Strawberry Lemonade Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pureed strawberries (about 3/4 cup whole berries)
1 cup lemon juice
2-3 teaspoons lemon zest
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar, if desired

Preheat the oven to 350^F.  Butter a 9x13" pan.

Combine the first 4 ingredients and mix until crumbly.  Press into the prepared pan and bake for 17 minutes or until the crust starts to turn golden around the edges.

Meanwhile, combine the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and eggs and beat until smooth.  Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.  Pour over the hot crust and return to the oven for 23-26 minutes or until set.

Let cool completely in pan on rack before cutting into bars to serve.  Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired.

My opinion:  Too much lemon juice!  It took closer to 45 minutes to bake this and it was very tart! So tart that you completely lose the strawberry flavor.  I would reduce the lemon juice to 1/2 - 3/4 cup and (maybe) add a bit more strawberry puree.  And I'd strain the puree to get rid of the little strawberry seeds, because they don't look very appetizing in the finished product.  Just sayin'....

Recipe found on Pinterest.

Apple Crisp

Apples:
4 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water

Topping:
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350^F.  Butter a 2-quart baking dish.

In a bowl, stir the sliced apples with the lemon juice, flour, cinnamon, sugar and water and spoon into the buttered baking dish.

In another bowl, combine the oats, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt.  Stir in the butter until the mixture is crumbly and well mixed.  Sprinkle the topping mixture over the apples.

Bake at 350^ for about 45 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.  Remove from oven.  Serve warm.

Yum!

Blueberries 'n' Cream Cake

Blueberries 'n' Cream Cake

Ingredients

• 10 vanilla cream-filled snack cakes (Twinkies)
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 2 (8-ounce) containers frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (21-ounce) can blueberry pie filling

Instructions

1. Slice cakes in half lengthwise; place in a single layer in a 9- x 13-inch pan.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed with an electric beater until smooth, about 1 minute. Fold in 1 container of whipped topping; spread mixture over cakes. Spoon pie filling over cream cheese mixture. Spread with remaining container of whipped topping. Cover and chill at least 2 hours before serving.

This was OK...but not my thing.  Recipe from Mr. Food.

Spiced Cheesecake Bars

Spiced Cheesecake Bars

Crust:
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp sugar
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Filling:
2 (8-oz) bars cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice

Preheat the oven to 350^F.  Line an 8x8-inch square pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy removal.  In a medium bowl, mix the crust ingredients together and press into the bottom of the prepared pan.  Bake until light brown, about 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Turn the oven down to 325^F.

With an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese and sugar.  Mix until smooth and not lumps remain. Add the sour cream, eggs, flour and vanilla and mix until well blended and smooth.

Set aside 1 cup of the cream cheese mixture in a small bowl, then pour the remainder onto the crust.   Stir the spices into the reserved cup of filling and then place dollops on top of the mixture in the pan. Using a butter knife, create swirls by drawing the knife through the two mixtures.

Bake at 325^ for about 40 minutes, or until set.  Remove from the oven and cool completely.  cut into bars to serve and store any leftovers in the fridge!

Too much crust - the flavor was OK, though.  Probably wouldn't make these again.

Adapted from a recipe at cooking.com

Easy Southern Peach Cobbler

Easy Southern Peach Cobbler

1/2 cup butter

2 cups sugar, divided

4 cups peaches, fresh or thawed frozen

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 cup all purpose flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Melt butter in a 11X13 baking dish in oven.  Remove from oven when melted.

Mix flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  Add milk and mix until just mixed. Pour batter into baking dish on top of butter.  Do NOT stir.

Bring peaches, remaining 1 cup of sugar and lemon juice to a boil in a medium sauce pan.  Pour peaches over batter.  Do NOT stir.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake for 40 – 45 minutes until the top of the cobbler is golden brown.

Serve with ice cream if desired.

Found on Pinterest...reportedly from Southern Living.  Really, really good!  

Country Apple Dumplings

Country Apple Dumplings

1 large apple, peeled and cored
1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 can (about 6 oz) Mountain Dew

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x9 inch baking dish.

Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.

Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew™ over the dumplings.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

I found this at allrecipes.com and have been meaning to make it for months....finally got around to it and it was absolutely delicious and really easy.  I cut the original recipe in half.  I do think this is too sweet, so the next time I make it (and there will be a next time!) I'm going to reduce the sugar and see how that turns out.  And I think I'll use a larger pan, because they were too crowded I think.

