Category Archives: Desserts

Banana Nut Muffins

Desserts, Fruits, Uncategorized, , , , ,

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For our first AAU game this season, I and another parent (C.T.) volunteered to provide snacks for the guys to have in between games. CT brought bananas, grapes and clementines while I supplied the Gatorade and granola bars. Although our intentions were good, we found out we could not bring food into the arena. Since it was a cold snowy day we could not organize the guys to go outside and partake of the goodies. Needless to say there was a lot of Gatorade and fruit leftover. CT suggested I keep the fruit and put it to good use so I left the games with a good helping of bananas.

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I thought about making some type of fruit salad but I ate quite a few grapes on our long journey home. My hubby ate most of the clementines which meant I only had bananas to worry about. I wasn’t in the mood for banana pudding and wanted to make something I had never tried before. As you know, I am still working on my baking skills and thought I could try out a banana nut muffin recipe.

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I found an old recipe in my recipe box for banana bread that I decided to turn into a muffin recipe. I just tweaked the banana bread recipe a little by adding golden raisins and nuts to the mix. Yummy… The muffins came out really moist and flavorful with a subtle crunch from the pecans. Plus, the golden raisins plumped up and added another layer of sweetness along with the ripe bananas. In the end, I was happy with my updated recipe and felt confident I could share this recipe.

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Thanks CT for providing the bananas and for helping me to stretch my baking wings once again to create a lovely banana nut muffin.

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Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients:
4 ripe bananas peeled and mashed
2 eggs slightly beaten
2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter softened
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp lemon or orange zest
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray then fill each cup a little more than half way. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until center is set. Place a tooth pick in the center of the muffin and if it comes out clean muffin should be done. If necessary, cook a few more minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edge of the muffin to loosen then gently lift out of the muffin tin. Dust with powdered sugar.

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Chocolate Cake Parfait with Lemon Sauce

Desserts, , , , , ,

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Whenever I have leftover cake but I don’t have the heart to toss it out I change it into a new dessert. The other day I had leftover chocolate cake and decided I could cut up the cake and make a parfait. For me, a parfait has to have something creamy in the middle. Checking out what I had in the frig I came up with a light cream sauce. I also found some cherry pie filling I had recently used to try out another dessert.

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Viola! I had all I needed to create a chocolate cake parfait with lemon cream sauce topped with cherries. The blending of the sweet chocolate with the tart cherries and lemon sauce worked very well together. Who knew leftovers could be made new all over again.IMG_6343_1

 

Chocolate Cake Parfait with Lemon Sauce

 Ingredients:
1 cup cubed chocolate cake
½ cup Greek yogurt
½ cup cherry pie filling
2 tbsp lemon curd
whipped cream for topping (optional)

Mix together Greek yogurt and lemon curd in a small bowl. Place a small amount of lemon sauce in the bottom of a parfait glass. Add 4 -5 cubes of cake to the glass. Drizzle lemon sauce over the cake. Add a few more cubes of cake to the glass then drizzle more sauce over the cake. Spoon cherry pie filling over the lemon sauce and top with whipped cream if you desire.

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Strawberry Crepes

Desserts, Fruits, , , ,

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Those of you that have been following dmariedining.com know that I do not consider myself a real baker. However, I have been stretching my wings over time and now I am more comfortable making baked desserts. Looking at the title of the recipe you might say I have really stepped up my game by creating a crepe recipe. That is only partially true so don’t get too excited. Remember, I try to make quick and easy recipes as much as possible. Crepes I think will take a little bit of work for me to learn how to perfect. For this particular recipe I took the easy way out and purchased prepared crepes. They are still delicious but a lot less work and energy.

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The most wonderful thing about crepes is that they can be either a simple dessert or a light breakfast. Plus, you can fill crepes with fruits, whipped cream or nothing at all. The first time I experienced crepes it was for breakfast. Long ago, my family would go to one of the local diners to have breakfast after visiting the barber.  I loved their blueberry and strawberry crepes. The crepes were light , delicate and stuffed with a creamy filling then topped with tons of fresh fruit.

