Category Archives: dessert

Eastermallow Popcorn Treat

 

  
 

This year my husband and I tried to make most of our Easter goodies from scratch for our family’s Easter baskets.  Let’s just say these Easter bunnies have been busy! 

Ingredients:

14 cups of freshly popped popcorn

Salt to taste 

14 oz marshmallows fluff

1 TB unsalted butter

Directions:

1. In a very large microwavable safe bowl place marshmallow fluff and butter. 

2. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Microwave for an additional 30 seconds & stir. 

3. Slowly add the popcorn and fold the popcorn into the fluff by using a spatula. Caution; the mixture will be very sticky. A helper in the kitchen is ideal for this process. Spread the popcorn onto parchment paper. 

4. Sprinkle with your choice of sprinkles. We used a whole container of large egg sprinkles. 

5. Allow the sticky popcorn to set for two to three hours. Cover with parchment paper. 

6. Place the popcorn mixture into plastic baggies or glass jars. 

Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Chip Bars

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I love to take recipes and make them healthier. These bars called for butter and regular ap flour. I went ahead and made the switch to whole wheat pastry flour and substituted the butter for some canola oil and pureed pumpkin. I know not everyone likes pumpkin so if not use a really ripe banana or unsweetened applesauce. This will help with the moisture. My husband loves….loves pumpkin and he couldn’t even tell I added it to this baked good.   Also I swapped out the semi sweet chips with dark chocolate chips.

This recipe yields 15 bars

Predirection:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray with cooking spray a 9 by 13 inch glass pan.

 

Ingredients:

2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs (lightly beaten)

3/4 cup brown sugar or raw sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup pureed pumpkin

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup of dark chocolate chips

 

Directions:

  1. In a medium to large bowl mix flour, salt, soda, and baking powder with large spoon.
  2. Add in canola oil, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla. Mix all ingredients well and fold in chocolate chips.
  3. Spread the batter into a prepared glass 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Spread the batter evenly with spatula. The trick to making sure the batter does not stick to the spatula is spraying it with cooking spray. Make sure the batter is evenly spread &  place the pan in the preheated oven at 350 degrees. Bake for 17 minutes or until toothpick comes out of center clean (without any wet residue).
  4. Enjoy!

 

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Vanilla Bean Cake with Vanilla Buttercream 

 

My nephew is turning 4 years old in a few days! Wow I cannot believe it. He is growing so fast! Today we celebrated his birthday family style at my mom and dad’s with a pizza party! 

This year the cake design was a hot ever changing subject which kept me on my toes. At first my nephew wanted a robot cake and than one with motorcycles. 

He also loves batman right in the moment so eventually we made him a batman on a motorcycle cake. 

I searched high and low for the perfect vanilla cake recipe, which was hard to locate. I couldn’t find a vanilla cake note worthy but now have one for keeps. 

Predirections:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep 2, 9 inch baking pans lined with parchment paper and sprayed with bakers joy.

Yields 16 serving

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups All Purpose flour

1/2 a vanilla bean (seeds)

1 tsp high quality pure Vanilla extract 

3 Large eggs room temperature 

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 TB baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter,room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. In a small bowl whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. 

3. Beat with paddle attachment in a stand mixer on medium speed the butter and sugar until white pale and fluffy. Reduce the speed and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time mixing after each addition and scraping down sides often. 

3. Decrease the speed of mixer and slowly add the dry ingredients and milk alternating between dry ingredients and milk. Beat until just combined. Be careful to not over mix.

4.Divide the batter into 2 prepared 9 inch baking pans. I weighed my and it was about 521 grams for each pan. Make sure to allow the air bubbles to release by slightly picking up the pan and dropping it onto the countertop gently. 

5. Bake both pans at the same time for 17 minutes or until toothpick comes out with little crumbled and no wet residue. 

6. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool on wire rack for remainder of time. 

**Once the cake has cooled completely I like to wrap it in plastic wrap and place it bake in the cleaned 9 inch pan and place in the deep freezer overnight. This helps when you go to frost the cake so the crumbs don’t go everywhere in the frosting later.**

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

1 # or 4 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature 

8 cups of sifted powdered sugar 

2 TB pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy cream

Blue food coloring gel (optional)

**Sprinkles for center layer is optional

Directions:

1. Cream the butter  in a stand mixer and gradually add sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat to incorporate. 

