Chocolate Bonbon Pops

I made these last week for Bible Study. I missed the part at the beginning where the recipe says “your kids will love this Christmas treat…” I made them for the ladies, the week before Easter…and yes, they did love them. I did use orange liqueur (because I was making them for the ladies), they tasted great!

Another Quick and Easy Dessert

 
I had almost everything on hand for this quick and easy dessert. Another big hit at Ladies Bible Study.

Olive Garden Lemon Cake compliments of Lauren

My sister sent me this recipe after trying it for dessert one night when they were out. It is certainly not hard to make but I had a disaster in the kitchen! Maybe it was because I was trying to bake cookies and make a cake at the same time. One of these days I will learn that multitasking is just not for me.



Here is the recipe. I have not tasted it yet, as it is for Bible Study tonight but I will report back!

Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake
"Delicate white cake and lemon cream filling with a vanilla crumb topping."


Ingredients
1 white cake mix,prepared

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups powered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks
3 tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup powered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tbsp. butter


Directions
Prepare cake as directed in a 10" round cake pan or 10" round spring form pan.
Blend cream cheese, powered sugar, and lemon juice together. In a medium bowl, whip heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold into cream cheese mixture and blend by hand. Chill until needed.

Mix flour and powered sugar in small bowl. Crumble butter in and dribble in vanilla extract. The crumbles should be no larger than pea size. If you have trouble crumbling mixture, chill for a few minutes. Chill until needed.

After cake is cooled, cut in half. Spread cream cheese mixture, saving 1/2 cup, on bottom half and carefully place top layer back. Spread rest of cream cheese mixture on the sides of cake. Press crumb topping into sides gently.

Chill for 3 hours. Cut into 12 pie shaped slices. Makes 12 servings.

Mocha Brownies

A little bit of coffee and a whole lotta butter – this IS what makes a great brownie!
This recipe comes from The Pioneer Women Cooks a wonderful cookbook that I received for Christmas. The best part of this cookbook is all the wonderful step by step photos that show you exactly what to do. The worst part of this cookbook is comparing my finished product to the photo of PW’s finished product. It might not look the same, but the taste is all that matters and these brownies tasted fabulous. The ladies at Bible study tonight didn’t care about the calorie content of this dessert, they were actually a little disappointed that I cut the icing recipe in half. So, indulge! Grab a pound of butter and enjoy these brownies!

Brownies

Four 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
½ pound (two sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour

To make the brownies – preheat oven to 325 degrees, spray an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick baking spray.
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate in 30 increments, being careful not to let it burn. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs.
With the mixer on low, drizzle in the melted chocolate. Add the vanilla and mix.
Add the flour and mix, just until combined. Do not over mix.
Pour the batter into the baking dish. Spread to even out the surface. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the center is no longer soft.
Set the brownies aside to cool completely before icing.

Mae’s Mocha Icing

½ pound (2 sticks) butter
5 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ to ¾ cup brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla.
Mix until slightly combined, then add ½ cup coffee. Whip until icing is desired consistency, if the icing is overly thick, add more coffee. It should be very light and fluffy.
Spread the icing thick. Refrigerate until the icing is firm, then slice into squares. Makes 16 brownies.

Dessert, Quickly!

Finally after the holidays, (oh, did they end a month ago?), we are back to Thursday Night Women’s Bible Study and Dessert. Thursday’s seem to come quickly and with no time to plan ahead, I happened to have these 3 things in my cupboard. Carr’s Whole Wheat Biscuits, Marshmallow Fluff and Semi-Sweet Chocolate. The recipe called for Bittersweet chocolate, but Kellee’s substitution dictionary told us semi-sweet would work. Add a little vegetable oil and carefully follow directions…because the chilling part IS essential, and within 30 dessert for the ladies. And they were very good! The recipe comes from the Dessert Express Cookbook.

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

12 Carr’s Whole Wheat Biscuits
1 ½ cups marshmallow fluff
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate finely chopped (or semi-sweet chocolate chips)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Put the biscuits on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Top each biscuit with a rounded heaping tablespoon of fluff. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up.
2. Combine the chocolate and oil in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes, stir until smooth. Spoon some chocolate over each biscuit to coat completely.
3. Return the baking sheet to the freezer for another 10 minutes, until chocolate is set. Refrigerate for up to 6 hours, until ready to serve.

Cupcakes and More

A few months ago, I purchased Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook. It finally cried out to me and last week I made TWO kinds of cupcakes. I made the Pumpkin Brown-Butter cupcakes for Bible study on Thursday, (yes, I am a week behind again). These cupcakes didn't last a day! A few days later I made the Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes. We were invited to dinner and asked to bring dessert. I made only half a batch (15 cupcakes). These were easy and very, very good.

Pumpkin-Brown Butter Cupcakes-

¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for tins
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for tins
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ granulated sugar
2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 3250 . Brush 15 muffin tins with butter; dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Continue to cook, swirling occasionally until butter turns golden brown. Skim foam from top and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediments behind; let cool.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs and brown-butter mixture. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
3. Divide batter evenly among buttered/floured cups, filling each about ¾ full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
4. To finish, dip top of each cupcake in brown-butter icing, then turn over quickly and let set. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are glazed; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Brown-Butter Icing

½ cup unsalted butter
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk, plus more if needed

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling pan occasionally, until nut-brown in color, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and pour butter into a bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

42 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 2750. Line 30 standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place one whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.
3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowls as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand. Divide batter evenly among the cookie filled cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate (in tins) at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Last Week's Recipe :)

It was a busy week. But I did make it to Bible Study on Thursday, and I did make cookies. I actually made them the week before and had them in the freezer, because these cookies freeze really well. They are so good and so simple. If you like peanut butter and chocolate, this is a recipe you will want to try.

Cracker Cookies

1 box round buttery crackers (Ritz)
1 small jar peanut butter
1 lb. almond bark
12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine almond bark and chocolate chips in a 9x13 glass pan. Once oven has reached the right temperature, turn the oven off and put chips/bark mixture in the oven to melt for 30 minutes. Whiles it’s melting, spread peanut butter between crackers, sandwiching two together. Stir bark and chips to blend. With kitchen tongs, dip cracker sandwiches in chocolate mixture. Place on waxed paper and chill. Can be frozen.

Bible Study Baked Goods

Thursday evenings we have Women's Bible Study at church from 6:30 to 8:00. We have a great group of ladies that attend on a regular basis and we have come to the conclusion that no Bible study is complete without baked goods and coffee. So, Laura and I, being ones that like to bake, have taken advantage of this opportunity by bringing some of our old favorites to share and to try out all the recipes that have been piling up from the newspaper clippings and the torn out magazine pages. Look for a new recipe from one of us every week! Here is what I made last week and they were great.


Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing
½ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
Orange food coloring

Preheat oven to 350o. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

To make the cookies, in a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
In a second large bowl, combine shortening and brown sugar. Use an electric mixer to meat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.
Add half the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the other half and mix again.
Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets in 1 tablespoon mounds, arranging them 2 inches apart. Bake for about 14 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.
While the cookies bake, in a medium bowl combine the butter and maple syrup. Use an electric mixer to beat until smooth. Add the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla and mix well. Add the powdered sugar and mix well, beating until fluffy. Add the food coloring and beat until uniform. Set aside.
Once the cookies have baked, cool them on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, pipe or spread frosting on them and decorate as desired.
Cookies should be refrigerated in an airtight container. Serve at room temperature.