Charlotte's Kitchen » Dessert

Raspberry Chocolate Mini-Cakes

Char — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Valentines Day is right around the corner and if you are planning a romantic dinner, here’s the perfect little desert to finish off your meal. The bittersweet chocolate and raspberries give these little cakes a gourmet taste.

Ingredients

• 1 basket fresh raspberries
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut small
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg

Directions

1. Combine raspberries with 1/2 cup sugar, brandy and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Stir and simmer over medium heat until sugar dissolves and sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.
2. Remove 1/4 cup of raspberries from saucepan and drain, saving sauce.
3. Butter two 3/4 cup custard cups.
4. Whisk cocoa and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.
5. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Whisk in cocoa mixture. Whisk in egg yolks, then whole egg and flour. Fold in reserved 1/4 cup berries.
6. Pour batter into two custard cups.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F until edges are set and center is still shiny and tester comes out with some wet batter attached, about 22 minutes.
8. To serve, cut around warm cakes to loosen. Turn out onto plates. Spoon sauce on the side.
9. Sift confectioners’ sugar over and garnish with mint.

Note:
Cakes should have a slightly soft center. Both the sauce and cakes can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. When ready to eat, heat in microwave for about 1 minute.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Char — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

If you like pumpkin pie but don’t like the fat and calories from the crust, try this great crustless pumpkin pie for a great alternative.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1 tablespoon margarine, softened
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 can (12 oz) evaporated fat-free milk
3 egg whites or 1/2 cup fat-free egg product
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons grated orange peel

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Spray 10-inch pie plate with cooking spray.
2. In small bowl, mix brown sugar, oats and margarine; set aside.
3. In blender or food processor, place remaining ingredients in order listed. Cover; blend until smooth. Pour into pie plate. Sprinkle with topping.
4. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Refrigerate until chilled, about 4 hours.

Easy Blackberry Cobbler

Char — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:32:08 +0000

The strawberries are getting ripe here in Southern Indiana so it’s time to start thinking about some great berry recipes. This one is for a great tasting blackberry cobbler that I thought I’d share with you so you’ll be ready when they are.

Easy Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients

4 C frozen blackberries
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Cup flour
1 Cup sugar
1 Large Egg
6 Tablespoons melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375
Grease an 8″ bakind dish
Add the berries
Sprinkle lemon juice over berries
In a medium bowl, mix the egg, sugar and flour until it resembles coarse meal.
Sprinkle over the berries.
Drizzle butter over the top
Bake 40-45 minutes until lightly browned
Let stand 10 minutes
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Enjoy!

Incredible Apple Cobbler

Char — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:59:26 +0000

I recently found this great recipe for apple cobbler. It was supposed to be a peach cobbler but since I didn’t have any peach pie filling, I substituted apple pie filling and it turned out incredible. We liked it so much that I made it to take to mom’s last weekend and everybody that was there loved it.

Ingredients

(15 oz) cans of apple pie filling
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, melted
3 T sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.
Grease 13×9 baking dish with butter.
Pour apple pie filling into the dish.
Pour cake mix evenly across fruit layer.
Gently press down cake mix so that it soaks in but do not stir. It is very important to make sure all the cake mix is pressed into the juice or it will stay powdery.
Drizzle melted butter across cake mix.
Mix the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together and dust it on top.
Drag a knife through mixture to gently combine.
Bake for about 40-50 minutes or until a golden brown crust appears.

Serve it warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Different types of apple pie filling have different amounts of juice/liquid so depending on the one you use, this can be a very gooey dish or a drier cake like dish. Try a couple different kinds and keep track of which one you prefer.

Amaretta Cake with Cinnamon Swirl

Char — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:17:47 +0000

This is a great tasting cake that is even better without the amaretta, just use the almond extract and water.

Ingredients:

1 cup sliced almonds
1 T Cinnamon
3 T almond paste
1 package 2-layer -size white cake mix
1 4-serving-size package white chocolate instant pudding and pie filling mix
1 8 ounce carton light sour cream
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup amaretto or 1/2 cup water plus 1 t almond extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Generously grease 10-inch (12 cup) fluted tube pan.
In food processor combine almonds and cinnamon. Cover; process until nuts are finely chopped. Coat bottom and sides of pan with half the mixture. Add almond paste to remaining mixture in processor. Process until combined.
In large mixing bowl combine cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, eggs, 1/2 cup water, oil and amaretto.
Beat with mixer on low speed to combine.
Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl as needed.
Spoon half the batter into pan.
Evenly sprinkle cinnamon-almond paste mixture over batter.
Spoon remaining batter on cinnamon mixture.

