Tropical Breeze Smoothie

Posted in Drinks by

smoothie

I love that a majority of fruits are finally in season! one of my favorite times of the year is being able to have access to all kinds of fruits. I’ve recently been on a smoothie craze and thought to share this simple recipe. I make different variations, but this one has been my favorite. And to kick it up a notch I usually add in spinach and kale for a power boost and have these for breakfast on the go!

  • 1/2 cup fresh pineapple
  • 1/2 half of a banana
  • 1 diced mango
  • 1/2 cup peaches (I used frozen)
  • 1 cup cold water
  • ice cubes

1. Place all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until completely smooth, enjoy!

 

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Posted in Cookies by

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During this Holiday season, I see a lot of peppermint recipes and to be honest I am not a peppermint fan, I stay far away from them. But is it weird that I do like mint? preferably Andes… maybe it’s the combination of chocolate and mint. I was in my first cookie exchange a few days ago and it was amazing! The cookies I made were white chocolate cookies with cranberries and a white chocolate cream cheese frosting. This chocolate mint cookie was one of the many cookies I received and I immediately fell in love and asked the person who made them for the recipe; they’re super soft and chewy with a nice balance between chocolate and mint. So here’s my not-peppermint-but-mint-holiday-recipe.

Ingredients -

  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
  • 2 tbps water
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 /14 tsps baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 (28) pack of Andes chocolate mints

1. In a large pan over low heat, cook butter, sugar and water until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large bowl and let stand 10 minutes to cool off slightly.

2. At high speed, beat in eggs, one at a time into chocolate mixture. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating until blended. Chill dough about 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

4.Roll dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. While cookies are baking unwrap mints and divide each in half. When cookies are brought out of the oven, put 1/2 mint on top of each cookie. Let the mint sit for up to 5 minutes until melted, then spread the mint on top of the cookie. Eat and enjoy!

Sweet-Salty Almond Bark

Posted in Dessert by

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I absolutely love the combination of sweet and salty, and if you’re a fan then I’ve got the easiest recipe for you. I did some research and came across this recipe called “Christmas Crack” but I like to call it sweet-salty almond back, reason for that is because the name tells you what it is and “crack” just sounds crazy to me :) I love this time of year which gives me a reason to go over board and bust out treat recipes left and right. Enjoy!

Ingredients -

  • 1/2 cup almonds
  • 1 sleeve saltine crackers (I used slighty more than one sleeve to fill up my cookie sheet as much as I could which was 40 crackers)
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar

1. In a saucepan melt down butter and brown sugar over medium high heat. When it starts to boil start mixing constantly with a whisk for about 3-5 minutes until you get a gorgeous caramel color.

2. On a greased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with foil, place crackers next to each other and drizzle all of your caramel sauce over the crackers.

3. Place cookie sheet in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 15 minutes until hot and bubbly.

4. Take out cookie sheet and turn off your oven, sprinkle chocolate chips over entire crackers and place back in oven for 1 minute (this will speed up the melting process of the chocolate chips) take out your cookie sheet and with a spatula spread chocolate over entire crackers until covered.

5. Roughly chop almonds and sprinkle over chocolate, let sit for 2 hours or until completely cooled. I don’t recommend placing in freezer, it hardens crackers like a rock and is difficult to cut into pieces.

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I made two batches, first one with almonds and my second was almonds with walnuts. I struck gold with these holiday treat boxes at my local dollar store they came in a pack of two and it even has inserts to hold 4 regular size cupcakes. I lined the boxes with tissue paper and I’m giving them away as a Christmas gift, my second batch is cooling down and going to a Christmas party tonight.

Coffee Cake

Posted in Dessert by

Well it’s officially Autumn here in Nevada, sure doesn’t feel like it yet, but we’re getting closer to that cold weather and coffee cake is one of my favorites, it’s classic and it goes great with coffee (obviously) breakfast, brunches or as a snack. I’ve been lacking on the cooking lately, but I know this holiday season always excites me and it’s one of the best times to start whippin’ up sweets.

