Tag Archives: dessert

Mother’s Week Day 2: Strawberry Bread

8 May

From me to you: Happy Mother’s Week!

Yesterday I announced that I was making this week Mother’s Week, in honor of moms everywhere. I’m continuing to honor you by showering you with a week’s worth of recipes that you can use for honoring all the moms in your life, this week and every week.

Yesterday I began with a recipe from my mom. Today I’m honoring Don’s mom, my mother-in-law, Mary Lou, with one of my favorite recipes from her: Strawberry Bread. It’s great for an afternoon cup of coffee and a snack, or to bring with you to a brunch or luncheon. I added the chocolate chips to the recipe, but it’s delicious without them too!

Thanks Mom and Happy Mother’s Week!

Mary Lou’s Strawberry Bread

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup strawberries (Fresh sliced or frozen-thawed and drained.)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
approx. 1 cup chocolate chips (or however many you like!)

Mother’s Day Week is a perfect week for Mary Lou’s Strawberry Bread!

DIRECTIONS

Mix together flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking soda.

Combine eggs, oil, and berries.

Add berries to dry ingredients.

Pour into greased and floured 9×5 loaf pan.

Bake 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees.

*She wrote on the recipe that she keeps hers refrigerated but it’s not necessary, and that it freezes very well.

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Jacob’s Cookbook

27 Apr

A brownie recipe from Jacob's new cookbook

I know I’ve mentioned it in the past, but I meet some amazing people in my job at the newspaper, and I mean really amazing. So often I come home after a story, completely stunned by what I’ve just learned about the person I’ve just interviewed. Two weekends ago I had an interview that completely blew me away both as a parent and as someone who loves food and cooking.

Two weekends ago I met Jacob.

Jacob is 14. He’s an eighth grade student and he’s about to publish a cookbook as part of a project he has to do for school. The proceeds from his cookbook will benefit the local community food bank.

That in itself is amazing, but that’s not what blew me away, actually.

Here’s what did: when I interviewed Jacob I asked him where he got all of his recipes from for his cookbook.

His answer: he made them up.

Jacob has not only created a cookbook at age 14, which will benefit a worthy cause, but he created all of the recipes himself from scratch, including how much of each ingredient for each recipe. He created the cookbook page layouts, made all of the recipes, took all the photos of all the foods, and typed them all up himself.

I just about fell out of my chair.

I said to Jacob, “That. is. amazing.”

Jacob with his cookbook before it goes to print.

Jacob said he knew that, but I don’t think he REALLY knew that. I mean I don’t think I could just MAKE UP a recipe (never mind a cookbook full of them) and figure out all the stuff that has to go in it, all by myself and I am FORTY YEARS OLD-I’ve been cooking for several of his lifetimes and I couldn’t do that!!

I sat and interviewed Jacob for about 45 minutes or so, and my article about him can be seen here.

More importantly though, I have one of Jacob’s dessert recipes right HERE on my blog!  That’s right, he was kind enough to share one of his recipes with me and one with the newspaper. I am so glad that the one I have is a dessert recipe, since apparently Jacob and I both have a sweet tooth.

Here it is, Jacob’s recipe which he created himself for Orange Zest Brownies.

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“As most people know, opposites attract. Well it is the same for flavors in food. A citrus flavor will go great with a sweet and creamy flavor. That is why orange chocolate brownies are perfect! Enjoy!” -Jacob Gebhart,  Amazing Appetizers and Decadent Desserts

Easy ingredients!

INGREDIENTS

BROWNIES

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1/3 cup shortening (I used 1/3 cup butter instead.)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBSP orange zest
FROSTING

3 oz. cream cheese

1-2 TBSP milk

2 and 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 TBSP orange zest

The orange zest gives it a great flavor.

DIRECTIONS

BROWNIES

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8×8 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Heat chocolate and shortening in a 2 quart sauce pan over low heat, stirring constantly until melted.

Remove from heat, add sugar, eggs, vanilla, mix well. Then add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.

Spread batter in prepared pan evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Make sure to cool completely before cutting and frosting.

FROSTING

With an electric mixer, on medium speed, combine cream cheese and 1 TBSP of milk.

Add sugar, a little at a time, beat after each addition. (I added the last TBSP of milk halfway through as it got thick.)

