Marshmallow-Almond Key Lime Pie

I found this really good pie here, and had to share it

Marshmallow-Almond Key Lime Pie

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup slivered almonds, toasted, divided
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened, divided
• 1/2 cup key lime juice
• 1 tablespoon grated key lime peel
• Dash salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 1-3/4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 4-1/2 teaspoons butter
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

• Place the flour, brown sugar and 1/2 cup almonds in a food processor. Cover and process until blended. Add melted butter and honey; cover and process until crumbly. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9-in. pie plate. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
• In a large bowl, beat the milk, 5 ounces cream cheese, lime juice, peel and salt until blended. Add egg yolk; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour into crust. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack.
• In a large saucepan, combine marshmallows and butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Add cream and remaining cream cheese; beat until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
• Beat marshmallow mixture until light and fluffy. Spread over pie; sprinkle with remaining almonds. Yield: 8 servings.

Coconut Haupia Cream Pie

This is a bit involved but well worth the time. You can save some time by using either a regular pastry crust or graham cracker (you can even use premade) and still have a great pie. I think the crust from this pie could also work really well, and it's quite a bit easier.

Crust

1 cup unsalted butter

2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup melted butter

Haupia Pudding

6 oz coconut milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1/4 cup cornstarch

Coconut Bavarian Cream

1 rounded T unflavored geletin

3 T water

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 1/2 cups milk

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (toasted if you like)

To make the crust:

preheat oven to 350

Mix butter and vanilla together, add egg, flour, salt and mix together. Place dough on a greased baking sheet and bake 15 - 20 min. Let cool, refrigerate 1 hour. Crumble 2 cups of cookie, add melted butter and mix by hand. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a pie plate and the rest up the sides. Bake another 15 - 20 minutes.

Make the pudding next:

In a saucepan combine coconut milk, sugar and 1/2 cup milk bring to a slow boil. In a bowl mix together the remaining 1/2 cup milk, and the cornstarch. Mix until there are no lumps, then slowly add to the hot mixture stirring constantly till thick. Remove from stove and pour into the pie crust. Refrigerate until cold and set.

To make the cream:

Soften geletin with the water in a small bowl, set aside. Whip the whipping cream and set aside. Combine milk, egg yolks and sugar in a stainless steel or glass bowl and set over a double boiler. Cook until the mixture coats a spoon and you can run a finger through it and a line remains. Remove from heat and add the set geletin; mix well. Set hot bowl over an ice bath and stir until it cools and starts to thicken. Fold the whipping cream in, in 2 parts. Add coconut and fold in. Layer this on top of the pudding in the pie plate and chill 2 more hours.

Ice Cream Crunch

This is our favorite summer time dessert. If you make it at least a day in advance and it has a chance to freeze hard- you can slice it into "ice cream bars." We usually enjoy it the evening of the day we prepare it and just use a fork to eat it. We almost always double the recipe and make it in a sheet cake pan.

1/2 cup butter, cubed

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 cups crisp rice cereal

2 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans)

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

In a 3qt saucepan cook the butter and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves.

Mix the cereal, coconut and nuts. Add the caramel mixture and stir until well mixed. Press half of the cereal mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Spread the softened ice cream over the cereal mixture. Top with the remaining cereal mix. Freeze until firm.

Banana Dessert

Crust:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Pat into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool completely.

Second layer:

1- 8oz package, cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 container Cool Whip (12oz)

Mix thoroughly. Spread gently over crust.

Third layer:

1 small package instant vanilla pudding

1 small package instant banana pudding

2 cups cold milk

Whip until thick. Pour over second layer.

Fourth layer:

3 large bananas, sliced over the top of the pudding layer.

Fifth layer:

Gently spread cool whip over the top of the dessert. Refrigerate until serving.

Peach Cobbler

I've been loving all of the fresh peaches on sale to make this lately, however you could really use any of your favorite fruits. The first time we didn't have quite enough peaches so I added a few pears into the mix, Yum!

Peach Cobbler

1 c. brown sugar
4 tsp. cornstarch
6 c. sliced fresh peaches

dash of lemon juice

Cinnamon, cloves and ginger to taste

1/2 c. - 1 cup milk (less milk makes it more like dumplings, more gives it a more cakey top)
1 tbsp. sugar
2 c. Bisquick
1 tsp. lemon rind

Combine brown sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Add peaches and spices, toss to coat. Add a dash of lemon juice, stir. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until boiling and thick. Reduce heat and cook 2 minutes longer. Set aside.

