Low Carb Strawberry Shortcake

Tomorrow is my hubby's birthday and I wanted to make him something yummy, but more geared towards his low carb diet. We have been "cheating" on our diets lately with Valentine's Day and other birthdays, so it is time to get back on track. My hubby loves those cakey cookies you see in the store...the yummy ones with the frosting. A few years ago, the funfetti cake mix had a recipe for them. I made them for him when I first met him and he LOVED them. It is actually what he requested for his birthday "cake." We stopped at a fruit stand yesterday and picked up a half flat of strawberries, so I put them together and viola, low carb strawberry shortcake. So delicious!

Low Carb Strawberry Shortcake

Shortcake/Cake cookies
1 box sugar free (or low sugar) cake mix- I used yellow (Pillsbury)
2 eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (the recipe calls for oil, but I used the applesauce)

1 quart strawberries, sliced
1-2 tsp Splenda sweetner

Cool Whip Free (or ohter sugar free or low sugar whipped topping)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, applesauce and mix until combined and minimal clumps. If too dry and stiff, I add 1 tsp water. The dough should be thick.
2. Grease baking sheet. Scoop dough onto baking sheet. With a floured spoon/fingers/glass, flatten tops of cookies.
3. Bake cookies at 375 F until lightly browned (approx 6-8 minutes). Allow to cool completely.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine strawberries and Splenda. I add 1 Tbsp water. Allow to cool in refrigerator while cookies cool.
5. When ready to eat, place cookie on plate, top with strawberries and whipped topping. Enjoy!!

Coconut Cheesecake

I LOVE coconut; so when I saw this cheesecake recipe on The Novice Chef blog, I knew I had to try it. My recipe is different because I wanted to make mini cheesecakes to bring to work. I didn't want too much tempting dessert in the house. Check out The Novice Chef blog for the original (which includes a recipe for coconut whipped cream topping which I didn't make). My recipe is different that hers, but I used hers as a base.


Crust
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp shredded coconut
1 Tbsp melted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Place paper liners in muffin tin.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, coconut, and melted butter. Stir until well mixed.
4. Scoop graham cracker mixture into each of the cupcake liners. Bake at 350F until lightly browned (approx 5-7 minutes).
5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Cheesecake
1 package cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
1/3 - 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 Tbsp coconut milk (I used light, but I don't think it had enough flavor)
1/4 cup cream of coconut (YUM)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese until smooth using either a spatula or hand mixer. Add in the sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat until well combined. Add in the egg and beat until well incorporated. Add the coconut milk and cream of coconut and beat until well incorporated.
3. Pour mixture into cupcake liners on top of the prebaked crust. Do not fill to top as they will rise slightly. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes, or until the filling looks set. Remove and allow to cool.
YUM!

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

We had my sister, her boyfriend, and kids over for dinner tonight. I decided to have a ice cream sundae bar for dessert. Basically I bought low fat vanilla frozen yogurt and then put out different topping so everyone could make the sundae of their dreams. I put out marshmallows, chocolate chips, maraschino cherries, cool whip, toasted coconut, pecans, strawberries, bananas. I wanted to have Oreos crushed up, but didn't want an entire package of Oreos in the house. I decided I would make the cookies at home, but then thought I didn't really need the center filling. I found this recipe for chocolate wafer cookies and decided to try it. DELICIOUS! I think I ate almost all of them myself. You could use them like I did- as an ice cream topping. You could also make ice cream sandwiches with these cookies. If you wanted to make the cream filling, you could also make homemade Oreos. You could just enjoy them plain, you could dip them in chocolate, mix in some mint and have mint chocolate cookies, the possibilities are endless.
The original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
14 Tbsp unsalted butter, slightly softened
3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a food processor, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Pulse until mixed thoroughly.

2. Cut butter into 12 pieces and add them to the flour mixture in the food processor. Pulse a few times. With the processor running, add the milk and vanilla extract. Process until the mixture clumps. Transfer to large bowl and knead until evenly blended. NOTE- I found mine appeared powdery and never clumped, I put it in a larger bowl and kneaded it and it came together.

