Warm Autumn Apple Dumplings

This is a delicious dessert that is quick and easy to prepare, and your guests are guaranteed to love it. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 whole Granny Smith Apples or fresh peaches.
• 2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• Ground Cinnamon, To Taste
• 1/2 of a 20 oz. bottle of Mountain Dew Soda

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples.

Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Mama O's Warm Lemon Butter Pound Cake

My grandmother used to make the best pound cake every Sunday. She would send half of it home with me (despite my mother's dismay) lovingly wrapped in lots of foil paper. I miss my grandmother, and I miss her pound cake, among other things she would prepare in her kitchen just for me ;) This recipe is dedicated to my "Mama Ophelia", whom I'm sure has attributed to the 20+ pounds I've gained over the years. Disclaimer: I suggest that you bake this right before you have house guests over; Otherwize, it's likely that you'll eat the entire cake on your own...


Ingredients:


2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, whip butter while gradually adding sugar.

Mix until fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time to butter/sugar mixure.

In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients.

Gradually add dry ingredients and milk (about a 1/2 cup at a time of dry ingredients and 1/4 cup of milk alternating until all ingredients are mixed together) to butter/sugar mixture.

Add vanilla and lemon extracts.

Grease with butter and flour a 10" bundt pan (or tube pan if you prefer).

Bake one to one and a half hours or until toothpick or knife tests clean.

Let cool for ten minutes and remove from pan. Dust with powdered sugar (optional).

Serve warm :) Enjoy!

Cocoa Cake Squares

Last night after dinner, I had a sweet-tooth. I looked around in the pantry and cupboards to see what I had on hand, then surfed online to find recipes. I found this recipe online and modified it a little. It actually came out very moist, light. fluffy, and surprisingly not too sweet. It was a perfect cure to my sweet tooth, and Mr. Berry liked them too.


Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup nonfat milk (I used 2%)
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray a square Pyrex dish or baking pan with a thin coat of Pam.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in large bowl. Add milk, eggs, oil and vanilla. ("always pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients"- I can hear my mom saying that in my head :)





3. Beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Add water; stirring with spoon until well blended. 4. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake 18-20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.



6. With a spatula, loosen cake from edges of pan.

7. Place square baking dish upside down over a cake plate. Cool completely. Cut cake into squares.

Optional: Sprinke with powdered sugar and/or garnish with whipped topping infused with grated orange peel.

(I apologize for the photo below being sideways; You get the picture, I'm sure.) Thanks for viewing! Feel free to comment here.

Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients:



3 Ripe Bananas (the riper, the moister the bread!)

2 Eggs

1.5 cups Flour

4 oz. Butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts

1.5 cups Sugar

1 tsp. Baking Soda (or Dry Yeast)

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract (optional)

Pinch of Salt

Additional Butter for baking dish







How to make muffins:


Preheat oven to 375°F

1. Sift flour and baking soda together and reserve.

2. In another bowl, stir sugar, eggs, vanilla, and butter until homogenous. Incorporate flour, and stir until smooth.

3. Mush bananas with a fork and stir into batter. Then add nuts and stir well.
4. Butter muffin pan and pour in batter.


Bake for about 55 minutes. The banana nut muffins are done when the tip of a knife comes out clean and dry.


5. Let cool off for about ten minutes and then remove from muffin pan.


You can serve this warm (with butter mmmm) or room temperature.Voilà! Bon Appétit!

Tropical Milkshakes (Mango, Papaya & Strawberry)

What you need:

1/2 bag of frozen fruit (you may use fresh fruit also) of your choice
3 scoops of vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup of milk


Directions:

Pour 1/2 bag of frozen fruit (or subsitute) in blender. Add milk. Add vanilla ice cream.

And blend for about 30 seconds (depending on the power/speed of your blender).
Stir and repeat. Note: you may need to use some sweetener of some sort to make your milkshake a little sweeter. You may add sugar (raw or processed), honey, stevia, agave nector, splenda, etc.

Voila! Enjoy your tropical milkshake!

Tazo Chai Icecream Float

One of the posters on a networking site that I frequent suggested this. Because I am a big fan of the Chai lattes from Starbucks and often purchase the concentrate to enjoy my Chai lattes at home, I figured this would be a quick try. It actually turned out pretty well!

All you need is:

• Chai concentrate (brand of your choice; I suggest Tazo)
• Vanilla Icecream (brand of your choice; I'm partial to Haagen-Daz Vanilla)

Two scoops of vanilla icecream in a bowl; Pour about a 1/4 cup of Chai concentrate over icecream. Yum!

Chocolate Ice Cream cake...(not what you think!)

When I saw this online, I was so anxious to try it that I made it the same day. I must say, ice cream and cake (at least not in the 'traditional sense'--genius! It's like the best invention since the wheel ...or sliced bread even!

It came out very moist and yummy. The cool thing is, you can experiment with different ice cream and cake flavors. (I've heard that mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate cake are a big hit with some ....I'm tempted to try vanilla cake and dulce de leche ice cream....hmm--I wonder... :)

If any of you tried this recipe before, please share your ice cream/cake flavor combos!!! Click here to comment!

Ingredients:

1. Box of cake chocolate mix (not the kind with the pudding in the mix)
2. 3 eggs
3. 1 cup of water
4. A budnt cake pan, greased or in my case, thinly coated with a non-stick spray (such as Pam)
5. 1 pint of ice cream, softened
6. Large mixing bowl :)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix water and eggs into cake mix.

