4 Generations Cook Blog

   Preheat oven to 375° What you need: 2 1/4 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 sticks butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 large eggs, beaten 1 tablespoon vanilla 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa 2 cups chocolate chips, 2 Hershey's chocolate bars (chopped) Directions:   In a bowl stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. In another large bowl stir together butter, both sugars, eggs, vanilla and cocoa. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined. Stir chocolate chips and bar chunks, and stir to distribute evenly. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto greased or parchment covered baking sheets and bake about 10 minutes. Cool on a baking rack.

  What you need:  6 potatoes  Olive, peanut or canola oil Salt (Kosher is best) Pepper 6 strips of bacon cooked and crubled 1 cup grated cheese Sour cream (optional) Green onions thinly sliced (also optional) Directions: Bake your potatoes either in the oven at 400° for around an hour or in the microwave around 5 minutes per potato or use the baked potato setting for best results. Either way is fine and the finished potato skins come out the same.  Let potatoes cool to where you can handle them and slice each in half and heat your oven to 450° Scoop out the center of the potato leaving about 1/4th inch of potato around the sides.  Brush your choice of oil on both sides of the potato and place on a wire rack in a roasting pan and sprinkle with kosher salt Bake for 10 minutes then turn potatoes over and bake for another 10 minutes Remove potatoes, fill with cheese top with bacon and broil until cheese is bubbling Top with sour cream and onions if you choose to

  What you need: English muffins Pizza sauce Black olives String cheese Directions: Toast your English muffins and Heat the oven to 350º F.   For each mummy, spread a tablespoon (more or less) of pizza sauce onto the English muffin Set olive slices in place for eyes  Lay pulled pieces of string cheese across the muffin for the mummy's wrappings. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty. 

  This is a recipe created by my family. It's just not the Holidays without our families peanut brittle. What you need: 1 cups Karo syrup (white) 2 cups sugar 1/2 cup water 1/4th tsp salt 1Tbs butter (heaping) 2 tsp baking soda 2 cups raw Spanish peanuts Directions: Boil sugar, syrup, water and salt in a 4 quart kettle stirring constantly scraping the sides every few turns for around 45 minutes or longer, until mixture spins threads.  (In case you are unaware of what spinning threads means it is when you lift the spoon from the pot and the candy drops and looks like spider webs) Add  peanuts and stir until golden brown. Add butter and turn off heat Add baking soda and stir quickly Pour onto greased cookie sheet. (we line a large cookie sheet in heavy duty foil and coat it with butter) When hard (but before it's cool) turn foil with candy on it upside down and hit the back to break it up or use whatever method works best for you. Let cool and store in air tight c

  This is some very ugly fudge but it tastes great and is easy to make What you need: 3 cups white sugar 1 cup milk 3 Tbs light corn syrup 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional, I don't add these) Directions: Butter or grease an 8x8 inch pan. In a 3 quart sauce pan, mix together sugar, milk, corn syrup, pumpkin and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling. DO NOT STIR. When mixture registers at 232° on a candy thermometer, or forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water, remove from heat. Stir in pumpkin spice, vanilla, butter and nuts if you are using them.  Cool to lukewarm (110°) then beat mixture until it is thick and loses some of it's gloss. Quickly pour into greased  pan and cut when firm.

      This smooth, hard-drying icing is perfect for making decorations that last. It is also useful as a "cement" to fasten decorations together. Royal icing is edible, but not recommended for icing cakes. Ingredients: 3 tablespoons Meringue Powder Easy-Add Meringue Powder 4 cups (about 1 lb.) confectioners' sugar 6 tablespoons warm water Makes: About 3 cups of icing. Instructions: Step 1 Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer). Step 2 NOTE: Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency. * For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water. **When using large countertop mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water. Thinned Royal Icing: To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon water per cup of royal icing. Use grease-free spoon or spatula

This recipe has many steps so I will just post the link to the Wilton website where it has the full instructions tips and tricks on how to properly make and use this frosting COLOR FLOW INSTRUCTIONS . If you would rather use Royal icing click here for that recipe.

