Brownies In Minutes, Turtle Styled with Marshmallow Creme

Brownies In Minutes, Turtle Styled with Marshmallow Creme

Hi everybody :)
I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been kind of busy around the house lately. But I do have a nice treat to share with you all today. My daughter and I were having some fun tweaking this recipe. This brownie was prepared in a microwave in less than 2 minutes. If you follow my blog, you'll know that I normally shy away from "microwave cooking," but today I'm taking the plunge. Seeing that the recipe didn't required eggs makes it so much easier for me to accept the challenge. (Cooking eggs, meats, or fish in the microwave is still taking me some time getting accustomed to.)   

Want a deliciously moist fudge brownie in less than 2 minutes? Well, let's get it started...   

Brownie In Minutes 

Modified from: Brownie In A Cup 

3 Tablespoons hot water
1/4 teaspoon instant coffee  (optional)
2 Tablespoons oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (I used 1 Tbsp. Special Dark & 1 Tbsp. Regular)
2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon Jif Mocha Cappuccino Spread or chocolate chips (optional)
1 - 2 Tablespoon chopped pecans, toasted  (optional)
4 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour (I used 2 Tbsp. all-purpose & 2 Tbsp. White Lily Self-Rising, to give it a little lift.) 

Topping  (optional)
Marshmallow Creme
Smucker's Caramel Ice Cream Topping or Homemade Caramel
Smucker's Fudge Ice Cream Topping  (I used Jif Mocha Cappuccino Spread) 
Toasted Pecans, chopped
 
Whisk together water, coffee, oil, and vanilla in a medium bowl. (You can use the microwaveable mug or dish you're cooking it in.  If you want to turn it out onto a dish after cooking, mix in a bowl and spray the mug or dish nonstick cooking spray before pouring in the mixture.)

Add the cocoa powder, sugars, mocha spread, and flour; stir until smooth. 

Place in a microwaveable mug or dish. Cook in microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. (It took me 1 minute and 15 seconds) Check after the 1 minute mark. Center should still be soft. (The picture below is how it looked when finished cooking.)

 Top with marshmallow creme, drizzle with caramel and fudge and sprinkle with nuts.

The Taste: AMAZING! REPEAT, if you dare!! :)
ENJOY! Come again...
Linked to: 
Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

The Mandatory Mooch Tasty Thursday
Show Case Your Talent  @What's Cooking Love
Thursday's Treasures Week 106
Foodie Fridays @ Designs By Gollum 
The Better Baker Weekend Potluck 
From the Farm Blog Hop
Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #74
Marvelous Mondays Link Party 67
Mop Up Mondays - I Should be Mopping the Floor 
Mix it up Monday!
Melt in Your Mouth Monday (Recipe Blog Hop #137)
Tuesday’s Table 
Tuesday Talent Show #104 

Mini Cherry Crisp Pies: Farewell Summer

Mini Cherry Crisp Pies 

Hi everybody :)

Summer is almost over and Fall is very near, YES :) This recipe is my celebration to the end of the sunny days, until we meet again Summer... Farewell. 
Since I had so many views on the Mini Peach Cobblers ,  I decided to make another mini dessert, Mini Cherry Crisp Pies. These little pies have a flaky buttery bottom crust, a crunchy topping, with a sweet and tart goodness in the middle. 

I wanted the taste of a crispy crunchy topping like in the Cinnamon Apple Crisp but with a buttery flaky crust like in the Praline Liqueur Pecan Pie, so I came up with a combination of both. Let's get it started... 

What I did...
 
Mini Cherry Crisp Pies 

Filling:
 4  cups sweet cherries, pitted 
1/2 cup Cherry Berry Blend (a mixture of dried cherries, blueberries, and cranberries)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup sliced almonds or pecans

Pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening, chilled
1/3 cup unsalted butter, chilled; cut into small pieces
5 to 7 tablespoons cold water  

To Prepare the Pastry:
In a large bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening and butter until crumbly. Gradually add cold water, tossing with a fork until a ball forms. Divide pastry in thirds. On a lightly floured surface, roll out ball to fit three 8 - 9 oz ceramic ramekins baking dishes. Transfer pastry to baking dishes; trim even the edges. 