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The key to any great dish is flavor, freshness and eye appeal. After checking out my strawberry crepes recipe I think you will agree it meets all of those elements. If my local diner can make a great tasting strawberry crepe, I figure I can too. Who knows, maybe they use prepared crepes too!

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Strawberry Crepes

Ingredients:
1 package prepared crepes
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1 cup heavy cream
1 pint strawberries sliced thin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coffee liqueur
½ cup sugar
½ tsp corn starch
¼ tsp nutmeg

In a small bowl beat together heavy cream, mascarpone cheese, sugar, vanilla, coffee liqueur until mixture forms stiff peaks. Set aside.

In a small sauce pot combine, ¼ cup orange juice 2 tbsp sugar, ¼ tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp corn starch and ½ cup strawberries. Simmer on medium heat until liquid reduces and creates a syrup.

To Assemble:

Spoon a nice helping of whipped cream across the middle of a crepe. Layer with sliced strawberries. Fold one end of the crepe over the filling then gently roll up. Work slowly as the crepes are very delicate. Spoon strawberry syrup over the crepe and add a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

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Potato Chip Butter Cookies

Desserts, Uncategorized, , , ,

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Many, many moons ago my brother gave me a recipe for potato chip cookies. When he first told me about them I could not imagine eating a cookie made with potato chips. I thought he was crazy and I must admit I turned my nose up to the idea. The amazing thing about these cookies is that you cannot taste the potato chips at all!

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One of the things I love about my brother Gregg is that he is adventurous and willing to take risks in life. He is always moving forward no matter what life throws his way and I truly admire him for it. That is also my goal in life to always move forward no matter how many peaks and valleys I encounter along the journey.  To this day, Gregg inspires me and makes  me laugh every time we get together.

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The flavors of salty and sweet are actually a great combination. Plus the buttery taste is wonderful. The cookies basically melt in your mouth which is always a good sign of a good cookie. Although this is a butter cookie it can be made into a chocolate potato chip cookie by adding a few chocolate chips. Yummy no matter how you make them.  Potato Chip Butter Cookies are delicious!

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Potato Chip Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter softened
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup crushed potato chips
½ cup finely chopped pecans
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine butter and 1 cup of powdered sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed. Add egg yolk and vanilla to the bowl then beat together until well mixed. Gradually add flour. Gently stir in potato chips and pecans.

Grease a cookie sheet. Shape rounded teaspoons of the cookie dough and place on the cookie sheet approximately ½ apart. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes until cookies are lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack. Sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar (or not) using a sifter while the cookies are still warm. Store in an airtight container.

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Cinnamon Chips

Appetizers, Desserts, Uncategorized, , ,

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Cinnamon Chips are a quick and easy snack or dessert you can make at anytime. I recently featured this recipe on the back of my business card for dmariedining.com. So if it can fit on the back of a business card, you know it must be a very simple recipe without a lot of ingredients or fuss.

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Back in the days when I would go to fast food restaurants one of my favorite snacks were the Cinnamon Crispas I would get get from Taco Bell. I don’t think they make them any more but I do remember enjoying them with my tacos. My recipe is not quite like the Taco Bell version but I like them because of the addition of chocolate. I am a true fan of dark chocolate and there are not too many desserts that I don’t like if there is dark chocolate in the mix.

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The next time you don’t what to do with all of your leftover tortillas after making one of my Tex-Mex dishes from dmariedining.com, try making Cinnamon Chips. You will be amazed at how quick and easy it is to great a tasty snack and bring back memories from the old days at Taco Bell.

Cinnamon Chips

Ingredients:
4-6 small tortillas
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cayenne (optional)
4 oz baking dark chocolate
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cinnamon, brown sugar, sugar, nutmeg and cayenne in a small bowl. Set aside.

Place tortillas on a rimmed cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Brush each tortilla with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mix evenly over each tortillas. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes until tortillas are crisp. Cut into triangles with a pizza cutter.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. May need to add a tbsp of milk to chocolate to thin it out. Drizzle melted chocolate over tortillas. Store in an airtight container.

