Category: Sweets – Other

Praline Sauce

Butter, cream, brown sugar – what can be bad????

Ingredients:
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

Directions:
1. Stir 1/2 pound unsalted butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar together in a heavy saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low.
4. Stir pecans into the cream mixture, and simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
5. Pour over bread pudding or ice cream, or cake, or in a spoon to serve.

Servings: 16

Source: allrecipes.com

 

 

Eggnog Cream Cheese Frosting

A good frosting, especially at Christmas when you can buy eggnog.

Frosting Ingredients:

  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 4 oz salted butter, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (or rum extract or spiced rum)
  • 1/4 c eggnog
  • 2 1/2 c powdered sugar

Frosting Directions:

  1. Mix softened cream cheese and butter together.
  2. Whip in vanilla extract.
  3. Add half of the eggnog and powdered sugar and mix until blended. Slowly add the remaining eggnog and powdered sugar and mix until combined.
  4. Spread on cooled cookies.

Serves: Makes enough for approximately 5 dozen small cookies

Source: northpole.com – Karen Hamlin, strongertogether.coop.com

Peppermint Frosting

Pretty for Christmas.  And it uses up some of those candy canes.

Ingredients:

  • ½ c butter
  • 3 c powdered sugar
  • 1/3c milk
  • ½ tsp peppermint extract
  • 2 drops red food coloring
  • 5 candy canes, crushed

Directions:

  1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer until smooth.
  2. Mix milk, food coloring and peppermint.
  3. Add to butter/sugar in mixer and mix until fluffy
  4. Transfer all of the frosting to the cooled cookie dough and spread evenly.
  5. Immediately sprinkle with the crushed candy canes and chill.
  6. Cut 6 x 10 to make 60 pieces.

Serves: makes enough for a 9 x 13 pan

Source: heathercristo.com

 

Caramel Sauce Oceania

We would check out the desserts on the ship lunch buffet and plan lunch around how many desserts we could eat with caramel sauce.  Sooooo good!

Ingredients:

1 ½ c sugar
¼ c water
1 ½ c heavy cream
5 Tab unsalted butter, room temperature (1/3 c)
Pinch of Fleur de Sel (sea salt)

Directions:

  1. Pour the sugar into a large saucepan.
  2. Stir in water.
  3. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to completely dissolve the sugar.
  4. Continue to simmer without stirring until the sugar has melted and is a rich amber, about 15 -25 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat.
  6. Slowly stir in the cream. Do not add too quickly or the caramel will bubble up and burn you.
  7. Stir in the butter and Fleur de sel.

Serves: about 2 cup

Notes: If the caramel seizes, return the pan to medium heat until it melts again.

Source: Taste of the World – The Food and Flavors of Oceania Cruises

Gorp (Trail Mix)

An essential on all outings with children (or children at heart).

Ingredients:

  • M&Ms
  • peanuts or other nuts
  • small pretzels
  • raisins or other dried fruit
  • sunflower seeds
  • “sweet” cereal (Fruit Loops, etc.)

Directions:

Mix and eat.

Serves:  To make  1/2 c per person – take the number of people, divide by 2 times the number of ingredients.  This will give you the number of cups of each ingredient.  (for 6 people, 5 ingredients —  6 ÷(5×2) = 1/2 cup of each ingredient.
Vary ingredients to taste -or what is left in the cupboard.

Source:  20 years of field research

Cream Cheese Flan

This traditional dessert look more difficult that it is.  It is best served at room temperature.

Ingredient:

  • 2 c milk
  • 1 1/2 c sugar
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla (or rum extract)

Directions

  1. Heat oven 350°.
  2. Heat milk until hot, but do not boil.
  3. Pour into blender container.
  4. Add 1/2 c sugar and cream cheese.
  5. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and vanilla.
  6. Add 12 c milk mixture.  Then pour egg mixture into blender.
  7. Blend at low speed until thoroughly mixed.
  8. Heat remaining 1 cup of sugar over medium-low heat until liquefied and medium amber in color, stirring occasionally.
  9. Coat the bottom of an 8 inch cake pan with caramel (melted sugar).
  10. Pour cream cheese mixture into pan.
  11. Set in another pan of hot water at least 3 inches deep.
  12. Place on middle rack of oven and bake 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
  13. Remove from water bath.
  14. Cool
  15. Turn out onto serving plate.

Serves:  8

Source:  Mardi Gras restaurant, Long Beach (long gone!)

Nell’s Lemon Dessert

My go-to dessert – keeps for a week in the freezer!  Make it fancy in lemon shells, easy in a pan and dish it into bowls.  (Nell would refreeze the lemon shells and use them all summer!) You can vary the amount of lemon juice if you like it tart.  

Ingredients:

  • 1 pt whipping cream, not whipped. (2 cups)
  • 1 c sugar
  • 5 Tab lemon juice (or more, I taste it and adjust)
  • 1 Tab lemon rind

Directions:

  1. Mix thoroughly with a spoon.
  2. Freeze overnight.

Serves:  10 – 11 lemon shells or 6 sherbet glasses

Source:  Nell Hinshaw

Shortcake

Remember when we didn’t buy those little cake things for strawberry short cake?  This is what your mother made.  Your grandmother made the biscuit from scratch!

Ingredients:

  • 2 c Bisquick
  • 34 c cream (or 1/2 c milk plus 1/4 c melted butter)
  • 2 Tab sugar

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 450°.
  2. Mix ingredients with a fork to a soft dough.
  3. Beat vigorously 20 strokes.
  4. Knead 8 – 10 times on a floured board (you can use Bisquick).
  5. Roll dough to 1/2 inch thick.
  6. Cut with floured 3 inch cutter.
  7. Bake on ungreased sheet about 10 minutes, or until nicely brown.
  8. Split crosswise.
  9. Spoon sweetened fruit between layers and over the top.
  10. Top with cream, sweetened whipped cream or sour cream.

Serves: 6

Source: Bisquick Cookbok

Baked Caramel Corn

You know that pretty cookie/candy tin you saved – fill it with this for a great (cheap) hostess gift.

Ingredients:

  • 1 c butter
  • 2 c brown sugar
  • 1/2 c corn syrup, light or dark
  • 1 t salt
  • 1/2 t baking soda
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 6 qts popcorn, popped (about 1 1/4 c raw)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven 250°.
  2. Melt butter in the largest pot you have.
  3. Stir in the sugar, syrup and salt
  4. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
  5. Boil, without stirring for 5 minutes.
  6. Remove pot from the heat.
  7. Stir in the soda and vanilla.
  8. Gradually pour over the popped popcorn, mixing well.
  9. Turn into 2 large shallow greased baking pans.
  10. Bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
  11. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
  12. Break apart and store in a tightly covered container.

Serves:  Makes 5 quarts:

Source: Sunsational, Junior League of Orlando-Winter Par, FL