Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

I remember eating this dessert a long, long time ago before I knew much about cooking. I might even have been a kid at the time. I remember thinking when I ate it that whoever had made it must be the Best Cook Ever.

It combines refreshingly sweet strawberries, cream cheese, and a buttery sweet & salty crust. It is so good & worth the few steps involved in making it. If you take it to a potluck, maybe you will become the Best Cook Ever to someone.

Copied & pasted from allrecipes:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels
• 4 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen strawberries [I used about 4 cups of fresh ones.]
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Mix together the pretzels, 4 1/2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool completely.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread evenly over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the gelatin mix and boiling water. Mix in frozen strawberries, and stir until thawed. Pour over cream cheese mixture in pan. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.

Easy Granola Bars

I like these granola bars because they are easy, versatile, and all of my kids like them!

Ingredients:

4 cups of oats (instant or old fashioned)b
1 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup of applesauce (today I substituted pumpkin butter and no one noticed)
2 tsp of baking powder
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
1/4 cup of chopped nuts (today I used sunflower seeds)

Combine everything and press into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until golden. Cool slightly before cutting into squares. Enjoy!

Salty Buckeyes

My personal chef, Sugar Baby, made these for us yesterday. They were good, but a little too sweet for most of us. I was surprised to find there was no added salt in the peanut butter mixture (only what already came in the peanut butter). So, to add some saltiness, I sprinkled sea salt on the finished product. That's more like it!


Sugar Baby got the recipe from allrecipes (just want to give credit where credit is due!)... Here it is:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons shortening

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar with hands to form a smooth stiff dough. Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate.
3. Melt shortening and chocolate together in a metal bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth, and remove from heat.(Or you can use the microwave to melt this - just be careful not to let it burn!)
   
4. Remove balls from refrigerator. Insert a wooden toothpick into a ball, and dip into melted chocolate. Return to wax paper, chocolate side down, and remove toothpick. Repeat with remaining balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.

Lastly, and most importantly, sprinkle each one with a little bit of sea salt. Mmmm...

Warning!

You may gain several pounds by viewing the following picture. Proceed with caution.
It's worth it though, right? ?

Mmmm... that's Sugar Baby's Brownies topped with mint chocolate chip ice cream, and then topped with today's recipe: homemade hot fudge sauce.

This recipe, unfortunately, is very easy and fast to whip up. In a matter of minutes, you can add a hundred or so calories to an ordinary bowl of ice cream. Terrible stuff, hot fudge sauce...

Ingredients:
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 cup margarine or butter
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla

Combine everything except the vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Serve hot or cold, but hot is best.

Popcorn Cake

Check out this new treat I recently discovered! It's like a giant rice crispy treat, only it's made with popcorn instead of rice crispies. The kids loved it (as did I) and it was really pretty and simple to make!

Ingredients:

About 4 quarts of popped popcorn, seasoned with salt & butter
1 stick of butter/margarine
1 bag of marshmallows (10oz)
About 1 cup or so of m&ms

Grease a bundt pan with butter or cooking spray. Melt the marshmallows and butter in a large pot over low heat, stirring constantly until the marshmallows are completely melted. Stir in the popcorn until it's thoroughly mixed & coated with marshmallow goo. Place 3/4 of the m&ms in the bottom of the greased pan. Pack (be careful - it's hot!) the gooey popcorn into the bundt pan, occasionally sprinkling with m&ms, until the pan is full. Chill for about 15 minutes. Turn over onto a serving dish or plate. Cut into chunks and wow your kids with this tasty treat!

Cobbler

The summer fruit is here: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, etc...! This cobbler is an easy & delicious way to use them. Recently, my 7yr old son collected blackberries from our woods and he and one of his big sisters made a cobbler with them for Father's Day.

Here's how ya do it:

Ingredients:

1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup Bisquick*
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 cups fruit

Melt the butter and put it in a 9x13" pan. Stir together the Bisquick, sugar & milk and pour it into the pan. Sprinkle the berries or whatever fruit you're using evenly over the top. Don't try to push the fruit down into the batter. Bake at 350F until the top is golden. Enjoy with vanilla ice cream!

*If you don't have Bisquick, you can use 1 cup all-purpose flour mixed with 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt in its place.

Strawberry Shortbread Bites

The strawberries in the garden are still coming in! My girl Sugar Baby whipped up a batch of shortbread yesterday & just as it came out of the oven, one of the boys brought in another bowl of strawberries. I looked at the shortbread & I looked at the strawberries & the wheels started turning... there was cream cheese in the fridge... we could do some kind of fruit pizza! So eventually we ended up with these cute little delicious bites.

For the shortbread:
5 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of butter, cut into little pieces (yes, that IS a lot of butter!)

Combine all of the ingredients until it forms a dough. A mixer with a paddle attachment works well for this. Press it into a greased 15x10" pan & prick all over with a fork. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes or until set in the middle. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then cut into 1 1/2" (approximately) squares. Leave in the pan & let cool all the way.

For the cream cheese part:
2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat the 3 ingredients together until smooth.

