Category Archives: Desserts

September 9, 2010 · 10:28 pm

Graham Cracker Sandwiches

My kids found this snack idea in Food Network’s magazine from last month. The magazine had a whole pull-out section of after school snack ideas. They will no longer settle for some popcorn or a cereal bar now that they have seen the possibilities. Thanks Food Network. 🙂

Ingredients:
2 graham cracker squares
Vanilla frozen yogurt (It helps if you let the yogurt stand out long enough to get a little soft.)
Chocolate chips (we used the miniature kind)

Instructions:
Put frozen yogurt on one of the graham cracker squares. Sprinkle a small helping of chocolate chips on top. Place remaining graham cracker square on top like a sandwich. Enjoy!

What did the family think? Well, the boys were the only ones who ate these and they loved them!

from Food Network Magazine

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Filed under After School Snacks, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Sandwich, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

September 6, 2010 · 11:07 pm

Pumpkin Doughnuts

This will be our special back-to-school breakfast tomorrow morning.

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg white
1 T butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup powdered sugar, optional

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a doughnut mold or mini-muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat together sugar, pumpkin, milk, egg white, margarine and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spice and mix completely.

Pour the batter into a gallon-sized Ziploc-type bag, snip off the corner of the bag with scissors and squeeze the batter into the doughnut mold.

Bake about 20-25 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

When cool, dust with powdered sugar or eat them plain.

Store in an airtight container for up to two days.

adapted from Deceptively Delicious

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Filed under After School Snacks, Bread, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Everybody Ate It, Vegetarian

August 23, 2010 · 10:50 pm

Banana Bread

This is the version of banana bread my kids love the most.

Ingredients:
Non-stick cooking spray
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups banana puree
1/2 cup squash puree (I use baby food for this part)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and oil with a wooden spoon until well combined. Mix in egg whites, bananas, squash and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes.

Did I change anything? I added the squash. The original recipe suggest adding cauliflower puree, but I am too lazy to buy it, so I add squash puree and just use baby food. Also, I had substituted applesauce for the oil in this recipe before, but it doesn’t turn out as good; the applesauce makes it too sweet.

What does the family think? I made a loaf today at about 4:00p.m. and it was almost gone by 8:30p.m. I’d say they like it.

from Deceptively Delicious

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August 8, 2010 · 11:32 pm

Nutella Brownies

You WILL eat more than one! 🙂

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 tspn. vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/8 tspn. salt
1/2 tspn. baking powder
1 cup Nutella
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Melt the butter on low heat, add in sugar and vanilla while stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well to combine after you add each egg.

Add the flour mixture in, a little bit at a time, to the egg mixture until completely mixed together.

Heat the Nutella in the microwave for a little while until it gets to a runny consistency. Add the Nutella to the batter and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and add to combine.

Pour into a square baking pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely
before cutting.

Did I change anything? One way you can change this recipe up a little bit is to use 1/2 cup of Nutella and 1/2 cup peanut butter instead of 1 cup of Nutella. I used about 2/3 cup Nutella and 1/3 cup peanut butter.

What did the family think? They are still in the oven, but I am sure they aren’t going to be complaining. 🙂

from Noble Pig

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Everybody Ate It

August 5, 2010 · 2:25 pm

Frozen Lemonade Pie

A great dessert for a hot summer day…

Ingredients:
For the crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
7 T unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
2 cups heavy cream
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
6 oz. can frozen lemonade OR limeade concentrate (do not thaw)

Topping:
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
2 tbspn. sugar
1 tbspn. fresh lemon juice

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs (you can either buy the crumbs or just put whole graham crackers in the food processor), the sugar and the melted butter. Press firmly and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake for seven minutes. Let cool for about 15-20 minutes and then sick in the freezer to really cool it off.

Make the filling: In a cold large bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, stir together the condensed milk and the concentrate. Gently fold the lemonade mixture into the whipped cream. Pour the filling into the crust and freeze overnight.

Make the topping: About an hour before you serve the pie, toss the berries in a medium bowl with the sugar and the lemon juice. Set aside until ready to serve.

Set the pie out for about 10 minutes at room temperature before serving. Top each slice with berries.

