Strawberry Freeze

I think one of my girls ‘taste tested’ it before I got the picture!

I took a break from trying new recipes and, well, cooking in general, for the entire month of April!  I didn’t make up my meal plans for the month and I didn’t really even  cook a lot!  I used up a lot of the meat I had in the freezer and added noodles or rice, with a frozen vegetable and called that dinner…..that is, when they weren’t have peanut butter for the millionth time!  Well, I am back on track and have my meals planned out for the whole month of May and I finished grocery shopping for the meals (using coupons, of course!)!  It does feel good to be back on track!  So, Monday I decided to make a new recipe I was holding on to.  It sounded and looked very delicious and I had the ingredients for it!

Here’s the recipe: (of course I found it off of Pinterest)

12 Chips Ahoy! Cookies

1 pkg. Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 can  frozen berry punch concentrate, thawed

3 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

1 cup crushed fresh strawberries

2 cups whole fresh strawberries

Make It

COVER bottom of 9-inch springform pan with cookies.

BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Gradually beat in punch concentrate. Whisk in Cool Whip and crushed strawberries until well blended. Pour over cookies.

FREEZE 6 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer 15 min. before serving. Let stand at room temperature to soften slightly. Garnish with whole berries just before serving.

My cake took longer to freeze.  It may have been because I was gone all day, after making the cake, to find the freezer was open just a bit.  It didn’t ruin any food, it just didn’t allow for the cake to freeze!  Everyone seemed to like it and didn’t complain too much they had to wait until the next day to try it!

It seemed a summery type dessert and was nice to have on a warm, sunny, spring day!

Enjoy!

Blueberry Cake

I found a leftover pint of blueberries in my basement refrigerator and decided a blueberry buckle or cake sounded good.  I hopped on to Pinterest, typed in blueberry cake and the first recipe I saw was very easy.  One specific ingredient the recipe called for drew me in……..fresh lemon zest!  My love affair with lemons convinced me this was the cake to make!  The recipe also called for the use of a spring-form pan, which I specifically bought a few months back to make cheesecake in.  I haven’t used it since then, so this clinched the fact that I needed to make this cake just to get more use out of my pan!  Of course, I used my Bosch to mix the cake in.  It only took a few minutes to make and tasted delicious.

Here’s the recipe:

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Serving Size: 6-8

Ingredients

1C all purpose flour

1t baking powder

1/2t salt

4 oz (1 stick) butter

1C sugar

1/4t vanilla

1t lemon zest

2 large eggs

2C blueberries, rinsed and drained

1t lemon juice

1t flour

powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F or 175C. Lightly grease and flour the 9″ spring pan or pie pan.
2. Combine 1C flour with baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium high speed for 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 more minutes. Add vanilla and lemon zest. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture, beating until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan.
4. Combine the berries with the 1t flour and the lemon juice in a bowl. Spoon the berries over the batter.
5. Bake for 45-60minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Remove form the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully slide a thin knife around the edges of the cake to release it form the pan. Transfer the cake to a platter.
7. Dust the cake with powdered sugar before serving.

I have three sizes of spring-form pans and thought the 9″ was too big.  The batter didn’t even fill half of the pan.

But, it did rise and somewhat filled the pan.

Maybe next time I will try it in my smaller pan, but I don’t think it really mattered.  Fresh, out of the oven, served with whipped cream equals one cake eaten in about 15 minutes!

 

Home Made Twinkies

I have never been fond of buying Hostess brand goodies, only because of the cost, but I am/was fond of their tastiness!  So, I have to confess that I am not saddened at the news of their closing down,  though I am sorry to see so many jobs being lost.  That is the real tragedy, not that the beloved snacks will no longer be made!  The good news with the lost snacks is there are recipes galore for Twinkies, Ho Ho‘s and Sno Balls all over the internet!  I have found it is much cheaper to make my own tasty treats than buy them.  I used to spend an average of $15 or higher for birthday cakes for the girls yearly.  That’s an average of $60 for cakes!  Making one from scratch may cost an average of $4 each.  That’s $16 per year!  What a difference in price!  Yes, it takes a little longer to make and may not have all the pretty colors on it, but it still tastes great and the girls love it!

Here is one for Twinkies (re-pinned from She Knows Food & Recipes)

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/852703/dont-suffer-from-hostess-brands-financial-woes-make-your-own-twinkies

Ingredients: 

For the cake: 

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the filling: 

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup light cream
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three mini loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar with a handheld mixer until thick. Slowly add in all other ingredients and beat until fully combined. Divide the batter among the mini loaf pans, filling about 3/4 full. Bake cakes for at least an hour, or until golden brown. Cool in pans and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
3. While cakes cook, prepare filling by mixing shortening, sugar, vanilla and light cream with a hand mixer. Once mixed, slowly add in sugar and beat until combined. Fill a pastry bag with frosting and cut a small hole.
4. Once cakes have cooled, carefully poke three holes in the bottom of the cakes. Pipe frosting into the holes until just filled. Cool for at least 20 minutes and enjoy!

Happy Sunday!

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Chocolate Cake

Yesterday was my daughter’s twelfth birthday. Where does time go? Way too fast! She wanted my home made chocolate cake for her birthday, so that is what I made. It is a very easy recipe! Two things I would change in the recipe is lessen the amount of sugar (it’s very sweet) and double up the frosting recipe so it spreads thicker on the cake. I melted a piece of 80% Lindt dark chocolate and mixed it in with the icing to lessen the sweetness. Doesn’t it also make the cake more healthful? Isn’t dark chocolate good for you? This is my excuse to have two pieces!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup Hershey’s cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Notes / Directions

For the frosting:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost. 10 to 12 servings.

4. For the frosting, melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups frosting.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Turned Out!

Good morning! So, first thing I had to do this morning was check on my cheesecake and see if and how well it set. I actually did it correctly! Having a spring-board really helped. The pictures above show it. Of course I had to “try” a piece….for breakfast…..I did have hot Orange Spice tea to balance the sweetness! It was good, though I wasn’t very fond of the graham cracker crust. It tasted bitter to me. I’ll have to find another recipe for the crust. Overall I am pleased with the results. Today is one of our scheduled off days from school. Nothing very special planned, just hang around!

Have a great day!