Category: DESSERTS

RUSTIC STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE PIE

RUSTIC STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE PIE
1 package Pillsbury pie dough (or homemade if you have time)
2 eggs
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar + 3-4 tablespoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound strawberries, cleaned and sliced
whipped cream

  • In a medium mixing bowl sprinkle 3-4 tablespoons of sugar over sliced strawberries and toss. Set aside.
  • Fit crust into pie plate, prick bottom in a couple places with fork tines and bake 5 minutes at 400 degrees.
  • In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
  • Pour into pie plate and bake cream cheese mixture 15 minutes until slightly thickened. You will need to lay a piece of foil over top for part of the time to prevent crust from burning.
  • Spread over “pizza” rounds.
  • Top with spoonfuls of strawberries.
  • Add whipped cream and top with CARAMEL SAUCE and MOCHA HOT FUDGE SAUCE.

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Mexican French Bread Pizza: Lovin’ From the Oven

Thank goodness for good online recipe sites. My favorite two are Taste of Home and All Recipes. If I am in a cooking rut, I am almost 100% guaranteed to find something delicious there. Here is an easy meal that all the family is sure to love. Add or subtract ingredients according to your tastes.

Mexican French Bread Pizza:

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1 cup salsa
  • 1 can (2-1/4 ounces each) sliced ripe olives, drained
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 loaf (1 pound) unsliced French bread
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Colby Jack cheese
In a large skillet, brown ground beef and onion. Add salsa, olives, salt, chili powder, garlic powder and cumin. Slice the loaf of French bread in half lengthwise. Spread equal amounts of the ground beef mixture on each half. Sprinkle one cup of cheese on each half. Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.

STRAWBERRY PIZZA

STRAWBERRY PIZZA
1 package Pillsbury pie dough (or homemade if you have time)
2 eggs
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar + 3-4 tablespoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound strawberries, cleaned and sliced
whipped cream

  • In a medium mixing bowl sprinkle 3-4 tablespoons of sugar over sliced strawberries and toss. Set aside.
  • Cut out 4 – 5 inch rounds.
  • Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees.
  • Cool.
  • In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
  • Bake cream cheese mixture 10 minutes until slightly thickened.
  • Spread over “pizza” rounds.
  • Top with spoonfuls of strawberries.
  • Add whipped cream and top with CARAMEL SAUCE and MOCHA HOT FUDGE SAUCE.

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STRAWBERRY PIZZA

STRAWBERRY PIZZA
1 package Pillsbury pie dough (or homemade if you have time)
2 eggs
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar + 3-4 tablespoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound strawberries, cleaned and sliced
whipped cream

  • In a medium mixing bowl sprinkle 3-4 tablespoons of sugar over sliced strawberries and toss. Set aside.
  • Cut out 4 – 5 inch rounds.
  • Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees.
  • Cool.
  • In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
  • Bake cream cheese mixture 10 minutes until slightly thickened.
  • Spread over “pizza” rounds.
  • Top with spoonfuls of strawberries.
  • Add whipped cream and top with CARAMEL SAUCE and MOCHA HOT FUDGE SAUCE.

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Chocolate Cinnamon Coffe Cake

Stop by Comfy Cook for a fabulous giveaway – your choice of 4 gifts. Someone has to win. Why not you?

Coffee Cinnamon Chocolate Squares adapted

Last week, I found a plastic bag, filled with chocolate goodies, brownies, these squares, some cookies. They are odds and ends, leftover from previous times. When I took a bite out of these coffee cinnamon chocolate square, memories came flashing back. I had brought these to my middle son and family’s home. I loved them then and I love them now.
There is something about these bars that makes them better than average. The combination of the coffee, cinnamon and chocolate flavors meshed completely and left with us an aroma and a taste that warms the heart. If you are coffee or tea drinker, sit down with one of these and a cup of java, and enjoy/
This could be my dream cake.
(from Baking: From My Home to Yours) (another Dorie success story)
Cake:
1 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp + 2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee/espresso powder
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 Vanilla Rice Dream
2 egg beaters
1/2 tsp vanilla
10 tbsp margarine, melted and cooled
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Glaze:
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons margarine, softened

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray with cooking oil an 8-inch square cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. (I used aluminum foil). I also used a 9 inch square pan and it was too big. My cake would have risen to a more appropriate height with the proper size.
In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and the espresso powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, the remaining cinnamon and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together Rice Dream, eggs, vanilla and slightly cooled, but melted, margarine. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly over the bottom. Evenly sprinkle on sugar/espresso mixture and mini chocolate chips, then top with the remaining batter, spreading it evenly.

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F, just until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and remove the parchment. Let cool completely before frosting.

Confession 1 – I added more mini chips to the filler.

Glaze:
For the glaze, melt together the chocolate and the margarine in a double boiler and stir until smooth. If it is runny, let it stand for a minute or two, but otherwise the chocolate should be thick, smooth, shiny and spreadable. Spread on the top of the cake (the flat bottom side should be facing up, which makes it easy to frost) and allow the frosting to set up before serving.