3. Form the dough into a log and wrap in foil. Refrigerate until firm.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare cookie sheet with cooking spray. Cut the dough into 1/4 inch thick coins. Place the cookies on cookie sheet. Bake at 350F approx 6 minutes, rotate the pans and bake another 6-8 minutes.

Low fat, low carb brownie cupcakes

I was watching the Food Network this weekend and the Hungry Girl was on. She was making foods that you could replace some of your guilty pleasures with. She made kale chips to replace potato chips. She made butternut squash fries. The one I knew I had to try though, were these brownie cupcakes. So easy, low fat and they are so delicious!

Brownie cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix (I used the Sugar Free type)
1 can pumpkin (do not use pumpkin pie mix)

1. Preheat oven to temperature instructed on package of cake mix. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine pumpkin and cake mix. Stir until combined. It will seem dry, but it will come together, just keep mixing. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake as instructed on package of cake mix for cupcakes.
3. Allow to cool and you can either frost or eat as is. YUM!

Almond Joy Cupcakes

Yum! Try these! I used a recipe for the topping and glaze from foodnetwork.com. You can find that recipe here Almond Joy Cupcakes CAKE 1 box coconut cake mix 1/3 cup applesauce (substitution for oil in cake mix) 3 eggs 1 1/3 cup water 1/3 cup minced almonds COCONUT TOPPING 14 oz shredded coconut 1 Tbsp powdered sugar 2 cups milk (original recipe calls for whole milk- I used 1/2 cup coffee creamer and 1 1/2 cup skim milk) 1/2 tsp vanilla extract Pinch of salt CHOCOLATE GLAZE AND GARNISH 6 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate 3 Tbps light corn syrup 1 Tbsp unsalted butter 3 Tbsp hot water (I forgot to put this in and it came out fine) Whole almonds for garnish 1. Preheat oven as directed on box of cake mix. Line cupcake pan with paper liners 2. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, applesauce, water, minced almonds and mix with electric mixer as directed on box. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. 3. Bake cupcakes as directed on package. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Using a spoon, scoop out the center of the top of the cupcake to make room for coconut topping. 4. While cupcakes are cooling, prepare the coconut topping. In a medium saucepan, stir together milk, coconut, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium high heat stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium or medium-low and allow to simmer until most of the milk has absorbed (approx 15 minutes) stirring occasionally. Allow to cool. 5. In a microwave safe dish, combine chocolate, corn syrup, butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Microwave at 50% power for 1 minute. If chocolate is completely melted, remove from microwave, stir and keep warm. If not completely melted, continue to microwave until melted. 6. Fill top of cupcakes with coconut topping and top with chocolate glaze. Top with whole almond for garnish.

Wonton Desserts

With some of my leftover wonton wrappers, I decided to make a dessert. Of course, there is chocolate...dessert is never complete without chocolate.

Wonton desserts

Banana wontons

1/2 package of wonton wrappers
1 banana
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Sugar and cinnamon for dusting

1. If frying, bring oil up to 350F. If baking, preheat oven to 350F and prepare baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Dice banana.
3. Put a small amount of banana and a few chocolate chips (do not overstuff) at the tip of the wonton closest to you. Fold in side tips and roll into tight roll.
4. If baking, place on baking sheet and bake until browned. If frying place in oil and cook until browned. Be sure not to overcrowd oil as this will drop the temperature.
5. When finished cooking, dust with sugar and cinnamon.

Raspberry wontons

1/2 pacakge wonton wrappers
1/4 cup raspberry preserves
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Sugar for dusting