Fudge Pie

Fudge Pie

1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325^F.

Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, butter, eggs and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Spoon into the crust and bake for 25-30 minutes or until set.  Cool to room temperature and serve with whipped topping or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Hmmm...this was a big disappointment.  First of all, it took closer to 45 minutes for it to set, which made the crust really hard.  There wasn't enough filling to fill up the pie crust and it did not taste "fudgy" in the least. The crust issue could be my fault, because the original recipe called for a regular pie shell, but I had this graham crust from Christmas that I needed to use up, so I substituted it.  I would not recommend doing that. I wouldn't recommend the filling either though, because it just didn't taste that great, no matter what kind of crust you put it in.  Oh well...live and learn.  I didn't need to eat this pie anyway!  :-)

Original recipe from allrecipes.com

Galette des Rois

Galette des Rois

I made this for Twelfth Night and it was delicious!  Even though I forgot to add 3 of the ingredients and was too lazy to cut the pastry into a circle as directed.  :-)

1/4 cup almond paste
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 (17.25 oz) pkg frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 dry kidney bean (or plastic baby) if desired
1 egg, beaten
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1-2 Tbsp heavy cream

Place the almond paste and about half the white sugar into a food processor or blender and process until well blended.  Add the butter and remaining sugar, then blend in the egg, vanilla, almond extract and flour.  (I left out the vanilla, almond extract and the flour and it still tasted really good!  Go figure!)

Preheat the oven to 425^F.  Butter a baking sheet and set aside.

Unfold and roll out one sheet of puff pastry into an 11-inch square.  Place this square onto a large buttered baking sheet.  (You can cut it into a circle if you want to.  Me?  I'm lazy.  And squares are a good shape.)  Mound the filling into the center of the pastry and spread to within 1 1/2 inches of the edges.  You can press the bean into the filling at this point, if you're using one.

Unfold and roll out the last sheet of puff pastry same as before and place it carefully on top of the other sheet.  Firmly press down the edges all around to seal the pastry.

Beat the remaining egg and lightly brush over the top of the pastry.  Use a knife to prick several small slits in the top to vent steam while baking (I forgot to do this too!  I can't believe the thing turned out so well!)

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is a deep golden brown and it's all puffed up.  Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Combine the confectioners' sugar and enough cream to make a glaze.  Drizzle over the cooled pastry and let stand until the glaze sets.

Slice and serve.  The person who gets the bean in their slice becomes King or Queen and gets to host the Twelfth Night party next year.  If you use a bean.  I didn't, but I think it would be fun.  Maybe next year?

I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of this before it was all eaten.  It certainly didn't last long!

BLACKBERRY CHEESECAKE BARS

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.  Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving 1-inch of foil overhanging at 2 opposite sides of the pan.  You'll need this extra foil to lift the cheesecake out of the pan when you're ready to 
cut it into bars.  Spray the foil with cooking spray.  

Crust:
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 Tbsp butter, melted

Place the almonds in a food processor (I love my Magic Bullet for things like this!) and pulse until the almonds are mostly all ground up.  Combine them in a small bowl with the graham crumbs, sugar cinnamon and butter and stir until the crumbs look sort of like wet sand.  Spread them in the foil lined pan and press firmly into the bottom of the pan.  Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes then remove the pan but don't turn the oven off yet!

Let the crust cool while you prepare the filling.

Filling:
3 (8-oz) packages of Philadelphia Brand cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/3 cup seedless blackberry jam
Fresh blackberries and mint leaves to garnish, if desired

In a large bowl, beat the cram cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla on medium speed until smooth.  On low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, just until blended.  Pour into the crust. Spoon small dollops of blackberry jam over the 
filling and then swirl them with a knife to create a marbled effect.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until set.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 1 hour.  Cover pan with foil and refrigerate at least 2 hours (or overnight).  

When you're ready to serve, use the overhanging foil to lift the cheesecake carefully out of the pan.  Cut into bars and top each with a fresh blackberry and a mint leaf to garnish.  Store, covered, in the refrigerator.

I found this recipe at bettycrocker.com  They are called Blackberry Cheesecake Bites on that site and call for cutting them into 36 bars.  Personally, that's just too small and too much work.  And my husband would laugh at me if I servedhim a piece of cheesecake that small!  So I cut this into 12 pieces and that seems just about right to me.  These bars taste SO good!  You can't really go wrong with cheesecake for dessert.  However, they took about 1 hour to completely bake and the top cracked so they didn't look as pretty as I would have liked.  But they definitely tasted good!

