fruity trifle

What you need:

• Betty Crocker Angel Food cake mix + water, baked according to directions and cooled
• 1 package of vanilla pudding + 3 cups of milk, prepared according to directions
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
• 3 bananas, sliced
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 12oz of cool whip / or heavy whipping cream, whipped

What you do:
Layer all the goodness: cake, pudding, strawberries, bananas, blueberries. Repeat. Top with whipped cream.

Donut Muffins

I would be a horrible person if I didn't share this recipe with you.

These are delicious. So much so that...well...

I. Have. No. Words.

Run, don't walk, to your kitchen and whip up a batch of these babies.

My husband and I *might* have just plowed through a dozen of them in the space of about 7 minutes.

(I've taken the recipe from this website. Bless this website for so many reasons. She has some typos in her recipe--I've fixed that).

Ingredients (muffins):

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/2 c. milk

1 t. baking powder

1 c. all-purpose flour

Ingredients (coating):

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a mini-muffin tin, set aside.

2. Mix up the 1/2 c. sugar, 1/4 c. melted butter and nutmeg in a large bowl.

3. Add flour, milk, and baking soda and mix together until just combined.

4. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full and bake for 15-17 minutes.

5. While muffins are baking, combine sugar and cinnamon into a bowl, set aside.

6. Melt 1/4 c. butter and place it in a bowl. (I just melted my butter in a skillet and left it there).

7. When muffins are done and cool enough to handle, remove them from the pan. Dip the tops of the muffins in butter and then roll the WHOLE muffin in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Let cool and then try not to pig out too badly!!

Side note: This recipe is egg-free...so my nephew can eat them. So for all of you who have adorable nephews with egg allergies, this one's a winner!

chocolate mousse

From Betty.

• 4 large egg yolks
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

1. Beat egg yolks in small bowl with electric mixer on high speed (about 3 minutes) until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar.
2. Heat 1 cup heavy whipping cream in 2 quart saucepan over medium heat just until hot (do not boil).
3. Gradually stir at least half of the hot cream into egg yolks mixture, then stir back into hot cream in saucepan. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens (do not boil).
4. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, just until chilled.
5. Beat 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream in chilled medium bowl on high speed until stiff. Fold chocolate mixture into whipping cream. Pipe or spoon mixture into serving dish. Refrigerate until serving. Store covered in refrigerator.

I serve it with berries and whipped cream. I know, that’s a lot of whipped cream.

key lime pie

From my SIL.



Ingredients:

• 8 oz of cream cheese
• one can sweetened condensed milk
• half cup fresh lime juice (about 5 limes).
• 5 oz whipped topping
• one 9 inch graham cracker crust (make the crust. it's worth the time)*

Directions:
Blend cream cheese and milk until smooth. Add lime juice and mix. Stir in thawed whipped topping. Pour into graham cracker crust. Freeze for firm pie or refrigerate for 6 hours.

*Graham Cracker Crust:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham crackers (about 20 squares)
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3 Tbs sugar

Directions:
Mix all ingredients and press firmly into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool.

Rosalee's Peanut Butter Bars

Rosalee's Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 c. butter
  
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. creamy peanut butter
• 2 c. flour
• 2 c. oats
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla

+

• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix butter, sugars, eggs until fluffy. Add peanut butter mix until creamy. Add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and vanilla. Mix it all up.
Lightly grease a 12x18 jelly roll pan (jelly roll pan? you mean a cookie sheet with 1 inch edges. i'm so unleanred). Spread with a rolling pin until even in the pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Cool for 20-30 minutes.
Spread 1 cup peanut butter over the top.
Melt chocolate chips and spread over the peanut butter. The peanut butter and chocolate will mix up a bit - so so yummy!

Molasses Cookies

This is my favorite recipe for these cookies. It might have something to do with the fact that the butter-to-sugar ratio is so deliciously close. =)

12T butter, melted

1 c. sugar

1//4 c. molasses

1 egg

1 3/4 c. flour

1/2 t. cloves

1/2 t. ginger

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking soda

Heat oven to 350

Mix sugar, melted butter and molasses well. Add in beaten egg and mix well.

