Oogie Boogie Double Chocolate Dirt Cake

Lucas requested this cake for his special meal, and it turned out to be a huge, tall heavy cake, but wasn't super moist. I am going to document some things here to help make it more moist the next time, but it was still really good, the frosting was excellent, and it would be totally worth it to make this cake again for Halloween or to feed a crowd. The chocolate frosting, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate-filled Oreos and gummy worms make it absolutely revolting to look at, but delicious to taste.

Oogie Boogie Double Chocolate Dirt Cake

Ingredients:

For the Chocolate Mocha Cake:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee
• 6 oz dark chocolate, chopped
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 stick butter at cool room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

For the Chocolate Frosting:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 6 Tbl butter at cool room temperature
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

For the Toppings:

• 1 1/2 cups crushed Oreos (chocolate filled, or white filling removed)
• chocolate sprinkles
• 12 gummy worms (or so)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray at 9x13 pan with nonstick spray. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, combine coffee and chocolate. Mix until smooth. If coffee is not hot enough, microwave in 15-30 second intervals until you can combine the coffee and chocolate until smooth. Sift your cocoa powder into the coffee mixture and whisk together. Add the buttermilk and whisk again. Set aside to cool.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a beater attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, oil, and salt on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in vanilla, then add the chocolate mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and fold in until just combined or even leaving a few small streaks of flour in the batter which will get combined in as you pour the batter and spread it out into your baking dish. 
4. Once your batter is poured evenly into your baking dish, bake for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting and decorating.

To Make the Frosting:

1. Into the clean bowl of the stand mixer, sift together powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add butter and mix on low until mixture is crumbly. Beat in milk, vanilla and salt on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy. Scrape down sides of the bowl and mix again.
2. Spread frosting over the cake, sprinkle with cookies crumbs, sprinkles (if desired), and gummy worms.

Marsha's Notes:

Can you see how dry this cake looks?

It was delicious, but dry. So I read on the Internet where you can sub butter in a recipe for oil and get moister results, so in the future I can try to sub out that stick of butter and instead use 1/2 cup oil (in addition to the oil already in the recipe).

It is also highly recommended that you don't overmix or overbake your cake (which I don't think I did...) and to use room temperature ingredients (which I did), so those are good tips but won't help me with this recipe.

Other suggestions are to add some sour cream (maybe start with 1/2 cup), an extra egg, and some of a pudding mix (or all of a mix, if you feel adventurous). If I try these, I will return and report. I put this in bold so I am more likely to remember to add these to my ingredients when shopping.

It is also suggested that you pour your batter into a larger pan so you can bake your cake faster and then might lose less moisture in the baking process, so I might try pour this cake batter into my largest baking pan (more like a 15x11) the next time.

Last recommendation is to bake at a lower temperature, which would take longer but I guess is more gentle on the cake and the moisture.

Six Sister's Stuff Easy Pan Butter Biscuits Recipe

 After making crepes for Valentine's Day, this biscuit recipe used up the rest of the buttermilk in the house for us, and everyone LOVED them. Lots of butter, so not very healthy, but oh so good!

See the original recipe here: https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/easy-pan-butter-biscuits-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-130873

Easy Pan Butter Biscuits

Ingredients:

• ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ Tablespoons baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 1¾ cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Slice the butter into a couple of thin slices and spread in the bottom of an 8×8" baking dish.
3. Place the butter in the baking dish into the oven while it preheats to allow the butter to melt.
4. In a mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
5. Carefully pour in the buttermilk, mixing until the flour mixture is just moistened (be careful not to overmix!).
6. Remove melted butter pan from the oven.
7. Place the dough in the melted butter pan and spread it evenly in the pan with your fingers. As you spread the dough out to the corners, the butter will start to surround the dough and flow on top of the dough (which is what you want!).
8. Cut the dough into 9 equal squares (you don't have to do this step, but it makes it easier to pull apart later and allows the butter to soak into all the edges of each piece).
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes (start checking at 20 minutes) or until the biscuits are golden brown.
10. Serve hot with honey butter or your favorite toppings.

Fudgy Chocolate Layer Cake

 Lucas made this cake for his birthday and it turned out really yummy!

