Category Archives: Desserts

photo 2 (80)
Dec 12 2012

Dark Chocolate Cherry-Berry Oatmeal Cookies

This Holiday Season, I participated in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!  The Cookie Swap is a seriously delicious Food Blogger’s version of Pen Pals.  I cooked up 3 dozen cookies, sent them out to 3 different food bloggers, and 3 other food bloggers sent me cookies!!

As if getting 3-dozen cookies isn’t reason enough to participate, the Cookie Swap raises money for the charity “Cookies for Kids’ Cancer” which OXO (the company that makes my absolute favorite coffee to-go mug ever btw) will match up to $100,000!  I loved hearing this so I was signed up right away!

fbcookieswap_wood

The cookies I baked up were based on this yummy Heart-Healthy recipe from Cooking Light.  The funny thing about baking these cookies were that I totally forgot I had to make THREE dozen for the swap, not TWO.  I baked JUST over 3 dozen, so instead of having a leftover 15-ish cookies… I only had 4!  I guess it was for the best though, because these cookies are really really good… I would have eaten too many :)

Dark Chocolate Cherry-Berry Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/3 cup) 
  • 1.5 ounces whole-wheat flour (about 1/3 cup) 
  • 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt 
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten 
  • 1/2 bag dark chocolate chips
  • cooking spray 

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Spoon flours into dry measuring cups and level. Combine flours and next 3 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.
  3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat; add brown sugar, stirring until smooth. It will completely combine well with only a small layer of melted butter ontop.  
  4. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.  Add cherries and cranberries, vanilla, and egg; beat until combined.
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop dough by Tablespoonfulls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or silpat.
  6. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes. Cool on pans 3 minutes or until almost firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.
Whisk your dry ingredients to mix the flours and the oats together

Whisk your dry ingredients to mix the flours and the oats together

I loved the combination of the sweet cherries and the sour cranberries with dark chocolate

I loved the combination of the sweet cherries and the sour cranberries with dark chocolate

You can see how crumbly these are!

You can see how crumbly these are!

Stelly is a kitchen pup! She waited patiently with me while the cookies baked in the oven.

Stelly is a kitchen pup! She waited patiently with me while the cookies baked in the oven.

Yummmmm! I LOVE my Silpat. If you don't have any, pick two sheets up ASAP! Nothing sticks to them. The best.

Yummmmm! I LOVE my Silpat. If you don’t have any, pick two sheets up ASAP! Nothing sticks to them. The best.

A few notes I have to share with you… these cookies might be on the healthier side, but they are REALLY tasty!  I found the batter to be very crumbly, to the point where I had trouble at times making the cookies into scoops to drop.  I was worried they would fall apart, but they DO NOT.  So, it’s okay if yours turn out a little crumbly!  Also, I did try a few cookies where I rolled them into a ball (when they were super-fally-aparty) and they did not turn out as pretty as the drop.

I will certainly whip these up again, next time making more leftovers for us :)

Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

The cookies I received for the swap were so yummy!  I wanted to give these awesome bloggers a little shout-out because their cookies really made my day.

I would have loved to say I had a picture of these really interesting Vanilla Cardamom Cookies but between myself and all of our moving crew/family ate them all!  They were so good!  I never would have thought to put Cardamom (do I even have Cardamom??  Probably  not!) into crisp vanilla cookies, but I’m glad Molly did!  You can find more of her recipes and blog posts on Bytes and Bites.  Good luck on your finals, Molly!

White Chocolate Chunkies were from Katheryn @ The Baker’s Sheet.  How cute is her blog name?  She has plenty of other recipes on her blog that I’m dying to try (especially those Pumpkin Bars!)

*Unfortunately (or luckily for my diet, I can’t decide which), I only received two of my three batches of cookies for the swap so far! *

Here's what the actual mousse/pudding looks like
Oct 19 2012

Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse (Light?!)

I know you’re already all like… “How can Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse be light?!” but just hang with me a minute and you’ll get just as excited as I was to discover this recipe.

