Key Lime Coconut Bars

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and I knew I had to make it. Is there anything in the world better than sweetened condensed milk? I mean, really?? This recipe took no time at all to make, and boy, is it sweet! I used regular lime juice, and that plus the zest really lime things up. Liam said this was too sweet for him, but I loved it.

rating: 9

Key Lime Coconut Bars
(http://projectsforyournest.blogspot.com/)

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs (I just buy a container of crumbs so I don’t have to bash crackers)
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. sweetened, flaked coconut
1/3 c. butter, melted

Filling:
3 cans sweetened, condensed milk
1/2 c. sour cream
3/4 c. key lime juice
1 Tbsp. grated lime zest

Topping:
Whipped cream and toasted coconut for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 square baking pan with parchment paper, overlapping the paper over the sides to create handles for later. Mix crumbs, sugar, coconut, and butter in a bowl and press into the pan; bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove and cool slightly.

While crust is cooling, make the filling. (the FUN part!) In a bowl, add the remaining ingredients: sweetened, condenced milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime zest. Whisk to combine until smooth and creamy. Pour on top of crust; bake for 8-10 minutes until firm to the touch but not browned at all. Cool at room temperature, then chill completely.

Top with some homemade whipped cream and toasted coconut.
(to toast the coconut, line a baking sheet with parchment paper; spread a thin layer of sweetened, shredded coconut on top, and bake at 350 degrees for 3-4 minutes until it’s lightly golden brown)

 

Chocolate Pots de Creme

This is one of my favorite desserts, and there’s only one place in town that has these (they have vanilla, too, although they aren’t as good as the chocolate). Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for these, except hers are flavored with orange. I didn’t have any Grand Marnier on hand, so I left that out and used vanilla instead. I was afraid to use my blender for this, because I have had really bad luck with blenders and hot liquids. I thought about using my food processor, but I decided to try my immersion blender. Mixing up the chocolate chips and the eggs was loud and crunchy-sounding, but once I poured in the coffee, things quieted down. This recipe only made 5 small glasses-full (see pic) for me. I made some homemade whipped cream and put that on top (after they had cooled for several hours in the fridge). These were really good (although not as smooth as the restaurant’s). Liam didn’t like his (maybe because of the coffee?), but Toby said that this was good and he had “no complaints”.

rating: 9

Chocolate Pots de Creme
(www.thepioneerwoman.com)

prep time: 2 hours
serves: 12 (not for me)

Ingredients:

12 ounces, weight Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
4 whole Eggs
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier, More To Taste (I used vanilla extract)
1 dash Salt
1 cup Very Hot Strong Coffee
Fresh Whipped Cream, For Serving
Thinly Sliced Orange Peel, For Garnish (I omitted)

Preparation Instructions:

Place the chocolate chips into a blender. Crack in the eggs, then add Grand Marnier and salt. Blend for a few seconds, or until combined.
Pour the coffee in a thin stream through the blender lid until it’s all added. Blend another few seconds, or until smooth.
Pour mixture into small cups or jars, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until chilled and set.
Top with plenty of sweetened whipped cream, then garnish with sliced orange peel.

 

Easy Banana Chip Cake

This was indeed easy, but I didn’t think it was anything special. And that’s a good thing, because now I won’t eat the whole thing by myself.

rating: 6

Easy Banana Chip Cake
(Healthy Cooking, April/May 2012)

prep: 25 min.
bake: 40 min. + cooling

Ingredients:

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) yellow cake mix
1-1/4 cups water
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 medium bananas, mashed
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, water, eggs and applesauce; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Stir in the bananas, chips and walnuts.
Transfer to a 10-in. fluted tube pan coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with flour. Bake at 350° for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Pioneer Woman’s Cherry Almond Crisp

The Pioneer Woman suggests making this dessert in individual ramekins, but I only have 4 of those, so I made this in a big dish instead. This was super easy! I didn’t have tart cherries on hard, but I did have frozen sweet cherries, and I also had a bag in the freezer that had about 6 frozen blueberries in it, so I threw those in there as well. This took way longer than 45 minutes to cook for me. The top just stayed raw-looking and it took maybe an extra 30 minutes to firm up. That may be why some parts of the crisp were really chewy? This was good, but I think the almond extract may have been a little too overpowering. I would add half of that next time and see how it is. Also, I had vanilla ice cream on hand, so I served this with ice cream instead of whipped cream.

rating: 8

Cherry Almond Crisp
(www.thepioneerwoman.com)

prep time: 15 min.
cook time: 45 min.
serves 8
Ingredients:

Topping:

1 cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Sugar
½ cups Packed Brown Sugar
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
Dash Or Two Of Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Salt
½ cups Slivered Almonds
1-½ stick Cold (salted) Butter, Cut Into Pieces

Filling:

4 bags (12 Ounces) Frozen Tart Cherries
½ cups White Sugar
¼ cups Cornstarch
2 teaspoons Almond Extract