Then add the orange zest and combine.

Cut cooled brownies into 9 pieces. Spread each square with orange cream frosting.

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I found the recipe very easy to follow and quick and easy to make, just how I like my recipes to be! If you’re a taster when you bake, I highly recommend tasting the batter after the sugar is added but before the eggs. SO GOOD. I also tasted the cream cheese frosting before and after the zest was added, to see just how much the zest changed the flavor, and I was amazed at what a little bit of zest can do both to the texture (it was immediately creamier) and to the taste (it did now have that hint of orange flavor in it.)

For the orange zest, I used the zest from two medium oranges and split it between the batter and the frosting. It did work out to be just about one whole tablespoon in each, I’d say.

I opted to serve my frosting “on the side” as optional because with all the different likes and don’t likes at my house,  I didn’t want anyone not to want the brownies because they had “stuff” on them.

I also took half the batch to a friend’s house one afternoon and we enjoyed them with our coffee.

Great job Jacob, thanks for sharing your recipe with me! It truly was a decadent dessert!

Anyone who is interested in purchasing Jacob’s cookbook, Amazing Appetizers and Decadent Desserts, when it’s published, please send an email to Jacob at jayg@cox.net.

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A second recipe for Sue’s snack

20 Apr

No matter which recipe you use, this is a delicious treat!

Yesterday I mentioned that I had two different recipes to go along with the snack that Sue makes. This second recipe is one that my friend Pam sent me a while back on a snow day. Here it is as I posted it that February day on Facebook:

Chocolate Crack

1 box graham crackers

2 sticks salted butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups semisweet chips (1 twelve ounce package)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 10×15 cookie sheet with foil, spray with PAM.

Line the pan with graham crackers, using single pieces to fill in the gaps.

Line completely with crackers, breaking to fill in gaps.

Combine butter and brown sugar in saucepan.

Bring to boil over medium heat, boil for exactly five minutes.

Pour over graham crackers as evenly as possible and bake ten minutes.

The chocolate chips will melt upon contact with the hot butter and brown sugar mixture.

Sprinkle chips over the top and spread once they melt.

Refrigerate to chill.

Once solid, break into random sized pieces.

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By popular demand: A recipe for another of Sue’s treats

19 Apr

These little bits seem like one small bite, but you can never eat just one!

Last week we had PTO and Book Club. Sure enough, my good friend Sue brought snack for us all. It was one of my faves, a chocolate/caramel/matzo snack that she makes for passover. I was so lucky, she sent some home with me (and no, she hadn’t seen the 4/13  blog post about her snacks yet!)

This photo is from the ones she sent home with me. When we took the photo the camera was accidentally on the wrong setting, so the color is slightly off. However, once we ate the snack there was no retaking the photo!

Since I wrote about Sue and all her yummy desserts, I’ve had several requests for the matzo snack. Sue actually recommended making it ahead and freezing it if you’d like to. She said it stays well.

I actually have two different recipes for it so I’m going to post one today and one tomorrow. One calls for Saltines, one calls for Graham Crackers. One uses salted butter and one uses unsalted. Although they differ slightly, the snack is basically the same overall. You can pick one and sub in the matzo crackers for the Saltines or the Graham Crackers. I have made both.

Here’s the first version for you. This one I posted on Facebook in March 2010 after seeing it in an issue of Country Living Magazine a few years back. Here’s the post:

“Mama’s Sweet and Saltines”

Not my mama this time. I got this recipe out of Country Living magazine and it’s Trisha Yearwood’s mama I guess.

I’d actually had this before, but just found the recipe for it the other day. The only thing I didn’t have on hand was the unsalted butter, which Don promptly bought after seeing the recipe.

40 Saltine Crackers (can use graham crackers for a sweeter taste.
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 cups.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a large-rimmed cookie sheet with foil and the forty crackers. Be sure the pan you choose will fit in your freezer and be sure you have space in your freezer for the pan!!!

In a medium saucepan melt butter and brown sugar together and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over crackers covering them evenly.

Put cookie sheet in oven and watch closely. Bake for about 5 minutes (mine took three) until just bubbly.

Remove from oven and pour chocolate chips over crackers.

When chips begin to melt, spread them over crackers with a knife.

