Smoky Pineapple Shakes

We had leftover pineapple from the Broiled Pork Chops and Pineapple with Maple Syrup.  Brian got the wonderful idea of making a shake with it and it turned out really well.  You don't have to make the dinner to make the shake.  You do, however, have to broil some fresh (or canned, but fresh is best) pineapple with the maple glaze.

Vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/4 tsp. cayenne
Pineapple
milk

Mix maple syrup and cayenne.  Brush onto pineapple and broil until tender.  Blend ice cream, pineapple and milk.  Pour into a glass and enjoy the smoky, spicy, and sweet pineapple shake. 

Cheesecake Dessert

I haven't made this dessert in YEARS. I got a craving for it the other day and decided to go ahead and make it. I couldn't find the pie dough in tart size, and I was too lazy to make a pie crust, so I just made a graham cracker crust instead and put it in a 8x8 and it turned out just as delicious. It's so simple to make and a tasty alternative to real cheesecake (not to mention less time consuming)!

Cheesecake Dessert

Frozen tart shells

Cherry pie filling or blueberry pie filling

8 oz. cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

8-9 oz. cool whip

Prepare individual prepackaged, frozen tart shells according to package directions, cool, and fill with cream-cheese filling and top with desired fruit. I use either cherry or blueberry pie filling - you just buy it in the can. Filling: Cream together 1 (8 oz.) pkg. softened cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Then fold in an 8 or 9 oz. container of Cool Whip.

Apple Crisp

I ate an apple every morning for breakfast during my senior year. I appled myself out and ever since then, I don't really eat them. However, this pregnancy, I find myself wanting to eat apples again. And since the apple season is upon us, I'm going to kick off the season with some apple crisp. I get my new oven today (long story, it's on my other blog if you want to read it), so I'll post a picture as soon as I make it. I am going to experiment substituting some of the sugar with brown sugar for a more caramely flavor. I'll let you know how it works.

*I used 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar and I loved it!

Apple Crisp

4 cups sliced (or diced) apples

¼ cup orange juice or 3 Tbs. lemon juice

1 cup sugar

¾ cup flour

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

½ cup butter

Mound apples in a buttered pie dish, sprinkle with orange juice. Combine sugar, flour, spices and dash salt; cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over apples. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is crisp. Serve warm with cream (not whipped) or vanilla ice cream. Serve 6.

Warm Chocolate Pudding Cakes with Caramel Sauce

So, I don't like chocolate. Except for this cake! Brian made it a couple of weeks ago and it is THE BEST chocolate cake I've ever had! He got the recipe from Everyday Foods on PBS. It's really not hard at all. The most time consuming is making the caramel sauce and that takes under ten minutes. Mmm, it is so worth it!

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cubed, plus more, room temperature, for ramekins

1/3 cup sugar, plus more for ramekins

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

caramel Sauce for serving

whipped cream, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter four 6-ounce ramekins, then coat lightly with sugar, tapping out excess. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine butter and chocolate. Microwave until melted, about 1 minute; stir until smooth. (Or melt mixture in a heatproof bowl set over, not in, a pan of simmering water.)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, yolks, flour, and salt; add chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Fill each ramekin three-quarters full with batter; place on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate 15 minutes.
3. Bake until center of a cake is soft but not wet when pressed, 27 to 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Serve cakes warm, topped with caramel and whipped cream.

Caramel Sauce

1. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 cup sugar over medium-high until melted and brown at edges, 3 minutes. With a heat-resistant spatula, pull melted sugar toward center until all sugar is melted and caramel is deep amber in color, 3 minutes more.
2. Immediately whisk in 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cubed, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (take care as mixture is extremely hot and will bubble).
3. Whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream.
4. Pour into a heatproof container and let cool. (To store, refrigerate, up to 3 weeks.)

If you've made toffee before, making caramel is pretty much the same. Brian burned the first two batches, then I took over and made perfection ;) You don't want to make it dark, since sugar burns VERY quickly. If making the sauce is too intimidating, you can always use store bought caramel, it's still good!

Brenda's Snobby S'Mores

I got this idea from a friend, and they are pretty good.

A nice warm fire or the flame from your gas range, whatever
Graham crakers
Marshmallows
Caramel filled chocolate bars


Mmmm.

Raspberry Cream Bars

I first tried this dessert at Richard's aunt's house, who by the way is an AMAZING cook. She never gives recipes out though so I did a search on the Internet for it. I finally found it and now it's one of my favorites! Enjoy!

Crust:
1 cup graham crackers, crushed
1 cup pretzels, crushed
3/4 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar

Cream Layer:
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
8 ounces cool whip

Raspberry Layer:
1 six ounce package raspberry jello
2 cups boiling water
20 ounces frozen raspberries, partially thawed and undrained (is that a word?)

Dissolve the jello in boiling water, add raspberries. Put in the refrigerator to thicken slightly. Mix crust ingredients and press firmly into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Cool completely. Cream the sugar and cream cheese, fold in cool whip. Spread over cooled crust. Pour raspberry jello mix over cream layer and chill.

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever

or at least that's what my husband thinks. I make it every year for his birthday at his request, and about 10 other times in the year, too. This makes a fairly dense cake and tastes very old-fashioned. It's not the fluffy, airy kind of chocolate cake you get from a box. One great thing about this is that it doesn't use eggs or any type of refrigerated foods - only stuff from your food storage!

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
6 tbsp. baking cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 c water
2/3 c vegetable oil
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Beat on low for 1 minute. Beat on medium for 1 minute. Pour into a greased (or sprayed) 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

We typically don't frost this, just dust with powdered sugar or whipped cream.

