PW's Blackberry Cobbler

Your eyes do not deceive you!  I am back again!!!

I planned on posting this next week, but after reading Ange's comment from yesterday's pie recipe, I HAD to go ahead and post this today!  Hope you like berries hun!

So you all know Pioneer Woman right?  well if you don't you should!  Her recipes are amazing and her site is too!  

This cobbler is from the one and only Pioneer Woman, and it. is. AMAZING!  

I absolutely adore it!  I make dessert every Saturday and for weeks and weeks this is what Rob wanted every weekend!!!  Not only is it absolutely delicious...but it also couldn't be easier!  Click HERE to go to her tutorial and print the recipe!

Ready to dive in?

Ingredients:

• 1 stick Butter melted
• 1-¼ cup Sugar
• 1 cup Self-Rising Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 and 1/2 bags frozen Blackberries, thawed(I use the store brand!)
• (PW calls for 2 cups of fresh or frozen, but I like alot of berries, so I use the above measurement)

Step 1:  Mix Flour and 1 cup of Sugar:

Step 2:  Add milk and whisk:

Step 3:  Add your melted butter and mix:

Step 4:  Butter or spray an 8x8 pan and dump in your berries!!!

Step 5:  Pour on the batter:

Step 6:  Add a few more berries to the top (optional):

Step 7:  Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar:

(uhhhh....sorta forgot to take a pic of that!  sorry!)

Step 8:  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees, or until golden brown!

I want some NOW!!!

I like to scoop it out and serve it while it's still nice and hot with a big old scoop of vanilla icecream:

or ya know...2 scoops!

I was hungry!!!!

This stuff is just so amazing!  It's warm, and gooey on the inside, and the outsides get nice and crisp from the added sugar....just wow!

I hope you all enjoy as much as I do!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Rich, Decadent and EASY Coconut Cream Pie!!!

Hello All!!!  Long time no see!!!

Boy do I have something special to share with you today!

Ever have a craving for coconut cream pie, but the thought of making it from scratch exhausted you just thinking about it?

Yet, instant pudding and Cool Whip gross you out?

I have the perfect compromise for ya!

Are you ready for this?

Ingredients:

Store Bought Frozen Pie Crust

2 boxes Cook and Serve Vanilla Pudding

1 can Coconut Milk (NOT Cream of Coconut!)

1 pint Whipping Cream

Powdered or granulated Sugar

Milk (whole or 2%)

Coconut flavoring

Shredded Sweetened Coconut, I used almost a half cup, but use as little or as much as you want)

a bowl and beaters stashed in the freezer!

Step 1:  Cook 2 packages of Vanilla Cook and Serve pudding, following Directions BUT when you measure out the milk needed, start by using the coconut milk and just add enough regular milk to give you the volume you need.  Once cooked, add 2 teaspoons of coconut flavoring, and stir!  Place in fridge to cool, stirring ever 15 minutes to prevent skin from forming.

Step 2:   Bake empty pie shell, making sure to prick the bottom and sides with a fork to prevent bubbling.  Cool on wire rack.

Step 3:  While pudding and crust is cooling, sprinkle coconut on a foil lined sheet pan and place under a broiler to toast.  WATCH CAREFULLY!  Once it starts getting warm, it goes from snow white to burnt in no time!!!

Step 4:   Beat Whipping Cream and Sugar (to taste...I like it not very sweet, so I use about 2 TB) in chilled bowl, on high, until peaks form.  Stash in Fridge til ready to assemble!

Step 5:  Once your Pudding is totally chilled, add it to your crust.  Top that with your Whipped Cream, and finally sprinkle on your toasted Coconut!

 Almost from scratch taste, with very little effort!!!

This stuff is DIVINE!

Make some today!

Enjoy!

Christy

FONDANT SERIES - PART 1

If you have been following along, you know that my Nephew's (Oliver) First birthday is coming up (August 1st) and I am making the cupcakes for the occasion. Oliver's mom's birthday is just a few days before that so they are having a joint birthday party, to which I'm making the cupcakes for that too.

I decided I really wanted to give fondant a try. Not having EVER done anything with fondant I was quite a bit intimidated by it. While doing some online research I found an awesome website CAKE JOURNAL. This website run by Louise is so awesome, she has wonderful tutorials with lots of pictures and really took the intimidation of fondant away and gave me hope that it was something that I might be able to do. So this is my fondant journey!

