King Cake Pictures

I finally tried out this recipe! My best friend Sharon used to make these when we were roommates back in college (wow, I feel old), and I love eating king cakes when I'm in Louisiana around Mardi Gras. This year (yes, way back in March) I finally tried out the recipe myself, and I thought they turned out well. I've already posted the recipe to this blog; you can find it here.

And yes, I would make this recipe again. :) Next time I might try to add a fruity filling, or a pecan praline-type filling. Mmm....

Grandpa Richardson's Rice Pudding

*From Worldwide Ward Cookbook*

5 eggs

4 C. milk

3/4 C. sugar

1 t. vanilla

3/4 C. minute rice, cooked

In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Beat well. Pour mixture into a glass 9 x 13-in baking dish. Sprinkle cooked rice evenly on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 min, or just until the edges tart to bubble. Tastes great with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Makes 8 servings.

My take: Not sure if I did something wrong, but this did not turn out well. It tasted too egg-y, and it had a really wet consistency. I'd rather eat my store-bought Kozy Shack rice pudding than make this again. This recipe won't be repeated.

Snickers Cake

*From the Worldwide Ward Cookbook*

Snickers Cake

1 chocolate cake mix

1 14-oz bag caramels

1/3 C. milk

1/2 C. butter

1 C. chocolate chips

1/2 C. nuts, chopped

1 C. shortening

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

1 t. butter flavoring

3-4 T. milk

1 C. mini chocolate chips

Mix cake according to package directions. Pour 1/2 of batter into a greased 9 x 13 in. pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 min. Melt caramels, milk, and butter. Pour over baked cake. Sprinkle with chocolate ships and nuts. Spread with remaining cake batter. Bake at 250 degrees for 20 minutes. Increase oven to 300 degrees and bake an additional 20 min. When cool, prepare frosting: beat together shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla, and butter flavoring. Stir in enough milk to reach desired consistency. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread over cooled cake. Makes 18 servings.

My take: This was good, but not as awesome as I thought it could be. The frosting was really sweet, and the recipe could have done with less. But we always think recipes have too much frosting (especially Jack). I might make this recipe again if I got the craving or wanted to make a yummy-looking treat for visitors.

Pumpkin Pie

*from Libby's pumpkin pie filling can, and also available on allrecipes.com


1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can NESTLE® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)


My take: Love this recipe. So easy, and it's just classic pumpkin pie. So if you love pumpkin pie, you'll love this. Definitely a repeater. I most recently made it for our Christmas meal (picture above), and made a few leaf crust cut-outs to cover my knife pokes in the pie. :)

Pumpkin Roll

*From Libby's, found on allrecipes.com


Ingredients

1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

My take: This recipe turned out well and was pretty yummy, but was very rich. I made this around Christmas time, an we had lots of other treats in the house, too. So...I don't even think we ended up finishing this. It was just so rich with all the cream cheese filling, so not my favorite. I might repeat this one, but it won't be at the top of my baking to-do list.

Michelle's Soft Sugar Cookies

*From allrecipes.com*

Michelle's Soft Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt


Directions

1.Cream the margarine and add the sugar gradually. Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition.

2.Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt gradually to the creamed mixture, stirring in by hand. Cover and chill dough overnight.

3.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

4.Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and cut into your favorite shapes. Place cookies onto the prepared baking sheets.

5.Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 6 to 8 minutes or until cookie has a golden appearance.


My take: I've made sugar cookies in the past but never liked how they came out. Never soft enough. And I've never been a huge sugar cookie fan. I've always thought sugar cookie dough is better than the actual cookies. :) But I like making sugar cookies around the holidays because you get to do all the fun holiday shapes and decorate them. And in recent years I've had some great bakery sugar cookies (i.e. Smart Cookie - so good!) so I wanted to make some sugar cookies that I actually liked. And these passed the test. I'd like to try them again with a different frosting. This time I just used a simple icing recipe from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, but sometime I'd like to try a good cream cheese frosting. Yum. Anyways, this will now be my go-to sugar cookie recipe. Very good.

