Mary Lou's Cinnamon Peach Cobbler

I got this super simple recipe for peach "cobbler" from my aunt, Mary Lou. As I've mentioned before, I'm not big into baking, so for me to bake something it has to be super simple. This totally fits the bill.

Ingredients
-Two 28oz cans of peach slices, reserve liquid from one can

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 box yellow cake mix

-3/4 Cup butter, melted

-vanilla ice cream (optional...but so worth it :)

Steps

1. Put peaches and about half of the packing liquid from one can in the bottom of cobbler pan (13 X 9).  Add vanilla, cinnamon, and stir.

2. Sprinkle cake mix evenly on top - do not stir! Also, try not to let the peaches peek through the cake mix.

3. Drizzle melted butter all over top.

4. Bake at 375 for about an hour, until golden on top.

5. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Simple protein smoothie

Ingredients
-1 Handful of frozen blueberries
-1 banana, quartered
-1/3 C Greek yogurt
-2 T honey
-splash of O.J.
-splash of soy or almond milk

Steps
1. Blend above and enjoy!

Note: I subbed apple for banana one day and that was good. Another day I mixed yogurt, banana, and heath bar chips and that was nice for dessert.

Lemon Blossom Muffins

These guys are AMAZING. Any time I make them they are a huge hit. They are fresh, tangy, moist, with a little crunch from the glaze. They are perfect for dessert or breakfast...or as a mid-day snack. Also, since the recipe makes so many, they are great for taking to parties. These muffins are also really good cold, right out of the refrigerator. And the best part about them is that they are super easy to make. My Mom gave me this recipe, and supposedly it's from Paula Dean, though given the lack of butter, I find that hard to believe.

Note: since these make about 4 dozen, it really helps to have at least 2 mini-muffin pans.

Ingredients (makes 4-5 dozen)

Muffins

- 1 yellow cake mix

- 3.4 oz instant lemon pudding mix from Jello

- 4 large eggs

- 3/4 C vegetable oil

Glaze

- 3 C powdered sugar

- zest of two lemons

- 1/3 C fresh lemon juice

- 1 TBSP vegetable oil

-2 TBSP water

(Preheat oven to 350)

Steps

1. Mix muffin ingredients in a large bowl for about 2 minutes. Note: the batter will be quite gooey.

2. Spray miniature muffin tins with oil.  Using two cereal spoons, spoon batter into muffin tins filling only halfway. Bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes. 

3. While muffins are baking, make glaze by whisking all glaze ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth.

4. It's best to glaze muffins when they are warm, but not right out of the oven (they'll fall apart if they are too hot). So let the muffins sit in the pan for a few minutes before removing. The muffins are kind of delicate, but I discovered a trick to more easily remove them: lightly grab the tops, and then turn them as if you are unscrewing them from the pan. This will release them and make it easier to pop them out of the pan.

5. Glaze them completely by dunking them/rolling them in the glaze (I just used my fingers). Shake off excess glaze.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 until you're out of batter.

7. Allow muffins to dry on a wire rack with some foil underneath that the glaze will drip onto. Let the glaze set before storing in a container.

Kelly's Truffles

First, I'm finally back from a month of traveling for internship interviews, and I'm excited to get back to cooking and more regular posting!

I got this recipe from my good friend, Kelly, and made them for New Years. They are insanely good. I love that they look pretty fancy, but are actually super easy to make.

Ingredients
-8oz cream cheese (room temp)
-1 pound bag of Oreos (don't get double stuff)
-1 pound of milk or dark chocolate (I used chocolate chips)
-1/2 pound of white chocolate (I used chips)

Steps
1. Using a blender or food processor, finely crush the Oreos.

2. Next, using your hands or a food processor (I used my hands), incorporate the cream cheese and Oreo crumbs.
3. Make little balls out of the Oreo dough and chill for 45 minutes.

4. Melt your chocolate. I did mine in the microwave at 70% power for 20-30 second intervals. This was my first time melting chocolate, and the microwave trick worked okay, but the melted chocolate stayed a bit thicker than I would've liked. If anyone has better suggestions about how to melt chocolate I'd love to hear in the comments!
5. Dip the balls into the chocolate using a slotted spoon, toothpick, fingers, or whatever works best for you.

6. Melt your white chocolate. Melting white chocolate was harder for me, as it seized up twice. However, I found a trick for "unseizing" the chocolate--add a spoonful of vegetable oil to mix into the chocolate and it should smooth it up.
7. Drizzle the white chocolate over the truffles. Again, my white chocolate didn't get runny enough so I sort of had to glop it on top, but it still tasted delicious.
8. Let set. (I put mine in the fridge for an hour or so).

Pistachio Ice Cream Torte

This is a recipe from my fiance's grandmother and holy smokes is it good. The pistachio flavor isn't super strong, but that might be because it has so much other deliciousness going on. This made a lot, so you might want to cut the recipe in half if you're just making it for two people.

