Blueberry Pie

From HERE:........

To HERE!

This is more of an "I'm proud of myself" kind of post! I won't be sharing the recipe with ya'll beacause it didn't turn out quite right.....VERY RUNNY.....good but runny. BUt the story of the pie........
My friend had told me that she had gone and picked blueberries at a u-pick farm and how much fun it was. So the next time she went she invited me along! So we went and picked almost 5 pounds of blueberries for $12! Not too shabby! I had heard that this recipe I used was soooo good, so I was super excited to try it. It called for 1 golden delicious apple which is kinda unique and I had heard that the apple is like a natural thickener......apparently not the one I picked! Plus I really wasn't so much of a fan of the apple in the pie....didn't really fit. But I did eat 2 pieces! THis was my first double crust pie and the crust turned out really good! Anyway....I'll have to try a different recipe sometime!

Cream Cheese Stuffed Strawberries

It has been a while since I posted something....I haven't baked much these days. Cupcakes when it's so hot don't sound so good!!!! But thses are a perfect, cool enough to eat in the summer treat! Just looking at this picture makes my mouth water!!! These are so good, easy to make and look pretty elegant, if I do say so myself! Try them!!!

The Recipe:::
2 Pints of strawberries
1 8 oz. packeage cream cheese
3/4 cup powedered sugar
1 t almond extract

1- Wash strawberries and either let them air dry or softly pat them dry. Leave the stems on them. Then cut the the ends of them like an x not quite to the stem end. Set them aside.

2- To prepare the filling: Beat cream cheese, powdererd sugar and almond extract. You can do these 2 or 3 days ahead to save time.

3- Put filling into a piping bag and gently insert into the x'd end of the strawberry.

4- For a delicious option you can drizzle chocolate on them!

                                                                                                     Recipe from: Our Best Bites Cookbook

Cream Puffs

Cream puffs are amazing! They are so versatile.....sweet or savory.....add chocolate mousse or chicken salad! The ones I made I filled with chocolate mousse. They were so yummy! And really thought they were a quick and easy treat to make. I got the recipe from Our Best Bites cookbook.... which by the way is awesome! I'm so in love with it!

The Recipe:

½ c. water
¼ c. butter
1/8 tsp. salt
½ c. flour
2 eggs

~Preheat your oven to 400. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, and salt and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add flour all at once. Stir quickly with a spoon until dough forms a ball.

~Add one egg at a time, combining completely after each addition. The mixture will be very smooth and velvety
~Either drop the dough by scant teaspoons or spoon dough into a pastry bag and pipe them directly onto an un-greased baking sheet. Yes, teaspoons; they’ll puff up, but you also want them to be bite-sized. If you want larger cream puffs, you could use a cookie scoop to get a tablespoon of dough.  ( I tried some both ways and thought that he pastry bag way was not only easier, but they looked prettier and were easier to fill after they baked.)
~Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until golden-brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. ( I don't know if my oven is like super super hot or what, but I only cooked them for about 17 minutes and they were perfect......so test yer oven!)



Chocolate Mousse:

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp. cold water
2 Tbsp. boiling water
½ c. sugar
¼ c. cocoa
1 c. cold whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small bowl. Let stand 1 minute to soften. Add boiling water; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved and mixture is clear. Cool slightly. Stir together ½ c. sugar and ¼ c. cocoa in a medium bowl. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat at medium speed, scraping bottom of bowl occasionally, until stiff. Pour in gelatin mixture and beat until well blended.


Refrigerate ½ hour and then spoon into icing bag.

This mousse is so good to just eat by itself too!

How to Fill:

Gently insert piping tip into the bottom of each pastry puff and squeeze filling into puff, being careful not to over-fill. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (or dip top in chocolate) and refrigerate until ready to serve. These are definitely better the next day, so it lightens your workload to be able to make these a day or two in advance if you’re throwing a party.

Strawberry Cheesecake

This cheesecake recipe is so delish! I got the recipe from my sister along time ago. It is super easy to make and very fast. And the straberry sauce I found on the Our Best Bites blog. I seriously sit with the container of it and eat it plain with a spoon!

Strawberry Sauce Recipe:

1 pint strawberries

1/3 c. white sugar
1 tsp. almond extract (my favorite) or vanilla extract

Wash strawberries and cut up some....if you want!
Combine berries, sugar, and extract in medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for five minutes, stirring/breaking strawberries up with a wooden spoon constantly.
After five minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly (if you have a glass blender jar) and a lot (if you have a plastic blender jar). When cool enough, transfer mixture to blender and pulse until desired consistency is reached.


This sauce can be used on just about anything...I had it on my pancakes one morning.....so nice and refreshing!

Cheesecake Recipe:

1 8 oz. Cream Cheese
1/3 cup sugar
MIX WELL
1 cup sour cream
2 t vanilla
1 8 oz. cool whip- fold into the rest.

