I have once again made a recipe that sounds shady. I hate Kahlua. I don’t know why I am doing this to you.

Mikey does not like chocolate things. He doesn’t care about dessert. I only think about dessert.

However, Mikey absolutely loves this cake.

I promise you will never know there is Kahlua in this cake. That is good or bad depending on who you are. For me it’s good because although I love coffee, I do not love coffee liqueurs.

Like all delicious things in my life, I got this recipe from my wonderful mother.

This may be one of the EASIEST recipes ever! Fool your friends and tell them you made this super difficult/impressive cake. It also has this pretty swirl going through it which makes it look super fancy.

This is all you need:

The only problem with this recipe is that I don’t like Kahlua and I had to buy a giant bottle of it. I figured the liquor store would have those cute little bottles instead. Nope.

Apparently they are ILLEGAL in the city of Chicago! The nice man at Miskas Liquor Store told me I can drive out to the burbs for some little bottles…that’s not happening.

Ok. So first you toast your nuts…

Then you open a box of cake mix and add some eggs and oil. Put half the batter in a bowl and set it aside…

Then add the Kahlua, brown sugar and pecans to the other half….

So check out this giant bottle of Kahlua. That is ALL I needed to use. Can you come over and drink a bunch of this Kahlua? I’ll make you a cake if you do.

Add Half the Kahlua batter to a bundt pan…

Then add the batter you set over there…

Finally cover with the rest of the Kahlua batter and marbleize with a knife.

Yummmmm. This smells like heaven.

This cake is so sweet and so pretty.

Kahlua Cake  

1 Package Golden Butter Cake Mix (yellow)

4 eggs

1 Cup Sour Cream

1 Package Vanilla Instant Pudding

3/4 Cups Oil

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 Cup Kahlua

1 Cup chopped toasted Pecans

Combine cake mix adding 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sour cream, pudding, oil and vanilla. Mix well

Divide batter in half. To one half, add brown sugar, Kahlua and pecans. Grease bundt pan.

Pour 1/2 of the pecan mixture, then all of the plain mixture, then remaining half of pecan mixture. Run a knife through mixture to marble.

Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes at 350.

Check after 1 hour.

Cherry White Chocolate Cookies

Let me start by saying, my mother would not be excited about this recipe. She would be especially upset that I chose this as my first recipe post ever.

Ok not really.

But, she does not like almond extract OR maraschino cherry’s. She thinks this cookie falls into the “grandma” category.

I’m alright with being a grandma if it means I get to eat these cookies. I know they sound gross. Please trust me, they are super delicious. When I first tried them I had no idea what was in them. Make them. Make other people try them first, and then tell them what they’re made of.

This recipe is adapted from my wonderful Aunt Mickey 🙂

p.s. My photos are garbage. Hoping the Easter Bunny/Birthday Prince brings me a new camera soon. I promise to improve the quality of this blog asap.

Recipe: Dipped Cherry Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup sugar, divided

• 1 cup cold butter, cubed

• 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained, and finely chopped

• 12 ounces white baking chocolate, finely chopped, divided

• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

• 2 teaspoons shortening

• coarse sugar and red glitter/sprinkles

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour and 1/2 cup sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Knead in cherries, 2/3 cup white chocolate and almond extract until dough forms a ball.

(they are pretty crumbly, requires slight man-handling)

Shape into 3/4-inch balls. Place 2-inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a glass dipped in remaining sugar. Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

In a microwave, melt shortening and remaining white chocolate at 70% power for 1 minutes; stir. Microwave in additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Dip half of each cookie into chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Sprinkle with coarse sugar and/or edible glitter. Place on waxed paper until set.

Share with friends/self and ENJOY!!!