Apple Crisp

 

There was a great deal on Perfectly Imperfect apples at my local grocery store (I used Courtland) and I was hosting my regular monthly Duathlon with lunch, so it was the perfect dessert to make. I googled my favorite Betty Crocker recipe, purchased some vanilla ice cream and whipping cream and it was the perfect winter dessert. The cute little pie plates I picked up recently at Walmart when I was in Florida. They make a great one serving portion. (1 apple)

Apple Crisp (Betty Crocker)

4 medium cooking apples

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I found it a little sweet so I might reduce this next time)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking or old-fashioned oats

1/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

 

1. Heat oven to 375F. Grease bottom and sides of 8 inch square glass baking dish. (I used an aluminum square and 2 mini pie plates)

2. Spread apples in pan

3. Combine the rest of the ingredients until well mixed and sprinkle over apples

4. Bake for about 30 minutes or until apples are tender.

Your house will smell amazing!

 

Boterkoek (Dutch Butter Cake)

When you need to take a dessert and you have just a few ingredients on hand, Boterkoek is a good choice. It's quick and uses up the Club pack of sliced almonds that you have in the freezer. It's not too sweet and I took a few fresh raspberries and blueberries to complement the plate.

Boterkoek
3/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup softened unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and extract. Add dry ingredients. Press into greased 8 in cake pan. Top with almonds pressing down lightly. Bake at 350F for 20-25 min. I like mine slightly underbaked. This time I did the full 25 just to make sure it was cooked through.

Canada Day and an Ice Cream Dessert

It was fun getting the family together and celebrating a special birthday. I did some decorating to show off some Canadian patriotism. I enjoy walking around the neighbourhood to see who puts a flag out so I hope other people enjoyed seeing mine.

My flowers this year happened to be red and white...

 I stuck a few toothpick flags in my wreath...

I thought it was pretty clever that I covered a flag with a transparent table cloth..

Here we all are minus the photographer...

It was a large group(18) and everyone braved the heat and humidity to sit outside for a visit.

I knew it was going to be a scorcher so I did all my prep that involved an oven/stove early in the week. And I knew I was going to make this super easy, delicious and cold ice cream bar dessert that could be dressed up with Oh Canada M and M's to fit the day.

Ice cream Sandwich dessert
Ice cream sandwiches (about 18)
Chocolate syrup
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup peanuts
M and M's
I tub of Cool Whip

Microwave chocolate syrup until warm enough to stir in peanut butter.
Layer ice cream sandwiches in a 9x13 pan.
Top with 1/2 of syrup mixture then a layer of Cool whip.
Repeat.
Top with peanuts and M and M's.
Chill

It doesn't get easier then that and my is it tasty.

Pinterest Fail

My blog has been pretty quiet lately so I thought I would put up a fail for a change. I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be interesting to try for Easter. I have the Jello mold that makes the 3D eggs. Not sure if its available anymore but its really fun to play with and I have the jello jellybean mold also. You're supposed to make the eggs and cut them in half and scoop them out to look like devilled eggs. I found that once I scooped a bit of the middle out the eggs were really fragile and kind of fell apart. So that's my Pinterest fail for this month.

Otherwise, they looked pretty cute and tasted fine.

Butter Brickle Dessert

This dessert is a long time favourite but you better make sure that you have lots of company coming over because it makes a big batch and it will be calling your name from the freezer. You can amp it up and make your own caramel sauce but I opted to go with store bought. This recipe comes together very quickly and your guests will thank you for it.

Butter Brickle
2 cups flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1 jar Caramel sauce
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Melt butter, add flour, oatmeal, sugar and pecans. Pat thin on a large cookie sheet and bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Crumble while hot and spread half on bottom of 9x13 pan. Drizzle half caramel sauce over crumbs. Spread ice cream over top. (I but it with a knife and just lay it on top). Cover with remaining crumbs and drizzle with the rest of the caramel sauce.

I like to scoop some extra caramel over at the last minute. You can never go wrong with lots of sauce!