I got the recipe for marshmallow fondant from CAKE JOURNAL and you can find it HERE.

I started off by generously greasing my bowl.



I then added the marshmallows and water



Basically you heat, stir, heat, stir until all melted. Once melted you add about a cup of powdered sugar and stir.



Turn out onto a clean surface with more powdered sugar. Here I added my color and flavor, and then kneaded away until thoroughly mixed and no longer sticky.





I then placed my fondant in some greased saran wrap and placed in the fridge. It says it is best to use it after letting it refridgerate overnight.



I made three batches in blue, purple and green.



I was surprised that it was easy to make, MESSY but easy. I would suggest having someone help you if you can. My mom came over and it was a big help to not have to wash my hands off everytime I needed to add more sugar or coloring & flavor. She also got the saran wraps greased and ready too, it was a big help and made making 3 batches go pretty quickly. I think it took around an hour from start to finish to make all three.

I have a few ideas on how I'm going to use the fondant, but I have to practice first. I plan on doing that tonight and will share my results with you all.

CUPCAKE CRAZY!

(Not my picture, one I found on an image search on google)

Hello, my name is Brooke and I am addicted to cupcakes!

I have a growing cupcake obsession! I love making and eating cupcakes. I have volunteered my services to make cupcakes for both my sisters birthday and her son, Ollie's first birthday coming up. They are having a joint party since their b-day's are only a few days apart.

In addition, I am also going to work with fondant for the first time!! I'm a little nervous and going to do some practicing this week. I'm keeping it simple (I think!) and hoping that they turn out cute. I will update with pics soon!

TOFFEE BREAD PUDDING W/ CINNAMON TOFFEE SAUCE

Well since we had a tie between two desserts in my recent poll, I am going to make them both. I started off with the bread pudding recipe since it said it was best the day it was made. Which turned out NOT to be true, I think it tasted even better the next day... and the day after that!

I went off and left the actual recipe at home, so tonight I will add the recipe to this post.


3 CUPS MILK
4 EGGS
3/4 C SUGAR
3/4 TEASPOON GROUND CINNAMON
3/4 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT
6 TO 6 1/2 CUPS 1/2 INCH CUBES FRENCH, ITALIAN OR SOURDOUGH BREAD
1 CUP HEATH BITS-O-BRICKLE TOFFEE BITS, DIVIDED

CINNAMON TOFFEE SAUCE (RECIPE FOLLOWS)
SWEETENED WHIPPED CREAM OR ICE CREAM (OPTIONAL)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Mix together milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt in large bowl with wire whisk. Stir in bread cubes, coating completely. Allow to sit 10 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup toffee bits. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup toffee bits over surface.

3. Bake 40-45 minutes or until surface is set. Cool 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile prepare Cinnamon Toffee sauce. Cut pudding into squares; top with sauce and sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.

CINNAMON TOFFEE SAUCE: 3/4 C Heath toffee bits, 2/3 C whipping cream and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon in medium sauce pan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until toffee melts and mixture is well blended. (As toffee melts, small bits of almond will remain).


Let me start off by saying this is THE BOMB BABY!! No diggity no doubt! I am a fan of bread pudding to start with but this was the first time I have ever made one. This was just so awesome, I really hope you guys make this. If you have never had bread pudding before, I strongly suggest you try it. I didn't eat it for a long time because I thought the name was gross sounding.



I picked out a loaf of french bread to use.




You need to cut it into little 1/2 inch squares. I didn't end up needing the whole loaf, so don't cut it all up unless you want to make croutons out of the left over pieces. It doesn't have to be perfect. I was concerned about leaving the crust on, and honestly it doesn't "stick out" like you think it might when it is cooked. Sometimes the crusts on these types of bread can be so tough and have a stronger flavor, but it wasn't noticeable in the finished dish.




Next add the milk and eggs and cinnamon and sugar mixture to your bread and let it soak for about 10 minutes.



While the bread was soaking I decided I wanted to add a little butter to this recipe. I mean butter just goes with bread and cinnamon - right!!?? So I added a stick of cut up butter to this recipe :) I just left it in little chunks and mixed it in with the toffee bits.



Pour it into your greased dish and you are ready for the oven.




How good does this look?? This smelled SOOOO good cooking in the oven. I am super glad that I added the butter, it really helped crisp up the edges and added a really good flavor. I had to pull a corner off and taste it and I almost melted into a pile right there on the kitchen floor.....it's that good!



