Blueberry Squares November 16, 2010

 

Lemon Blueberry Squares:

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour, plus 5 tablespoons
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus some for sprinkling
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons vanilla, divided
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 8 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
• 1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9×12 baking pan with cooking spray or butter.

First prepare the crust by, combing 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of powered sugar, butter and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Mix all ingredients well and press into the baking pan. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges of the crust are golden brown. Allow time to cool.

For the filling, combine the eggs, granulated sugar, lemon juice and salt. Whisk together. Add remaining flour, baking powder and vanilla. Stir well. Add blueberries and combine. Pour mixture over the cooled crust and bake for about 30 minutes. Check after 30 minutes and if still really jiggly, then bake for another 5 minutes or until the top is a nice golden brown colour. Make sure it is fully baked over wise the inside will be runny.

Once removed from the oven sprinkle all over with the powdered sugar. Cut into squares once cooled.

Adapted from foodnetwork.

 

 

Warm and Toasty November 15, 2010

Chili is great on a cold rainy night or afternoon. It’s easy to prepare since basically all you do is throw things into a crock pot and let the crock pot do the rest of the work. This chili has a really nice smoky flavour to it and depending how spicy you like your chili you can add more or less of the chipotle peppers.

Fire Roasted Chili:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound top sirloin steak, cut in bite size pieces
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 celery ribs, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 medium Anaheim peppers (or New Mexico peppers), chopped
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
• 1 can pinto beans, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 jar Newman’s Own Sockarooni sauce
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper

Directions:

In a ziplock bag combine the flour and the smoked paprika. Add the steak and toss around in the flour mixture until all steak pieces are completely covered. Heat oil in a large skillet. Once oil is hot add the steak and sear on all sides. Add steak to a large crock pot.

Return the skillet back to the heat and brown the ground beef. Season meat with salt and pepper. Add the beef to the crock pot.

In the left over meat juices add the carrots, onions, celery and garlic. Cook until softened. Add the Anaheim peppers, chipotle peppers and the adobo sauce. Mix together well. Add all the beans and mix well. Transfer the vegetables to the crock pot. Add the Sockarooni sauce (found on the pasta sauce aisle) and the beef stock. Stir well. Sprinkle with the chili and cumin powder. Stir well. Add the lid and cook on low for about 4-6 hours.

After a couple of hours taste the mixture and decide whether to add more chili powder or more smoked paprika.

Enjoy on a nice cold night snuggled up in a blanket.

Adapted from foodnetwork.

Sticky and Sweet November 12, 2010

You would think that these little guys would be real sweet, but apart from the caramel on top they really aren’t that sweet. They have a nice spicy fruity flavour and then the nuts inside give a nice crunch factor.

I will warn you though, be prepared to get caramel stuck in your teeth

Caramel Apple Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup pecan chips
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated
• About a handful of caramel chews
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, apple pie spice, pecan chips and salt. In another bowl combine the eggs, both sugars and mix until smooth. Whisk in the oil and the vanilla. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Add the grated apples and stir.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners. Bake until the top of the cupcake is golden brown. About 20-25 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool before adding the caramel on top.

Place the caramels in a small bowl. Add the cream and microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval. Melt until smooth and runny. Take each cupcake and dip into the caramel.

Let cupcakes cool before devouring them.

Adapted from foodnetwork.com

Pumpkin Season Is Here November 11, 2010

Looking through Noble Pig’s blog I stumbled across a recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake. What really caught my taste buds was that it was made with a Gingersnap cookie crust. That just sounded wonderful right there! I gave this cheesecake recipe a try and it is absolutely sumptuous. The thing I really liked about it was that the cheesecake wasn’t too heavy tasting like most cheesecakes are. It was more light and fluffy and kind of like a mousse to me. This will be a great dessert to make for Thanksgiving and will for sure impress the guests.

 

 

Pumpkin Cheesecake:

 

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
• 1/2  cup chopped pecans (I used pecan chips)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Spice

Cheesecake Filling:

• 3 8ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8 inch springform pan. Cover the outside of the pan with two layers of tin foil.  In a large bowl combine all the crust ingredients and mix well. Press the mixture into pan and a little up the sides. Place in the heated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool.

In a large bowl add the cream cheese and both the sugars and beat with an electric mixer on medium, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at time and beat a little more. Add the yolks one at a time and continue to beat the mixture. Beat in the pumpkin, sour cream and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add the flour and pumpkin pie spice. Pour mixture into cooled crust.

Put the pan in a large roasting pan that will allow you to add hot water to surround the pie tin. Add enough water so that it reaches about half way up your pie tin.

Bake until the edges of your cheesecake start to separate from the tin pan and the cheesecake is still jiggly when you shake it. This will be about 50-55 minutes.

Once cheesecake is done, turn the oven off and leave it in there with the door closed for a few hours. This will help prevent your cheesecake from cracking on top when taken out of the oven. I left mine for about 4 hours.

Allow cheesecake to cool on the counter and then place it in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween November 2, 2010

Every time I see a photo of this cake it cracks me up! The idea of it is absolutely hilarious. I made this for our work Halloween Pot Luck and  everyone at my work loved it. Not only does this cake look awesome it tastes really awesome as well. It is super moist with the vanilla pudding mixed in there.

The first photo is what the actual cake looks like on the inside.

 

Kitty Litter Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1 package of German Chocolate cake mix
• 1 package of Vanilla cake mix
• 2 packages (3.5 ounce)  of French Vanilla instant pudding mix
• 1 package of Vanilla or Golden Oreo’s
• About 5-6 drops green food colouring
• 16-20 tootsie rolls (depending how pooping you want your littler)
• Kitty Litter Box (Please be brand new!)
• Kitty Litter Pooper Scooper.

 

Directions:

Bake your two cakes as directed on the back of the box. It doesn’t matter what shape or how they look. You will be crumbling the cake up once it has been baked. Also go ahead and make the vanilla pudding as directed on the box as well.

In a food processor, crumble the oreo cookies. Working in small batches seems to be the best way. Remove about 1/4 cup of the cookie crumbs and add your food colouring. Mix in well and then set aside.

Once your cakes have cooled to room temperature crumble them up into a large bowl. Then add the vanilla pudding and about 1/2 of the left over cookie crumbs and combine well. Add this to the kitty litter box. At this time  you can take a few of your tootsie rolls, melt them in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Then shape the tootsie roll however you desire and then bury it in the cake. Cover the top of the cake with the other 1/2 of the cookie crumbs followed by the crumbs with the food colouring. Then melt more tootsie rolls and place them all around the litter box and be sure to have some dripping from the sides of the litter box

Be sure to serve your Kitty Litter Cake with the pooper scooper for an added effect and gross factor.

 

Adapted from Noble Pig.