Using the microwave to make the filling and using refrigerated pastry rolls instead of making your own pie dough saves a whole lot of time to make these really great pastry tarts. The filling can be just raisins or a mixture of dried fruit, your choice. You can grease the muffin cups or for a prettier pastry tart just use foil (not paper) cupcake liners. In…
Lava Cakes! They are SO-OO Good! Skip the box mixes and frozen varieties of lava cakes, they are MUCH more delicious when you make them from scratch! And seriously, they take just minutes to make and bake! It couldn’t be any easier and you don’t have all the added preservatives from the mixes. This is a super fast recipe! I prefer a combination of bittersweet and semisweet…
Here is my version of Italian Bakery-style Fig Squares or Raisin Squares. I use MIXED DRIED FRUIT with a hint of orange. My filling mixture here was raisins, prunes, and dates. For the fruit filling you can be traditional and use just figs, or use a combination of figs, apricots, mangos, peaches. Use any dried fruit combination you like! I just love all dried fruit!…
Waldorf Salad, that simple mixture of apples, raisins, walnuts, and celery, with a slightly sweet, sour cream dressing has been a favorite for generations! It originated at the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York in 1893. Waldorf Salad shouldn’t be swimming in a lot of dressing, and this recipe doesn’t do that. I like the using different color apples and dark raisins for contrast. It is…
Cranberry Mousse Jello Mold Salad has been a favorite in our family for many years especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I found it in a magazine years ago so proper credit for the recipe goes to Helen Clement of Hemet, California. I only chose to reduce her nutmeg amount from 1/2 to 1/4 teaspoon , which gives it just a tiny hint of nutmeg, you may…
Servings: 8 “If you are one of those die-hard rum raisin fans you have to try this adults only, kicked-up-a-notch, gourmet apple pie that is not hard to make at all. I adapted this recipe from Epicurious so you know it has to be great! For an even stronger rum taste you can keep the cooked rum raisin mixture at room temperature in a covered…
This is AWESOME ! A delicious pumpkin cheesecake with the sour cream topping got rave reviews all around the table! Its pumpkin flavor is just perfect, not overwhelming, and the texture is light and creamy. I found this excellent recipe from Joy of Baking’s Stephanie Jaworski, a favorite pastry Chef of mine. The only thing I changed was the crust. I have tried several other…
“I finally got around to trying Nutella-filled chocolate chip cookies and they are as good as everyone says they are and something different to try. This one I tried I adapted from Cook’n’Share. The inside of the cookie has a soft chocolate center from the Nutella so you have to be careful not to overbake them. Nutella is ground hazelnuts and chocolate so beware those…
“This buttery rich, creamy, caramel-y praline soft fudge recipe is so delicious! Bill’s mother made this old-fashioned penuche recipe which she got from HER mother. I date this back to the 1950’s or maybe the 1940’s. It was a hit back then and is still amazing now! There are so many variations of Penuche Fudge! It is very popular in the southern United States…
“CAUTION: For Serious Chocolate Lovers only, the chocoholics of the world, like my husband, Bill! There is some very serious, luscious chocolate going on in this little cookie! These are a cross between a truffle candy and a cookie. It is a cookie but there is very little flour in the recipe. The surface is like a cookie but…
This biscotti is special for Christmas with the red and green from the dried cranberries and pistachios, but I love the taste so much I make these year round! For the second bake time, I make a change from the usual way to do biscotti. I keep the second oven time short and do not twice bake each side. Instead, I put the sliced biscotti…
“An old-fashioned cookie that I used to make a lot and then forgot about for a while. I recently resurrected my old recipe, did some baking of newer versions and decided no, the old one tastes the best! This recipe happens to be the same one Stephanie Jaworski uses on her Joy of Baking website. Sometimes the old recipes just can’t be beat! Be sure…
STRUFFOLI, also known as HONEY BALLS, has to appear in our house sometime during the Christmas holiday, or someone will complain! These little fried nuggets of dough, sweetened with honey are in many bakeries in December. But we don’t like the bakery kind! LOL Our family’s homemade version has a sweetened dough, the honey mixture is softer, and the little nugget balls are made smaller compared to…
A moist, triple chocolate zucchini muffin that gets the “YUM” approval from my chocoholic husband! You really cannot taste the zucchini in them but it helps to make the muffins moist! Bill’s suggestion for my trial tweaks with this was to add more chocolate chips, which I did. The espresso powder in the batter is my tweak. It just enhances the chocolate. If you don’t…
Really a caramel apple pie, this famous apple pie from Allrecipes is really as good as everyone says it is! I made some personal preference changes and altered the technique quite a bit to make it EASIER AND FOOLPROOF! I mix most of the syrup with the apples before putting it into the pie, then brush my kept-warm, reserved syrup over the rest over…
