Simply Bittersweet

Raspberry Filled Butter Cookie

alongacre — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:08:49 +0000

My boyfriend is absolutely obsessed with raspberries. I mean if I buy him a little container of them they are gone within 30 sec. So whenever I find a recipe for something that includes raspberries I feel obligated to make them for him. The best part about this recipe is that it is so simple and is perfect for Christmas time!

Ingredients

1 prepared raw butter/sugar cookie dough of your choice

(use the same Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie packet that we used for the Mint CC Cookies)

1 (21 oz) can of Raspberry Pie Filling

(if you don’t like raspberries use a different pie filling!)

Glaze or Royal Icing

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

After you have your raw cookie dough ready (whether you use a packet or Pillsbury pre-made cookie dough) roll it out til it’s about 1/4″ thickness.

Use any shape of a cookie cutter that you feel will work best for the occasion! (maybe a christmas tree, star, or dreidel!)

Place a dollop of pie filling in the middle of one of the cookies and place another cookie on top. Take a fork and press down the sides of the cookies all the way around so that they are stuck together.

Bake your cookies for 12-14 minutes on a greased cookie sheet, or one lined with parchment paper.

Once your cookies have cooled drizzle your glaze or royal icing over each of them. I put some green food coloring in my icing so that it made the cookies that much more Christmas themed!

Enjoy!

~Arielle

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

alongacre — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:49:43 +0000

One of my favorite ice creams is Mint Chocolate Chip, but it has to be the green kind otherwise it just doesn’t taste right! These cookies also include one of my favorite things from growing up, Andes Mint Chips; they were always in dishes around my house to munch on! So when I found this recipe I just had to share with you, especially with the holidays coming up these are perfectly green for Christmas time!

Ingredients

1 pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon mint extract

1 egg

1 cup Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips

1 cup dark chocolate chips

green food coloring

Directions

Hear your oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

In a large bowl, mix in cookie mix, butter, mint extract, food coloring and the egg until a soft dough forms.

* Use as much or as little food coloring as you like, it’s not necessary just gives the cookies a more minty look!

Mix in the Andes creme de menthe baking chips and dark chocolate chip cookies.

Place cookie dough about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until they are brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool down before you take them off the cookie sheet. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

~ Arielle

Butterscotch Brownies with Brown Sugar Icing

alongacre — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:54:40 +0000

Brownies are wonderful, we all know this fact. And everytime I find a new recipe for brownies I just have to try it out. So when I found a recipe for Butterscotch Brownies with Brown Sugar Icing I just couldn’t resist myself and had to make them!

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

2 cups pecans, chopped and toasted

3 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

4 large eggs

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 cups half and half, for icing

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, for icing

2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed, for icing

1 tablespoon vanilla extract, for icing

4 cups powdered sugar, for icing

Directions for Brownies

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a half-sheet (13 by 18-inch) pan with aluminum foil and grease with butter or cooking spray. Using an electric mixer beat the 1 cup butter and the 3 cups brown sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla and continue beating for another minute. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture on low speed until incorporated. Stir in the pecans. Pour into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.

Bake until the bars are set and slightly puffed, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool completely before icing.

Directions for Icing

In a saucepan set over medium heat, melt the 1 cup butter and 2 cups brown sugar. Once the mixture is lightly bubbling, decrease the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 more minutes; set aside.

Using an electric mixer , beat the powdered sugar, half and half, and vanilla on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute.

Add the melted butter mixture and beat until combined. Pour over the cooled brownies and spread evenly.

Let the brownies sit for about 30 minutes to allow the icing to firm up before cutting into squares.

Also only cut when your going to serve the brownies otherwise freeze what you’re not going to use and they can stay for up to 3 weeks!

Enjoy!

~ Arielle

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

alongacre — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:27:07 +0000

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I thought that I would share a dessert that is classic but with a twist! Pumpkin Pie is tradition in almost every household come Thanksgiving, but sometimes its nice to switch things up a bit and give tradition a little boost! Come November 24th this will be one of the many desserts on my families table and hopefully yours too!

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

dash of salt

2 tablesppons melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1 prepared deep dish pie crust

Directions

In small bowl, combine one egg, pumpkin, 1/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Spread in pie crust.

In medium bowl, beat remaining two eggs slightly. Mix in remaining 2/3 cup sugar, the butter and vanilla; mix until well blended. Mix in pecans. Carefully spoon over pumpkin mixture.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until filling is set around edge. Cool pie completely before serving! Enjoy!

For extra decoration take your Williams Sonoma Pie Crust Cutters and use the pumpkin cut out to decorate the edge of your pie!

~ Arielle

Favorite Boxed Desserts

alongacre — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:28:50 +0000

Now I realize that everyone might not always have the time to make a homemade dessert, trust me I’ve been there many times. Sometime you just want a dessert to be quick and easy whether your in a hurry and need to bring something to an event our you just want to make something simple for your self!

Another one of my favorite premade desserts are the Simply Chocolate Chip Cookies by Pillsbury. Its a new brand that they just came out with this year and the best part about these are that they contain everything you would put into a cookie at home! No chemicals, only the simple ingredients! They taste just like homemade chocolate chip cookies and only take 14 minuets!

One of my all time favorite boxed desserts is Krusteaz Lemon Bars. They are so simply to create and only take about 30 min out of your day! They taste just like you squeezed the lemon juice yourself. Everyone will love these, especially to cool off on a hot summer day!