1. If frying, bring oil to 350F. If baking, preheat oven to 350F and prepare baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Put a small amount of raspberry preserves close to end of wonton wrapper closest to you. Place a few chocolate chips over preserves. Fold in side tips and roll tip closest to you towards opposite ends to make a roll with edges tucked in.
3. If baking, place on baking sheet and bake until browned. If frying, place in oil and fry until browned. Be sure not to overcrowd oil as this drops the temperature and will lead to soggy rolls. Remove from oven or oil and dust with sugar.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Last year at Christmas time, I discovered the MOST amazing oatmeal cookie recipe. It is absolutely my favorite! They are chewy and so delicious! Tonight, I had a can of pumpkin that kept calling to me. I was undecided between making pumpkin blondies and some type of cookie. I asked for my families opinions and they wanted a cookie....so I decided to try making my beloved oatmeal cookie recipe a little healthier by substituting some of the butter with pumpkin. It worked! The cookie is more like a caky texture, but still so yummy!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (I used Libby's canned pumpkin- NOT the pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1-1/2 cup quick cooking oats
Mix ins (optional)- I used butterscotch chips and chocolate chips (I preferred the butterscotch chips, I would probably leave out the chocolate chips or replace them with white chocolate chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or medium sized bowl if using a hand mixer), combine the butter and sugars. Cream together on medium- medium-high speed.
3. Add pumpkin, egg, vanilla extract to creamed butter and sugar mixture. Beat until well combined.
4. Add flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon to the wet ingredients. Mixing with low speed, mix until combined. Add in oats and mix until well combined. If using mix-ins, add them in after the oats.
5. Drop dough by Tbsp on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375F about 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden.

Spiced Apple Cookies

My hubby is pretty good at buying something for a snack that he is so excited about, to only turn around a few days later and tell me he is sick of this snack. It generally leaves me to either eat it, throw it away, or use it in a recipe. The most recent snack he bought was a large bag of Honeycrisp apples from Sams. He thought he could finish them all. He was quite disappointed as these apples didn't have as much flavor as the ones they sell at Publix. He ate a few, but with about 5 apples left, he decided he couldn't eat another apple. What to do? Well, I came across a few recipes I wanted to try, but these apple cookies looked different and yummy, so I tried it out. They were AMAZING! My family kept coming back for more. I brought them to work and they were gobbled up there too! Definitley a recipe I will make again.
I modified the recipe on Sweet Pea's Kitchen blog

Spiced Apple Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup finely diced peeled apple- I might use more apple next time
1 cup golden raisins (you can use regular if you'd prefer or none at all)

Maple glaze

1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 teaspoons milk
1 Tbsp (or more to taste) maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets (I used 2)
2. Cream shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and milk and beat until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in nuts, apple and raisins.
4. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls one inch apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool prior to glazing.
5. In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, maple syrup, and milk. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Cookies and Cream Frosting

If you don't have any reason to make cake....FIND ONE. This frosting is SO good, that you will want to make it right now to try it. We were having a farewell party for one of our nursing staff and I came across a recipe for oreo cupcakes . When I heard this nurse liked chocolate cake, I knew this would be the perfect time to try it! Now, it is in the middle of the work week, so I had to used a box cake mix. I used Duncan Hines dark chocolate....YUM!!! I am stocking up next time it is on sale. It is SO moist. I got so many compliments...wish I could say it was my own cake recipe.

Cookies and Cream Frosting

2 cups whipping cream
3 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 package of chocolate sandwhich cookies (approx 12 cookies) crushed

1. In a large bowl, pour whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Whip with mixer fitted with whisk attachment on medium high until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Viola- you have made homemade whipped cream. Now to make it cookies and cream flavored...
2. Fold crushed cookies into whipped cream. Carefully fold in the cookies so as not to mash the air out of the cream (or you will end up with milk again).
3. Apply to top of your favorite cake recipe. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cream Pies

I was just searching the web for new and interesting recipes when I came across this yummy looking recipe for oatmeal cream pies. I LOVE the Little Debbie pies, so I decided to try to make these. I didn't love the filling and am on the prowl for a new recipe for the filling, but the cookies were SO good! I had to bring them to work to avoid eating the WHOLE plate!

