Black Homemade Licorice

Thought I'd share our recipe for homemade licorice. It comes from good friend Robynne.

1. Melt 2 sticks (1 cup) of butter in 3 qt or larger pan
Add 2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Heat to boiling, keep stirring. Keep at a slow boil. It will turn a brownish caramel color. Don’t let scorch.


2. Add 1 bottle anise oil flavoring and 1/2 a container black food color paste or gel AFTER soft ball state is reached on a candy thermometer.

3. Pour into a 9” x 13” well buttered pan.

4. Cool 2 hours before cutting with pizza cutter. Wrap individual pieces in wax paper

Baked Carmel Corn

This recipe comes from my mom.

Mix together, stirring constantly until boiiling:
1 cup butter, melt in 3 qt. dutch oven
2 cup. brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup

Boil 5 minutes without stirring.

Remove from heat, stir in
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Pour over 6 qts. popped corn, add nuts if desired. Mix well spread in 2 lined or buttered jelly roll pans.

Bake 1 hour at 250°. Stir every 15 minutes. Cool.

Maple Chiffon Cake

This cake and frosting are light and fragrant.

One 10" tube pan. (Angel food cake pan.)

1. Beat 1 cup (about 8) egg whites with wire whisk. When foamy add 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar. Continue beating at high speed until very stiff. Transfer to a large glass or metal bowl.

2. In mixer bowl, beat:
2 1/2 cups flour (1/2 pastry whole wheat, 1/2 unbleached)
2 5/8 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup brown sugar

3. Add to mixer bowl in order, scrape bowl sides if needed. Mix well.
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup real maple syrup
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup cold water

4. Pour batter over stiff egg whites. Fold gently.

5. Pour into ungreased pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour. Cake should spring back when touched lightly. Invert and cool completely.

Golden Butter Frosting
1. Melt 1/2 cup unsalted butter in saucepan over low heat until golden brown. Remove from heat.

2. Place 4 cups powdered sugar in mixer bowl. Beat in butter. Add 1 tsp. maple flavoring. Blend in cream until spreading consistency, about 1/4 cup.

3. Frost top and sides of cooled cake.

Easy & Fast Chicken Quesadillas

Take 1 can of canned chicken, drained and mix with Picante Sauce. I use about 3/4 as much Picante Sauce as I do chicken.

Finely shred Colby/Jack cheese. You want 1/2 to 1 cup for each quesadilla you make.

2 flour tortillas per quesadilla

Heat skillet on about medium. Put a small amount of olive oil in the skillet. Layer tortilla, cheese, chicken/picante mix, cheese, tortilla. When tortillas starts to brown. Flip. I use a spatula. Toast/brown the other side. Cheese should melt. Adjust heat to prevent over-browning of tortillas before cheese melts. Drain on paper towels if needed.

Raspberry Sherbet

Tastes like late summer–sweet and slightly creamy! Wonderful at the end of a warm day.

Put ice cream canister in the freezer to chill.

Put 4 cups fresh raspberries, 1 1/2 cups water, and 2 cups sugar (or use a natural substitute) in a saucepan and cook, not boil, for at least 5 minutes. You want softened berries.

Puree in the blender. You may seive to remove seeds if you like. Cool.

Add 2 egg whites to puree in mixer bowl and beat until light. Fold in 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. Pour into ice cream canister. Add milk to the level needed for your individual ice cream maker.

Follow manufacturer's directions for freezing.

Clean Dishes in the Dishwasher

My dear daughter-in-law was having trouble getting clean dishes in her dishwasher. She asked me for some suggestions since her's is similar to mine. She had already seen me take the vent apart and clean the gunk out of it and had tried this.

We decided that she has extremely hard water and because she was having bits of food left on her glasses that her water was not wet enought.

First she tried running some white vinegar through to clean out the tubes and help get rid of mineral deposits. Next, she changed how she was adding the soap and dishes. No more rinsing everything off the plates. A appliance repair man had told me to not fill the main soap dispenser all the way. Only fill it about 3/4ths (even with our hard water). But to put a small amount in the pre-wash dispenser. The newer dishwashers are designed to bounce that first bit of soap around to cause a chain reaction. The bouncing bits of soap will ricochet around causing all the food to come off the dishes. She is thrilled with clean dishes coming out of her dishwasher.

Peach Sherbet

Last summer I made Raspberry Sherbet from fresh raspberries using this recipe: http://www.brm-icecream.com/rasblc.htm It was very yummy. This weekend for daughter-in-law's birthday I adapted the recipe and made Peach Sherbet using some of my home-canned peaches.

Makes almost 1 gallon

Drain a quart jar of peaches. Put in saucepan with 2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water. Cook for 5 minutes.

Puree fruit mixture in blender. Be careful the mixture is hot!

In large mixer bowl blend 1 cup heavy cream and 2 egg whites into fruit mixture.

Pour into ice cream maker. Add milk to reach the fill line. Process sherbet following the ice cream maker’s instructions.