Transfer pan to freezer for 15 to 20 minutes or until completely cold. The chocolate covered crackers will forma solid sheet. Break into pieces and store in airtight container.

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Here’s to good friends

13 Apr

This is what happens when you mix cream cheese, Oreos and chocolate all in one recipe. These are perfect "pop one in your mouth and go" desserts, and one of my favorite treats from Sue.

Today’s post is dedicated to, and brought to you by my friend Sue, and until she reads it, she won’t even know that it’s about her!

Seven years ago I went to my very first PTO meeting at my daughter’s elementary school. I was a “newbie,” a kindergarten mom looking to meet people, volunteer my time, and get involved in a school setting. Although I was a new parent at the meeting, I had a long road ahead of me. I was going to be a parent at this elementary school for about twelve years by the time all of my children made their way through.

I got to the meeting, not knowing anyone yet, and I sat down at the table. Before long, the nicest woman came and sat down next to me.

“I know your dad,” she said.

Turns out my dad and her husband worked together. She’d been to my parents’ house, she’d eaten my mom’s Beef Brisket.

She was Sue.

Here’s the thing about Sue. Not only is she the absolute nicest person around, she makes great, great desserts!!!  You know how I know?? It’s because Sue brings dessert to almost ALL our PTO meetings!!

In September, Sue brings apple pie.

Yup, an entire apple pie.

At Passover she brings a chocolate/caramel matzo bread snack that is to-die-for.

Throughout the year she makes dark chocolate brownies that are SO fudgy they melt in your mouth (and she apologizes when they’re not “from scratch”).

Some months she brings pretzels dipped in chocolate and then in sprinkles.

And, if I’m super-lucky, she brings these amazing  “Chocolate Balls,” which are my favorite Sue Dessert ever.

If Sue’s going to miss a meeting, I don’t want to go.

Last fall when my husband underwent surgery on his leg, Sue brought us an entire dinner, but most importantly, she brought dessert. Everyone needs a little chocolate pick-me-up after their husband goes through surgery.

You would’ve thought I was the one on crutches.

At Superbowl time this year, Sue asked if we could trade some of Don’s chili for some of Sue’s desserts. Why yes, I thought that’d be a fabulous idea! Sue would get to have chili, which no one in her family likes but her, and I’d get to have some of her desserts! It was a winning Superbowl Weekend for me.

I don’t even like football.

Last night we had Book Club, Sue brought a snack for us to munch on while we chatted about our book and chose another for next month.

It was at that moment, while I crunched away on our matzo bread/chocolate/caramel snack, trying to show casual restraint so that I didn’t eat the entire tin by myself, that I decided my next post would be dedicated to Sue.

In honor of all the desserts Sue has shared with me, I mean with us, here is Sue’s recipe for the Chocolate Balls, which are pictured above.

CHOCOLATE BALLS

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg. Oreos

1 pkg. cream cheese (can use light)

1 box Baker’s Semisweet Chocolate Squares (red box)

PLUS some Ghiradelli 60% chocolate chips (brown)

OR if you don’t have the Ghiradelli, you can use TWO boxes of the Bakers Chocolate Squares.

DIRECTIONS

Crush Oreos in food processor. Put aside 1-2 tablespoons crushed cookies.

Soften cream cheese in microwave (about 2 minutes).

Mix together cream cheese  and crushed Oreos (minus the set aside crumbs).

Roll into balls.

Melt chocolate on stove.

Dip/roll balls in melted chocolate and place on waxed paper or cookie sheets.

Sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of crushed Oreos.

Put in fridge.

The chocolate balls will harden so that they look the way they do in my photo above. Once they’re done, keep them in the fridge and indulge on them whenever you need a little pick-me-up.

And when you do, think of my friend Sue.

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After School Snack: Strawberry Banana Yogurt Smoothies

11 Apr

Great for sore throats, warm weather, a healthy snack!

We had an unusually warm, hot actually, March this year. The weather broke all kinds of records and we loved the taste of summer that came during spring. It meant a couple of things for us though: First it meant that springtime allergies kicked in early, so everyone started with sore throats and runny noses in March instead of April. Second, it meant that the daily “can we get ice cream” and “can we get frozen lemonade” questions started early as well.

