Mom’s Oatmeal Chocolate Cake

Do you have some foods that, when you make them, transport you back to your mother’s kitchen table?
This is one for me.

Last night my Dad was in town, so we had him over for dinner, along with my brother and his wife and my sister and her husband.  I made this cake for them for dessert.

It’s so easy and so wonderful.

Start with 1 cup of oatmeal.
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Pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water over the oatmeal and let sit for 10 minutes.
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In another bowl (I decided to use my mixer), combine 1 cup brown sugar IMG_6298 (Large) 1 cup granulated sugar IMG_6300 (Large) 1 cup shortening IMG_6301 (Large) Add the oatmeal.
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Beat well.
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Add two eggs and beat well.
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Then add 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 Tablespoon cocoa, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt.
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Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
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Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan IMG_6307 (Large) Sprinkle the top of the cake with more chocolate chips and some chopped nuts (optional).
I used some pecans.
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Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool.
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Last night we served it with whipped cream on top.
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It’s delicious with ice cream, as well.  Or if you’re like me, you love it plain.
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Delicious!  And filled with happy memories of home.

Mom’s Oatmeal Chocolate Cake 1 cup oatmeal 1 1/2 cups boiling water 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 1 cup shortening 2 eggs 1 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1 Tb. cocoa 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/4 cup chocolate chips 1/4 cup chopped nuts Pour boiling water over oatmeal and let stand 10 minutes.   To the oatmeal, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and shortening.  Mix well.  Add the eggs and mix well.  Add flour, soda, salt and cocoa to the mixture.  Beat well.  Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.  Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup chocolate chips and nuts over top of cake.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  Cool and enjoy!

Homemade Cherry Ice Cream

I’ve been dreaming of homemade ice cream for a couple of weeks, and my wonderful husband gave me an ice cream maker for my birthday last week.  It’s small, compact, inexpensive, and makes up to 4 quarts!  So last night for dessert we made some homemade ice cream.

I know that most recipes call for egg yolks in them, but due to my pregnant state we decided to try a recipe without eggs.  Just to be safe.

Start with two cups of heavy whipping cream.  Pour into a mixing bowl.
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Then add one cup half and half.
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Next comes 3/4 cups sugar.
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Now stir until the sugar is dissolved.
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We then added one Tablespoon of vanilla and mixed again.
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We put some pitted cherries in a food processor to chop them up, IMG_6195 (Large) and added them to the cream mixture.
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So pretty!
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Then we poured the mixture into the canister.
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Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to attach the motor correctly.
Then layer with ice and rock salt and let the machine do it’s magic.
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When it’s finished, the machine should stop on its own.
We doubled the recipe and got about 3 quarts, and it took only 35 minutes.  Not too bad!
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Looks delicious!
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If you want to eat it right away, you can, but the ice cream is extremely soft.  We scraped ours into a container and put it in the freezer to harden a little bit more.
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The kids had a hard time with this step, but in the end we were glad.
Having the ice cream a little bit harder made it even better.

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Homemade Cherry Ice Cream
(you can substitute any kind of fruit for the cherries) 2 cups heavy whipping cream 1 cup half and half 3/4 cup sugar 1 Tb. vanilla 2 cups fresh sweet cherries, washed and pitted ice and rock salt (if  your ice cream maker requires them) In mixing bowl, combine cream and half and half.  Add sugar and stir till dissolved.  Add 1 Tb. vanilla.
In blender or food processor, puree cherries.  Add to cream mixture.  Pour into ice cream canister.  Attach motor and add layers of ice and salt.  Freeze according to manufacturers directions.  When ice cream is finished, either enjoy or scrape into container to freeze and harden more.

Makes about 1- 1/3 quarts of ice cream.

Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert

Another birthday, another frozen dessert.  Hey, it’s summer and I’m pregnant.  I guess that baking cakes hasn’t been too high on my list.

This recipe is super quick and easy, but tastes great.  All you need are 24 ice cream sandwiches, a tub of cool whip (I know it’s not the real stuff, but consider how many fabulous no-bake treats call for it), nuts of your choice, and a jar of hot fudge sauce.  That’s it.  4 ingredients.  And about 10 minutes.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

Unwrap enough ice cream sandwiches to cover the bottom of a glass 9 x 13 inch pan.
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I usually have to cut one off a little bit for the last corner.  But that’s never been a problem because I usually have at least 7 volunteers clamoring to take care of the leftover piece.  I should say that I don’t usually use all 24 ice cream sandwiches, but my experience has been that they usually come in boxes of 12, so I buy 2 boxes and like I said, the leftovers get taken care of pretty quickly.
Next, warm up your hot fudge sauce just enough to make it spreadable and spread half of the jar over the ice cream sandwiches.
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Sprinkle some nuts over the chocolate.  Usually we like peanuts, but this time I decided to try chopped almonds for fun.  They ended up being yummy, too.  One person who tried it actually thought it was toffee, which made me think that you could use toffee instead, and it would taste great.
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Now spread half of the Cool Whip over the chocolate and nuts.
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Layer one is now assembled.  Just repeat for a second layer.
First ice cream sandwiches.
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Then hot fudge sauce.  I love the way it all starts dripping down inside the edges of the pan.
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More nuts.
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I should probably note here that my ten year old daughter grabbed the camera part way through the first layer and became the photographer for the remainder of the recipe.  And I must say, she did a pretty good job, especially considering that I didn’t bother to tell her what I was hoping for.

Back to the recipe.  Add one last layer of Cool Whip.
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We decided to drizzle some chocolate across the top since it was Dad’s birthday and we love him.
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Place in the freezer for a couple of hours and then serve.
This is a ridiculously simple recipe that my family has enjoyed for years.  I love that it can be assembled in minutes, and it’s also a great recipe for kids to help with.  And in case you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of recipes that can be prepped ahead of time.  Every time I serve it, people love it.
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Do you blame them?

Enjoy!

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