Desserts Archives - Page 9 of 9 - Crafty Cooking Mama

Imperial Margarine Chocolate Chip Cookies – The BEST Bake Sale Cookies

December 9, 2014 by Amanda 8 Comments

Here’s the recipe right off the back of the good old imperial margarine box. I’ve always frowned a bit upon baking with margarine. One day I was in a pinch for cookies and out of butter. I went with what I had, gave this a try and it’s been my go to bake sale cookie since.

Is this the best chocolate chip cookie? Certainly not. Nothing beats butter. So why bake this cookie, you ask. Simple – it’s cheap to make, pretty much fool proof to bake and turns out great every time. A little crunch on the outside and chewy and chocolatey in the inside. A quick and easy cookie to make, you can turn out a few dozen of these in no time.

The recipe is pretty straight forward. The one comment I’ll make is that the recipe calls for margarine – not softened or at room temperature. I’ve seen these cookies made with softened margarine and they turn out a bit thin and flat. Although it’s harder to cream cold margarine – take the time and do it right. Cut the margarine into 1 inch chunks – it’ll make the job a little easier. Cream together sugars and margarine. Beat in egg, vanilla and baking soda. Mix in flour by hand. Mix in chocolate chips or whatever goodies you’d like to add. I usually add Reese’s Pieces and chocolate chips. It’s mini M&M’s and chocolate chips if I’m baking for a school function. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until edges are lightly golden. Recipe yields about 3 dozen, +/- a few depending on size of tablespoons.

That’s it folks. You now have no more excuses to not drop off a few dozen cookies at the next community, church or school event or bake sale. Help your local cause make a few bucks and make the world a little sweeter, one cookie at a time.

Thanks for reading…happy baking!

XOXO

-Amanda-

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4.34 from 6 votes

Imperial Margarine Chocolate Chip Cookies - The BEST Bake Sale Cookies

The best bake sale cookie. Cheap to make, fool proof to bake and turns out great every time.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time10 mins

Total Time20 mins

Course: cookies, Desserts

Servings: 3 dozen

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

3/4 cup Imperial margarine 1 1/2 sticks
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cup flour
2 cup chocolate chips or other candy chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°.
Beat margarine with both sugars in large bowl with electric mixer.
Beat in vanilla, egg and baking soda.
Stir in flour, by hand, until blended.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 9-10 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes.
Remove cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

Apple Toffee Coffee Cake

September 21, 2014 by Amanda 2 Comments

For Liz : )

Toffee. Honestly, not an ingredient I’m too familiar with. Sure, I enjoy a bite of it here and there but I’ve never baked with it. Then I was the recipient of 6, yes – I said 6, bags of Heath Bar Toffee Bits. I had to get creative with this…chocolate chip and toffee bit cookies would get old quick.

It never really occurred to me before how great of a baking addition toffee could be. Yet now it makes perfect sense. It’s candy made of butter and sugar, how could you possibly go wrong with that?

I really wasn’t sure how much of the toffee would hold up during the baking. Turns out, not a whole lot of it did – most of it melted into the cake. The little bits of crunch I did get were delightful. Could really make a great substitute for chopped nuts. Seems to me that if you were to chop the toffee yourself into larger bits, a lot more of it would hold up during baking, giving you a nice crunch. Would be perfect to sprinkle on top of banana or pumpkin bread (maybe half way through baking time) for those with nut allergies. I’ll have to try it soon : )

You’ll notice when mixing that the batter will be very dry. No need to worry and please don’t go and add extra liquids. When baking, the juices from the apples will moisten everything up.

As much as I love devouring warm baked goods – this is one that should be left to cool. I know this because I did attack it shortly out of the oven and it was a big mess. This coffee cake should be left to cool in the baking dish – I kept it simple and stored it in the dish too – wasn’t planning anything fancy with it. I love bake ware with lids just for this reason.

So the texture was very rich, moist – a bit gooey. Absolutely delicious – a little piece with a cup of coffee hit the spot. I couldn’t help but to indulge in quite a few small pieces throughout the day. Both my husband and I have tasted a bakery coffee cake, maybe store bought, very similar in taste and texture but couldn’t figure out where it had been from. Grrrrr.

I’m very happy with my first round of experimenting with toffee and look forward to seeing what I can create with the other 5 bags of it. Hope you enjoy this coffee cake as much as we did! Thanks for reading….XOXO

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Apple Toffee Coffee Cake

A moist coffee cake made with apples and toffee. Yummy!