Nutella-Almond Pound Cake

*Adapted from a recipe on Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals TV show


While working out one day at our apartment's gym, I was waching the Food Network and saw this idea on Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals show. So I decided to try it out! Here's how you do it:

Use store-bought loaf pound cake (or I just used a mix and made my own, since all the stuff at the store was pre-sliced). Slice the loaf in half lengthwise. Spread Nutella (or any hazelnut spread) over the loaf, then top with toasted sliced almonds:

Reassemble the loaves like so:

Then slice it up and top with whipped cream and berries, if desired. Rachel Ray made some sort of orange whipped cream, so I used heavy whipping cream and added some orange zest, then whipped it up and served with raspberries. I liked it with the berries, but for some reason the whipped cream wasn't my favorite. I actually preferred the pound cake without it. But anyways, this was a yummy, easy dessert idea.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

From Cooking Light October Issue

Bread:
1 1/2 C. mashed ripe banana
1/3 C. plain fat-free yogurt
1/3 C. creamy PB
3 T. butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
6.75 oz. all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 C.)
1/4 C. ground flaxseed
3/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. ground allspice
2 T. chopped dry-roasted peanuts
Cooking spray

Glaze:
1/3 C. powdered sugar
1 T. 1% low-fat milk
1 T. creamy peanut butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. To prepare bread, combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed. Add granulated and brown sugars; beat until blended.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; cool.

4. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar, milk, and 1 T. peanut butter in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over bread. Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice).


This was actually the first time I've ever made banana bread, and I thought it turned out pretty well, and pretty darn sweet. But I think I'd prefer regular banana bread over the peanut butter banana bread. This was good, but plain banana bread is also good, and why mess with a good thing?

Mock Chocolate Macadamia Toffee

*Recipe and photo from MelsKitchenCafe.com



Mock Chocolate Macadamia Toffee
adapted from a recipe found on steamykitchen.com

½ box of graham crackers
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
2 sticks butter
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 ounces roughly chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a lipped baking sheet with a layer of tin foil (I used an 11X17 baking sheet). Arrange a single layer of graham crackers in the pan without overlapping. In a small saucepan, melt butter and add the sugars. Whisk to dissolve. Let boil and simmer for 5 minutes on low. Very carefully pour mixture onto the graham crackers, working quickly with a spatula to even out the layer. Bake 10 minutes. Remove and evenly spread out the chocolate chips and leave it to melt for 5 minutes. Using spatula, spread the melted chocolate evenly. Top with chopped nuts. Let cool. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Break into pieces.

How it went: I totally forgot to take any pictures! So the photo above is from the website where I got the recipe. This was super easy; probably the most time-consuming part was chopping the macadamia nuts.

My take: Definitely a recipe worth repeating. So easy, and really good. It really has that yummy toffee taste, plus all the chocolate on top doesn't hurt, either.

Chocolate Mousse Torte

*From kraftrecipes.com

Chocolate Mousse Torte

Ingredients:
37 NILLA Wafers, divided
4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided
2 pkg. (3.9 oz. each) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. cold milk, divided
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh raspberries

1. STAND 16 wafers around inside edge of 9-inch round pan lined with plastic wrap. Melt 3 chocolate squares as directed on package.

2. BEAT pudding mixes and 2 cups milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Add melted chocolate; mix well. Stir in 1 cup COOL WHIP; pour into prepared pan.

3. BEAT cream cheese, sugar and remaining milk with mixer until well blended. Stir in 1 cup of the remaining COOL WHIP; spread over pudding. Top with remaining wafers. Refrigerate 3 hours.

4. MEANWHILE, shave remaining chocolate square into curls. Invert torte onto plate; remove plastic wrap. Top torte with remaining COOL WHIP, berries and chocolate curls.

How it went: This was a nice and easy recipe, plus it comes out looking really fancy. I did find it hard/annoying to get those darn vanilla wafers to stand up around the edge of my round pan, though.



My take: I'd make it again. It'd be good for a get-together or some sort of function where you want to impress people with the presentation. :) I thought it was pretty good, and Jack really liked it. It's fairly rich, so I thought there was no way we'd finish it. But over the course of a few days, we definitely did. I didn't have any raspberries on hand, but if I make it again I'd like to add those.