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Double Decker Oatmeal Bars

Desserts, Uncategorized, , , ,

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I have been staring a box of raspberry bars in my pantry for sometime now thinking about when I should make them. I liked the idea of making raspberry bars when I saw them in the grocery store but for some reason I have not been able to motivate myself to bake them. I think it is because they are just sitting in a box. Since I have started experimenting with baking I like the idea of making things from scratch rather than from a box. Don’t get me wrong. I would still use a boxed cake mix in a minute instead of making it from scratch. I have not graduated to that level of baking yet. However, the thought of making a box of raspberry bars no longer intrigued me once I got it home.

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Double Decker Oatmeal Bars popped into my mind while watching the Pioneer Women one morning. She made a very simple strawberry oatmeal bar dessert that I figured even I could make. I decided I wanted to try making two layers of oatmeal bars so I could experiment with using complimentary flavors. I liked the idea of apricots and raspberries or orange and blueberry preserves.

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The best thing about making this simple but yummy dessert is that you can prepare it with any flavor you like. Be adventurous. Make this recipe into your own!

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Double Decker Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup of oats
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup ground pecans
2 sticks of cold butter cubed
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 jar raspberry or blueberry preserves
1 jar apricot preserves
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 inch square baking dish with cooking spray.

Place dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add butter and cut into dry ingredients until well blended. Press ¼ of oat mixture in the bottom of the baking dish. Spread apricot jam over the bottom layer of oats. Top with more oat mixture and gently spread out over preserves. Add a layer of the raspberry preserves and top with remaining oat mixture and gently spread over preserves. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes. Let cool then cut into squares.

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Sweet Cake Sandwiches

Desserts, Fruits, , , , ,

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Sweet cake sandwiches. Don’t panic! These are not your typical sandwiches. They are really sandwich treats. I was working on another dessert recipe when I got distracted and started thinking about sweet cake sandwiches.

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I envisioned slices of dark chocolate cake topped with various fillings that represented things we usually put on a sandwich. Things like cherry tomatoes (cherry pie filling), cucumbers (kiwi) and mayo (whipped cream). Of course you can use any kind of cake you like as the “bread” of your sandwich. I am just a really big fan of dark chocolate.

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Sweet Cake Sandwiches are a nice dessert that can be turned into family fun and even great for a party. Little kids and big kids like me will love to make their own special sandwiches using simple ingredients. Granted this dessert may not be totally healthy but it sure is fun to create.

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Sweet Cake Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 box of your favorite cake mix

Sandwich Filling:
1 small can cherry pie filling (*cherry tomatoes)
2 tbsp lemon curd (*mustard)
2 kiwi peeled and sliced (*cucumbers)
1 banana sliced
1 cup whipped cream or Greek yogurt (*mayonnaise)

Prepare cake mix according to package. Pour into a greased and floured 9x 11 inch meatloaf pan. Bake per the cooking times indicated on the package. Let cool.

Slice cake then spread lemon curd, Greek yogurt or whipped cream on a slice of cake. Add your favorite fruit filling to the slice. Top with a second slice of cake. Yummy…..

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Chocolate Crunch Bars

Desserts, , , ,

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Anyone who really knows me knows I love good dark chocolate. It is the one sweet treat that is hard for me to pass up. I was looking through an old magazine recently and saw a recipe for a classic treat made with saltine crackers. I did not remember ever experiencing crunch bars but the picture looked wonderful.

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I was inspired to try making this tasty looking treat because of the dark chocolate and nuts. Of course I put my own spin on the recipe. I like saltines but I don’t like a lot of salt. I am one of those folks that scraps all the salt off of soft pretzels before I eat them. So, to make this treat I substituted graham crackers for the saltines.

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I also mixed up the nuts just because I like both walnuts and pecans. The two of them mixed together along with the dark chocolate gave the treat a nice rich flavor.

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Decedent, nutty and not too sweet. Chocolate Crunch Bars are a light treat that will satisfy any sweet tooth without a ton of calories.