2. Add heavy cream and food gel coloring. Beat for an additional 3-4 minutes. 

3. Place the pan side down on a cardboard cakeboard. Top with generous amount of buttercream. (I actually saved some white frosting for the center to layer with sprinkles). My nephew loves sprinkles.  Spread the frosting evenly. Top with second layer of the cake. Place the round side ontop of the frosting. Make sure to center and level. Place generous amount of frosting on top and fill in the sides. Remove excess frosting and decorate as you wish. We used a some black fondant for the batman and city. 

Enjoy I know this little guy did! Happy 4th Birthday Max! Aunt Nelli loves you!  

  

Ice Box Key Lime Pie

  

This is a tribute to the 2015 Topsail vacation. We were on vacation last week and everyone wanted Key Lime Pie! We didn’t want to spent $18.00 for a pie so we made key lime martinis instead. 

This weekend was Labor Day weekend and we decided to make the pie from scratch. The bonus is everyone that wanted the pie on vacation was at the party (well almost everyone but my sister)! Sorry Jen we didn’t even save you a slice. 

This recipe is a spin off of Ina Garten’s recipe. I changed a few things around including the crust and I tried the milk with fat free since that was the only kind I had at home. 
When we were on vacation we couldn’t find key limes anywhere! The bottled juice you can find in the stores is subpar. When I planned the menu I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to find key limes but low and behold the strip district had them! Yazzie!

Predirections:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a food processor to pulse waffers into crumbs. 

Ingredients for the Crust:

1 2/3 cup of crushed reduced fat vanilla wafers

1/4 cup granulated sugar

6 TB unsalted butter melted 

Filling ingredients:

7 large egg yolks (room temperature) look for pasteurized eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 can (14 oz) fat free sweetened condensed milk

2 TB key lime zest

3/4 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice

Crust Directions: 

1. Place in a bowl wafers crumbs, butter, and sugar combine until butter is incorporated throughout. Press mixture into a 9 inch pie dish. Make sure that the crust is an even consistency throughout the entire dish.

2. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. 

Directions for the filling:

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed in a electric mixer was fitted attachment for five minutes. I use speed eight and it only took about 4 1/2 minutes. The appearance will be thick and creamy. 

2. Juice speed to medium and Inc. add to the sweetened condensed milk, lime zest, & lime juice.

3. Pour into the cooled prepared pie crust. 

4. Freeze overnight. 

5. Remove from freezer right before slicing into. 

6. Enjoy with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. My go to is on TOH website. The only change I make is I use a whole tsp of pure vanilla extract. 

Whole Grain Raisin Oat Bars

 
 I love baking… I know no surprise!  Today I was reviewing my food network magazine September 2015 edition and came across the 50 bars insert. I must say I adore the inserts of 50 recipes of a specific item!! I couldn’t wait to try one …. Okay so I tried two tonight. I did some mods to the oat bars (#15) and this is what I came up with. 

Pre-directions preheat oven to 350 in line a glass 9 by 13 baking dish with foil. Set aside.

This recipe yields 18 bars

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of rolled oats (not instant)

1 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of baking powder

2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter softened

1/2 a cup of unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup Canola oil

2 eggs

2 cups of raisins

3/4 cup of brown sugar (not packed)

3/4 cup of granulated sugar

Directions:

1. In a stand mixture cream together, butter, applesauce, vanilla, and canola oil with both sugars. 

2. Decrease mixer to low and add in rolled oats, flour, salt, and baking powder. Also add eggs at this time adding one egg at a time. 

3.  Finally add in raisins and mix one last time until all raisins are well incorporated. 

4. Place batter in prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven an allow to cool before cutting into bars.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Family favorites around here are chocolate chip cookies. Now the debate of what is the best is still up in the air but on vacation the nestle toll houses recipe is a fan favorite for the Lee’s. Every year when we get together for a family vacation we bake these for a sweet treats after dinner.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup ap flour (I always like to use 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour if on hand)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 sticks (1 cup) of butter (mom uses 1/2 margarine) make sure it is room temp

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 package of semisweet chocolate chips ( we used mini allergy free chips)

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Predirections:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Parchment paperline a  cookie sheet. 



Directions:

1. Mix well together with whisk in a medium bowl butter, sugars, and vanilla. Make sure the mixture is good and creamy. Add one egg at a time and incorporate after each addition. Set aside.

2. In a separate bowl mix together flour, soda, & salt. Add the mixed dry ingredients into the mixture with a wooden spoon. Once incorporated add nuts and chocolate chips.

3. Place the dough about 1 TB spoon amount on the baking pan and space about 1.5 inches apart and bake for 9 minutes. Be careful the amount of time & temperature depending on the darkness of the pan and the temp of the dough. We did have to decrease the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from pan right away.

