A great substitute

I love sweets, more than life sometimes. The year that I gave up sweets for Lent will always be branded on my mind as one of life's most memorable and trying experiences. It was like 6 weeks of childbirth.

But that is beside the point. The point is that I love sweets and I love making them. However, most cookie and brownie recipes call for a ton of butter or oil. I just don't like all the greasiness, it seems excessive most of the time. I usually use applesauce for 1/2 of the fat. It's a good substitute, but I have found better... the secret is yogurt. Plain, lowfat yogurt. It works wonderfully and gives the finished product a little extra flavor like using buttermilk would. I made chocolate chip cookie recipe like this and baked it in a 9x13 in. pan. The result was great, flavorful, tender, a bit healthier. I urge you to try.

Birthday Cake

I made a really really really good cake for my birthday. It's called a "Better Than Sex Cake." I have made a different version of this involving yellow cake, sour cream, lots of butter, chocolate, nuts, and cream cheese frosting. It is a favorite around here and I may post that recipe later. But I was perusing online recipes and this one came up and it was indeed fantastic.
It calls for a Devil's Food cake and you can use a mix, but I used a recipe from online that turned out well. You need a can of sweetened condensed milk, a jar of caramel ice cream topping, a bag of toffee bits, and a container of whipping cream. In a saucepan combine the milk and caramel (leave about 1/4 the jar of caramel to decorate with) and let it warm up and mix together. After you bake the cake as directed, you let it cool for 5 minutes then poke holes all over it with a wooden spoon handle. Pour the caramel mixture all over the cake and let it soak in. Then sprinkle the toffee bits on top while it's still warm. Refrigerate it for a few hours or a day or however long. The longer it sits, the more the cake soaks up the liquid. Whip the cream up with a little sugar and vanilla, but don't make it too sweet because the cake is super sweet. Top the cake with the whipped cream, drizzle on the rest of the caramel, sprinkle on some toffee (if you saved some.) It's delicious, like a giant candy bar. Rissy would call it rich.

Whole wheat 101

When I cook I prefer to use whole wheat flour. By "prefer" I mean that I almost exclusively use it. I make whole wheat bread, muffins, cookies, brownies, and crackers. I even make whole wheat gravy. This is mostly because I don't have other flour on hand, but it works just as well. However, there are very few exceptions when I do use regular flour. These being: gifts for other people (who have less of an appreciation for whole wheat) and recipes that just do not work with whole wheat (angel food cake being the primary example.) White flour seems like a waste of nutrients and I have come to prefer the taste and texture of whole wheat. I like my pasta hearty, my muffins dense and grainy, and my cookies questionably darker than their less nutritious counterparts.

Pancakes

Of course my life in not entirely filled with sadness! There is some genuine joy sprinkled in here and there. One thing that I love is cooking. It is one activity that I enjoy almost all the time and it is one thing that I can do pretty well with my older daughter. Yesterday, we woke up before 5 and decided to make pancakes. They turned out to be the best pancakes I have made, and I make pancakes at least once a week. The recipe is as follows:

1 c. whole wheat graham flour
1 T. baking powder
1 T. brown sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 c. (scant) of milk
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add wet ingredients and stir just until blended. Don't overmix, if you do the pancakes will be tough as opposed to tender and delicious. Cook on a griddle that is well greased with butter (for the best flavor) or cooking spray (for the healthier option.) Serve with butter and real maple syrup for the best of the best results.