Hello Kirsti: desserts

I had a bunch of 6 bananas that went brown very fast, so I decided to find a banana bread recipe to try, I didn’t have any eggs in the house so this limited my options and I didn’t have high expectations… but OMG it was awesome.

I found the recipe on Food.com and doubled it to make a Banabundt.

Ingredients:

6 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups sugar
1 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 cups flour

Directions:

1. Mix mashed bananas and sugar.

2. Add melted butter, salt and baking soda.

3. Mix well.

4. Add flour.

5. Pour batter into well greased and floured loaf pan.

6. Smooth the top.

7. Bake in 350 oven for 1 hour or until tester comes out clean.

Happy Halloween Hello Kirsti Readers!!!!

I’ve got a special Halloween treat and recipe for you today.

As you know, I’m a teacher, and from time to time I like to surprise my co-workers with a sweet little treat to help them get through the week.

The recipe I used is a Christmas candy recipe. There are a million different ways to doctor this recipe. I’ve added sprinkles to make it more festive for different holidays and it’s all about the packaging (isn’t it!?!?!).

I’ve got to warn you---this candy is addictive, hence why I call it Candy Crack. I cannot confirm nor deny that I’ve eaten an entire batch on my own! (You won’t tell, will you?)

Candy Crack Recipe

2 bags of White Chocolate Melts (or 2 bags of white chocolate chips)
1 cup of peanut butter
4 cups of Rice Krispies
2 cups of marshmallows
2 cups roasted peanuts

Before you begin, you’ll need to get out a large (read: GIANT) bowl. Place the peanuts, rice krispies, and marshmallows inside and mix them together with a spatula. At this point you’ll want to lay out some sheets of wax paper. Enough to cover about 2 cookie sheets.
In a separate, microwave safe, bowl combine the chocolate and peanut butter. Microwave for 1 minute. Remove and stir. Continue microwaving at 20 second intervals until chocolate is melted. Be careful not to overheat the chocolate. It will still look like chips, you’ll need to stir it to make it smooth.
Immediately pour chocolate mixture over cereal mix. Stir until coated.
Drop mixture by the spoonful onto the wax paper. Do this quickly as it will harden within about 10 minutes.

Once cool you can place it in a plastic zip up bag and it will keep for up to a week (if you can resist it for that long!).

I packaged mine in cute little orange craft boxes I purchased at Target. I placed a wax paper liner in each before putting in the treat. Figured I should put some cute labels on them to get people in the spirit.

You can get those labels here: LABELS

Hope you’re Halloween is filled with tricks and treats!

-Bestie

If you read Two Peas & Their Pod (Which if you like food you should. If you don’t like food, we probably shouldn’t be friends) you probably already pinned the “ 4 Ingredient Chocolate Cookies 'n' Cream Ice Cream” they posted from Savory Sweet Life.

By some miracle, the 3 important ones were all things in my pantry. (YES a ice cream recipe from only pantry items, perfect for cravings!) It is totally amazing, and Andrew really liked it too!

I’ll let you get the recipe over at their site, but all you need is a can of coconut milk, sugar, coco, and mix ins. My one tip is don’t skip the blender, I tried to get away with whipping the coco in, but since it’s dry you really need the power of the blender, my magic bullet made it easy.

Since Andrew and I have zero Oreo self control I added milk chocolate chips, and cut up marshmallow. It turned out amazing, and is a little less guilt since it’s the coconut milk. It came together super quick, love that it’s a 1 step recipe, that whole cooling the custard thing just isn’t going to happen…

Some more coconut milk ice cream recipes I found to feed my new addiction….

Andrew is a pecan pie connoisseur. A true expert.

In fact a month into our dating was his birthday, and it was then that I my first killer pecan pie. Wrapped up Pie

in his words "It was magic" Andrew Pie

I guess that's why he still likes me over three years later...

tehehe

That first pie was Paula Dean's Mystery Pecan Pie which has a magical layer of cheese cake-ness on the bottom.

Sometimes I go more traditional and make him Pioneer Woman's Classic Pecan Pie

I make it pretty much to spec, sometimes making my own crust, sometimes cheating.