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Total Time35 mins

Course: Desserts

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups apples diced and pared (2 Granny Smith apples)
1 8 oz. bag Heath English Toffee Bits divided

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375
Cream together butter and sugars.
Add in dry ingredients, mix until combined.
Mix will be dry.
Fold in apples.
Reserve 3 tablespoons Heath Bits for topping. Add remaining toffee to apple mixture.
Spoon mixture into a greased 13x9 baking dish.
Sprinkle remaining 3 tablespoon of toffee bits over top of mixture.
Bake for about 25 mins.
Let cool (in dish) before serving. Enjoy : )

The Cake Pop Extravaganza

September 6, 2014 by Amanda 1 Comment

I’m such a mean mama. Ok – of course I’m not – but ask my 8 year old daughter, Athena, of her current complaint list and I’m sure she’ll mention the “kids sewing machine” from Christmas that we still haven’t tried. Just recently we “X’d” off the Cake Pop Maker. So I guess I’m a little mean. I’m sure if Santa had to sit down and figure out how to make all these crazy gadgets work well enough to please kiddos with super high expectations of all these “magical gifts” he might just reconsider gifting some of them. Whew.

So I had avoided the Cake Pop Maker for about eight months. Sounds awful – but I read reviews on the thing and had predetermined that it was going to be a royal pain in the butt to deal with. I had good intentions but every time I thought we’d have an extra few hours to give it a try (and all parties would be enthusiastic about the cake pop festivities) something would come up. Finally, I knew we could wait no longer. It was getting done, despite who felt how, despite what else needed to get done and no matter how much Baby G fussed.

So the most important lesson learned from this experience – my 8 year old daughter has far more patience than I do. I had to contain my annoyance with this Cake Pop Wrist Burning device. She was delighted – her Cake Pop Maker was on it’s way to kitchen greatness.

We learned a few other lessons along the way. The amount of cake batter you fill in each reservoir is very important. The instructions call for a tablespoon, so that’s a good amount to try and start with. Too much batter and you have Saturn Cake Pops – not enough and you have flat pebble cake pops. We tried various amounts on our first round to see what amount worked best. After establishing that amount – we continued to over and under fill – cause that’s just how we do things – lol. A thick cake batter worked wonders for this – not too drippy. I would suggest trying one of the simple cake recipes from the website on your first go with it. The easiest method of filling the reservoirs for us was a kitchen teaspoon and scraping it in with our finger. A piping bag is suggested in the instructions, but I think that would really be over complicating the whole thing…but whatever works. Don’t fuss too much while filling – you want your cake pops evenly cooked. Last, that innocent looking Cake Pop Maker gets HOT! Be super careful if the kiddies are involved in this operation.

After all was said and done – I enjoyed spending the time with my daughter, but would still rather make cake pops the old fashioned way. She, on the other hand, is already making decorating plans for her next batch. Speaking of decorating – that was her favorite part. I gave her sprinkles and icing and she went to town. They certainly did look cute and I was impressed with how tasty they were.

Until next time….XOXO

Recipe adapted from BabyCakes.

Check out Babycakes website for more recipes, tips, pictures and blog…..

http://thebabycakesshop.com/tips-and-recipes/category/recipes/cake-pop-maker/

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5 from 1 vote

Vanilla Cake Pops

Course: Desserts

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Instructions

Preheat cake pop machine. Lightly spray with cooking spray if necessary.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt.
In a (separate) large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Add flour mixture to large mixing bowl - 1/4 of mix at a time. Mix, add in 1/4 of milk. Repeat until completely blended.
Fill each cake pop reservoir with batter - approx 1 tablespoon each.
Close lid - "bake" 4-5 minutes.
Allow to cool before decorating.
Makes about 4 dozen.

National Spumoni Day and Spumoni Pudding

August 22, 2014 by Amanda 3 Comments

Today is the day, folks. August 21 makes it officially National Spumoni Day! Yay!!! You ask why there is such a day? Your guess is as good as mine – but it sure beats National Fruitcake Day ( which, by the way, is December 27th. )

What is this spumoni business all about? It’s a frozen ice cream or gelato dessert of Italian orgin. Everyone makes it different but you can bet on a combination of chocolate, pistachio and cherry at the very least. Expect to see versions with vanilla, whipped cream, almonds and nuts, amaretto, fruits, berries or whatever else fancies the chef. It’s typically served molded or in slices but individual scoops smothered in nuts and cherries and fudge and whatever else happens too. Spumoni is a freestyle dessert – no rules are needed here.

Yum….spumoni. I couldn’t let this day or dessert go unnoticed even if I am on vacation….I LOVE THE OUTER BANKS : ) So with limited ingredients and a very basic kitchen – I whipped up something super simple and delicious with my love for spumoni. Instant puddings, maraschino cherries, sliced almonds, cool whip and a chocolate bar make an easy, pretty and delicious layered pudding version of this dessert.

Keep in mind that I’m making this nice and easy – my vacation is about being on the beach as much as possible and in the beach house and kitchen as little as possible. Feel free to make your own puddings and whipped cream. I didn’t give any exact measurements when layering the ingredients in the cups. Amounts will vary with how many individual puddings you make and by preference. I did have some cool whip and chocolate pudding left over. I made 6 large pudding cups, next time I make this I would probably make 8 instead. Either way, this will make 6 – 10 individual cups, depending on size and appetites.