Add ice cream, and beat everything together with a mixer for approx. 4 minutes.

Bake in oven on 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Let cake cool in pan for a couple of minutes, and then carefully remove cake from pan.

Suggestions: Serve with a dusting of confectioner's sugar, a thin icing, whipped cream, or the frosting of your choice. I had a small bit of chocolate icing left from a previous cake, so I melted about 1/2 cup of that in the microwave and drizzled (fo' shizzle) over the cake. (I know it wasn't a 'perfect'- looking drizzle but it will do...)

So moist and yummy! Enjoy!

Sopaipilla Cheesecake Squares

I came across this dessert on one of networking sites I visit often.  One of the ladies shared this recipe and I had been wanting  to try it for a very long time.  I finally made it, and it was yummy!  Disclaimer: This dessert is fattening, addicting, and is REALLY rich.  So eat it in moderation, or share it with a group of people..lol

Enjoy,

~S

INGREDIENTS 

• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 (8 ounce) cans crescent roll dough
•  
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds or pecans

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Beat the cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape the each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one piece into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.
3. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Stir the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar together with the cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle over the cheesecake along with the almonds.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 squares.

Fresh Strawberries n' Creme Cake

It's that time again :)  Mr. Sherry Berry and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this year.  As part of a tradition we started three years ago (due to the the cake top we froze on our wedding day not tasting up to par)- we usually order a small cake from our baker done in our wedding cake flavor, strawberries and creme.  I usaually call a couple of months ahead of time to order, because they are usually booked this time of year, due to weddings.   Well, lets just say the date slipped my mind, and we weren't able to get our cake in time :(  Sooooo... I decided to try to make my own ('try' being the operative word here...lol)   Yes, it's not "home made" and yes the icing if from a can,....but who cares right?

Ingredients: 

1 box of Betty Crocker SuperMoist Vanilla Butter Recipe White cake mix

2 round cake pans

1 can of Betty Crocker buttercream frosting

1 Pint of fresh, ripe strawberries

Red gel food coloring (I used Wilton brand)

1.  Prepare cake mix according to box instructions.   Let cake cool on a cooling rack and remove from pans.  Once cooled, mix one drop of red gel color with frosting/icing to make a light pink color. (This step can be omitted;  I just wanted a pink cake, like our wedding cake (see picture in link above) so that's why I used the red coloring.

If top of cake is domed, use a long knife to cut and thin layer off the top of the cake to make it level. Smooth a thin layer of icing on top of one of the cake layers.   This will be the base for your strawberry layer.  

Slice strawberries... 

...then layer them in a circular pattern between the cake layers.

Then, place the other cake layer on top, and smooth icing over the entire cake in a swirling motion.  Enjoy!   --- wasn't as good as our wedding cake, but it will do for this year :(... next year I'll make sure I call our baker waaaay in advance....lol

Spiced Apple Nut Cake

Newflower farmer's market opened here in Austin!  Mr. Sherry Berry and I went to visit and it's a great store. Filled with all things organic and healthy, but without the "ritzy" pricetag, I will definately go back to visit soon.  I found this recipe on their website while looking for coupons, and thought I'd give it a shot.  

Servings:  Approx. 8 
Prep/Cook time:  About 35-40 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. plus 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened and divided
2 Tbsp. plus 1/2 c. sugar
3 med. Chilean Granny Smith apples (6 to 7 oz. each) peeled and thinly sliced (about 4 c.)
3 Tbsp. maple syrup, divided
2 large eggs
3/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp. unsifted all-purpose flour
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Prep:

Peel and slice your Chilean Granny Smith apples.  Place them in a bowl of  ice water once peeled/sliced so that they won't turn brown. 

1. 
   

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp. each of the butter and sugar over medium high heat until the sugar begins to turn golden.

Add apples; cook and stir until tender and just begin to brown, 5 to 7 min.

Remove from heat.

Lightly butter an 8-inch round baking pan; lightly coat with flour.

Preheat oven to 350™F

Drizzle the bottom of the pan with 2 Tbsp. of the maple syrup. 

Arrange half of the apple slices in a circular pattern to cover the bottom.

In a bowl, beat remaining 1/2 c. butter and sugar until fluffy.

 

Beat in eggs. . . 

Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt; beat on low speed just until combined; 

Then, fold in pecans.

 

Spoon half of the batter carefully over the apple slices in the pan; smooth into an even layer; top with the remaining apple slices, and then the remaining batter.

Bake until the center springs back when gently pressed, about 35 min. 

Cool on a wire rack for 10 min.; loosen edge and invert onto a serving plate. 

Drizzle remaining 1 Tbsp. maple syrup 

over top. Serve warm. **Garnish with whipped cream and dried apple slices, if desired.

To dry apple slices:

Wash and slice into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices. Pre-treat with a lemon juice/water solution (1 cup of lemon juice to 1 quart of water) solution to prevent browning. Place slices onto drying rack. Dry fruit at 135° F. When fruit is pliable and there is no sign of moisture it can be stored in air tight bags or jars.

*For more recipes from Sunflower/Newflower markets visit this site: http://sfmarkets.shoptocook.com/recipeweb/index.jsp

And now for the hubby taste test:

Thumbs up!  He likes it!

Recipe Courtesy of Chef David Guas, Ceiba Restaurant, Washington, DC