Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13×9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with a fork.

Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

Variations

• 7-Layer Magic Cookie Bars: Substitute 1 cup (6-ounces) butterscotch flavored chips* for 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and proceed as directed above.
• Peanut butter flavored chips or white chocolate chips may be substituted for butterscotch flavored chips.
• Magic Peanut Cookie Bars: Substitute 2 cups (about 3/4 pound) chocolate-covered peanuts for semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped nuts.
• Magic Rainbow Cookie Bars: Substitute 2 cups plain candy-coated chocolate candies for semi-sweet chocolate chips.

*This recipe is part of a collection of favorite holiday recipes compiled by members of the Denver Chapter of the Baylor University Women’s Council.

http://www.fawnskinflyer.com/2008/01/high-altitude-cooking-tips-from-fawnskin-meat-poultry/

The creators of the Fawnskin Flyer, a blog about small-town mountain living in California, know what they are talking about.  Sitting at  of 6,287 feet above sea level, the tiny town of Fawnskin definitely qualifies as a high altitude locale.

Ingredients

• 1 can artichokes
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup mayonnaise

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together, put in a small baking dish, and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

*This recipe is part of a collection of favorite holiday recipes compiled by members of the Denver Chapter of the Baylor University Women’s Council.

(Original Source: Southern Living Magazine)

Ingredients

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 (16 oz) package pound cake mix
• 1 (8 oz) container sour cream
• ½ cup milk
• 2 large eggs

Directions

Stir together chocolate chips and 1 Tablespoon cake mix, set aside. Beat sour cream, milk, eggs, and cake mix at low speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds or until blended. Increase speed to medium and beat three more minutes. Spoon half of batter into lightly greased 13×9-inch pan. Sprinkle chocolate chip mixture evenly over batter. Spread remaining batter on top. Sprinkle Streusel Topping (see below) evenly over batter. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Streusel Topping

Ingredients

• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Directions

Combine first three ingredients; stir in pecans and butter until crumbly.

*This recipe is part of a collection of favorite holiday recipes compiled by members of the Denver Chapter of the Baylor University Women’s Council.

• Baked goods are prone to drying out and quickly becoming stale at high elevations.
• Recipes that have been adjusted for high altitudes will produce baked goods that stay fresh  longer.
• For short-term storage, wrap baked goods in  airtight plastic wrap or place them inside sealable plastic bags.
• For long-term storage, find (or make) some space in the freezer. Prepare your goodies for hibernation by wrapping them in several layers of airtight plastic and then either covering them with heavy foil or placing them inside heavy-duty freezer bags.

There was one thing about this pumpkin loaf, though, that I wish was different …

It wasn’t my recipe.

In fact, I’m not even sure how to make this pumpkin loaf from scratch, because I didn’t do so the first time.

That’s right, I made it from a kit, Libby’s Pumpkin Quick Bread Kit to be specific. I bought mine at a Safeway here in Denver over the weekend and am going back to get more just as soon as I can get away from this computer. If you find the kits in your own local supermarket, you should buy up as many as you have room to store, as they are only available during the holiday season. And even then, these sweet little kits (no pun intended) can be a bit difficult to track down.

Oh, and while you are at the supermarket, you should go ahead and pick up some eggs and vegetable oil if you are running low. The kit comes with the bread mix and a can of Libby’s pumpkin. The recipe also requires 4 large eggs, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, and water.

One you have purchased your very own Libby’s Pumpkin Quick Bread Kit, follow this recipe (found on the side of the kit) for turning it into your own high altitude holiday hit:

Ingredients:

Pumpkin bread mix

1 can Libby’s pumpkin

4 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1-1/4 cups water (1 cup water only at lower altitudes)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Blend the eggs, vegetable oil, and water together in a large mixing bowl.

Gradually stir in the bread mix until it is completely moistened.

Pour batter into greased 9″x5″ loaf pans.

Bake for 70 to 80 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean when inserted near the middle of the loaf and the crust is golden.

Notes:

The directions on the box say to bake for 60 to 65 minutes, regardless of altitude, but my loaves took 80 minutes to bake. To be safe, it would be a good idea to start checking your loaves for doneness the first time you use this recipe at 60 minutes initially and then every 10 minutes thereafter.

You may also wish to use this mix to make muffins. To do so, prepare the batter the same as for the pumpkin loaf but divide it among several muffin pans instead of loaf pans. (Muffin pans should be greased or lined with cupcake holders.) Bake regular size muffins for 20 to 25 minutes; mini muffins should be done in 15 to 20 minutes.

Regardless of weather you use this kit to make pumpkin loaves, regular, size muffins, or mini muffins, you should be aware that this batter likes to rise on the high side, at least at 5,280 feet, that is. Therefore, fill your pans about two-thirds full. Filling pans all the way to the top will give the expression “muffin top” a new meaning, as well as the inside of your oven a need for a serious cleanup job.

You will need:
1 cup brown sugar minus 2 T
1/2 cup applesauce
2 T vegetable oil
4 ripe bananas, mashed well
2 cups flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 cup + 4 T vanilla soy milk, mixed with 1 t apple cider vinegar (or 2 eggs)
1 t vanilla (preferably from Mexico)
1 T ground cinammon
1/4 t ground allspice
1/2 t salt
8 x 4 inches bread pan, or slightly larger
nonstick cooking spray

Optional
Handful of chopped walnut

What to do
Preheat oven to 375 degress Fahrenheit and coat bread pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a very large bowl.

In a slightly smaller bowl, mash the bananas up really well. Then cream them with the sugar, and mix in the soymilk and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients (the banana mixture) to the dry ones. Mix well. It’s OK if the mixture is not perfectly smooth. In fact, leaving a few lumpy pieces of banana in the mixture will make the bread extra yummy. If desired, stir in a handful of chopped walnuts.

Using a spatula to scrape the gooeyness from the sides of the bowl, pour the batter into the bread pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. The bread will be done when it is golden on top and you can poke a knife in the middle of the bread and have it come out almost, but not perfectly clean.

*****

Email your own successful high-altitude recipes to christy@milehighkitchen.com and they will be published here.

• Love to cook?
• Hate cooking because your recipes never turn out right?
• Wish you didn’t have to adjust your recipes for high elevations?
• Have NO IDEA how to adjust your recipes for high elevations?
• Wish there was a place you could go to find recipes designed especially for high elevations with no adjustments needed

If you answered “YES” to one or more questions, then Mile High Cooking is for you!

Mile High Kitchen is where you will discover:

• Why your signature cake recipe that always turns out perfectly in Charleston fell flat when you made in on your Breckenridge vacation.
• That no, it is not your imagination, a pot of water (watched or not) really does boil faster in Denver than it does at sea level
• Fun vintage designs and random trivia
• Why it’s so hard, almost impossible, really, to cook beans without a pressure cooker in the Rockies.
• Gobs and gobs of recipes created for preparing at high altitudes (elevations of 3,000 feet or higher) with no adjustments needed!
• Tips and tricks for adjusting your own recipes for high altitudes.
• A place to submit your own high altitude recipes for publication on the Web.
• Lots of new online friends to swap recipes with, and maybe even a few offline ones to invite to your next dinner party or hiking adventure.

…. & much, much more that will show you that yes, High Altitude Cooking is Fun!