Mixed Berry Pretzel Ice Box Dessert

We had a great fourth of July, especially since we got to enjoy it with a ton of Brent's extended family.  It was a day full of swimming, a great pot luck meal, and fireworks.

Caleb got to swim in the pool with all the big boys;

And show off his high five skills;

And operate some heavy machinery;

And hang out with family, enjoying the nice weather and our holiday off work.

And I made a dessert which was devoured within a few minutes of being served.  It's perfect for summer since it's cool, creamy, sweet, tart and crunchy all at once.

Mixed Berry Pretzel Ice Box Dessert

Source:  Noble Pig

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups finely crushed pretzels
3 Tablespoons sugar
12 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
7 oz. plain Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (3 oz) packages strawberry gelatin
1 (16 oz) package frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed
2 cups fresh blueberries
Whipped cream

Directions:
 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit; mist a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray. Place pretzels in a bowl of a food processor and process until finely crushed. Add sugar and melted butter and pulse to combine. Press pretzel mixture into baking dish and bake for 8 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cooled.

Make filling using an electric mixer on medium speed, beating cream cheese with sugar until well blended. Fold in yogurt and vanilla. Spread over cooled pretzel crust, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2-3 hours.

In a large bowl, dissolve both packages of gelatin in 2 cups boiling water. Let cool until mixture begins to get syrupy, about 15 minutes. Stir in strawberries and blueberries and pour over cream cheese layer. Chill until firm, at least three hours or overnight.

Cut tart into squares and serve with whipped cream.

Rich Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of my favorite treats.  My grandma makes it in a metal coffee can, so her banana bread always has circular ridges all the way around it, and the slices are round.  I don't have any metal coffee cans so I had to make this recipe in a normal bread pan, boring, but probably a prettier picture.

Janet's Rich Banana Bread
Source:  Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 medium bananas, sliced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, then stir it into the butter mixture until smooth.  Fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas.  Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Key Lime Cake

Mom and I prepared all the food for Caleb's birthday party ourselves.  Of course, Caleb had his own cake and we knew that once he was finished with it, nobody would want a piece for themselves, so we decided on a Key Lime Cake for the adults to enjoy.  It was a small party with family and friends and everyone, especially Caleb, enjoyed themselves.

Caleb got some awesome toys

And chatted with some friends

It was kind of a big day, so after a bath to get all the cake and frosting out of his hair, he took a little nap.

And while he was napping, the adults had some Key Lime Cake. 

Key Lime Cake

As seen on the Tulsa World website

From the book "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood"

Serves 12

Key Lime Cake

Ingredients:

1 (3-ounce) package lime-flavored gelatin

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

2 cups sifted AP flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

5 large eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3/4 cup orange juice

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup lime juice (from about 25 small Key limes or 4 large regular limes)

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the first six ingredients well.  Add the eggs, oil, orange juice, lemon juice and vanilla.

Divide the batter evenly among the three pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  Teast for doneness by lightly touching the tops of the layers or inserting a toothpick.  Cool the layers in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto cooling racks to cool completely.

While the layers are still hot, mix the lime juice and confectioner's sugar and pour it over the layers on the racks.  Pierce the layers with a fork to allow the glaze to better soak in.  Allow the layers to cool completely as you prepare the icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature

1 (1 pound) box confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Cream the butter and cream cheese.  Beat in the confectioners' sugar until the mixture is smooth and easy to spread.  Spread the icing between the layers, on the top and sides of the cake.

Strawberry Cake

This afternoon from 1:00 until 3:00 in downtown Medicine Lodge, Kansas, my mom's sorority, Beta Sigma Phi, is hosting a dessert tasting event in at The Leisure Time Center on North Main. Many of the sorority ladies are bringing their favorite homemade desserts to share over good coffee and good conversation.

Tickets to the event are $10 and proceeds benefit The Leisure Time Center and Horizons Mental Health Center Children's Services.

