Desserts

Our Favorites from 2012

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Last year around this time we posted the most popular recipes of 2011.  This year we thought we’d do something different…..this time we are sharing OUR favorites!  Each of the Mavens has chosen their favorite personal recipe of 2012.  We hope you’ll give them a try if you haven’t already!

from Emily…..Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin
 
from Anna…..Mexican Street Corn
 
from Melissa…..Amazing Crockpot Grits
 
from Audrey…..Mom’s Rolls
from Niki…..Cheesy Vegetable Chowder
from Julie……Cottage Ranch Dip
 
 
from Amy…..Cobbler Custard Cups
from Kara…..Spinach Dip
 
Care to share what some of your favorite Maven recipes have been?  We’d love to hear from you!
 
image source: Microsoft Office Clipart (manipulated through Picmonkey)
 

My Favorite Carrot Cake!

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This is the best carrot cake I have ever had! Even people who think they do not really like carrot cake LOVE this one! 

My mom is famous for this cake! Her co-workers always request this for their birthday, and she is asked to bring it to family and church activities all the time. This is a picture of the one she made for our family Christmas party. I wish there was a “scratch and sniff” and a way you could have a little nibble. The texture is so amazing…mmmmm…and the flavor is just perfect! It’s very dense and so moist, and I love the nuts in it! But it’s the icing that I dream about!

Mom’s Famous Carrot Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups white sugar
1 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups shredded carrots (I like fine shreds)
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple (this is what makes it extra amazing!)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional – I like lots!)
1/2 cup raisins (optional – you’ll never find them in MY cake!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (or spray) a 9 x 13 pan.

2. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs. Beat well. Stir in flour mixture, then carrots, pineapple, nuts (and raisins if you insist.)

4. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until done in center.

Icing for Cake
(People have actually requested that my mom make an extra bowl of frosting, just so they can eat it by itself! This icing is AMAZING!!)

8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 TBSP butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans 
1 cup shredded coconut 

1. In medium bowl, combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. Then stir in nuts and coconut. Spread over cooled cake. It’s sooooooo good! You are going to love it!

Notes:
Because this cake is so dense and moist, it might be difficult to make it into a 2 layer cake. Mom always keeps it one layer, which I think is perfect!


Source: My cute little mom, Brenda Joyner.

Chocolate Eclairs

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This is one of those desserts that take extremely little time to prepare, but tastes SO good. It tastes a lot fancier than what the ingredients seem. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Chocolate Eclair Dessert

Eclair Filling:
2 small boxes French Vanilla Pudding
3 cups cold milk
8oz container thawed Cool Whip
Full Graham cracker sheets

 Chocolate Frosting: 
 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
 4 Tbs HOT water
 4 Tbs soft butter
 4 Tbs Cocoa
 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Mix pudding and milk with wire whisk until well blended. Let stand 5 minutes. Fold in thawed Cool Whip.
2. Place whole graham crackers in the bottom of a 9×13 sprayed pan, covering entire bottom.
3. Spread pudding mixture over graham crackers.
4. Top with another layer of whole graham crackers, covering top completely.
5. In a bowl, beat all ingredients for chocolate frosting until smooth.
6. Spread frosting over top layer of graham crackers.
7. Refrigerate 24 hours.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes

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This is such a tasty dessert! Who ever said that cupcakes must have a huge glob on icing on top has obviously never had these. They present so well too! All your friends will think that you spent loads of time making this gourmet dessert. (Just don’t tell them that you use a cake mix… I promise not to tell.)



Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes


Ingredients

1 can(s) 20oz sliced pineapple drained, juice reserved 
1 bx yellow cake mix  (My cake mix was sugar free, and turned out great!)
1/2 c oil 
3 eggs 
1/3 c butter, melted 
2/3 c brown sugar
12 maraschino cherries cut in half 
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 24 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray. 
2. Cut each pineapple slice into 4 pieces; set aside. 
3. In large bowl, beat cake mix, oil, eggs and reserved pineapple juice with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. 
4. In small bowl, stir together melted butter and brown sugar. Spoon 1 1/2 teaspoons butter mixture into each muffin cup. Top each with 2 pineapple pieces. Place cherry half, cut side up, in center of pineapple pieces. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each cup. (My muffin pans seem small, make sure that you don’t over fill your muffin tins. I ended up putting less than a 1/4 cup.)
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Run knife around edge of cupcakes to loosen; invert onto cookie sheet. Serve warm.  (I also ended up cutting a few of the muffin crowns off so that the cupcake would sit flat.)