Holiday Weekend and Rhubarb Squares

I've fallen behind on my posting but that's ok, it's been beautiful weather and lots of yardwork to accomplish.
It was a fantastic Long weekend and here are a couple of the highlights...

I had to post a picture of this dinner, it was so yummy. Homemade burgers, potato salad, mixed green salad and grilled asparagus. HELLO SUMMER!
Spent some time making these to donate to the Purina Walk for Dog Guides which took place today and boy was it hot!

They were kept chilled until the last minute but it was a scorcher for May!

And I took advantage of the season for rhubarb and made these delicious squares for the second time this year for company. I went to backlink the recipe and it looks like I have never posted it. So here goes...

Rhubarb Squares
Bottom layer
 1 cup flour
1/3 cup butter (cut into dry mixture with pastry blender)
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Middle layer
2 1/4 cup rhubarb
1 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Topping
3 egg whites
6 Tbsp sugar

Combine bottom layer, press into 8x8 pan and bake for 20 min at 325F.
Meanwhile, get rhubarb stewing. Put middle layer ingredients in a heavy pot and cook over medium, stirring until thick. Pour over base when it comes out of oven.

Beat the egg whites until stiff, add sugar. Cover squares with meringue and brown in 325F oven. 10 - 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Lemon Bundt Cake

I was on dessert for a wonderful cottage weekend that I enjoyed recently with my NBF's. I wanted to take something different, try a new recipe and satisfy a request for lemon. This recipe fit the bill, was easy to put together and tasted quite lovely. I also read in the paper that Bundt cakes are making a comeback which I was happy to hear. They are much easier then icing a layer cake and seem just a little more dense and moist at the same time. Pardon the Christmas motif on the paper plate. I was in a hurry. Also, I had to throw it into the freezer to cool it quickly to ice, then I cooled it too much and had to put it under the broiler in the oven so my Glaze looks a little questionable...

Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of the inside of the cake.

Lemon Bundt Cake
 1 package lemon cake mix
 1 box lemon flavoured instant pudding mix
 3/4 cup vegetable oil
 1/2 cup water
 4 eggs
Glaze
 zest of one lemon
 2 cups icing sugar
 2 tBsp. butter, melted

Mix together the cake ingredients and place in a well greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 F for 40 - 45 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn out and prepare glaze. Make sure the cake is just slightly warm so the glaze doesn't all slide off. You could also add some lemon zest into the cake itself for additional lemon boldness.

Oreo Peanut Butter Mousse cups

I have had so many requests for this recipe, I decided to share it on the blog. I basically just adapted another recipe so my amounts are mostly guestimates, You can vary according to your taste.

Oreo Peanut Butter Mousse Cups

Crush oreos in a heavy plastic bag. Not sure how many I used because I was making a large quantity. Probably a dozen would do a dozen small mason jars. Sprinkle in bottom of small mason jars.

Peanut Butter Mousse
3/4 cup softened butter
1 brick of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 cup(ish) smooth peanut butter
1 - 1 1/2 tubs of Cool Whip

Cream butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla, Slowly mix in icing sugar. Fold in peanut butter, Then fold in softened Cool Whip.
Put in mason jars. Garnish with whipped cream, peanuts and a mini Oreo.

Mocha Torte Dessert

I pulled out a recipe from days gone by from Enjoy- More Recipes from the Best of Bridge. I hadn't made this cake for awhile and it didn't disappoint. My only problem was that my whip cream didn't firm up. I think possibly I overwhipped it but it still held together not too bad. Looks like you did a lot of work and you really only use a cake mix and cut it into layers to make the torte part. So easy.

Mocha Torte Dessert
1 chocolate cake mix (try a Dark Chocolate)

Mocha Cream Filling
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 Tbsps. hot water
4 tsp instant coffee powder
1/2 cup white sugar
500mL of whipping cream

Prepare cake according to directions. Bake in 8 inch pans which have been greased and lined with circles of waxed paper. Bake and cool, then split each layer in two horizontally.
Prepare mocha cream by combining chipits, water, coffee and sugar in small saucepan. Heat until smooth and cool. Whip cream until it starts to thicken, add cool chocolate mixture and spread on layers and frost top and sides of cake. Decorate with shaved chocolate or sprinkles. Chill at least one hour.

