Made in the U.S.A.

          When I find something I like, I like to share it with others.  I get excited over fun and unique products that are made in the U.S.A.  My husband actually found this and bought it for me; it is a metal water bottle with a mass transmit map of the subways in Boston.  He knew how much I would love a reminder of my time living in Boston and my adventures on the trains.  I thought it was such a neat idea that I looked the company up online--Liberty Bottle Works.  Not only did I love that the bottle is a U.S.A. product, Liberty is actually the only American maker of these metal water bottles.  The company has so many different designs, and I was truly impressed that they seek local artists to design the bottle art--I figured someone else might be just as excited about a water bottle!     

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease/flour a bundt pan.

Ingredient List:

1c. butter                    2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar                    2 t. baking powder
1 c. brown sugar         1/2 t. salt
1 c. peanut butter        1/2 c. milk
5 eggs                         1 t. vanilla
4 oz. baking chocolate
Chocolate chips
Peanut butter chips
For topping:  chocolate chips & peanut butter chips

*In large bowl, combine butter (melted), sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter.  Beat until mixture is smooth.  *Add eggs, continue beating after adding each egg. 
*In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
*Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the batter and blend it together.

 * Separate the batter into halves.  In one half, add peanut butter chips (I usually do about half a bag).
* Melt the baking chocolate in a double boiler.  Let it cool slightly before adding it to the other half of the batter, and add the chocolate chips to this half.
* Scoop the batter into the bundt pan in alternating sections.  Gently pull a butter knife through the sections to slightly swirl the flavors.
Bake until an inserted toothpick is removed cleanly.

This cake will take a while to bake (~an hour) because it is so thick, and even if the outer edges seem like they're getting darker than normal cakes, the inside is very moist and the whole cake is delicious.

For the topping, you can use any type of glaze or frosting.  I just melted chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and poured it over the top.

Easy Lemon Meringue Pie

I had never made a lemon meringue pie . . . or a meringue of any kind, so I was not expecting my first attempt to be successful, but it was!!!  My aunt requested this pie for Easter, and I found a recipe online and tweaked it slightly.  I used my own trusty pie crust recipe.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

My Pie Crust:

Combine 1 1/2 c. flour with 1/2 t. salt.  Cut in 1/2 c. of shortening until the mixture is well combined (coarse crumbs).  In a separate bowl, beat an egg and stir in 1/4 c. water and 1/2 t. white vinegar.  Add to the flour mixture and stir together (I also usually throw a couple teaspoons of vanilla in).  Knead the dough, roll it out, and put it in your pie pan.  Pre-bake the crust, but leave it slightly undercooked as it will go back in the oven with the pie-filling.

Pie Filling Ingredients:

1 c. sugar               2 T. butter

2 T. flour                4 egg yolks  

3 T. cornstarch       1 1/2 c. water

1/4 t. salt                2 lemons

1 t. lemon extract

Meringue Ingredients:

4 egg whites

6 T. sugar

1 t. lemon extract

*Squeeze the juice out of both lemons (watch out for the seeds), and zest both of the lemons.

*In a medium saucepan,  stir together the sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt, water, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon flavoring. 

*Heat slowly, continuously stirring until the mixture begins to boil.  Add the butter and keep stirring.  

*Put the egg yolks in a separate bowl, and add some of the heated sugar mixture to the egg yolks and stir then add the entire yolk mixture back into the sugar mixture.  

*Continue cooking until the mixture is nice and thick, then pour/spread into the pie shell.

*For the meringue, put the 4 egg whites in a bowl and beat until it is very foamy (I used my stand-mixer, put it on high, and let it go for about 10 minutes).  

*While beating, gradually add the 6 T. of sugar.  Keep whipping the egg whites and sugar until the mixture looks like whipped cream.  

* Mix in the lemon flavoring. 

*Spread over the top of the lemon mix in the pie shell and bake until the top of the meringue is golden brown (approximately 15 minutes).