Place a dollup - about a tablespoon - of cream cheese on each shortbread square. Top with a strawberry slice - or even a whole berry if they are small.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I love these cupcakes! They have real strawberries in them and are moist and perfectly paired with a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting.Ingredients:

1 cup of thoroughly squashed strawberries
3 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp strawberry extract
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs

Cream the butter & sugar. Gradually beat in the eggs and extracts. Combine the flour, baking powder & salt in another bowl. Stir the milk & strawberries into the butter mixture and then stir in the dry ingredients until everything is combined.

Fill the muffin liners 2/3 full - this batter doesn't rise very much. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool before frosting.

Makes about 4 dozen cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 cups of powdered sugar

Thoroughly beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy and no lumps remain. Beat in the remaining ingredients, adding enough sugar to get the consistency you want. (For piping, add more, for spreading, add less...)

Frost your cooled cupcakes and try not to eat them all at one time! If you do have some left, store them in the fridge. :)

Strawberry Trifle

Our strawberries have ripened and this dessert is one of our favorite ways to use them! It is simple, elegant and DEElicious!

Ingredients:

about 4 cups sliced strawberries
2 boxes cheesecake pudding, prepared according to package
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
about 4 cups cake, cut into chunks (I used leftover cupcakes)


Sprinkle about 2 tsp of sugar over the strawberries and set them aside. This will allow them to make a little yummy syrup. Go ahead and make the pudding now, if you haven't.

Whip the cream until peaks form, gradually adding the 1/4 cup of sugar while whipping.

Layer in this order:

1/2 of the cake chunks
1/2 of the strawberries (drizzling their juice over the cake and placing some of the prettier slices against the side of the bowl)
1/2 the pudding
1/2 the whipped cream

Repeat & top with a whole strawberry. Chill for several hours before serving. Makes about 12 servings.

Note 1: A crushed pineapple layer also tastes good. And blueberries. And bananas. And...

Note 2: You can use any kind of cake - sponge, angel food, chocolate, or even Twinkies!

Pink Lemonade Sherbet

I have Sugar Baby (my 12 yr old dd) to thank for discovering this yummy treat! Lucky for us - she loves trying new recipes.

She found this one on allrecipes. It is pretty, creamy & delicious! I'm sure we'll be having this a lot this summer when the temperature goes up. And as pretty as it is, I could easily see it being served at a Mother's Day brunch or something like that...

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 (.13 ounce) envelope unsweetened orange soft drink mix or flavor of your choice [she used a .23oz packet of pink lemonaid flavored Koolaid]
  
• 3 cups milk

Directions

1. In a bowl, stir sugar, soft drink mix and milk until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a shallow freezer container; cover and freeze for 1 hour or until slightly thickened. Transfer to a mixing bowl, beat until smooth. Return to freezer container; cover and freeze until firm. Remove from the freezer 20 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Pops!

These were too cute not to post here!

I've been dabbling with cake pops recently and I've discovered that brownie pops taste wayyyy better!

Here's how to do it:

Bake a box of brownie mix, using 1 less egg than the directions call for. Let it cool and then roll & squish it into balls that are slightly smaller than a golf ball. (I made the chicky ones a little more egg shaped - or at least tried to).

Chill the balls for at least an hour and dip in candy coating and allow to dry.

NOTE: Do NOT attempt to add food coloring to candy coating/bark. Trust me on this one.

Tastycake Cupcakes

Mmmm! Better than the real thing! Use my Tasty Cake recipe and make cupcakes instead. Let them cool completely.

Combine the filling ingredients in a mixer until fluffy:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 pinch salt
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spoon filling ingredients in a pastry bag that is fitted with a decorating tip that's got an opening about 1/4" across. Stick the tip about 1/3 of the way into each cupcake center and squeeze the bag until it reaches the top of the cupcake.

Frost with the Tasty Cake Chocolate frosting and enjoy!

Sugar Baby's Brownies

This is what a brownie should be like. Crusty on the top, dense, sturdy, fudgy, chocolatey, rich and not at all cakey. Sugar Baby (my 12 yr old) made these recently and I quickly tossed aside my old recipe and clung to this one. (Thank you, Sugar Baby, I'm forever indebted to you!) She adapted the recipe from Deep Dish Brownies, which she found on allrecipes. Here's what she did:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions;

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Thoroughly combine all the ingredients.
3. Bake 40-45 minutes or until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool before cutting, if you can wait. If not, enjoy them with a spoon and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top to cool them enough so that you don't burn your tongue. ;)

P.S. The recipe doubles easily to fill a 9 x 13" pan.

Mini Bittersweet Chocolate Cheesecakes

Oooh, la la! Fancy and easy!
These soft little cheesecakes definitely have a bittersweet chocolate taste, so if you'd rather have less of the bittersweet taste, use semi-sweet and they will be a touch sweeter. The recipe was adapted from an issue of Fine Cooking.