Add filling. Roll out remaining pastry;

Preheat oven to 375°.

To Prepare the Filling: 
Combine cherries, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, cornstarch, juice, almond extract, and salt in a large bowl; toss gently. Spoon cherry mixture into  pastry shells.

To Prepare Topping: 
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in sliced almonds. 

Sprinkle oat mixture evenly over cherry mixture.

Bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is crisp. Let stand 5 minutes; serve warm.

What I Think:
The Taste:
I love the sweet/tart balance of the cherry filling. The dried sour cherries and the cranberries help offset the sweetness of the others cherries just right. The dried blueberries added a  nice touch too.  Like I mention before the topping and the crust were AMAZING!!! REPEAT AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE!
ENJOY! Come again...
 
Linked to: 
From the Farm Blog Hop
The Better Baker Weekend Potluck

Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party  @ Addicted Recipes

Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks 
Mop Up Mondays - I Should be Mopping the Floor
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Flour Me With Love: Mix it up Monday! 
Melt In Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms  
Titus 2 Tuesday 
Two Cup Tuesday No. 36 
Time to Sparkle!  
Tuesday-Talent-Show:  Chef In Training
Zentmrs: Tuesday Table
Wednesday Whatsits 
Wake-Up Wednesday 

Mini Peach Cobblers: Sweet Georgia Pride

Mini Peach Cobblers: Sweet Georgia Pride

Hi everybody :)

As you may know August is Peach Month, and since we Georgians pride ourselves on our peaches and are well- known for our peach cobblers, this recipe is so fitting for the occasion. 

I so love baking in large batches, but I have such a small family with a member or two MIA (missing in action) more often than not.  I'm starting to rethink my baking habits. I spotted this recipe for Southern Peach Cobbler on Allrecipes, and made a few changes and adjustments here and there to make mini cobblers. Here's what I did...

Mini Peach Cobblers
Filling:
6 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into wedges (Ga. grown; of course)
2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons Peach Schnapps (optional)
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup boiling water
Topping:
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
   
In a large bowl, combine the filling ingredients.  Toss to coat evenly, mashing slightly.  Cover, refrigerate, and let sit for about 2 - 3 hours. (This will allow the peaches to release more juice and the flavors to blend.)
Pour into three 8 ounces ceramic ramekin baking dishes. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. (filling will start to thicken)

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients for the crust. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined. (The hot water will start to melt the butter somewhat.)

Remove peaches from oven and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle cobblers with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. 

Bake until topping is golden, about 15 - 20 minutes. (It took me 18 minutes.)

What I Think:
The cobblers were delicious; spiced just right!! The smell of them baking was amazing. These are surely going on the REPEAT list :)   
BTW: a small bit of advice, if your are going to make the recipe as stated on Allrecipes, I would double the crust by 1/2 ( using 1 1/2 cup flour, 9 tablespoons butter, leaving the baking powder, salt as is;  and sweeten with sugars to taste  and 1/4 plus 2 Tbsp. water .)

ENJOY! Come again... 
Linked to: 



From the Farm Blog Hop
Show Case Your Talent  @What's Cooking Love
Show and Share Wednesday Semi-Homemade Mom 
Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Food-Tastic Fridays @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Foodie Fridays @ Designs By Gollum 
Friday Food Frenzy 823 
The Country Cook:: Weekend Potluck 
Melt In Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms 
Flour Me With Love: Mix it up Monday!
Mop Up Mondays - I Should be Mopping the Floor  
Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks
Skip To My Lou: Made by you Monday
Wake Up Wednesdays 
 Two Girls and a Party Link Up 32
               

Chocolate Fondue: The Chocolate 'Pool' of Love

  Chocolate Fondue: The Chocolate 'Pool' of Love 

Hi everybody :)
Bring your favorite chocolate dessert to Roxana’s Home Baking #chocolateparty and win amazing prizes from OXO, Calphalon, Keurig, Imperial Sugar, Honey Ridge Farms and Land O’ Lakes® Butter.

