Crostata Two Ways

Crostata, Galette, Pie, whatever you want to call it, it tastes pretty dang good!

I do recall telling everyone about what my husband calls “Your Apple Pie” .   I found two lonely Apples in the `fridge that sorely needed to be eaten or pitched out, I opted for pie.

I also found a quart of fresh Cherries that got pushed to the back of the ice box, so I figured, let’s make two pies.  I do not own a Cherry Pitter, so used my paring knife to pit the fruit… have you ever done that?  My hands were cramping up by the time I got through all of them, one by one!

This was the first time that I’ve ever made a fresh Cherry Pie and I’ll be doing it again.

YUM!  That was so worth it.  Now, if we only had some Vanilla Ice Cream.

Triple Chocolate Half-Sized Bundt® Cakes, One To Eat and One to Share

I love Bundt® cakes!  For the most part, they’re moist and tasty.  I even have more than one type of Bundt® pan, with another one on its way.

I saw a recipe somewhere for Chocolate Bundtlettes, heh, I have a pan like that!

But as I thought about the recipe, I figured I could one up that!  I’ll make the cake in my Half-sized Bundt® pans and then guild the lily farther.

 

Triple Chocolate Bundt® with a Deluxe Ganache Frosting

1 box Devil’s Food Cake Mix

1 box Instant Chocolate Pudding (the small one)

1 1/3 C. Vegetable Oil

4 Eggs

½ C. warm Water

1 C. Sour Cream

1 C. Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 350⁰

In a Stand Mixer or using a Hand Mixer, combine all of the ingredients until smooth, excluding the Chocolate chips, stir those in last.  The batter with be like thick pudding.  Using a Baking Spray, grease the two Half-sized Bundt® pans; immediately pour the batter evenly between the two pans (I use a scale to be accurate).  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Place the cakes on a cooling rack and set aside until completely cooled and then turn them out (I run a disposable plastic knife around the edge of the pan first) on to the rack, fitted in a sheet pan.

Now comes the fun part, frosting and decorating those two cuties!

I wanted a bumped up Ganache Frosting, so I kinda winged it.

Deluxe Ganache Frosting

1 C. Chocolate Chips

1 C. Half and Half (or Cream, we use ½ & ½ in our coffee)

½ C. Shredded Sweetened Coconut

½ C. Chopped Pecans

In a glass bowl, heat the ½ & ½  in the microwave for 30 seconds or so, just til hot but not boiling.  Add the Chocolate Chips and stir gently until all of the Chocolate is melted.  You might need to “nuke” it again for a few seconds.

Pour the still warm Ganache over the two cakes; sprinkle the Coconut and Pecans into the Ganache, pressing very lightly in so that they stick.

Slice and enjoy with a cup of coffee or a big glass of cold milk.

I took one of the cakes to our next door neighbors and put the other one into our Covered Cake Plate.

It should keep for 4-5 days, that is if you don’t devour it!

ENJOY!

More Lemons, Meyer Lemon Bars

I think my brain is stuck on Lemons just now…

Meyer Lemon Bars

For the crust:

1 ¼ C. All purpose Flour

½ C. Powdered Sugar

1 Tbsp. Corn Starch

½ C. softened Unsalted Butter

For the filling:

3 Eggs

1 ½ C. Granulated Sugar

The zest of 1 Meyer Lemon

½ C. freshly squeezed Meyer Lemon Juice (approx. 2 Lemons)

½ C. All purpose Flour

Extra Powdered Sugar to dust the tops later

Preheat the oven to 350⁰

Line an 8×8 square pan with parchment paper.

I almost forgot to remove the Alligator Clips before I put this in the oven 😀

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the crust with a whisk; cut in the Butter with a fork or pastry cutter until it’s crumbly (I used a Food Processor, it’s faster and easier).

Transfer the mixture to the pan and press the dough firmly into the bottom of the pan; bake for 10 minutes.

Whisk together the filling ingredients, minus that extra Powdered Sugar; pour the filling mixture over that still hot crust and bake for another 25 minutes or until the filling is set.

Cool on a rack to room temp and then refrigerate uncovered for at least 2 hours.

Dust the top liberally with that extra Powdered Sugar and slice, how good does that look?!

*Cooks note: If you can’t find Meyer Lemons, regular Persian Lemons are perfectly fine, just a little bit more tart than Meyers.  I like to freeze Meyer Lemon juice in half cup portions when they’re in season, November through March.

ENJOY!

Mac Nut Shortbread Cookies Again For Mom

A little whiles back, I made Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies for my Mother.  Well, I did it again! These are a favorite at Mom’s house as well as our own.

This round, I made the cookie log a bit larger (about 2″ X 3″ or so, too big in my opinion though), which means more chocolate too!  They freeze beautifully for an additional coupla dozen cookies later on down the road.  I mean, if you’ve got the cookie dough all put together, just slice n’ bake what you can eat in the next few days and save the rest.

ENJOY!

 

Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies For Mom

Back home in Hawaii, we can get these a~maz~ing Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies from The Big Island aka Hawaii Island.  Now that we’ve moved to the mainland, NOPE, NADA, NO CAN GET!  So once again the mother of need raises her head and says, MAKE YOUR OWN!

My Mom no longer lives 12 miles away from my DH and I, so I make up my version of a care package for her every so often.  I’ve added these to her most recent box.

Auntie Doni’s Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies

½ C. Macadamia Nuts, Roasted, unsalted and coarsely chopped

1/3 C. granulated Sugar

½ C. Unsalted Butter, softened

½ tsp. Salt

1 ¼ C. Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

½-1 C. Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers

In a food processor, pulse the nuts until ground fine, set aside.  In a stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, salt and those ground nuts.  Mix in the flour, just until combined.

Form the dough into two 14 X 3 X 1” logs and wrap them in plastic.  Stash them in the `fridge for 1-24 hours.  Preheat the oven to 350⁰.  Line a **baking sheet** with either parchment paper or a Silpat® Mat (optimum choice).

Slice the dough in ¼ inch widths; place on the sheet pan one inch apart.

Bake for 10 or until just lightly golden on the edges.  Place on a cooling rack.  Melt your dipping chocolate as directed on the package.

Dip half of the cookie in the melted chocolate;

Place back on the Silpat® Mat (or parchment paper),

Add optional garnish of ground Macadamia Nuts;

Allow to cool completely, wrap and gift.

ALOHA!

**It’s best to use a light colored baking sheet for lighter colored baked goods**

Impossible Pumpkin Pie

I’d been seeing many posts all over the social media places for Impossible Pumpkin Pie.  Do you remember Impossible Pies?  Bisquick™ introduced them back in the 1970’s.

I don’t recall which recipe I used for this, um,  (there’s many and I don’t want to embarrass the author), pie, but, ACK!  Really not good.  Mr&Mrs Landlord’s dogs liked it though, HA!!!

Speaking of Ice Cream Sandwiches

I was at our local “Wally World” the other day and spied something different in the freezer case.  I recall there being three flavors of house brand Ice Cream Sandwiches, but the Cherry one was calling my name, no really! “Auntie, you need to try this, AUNTIE!!“  Even my cashier commented on my purchase, “Uuuuhhhhh, what’s this?  I don’t think I’ve seen this before, this is looks delicious!”  RIGHT?!  Cherries and Chocolate, such a fabulous combination.

That night, DH was poking around the kitchen, as he will do on occasion, looking for something sweet.

DH: Uuuuuhhhh, what’s this?  This looks delicious!

Me: Right?!  That’s what my cashier said too, HA!!!

So it was unanimous, these cuties are superb!