Raspberry Custard Kuchen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter or margarine

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups fresh raspberries

TOPPING:

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour and the salt; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream; pat into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan.

Combine the sugar and remaining flour; sprinkle over crust. Arrange raspberries over crust.

For topping, combine sugar and flour. Stir in eggs, cream and vanilla; pour over berries. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve warm or chilled. Store in refrigerator.           

Kind of gooey even though I baked it for an extra 10 minutes (1 hour total), but it is very tasty!  From allrecipes.com

    

Almond Cream Puff Ring

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix (I used Cheesecake flavor pudding!)
1 1/4 cups milk (and I only used 1 cup milk instead of 1 1/4)
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease and flour a cookie sheet, or use parchment paper. Using a dinner plate as a guide, trace a circle on the sheet.

In a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to a boil. With a wooden spoon, vigorously stir in flour all at once, until mixture forms a ball, and leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from heat, and beat in the eggs one at a time, until mixture is smooth. Drop batter into 10 mounds inside the circle traced on the cookie sheet, to form a ring.

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn off oven, leaving ring in for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool on wire rack. When cool, slice in half horizontally, and place bottom ring on serving plate. Spoon Almond Cream Filling on bottom ring, then replace top ring. Chill in refrigerator.

To make Almond Cream Filling: Prepare pudding according to instructions on package, but use only 1 1/4 cups milk. Fold in whipped cream, and 1 teaspoon almond extract.

To make Chocolate Glaze: In a double boiler over hot (not boiling) water, combine chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup. Heat until melted and smooth, stirring occasionally. Spoon over the top of chilled ring.

Very good! Adapted from recipe at allrecipes.com

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars

Snickerdoodle layer:
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Pumpkin Pie Layer:
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

Topping
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Drizzle
• 1 oz white chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice


1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan.

To make snickerdoodle layer:
1. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
2. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan.

To make pumpkin pie filling:
1. In a mixer bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined. Pour over the snickerdoodle layer, smoothing out the top.
2. Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

3. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean. Let the bars cool completely. They will deflate a bit and remain a bit pie-like on the top layer. The bars that are closer to the edges of the pan will be more firm.

4. After the bars are completely cool, place the chopped white chocolate into a bowl or zip-lock bag and melt on low power. When it's completely melted, add the pumpkin pie spice and mix (or knead if using a zip lock bag). Use a spoon or cut a small corner off the bag and drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the bars and let it cool and harden.

5. Store in a covered container.

This was good...not great and a lot more "cakey" than I thought it would be.

OK, I'm going to amend my opinion of this recipe. It is EXCELLENT the NEXT DAY! So, imo, this should be made one day before you serve it. I would also reduce the amount of baking powder in the Snickerdoodle layer from 2 teaspoons to only 1 tsp!

Pumpkin Cobbler

Pumpkin Cobbler

15-oz can pumpkin puree
12-oz can evaporated milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350^F. Grease a 9x13" pan. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, milk, eggs, flour, sugar and spice. Mix well and pour into the pan. Sprinkle the dry cake mix over the top then drizzle with melted butter. Top with pecans. Bake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Yum-OH! I've also made this with white cake mix as well as Butter Pecan cake mix. I think the Butter Pecan is the best, but it's hard to find.

Lima Beans and Rice and Individual Peach Crisps

Lima Beans & Rice

16 oz bag dried large lima beans, rinsed
1 smoked turkey wing (or neckbones, or ham hocks, etc), optional
48 oz carton chicken broth
Water (or additional chicken broth)
1 large onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 tsp pepper
Hot, Buttered Rice

Combine all ingredients except rice in a crockpot (slow cooker). Add enough additional water or chicken broth to cover the beans by about 1 inch. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. Serve over hot, buttered rice.

This is my all-time favorite bean dish. I've eaten it this way since I was a small child and I love it!


Individual Peach Crisps

2 fresh peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter

Preheat the oven to 375^F. Lightly butter 2 individual baking crocks. Place the sliced peaches in the crocks and sprinkle with the almond extract. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, cutting the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the peaches. Bake for about 45 minutes or until peaches are bubbling and the topping is browned. Serve warm.

Adapted from allrecipe.com's "Juicy Peach Crisp". This was absolutely delicious! However, it was too sweet and there was too much topping. I'll be making this one again with some adjustments.