Christmas Peanut Butter Crackers

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      CAUTION!  CAUTION!  CAUTION!!  CAUTION!!  CAUTION!!  CAUTION!!  CAUTION!!

These are just about good enough to make you slap your momma!   Ha-Ha-Ha! No, seriously, these things are scrumptious and addicting.  We make these every year as part of our Christmas Treats Extravaganza! Some families probably just call that night Christmas Eve.  But, we call it our Christmas Treats Extravaganza!  (It’s fun to say. Use your biggest announcer’s voice.  Try it.)  We make a ton of different kinds of goodies/ treats and we eat them for dinner, and then we have plenty for our company that comes to visit.   You should try these, and I promise your family will love them! They almost taste like Nutter butter cookies!

Ingredients:
Creamy Peanut Butter
Ritz crackers
Almond Bark Candy
Wax Paper

Lay out a long piece of wax paper.  Spread peanut butter on a Ritz cracker and sandwich it with another Ritz cracker.  Make these using 1 whole sleeve of crackers.  Once you get this far, set them aside and break your almond bark into squares. Place them into a microwavable bowl, and melt them in the microwave for about 60 seconds.  Take the bowl out of the microwave and try to stir the squares and break them up as much as you can.  Then put the bowl back in the microwave for about 15 seconds.  Then stir and break up lumps. You will do this over if needed until the candy is all melted and smooth.  Then put a Ritz cracker sandwich into the candy and flip it over with the fork covering as much of the sandwich as you can.  You have to work quickly because the hot candy melts the peanut butter!  Then as you pick up the Ritz cracker sandwich with a fork (kind of scoop it up. don’t stab it with the tongs!) , you can tap the fork gently on the bowl to get off excess candy.  Then put the Ritz cracker onto the wax paper you have layed out.  Finish the entire sleeve of cracker sandwiches you have made. 

You can get about 1 & 1/2 sleeves of Ritz cracker peanut butter sandwiches dipped to one package of almond bark candy.

Chocolate Peppermints

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I recently made these little gems for a family gathering and they were quite tasty.  A great recipe for the holidays or for special events….or just because you want ’em!

Ingredients:
1 pound powdered sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1.  In a mixer, slowly add the sugar to the cream cheese, working in a little at a time, until well blended.  Add the peppermint extract and mix well.  Cover mixer bowl with a damp cloth.
2.  Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.  Roll your peppermint “dough” into teaspoonful sized balls and place on wax paper.  Make an indentation in each ball, either with your finger or with the back of a 1/4-teaspoon.   Cover and refrigerate while you get the chocolate ready.
3.  Melt the chocolate chips in a disposable decorating bag in the microwave until fully melted.  Snip off the very end and fill each indentation.  (OR, if you don’t have these bags–but you should cuz they’re awesome– melt the chips in a microwave proof bowl and then pour the chocolate into a ziplock bag, seal, snip the end, and fill the indentations).  Refrigerate until set.

Notes:

  • Take them out of the fridge for a half hour to an hour before serving.
  • While making the balls, keep the unused “dough” covered so it won’t dry out. 
  • Make the indentations as you go.  If you wait until you’ve formed all the balls, the dough will crack.
Source:  from Amy at She Wears Many Hats

Pecan Pie

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‘Tis the season of PIE! I love pie. Pecan is my favorite. Or maybe Banana Cream. Or maybe Chocolate Cherry. Or maybe…

Ok, you get it. I love pie.

Last year I wanted to make a Pecan Pie. The trouble was I had all the ingredients except Karo Syrup. No opportunity to go to the store was presenting itself and I was desperate for PIE! So I did what we all do when we’re in a pinch. I went to All Recipes to see if, perchance, there was a Pecan Pie recipe without corn syrup in it. Success!!

I know all my Southern friends will be skeptical. I was. But, like I said, I wanted pie, and with over 1300 ratings with 4.5 stars, I thought I’d give it a go. I’m so glad I did! It’s delish and easy–two requirements of mine.

Ingredients:
2 Eggs, room temperature
1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter, melted
1 Cup light brown sugar
1/4 Cup white sugar
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup chopped Pecans
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust
A few whole Pecans for garnishing if you wish

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Stir in the melted butter.
3. Stir in both sugars and flour. Mix well.
4. Add the milk, vanilla, and chopped nuts.
5. Pour into the unbaked pie crust. Garnish the top with pecans (opt).
6. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 and bake 50 minutes more, or until done.