Fudgy Chocolate Layer Cake

Ingredients: 

• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 cups whipping cream
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour two 9 in. round cake pans.  
2. In saucepan, melt butter and chocolate, stirring over low heat.  
3. Combine flour, sugar, coca, baking soda and salt in large bowl of electric mixer.  Add chocolate mixture, buttermilk and eggs.  Beat on low speed for 1 minute, increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  
4. Divide batter between cake pans.  
5. Bake until cakes spring back when gently pressed, 25-30 minutes.  Cool in pans 5 minutes, then invert onto wire rack.  
6. Meanwhile, bring cream just to a boil, remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips.  Mix until frosting is smooth and start to thicken.  
7. Place 1 cooled layer on cake plate.  Spread with 1/3 cup frosting.  Top with second layer.  Frost top and side of cake with remaining frosting.

Easy Drop Biscuits

I saw this recipe from Mom On Timeout pop up on my Facebook newsfeed and gave it a try. EVERYONE in my family LOVED it! We were using up some buttermilk that I had in the fridge and it was enough to treat my family to fresh biscuits for three nights in a row. YUM, YUM! See the original recipe here: https://www.momontimeout.com/drop-biscuits/

Easy Drop Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar optional
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup COLD butter
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Line a quarter sheet baking pan with parchment or grease a 10 inch cast iron skillet with butter and set aside.
3. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 
4. Use a pastry cutter to cut cold butter into flour mixture. Don't go too crazy here - you want to see small, pea-sized pieces of butter throughout the dough. (Alternatively, grate the butter and stir into the dry ingredients making sure the better does not clump together.)
5. Add in the buttermilk and egg and stir just until the ingredients are combined. The dough will be sticky but don't keep working it. You should be able to see the butter pieces in the dough.
6. Scoop out the biscuit dough using a large trigger scoop (ice cream scoop) OR use two spoons to scoop out the dough and place it on the prepared baking sheet or skillet.
7. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.
8. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter if desired.

Tips for the Best Drop Biscuits

The secret to excellent biscuits is COLD BUTTER. Really cold. Many times the biscuit dough gets worked so much that the butter softens before the biscuits even go in the oven. Try cutting the butter into small pieces and stick back in the fridge or freezer pulling out only when ready to incorporate into the dough.

Don’t overwork the dough. Just mix until all the ingredients are combined. You want to see the butter in the dough.

Preheat the oven so it’s ready to go when you are. If the biscuits sit out at room temperature waiting for the oven to preheat, the butter will warm up and you won’t get flaky biscuits.

Marsha's Notes:

I used a cold stick of butter straight from the fridge and grated it with my Salad Shooter directly into the dough. Super easy! Also, baking the biscuits in a cast iron skillet makes a wonderful crunchy crust on the bottom that everyone loved. Lastly, just work the dough until all the dry flour no longer collects on the bottom of the bowl and is fully incorporated into the dough, but not much longer than that before shaping into six biscuits and placing them in your skillet. I used my hands to mix the dough. The key is to work fast, don't let your butter get too hot (especially from the heat of your hands), and don't overwork the dough.

Spiced Peach Bread

I found this recipe and printed if off in the Fall, but I am just now getting around to making it. It sounded like something that Scott would LOVE, so I just had to get to it eventually. And I was right! He said he would be asking for it over and over again. To see the original recipe, go here: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/spiced-peach-bread-recipe/

Spiced Peach Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature (you can also use extra large eggs)
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour (you can also use all purpose flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
• 2 cups diced peaches, skin on. For me this was 3 smallish peaches.
• 1 tsp coarse sparkling sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F Lightly butter a 9x5 loaf pan and line it with parchment paper with long ends so you can lift the bread out later for glazing and slicing.
2. Put the brown sugar and butter into a stand mixer and cream until light and fluffy ~ a full 5 minutes. Make sure to get all the lumps out of the sugar.
3. Beat in each of the eggs, one by one, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next one. Continue beating for another 2-3 minutes. The batter will be light and fluffy.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices and add to the mixer, alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Finish mixing by hand, to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed, but don't over beat. Fold in the peaches.
5. Turn the batter into your prepared pan. Spread out evenly, and sprinkle the top lightly with sparkling sugar. You can use regular granulated or raw sugar if you like.
6. Bake on the center rack for 50-55 minutes, or until fully risen and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it (moist crumbs are fine.)
7. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove, using the parchment paper handles. You can slice while it's still warm, or wait for it to cool.
8. If you don't have cake flour you can use regular all purpose flour, or make your own cake flour: to make a cup of cake flour take a cup of regular flour and remove 2 tablespoons, replacing it with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.  Sift everything together twice.