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream with Ferrero Rocher Pieces

*From Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker Recipe Booklet

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream with Ferrero Rocher Pieces

1 C. whole milk

1/2 C. granulated sugar

8 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I use semisweet) broken into 1/2 in. pieces

2 C. heavy cream

1 t. pure vanilla extract

1 C. chopped Ferrero Rocher pieces

Heat the whole milk until it is just bubbling around the edges (this may be done on the stovetop or in a microwave). In a blender or food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse to proces the sugar with the chocolate until the chocolate is very finely chopped. Add the hot milk; process until well blended and smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl and let the chocolate mixture cool completely. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla to taste. Cover, refrigerate, and chill for 2 hours or longer.

Mix according to ice cream maker directions. Add Ferrero Rocher pieces during the last five minutes of mixing. If a firmer ice cream consistency is desired, place in an airtight container in the freezer for two hours or longer. Remove from freezer about 10 minutes before serving.

Here's how it went:

Pulsing the sugar and chocolate pieces.

Heating up the milk on the stovetop.

The milk/chocolate/sugar mixture.

Adding the heavy cream.

And mixing in the ice cream maker.

Now for the little bit of heaven.

All chopped up and ready to go.

So delicious!

My take: I've used this chocolate ice cream recipe a lot before, but if I added anything I used York peppermint patties (which is also really good). But when we were in California we had some Ferrero Rocher gelato, then I saw an episode of Barefoot Contessa where she made some chocolate ice cream like this, so I decided to go for it. It turned out really well, and Jack even said this was better than his previous favorite (homemade coconut ice cream). I did learn from Barefoot Contessa that you shouldn't use chocolate chips for your chocolate pieces, since they have some sort of waxy additive in them. And I always put my homemade ice cream in the freezer after mixing it so that it gets hard like normal ice cream.

Maestro's

Maestro's is a gelato cafe on Center St. - have I mentioned that I really like the atmosphere of downtown Provo? :) Anyways, I've been wanting to try out this place for awhile. We finally went and got a crepe there. We got the crepe with nutella and strawberries filling, with chocolate chip gelato on top. They actually gave us the wrong gelato at first, but we got that ironed out. Anyways, it was really good, but not anything special compared to the crepes we make at home. It was about $8 and was plenty of dessert for us, but not worth the money when we can make pretty much the same thing ourselves. And honestly, I can't tell a huge difference between gelato and ice cream. So make a crepe, slap some nutella on it, and put a scoop of your favorite ice cream on top. And you'll have one of the best desserts ever (for a fraction of the price of this place!)

Red, White, and Blue Trifle

Red, White, and Blue Trifle (courtesy Sandra Lee - Food Network)

Ingredients

1 box red velvet cake mix, about 18 ounces (if you can't find red velvet cake use 1 box chocolate cake plus a bottle of red food coloring)
1 (16-ounce) tub whipped topping
2 pints blueberries
1 pint strawberries, tops removed

Directions

Bake the red velvet cake mix according to package directions and allow to cool.

Using a serrated knife cut the red velvet cake into 1 inch square pieces and line the bottom of the trifle bowl with half of the cake squares.

Using a spatula, spread about a 2-inch layer of whipped topping on top of the cake squares.

Layer about 1 1/2 pints of the blueberries on top of whipped topping.

Layer the remaining cake pieces on top of the blueberries forming a second layer of cake.

Using a spatula, spread remaining whipped topping over the cakes pieces.

Decorate the perimeter with the strawberries; placing the strawberries cut side down. Sprinkle the remaining blueberries on top of the trifle inside the strawberry perimeter.

I like making fun holiday desserts, and although I like the Flag Dessert Pizza that I usually make (I'll have to post that recipe sometime...), I wanted to try something new this year. So I did some internet surfing and found this recipe. And I bought a trifle dish so I could make it, which is exciting because now I can make that many-layer jello for Thanksgiving, and I have the right dish for it! Plus imagine all the trifle dessert possibilities.... :) Here are a few pics of the process:

The red velvet cake cut into cubes.

All the ingredients, and basically you just throw it together.

