Raspberry Cream Cheese Dessert

I LOVE raspberries, it is my most favorite berry... 

Except for maybe black raspberries pulling a close second. Since my moving to the farm, we have really got a nice red raspberry patch growing that absolutely thrills me. 

The red raspberries have been producing for a while now, but mainly just enough to snack on. Last weekend when we finished one of our big projects, we walked over to the patch and hung out there for about half an hour relaxing and munching on some berries. A couple days later... boom... Berries are in abundance and needing to be picked! I was ready to bake something amazing with them. I scoured through some of my cookbooks, then moved onto pinterest, and ended up doing some good old fashioned google searching and finally found what I was looking for!

You see, Truckin' Man LOVES cheese cake. Loves and adores it, his all time favorite dessert. He is always asking for me to make it for him. And, I did make it for his birthday, but really... we are two people who love to eat, so we do not need to have a dessert in the house like cheesecake to often. So, this recipe I thought was perfect! Cream Cheese, but not four packages of it. And, it was a huge success. It has enough cream cheese for the flavor to come through, but it is light! I don't feel nearly so guilty after indulging in a slice of this dessert! And, Truckin' Man was lovin' every bite of it, so I think we have finally found a cream cheese dessert to keep both of us happy!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Dessert  (Source: Foodess)

2 cups graham crackers, crushed
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup raspberries
Additional raspberries for garnish, optional


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray bottom of springform pan with cooking spray, then line with parchment paper. Set aside. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Stir until completely combined. Press into bottom of springform pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned around edges.

In large mixing bowl, beat softened cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, sugar, and lemon juice, mixing well. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. In small bowl, add raspberries and mash.  Gently fold berries into the cream cheese mixture.  Gently pour filling into parchment pan, smoothing top when done.  Refrigerate minimum of 4 hours.

Enjoy!

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Magic Custard Cake

What did we ever do before Pinterest? I know I had a bazillion bookmarks and half of them I never made it back to. Now, I can keep everything neat and tidy. In the right category so I can easily pull them up if I remember just part of the name even. A huge bonus when I don't have a great memory for recipe names.

I had seen a recipe traveling around on Pinterest and Facebook for a "Magic" cake, and it was just the cake I needed for something different to serve.  It was simple, but impressive. I was called Martha Stewart for serving this, and that was meant as a compliment!

It is a VERY thin batter, so don't panic like I did, it's ok! It does make some magic in the oven, and that thin thin batter transforms. I am going to try the chocolate variation of this next. I am really excited for that twist.

Please note.... this is not lemon, and mine are extra "yellow" because of the farm fresh eggs.

Magic Custard Cake (Source: Hugs & Cookies  and   Jo Cooks)

4 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
2 cups milk, room temperature
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 F degrees. Grease a 8 inch x 8 inch baking pan, then line with parchment paper.
Separate the eggs.  Add egg whites to bowl and mix at medium high speed until egg whites are stiff. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light in color. Add the melted butter and vanilla.  Beat for two minutes. Add flour and mix until fully incorporated.

Slowly add the milk to the egg yolk mixture, beat until well combined.  Add the egg whites, folding them in, a third at a time. Once egg whites are incorporated, repeat with another third until  all egg whites are completely incorporated.

Pour batter into baking pan and bake for 50 to 70 minutes or until top is lightly golden. Insert knife near edge, if it comes out clean the cake is done.

Cool completely and dust with powdered sugar.

Enjoy :)

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Flourless Chocolate Pecan Cake

I have read so many recipes for flourless cakes, and see pictures of these rich fudgy cakes without flour, but just hadn't been able to bring myself to invest the time or ingredients. That all changed recently. I was watching an episode of Pati's Mexican Table and she made Nana Jose's Flourless Chocolate Cake. It had been in her husbands family for years. So, not just a recent trending fad, but a tried and true family recipe. Ok, I was getting more interested. And, it had Pecans! When in South Carolina, my friend Missy sent home lots of Pecans from their tree's, so I have been wanting to try more pecan recipes.

This recipe could not be easier!  Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler, and then the rest is done in the blender. Seriously, can it get any easier than that? Into the oven, it went. I was still really nervous that this whole thing was not going to go well, but when I pulled it out of the oven, everything was still good. I let it rest for a couple hours, and served it for dessert that night.

