Category Archives: Desserts

Y’all Come Back Now Ya Hear?

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If you’re reading my blog, chances are you’ve watched a show or two or five hundred on The Food Network at some time or another. Chances also are that you have very strong opinions on the hosts of those TV shows. Like Rachael Ray. She drives me batty. If I hear her say EVOO one more time instead of just saying extra virgin olive oil, I am going to reach through the screen and knock her upside the head with her garbage bowl. What’s with that bowl anyway? She tries to tell us that it’s a time saver. Ummmm…. how? I mean, really, how hard is it to walk to the trash can (that she prolly has right under a counter anyway) and toss some stuff in there as opposed to making more dirty dishes? And that thing that comes between two slices of bread? It’s a sandwich dammit, a sandwich! Not a freaking “sammy”!! Ok, sorry, I’m calm now.

Then there are the Neelys. All I have to say is get a room. You’re a cute couple but get a room. K? Thanks.

I am so not even giving an opinion on Sandra Lee. Kwanzaa Cake. Look it up on Youtube. That’s enough said right there.

But the queen of Food TV will always be Paula Deen. Love her or hate her, she reigns supreme there. Personally, I have mixed emotions when it comes to her. On the one hand, I love the majority of the food she makes. I mean, she uses ample amounts of butter, sugar and cream. Is there something in that NOT to love? But on the other hand it’s like I said. Mixed emotions. She seems so sweet and country and like you’d love to sit down with her and have a cup of coffee (not like Sandra Lee where you’d need a bottle of Vodka… and then a drink for yourself too) with her and gossip. By the same token, you would want to make sure your husband was locked up in a nunnery (heh. The mental image of my husband in a habit is pretty cool. Yeah; I need to get out more.) because Lord knows that if there is a male around, Miss Paula will be hitting on him. I swear, that woman makes Tiger Woods look virginal. Plus, I have lived in the south for well over 20 years now and I have never… I mean never, heard anyone use the word Y’all as often as she does or drawl quite as deeply unless they were trying out for a remake of Gone With The Wind.

But…like I said, her food is amazing if you like fat and calories. And you know you do. Quit shaking your head no and telling yourself that yes, you really DO prefer Tofu over heavily buttered biscuits smothered in jam. No one believes you. Since we both know that you want the biscuits, I’m here to supply you with some biscuit love, southern style. These are one of Miss Deens recipes and they are quite yummy. Cornmeal biscuits with a blackberry butter. Next time however, as much as I adore Blackberry jam (it’s rather a jam addiction of mine) I want to try making an Apricot Honey butter too. Mmmmm….

CORNMEAL BISCUITS WITH BLACKBERRY BUTTER

Blackberry Butter-

  1. 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  2. 2 tablespoons blackberry jam (I may have used more…just maybe 😀 )
  3. 1 teaspoon grated lime zest (don’t omit this; it makes the flavor of this spread)

Biscuits-

  1. 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  2. 2/3 cup cornmeal
  3. 1 tablespoon sugar
  4. 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  5. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  6. 1/4 teaspoon salt
  7. 8 tablespoons (one stick) butter, chilled
  8. 3/4 cup sour cream
  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
  • To make the blackberry butter, mix together the softened butter, jam and lime zest. Stir.
  • To make the biscuits,in a large bowl mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
  • With a pastry cutter or fork cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the sour cream until the mixture comes together into a ball. I started with a large spoon but ended up just using my hands to finish so that I could get all the flour mixture hiding in the corners of the bowl.
  • Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat to a 3/4 inch thickness. Cut with a 3 inch biscuit cutter. Re-pat the scraps (be gentle with the re rolled scraps. They get tough if handled too much) and roll out and cut.
  • Put on the baking sheet and cook until light golden broth, about 15 to 18 minutes depending on your oven. Do NOT over bake unless you like really crispy hard edged biscuits.
  • Serve these steaming hot with the blackberry butter.