This is my favorite Sugar cookie recipe, they taste great and hold their shape very well. I have made sugar cookies in the past where I have used very detailed cookie cutters and the cookies would just bake into little blobs that didn't come close to resembling the shape of the cookie cutter. This recipe allows the shape to hold incredibly well. This recipe makes a large amount of cookies close to 5 dozen. Ingredients: 2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Directions: In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on un greased cookie sheets. Bake

  Preheat oven to  350° What you need:     2 cups all-purpose flour     1 teaspoon baking soda     1 teaspoon baking powder     1 teaspoon coarse salt     1 teaspoon ground cinnamon     1 teaspoon ground ginger     1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg     1/4 teaspoon ground allspice     1 cup packed light-brown sugar     1 cup granulated sugar     1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled     4 large eggs, lightly beaten     1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree Directions:  Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.     In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.     Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to

Preheat oven to 350° and Butter a 9x13 pan. What you need: 1 1/2 c Flour 3/4 ts Baking powder 1/4 ts Salt 2/3 c Butter, softened 3/4 c Brown sugar, packed 1 1/2 ts Vanilla 2 Eggs 1/2 c Bailey's Irish Cream 1 c Pecans, chopped and toasted 1/2 c White chocolate chips 1/2 c Chocolate chips, semisweet Frosting: 3 1/2 c Powdered sugar 6 tb Butter, softened 1 ts Vanilla 1/3 c Bailey's Irish Cream (more or less as needed) Pecan halves (for garnish) Bars: Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Beat together butter, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beat well. Alternately stir in flour mixture and Bailey's until well blended. Stir in nuts, white chips and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Frosting: Beat sugar, vanilla, butter and 3 tb Bailey's until smooth. Add enough Bailey's to make smooth, creamy frosting. Spread over cooled

  Preheat oven to 375° What you need: 2 lbs Cube frozen hash browns 1/2 cup or 1 stick Margarine 1/2 cup chopped onions (optional) 16oz Sour cream 2 Cans cream of chicken 2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese 2 Cups Corn flakes crushed with 1/4 Cup margarine  Directions: Mix all of the ingredients except for the corn flake mix and put into a baking dish. Top with Corn flake mix and bake for 45 minutes at 375°

What you need: Wafer cookies Peanut butter Corn flakes Fondant, taffy or any candy you can easily mold (in colors green and orange or whatever you want for whichever veggies you want to make) Directions: Take you green fondant or gummy candy and roll many little balls for peas. Roll larger balls in orange and lightly press down with your thumb to make the carrots then use a fork to make the imprints on the carrot slices. Crush corn flakes into a ziplock bag Coat the wafer cookies in peanut butter then toss one at a time in the bag full of crushed corn flakes. Serve to children or have you children bring this out to their friends for a snack and watch for the confusion on their faces

  Ingredients: Box of jello mix flavor of your choice Cold Vodka Paper condiment cups (I get mine at smart and final) Directions: Follow the instructions on your box of jello BUT replace 1 cup of the water with Vodka. For example, if your instructions say mix 1 cup boiling water with the jello then mix 1 cup cold. Add your boiling water as directed then replace the 1 cup cold water with 1 cup COLD Vodka. Chill in bowl or glass dish until firm. Scoop jello into the paper cups and serve.  DO NOT CHILL YOUR JELLO IN THE LITTLE CUPS OR YOUR GUESTS WILL BE ANNOYED WHEN IT TAKES 10 MINUTES TO GET ONE SHOT OUT OF THE CUP.