I originally found this recipe on Dashing Dish, a blog making typically not-so-healthy meals into better-for-you recipes.  As I’m already in FULL Fall mode, the word Pumpkin stood out to me immediately and I had to try this one out.

If you’re looking for healthy fall desserts, definitely try this one out!  OR, be naughty and go for these Apple-Toffee Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting!  OMG!

Apple-Toffee Blondies. YUMYUMYUM

Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse 

Recipe inspired by:  Dashing Dish

Ingredients:

1 cup Fat Free Cottage Cheese

1/2 cup Canned Pumpkin

1/4 cup Skim Milk

1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Cheesecake Pudding Mix 

1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

2 teaspoons Sugar

Light Whipped Cream & Crushed Reduced Fat Nilla Wafers for topping

Directions:

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.  Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.  Top with Light Whipped Cream and a few crunched Nilla Wafers!  

Here’s what the actual mousse/pudding looks like

Ta-Da!!! So pretty!!

Dig in, everyone! (and we did… ha)

 

So, first of all, this recipe has two servings… so if you’re making it for just an anytime thing, it’s perfect.  Double it for family dinners or entertaining.  I was so excited to have found the Sugar Free Cheesecake Pudding Mix, as the original recipe called for Butterscotch or Vanilla… and using Cheesecake would be perfect!  I really loved this recipe (although in one batch i used TOO MUCH Cinnamon… yes apparently there is such a thing, lesson learned).  My only complaint is that it was more like a pudding than a mousse… still absolutely delicious, just a little more of a heavy consistency than I expected.

But we do have to remember here, there is NOTHING “bad for you” in here!  You can even replace the 2 teaspoons of sugar (big deal…) with Splenda if you wanted.

In other Pumpkin and Fall-related news… I have discovered and AM LOVING Pumpkin Beer!  Octoberfest!  Go Fall Flavors!  I never thought I’d be able to drink anything other than Light water-like beer… but here we are!  Check it out :)  Aren’t you proud?

Here I am workin’ on the blog drinkin’ an Octoberfest! Now I know where all the hype comes from! It’s so good…

OH, and HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

I wanted to show you the ooey gooey middle!
Oct 10 2012

Caramel Apple MilkyWay Stuffed Cookies

I’ve been drooling over so many Stuffed Cookie recipes lately, I had to try it.  With bloggers stuffing Oreos, Candies, Caramel, and god knows what other delicious treats into their cookie dough left and right… I just couldn’t help myself!

I was doing a quick food shop at the store on Saturday and picked up a roll of cookie dough and a bag of the new Milky Way Caramel Apple flavor.  Normally, I’d try to make the cookies from scratch but let’s face it… with the dinner I was making (get excited for the recipe btw… it’s naughty) the last thing I wanted to do was stand there longer and bake cookies.

Once my Crabcake Mac and Cheese (oh yeah… I went there) went into the oven, I took out a baking sheet and my silpat and went to work.

Crabcake Mac and Cheese. Recipe coming soon!

Here’s all I did:

1.  Unwrap 8 mini Caramel Apple Milky Way candies.  

2.  Break cookie dough roll into 16 pieces.  Roll a piece with my hands, smush it, then place the milky way in the center.  Roll and smush another piece of cookie dough and place it ontop of the candy.  Roll into a ball (they were pretty big) and place on the silpat on the cookie sheet.

3.  Repeat.

4.  Place in an oven preheated to at least 350.  Set the timer for 8-10 minutes and check on them.  When they are starting to get brown ontop, they’re done.  Dig in… OMG.

They were freakin’ amazing!  Besides the fact that we rarely make dessert for after dinner (anything more than Fro Yo that is) and the fact that the cookies were huge… they were SO GOOD.  Baking the candy inside the cookie turns it soooo chewy and all kinds of yummy deliciousness.  So. Freakin. Good.  You could totally taste the Caramel Apple in the candy, well done Milky Way.

As for stuffing my cookies- two thumbs up!  This is a great idea.  I’m in.

Love these!

That’s one big cookie!

I wanted to show you the ooey gooey middle!