Friendship Bread

Well, I read the novel so I just had to make the starter and bake me up a few loaves of Friendship bread. A few years ago, someone had given me the starter and I remembered that the bread was delicious. Then, I discovered this book at the Public Library and my interest was renewed.

I kept it alive for 3 splits and sent it off to 6 friends and then sadly, I had to let it go. After a month of baking loaves every 10 days, it wasn't doing any wonders for my waistline and my friends were starting to run the other way when they saw me coming (just kidding). I DID stick a baggie of the starter in the freezer so if I feel the inclination, I can always start it up again. I never got a chance to bake up the 1000's of variations that you can make from the starter (there is a website that lists them all) since I really loved the original, cinnamon recipe. So delicious and with a light yeasty flavour.
Check it out.

Chocolate Log

With the holiday season coming up, many of us are asked to contribute something to a potluck meal or even bring dessert for a special dinner. This quick and easy dessert looks and tastes good and doesn't take hours to prepare. The recipe is on the box of chocolate wafers but basically you just whip up some whipping cream, add a little icing sugar and a dash of vanilla and ice each wafer then stack them in logs side by side. Slather everything with whipping cream and let it sit for at least 6 hours.

You can sprinkle with some decorations but word of warning, do this just before serving or the whipped cream will make it bleed. Cut on a diagonal to get a nice looking slice.

A very tasty dessert that you can throw together in minutes. Sure to impress.

Ice cream sandwich dessert

Believe it or not, I DO occasionally make "normal" food but its not very interesting talking about grilled chicken and frozen veggies. I had the chance to make another scumptious dessert this week for my ladies social group. We all just bring a variety of snacks etc and they know I'm usually good for the sweets. It's a little tricky taking something frozen but I'm attempting to be more organized using up my freezer stockpile so I decided to make this yummy contribution. It's quick and easy and tastes like a DQ Peanut Buster parfait, or so I'm told.

 

I only had the JUMBO sandwiches, but what the heck, it worked just fine. I cut a few in half to see if it would make a difference and there was none so you can basically go with whatever you have on hand.

Doesn't it look yummy? Goes together lickity split and makes a generous portion.
Here's the recipe..... Give it a try.

Ice Cream Bar Dessert

1 can chocolate syrup
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
19 ice cream sandwiches (smaller type)
1 (12 oz container Cool Whip )
1 cup salted peanuts
1 cup chocolate chunks or chips

Microwave syrup for about 2 minutes. DO NOT BOIL! Stir in peanut butter. Cool to room temperature. Line a 9 x 13 pan with sandwiches, spread 1/2 whipped topping, 1/2 choc mixture, top with 1/2 peanuts and repeat. Freeze and enjoy.

Layered Lemon

 

Well, summer is winding down and soon it will be back to the routine.

I was happy to be invited to a pool/dinner party with friends to cap off the

summer season in style. I usually make layered lemon as a spring time dessert but it

seemed like the perfect thing to take as my contribution. It is not overly sweet and everyone seemed to enjoy the combination of shortbread crust, cream cheese filling and tart lemon. I hope you do too.

 

Layered Lemon

First layer:
2 cups flour
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Second Layer:
2 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup whipping cream (whipped)

Third Layer:
2 pkg lemon pudding and pie filling (each makes one pie)

Fourth Layer:
2 cups whipping cream
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix flour, butter and nuts together until crumbly. Press into 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 15 min at 350F,
Cool. Beat cream cheese and icing sugar together. Whip cream. Fold into cream cheese mixture and spread on cooled crust. Prepare pie fillings according to package directions and pour over cream cheese layer when slightly cooled. Beat whipped cream and add sugar and vanilla. Spread onto set lemon layer.Garnish with chopped pecans if desired.

Note: This makes a very generous portion. You can halve the ingredients, using 500 mL of whipping cream and make in an 8 x 8 pan.
I think the original source of this recipe is Company's Coming Desserts but I've made it so much, I pratically consider it one of my own.