Table for 5: Desserts

Showing posts with label Desserts. Show all posts

November 02, 2012

Cooking a pumpkin from scratch

UPDATED: 11/2/12

The first Jack-o-lantern was from 4 years ago & the 2nd one is from this year.

We usually wait until the day before Halloween to buy our pumpkin & then carve it. We don't put it outside until Halloween night & then the next day or two after I cook it. This is how I spent a good part of my day today. I'm warning you... it is quite a process, but it is so worth the fresh pumpkin in the end. So here's my process:

When I cut the pumpkin up I make sure to cut off the edges that were carved because they get a little dried out. I also throw away the top & bottom parts where the stem is. I cut it into large chunks & then with my sharp knife I scrape the "strings" off the inside as much as possible.

Add the pumpkin chunks to a large pot, fill with water, cover with a lid & bring the water to a boil. Once it comes to a boil turn the temperature down to a medium-high level for about 35 minutes.

Then drain the water & run cool water over the chunks until they are cool enough to handle. As you can see from my picture I filled the bowl with cold water, but the cool water got warm very quickly so I dumped it out & had to fill it again, so it's probably more effective to just run the water over the chunks in a colander.

Once it is cool enough to handle, use your sharp knife to peel the skin off of all of the pieces.

Then mash the pumpkin, just like you would mashed potatoes, but make sure to get all the lumps out. After I used my masher I then used a fork to make sure there were no chunks left at all. You may see a little water in the pumpkin & that's ok, just leave it there.

If you don't plan to use the pumpkin right away, then measure it out & put it in ziploc freezer bags. I measure out 1.5 cups because that's how much I use to make 2 pumpkin pies so it's already ready to just dump into the bowl when you're ready to make your pie.

I actually cook the seeds too. I wash all the "brains" off of them & then spread them out on a cookie sheet & salt them. They are a yummy, nutritious snack.

I've never tried these, but here's a recipe for cinnamon-sugar pumpkin seeds. You can also plant your seeds to grow your own pumpkin (I've never tried this either, although it sounds like something I'd like to do).

Check out my mother-in-law's recipe for Pumpkin Pie. I've made these every year since the year 2000, when my in-laws left on their mission for our church & my mil wasn't here to bake them that year. I had to call her & get her recipe because after you've had a homemade (from scratch) pumpkin pie, you can't go back (at least I can't).

Iva's Pumpkin Pie

Iva's Homemade Pumpkin Pie

(really it's mine, but it's my mother-in-law's recipe)

1 c. sugar

1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. of each of the following: salt, all spice, nutmeg & ginger

2 eggs, beaten

1-1/2 c. pumpkin (this is not the canned stuff, this is the real thing)

1-2/3 c. evaporated milk (tall can)

Mix all ingredients well. Fill crust half-way. Bake at 425 for 10 min. Then turn down to 350 & bake for another 40 min. more. You can see from my picture that these pies look very different from the "canned" ones. That's because these don't have all the preservatives in them & these are much more yummy!!! Enjoy!
This recipe makes 2 pies!

Note: I use the Shar's recipe for the crust (see post below). This is the yummiest crust I've ever had & it's very simple to make.

June 09, 2012

Mindi's German Pancakes

Not quite sure if they are German, dont think they taste like pancakes! LoL...but they are Awesome!

Ingredients: (Optional Add-Ins listed at bottom)
6 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 Stick Butter

Directions:
Melt butter in 9x13 glass pan in oven. While butter melts... In blender add Eggs, blend on Medium. While blender is going & after eggs are whipped, Add Milk. Add salt, then add Flour little by little so that it mixes well with the eggs & milk. Once it is well blended, pour blender mixer over butter in glass pan. Bake at 400' for 15-20 min.

Can be served many ways, here are just a few ideas!