  Ingerdients: 1/2 cup Ice 1/4 cup yogurt 1/2 cup fruit of your choice (fresh or frozen) 1/2 cup juice of your choice Directions:  Add all of the ingredients into your blender.  Blend and enjoy

  Preheat your oven to 350° Ingredients: 4 skinless chicken breasts 1-2 Tbs margarine or butter 1-2 cups cornflakes Seasonings of your choice (salt, pepper etc) Directions: Crush your cornflakes in a ziploc bag with your favorite seasonings Melt butter or margarine and coat the chicken breasts in it. Roll the chicken in the cornflake mix Bake for 30 minutes in a casserole dish (45 minutes for bone in chicken)

Preheat your oven to 350° Ingredients: 3 (12 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough 1 cup white sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 cup margarine 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) 1/2 cup raisins (optional) Directions: Grease one 9 or 10 inch tube/Bundt pan. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Cut biscuits into quarters. Shake 6 to 8 biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the prepared pan. Continue until all biscuits are coated and placed in pan. If using nuts and raisins, arrange them in and among the biscuit pieces as you go along. In a small saucepan, melt the margarine with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Do not cut! The bread just pulls apart.

This is a Paula Deen recipe. Preheat your oven to 350° Ingredients: Crust: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting Pinch of salt 2 sticks butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing Filling: 4 eggs 2 cups granulated sugar 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Directions: Make the crust by combining the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt in a large bowl.   Cut in the butter to make a crumbly mixture. Press the mixture into the prepared pan. You may need to dip your fingers into a little flour or confectioners' sugar to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. Bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, to make the filling, mix the eggs, granulated sugar, flour, and lemon juice. Pour this over the baked crust and bake for 25 minutes longer. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, if desired, when the bars are done.

This recipe is from the Disney Family Fun website What you need: 12-ounce can pink lemonade concentrate 1 cup raspberry sherbet 12-ounce can of lemon/lime soda  (Sprite, 7up, sierra mist)  Directions: In a pitcher, mix the lemonade concentrate with the recommended amount of water. In a separate pitcher, combine the sherbet with 1 cup of the lemonade mixture. Add the soda, stir, and serve. Makes 3 cups.

  You can cover these in chocolate like I did or you can leave them plain. Ingredients: 2 cups sugar 16 oz evaporated milk 1/2 cup milk 1 cup white corn syrup  1/4 Lb butter or 1 stick 1 cup nuts (optional) 1 tsp vanilla 1 pinch baking soda Directions: Cook first 4 ingredients together until it forms a ball, stirring non stop for 45 to 60 minutes or until the caramel leaves the sides of the pot. Drop a small amount into a cup of ice cold water, it should form a firm ball. Add next 4 ingredients or next 3 if you are not adding nuts. Pour into a buttered glass casserole dish. When cool cut and wrap in wax paper and store in a ziploc bag. If you do not wrap them they will get sticky very quickly. If you want to cover them in chocolate, cut them and put them in the refrigerator for a couple hours on a cookie sheet. Melt your chocolate and dip the caramels into the chocolate and return to cookie sheet and put it back in the refrigerator until chocolate has hardened Store i

  Preheat your oven to 400° Ingredients: 1 Cup butter 1/2 Cup sugar 1/4 tsp salt 2 Cups sifted flour 1 tsp Vanilla 2 Cups chopped pecans Powdered sugar for rolling  Directions: Cream butter and sugar. Mix in salt, vanilla and flour gradually  Roll into small balls and place on cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper) Bake 10 to 12 minutes Roll balls in powdered sugar while they are still hot and then roll them again in the sugar after they have cooled down.

