Jiffy Peach Cobbler

Jiffy pie crust mix helps make this quick and easy dessert.  I got this recipe from my mother-in-law several years ago, she uses vanilla instead of the almond extract.

2 (29 oz) cans sliced peaches in heavy syrup

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla

2 boxes Jiffy brand pie crust mix

½ cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13 baking dish. Mix peaches (do not drain), sugar and extract and pour into baking dish. Prepare pie crust mix using the box directions ( I like to use milk instead of the water). Roll out the dough and place on top of peach mixture. Pour melted butter evenly over the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.  Serve warm with ice cream or cool whip.

*** for a nicer presentation you can roll the dough into strips and form a lattice pattern***

Mix Tricks: Coconut Bundt Cake

This is one of my favorite recipes for a potluck dessert.  It can be adapted from Triple Chocolate to Lemon Blueberry to White Chocolate Strawberry just by changing the cake mix, pudding mix and add-on flavors. The cake in the photo is the coconut version.

Here’s the basic recipe:

Ingredients:

1 boxed cake mix

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1 package instant pudding

1 cup chosen add-on ingredient (white or chocolate chips, blueberries, coconut, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix first 6 ingredients together.  Stir in the add-on ingredient.  Bake one hour in a greased Bundt pan or other large cake pan.

I like to slightly warm a carton of prepared frosting for a few seconds in the microwave and drizzle it over the cooled cake.

Possible variations:

chocolate cake mix, chocolate pudding, chocolate chips, chocolate frosting

lemon cake mix, lemon pudding, blueberries, lemon frosting

strawberry cake mix, strawberry or vanilla pudding mix, white chocolate chips, vanilla frosting

yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding, chocolate chips, chocolate frosting

spice cake mix, vanilla pudding, raisins, cream cheese frosting

white cake mix, coconut cream pudding, coconut flakes, cream cheese frosting (sprinkle top with coconut)

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Caramel Mocha Truffle Cupcakes–Can You Say Yum!

For these cupcakes, I altered the recipe for Caramel Lightning Cake from The Joy of Cooking (75^th Anniversary Edition), by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker.

For truffle filling:
1 ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ cup flavored creamer (I used eggnog flavor, but any would be great) or half-and-half
10 large marshmallows

Begin melting chocolate chips in 30 second increments in microwave, stirring thoroughly after each interval.  As chips begin to melt, stir in creamer and marshmallows and continue to heat. Stir carefully until blended.  Set in refrigerator to cool.

Whisk together in a large bowl (I use my stand mixer)
1 ½ cups flour (we often use half whole wheat):
½  cup sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Add in and continue to blend:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp espresso powder
1 Tbsp coffee liqueur (optional)

Beat in and continue to blend until light and airy (about 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down bowl halfway):

½ cup salted butter, softened

Fill cupcake cups ½- ¾ full (I use a large ice cream scoop).  Carefully place a small scoop, approximately ½ tsp, of the ganache onto each cupcake, trying not to drop it to the bottom.

Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 16 minutes, watching carefully.

Allow to cool and frost with:

Espresso Mocha Buttercream
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
3 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
2 Tbsp dark cocoa
1 tsp coffee liqueur (optional)
Beat until light and fluffy.

Sugar Cookies for Valentine’s Day

Cake and cookie designer Ally Plummer shares her recipe for sugar cookies today that’s perfect for a Valentine treat.

To add elegance to sugar cookies, frost and monogram with your Valentine’s initial. This is a wonderful gift idea for neighbors.  Attach a note that says, “We are blessed to have you as neighbors.”

2/3 cup shortening, 3/4 cup sugar, 6 ounces butter at room temperature (1 1/2 sticks), 1 egg, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 3 1/2 cups flour

Mix dough and chill in fridge for at least two hours. Roll dough to a 1/4″ thickness with a floured rolling pin. Use cookie cutters of choice. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes.

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• Click on the big empty space and then begin typing your comments.
• When you are done, click ‘submit comment’.  That’s it!  We look forward to hearing from YOU!

Spider Cookies

1 6 oz. bag chocolate chips

1 6 oz. bag butterschotch chips

1- 12 oz. bag of chow mein noodles

1 cup peanuts (optional)

Melt chips together, add chow mein noodles, and heap on wax paper until hardened.

Virtual Advent 2009: Christmas Cookie Tree

Last year I tried something new. I wanted something fun for an extended family Christmas gathering that would be different from the normal fruitcake, chocolate balls, shortbread and tarts. A friend of mine told me about something she’d seen called a Christmas Cookie Tree. I did a little ‘googling’ and got fairly giddy about making a few for the gathering as an edible centerpiece. It went over exceptionally well and I ended up making a few more for other Christmas events we had.