Author's Notes:

They can take a while to cook because the batter is thick and the shape of the pan is deep and narrow. Give it the time it needs to get that all important center cooked through.  I will very often place a loose sheet of foil over the top of the bread towards the end of cooking so the crust doesn’t get too brown before it’s had a chance to completely cook through.

The toothpick test isn’t always accurate…use visual cues, too.  If the center is not fully risen, or is sunk down, keep cooking.  If you see wet batter in the cracks on the top of the bread, let it go a little longer.

Marsha's Notes:

I used peach fruit cups for my fruit and needed about six of them (drained). I also baked mine for about 50-55 minutes but needed to tent the loaf with foil after about 20-30 minutes to prevent over browning. Also, a 1/2 pt. of buttermilk is a cup, so you only need half of the carton. If you want to use the whole thing, then you might try doubling the recipe and making two loaves and freezing the second, except it makes a fairly large amount so that could start to get hard to mix in the mixer. I'll have to report back later if I ever try that. Also, I used my bigger metal loaf pans. This amount of batter would not have fit in my smaller glass pans. 

Buttermilk Oven-"Fried" Chicken

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Buttermilk Oven-“Fried” Chicken

Ingredients:

• 6 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cups buttermilk
• Melted butter
• ½ cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp granulated garlic

Directions:

1. Soak chicken in milk in a large bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. 
2. Spray a large baking dish or sheet with non-stick spray. Set aside. 
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
4. Brush butter over the bottom of the baking dish. 
5. Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, paprika and garlic together in large zipper-style plastic bag. 
6. Add one milk-soaked piece of chicken to the seasoned flour and shake well to dredge. 
7. Place the dredged chicken in the baking dish and repeat with remaining chicken and flour mixture. 
8. Bake the chicken for 10 minutes, turn it over and bake an additional 10 minutes or until cooked through.

Killer Buttermilk Biscuits

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Killer Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour, or cake flour
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup shortening
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup or more flour, for rolling
• 2 Tbl melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  
2. Butter a 9 inch pan.  
3. Place the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and with a paddle attachment mix in the shortening until pea sized pieces remain.  
4. With a wooden spoon, stir in the cream, milk and buttermilk and let sit 2 minutes.  The dough should be very wet and look like cottage cheese.
5. Now, you can either pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until done (brush them with the 2 Tbl. melted butter after they are done) and cut into squares to serve… 
6. OR you can form individual biscuits by using the 1 cup flour for rolling.  Place the flour in a cake pan with walls.  Take one scoop of batter out at a time and place in the flour.  Gently toss the biscuit around in the flour and place the coated pieces in the prepared pan, starting round the edge of the pan, packing tightly, and moving towards the center.  Again, bake for 15-20 minutes, or until done and brush with melted butter once you remove them from the oven.

Grandma Hall's Never Fail Chocolate Cake

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Grandma Hall’s Never Fail Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour 
• 2 cups sugar 
• 2 tsp. soda
• ½ cup cocoa 
• Dash salt 
• 1 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup hot water or coffee
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Sift together flour, sugar, soda, cocoa and salt.  
2. Then add oil, eggs, buttermilk, water, and vanilla.  
3. Mix well and bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Cafe Rio Copy Cat Recipes

On the recommendation of Scott's sister, I think, we found these fun Cafe Rio copy cat recipes on Favorite Family Recipes. All of them are pretty good, and you can tweak them to your liking. Enjoy!

Cafe Rio's Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans

Ingredients: 

For the Rice:

• 1 cup rice uncooked, long-grain, white rice
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon lime juice freshly squeezed
• 15 ounces chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lime juice freshly squeezed
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons cilantro fresh chopped

For the Black Beans:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 14 ounces black beans rinsed and drained
• 1 1/3 cups tomato juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cilantro fresh chopped

Directions:

For the Rice:

1. In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 teaspoon lime, chicken broth and water. 
2. Bring to a boil. 
3. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. 
4. Remove from heat. 
5. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. 
6. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.

For the Black Beans:

1. In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. 
2. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. 
3. Continually stir until heated through. 
4. Just before serving stir in the cilantro.

Cafe Rio's Cilantro Ranch Dressing 

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch mix TRADITIONAL not BUTTERMILK
• 1 c. mayonnaise
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 2 tomatillos remove husk, diced
• 1/2 bunch cilantro fresh
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 lime juiced
• 1 jalapeno

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients in to a blender. 
2. Blend until smooth. 
3. Let sit overnight to thicken or add sour cream. Serve as a dressing over salad or as a dip for veggies and chips.

Cafe Rio's Tortilla Soup 

Ingredients:

• 1 onion diced
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like it spicier)
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 5 c. chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro finely chopped
• 1/2 lime juiced pepper to taste
• 14 oz pinto beans 1 can, drained and rinsed
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp. taco seasoning
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• vegetable oil to taste
• pico de gallo 
• 2 avocados diced
• 2 c. pepper jack cheese
• tortilla strips 
• cilantro for garnish
• lime wedges for garnish

Directions:

1. In a small skillet, saute onion in 1 Tbsp. oil until onions become slightly soft. 
2. Stir in cumin, cayenne, and chili powder and saute an additional minute or two. 
3. Transfer seasoned onions to a small crock pot (or medium-sized saucepan). 
4. Add chicken broth, cliantro, lime juice, pepper and pinto beans to onions and simmer on low-heat for at least 2-3 hours. 
5. In the meantime (when you are close to serving), combine taco seasoning and paprika. 
6. Brush chicken with oil and rub with taco seasoning/paprika mixture. 
7. Grill chicken over medium-heat until cooked through (try to turn only once during the grilling process). 
8. Remove from grill and shred. 
9. In individual bowls layer chicken, about 1/3 c. pico de gallo, 1/3 c. diced avocado, and 1/3 c. pepper jack cheese. 
10. Ladle about 1 cup of chicken broth directly over the layers. 
11. Top with tortilla strips and garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

Six Sister's Stuff; Red Velvet Crepes

Valentine's Day has come and gone, but I just had to share the great recipe we tried for breakfast on Valentine's morning; Red Velvet Crepes! I saw this recipe in my Facebook feed (if you haven't "liked" Six Sister's Facebook page, you need to!!!) and just had to try it. I made up my own recipe for the filling and added strawberries, and it turned out fantastic. I am including my filling recipe and some helpful tips at the bottom.

Red Velvet Crepes

Ingredients:

• 1½ cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1½ cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• dash of salt

Directions:

1. In a medium size bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar until fully combined.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, milk, egg, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, food coloring, salt, and butter until well combined.
3. Pour the liquids into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
4. Whisk together the wet and dry ingredients until well combined and there are only a few small bumps.
5. The mixture should be pretty smooth and not thick like pancake batter. If it is too thick, add a tablespoon or two of milk.
6. Grease a medium small skillet, and pour about a ¼ cup of the crepe mixture into the pan.
7. Circulate the pan so the batter spreads evenly across.
8. Place back on the burner and cook for about 30 seconds on each side.
9. Serve with cream cheese, whipped cream, Nutella, chocolate sauce, strawberries, or powdered sugar.

Marsha's Filling

Ingredients:

Cream Filling:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened (1/2 a brick)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2-1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 carton Cool-Whip

Strawberries:

• Fresh strawberries, washed, stemmed, sliced
• Granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in Cool-Whip. Set aside.
2. Mix sliced strawberries with enough granulated sugar to sweeten and bring out the juices (amount will vary depending on how many berries you want to use, but just sprinkle some over the top and gently toss to coat). Set aside.

Marsha's Notes:

For juicier strawberries, you will want to let them sit for awhile, so either prepare them the day before or very first thing before you make your crepe batter.

The filling recipe is also great as a fresh fruit dip. If you want to use a whole brick of cream cheese and a whole tub of Cool-Whip just to not have left-overs, that is fine, but it makes a  LOT!

This crepe recipe makes quite a few crepes at approximately 1/4 cup of batter per crepe. So, unless you have multiple pans to cook several crepes at once, I was standing at the stove for like an hour to cook all my batter. We have a family of five, and right now my kids can be a little picky about anything new, so we ended up with maybe half of the crepes left. When they get older, I am sure my boys will be able to practically finish off the entire batch, but for now, I think I will do a half batch next time and save myself the leftovers and some time in the kitchen cooking.

However, the leftovers store and freeze great, if you separate each crepe with a piece of wax paper. I had two for breakfast again this morning, and they were still great! Chewier if you microwave them (only ten seconds to warm back up), but they would heat up really nicely and fast in a toaster oven or standard oven in a matter of a minute or so.

Crepes are ready to flip over when the top of the crepe starts to appear "dry" and the edges are starting to crisp. Once flipped, since the crepe is already mostly cooked, it only takes a few seconds on the second side to be done. The instructions say 30 seconds per side, but I found it to be more like a minute or two on the first side and 15-30 seconds on the second. If you try to flip them too soon, they are too delicate, doughy, and unstable to easily flip. I cooked my crepes at the "4" setting on my "10" setting stove, so just under halfway up the temperature allowance. Also, if you make crepes very much, you will often hear that the first crepe is the "throw-away" crepe that tempers the pan for you for future crepes, so don't be afraid to toss the first one if it looks funny and know that the rest will probably be better.

Also, when you are a few seconds away from flipping, I run my spatula around the outer edge of the crepe to loosen it from the pan. This helps release the crepe from the pan so it doesn't tear.

Lastly, this recipe calls for melted butter in the batter rather than putting some butter directly in the pan a little at a time to help the crepes not stick. I had mixed results from this. First of all, the cold milk made the butter reharden into clumps in my batter, but they were tiny and immediately melted when the batter hit the pan and weren't problematic, but they just seemed odd during the batter making/scooping process to have these little hard bits floating around. I don't know if I will make the batter the exact same way again next time, or if I will try to add the butter very last thing, maybe after some of the other ingredients have lost their chill to see if it incorporates better, or if I will just add the butter directly to the pan, or just use non-stick spray instead.

Allrecipes.com Irresistible Irish Soda Bread

*This bread is recommended to sit over night before serving.

Here is my next St. Patrick's Day recipe that I tried. It was this delicious Irish soda bread that was super tender and almost cake-like in consistency. It comes together like a banana bread, in that you don't add yeast and knead the dough, let it raise, blah, blah, blah. You just whip up the batter, pour it into the pan, and away you go. Because of that, if you start thinking "banana bread" then you need to know that this is more of a savory bread that I felt went really well with the Irish potato soup recipe (although, not for dunking in the soup because it was to tender for that). It also has a savory taste because it uses buttermilk.

Really yummy and super good paired with the soup. I think we will be making this next Saint Patrick's Day! Again, I am not sure what makes this bread "Irish", but it was delicious!

Here is the link to the original recipe, but I am going to post it below too:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/irresistible-irish-soda-bread/detail.aspx

They also have a video to show you how to make it here:

http://allrecipes.com/video/1066/irresistible-irish-soda-bread/detail.aspx?prop24=RD_VideoTipsTricks

Irresistible Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbl. baking powder
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups butter milk (1 pint + 1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cups butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Blend egg and buttermilk together, and add all at once to the flour mixture. Mix just until moistened. Stir in butter. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Wrap in foil for several hours, or overnight, for best flavor.

Marsha's Notes:

I tried to put the batter in one of my glass loaf pans the first time and I could see that it was going to raise and spill over the pan, making a mess in my oven. So I switched to my larger dark loaf pans and it worked out perfectly! I also bought a pint of buttermilk at the store, thinking it looked like 2 cups worth, but in the end it was 1/4 cup short. I just added 1/4 cup regular milk to the buttermilk to make up the difference and it turned out just great.

Top Secret Recipes' "IHOP" Corn Cake Pancakes

I love cornbread cakes, and this copy-cat recipe for IHOP is fantastic!  The picture came from the IHOP website, but the recipe came in my inbox when I subscribed to the free mailing list from Top Secret Recipes.  The recipes are only free for a little while, so you have to snatch them up quick.

"IHOP" Corn Cake Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat a large skillet or griddle to medium/low heat. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, blend eggs and sugar with electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add milk, buttermilk, and melted butter. Mix well. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with your mixer until smooth. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes. 
2. Spray skillet with non-stick spray. Spoon ¼ cup portions of the batter onto the griddle and cook for 2-3 minutes per side or until brown. Serve pancakes hot with butter and maple syrup on the side. Can freeze leftovers. Makes 16-18 cakes.