Elmo Cupcakes

Elmo cupcakes! Made by Michelle...

No need for words

Energy Bites

Once upon a time Nate and I made vegan cookies. And literally, it was only once.

We decided if we're going to be making desserts we'd best be making good ones.  Then a friend introduced me to these tasty things and we're revamping our decisions. This is a vegan dessert we can totally get behind.

There's no picture because we've eaten almost all of them. We each decided to save two for tomorrow, but that's hardly enough for a picture. Plus the ones on this blog are way better anyway.

These things are awesome!

Benji's Dutch Oven Cake

I guess technically this is from Byron's Dutch Oven Recipe site and it's called "Mississippi Mud Cake." Those of you who were lucky enough to indulge in this delight on the 4th of July will know it's worth making again!

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow cake mix; prepared as directed

Topping:

• 10 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 c. chopped pecans
• powdered sugar

Mud:

• 1/2 c. cocoa powder
• 2 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. hot water
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Line bottom and sides of a 12" dutch oven with heavy foil. To the oven add prepared cake mix.

Prepare the mud: In a separate bowl combine all mud ingredients and stir until well mixed. Pour mud mixture over the cake batter.

Bake: Cover dutch oven and bake using 8-10 briquettes bottom and 14-16 briquettes top for 60-90 minutes replenishing coals after 60 minutes if cake is not done. Sprinkle chocolate chips and pecans over top of cake about 5 minutes before cake is done.

Dust top of cake with powdered sugar just before serving.

Serve with warm whipped cream.

Chex Lemon Buddies

Ashlyn and I made these last night while Joey and Nate were at Conference. I must say, it's delightful. If you like lemon this is a delicious snack, and it's pretty rich so you won't eat as many as you can with muddy buddies. I recommend just making a half batch. And sorry there's no better picture of the finished product.

Ingredients:

• 9 cups rice Chex cereal
• 1 1/4 c. white chocolate chips
• 1/4 c. butter
• 4 tsp. grated lemon peel
• 2 T. fresh lemon juice
• 2 c. powdered sugar

Microwave chocolate chips, butter, lemon peel and juice uncovered on high for 1 minute; stir. Microwave ~30 seconds longer or until smooth. Pour over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

Put cereal into 2-gallon ziplock bag and pour in powdered sugar. Shake until well coated.

Spread on wax paper or foil to cool. Store in air-tight container.

Yummy Jam Bars

Remember on President's Day last January when we went sledding and had those yummy jam bars, in much-too-small of quantities? And remember how then Heidi and the college kids went right home and made more? Well, I'm finally posting the recipe. I don't remember the original title for this and I don't know exactly whom to credit for the recipe. I tried it as part of the Festival of Trees 40th anniversary cookbook. (I was helping the Board sample recipes before the published it--what a great form of community service! :) )

3 Layers (plus glaze), makes 1 9x13 pan.  

Layer 1: Crust

1 c. flour

¼ c. powder sugar

½ c. butter

mash in pan. Bake 375 for 15-18 minutes (lightly browned). I only needed 12 minutes

Partially cool

Layer 2: jam

¼ c. seedless raspberry jam 

spread on top

(Other kinds of jam would surely work, but this is where I discovered how amazing raspberry jam truly is. I'll never underestimate it again.)

Layer 3: Cream Cheese

4 oz. Cream cheese

1 Tbsp milk

1 c. (6 oz) white/vanilla Chocolate Chips

microwave 1-1 ½ minutes, until smooth

spread over top.

Let it cool completely for 1 hour (I skip this step)

glaze

¾ c. chocolate chips

2 Tbsp shortening

melt together, stir and spread

chill for 10 minutes, cut bars, then chill for another hour!! (don't mess with this step. It's important so it all holds together.)

Heidi doubled it and still put it in a 9x13. She said it was delicious but if you do this, don't totally double the jam layer.

Pumpkin Dessert

Tonight was our first Thanksgiving of the year, which means that I'll get to make this yummy goodness twice this year! Here's how you do it:

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c. + 3 T. butter
• 1 large can pumpkin pie mix (make sure it's not just canned pumpkin -- there's a difference)
• 2/3 c. evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 c. sugar

Saving 1 c. cake mix, mix cake mix and 1/2 c. butter. Press into greased 9x13 pan. Combine pie mix, eggs, milk, nutmeg and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon; blend well. Pour over crust. Add 1/2 c. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon to saved 1 cup cake mix. Mix in remaining 3 T. butter and sprinkle over top.

Bake at 350 for 60-70 min. Top with whipping cream/cool whip.

lemon blueberry bread

we served this tonight to the missionaries and it was a big hit and very easy. just plan ahead because it takes a bit of time (not because it's hard. you just have to let it bake forever, then soak the topping forever, then cool completely before serving).