Strawberry pizza

I just made this last night and it is already gone!  That could tell you I am really fat or that it is really delicious... ;)

Strawberry Pizza

sugar cookie dough (that comes in a tube at the store)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 C powdered sugar
2 C sliced fresh strawberries

sauce:
1 C sugar
1/4 C cornstarch
2 C crushed strawberries

Spread sugar cookie dough onto a pizza pan for crust and bake as directed. It should start to become a little golden. I usually do a toothpick poke in the middle to make sure that it is cooked. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar and spread over the crust. Arrange fresh strawberry slices on top.
Bring sauce to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes or until thickened. Cool slightly. Spoon over fresh strawberries and refrigerate.  I like to refrigerate it all before serving so that it is all cool.

Strawberry Pie

This has been the most flavorful strawberry season I can remember! I've made cases of jam since Brian won't eat any other (flattering, but sometimes frustrating). I decided to make a couple of strawberry pies. They are super easy and oh, so good!!

Strawberry Pie

1 cup fresh strawberries
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
3 Tbs. cornstarch
5 cups fresh sliced strawberries

Crush 1 cup fresh strawberries and cook with water about 2 minutes and sieve (I never do that, it just makes the glaze smoother and I like chunks of strawberries). Combine sugar and cornstarch; stir into berry juice. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add a few drops red food coloring (never do that either). Place 2½ cups sliced strawberries in baked and cooled pie shell. Pour half sauce over. Repeat layers with 2½ cups berries and remaining sauce. Chill.

Brian likes it with whip cream.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Tonight I decided I would reorganize my recipe box (since it gets totally rearranged by me and my kids) and I came across my favorite cheesecake recipe. I think I will have to dig out those spring form pans! It has a smooth chocolate layer on top with the chocolate chip filling below and a chocolatey crust. The recipe came from a 2003 Taste of Home magazine, although I have altered it a little.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

2 C vanilla wafer crumbs

1/2 C finely chopped walnuts

1/4 C sugar

3 T baking cocoa

1/3 C butter, melted

Filling:

4 pkgs. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 C sugar

4 t cornstarch

4 eggs

1/3 C whipping cream

3 t vanilla extract

1 1/2 C miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Topping:

3 squares (1 oz each) semisweet chocolate, melted

1 T butter, melted

1 C powdered sugar

1/4 C whipping cream

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 10 inch springform pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes,

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Combine sugar and cornstarch; beat on low speed just until combined. Add the cream, vanilla and chocolate chips,. Pour into prepared crust.

Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until center is nearly set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosed; cool 1 hour longer. (Cheescake top may crack but topping will cover.)

For topping, combine chocolate, butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Slowly beat in cream until mixture achieves spreading consistency. Spread over cheesecake. Refrigerate overnight.

Remove sides of pan. Refrigerate leftovers.

Apple dumplings

2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls
2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter melted
¾ c Mountain Dew soda
Ground cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream

Unroll rolls and separate into 16 triangles. Cut each apple into 8 wedges. Wrap a roll around each apple wedge. Place in a greased 13x9x2 pan.

In a bowl, combine sugar and butter; sprinkle over rolls. Slowly pour the soda around the rolls, but do not mix. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.
Makes 16 dumplings

NOTES: This is the exact recipe, but I have never made it like this. I love this recipe because it is so easy to have the stuff on hand without worrying about spoilage. I don't drench it in butter. I just melt a couple table spoons and brush it over the top. And then I just spinkle cinnamon and sugar over the top. This recipe seems like it has too much sugar for my taste, but I thought I'd show the original version first. Also, I’ve never used Mountain Dew. It tastes just fine without any soda at all.

Red Velvet Cake

I've been kinda sick of that same old cake that Brian always wants (chocolate), plus I needed to use up some buttermilk, so I thought I'd try something from my childhood (when I went to a restaurant and ate it). Boxed cake mixes aren't my favorite, so I made this from scratch.

Right off, Brian isn't a fan. He thought it would be more chocolatey than it was. I made the traditional butter roux frosting, instead of the modern cream cheese frosting. Brian thinks it tastes like condensed milk, and it did the first day, but mellowed out into a buttery caramel flavor. I'm not 100 percent sure if I made the frosting right, but I liked it. Anyway, it was good enough that I'll make it again (probably only once a year), but with the cream cheese frosting instead.

Red Velvet Cake

½ cup shortening
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 or 2 (1-ounce) bottles red food coloring (I only had 1/2 of one, so it didn't look as brilliant)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ cups sifted cake flour (all purpose flour 2½ cups -5 Tbs. which is what I did)
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cocoa powder (I actually took out 2 Tbs. more of flour and replaced it with more cocoa powder)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Beat shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.
Stir in food coloring and vanilla, blending well. Combine flour, salt, and cocoa; set aside.
Combine buttermilk, vinegar, and soda in a 4-cup liquid measuring cup. (Mixture will bubble.) Add flour mixture to shortening mixture, alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes; pour batter into 3 greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans (I used a 9x13). Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Spread frosting between layers and on top of cake. Garnish with chopped pecans, if desired.

Sheet Cake: Pour batter into a greased and floured 13- x 9-inch pan. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Spread cream cheese frosting on top of cake. Garnish, if desired.

Butter Roux Frosting:
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the milk and flour in a saucepan and cook on medium heat until thickened. Cream together sugar, vanilla and butter, beating until fluffy. Gradually beat milk mixture into butter mixture (this is where I think I went wrong, if you don’t let the milk cool, it just melts the butter when you add it, which is what happened to me. And that makes it hard to follow the next instruction). Beat until the frosting becomes fluffy and spreadable.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1 pound box confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream it all together.

Ellie ate part of it before I could take a picture...

Well, let me know what you think, and if you have a better one please share. All in all, I'd give this about 3 1/2 stars....