Whipped Cream (optional):

2 cups Heavy Cream
2 Tablespoons Sugar
Preparation Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Cut the cold butter into pieces. Add the butter to the bowl and use a fork or pastry blender to cut it into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse crumbs. Add the slivered almonds and stir them in.
Place the still-frozen cherries in a bowl, and add sugar, cornstarch and almond extract. Gently stir the cherries to combine.
Divide the cherries between 8 ramekins (about ½ cup each). Top generously with the crumb mixture, evening out the surface.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until the topping is crisp and golden brown. If the topping appears underdone, continue baking in 10 minute increments until it’s done.
Add heavy cream and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until light and fluffy. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
Serve the crisps warm or room temperature with a dollop of freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

 

Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting

Hello, do you remember me?? I’ve been MIA for a week or so. Toby went on a week-long business trip, and I didn’t cook much while he was gone! But I am ready to get back in the groove! Here’s another recipe I got from Pinterest! The picture looked so yummy, I knew I had to try it. The cookies taste more like cake to me (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing!). And the frosting just added an extra little something (and was super easy to make). These were tasty and a little something different. This recipe made about 4 dozen cookies for me. I sent some to Liam’s school, gave some to neighbors, and then I ate many of the “ugly” cookies. I couldn’t give those away, right?

rating: 8.3

Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting
(http://www.chef-in-training.com/)

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups applesauce
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves. Set aside.
Cream sugar and shortening together.
Add eggs and applesauce and mix well.
Add in dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
Drop small spoonfuls of batter on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 F for 8-10 minutes.

While cookies are cooling, prepare frosting.

CARAMEL FROSTING

6 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, heavy cream and brown sugar.
Cook, stirring occasionally until mixture just begins to boil; remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let cool, then stir in the powdered sugar.

Spread frosting over cookies
Enjoy!

 

Apple Crisp

One night last week I was reading an issue of O Magazine, and I came across this story about a woman that had lost her sense of smell. She had to learn a new way of cooking to overcome this, and would use other senses to check on her food. In any case, her sense of smell did come back. Wouldn’t that be horrible, to lose your sense of smell? Food just wouldn’t taste the same. This is one of the recipes she included in her article. There was also a picture, and the next day, I raced to the store to get a couple of ingredients so I could make this recipe THAT DAY. And boy, am I glad I did. Although, I am the only one in my family with a sweet tooth, so I practically had to eat the whole thing by myself. The apples were cooked just right, and the crust…oh, the crust. Don’t leave out the nuts! And do serve it warm with vanilla ice cream, and make sure you get some hot and cold in every bite.

rating: 9.7

Apple Crisp
(O magazine)

Serves 8
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1¼ hours

Ingredients

Filling:

6 apples (ideally a mix of varieties, like Granny Smith, Pink Lady, and McIntosh), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice from ½ lemon
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

Topping:

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
¼ tsp. salt
½ Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground cloves
1⅓ cups pecans, lightly toasted; ⅔ cup ground in a food processor until almost as fine as flour and ⅔ cup roughly chopped
12 Tbsp. (1½ sticks) cold butter, cut into small pieces
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl.

To make topping: In another bowl, combine flour, sugars, salt, spices, and nuts. Add butter pieces and quickly work them into the mix using your fingertips, until they are evenly distributed and about the size of peas.

Butter and flour a 9″ × 12″ baking pan and spoon in apple mixture. Spread topping over apples, patting down with your hands and making sure no fruit is uncovered. Bake until top is golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes. Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream on top.

 

Raspberry Honey Tapioca

Are any of you on www.pinterest.com? I love it. It’s very addictive, however! It’s a virtual bulletin board, where you can “pin” ideas for whatever, like a new baby’s nursery, food, or hairstyles. I saw a picture of this dessert and I pinned it for future reference. I made this the other night. Have you ever had tapioca? Do you know what tapioca is?? It’s got such a weird texture, I had to read the ingredients to make sure it wasn’t gelatin! Tapicoa is a starch extracted from the cassava plant. Huh. Anywho, I didn’t love this dish, I am sad to say. And to be fair, I did use Silk Plain Lite soy milk in place of the milk. Maybe that had something to do with the taste? I also left out the rosewater, but so did the original poster, and she said hers was good. But…it was very pretty! It just left kind of a bitter aftertaste in my mouth, the more I ate it. PS: If any of you want to be on Pinterest, let me know and I can send you an invite! I just need your email address.

rating: 6

Raspberry Honey Tapioca
(http://17andbaking.com)

