Dessert

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Plum Cake

This is a perfect fall dessert. It was wonderful warm and the next day was even better. Adapted from a Smitten Kitchen recipe.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder ()
Large pinch of salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar plus 1 to 2 tablespoon (depending on sweetness of plums)
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
4-5 purple plums – depending on size, halved and pitted
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon or tablespoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350°F. Sift or whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a larger bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy and light in color. Add the eggs, one at a time and scraping down the bowl, then the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. 

Spoon batter into an ungreased 9-inch springform pan (but if you’re worried, you can always lightly coat it first with butter or a nonstick spray) and smooth the top. Arrange the plums, skin side up, all over the batter, covering it. Sprinkle the top with lemon juice, then cinnamon, then remaining sugar. 

Bake until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into a center part of the cake comes out free of batter (but of course not plum juice), about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on rack. 

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Blueberry Peach Crumble
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Blueberry Peach Crumble

Peaches and blueberries are a favorite combination in our house. Thanks to my sister in law (and Harry and David)! This was a perfect Sunday afternoon treat (this would be good for breakfast, too). Adapted from pastryandbeyond.

Ingredients

Crust and Crumbles

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup and 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • ⅔ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Peach Filling

  • 1 cup peaches, peeled and cut into small pieces
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1-2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch 
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease 8 inch square oven-proof dish and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper, about 2 inches of overhang on each side.
  • Mix the peaches and blueberries with lemon juice and then with the almond extract. Next, toss with cornstarch and sugar. Set aside.  
  • Mix the flour, rolled oats, sugar, cinnamon, salt well in a medium bowl. Then add the melted butter and stir with a spoon or spatula.
  • Place ⅔ of the mixture into an oven-proof dish that is lined with parchment paper.  Use your hands or a spoon to spread the mixture evenly.
  • Next, cover the crust with the peach mixture but leave the excess liquid in the bowl. You may want to use this liquid later if there is too much left. (You can place that liquid into a small pan, and when the mixture thickens you can remove it from the heat and drizzle the sauce on top of the baked bars. ) 
  • Sprinkle the remaining dough over the peaches. If you like you can make some big crumble pieces by squeezing crumble mixture in your hand before sprinkling. Use your fingertips to press to the crumbles so they can stick to peaches. 
  • Bake for 33-35 minutes until the top becomes golden brown and the crumbles are crunchy. Let it cool at room temperature for almost 1 hour. Then keep in the fridge for extra 1,5 hours until it is completely cool so you can have nicely cut bars.

Peanut Butter Pie
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Peanut Butter Pie

My husband loves peanut butter (and so do I). We had guests coming last weekend and I knew they liked peanut butter. Right now it is like surface of the sun hot out there so I thought an after dinner treat of cool, sweet peanut butter pie might just be the ticket! This was so cool, smooth and delicious! This was adapted from a Southern Living recipe.

for the crust

  • 16 whole chocolate graham crackers (to make 2 cups crumbs)
  • 7 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

for the peanut butter filling

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (I used low fat)
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt (optional)
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup whipping cream

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350F.
  • In a food processor, blend the graham crackers until finely ground. 
  • Transfer the crumbs to a bowl and mix with the melted butter until uniform and clumpy.
  • Add the crumb mixture to an 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. I like to use a cup measure with a flat bottom to do this.
  • Bake the pie crust for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely.
  • To make the peanut butter filling, wipe out your food processor and add the cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract to the bowl. 
  • Process until uniform.
  • In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. 
  • Add the peanut butter mixture, starting with a little bit, to the whipped cream and fold it together until there are no streaks.
  • Pour the peanut butter filling into the cooled pie crust, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or up to overnight.
  • Sprinkle with mini peanut butter cups cut in half

Peanut Butter Pie
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Peanut Butter Pie

I have been baking. A lot. My husband had mentioned that his mom had tried to make a peanut butter pie once and it did not turn out quite right but that it tasted good so I made a mental note. He had one of THOSE days yesterday so I whipped this up because, you know, pie makes everything better. It is meant to be served cold but he could not wait and I have to admit it was really good warm out of the oven. I got the idea looking at different recipes and loosely followed a James McNair recipe. This has a very cheese cake type of texture. His recipe called for it not to be baked but I think this was an old recipe before raw eggs was a bad thing.

Ingredients

Crust

Use a food processor to make fast work of the cookie crumbs. Figure 8 ounces of cookies equals 2 cups.

2 Cups fine cookie crumbs, Chocolate Graham crackers
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. in a medium sized bowl combine cookie crumbs and butter. Spread into a buttered 9 inch pie pan. Press crumbs to pack evenly on the sides and bottom of pan.