Combine Bisquick, sugar, lemon rind. Add milk. Stir with fork until moistened. Return peaches to a boil. Pour into 2-quart oblong baking dish. Drop batter on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with sauce.

Holiday favorites

This is my brothers favorite thing at the holidays!

Aaron's Christmas Cookies

2 cups Captain Krunch

2 cups Rice Krispies

2 cups colored mini marshmellows

1 8oz jar roasted peanuts

1 1/2 lb almond bark

Melt almond bark and pour over all the other ingredients, mix well.  Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.  Let set up.  Enjoy!

My comfort food

My comfort foods are pretty basic.  I love Chicken and dumplings, Beef Stroganoff, and my Mom's bread pudding.  I also love the hot artichoke dip that I've posted before, mostly because it reminds me of the holidays and parties, when you could always smell it cooking in the quiet right before everyone arrived.

Bread Pudding

4 cups milk

2 cups fresh bread cubes, packed

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325-350.  Scald milk; add bread cubes and sugar.  Allow to stand 5 minutes.  Slowly pour mixture into bowl of beaten eggs, stirring constantly.  Add vanilla.  Place mixture into a well buttered 2 quart casserole and sprinkle with nutmeg.  Bake with casserole in a pan of hot water for 1 hour, or until knife comes out clean.

We serve hot with a little milk or cream poured over it.

Very Pink Strawberry Cake

This was my favorite cake as a child, in fact it came from a Strawberry Shortcake birthday card that I got one year.  But just a warning, it is very pink, and my parents remember this as being terribly sweet, which I think was from the icing.  On Janet's blog she talks about the cake she made for Jake's birthday and the frosting being whipped cream and frozen raspberries, you could probably do the same here just use the strawberry liquid or the other half of the strawberry package.

Very Pink Strawberry Cake

1 white cake mix

3 tbsp flour

1 (3oz) package strawberry gelatin

1 cup salad oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 small package frozen strawberries (thawed)

Mix cake mix, flour and gelatin.  Add oil. Beat in eggs.  Add water and strawberries.  Mix well.  Bake in two loaf pans greased and floured (we used round cake pans too) or 9x13 for 40 - 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

Very Pink Strawberry Icing

2 tbsp butter

2-3 tbsp strawberry liquid

1 cup powdered sugar

Melt butter, add strawberry liquid.  Mix in powdered sugar until spreading consistency.

Devil's Delight Cake

I'm just trying this recipe, but I can't imagine that it won't taste great.  I'll let you know if by chance it doesn't taste as good as it sounds.

Devil's Delight Cake

1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) devil's food cake mix (with pudding in the mix)

4 eggs

1 c. water

½ c. vegetable oil

1 c. chopped nuts

1 c. mini marshmallows

1 c. Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

½ c. raisins (I don't put these in!)

Confectioners' sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour Bundt pan.  In  large mixer bowl

combine cake mix, eggs, water and oil;  beat on low speed just until

blended.  Increase speed to medium; beat 2 minutes.  Stir in nuts,

marshmallows, chocolate chips and raisins.   Pour batter in to pan.  Bake 45

to 50 minutes or until you do the toothpick thing!  Cool 10 minutes; remove

from pan to wire rack.  Cool completely.  Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar

on top.

Really yummy light pie!!!

This is another Taste of Home recipe that we really like, especially in the summer!  It's really good even without the spreadable fruit.

Light Lemon Pie

INGREDIENTS

    * 1 package (.3 ounces) sugar-free lemon gelatin

    * 1/2 cup boiling water

    * 3/4 cup cold water

    * Sugar substitute equivalent to 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar

    * 1 cup (8 ounces) 1% cottage cheese

    * 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen reduced-fat Cool Whip® whipped topping, thawed

    * 1 reduced-fat graham cracker crust (8 inches)

    * 1/2 cup 100% strawberry spreadable fruit

    * 8 large strawberries, halved

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in cold water and sugar substitute. Refrigerate until partially set.

    In a fine strainer, drain the cottage cheese. Place cottage cheese in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl; stir in gelatin mixture. Fold in whipped topping.