 

 

I Need More Caffeine

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I’ve never been a big coffee drinker. Tea has always been my caffeine of choice. That of course leaves me having to drink 14 cups of tea to get the same caffeine effect as one cup of coffee but that’s ok; the bathroom isn’t that far away from the kitchen or my computer desk.

I am however a fan of frou-frou girly coffee drinks. You know the ones I mean; the kind that have 95% of your daily calorie intake, lots of whipped cream, hopefully some sprinkles or at least chocolate syrup and the type that no grown man would be seen dead ordering or drinking. Which is why my husband always waits until  I order one and we are safely hidden away in the car before he drinks half of mine and I pout and slap his hand. But seriously…they taste like dessert. Need I say more?

So I decided I wanted brownies. But coffee drinks kept invading my mind. That left me with no choice but to make my brownies taste like a frou frou girly coffee drink. The best part is that these have even more calories and fat than one of those drinks  😛 and you can make some highly sweetened coffee topped with whipped cream and sprinkles to have WITH them! See. I think of your needs on a daily basis. It’s why I’m here. So make these, have some coffee with them and then go on a major cleaning spree due to excessive caffeine intake.

Mocha Dulce De Leche Brownies

  1. 8 ounces unsweetened chocolate
  2. 1 cup unsalted butter (yes- one cup.)
  3. 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
  4. 5 eggs
  5. 3 cups sugar
  6. 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  7. 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  8. 1 teaspoon salt
  9. 1 can Dulce De Leche -you can either buy a can in the ethnic section of the store or make your own with This Recipe
  10. 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees or 365 degrees if your oven tends to run hot. Foil line and grease a 13×9 inch baking pan.
  • Melt unsweetened chocolate, coffee and butter in a bowl in the microwave on high power, stirring at 30 second increments until it is melted and smooth.
  • In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla on high speed for five minutes. yes, you read that right; five minutes.
  • Blend in chocolate/butter mixture, flour and salt using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon and only until mixed; don’t over mix.
  • Pour batter into the foil lined pan. Spoon the dulce de leche  at even intervals onto the batter. If you have bought the small cans, rather than make your own, you may need 2 cans to get a decent amount on the brownies. Sprinkle on the chocolate chips.
  • Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until top is crackly looking and toothpick inserted in center (make sure not to insert through chip or caramel) comes out mostly clean, i.e. a little bit of crumb on it but no liquid.
  • Let cool completely before cutting. If you don’t they will fall apart into a gooey mess and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it certainly isn’t pretty 😛

Cimmaminaminaminamin

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I have often wondered how, with me as their mother, any of my kids made it past preschool age with any decent language skills. I was one of those parents who loved the way my kids pronounced words and couldn’t bring myself to correct them and ruin the cuteness. In my defense I didn’t talk baby talk to them. I was the type that would be holding my newborn infant and talking politics or Shakespeare because really there are just so many times you can look at your baby and coo “you’re so adorable… you look just like me don’t you… don’t you?” or “Oh. My. God. You have your fathers bowel habits don’t you? Could you please stop now?” I  just loved hearing it.

Like Cimmamin for cinnamon. When my sixteen year old and fourteen year old reached puberty, I finally broke down and told them the correct pronunciation. Or when one of my older boys wanted picked up as a toddler, he would hold out his arms, give me a pleading look and say “hold you?”. He doesn’t do that anymore. I hope. I’ll have to ask his wife. Or  how the same child said “Yie” for yes until he was like 7.

Well, I had better get to the recipe now because when my kids see this post, it will most likely be the last one I ever write. Pray for me. 😀 These blondies are awesome. They are stuffed full of Cinnamon chips, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and finally finished with a cinnamon drizzle. Overkill, you say? Nahhhhh….. not if you love Cimmamin. I mean Cinnamon.