Top with:

Powdered Sugar
Whip Cream
Lemon Juice
Lemon Curd or
Preserves
Yogurt
Syrup
Salsa
Diced Green Chilies
Diced Tomatoes

Optional Add-Ins 2 Blender:
Vanilla
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Oregano

August 02, 2010

Chocolate Cake to Die for... :)

Chocolate Cake to Die for....
1 Can condensed milk
1 small jar carmel topping
cool whip
3 regular sized candy bars (chopped)
I like to use Snickers
Chocolate Cake mix
** Bake Cake according to box instructions.
Let cool. With the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes about 1" apart all over cake. Pour condensed milk over whole cake. Follow with pouring carmel over whole cake. You may need to spread with a spatula. Let soak in while you refrigerate covered for at least 2 hrs.
*Top with Cool whip, and then candy bars

Cinnamon Rolls

CINNAMON ROLLS
1 1 /2 C. warm water
3 tsp. Yeast
3 tsp. Sugar
* Mix together in a little bowl, set aside
6 C. Flour
3 eggs
3 tsp. Salt
¾ C. Sugar
¾ C. Butter
6 TBSP. Dry Milk

**In Mixing bowl, mix all other ingredients. Once yeast is dissolved & puffy, blend into dry mixture. Knead until no longer doughy. Let rise until doubled in size.
Roll out and butter. Sprinkle a cinnamon/ sugar mixture over the whole thing. Roll into 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
*ICING*
1-8 oz. Package of Cream Cheese
4 TBSP. Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla
4-6 C. Powdered Sugar
** Whip Cream Cheese. Add Butter, whip. Mix in Vanilla. Stir in Powdered Sugar a little at a time until you’ve got your desired consistency.

SPREAD over cinnamon rolls.

June 20, 2010

Cheesecake

To see my cheesecake recipes head on over to my crafting blog~ Simply Crafting~Cheesecake

June 07, 2010

Berry Cake

This is a Super Simple Scrumptious recipe.

1- Yellow Cake Mix

2- 21oz Cans of Pie Filling
1-   8oz tub Cool Whip
         or 1 can of Ready Whip
         Or Top with Summer Fruit Sampler Dip

Make cake according to recipe on box. Line a Rectangular Casserole Dish with Parchment paper and add Cake dough. When Cake is 5 minutes away from being done, take out of oven, using a fork, poke holes through out top of cake. Pour both cans of pie filling on top of cake, bake the remainder 5min. Remove from oven. Let cool for 10-20 minutes. Slice and serve with a spoonful of whipped cream.

May 31, 2010

Pull-Apart Dessert Bread

Fluted Tube Pan - aka as Bundt Pan is needed

4 - 7.5 oz Pillsbury Biscuits (cut into 4's)
1 2/3 cups Sugar
3/4 Cup Butter
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 lg bag of Walnut pieces
      It is up to you how many nuts you use,
     we love the nuts in this and use the whole bag,
      but they can be eliminated altogether
     or just use less if desired.

STEPS:
1. Preheat Oven to 350*
2.  Greese bottom and sides of bundt pan,
    you can use cooking spray.
3. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of your walnut pieces
    in bottom of pan.
4. Combine Cinnamon and 2/3 cup sugar in large
    Ziplock Baggie
5.  Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. I recommend
     only opening and cutting one can at a time,
      because they start drying out as they are
      waiting to get into the sugar mixture.
6.   Drop 2 cans of biscuit pieces into
      sugar/cinnamon mixture, zip bag and
      shake to coat well.
7.   Take pieces out of bag individually and drop
      into bottom of bundt pan, drop evenly to cover
      bottom.
       This should cover not quite half of the pan.
8.   Sprinkle half of Walnuts and the 1/4 cup
      chocolate chips on top of biscuit pieces.
9.   Combine 1cup sugar and 3/4 cup butter in a
       small sauce pan and cook over low heat until
       butter is melted.
10. Pour half butter/sugar mixture evenly
       over biscuits
11.  Repeat Biscuit Step #5-7
12.  Pour remainder of butter/sugar mixture
       over last of biscuits and any nuts you
       might have leftover.
13. Bake for 40 minutes at 350*
14. Carefully turn upside down onto a platter.
       Gooey stuff will drip down sides,
      so make sure your platter is bigger
      than your bundt pan.

After seeing this recipe made on Sam the Cooking Guy, my hubby Darin, talked about this dessert for several weeks. So when my sister Bridgette BBQ'd for one of our family get togethers, Darin and I made this and everyone raved and it got devorured. We cant wait to make another.

I will have to post an after picture the next time we make it, because it looked so good when coming out of the oven that we completly forgot about the camera! We changed Sam's Recipe a little, most people in my family including me dont like Raisins so those didnt make it into the pan. If you do like them use about 1/4 cup and add in whenever you put the nuts. This is also known to many people as Monkey Bread.