If I use my pie plate I can generally sneak in some extra pecans.

After making a bunch of Dreamy Apple Pies you definitely appreciate how easy pecan pie really is. No wash'in and chopp'in. Pecan Pie 1 Pecan Pie 2 Pecan Pie 3

But still gooey and yummy. Best served with a big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

OMG this is sooo amazing, a dessert bread without the guilt, also great toasted for breakfast!

Like I wanted to cry when I realized I REALLY should have put it in the refrigerator since it had gone bad... PLEASE don't make my mistake, due to the moisture and sugar content of the pineapple you've gotta refrigerate it.

I found this recipe over at one of the new blogs I've added to my overflowing Google Reader, Two Peas & Their Pod, and with this recipe it's certainly earned the right to stay!

I also made it a little lighter and used fat free sour cream since it was what I had on hand, and the bread was plenty rich without the full fat, we thought.

Two Peas & Their Pod Coconut Pineapple Bread
Yield: 1 loaf Cook Time: 60-65 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream (I used Fat Free and didn’t feel like I was missing anything!)
2 cups fresh pineapple chunks (I was eager to make this and had canned pineapple, so I used canned, but drained it well, it worked out, I’m sure fresh would have been better)

View the full directions over on their site.
Taking the time to toast the coconut really helps the taste, I just used my toaster oven.

Draining the canned pineapple.

The batte, then folded in the coconut and pineapple.

I was really scared this was going to overflow the pan since it was so full, but since it’s a all purpose flour bread not a yeast bread, it wasn’t an issue.
Sooo good, I think I’m gonna have to go make some more now…

This easy but sooo satisfying dessert comes courtesy of the dream whip box.

What’s awesome is it tastes great when made with low fat ingredients and we all need more that.

100_3944 I use fat free sugar free pudding mix, 2% milk, and generally a reduced fat graham cracker crust.

10 minutes of mixing, a few hours in the fridge and you've got heavenly fluff pie.

Try it you be amazed it's not full fat!

If you haven't tried dream whip instead of whipped cream, you're missing out!

P.S. don't try this by hand, a stand mixer is best since you'll need to spin the bowl to get maximum fluff factor.

I made chocolate, but it tastes great in fudge, vanilla, banana, basically anything you can find in sugar/fat free.

Dream Pie from Kraft

2 env. DREAM WHIP Whipped Topping Mix
2-3/4 cups cold milk, divided
1 tsp. vanilla
2 pkg. (3.9 oz. each) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 baked pastry shell (9 inch), cooled

BEAT whipped topping mix, 1 cup milk and vanilla in large bowl with mixer on high speed 6 min. or until soft peaks form.

ADD 1 and 3/4 cups of remaining milk and dry pudding mixes. Beat on low speed until well blended. Beat on high speed 2 min., stopping occasionally to scrape bottom and side of bowl. Spoon into shell.

REFRIGERATE 4 hours.

Elvis Presley's Favorite Pound Cake via epicurious.com

I made this cake for Andrew's Sister's birthday and served it with fresh cut strawberries and whipped cream. It was perfect! This recipe was a perfect found too since Andrew's Granny loves Elvis and actually went to high school with him =)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering pan
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) plus additional for dusting (They have you sift it twice)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups sugar
7 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes (Sounds weird but go with it)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup heavy cream
Special equipment: a 10-inch tube pan (4 1/2 inches deep; not with a removable bottom) or a 10-inch bundt pan (3 1/4 inches deep; 3-qt capacity) (If you use a smaller one your cake will get burnt while trying to cook the middle)

Kirstin Additions

Fresh Strawberries sliced
Whipped Cream

Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven. (I love the quirkyness of this recipe, makes it seem more likely to be true)
Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour. (I just super baker joyed)
Sift together sifted flour (3 cups) and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).
Beat together butter (2 sticks) and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become creamier and satiny.
Spoon batter into pan and rap pan against work surface once or twice to eliminate air bubbles. Place pan in (cold) oven and turn oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool completely. (Mine took about this amount of time)

Sorry for the camera phone pics, my camera bit the dust =(

Whipping

The point where i should have just made a second cake in a loaf pan, but I didn't...