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 T. butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• zest of 1 lemon (i didn't have it so i left it out)
• 1/2 tsp. lemon extract (i used 1 tsp. lemon juice)
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen/thawed/drained)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl and set aside. In mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each. Add lemon zest and extract and mix. Add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, alternating between the two, starting and ending with flour. When well combined, fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into 3 medium* sized greased and floured loaf pans. Tap gently on counter to even out batter. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 min. or until toothpick comes out clean. Place on wire rack to cool.

*note: i used the pan i use for making bread and it only made 1 loaf. so i don't really know what size "medium" means.

When bread comes out of oven, mix 3 T. lemon juice with 1/3 c. sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer until sugar has dissolved.

Poke holes in loaves of bread and spoon mixture over top. Let soak in pans ~45 minutes before inverting onto wire rack or plate. Let cool completely before slicing.

Strawberry Dessert

This is a Wirthlin favorite, and it's now become one of mine.

Crust:

• 1 c. flour
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 c. chopped nuts (Lis says it works fine without nuts if you don't have them)

Spread on baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Let cool completely.

Filling:

• 2 egg whites
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1 carton frozen strawberries, thawed (I don't really know why you have to freeze them and then thaw them)
• 1 c. sugar

Beat in bowl on high speed to form peaks. Fold in 1 c. whipped cream.

Sprinkle ~2/3 of your nut mixture in a 9x13 pan. Add filling, then top with remaining nuts.

Cover and freeze until ready to eat (make sure to give yourself enough time to let it freeze! That was a mistake I made the first time we did this). Serve cold.

wheat grinder and cookies

here is our new wheat grinder, and we love it. nate and ashlyn love to make mom's ww pancakes in the morning (try it with real maple syrup from trader joe's!), and we've even started venturing out to different kinds of grain. our newest test is spelt, which we used to make these cookies:

WW Chocolate Chip Cookies:

cream together:

• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar

add 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together and add:

• 2 1/2 c. ww flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Stir in 1 c. chocolate chips

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 for ~12 min.

nate's "birthday cake"

technically these are granola bars, but they're really sweet and definitely a dessert. and since nate won't eat birthday cake, he consistently asks for this on his big day. hence, it's become known around here as "nate's birthday cake."

combine and blend:

• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2/3 c. peanut butter
• 1/2 c. lite corn syrup
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla

combine and stir in:

• 3 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. coconut
• 1/2c. sunflower seeds
• 1/2 c. raisins
• 1/3 c. wheat germ (which i never have, so i add a little bit extra of the other dry stuff)
• 1 c. chocolate chips

press mixture evenly into greased 9x13 pan. bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until light golden in color. cool completely before cutting into bars. serve with milk and eeeeeeennnnjoy.

april's pumpkin cheesecake

i'm getting really sick of the lasagna picture so i'm finally adding a new post. (i recently found out that at least one other person in this family actually uses this blog! so now i'm re-motivated to put stuff on).

i'll start with april's delicious pumpkin cheesecake, and i'm really sorry for those of you who didn't get to try it. i'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but this is definitely something to be grateful for.

Crust (if you're not into buying a regular graham cracker crust . . . which, who isn't?)

• 1 c. graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 c. finely ground ginger cookies, homemade or store bought
• 1 T. sugar
• 4 to 5 T unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake:

• 2/3 c. light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 lb. cream cheese, room temp.
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 c. pure pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)

Topping:

• 1 c. sour cream
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. sugar

Pumpkin cheesecake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees (that's 177 degrees if you measure in C . . . if you're in Tonga, for example) and place oven rack in center of oven. Spray an 8-inch (that's 20 cm) spring form pan.

For crust: combine graham cracker crumbs, finely ground ginger snap cookies, sugar and melted butter. Press the mixture onto the bottom of the prepared spring form pan. Cover and refrigerate while you make the cheesecake filling.

For cheesecake: In a separate bowl, stir to combine sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt.

Beat cream cheese with electric mixer on low speed until smooth (about 2 min.). Gradually add sugar mixture and beat until creamy and smooth (1 to 2 min.). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well, after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the vanilla extract and pumpkin puree.

*** it is at this point that i'm getting too lazy to type anymore, so i'm copying the recipe straight from the website. enjoy. ***

Pour the filling over the chilled ginger crust and place the spring form pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips. Place a cake pan, filled halfway with hot water, on the bottom shelf of your oven to moisten the air. Bake the cheesecake for 30 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees C (165 degrees C) and continue to bake the cheesecake for another 10 - 20 minutes, or until the edges of the cheesecake are puffed but the center is still wet and jiggles when you gently shake the pan.