Rich, fudgy, everything I hoped it would be. Truckin' Man loved it, too. Rich enough that he even wanted smaller slices than normal.  He didn't even guess anything was different about this cake, until I told him. The next day, I took some into work for the crew to try. My friend that is on a gluten free diet loved it. I was happy that she was finally able to enjoy some of my baking!

Flourless Chocolate Pecan Cake (source: Pati's Mexican Table)

1/4 cup unsalted butter 

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate 
1 cup pecans 
6 large eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract 
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp kosher salt
Confectioners sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray, then line bottom with parchment paper.  

Melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring occasionally. Once melted, set aside to cool. 

Add pecans to blender, chop until pecans are very fine. To the pecans, add eggs, vanilla, sugar, salt and cooled chocolate.  Blend until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes.  Cake is done with a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a moist crumb. 

Cool for 20-30 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen the cake. Remove side of pan and serve on bottom of pan. Or, if you want to serve on a plate, place serving plate upside down over cake; turn plate and cake over. Remove bottom of springform pan. Dust top of cake with Confectioners sugar. 

Enjoy!

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Mom's Creme de Menthe Cake

This past weekend we invited a neighbor gentleman over for dinner, and I know how much he loves having a home cooked meal. Since it is such a treat for him, I try to make a full course meal, including dessert, whenever he joins us. 

This past week I knew I had cut my meal prep time to short and was going to need to find a short cut somewhere. I tried remembering some tried and true desserts that would be fast to prepare. Somewhere out of my memory bank, I remembered my mom's Creme de Menthe Cake. It has probably been twenty some years since Mom made this cake, so long in fact, she didn't even remember this recipe. Thankfully, my memory can be sharp as a tack on odd trivial pieces of info, so I knew the exact book where she had the recipe. Mom scanned it, emailed it, I went shopping, and the cake was a hit!

This is so simple. Perfect quick answer to an impressive cake. You know it's good when the neighbor gentleman, politely asked if he might be able to take a little bit of cake home with him!

Mom's Creme de Menthe Cake (Source: My Mom)

1 box white cake mix
4 Tbsp Creme de Menthe, divided
8 oz tub Cool Whip
6 oz Hershey's Fudge Topping
Green food coloring (optional)

Make cake following directions on box, adding two tablespoons of Creme de Menthe. Bake cake following directions for 9x13. Cool cake.
Once cake has cooled, warm 6 ounces of fudge topping. Warm it enough that you can pour and spread it on the cake (you don't want it so hot that it runs off the cake). Spread fudge topping, completely covering cake. Set cake in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, add remaining Creme de Menthe, and green food coloring to Cool Whip. I added three drops of food coloring to get the shade of green I was looking for. Spread over top of fudge layer.

Refrigerate until serving.  Enjoy!

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Chocolatey Rice Krispie Bars

Hershey's Drops. Have you tried them? I LOVE them. They are one of my favorite candies. 

We seem to always have a bag laying around.

Sometimes, it is the simplest recipes that are the best. What to do when you have extra candy laying around, just add it to Rice Krispie Bars! Remember my Overloaded Rice Krispie Bars? Well, these are super yummy too, but not so crazy sweet. With these Chocolatey Rice Krispie Bars, you CAN have two!  Really... It's ok... Go ahead and have another one!

Chocolatey Rice Krispie Bars
3 Tbsp butter
1 - 8 oz pkg Hershey's Drops
1 - 10 oz pkg marshmallows
6 c. Rice Krispies

Butter a 9 x 13 inch pan, and set aside.  Set aside 1 cup of the Hershey's Drops.  Take remaining chocolate candies and rough chop for topping.

In large saucepan melt butter and the reserved 1 cup of Hershey's Drops over low heat.  Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.  Remove from heat.  Add Rice Krispies, stirring until coated.  Pour into the prepared pan, and use buttered spatula or piece of wax paper, press evenly into pan.

Sprinkle with chopped candies.  Let set for 15 minutes.


Enjoy!!!

Printable Recipe

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Chocolate Edition of Foodie Friends Friday

Pistachio Torte

Pistachio Torte dessert was such a favorite of mine growing up. It was one that my grandma would make for us often.  This isn't the same Grandma I have mentioned before, this recipe was from my dad's mom. Whenever we went back home to visit, she would pull a pan out of the freezer, and I would be so happy! 

