.  

Serve with vanilla ice cream warm or at room temperature. 

Reheats easily too-place in a warm 200 oven for 15-20 minutes.

Banana Muffins

 

Banana Muffins

1st place Kentucky State Fair 2023 

Ingredients:

3 bananas medium sized -overripe is a must

2 Tbs vegetable oil

2 Tbs soft butter

1 large egg

Pinch cinnamon 

1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda 

Sprinkle batter light brown sugar-about 1 tsp per muffin

Optional-3/4 cup toasted nuts, reserve a handful to top muffins if using. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees-use middle rack of oven.

Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Bake either cupcake sized muffins, or using larger liners, for larger bakery style muffins.

Makes: 24 cupcake sized muffins or 12 bakery style muffins. Additional bake time needed for larger muffins (see below)

Directions: 

Mix together mashed bananas, sugar, soft butter, egg, oil, and cinnamon. Mix in sour cream. (Will be a little lumpy) Stir in flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Do not over mix. Pour into prepared  muffin pan with liners—using an ice cream scoop can help portion muffin batter evenly. Fill liners to 1/2 way. Sprinkle light brown sugar-about 1/2 tsp on each muffin. Bake at 350 degrees, on the middle rack 20-25 minutes for cupcake sized muffins. Add 5-7 additional minutes to bake time for larger bakery sized muffins. 

Toothpick will come out cleanly.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

Fudge Brownies

These brownies were first-place winners in the 2025 fair!

Fudge  Brownies

Can be made using a bowl and wooden spoon. If using a mixer-be careful not to overmix.

12 Tbs melted butter (1 1/2 sticks)

1 Tbs vegetable oil

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup warm coffee

1 semi-sweet baking chocolate bar chopped (4 ounces) (Baker’s Chocolate)

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp espresso powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Hershey Special Dark Cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Prepare an 8x8 baking dish with parchment and non stick spray.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter, add chopped chocolate to the melted butter, stir to help the chocolate melt (if needed, pop the melted butter and chocolate pieces into the microwave for 20 seconds to help the melting process) Add the coffee, vanilla and espresso powder. Stir and set aside.

Mix together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, add the sugar and eggs, and oil  and mix to combine 1-2 minutes. Batter should be shiny and glossy looking.

Pour in the butter/chocolate mixture. Stir 

Add the flour/cocoa mixture mixing until just combined. Mix together flour combine. Don’t over mix—mixing the flour too much will make tough brownies. Batter will be shiny and a tiny bit lumpy… 

Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake 30 minutes.  Check for doneness, brownies will be set around edges and a little softer in the center, but a toothpick will come out WITHOUT wet batter from the center.

Allow brownies to cool. Lift out of pan using parchment paper.

Did you know??

Baking in metal or glass baking pans can vary bake time. Dark pans can bake a little more quickly, always keep an eye as the end of the baking time nears.

Zucchini Variation: add 1 1/2 cups of finely shredded/grated zucchini.  Grate and then squeeze off some excess water. Fold the zucchini into the prepared batter.  The zucchini adds moisture and isn’t very detectable—it blends in beautifully while adding nutrients.  Check brownies at 30 minutes-the added zucchini version may require an extra few minutes of bake time.

Quick Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

2 sticks butter-softened

4 ounces chocolate melted (Baker’s Chocolate semi sweet baking bar)

2 Tbs dark cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Heavy cream 2-6 Tbs to thin.

With a mixer, beat the butter for 2 minutes. 

Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a microwave, in a small bowl, break the chocolate into bits and heat in 20 second intervals, stirring each time until melted.

To the butter, add powdered sugar, cocoa powder,salt, and vanilla. Mix well.  Add the melted chocolate and mix.

Add 1-4 Tbs of cream, whip mixture until light and fluffy.