Coconut Cherry Pie

Unexplained cravings are again responsible for spontaneous semi-homemade desserts. This time, it was cherries and coconut. But how to combine these two random, yet delicious ingredients? A pie, of course! Take a traditional crumble topping, add coconut flakes, and put on top of your own cherry filling, or, like me, a canned filling. Wha-la! You've got a pie. 

The delightful surprise of the toasted coconut gives the cherries an added dimension, without overpowering the dish or taking away from the comfort a cherry pie offers. 

1 regular size can cherry pie filling. (I used the one without HF Corn Syrup.)

1/3 c. coconut flakes

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 tbl cinnamon 

3 tbl flour

1/3 c. oats 

3 tbl butter, chilled

1 pie crust (my favorite pre-made is Marie Callender in the freezer)

Heat oven to 375. Pour can into pie crust. Cut butter into 1/4 in pieces. Mix dry ingredients together. Cut butter into crumble mix with a pastry blender or two knives until the size of peas. Spread evenly on top of the pie. Make a pie shield out of aluminum foil. (see previous posts) Bake for 30 min. Remove foil and bake for 15 min longer. Let stand before serving to gel and avoid tongue burning. 

Verdict: it was delicious. 

Guilt-free Chocolate Chip Banana "Bread"

Necessity has forced me to clean out my freezer. I recently got married, and between my old fridge, his fridge, and wedding leftovers, we were out of space. I set out on my counter a few random items, trying to brainstorm what action to take.

If you're like me, you hate throwing food away, and stick things in the freezer when they're on their last leg to preserve them for some future moment when you know you'll just crave that half a serving of casserole or a few slivers of chicken breast. Thus said, I always put browned bananas in my freezer for baking. I also had a carton of egg whites (yes, you can freeze eggs), so this is what I came up with: wheat free, dairy free, mostly fat and sugar free yumminess!

4 bananas, previously frozen, thawed
1 cup egg whites
1 cup oats (I used gluten free)
1 tablespoon Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus spice blend
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350. Mix together with an electric mixer. Because the bananas have been frozen and thawed, they are really juicy and mix well. Choose a baking dish that is easy to clean, such as glass, corningware or stoneware. This will stick, and you'll want to use an abrasive pad. Bake until it doesn't jiggle and it's slightly browned on top. 20 minutes or so.

Serves 4

Chocolate Cake with Fudge Icing

 My fiance and I were putting together an impromptu dinner for our good friends when we remembered that Megan's birthday was this week. Adam suggested we stop and buy a store-made cake to surprise her. Every ounce of baker in me repelled this idea, so I went to my stand-by recipe, grabbed all the ingredients, and headed to his house. Within 30 minutes we had cupcakes cooling and icing waiting for the great reveal after dinner! It pays to keep a well-stocked pantry, and oddly enough, I happened to have buttermilk from a recipe last week. For a list of items to always keep on-hand, see the list at the end of the post.

Cake Ingredients
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup, less 1 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Icing Ingredients
1/2 cup (1stick) butter, softened, not melted
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar,
3 ounces (3 squares) unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper cups. In a medium bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Fold in 1/4 of the flour mixture at a time, alternating with the buttermilk.

Fill cupcake tins 1/2 to 2/3 full. Anymore and it will overflow. Bake for 15 min-20 min, or until the tops are just firm and a toothpick comes out with a few little crumbs attached. If you bake until the toothpick is clean, they'll be too dry.

While they're baking, prepare the frosting. Beat soft butter and confectioner sugar until light and fluffy. Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at 30 second intervals, stirring well each time. Add the chocolate while beating the butter mixture. Add vanilla and beat until smooth. Put icing in your decorating bag or a gallon ziplock and let cool to room temp. When the cupcakes are completely cool, put a small amount of icing on each cupcake. If you want to pile it on thick, you'll need to double the icing recipe. Add sprinkles or choc shavings before the icing dries.

