Flourless Chocolate Cake

This turned out awesome.  Really.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetend cocoa powder plus a couple tablespoons to dust pan

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a pan with non stick spray and dust with cocoa powder. In a double boiler melt together butter and chocolate chips. Remove when melted and whisk in sugar, eggs and cocoa powder. Pour into pan and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack and letting cool the rest of the way. You can top with frosting or drizzled chocolate or even sliced strawberries or raspberries but I think it’s good as is. Maybe a bit of whipped cream on top would be good. Or ice cream. Or caramel sauce. The sky is the limit!

Jelly Jar Deserts

I found some of these floating around the internet and was wondering what I was missing. Is this a new fad that I didn’t catch or is it something that only a couple people are doing and if so why? Well, so I tried a couple of them out and I have to say they are way cool. Super cool. I’ll be testing more out as I go along (and as I get more jelly jars, all of mine are tied up storing jelly for me).

Peach or Berry Cobbler in a Jar

1 pound frozen peaches or berries
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup Bisquick mix
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter melted

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 4 small (8oz) jelly jars with non-stick spray and set on a foil lined baking sheet.

Mix together the fruit, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon evenly into the 4 jars. In another bowl mix the Bisquick, sugar, milk and melted butter. Pour evenly over the fruit in the jars.

Put the jars into the oven while they are still on the lined baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly and the top is brown.

Let cool some before eating, because of the jars it might take hours. You can serve in the jars with a little whipped cream or a spoon of ice cream on top or just by itself…they are wonderful.

Monkey Bread in a Jar
1 tube refrigerator biscuit dough with each biscuit cut into quarters
1 ripe banana, diced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter melted
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 4 small (8oz) jelly jars with non-stick spray and set on a foil lined baking sheet.

Mix together the biscuit dough pieces, banana, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Spoon evenly into the 4 jars.

Put the jars into the oven while they are still on the lined baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is browned and slightly crispy.

Let cool some and eat right out of the jar.

Apple Pie Braid

I ran across a recipe for apple bread braid and it looked tasty but alas, I’m really bad at making bread. I decided to make it with pie crust (another thing I’m horrible at making but fortunately I can buy it ready to go). If you are good with bread you can try this that way though you’ll need to keep an eye on it for time as I’m not sure how long it’ll take.

Apple Pie Braid
4 granny smith apples
1/2 cup raisins or craisins
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon apple pie spice
1 refrigerator pie crust
1 egg for egg wash
1 tablespoon sugar (coarse or raw sugar would be best)

Preheat oven to 375. Wash, core and dice apples and place in a saute pan with the butter and raisins/craisins. Saute on medium heat until apples start to soften up a little bit. Add spices and brown sugar and saute a couple more minutes until the sauce starts thickening up. Take off heat and let cool down to room temp.

Roll out pie crust until it’s in a large oval shape (I just rolled mine out in one direction a couple times and it went from circular to the perfect shape). Cut pretty deep strips into the pie crust (deeper than mine in the picture). Once filling is cool pour onto pie crust and start folding the strips over alternating sides. Seal up the top and bottom with a little egg wash. Then egg wash the entire pouch and sprinkle the sugar over it. Bake for 45 minutes or until the pie crust is shiny and golden brown. Let cool and cut, serve with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream or just by itself. YUM!

Red Velvet Browinies

I am so making these next week….they look SOOOO yummy!

Original Link HERE

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter (at room temperature)
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp food coloring (red)
4 oz cream cheese (for frosting)
1/4 cup butter (for frosting)
2 cup powdered sugar (for frosting)
1 tsp vanilla (for frosting)
2 tbsp milk (as needed, for frosting)

Preheat oven to 350.

Butter and flour an 8 x 8 cake pan.

In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder, red food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to create a paste.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add remaining teaspoon of vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add in cocoa powder mixture. Beat until batter is completely red. (If at this time your batter is NOT red, you can add a little more food coloring if desired. Color will depend on brand.) Add flour and salt, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread in the 8 x 8 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting: Start with your ingredients at room temperature. Beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar, adding milk as needed to reach a spreadable consistency.

Chocolate Coconut Treats

I think these are kind of like haystacks but I’m not sure since I’ve never eaten one. But if you like almond joy candies you will like these.

Ingredients
2 cups chocolate chips or melting chocolate
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/4 cup chopped almonds (opional)

Place a small metal mixing bowl over a small sauce pan with 1 inch of water in it, the mixing bowl should not be in the pan or touching the water, you don’t want any steam to get into the chocolate. Turn heat on under the sauce pan to low. Put in your chocolate and let melt, stirring only when it’s mostly melted. Turn heat off when you start stirring. Once everything is melted add coconut and almond extract and almonds if you want them. Stir throughly until all the coconut is coated in the chocolate. If there is a lot of chocolate in the bottom of the bowl and all the coconut is coated you can add more coconut. Using two spoons scoop out little mounds of the coconut and place on a piece of foil or waxed paper. Let cool, you can also stick it in the freezer for a couple minutes, and store in an air tight container in the fridge or freezer.

Sour Cherry Rice Pudding

Sour Cherry Rice Pudding

Ingredients
1 cup water
3/4 cup arborio rice, rinsed and drained
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
Pinch salt
1/2 cup cherry juice
1 cup dried cherries
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
Directions
1. Combine water, rice and evaporated milk in a 2- to 3-quart round slow cooker.
2. In a small saucepan, cook the sugar and milk over medium-high heat for 1 minute or until bubbles appear around the edges and the sugar has dissolved. Stir into slow cooker with salt. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-1/2 hours.
3. While rice is cooking, bring cherry juice to a boil and pour over cherries in a small bowl; let stand 10 minutes. Drain, reserving juice.
4. Stir in the cherries, 3 tablespoons juice, cinnamon and nutmeg into slow cooker; cover and cook on LOW for 20 minutes more.
5. Turn cooker off and allow pudding to cool, partially covered, for 30 minutes.
Original Link

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp

Ingredients
Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Filling:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch wedges (10 cups)
Vanilla ice cream (optional)
Directions
1. Coat 2- to 4-quart slow-cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. Topping: In a small bowl, mix together flour, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add butter; work into flour mixture using a pastry blender or fingers until coarse crumbs form. Stir in pecans and set aside.
3. Filling: In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, ginger and cinnamon. Stir in apples; toss to coat.
4. Spoon apple mixture into slow cooker and sprinkle topping over it. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 4 hours, or until apples are tender. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired.
Original Link