Oatmeal Cream Pies
From The Amish Cooks Baking Book courtesy of the nest.com

Cookies:
1 and 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups quick cooking oats
2 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp boiling water

Filling:
1 egg white
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup shortening, softened

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease baking sheet and set aside.
2. Cream the butter, sugar, and 2 eggs. Add in the salt, flour, and baking powder and beat until well incorporated, scraping sides of the bowl as needed. Add in the oats and cinnamon and mix until combined.
3. In a small bowl, put baking soda and boiling water together. Add to batter and mix to combine.
4. Drop dough by the Tablespoon onto greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
5. Bake at 425F until light golden, about 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
6. Cream the egg white, vanilla extract, milk, and 1 cup powdered sugar. Add in the shortening and remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
7. When the cookies have cooled, match up with similar sized cookies (using a cookie scoop makes most the same size). Spread the filling on one cookie bottom and put other cookie together to make a sandwich.

YUM! So addicting, but I will work on the filling some.

Caramelized Banana Upside Down Bread

During our most recent cruise aboard the Carnival Legend, we had a pretty busy day at one of our stops. We hadn't eaten lunch and by the time we got back on the ship, it was getting near dinner time. We had to pass the buffet to get back to our room, so I decided to pick up a quick treat to get me through until dinner. When I saw this treat, I knew it had to be mine....there was what looked like banana bread (yummy enough in itself) topped with caramelized bananas. OMG! It was one of the top 5 most yummiest things I ate during that cruise....and I ate a lot, so it is really saying something! I had to have another piece, so after dinner I went back up to the buffet, but alas, it must have been a lunch treat, and there wasn't any to be had for dessert :(. I have been dreaming of this treat since we got off the cruise. We had friends over and my brothers were both in town, so I decided to try to recreate it. I found a few recipes and decided to try the following Rachel Ray recipe. I loved the caramelized banana topping, but was not 100% crazy about the banana bread...I think she makes a banana cake, and it was just too soft for me. I will definitley try again and repost, but if you want a banana cake try this one out!

Caramelized Banana Upside Down Cake (bread recipe to follow when I have more people to experiment on/feed)

4 bananas (yellow spotty ones)
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp butter
1 whole egg
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used applesauce instead)

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.
2. Trim both ends off of 3 bananas and place ends in a separate bowl. Slice banana lengthwise into 3-4 long strips.
3. In a heavy skillet, put 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 Tbsp water over medium- medium-high heat. DO NOT STIR. Allow to come to a boil. Cook until water is evaporated and mixture comes to an amber color. Remove from the heat and add in butter. After butter has melted, add bananas cut side down into caramel mixture. Put over low heat for 1 minute. Transfer the bananas to the prepared loaf pan. Arrange cut side down trying to completely cover bottom of pan. Drizzle caramel over bananas.
4. In a medium bowl, mash remaining banana and trimmed edges. Add in 1/2 cup and mix well. Beat in the whole egg, egg white, and vanilla.
5. Mix together dry ingredients -flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt-in separate bowl (I never do this). Add to wet ingredients and add oil/applesauce. Stir until well combined. Pour batter over bananas and caramel in loaf pan.
6. Bake at 325F 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes, then invert over a platter.

YUM!!!

Caramel Corn

We had planned a dinner and a movie date night, but we ended up taking our friend for a pretty big (and delicious) pizza lunch. We decided to make it a movie and dessert night. I decided popcorn might be a yummy snack. Now a few months ago, I bought the Orville Redenbaucher 100 calorie kettle corn snack bags. They have absolutley NO taste. Bleh....so I decided I wanted to use them up some how....I saw a few recipes for caramel corn and was inspired to make this. I decided to trust the amazing Mrs. Paula Deen and was not disappointed. So easy and so tasty! I made only 1/4 recipe and am super glad because it is addicting! (I used 3 snack bags and I think it was a little too much popcorn, so I suggest if you make 1/4 of the recipe, use 2 snack bags) I am going to post the whole recipe in case you want to make a big batch.