CINNAMON BLONDIES

  1. 1/2 lb unsalted butter (2 sticks)
  2. 1 cup brown sugar
  3. 1 cup white sugar
  4. 2 large eggs
  5. 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  6. 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
  7. 2 teaspoons baking powder
  8. 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  9. 1/2 teaspoon salt
  10. 1 package cinnamon chips (sold in same area as the chocolate chips)
  11. 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  12. 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  13. 2 to 4 tablespoons cream or milk ( amount will vary. You want enough to get a nice drizzling texture.)
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Line a 13×9 inch pan with foil, using enough that some hangs over the ends of the pan. Butter the foil or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until thoroughly blended. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat thoroughly.
  • Mix the flour, baking powder , one teaspoon cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Add to the wet mixture. Using a wooden spoon (or some sort of spoon 😛 ) beat just until combined. Fold in the bag of cinnamon chips.
  • Spoon the batter (it will be very thick) into the foil lined pan. Spread evenly. I dampened my hands a bit and spread it that way. It won’t stick to you if your hands are damp. Just don’t get them soaked and turn your batter into soup.
  • Bake in the 350 degree oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan set on a wire rack until completely cool. If you try to cut them or lift them out of the pan before they are cool, they will break. Not that I’d ever do anything like that though. Someone told me this. Yeah, that’s it.
  • When cool, combine powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Add milk or cream until it is a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cooled blondies.Cut into serving sized pieces… like 2 pieces. Don’t share. 😀
  • Unless you like when they kind of fall apart, you’re best off letting making these a day ahead, covering them well and refrigerating them before you try to cut them. They will firm up quite nicely then. Otherwise… it is goo city. TASTY goo city, but goo city nonetheless

 

You mean… This is GOOD For Me? Awwww- No Fair!

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That’s pretty much the reaction I used to get from my kids when they were little and I would serve this. But then again, I have a knack for taking a perfectly healthy food and while keeping the health benefits, also injecting a healthy dose of decadence, fat and calories into it 😀

I have always loved oatmeal anyway, even when it is only adorned with a bit of sugar and some milk which is how I ate it as a kid. But make it this way and call it “Pie Lovers Oatmeal” and you won’t have a problem getting even the most zealous oatmeal haters to love it. Of course, once you serve this, you can forget ever being able to serve plain old oatmeal again but I’ll leave those little issues up to you to solve. I’m just here to cook 😛

You can also make this with other dried fruits. I use apples, raisins and cherries because it’s what I like best. But feel free to sub your favorite; this is pretty flexible in that sense. Dried Peaches are pretty good in it too.

PIE LOVERS OATMEAL

  1. 2 3/4 cup rolled oats (if you want to use steel cut oats, follow the directions for amount of oats and water for three servings but this won’t be creamy. It will be chewier and denser)
  2. 1 1/2 cups water
  3. 2 cups mixed dried fruits (I used 1 cup apples, and half a cup each dried cherries and raisins)
  4. 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
  5. 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  6. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Cook the oats according to package directions, but with the simple addition of adding the fruits, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon with the oats and water.
  • Garnish with milk or cream (not that *I* would use unhealthy cream. I only suggest it for those of you who don’t have respect for your arteries *cough cough*) and butter.
  • Now wasn’t that easy?
  • Now eat it and convince yourself that you are eating something extremely healthy.
  • In reality, it IS pretty healthy, what with the fruits and the oats.
  • Makes two to three healthy sized servings

Red Velvet Cupcakes

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Since I still have no oven *sobs piteously and falls to the floor whining and kicking* I am posting a recipe that I have on food.com. The following is my link there if you’d like to see my page and my recipes:

Janet’s page on food.com

This is for red velvet cupcakes. I normally find the frosting on red velvet cake or cupcakes cloyingly sweet but not on these. These are the favorite of one of my daughters in law. If she and my son come to visit and I haven’t made these, there are violent threats and temper tantrums 😛