Did I change anything? I didn’t make the berry part of the recipe because I knew that it would take us several days to get the whole pie eaten. Also, I used the lemon concentrate, not the lime although I think the lime would taste fantastic. Lastly, when I make this again next time, I am going to use a little less whipped cream and more concentrate.

What did the family think? I really like it and I think I would love it with the berries. The boys also love it. We even had a guest taster, my friend Christie, who gave it a thumbs up as well.


from Food Network

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Make Ahead of Time

August 2, 2010 · 10:17 pm

Nutella, Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Cookies

They are cookies with Nutella in them…GENIUS!!!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup Nutella or other chocolate spread
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 – 1 cup rolled oats
1/2 – 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, Nutella, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

What did the family think? Cookies don’t last long around here and these were no exception.

Recipe from my good friend, Dana

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July 28, 2010 · 10:40 pm

Fresh Blueberry Sauce

This is a very tasty and very versatile sauce and a great way to use some of those summer blueberries…

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of cinnamon

Instructions:
Wash blueberries, place in pan and crush them with the back of a spoon. Add sugar, lemon juice and salt to pan, mix well and bring blueberry mixture to a boil. Boil for one minute. Add vanilla and cinnamon, chill and serve over ice cream, waffles or pancakes.

What did the family think? Our oldest and I LOVE this is. It is so yummy and so easy to make. We first had it as a sample at our grocery store. Our favorite way to eat it is mixed with just a little bit of vanilla yogurt and then using a graham cracker to spoon it into our mouths. Summer goodness!

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Filed under Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Make Ahead of Time, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

July 14, 2010 · 9:36 pm

Ice Cream

I found out about this recipe from a gal from church and this stuff is so good it will make you weep. It was our first attempt at making ice cream in our new ice cream maker, so we kept it simple and just made vanilla.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tspn. salt
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 cups half and half
2 1/4 tspn. vanilla extract

Instructions:
In a heavy saucepan combine all of the ingredients except the vanilla. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the heat and cool quickly by placing the pan in a bowl filled with ice. Continue to stir the mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make the mixture into ice cream, pour it into your ice cream maker along with the vanilla and continue from there following the directions on your ice cream maker.

What did the family think? Heavens to Betsy this stuff is good!!! It is not for those watching their weight either…did you check out all the cream that goes into this? Yowsers! We had some after lunch today with just a few mini chocolate chips sprinkled in it and then tonight we went gangbusters and made ice cream sandwiches. We had some oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies that we used and then we rolled the sandwiches in mini-chocolate chips so they stuck to the ice cream. Too sweet for me, but the boys loved them.

from allrecipes.com via LeeAnn

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Everybody Ate It, Make Ahead of Time, Six Ingredients or Less

July 5, 2010 · 10:50 pm

Cherry Clafoutis

I picked up some cherries from the farmer’s market this weekend and this seemed like a great way to use them.

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted
2 T slivered almonds
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 T brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tspn. salt
1 cup milk
3/4 tspn. almond extract
1 1/2 tspns. vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and lightly flour a 10×7 baking dish. Toss in the cherries and slivered almonds.

Whisk the eggs, sugars, salt and flour until smooth. Add the milk and extracts. Whisk again and pour into the baking dish.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool for 15-20 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

What did the family think? Our oldest liked the custardy part of the dessert, but passed on the cherries. I liked it, but it is sweet. It may be a little too sweet for my palate.

from Simply Recipes

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July 1, 2010 · 11:01 pm

Ice Cream in a Bag

Try this with the kids this weekend…easy and LOTS of fun!

Ingredients:
1 T sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 tspn. vanilla
6 T rock salt
1 pint-sized Ziploc
1 gallon-sized Ziploc
Ice Cubes

Instructions:
Fill the large bag about 1/2 full with ice and then add the rock salt. Seal it up and then shake it a little.

Pour the milk, vanilla and sugar into the smaller bag and seal shut.

Put the smaller bag in the larger bag and seal it back up.

Shake, shake, shake for about five minutes until you have ice cream.

Open large bag, take out small bag and open carefully.

You should have about one scoop of ice cream.

You can add chocolate chips or whatever other goodies you want to add to it once it’s done.

You might want to have a pair of gloves on hand. The more you shake it the colder it gets. This is also a fun family thing to do…everyone can take a turn so that no one’s hands get too cold. 🙂

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Filed under After School Snacks, Desserts