Tag: Fall Desserts

Cookies · Desserts · Uncategorized

Gooey Monster Cookies

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img_2922Yesterday I went to a cooking class and learned such cute and delicious, but easy recipes to use for Halloween. I have made cookies from a cake mix before but really didn’t  like them too much, UNTIL NOW! The cream cheese does the trick. The instructor teaching us these cute little “tricks” used Candy eyeballs that she got on the baking isle at Walmart “witch” made them so cute.  Be sure to use  gel (instead of water based )food coloring to the dough, as the water base will change the consistency of the cookie dough.

Ingredients

1 box Duncan Hines Cake Mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 oz of cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/2 (I used 1 teas) teas vanilla

Powdered sugar

Gell Food Coloring

Candy Eyeballs or other sprinkles that you like

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat the softened butter, cream cheese and egg until light and fluffy. Mix in the dry cake mix. Beat until well mixed. Divide batter between individual bowls for the different colors you want to make.  Add the food coloring to your desired shade of dough. Stir well to blend.

Chill dough for 30 min to 1 hour, covered. Roll into balls (about 1″ in size) and dip in the powdered sugar, being sure ball is pretty well covered in the powdered sugar. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and pat down with the bottom of a glass to flatten it a bit.

Bake at 350 for about 9-10 minutes. Add candy eyeballs or sprinkle when cookies are still warm.

*I have found when cooling cookies, that they tend to not get as crisp if I cool them on paper towels instead of just cooling racks. We like soft cookies so I never use cooling racks.

 

Cakes · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Holiday Fare · Uncategorized

Pumpkin Dump Cake

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

Upon seeing this today on Facebook, I immediately went to the store and bought a spice cake mix and after practicing making more cake balls today then rewarding myself with another piece of Key Lime Pie which I made yesterday for company, THEN I am going to make this cake. One can never have too many desserts in the house. After all, I think I lost a pound this weekend when we skipped breakfast on Saturday. That calls for a celebration of the best kind, celebrating with cake! Thank you Country Cook for sharing this wonderful comforting recipe which will bring in the Fall Season (even when the temps are still above 100.

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed)

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teas ground cinnamon

1 box of Spice  Cake Mix

1 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9×13 baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar and cinnamon. Mix well, it will look pretty thin, but that is correct.

Pour this mixture into the baking dish. Then sprinkle the dry cake mix on top of the pumpkin mixture. Drizzle all of the melted butter on top of the cake mix.

Bake for about 55-60 minutes. It might still be just a bit jiggly in the middle when done. It will continue to set up as it cools. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Great with a spoonful of ice cream or whipped cream.

Perfect for those wonderful Pot Luck dinners and so easy to whip up when you have company and put it in the oven while playing Hand & Foot or Dominoes. Will be ready when you take your first break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breads · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Fruit · Uncategorized

Cinnamon Roll Apple Bread Pudding

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A couple of weeks ago, I saw this on Facebook and decided that I would make it when I was wanting a new dessert. Well, tonight was the night. Randy and I found a Farmers Market today where we actually got a 5 lb sack of golden delicious applies for $0.99! We both just finished a bowl of the pudding and decided that we really did like it and will be making it a lot this fall. Very easy, quick and perfect for those nights when nothing but a “comfort food” dessert will do.

Serves 4 to 6 people

1 regular size can of cinnamon roll (I used Pillsbury) with the icing included

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk (I used Pet evaporated milk, undiluted

1 teas vanilla

2 teas ground cinnamon

2 tables butter

2 apples, peeled and diced (I used golden delicious)

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375.

Grease a 9×9 baking pan. Cut up each raw cinnamon roll into small cubes and place in baking dish. Set aside.

Melt the butter with the brown sugar and diced apples in a skillet, over medium heat until sugar begins to bubble and caramelize. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, mix the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla until well blended.

Pour over the cubed cinnamon rolls in the baking dish. Top with the apple, sugar, butter mixture. Using the canned frosting, drizzle over the top of the apples.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until center of the baking dish tests done.

Serve with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream. * I had some of the brown sugar syrup left in the skillet which I poured over ours after dishing it up in the bowls. Fantastic! Think I will increase the butter and sugar next time so there will be more of the syrup to pour over each serving. It’s not even Fall yet, but Im excited about all the apple dishes which will be on our table, once the temps fall below 100.

Desserts · Fruit

Country Apple Dessert

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

Fall just says to me, “bake something with apples”. Going through a basket with recipes that had been torn out when we moved, I came across this quick easy recipe!