  Ingredients: 1 prepared box or homemade white cake mix Food coloring in desired colors you want Cups for as many colors you chose Spoons (I like to use butter knives or a frosting spatula) for mixing Directions: Pour even amounts of cake mix into the cups. Mix in food coloring to each cup and make sure they are all mixed well. Line your cupcake pan with liners and spoon the color you want on the bottom first into each liner Continue with each of the colors until 3/4 full Bake as recipe requires and voila!sweets

Preheat your oven to 250° Ingredients: 4 Tbs butter or margarine 1 Lb pecans (halved) 1 Cup white sugar 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon Directions:  Grease one baking sheet or cover with parchment paper Put the butter in a small mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add pecans to butter, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375° Ingredients: 1 Cup Bisquick mix 1 Cup milk 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 Cup sugar 1 Tbs melted butter 2 Tbs not melted butter 1 29 oz can sliced peaches or more if you like a lot of peaches Directions: Mix together Bisquick, milk, melted butter and cinnamon  In separate bowl mix sugar and peaches You can either pour the peaches in the glass dish first or the batter first, I like to put the peaches in first and spoon the batter over the peaches. Cut the remaining un melted 2 Tbs of butter into cubes and place on top of cobbler all over.  Bake for 50-60 minutes

  Ingredients: 2 Cups Skippy peanut butter 2 Cups sugar 1/4 Cup water Directions: In a pot, mix sugar and water and bring to a boil. Let sugar water boil for 2 minutes Add peanut butter to a small cake pan Pour sugar water into the peanut butter and mix quickly Let cool and serve

  Preheat your oven to 350° Ingredients:  1/2 Cup sugar 1/4 Cup butter 1 Cup light corn syrup 1/4 tsp salt 3 Eggs 1 Cup pecans or more if you like 1 Pie crust Directions: Cream sugar and butter Add syrup and salt Mix well then beat in eggs, one at a time. Add pecans Pour into 9 inch pie crust and bake for 1 hour, 10 minutes or until a stuck knife comes out clean.

  Ingredients: 3 Cups flour 1 Tbs sugar 1/2 Cups shortening 1/2 tsp salt 5 Tbs water 1 Tbs vinegar  1 Egg Directions: Mix first 4 ingredients together   Add remaining ingredients and beat lightly to mix. Kneed dough and roll into a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight. Roll out and line your pie pan as desired.  This dough CAN be frozen

  Ingredients: 1 Cup grape juice 1 cup Your choice of flavor yogurt 4-5 ice cubes Add all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

  Ingredients: 1/2 oz Vodka 1/2 oz Tequila 2 oz 7Up 1/2 oz Blue Curacao  1/2 oz Gin 1/2 oz Rum 2 oz Sweet and sour mix Mix everything except for the 7Up together in a glass, top with 7Up and stir gently and enjoy

  Ingredients: 1/4 oz Goldschlager cinnamon schnapps 1/4 oz Butterscotch schnapps  1/4 oz Bailey's Irish cream 1/4 oz Jagermeister  Mix all together and enjoy 

  Ingredients: 1 oz Midori melon liqueur  1 oz sweet and sour mix 2 oz Sprite 2 maraschino cherries Mix together and enjoy

  Preheat your oven to 400° Ingredients: 2 1/2 Cups Bisquick mix 2/3 Cup milk 1/2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese 1 Tbs butter or margarine, softened 2 Tbs grated parmesan cheese I also sprinkled on some Kosher salt and parsley flakes on mine Directions: Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray or use parchment paper to line the sheet. In a large bowl, stir Bisquick, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Divide dough in half and roll one half into rectangle. Spread butter over the rectangle and sprinkle with parmesan cheese Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the dough into long strips.  Twist each strip as many times as possible then place on cookie sheet Bake 6-8 minutes or until light golden brown  Repeat with other half of dough

  Preheat your oven to 400° Ingredients: 2 cups flour 2 Tbs sugar 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 3 Tbs butter 3/4 cup milk 1 cup brown sugar 3 tsp cinnamon Directions: For the filling, in a small bowl combine softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to form a crumbly mixture put in fridge until you get to the 6th step. In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt Cut in softened butter (sometimes your hands are the best tools). Stir in milk to form a soft dough. Roll out dough on a lightly floured into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the remaining filling on the rolled out dough then roll up again. (Small ones should look like that in the next step).  Roll up the rectangle, with a sharp knife slice into 18 small rolls (12 if you want them a little bigger) Bake for 20-25 min  For glaze, combine powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Once rolls are finished, drizzle on glaze and serve warm.