Since February is the shortest month of the year, we're taking our trip to 'Chocolate Land' a little earlier this time around. Hold on tight and buckle-up, have I got a chocolate treat for you! Today we're going for a dip in the chocolate 'pool' of love. 

If you're just tune in to my blog, every month I post at least 2 recipes dealing with chocolate, from the creamy white to the deepest dark that promise to fulfill  your chocolate fantasy  delight. If you missed a trip, don't worry there still time to play catch-up; just look under the Chocolate Label to reach your chocolate destination. But to ensure you won't have that problem, subscribe now and follow me. I will take you on an trip you won't soon forget :)

Next stop destination: Chocolate Fondue... let's get it started.  

Chocolate Fondue
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (mix with vanilla bean paste)

In heavy saucepan, over medium heat, melt chocolate chips and butter with EAGLE BRAND® and water. 

Cook and stir constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes.(Don't worry if it don't look that thick at first it will thicken the longer it sit.) Remove from heat. Add vanilla. (I added the vanilla too soon, then add a little more later)

Serve warm as a fruit and cookie/cracker dipping sauce or drizzle over ice cream or cake. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.
Source: All Recipes

What I Did and/or Think:

The only thing I did was add the vanilla too soon and added more later. I used pineapple chunks, strawberries, bananas, graham crackers, Chewy Quadrupled Chocolate Cookies and
Pound Cake Cookies as dippers, but the possibilities are endless. 

I'm sure you can make this with other white chocolate and milk chocolate, but I haven't tried it yet but I will be testing it out soon :)

The Taste: It WAS AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!! Very thick, rich, and chocolatey good. Yes! It is an A.G.R. ladies. (Another Great REPEAT).

Here's a strawberry for you :) until next trip...  

ENJOY! Come Again.... 



Linked to:
Katherine Martinelli: Valentine's Day Round Up
The Better Baker Weekend Potluck
Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  
The Mandatory Mooch Tasty Thursday 
Sweet 2 Eat Baking: Sugar & Slice Sunday 
Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks
Melt In Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms  
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop  
Flour Me With Love: Mix it up Monday!  
Recipe Sharing Monday @ Jam Hands 
Jaime @ Mom's Test Kitchen 
Roxana’s Home Baking #chocolateparty   

 

Pound Cake Cookies Shortcakes

Pound Cake Cookies Shortcakes

Hi everybody :)
It's a raining day here in Georgia, I think I'm going to hop back in bed after I post this. Back in 2011, I won a box of recipe cards from Beth of Baked by Beth, called One Smart Cookies. I decided to browse  through them the other day and stumbled across this recipe, Pound Cake Cookies. Being the southern girl I am, I had to give it a try. 

I wanted to make something extra special with the cookies, so I made them into another southerner's delight; Shortcakes! Let's get it started...

Pound Cake Cookies
1 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon vanilla, lemon, or almond flavoring

Cream together butter, shortening, eggs, and sugar. Add flour and flavoring and mix well. (I used lemon extract & added 1 teaspoon lemon zest.) (Dough will be sticky.)

Chill dough well; roll out into a lightly floured surface and cut cookies to the shape and thickness you like. (TIP: I mixed 1 part powdered sugar and 1 part flour together for rolling, instead of just flour. I divided in half & chilled overnight, the dough is much easier to roll and cut if cool. rolled to 1/4-inch thick, used medium heart shape cutter.) 