When I pick my kids up at school we drive by one of our city’s popular ice cream drive ups as well as past our favorite frozen lemonade stand. On occasion, on super hot summer days we’ll stop there after school as a treat, but I wasn’t really ready to start that in March. Not yet. It’s an expensive treat, one we don’t do too often.

One particularly hot afternoon, as an answer to their pleas, I decided to make smoothies, something I often do as an after school snack, but not usually in March. On this particular afternoon though, I had fresh strawberries in my fridge, (frozen works well too) and I had bananas in my freezer, which I often use for banana bread, but they work well for smoothies too. I had some vanilla yogurt in my fridge, so I felt I could easily pull off some smoothies for an after school snack.

A blender doesn't have to be expensive to make a delicious treat!

My “recipe” isn’t exact, but into my blender I threw: a bunch of strawberries, two frozen bananas, milk, about a cup of vanilla yogurt, and some ice to make it have a frozen feel, like a milkshake, but healthier.

I added a dollop of whipped cream and a straw and I had a restaurant-quality summer beverage for my kids for after school. Not bad! Everyone was happy and I was glad there was even enough for me to have some!

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Pizzelles: a special treat this Easter

9 Apr

Easter isn’t the same as Christmas, where we have a ton of different kinds of cookies, or even like Thanksgiving, where we have tons of homemade pies for dessert. We usually have Grandma Rose’s Rice Pie for dessert as well as the Easter Sweet Bread and that’s usually it (and don’t get me wrong, that’s plenty!!) This year though, we had a special treat: I made Pizzelles! Pizzelles bring me right back to my childhood whenever I eat them. Grandma Grello still makes them and I love them.

We’d been having a discussion about them with her recently and I realized that even though we received a Pizzelle Maker years ago from my mother-in-law as an anniversary gift, it’d been a really long time since I’d used it. I thought that this Easter would be a great time to make them for an extra-special treat.

The great thing about the Pizzelle Maker is that it comes with the recipe, several of them. The basic recipe is a quick and easy recipe and once you get the hang of how much batter to put on the machine, the pizzelles come quickly, about every 30 seconds. It says the recipe makes about 30, but I probably broke up at least six of the “mistakes” into bits for the kids to eat as I was getting the hang of how much batter and how long to cook them. I also let them each eat a whole one once I did get the hang of it. We ended up with about 20 of them at the end.

For the batter, they recommended using one heaping teaspoon in each of the two molds, but when I tried that, they were too small, only about half the size of a regular cookie. So I upped it to one heaping TABLESPOON instead and it worked out perfectly. They also recommended putting the batter into the center of the mold more towards the back, which seemed to work out well.

One important trick is to be sure to take them off and place them on a flat surface to cool (assuming you want them to be flat.) They come off the mold warm and soft, and they will form any shape you put them on, so even a plate that isn’t entirely flat will cause them to be off-kilter a bit. I put them directly onto a plate and then brought them to the cooling racks on the table and quickly slid them onto the racks to cool completely flat.

I think that’s all the important things to note. Here’s the basic pizzelle recipe I used as well as my adjustments to it.

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1  3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup melted butter, margarine or oil (I used oil)

3/4 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS

Beat eggs and sugar.

Add cooled melted butter or margarine (or oil) and vanilla.

Sift flour and baking powder and add to egg mixture.

Batter will be stiff enough to be dropped by spoon. (Use one heaping tablespoonful per cookie.)

Batter can be refrigerated to be used at a later time.

Makes 30 pizzelles.

*For chocolate pizzelles add 3 tablespoons cocoa and 3 tablespoons sugar.

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Just in time for Passover: Meringue Cookies

6 Apr

Cookies for Passover!

Good Friday and Passover fall on the same day this year, so I am making sure to post recipes for both. On Wednesday I posted my family’s Easter Sweet Bread recipe and today I am posting a recipe passed along to me by my friend Pam. I tried these out with my “focus group,” aka my three kids, and they all immediately gave them two thumbs up. They were quick and easy. I worked that day and got home about a half hour before the kids did, and the timing was perfect; the cookies were just coming out of the oven.

As I was making them, I questioned whether or not they were in fact a healthy treat since they did not contain egg yolks or flour. However, I figured out as I went along that the chocolate chips and sugar kind of cancelled out any healthiness they might have had.

The kids loved these cookies and are already asking me to make them again. They’re certainly easy enough that I could make them any time.

