Category Archives: Desserts

A friend of mine saw this recipe and thought of me since I had been talking about beets so often lately.  I bet it’s good since a lot of veggies make good desserts like potato donuts, zucchini muffins, carrot cake…  The original is at http://www.food.com/recipe/dont-knock-it-until-you-try-it-beet-cake-63346 but since links change and no longer are valid, I’m keeping it here so I can find it when it comes time to make it.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups shredded fresh beets
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 °, grease and flour 13×9 baking pan. Beat eggs, sugar and oil until light and fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add to egg mixture and mix well. Add vanilla, beets and walnuts.Beat for 1 minute on medium speed.Pour into pan, bake for 45 minutes, or until a a pick comes out clean.

OK, Carolyn said she didn’t make this up or anything but she provided it after making it and it looks awesome.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup eggnog
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons rum
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). In a food processor combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and eggnog; process until smooth. Blend in eggs, rum and nutmeg. Pour mixture into cooled crust. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 and bake for 45 minutes, or until center of cake is barely firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and immediately loosen cake from rim. Let cake cool completely before removing the rim.

Another recipe from Clean Eating and it looks delicious.  I haven’t tried it yet, but will at some point.

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 1/2 c low-fat plain cream cheese (4 oz) at room temperature
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• 2 tbsp skim milk
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation:

In a small bowl, beat together all ingredients until evenly blended and smooth.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow flavours to meld.

Another recipe from Clean Eating and it looks delicious.  I haven’t tried it yet, but will at some point.

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 2.5 lb Golden Delicious apples (about 5 large apples); peeoled, cored, and roughly chopped
• 1 c unsweetened raisins
• 1 c  chopped unsalted toasted walnuts
• 3 tbsp raw honey
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 12 sheets frozen whole wheat or spelt phyllo, thawed
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1.2 c whole wheat bread crumbs

Preparation:

Arrange rack in center of oven and preheat oven  to 400 degrees F.  Line a large rimmed baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a large bowl, combine apples, raisins, walnuts, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmet; set aside

Arrange 1 sheet of phyllo on a clean work surface, long edge parallel to the counter’s edge.  Using a pastry brush, brush a minimal amount of oil onto phyllo, then evenly scatter 2 tsp bread crumbs over top.  Place another phyllo sheet directly on top.  Again brush with oil and scatter bread crumbs.  Repeat layers for a total of 6 sheets of phyllo.  Do no brush oil or scatter bread crumbs on top layer.

Spread half of apple filling into a long log on top of phyllo sheets, leaving 1″ at bottom and sides of phyllo.  Snugly roll all phyllo layers over filling, jellyroll style, tucking in sides after first roll covers filling.  Repeat steps to assemble and roll a second strudel with remaining 6 phyllo sheets and remaining half of apple filling.  You should be left with 2 rolls, each measuring about 3″ x 16″.  Carefully transfer both rolls to baking sheet and brush rolls with oil.

Bake strudels until deep golden brown and crisp, about 30 – 40 min.  Transfer baking sheet to wire rack to cool.  To serve, use a serrated knife to cut each roll crosswise into 6 portions.

Serve warm or at room temperature with 1 tsp Cinnamon Honey Cream Cheese Sauce.

I got this recipe from Clean Eating and it looks delicious.  I haven’t tried it yet, but will at some point.

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 8 oz. dried figs
• 4 oz. pitted dates
• 1/4 tsp pure maple extract
• 1/4 Stevia powder (optional)
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnammon
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger

Crust:

• 1 c. oats
• 1/3 c. vanilla protein powder
• 1/3 c wheat bran
• 1/3 oat bran
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt (optional)
• 1/2 tsp Stevia powder or to taste
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 c plus 3 tbsp water
• Olive oil cooking spray

Preparation:

Snip stems off figs.  Place figs and dates into a food processor and grind to a coarse paste.  Add remaining filling ingredients and process until combined.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine dry crust ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Stir in applesauce and water, mixing to a thick consistency.  Press half of crust mixture into the bottom of an 8″ square pan misted with cooking spray.