Mix dry ingredients separately and add to wet ingredients.

Drop by tablespoonful (I use a cookie scoop) onto a lined cookie sheet (with parchment or a silpat or whatever you like). Bake for 9-10 minutes.

**NOTE: these cookies will spread quite a bit and very flat once cooked. I only do 3-across on the pan and 4-down. **

Let sit on the pan for a few minutes while they cool, then transfer to wire rack when they're able to hold their shape.

Now if someone would tell me what to do with the 4 dozen of these that are sitting on my kitchen table, that would be great. Because so far, I've eaten four cookies and I can't afford ANY MORE. =)

Festive Candy Cane Kiss Centered Brownie Bites

Festive Candy Cane Kiss Centered Brownie Bites from this website
1 brownie mix 9×13 inch size
18 Candy Cane Hershey Kisses
1/2 Cup chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
3 original candy canes, crushed
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and scoop into a mini cheesecake pan or mini muffin tin pan that has been generously sprayed with cooking spray, about 3/4 way full. Press kisses into center of brownie batter, do not push all the way to bottom, some of the tip should stick out the top. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until brownies are cooked through. Let cool completely.
2. Melt chocolate chips in microwave, 30 second intervals until smooth and melted. Stir in cream until silky smooth. You can place back in microwave for 10 seconds to smooth more if needed. Dip tops of brownies into melted chocolate, then sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Serve with a tall glass of milk. Enjoy!!

**Note** I ended up making way more than 18 using this recipe, thus way more (36) kisses; I would recommend having more Hershey kisses on hand than the 18 the recipe calls for.
**Note**Comments from from the original post said a lot of people had problems with the brownies sticking to the pan. I used Crisco cooking spray with flour and had zero problems. Even when I substituted caramel filled kisses for the candy cane ones.
**Note**I didn't have heavy cream, so I used 1% milk. Worked fine.

Pie Pastry

I just wanted to share my favorite pie crust recipe. It actually comes from the mother of my husband's high school girlfriend. =) She (the mom) has since gone professional with her baking... She's a Southern cook, through and through, and everything she makes is AMAZING.

Ingredients:

3 c. flour
1 t. salt
1/4 - 1/3 c. sugar
1 c. fat (no really, that's what she wrote)
her preferred mixture is 2/3 c. shortening + 5 T. butter
About 10 T. ice water, more or less

The process is pretty standard from here--with a pastry blender, combine flour, salt, sugar and fat. Then gradually add water until it reaches the right consistency. I'd tell you what that's like, but I don't always get it right.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

My friend makes these cookies, which we affectionately call "cookie crack" because they're so addictive and delicious. I finally got my hands on the recipe, so I thought I'd share.

Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 t. peppermint extract
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Once they're nice and creamy, add the egg and mix in well. Then add the vanilla and peppermint. In a separate bowl combine together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ones and mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips. Drop onto a baking sheet in sizes suitable to your liking.

Bake for 10-11 minutes.

Banana Bread

I've been trying to alter my recipes to be a bit healthier (emphasis on "bit"). Today, I worked on making over my banana bread recipe, and I found it to be pretty satisfying....

Mix together thoroughly:
2 eggs, well-beaten
3/4 cup honey
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

In another bowl, combine:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix wet and dry ingredients together well and add:
3 bananas, mashed.

Divide evenly between 2 greased/floured bread pans and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

(Confession: I added chocolate chips...but don't tell).

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Another relatively healthy dessert (made with whole wheat flour, fresh blueberries, and very little butter/oil). This one's from Ellie Krieger. Yum.

Ingredients

* Cooking spray
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole-wheat flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
* 2 tablespoons canola oil
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
* 1 cup fresh blueberries, or frozen and thawed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray.

Whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, the baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, cinnamon and walnuts. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter and oil until fluffy. If necessary, use the back of a spoon to press out any lumps in the brown sugar. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until fully combined. Beat in the vanilla and yogurt.

Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, stirring until just combined.

