Homemade Goodness....

Blessing and I did lots of fun things today! Some of the highlights included making Grandpa a Chocolate cake with homemade Caramel Icing and making homemade Jam from our wild black raspberry patch.

For the cake we just used a Devil’s Food cake mix from Pillsbury (the one with pudding). The icing is a family recipe from Andy’s family. It is a HUGE family favorite. It is NOT healthy, but an occasional indulgence is wonderful! Here is the recipe!

Caramel Icing

Melt ¼ C. butter

Add ½ C. brown sugar

Bring to boil and stir 1 minute or until slightly thick.

Cool slightly.

Add 1/4 C. milk and 1 T. Pure maple syrup. Stir until smooth.

Stir in about 1 3/4C – 2 C. confectioner’s sugar till of spreading consistency.

Frost the cooled cake IMMEDIATELY! This frosting sets up very quickly!

ENJOY!!!

We took the cake over to him yesterday and enjoyed a piece with him. He was delighted!!!!

Blessing making Grandpa’s cake!

During the afternoon, Blessing and I went a picked black raspberries. Then we mashed enough until we had 1 2/3 C of crushed berries. We added 4.5 t’s of pectin to it. Then I added 2/3 C of Palm Sugar. Palm sugar (also called Coconut Crystals) is an unrefined, low glycemic healthy sweetner made from coconuts! After adding the Palm sugar, I poured it into a pint jar and let it set for about a half hour. At this point, it was time for a taste test!!! YUMMY! It was soooo good! It will keep in the refrigerator for about 3-4 weeks like this or you can also freeze it. I’m not sure it will last that long, though.

Finished Product