Caramel Corn
Courtesy of Paula Deen

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt (oops I left this out and it was still great)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp baking powder
8 qts of popped plain popcorn
Melted chocolate (optional- unless you are a chocoholic like I am, then it is mandatory)

1. Preheat oven to 200F. Put popcorn in baking dish
2. Over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Boil for 5 minutes. (Watch that it doesn't get too brown, it burns quickly....don't leave the stove!) Remove from heat and add baking powder.
3. Pour caramel over popped corn. Stir to coat.
4. Bake at 200F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes....I only baked mine 25 minutes because I slightly overcooked the sugar, and it was still great.
5. Drizzle melted chocolate over caramel corn...then enjoy when it has cooled!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese frosting

I had a block of cream cheese just waiting to expire in the refrigerator. It was pushed all the way to the back of the fridge...one of those extra ones I got because I had a coupon. Well I decided to make my stuffed chicken breasts (see previous post for those). That only used half of the block, and it was about to expire, so I decided I needed to use it up somehow. I decided then, a sweet treat was in order. I looked online for something and found a recipe for banana nut cake with cream cheese frosting by Paula Deen. I do have LOTS of leftover bananas in the freezer just waiting to be used....but I made a banana bread and brought it to work and nobody ate it...so I decided to nix that idea. I remembered that a lot of my co-workers love carrot cake and it is typically made with a cream cheese frosting...so that is what I made. This is my FIRST attempt at carrot cake....everyone raved about it. They were fighting over the cupcakes....yup, even mad at me for not making enough of them. One girl asked for the recipe! So here it is....

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting
Courtesy of Paula Deen

4 ounces of cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat) at room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick) at room temperature
1/2 pound confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a bowl with a hand mixer, blend together the cream cheese and butter.
2. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Store in refrigerator until cakes are baked and cool.

Carrot Cake
Courtesy of Allrecipes.com

2 eggs
1/2 cup all natural, no sugar added applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1-1/2 cups grated carrots

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Prepare muffin/cupcake tins- either grease them or use paper liners.
3. In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat together eggs, applesauce, white sugar and vanilla.
4. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots.
5. Pour even amounts into prepared cupcake tin. Sometimes using an ice cream scoop or a measuring cup will allow for more even amounts and therefore more even cooking times.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
7. When cool, decorate or frost with cream cheese frosting.

If you let these sit in the refrigerator overnight they get so much more tasty!

Banana Pudding

So as promised, here is another yummy banana recipe. One of our friends loves banana pudding as do I, so I decided to whip up a batch to use up some of the awesome free bananas I got from the guy at the fruit stand. I love the Publix banana pudding, but on my quick search, I couldn't find a copy cat recipe, so I decided to stick with the original Nilla wafer recipe. Now I used skim milk as this is all I ever have in the house, and I had some issues with the thickness, so I did some tweaking, which I will list below, to make mine into a pudding consistency (vs the liquid I had when I originally started).

Nilla Wafer Original Banana Pudding

3/4 cup sugar (divided)
1/3 cup flour
Dash salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
45 Nilla Wafers
5 ripe bananas (I only used 3)
Additional Nilla wafers and bananas for decoration
***I also had to use 1 Tbsp cornstarch****

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. (Note- this recipe has a meringue topping which is why you will need the oven, I could definitley have skipped the meringue and still had a great pudding. If you decide you don't want the meringue, skip this step.)
2. Prepare a double boiler. In the top of the double boiler, combine 1/2 cup sugar and flour. Blend in 3 eggs yolks and milk. Cook over boiling water, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. ****Now at this point, my pudding was still just liquid. What I did was add 1 Tbsp of cornstarch and then put the pudding into a pot over medium heat. Stirring constantly until it bubbles and is thick.*****
3. Spread a small amount of the pudding onto the bottom of a 1 1/2 quart casserole. Top with 1/3 bananas and 1/3 Nilla wafers. Top with pudding. Repeat layers ending with pudding.
4. ****Do these parts if you want the meringue topping, otherwise, just start enjoying the tasty pudding.******** Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add in 1/4 sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon on top of pudding making sure it goes to edges and covers all pudding.
5. Bake at 350 F foe 10- 15 minutes or until meringue is browned.
6. Cool. Garnish with Nilla wafers and banana slices before serving.