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. (I sprinkled with sugar crystals and baked for 8 minutes) Makes about 2 dozen.
Source: One Smart Cookie

Additional Ingredients:
Strawberries, washed, dried, and sliced
Cool Whip or sweetened whipped cream
 
To Assemble:
Place cookie on serving plate (I used 2 cookies sandwiched together). Add about 2 tablespoons of whipped cream or  en0ugh to cover cookie. 

Layered with strawberries, (I used 1 - 1 1/2 per layer) Repeat to form 3 layers of cookies and 2 layers of cream and strawberries. 

Garnish with a dollop of cream, topped with a strawberry.

What I did and/or Think:
The changes I made are in Bold, Italic, and Purple. I only made half of the recipe above. I tried to get thick cookies but the dough spread when baked, (I should have used all butter) so I put two cookies together when layering. If you want these to be thicker, bake them before cutting them or use all butter. (Shortening causes cookies to spread more.)

The Taste: The cookies are not overly sweet but they do have a wonderful flavor. They paired well with the strawberries and cream. I think this would also be great with other fruits as well. It is an A.G.R. (Another Great REPEAT).

This is also my favorite way to serve pound cake too :) 

ENJOY! Come again...




Linked to:
Katherine Martinelli: Valentine's Day Round Up 
The Better Baker Weekend Potluck
Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage
The Mandatory Mooch Tasty Thursday  
Sweet 2 Eat Baking: Sugar & Slice Sunday  
Melt In Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms   
Flour Me With Love: Mix it up Monday! 
Jaime @ Mom's Test Kitchen  

Sweet Potato Pie with Caramel Streusel Topping

Sweet Potato Pie with Caramel Streusel Topping

Hi everybody :)

Come join Love the Pie with Tidy Mom  sponsored by Whirlpool and enter to win a new Whirlpool Range! Hurry contest ends TOMORROW!!

Well, I'm making my second pie for the contest over at  Tidy Mom's blog. The Praline Liqueur Pecan Pie was delicious. 

When I saw the Taste of Home recipe, it was for a pumpkin pie, but I decided to change things up a bit. Hey, I'm a sweet potato girl :) but I'm still warming up to using pumpkin.  Here's what I did...

Sweet Potato Pie with Caramel Streusel Topping  adapted partly Taste of Home Baking, All NEW Edition

Ingredients

1 Pastry for a deep-dish single-crust pie 9 inches (I used Easy-As-Pie Crust)

For the Sweet Potato Filling: 

2 eggs
2 1/2 cups sweet potato, cooked
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves  

Streusel Topping:  

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup parked brown sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup chopped pecans 
1/2 cup caramel bits
 
Directions:
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Line a deep-dish 9-in. pie plate with pastry. Trim pastry to 1/2 in. beyond edge of plate; flute edges and set aside.

For the Sweet Potato Filling
In a bowl, whisk eggs, potatoes, cream, sugars, cinnamon, salt, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. 

Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, make the streusel topping.

For Streusel Topping
Mix flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, salt, nuts, sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Toss in nuts and bits. Sprinkle generously over pie. (I had about 1/2 cup leftover)

Bake pie 25 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Tent with foil to prevent crust from over-browning. Cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator.

  
What I Think:
IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!! REPEAT! REPEAT! REPEAT!! Since the caramel bits didn't melt I will use caramel topping to drizzle on after baking.

ENJOY! Come again...

Linked to:
4th Annual # Love the Pie Party 
Mop Up Mondays - I Should be Mopping the Floor
Melt In Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Mom  
Jaime @ Mom's Test Kitchen
The Bulletin Board @ Mrs Happy Homemaker 
Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks
My Meatless Monday: My Sweet and Savory
An original Belle: Make It Yourself Monday
Sew Can Do - Craftastic Monday Link Up Party
Sumo's Sweet Stuff - Market Yourself Mondays 
Keeping It Simple - Motivate Me Monday Link Party 
The Girl Creative: Just Something I Whipped Up 
Flour Me With Love: Mix it up Monday!
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop