Strawberry-Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cobbler

We have pretty big garden and sometimes I wonder if it is worth all the work.  Well we got a lot of strawberries this year, just in time for Father's day. (I am really slow sharing this recipe because June was a whirlwind!) I let my hubby peruse my pinterest board to choose his dessert for Father's day.  He wanted to use strawberries and rhubarb from the garden, so this one caught his eye.

The original recipe can be found here.  My husband loved it but I don't know if I'll make it again.  I followed the recipe except we added 2 cups of chopped rhubarb along with the berries.  I would recommend this recipe for anyone wanting to try a new rhubarb dessert.  Tell me what you think?

Layered Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

I saw these brownies floating around Pinterest with lots of different names, some are not very kid-friendly.  I was excited to try them because it had lots of my favorite things:  chocolate chip cookie, oreos and brownies.  I was disappointed, don't think I'll make them again.  They were just not what I envisioned.  I have other decadent dessert I enjoy a lot more, count this one as a fail.

Old fashioned McDonald's Fried Apple Pie

My husband loves McDonald's apple pies and now my kids do too!  He misses the deep fried pies but has gotten used to the baked version.  We found this recipe and had to try it for our dessert.  I just used some of our home-canned apple pie filling for filling and served with vanilla ice cream.  The crust was nice and flaky.  These will be a repeat at our house!

Check out the recipe here!

Lowfat Eclair cake

I was craving chocolate but wanted to keep it healthier, so I made some changes to the recipe I tried before.  This will be my go to recipe for summer!

Lowfat Eclair Cake

(Original recipe found here.)

Crust:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 large eggs
Filling:
1 cup vanilla greek yogurt
1 large box chocolate sugar-free instant pudding
3 cups milk
Topping:
1 8 oz. container cool whip
chocolate syrup


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9"X13" glass baking pan.
For the Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Mixture will be very wet.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool (don't touch or push bubbles down).
For the Filling:  In medium bowl make chocolate pudding by beating the pudding mix and the milk for 3 minutes and put in the fridge until set. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in the greek yogurt until smooth.  Let cool in fridge.When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it and serve with a drizzle chocolate syrup

Butter Tarts

Our local Girls Scout hosted a cultural  fair and our troop was assigned England.  We spent a couple weeks researching and preparing.  We needed to provide a snack and a game or craft.  We chose butter tarts as a snack.  We made some with raisins and some without.  Most of the girls preferred no raisins.  Think mini pecan pie without the pecans.  Really yummy!

Butter Tarts(old family recipe)

Pastry:

3 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

9 tablespoons ice water

Stir together dry ingredients in medium bowl.  Cut in shortening. Mix in ice water.  Pinch off 1 inch ball place in greased mini tart pan.  Use fingers or the Pampered Chef mini-tart shaper to shape the tart shell.

Filling:

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon melted butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Carefully spoon the filling into each tart shell, 1/2 full.  Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.  Let cool a few minutes, then gently loosen and remove from the pan.  Allow them to finish cooling on a rack.  Enjoy!

Chocolate-Covered Oreo cake

This cake is delicious!  This is the second time I made it and it is still so yummy!  The kids were so excited to have it again.  It didn't turn out so pretty but my efforts to reduce calories were successful.  I would recommend making it for a large group since you will finish what ever is left.  Consider yourself warned!

Chocolate-covered Oreo Cake, serves 12

(Adapted from Hungry Girl and Kraft Recipes)

Cake:

1 box moist type devil's food cake mix

1 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt

1 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the dry cake mix and yogurt in a medium mixing bowl.  Slowly add 1 cup water.  Divide the batter evenly into greased 8 inch round cake pans.  Bake according to the times listed on the cake mix box.  Cool on wire racks.

Ganache:

2/3 cup semi-sweet or 60% cocoa chips (I loved the dark chocolate!)

1/4 cup butter

Combine in a small glass bowl.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes or until butter is melted.  Stir until smooth and let cool.

Filling:

8 oz. softened cream cheese (I substituted fat-free.)

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups whipped topping

12 Oreo cookies, coarsely crushed

Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl.  Fold in the whipped topping and Oreos.  Place one layer of the cake on a plate.  Spread the filling on the bottom layer.  Place the top layer on the filling.  Smooth the filling on the side.  Pour the ganache on top.  If desired, add additional Oreos on top for decoration. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Apple Nachos

Once a week I get together with girlfriends and hang out for a while.  We do lots for fun things but my favorite is discussion night.  It means lots of interesting conversations and snacks.  Since it was my month to host, I had several recipes I wanted to try out.  I was excited to try out these Apple Nachos.  They were a hit!  Check out the recipe here at Shugary Sweets!