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture over the batter and top with the blueberries, gently pressing them into the batter. Spoon the rest of the batter into the pan, smoothing the top. Sprinkle the remaining nut mixture over the cake, pressing gently. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool slightly and then unmold and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. Cut the cake into 2-inch squares.


Note: I used lemon yogurt instead of plain, and tossed some lemon zest into the batter. It tasted great. I labeled it with breakfast because I know a lot of people eat coffee cake for breakfast (and I probably will tomorrow!)

Healthy Bob's Red Mill Cookies

I don't know if you've ever bought Bob's Red Mill full-grain food products, but they're the best. I get them at my grocery store, but if they're not available in your area you can order them online too. I got this cookie recipe off the back of their 5-Grain Rolled Cereal, and they are delicious and pretty healthy. I actually feel like I could eat them for breakfast, they're so wholesome-tasting.

1-1/2 cups 5-Grain Rolled Cereal (if you can't find the Bob's Red Mill stuff, you can probably just substitute regular old oats)
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 cup Butter**
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Water
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Pecan Halves (I used slivered almonds instead)
1/2 cup Coconut Flakes
1/2 cup Cranberries
1/2 cup Raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two cookie sheets and set aside. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Chop pecans into coarse pieces and set aside.

In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth, then blend in water and vanilla. Beat eggs and add to butter mixture. Stir flour mixture into the egg and butter mixture. Add cereal and all remaining ingredients. Mix well.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. When done, edges should be lightly brown.

Yield 24 cookies.

**Lately I've been using Sunsweet's Lighter Bake product, and I love it. In some recipes it seems to change the taste/color a bit, but it's worth it to me to cut out the butter or oil completely. I substituted it for the butter in this recipe, and it tasted delicious.

Lemon Curd

We love lemon curd in our family. If you haven't tried it, you're missing out. =) It's basically a condiment you can use on toast....or as a sauce on cake or ice cream. Basically, you can use it anywhere you can use jams or syrups. It's yum, yum, yummy--especially if you're a lemon fan. MMMMM. This is the best recipe I've found.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
6T. butter

Directions:

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.

Strain lemon curd through a fine sieve into a container and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

Original recipe from Epicurious.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is the Williams-Sonoma recipe--right out of their cookbook called "Baking."

We made it tonight and it was DELICIOUS. We topped it with strawberries.

Ingredients:
10 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips...)
3/4 c. butter, cut into pieces
2 t. vanilla
5 large eggs
1 c. white sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9" springform pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the paper and dust with flour.

2. In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine chocolate and butter. Heat, stirring until mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool. Whisk in vanilla.

3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs and sugar. Using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat until the mixture lightens in color and triples in volume, about six minutes. Pour the chocolate mixture over the egg mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold them together. Pour and scrap the batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake until the top forms a crust and cracks and a toothpick inserted in the center come out with some wet batter attached, about 45 minutes. transfer to a wire wrack. Immediately run a knife around the pan sides to loosen the cake; it will fall in the center. Press down on the edges to even the top. Let cool.

5. Release the pan sides and remove them. Trim off any crumbly edges. Invert a flat plate over the cake and then invert them together. Lift off the pan bottom and peel off the parchment paper. Frost if desire.

6. Refrigerate about 1 hour. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Whole Wheat Snickerdoodles

Adapted from AllRecipes.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter

1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

- Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy.

- Add eggs and vanilla.  Beat well.

- Add dry ingredients, except sugar and cinnamon.

- Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

- Shape dough into small balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

- Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

- Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes.

"Classic Brownies"

I got this recipe from a Cook's Illustrated magazine that came in the mail one day. Have you ever seen America's Test Kitchen on PBS? The magazine is by those people. Anyway, this recipe is supposedly the ideal brownie, a "brownie to please everyone" -- "neither cakey nor fudgey." There's a whole article that preceedes the recipe about how the author achieved brownie perfection, but I'll just give you the recipe. For quite a while we were working our way through a stash of Betty Crocker box brownies, but once we ran out I decided to see if this recipe was all it claimed to be. This was the first time I'd ever made brownies with real baking chocolate, and I liked how they turned out. Sometime I'll try the cocoa powder+shortening substitution and see if it makes a difference. Anyway, this recipe is definitely more work than brownies from a box, but not tons more, and I decided after making them twice that they really are quite good. Now I wonder what others think (since my husband likes most anything).