Here they are out of the oven and cooling. You can see the center is set and the edges have just started to brown. Perfect.
Sep 17 2012

Apple-Toffee Blondies w/ Brown Sugar Frosting

L’Shana Tova everyone!  Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  Traditionally, apples and honey are eaten on Rosh Hashanah to symbolize a “sweet” new year.  I’ve had my eye on this recipe for a while and wanted to take the “sweet” new year tradition to a new level.

Eating apples is a tradition on the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah

Apple-Toffee Blondies w/ Brown Sugar Frosting

Recipe by:  Cookies & Cups Apple Toffee Blondies

Ingredients:

2/3 Cup Butter (room temp, you’ll need 2 sticks)

2 Cups Light Brown Sugar, packed

2 Eggs

2 teaspoons Vanilla

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1  Green Apple, peeled and chopped

1/2 Cup Toffee Bits* + 1 Tablespoon to garnish

Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Butter (1 Stick)

1 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

1/4 Cup Skim Milk

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

*You can find the toffee bits in a bag just like chocolate chips, in the same area.  

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  Cream butter and brown sugar until smooth.  This took me a good 5 minutes, having to stop to take a knife and remove gunked up dough from the beaters a few times.  Add eggs and vanilla, continuing to beat on medium speed until it’s well combined.  

3.  Turn the mixer to low and add the flour, baking powder, and salt slowly until a dough forms.  Stop the mixer.  Add the chopped apples and toffee and stir with a sturdy spoon, it will be very thick.  

4.  Spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.  Mine did not cover the entire thing… it will spread in the oven.  Bake 30 minutes.  Remove and place on a cooling rack until it is completely cool.

5.  For the frosting, melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add brown sugar and milk.  Bring to a boil, stirring so it does not burn.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.  Slowly, using a whisk, stir in the powdered sugar.  Let cool until it thickens enough to spread onto the blondies once they are cool as well.  

6.  Let the iced blondies set for at least 30 minutes, then cut into bars.

Everything ready for a nice stir!

You can see how the batter didn’t completely coat the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry.

Here they are out of the oven and cooling. You can see the center is set and the edges have just started to brown. Perfect.

Blondies iced, toffeed, and ready to be cut and devoured.

These blondies are amazing.  I’m not even kidding you… I think this is THE best dessert I’ve ever baked.  Dave and I tried a little baby piece of blondie after a huge dinner.  We were BOTH blown away.  They ROCK. 

While this recipe is NOT healthy, it is certainly worth the calories to try one.  Or two… plus the batter from the bowl.  No big deal.

So, it’s a really easy dessert to make despite the fact that there are two separate parts.  I made the icing while the blondies were in the oven.  The icing was simple and I was able to sit back, relax, and enjoy my iced coffee.  MMM.

The icing is super sweet so I didn’t use all of it on the bars.  I saved some to use for later… maybe to dip some apples in… or to just eat with a spoon.  Cut these babies (like all brownies) with a PLASTIC knife.  Just a little trick that will help keep them nice and pretty.

Like I said, it’s going to be one SWEET New Year!

Happy New Year to all!

The gorgeous photo Cookies & Cups took of her bars… if only mine could look THAT perfect!

... and After!
Sep 13 2012

Pumpkin Extravaganza (Revisited)

Just two days ago… I had my very first Pumpkin Coffee of the season.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh… le sigh.  How I’ve missed you.  Is it me, or are fall-flavored specials coming out earlier and earlier every year?  

In the spirit of the beginning of the fall season, I wanted to re-post two fabulous pumpkin recipes.  They also happen to be my VERY FIRST POST!  YUM!  Enjoy :)

An ode to pumpkin seemed like the perfect first post on my food blog, as today happens to be the last day in November.  All year, I wait and wait for the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice ads to start popping up all over the place.  This is a very exciting time, as it means it’s finally pumpkin season!  As long as I can remember, I am one of the only (if not the only) person in my family who is excited about this time of year, for this very reason.  This year, I decided that I was going to try to convert everyone else into a pumpkin lover like me.