Ingredients:

1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbs sugar
4 oz chocolate, chopped, divided and melted (bittersweet or semi-sweet)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 300F. Line 6 muffin tins with liners & spray them lightly with cooking spray. (I used a silicon tart baking pan. Each tart "hole" is about 4" across.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and 3 ounces of the melted chocolate. Add the egg & beat just until blended. Spoon into the muffin or tart tins and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the centers are just barely jiggly when nudged. Cool completely. Refrigerate (up to 3 days) until ready to serve. (Or freeze up to 1 month.) Just before serving, drizzle with the remaining melted chocolate.

Chocolate Pudding

First off... my sincerest apologies if you are a reader of this blog and are allergic to chocolate...

And now, back to the subject: Chocolate Pudding!

Recently, when my kids came down with the flu & had very sore throats, I splurged and bought 3 packages of Jello pudding cups. Within what seemed like seconds, all three packages were gone, and my kids were still looking for more. (Not really, but almost... Anyway, they devoured them in no time.) There went my $4, and we were left with lots of trash to boot.

I thought to myself, "there must be a better way!" And then I remembered that pudding is food. And people make food. Yes! I can make my own!

So, off to allrecipes I went and found this delicious recipe. For about $1.50, I made 10 servings. That's half the cost of the packaged stuff and I was left with no packages to fill up the trashcan and it was all made from pronounceable ingredients. Plus, it soothed sore throats & made my little people happy. You can't get much better than that:)

Oh, and I doubled the recipe to get the 10 half-cup servings.


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 3/4 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons margarine or butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, stir together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Place over medium heat, and stir in milk. Bring to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat, and stir in margarine and vanilla. Let cool briefly, and serve warm, or chill in refrigerator until serving.
   

Fudgy Pie

Mmmm... This pie was so good! I found the recipe at allrecipes (surprise, surprise) and changed it a little (surprise, suprise) and discovered a simple, yet richly delicious dessert!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Mix sugar and cocoa together. Beat the eggs then add to the cocoa mixture. Beat in the milk, butter and vanilla.
3. Pour mixture into 9 inch unbaked pie shell and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 - 55 minutes or until set. (The middle will be slightly jiggly until it cools & sets.) Let cool before slicing.
   

Tower of Calories

A.K.A. No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars

This is another allrecipes treat. I've made it once and will definitely make it again, but add more peanut butter next time. Personally, I'd love to add coconut as well, but I don't want to incite rebellion or anarchy, so I'll have to wait until I'm an empty nester for that.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter [next time will add a few Tbs more, or even a handful of peanut butter chips, or maybe even butterscotch??]
  

Directions

1. Grease a 9x9 inch square pan.
2. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Mix in the oats. Cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until ingredients are well blended. Press half of mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Reserve the other half for topping.
3. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture over the crust in the pan, and spread evenly with a knife or the back of a spoon.
4. Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate layer, pressing in gently. Cover, and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Bring to room temperature before cutting into bars.

P.S. I doubled the recipe & used a 9 x 13" pan.

Black Bean Brownies

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't tasted it. These are really good! All six of my kids liked them and asked for seconds. (Of course, I didn't tell them there was anything different about the recipe - not sure if I ever will...)

This easy, moist & fudgy recipe came from allrecipes...

Ingredients:

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder [the original recipe didn't call for this, but I added it anyway]
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee (I used 1 Tbs strong brewed coffee instead)
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (I added a couple of Tbs of sliced almonds, too)
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.
2. Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, sugar, and instant coffee in a blender or food processor; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips/nuts over the top of the mixture.
   
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.
   

Streusel Topped White Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I love this banana bread. It is easy to whip up & makes a great dessert, snack or breakfast! It is really moist & sweet.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk (may substitute milk w/1 tsp lemon juice)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Streusel Ingredients:
2 Tbs butter, softened
1 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbs brown sugar

Combine all except streusel ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, stir the streusel ingredients together until crumbly. After baking the bread for about 30 minutes, sprinkle the streusel on and bake until the bread is no longer gooey in the middle (about 5-10 more minutes).

Note: the white chocolate chips usually sink to the bottom while baking, but we don't mind. :)

Buttercream Frosting

Today was Superhero's b-day & I wanted to make a cake that was special, but easy. Very easy - a cake decorator I am not (yet). So... I made the Tasty Cake, but used buttercream frosting instead of the chocolate frosting that I normally use for that cake. The results: a seriously delicious cake. However, the middle sagged and I hurriedly squirted the frosting on, so it didn't look so hot (at all). Thankfully, I found a tube of black gel icing & drew the outline of a batman mask on it, and I found a number 7 candle way back in a cabinet! Woohoo, we were in business!

The buttercream frosting recipe came from allrecipes & called for using shortening along with the butter, but I used all butter instead and added a tablespoon of vanilla (and a lot of blue food coloring).

Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1-4 Tbs milk

Beat all the ingredients together in a mixer until fluffy. Add enough milk to get it to the consistency you want. It made enough to cover a 2 layer (9") cake - while piling extra in the middle to try to fill in the saggy parts - with about 1/2 left over.