Crusty yummy goodness.

This recipe is on the back of the Swan's Down Cake Flour Box

Almond Cake (Altered from 1-2-3-4 Cake)

Cook Time: 25 to 30 minutes

The Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine (I used unsalted butter)
2 cups sugar
3 cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 3/4 teaspoon vanilla (Basically just short this teaspoon a bit)
1 1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (1 1/2 teaspoons Almond)

Baking Instructions:

Cream butter. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add eggs one at a time to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings, beating after each addition until smooth. Baking: Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch layer pans, using about 2-1/3 cups batter in each pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling on racks.

Visit the Swan's Down site for alternate pan directions.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (Altered from Swan's Down 'Simple Chocolate Cake)
Recipe amount isn't enough for a 3 layer cake, 1.5 batches should do it)

1 lb Powered Sugar
1 stick of Unsalted Butter, softened
3 tbsps milk' (+1 tbsp if needed)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cool (Two Nestle ready go packets)

Sift Powered Sugar
Cream butter, vanilla, milk.
Gradually add powered sugar blending well in between.
Add more milk 1 tbsp at a time if needed to get consistency right.
Beat in chocolate.
Beat on high to fluff.

The Cake

Fluffing the butter. Note if you scrape while trying to mix your poor whisk will look like that =(

The fastest and best way to soften butter, plus it mixes better.

You've gotta sift your cake flour since it's even finer than all purpose.

Slowly adding flour the butter, egg, flavoring mix.

Frosting

I'm a total chocolate dunce, so this is my foolproof method of making chocolate butter-cream.

Adding the chocolate.

mmm so good.

This is a sloppy cake, so I didn't level it, I'm also a frosting dunce most of the time so the caramelized 'crust' helps me a lot!

mmmm

Be sure to Baker's Joy your pans well and run a knife around your pan or else this will happen.

I immediately cut it in half and sent it home with A's Dad, temptation ousted!

I would double or do 1 1/2 batches of frosting, the filling was a little weak and it was barely a crumb coat.

It still tasted amazing though! Almond and butter-cream chocolate, a perfect pair!

This is my rendition of Pioneer Woman's Dreamy Apple Pie, and it is divine.

Ingredients

1 whole Unbaked Pie Crust (I used frozen deep dish, me and pie crust aren't friends yet)
Filling

3 whole Large (4 Or 5 Small) Granny Smith Apples, Peeled, Cored, And Sliced Thin (Go with three unless they are really tiny, I always had enough left over to as a mini bake, or to make a second pie)

½ cups Brown Sugar (Learn to make your own, with this post )

½ cups Sugar

1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour

1 cup Heavy Cream (If you get the big carton you can make homemade whipped cream too, or Pioneer Woman's Hard Sauce)

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

⅛ teaspoons Cinnamon

Topping

7 Tablespoons Butter

¾ cups All-purpose Flour

½ cups Brown Sugar

¼ cups Pecans (more To Taste)

Dash Of Salt

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll out pie dough and place it in a pie pan. Decorate the edges as desired. (Or just pull it out of the freezer!)
Add apple slices to a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together cream, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour over apples. Pour apples into pie shell.
In the bowl of a food processor (or you can mix by hand) combine butter, flour, sugar, pecans (chop if you’re not using a food processor), and salt. Mix until everything comes together in clumps. Pour topping over apples. (I don't have a food processor, the magic bullet was a failure, so I used my pastry blender)
Attach foil to the edges and lay a piece of flat foil loosely over the top of the pie. Place pie pan on top of a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for one hour. At the end, remove foil and allow to finish baking and browning. Can bake for up to 15 or 20 minutes more if necessary. (They need a coat for the oven)
Remove from oven when pie is bubbly and golden brown.
Serve warm with hard sauce, whipped cream, or ice cream.

I tried a bunch of methods over the 3 times I've made this. I found this used as a decorative object in my mom's kitchen, I eventually got it working and it was good at peeling, then I used my Christmas present chopper (W-S and sooo amazing) , to quarter then, slice the apples into nice thin slices.