3 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 stick salted butter, melted
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 refrigerated deep-dish pie crust

Mix cocoa, sugar, flour, and eggs. Beat well with an electric mixer until smooth. Add butter, milk, and vanilla. Mix well and pour into pie crust. Bake at 325 degrees about 50 minutes. After 25 minutes of baking, cover crust with a pie shield. When pie is done the center will be a bit shaky. It must cool completely before slicing or the pie will be runny. Top with whipped topping and enjoy!

Diane Berry has been happily married to her husband Todd for 29 years. They have 2 children, daughter Amelia, 16 and a son Taylor, 20. She’s a stay-at-home Mom who enjoys photography, antiquing, reading and baking with her daughter.

When I tasted these delicious petit fours at my sister’s baby shower, I knew I had to make them for my family’s Christmas celebration.  Although mine did not look as perfect as the ones I had eaten at the shower, they were every bit as yummy.  These decadent treats are well worth the extra time and effort they take to make.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Kaaren Rue for giving me this fantastic recipe which will now be an annual Christmas tradition for our family!

1)  Bake this cream cheese pound cake in a jelly roll pan, so that the cake is about 1” thick.  Instructions for making the petit fours are below the cake recipe.

Cream cheese poundcake:

2 sticks margarine (softened to room temperature)

1 stick butter (softened to room temperature)

One 8 oz package cream cheese (softened to room temperature)

3 cups sugar

6 eggs (room temperature)

3 cups sifted cake flour (if cake flour is unavailable, sift all purpose flour twice)

2 tsps vanilla

1)   Cream the margarine, butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until very fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add sugar and beat for 5 additional minutes. Add eggs two at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sifted flour and vanilla and mix well.

Bake in a 325F oven for 1+ hour in a greased and floured pan.  Start testing for doneness after 1 hour.

2)   Remove cake from pan and allow to cool.  Cool the pound cake thoroughly, wrap well in saran wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze the cooled cake solid until you are ready to cut it into squares and glaze it.  This can be done weeks in advance if desired.  The frozen cake is much easier to cut and has less crumbs, so this is an important step even if you are not making it far in advance.

3)      Remove frozen sheet cake from freezer.  With a very sharp serrated knife, trim all edges off frozen cake.  Score cake in 1 x 1” squares.  You can use a ruler so the lines are straight.  Cut the cake into squares and set on cooling racks with cookie sheets placed underneath.  If your cake is more than approximately 1” thick, you may need to trim off the bottom of the squares so that the glaze will cover them evenly.

4)      Make Petit Four Glaze:

Petit Four Glaze

9 cups sifted powdered sugar (this will take 2 pounds)

½ cup light corn syrup

½ cup water

2 tsps almond extract

4 oz. melted vanilla almond bark

Melt all ingredients together in a double boiler or large melt-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Melt and stir until the mixture becomes very smooth.  You can add a tiny bit of water, a little at a time, if the mixture is too thick.  Be careful not to overheat.  The glaze should pour easily from a metal ladle.

5)      When the glaze is the consistency you like, begin pouring it gently and slowly over each square of cake.  The cookie sheet underneath the cooling rack will catch all the drips.

6)      It will take multiple layers of glaze to get good coverage.  You may need to double or triple the above glaze recipe if you don’t want to see any cake through the glaze. Be sure to reserve a small amount of glaze for decorating your petit fours.

7)      Let the glaze dry. Tint some of the glaze and put it into a Ziploc bag.  Cut a very tiny hole in the tip of the bag and decorate the cakes with lines, swirls, hearts, etc.

8)      My friend discovered that you can scrape the icing from the cookie sheet and reheat it one time.  After more than one reheating, however, the icing starts to get gloppy.  Also, if you are reheating the icing, make sure there are no cake crumbs in it.

9)      I kept half the sheet cake frozen for later use, and refrigerated half the glaze for about 3 weeks.  This enabled me to serve the petit fours at two different occasions, since this recipe makes a large quantity of this decadent dessert.  I did not notice any major differences in the look or taste of the cakes or glaze the second time around.

Good old-fashioned Christmas cookies are simple to make and can be the perfect gift. I used to make these for the children in our church on Christmas Eve. The icing recipe is included below too.

Christmas Sugar Cookies
3 eggs
2 softened sticks of margarine
1 cup of sugar
2 tsps. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsps. vanilla
3 ½ cups of flour

Chill dough one hour.

Take a small amount of dough and roll out to desired thickness on a floured surface.  Cut with floured cookie cutters.  Bake at 350 degrees 7 minutes or until golden brown.

Icing can be made from 1 lb. powdered sugar, 1 stick of melted butter and 3 to 4 tablespoons of evaporated milk.  You can use food coloring to make colored icing.

This recipe was one of my mom’s favorites. I don’t recall it ever having a proper name so I have decided to call it Summer Dream Cake. It’s easy, peasy and still perfect right now with early fall weather.

1 large Angel food Cake

2 envelopes of Kraft Dream Whip topping

4 Crispy Crunch chocolate bars (Heath or Twix bars work too)

~ Split the angel food cake in half, creating two layers…

~ Crush the chocolate bars (fun). I use a heavy Ziploc bag and my rolling pin. I also put the bag in the freezer  afterwards, then none of the chocolate sticks to the bag, and you don’t lose any of the crunchy goodness!

~ Prepare the whip topping according to directions…

~ Fold the crushed chocolate bars into the whipped topping…

~ Frost like a regular layer cake…and yes, I filled in the hole!

~ Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.  I do have to note you can probably make this with two chocolate bars and one envelope of dream whip. I do not think they are making the cakes as big as they used to, but nobody complained about too much frosting.