RED VELVET CUPCAKES

  1. 1 (18 ounce) box red velvet cake mix
  2. 1 4 ounce box instant chocolate pudding
  3. 1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
  4. 4 cups powdered sugar
  5. 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, softened
  6. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
  7. 1 cup whipped cream (can use cool whip or homemade whipped cream. I tihnk we all know by now which I choose 😛 )
  • Prepare cake mix as directed on box, adding in the box of chocolate pudding mix and 1 tsp of the vanilla extract.
  • Beat well for at least 2 minutes. Batter will be thick
  • Fill a touch over half full muffin tins that have been well greased or lined with muffin/cupcake liners; don’t fill too high as they rise considerably.
  • Cook according to directions on box of cake. When done, cool on wire rack.
  • While the cupcakes are cooking, make the frosting. Do your best to NOT follow my lead and eat half the frosting before the cupcakes are even cooled. Oh what the heck; go ahead. You can always make more 😀
  • Using a mixer, beat cream cheese, remaining tsp of vanilla and butter in large bowl until well blended; gradually beat in powdered sugar.
  • Beat in whipped topping (or whipped cream) and continue beating until frosting is thick and creamy looking, giving it enough time for the powdered sugar to break down and dissolve or you will have grainy frosting.
  • If too thick, add a little bit of milk or cream. Add just a bit at time. You can always add more but if you add too much, you end up with glaze not frosting and believe me, you don’t want to ruin this frosting.

  • When cupcakes are cool, spread or pipe the frosting on the cupcakes. Then do as I normally suggest; grab a few and go hide in the closet with a flashlight and a good book. Enjoy. 🙂

The Proof Is In The Pudding…Or Something Like That

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What the heck does that MEAN anyway? It’s one of those saying that everyone has heard but only Etymologists understand. There are so many weird sayings that have been passed on down through the ages. Where the heck did “A little bird told me” come from? I can’t count how many times someone would tattle on me when I was a kid (and I have no idea why. I was an angel- an ANGEL I tell you!) and my mother would tell me that a little bird told her I had done whatever it was I was about to get in trouble for. I…WANT…THAT…DARN…BIRD! I have a frying pan ready for him. Gossiping little piece of feathers got me in more trouble when I was young.

Other sayings make far too much sense. Like ” A fool and his money are soon parted”. We won’t delve too deeply into that one. But…ummm… take my advice. Stay away from Amazon when you’re tired and bored.

Or “A penny for your thoughts”. Am I the only one who thinks that with the state of the economy, that penny is just not cutting it? Offer me a thousand dollars and we’ll talk.

What about “A word to the wise is sufficient”? So if I come up to someone and say ” Monkey” they will know exactly what to do with that sage advice?

Ok, I’m rambling now. Maybe I should be “A (wo)man of few words” and just get to the food huh?

Well, since I still have no oven cause the landlord hasn’t called back, I made chocolate pudding. Deep dark rich and creamy chocolate pudding. Pudding so good you’ll weep. Pudding so creamy…

I’m rambling again aren’t I? Sigh. Here ya go. Deep dark chocolate pudding with a Strawberry sauce.

Deep Dark Chocolate Pudding With Strawberry Couli

  1. 1 16 oz container frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed
  2. 1 1/2 cups sugar (can be subbed with splenda)
  3. 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted to break up the lumps)
  4. 1/3 cup cornstarch
  5. 1/2 teaspoon salt
  6. 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder (doesn’t add flavor so much as depth and can be omitted if desired)
  7. 4 cups whole milk
  8. 1 cup heavy cream
  9. 1 cup chocolate chips (can use milk or semi sweet. Milk makes for a milder pudding; semi sweet makes a strong deep chocolate flavor)
  10. 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Strawberry Couli

  • To make the couli couldn’t be simpler- Dump your container of strawberries, syrup and all, into a blender or the bowl of a food processor. Blend or process until it is a nice puree; maybe 5 seconds. You can either use it as is or slowly whisk 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into it and heat until it is boiling and thickened, then let cool. Either way works.

