Camellias and Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

A walk to the mailbox had me enthralled with the blooming camellias, dotting the landscape. Their colors really brighten up the late winter garden. I picked a big handful and arranged them in a favorite vase.

Earlier in the day, I cleaned house, did a mountain of laundry while listening to albums I found last weekend at TBones in Hattiesburg.

After housework, I got in the kitchen and used up part of a cake mix to make cookie ice cream sandwiches.

If the egg is left out of the cake mix recipe, you can have cookies instead. Here’s what I did:

In a medium bowl,  I dumped in the cake mix ( I had about 3/4 of a box mix). I added about a 1/2 cup chocolate chips and a generous dash of cinnamon and ginger. Then I added 1/4 cup of brown sugar and stirred all the dry ingenious together to coat the chocolate chips well. Next, I stirred in half a stick of butter, melted, and enough water to bring everything together. I pressed the cookie dough into a 10 × 12 cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Then I baked it in a 350° oven till the top was golden – 15 minutes or so.

Then I took a round cutter and, well, cut out rounds. I figured this method would be the most consistent. 

I put a dollop of my favorite ice cream on one cookie and topped it with another. Repeating till I ran out of cookies, I then put them on a plate and placed them in the freezer to harden up. Each cookie sandwich was then stored in its own baggy and back into the freezer for individual snack time.

Note: Cool cookie completely before adding ice cream. I didn’t wait long enough, and the ice cream began to melt. Learn from my mistake.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen. 

Pepper Jelly and Easy Oatmeal Cookies

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

It has been a busy day in the Exile’s Kitchen. Fresh bell peppers were cored, blanched, shocked and placed in freezer bags for future meals.

Jalapeno peppers were made into jars of pepper jelly.

A simple recipe, here is what I did:

Finely chop 1 small red bell pepper. In a blender, puree 1 cup jalapeno peppers that have been seeded and deveined. Place both kinds of peppers in an 8 quart pot. Over medium high heat, add 1 1/2 cups white vinegar. Bring this to a boil and add a box of Sure-Jell. Stir in, gradually, 6 cups of white sugar and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Return mixture to a boil and add a few drops of pink food coloring, if you wish. Ladle into hot sterilized jars, seal with lids and waterbath process for 5 minutes. Remove from canner and wait for sound of the lids sealing. That delightful, happy pop is so satifying. I taste tested with a potato chip in place of cracker.

Next in the recipe line up was Easy oatmeal Cookies. This recipe makes a bunch, sure to fill up your favorite cookie jar.

Preheat oven to 350° and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a big mixer bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup lard, 1 egg and 1/2cup brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Add 1 yellow cake mix, 2 cups quick oats, 1/4 cup of dried craisins, raisins, salted sunflower seeds and pecans. Incorporate well. Using a cookie scoop, drop onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Using a small glass dipped into granulated sugar, gently press each cookie. These cookies spread a little, so don’t crowd them. Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, then move to a rack to finish cool.

Kitchen Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

April Cookie of the Month: Cake Mix Cookies

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

I said back in December, when I unpacked my cookie jar collection, that I would do a cookie of the month. Well, here goes the first recipe four months late:

Cake Mix Cookies

1 yellow cake mix ($1 aisle

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup Greek yogurt (all I had on hand was flavored)

1/4 cup corn oil

8 Hershey’s Miniatures broken up into small pieces

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 350°. Spray muffin top pans with vegetable spray and set aside.

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In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients. Form dough into balls (about 1 inch or so) and place one in each muffin space.

 

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With a fork, make a crisscross pattern

Place in your preheated oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

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Cool cookies in the pan for a couple of minutes, so they set up. These cookies are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Cool completely on wire wracks and then place in your favorite cookie jar. This recipe makes 2 1/2 dozen.

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I filled the jar that my oldest granddaughter Parker will get when she grows up and gets her first kitchen. The big strawberry came from Jeanie’s Antiques that was once in Osyka, Mississippi.

Parker is having a baby sister in June. I have been sewing every spare minute I can scrape together. Wednesday evening my 32 year old Dial and Sew sewing machine bit the dust. A trip to the store with the W on it, netted me a new Singer. Wow! is all I can say. Such a difference. I love the new machine and won’t miss the old one.

 

The see through bobbin cover is great; no more sewing nothing, when you’ve run out of bobbin thread,  but didn’t know it. It also has many decorative and monograming stitches to play with. The price was around $200. I am very pleased with it.

Grandmotherly blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.