Peach Icebox Pie

This is the perfect summer pie. Cold, creamy, and full of peachy goodness. The crust is a delicious vanilla wafer crust. Yum.

Ingredients: Nilla Wafer Crust

2 and 2/3 cups vanilla wafer cookies

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Peach Filling

2 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk

3 large egg yolks

3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons peach puree

Recipe: Crust

Crush the wafers in a food processor. Add all other ingredients in and mix. Press into a 9 inch pie pan and refrigerate for 1 hour before filling.

Peach Filling

Whisk together the condensed milk and egg yolks.

Mix in the peach puree. Pour into pie crust.

Bake at 375F for 15 minutes.

Let cool for 1 hour, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Enjoy!

 

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Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Pie Bars

Imagine tangy, bright strawberry rhubarb pie filling sitting on top of a buttery crust and topped with soft vanilla crumble. Well you don’t have to imagine anymore, because you can make these gorgeous strawberry rhubarb crumble pie bars!

Ingredients: Strawberry Rhubarb Filling

2 and 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

2 and 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tablespoons minute tapioca

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

Crust and Crumble (adapted from here)

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

13 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and chopped

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Crust and Crumble

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until well combined. Process in your food processor until mixture is crumbly.

In a small bowl whisk extracts into beaten egg yolks using a fork. With a fork, gently toss into flour mixture until moistened and dough starts to hold together. Continue to toss and blend gently with fingertips until well combined yet taking care not to overwork the dough.

Remove 1 and 1/4 cups of the crumb mixture and set aside for the topping in a small bowl. Press remaining dough evenly into prepared baking pan. Spoon pie filling into pan on top of dough and spread evenly with rubber spatula; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

Bake in preheated oven until topping is golden brown and filling is cooked through and bubbly, about 40-45 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!

Bluberry Crumble Pie

This pie is so awesome. It’s kind of like a thicker blueberry crisp in a pie shell. And the crumble topping? It’s crunchy, cinnamony, and so, so good.

Ingredients: Pie Filling + 1 9 inch pie crust (from here)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon butter

Crumble Topping

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 stick unsalted butter, chopped

*optional 1-2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Recipe: Crumble Topping

Mix together all the ingredients except the butter.

With your hands, mix in the chopped butter.

Blueberry Pie

Preheat oven to 425F.

Mix all the dry ingredients together (not the butter!) and sprinkle over the blueberries.

Line the pie dish with the crust.

Pour the blueberries into the pie crust and dot with butter.

Crumble the crumble topping over the pie and sprinkle the crumble with sugar.

Bake until crust is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Mousse Brownies

Another raspberry chocolate recipe! Yay! Imagine a rich, fudgy, dark chocolate brownie topped with light, fluffy raspberry mousse. These raspberry mousse brownies taste as great as they sound. Even though they consist of two parts, the hardest thing to do is pushing the raspberries through a sieve to get the seeds out. These brownies are so pretty anyone will love them. The coolest part is that the raspberry mousse darkens in color over the days, so if I took a picture now they would be dark, dark, pink.

Ingredients: Brownies (adapted from here)

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons natural sweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Raspberry Mousse (from here)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 ounce powdered gelatin

3 cups raspberries

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 cups cold heavy cream

Recipe: Brownies

Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease, then line with parchment paper the bottoms and two sides of an 8×8 pan. This helps when you need to lift the brownies out of the pan.

Add 1-2 inches of water to a medium saucepan. Heat the water until it’s barely simmering. Mix butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium heat proof bowl. Rest bowl over saucepan, make sure the bowl’s bottom does not get wet. (If it does remove some water)

Stir mixture occasionally until the butter is melted and everything is combined. Don’t worry if the batter if gritty.

Remove bowl from heat from 5 minutes until the batter is no longer hot. Stir in vanilla and then add eggs one at a time, beating hard after each one.

When the batter is shiny and well blended, add the flour. Stir until fully incorporated, then continue beating for at least 60 strokes. The batter will be very thick. Spread in lined pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Raspberry Mousse

Place lemon juice in a small bowl and sprinkle with gelatin. Let sit until gelatin softens, 3 minutes.

In a blender or food processor, puree 3 cups raspberries until smooth, scraping down bowl as needed. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a measuring cup, pressing on solids (you should have about 1 cup of puree); discard solids.