January 31, 2010

Chocolate Cake Cookies

Ingredients:
1 Chocolate Cake Mix

2 large eggs

1 stick of butter (= 1/2 cup or 8 Tablespoons)

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 350'. In large bowl mix together Cake mix, Butter and Eggs until mixed well and you form a ball of dough. Make small teaspoon size balls and place on cookie sheet. You might need to smash them down so they'll cook completely. Bake for 8-10 minutes. They should be soft like cake, but if you like them crispy bake them a little longer 12-15 minutes.

Optional: This time I made 1/2 the dough plain chocolate and the other half I added 1/2 cup Heath Bits 'O Brickle Toffee Bits (found near chocolate chips in the store). You can try a Varity of different Cake mix flavors, ones I’ve tries areChocolate, Lemon and Strawberry, all great. You can also use a White cake mix and add your favorite flavoring.

December 15, 2009

Rolo Pecan Squares

Ingredients:
1-15oz Bag Waffle Pretzels (square)
2-12 oz Bags of Rolos (1 bag has about 55 rolos in it) (if you only want to do 1 cookie sheet full you can buy 1 bag and 1 to2 individual Rolls of Rolos)
(1 cookie sheet makes approximatly 126 squares- about 63 rolos)

Preheat oven to 275'. Cover cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment paper, then lay out pretzels side by side until bottom of cookie sheet is covered.

Unwrap rolos and cut in half.

Place 1 cut rolo on each pretzel cut side face down.

When each pretzel has a rolo and oven is preheated back in oven for ONLY 3 minutes just long enough to melt the chocolate.

Take out and immediatley press one pecan on top of each melted rolo. If you run out of Peans or prefer some without nuts, use another pretzel on top instead of the pecan.

My hubby took a box of these into work and the guys devored them quickly!
They are a big hit!!

Originally got this recipe from my sister Heather

August 15, 2009

Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

Credit for this wonderful and fun recipe goes to a friend of Melodies - Thank you for letting us share this Chocolaty Delight. Its fast and Easy!

You will Need:
1 –Large 2cup Cocoa Mug (Microwave Safe)
4 Tbs Flour
4 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbs Milk
3 Tbs Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Tbs Chocolate Chips (optional)

Combine flour, sugar and cocoa in the mug and mix well with a spoon.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and vanilla and mix well. If you are using chocolate chips – Add them now and stir again.Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will start to rise over the top of the mug but this is normal. Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. You can drizzle with chocolate sauce or icing if desired.
Best if served warm – Eat it alone or have fun sharing.

Known to be the most Dangerous Cake around

because its only 5 minutes from scratch to your mouth!

I look forward to trying some variations. The first time I made this I didn't have any chocolate chips or cocoa - so I used Hot Cocoa Mix in place of the cocoa. It was good but still needed something. I tried it again adding 2 Miniature Special Dark Hershey bars (all I had), cut into pieces and I added an extra Tablespoon of hot cocoa mix. This turned out a lot better.

I want to try it with no chocolate and add flavoring, like Lemon or Strawberry. Other fun things to add would be Cinnamon or Ginger and I'm sure there are many more. I'll let you know how that turns out.

August 14, 2009

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
shortening

Cream sugar and butter together. Beat in egg and vanilla. In separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture. In separate bowl, combine the 2 tablespoons of sugar and cinnamon. Grease cookie sheet.

Take a scoop of cookie mixture and roll into a ball. Roll it in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Put on pan and flatten with glass. Bake at 375* for 8-10 minutes.

May 07, 2009

Snickerdoodles

My husband has been wanting Snickerdoodles for awhile so I finally got around to making some the other day. They were very yummy & a big hit with all the kids too.

Snickerdoodles

1 c. butter/margarine
1-1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2-3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbs. sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Cream butter, sugar & eggs.

2. Stir all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add to the creamed mixture & mix well.

3. Combine 2 tsp. cinnamon & 2 Tbs. sugar in a small bowl. Note: I took this

4. Shape dough into 1 in. round balls. Roll in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

5. Place on bar pan 2 in. apart.

6. Bake for 8-10 min.

Makes about 2-1/2 dozen cookies

April 28, 2009

Peanut Butter Blossoms

These are some of my favorite cookies. If you like peanut butter cookies, you'll love these.

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. shortening

1/2 c. peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

Hershey's Peanut Butter Kisses

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients together and form into balls. I use my Pampered Chef small scoop & it's just the right size.