    Pour into crust. Refrigerate until set. Just before serving, cut into slices; garnish each with 1 tablespoon spreadable fruit and two strawberry halves. Yield: 8 servings. 

Frog Eye Salad

Don't even think that this is a healthy salad, but it is good. I also thought this could be fun to post since Halloween is coming up, and it has kind of a creepy name.

1 1/3 cups Acini Pepe (tiny round pasta usually found in a box)
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks, drained (reserve 1/4 cup juice)
1 3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 pkg (3.4 oz ) vanilla instant pudding
1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, drained
2 cans (11 oz each) mandarin orange segments, drained.
2 cups frozen non-dairy whipped topping, thawed
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Cook pasta according to package. Rinse with cold water, drain well. (If you don't have a mesh colander you can use cheese cloth or a paper towel to help drain the little pastas without loosing them through the holes.)

In a large bowl, beat reserved pineapple juice, milk, sugar and pudding 2 minutes.

Gently stir in pasta and remaining ingredients; cover. Refrigerate at least a couple hours before serving

And now a treat just for people!

Super, super delicious!
This is actually an easy recipe, it just looks impressive when your done.

Chocolate Mousse

4 oz semisweet chocolate
1 Tbs unsalted butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs sugar
3/4 cup whipping cream

Melt Chocolate in top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Stir until smooth. Cut butter into small pieces, whisk into chocolate until melted. Stir in vanilla and sugar. Remove pan from over hot water. Let cool slightly while whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Stir about 1/3 cup whipped cream into chocolate, then fold mixture into remaining cream.

Refridgerate 1 hour.

Great Pumpkin Dessert

Here's a good dessert I found, however trust me, do not forget the sugar!

Great Pumpkin Dessert

1 small can of pumpkin
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 can evaporated milk (12oz) - At the holidays I'm going to use eggnog!
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 yellow cake mix
1 1/2 cups walnuts
3/4 cup melted butter

In a bowl mix together the first five ingredients. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix on top of pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle with walnuts and then drizzle with melted butter.

Bake at 350 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean in the middle. To serve top with whipped cream or ice cream.

Lemon Cookies

Mmmmmm ... What's for dessert? My friend brought me these cookies when I had the ear infection from heck and could hardly chew. They were moist, soft, and delicious! I could hardly believe that a cookie with no chocolate could be so good. I was grateful to have something so yummy that I could chew with almost no effort. Also, I was delighted to learn how easy they are!

Lemon Cookies

1 box moist deluxe lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
powdered sugar

Mix the first three ingredients, roll into about 1 inch balls, roll those in the powdered sugar, place on a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Black Bottom Cupcakes

This is another recipe from Genaura. It's great for a chocolate fix!

1 oz cream cheese

1 egg 1

1/3 Cups sugar

pinch of salt

6 oz chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

1 Tbsp vinegar

Blend cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and salt until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips and set aside. In mixing bowl sift together dry ingredients and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir in liquid ingredients. Mix until smooth. Fill paper cups 1/3 full with batter. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top. Sprinkle with sugar and chopped almonds if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Decadently Easy Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee

1 quart heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup vanilla sugar, divided
6 large egg yolks
2 quarts hot water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. (You can use the broiler, but be super careful not to burn it, and if you have a low setting use it. If it does burn you can actually scrape if off after it cools and start over.) Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Pie variation

My family has a slight variation on pumpkin pie that is a huge hit.

In your basic pie recipes, both for fresh or canned, replace the evaporated milk with egg nog when it's available! It just add that little extra something.

Did You Know You Can Make Pumpkin Pie Out Of Real Pumpkins?

My husband is a pumpkin pie connoisseur. He loves the slimey pastey things. Though I am far from picky, I detest pumpkin pie. However, I have now discovered that a pie made from fresh pumpkin is tolerable to my palate and superb to the rest of my family. I have tried this recipe twice. Once with a regular old pumpkin out of my garden and once with a sweet pumpkin I purchased at the grocery store for $1.09. Both resulted in rave reviews. So, if you like pumpkin pie and have never made it out of a real pumpkin, here is the technique.

And it only takes about 60-90 minutes or so start to finish.

Preheat your oven to 425.

First, cut the pumpkin in half lenthgthwise. Pull off the stem and scrape out the seeds and as much of the stringy stuff as you can get out (an icecream scoop works nicely).