Chocolate Pudding

  • In a fairly large saucepan or pot, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, salt and cornstarch. Try to break up any little lumps.
  • Slowly whisk in the milk. If you pour it all in at once, you’ll have a time getting all the lumps out. Do it a bit at a time.
  • Over medium heat, stirring constantly (go to a wooden spoon now), heat until the mixture is gently boiling and thickened.
  • Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips and vanilla. Let it sit for about 5 minutes then stir to combine the now melted chips with the pudding mixture. Pour into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for at least 2 hours.
  • When pudding is chilled, whip the one cup of heavy cream. Fold the cream into the pudding mixture until thoroughly combined.
  • Spoon a large spoonful of the strawberry couli onto the bottom of your serving bowls. Add chocolate pudding on top of this and then top with more whipped cream (I used chocolate whipped cream because…well… cause I could.) and more couli. This makes five “Oh my God; you expect me to eat all of that?!” sized servings or 10 normal ones. The recipe can be easily halved.
  • You can make this pudding up to the point of chilling and then eat as is or with the sauce without folding in the heavy cream but be warned; without the addition of the cream, it is a very heavy dense creamy pudding. The addition of the whipped cream in it lightens it up (as contrary as that may sound lol)

Hmm; methinks I need to get new dishwasher detergent if the water spots on that glass are any indication 😛

 

 

This Is Not Your Grandmas Bread Pudding

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I have had a love/hate relationship with bread pudding for years now. I used to think I hated it because the ones I had tried were dry nasty overly sweet things with hardened raisins. But something about the idea of bread pudding continued to appeal to me so I kept looking for a good one. When I worked at a hotel many moons ago, the restaurant there had an awesome one. It was the stereotypical raisin filled kind but it was moist and not too sweet and smothered in a creamy caramel sauce. Eating that one over a decade ago sent me on a quest for good bread puddings.

For a while they were the “it” dessert. Not so much anymore. They were pushed out by cupcakes and now by the current trend, Macarons.But I still like creating new flavors every now and then. I had planned on making a white chocolate/cherry bread pudding until I realized that the 2 cans of cherries I was going to use expired in 2009. Erhmmmm… I might wanna check those things more often huh? So I decided on White Chocolate/ Apricot. This is moist, very rich and the Apricots, white chocolate and hint of Cinnamon go together very well. Warning- this is NOT cheap to make but on the up side, it is also easily cut in half if, unlike me, you’re not feeding teenage boys and one grown man (I don’t count my toddler since I am still mean to him about his intake of sweets :-P). You can serve this with or without the caramel sauce; it’s pretty darn tasty either way if I do say so myself 🙂 Also, this gives the words “this is not diet food” a new meaning.

White Chocolate & Apricot Bread Pudding

  1. 1 1/2 1lb loaves Kings Hawaiian bread, bottom crust cut off and discarded (or eaten 😀 ) and the bread cubed
  2. 3 1/2 cups heavy cream
  3. 1 cup milk
  4. 5 large eggs
  5. 1 lb white chocolate
  6. 1/2 cup sugar
  7. 2 15 oz cans Apricots in heavy syrup, drained (but reserve 1/2 cup of the juice)
  8. 1/2 cup Apricot Preserves
  9. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  10. 1 teaspoon almond extract
  11. 2 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

Caramel Sauce

  1. 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  2. 1 cup dark brown sugar
  3. 1 cup heavy cream
  4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • In a medium bowl, mix your white chocolate and 1/2 cup of the heavy cream. Microwave on high in 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 seconds, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, beat the five eggs. Add the remaining cream and one cup milk; beat until well mixed. Mix in the vanilla & almond extracts,  1/4 cup sugar, reserved syrup from the apricots, the apricots, the preserves, the cinnamon and the white chocolate mixture.
  • Take your cubed bread and add it a handful at a time to the custard mixture, pushing down each handful into the custard before adding the next. When you have it all in there, make sure all the bread is covered and let it sit for an hour or so. This gives the bread time to soak up the custard, which makes a moister pudding.
  • While it soaks, preheat your oven to 325 degrees F
  • When ready, put the pudding mix into a well buttered 3 quart casserole dish (I use a rectangular pyrex; seems to cook it best) and cook until firm and golden brown about 70 minutes. You want to be able to stick a knife in the middle and not come out with liquid on it.

