Chocolate Pecan Pie

I've had this pie recipe saved for a few years and finally got around to making it over Labor Day weekend. Christian helped me make it because he wants to perfect making pie crust. It was delicious and everyone who had a piece said it was good! They might have been being nice, but I believe them, ha ha! There's not much chocolate in it but you can definitely taste it! Sadly you need an America's Test Kitchen account for the recipe. I had downloaded it when I did a free trial in 2020. Might be time to get it again to refresh my recipes!

Coffee Cake

We barely needed sour cream for the pie crust recipe above but I didn't want to go off recipe so we bought it and I planned to make this coffee cake with the rest! I made it on a slow Monday morning (they're usually slow for me with the end of the week being busier) and had a piece for lunch, so good! I had to freeze half of it because I was leaving for a business trip in a few days so I got to enjoy the rest when I was home!

Hostess Sheet Cake as Birthday Cake

I made this back in June and Christian loved it so much he wanted it for his birthday cake. I made it into an 8x8 square so it would be more cake-like. This did present a bit of a problem because the cake was thicker and heavier so the filling oozed out a bit. I saved it by putting it back into the cake pan, so it's not the most photogenic cake, but was still delicious! As with last time I combined two recipes My Messy Kitchenn for the cake batter and Bakerella for the rest! (my phone was not cooperating so the colors are way off in this picture)

Giant Pretzel Bread

One weekend when I was over at my parents house my mom & I decided to make her giant pretzel bread. This is always a hit when she makes it, so fluffy with a healthy amount of salt (obviously you can put less on if you don't like salty pretzels.) I don't know where she got the recipe so typed it out if anyone wants to make it. It's super simple.

• 4 - 4½ cups flour
• 1 pkg. yeast
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup water
• 2 Tbsp. oil or melted butter
• 1 egg, beaten with 2 tsp. water
• Coarse salt

1. In a large bowl, mix 1 ½ cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt. 
2. Heat milk, water and oil to 120-125° and add to dry ingredients. 
3. Beat 2 minutes on low, then increase to high and beat 2 minutes more. 
4. Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.
5. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic (5 minutes).
6. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size (40-50 min). 
7. Punch dough down. 
8. Roll dough to 1" diameter rope (5 ½' long) 
9. Shape into a pretzel on greased baking sheet. 
10. Cover and let rest 15 minutes. 
11. Brush with beaten egg mixture and sprinkle with salt.
12. Bake 375° for 25-30 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

I wasn't going to include these but thought it was funny! I went to a marketing convention at the end of last month and one of the exhibitors was giving out cookie mixes. Of course I had to grab one to see how they were. I ended up with shortbread cookies and chocolate chip because my client gave me his bag. I made the shortbread first with my mom & we used salted butter because I always do. Big mistake. They were SO SALTY. I couldn't even eat them after making a lemon glaze. When I made the chocolate chip cookies I decided to use my homemade butter that I left unsalted. Even that was not enough. If I took a bite of a cookie without a chocolate chip it was pure salt. GROSS! Note to self: don't trust pre-made mixes anymore. At least I have an amusing story to tell.

Birthday Cake

Saving the best for last. My birthday was last Friday and Christian insisted on making me a cake because I always make something for him. So cute! He used Butternut Bakery's funfetti cake recipe and it came out great! (he used unsalted butter and the frosting tasted a little funky to me becasue I don't like unsalted butter, haha! Funny how I don't like the butter you're supposed to use) We ate a couple slices and then froze the rest so we could enjoy it slowly.