CARAMEL PRETZEL CRISPS ~ MOCK TURTLES

These are sooooooooooooooooooo simple and sooooooooooooooooooo good too!
CARAMEL PRETZEL CRISPS ~ MOCK TURTLES
1 bag pretzel crackers (regular pretzels work too)
3 rolls ROLOS
1 bag pecan halfs

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Line a cookie sheet with pretzel crackers.
  • Set 2 ROLOs side by side on the crackers.
  • Bake 2-3 minutes, just long enough to soften ROLOs.
  • Press down pecan halves into each ROLO.
  • Cool.
  • Enjoy.




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BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

What makes biscuits rise?
Baking Powder and Baking Soda are both leaveners and when activated create carbon dioxide which produces the rise. Baking Soda aka sodium bicarbonate has been commonly used for 200 years and works by simple chemistry. It’s reaction is immediate, but does not continue once the biscuits are in the oven. Ironically Baking Powder is the main ingredient in Baking Soda, but baking powder also includes an acid or two. Double acting baking powder is the perfect one for biscuits because it has the immediate acting acid as well as the heat activated acid. In order to use baking powder alone you have to use way too much and it dries out the dough. So finding the perfect combination of baking powder and baking soda is the key to tall and fluffy biscuits.

PERFECT TALL & FLUFFY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS  
2 cups flour + 1 cup flour  
1 tablespoon double acting baking powder  
1 tablespoon sugar  
1 teaspoon salt  
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons butter, diced  
2 tablespoons butter, melted  
1 1/3 cups low-fat buttermilk

  • Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
  • Spray a 9 inch cake pan with PURE.
  • In a food processor pulse dry ingredients several times to combine.
  • Add butter pieces scattered over dry ingredients and pulse until crumbly.
  • Transfer to a medium bowl.
  • Stir in buttermilk. (Dough will be wet and lumpy).
  • Spray a 1/4 cup measure with PURE.
  • In a mixing bowl add the remaining 1 cup flour.
  • Drop the dough 1/4 cup at a time into the flour.
  • Shape into 12 balls. Shaking off excess flour.
  • Arrange balls (9 around the perimeter and 3 in the center) in the pan.
  • Brush tops of dough with melted butter.
  • Bake 5 minutes.
  • Reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees.
  • Bake another 15 minutes.
  • Cool 2 minutes.
  • Invert biscuits into a clean towel, turn right side up breakaing them apart and cool another 5 minutes.

final blog signature. ♥

Chocolate Snowdrop Cookies – Simple Saturday

Attention chocolate lovers – if you want a delicious, soft, gooey, rich cookie these are for you! They are fancy enough for a holiday cookie tray yet easy enough to make anytime. My kids call them little chocolaty bites of heaven.


Chocolate Snowdrop Cookies
Recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

  • 1 package devil’s food cake mix with pudding
  • 2 1/4 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for decoration



Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Combine cake mix, whipped topping and egg; mix well (mixture will be sticky).
  3. Drop 1 inch sized balls of dough into confectioners’ sugar; roll slightly to form uniform size balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove to racks to cool. Store in tightly covered container.

Can’t get any more simple than this can it? Enjoy!

Previously posted at Seaside Simplicity

STRAWBERRY KIWI HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK SHORTCAKE

This is even better when you take the time to make fresh whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream to go with it.

GLAZE
2 baskets fresh strawberries, sliced
2 kiwis, chopped
1 cup pureed strawberries*
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons KARO light corn syrup
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup water

*I use the less than pretty berries for the puree.

Mix together sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch and water in a 2 quart sauce pan, cover and bring to a slow boil.

When you reach a boil remove the lid. Add the 1 cup pureed strawberries and boil a few minutes more and then chill 10 minutes.

After chilled pour over sliced berries and toss gently.

BUTTERMILK SHORTCAKE
2 cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
4 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup butter, softened, but not melted
¾ cup buttermilk**

Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the milk and butter and mix well into a soft dough. DO NOT over knead – it will become tough.

Grease an 8 inch pie pan really well. Gently arrange dough into an even mound and pre-cut into your serving portions before baking.

Bake at 400° for 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick done and golden brown.

Slice each shortcake open, bot with a thin layer of honey, arrange on plate and top with a scoop of strawberry kiwi glaze and vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

**As a substitute, Buttermilk can be made by adding 2 tablespoons of vinegar to regular milk.

AND MY REVIEW FOR LE CRUSET:

I was recently made aware that there is a wonderful online shopping experience available right from your desk top. Whether you are looking for tv stands, dining room furniture or cookware, they have it all.


Remember all these wish list posts I did about all the wonderful quality kitchen dreams and wishes I have? Well, all the items I’m dreaming about to complete my dream kitchen are available from these sites from CSN stores.

