Thursday Recipe - Simple Fruity Frosting

I've found I have issues with food colorings. The all-natural ones in the stores are expensive and hard to work with. But sometimes you want more than just chocolate or plain white frosting.

The key to this recipe is finding a nice soft seedless fruit jelly with lots of color. I used a home-made black currant jelly and it made a lovely pinkish purple frosting. You could also use Hibiscus syrup to flavor and color your frosting. (hibiscus and mint or hibiscus ginger and lemon)  I haven't tried it with jams yet, but just be aware that if your jam or jelly has bits of fruit in it, they will be in the frosting, too.

Now I want to experiment with orange marmalade...

Simple Fruity Frosting

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. seedless jelly
3 c. powdered sugar
1-3 T. milk

Cream butter and jelly with powdered sugar. Beat for one minute.

If frosting is too stiff, add milk one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until you reach the desired consistency.
If frosting is too soft or runny, add powdered sugar 1/2 c. at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Whip for 2-4 minutes until very light and fluffy. Use on your favorite cake or spread on graham crackers or use on cookies or whatever you like to do with frosting.

Thursday Recipe - Graham Sandwiches

Two pictures on Facebook triggered this post:

 Remember playing quicksand as a kid? That's the lovely game where you try to move through the house without touching the floor because the floor is QUICKSAND and you will DIE if you touch it. Yep, good times. And a few broken pieces of furniture and lots of bruises. This is what childhood used to be. Before video games.

And sorry for the bad pun picture. Yeah, breast cancer awareness has even hijacked kid food. I love s'mores but sometimes I just don't want to mess with marshmallows and the microwave. And my kids have usually eaten all the chocolate chips. With my help.

My mom used to make treats using graham crackers and leftover frosting. I adopted this for easy s'mores. Mom used to tuck them into the freezer so they were perfect for hot summer days. No, we didn't have central air conditioning. We had a big old swamp cooler that usually wasn't working right so we either hid in the basement, played outside, or just dealt with the heat. Don't get me wrong. I love my AC but it was a lot easier to tolerate heat when I was younger.

So, here's the recipe, such as it is.

Graham Sandwiches

1 package of your favorite graham crackers - plain, chocolate, cinnamon, whatever you like
OR
1 recipe of these delicious ones if you have the time and inclination to make them, just do it a day or so ahead so they can get all crispy and delicious

1 can thingie of frosting (kind of nasty but sometimes it so easy it's worth it)
OR
1 recipe of your favorite frosting (Try marshmallow frosting or to-die-for frosting or cream cheese frosting or fudgy chocolate frosting or vanilla-rum frosting or meadow cream) (I think I have a frosting addiction)

Anything else you'd like to add - peanut butter, mini M&Ms, coconut, sprinkles, sliced strawberries, etc.

Take the long graham cracker and break it in half to make two squares. Spread one square with frosting. Spread the other square with extras if you want. Put them together to make a sandwich. Stick in a baggie and put it in the freezer.  Repeat until you either run out of graham crackers or frosting. Eat when frozen. Or eat immediately. Repeat until they are all gone. Feel guilty and vow to exercise off all those extra calories. Right after you eat the last one...