Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

This is a Thanksgiving class for the Burton family. Grandma Gusty Burton made this every year and brought it for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure when I had my first traditional pumpkin pie but it's not nearly as light and fluffy as this one. This is the recipe from Grandma's cook book.

image from here

Recipe makes one large pie

Prepare/bake a pie shell for a non cooked pie according to recipe instructions. 

Soak:
1 envelope Knox unflavored gelatin in
 1/4 c cold water

Separate 3 eggs putting 3 yolks in the top pan of a double boiler and the egg whites in a clean narrow bottom bowl (set aside at room temperature for later use).

In the top of the double boiler beat  the 3 egg yolks well with
1/4 c sugar
add:
1/2 c milk (canned preferred)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 c cooked pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cook and stir over boiling water until mixture thickens
Add: gelatin/water mixture - mix until dissolved, set aside to cool.

Whip egg whites with 1/4 tsp cream of tartar and 1/2 tsp vanilla until stiff peaks form.

Fold gently into COOLED (room temperature) pumpkin mixture and spread in prepared pie shell.

Chill until set (at least one hour) and garnish with whipped cream.

Chocolate Mini Muffins/Cupcakes

 

 Here's another recipe based on the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

You need four bananas

a triple chocolate fudge cake mix and

1/2 cup chocolate chips.

 Preheat oven to 350.

 Blend bananas in a food processor until smooth.

Add cake mix and process again till mixed.

 Add chocolate chips and process again.

The mixture will be thick.

 

 Spray mini muffin tins with non stick cooking spray and fill most of the way with batter.

It makes 48 mini muffins.

 Bake at 350 for about 15 min. It usually takes 18 min to cook but you do not want to over cook these, the middle should spring back but just barely. Leaving a little indentation in the middle when they are done but also giving slight resistance. DO NOT OVERBAKE!

 Let them cool for about 5 minutes and then pop them out of the pan and cool on a rack.

You can eat them plain or top with fat free cool whip like cupcakes...

or any other kind of chocolate cupcake.

These are about 17 calories per muffin.
Four of them for one WW point.

BB Brownies

photo credit here

I didn't include "black beans" in the title because I don't want to scare anyone away from trying these because they are SOOO GOOD

Yes I have tasted black bean fudge and a host of other things people tried to pass off as a "healthy dessert" 

and gagged them down. These have been taste tasted on women who love chocolate, 

men who love brownies and unsuspecting children and
I have not received one negative comment

*disclaimer*
I don't want to mislead anyone - these do not qualify as
"health food"
 but if you have to have a brownie these are a good way to go.

My goal in trying these is to take something that most people enjoy and make them healthier.

Food is a love language for many people but I find it ironic that we often put great effort into baking a wonderful "I LOVE YOU" offering that undermines the good health of the ones we love. 

You can eat healthier without giving up everything you love.

Sooo Here's how you make them:

this makes one 9x12 pan of extra thick ones (24servings) 
or two 9x9 square pans of pretty thick ones (36 servings)

Preheat your oven to 325

You need: Two packages of Brownie mix -  
(at least one with chocolate chips),
and both being fudge or dark chocolate variety.

I love the Girardelli ones you get from Costco and a cheap fudge brownie mix from the store - preferably one without trans fats.

                                                              One 15 oz can of black beans

Drain and rinse the black beans well and return them to the rinsed can.

Add water to the rinsed  beans until the can is full. Put them in your blender and blend 

on high until the beans are  pulverized.

While your beans are blending, open your mixes and put them in a large bowl, I like to make a well in the middle. Also get your pans ready by spraying them with non stick cooking spray.

 Add your bean slurry to the brownie mix. There will be small particles  visible in the slurry but there should not be any pieces of any substantial size. Stir until it's well mixed. The consistency should be about like the picture below.

Bake your brownies at 325 for about 50-55 minutes for the 9x12 pan and 45-50 minutes for the square pans. DO NOT OVER BAKE!!!!! They will be very soft and hard to cut when they are warm but if you don't care then neither do I! They are delicious straight from the oven, slightly warm, cooled or frozen and thawed.

Nutritional information:
These brownies as made according to the directions on the box:
 24 servings - 268 cpb*     36 servings - 201 cpb*
Made per the recipe above:
24 servings - 199 cpb*     36 servings - 150 cpb*
the BB brownies also have 1 full gram of fiber and protein per brownie (24 serving size)
And cuts out 9 grams of fat (24 servings) and 6.5 grams of fat (36 servings)
*calories per brownie

I have also rolled the brownies into balls, chilled them 

and dipped them in chocolate per bakarella's instructions.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Find the recipe here. Super easy. Super yummy. Very rich.