CSN stores sent me this awesome LeCruset Baker to review. I have dreamed of owning one for sooooooo long. I decided in order to review it properly I had to makes lots of great recipes like THE ULTIMATE COMFORT MAC & CHEESE, POT ROAST & ROASTED VEGGIES and RITZY CARROT & BROCCOLI CASSEROLE.


My conclusion: VERY FAVORABLE! Everything cooked up beautifully and the clean up was so easy! This is a beautiful quality piece of cookware. I can’t wait to buy more pieces from CSN stores – their shipping and customer service are well above the norm.

Butterscotch Brownies: Lovin’ From the Oven

Here’s an oldie but goodies from my blog, Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker: Butterscotch Brownies.  My grandmother used to make them for the school children in her town.  She was the head baker for the school district back in the 1970s.  They are full of butter and sugar, so dieters beware!

Butterscotch Brownies: 
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 package butterscotch flavored chips
Combine the moist ingredients with a mixer. Sift together the dry ingredients in a bowl and add to the wet. Fold in the chips. Spread in a greased 9 X 13 pan and bake 350 degrees 30 minutes or until done.

STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE




Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker is our Friday baker at OUR KrAzY kitchen. She posted a recipe for Sour cream coffee cake last week that is one that she is trying to duplicate from her SIL. It looked and sounded like my grams old recipe that I told her I’d dig out grams recipe for her and then I decided to go a step further and make it and do a post to highlight the good and yummy flavors. You get a light fluffy cake and ooey gooey streusel – YUMMY!

Grams old recipe calls for Bisquick and I no longer use it for health reasons, but make my own so I will include that recipe too.

STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE
CAKE
2 cups bisquick
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons oil

STREUSEL
1 cup bisquick
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons-2 tablespoons cinnamon(based on flavor preference)
4 tablespoons butter

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Generously spray 9×9 square baking dish with PAM.
  • Mix cake ingredients together until well blended.
  • Spread into baking dish, mixture will be thick.
  • Mix streusel ingredients together until fine crumbles.
  • Spread over the cake. With a knife gently cut a star into the cake to gently press some streusel into the cake.
  • Bake 20-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

HOMEMADE BISQUICK
4 ½ cups sifted flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup powdered milk**

  • Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
  • Sift again 2-3 times in a large bowl.
  • Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is similar to cornmeal.
  • Add dry milk.
  • Use in recipes that call for Bisquick or all-purpose mix.

**you can skip this ingredient if your recipe calls for any kind of milk, not water.
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Chocolate Crunch Mousse Pie

Come visit me at My Sweet and Savory and Comfy Cook. 
Chocolate Crunch Mousse Pie
I was very much looking forward to this pie.  It is one of those delicious items, you simply enjoy, and don’t worry about calories.  It is pure pleasure and fun.  This means, something is going to surprise me, in the recipe.
This mousse did not work out, the way I thought it would. This is one of those mistakes that I love, if it really was a mistake. I was working from memory of a mousse, I made, some time ago. I remembered it had cream cheese, whipped topping and chocolate for the ingredients. It came out creamy chocolate and was in a chocolate crust.
This was right before Passover and it was the last day, I could do anything with prohibited Passover foods.
There was no way I could make a crust without flour or chocolate cookie crumbs so I got a ready made graham cracker crust. I was thinking of pouring some chocolate syrup on the surface of the crust but no chocolate syrup. One has to be very clever or a magician to work when the kitchen is in limbo. I prefer to think that one has to be very clever.
The best part was I got rid of the crust. No, that was the second best part. The first was eating some of the filling. This is the best filling, I can imagine, at the moment. It was a creamy mousse filled with small chunks of chocolate. Where did those chunks come from? Actually, this was a surprise to me. I melted the chocolate chips and they were fully melted into one smooth cream. When, I put them into the mousse mixture, they immediately turned in to chunks. The only rationale, I can find is that the whipped topping had been frozen but sitting out, for an hour. Maybe, it was still cold and when the two met, the lumped together to make these crunchy bites filled with chocolate flavor. I, probably will not be able to recreate this but I hope I can. This is superior to the smooth filling which I also love.
Here is the recipe. If you try it, please tell me what happens to your chocolate.
Ingredients
1 8 ounce container of whipped topping (I used the ready made which is unusual for me.)
1 8 ounce container of Tofutti whipped cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup Tofutti sour cream
1 teaspoon almond extract (If I could have located it, I would have used my mocha extract rather than almond.)
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup chocolate sprinkles
1 graham cracker crumb crust
Method:
In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Add the sugar, sour cream and almond extract.
Continue to beat with mixer until all the ingredients are well combined.
Add the whipped topping and blend it in, by hand.
Melt chocolate chips in a microwave. If you prefer, use a double boiler to melt them. You know me, I use my microwave, every chance I can.
Add the melted chocolate to the mousse mixture and blend it in. If you are fortunate, you will get those scrumptious chocolate chunks.
Scoop the mixture into the pie crust.
Use a fork, a decorating piece or anything and make ridges in the mousse.
Top with chocolate sprinkles or decoration of choice.
Refrigerate.