Also, cookbooks containing all of the contributed recipes are available for sale. I've been flipping through it for the past couple days and I can't wait to make several of them myself. Many of the recipes are for yummy sounding, summery desserts, and I can't wait to taste about fifty awesome sugary treats on this fine Sunday afternoon! If you are interested in purchasing a cookbook, please leave a contact and I will give you the information.



One of my mom's food contributions at the tasting is for this awesome strawberry cake. It's a staple dessert in her recipe armory, but this time she baked it in her ribbon shaped cake pan in honor of a dear friend of ours who is currently WINNING her fight against breast cancer! Congrats PS on your awesome test results!

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 3 oz box strawberry flavored instant gelatin
10 oz package of frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed, 1/4 cup reserved
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1/4 cup water

Frosting:
1/4 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 pureed strawberries
1/2 tsp strawberry extract
7 cups confectioners sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour into cake pans and bake 20 minutes or until they test done. Cool in pans for 10-15 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack.
Mix the frosting ingredients until smooth and spread between the cake layers, on top and sides.

-- Post From My iPhone

Sweet sweet baby skin

I never realized how perfectly sweet my baby would be.  I remember when I first smelled his little breath as I lay in the hospital bed the day he was born.  I was in perfect wonder over the life in my arms, amazed that we had all made it safely through delivery, when I first caught a whiff.  His breath was like nothing I'd ever smelled before.  Perfect freshness.

And now the rain-fresh breath is no more, but he has this perfect, silky skin.  It's darkish toned like his dad's, and soft and smooth and wonderful. 

And he has these irresistable leg rolls, my mom calls them Dairy Queen wrinkles :)  He loves it when I am the nom nom monster and nom on those little rolls!  Baby laughs... but that's another post.

It's safe to say I'm intoxicated by my beautiful baby. 

Paula Deen's Strawberry Cake - the cupcake version

Back when I was pregnant I saw Paula Deen make this cake on one of her shows. Soon thereafter, I ran out and got the ingredients and made it for myself, it was my very first double layer cake. I obviously need more practice with layer cakes because though it tasted wonderful, it looked awful. One of the layers stuck in the cake pan and I had to puzzle piece it back together on the cake stand. When a piece was cut from the cake, it's structural integrity was pretty much nonexistent. At the time this was fine with me, my pregnant self just took a bite off the cake with a fork every time I walked through the kitchen.

The next incarnation of this recipe came at my birthday party when it was made into cupcakes. Much better for this inexperienced baker-gal! I'm including Paula's cake recipe, but the conversion into cupcakes was simple, just watch the baking time. The cupcakes can also be prepared ahead of time and frozen.

Paula Deen's Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake
Source: Food Network

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 3 oz box strawberry flavored instant gelatin
1 15 oz package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

Frosting:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 10 oz package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract
7 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cake:
Grease 2 9-inch round cake pans.
In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix and geletin, add strawberries, eggs, oil and water, beat on medium until smooth. Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center. Let cool for 10 minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Frosting:
In a mixing bowl, beat butter and cream cheese on medium until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and the vanilla extract. Gradually add confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth.

Frost cake and garnish with fresh strawberries.

Banny's Southern Cream Cookies

Work has picked up again, thankfully my mom has been cooking a lot and has graciously written a guest post for me. I ate like five of these awesome cookies in about two minutes, they are that good.

***

When I started my cookie making odyssey a month or so ago I made 18 different kinds, all but just a few were recipes that were new to me. Some weren’t so great (and you’ll never have to hear about those) but I received the most requests for this recipe. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and absolutely loved it!!

Banny’s Southern Cream Cookies
Source: Allrecipes.com

1 c. shortening
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sour cream
5 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1.5 c. chopped walnuts

3 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350, lightly grease baking sheets.

Cream the shortening w/ 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, beat in the eggs, vanilla and sour cream mixing well.