Ice cream cake

In honor of my mom's milestone birthday yesterday I will post instructions on how to make an ice cream cake - something she taught me.

Ideally you need 24 hours to make an ice cream cake but if you have a really great freezer you can do it in less time.

To make a 9" round cake you will need:
1 8" round cake - frozen
2 - half gallon containers of ice cream (your favorite flavor*) - you will have some left over
1 half gallon of vanilla or chocolate ice cream for the "frosting"
stuff to decorate it with
Waxed paper
9" round cake pan
*rocky road ice cream is especially challenging because of the mini marshmallows.

Bake your cake first. I usually just use a box cake mix and cook it in two 8 inch pans. Make sure you grease and flour them well before cooking them, let them set 10 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack after they are finished cooking and then turn them out onto the cooling rack. When they are cool, put them each in a gallon ziploc bag, squeeze out all the air and put in the freezer until frozen solid. You will only be using one of the layers.

If you want a larger cake you just need to make sure the pan you put the ice cream layer in is 1" larger than the cake. (a 10" pan uses a whole cake mix and the full 2- 1/2 gallons of ice cream. You can use the same sized pan it's just not as easy.

Once the cakes are in the oven set out your filling ice cream to soften.
Line a 9" cake pan with waxed paper and set aside. When ice cream is somewhat soft remove large portions and press it into the lined pan making sure it fills in all the crevices and has no air space. Smooth the top so it is level, cover it with another piece of waxed paper and put it in the freezer.

When the cake and ice cream are both frozen, put the cake on your serving platter, (remove the top layer of waxed paper) and center the ice cream on top of the cake, removing all waxed paper.

Allow it to sit at room temperature to soften the edges of the ice cream.

When the ice cream is soft and spreadable, carefully spread the ice cream down over the sides of the cake. Smooth the sides and then spread the crown that is created at the edges of the top of the cake towards the center so that the ice cream leaves a smooth surface all around the cake.
Put it back in the freezer to harden - at least an hour - most likely more.
About 20 min. before you are ready to "frost" the cake take the vanilla or chocolate ice cream out of the fridge and let it soften. When it is soft enough, put it in a large bowl and break it up.
Let it sit to soften a little more and then using the back of a sturdy spoon stir and smash the frozen lumps out of the ice cream until it is smooth but still thick.
Retrieve your frozen cake from the freezer and dump all the "frosting" ice cream on top of it.
Spread it on the top of the cake creating a large lip that hangs over the sides.
From the top smooth the lip down the sides and around the cake taking more from the overhanging lip of ice cream as needed.

It helps to turn the cake as you go to smooth out the sides.
Once the sides are smooth, use the spatula to clear off the extra ice cream, returning it to the bowl (to eat later or make shakes with - sooo yummy).

continue to smooth the top removing excess ice cream.
Don't take too long doing this as your cake will be melting.
Return it to the freezer as quickly as possible.

The longer you can freeze it at this point the easier it will be to decorate.
Use regular decorator frosting to pipe borders but work quickly so they don't slide off. Melted chocolate is always good dripped on the edges but allow it to cool as much as possible before putting it on the ice cream to avoid sliding.

When you are ready to serve the cake, allow the whole cake to sit out for 10 min. or so to soften for easier serving. A knife dipped in hot water also helps.

For Ruby's Elmo cake we printed off a picture of Elmo from the internet, cut out the center creating a stencil and filled it in with red sprinkles. I piped melted chocolate for the outlines and mouth and filled the nose in with almond butter.

Enjoy!

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

I know, I know, I just posted a cookie recipe. But, hey, it is fall and these cookies are not to be missed!

Ingredients
3/4 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 egg
1/4 C molasses
2 1/2 C flour
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. cloves
1/4 t. salt
Additional sugar

Directions
1. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and molasses.
2. Combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in separate bowl. Gradually add to creamed mixture.
3. Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls, then roll in sugar.
4. Place two inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Makes: 2 1/2 dozen

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

I had the challenge of making a treat for a friend who had some allergies: milk, wheat, and corn. The corn-free part was easy, but the rest was a bit tricky. This is what I found...