Grilled Banana Splits

Like most others, we decided to have a family get together for Memorial Day. Of course, since the weather is so warm and sunny here in Florida, we decided to have a barbeque. We had the yummiest burgers, hot dogs, and chicken with all the typical sides- corn on the cob, potato salad, and baked beans. For dessert, I thought why not stick with the grill and make some grilled fruit. I went to my local fruit stand for some inspiration. They keep their spotty bananas in the cooler and mark them WAY down (less than 30 cents per pound). The thing is these bananas are perfect on the inside. The skin is spotty, some of the bananas are mushy, but some are still firm. Well, I bought about 6, and the guy told me to take the whole box for FREE since he was going to toss them! I got about 30 bananas free! SCORE!!! Also, in other words, look for more banana recipes in the near future!

Grilled Banana Splits

10 ripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbps ground cinnamon
Ice cream of your choice
Sundae toppings of your choice

1. Preheat grill to medium.
2. Leaving skins on the bananas, cut both tips off and cut lengthwise down the middle (like you would see in a banana split).
3. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon until well blended. Sprinkle generously over bananas.
4. Put bananas skin side up on the grill. Cook approx 3 minutes and turn skin side down (don't let sugar burn, but it will be melty). Bananas are done when they start to pull away from the skins.
5. Peel bananas and top with ice cream and toppings.

The warmth of the bananas with the cold ice cream...So good!

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake

Today is my mom's birthday and I knew I wanted to make her a cake. Every year for my birthday she always makes me a special cake. Last year it was a chocolate cake with a super yummy white chocolate frosting. My birthday usually falls right around Thanksgiving which has plenty of it's own desserts, but my awesome mom always goes out of her way to make my birthday special. I wanted to do something nice in return for her. I made this cake and it was a hit! I could probably eat the whole thing (and be awfully sick). This isn't the prettiest photo. It was so tasty, we cut into it as soon as we could.

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake

Cake (recipe from Hersheys.com)

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used apple sauce)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Prepare two 9-inch round baking pans with cooking spray.
3. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
5. When cool cut each cake in 2 layers (will be a 4 layer cake)

Raspberry Buttercream
1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

1. Cream together butter and raspberry jam until smooth with stand mixer or hand mixer.
2. Sift in powdered sugar and continue to beat until smooth.
3. Refrigerate while cake cools


Chocolate Raspberry Ganache
8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream (I used half and half)
1/2 cup raspberry jam

1. Bring cream to a bubble over medium high heat. Add to chocolate chips and stir until melted. Add in raspberry jam and stir until well incorporated.
2. Refrigerate while cake cools.

Chocolate Ganache
4 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup cream (I used half and half)

Bring cream to a bubble over medium high heat. Add to chocolate chips and stir until melted.



PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
1. Put 1 layer of cake on serving platter. You may want to first put wax or parchment paper around edges to keep serving platter clean.
2. Top 1st layer of cake with half of the chocolate raspberry ganache. Cover with 2nd layer of cake.
3. Spread raspberry buttercream over the second layer of cake. Cover with 3rd layer.
4. Top 3rd layer of cake with remaining chocolate raspberry ganache. Cover with top layer of cake.
5. Pour cooled chocolate ganache over the top of the cake and let it drip over the sides. Frost cake with ganache.

Chex Muddy Buddies

This is such an easy and delicious snack...albeit, maybe not the most healthy option, but great to satisfy those chocolate/peanut butter cravings. I made my brother a whole batch to share with his girlfriend for Christmas. I couldn't stop snacking on them. I recently made them again (with a slight tweak that I will discuss at the end) for this weekend's upcoming Gasparilla Extravaganza Children's Parade. We are going with our friends and bringing my niece. It will be a long day, so we will need snacks. I also had a bunch of Chex left, so what else to do with them, but to make these? Oh by the way, we always referred to this as "Puppy Chow."

Chex Muddy Buddies
(Printable Recipe)

9 cups Chex cereal (you can use any you like or even combine some)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (see below for a yummy recommendation)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar


1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator. You can even freeze this recipe.

For my substitution I divided the entire recipe in half and instead of having all chocolate, I used white chocolate for half. My hubs said he thinks he likes the white chocolate better! I thought it was taste funny with the peanut butter, but it doesn't. The white chocolate and peanut butter combo actually tastes a lot like Reese's Peanut Butter Cup peanut butter and very little like white chocolate.