Now you are ready to make the sauce for the pudding. It is three simple ingredients - heavy cream, toffee bits and cinnamon. This sauce will knock you off your feet girls! This would be a great sauce for lots of stuff not just this dessert!



And since I had quite a bit of the heavy cream left over, we made homemade whipped cream (Thank you Sir Mix A Lot!!!). We put the cream in a chilled mixing bowl, added some sugar and vanilla and let it mix for several minutes. This cream lasted several days in the fridge. I just left the left overs in the bowl and placed some wax paper over the top, pushing it down to touch the top of the cream and it has held up very nicely.





This was so simple to make and honestly one of my favorite dishes I have made. I will be making this quite a bit from now on. I really hope one of you all tries this and lets me know if you feel as strongly about this as I do. Enjoy!

YOU PICK IT - I MAKE IT!

I'm starting a new fun little thing here. I'm going to list several choices for what I should make next, let you all vote on it and then I will make it. So please check out the poll at the top of the blog and make your selection!

EASY STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES

Sometimes the best things only need a couple of components. This is one of them. Simple. Easy. Cheap. TASTY!

Strawberries
Sugar
Pound Cake (or angel food)
Whip Cream

Cut the hull off the berry and then cut into fours; put in a Tupperware bowl or bowl with a lid. Pour sugar over the berries - the amount depends on how many strawberries you have - just eyeball it. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, enough for the sugar and berries to make a nice syrupy liquid.

Place your sliced cake of choice on a plate, spoon strawberries over top, finishing with a dollop (or several) of whip cream.

It doesn't get any easier or tastier.

WHITE CHIP LEMON & CHERRY STREUSEL BARS

1 Can (14 oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk
½ C Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
1 (12oz) pkg White Chips, divided
2/3 C Butter, softened
1 C packed Light Brown Sugar
1 ½ C All Purpose Flour
1 ½ C Rolled or Quick-Cooking Oats
¾ C Toasted Pecans*
1 ½ C Frozen Cherries, roughly chopped, divided
¼ C Sugar
1 C Toasted, Shredded Coconut
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
½ teaspoon shortening (don’t use butter, margarine or oil)

*To toast pecans: Heat oven to 350◦F. Spread pecans in thin layer in shallow baking pan. Bake, stirring occasionally, 7-8 minutes or until golden brown.

1. Heat oven to 350◦F. Lightly grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Combine sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon peel, sugar, and 1 cup of the chopped cherries in medium bowl; set aside. Measure out ¼ C and 1/3 C white chips, set aside. Add remaining white chips to lemon mixture.

2. Beat butter and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, oats, pecans, baking powder, coconut and salt; add to butter mixture, blending well. Set aside 1 2/3 C oat mixture. Add egg to remaining oats mixture, blending until crumbly; press onto bottom of prepared pan. Gently spoon lemon cherry mixture on top, spreading evenly. Add reserved 1/3 C white chips, and the remaining ½ C chopped cherries to reserved oats mixture. Sprinkle over lemon layer, pressing down lightly.

3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pan on wire rack. Place remaining ¼ C white chips and shortening in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 30 seconds or until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred. Drizzle over baked bars. Allow drizzle to set; cut into bars.

********************

I got this recipe out of this book:

I changed the recipe a little bit though, and the recipe above reflects the changes I made. This turned out super yummy and was actually pretty easy to make.

Start off by getting your oats mixture ready, butter and brown sugar - what a combo, right!



I just toasted my shredded coconut on the stove, it only takes a few minutes, so watch it closely to keep it from burning.



Mix the flour, oats, pecans, baking powder, coconut and salt.



Add the oat mixture to the butter and brown sugar.



After dividing mixture according to the above directions, you will mix in an egg to the reaming mix. This will resemble a cookie dough like consistency.



Press this in the bottom of your prepared baking dish.




Now mix your lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk together.



These are the cherries I used. I got them from the frozen food section.



Add the sugar, white chips and the roughly chopped cherries to the lemon mixture.



Pour over the top of the oats mixture in your baking dish.




Add the remaining chopped cherries and white chips to oat mixture.



Sprinkle over the top of the lemon mixture in your dish. Lightly press down.




Drizzle with melted white chips and cut into bars. I found it was easier to score the bars while they were still warm, then refrigerate and let cool before removing the bars from the pan.