Meanwhile whisk together the sour cream, vanilla extract and sugar. Pour the sour cream mixture over the top of the baked cheesecake and rotate the pan slightly to evenly distribute the topping. Return the cheesecake to the oven and bake about 8 minutes to set the topping. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Loosen the cake from the pan by running a sharp knife around the inside edge (this will help prevent the cake from cracking). Then place a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the pan so the cheesecake will cool slowly. When completely cooled, cover and refrigerate at least eight hours, preferably overnight, before serving.

cream cheese cake

do you all wish you could come to chicago now? this is the cake we ate with benji's family this week. we're not big cake eaters in this house, but this is one that made me reevaluate my feelings for them (them being cakes, not benji's family) . . .

i'll post the recipe the way nate and i first tried it (another annalisa special), but i'll post the way i made it for ben and sue's family too. once i saw how much butter was in this thing i decided to extend my life a few years and cut most of it out. but if you're ever willing to try the full butter, it was seriously so good. and the raspberry flowers? you can thank michelle for her genius idea there.

Cake: (i halved this recipe and it still filled a 9x13 pan)

18 TBSP (2 1/4 sticks) Unsalted Butter, @ room temperature

3 Cups Sugar

6 Large Eggs, @ room temperature

1 Cup Sour Cream, @ room temperature

1 1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

3 cups All-Purpose Flour

1/3 Cup Cornstarch

1 tsp. Kosher Salt

1 tsp. Baking Soda

Icing:

1 pound (4 sticks) Unsalted Butter, @ room temperature (i used 1 stick)

1 1/2 pounds Cream Cheese (3 8 oz. packs), @ room temperature (i used 1 8-0z pack)

1 pound Confectioners' Sugar, sifted (i just added pwd. sugar til it was the consistency i wanted)

1 1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract (i never measure vanilla)

2 Half-Pints Blueberries (or any other fruit you want)

4 Half-Pints Raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 18 x 12 x 1 1/2 inch sheet cake pan. (i used a regular pan, not a sheet cake pan)

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light an fluffy. On medium speed, add eggs, 2 @ a time, then add sour cream and vanilla. Make sure to scrape down sides of bowl and mix until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. Pour into the greased cake pan and smooth with spatula. Bake in the center of the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool @ room temperature.

For the icing, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix until smooth (because of all the butter, this is a pretty runny icing. you will want to refrigerate your cake after it is decorated).

Spread half of the icing on top of the cooled sheet cake. Decorate with any design of fruit or other decorations. Pipe the remaining frosting around the edges or to make another design.

and here's the picture of the one we did on the 4th of July this year

cheesecake

this has to be a good recipe -- it's the one both mom and heather mcmurray use. we made it in tonga for dad's birthday and mom invented a delicious pineapple topping to go on it.

filling:

• 1 8-oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 c. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  

in med. bowl, beat cream cheese until light, fluffy and smooth. gradually add sweetened cond. milk and mix until well blended. blend in juice and vanilla. turn into crust. refrigerate 2 to 3 hours. cover with fresh fruit or canned pie filling.



and for you over-achievers, here's how to make your own pie crust (but why make what you can buy?)

• 1/2 box graham crackers (that's 1 wrapped pkg)
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 6 T. melted butter
• pinch of salt

mix together and press into pie pan.

Berry Trifle

this is a perfect dish for showers or other parties where you need to feed a lot of people.

• 2 8-oz. container whipped topping
  
• 2 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 pkg (10.75 oz) pound cake or angel food cake (i just made a yellow cake)
• 2 10-oz pkgs frozen raspberries or mixed berries

cream together cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla and sugar. fold 2 cups whipped topping into cream cheese mixture. reserve remaining whipped topping.

slice cake into 18 1/2-inch slices. drain raspberries, reserving juice. line the bottom of a 3 qt glass bowl or trifle dish with 1/3 of cake slices.

drizzle with raspberry juice. spread 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture over cake. sprinkle with 1/3 of the raspberries. repeat layers twice. top with remaining cream cheese mixture and cool whip.

cover and refrigerate 4 hours before serving.

Sock-it-to-me-cake

how can you resist a recipe with a name like that? so here's how it goes:

Streusel Filling: Combine and set aside.

• 2 T. yellow cake mix (or technically it should be a Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix)
• 2 T. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 c. chopped pecans

Cake:

• remaining cake mix
• 4 large eggs
• 1 c. sour cream
• 1/3 c. veg. oil
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/4 c. sugar

Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour 2/3 batter into greased bundt pan. Sprinkle with streusel filling. Spoon remaining batter evenly over filling. Bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.



Cool in pan 25 minutes. Invert onto serving plate and cool completely.

Glaze:

• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1 to 2 T. milk

enjoy!

Chocolate Cream Pie

This is a current favorite with all members of our household (see end of post). Ridiculously rich and chocolate-y--sort of redefined pudding pie for me. From Cooks Illustrated Magazine.