Bake for 10 minutes to set crumbs. Set aside to cool

Filling

Cookie crumb crust
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 Cup smooth peanut butter
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Directions

Prepare crust and cool.

Combine cream cheese, peanut butter, butter and egg yolks in large bowl and beat until fluffy. Drizzle in condensed milk and beat until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour into the pie shell.

Cook for about 20 minutes at 350 or until inserted knife comes out clean.

Refrigerate until well chilled. You could serve this with warm chocolate sauce if you want to go over the top.

Apple Crumb Bars
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Apple Crumb Bars

This came together quickly and is so wonderful. My husband had clients in and I had to make something quick
and this was perfect! Since I was in a rush I did not take a lot of photos. But trust me this is good!
Crumbly, buttery and perfect for a cold day or even breakfast. From the blog The View from the Great Island.

Ingredients

crumble

  • 3/4 cup ( 96 grams) all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup (25 grams) old fashioned rolled oats
  • 6 Tbsp  (85 grams) unsalted cold butter, cut in small pieces
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup ground walnuts (pulse in a food processor)

base

  • 3 Honeycrisp apples, peeled and thinly sliced, this will be under a pound after slicing
  • 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (50 grams) sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 Tbsp (45 ml) milk or cream
  • 1 1/4 cups (178 grams) all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray a 9×9 baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, if you like.
  • Put the streusel ingredients in a small bowl and blend everything together with your fingertips until there is no more raw flour.
  • Make sure to break down any large clumps of butter so there is a somewhat uniform crumbly texture. Set aside in the refrigerator.
  • Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
  • Whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt.
  • Fold the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture, along with the milk or cream.
  • Spoon the batter in to the pan, and smooth out evenly.
  • Top with the sliced apples. There’s no need to arrange them precisely, but try to get them in an even layer.
  • Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the apples.
  • Bake for about 50 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out without wet batter clinging to it. Lay a loose layer of foil over the top if the crumble is browning too quickly.
Apple Galette
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Apple Galette

This is a perfect fall dessert. Comes together quickly. From http://www.theviewfromthegreatisland.com

Ingredients
For the pie crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 cup ice water


For the apple filling
2.5-3 medium-large apples, sliced and peeled
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 pinch salt
1 Tbsp honey (plus extra for drizzling over the finished galette, if desired)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold or room temp, cut into small pieces


Instructions
For the pie crusts
To make the pie crust, add the flour, butter, sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse several times until the butter is broken up and no large pieces remain.
Slowly add the ice water through the top of the food processor and continue to pulse until the dough comes together in a single lump.
Remove the dough from the food processor. Roughly shape into a disk about an inch thick. Place in the fridge until ready to roll out for the galette.


For the galette
Preheat oven to 375F and line a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
Toss the sliced apples with the brown sugar, spices, and salt. Set aside.
Sliced apples for apple galette
Place the pie dough on a lightly floured surface, and roll it out into a large circle about 14 inches in diameter. It should be fairly thin, but not too difficult to handle without tearing.


Rolling out galette dough
Gently move the rolled out dough to your prepared baking sheet. Put about half of the sliced apples into the center of the circle of dough, and spread them out evenly, leaving about 1 and a half inches of space all around for folding the dough over the apples. You can simply place all the apples into the center of the dough and spread them out evenly, or you can take the other half and arrange them in an overlapping circular pattern.
sliced apples on dough for an apple galette
Drizzle 1 Tbsp of honey over the apples and dot with the butter. Fold the excess pie crust over the filling.

Lightly brush the edge of the pie dough with milk or cream, and sprinkle with coarse sparkling sugar, if desired.
Place the galette in the oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the apples are cooked through.
baked apple galette with plate of apples
Drizzle or brush another tsp or 2 of honey over the finished galette while still warm for a glossy top. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Fudgy Cocoa Brownies
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Fudgy Cocoa Brownies

If you are looking for an easy cooking project for the kids, or just want to eat some brownies, these are super easy. You can make this using 1 bowl. My husband ate about 4 after they came out of the oven… Inspired by a recipe from Cafe delights.

