Tweet!: June 2008

Thursday, June 12, 2008

German Chocolate Cake Sandwich Cookies

My mother makes really good German chocolate cake from scratch. I mean really good. It's a complicated and many-stepped process, and she does it superbly. So it is with a touch of shame and embarrassment that I confess to never having made that particular kind of cake from scratch. I have made it from a purchased cake mix; in fact, I made a German chocolate cake from mix this past Memorial Day for a pitch-in and got some enthusiastic compliments on it. And, though it will never reach the glory of Mom's scratch recipe, my little mix cake (with purchased coconut pecan frosting, as well) did turn out pretty darn good. I was pleasantly surprised at the great texture (quite soft) and excellent flavor of the cake.

And since I had purchased two boxes of it on that occasion and only prepared one, I had an extra box of German chocolate cake mix lying around, and yesterday I decided I wanted to make some cookies out of it. I found several recipes online, most of which included chocolate chips and/or raisins -- and while I like both of these things, I did not want them in these particular cookies. I decided to use the recipe that follows, and I am glad I did. These cookies were super easy to make and so good. We will be making these again and again in this house.

Easy German Chocolate Cake Sandwich Cookies

1 (18.25 oz.) package German chocolate cake mix

2 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup shortening

1 (16 oz.) container coconut pecan frosting

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 C) and grease your cookie sheets.

Place cake mix, eggs, and shortening in a large bowl and mix until well combined.

Roll dough into balls of approximately 1 inch in diameter. Place them about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and bake 8 to 10 minutes.

Let cookies cool 4 or 5 minutes on sheet before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Place a generous spoonful of frosting on the bottom of one cookie, then place another cookie on top of frosting to make a sandwich.

Refrigerate any cookies not eaten the day they are made.

Yield: about 2 dozen sandwich cookies.

(I'm going to try this with butter next time instead of shortening, due to the whole "trans fat" thing.)

See a few more of my recipes.

Ponderables

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America needs to be a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons. (George H. W. Bush)

What is to give light must endure burning. (Viktor Frankl)

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. (Mother Teresa of Calcutta)

I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening. (Larry King)

Life stinks, but that doesn't mean that you don't enjoy it. (Dustin Hoffman)

There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. (Roger Staubach)

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. (Lao Tzu)

Every job is a self portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence. (unknown author)

Power is the ability to do good things for others. (Brooke Astor)

The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be. (Pete Seeger)

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. (Horace)

Being defeated is often only a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. (Marilyn vos Savant)

Life is like a ten speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use. (Charles Schulz)

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. (Frank Capra)

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. (Ralph W. Sockman)

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No one's head aches when he is comforting another. (Indian Proverb)

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Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement -- and we will make the goal. (Jerome P. Fleishman)

If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it. (Lucy Larcom)

One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. (Sigmund Freud)

Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it foregoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury. (Rev. E.H. Chapin)

The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination. (Don Williams, Jr.)

Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them. (John J. McCloy)

Dream your dream. Follow your heart. Imagine. Listen to the wind. Drink sunsets. Be free. Let the wonder never cease. Believe. Wish on EVERY star. Create adventure. Be kind. (Debbie Coulter )

As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey. (Thomas A. Edison)

The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world. (Democritus)

I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but stil lI can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do. (Helen Keller)

Rely on the ordinary virtues that intelligent, balanced human beings have relied on for centuries: common sense, thrift, realistic expectations, patience, and perseverance. (John C. Bogle)

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. (Woodrow Wilson)

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. (Helen Keller)

Every person in this life has something to teach me -- and as soon as I accept that, I open myself to truly listening. (Catherine Doucette)

If you have made mistakes ... there is always another chance for you ... you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down. (Mary Pickford)

The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. (Chinese proverb)

Dreams come in a size too big so that we may grow into them. (Josie Bisset)

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are... Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in my pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. (Mary Jean Iron)

For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us. (Donald Williams)

You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them. (Leroy "Satchel" Paige)

A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us. (Franz Kafka)

A book is a garden carried in the pocket. (Chinese proverb)

If there is no wind, row. (Latin Proverb )

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. (Albert Camus)

Strive to be first: first to nod, first to smile, first to compliment, and first to forgive. (author unknown)

Have you had a kindness shown? Pass it on; 'Twas not given for thee alone, Pass it on; Let it travel down the years, Let it wipe another's tears, 'Til in Heaven the deed appears - Pass it on. ” (Henry Burton)

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking. (Buddhist proverb)

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. (John F. Kennedy)

How is it that we remember the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not remember how often we have recounted it to the same person? (François de la Rochefoucauld)

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world. (Thomas Carlyle)

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. (Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.)

I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it. (Will Rogers)

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud. (Carl Sandburg)

A rut is a grave with the ends knocked out. (Laurence J. Peter)

The love of one's country is a natural thing. But why should love stop at the border? (Pablo Casals)

Learn to accept in silence the minor aggravations, cultivate the gift of taciturnity, and consume your own smoke with an extra draft of hard work, so that those about you may not be annoyed with the dust and soot of your complaints. (William Osler)

Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it's dark. (Zen Proverb)

All I know to do is to light the candle that has been given to me. (Fred Rogers)

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. (Henry David Thoreau)

A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular. (Adlai Stevenson)

Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind. (Henri-Frederic Amiel)

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world. (Thomas Carlyle)

Absence diminishes commonplace passions and enhances great ones. (French proverb)

Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible. (St. Agustine of Hippo)

Let us move on, and step out boldly, though it be into the night, and we can scarcely see the way. (Charles B. Newcomb)

Be good Christians, or your journey will serve you no good purpose. Only by good example can you change the world. (St. Padre Pio)

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. (Chinese proverb)

Life leaps like a geyser for those willing to drill through the rock of inertia. (Alexis Carrel)

The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy. (Helen Hayes, at 73)

Courage is not the towering oak / That sees storms come and go; / It is the fragile blossom / That opens in the snow. (Alice Mackenzie Swaim)

There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew. (Marshall McLuhan)

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you. (Henri Frederic Amiel)

He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist. (St. Francis of Assisi)

In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. (Andre Gide)

The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green. (Thomas Carlyle)

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. (William Arthur Ward)

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. (Chinese proverb)

I have made this a rather long letter because I haven't had time to make it shorter. (Blaise Pascal)

Rabbi Zusya said that on the Day of Judgment, God would ask him not why he had not been Moses, but why he had not been Zusya. (Walter Kaufmann)

Stop sometimes and look into the stains of walls, or ashes of a fire, or clouds, or mud or like places - you may find marvelous ideas. (Leonardo da Vinci)

If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. (Anatole France)

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. (Mary Anne Radmacher)

You can't turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again. (Bonnie Prudden)

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. (Lewis B. Smedes)

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring. (George Santayana)

Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music. (Angela Monet)

For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes. (Dag Hammarskjold)

You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

The Lord will drench you with His showers, but He will dry you with His sun. (Czech Proverb)

In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy. (Albert Clarke)

Every man is a missionary now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he intends or designs it or not. He may be a blot, radiating his dark influence outward to the very circumference of society; or he may be a blessing, spreading benediction over the length and breadth of the world: but a blank he cannot be. There are no moral blanks; there are no neutral characters. (Dr. Thomas Chalmers)

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

German Chocolate Cake Sandwich Cookies

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