1 box (18 1/2 oz) yellow cake mix, with pudding

1/3 cup butter, softened

2 eggs, slightly beaten, divided use

1 can (21 oz) apple pie filling (be sure it is the apple pie filling and not just sliced apples!

1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, copped

1 teas cinnamon (I think I will use about 2 teas)

1 cup sour cream

1 teas vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bow, combine cake mix, butter and 1 egg by hand or by using the low speed on a hand help mixer.

Place in a ungreased 9×13″ baking dish and using hand, press the mixture to form a bottom crust. Spread apple pie filling evenly over mixture.

Combine brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples. In a small bowl, blend the sour cream, egg and vanilla.

Spread over the sugar mixture.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until topping is golden. Serve warm or room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.

Serves: 12

Cakes · Desserts

Happy Fall Ya’ll

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

Just can’t wait any longer, I am ready to celebrate temps falling below 100. And with that celebration comes pumpkins of all sizes and shapes. Peter Pumpkin (aka Randy) is just pacing the floor until I give him the go ahead to begin bringing all the boxes from the garage that store the Fall Trees and pumpkins that are just waiting to have a place in the house.

We have invited some friends over tonight to join us in celebrating It’s Almost Fall!  Because I still had some fresh oranges, I decided to make an Orange Cake for dessert after we go to Smash Burger.

Thought I would share how easy it was and how fresh the cake layers taste with substituting orange juice for the water.

One Duncan Hines French Vanilla Cake Mix

Mix the cake mix according to directions except substitute half of the water called for with orange juice. I used fresh squeezed, but using orange juice is just fine. I used the zest of one of the oranges and added that to the cake batter. Mix well and pour into 2 (9″) round cake pans. Bake about 24-25 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool and frost with Orange Butter Cream Frosting or Cream Cheese Frosting (the CC Frosting was posted yesterday with the Key Lime Cake recipe)

Buttercream Frosting

1 stick of softened unsalted butter (1/2 cup)

1 cup of Crisco Shortening

5 cups of powdered sugar

1 teas vanilla

zest of an orange

Enough orange juice to make frosting to spreading consistency.

Whip up the butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, orange zest and the orange juice, (about 1 tables at a time).

Frost the bottom layer that you have put on a serving platter, then place the 2nd layer on top. Frost the sides and then the top with the buttercream.2015-08-28 11.07.21

Maybe the cake will get Peter in a festive enough mood to start bringing in the boxes!

Desserts · Fruit · Holiday Fare

French Apple Creme Pie

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Taken again from the Gooseberry Recipes, a great pie for the cooler days that will soon be here. Surely, cooler days are coming, right?

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2 unbaked pie shells

Apple Filling:

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tables flour

1/2 teas cinnamon

1/2 teas nutmeg

1 Tables lemon zest, grated

5 cups Granny Smith applies, peeled and sliced

4 tables butter

Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add apples and stir to coat. Turn into one of the pie shells and dot with slices of the butter.  Top the pie with the remaining pie crust and cut a 2″ slit in the center of the crust for the air to escape while pie bakes.e ( usually sprinkle a little sugar over the pie crust before putting it in the oven.)

Bake for 10 minutes at 425 and then 30-35 minutes at 375. While the pie is baking, cook the crème sauce

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 tables lemon juice

3 oz package of cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

In a saucepan, combine eggs, sugar and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add cream cheese and sour cram. Take off heat and stir until well combined. Pour over slices of the apple pie when serving.

Desserts

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

I just can’t help myself. When I know that Fall is almost here, I start to pull out pumpkin recipes. Today, I even pulled out an orange shirt in honor of the first cool day being just around the corner (probably 40 to 60 days, but we will take it when we can get it). Orange shirt…orange pumpkins! Randy knows what this means. That the time is very near when he will be bringing in the boxes of Fall decorations from the garage. He is so excited! I told him that this year, I will find him a pumpkin t-shirt to get him really in the festive mood for our week of bringing all the pumpkins out. Does life really get any more joyous?

1 egg yolk

1 extra large graham cracker pie crust

2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened

1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (your preference, I use 3/4, does this really surprise anyone?)

2 eggs, room temperature

15 oz can of pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling but just plain pumpkin)

1 1/2 teas cinnamon

1/2 teas ginger

1/4 teas cloves

Garnish: whipped cream and toasted pecan sprinkled over the top, if desired

Beat the egg yolk and brush on the pie crust. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 5 minutes.