Ingredients:
-1 bag Oreo cookies, crush half into fine pieces, crush other half into bigger pieces
-1/2 stick of butter, melted
-1 quart vanilla ice cream (1/2 of a 1/2 gallon), softened
-1 8oz tub of Cool Whip, softened in fridge
-1 pistachio flavored Jello pudding mix
-2 cups milk

Steps:
1. Let Cool Whip soften in fridge for a couple of hours. Let ice cream soften for about 15 minutes on counter (you can pull it out as you're making everything else).
2. Crush half the bag of Oreos very finely and mix with melted butter. Crush the other half of the bag into bigger pieces and set aside.
3. Push the finely crushed Oreos into the bottom of a 13X9 pan with your fingers to form a crust.
4.Make pudding as directed.
5. Mix pudding with ice cream and spread over cookie crust.
6. Spread Cool Whip over pudding/ice cream mixture.
7. Top with the remaining crushed up Oreos.
8. Let re-freeze before serving.
Note: When you serve, it is best to let the pieces sit out for about 10 minutes to re-soften and get a nice smooth, pudding-like consistency.

Rolled Oat Breakfast Bars

I have to thank my good friend and baker extraordinaire, Jess, for this super easy, super tasty recipe, and Jonathan's mom for sending us the delicious apricot preserves. These were so easy to make that I might start making them for breakfast more regularly. I think next time I'll try experimenting with margarine to make them a little healthier (although I would argue that the healthiness of the oats cancels out the butter)...so I'll let you know how that goes.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup preserves (whichever flavor you prefer...I used apricot)

(Note 3/20/10: I did try making these with margarine and they were still very tasty)

Steps:  
(Preheat oven to 350 degrees)

1. Grease an 8-inch square pan (or something similarly sized).
2. Combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and rolled oats. 

3. Rub in the butter using your hands to form a crumbly mixture.

 

4. Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

5. Spread the jam to within 1/4 inch of the edge. 

6. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over the top, and lightly press it into the jam.
7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

Strawberry Snack

Although strawberries are delicious on their own, they're even better with this sauce, methinks. Although the sauce sounds really weird (sour cream + brown sugar), it's yummy. My mom used to make this for dessert when I was a kid, and so it really reminds me of her.

Ingredients (for 1-2 servings)
-Strawberries, how ever many you want
-1.5 TB sour cream
-1.5 TB brown sugar
-toasted almond slivers or walnuts (optional)

Steps
1. Stir sour cream and sugar together until blended; pour over strawberries.
2. Top with walnuts or almonds slivers for some crunch.

Better than Sex Cake

I believe my aunt Tookie is the woman responsible for the name. All claims aside, this is a damn good cake, and it's SUPER easy to make.

Ingredients
-1 chocolate cake mix + ingredients for cake (eggs, water, oil)
-1 can sweetened condensed milk
-1 jar butterscotch ice cream topping
-1 package CoolWhip (thawed in fridge)
-2 Butterfingers

Steps
1. Make cake as directed.
2. As soon as cake comes out of oven, poke a bunch of holes (like every centimeter) in the cake (I use the back of a wooden spoon).
3. Immediately pour condensed milk and butterscotch topping into holes and over cake.
4. Let cake cool completely.
5. Top with whipped cream and crushed up Butterfingers.
(Note: I let the CoolWhip dethaw in the fridge for several hours so that it is spreadable)

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

I got the recipe for these tasty (and in my mind, healthy) cookies from my good friend, Lauren. Although they were much better when she made them, they still turned out pretty well for me. Also, as many of you know, I'm not much of a baker, so in order for me to even attempt baking the recipe has to be easy, which this is.

1. Combine dry ingredients (1 C oats, 3/4 C flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt) in medium sized bowl.

2. Combine 3/4 C brown sugar and 1/4 C softened butter (I used margarine) in large bowl. Mix with a mixer for about 2 minutes.

3. Add 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla, and mix.

4. Add dry indredients and stir with a spoon until batter is moistened.









5. Stir in ~1/2 C heath pieces.
6. Place dough on greased cookie sheet (I was able to make 18 cookies) and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350. (Check them after 8 minutes...mine were done then.)

Pumpkin Spice Cookies (aka Mukies)

First, I have to thank my good friend, Tracy, for this amazing recipe. There are literally 3 ingredients to make pure deliciousness. They sort of taste like muffin tops but bake like cookies, hence the nickname "mukie." Best of all, there's no oil or eggs, so they're actually pretty healthy (or so I tell myself when I'm on #5...).

Ingredients:
-1 spice cake mix
-1 can 15 oz canned pumpkin
-cream cheese frosting
-cinnamon (optional)

Steps:
1. Mix cake mix and canned pumpkin, until batter is moist.

2. Spoon on to greased cookie sheet. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

3. Bake for 12 mins at 350. Test to see if they're done by sticking a knife in. They may still seem a little squishy, but if the knife comes out clean, they're done.
4. Let cool, then frost with cream cheese frosting.
5. Top with cinnamon if you want.

Note: I recommend cooking these on the top rack of the oven.