With the final product. I love trifle desserts because the presentation is so awesome. This was easy to make, but the down side is that I wasn't too big on the taste. I don't like blueberries a whole lot, and this thing is loaded with blueberries. Plus the cake wasn't really sweet enough. I think if I make it again I'd do white cake and color it blue, then use strawberries for the red and whipped cream for the white. Plus somehow I might want to add more sugar... But speaking of next year, here are some links to a few ideas I've already found:

http://melissaau.blogspot.com/2009/07/this-has-got-to-be-coolest-4th-of-july.html

http://heyheygoodlookin.blogspot.com/2009/07/star-spangled-fruit-tart.html

This second one is a lot like the Flag Dessert Pizza that I usually make. Love those holiday desserts!

Chocolate Rice Pudding

(finished product with ground up chocolate chips on top)

Chocolate Rice Pudding (recipe from That's My Home website)

2 1/2 C. milk

2 C. cooked rice

1/2 C. sugar

1/4 C. chocolate chips

1 t. vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, mix milk, cooked rice, sugar and chocolate chips. Bring this to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Simmer gently for 20 minutes or until thick and creamy.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Spoon into dishes and serve warm or cold.

Makes 6 servings.

Jack and his comp made rice pudding in Korea on their mission, and since Jack and I like rice pudding so much we finally decided to make some at home. We did this chocolate recipe first, so we'll have to try regular/cinnamon rice pudding soon. This recipe turned out to be pretty good - the rice stood out more than when I've eaten rice pudding at Rice to Riches (NYC) or Pudding on the Rice (Provo), but it was still good.

Stirring and stirring.

Letting it cool in the fridge. Can you tell we like rice pudding? Speaking of, I wish Kozy Shack's rice pudding was better. The Original flavor isn't sweet enough for me (but it's still good), and I wish the cinnamon flavor didn't have raisins in it. Raisins ruin everything! Oh well - I guess I'll just have to become an expert at making homemade rice pudding!

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours, 20 minutes
Serves: 12


4 cups fresh strawberries, divided
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tub (8 oz) cool whip whipped topping, thawed, divied
8 OREO chocolate sandwich cookies, finely chopped*
1 Tbsp. butter, melted

LINE 9x5 inch loaf pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Mash 2 cups of the strawberries in large bowl. Add condensed milk, juice, and 2 cups of the whipped topping; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.

MIX chopped cookies and butter. Spoon over whipped topping mixture. Cover with ends of foil and gently press cookie mixture into whipped topping mixture. Freeze 6 hours or until firm.

INVERT dessert onto serving plate when ready to serve; remove pan and foil. Spread remaining whipped topping onto top and sides of dessert. Slice remaining 2 cups strawberries; arrange over dessert. Store leftovers in freezer.

I made this treat a few weeks ago, and it turned out to be pretty tasty. Not as chocolatey as Jack and I usually like, but still good and impressive looking. I doubled the amount of oreos, and I think that makes the strawberry-chocolate proportion better. Here are some pics of the process:

What a yummy combination of foods!

Pushing the crushed oreos into the dessert.



Inverting the frozen treat.




Not quite finished yet...

And voila! I think I'd make this again if I were having people over or bringing a dessert to a get-together. It wasn't very hard, but not my favorite dessert ever.

Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies

For a date night last weekend, Jack and I picked out a dessert recipe from a cooking blog I like to get recipes from (Watcha Got Cookin'?), and then bought the ingredients and made the dessert together. We picked these Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies. Here's the recipe:

Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 tubes of chocolate chip cookie dough
30 Snickers miniatures

Cut dough into 15 pieces. Place a Snickers bar in the middle of each piece and wrap dough around it, covering completely. Place on cookie sheets (I always put foil on my cookie sheet to prevent sticking, and I only bake one pan of cookies at a time). Bake at the temperature specified on the dough wrapper (I believe the temperature for Nestle dough is 375 degrees) for about 15 minutes.

These were super easy, and they turned out to be pretty good. I might make them again if I want an easy treat, or if I had a little kid that wanted to help make something. But these aren't to die for or anything.

There were lots of other dessert recipes on this blog that I want to try out: Chocolate Truffles, Ribbon Ice Cream Pie, Crater Cake, and Strawberry Whipped Sensation. And The Deathly Dessert sounds awesome, but you'd need lots of people to help you eat it. Looks like I've got some ideas for future date nights!