I evenly layered the chopped cherries on the bottoms of the cups followed by pistachio pudding, a spoonful of sliced almonds, cool whip, chocolate pudding, cool whip, sprinkled with chocolate bar crumbles and a cherry on top. Quick, easy and looks so much fancier then it really is.

Alright, back to the beach. Hope you enjoy this easy, peasy pudding as much as we did. Next year, IF I’m home, I’ll make a “proper” spumoni dessert for the day. Cheers…XOXO

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5 from 2 votes

Spumoni Pudding

Spumoni pudding - it's a creamy, delicious layered pudding. Such a pretty dessert but so simple to make. Enjoy : )

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time5 mins

Total Time15 mins

Course: Desserts

Servings: 6 - 10

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

1 box 3.9 oz instant chocolate pudding, prepared
1 box 3.4 oz instant pistachio pudding, prepared
16 oz jar maraschino cherries divided
1/4 cup sliced almonds
large chocolate bar 3.5 oz - I used a fruit and nut bar
Extra Creamy Cool Whip - 8 oz tub

Instructions

Gather glasses / cups for pudding. This will make 6-10 servings.
Prepare puddings following packet instructions. Usually it's something like 2 cups milk whisked with pudding and let set for 5 minutes.
Set aside 6 - 10 whole cherries (depending how many individual puddings you make)
Wrap remainder of cherries in a paper towel for a few minutes to absorb excess liquid.
Chop cherries.
Chop chocolate bar.
Evenly layer ingredients in cups. Start with cherries at the bottom, then pistachio pudding, followed by almonds, cool whip, chocolate pudding, cool whip, chocolate bar crumbles and a cherry on top : )
Keep in fridge until ready to serve. Smile & enjoy : )

Ricotta Chocolate Chip Pancakes

August 4, 2014 by Amanda 2 Comments

Rich, delicious Ricotta Cheese Chocolate Chip Pancakes. These pancakes make a fabulous breakfast, dessert or anytime treat.

I have yet to decide if these pancakes were better suited for breakfast or dessert – so this time I made them for dinner! Let me reassure you – there were absolutely no complaints from my family.

I got the inspiration for this recipe from a friend who served us “Neapolitan Pancakes” a few years ago. Summed up – the recipe was ricotta cheese added to a basic pancake mixture and served with a variety of jams. Simple, delicious and such an impressionable dish.

I originally made this as more of a “dessert cannoli pancake”. Chocolate chips and ricotta and cream richness layered between ricotta cheese pancakes. Insanely delicious – but just a bit much. I opted to lighten it up over time and ended up with this version. Chocolate chips work perfectly with the ricotta in this pancake – just as the hint of cinnamon. Top it off with some freshly whipped cream and it’s love at first bite!

A few notes before you start mixing this up – since I’m sure you’ve already ran out and bought ricotta for the occasion. I love cinnamon and would personally prefer this with an additional 1/2 teaspoon but I tone it down for my fam who do not share my enthusiasm of the spice….so have at it if you wanna throw some more in. Or sprinkle some more on top like I do and we all eat happily. Start with 1/2 cup of chocolate chips – add an additional 1/4 cup if you feel it needs a bit more. Mini chocolate chips work even better but I rarely have them on hand. I top these off with stabilized whipped cream. I do without the gelatin whenever possible – but whipped cream served over hot pancakes will make soupy cream and quick…so gelatin it is.

Yay!!!! Here’s my first recipe for Crafty Cooking Mama! This one involved an absurd amount of edits – I’m looking forward to a post that doesn’t take me five days of second guessing lol. Hope you enjoy it and the many more recipes to come…..XOXO

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5 from 1 vote

Ricotta Chocolate Chip Pancakes

A rich and delicious pancake - makes a special breakfast or a fabulous dessert!

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 4

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
4 teaspoons cold water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sifted confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
PANCAKES
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pound ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup cream
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

For whipped cream:
In a small saucepan combine gelatin and cold water. Let stand until thickened.
Place over low heat, stirring constantly, just until the gelatin dissolves.
Remove from heat. Cool but do not allow it to set up - gelatin must be liquid but not warm when ready to use.
In a chilled bowl with chilled mixers - beat the cream, sugar and extract until soft peaks start to form.
Add gelatin and beat at high speed till stiff peaks start to form.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
For pancakes:
In a large mixing bowl - whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Add in ricotta, mix well.
In a seperate bowl - beat eggs, egg yolks and cream together.
Add egg mixture to ricotta mixture - stir until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.
Pour 1/4 cup of pancake mixture onto a greased griddle over medium heat. Fry until lightly golden brown, 3-5 minutes on each side.
Top with whipped cream - enjoy : )