Katharine is mom to four incredible kids and wife to the best husband on the planet. Visit her blog…

When I ask my children what they would like for dessert, nine times out of ten the request is for lime pie. Give this yummy recipe a try if you are looking for a perfect make-ahead dessert for Easter. Best of all, it’s just four ingredients, three easy steps, somewhat healthy, and economical to make. Did I mention it takes mere minutes to put together too?

Step 1. Cut and juice three medium limes. When I can get key limes in our area, this becomes the best-ever key lime pie.

Step 2. Stir one carton of Cool Whip (Sugar Free), one Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk and lime juice together with a spoon. When I was first introduced to this recipe in Robin Miller’s Quick Fix Meals: 200 Simple, Delicious Recipes to Make Mealtime Easy cookbook, fat free sweetened condensed milk sounded like an ingredient for disaster. Let me just say, no flavor or richness is lost. All you’ll be saying buh-bye to is unwanted fat.

Step 3. Pour pie mixture into a Reduced Fat Graham Cracker pie crust. Cover with plastic pie cover and pop into the freezer for a few hours.

This simple pie will keep in the freezer for up to three months, but it never makes it past a day at my house! It is also a fabulously convenient make-ahead dessert to have on hand when taking a meal to a family or when you need to take a dessert somewhere.

Do you have a favorite spring pie recipe you can share?

I have been wanting to make this recipe since before Christmas. I had it on my list to make around Christmas time, but we were so busy that I just didn’t get to it. Oh, well. That’s life. However, now that things have returned to normal I knew that it would be the perfect time to make this recipe!

I found the recipe for Angel Food Bars on the Weight Watchers message boards. I am telling you that is one of the best resources for low points plus recipes. I’ve said it before but those ladies always have great ideas.

Angel Food Bars
16 ounce angel food cake mix
1 (1 1/2 ounce) package fat-free chocolate instant pudding mix
2 cups skim milk

Mix together. Pour in a 9 x 13 inch sprayed cake pan. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Good with a little fat-free whipped topping. Serves 18

This recipe is extremely easy and you only need three ingredients! What could be better than that?

I mixed together the dry ingredients first. The original recipe calls for chocolate pudding, but I am not eating chocolate this year so we decided to use french vanilla pudding instead.

Next, you add two cups of slim milk and stir.

This mixture got very foamy and expanded quite a bit.

Put it in a 9×13 pan and bake!

I thought that these bars would eventually shrink and get shorter, but they never did. When it was finished baking it looked just like a cake.

The finished product! It was yummy! The cake was very moist and tasted great. We will be making this again for sure. It is only three points+, so I thought it would be great with some berries on top or sugar-free jam. Feel free to experiment and let me know how it turns out.

I hope that you enjoy this as much as we did!

Jennifer, blogs at Living a Changed Life
http://livingachangedlife.blogspot.com/

This fancy, delicious cake isn’t too complicated, in spite of requiring several steps.  My oldest son won a blue ribbon with it at the county fair when he was in 5^th grade, and we often serve it for birthdays in our home.  Having lived in Europe for several years, I can honestly say this cake is fairly authentic, and well worth that extra little bit of time and trouble.

Ingredients:

Cake:
German chocolate cake mix (prepared according to box directions)

Syrup:
¼ c. sugar
1/3 c. water
1 tsp. cherry or almond extract

Butter cream filling:
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1/3 c. butter
1 tsp. cherry or almond extract
1 or 2 Tbsp. reserved cherry juice (see below) or milk

A few drops red food coloring (optional)

Topping:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
2 cans sour cherries, drained and patted dry (reserve a few Tbsp. of the juice)
8 oz. semisweet chocolate bar, shaved (optional)

Instructions:

1.      Prepare cake mix according to instructions.  Pour into 3 round cake pans.  If you don’t have 3 round pans you’ll have to make this in separate batches, or have a shorter cake with less layers.

2.      While the cake is baking, prepare the syrup.  Mix the sugar and water in a small pan and bring it to a boil until the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and add the extract.

3.      When the cake rounds have cooled, prick them with a fork and brush the syrup on the underside of each layer.

4.      Prepare the butter cream frosting by beating the butter and powdered sugar together until well incorporated.  Add the extract and a couple drops of red food coloring if you want the frosting to be pink (white is more traditional).  Thin the frosting with a tablespoon of either milk (for white butter cream) or the reserved juice from the drained cherries (for pink butter cream).  Add additional liquid or powdered sugar as necessary to make a thick butter cream frosting.

5.      Assemble the cake:  place one layer (syrup side facing up) on a cake platter.  Frost with ½ of the butter cream icing.  Add 1/3 of the sour cherries (make sure you have drained them well and they are patted dry).  Add the second cake layer, topping it with the remaining frosting and 1/3 of the cherries, as before.  Place the third cake layer on top, syrup side down.

6.      Beat the whipping cream until it is fluffy, adding the powdered sugar as you go.  Once the whipped cream is ready, use it to frost the entire cake.

*Note: if you are making this cake ahead of time, stop after step 5 and refrigerate the unfinished cake.  The whipping cream will begin to weep over time, and this step should be saved until shortly before you are ready to serve the cake.

7.      Decorate the frosted cake with the remaining sour cherries.  Sprinkle with chocolate shavings, if desired.

Helpful tips:

• Make sure cherries are well placed around the edges of each layer as well as in the middle so the cake doesn’t “sag” on one side.
• Be sure to use sour cherries, not sweet ones.  They make ALL the difference!
• Save the prettiest cherries for the top of the cake and use crushed ones in the center of the lower layers.
• This cake can be refrigerated overnight, but it will not last more than a couple of days due to the real whipped cream frosting.

Patty Chaney, Guest

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***

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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