Eating this dessert was back in the day before I was such a foodie, and loved recipe's as much as I do now. A few years after Grandma passed, I remembered her Pistachio Dessert, and wanted to make it. I really had no idea what it entailed. I just remembered Pistachio pudding, and some other layers with Heath bars crushed up for sprinkles on top. I searched every church cookbook I had that Grandma had recipes submitted to, never with any luck. I had checked with my Gram to see if she knew the recipe. Never any luck. I'd given up hope. Then one day, one of my cousin's asked if I would like some of our grandma's recipes... WHAT?  YES PLEASE! Thankfully, she had the Pistachio Torte dessert. I was so happy. 

After seeing the recipe, I realized it had been in front of my face for a long time. My southern blogger buddy over at South Your Mouth had posted her Chocolate Delight recipe, and I had seen her picture and read her recipe, it never occured to me, that this recipe was so similar to the one I was looking for, but with a different flavor pudding.  My grandma had a few different twists, but it was so similar.  If I hadn't been so focused on the Pistachio, I might have had an easier time finding the recipe.  Sometimes, I get a little to focused on the details to see the big picture.   

Pistachio Torte 

1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. finely chopped nuts (Walnuts, Almonds, Pecans)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c. Cool Whip, divided
1 c. powdered sugar
2 small (3 oz) pkg. Pistachio instant pudding mix
3 c. milk
Heath Candy Bar, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour and nuts.  Cut in butter until you have a crumbly mixture.  Pat in bottom of greased 9 x 13” pan.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until light golden color.  Cool.

While crust is cooling, beat cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until combined.  Fold in 1 cup of Cool Whip. Spread over the cooled crust.

Mix pudding and milk until combined.  Spread over cream cheese layer.  Top pudding layer with remaining Cool Whip.  Garnish with chopped Heath Bar.  

Place in freezer for 2 to 3 hours.  Remove from freezer 20 minutes before serving.



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Frozen Fudge Bites

Do you have that one sweet treat from your childhood that you remember as being the best treat ever?  My mom made Frozen Fudge Bars, and they were soooo very much my favorite! We didn't get them often, but we loved when she would make a batch up. She would pour 'em into the cupcake pans and go back later and placed the stick in after they had set-up for a while. Then, when they were all frozen into their fudge destiny,  for a few minutes on the hot summer days, my sister and I wouldn't be whining. We would be sitting there enjoying the fudge bars, and Mom had a few minutes of peace and quite.

I thought those Bars would be a nice refreshing treat this week since the temps and humidity are horrible. I did change 'em up a little bit, and made them in my mini-muffin pan, so they will be just a pop-able bite of chocolate fudge goodness!

They still do the trick, and get me to stop whining about the heat :)

Frozen Fudge Bites

1 pkg (4 oz.) instant chocolate pudding

2 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

1 c. evaporated milk

Sprinkles (optional)

Mix pudding as directed on package.  Next, add sugar and evaporated milk. Mix well. Cool for 5 minutes.  

If you want to add some fun sprinkles, add them to the "mold" before you pour the pudding mixture in.  Pour pudding into paper cups, molds, or muffin pan.  Add sticks if needed.  Freeze. 

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Upside Down Strawberry Meringue Pie

One of my girlfriends has started a pick your own strawberry farm, so knowing that picking season was almost here, I started thinking of what I wanted to make this year. I remembered a pie I used to make back in the days when I used to make pies all the time. Those days had left, and so had my cookbook, apparently. 

Anyone else ever get rid of that one cookbook that you later kick yourself for not hanging on to???  I have been the last two weeks. I guess that is the risk involved when you move so many times, and try to downsize and get rid of things you "think" you no longer need. After some research I thought I could recreate it. Mainly from memory, but I was having problems remembering the filling. Finally, thanks to a blog I stumbled across, Carries Sweet Life, I thought I could put all the elements together.  

Lesson learned??? Before you get rid of ANY cookbooks, make sure that you have copied or written down any recipes you may ever want to recreate again!

Upside Down Strawberry Meringue Pie

1 1/2 squares semi-sweet chocolate

1 prepared 9 inch pie crust (yes, I cheated)

2 egg whites

1/4 c. sugar

2 1/2 c. berries (divided)

1/3 c. sugar

2 T. cornstarch

1/2 c. water

1 c. whipping cream

1 T. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

Grated chocolate for garnish

In microwave, melt 1 1/2 squares of semi-sweet chocolate.  Once melted, pour onto crust. Spread evenly so the entire crust is covered. Chill until set.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Bring egg whites to room temperature. Add egg whites to large stainless steel bowl.  Beat on medium-high speed, until soft peaks have formed.  Gradually add 1/4 c. sugar. Continue beating on high speed, until stiff peaks have formed.  Spread on top of chocolate covered crust.  Bake at 325 degrees, for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden.  Set crust aside to cool.