Cake:
    • 2 cups flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 3/4 teaspoon salt
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla
    • 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
Streusel:
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • blue ribbon coffee cake recipe

Instructions

  1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, add eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Beat until it begins to come together. It is okay if it looks curdled, it comes together. Add the dry ingredients. Mix until just moist. Add sour cream. Mix until smooth. In a bowl, mix together walnuts, both sugars, cinnamon, and vanilla.
  3. Spray the pan with baking spray. Spoon half of the batter into the bottom of the pan, spread around. Sprinkle with streusel. Add another layer of batter and another layer of streusel.
  4. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes. Cool completely.

Recipe adapted from www. BakedBree.com

Frosting Color Chart

Posted in Dessert by

I came across a fun chart of different colors for frosting, this was featured in the Food Network magazine and it ranges from all different kinds of shades. Start off with a white base frosting and go by the number of drops indicated underneath each shade. You’ll either need red, yellow, green and blue food coloring drops. If using store bought frosting go by the numbers in parentheses. My favorites are Raspberry Sorbet, Dried Lavender and Mint Chip, have fun!

I included a helpful website below on how to frost cupcakes (the basics)

http://www.glorioustreats.com/2011/08/cupcake-basics-how-to-frost-cupcakes.html

Brownies

Posted in Dessert by

Surprisingly, I’m not a huge chocolate lover, the taste becomes overwhelming for me, but I love brownies. Especially warmed up underneath a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and maybe some toasted pecans with caramel sauce… mmm. I don’t have an excuse as to why two pieces are missing… as soon as they cooled, greedy hands were all over them.

Ingredients -

  • 4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2/3 cups flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp instant espresso
  • 1 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Start by whisking butter with sugar until yellow and fluffy, dissolve instant coffee in two tbsp hot water add to butter mixture with vanilla extract.

2. Whisk one egg at a time, add melted chocolate and mix.

3. Add flour, cocoa powder and salt. Whisk until combined and smooth. Pour in a 8 x 8 pan and bake for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

4. Cool on a cooling rack and slice into pieces.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Posted in Dessert by

I love all things cheesecake… I love how you can change it’s flavor and add additional toppings to satisfy your taste buds preference. I bake cheesecakes all the time, it’s kind of “my thing” maybe because it’s the first dessert that I made and was proud of. Cheesecake till I die, seriously… I know the recipe by heart ;) I’ve never made a blueberry cheesecake, I was invited to a BBQ and asked my friend what kind she would like and she said blueberry is her favorite and to be honest I don’t really care for blueberries, I never buy nor do I eat them, but making the topping sure changes it’s flavor. It’s my newest favorite cheesecake, the sweet blueberries with the creamy, tangy cheesecake was amazing it only lasted five minutes before it was all gone.

For the crust – Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 6 tbsp melted unsalted butter

For the cheesecake filling – Ingredients

  • (2) 8 oz packs of Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature (I use 1/3 less fat, you don’t taste the difference)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup low fat sour cream
  • 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the blueberry topping – Ingredients

  • 6 oz fresh blueberries
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press onto an 8 inch spring form pan and bake for 10-15 minutes under a 375 degree oven.

2. With a whisk or hand mixer on low speed, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and sour cream. Add one egg at a time and mix until smooth.

3. *TIP* I bake cheesecakes in a water bath, it’s best when working with custards, the dish comes out even and creamy. Wrap aluminum foil around the sides of the spring form pan and place on a cookie sheet. Fill up the cookie sheet with hot water and bake under 325 degree for an hour and a half. Water baths help your cheesecake cook evenly without browning the top, your cheesecake pan is surrounded by water as it bakes so it receives the more gentle, even heat of the water.

4. In a saucepan place the blueberries, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Heat on low for about 15 minutes and stir in between. The blueberries will simmer and burst creating a sweet syrup-like juice.

5. Refrigerate cheesecake in fridge for 2-3 hours, pour blueberry topping before serving.