Caramel Brownies

I have a huge list of desserts to try on my Pinterest board and I often want to make it but I'm missing an important ingredient.  My local grocery store had caramels really cheap because they were getting hard.  I figured add a little extra milk when melting them and they'll be good as fresh.  So this recipe was waiting for the right time and didn't stick around very long.  These are definitely come back soon.  I found the recipe at the Six Sisters' Stuff but followed it to the original post.

Go to Mel's Kitchen Cafe for the original disappearing Caramel Brownies.

Cranberry Blueberry Shortbread Bars

I bought a bag of fresh cranberries fully intending to try some new recipe I saw on Pinterest.  But time was getting away from me and the berries needed to be used.  So I tried a new twist on a favorite.  Introducing the Cranberry Blueberry Shortbread bars!

Cranberry Blueberry Shortbread Bars

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 Cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 3/4 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

3 Cup all-purpose flour

• Fruit filling
• 1 bag of fresh cranberries, washed
• 1/3 Cup water
• 3/4 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 Cup blueberries

Grease a 9x13 pan and preheat the oven to 325.  Beat the butter, powdered sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla.  Stir in flour until just incorporated.  Press half the dough into the greased pan.  Bake 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Wrap remaining dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

While the crust is cooling prepare the filling.  Combine everything except the blueberries in a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened.  Turn off heat and gently fold in blueberries.  

Pour fruit filling over cooled crust.  Crumble remaining dough over the filling.  Return to oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely before cutting.

Chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake bars

Are you sensing a theme?  I love cookie dough!  I've been making this recipe for a few months and love it.  I finally took a picture to show you how tempting they are.  These are great to take somewhere but be sure to plan ahead, they need several hours in the fridge to reach maximum deliciousness.

I was just going to give a link to the original blog post but it only makes an 8x8 pan, not big enough for my family or to share.  So I basically wrote it out for 1 1/2 times the original, to save you some time.  Or if you just need a little fix, go to the original post.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

From:  My Baking Addiction

Makes a 9x13 pan

Crust:  2 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

7 1/2 tbsp. melted butter

Bake at 325 in greased 9x13 pan for 6 minutes.

Cookie dough layer

7 1/2 tbsp. softened butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

5 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix well.  Slowly add 1 1/8 cup flour.  Fold in 1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer the dark.)  It should be really crumbly.  Set aside.

Cheesecake layer

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream the cream cheese and sugar.  Mix in egg and vanilla until just incorporated.  Pour over the crust.  Crumble the cookie dough layer over top.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the middle is set and the top is lightly golden brown.  Cool completely, then refrigerate for several hours.  Cut and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Egg Rolls

Yesterday was my birthday and my kids and hubby asked if they could make me a cake.  We've been working on eating healthier and having leftover cake sitting around meant disaster for my waistline.  It is really hard not to pick at it during the day, so it is better not to even have the temptation.  I had a recipe I wanted to try and I could make just enough for everyone to have some.  

I love to bake and snitch the batter.  It was so exciting when the invented cookie dough ice cream, heaven!  Now I'm finding all sorts of cookie dough recipes thanks to pinterest.  Since it was my birthday, I wanted cookie dough egg rolls.  They did not disappoint!  Granted, not everyone loves cookie dough, I don't think my mother-in-law thought it sounded yummy.  They are really rich and the ice cream was a nice balance.  Next I'll make them for my girlfriends!

Check out:  Pennies on a Platter for her easy recipe!

Blueberry Rhubarb Shortbread Bars

I had rhubarb growing like crazy  in my garden.  This is the first year it has been really happy and we could harvest some.  So I had been looking around Pinterest for some recipes.  I made some adjustments, like lots of fruit, and I loved it.  These were a hit with everyone, even my picky teenage boy.

Blueberry Rhubarb Shortbread Bars (adapted from Keep It Sweet Desserts)

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 Cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 3/4 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

3 Cup all-purpose flour

• Fruit filling
• 6 Large rhubarb stalks (about 5 cups chopped rhubarb)
• 1/3 Cup water
• 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 Cup blueberries

Grease a 9x13 pan and preheat the oven to 325.  Beat the butter, powdered sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla.  Stir in flour until just incorporated.  Press half the dough into the greased pan.  Bake 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Wrap remaining dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

While the crust is cooling prepare the filling.  Combine everything except the blueberries in a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened.  Turn off heat and gently fold in blueberries.  

Pour fruit filling over cooled crust.  Crumble remaining dough over the filling.  Return to oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely before cutting.

We enjoyed them served with vanilla ice cream!