Serves 4-6
time needed: about 1.5 hours
3 cups milk
1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp fine-grain sea salt
1/3 cup mild honey
Grated zest of 1 small lemon
1/4 to 1 tsp rose water (I omitted)
Chopped toasted pistachios or sliced raspberries to garnish
Soak the tapioca in 1 cup of the milk in a medium, heavy saucepan for 30 – 60 minutes. Whisk in the yolks, salt, honey, and remaining milk.
Bring the mixture barely to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring. This will take about 15 minutes. Decrease the heat so the mixture gently simmers, stirring constantly, for another 20 minutes or until the tapioca is fully cooked (this depends on how large your tapioca pearls are.) The tapioca is fully cooked when the pearls swell up and are nearly translucent – tasting is the best way to tell. The pudding itself will also thicken into a custard. Continue to taste and stir, preventing the tapioca from scorching.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the lemon zest, then let the pudding cool (it will thicken a bit.) Stir in the rose water, if using, and wait another few minutes. Heidi likes to eat it warm, topped with pistachios, but I liked it cold, with fresh raspberries

 

Salted Caramel Thumbprints

Have you ever made caramel before? It’s so easy and it’s REALLY good! I decided on a whim to make these cookies. They are super easy, but you have to refrigerate the dough for awhile. I left mine in the fridge for an hour. You have to make sure the “thumbprints” are really nice and deep, because you want as much of the caramel in there as possible! I did have a good amount of caramel left over. It was tempting not to drink it, but I quickly put the pot in the sink and filled it with water. Again, these were too good to have in the house, so I saved a couple for Liam, then packaged the rest up for neighbors.

rating: 9.3

Salted Caramel Thumbprints
(www.http://blogs.babycenter.com/)

Cookies:

1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Caramel:
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Use an electric mixer to cream together the butter, sugar and egg. Add vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Refrigerate for 1 hour, up to overnight.

Scoop level tablespoons of dough and roll into balls.

Place on a silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Hold the cookie steady with one hand and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes, until they’re barely golden on the sides. Remove from oven and immediately re-poke your thumbprints if they’ve faded. (You can use the tip of a wooden spoon if too hot.) Let them cool. While they’re cooling, make the caramel.

Combine the sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan (high sides). Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel color, swirling as it begins to brown to distribute the sugar. While the sugar and water are going at it, heat up the cream in a saucepan or microwave just until warm.Take off the heat and add your room temperature butter. Whisk the butter in, being sure it’s totally combined. Add your warmed cream and whisk vigorously. Mixture will bubble, then settle down to a velvety caramel.

By now your cookies should be cooled. Spoon as much warm caramel as you can into the indentations of your cookies and top with sea salt.

Makes 24 cookies

 

Pumpkin Muffins

I am always afraid I won’t be able to find canned pumpkin when I need it (a pumpkin emergency?), so I always stock up on it. I was in a grocery store a month or so ago and they didn’t have any pumpkin! They weren’t carrying it yet!! I happened to have all the ingredients on hand for this recipe (well, all except the pumpkin pie spice, which I had to make myself), and I am glad I did. These muffins were really good, and you know what makes them so good? I think it’s the raisins and the molasses. This does make about 18 muffins, so get ready to share with your friends and family. These muffins taste and smell like fall.

rating: 9

Pumpkin Muffins
(Cooking Light, Cooking Through the Seasons)

makes 18 muffins

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in raisins; make a well in center of mixture. Combine brown sugar, canned pumpkin, buttermilk, canola oil, molasses, vanilla extract, and eggs, stirring well with a whisk. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.
Spoon batter into 18 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans immediately; cool on a wire rack.

per serving: 202 calories

 

Cham’s Apple Cake

Every year for Thanksgiving, we travel 3 hours down to Raleigh, NC to visit one set of my in-laws. I am always given the task of bringing one of two desserts (Toby’s stepsister brings the other one). Let me preface this by saying that I am not a baker. I seem to have more luck with cooking, so I will consider myself a cook, NOT a baker. I’ve attempted pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and various fall-like sweets, but nothing has ever wowed anyone (or myself). So, for this year’s run I decided to ask my friends and family on Facebook if they had a foolproof dessert that met these criteria: 1. it has to travel well, 2. it has to be easy to make, and 3. it has to be really good. I received several responses, but my step-sister Cham was the first one to actually send me a recipe. I performed a test run of this cake last week and let me tell you it. was. wonderful. And easy! I had some misgivings about it at first. The batter was super runny and oily. I thought, no way this is going to turn out. But it did. And my house smelled wonderful. The cake had a nice crunch when you bit into it, but the inside was so moist and flavorful. I told Cham that this was probably the best cake I had ever made (I’ve only made a couple, but so what). I will make this for Thanksgiving and travel with it, and who knows, I just might make one BEFORE Thanksgiving. Good cake. GOOOOOD CAKE.

rating: 10 (yep)

Cham’s Apple Cake

filling:

3 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

batter:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp vanilla

1. Mix apples, 1/4 cup sugar, and cinnamon together. Set aside.
2. To make batter, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients into the mixture a little bit at a time.
3. Spoon 1/3 of the batter into a greased and floured 10″ tube pan. Top with half of the apple filling. Repeat layering, ending with batter on top.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour 15 min. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes.
5. Shake pan to loosen. Remove cake and let it cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.