4. Enjoy quickly! They go fast!

You can tell when we are not in our own Kitchen, we have to resort to creative “mixing bowls”.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake (Brownie)

This original recipe (see below picture) is called a Chocolate Zucchini Brownie but once you bake it you will realize why I changed the name and frosted it for good measure.


As I mentioned in my last post this morning, I had a bit of a water spill on my scanned copies of my grandma’s zucchini recipes. This one I should know by heart as many times as I have baked it. This one is probably the most requested zucchini recipe I have. Even my previous boss used to request this for his birthday cake at work several years ago.

I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and friends do.

One of the things I like most about this recipe is that it is typed by a typewriter! Also that it doesn’t have directions just ingredients.

Grandma’s Ingredients: 

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup oleo

1/2 cup oil (grandma used vegetable; I use canola)

2 1/2 cups of ap flour

3 eggs

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 Tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 TB cocoa

3 cups of finely shredded zucchini

1/2 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Grandma’s Directions:

Save chips til last, when batter is in the pan, put chips lightly on top. 9 by 13 pan, 350 deg, 45 minutes.
My Ingredients with a few modifications:

1 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup of ap flour

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup applesauce unsweetened

2 TB flaxseed ground

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 cups finely shredded zucchini

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

4 TB Dutch Processes Cocoa

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp baking soda

3 eggs

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 ground allspice

Directions:

Predirections:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper on the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Set aside. 

1. Whisk eggs, milk, vanilla, oil, applesauce, and both sugars in large mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. In a seperate bowl sift together cocoa, both  flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Make sure all ingredients are well incorporated.

3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until combined. Make sure not to over mix. Fold in the zucchini with spatula and lastly fold in the chocolate chips. Bake for 38 to 40 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean). I used a dark pan which can effect the bake time.

Fudgy Frosting optional: 
(yields 2 cups of frosting)
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter (unsalted) (1/2 cup), room temperature
2/3 cup Dutch processes cocoa
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups of powdered sugar
1/3 cup skim milk
Directions:

Beat the butter with paddle attachment on high and decrease speed to low and add cocoa and mix to incorporate. Gradually add powered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Beat until fudge smooth consistency appears.


Frost the cake and cut a piece already.

Old Fashioned Shortcake 

  

We celebrated Father’s Day today with a family picnic at my mom and dad’s. My mom requested I bake a shortcake to pair with my grandpa’s amazingly delicious homegrown strawberries. I can honesty say this was always a favorite growing up! My sister and I would swim all day long in our grandparents’ pool. We would really work up and an appetite and after swimming my grandpa would fix us a bowl of strawberries and vanilla ice cream on shortcake. Yes that is what summer tastes like to me. Today I thought I’d share the memory with you. 

I like this dessert because I was able to decrease the sugar by 66% and add cinnamon to naturally sweeten the dish. Plus I add some whole wheat pastry flour without anyone noticing. I substituted the butter for a heart healthy alternative as well. I challenge you to do the same when you are following old passed down family favorites. 

Yields: 18 servings 

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 cup ap flour

4 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

2 TB canola oil

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp ground vienmesse cinnamon 

Predirections preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9 by 13 pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer beat eggs for 3 minutes on medium speed. Gradually add in sugar, vanilla, and oil to incorporate. Set aside. 

2. In a seperate bowl mix together flours, cinnamon, salt, baking powder. Whisk together well to incorporate throughly. Set aside.

3. On low speed, gradually add one third of the flour mix to the liquid batter and mix until incorporated then add1/3 of buttermilk and mix. repeat until no ingredients remain. Mix well enough no dry residue remains. 

4. Pour batter into the 9 by 13 baking pan. Make sure to pound the pan on the counter 1-2 times to release the air bubbles. I used a dark pan and baked it for 25 minutes at 350. When the timer went off my cake was done. A toothpick came out of the center clean. 

 

5. I made this cake a day before the party and it turned out very well. I let it cool completely then wrapped it with saran wrap. Prior to plating the cake, we cut the cake in half and stuffed it with homemade whip cream, strawberries, and our favorite local ice cream store’s vanilla.  

Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Blondies

 My husband and I went to the strip district last weekend and I was surprised to see Meyer Lemons for a decent price! I had to pick some up. The first item to make to come to mind was a blondie aka nonchocolate brownie. This is definitely a spring time refreshing dessert despite the snow we encountered this lovely April morning. 

Pre directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Foil line an 8 by 8 glass baking dish. Spray with cooking spray. Set aside. 