In a small saucepan, combine raspberry puree and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Cook until bubbles form at the edge. Add gelatin mixture and cook, stirring constantly, just until gelatin dissolves, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a small bowl and let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat cream and 2 tablespoons sugar on medium-high until firm peaks form, about 4 minutes. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in raspberry puree mixture until combined. Pour over brownies. Smooth top with an offset spatula.

Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours (or up to overnight).

Enjoy!

Banana Split Cookies

Since it’s now June and I consider it “officially” summer, ice cream was on my mind. More specifically, banana splits. So I decided to make a cookie version of a banana split. Best. Idea. Ever. These cookies are marvelous. There’s banana in place of half the butter (feel free to consider them healthy 🙂 ), chopped maraschino cherries, and lots of sprinkles. Perfection! Also, these cookies brown fast on the bottom, that doesn’t mean they’re burned, just very brown.

Ingredients: Banana Split Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup mashed banana

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles

1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries

Recipe: Banana Split Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two cookie pans.

Cream butter, banana, and both sugars until fluffy.

Beat in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cornstarch together.

Pour the dry batter into the wet batter, and mix on medium-high speed until combined.

Mix in the chocolate chips, sprinkles, and maraschino cherries.

Place about two tablespoons of cookie dough for each cookie on the trays.

Bake for about 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

S’mores Bars

These might be the best things I’ve ever had. They literally taste like a s’more in bar form. You start with an amazing thick graham cracker crust, which you top with a mixture of soft chocolate ganache and mini marshmallows, then you pour more mini marshmallows on top and toast the bars under the broiler. You have to leave the bars in the fridge so the ganache will set, but trust me, it’s worth it. My inspiration is from here, but I used a different crust, pan size, different amount of marshmallows, etc.

Ingredients: Graham Cracker Crust

1 and 1/2 cups finely crushed graham crackers (10-12 whole graham crackers crushed then measured)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Soft Chocolate Ganache (from here)

16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup whole milk

10 ounce bag mini marshmallows (separated)

Recipe: Graham Cracker Crust

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until they’re the texture of coarse cornmeal.

Press into 8×8 pan and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 375F and bake for 11-15 minutes.

Soft Chocolate Ganache

Melt chocolate with milk in a pan over medium low heat and whisk to combine.

Transfer mixture to a new bowl and set aside for 10 minutes to cool (transferring the mixture to a new bowl will help to cool it faster).

Mix in 1 and 1/2 cups of the marshmallows and pour on top of the crust.

Pour the remaining marshmallows on the ganache and put under the broiler for a minutes or two, to toast the marshmallows.

Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours, or overnight.

Enjoy!

 

Pavlova

These miniature pavlova’s are amazing. Crunchy outsides, with a chewy marshmallowy meringue inside, and topped with lime whipped cream and sliced fruit. They’re perfect for when you don’t want a heavy dessert and it’s hot outside.

Ingredients: Pavlova (from here)

1 and 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar

6 large egg whites (about 6 ounces), room temperature

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Lime Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons lime zest

1 teaspoon lime juice

Optional: SlicedFruit/Berries

Recipe: Pavlova

 Place rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 275°. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the cornstarch and the sugar in a small bowl.

 In a large bowl , fitted with whisk attachment, whip egg whites, cream of tartar. and salt, starting on low and increasing incrementally to medium speed until soft peaks/trails start to become visible and the egg white bubbles are very small and uniform, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.

 Increase speed to medium-high and gradually sprinkle in the sugar-cornstarch mixture.

About 2 minutes after these dry ingredients are added, slowly pour in the vanilla. Increase to high speed and whip until meringue is glossy, and stiff peaks form when the whisk is lifted, 4 to 5 minutes.

Pipe or spoon 8 meringues onto each baking sheet. With the back of a spoon, create an indentation in the middle of the mound for holding the filling once the meringue is baked.

Place baking sheet in the oven.

Reduce oven temperature to 250°F. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the meringues are crisp, dry to the touch on the outside, and white — not tan-colored or cracked. Check on meringues at least once during the baking time.

If they appear to be taking on color or cracking, reduce temperature 25 degrees, and turn pan around.