Be sure to test for doneness before removing the brownies form the oven. If underbaked (the toothpick has batter clinging to it), the texture of the brownies will be dense and gummy; if overbaked (the toothpick comes out completely clean), the brownies will be dry and cakey. (This is their disclaimer, by the way.)

1 cup (4 oz.) pecans or walnuts, chopped medium (optional)
1 1/4 cups (5 oz.) cake flour (but I did an all-purpose conversion: 1 c. + 1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour. You're welcome.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine (next time I make these I'm going to try them with less chocolate, just to see)
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into six 1-inch pieces
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking dish, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14-inch length of foil and, if using extra-wide foil, fold lengthwise to 12-inch width; fit into width of baking pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet. (Okay, this didn't make any sense to me (I needed a picture to understand what they were talking about) so I just line the pan with foil. I think that's all they're going for.) Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. If using nuts, spread nuts evenly on rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven until fragrant, 5 to 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.
4. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. (Alternatively, in microwave, heat butter and chocolate in large microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds, then stir and heat for 30 seconds more. Stir again, and, if necessary, repeat in 15-second increments; do not let chocolate burn.) When cocolate mixture is completely smooth, remove bowl from saucepan and gradually whisk in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous.
5. Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pan and smooth surface. Sprinkle toasted nuts (if using) evenly over batter and bake until toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, then remove brownies from pan by lifting foil overhang. Cut brownies tin 2-inch squares and serve. (Store leftovers in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)

Apple-Raisin Muffins

(adapted from Daina Kalnins & Joanne Saab)

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. applesauce
1/4 c. oil
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. raisins
3/4 apples, peeled and diced

Mix together the brown sugar, applesauce, oil, egg, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Fold in the apples and raisins. Use an ice-cream scoop to place scoops of the mixture into muffin tins that have been lightly sprayed with cooking spray (or lined with paper liners). Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Makes 12.

(Note: I loved these muffins. They're super-moist and I love the apples in them.)

Crispy Rice Treats

(from Ellie Krieger)

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup honey
* 1/2 cup natural chunky-style peanut butter
* 6 cups crispy brown rice cereal
* 2/3 cup chopped dried cherries (3 ounces)
* Cooking spray

Directions

Combine honey and peanut butter in a large pot and heat over medium-low heat until melted, about 2-3 minutes. Add brown rice cereal and cherries and stir to combine until mixture is sticky. Press into a 9 by 13-inch pan sprayed with cooking spray. Let cool, then chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Cut into 15 (2 1/2 by 3-inch) squares.

(Note: This is a relatively healthy way to satisfy a craving for sweets. Although, I have been known to throw in a couple of handfuls of dark chocolate chips into the mixture as well :) )

Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. butter or margarine, softened
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
grated peel from one orange
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 1/3 + 1/2 c. flour
3 c. uncooked oats
1 1/2 c. dried cranberries

Cream together butter and sugars. Stir in vanilla, eggs, orange peel, baking soda, and salt. Add flour and oats; stir in cranberries. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until slightly brown. Remove to cooling racks.

5 minute Chocolate Mug Cake

Ok, so I had to try this because I didn't think it was possible to make chocolate cake in 5 minutes. But you can! Wow, a chocolate cake addict could be in trouble with this one! Try it out, it is fun. Play around with it and add things you like (caramel, different flavored chips, etc.) It is great warm with some vanilla ice cream.

4 Tbls. all purpose flour (not self rising)
4 Tbls. sugar
2 Tbls. baking cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbls. milk
3 Tbls. oil (I did less)
3 Tbls. chocolate chips
A splash of vanilla
1 hot cocoa mug

• Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well.
• Add the egg and mix well.
• Pour in the milk and oil, mix well.
• Add the chocolate chips and vanilla and mix again.
• Put you mug in the microwave and cook for 2 1/2- 3 minutes at 1000 watts (I cooked on high).
• The cake will rise over the top of the mug but don't be alarmed!
• Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
• Serves 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.