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Chocolate Crunch Bars

Ingredients:
12 whole graham crackers
1 semi – sweet baker’s chocolate bar chopped
½ cup pecans chopped
½ cup walnuts chopped
1 stick of butter
¼ cup dark brown sugar
¼ tsp cayenne (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large rimmed cookie sheet with foil and set aside.

Heat butter and brown sugar over low heat until butter is melted and blended with sugar. Bring to a low boil for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour mixture evenly over graham crackers. Bake for 6 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle chocolate over hot crackers to melt. Spread chocolate over graham crackers with the back of a spoon then sprinkle with nuts. Let cool completely. To speed up the process, cover with wax paper and let chill in refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes. Separate bars and store in a plastic container in the refrigerator.

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Lemon Squares

Desserts, , ,

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Lemony is the best way to describe my new lemon squares recipe. I like the taste of lemon although I could never actually suck on a lemon the way my cousin JB did when we were kids. It would make my mouth pucker just watching him suck on lemons and then eat them without flinching.

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I call this a new recipe because my original recipe had a little too much sugar in it. I think I was trying to counter the lemon flavor to make sure no one’s mouth would pucker up. However, that did not work since my taste tester’s mouths puckered up from too much sugar.

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Now I think I have a healthy balance between the lemon and the sugar with a nice lemony finish for the taste buds. I was surprised at how easy it was to create these tasty little treats. There are only a few basic ingredients which are staples in most households. Lemons, sugar, eggs, butter and flour. Throw in a few flavors like vanilla or almond extract and you have yourself a lemon square.

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I have said on other occasions that I am not a baker but after making lemon squares, pumpkin spice cupcakes and few other desserts I may have to stop saying it. I am becoming a decent baker and I actually enjoy it. For anyone who doubts their baking abilities remember, if I can do it so can you. Just give it a try and don’t give up the first couple of times if you fail. Keep trying and one day you may call yourself a decent baker like me.

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Lemon Squares

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 stick of butter room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, sugar and softened butter in a bowl until a dough is formed. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray. Press dough in the bottom of the baking pan and slightly up the sides. Bake for 25 minutes until light golden brown.

Filling:
4 eggs room temperature
1 tbsp lemon zest
Juice from two lemons
2 tbsp lemon curd
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
½ tsp vanilla or almond extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp confectioner’s sugar

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Pour over warm crust. Bake for 25 minutes or until filling is set (jiggles just a little). Let cool completely then sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Cut into squares and wrap individually with plastic wrap.

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Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes

Desserts, , ,

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As I have said in the past, I am by no means a baker unlike my mom who can whip up a pound cake or apple pie in the blink of an eye.

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However, I recently I thought I would stretch my wings and take a baby step towards baking a new dessert. Inspired by the smell of fall, the rustling of leaves and pumpkins everywhere I decided to make pumpkin spiced cupcakes. Yes, I know cupcakes are probably one of the easiest things to bake but I am talking baby steps here.

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So while looking for canned pumpkin at the grocery store (baby steps remember) I ran across pumpkin butter in the preserves aisle.  Don’t let the name fool you. I soon discovered that pumpkin butter does not contain butter at all. Since I was stretching my wings I figured I could try using pumpkin butter instead of canned pumpkin for the cupcakes.

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The results…? Scrumptious cupcakes! I had my hubby test the cupcakes with a hot cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and he was in heaven. I preferred a tall ice cold glass of milk. Whatever you choose to drink with your cupcake I have a feeling you will enjoy it.

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For my fellow beginner bakers, try making my pumpkin spiced cupcakes. It will help build up your baking credentials. For more advanced bakers, making my pumpkin spiced cupcakes may just beef up your credentials even more.

Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 box Duncan Hines french vanilla cake mix
3 tbsp Dickinson’s pumpkin butter
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)
1 can cream cheese icing
¼ cup sliced almonds crushed
Cupcake foil cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare cake mix according to box instructions. Add pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie spice to batter and mix until well blended. Spoon into cupcake cups. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until the center is done. Test by sticking a toothpick in the center of a cupcake and see if it comes out clean.

Spread icing on top of each cupcake and sprinkle with crushed almonds.

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