Lift from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. The meringues will keep in a tightly sealed container at room temperature for up to a week if your house is not humid.

Lime Whipped Cream

Chill a medium mixing bowl and whisks in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, then remove and pour all the lime whipped cream ingredients into the bowl. Beat until soft peaks form.

 

Enjoy!

Brownie Sundae Cupcakes

These cupcakes are perfect and exactly like a brownie sundae. A brownie is baked in a cupcake tin, topped with super creamy vanilla buttercream, and drizzled with magic shell-like ganache. These cupcakes are perfect for any fun events or parties in the summer, or perfect for lying down and watching TV in your pajamas 🙂 Seriously, though, about the buttercream? Creamiest frosting ever!

Ingredients: Brownie Cupcakes

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder

1/4 rounded teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup all-purpose  flour

Super Creamy Frosting

1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

2 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup heavy cream

Magic Shell-Like Ganache

1 cup chocolate chips

1 and 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Decorations

Sprinkles

12 Maraschino Cherries

Recipe: Cupcake

Preheat oven to 375F. Line one cupcake tin.

Add 1-2 inches of water to a medium saucepan. Heat the water until it’s barely simmering. Mix butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium heat proof bowl. Rest bowl over saucepan; make sure the bowl’s bottom does not get wet. (If it does remove some water.)

Stir mixture occasionally until the butter is melted and everything is combined. Don’t worry if the batter if gritty.

Remove bowl from heat and let cool for 5 minutes until the batter is no longer hot. Beat in vanilla and eggs, with a hand mixer.

When the batter is shiny and well blended, add the flour and baking powder. The batter will be very thick. Spoon into cupcake liners.

Bake for 15-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting

Beat the butter until it’s very pale in color, slowly add in powdered sugar.

Beat in vanilla and heavy cream until smooth.

Ganache

Melt ingredients over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth.

Remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes.

Drizzle over frosting.

Decorate with sprinkles and cherries 🙂

Enjoy and happy weekend!

Strawberry Sour Cream Snack Cake

This is a rustic cake because, well, mainly because it doesn’t have frosting, but I was going for an old fashioned cake-y vibe. Sometimes people don’t want to make a three layer cake with like one hundred parts. So make this cake instead. 🙂 A dense and soft buttermilk cake with strawberries throughout. It’s so good. You get a bite of one of the best cakes I’ve ever had, and then a bite of sweet strawberry. It’s also a thick cake- it’s baked in an 8×8 pan.  🙂

Ingredients: Cake

2 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/3 cup whole milk

2.5 ounces large egg whites (about 2 and 1/2 egg whites)

1/2 large whole egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 and 1/2 cups cake flour

1 rounded cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped

1/3 cup sour cream

Recipe: Cake

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 8×8 square pan.

In a small bowl, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice and let sit until you are done with the cake batter.

In another small bowl, whisk together the milk, egg whites, whole egg, and vanilla. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine on low speed the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt for 30 seconds.

Add the butter, one piece at a time, until a moist crumb forms.

Add the milk/egg mixture on medium speed for 90 seconds.

Mix in the sour cream for about 50 seconds.

Pour batter into greased pan.

Strain the strawberries and pour over the top of the batter.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes and let cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

 

Chocolate Skillet Cake

This cake is really good. Like really good. It’s also really simple. Just the best chocolate cake ever baked in a cast iron skillet (!!) smothered with melted Nutella on top and covered with a sprinkling a chopped hazelnuts. I made this simple cake to test out my new cast iron skillet. To see if it would, you know, really work. It did. I am officially positive that all cake’s taste better when they’ve been baked in a skillet. Also, I made this cake last night and it’s up this morning. That’s how badly everybody wanted to dig their forks into this cake. 😀

Ingredients: Chocolate Cake

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, room temperature

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup boiling water

Optional: Nutella

Optional: Chopped Hazelnuts

Recipe: Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9 inch cast iron skillet.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Add the egg, vanilla, buttermilk, and butter. Beat on medium-high speed until combined well, about three minutes.

Stir in boiling water, the batter will be pretty thin- don’t worry about it.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

While cake is still warm frost Nutella over it and then sprinkle chopped hazelnuts over it. Then eat it 🙂

Enjoy!