Recipe yields 9 Blondies 

Batter Ingredients: 

8 TB of canola oil

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup AP flour

1/4 tsp kosher salt

6 TB egg substitute or 4 large egg whites

1/2 a Meyer lemon zested (1tsp) and 1/2 lemon juiced (1tb)

1 TB poppyseeds (optional)
Lemon glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 Meyer lemon juiced and zested (the other half)

1. Place the canola oil, zest, sugar and salt into a medium mixing bowl.  

2. Mix to incorporate. Add egg substitute and use a whisk to incorporate but do not over mix. 

   

3. Add lemon juice and poppyseeds and mix in with whisk.

  
4. Add flour and mix until no dry residue remains. 

5. Pour batter into prepared dish and bake for  23- 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out of the center clean. 
  
6. Allow to cool to room temperature before glazing. 

7. Place all glaze ingredients in small bowl whisk until no lumps remain.  

 

8. Remove blondie from pan using sides of foil and pour glaze over top to cover. 

9. Cut into 9 squares and enjoy! 

  

Peanut butter Pretzel Brownies with Caramel Drizzle

 

I’ve been dreaming up these for a while.  What’s not to love about the combo of peanut butter, chocolate, caramel, and something salty like pretzels. I found a few recipes that had similar ideas but used a brownie box mix (no thank you). These will have you salivating while they bake. The house will smell amazing! 

This recipe yields 16 brownies

Caramel Drizzle Ingredients : (there will be 1 cup remaining for another baking adventure) the good news is the sauce refrigerated well.

1 cups of brown sugar

 2.5  TB unsalted butter 

1/4 cup and 1 tb of heavy cream 

1 tsp of pure vanilla 

Peanut Butter Swirl Ingredients:

1/2 cup Crunchy Peanut butter

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 TB butter (unsalted and softened)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Brownie Batter Ingredients:

3 large eggs

3/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry flour

1 cup  crushed pretzels (10-12 pretzel rods)

1 cup raw sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 oz of semi sweet (46% cacao) guittard chocolate chips (about one cup or half the bag)

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup of canola oil 

4 TB unsalted butter

Predirections:

Line an 9 by 9 inch baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray to coat well and prevent sticking. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Directions:

  1. Food process 10 to 12 pretzel rods. Pulse the pretzels until you reach desired consistency. You will want some large chunks but mostly small pieces. Set aside in small vessel.

2. In as standing mixer place all the peanut butter swirl ingredients together. Using paddle attachment beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Set aside.

  

3. Microwave the chocolate and butter together in a microwaveable safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals stir after each interval.  Continue until there are no sign of unmelted chunks and this consistency is smooth and glossy.

4. Add canola oil to melted chocolate and stir. Using the food processor (honestly why dirty another bowl). ***Make sure to swap out the metal blade for the plastic blade. **Pour melted chocolate chocolate mixture, vanilla, eggs, sugar, salt, baking soda, & flour into to food processor.  

 


5. Pulse to mix ingredients together. Do not just turn on the food processor use the pulse mechanism.  

6.Scrap down sides occasionally using rubber spatula. Pulse until all ingredients are incorporated and no dry residue remains.

 

7. Fold in pretzel crumbs. Or just pulse 3 to  4 times.  

 

8. Pour batter into prepared 9 by 9 dish. Using a rubber spatula to remove all residue from processor.

  

9. Spread batter out evenly in pan. And add peanut butter in globs evenly in about 5 -6 different areas (as pictured below).

10. Using a knif swirl peanut butter, try not to over mix or your design will not turn out as planned.

  

11. Bake for 22-24 minutes and rotate pan half way and bake for another 22-24 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Total bake time 44-48 minutes. 

  

In the meantime prepare the caramel sauce.Place the sugar in an even layer over the bottom of a heavy 2 quart nonstick saucepan. Heat the sugar over medium-high heat, whisking it as it begins to melt. Just keep whisking and as it continues to cook, the sugar will melt back down. Keep cooking until temperature reaches 350 degrees. Once temperature reached add butter, once the butter is melted gently pour in the heavy cream and whisk until combined. Remove from heat and add in the vanilla, stir to incorporate. Allow sauce cool for 10 minutes off heat and this will provide time for the sauce to thicken.  

Let brownies cool on wire rack prior to drizzling the caramel. Place caramel in Wilton squeeze bottle and drizzle until your heart is content.  

   

Fyi these will bring everyone to the kitchen. My husband hovered over me until he could have one (until I snapped enough photos). 

Enjoy!