Sunday, February 11, 2007

Barbecue Sauce

I've often told people that this is an old family Barbecue Sauce recipe, but the truth is my mom got it from a culinary friend sometime in the 1980's. -Ryan

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups ketchup
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup Worchestershire Sauce
1 dash liquid smoke
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. chili powder
1 T salt
1/2 tsp. onion salt

Directions:
Mix everything up in a big bowl and let flavors blend for a few hours or over night before serving.

Our Personal Touches:
Usually when I make this stuff I go to Costco and get the 2-pack of big ketchup bottles. One bottle is about 5 cups so I just use it all and double everything else in the recipe. I put the sauce back in the empty bottle to keep in the fridge.

I also normally make the following substitutions:
Garlic Salt instead of table salt
Onion Powder instead of onion salt
In the past I've also added honey to make it sweeter.

Uses:
1. Use "little smokies" or slice up Keilbasa sausage in a crock-pot, cover in barbecue sauce, heat and serve.
2. Soften a brick of cream cheese, cover in barbecue sauce, server with crackers.
3. Actually grill something, coat with barbecue sauce just before removing from grill.

3-Layer Buttermilk Chocolate Cake

No one really knows who in the family to attribute this one to, but the general consensus says it goes back to Ryan's Grandma Doris. According to her husband Grampa Lynn, "Gramps" as we all call him, this cake has to be eaten in a bowl with milk poured on top of it like cereal. Maybe it's because it used to be made too dry, or perhaps it's because back in the day nobody wanted to be wasteful and dirty a glass for milk, but what ever the reason, to this day in our family, if it's served and there ain't a big jug of milk brought out with it, people start to grumble. It's become the standard, defacto birthday cake in the Jaffe family.

Cake
Ingredients:
Mix 2 tsp. baking soda into 1 cup of boiling water (set aside for later)
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups shortening
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Sift together:
3 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. salt

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, add dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Lastly add the soda water. Lightly grease and flour the insides of three round 9 inch diameter cake pans. Divide the batter equally between the three cake pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool and remove to cooling rack covered in wax paper.

Fudge Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 squares semi-sweet bakers chocolate
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup white corn syrup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
In a sauce pan over low to medium heat, stir till boiling. Boil for 1 minute. Let cool then beat till creamy, firm enough to hold peaks.
Frost a layer at a time then frost the outside edge and top of the cake.

Banana Bread

Got some old, browning bananas on the counter? Here's a quick, simple Banana Bread recipe that Naomi got from her mom.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening or butter, or butter flavored shortening... whichever you prefer
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup mashed bananas
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
Cream together shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add bananas. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt, then add to banana mixture. Pour into greased 9x9x2 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Our Personal touches:
We always use butter instead of shortening. Sometimes we add a handful of crushed chocolate chips or some walnuts. We don't recommend baking in a real loaf pan. The mixture is to deep and the center comes out doughy. We found that it bakes better in a bunt pan (and has a nice presentation as well). When baking in a bunt pan, bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes.