Recipe: Lemon-Berry Syrup

Lemon-Berry Syrup (for those days you can't have lemon-filled donuts)

Ingredients:
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 c. Real Lemon juice
splash lime juice
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. water
2 T. strawberry jelly*

Mix cornstarch with lemon juice, lime juice, sugar and water until smooth. Warm using medium heat. Bring to a boil. Stir in jelly and remove from heat. Serve warm. Serves 5-6.

Cook's Note: This goes great on puffy pancakes. Here's a puffy pancake recipe similar to the one I use, although I don't use vanilla or cinnamon in the batter, and I add more melted butter. I'm sure you could fill doughnuts with this syrup as well--you may need to add 1-2 T. more of cornstarch. *I used Smucker's Natural Strawberry jam without High Fructose Corn Syrup so it isn't overly sweet.

What else might this be tasty with?

Crispy Crunchy Caramel Corn

Kids will love this fun combo of caramel corn and rice crispy treats.

Ingredients:
2 bags microwave popcorn, popped
1 stick butter
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. karo syrup
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. baking soda
2 c. rice krispies
2 c. miniature marshmallows

Instructions:
1. Put popcorn in very large bowl, and removed unpopped kernels.
2. Melt butter, sugars, and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute and remove from heat. Add vanilla and baking soda. Stir well.
3. Pour caramel sauce over popcorn and stir to coat. Add rice krispies and stir to coat. Add marshmallows and mix one last time.
4. Devour with reckless abandon.

Cook's Note: I'm going to try adding a few cups of small pretzels next time.

Recipe: Spicy Buffalo Chicken Dip

16 oz. cooked chicken (shredded) or canned chicken
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 - 1/2 c. ranch dressing (I prefer the lesser amount)
1/3 c. "Frank's Original Hot Sauce"--no substitutions
Bag of your favorite tortilla chips

Crockpot directions:
Combine all ingredients in a crockpot and heat on low, stirring every 10-15 minutes until dip is warm (may take 45 minutes depending on your crockpot). Set temp on "warm" when serving at parties.
 
Microwave directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, preferably glass. Heat in microwave on high for 3 minutes or until mixture is heated evenly. Stir halfway through heating time.


Serve with tortilla chips.

Recipe: Helen Wride's "Long Johns" Maple Bars

"Long Johns" Maple Bars / Doughnuts

Dough Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 t. salt
2 packages yeast
2 c. warm water
7-8 c. sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and salt. Sprinkle yeast over warm water. When dissolved add to sugar mixture and knead in flour to make a soft dough. Let rise until doubled. Roll 1/4-inch thick. Cut for bars or doughnuts, let rise approximately one hour. Fry in fat 370 degrees. Drain.

Maple Frosting for Long Johns 

Frosting Ingredients:
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 t. maple flavoring (or mapleine)
1 c. sifted powdered sugar

Also can use powdered sugar frosting flavored with mapleine.

Cook's note: You may want to half the recipe if you're not planning on feeding a whole Wride Tribe.