Bake about 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean.
Cool in pan 10 minutes.
Remove from pan and place on rack over waxed paper.
Using wooden skewer, poke several holes in cake
Prepare Glaze and spoon over cake.

Glaze:

1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 T butter

In small saucepan combine water, sugar and butter.
Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes.

Makes 12 to 16 servings.

Maple Nut Pie

Char — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:32:02 +0000

Ingredients:
1 single-crust pie pastry
1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup
3 eggs
6 T butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
1 T vanilla
2 T light rum (optional)
1/4 t Watkins Nutmeg

Rum Raisin or Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare pastry and line 9-inch pie plate. Prick bottom and sides of pastry with fork. Line pastry with double thickness of foil. Bake 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 5 minutes more or until crust is lightly browned; cool. Reduce oven to 350 degrees.

In saucepan bring maple syrup to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes or until reduced to 1 cup.

In medium bowl beat eggs with electric mixer on medium to high speed until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes.

In large bowl beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated and brown sugars; beat to combine. Beat in reduced syrup and eggs. Fold in walnuts, vanilla, rum and nutmeg. Pour into prebaked crust.

Bake pie on baking sheet in lower third of oven 35 minutes or until set around edges; cool. Serve with ice cream.

Makes 10 servings.

Save $1.00 on Blue Bunny Ice Cream

Char — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:13:58 +0000

Until a couple months ago I’d never had Blue Bunny Ice Cream. One afternoon while John and I were shopping we decided to splurge and buy some ice cream. I say splurge because we very seldom ever have ice cream in the house.

Since the Blue Bunny was on sale, we decide to give it a try. WOW! I don’t know that we’ve ever had ice cream that good.

Today I found some printable coupons for $1.00 off on Blue Bunny ice cream. The coupons are only good through July 31 so get them and enjoy one of the best ice creams around. You can get the coupon here.

Pumpkin Pie Squares

Char — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:19:59 +0000

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin

1 (12 ounce) can lowfat evaporated milk

2 eggs

3/4 c granulated sugar

1/2 t salt

1 t Watkins Cinnamon

1/2 t Watkins Ginger, optional

1/4 t Watkins Ground Cloves

Crust:

1 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c old-fashioned oats

1/2 c packed dark brown sugar

1/2 c butter, softened

Topping:

1/2 c chopped pecans

1/2 c packed dark brown sugar

2 T butter

Whipped cream, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 by 9 inch glass baking dish.

To prepare crust, combine flour, oats, brown sugar and butter. Using a pastry blender or fork, stir until crumbly. Press into prepared pan and bake 15 minutes, or until partially set.

To prepare filling, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, granulated sugar, salt and spices. Pour over crust and bake 30 minutes.

To prepare toping, combine pecans, brown sugar and butter. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until filling is set. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Serve with whipped cream, if desired. Makes 30 squares.

Blueberry Pudding Cake

Char — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:57:18 +0000

Ingredients:

2 c blueberries

2 T lemon juice

1 c flour

2 t Watkins Baking Powder

1/4 t salt

1/2 t Watkins Nutmeg

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c milk

1 egg

1/4 c butter, melted

1 t Wakins Vanilla

1 c sugar

1 T cornstarch or 2 T flour

1 c boiling water

Directions:

Place blueberries and lemon juice in an 8 x 8 pan. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and 3/4 c sugar. Beat in milk, egg, melted butter and vanilla. Mix 1 c sugar with cornstarch/flour and sprinkle over batter. Pour boiling water over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.

Especially good with vanilla ice cream.

Cranberry-Orange Cheesecake

Char — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:00:19 +0000

Ingredients:

2/3 cup crushed chocolate wafer cookies (12 to 13 cookies)

1 1/2 t finely shredded orange peel, divided

2 T butter, melted

3 8 ounce packages reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 T all purpose flour

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 cup snipped dried cranberries

1/4 cup low-calorie cranberry juice or fat free milk

1/2 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. For crust, in bowl combine crushed cookies and 1 teaspoon of the orange peel. Stir in butter. Press crust in bottom of 9-inch springform pan; set aside.

In mixing bowl beat cream cheese, sugar and flour with electric mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and remaining 1/2 teaspoon orange peel until combined. Fold in dried cranberries and juice. Pour into crust-lined pan. Sprinkle with fresh cranberries

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a 2 1/2 inch area around edges appears set when gently shaken. Cool on wire rack 15 minutes. Using a small sharp knife, loosen edges from sides of pan. Cool for 30 minutes. Remove sides of pan. Cool completely. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

Makes 12 to 16 servings.