Baked Apples

Baked apples are a wonderful treat and they are so easy to make!

Ingredients:

apples

1/4 cup brown sugar per apple

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon per apple

1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts per apple

1/3 cup raisins or dried cranberries per apple

1 pad of butter per apple

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans and raisins and set aside.

Remove the core of the apple leaving the bottom area in tact. Using a melon baller scoop out an additional area inside of the apple.

Try to remove at least 1/2 cup of the apple interior. 

Pack the interior of the apple with the brown sugar mixture and press the mixture firmly inside of the apple.

Top each stuffed apple with a small pad of butter. Put some water on the bottom of the baking dish. The water should barely cover the entire area of the pan.

Bake for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of your apple. The apples should look wrinkled and soft.

For company you could garnish with a cinnamon stick, vanilla ice cream and carmel sauce. When you cut into the baked apple the inside falls out and makes such a wonderful treat.

Pineapple Upside Down Bundt Cake

I love Pineapple Upside Down cake! It is a wonderful treat. And so simple to make. Tonight I made the cake in my fluted bundt cake pan.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

6 pineapple slice  from 20 ounce can (reserve juice)

6 maraschino cherries

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup pineapple juice (from pineapple can)

1/2 cup canola oil

3 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the melted butter into a 12 cup fluted bundt cake pan. Sprinkle brown sugar over the melted butter.

Place pineapple slices over the brown sugar. Put a cherry into each of the pineapple slices.

In a large bowl combine the yellow cake mix with the pineapple juice, canola oil and eggs.

Pour the cake mixture over the fruit and bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the 350 degree preheated oven.

The cake should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted should come out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.

Place a plate over the bundt cake pan and turn the pan over onto the plate.

This cake is so easy to cut into slices! Enjoy!

S'more Desserts in Little Jars

A few weeks ago on vacation we had an awesome s'more dessert in jar. So a few weeks ago I made some little s'more jars for a pool party and the boys loved them! 

The jars had 4 layers:

1. graham craver crumbs mixed with a little butter

2. chocolate pudding

3. marshmallow fluff

4. mini chocolate chips and broken pieces of graham crackers

The layers look really pretty from the side. 

I added a little label on the top of each jar!

Extra tip - when I was filling the jars I set them on a dish towel so that the crumbs and pudding didn't get all over my counter.

Peach Cobbler Bars

I saw the Peach Cobbler Bar picture on foodgawker and it lead me to the blog From Calculus to Cupcakes. And I found the recipe really easy and happened to have all the ingredients in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

2 cups flour

1 cup oats

1 cup sugar

4 large peaches, peeled and chopped into small pieces

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8" x 8" square baking pan with foil. Brush the foil with a little of the melted butter.

In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, oats and 1 cup of sugar. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until the mixture resembles a coarse meal texture.

Press approximately 1/2 of the oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Stir the peaches with the cornstarch and sugar. Spread the peach mixture evenly on top of the  pressed crust. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the top of the peaches.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Let the Peach Cobbler Bars cool for at least 1/2 hour. Then carefully cut the bars into 12 even pieces.

Can you see the juicy layer of peaches?

I have served these bars with both vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

Raspberry and Pineapple Fresh Fruit Tart

I made another Fruit Tart! Except that I changed up the fruit!

Using the same recipe from the post on June 1, 2012 - I created a different Fruit Tart!

Because this time I used fresh pineapple and raspberries. I still used the kiwi and blueberries - but this tart really does have a different look and taste!

I love making Fruit Tarts! You can really be creative with your fruit choices and any leftover fruit makes a wonderful fruit salad or fruit kabobs.

Let me know if you make a fresh Fruit Tart!

Fresh Fruit Tart

 

This is really easy to make - you can use your favorite fruit! I will probably post another fruit tart over the summer with pineapple and raspberries. Be creative!

Ingredients:

Crust

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup butter, room temperature

 Crust Directions -

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a pastry blender, keep pressing until a dough forms. You could also make this dough in the food processor. But I really hate cleaning my food processor and our grandmother's did not have food processors. They used pastry blenders!

Press the dough into a 12-inch tart pan with the removable bottom.  Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until the crust is very lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

Filing

 8 ounce package of cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until the mixture is smooth. Then spread it evenly over the cooled crust.

Fruit Topping

Kiwi
Strawberries
Blueberries
Blackberries

Wash and cut the fruit. Try to find strawberries in the same size and cut them in half.  First I made a circle of kiwi, then strawberries. I filled in the extra area with blueberries. The I added the blackberries, and an extra row of strawberries filled in blueberries. So simple!

I did not use a glaze over the fruit. I think this fruit tart is perfect without a glaze. Make this for your next BBQ. Everyone will love it!

Getting Ready For Easter Brunch

I am getting ready to host Easter Sunday brunch at my house tomorrow. I am a firm believer in advance planning.

Here is my menu:

APPETIZERS:

Chicken salad in phyllo cups garnished with a small sprig of rosemary

Shrimp cocktail with lemon wedge garnish

BEVERAGES:

Spring sangria

Mimosas

Cucumber and orange water

Orange soda


MAIN DISHES:

Individual Quiches

Green salad

Fruit skewers or fruit salad

Yogurt parfaits (made homemade granola yesterday)

Desserts:

Orange cake balls (done)

Rice crispy treats decorated with carrot candy (done)

Peeps on lollipop sticks (done)

Milanos dipped in orange chocolate with white sprinkles (done)

Oreos dipped in white chocolate with an orange flower (done) - oops no individual picture!


Mini key lime tarts

And I started setting and decorating one table - I will do the second and third tables in a little bit.

I have lots of bunnies, chicks and decorative egg trees.

And every place setting has a little basket with treats.

I will try to take some photos tomorrow - but when I am under a time crunch - the photos are often forgotten!

Okay - if you do not see a photo - it was because I got too busy! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

What's For Dessert? Magic Bars!

Magic bars are so yummy and they disappear in my house like magic!

Plus the recipe is so simple. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and find your 9" x 9" pan.

The ingredients needed:

1 /2 cup of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

Pour the melted butter on the bottom of your pan. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs evenly over the melted butter. Sprinkle the coconut over the crumbs. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the coconut. Sprinkle the butterscotch chips over the chocolate chips. Sprinkle the nuts over the butterscotch chips. Finally, drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the nuts. Do not mix the ingredients - just layer them.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Let cool for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

YUM! My son's friend calls these "Magical Bars." I agree!

Christian's Dessert Pizza

Christian made dessert for the family. He loves to make pizza so we thought about making a dessert pizza.

We used a Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and spread it on a cookie sheet - we baked it for 10 minutes.

Once the giant sugar cookie had cooled - we used white frosting (from a can) to spread over the cookie. Then we added "toppings" which were just some items I found in the cupboard - Vanilla Wafers, mini Oreo's, chocolate chips and M&M's.

It was a work of art and very satisfying to his sweet tooth.

This is an easy and fun project to do with your kids.