*As per reviews, I made a slight change to the original baking time which began at 400 degrees and reduced to 350 for lessor times.

Happy Holidays to you!

Source: allrecipes.com, Elaine Helms

Mistaken Chocolate Brownie Cake

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So, I have never said that I was a great cook.  Never.  I try.  But, you know what, I walk away from the oven and help someone with homework, or I have to get a band aid for someone, or I have to run upstairs and take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer.  You know you can’t be distracted when your cooking.  Everyone knows this. I know it,  I just choose to multi-task 😉  This cake was a big mistake!  It turned out Delicious but it wasn’t even supposed to be a cake!!!  I was attempting to make a dessert to take over to friend’s home for a “get-together”  and like I always do, I tried a new recipe at the last minute.  I was trying The Pioneer Woman’s Knock You Naked Brownies, but, um, I didn’t make the brownies.  I mixed the cake mix like the box said then I added all of the ingredients from the brownie recipe.  It was very wet.  I wasn’t sure if I could even bake it. But, I put it aside and made the brownies and then went back to the mess I made. I just stared at it.  It had a lot of stuff in it.  Ingredients that I didn’t want to waste.  So I dumped it into a bundt pan and cooked it. Then I made my homemade chocolate frosting and it was Delicious!  Very moist and chocolaty and just good!  So, that mistake turned out well.
 
Cake:
1 box of Betty Crocker Cake Mix
(the ingredients needed on the box)
1 cup chopped pecans, or less, or none!
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray your bundt pan with cooking spray really generously.
In a large bowl, mix the cake mix together like you normally would.  Leave it in the mixing bowl. Add the following to the mixture, pecans, evaporated milk, butter.  Mix these into the cake batter.  Pour into the bundt pan, and bake for at least 30 minutes.  You may need to let it cook a bit more, but check it with a toothpick .  Let it cool completely before frosting.
 
Frosting:
3/4 bag powder sugar
1/2 cup Hershey’s baking cocoa
1/8 cup milk
1/2 stick butter, room temperature (don’t melt it, let it set out and soften)
 
This is the starter mix for the frosting.  You may need to add a tad more milk, add only a Tablespoon at a time. Taste it, and go from there. More chocolate if it needs to be more chocolaty for you.  More powder sugar, if it needs to be thickened or sweetened.
 
 Adapted from The Pioneer Woman.
 
 

Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow

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This is for all you “Muddy Buddy” lovers out there!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 12 oz. package white baking chips
1/2 c. (heaping!) Biscoff spread
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
9 c. rice Chex cereal

Directions:

1.  Place powdered sugar in a large sealable plastic bag.  Set aside.
2.  Combine white baking chips and Biscoff spread in a microwavable safe bowl and microwave on high for one minute.  Stir.  Microwave for an additional 30 seconds and stir.
3.  Stir pumpkin pie spice into Biscoff mixture.  Fold in Chex cereal and toss to coat.
4.  Pour Chex into plastic bag and shake to coat the cereal in powdered sugar.

This would also taste delicious with candy corn, orange and yellow Reese’s Pieces candies or pumpkin pie spiced pecans stirred into the mix.

Biscoff is like a European peanut butter made from Biscoff cookies.  You’ll find it in the grocery aisle with peanut butter and nutella.

Source:  pbfingers.com

Momo’s Apple Pie

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My husband loves to bake. I love that he loves to bake. (Am I a lucky woman or what?!)  Another thing that my husband loves is apple pie. Thus came to be Momo’s Apple Pie. (His name is Morgan, but all his nieces and nephews call him Momo… it’s ‘his’ thing).

This Apple Pie is different than most apple pies. Most pies you mix the apples with spices and a touch of flour then place them into a crust. With this pie, you make a syrup to pour over the whole apple pie (crust and all!) that that gives the pie an incredible flavor and a nice crisp crust. For those Dutch Apple Pie lovers (myself included) this pie my just change your preference.

Seriously, doesn’t that look so yummy?! And it’s not even baked yet…


Momo’s Apple Pie 

Ingredients
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (we’re lazy and use pre-made crust)
1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
8 cooking apples – peeled, cored and sliced

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste.
3. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
4. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, slightly mounded.
5. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the brown sugar syrup over the crust. Make sure to pour in between lattice work to get into the apples. Use a pastry brush to coat the lattice with syrup.
6. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft. We bake our pies on some sort of cookie sheet or pizza pan to catch any drippings.

My son loved this pie too! He was so anxious for it to cool enough to cut. I’m positive you and your family will love it too.

Adapted from allrecipes.com