 Preheat oven to 400° Ingredients: 3/4 Cup butter 3/4 Cup milk 1 3/4 Cup flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 Cup sugar 1 Egg 1 Cup blueberries  Directions: Cream together butter and sugar Add milk and egg, beat until smooth Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder in separate bowl Add wet and dry mixtures together and mix until well moistened Toss blueberries in 1 Tbs flour, fold blueberries into batter carefully. Fill lined muffin tins with mix and bake for 20-22 minutes

   Preheat oven to 375° Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter 3/4 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 2 1/4 cups flour 3/4 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips Directions: Melt butter and let cool slightly. Whisk or use a mixer to mix the sugars,eggs, butter and vanilla until smooth. Mix flour, salt and soda in a different bowl. Mix both wet and dry mix together well then stir in chocolate chips. Spoon scoops onto cookie sheet (lines with parchment paper so the bottoms don't burn) Bake for 12 - 16 minutes

  This recipe is for cake decorators who are tired of spending lots of money on gross tasting fondant. This Fondant is very easy to work with and tastes good too. This is a very messy recipe though so make sure you have a clean work space with a sink and towels near by. Ingredients:  16 oz mini marshmallows (store brand works best for me) 2-5 Tbs water 2 lbs C&H powdered sugar (SIFTED) 1/2 cup Crisco shortening  Directions: Place mms (marshmallows) and 2 Tbs (more if the weather is dry) water, in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between until the mms are all melted. If you want to color your fondant all one color this is the best and easiest time to do it, pour desired food coloring into melted mms and mix well. If you want multiple colors of fondant, do not mix any coloring, wait until your fondant is done and mix the coloring into the finished fondant.  Grease your counter top and hands generously with shortening. Pour a pile of th

M   You can use this recipe to make breakfast, dessert or savory dinner crepes. Ingredients: 1 Cup flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 Cup Milk 3 eggs 2 Tbs melted butter Directions: Whisk together flour and salt. Mix in milk Add in eggs one at a time then add in melted butter Add in flour mix and mix until smooth. Heat a pan with a small amount of oil just enough to make the crepes not stick while cooking.  Pour a small amount of the mix into the middle of the pan and immediately lift the pan and angle it in circular motions to spread the mix into an even circle. It should be thin and large. The edges will begin to lift when it is ready to flip. Flip and continue to cook for about 30 seconds. Serve hot with fruit, mousse or meat filling.     I like to fill ours for breakfast with a long slice of banana topped with brown sugar, rolled then topped with syrup.  For a savory crepe trying pulled pork. They are amazing!

  Preheat oven to 375° Ingredients: 1 can cream of mushroom (I use cream of chicken because my kids like it better) 1 cup water 3/4 cup long grain uncooked rice 1/4 tsp paprika 1/4 tsp or less pepper 1/2 tsp salt 4 boneless chicken breasts Frozen mixed vegetables 1/2 cup cheddar cheese Directions: Mix soup, vegetables, rice, water, paprika, salt, and pepper in a 2 qt. baking dish. Place chicken on top of mix and season with more paprika salt and pepper. Bake for 35 minutes then remove from the oven sprinkle top with cheese and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes. For a total bake time of 45 minutes

  Ingredients: 1/2 head red cabbage 1/2 Cup vegetable oil 1/2 Cup plus 2 tsp red wine vinegar 3 Tbs white sugar 2 tsp salt 1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 3/4 tsp onion powder Directions: Shred the half of the half head of cabbage finely and the other half coarsely. Set aside in a large bowl Whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, salts, black pepper and onion powder very well. Toss the cabbage with the dressing then scoop the salad and all remaining liquid into a ziplock bag or a covered container and refrigerate at least 48 hours or until cabbage turns a deep red color.  This recipe tastes even better 4 or 5 days after it has been made.