3. Place on ungreased pan 2" apart.

4. Bake for 10 minutes.

5. Then open oven & put a kiss on each cookie & press down just a little bit, then bake for an additional 2 minutes.

6. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

This recipe will make about 2 dozen cookies. I usually double or triple the recipe since we have a large family, we like leftovers & I usually give some away.

A few tips:

1. If you try to move the cookies from the pan too soon after taking them out of the oven they will break. This is the case with pretty much every cookie recipe. Wait for about 5-8 minutes.

2. Make sure not to overcook the cookies, or they won't be as soft & the kiss will burn.

3. These cookies are best when warm. So when you're craving that cookie the next day just pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds & it softens & warms the cookie just enough to make the kiss melt in your mouth. Yum! Enjoy!

January 27, 2009

Quick Apple Crisp

This was very yummy. This is another Pampered Chef recipe. It is indeed quick. My 11 yr. old helped me make it & it took us about 15 min. to prepare while our dinner was baking. That was from start to finish, peeling the apples to it being ready to go in the oven. This time I didn't use the nuts & I think I liked it better without them.

Quick Apple Crisp

5 Granny Smith apples

1 package (9 oz.) yellow cake mix

2 Tbs. sugar

1 T. ground cinnamon

1/4 c. butter or margarine, melted

1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Vanilla ice cream or thawed, frozen whipped topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Peel, core and slice apples using Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer. Cut apples in half with a sharp knife. (I cut mine into quarters). Place apples in deep dish baker (or a pie pan or 8x8 pan).

Combine cake mix, sugar, cinnamon, butter & nuts in a bowl (I used walnuts, but pecans would be good too). Mix until crumbly then sprinkle evenly over apples.

Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped topping, if desired.

For the greatest Pampered Chef consultant in the Phoenix Metro Area contact Kelly!

January 26, 2009

Fry Bread/Navajo Taco's

This is another of my family's favorite recipes! I love it when the kids come & ask me what I'm making for dinner & when I tell them they get excited. So here's the recipe for this yummy dinner/dessert! I got this recipe from a recipe book that several ladies from church put together. This one comes from my friend Nalene Dobbins.

Fry bread

4 c. flour

1-1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 T. sugar

1 T. shortening

1 T. (or 1 pkg.) yeast

1/4 c. warm water

1-1/2 c. scalded milk

Scald milk, then allow it to cool to lukewarm. Combine water, sugar and yeast. Set aside. Combine milk, shortening, salt, baking powder and 1/2 of the flour. Add the yeast mixture and mix well. Add the remaining flour. Knead 20 times. Let dough rest for 10 min. Roll dough 1/4 in. thick and cut into squares. Fry in a hot oil at 365°. This recipe makes about 12-15 small to medium size pieces.

Hints:

I scald my milk in the microwave. Measure the correct amount, then put it in the microwave for 3 min. Then I put it in the freezer to cool to lukewarm. While I'm waiting for the milk to cool, I begin to mix the other ingredients as the recipe says to do. I periodically check on the milk so it doesn't get too cool. This is the way I've done this many times & it works for me so hopefully it will for everyone else as well.

I don't roll my dough out this way, I seperate them into balls & roll them out individually. The size just depends on how large of a piece you want. I generally make mine a little smaller since I have some small children that don't eat much. Then the older kids can have 2 or 3 if they want more.

Also, we eat this for dinner with beans, cheese, lettuce & tomatos. You can add salsa & any other toppings you may like. You can also eat it plain with just butter or as a dessert with butter & powdered sugar or honey. Yum Yum, enjoy!

Rachelle S.

http://www.chelstamps.blogspot.com/

January 06, 2009

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the best recipe I've tried for chocolate chip cookies & believe me I've tried many. I've

search far & wide to find one that doesn't look 'cakey' when they are done. I got this recipe from the one, the only Betty Crocker, of course! Check out the recipe here! I actually love the dough more than the cookies, but the cookies are really good too! I'm sure it's because it has so much butter in it! Enjoy!

December 05, 2008

Cookies & More Galore!

Hello all, Bridgette here!

My friend Keith from VA sent me this list of hyperlinks for all different types of cookie recipes.
I thought that it was just about the coolest thing so I thought I'd share it will all y'all!

There are seriously a lot of cookies here, if you click on the hyperlink of one that sounds good to you it will pull up the website with the recipe.

You can bake to your hearts content!