Set crust aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar.. Add the pumpkin and remaining spices and mix until throughly blended. Pour into pie crust and bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes or until set.

Cool and refrigerate several hours or overnight (covered after the first couple of hours of cooling)

Top with whipped cream and crushed pecans

Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Fruit · Holiday Fare

Skillet Apple Pie

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

All I can say is this….it was the best apple pie we had ever had and our friends who share it said the same thing. The brown sugar-butter sauce in the bottom of the skillet under the crust just oozes the best buttery flavor and you just stand there and scrape all that sauce out with a spoon. My sister-in-law had us over for Christmas Eve breakfast, and as we were just standing there talking, she began to make this pie for their dinner, so I helped peel apples and began to read over the recipe. After taking a picture of it to bring home, I decided that afternoon that I was going to make it Christmas day for our dinner. I am so glad I did.

Ingredients:

1 large iron skillet

2 pounds of Granny Smith apples

2 pounds of Braeburn apples

1 tables flour

2 teas cinnamon

3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used all light brown)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup firmly brown sugar

1 (14 oz) package refrigerated pie crusts (I used Betty Crocker box pie crust mix that you add water and roll out, I love the flakiness of this brand instead of the refrigerated ones)

2 tables granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Peel apples and cut into 1/2″ slices. Toss apples with cinnamon, flour and the 3/4 cup sugar (be it granulated or brown sugar, your choice, but use the brown, it is so good). Set aside.

Melt butter in a 10″ cast iron over medium heat; add the 1 cup of brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and place 1 piecrust in skillet over brown sugar mixture. Spoon apples onto crust and top with remaining crust. Sprinkle the 2 tables granulated sugar over the piecrust and cut 4 to 5 slits in top pie crust to allow steam to escape.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour to 1 hr and 10 min or until golden brown and bubbly.* (sometimes it might be necessary to place strips of aluminum foil around edges of pie crust to prevent over browning) I placed the skillet on a sheet of aluminum foil before placing in oven to avoid spills going over bottom of oven. Cool on a wire rack for about 30 min before serving with ice cream.

Uncategorized

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

2014-11-04 09.14.37

Taken from our Frisco Style Magazine I tore this recipe out and can’t wait to make these cookies. Our daughter from Phoenix is coming in for a few days on Thurs. I told her that in celebration of her sticking to a new exercise program and following a healthy diet plan, I will have cookies and pies ready to celebrate her weight loss. She didn’t sound very excited when I shared that with her on the phone just now…but maybe she just wasn’t fully awake yet.

Cookies:

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed solid

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup pumpkin

2 cups flour

1 teas baking soda

1/2 teas nutmeg

1/4 teas round cloves

1/2 teas ground ginger

1/2 teas salt

1 tables ground cinnamon

Frosting:

3 table butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teas vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. With a mixer, mix butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined. Add egg and vanilla to the mixture and continue to mix until well blended. Next stir in the pumpkin until mixture is an even orange color. Set aside.

Now, mix flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, salt and cinnamon until well combined. Pour the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture and mix well until dough is nice and smooth.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Using a spoon, make dough balls (I will use my medium sized dough scoop) and place them on the cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 min. *(I made them into bite size yesterday and baking time was reduced to 7 min 30 seconds)

While cookies are baking, start on the frosting. Add butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. After the frosting mixture begins to boil, remove it from the heat and let cool completely. Add the powdered sugar into the butter mixture and beat until no lumps remain. After cookies are cooled completely, frost with the finished frosting and use orange sprinkles or Autumn sprinkles. Keep in covered container

Desserts · Holiday Fare

Whipped Cream Pecan Pie

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

2014-10-27 16.20.38

This is the first pecan pie recipe that has whipping cream in it. And trust me, it is outstanding. Made it for dinner tonight. My sister-in-law and brother -in-law came over and we all agreed that it was fantastic. A little fluffier than the normal pecan pie, not quite as sweet and simply great.

3 eggs

2 tables melted butter

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teas vanilla

1/4 teas salt

3/4 cup white karo syrup

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 cup pecans

Unbaked pie shell

Beat the eggs. Add remaining ingredients except pecans. Place pecans in the bottom of the unbaked pie shell. Pour mixture over pecans. Bake at 450 for 15 min. Lower oven temp to 250 and finish baking, about 45 minutes. Cool and enjoy!