For the caramel sauce (If using)-

  1. Melt your butter in a small saucepan
  2. Add the brown sugar and stir until it’s blended.
  3. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla and stir until well combined.
  4. Eat straight from the spoon or actually use it on the bread pudding. Your choice. 😀

Knock Knock!

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Me: Who’s there?

Child: Banana!

Me: Banana who?

Child: Knock knock!

Me: Who’s there?

Child: Banana!

Me (said with a sob in my voice): Banana who?

Child: Knock knock!

Me: (as I bang my head off of a hard surface)Who’s there for petes sake!?

Child: Orange

Me: Orange who?

Child (giggling with extreme maniacal glee)Orange you glad I didn’t say Banana!?

In 25 years of motherhood, I have heard that knock knock joke approximately 5, 362 times. Add the 10,422 times I have heard Elephant jokes (ok, so I actually like those and routinely annoy people with them myself), fart jokes, pee jokes and jokes that make no sense whatsoever (Mommy, why did the…ummmm…the purple boy run across the street? Me- Why? Child- Because he wanted to eat a cookie! HAHAHAHAHA!!! Did you like that one momma!?) and it is a wonder I have any shred of sanity left.

When my son Jordan, who at sixteen has the childlike heart of an eight year old due to various mental disabilities he deals with, told me that joke for the 5,362nd time today, I laughed and groaned as my job description of mom demands I do, then I went back to thinking about todays post. I knew I wanted to make something sweet; surprise surprise, right? But I wasn’t sure what. Then the orange knock knock joke popped into my head at the same time as a serious chocolate craving hit me upside the head.  So this is what I came up with for today. I hope you enjoy them. We did. 🙂 These are a moist dessert like muffin (not that that will stop me from eating them for breakfast!) bursting with orange flavor and dark chocolate chips.

 

Orange & Dark Chocolate Muffins

  1. 1 1/2 cups sugar
  2. 3/4 cup butter
  3. 1 6 ounce container orange yogurt
  4. 3/4 cup orange marmalade
  5. 2 teaspoons orange extract
  6. 1/2 cup thawed orange juice concentrate
  7. 3 large eggs
  8. 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  9. 2 teaspoons baking powder
  10. 1/2 teaspoon salt
  11. 1 10 to 12 ounce bag dark chocolate chips (Nestle has some out now)
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 22 muffin cups with paper liners (or grease really well but as we all know, I have a thing for making as little dirty dishes as humanly possible)
  • Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl at medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add in the yogurt, marmalade, orange extract and juice. Beat until thoroughly blended. Beat in eggs, Again, beat until well blended.
  • In a small bowl, mix together your flour, baking powder and salt. Pour it into the bowl of wet ingredients and mix with a large spoon (if you use your beater, you take the chance of 1) wearing a bowl full of flour and 2) over mixing) JUST until everything is combined. Don’t over mix or you’ll end up with tough muffins.
  • Mix in the chocolate chip; again, just until mixed.
  • Bake in the 375 degree oven until golden brown. Mine took 22 minutes.

 

What Do You Mean It’s “Too Rich”?!

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My husband Russell is notoriously difficult to make desserts for. He is one of those abnormal ought to be forced to eat liver just because people who will eat three bites of a dessert and then say he is done, saying something is “too rich” or “too sweet”. What the heck does that mean?! There is no such thing. Ok, so maybe I have been known to say something is too sweet but never ever have I uttered such blasphemy as to say something is too rich.

Mind you, this is also a man who can polish off half a bag of tortilla chips and a can of dip and then be back in the cabinet half an hour later saying he is hungry, but that’s a story for another time when I’m not absurdly jealous of his ability to not weigh 300 pounds doing that.