Pantry Staples 
(everything you need to make almost every cake, cookie, and pie)
All-purpose flour
Granulated sugar
Powdered sugar
Brown sugar
Salt
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Vanilla (clear if you need to make white cake or icing)
Cocoa Powder
Chocolate Baking Squares
Chocolate chips, white and semi-sweet
Shortening
Eggs
Milk
Butter
Oats
Raisins

Pumpkin Bread

Nothing says fall like sweet breads made out of gourds. In October, my boyfriend Adam and I went to a pumpkin carving party with our friends. His vision was to scrape the inside of the pumpkin until it was paper thin and the pattern could show a soft orange glow when the candle was lit. After 30 min of constant scraping, we left with a stuffed gallon-sized bag of shredded pumpkin. What else to do, than to make pumpkin bread! My search for a recipe led me online to Food Network and Alton Brown. I omitted the pumpkin seeds, because from previous experience, their texture isn't pleasant once the bread isn't fresh. 

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups shredded fresh pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla. Combine both mixtures and fold in the shredded pumpkin. Once the ingredients are all incorporated, pour into a greased muffin tin. Bake for 30 minutes. At this point a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin should come out clean. 

I acquired this recipe from Alton Brown on the Food Network. 

Chocolate Pecan Bourbon Pie "Derby Pie"

• Last year I had the good fortune to be set up on a girl date with who is now my best friend, Bonnie. She and I share a love of horses and often talk about Kentucky and the races. This summer she made a "Derby Pie," and I will never look at a pecan pie the same way. 
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• The Derby Pie is a tradition of Kentucky, and the only original recipe is a well kept family secret. This version is a cross between a chocolate chess and a pecan. 
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• Frozen Marie Callenders crust 
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans 
• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup bourbon or water 
• 4 large eggs 
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted 
• 2 teaspoons cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Sprinkle pecans and chocolate evenly onto bottom of piecrust; set aside.
• Combine corn syrup and next 3 ingredients in a large saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Whisk together eggs and next 4 ingredients. Gradually whisk about one-fourth hot mixture into egg mixture; add to remaining hot mixture, whisking constantly. Pour filling into prepared piecrust. Cover with crust shield for first 30 min. 
• Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or until set; cool on wire rack.
• Cynthia Ann Briscoe, Birmingham, Alabama, Southern Living 

Oatmeal Cookies

Sometimes you can't improve upon an old recipe. And sometimes you can!

Recently Colorado was bombarded by 8 different forest fires, one of which was in the foothills near my town of Fort Collins. The organization Samaritan's Purse came in to help people sift through remains, clean windows, and put tarps on roofs. Hundreds of volunteers headed up into the mountains everyday with sack lunches. Some of the ladies at my church were asked to bake cookies, so I had a few girls over to share in the experience. We landed on traditional Oatmeal Cookies, and after baking one batch, we mixed it up a little by substituting white chocolate and craisins for raisins. Both were equally delicious!

In my early adolescence, I tested out many different recipes for oatmeal raisin cookies to please my daddy. Every batch was a little different; fluffy, crispy, sweeter, heartier. . . but, alas, none could satisfy him. Finally I called my grandmother in Florida and asked for the recipe she used to make when my father was a boy. She laughed and replied that it was on the Quaker Oats carton! Well, why not? Sometimes simpler is better!

1 cup (2sticks) butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups Quaker Oats
1 cup raisins

Heat oven to 350. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. In separate bowl, mix flour, soda, cinnamon, and salt. Then add oatmeal and raisins. Add dry mix to batter in fourths until fully incorporated. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 min, or until golden brown. Cool on a rack, then store in an air-tight container to keep soft. Makes about 4 doz.

Apple Dump Cake

One of the things I love about cooking is taking an in-season ingredient and transforming it into something amazing. Last fall a friend gave me apples from his yard. I made apple pies and bread and still had some left over, so I peeled, sliced and froze the rest. I recently came across them and decided I would throw them in with some sugar and cinnamon for a quick dessert. Based upon what I had on hand, this is what I came up with, and it was wonderful! My apples were very tender and moist after being frozen, perfect for short cooking time.

5-6 cups of peeled, sliced apples
Hand full of raisins
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1 stick butter, divided
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 yellow cake mix

Preheat oven to 350 with 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) of butter in a glass 9x13 pan. Mix sugars and spices in a large bowl, toss apples and raisins to coat. Once butter is melted, tilt dish so that it coats the whole pan. Dump apple mixture in. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over the top. Add pecans evenly. Melt remaining 1/2 stick of butter and drizzle over the top. Bake for 30 min or so on the lower middle of the oven. (don't want to burn the pecans!) If the top starts to brown before you think the apples are done, cover with foil and cook another 10 min.