In medium saucepan, add 2 c. berries, and mash. Add sugar.  Bring to boil, over medium high heat, stirring frequently.  In small bowl, whisk cornstarch, and water.  Gradually add cornstarch mixture to boiling strawberry mash.  Reduce heat, and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Cool.

Once strawberry mixture has cooled, poor over cooled meringue.  Chill until set.

Once set, before serving, prepare whipped topping. In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat.

Garnish with remaining berries, and grated chocolate.


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Cowboy Cake

Geeez...  those cookbooks got dusty!  I have spent so much time online looking at the great recipes, that my cookbooks got quite the layer of dust on them!  I didn't realize this until I started digging through some of my mom's cookbooks last weekend,  just looking for something different. Once home, I realized how long it had been since I had looked at my own cookbooks! 

I did find a dessert recipe for the weekend, and was ready to make it today.  When I was prepping earlier, my Truckin' Man got a little worried when he found me making a second pot of coffee ( I get a little bit jittery if I drink to much!).  But, when I told him it was for his cake today, he was relieved and happy to know there would be cake waiting for him when he gets home today :)

This is a one pan cake recipe.  I love that there is virtually no clean up! It turned out so good.  I was a little worried about adding cider vinegar to a cake, but there was no need to worry.  It is super chocolately goodness! Very moist.  Perfect!  I didn't even miss having frosting on it.  

Cowboy Cake

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. cocoa

2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2/3 c. vegetable oil

2 T. cider vinegar
1 T. vanilla

2 c. cold coffee

1/3 c. sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In an ungreased 9x13 baking pan, sift together flour, 1 1/2 c. sugar, cocoa, soda and salt.  

Make 3 wells in the  mixture; pour oil in one, vinegar in one, and vanilla in one.  Pour in coffee and stir all with a fork until well mixed.  Spread into an even layer.  

Combine 1/3 c. sugar and cinnamon.  Sprinkle half of this mixture of the batter.  

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  Sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over hot cake.  Cool 30 minutes before cutting.

Enjoy :)

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The Best (Texas) Chocolate Sheet Cake

Today, I am at home relaxing during my first snow day in years.  The last time I had a snow day was 1991, so I think I am entitled!!  Granted, I could have made it in today, but the office is fully staffed and it will be a quiet day, so why should I deal with horrible roads? The office managers are a wonderful husband/wife team that are making their two and a half hour drive to work today, and I am not going to drive my pathetic 18 miles?  I really can justify staying home, I think..!  If there wasn't so much ice under the snow, I would suck it up and go.  But, my boyfriend is probably being forced into taking the day off due to roads conditions, and someone needs to be home to make him lunch, right??? If only my co-worker that lives down the road another 3 miles hadn't made the drive in at 5 a.m. I think that is the part that is making me feel a little on the guilty!

Over the weekend, I went to Pinterest to look at the recipes I had saved, and decided to make one.  The Best (Texas) Chocolate Sheet Cake was grabbing my attention in my need to have chocolate.  The pin took me to the recipe as posted by NancyCreative who had adapted it from The Pioneer Woman.  It is insanely chocolatey and moist beyond words. Every bit as good as the picture looked!  After it was finished, I had a small piece, and kept cutting "slivers" each time I walked past.  Next thing I know, there was a whole row gone... Did I do that???

Once I had the cake in the oven and was getting ready to make the frosting, I did make one change for us.  In an effort to not use a full pound of better in this recipe, I cut the frosting measurements in half.  It isn't a thick frosting, but it is plenty for us! I did bake the cake in a 10x15, since that is my largest pan.  If you have a 13x18, use that and you will have an easier time getting the frosting to not run over the edges!

The Best (Texas) Chocolate Sheet Cake 

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 c. sugar

1/4 t. salt

4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

2 sticks butter

1 c. boiling water

1/2 c. buttermilk 

2 large eggs, beaten

1 t. baking soda

1 t. vanilla

FROSTING

6 T. butter

2 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

3 T. milk

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 lb. powdered sugar

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Melt butter in a saucepan and add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. If using nuts, chop them finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the nuts, stir together, and pour over warm cake. 

***Note*** If you want the full frosting amount, double the measurements I listed.  I was trying to cut back on the amount of butter used!!

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