Point of all this is that I wanted to make a dessert that all categories of dessert eaters could enjoy. Something for the weird people who say they don’t really like sweets and something for those of us who are smart enough to know that there is no such thing as too rich. So I came up with this bundt cake. Boring you say? Not this one. This one is rich and oh so moist with the flavor of a warm Mounds bar (well, if you eat it warm. Otherwise, it would be a cold Mounds bar. Just sayin’) with a nice crispy crust and to appease the beast in us sweets lovers, a creamy glaze also filled with a subtle coconut flavor and aroma. It’s also extremely easy.

HOMEMADE MOUNDS BAR CAKE

  1. 1 18 ounce box chocolate cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
  2. 1 3.4 ounce box instant chocolate pudding mix
  3. 1 15 ounce can cream of coconut (NOT coconut milk. Cream of coconut is usually found in the section where they keep drink mixers)
  4. 1 teaspoon coconut extract
  5. 3 large eggs
  6. 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • For the glaze
  1. 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  2. 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
  3. heavy cream or milk
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Mix all the cake ingredients together in  a large bowl. Beat on low until blended then turn the beater to medium high and beat for 2 minutes.
  • Pour batter into a well greased and floured Bundt pan (I use the non stick spray  that has both oil and flour in it. You can find it right with the non spray oil under the name of Bakers Joy or Pillsbury Baking Spray With Flour).
  • Cook in a 350 degree oven for between 40 to 60 minutes. If unsure of it’s done, stick a toothpick (I use bamboo grilling skewers. hey, it works! 😛 ) down in it. It should come out almost clean or with barely a crumb on it.
  • Turn out onto a rack or plate and let cool completely.
  • Put your powdered sugar in a small bowl. Add a little bit of milk or cream and the coconut extract. Stir. Add more cream…a little bit at a time… until you have a nice drizzling consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake. Serve with some sort of decadent ice cream so that the non sweet eaters can’t finish it all and you have to eat it for them.

If I'm really lucky, my husband will have one bite of ice cream and then hand the rest of the cake and ice cream over to me. 😀

 

Livin’ La Vida De Limón

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When my dad was alive, he loved anything Lemon flavored. I swear, I could have given him Lemon flavored liver (yes, I loved him even though he loved liver. We all have our flaws 😛 ) and he would have eaten it, especially if I also covered it in a stick of butter and a pint of ice cream. My dad kinda loved his fats.

On the 23rd of this month, he will have been gone for five years. I still miss him. He was my best friend and my biggest fan when it came to my cooking. He would have loved the idea of this blog. So when I saw a jar of lemon curd in the cabinet that I had forgotten about (yes, I do that often) I thought of him. I will probably make something else in his honor many times but today, for him, it’s this easy lemon pie. If allowed, he would eaten all of it in one night lol. Ok, who am I kidding…. one hour and even if I protested. Did I mention he kinda loved the bad stuff? He was diabetic and one of his favorite things to say was that it was the Diabetes that made him want the sweets even more. Though my memory has the man eating a pound bag of Bridge Mix (I blame him for my bridge mix habit) way before he got Diabetes 😛

Dad, this ones for you. I Hope everyone else enjoys it too. It’s creamy and rich, sweet and tart; all in one bite.

WORLDS EASIEST LEMON CREAM PIE

  1. 1 graham cracker crust (homemade or store bought; either is fine.)
  2. 3 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
  3. 1 12 ounce jar lemon curd (usually in either the baking aisle with the pie fillings or the jam section) or 1 1/2 cups homemade lemon curd
  4. 1 can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated)
  5. zest and juice from one lemon
  6. 10 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
  7. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  8. 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • In a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Add the sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest and juice, food coloring if using and the lemon curd. Beat mixture until well blended and thickened, about five minutes. The longer you beat, the fluffier the final mixture will be.
  • Spoon into your graham cracker crust; cover and refrigerate.  Chill for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
  • About ten minutes before serving, whip the remaining 1 1/2 cups cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla. Spoon or pipe over over the pie, leaving about an inch edge for the lemon filling to peek through.. Garnish with lemon slices, real or fake 😛

Wish you were here to enjoy this, dad