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INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and HOT
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil, (olive oil or coconut oil are fine)
  • 1 1/8 cup superfine sugar, (caster sugar or white granulated sugar)*
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbsp Peanut butter (optional)
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

    • Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
    • Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking oil spray. Line with parchment paper (or baking paper); set aside.
    • Combine hot melted butter, oil and sugar together in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk well for about a minute. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until lighter in color (another minute).
    • Sift in flour, cocoa powder and salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until JUST combined (do NOT over beat as doing so well affect the texture of your brownies).
    • Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top out evenly. (OPTIONAL: Top with chocolate chunks or chocolate chips.)
    • Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the centre of the brownies in the pan no longer jiggles and is just set to the touch (the brownies will keep baking in the hot pan out of the oven). If testing with a toothpick, the toothpick should come out dirty for fudge-textured brownies.
  • Remove and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing into 16 brownies.
Flourless Chocolate Cake
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Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is not just a chocolate cake, it is a CHOCOLATE cake. Deeply, densely and INTENSELY chocolate. I was in a hurry to make this for a party so the photos are not great but I had to share. From Bon Apetit 2006. This is gluten free.  

 

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IMG_2605.jpgINGREDIENTS

Cake
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, diced
18 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 large eggs

 

Ganache
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (optional)

Additions
2 tablespoons Chambord Liquor (optional)
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

PREPARATION

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round; butter parchment. Wrap 2 layers of heavy-duty foil around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim. Combine 1 cup water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly. Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan.

Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. Cool completely in pan.

For ganache:
Bring whipping cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Add the peanut butter or liquor if you desire. Pour over top of cake still in pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides. Cut cake into wedges.

Fresh Berry Cobbler
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Fresh Berry Cobbler

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I first made this using fresh Bing Cherries and  we liked the recipe so much I made it again using fresh blueberries. Peach will be next! I prefer tart cherries so I want to make this again using tart cherries if I can find them next month. Cherry and blueberry are both wonderful. I adapted this from a recipe on a blog called “Busy at Home”. I cut back on the sugar but if you like it sweeter you can add more.

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INGREDIENTS

For the fruit:
  • 3 lbs pitted sweet cherries (or 3 pints of blueberries)
  • juice of 1 lemon (1/4 cup)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 T. cornstarch
For the Biscuit Topping:
  • ¾ cup cold butter
  • 2 cups flour
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 2 t. baking powder
  • 1 cup heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS

Stir together the cornstarch, 2 cups of sugar and lemon juice. Pour over the fruit and stir to be sure the fruit is evenly coated. Pour into an ungreased, 9×13 baking dish.

Mix up the cobbler topping by first combining the flour, sugar and baking powder.

Cut in the butter until it is incorporated and creates coarse crumbs.

Stir in the cream with a fork, stirring only until all the dry ingredients are moistened and a loose shaggy dough has formed.

Plop pieces of dough, evenly, over the fruit in the baking dish, until all the dough has been used.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and the juices are bubbling around the edges of the biscuit topping.

Serve with vanilla ice cream for added yumminess!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Danish Braid
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Raspberry Cream Cheese Danish Braid

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It has been a while since I posted. Life gets in the way and often I forget to take pictures until about halfway through the recipe. I served this to my mother for a Mother’s Day brunch. I halved the recipe to make just one braid. This would also be perfect for tea time.
I found this recipe on “Chef in Training” blog. I did not use as much icing as I do not care for super sweet danish.
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Ingredients

RASPBERRY SAUCE
  • ¾ cup raspberries
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1½ Tablespoons cornstarch
  • ½ cup sugar
CREAM CHEESE FILLING
  • 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ½ teaspoon Almond Extract
PASTRY
  • 1 box puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed to room temperature
FROSTING
  • 1¼ cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ Heavy Cream
  • 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

RASPBERRY SAUCE
  1. In a medium sauce pan, combine all the raspberry sauce ingredients ingredients and bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes. Set aside
CREAM CHEESE FILLING
  1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and almond extract. Beat until smooth and creamy and set aside.
ASSEMBLY DIRECTIONS
  1. Open thawed puff pastry sheets on a flat working that has been sprinkled lightly with flour surface.
  2. Roll dough to make the square even. You aren’t rolling to hard though, just lightly enough that you can get all the sides even. The dough will still look like a trifold with creases.
  3. With kitchen scissors, or a pizza cutter, make 9 even slits on both sides of the puff pastry, leaving the middle third of the ‘trifold’ untouched. BE CAREFUL NOT TO GO PAST THE FOLD LINES. Do this to both pastry sheets.
  4. Divide the cream cheese filling in half and carefully spread down the center of the pastry sheet of both pastries.
  5. Next carefully spoon some of the raspberry sauce over the cream cheese layer. Repeat for both pastures.
  6. Next starting at the top of the pasty fold the flaps diagonally and alternately over the raspberry layer. When you get to the end, tuck the ends under the pastry sheet. Repeat with remaining pastry. Place on cookie sheet line with parchment.
  7. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
  8. Cool for 10 minutes.
WHILE COOLING, PREPARE FROSTING.
  1. Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Drizzle the frosting over the top of pastry after it has been allowed its cooling time.