Stir in the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda to make a stiff dough. Add the walnuts.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared sheet. Mix the 3 Tbsp. sugar with the 1 tsp. cinnamon. Grease the bottom of a small glass and dip it into the cinnamon and sugar and gently press the cookies to flatten the balls slightly.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until centers are done.

These are amazing, delicate, not overly sweet and very yummy. The recipe actually calls for black walnuts but I couldn’t find any so I just used regular chopped walnuts. Also, I did not grease my cookie sheets, I have good non-stick pans. These barely spread out so you can crowd the pan. I used my small scoop and baked them for 11 minutes.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

I don't bake very often, in fact, I found this bundt pan in the very back of my pan cabinet. It was a wedding present; given to us three and a half years ago, and it was still in its packaging. When I saw this chocolate cake recipe one one of the blogs I follow, What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen, I decided to time had arrived to unwrap the fleur de lis bundt pan and bake a cake!

I haven't had a piece yet, I'm saving it for dinner tonight with my in-laws, but I did sample, okay more than sample, I ate most of it, the cake that I cut off the bottom to make it level on the plate. It was so moist and chocolatie, I can't wait to have a slice with ice cream tonight.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Source: What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen

Originally from: The back of the "Bakers & Chefs" brown sugar bag

Ingredients:

3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 cup boiling water

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Combine the baking chocolate, butter and boiling water in a small bowl; stir until chocolate and butter are melted. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients; blend well. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla; beat one for one minute at medium speed. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Invert the pan onto the cooling rack and let cool the rest of the way.

Booger Cookies

Thank you again, Mom, for a cookie recipe contribution. My blog is now beginning to resemble a healthy wheel of life, all spokes in proper alignment, all portions harmonious with one another. Except I realize the 'baby' section is beginning to make my circle a little unbalanced, but welcome to my real life. Right now there are only two spokes on my wheel, Caleb and work, which makes my car of life ride a little bumpy. Sorry Brent, your turn will come back around soon enough.

***

I love all of the old standard cookie recipes, making a few twists and additions practically every time I make them. For one thing, I never use raisins, I don’t like raisins, and lots of other people don’t either. I use dried cranberries instead and keep them on hand at all times. I almost always use dark chocolate chips rather than semi-sweet and I like to use flaked coconut rather than shredded.

But sometimes you just want something totally different and one evening I was snooping around on betterrecipes.com and found these, the name intrigued me so I had to take a look.

You need to try these, they are very good!!

Booger Cookies

Source: Better Recipes.com

2 1/4 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 c butter
1 c coconut
1 c mini-chocolate chips
1 small box instant pistachio pudding

Melt butter and let it cool down then mix with both sugars until smooth. Mix in eggs, soda, vanilla and pudding mix. Slowly add the flour. Stir in coconut and chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon onto baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

I used my small one tablespoon scoop for one batch, they took about 9 minutes and yielded 4.5 dozen. When I used my large two tablespoon scoop it took about 14 minutes and I got two dozen.

See the batter? Now you know where the name comes from...I'm just sayin'.

No Bake Cookies - Two Ways

This week has been crazy for me. I am in the middle of busy time at work, plus my baby has been sick with a cough, requiring breathing treatments with a nebulizer. On top of all that, Brent's grandfather passed away and his funeral was two days ago. For obvious reasons, cooking and blogging has had to take a back seat and for that I apologize.

My mom is great, though, and volunteered to contribute another cookie post for me since I have no material of my own. Thank you mom!

***

For those of you who read my last cookie post which was meant to be an ‘America’s Test Kitchen’ type test between my new Baker’s Secret cookie sheet and my trusty AirBake cookie sheet, you know that didn’t turn out so well. You really have to pay attention to what temp you set your oven.

