Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

I had heard tell of such a thing as monkey bread, but I used father's day as an excuse to actually look up a recipe or two and try it out. Soooo good. Why didn't I try it before? Reminds me of my friend Amy's "caramel rolls" recipe, with variations on the theme.  read more »

Yay for truffles.  read more »

A light sorbet, but a bit tricky to make it right.  read more »

None of my recipe books have a good yeast doughnut recipe, just cake doughnuts, so off to the internet we went. I modified it slightly to fit our needs. And I thought of our niece, Megan, the whole time we made these. Mmm.  read more »

A moist strawberry cake from scratch. We don't use box cakes.  read more »

A quick oatmeal dessert from Wayne's childhood. It is easy to make and very tasty.  read more »

This was Rebecca's mother's decorators frosting. It comes out sweeter than our other frosting recipe, but you can vary the stiff quality of the frosting.  read more »

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
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2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 14-inch, spring form pan with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, beating well after the addition of each.  read more »

Raspberry and lemon pinwheels and whirlybirds
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1 cup defrosted or fresh raspberries
1 cup plus 3 TBS flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
9 TBS (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp almond extract
1 tsp lemon zest

Puree raspberries in food processor. Use the back of a spoon to press them through a strainer to remove seeds. Separate 2 TBS of puree.

Mix 1 cup flour, baking powder, and salt.

Put butter in large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer on medium speed for 15 seconds. Add sugar and beat until blended, approx. 1 minute. Mix in egg yolk, vanilla and almond extract. Add flour mixture and mix until smooth dough.  read more »

Birthday Cake Frosting
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1 cup shortening (decorator shortening or Crisco)
1 TBS glycerine (you buy this in the drug store section of the store—the label says not to eat it but it is edible)
1 lb. Powdered sugar (a package)
1/4 tsp Butter flavoring
1 tsp Flavoring (any kind or combinations)
3 TBS cold water
pinch salt

Beat shortening and glycerine on high speed for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and beat for 5 minutes. You can double recipe but this takes a bigger mixer than a hand held one.

Divide up frosting and add food coloring as desired afterwards. To add the frosting to the cake, use a metal frosting knife, dip in cold water and then smooth over the cake; the rich buttery texture makes it easy to get a smooth surface.