See so easy! Thow it in a graham cracker crust and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours and voila!

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

I have never actually had Key Lime Pie....maybe I should try that!....but these cupcakes we absolutely DELISH! The lime flavor was perfect and the the buttercream frosting was just the right touch. ANd look how pretty it is!!!!!! You put a graham cracker crust in the bottom of each cupcake wrapper and that really makes the cupcake!  I found the recipe on Elly Says Opa! blog.

The Recipe:

Key Lime Pie Filling

8 oz. mascarpone or cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (9 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
5 oz. key lime juice

Place all ingredients in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and mix on low for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and blend for 2 minutes.

Refrigerate the filing for 2 or more hours.

Graham Cracker Crust

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp. sugar
3-4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Prepare 2 muffin tins with liners.

In a food processor, blend together graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add 3 Tbsp melted butter and pulse a few times. If it seems like it needs more butter, add the remaining tablespoon. Distribute evenly among cupcake liners and press down to form a shell.

Lime Cake

2.25 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1.5 cups granulated sugar
2 egg whites
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. lime zest

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Add egg whites, beating well after each addition. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lime zest until blended.

Combine milk, vanilla, and sour cream in a bowl, whisking until incorporated.

With electric mixer at low speed, add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beating well after each addition.

Lime Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 to 8 cups powdered sugar
3 TBSP key lime juice, possibly more to thin out frosting
splash of vanilla

Beat together the butter, 3 cups of the sugar, key lime juice and vanilla on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.

You may not need to add all of the sugar. If too thick, thin with more key lime juice. You can also use more lime juice if you want a more tart flavor.

WHAT I DID:

1-The biggest thing I did was I didn't use Key limes. They didn't have any at the store I was at and I didn't feel like hunting them down somewhere else. So I guess they're just Lime Pie Cupcakes! I don't know what key limes taste like, but the cupcakes were awesome with regular limes!

2- It takes ALOT of limes......they really aren't the juiciest fruit!

3- In the frosting I used about 3 1/2 Tablespoons of lime juice and about 5 cups of powder sugar.

SOOOO Delicious and PRETTY!

Pink Lemonade Crumble Bars

So GOOD!.....but kinda a pain in the old rear to make!!! It just was alot of bowls and honestly I think it was mostly that my kids were DRIVING ME NUTS! I personally couldn't really taste the raspberry in them, but they were really good! I found this recipe in my Family CIrcle magazine.

Igredients:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour


1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

5 large eggs

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam, stirred to loosen up

1/2 cup cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

Grated zest of 1 lemon (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13 x 9 x 2-inch metal baking pan with nonstick foil.

2. Crust and Crumbs. Combine 2 cups of the flour, the sugar, almonds and salt in a food processor. Pulse to finely grind almonds and blend ingredients. While processor is running, add butter and vanilla. Reserve 2/3 cup crumbs mixture and press rest into bottom of prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, with your hands, blend remaining 2 tablespoons flour into reserved crumbs.

3. Filling. In a medium-size bowl, whisk sugar and flour. Whisk in eggs, then raspberry jam. Whisk in lemon juice and zest.

4. Remove crust from oven and pour filling over crust. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle crumbs over top of bar and bake an additional 15 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Chill before cutting into bars. Refrigerate until packaging or serving.

WHAT I DID:

1. I followed the recipe on this one except I used just regualar rasberry jam with seeds and I couldn' t even tell they were in there.
2. Just FYI- there is only one thing that I ever use Real Butter in.....I use I Can't Believe Its NOt Butter in Everything else.

Peach Crisp Cupcakes

I found this recipe on the blog 52 cupcakes, but I tweeked it  bit. I have this dream of someday coming up with a completely original recipe.....a time when I just know how much flour, baking soda, perfect flavor combinations.....you get the point. So this was my first attempt! I was not a fan of these to be completely honest. I felt they had way too much nutmeg in them. But my honey LOVED them! So they're worth a try!

The Recipe:

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1-1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp grated orange zest-

3/4 cup milk

2 peaches or nectarines, pitted and thinly sliced and cut into thirds

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until light and fluffly. Add vanilla and orange zest, beating well. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk, beating until smooth. Fold in peaches or nectarines.
3. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated over for 23-28 minutes or until golden brown and tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

The CRISP part:
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Mix into a crumble with a fork.
Put on top of cupcake batter before you bake them. Don't fill the cups up as much as normal because the crisp part fills them up some.
Top with whipped cream.
 

What I did::

1. I used grapfruit zest because I didn't have any oranges. I'm not sure it did anything....I couldn't taste it!
2. Instead of using the cut up peaches, I substituted a 1/4 cup of the millf with peach puree. SO it was 1/4 cup peach puree and 1/2 cup milk. I think I would even do 1/2 cup peach puree and 1/4 cup milk. I mixed the two together so I could add them at the same time.