INGREDIENTS

Chocolate Cookie Crumb Crust

16 Oreo cookies (with filling), broken into rough pieces, about 2 ½ cups

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Chocolate Cream Filling

2 ½ cups half-and-half

pinch table salt

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

6 large egg yolks at room temperature, chalazae (protein strands attached to yolk) removed

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold), cut into 6 pieces

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Topping

1 ½ cups heavy cream (cold)

1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1) For the Crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade, process cookies with 15 one-second pulses, then let machine run until crumbs are uniformly fine, about 15 seconds. (Alternatively, place cookies in large zipper-lock plastic bag and crush with rolling pin.) Transfer crumbs to medium bowl, drizzle with butter, and use fingers to combine until butter is evenly distributed.

2) Pour crumbs into 9-inch Pyrex pie plate. Following illustration below, press crumbs evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie plate. Refrigerate lined pie plate 20 minutes to firm crumbs, then bake until crumbs are fragrant and set, about 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack while preparing filling.

3) For the Filling: Bring half-and-half, salt, and about 3 tablespoons sugar to simmer in medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally with wooden spoon to dissolve sugar. Stir together remaining sugar and cornstarch in small bowl, then sprinkle over yolks and whisk, scraping down sides of bowl, if necessary, until mixture is glossy and sugar has begun to dissolve, about 1 minute. Whisk yolks thoroughly in medium bowl until slightly thickened, about 30 seconds. When half-and-half reaches full simmer (watch so it doesn’t boil over!), drizzle about 1/2 cup hot half-and-half over yolks, whisking constantly to temper; then whisk egg yolk mixture into simmering half-and-half (mixture should thicken in about 30 seconds). Return to simmer, whisking constantly, until 3 or 4 bubbles burst on the surface and mixture is thickened and glossy, about 15 seconds longer.

4) Off heat, whisk in butter until incorporated; add chocolates and whisk until melted, scraping pan bottom with rubber spatula to fully incorporate. Stir in vanilla, then immediately pour filling into baked and cooled crust. Press plastic wrap directly on surface of filling and refrigerate pie until filling is cold and firm, about 3 hours.

5) For the Topping: Just before serving, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla in bowl of standing mixer on low speed until small bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave a trail, about 30 seconds more. Increase speed to high; continue beating until cream is smooth, thick, and nearly doubled in volume and forms soft peaks, about 20 seconds. Spread or pipe whipped cream over chilled pie filling. Cut pie into wedges and serve.

Tongas

Here's the recipe for Samoas knockoffs:


Ingredients:
1 box shortbread cookies (or you can make your own, about 20-30 cookies)
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups toasted coconut (Caution: sweetened coconut is easier to find than unsweetened, but burns quickly in the oven; either is fine, but keep a good eye on it lest it burns, baby)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

Melt 3/4 cup chocolate chips in a double boiler (I use my makeshift pot-in-a-pot-o'-water) and pour a thin layer of the melted chocolate chips in the bottom of the cups of silicone muffin pans. (You can try greasing a metal pan but it's harder to get the cookies out later and makes for a pain of a cleaning job.) Place each shortbread cookie in a muffin pan cup, pressing down gently so that it's imbedded in the chocolate. In 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, combine butter, sugar and corn syrup. Heat to a full boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Slowly pour in sweetened condensed milk, stirring constantly. Continue cooking over low heat until candy thermometer reaches 220-228 degrees (I didn't have one, so I just watched until it looked caramel-y). Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla. Beat until creamy. Immediately stir in toasted coconut and mix well.

Spoon mixture by teaspoonfuls over shortbread cookies. Cool completely. Remove cooled cookies from muffin pan onto waxed paper.

Melt remaining chocolate chips and drizzle thinly in stripes over cookies. Add a tablespoon of oil if it's not drizzly enough. Let chocolate harden at room temperature, or refrigerate for 15 minutes if you're in a hurry. Enjoy!

Melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon rolls

Here's the recipe we grew up with. Delicious.

Mix on speed I until moist:

• 2 T. yeast
• 3 1/2 c. hot water
• 1 c. powdered milk (if you don't have this you can use 3 c. milk and 1/2 c. water; but then remember to delete the water from above)
• 1 c. mashed potato flakes
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. margarine, melted
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 c. flour

Add 5-7 c. flour.

Continue adding flour until dough cleans the sides and bottom of the bowl. Lock the lid onto bowl and knead on speed II for 3 min. Let dough rest on oiled counter and let rise for 15 min. Punch down and roll out to 18" x 15". Brush with melted butter. Spread with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture, add nuts/raisins as desired. Roll up and cut into 12-18 rolls. Place on large jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper. Let rise 30-45 minutes. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Let cool for 3-5 minutes before frosting.

Frosting:

• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla
• 3 T. butter
• 1-2 T cream or milk

enjoy!