Spread fig filling evenly over crust.  Smooth remaining half of crust mixture over filling.  Bake until lightly browned, about 15 min.  Let cool completely before cutting into 16 squares (108 calories per square).

They’re good! 🙂  I haven’t made these yet and am assuming that it’s the right measurements.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. margarine
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. molasses
• 1/4 c. milk
• 2 c. flour
• 1/2  tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. soda

Preparation:

Cream all ingredients together. Drop from spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 min. at 400 F.

This is sooooo good (of course, Nanny makes it)!  I’ve also made a variation of it using chocolate cake and pudding mix without the rhum to make cupcakes.  One note about this recipe, it rises a lot.  if you have a small bunt pan, you might want to make 2 cakes with this one mix or try cutting it in half but that might be complicated.

Glaze

Ingredients:

• 4 oz butter or margarine
• 1 c. sugar (I use Splenda)
• 1/4 c. water (boiled 5 min.)
• 1/4 c. rum

Preparation:

Mix first 3 ingredients then add rhum. Prick top of cake to let the glaze sink in. Pour glaze over top of cake and let it soak in. Remove cake on a plate upside down.

Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 package of store-bought yellow cake mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 small pack vanilla pudding (I use Weight Watchers pudding)
• 1/4 c. cold water
• 1/2 c. cooking oil
• 1/3 – 1/2 c.  dark rum
• About 3 tbsp. chopped nuts (optional)

Preparation:

Grease and flour a bunt or angel food pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts on bottom, if desired. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Beat all ingredients together for about 4 minutes. Spread over nuts in pan and bake 1 hour and 15 min. When done, let cool at least 15 minutes (this is important to avoid fire).  Remove from pan and pour rum mixture on top of cake (see Preparation for glaze).

A friend of mine came to my place last Saturday and both of us cooked.  We agreed we would only make things we’ve never made before.  She made Iranian meatballs with chicken inside.  I made potato bread which was ok but bland.  I don’t think it’s worth putting the recipe up for it. I also made cookies for the first time.  Absolutely worth posting the recipe.  My friend touted them as “the best cookies in the world” hehehehe  It’s derived from my grandmothers (and mother’s) chocolate chip cookies but with a few modifications here and there.  I’ve used Splenda for this recipe.  The Splenda brown sugar was supposed to be cut in half since 1/2 cup of it is equal to 1 cup of regular brown sugar.  I didn’t do that, I left it as is.  I made 3 batches; 1 with butterscotch chips, 1 with chocolate chips, 1 with dried cranberries.  All were good but the butterscotch won hands down!  A word of caution; these cookies expand when they cook! Ingredients:

• 1/2 c.  all vegetable shortening
• 3/4 c. Splenda white sugar
• 1/2 c. Splenda half and half brown sugar
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 capful (a tsp?) of vanilla
• 1 1/2 c. unbleached flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 c. butterscotch chips

Preparation: Blend well the shortening, white and brown sugar until it’s a creamy texture. Add the vanilla and beaten egg and mix. Blend in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well then fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon onto a greased cooking sheet and flatten. Again I didn’t get the baking time and temperature but try 350 degrees for 15 minutes. If they’re still not done, leave them in and check every 5 minutes until cooked.

Ingredients:

• 6 MARS bars (or snickers bars)(or whatever you like)
• 3 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 2 cups (12-oz) semisweet chips (I use milk chocolate)
• 1 jar (7-oz) marshmallow creme
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Line a 9-inch square pan with foil. Butter foil, set aside. Cut candy in 1/2-inch slices; set aside. In saucepan, bring sugar, butter & milk to boil over medium heat. Cook & stir until thermometer reads 234 degrees, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in last 3 ingredients until smooth. Pour half of fudge into the pan. Sprinkle with chocolate bar pieces. Finish with fudge on top. Cool, then lift out of pan & remove foil. Makes 4 pounds.

(Note: if you refrigerate, it gets too hard to cut. Cool completely, then cut, then refrigerate.)

(I’ve also made it before using the big, huge toblerone bars!)