Key Lime Pie

I know this is a funny post to follow one about rededicating myself to working out, but what can I say? I'm a funny gal.

And I am so glad I now have this recipe in my summer entertaining repertoire - simple, tangy and sweet, it hits all the high notes. The use of regular old limes may seem like sacrilege, but seriously? Have you ever juiced a teeny tiny key lime? Those things can give you carpal tunnel. It's a welcome (and totally indistinguishable, taste-wise) substitution, in my opinion. Plus, you're already using vanilla pudding mix, so cut yourself some slack. Don't worry though - it's  honestly as good, if not better, than recipes that take twice as long.



Key Lime Pie
From Cook's Country


Ingredients:

For crust:

• 8 graham crackers, broken in to large chunks
• 2 tbs sugar
• 5 tbs melted butter

For filling:

• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 tbs grated lime zest
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 c. instant vanilla pudding mix (don't ask me what to do with the remaining powder. Making pudding will now involve math.)
• 1 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin
• 1 c. fresh lime juice (from 6-8 limes)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a springform pan with a circle of parchment. Pulse crackers and sugar in food processor until fine. Process while adding butter in stream through tube of processor. Carefully press crumb mixture evenly into bottom of pan. Bake for 12 minutes, until brown at edges. Cool completely.
2. For the filling, process zest and sugar until fine and bright green. Add cream cheese and process until smooth. Add condensed milk and pudding. In a small bowl, combine gelatin with about 2 tbs of lime juice. Stir until dissolved and then add that to the processor and blend. Continue blending while pouring juice and vanilla through tube. Scrape down sides once or twice along the way.
3. Spray inner sides of springform with non-stick spray. Pour filling in and refrigerate for at least three hours. Remove from pan and serve.

Chocolate chip banana bread

I have a soft spot for Starbucks pastries. Okay, who am I kidding? I have a soft spot for most pastries. And that causes a lot of soft spots on my body. But anyway, I really do love their chocolate chip banana bread and have had it on my mind recently.  Somehow, despite buying bananas every single week, we rarely have a few nice ripe ones on hand. This is because Chris is what I call a "banana martyr". No matter how many times I tell him not to worry about the browned ones - I'll just freeze them and bake with them later - he makes a point of clearing out the fruit bowl for his lunch whenever he sees them. He thinks he's doing me a favor, falling on the rotting fruit grenade, but he isn't. Well, I finally convinced him to let a few escape and go past their prime.

Forgive the photo - if you can't tell by the melty, oozing chocolate, this was fresh out of the oven and I was a little over-eager to put my camera down and finish my slice.

Chocolate chip banana bread
Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 good sized bananas)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine the first five ingredients in a bowl and set aside*. 
3. Beat butter in mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar until well combined and creamy, then beat in eggs one at a time. Add banana, lemon juice and vanilla. 
4. Pour mixture in to loaf pan. Bake for about an hour, until top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. 

*The original recipe called for separating the chips and layering them in the middle of the batter. I didn't find that necessary. The chips dropped to the bottom a bit, but it didn't bother me. 

Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Colin's little daycare class is having a Valentine's party tomorrow where I'm sure the cuteness will be off the charts. I asked his teacher if we could send cookies instead of cards and she was all for it. I promise I'm not trying to show the other parents up or anything - just taking advantage of the opportunity to try a new cookie recipe and then quickly get the delicious outcome out of the house. The combination of dried cherries and chocolate is one of my favorite because of the balance of tart and sweet.

Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Inspired by these, since I am still trying to meet my two Living recipes per month quota, but I ran out of flour and had to improvise with an oatmeal recipe at the last  minute)
Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 c. quick oats
• 1 c. dried cherries, chopped
• 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment and spray with cooking spray.
2. Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla. 
3. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in to butter and sugar mixture. Slowly add oatmeal, cherries and chocolate chips. 
4. Spoon on to baking pans in ping pong size balls, careful not to crowd the pan.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

What do you mean, "It's only Wednesday"?

I typically hate weekday whining as much as the next person. Poor you, another case of the Mondays. Can't wait 'til Friday? Me neither. Whaa whaa whaaa it sucks to have to leave the house five days in a row. WE KNOW. But today, I am wholeheartedly joining the chorus. This week has been kicking my ass and taking my name, relentlessly, every single day.

I owe  my sanity to three things: lunchtime yoga (genius), beer in frosty mugs and these:

My first quick attempt at one of my 2011 Goal Foods: turtle brownies.  Chopped up caramel pieces (1 cup), chopped pecans (1 cup) and brownie mix (Ghiardelli Triple Chocolate. Don't look at me like that, Chris Kimbal. They're goood.).

Gourmet? Maybe not. Soul restoring? Absolutely.

More Giftable Sugar

I like making candies and goodies and whatnot, but I have a fear of anything that involves a candy thermometer. That's too much pressure. It means that if I'm off by one of two degrees -- ka plow!! Hot melted sugar explodes all over my kitchen and it's the end of society as we know it. Okay, maybe not. But I'm still intimidated by recipes that call for constant temperature monitoring. Soooo, for the past couple of years I have totally cheated and used Rachael Ray's Five Minute Fudge Wreath recipe to make yummy chocolate treats (and yes, that photo is atrocious). I branched out a bit this year and took my fudge making to the next level. A recipe that called for actual boiling of butter and sugar. I'm getting there . . . I'm getting there.

Cherry Almond Fudge
Adapted from FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds,
• 1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

• Combine butter, evaporated milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a hard boil for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly.
  
• Remove from heat. Stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth. Fold in the almonds and cherries. Add vanilla.
  