It is quite easy. You can pick up a set of Star cookie cutters in 10 sizes at bakeries, cake decorating shops or,  if you are energetic, you can make patterns on paper and then cut out the cookies with a knife around the edges. You can also find them here.

Make a double batch of your favorite sugar cookie recipe. Cut out two of each size. Bake them with the smallest sizes on one cookie sheet and the larger ones on another one to have more even baking.

Cool them completely. While they cool, prepare your ‘foundation’. I covered a cutting board and a cookie sheet with foil as my base. Mix up your icing (icing sugar and water with butter optional). Put ¼ cup of the icing in a separate bowl. Tint the remaining icing a bright green.

When the cookies are cool, put a dab of icing on the base where you would like to plant your tree. Then starting with the largest cookie, cover it in green icing. It does not need to be perfect, most of it will be covered! Place the iced cookie on the ‘planting spot’. Then ice the same-sized cookie, placing it on top of the other green star, but turn just slightly so that the points of the stars do not line up.

Continue in this pattern from largest to smallest. When you have one star left, ice it with the white icing and cover it in yellow sprinkles, or tint a tsp. of the icing yellow and ice the last tiniest star. Place it on the top of the tree on its side.

With the remaining white icing, decorate the base by making ‘snow drifts’. Sprinkle icing sugar over the tree and base carefully making it look like it is covered with freshly fallen snow. If you would like, you can buy tiny colored decorating balls to place in the wet icing to look like ornaments.

If you prefer less icing, do not ice the cookies before stacking, simply put a small dab of white icing in the center of each cookie as you stack them so that they stick together. Then sprinkle with green sugar, or pipe green icing on as desired, or ice them entirely with white icing instead of green to give it a ‘heavily laden with snow’ look. Another option is to color your cookies green before baking, then simply powder them with icing sugar.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap so the cookies don’t dry out. Allow it to set before transporting. This freezes well, although it will need to be removed from the base.

I have also made this with Rice Krispie Squares cut into stars. To do this, press out the freshly made mixture onto a large working surface (cutting board or cookie sheet you can cut on). Press it as thin as you possibly can. Cut out the star shapes, then set aside until they are firm. Then assemble as you would the sugar cookie tree.

Enjoy your tree! Be prepared to force your guests to take apart the tree, they won’t want to ‘ruin’ your masterpiece!

This post is part of the Virtual Advent 2009 Blog Tour.

Microwave Divinity and Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Here are two simple Christmas cookie recipes you can make in a snap!  Either of these would be wonderful to take to a Cookie Exchange party.

Microwave Divinity
2 ½ cups sugar
½ cups water
2 egg whites
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cups light corn syrup
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a microwave safe 3 quart container combine sugar, syrup, water and salt. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Stir and microwave again for 8 to 10 minutes or until syrup when dropped into cool water makes a hard ball. While mixture is cooking beat egg whites until stiff. Slowly pour syrup mixture over egg whites beating with mixer on high speed. Add vanilla while continuing to mix. Continue beating until mixture holds its shape and starts to lose its gloss. (app. 4 or 5 minutes) Fold in pecans by hand. Drop by teaspoon onto waxed paper. Makes about 1 ¼ pounds of candy.
*Recipe will not work on a wet day because it is moisture sensitive.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

1 stick margarine
1 box confectioner sugar
2 cups peanut butter
3 cups krispy rice cereal
1/3 block paraffin wax
6 oz. chocolate chips
1 large Hershey candy bar

Melt margarine and mix well with sugar, peanut butter and cereal. Form into balls 1 inch in diameter. Refrigerate over night.
In a double boiler melt paraffin, chocolate chips and candy bar. Dip balls and place on wax paper to dry.

My Favorite Thanksgiving Pie

Cooking for Thanksgiving is a challenge–I seem to always forget something. Two years ago I forgot the cranberry sauce. Last year I did not read the thawing directions for our turkey. I bought it the day before Thanksgiving and put it in the fridge. My dear husband informed me that night it would take four to five days to defrost. My response–hamburgers anyone?

I love Thanksgiving even if I’m not the perfect Southern cook. Big dinners are what we do well in the South. A Thanksgiving staple along with turkey and dressing is sweet potato pie. I heard Sean Hannity say he married a girl from Alabama but has never eaten sweet potato pie. That’s almost a sin!

While at the hair salon last year all the buzz was Thanksgiving desserts. I learned about a cheesecake that has to be made standing on a step-stool using dark and white chocolate. Directions for making a black walnut apple bundt cake and even a discussion on the beauty of chocolate pecan pies. All the women agreed on one dessert that was not on their favorite list–pumpkin pie. Yes, I even put myself in this category.