So, for this post I decided I’d be safe and do no-bake cookies. I was very surprised to learn the other day that a friend of mine who is 50+ years of age had never had no- bake cookies! I will cut her some slack, she was raised in Canada. :-P

My no-bake recipe is in my handwriting from when I was about ten, my family refers to them as ‘Thig-a-Ma-Jigs’. As a kid, the first time I heard someone refer to no-bake cookies I didn’t even know what they were talking about.

Thig-a-Ma-Jigs

2 c sugar
1 stick oleo
1/4 c Dutch Process Cocoa
1/2 c milk
1/2 c peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 c Quick Oats

Place sugar, oleo, cocoa and milk in a large sauce pan and bring to a good rolling boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, peanut butter and oatmeal and drop on waxed paper.

How easy is that!?!

Those of you who are a little younger may not even recognize the word ‘oleo’, which is what we called margarine in the old days. I’ve made this recipe with butter and I do believe margarine works better, the cookies set up a little better and are a little firmer. The other thing I can’t emphasize enough is to use Dutch Process Cocoa, it is so much richer and darker and makes a much better cookie.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

3 c sugar
3/4 c butter
3/4 c milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c peanut butter
4 1/2 c quick oats

Combine sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a rapid boil for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter then mix in the oats, stirring until the mixture begins to cool. Drop on waxed paper to cool and set.

This is another recipe where I feel margarine is better than butter.

Meringues Chantilly with Roasted Berries

For our Labor Day weekend cooking marathon, my mother in law decided we should make these meringues. We had both seen the Barefoot Contessa episode where she makes these (or does one of her super gay-tastic friends buy them, I don't remember?). I have to admit, my mother in law did most of the work for the meringues...that's not really my cup of tea. But I did help with the clean up, and I prepared the berries all by myself :)
This was a super fancy pretty little dessert. The berries were a knockout. I think next time we make them we will allow the berries to macerate with the sugar for a while, we both agreed the roasted berries would have been even more fabulous if they had been juicier.

Meringues Chantilly with Roasted Berries
Source: Ina Garten

Meringues:

4 extra - large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small glass and a pencil, draw 4 (3 1/2-inch) circles on each piece of paper. Turn the paper face down on the baking sheets.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed until frothy. Add 2/3 cup of the sugar and continue beating on high speed until the egg whites form very stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla. Carefully fold the remaining 1/3 cup sugar into the meringue. With a large star - shaped pastry tip, pipe a disk of meringue inside each circle. Pipe another layer around the edge to form the sides of the shells.
Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned. Turn off the heat and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for 4 hours or overnight.
For serving, place each meringue on a separate plate and top the shell with berries.

Roasted Berries:

1 pint fresh strawberries
2 half-pints fresh raspberries
2 half-pints fresh blueberries
2 half-pints fresh blackberries
1/4 cup sugar
Vanilla bean, split and seeds removed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Place the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries on a sheet pan and toss with the sugar and vanilla bean seeds. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving.

All kinds of Cookies

A few years ago at my dad's urging, my mom treated herself to a professional Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Since then, she has used it to create about four billion batches of amazing cookies. I myself am not much of a cookie maker so I asked her to contribute some posts of her favorite cookie recipes. Thanks mom! This blog is top heavy on Mexican recipes and recipes containing cheese...it definitely needed some balancing out!

***

This morning I decided to make a batch of the best chocolate chip cookie’s ever. This is from allrecipes.albertsons.com, one of the sites I like to peruse whenever I have a chance.

Yesterday I bought a Baker’s Secret cookie sheet. I feel almost as if I’m betraying my 20+ year old air bake cookie sheets, but, hey, we don’t owe each other. My sous chef Cookie and I baked the first batch on my new Baker’s Secret sheet. I set the timer for 15 minutes and went on about with some other things I needed to do and before I knew it I could smell them burning, I couldn’t believe it, at ten minutes they were ruined!!!!

So, here I was, banging around and cussing the ten bucks I dropped on that new cookie sheet and am praising my antique air bake sheets, which I pull out for the next batch. I set them for 14 minutes, go about cleaning up the kitchen, and at about ten minutes I could smell them burning!!!

