Three Generations of Bakers

When people say the kitchen is the gathering place for families, the Sifers-Morken family comes to mind.

In the 2011 Make it with Sugar Contest, 3 different generations of the same family placed in different categories.

Joyce Sifers, her daughter Jennifer Morken, and Jennifer’s son Ryan Morken, age 9, all entered a recipe and won. All contestants who enter receive a bag of sugar, just for entering. Generous local merchants also provide prizes worth at least $50 for each category.

When asked if cooking has ever been a contest at home, Jennifer answered, “I learned everything from my mom, so not really.” She also mentioned, the 3 of them usually do a ‘Christmas Bake’ together.

Ryan has always been by her side while cooking. So last year, Ryan decided to enter his own recipe. After looking for a good recipe he came up with Peanut Butter Bon Bons, which he made completely on his own. He ended up winning the People’s Choice, taking home the $100 Reynold’s Gift Card. Jennifer stated, “I offered to give him cash for his gift card, but he refused. It took him about 6 months to use all of it up, but he used it to buy his own snacks.”

Jennifer entered her BananaBerry Bread in the 2011 contest, winning her 1st place in the Breads & Rolls Category. She took home a bakeware set and a mixer courtesy of Finnicum’s.

Joyce, who was not going to be around at the time of the contest, wasn’t planning on entering anything. Jennifer stated, “I encouraged her to enter something. She already had her Wild Grape Jelly made.” Well, it paid off because Joyce ended up winning 1st place in the Other Category and took home a $50 gift certificate to Planet Hair.

Winning isn’t something new for Jennifer, as she also placed in the 2010 contest. She won the People’s Choice, 1st place in Candy, and 1st place in Cake in 2010 for her Carrot Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting and Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars.

The recipes mentioned in the article are:

Jennifer’s Carrot Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting

3 eggs

¾ c. buttermilk

¾ c. vegetable oil

1½ c. white sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 c. shredded carrots

1 c. flaked coconut

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 (8 oz.) can pineapple w/juice

1 c. raisins.

Preheat oven to 350°, grease and flour two round cake pans. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well. In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins. Add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well. Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Check with toothpick. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream cheese frosting: combine 2 (8 oz.) packages softened cream cheese and ½ c. butter until creamy. Mix in 1 tsp. vanilla extract, then gradually stir in 3 c. confectioner’s sugar.

Jennifer’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars

1 c. butter or margarine, melted

2 c. graham cracker crumbs

2 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 c. peanut butter

2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

4 Tbsp. peanut butter

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioner’s sugar, and 1 c. peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13" pan. In the microwave, melt the chocolate chips

with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before cut ting into squares.

Joyce’s Wild Grape Jelly

Pick and wash grapes removing stems. Put 4-4.5 lbs. grapes in kettle with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, turn down heat to simmer. Stir and cover for 10 minutes, simmer for up to an extra 5 minutes if needed. Strain juice into reserve container. Bring 5 cups juice, 1 box fruit pectin and 7 cups sugar to a boil for 1 minute. Put mixture in jars and seal in hot water for 20 minutes.

Ryan’s Peanut Butter Bon Bons

5 c. crispy rice cereal

1.5 c. creamy peanut butter

1.5 c. confectioners sugar

4 c. milk chocolate chips

Combine rice cereal, peanut butter and sugar in a large bowl. With your hands, mix until well combined. Mixture will be slightly crumbly and should stick to your hands. Mold mixture into balls. Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and chill in fridge while you melt the milk chocolate. Melt chocolate by placing all but ¼ cup of the chips into a glass bowl. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring until chocolate is smooth. Toss in remaining chips and stir until completely melted. The chocolate will now be perfect temperature for dipping. Using a fork, dip each bon bon into the milk chocolate and place back on wax paper. Allow chocolate to set about 1 hour.

Jennifer’s Bananaberry Bread

1 1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. mashed ripe bananas (3-4 medium)

1/2 c. buttermilk

2 1/2 c. Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 c. fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) blueberries

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of one 9x5-inch or two 8x4-inch loaf pans with shortening. In large bowl, stir sugar, butter, eggs, bananas and buttermilk until mixed. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in blueberries. Pour into pan.

Bake 9-inch pan about 1 hour 15 minutes, 8-inch pans 55-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Loosen sides of loaf from pan; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.