A few notes:

*The recipe below calls for mini chocolate chips but I only “do” regular chocolate chips, so that’s what I used. It also said that you could use any variety of chocolate chips, but I only had the chocolate variety at the time.

*Pam noted that you could use food coloring to make the cookies fit any desired theme.

*It says to use Parchment Paper on the tray, which I missed and a few of my cookies stuck to the tray, I’m assuming because of it. Next time I’d be sure to use the Parchment Paper.

Enjoy!

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Chocolate chip meringue cookies

makes 2 /12- 3 dozen cookies
2 egg whites
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ C sugar
6 oz. mini choc, chips, or any flavor you like or feel free to mix and match
·       in large dry mixing bowl beat egg whites till foamy
·       gradually salt, cream of tarter and vanilla
·       slowly pour in sugar, ¼ C at a time
·       beat until peaks form and will be white and shiny
·       fold in chips
·       drop tsp. worth of batter onto parchment covered cookie sheet
·       bake 300 degrees for 20minutes
·       cool before removing

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The Un-birthday-cake Birthday Cake

2 Apr

Although I'm crafty, I'm not an artist so birthday cake decorating is not really my thing. But, each time, my kids always say they love my cakes and that means so much to me.

Every once in a while I have one of those slap-myself-on-the forehead realizations, the kind where I think to myself, “Why didn’t I think of that,” or even “Why didn’t I think of that sooner?”

Birthday party cakes was one of those moments.

Although I don’t bake them from scratch, I always make our cakes at home and do my best to decorate them despite my lack of artistic ability, but the funny thing is none of us in our immediate family actually really like the traditional birthday cake kind of cake, you know the yellow or chocolate cake with the birthday cake frosting on it. Yet, I just kept making them three times a year, six times if you count friend parties AND family parties. Sometimes I’d do cupcakes instead, but still it’s like cake.

And then last year it happened: my sister in law and her family were here for Elizabeth’s birthday and I made some kind of comment about making the cake even though none of us actually eat it.

Her brilliant answer: “You know, I’ve done brownie cakes and chocolate chip cookie cakes instead, and frost them just the same. It works out great.”

Light bulb.

Slap on forehead.

Why didn’t I think of that????

We love brownies! And, we love cookies!

Elizabeth's "cake" this summer was our first brownie birthday cake.

So last summer I tried out a frosted brownie cake for Liz’s party and it worked out great! I did it two more times over the summer, once for her friend party and once for July 4th, and then again in October for Caroline’s party. Over and over I just kept thinking to myself, “I can’t believe I never thought of this!”

Here it is again, birthday party time and once again, we are doing the un-birthday cake birthday cake. I briefly toyed with the idea of trying out a cookie cake this time and I even grabbed the recipe from my friend Shelley, but I just didn’t have the time to pull it off this weekend. Next time….

In any event, a great time was had by all, and everyone loved the “cake.”

Surprise, it's a brownie! And, this was a budget-friendly brownie cake with the brownie mix from Price Rite and the frosting from Aldi's. My secret ingredient: I throw chocolate chips into the batter.

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In honor of Oreo’s 100th Birthday

30 Mar

If you'd like to celebrate right along with Oreo in honor of their 100th birthday, I highly recommend these Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Can you find the Oreo Cookies in this picture?

I bet you can’t, they’re hiding INSIDE the cookies!

Last year I posted this recipe on Facebook after seeing it in a Macaroni Kids newsletter that I get in my inbox each week. From what I read, they got it from a blog too, so I have included that in the recipe information as well.

I made these several times last year, including as an End of Year gift for our kids’ teachers and for a birthday gift for my sister-inlaw.

They are SO delicious but each one is like eating THREE cookies, just so you know.

Here is the recipe for you. It’s easy and makes about 25 cookies.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS

2 sticks softened butter

3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar

1 Cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla

3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

10 oz bag chocolate chips

1 bag Oreo Cookies

DIRECTIONS

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.   In a stand or electric mixer cream butter and sugars until well combined.  Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.

2.  In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.  Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie.  Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie.  Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough.  Place onto a baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking.  Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.  Serve with a tall glass of milk, enjoy!

Makes about 2 dozen VERY LARGE Cookies

Please visit Jenny’s blog at picky-palate.com

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