Maybe it’s because if you ever try sweet potato pie there is just no comparison–or going back. Sweet potato pies look like pumpkin pies but taste completely different. When eaten with a huge dollop of Cool Whip, there just isn’t a better dessert for Thanksgiving.

If you are looking for an easy Thanksgiving dessert, try sweet potato pie. Here’s the basic sweet potato pie recipe I use:

Sweet Potato Pie
1 cup baked and mashed sweet potatoes (3 to 4 good size potatoes)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs, beaten

Mix all the ingredients until smooth. Pour into a pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the pie is firm. Let cool. Serve with Cool Whip.

If you like a richer dessert–and have a bit more time then you’ll love my mother’s Sweet Potato Paradise Pie. I’ve made it before and it’s always a hit. The layer of sweet potato with a layer of cream cheese under it is also pretty on the plate when it is sliced.

Paradise Sweet Potato Pie
1 (9-inch) unbaked deep-dish pie shell
1 (8 oz.) package softened cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar divided into a 1/4 cup and a 1/2 cup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs divided into 2 beaten eggs and 1 egg
3 large baked sweet potatoes
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Dash salt

Combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla. Blend in 1 egg. Spread cream cheese mixture in bottom of pie shell. Combine remaining ingredients; mix well. Carefully pour this mixture over cream cheese mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 65 minutes.

Thanksgiving turned out good last year. Apparently the turkey people think of everything–even people like me. Theyvincluded quick thawing instructions.

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving pie recipe to share? I would love to try it!

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s about time for a recipe–the Fall season puts me in a baking mood.

So many of my favorite recipes have stories that go with them, as I’m sure yours do too. Family and friends connecting through food is really universal.

I don’t think there has been a year that we haven’t had pumpkin bars several times during the holidays. If you ask my kids what their favorite food is in the Fall, these are at the top of their list.

In fact, when the kids attended a small Christian school they had a Thanksgiving feast each year, and I volunteered to make these as the dessert for the whole school.

Mom tip: Volunteer in a BIG way and it can sometimes carry you through the whole year or at least a semester.

I did this for 4 or 5 years and the girls loved to help me make them the week before the feast. Assembly line style, we made between 10 and 20 jellyroll pans of pumpkin bars and froze them. The day before the feast, we mixed up and slathered the bars with the most delicious frosting.

Yes, that is a hand mixer you see Roger Leroy using.

Yes, it is true that I got through 19 years of marriage and 4 children and did not own a KitchenAid mixer until Christmas two years ago when PhilBillPaul found that the hand mixer was too strenuous for him. So he bought me a KitchenAid. Go figure.

In his defense, I was really fine without one.

Mr. Handy PhilBillPaul even made a special tray for me to slide the disposable foil pans onto and carry into the school three pans at a time. Sometimes he scares me with his handy creations.

One year my former next door neighbor offered to help. She made half the bars and I made the other half. Then we loaded up our vehicles and delivered them to the school.

Her two youngest children were obviously assigned the important job of guarding the pumpkin bars until we were ready to head to the school.

These pumpkin bars began with one neighbor bringing one pumpkin bar over on a little dessert plate to share with me. A small gesture that she may not even remember but I loved the pumpkin bar so much that I asked her for the recipe. She sent it over handwritten on a recipe card. Here it is:

******
Pumpkin Bars
Sue Domian

4 eggs, 1 cup oil, 2 cups sugar, 1 can pumpkin. Mix together.
Add: 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1/2 tsp ginger, 2 tsp cinnamon.

Mix together well. Bake in a greased / floured jellyroll pan at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Frost when cool:
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, 3/4 stick margarine or butter, 1 tbsp milk,
1 tsp vanilla, 1 box powdered confection sugar

Keep bars refrigerated.

******

I have lost count of how many people I have shared the recipe with. In the final year at their school, I printed the recipe on card stock so the school would have a stack to pass out when moms asked for it. They are that good!

Do you have a favorite recipe that has become a tradition in your family? Let’s swap some recipes in the comments so we can all add a new recipe or two to our menu this year.

Sherra Humphreys
Reprinted with permission from SherraLifeLessons

Judy’s Apple Dumplings

Who would have thought Sprite or Mt. Dew could put a whole new spin on apple dumplings.  When my mother-in-law, Judy, makes this quick dessert it does not last long.  Have the vanilla ice cream on hand!

2 (10 oz) cans of refrigerated crescent roll dough
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 16 pieces
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (12 oz) Sprite or 7-Up. Mt. Dew can also be used.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 baking dish.

Cut each apple into 8 wedges. Separate crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in baking dish.

Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in sugar and cinnamon. Pour over apple dumplings. Pour soft drink over dumplings.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.

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