Gramma Johnston's Strawberry Jell-O Cake

My dad's birthday was on Sunday, and he requested that I make the cake that his mom (my Gramma Johnston) always made for him growing up. Strawberry Jell-O cake. One of my favorite cakes as well, so I never mind making it.

I've used her recipe for a long time to make this cake for many different occasions. I've altered the icing, but the cake recipe is hers. Someday I hope to make my own jell-o cake recipe from scratch (this is the only box mix cake I make). 

It was delicious as always, and uglier than usual. That's ok though because my dad says he likes ugly cakes. (Yes I believe him...)

Strawberry Jell-O Cake

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INGREDIENTS

• 1 box of white cake mix
• 1 box of strawberry jell-o (not the sugar free kind)
• 1/2 of a cup of water
• ¾ of a cup of canola oil
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup of fresh strawberries, chopped (frozen ones will work too as long as they’re sliced)

For the frosting

• 12 oz of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 of a cup of butter, softened
• 3-5 cups of sifted powdered sugar (to desired thickness)
• 1/2 of a cup of chopped strawberries

DIRECTIONS

Make the cake

• Preheat the oven to 350°
• Grease two 9” cake pans, and put parchment paper in the bottoms. Grease the parchment paper
• Chop the strawberries into quarters (chop the larger ones into 6-8 pieces)

• In a large bowl, mix together cake, jell-o, oil, and water, and beat well

• Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition
• Add the strawberries and mix well
• Pour evenly between the two pans and bake for 20-25 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean)

• Let cool in the pans for about 15 minutes before removing and cooling on a cooling rack

Make the frosting

• In a medium bowl, sift the powdered sugar and set aside
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy and pale
• Add in the strawberries and beat well to mush them up a little bit
• Add in the powdered sugar, and continue adding until you reach your desired texture

Assemble the cake

• Place one of the cake layers on a serving dish and ice with frosting
• Layer the second cake on top, and finish icing

NOTE: This icing in typically goopy, (definitely not pipe-able). If you don’t refrigerate it, it will slide around when transporting and the icing tends to get ugly. 

Because I feel like it, I'm going to expose how ugly this cake gets if you don't refrigerate it, and live in Missouri where it's absurdly hot in the summer

Yes, I put 56 candles on this cake. My dad asked why and I said "I felt like being absurd" The response..."that's my girl"

Enjoy!!!

Approximate Nutrition Information if cake makes 12 slices (turn back...don't look!)

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Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I first started baking, I knew how to make awesome peanut butter cookies and that was about it. As I started to explore more, I modified and made some pretty good recipes for some other cookies. But, for some reason I had never tried to make chocolate chip from scratch. Well, the first time I made them, I made the mistake of baking them until they looked completely done...which made them as hard as rocks once they cooled. Like so hard that you couldn't take a bite of them. Completely indestructible. It sent me on a quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I found it.

I like my chocolate chip cookies to be chewy and soft in the middle, with a little crunch on the outside. These are also really easy to make, and it makes a big batch.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Recipe Adapted From: Here

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 3 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of hot water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups of dark chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Like the cookie sheet with parchment paper
• Cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until pale and fluffy

• Beat in the eggs, one at a time
• Stir in vanilla and salt
• Combine baking soda and hot water and add to the batter

• Stir in flour little by little

• Fold in the chocolate chips

• Using a large spoon or a cookie dough scooper, drop balls of dough onto the cookie sheet

• Bake for 12-16 minutes, or until edges are golden brown (They will look a little under cooked, but if the edges are golden, take them out!)
• Eat!

Approximate Nutrition Information for 1 cookie

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Easy Homemade French Bread (In under 2 hours)

The Fiancé had a pasta dinner date with all of the other fellows in his Master's program (without me) and asked me to bake some bread that would go nicely with the meal. French bread goes awesome with any pasta of any kind, so that's what I made.

Since I've been working a crazy amount of hours each week, I had very little time to make this before I had to leave. Under 2 hours for a yeast bread that has to rise is pretty awesome, and it's well worth it.

French Bread

Adapted From: here

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INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups of warm water
• 2 tablespoons of active dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons of white sugar
• 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1/3 cups of canola oil
• 6-7 cups of bread flour

DIRECTIONS

• Heat the oven to 170° with an oven safe container of water, and turn off the heat immediately after preheated
• Butter a large bowl and set aside
• In a large measuring cup, combine the water, yeast, sugar, and vinegar and stir until all the little yeast particles are wet

• Let sit for 3-5 minutes until bubbly

• In a large bowl, dump 6 cups of bread flour and mix with the salt
• Add in the oil, and the yeast mixture, and stir together until dough has formed (I made this with a bowl and a wooden spoon to show everyone how easy it is!)

• Flour a clean surface with about half a cup of flour, turn dough out, and cover with another 1/2 cup of flour
• Start kneading dough until soft and elastic-y (adding flour as you need it) You’ll know when you’ve kneaded it enough because if you poke your finger into it, it’ll spring back fairly quickly. I ended up kneading my bread for about 5 minutes
• Put the dough into the buttered bowl and put into the warm oven for 10 minutes

• Punch down the dough and let rise for another 10 minutes
• Grease a cookie sheet and cover with a thin layer of cornmeal
• Once the dough has risen a second time, turn the dough onto a countertop or cutting board and split into 2 or 3 chunks depending on how big you want your loaves to be (I made 2 giant loavess
• Punch the dough down and shape into an oval-like log. Place on the cookie sheet

• Repeat with the second and third dough balls
• Using a sharp knife, score 3-5 deep cuts in the bread
• Whisk an egg and using a brush, paint the loaves with the beaten egg wash

• Let rise on the counter for another 30 minutes
• Preheat the oven to 375°
• Bake loaves for 20-30 minutes (until golden brown)

• Let cool on the pan until cool enough to eat
• Enjoy!

Approximate Nutrition Information for a slice (assuming that you get 30 slices total)

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