SO GOOD!
Oh here is the nutritional info from http://www.chex.com/

1 Serving (1/2 cup): Calories 220 (Calories from Fat 80); Total Fat 9g (Saturated Fat 4g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 5mg; Sodium 200mg; Total Carbohydrate 30g (Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 17g); Protein 3g % Daily Value*: Vitamin A 6%; Vitamin C 2%; Calcium 6%; Iron 25% Exchanges: 1 Starch; 1 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 2 MyPyramid Servings: 1 tsp Fats & Oils *% Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Nut Crescents - aka Sand Tarts

These are one of my favorite Christmas cookies. My mom makes them every year. This year, I decided I wanted to make them. This would let me try out the recipe and give my mom some help with the hectic holiday baking. Funny enough, the night before I was going to make them, Paula Deen made them on her cookie swap show. Her recipe is the same, the only difference is she cooks them lower and slower. I will put her recipe here. You may be wondering why they are called sand tarts. The cookie has almost a sand like texture because it crumbles and melts in your mouth. It is SO delicious!

Nut Crescents aka Sand Tarts
Courtesy of Paula Deen
(Printable Recipe)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar (you will need more for dusting the cookies after they bake)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans (almost to consistency of raw sugar)

1. Preheat oven to 270F.
2. Using a mixture on low speed cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the vanilla. Add in the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatula.
3. Take 1 Tbsp of dough and shape into a crescent. Place 1-2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.
4. Bake 40 minutes.
5. While still warm, dredge cookies in confectioners sugar. (Careful because they break easily when warm) Allow to cool completely on racks. Store in airtight container.

YUM!

Apple Strudel

I made this recipe for Thanksgiving last year and this past Thanksgiving as well. It is always a huge hit. So much easier than pie and just as tasty, if not more tasty. I might make it for my dad for Christmas, because he is asking for pie.

Apple Strudel
Courtesy of Peppridge Farm
(Printable Recipe)

1 sheet of thawed puff pastry (1/2 of a 17.3 ounce package- there are 2 sheets per package)
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 large apples, cored, peeled and sliced thinly (original recipe calls for Granny Smith, but I used a mixture with Gala and Granny Smith)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. In a small bowl, beat egg and water. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add sliced apples and toss to coat.
4. On a lightly floured surface, unfold sheet of puff pastry. Roll into 16x12 inch rectangle with the short side closest to you.
5. Spoon the apple mixture onto the edge closest to you. Roll up like a jelly roll. Tuck in edges to seal. Place seam side down on a baking sheet. Brush the pastry with the egg mixture. Cut slits on top of pastry.
6. Bake 35 minutes, or until browned. Let cool for about 20 minutes before serving.

This would be SO good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Baklava Bars

I made these for Thanksgiving and they were the BIGGEST hit. So delicious! You can use any nut you like. The recipe (I will post the original below with my modifications in parenthesis) called for walnuts, but I wanted to have a pecan dessert, so I used pecans...YUM!

Baklava Bars (courtesy of Betty Crocker)
(Printable Recipe)

Cookie base
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
1 egg

Filling
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (feel free to substitute any nut you like- I used pecans)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
8 frozen mini fillo shells (I used the whole package)

Glaze
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened
1 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Spray bottom of 13 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray
2. In large bowl, stir cookie base ingredients until soft dough forms. Press dough into bottom of pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir nuts, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1 tsp cinnamon, and salt with fork until well mixed and crumbly.
4. Sprinkle nut mixture over partially baked crust. With hands, crumble frozen fillo shells evenly over nut mixture. Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, in small microwavable bowl, combine 1/3 cup honey, 2 Tbsp butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Microwave uncovered on High for 1 minute or until bubbly. Stir in vanilla. Drizzle evenly over fillo. Cool completely (about 2 hours).
7. Optional- before serving, drizzle honey over bars, cut and serve. (I didn't use the extra honey).

I will definitley be making this again! It is so delicious. The entire pan was eaten in about 2-3 days.