My first stab at the pumpkin this year was Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread, which I modified from this Cooking Light Recipe.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make!  The recipe makes two loaves which was perfect to show off and share at work the next day.  And in case you were curious, it’s good to be the cook’s Mom- since she was an instant pumpkin fan after trying her first slice warmed and topped with a dab of light butter.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread


Ingredients:

2 cups Sugar
2 cups Pumpkin (canned)
1/2 cup Canola Oil
6 oz Fat Free Greek Yogurt (plain or vanilla)
4 Egg Whites
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 1/4 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Pecan Pieces (broken)
Cooking Spray
2 (8×4 inch) Loaf Pans
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine the first five ingredients into a large bowl (sugar through and including the egg whites),  and stir well using a whisk.  Lightly spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level with a knife.  Place the flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda into a medium bowl.  Stir the dry ingredients with a whisk (if you’re using the same one, make sure it’s dry first!!).
Once all the dry ingredients are well incorporated, slowly add it to the wet pumpkin mixture, stirring it only just until moist.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Coat the two loaf pans (I used Pyrex loaf dishes) with cooking spray, then spoon the batter evenly into each pan.  Sprinkle the pecan pieces ontop of the batter.
Bake in the preheated oven at 350° for around 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I set my timer for an hour and checked on it until it looked done.  You will know it’s done when you stick a wooden toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.
Although you’ll want to dig in immediately, cool the bread in their pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.  Then it will be easy to remove the breads from their pans.  I lightly flipped them over on a piece of waxed paper and they slid right out.
It was too hard to resist the warm chocolatey, pumpkiney bread any longer, so my Mom and I decided to slice one loaf and taste test it ourselves.  It was so yummy!  I couldn’t believe how easy it was, and was so excited the recipe made two loaves… that way I still had one loaf to show off the next day!
My next and more ambitious pumpkin recipe was adapted from Sandra Lee’s Pumpkin Cream Pie.  This amazingly light and creamy pie is far different than your typical Thanksgiving pumpkin  pie and will sure turn your pumpkin hater into a pumpkin lover like me!  This Thanksgiving was my first one spent with Dave’s family.  I was so excited, but also nervous about what I was going to bring!  I decided to try this pie and I’m so happy I did- it was a huge hit.  Dave’s Aunt even said it was the best pumpkin pie she ever ate!

Before…

… and After!

Pumpkin Cream Pie with Homemade Brown Sugar-Caramel Whipped Cream

  
Ingredients (Pie):
4 oz Cream Cheese (1/3 reduced fat), at room temperature
15 oz Pumpkin, canned
1/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
3 Large Eggs
1 (9-inch) Frozen Pie Crust Shell (I used Sara Lee)
Ingredients (Whipped Cream):
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
3 tablespoons Brown Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
5 drops Caramel Extract (or vanilla, if you don’t have caramel)
Directions:
Take the frozen pie crust shell out of the freezer, out of the foil (carefully!), and into a glass pie dish.  Preheat the oven to 375° and arrange a rack in the bottom third of the oven.
In a bowl, combine the room temperature cream cheese, pumpkin, 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon.  Using a hand mixer, add the eggs one at a time, waiting until the egg is completely incorporated into the batter before adding the next.
Pour the filling into the shell.  Bake on a cookie sheet in the oven, about 50-60 minutes (mine went for 50 minutes), or until the filling is mostly set and the crust has browned.  The center will definitely look slightly loose or giggly- that is ok!  Remove the pie from the oven and cool on a wire rack until it reaches room temperature.
If you really want to impress your guests, serve the pie with this homemade whipped cream!  In a chilled bowl, beat the heavy cream with a hand mixer until it begins to thicken.  Slowly add the brown sugar.  Add the pumpkin pie spice and extract, continuing to beat the mixture until soft peaks form.
The whipped cream can be refrigerated up to 2 hours before serving.  When you are ready to serve the pie, you can choose to spread the whipped cream over the pie, or sprinkle it with cinnamon and serve it in a dish on the side.