CopyKat Hershey Chocolate Syrup

To avoid using a product that's laden with what I consider to be an undesired ingredient,  I adapted a recipe from CopyKat to make this 'copy cat' Hershey's Chocolate Syrup with the recipe listed below.  

First, why would I bother making my own when it's so readily available in store-bought containers?  Because the first ingredient on their label these days is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP-- that's a good enough reason for me to get mixin' and boilin'!  Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I refuse EVERYTHING that has 'that kind of corn syrup' in it, but I try not to add it to anything if/when I find there's another choice.  So, having explained that, here goes....

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Hershey's cocoa (I ALWAYS sift cocoa-- and, powdered sugar, too-- because I HATE 'chasing' clumps and lumps.)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 and 3/4 cups water
• 2 dashes salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine cocoa, sugar and salt in 3 quart saucepan.
2. Add water, and whisk until very smooth/blended.
3. Over medium heat, bring this mixture to a boil, stirring/watching carefully.  (We don't want to end up with a scorched taste.)
4. Allow it to bubble/boil for 3 minutes.  Be careful/watchful because this can easily boil over.  (One who made this recipe and posted a review on a separate website said she first boiled it for the specified time, then turned the heat to really low and let it simmer for about 7 minutes to 'thicken it up' a bit.)
5. Remove from heat; after it cools a bit, add vanilla and refrigerate.  It will thicken a bit more as it cools.

Farm Journal's Brownies for a Crowd

Just the mention of Farm Journal and my mind/memory go back to when I was growing up.  Each time the magazine would come, it was fun to look at their recipe section to see what good cooks (besides my mom!), were making.  I don't know how/when the recipe section was discontinued, but I do know it seems like AGES since I've 'gone down that lane'.  My memory was jogged while I was in Qualheim's True Value yesterday to buy milk replacer and mineral for our  cattle-- there on a rack were recipe books filled with old recipes (some dating back to 1931) from the food section of the Farm Journal's I remember.

One of the many popular recipes 'from those days' is for this large pan of brownies.  My husband (these days, my main tester person) said he likes these because they seem like a 'cross' between brownies and chocolate cake.  He likes that they aren't overly 'heavy' with chocolate flavor, something others wouldn't like.  What do I think?  I like them-- they are moist, they have chocolate in 'em and, as a result, they are dark brown!  This will be an easy kind of keeper recipe for me.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup regular margarine (my choice is to use butter, which I did)
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate syrup* (the recipe I followed for 'copy cat' Hershey's chocolate syrup is at bottom of this post)
• 1 cup PLUS 1 tablespoon sifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat the margarine (butter!) with the sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in eggs, two (one) at a time.
3. Add vanilla.  Mix very well.
4. Stir in chocolate syrup.
5. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; stir this into the chocolate mixture.  Mix only until well incorporated.
6. Add chopped nuts.
7. Pour into well-greased 15½ x 10½ x 1" jelly roll pan, and spread evenly.  (For beauty/ease in cutting and transferring to a serving plate, I prefer to spray pan very lightly, line with foil or parchment paper and spray that... and,... then, pour batter in-- yep!, after all that 'monkey business', they easily lift out to cutting board when cooled.)
8. Bake in moderate oven (350°) for 22-25 minutes, or until slight imprint remains when touched very lightly with finger.  (With my oven, it took almost 27 minutes.)
9. Remove pan to cooling rack (or to a cold porch!), and allow to cool.

Old-fashioned Chocolate Icing:
Meanwhile, ...even if this recipe sounds 'weird', for a thin sort of 'old-fashioned' kind of smooth/self-leveling icing, do this:

1. Combine 6 tablespoons of margarine (I used butter), 6 tablespoons of milk (equals 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons), and 1 cup sugar in a 3 qt. saucepan. Stir until very blended. 
2. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 seconds (I boiled mine for 2 minutes).
3. Add 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips; remove from heat and stir to melt.
4. Continue stirring until mixture thickens slightly and cools down a bit (For this, I used an electric hand mixer and beat it for close to five minutes.) 
5. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, stir well. 
6. Pour icing over cooled pan of Brownies.  Cool all, again, until icing sets up.  Cut into 2.5" x 1" bars-- makes 3 dozen.