• Pour into an 8 by 8-inch square baking pan. Chill until firm, about 2 to 4 hours. Cut into 12 squares.

Chocolate Pecan Bars

I just made these for my dad's birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!) and as a back-up Thanksgiving dessert. They are simple, pretty darn good and go well with morning coffee. Next time, I think I might incorporate some caramel squares to try to make them more turtle-ish in nature.

Chocolate Pecan Bars
Makes 15-24 bars, depending on how generous you're feeling. Adapted from epicurious.com. One of the reviews on the site noted a too-soft crust - I accidentally omitted the egg the original called for and my crust was fine, so I'd recommend doing that.


Ingredients:

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 tsp salt

Filling

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups chopped pecans, plus a few halves for decorating
  
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix crust ingredients in food processor or with a pastry blender. Press into buttered 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes.
  
• For the filling, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Beat in the flour, the vanilla, and the salt and then stir in the pecans and the chocolate chips.
• Pour into crust and smooth out. It helps if the crust is still warm so that the chocolate melts a bit as you smooth it. Decorate top with pecan halves, if desired. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown and firm.
  
• Allow to cool and cut into squares.
  

Healthier Pumpkin Treats

As much as I love my Pumpkin Cupcake recipe, my jeans can only take so much. So how's a gal to get her fix during this glorious season of pumpkins pastries? I found a recipe from Cooking Light that sounded great, but 2 cups of sugar? How “light” is that? Plus, I thought I could health-ify it a bit more by substituting some wholesome whole wheat flour instead of plain old white. The result was pretty tasty, though not quite as dessert-like as a lot of pumpkin breads. It would be stellar with vanilla ice cream, though.

Unfortunately, our camera died this weekend so I didn’t get a picture (but – woohoo! New Sony Cybershot come to mama!). I’ll warn you that the tops didn’t come out quite as glossy as I expected, but they were quite dense and moist on the inside.

In the meantime:

Donkey Dragon says "Happy Howl-oween!"

Pumpkin Bread and/or Muffins
Makes 1 loaf and 6 muffins, or 2 small loaves.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup Splenda
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
• 1/2 cup raisins
• Cooking spray

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Combine flour and next 9 ingredients (through nutmeg) in a large bowl.
• In a separate bowl, combine canola oil, eggs, and pumpkin in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in raisins.
• Spoon batter into pans (I made one loaf and six muffins, but the original recipe is for 2 loaves) coated with cooking spray.
• Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean (20-30 minutes for muffins).
• Cool and slice

Cheaters' Chocolate Amaretto Cake

This is such a simple cake, but is incredibly moist and has a rich, satisfying chocolate flavor. The ganache glaze is delectable. So what's the "cheater" part, you ask? Well, aside from breaking any low-cal diet you might have planned, the ingredients are far from scratch, yet still impart a great homemade flavor. Essentially, the cake is an edited version of the famous Bacardi rum cake recipe, staple of '60s housewives everywhere and one of my personal favorites. Do yourself a favor and serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

We also shared a few sips from a bottle of Chyrsalis Vineyards Petite Manseng. The bottle recommended a "lighter" dessert paring, but whatever, they're not the boss of me. Mmm ... look at that glaze. I think I want to be buried in a tub of ganache.

Ingredients for Cake:

• 1 package devil's food cake mix
  
• 1 package vanilla instant pudding (3.4 oz)
• 1/2 c. Amaretto (I use a chocolate amaretto, but regular is fine)
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 1/2 c. water
• 4 large eggs

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat bundt pan with cooking spray.
  
• Combine first five ingredients in mixer, add each egg one at a time. Mix until smooth.
  
• Pour batter into bundt pan and bake for about an hour. Cake is done if you can press it lightly with your finger and it springs back.
• Allow to cool for about 20 minutes. When pan is cool to the touch, run long knife around edges and invert cake on to plate. Cool for another 20 minutes, the spoon ganache over (recipe below)

Ingredients for ganache (adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor):

• 1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1 tbs. amaretto
  

Directions:

• In saucepan, bring cream to boil over medium heat while stirring. Place chocolate chips in separate heat-proof mixing bowl.
  
• Pour boiling cream over chocolate chips, stir constantly until smooth.
  
• Add amaretto and continue stirring. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before spooning over cake.
  

Cherry Cordial Brownies

Brownies are definitely my go-to dessert. They're easy. There are a million ways to dress them up. They're crowd-pleasing. What's not to like? Here I took one of my stand-by recipes for creme de menthe brownies and switched out the liqueur for chopped maraschino cherries. The resulting brownies taste deliciously akin to chocolate covered cherries. In this first test batch, the cherry layers were a bit runny (though still good), but that's probably because I got cocky and tried adding extra cherry juice to the mixture.

Cherry Cordial Brownies

Ingredients:

• One batch of your favorite brownie recipe, baked in 9x13" pan and cooled. (My favorite is usually courtesy of the fine folks at Ghiardelli. wink wink nudge nudge. )
• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 2 c. confectioners sugar, sifted
  
• 1 16 oz. jar maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
• 1/4 c. butter (yes, more)
• 6 oz (half a package) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Cream 1/4 c. softened butter, gradually add confectioners sugar. Once smooth, add cherries and stir to combine.
  
• Spread cherry mixture over brownies. Chill1 hr.
  
• Melt remaining butter and chocolate chips in double boiler, stirring often. Pour melted chocolate over cherry layer, smoothing with rubber spatula. Chill 1 hr.
  
• Cut in smallish squares (these babies are sweeeet) and enjoy!