OMG! What is wrong in the universe today? Have I gone crazy? I’ve made these cookies dozens of times and they are always perfect!!! Finally, I figured out that I'd set the temp at 400 rather than 325!!! I can’t believe I did that, I cannot imagine what possessed me, and of all the stupid mistakes I’ve made that’s never been one of them, but, it won’t ever happen again.

I’ve made this recipe using dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and Andes Crème De Menth chips, and they are all wonderful. I use my large scoop and get 20 to 22 cookies. Another reason I particularly love this recipe is you can bake them the minute you decide to without having to wait for the butter to soften to room temperature.

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Source: Albertsons.com

Ingredients:

2 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Cream the melted butter and two sugars until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in chips with a spoon.

Tip: chilling the dough about a half hour before baking makes the cookies spread out nice and round with fewer jagged edges.

Drop by 1/4 cup about 3” apart and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until edges are lightly toasted.

Chocolate Biscotti

I love having these with my morning coffee. They're dry, they're biscotti of course, but that makes them just perfect with a hot drink. I like to make them for holidays or weekends when I have fellow coffee drinkers visiting my house. My mom found this recipe years ago and has used the basic idea to make lots of other flavors of biscotti, like vanilla and almond.

1 Box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Milk Chocolate Cake Mix
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Butter, Melted
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Almond Extract
1/2 Cup Chopped Almonds

Preheat to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine all ingredients but nuts and beat on low until well blended. Stir in almonds. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 12"x2" long loaf. The loaf with expand slightly so be sure to leave room on the baking sheet for that.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on baking sheet 15 minutes. Cut into 1/2" slices. Arrange on baking sheets and back into the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove to racks to cool completely.

Carrot Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

We have been eating zucchini like crazy lately, a friend has a garden and she is so generous. Last Friday she brought in a mixed bag of produce from her garden to share and I grabbed a zucchini so I could make a zucchini cake. My grandma used to bake it all the time when I was a kid and I love how it's a green vegetable but it's also a yummy dessert! Anyway, to tattle on my dumb self, I grabbed a cucumber instead of a zucchini...so this cake morphed from a zucchini cake to a carrot cake. And now, as I'm reading through the recipe list again, I realize how many errors I made while baking it! So many that I'm amazed mine even turned out good, in fact. But it was. Brent and I have been eating bites out of the cake pan in the refrigerator for almost a week. Tonight what's remaining is going to have to go...I'm trying to loose this baby weight after all.

Carrot Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Source: Tasty Kitchen lindainmo

1 cup All-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (can Use All White Flour If You Don't Have This)
1-¼ cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
Freshly Grated Nutmeg, To Taste (1/4 To 1/2 Tsp?), Optional
1 Pinch Ginger (about 1/16 Tsp Or So), Optional
3 tablespoons Canola Oil
2 whole Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups Grated (unpeeled) Zucchini or carrots
1 (20 Oz.) Can Crushed Pineapple In Juice, Drained (reserve In Case You Need It For The Cake Batter Or The Frosting)

FROSTING

2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
8 Ounces Low-fat Cream Cheese, Softened (can Use Full-fat Cream Cheese)
2 Cups Powdered Sugar, Approx.
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Splash Of Milk Or Pineapple Juice, If Necessary
Chopped Walnuts Or Pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cake:
Combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Combine oil, eggs, and vanilla; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated carrots, and pineapple into flour mixture. Batter will be stiff , keep folding until it comestogether. Add a little splash of the pineapple juice if it needs any more liquid.
Pour batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for about 33-35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs and cake is pulling away from sides of pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. (Mine only took about 31 minutes, so keep an eye on it)
Frosting:
Combine butter and cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Add a splash of milk or pineapple juice if necessary. Spread frosting over top of cake. Garnish with chopped pecans or walnuts, if desired.

Frosted Marshmallow Brownies

I first made these brownies two weekends ago. As soon as they were frosted, we were invited over to spend the evening with my in-laws. The brownies went with us and never made it back home for their photo session. I remade them again yesterday for another dinner gathering with my in-laws, but I made sure some of them made it back so I could share the recipe. And yes, I took this picture outside with the plate on top of my mailbox. It's a beautiful sunshiny day and I'm tired of bad indoor lighting. After I snapped the shots, I took the plate over to Jay and Leslie of West 95 so I could share some bakinglove with them!

The recipe is super easy and tastes awesome. The little surprise of marshmallow makes them a little more fun than regular brownies, IMHO.

Frosted Marshmallow Brownies

From: Lovestoeat's Weblog

Ingredients:

Brownies:

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 T baking cocoa

3-4 cups mini marshmallows

Frosting:

3/4 stick butter

6 T Milk

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup mini marshmallows or 4-6 large marshmallows

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°

Lightly grease a 9x13 pan

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilly and beat until fluffy.

In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Add to dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, then spread into the 9x13 pan.

Bake for 17-20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with the mini marshmallows. Bake for another 2-3 minutes until the marshmallows are melty and spreadable. Using a butter knife dipped in water, spread the marshmallows over the brownies evenly.

For the frosting, combine the butter, milk and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir constantly until the mixture has boiled for one minute. Add the marshmallows and chocolate chips and stir until completely melted and combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool and thicken slightly. This is best done by running a sink of cold water and setting the saucepan into it while you continue stirring. I didn't do that the first time, but I did the second. The frosting definitely turned out smoother and shinier the second batch. Pour the frosting evenly over the bars. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Roasted banana brownie bites and a discussion on hard drives

I've noticed over the past few months that my desktop computer was getting slow. Really slow. Like so slow Brent could barely use it without losing his temper. Turns out, between my music, pictures, and all the other random items I'd collected, my hard drive was over 90% full. I don't think I need to tell you what this does to your computer's performance.

So I welcomed a new addition to my house...an external hard drive! After an entire day of figuring out how to remap my iTunes music, I now have all my precious pictures and music on this sweet little beauty. And I can now actually do something on my computer in five minutes instead of 20...bonus!! I've always fretted about what I would take with me into our 'frady hole (a.k.a. my closet) if the house was hit by a tornado. I would grab my purse, my old childhood teddy bear, my photo albums, my dogs, and now, my external hard drive!

Now onto the food...I've made this recipe twice (blame it on the third trimester). The first time I followed the Picky Palate's recipe exactly. They were super yummy, but mine turned out a little dry. I decided to reintroduced the vegetable oil the brownie mix called for. It definitely helped with the texture, but took it down a few notches in terms of healthiness, I know, but whatev.

Roasted Banana Brownie Bites

From: The Picky Palate

3 bananas cut into 1/2 inch coins

3 tbsp cold butter cut into pieces

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 box brownie mix (I suggest the devil's food)

1/4 cup water

3 eggs

(my version: however much vegetable oil the brownie mix calls for)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2-3 tbsp heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

On a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil, place the banana coins, each topped with a piece of cold butter, and sprinkle it all with the brown sugar. Roast for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for about ten minutes.

Reduce the oven temp to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, stir until just combined the brownie mix, bananas, water, and eggs (and oil if you so choose). Scoop into mini muffin tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. (keep an eye on them, mine cooked faster, but I think it's because my mini muffin tin is a little darker metal).

Using the microwave, melt the chocolate chips, stir until smooth, then add the heavy cream until glossy and smooth. Dip the brownie bites into the chocolate and enjoy!

(Confession, the second time I made these, I completely botched the frosting. I think my chocolate chips got too hot and started to separate. When I added the cream, the whole thing just turned to goo. I will not share any pictures of this mess with you).

I will share a picture of the yummy roasted bananas as they came out of the oven

Grandma Ash's Brownie's...Guest Blogger submission #3

---These brownies have been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Now that my mom's shared the recipe, I think I'll make them for our next tailgate party. The recipe used to be a double triple secret, but some things are too good to keep to yourself.

GRANDMA ASH'S BROWNIES

MY SISTER-IN-LAW GAVE ME THE RECIPE PROBABLY 35 YEARS AGO AND MADE ME PROMISE THAT I'D NEVER LET ANYBODY KNOW WHERE I GOT IT, AT LEAST NOT WHILE GRANDMA GLADYS, HER GRANDMOTHER-IN-LAW, WAS ALIVE. SAD TO SAY, SHE'S GONE. I'M GOING TO SHARE THE RECIPE WITH YOU AND LET YOU KNOW I FOUND ONE ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE IT IN A PAULA DEEN COOKBOOK. WONDER WHO GAVE PAULA DEEN GRANDMA'S BROWNIE RECIPE?!? YOU'VE HEARD OF DEATH BY CHOCOLATE? GET READY, THIS IS A TRUE CHOCOLATE OVERLOAD:

1 STICK BUTTER, ROOM TEMP
1 CUP SUGAR
4 EGGS
16 OZ. CAN HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE SYRUP
1 CUP FLOUR

CREAM THE BUTTER AND SUGAR, ADD THE EGGS UNTIL WELL BLENDED. STIR IN THE FLOUR AND THE HERSHEY'S SYRUP. BAKE 25 MINUTES IN A 9 X 13 PAN, GREASED, AT 350.

AS SOON AS YOU TAKE THEM OUT OF THE OVEN START TO MAKE THE FROSTING:

6 TBSP. BUTTER
1/3 CUP MILK
1 1/2 CUP SUGAR
1 CUP SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS

PUT THE BUTTER, MILK AND SUGAR IN A HEAVY SAUCEPAN OVER MEDIUM HEAT. STIR AND COOK TILL BOILING AND BOIL FOR ONE MINUTE. REMOVE FROM HEAT. STIR IN CHOCOLATE CHIPS UNTIL MELTED AND WELL BLENDED AND POUR OVER BROWNIES.

Pretty in Pink Bon Bon Cookies

In internet years, two weeks is an eternity. Yet I've been guilty of neglecting this blog for at least that long. And considering that I just celebrated my one month blog-iversary, this delay is beyond unacceptable. But please don't abandon me, I am very busy at work and I just haven't been able to find a way to exist on less than 6.5 hours sleep. Something's gotta give, and so far that something has been a social life and blogging. I am still cooking, and I have made some wonderful things, but by the time the kitchen is clean, I am too tired to come up with clever words. Hopefully soon I can spend an afternoon catching up on all my tardy posts.

I made a meal for my husband and his parents last Sunday and wanted to try something new for a sweet finish. I saw these cookies on Cakespy and fell in love. To make them right I bought myself a new little kitchen tool at Target, a small cookie scoop. Little gadgets like this are so fun to me! Plus, they made these yummies the perfect round shape I wanted.

Bon Bon Cookies

Courtesy of Cakespy:

For the Cookies:

1/2 c. soft butter
3/4 c. sifted confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
food coloring if desired
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt

Fillings: I made mine with marischino cherries which I liked because of the pink cookies. Next time I'm going to try to make a great purple color so who knows what filling I'll try.

For the Icing:

Mix 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar, 2 tbsp cream, 1 tsp vanilla, and food coloring (if desired).

Heat oven to 350.

Mix butter, sugar, vanilla and food coloring, thoroughly. Sift flour with the salt and add to the sugar mixture. If dough is dry, add 1 to 2 Tbsp. cream. Using a small cookie scoop, partially fill with dough, add your filling, then finish with more cookie dough. Place 1" apart on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, then cool on a cooling rack. Dip the tops of the cookies in frosting and decorate.

Makes 20-25 cookies.