Celebrate May in the most delicious way with our mouth-watering Creative Arts recipes. From a fruity mango salad to a decadent brownie pie, this list of recipes has something for all home cooks and will leave your taste buds craving more. So why wait? Put on your chef hat and try these amazing recipes today!
GRANNY’S BROWNIE PIE
Caroline Palmer
Royse City, TX
2nd Place–Youth Cooking, Children, Age 9
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
2 T. water
¹⁄3 c. shortening
Measure flour into bowl. Add salt. Sprinkle with water and shortening. Using a pastry cutter, combine mixture until resembles coarse crumbs. Turn out onto floured surface and roll with a rolling pin into a circle. Transfer into 9-inch pie plate and set aside.
Brownies:
¼ c. butter
2 eggs
2 sq. (2 oz.) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla extract
³⁄5 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
In a microwave-safe bowl melt butter and chocolate. Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat lightly by hand just until combined. Stir in flour. Pour into prepared pie crust and bake at 350° 30 minutes or until brownies are done. Cool in pie plate before eating.
MANGO CUCUMBER SALAD
Eva Giles
Mesquite, TX
3rd Place–Snappy Sides
Ingredients:
1 mango, peeled, chopped & diced
1 cucumber, peeled & diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
¹⁄3 c. red onion, diced
1 c. chopped cilantro
Juice from 2 limes
½ tsp. apple cider vinegar
½ tsp. olive oil
1 T. honey
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
In a medium-sized bowl, mix mango, cucumbers, bell peppers and cilantro. In a separate smaller bowl, mix the lime juice, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper. Combine liquid with salad ingredients.
BASIL JELLY
Winter Wiorkowski
Fort Worth, TX
1st Place–Canning
Ingredients:
2 c. firmly packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
4 c. water
¹⁄3 c. pectin
¹⁄3 c. lemon juice
5 c. sugar Green food coloring (opt.)
Bring basil and water to a boil, remove from heat, and let steep 15 minutes, strain out basil and return 3 ²⁄3 cups water to pan. Mix basil water, pectin and lemon juice, bring to a boil, add sugar, and bring to full rolling boil 1 minute.
CHEESY LOADED POTATO TORTILLA BOWL
Helen Fields
Paradise, TX
2nd Place–Speedy Dishes
Ingredients:
1 (8-oz.) pkg. soft flour tortilla bowls
6 slices bacon
2 ¾ c. water
1 ¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
2 c. instant potato flakes
1 (7.5-oz.) ctn. chive & onion cream cheese, softened
8 oz. (about 2 c.) hatch pepper Jack cheese, shredded
1 green onion, thinly sliced
Preheat oven to 350°. Put tortilla bowls, right side up with sides close together, on a 9×13-inch baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, remove pan from oven. Turn tortilla bowls upside down, return pan to oven. Close oven door and turn off heat. Leave bowls in oven another 10 minutes. Put a double layer of paper towels on a microwave safe plate. Lay bacon strips on towels. Cover with another double layer of paper towels. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. If needed, microwave additional time in 2-minute increments. Crumble the cooked bacon; set aside. In a medium saucepan bring water, salt and pepper to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and stir in potato flakes. Stir in cream cheese. Put an even portion of instant potato in each tortilla bowl. Sprinkle each with an equal portion of hatch Jack cheese, crumbled bacon and green onion. Serve warm.
VETERANS HONOR CAKE
Juliana Black
Garland, TX
1st Place–Cake Baking
Ingredients:
1 c. milk, room temp.
6 lg. egg whites, room temp.
2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 ¼ c. cake flour
1 ¾ c. granulated sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. table salt
½ c. unsalted butter, softened but still cool
¼ c. shortening
5 oz. fresh raspberries, pressed through a sieve to remove seeds
½ tsp. cornstarch
1 c. blueberries, crushed
½ c. sugar, divided
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting Fresh blueberries & raspberries, for decorating, or any variety of berries or glitter sugar
Heat oven to 350°. Butter and flour 2 (8-inch) cake pans. Make sure milk and eggs are room temperature. Pour milk, egg whites and extracts into medium bowl and whisk until blended. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter and shortening, cut into cubes, and continue beating on low for about 1-2 minutes. Add ½ of milk mixture to flour mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 ¹⁄2 minutes. Add remaining ½ of milk mixture and beat about 1 minute. Pour batter evenly between two prepared cake pans. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 28 to 32 minutes. Allow cake to cool to room temperature. Make fillings and frosting.
Filling:
5 oz. raspberries
5 oz. blueberries
¼ c. sugar
½ tsp. cornstarch
In a small sauce pot put raspberries, sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Gently boil, stirring often 5-10 minutes to thicken. Cool. Repeat same process with blueberries (no cornstarch).
Frosting:
1 ½ (8-oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
¼ c. butter softened
8 oz. white baking chips, melted with
3 ²⁄3 c. powdered sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add cooled melted chips, beating until blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Add vanilla and lemon juice, beating until blended. Cover and chill 15-20 minutes until spreading consistency.
Assembly: Slice each cake layer in half, spread a thin layer of frosting on first layer placed on serving plate, pipe a ring of frosting around edge. Stir blueberry jam to loosen and spoon onto cake layer, spreading to inside edge of frosting ring. Top with second cake layer. Spread with a thicker layer of frosting. Top with third cake layer, spread with thin layer of frosting and a piped ring around edge. Stir raspberry jam to loosen and spoon on top of frosting to inside of ring of frosting. Top with last cake layer. Frost top and side of cake. Place remaining frosting in a pastry bag and decorate with designs of your choice. Finish with fresh berries around bottom and top of cake.