The hard part is that the batch only makes about 12-14...so, they are gone very quickly, but they are super easy. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1 C crunchy peanut butter
1 egg
1 C sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together.
Form dough into 1-inch balls.
Press flat on greased cookie sheet with fork.
Bake 10 minutes.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 c. butter
5 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
5 c. oatmeal
1 24 oz. pkg chocolate chips
2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla

Measure oatmeal and blend. In a separate bowl, combine butter with both sugars. Combine all ingredients and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Homemade Applesauce

This is great when your apples are getting a little old...and you may never go back to store-bought applesauce. Plus, it is great warm! Mmmmmm!

Ingredients:
4 apples, chopped & peeled
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon


Directions:
1. Prepare apples. Bring apples and water to boil, stirring frequently.
2. Add sugar and spices and simmer for 10ish minutes. Add more sugar if needed.

Scotcheroos

Sorry that this post is a day late! I am a big fan of scotcheroos. In fact, I purposely make sure that I don't have some of the necessary ingredients in our house very often, otherwise I might make them way more often than is healthy. These can be made on special occasions. Just as a side story, I made these for Aaron and his roommates as a thank you present for helping me with my car when he first caught my eye as my home-teacher. I think that the scotcheroos were partially responsible for him asking me out on our first date. :)

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup light corn syrup
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Combine sugar and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently until mixture boils. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and Rice Krispies (do the Krispies one cup at a time, mixing them completely in between cups or else it is hard to get them mixed in all of the way). Stir until blended and press into 9 X 13 baking dish or regular cookie sheets, depending on how thick you want them to be (I like the thicker ones better). Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips together over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread over Rice Krispie mixture and put in the fridge to set up. Enjoy!

Raspberry Angel Food Cake

This desert reminds me of spring. I love it because I can acutally eat it and not feel guilty.

1 serving has 160 calories, 0g of fat, 0mg of Cholesterol, 36g of Carbs.

Exchanges are 1 startch and 1 1/2 fruit.

1 cup boiling water

1 package (4-serving size) sugar- free raspberry flavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

1 pint (2 cups) fresh raspberries

1 container (8 oz) frozen fat free whipped topping, thawed

1 round (10 inches in diameter) angel food cake

Pour boiling water over gelation in large bowl; stir until gelatin is dissolved. Stir in cold water. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until thickenedbut not set.

Fold 1 pint raspberries and half of the whipped topping into gelatin mixture. Refrigerate about 15 mintues or until thickenend but not set.

Split cake horizontally to make 3 layers. (to split, mark sideof cake woth toothpicks and cut with long thin serrated knife) Fill layers with gelatin mixture. Spoon or pipe remaining whipped topping onto cake. Garnish with raspberries.

Breakfast of Champions...Just Add Milk

This has become Jordan's signature treat. It is quick, easy, and yummy (how could you go wrong with that combination?).

(P.S. Jordan came up with the name--I personally wouldn't eat them for breakfast, but you would have an excuse if you did...since cereal is involved)

Ingredients:
6 cups Cheerios (or Honey Nut Scooters--that is what we use)
4 cups Mini Marshmallows
3 Tbs. Butter or Margarine
Bag of Chocolate Chips (don't skimp)

Directions:
1. Melt butter in saucepan on stove. Add in marshmallows.
2. In separate bowl, pour in cheerios. Stir in marshmallow mixture and coat. Last, stir in chocolate chips.
3. Put in greased 9x13 pan and let cool. Enjoy!

Sugar Cookies

Sorry this is a day late.

Thus recipe is from Erika's Young women's President. They are great. Be sure to use the almond extract. It make a huge difference. She recommends that you double the recipe.

Sugar Cookies
Mix well:
¾ c margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (I use almond extract instead)
Add:
2 ½ c flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Chill dough for 1 hour. Roll out dough to ½” thick (these are the soft thick cookies not the thin crisp kind) and cut with shape cookie cutters.
Bake 350 degrees for 8-10 min. (These cookies don’t get brown around the edges.)
Frosting
8oz. cream cheese, softened
1 ½ lb. powdered sugar (or until desired consistency)
¼ - milk or more if needed
1 tsp vanilla
food coloring as desired
Beat 5 min.
*** Note: this makes lots of frosting that could frost more than one batch of cookies.

Chocolate-chip Pumpkin Loaf

I really like chocolate chip/pumpkin desserts, so this is a favorite of mine.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients. Cream butter, sugar, and eggs. With mixer on low speed (or by hand), add small amounts of flour mixture alternately with pumpkin. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased, lightly floured loaf pan. Bake at 350- 65 minutes for a large loaf and about 20 minutes for small 6 X 3 1/2 X 2 1/2 pans. Can test with a toothpick to see if its done. Makes 1 large or 3 small loaves. :)