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I adapted a recipe from CopyKat to make this Hershey's Chocolate Syprup as below: 

First, why would I bother making my own when it's so readily available in store-bought containers?  Because the first ingredient on their label these days is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP-- that's a good enough reason for me to get mixin' and boilin'!  Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I refuse EVERYTHING that has 'that kind of corn syrup' in it, but I try not to add it to anything if there's another choice.  So, having explained that, here goes....

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Hershey's cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 and 3/4 cups water
• 2 dashes salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine cocoa, sugar and salt in 3 quart saucepan.
2. Add water, and whisk until very smooth/blended.
3. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring/watching carefully.
4. Allow it to boil for 3 minutes.  Be careful/watchful because this can easily boil over.
5. Remove from heat; after it cools a bit, add vanilla and refrigerate.  It will thicken some more as it cools.

Tuna Roll-Ups (works for hot dogs, too)

I found I still had these held back in 'edit' form-- it's time to set 'em free!  I have no idea as to where I first saw a recipe for these, but I started making these tuna roll-ups in the early 1970's (they're good re-heated, too).

For those who don't like tuna,... wrap hot dogs,... or pre-cooked breakfast sausage!*

You can make the 'dough wrappers' from scratch with the recipe below, OR buy a tube of the "Big & Flaky Crescent Rolls" and be done in a flash!

To make simple 'wrappers' from scratch, sift together: 

• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder (I like to use aluminum-free version)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Put in a small bowl, and lightly blend: 

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup milk

Now, pour liquid into flour mixture, all at once.  Stir with a fork just until mixture cleans sides of bowl and rounds up into a ball.  Smooth by gently kneading dough for only about 10 times without additional flour. 

Place the dough between 2 sheets of waxed (or Saran) paper about 12" square.   Using little pressure, roll out until dough reaches edges of paper.  Peel off top paper.  Cut dough into 9 squares (or less squares if you want a larger roll-up).*

Combine the following and put a rounded tablespoonful on each of the squares.

• 1 of 5-oz can of tuna, drained well, and flaked.
• 1/2 cup finely minced celery
• 1 egg,  beaten

Roll up each square like you would a jelly roll, or triangles as in crescent roll.   Place sealed-side-down on parchment paper or foil lined cookie sheet. 

Bake for 10-15 minutes in preheated 400-degree oven.  Serve with hot 'reduced fat' version of cream of mushroom OR cream of celery OR cream of chicken soup that has been thinned with 1/2 cup low-fat milk (see my 'personal opinion' about soups, below).  Garnish tuna roll ups with flaked parsley; serve the hot dog roll ups with ketchup/mustard.   Serves 6.

*Natural casing wieners do not work as well with this recipe IF their casing is on the 'tough side'. 

** Instead of rolling the dough to 1/4" thick and into the 12" square and cutting the dough into squares, you can roll it into a rectangle, cut it into triangles and end up with dough shapes that are 'crescent roll' style as in the photos above.  Place a bit of filling on the big end of a triangle and roll towards the small tip-- OR, like I wrote above, you could just use a can of the 'Big Flaky' Crescent Rolls and be done in a flash.  (The 'Big Flaky' are sized 50% larger than regular 'tubed' crescent rolls.)

Note about store-bought canned and condensed cream soups:  I love the convenience of them, but I do not like that they come with a good dose of MSG and a higher sodium content than necessary.  So,.. since I started making my own white sauce for scalloped potatoes so many years ago, I've often made a decent substitute for the condensed soups by combining a ratio of 3 tablespoons melted butter with 3 tablespoons flour, and adding 1 cup milk and seasonings,  followed by lowering the heat to nothing higher than Med. and letting it boil lightly for a minimum of two minutes while stirring constantly (this is to let the flour 'cook').  That takes some close ATTENTION because of its thickness (I don't know why, but I find it easier to manage when I double/triple the batch).

For a cream of chicken flavor, I've used 1/2 milk and 1/2 homemade chicken broth (frozen ahead for things like this)-- sometimes, I add a itty bitty bit of poultry seasoning to it; for the cream of mushroom flavor, I've made the thick white sauce as above and added some finely diced cooked/sauteed mushrooms, etc.  After all,... my mother (and maybe yours, too?) made all kinds of great tasting things without the 'cream soups in a can'.   

To make a gluten-free cream of mushroom soup, this link might be helpful:
http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/how-to-make-gluten-free-cream-of-mushroom-soup/