Next, cut the halves into quarters or so and microwave them, covered, for about 10-15 minutes, on high power or until nice and smooshy.

Then, scrape the meat off the rind (those big spoons work nice, the kind you don't use for cereal, I think they are soup spoons, but I don't use them for that either). You will need about 3 cups of pumpkin goo and a pretty small pumpkin does it surprisingly well.

Get out your handy dandy blender or food processor (or a hand mixer if your patient). In it dump:

3 cups freshly cooked pumpkin goop
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1.5 cans (12 oz size) evaporated milk
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of salt

Mix well until smooth. Place pie crust on oven rack and pour pie filling into pie crust (I make the pie crust while the pumpkin is in the microwave, multi-tasking). My husband like it nice and thick, so I fill it up to about a quarter inch from the top. CAREFULLY push the oven rack in - it sloshes. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 250 and bake for another 20-30 minutes (the recipe I went off of said 45-60, but that was too long) - insert a butter knife; if it's done it should come out clean.

I got this recipe off http://www.pickyourown.org/ and they had lots of pictures and great instructions. And, my husband said my pie was a 9 out of 10 and he can't give out a 10 until he is dead, thereby having tasted all the pumpkin pie he will taste and able to judge which was the best.

It was fun to make - my four year old got to see the plant life cycle from seed to pie. Worth the effort.

Easy, Wonderful Frosting

After taking a cake decorating project in 4-H and getting to eat all my frosting mistakes I've developed an aversion to buttercream frosting. It's ok in small quantities but certainly not anything that I really crave anymore. This frosting is one I really like to pair with white cake and fresh berries, but it's just generally good (although high in fat) and we love it on everything we've ever tried it on (including waffles).

1 pint whipping cream

1 small package instant pudding (usually vanilla or cheesecake flavor, lemon's good too)

Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Slowly beat in instant pudding mix. If the whipped cream is too stiff when you add the pudding your frosting will be a little bit lumpy but still good. If the cream's not quite stiff enough let the frosting sit for a few minutes after you add the mix and you'll have really thick, rich pudding.

I've been wanting to try making a chocolate cake with chocolate pudding frosting and topped with cherry pie filling. For Sam's birthday I make white cake and use cheesecake pudding mix; and top the cake with raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Jake's birthday cupcakes were strawberry ice cream cone cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream frosting, sprinkles and maraschino cherries.

Great Grandmother Canfield's Kolache

When my mother was a young girl she worked hard to get a written recipe for these kolache. Her grandmother prepared them for special occasions and they are a family favorite. However, like many very old recipes there was nothing written down and the instructions were along the lines of, "add flour until the dough looks like this," "at this point the dough should feel like this," "the prunes should be just this consistency..." So Mom watched and tried to estimate measurements. Then she went home and got her mother to help her experiment until they made Kolache like her grandmother's and had measured quantities and more specific directions. These are a traditional Bohemian treat that has been passed down in our family for generations. Some Americanized versions call for an apricot or cherry topping, but we stick with the traditional prune filling. Many thanks to Mom and Grandma for documenting this lovely roll recipe. The recipe can be halved if you want to make the dough in your bread machine (but the texture is finer if you make it by hand).

3/4 Cup shortening

1 Cup boiling water

1 tsp salt

1/2 Cup sugar

2 eggs

1 Cup cold water

2 packages yeast

6 Cups flour

Mix shortening with salt and boiling water. Let cool. Add sugar, eggs, and cold water (which has been standing for 5 minutes with the yeast and 1tsp sugar dissolving). Add flour. Mix. Let rise in a greased bowl until double in size. Punch down. Turn out onto floured board and let rest 10 minutes. Roll 1/4" thick. Cut with a 2" biscuit cutter (we use a greased drinking glass).

While the dough is rising make the filling.

3/4 pound prunes (cover with water and cook until tender, then chop or grind- reserve liquid to thin filling). Add spices to chopped fruit. Use enough reserved liquid to make a spreadable filling.

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves or allspice

1 Cup sugar

Put the dough circles on a greased pan about 1" apart to rise. Press lightly leaving a small ridge around the edge. Spread with filling. Sprinkle with fresh bread crumbs and dot with butter. Let rise until double. Bake in a 350 degree oven until brown, about 12-15 minutes.