Holiday Baking Poll

alongacre — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:01:25 +0000

With the holidays upon us there are so many choices of baked goods. Im not sure about you but I am obligated to help my mother and father make a plethora of baked goods around the holidays to hand out to all of our neighbors and friends. Now my question to you is what type of holiday recipes would you like to see from me? I will post the top choice the first week of December so that you have plenty of time to master the recipe before your holiday parties!

View This Poll

Pie Crust Cutters

alongacre — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:07:06 +0000

With our winter holidays right around the corner I thought I would share a cute little tool that I just found that will make all your holiday pies even more festive. For $20 at Williams-Sonoma you can get either the Thanksgiving themed pie cutters or the Christmas theme ones! All you have to do is make a little extra pie dough (or buy an extra sheet) and cut some out and place around or on top of your holiday pies! Come Thanksgiving I will be trying out the cutters on my apple and pumpkin pies! Stay tuned and you will get to see how wonderful these little tools really are!

Thanksgiving Pie Crust Cutters

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/fall-pie-cutters/

Christmas Pie Crust Cutters

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/holiday-piecrust-cutter/?pkey=cbaking-pastry-tools

Cookies & Cream Oreo Brownies

alongacre — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:59:48 +0000

Have you ever been completely torn about what to have for dessert. Its always between cookies, ice cream and some delicious baked good right? Well this recipe is a combination of all three of those wonderful things! All in all its a fudge brownie stuffed with an oreo cookie, doesn’t that just sound amazing?! Also the great part about this recipe is that its simple and quick and can be made in short amount of time!

Ingredients

1 box of fudge brownie mix

Eggs and Oil as called for by brownie mix

1/2 cup cookies and cream ice cream, soften

1/4 cup hot fudge topping, room temperature

1/2 box of Oreo Cookies

Directions

Now depending on the thickness of brownies that you want you can use an 8×8 dish or 9×12. If you use the 9×12 you will use almost the entire box of Oreo cookies.

Start off by combining you brownie mix with the eggs and oil. DO NOT add the water that the box calls for, your ice cream and fudge topping will replace that. Stir in the ice cream and fudge topping until everything is thoroughly combined.

Next take half of your batter and pour into your greased baking dish. Layer with oreos so that they cover the top of the brownie mix. Then pour the remaining batter over the oreo layer.

Bake for around 40-50 mins. I noticed that if you used the 8×8 baking dish they needed about an hour of baking time.

Serve by themselves or topped with the extra ice cream and fudge topping!

Enjoy!

~ Arielle

Mini Twix Cheesecakes

alongacre — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:21:07 +0000

First to start off Happy November! Hopefully everyone enjoyed their halloween and ate a ridiculous amount of candy and chocolate. If you have extra candy lying around, especially Twix bars stop eating them and save them for this recipe. This is a nice little combination of my last two posts, but minus the popcorn and add some oreos! This is a great little treat for those who like portioned out desserts or something handy that is great for a party!

Ingredients for the Crust

1/2 package Oreos (about 20)

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients for Cheesecake Batter

1 pound cream cheese, soften

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

12 mini Twix bars, chopped into small pieces

Directions for Crust

In a food processor, grind up the Oreos into crumbs. Place the crumbs in a bowl and add in the sugar and mix. Next add the melted butter and mix to coat all the crumbs. (If you do not own a food processor you can crush the cookies using various items from your kitchen, however this will take an ample amount of time, so be aware.)

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Scoop about a Tablespoon of the Oreo crumbs into each cupcake liner, flattening the crumbs down firmly.

Directions for Filling

In a bowl mix the cream cheese with a mixer until it is very smooth. Next add in the sugar and mix to combine. Then add the vanilla extract and mix. Next slowly pour the slightly beaten eggs into the mixture and beat until the eggs are fully incorporated. Add in the sour cream and combine. Add the Twix bar pieces into the cheesecake batter and gently fold them in.

Using an ice cream scooper or a spoon realitivley the same size and scoop the cheesecake batter into ech cupcake liner.

Bake the cheesecakes at 275 degrees farenheit for 30 minutes. Chill the cheesecakes in the fridge overnight. Then they are ready to enjoy!

~Arielle

Cheesecake

alongacre — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:13:56 +0000

So I have showed you how to make a variety of cheesecake creations but I have yet to give you a recipe for just a plain and simple delicious cheesecake. Now this recipe is a staple in my family, my dad got the recipe from a cafe down in the South back in the 70′s and now this dessert is requested for every family gathering. So get ready because trust me your going to want to make this dessert; it’s cheesecake, you simply can’t go wrong!

Ingredients for Crust

1 package plus 4 more graham crackers, finely crushed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 stick of butter, melted

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Ingredients for Filling

2 – 8 oz. packages cream cheese

1 pt. sour cream

4 eggs, separated, putting whites aside

2 teaspoons flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tsp lemon extract

Directions

Begin by placing your spring form pan in the freezer for at least 30 min. before starting.

For the crust, combine all ingredients thoroughly and press firmly into the pan. Make sure that you have at least 1/2 inch to an inch of crust on the side of the pan.

Next for the filling, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, egg yolks, sugar, flour, and both vanilla and lemon extract. Mix the ingredients until the mixture is very smooth.

Beat your egg whites, but make sure that they are not too stiff.

Fold your egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, make sure that it is thouroughly mixed.

Pour the mixture into the crust.

Bake at 325 degrees faranheit for 60-70 min. After 50 min. start checking on the cheesecake to make sure it’s not burning. Once done cool the cheesecake on the rack until it has settled. Refrigerate at least 3 to 4 hours before serving.

If you feel it is necessary top with a fruit mixture, but trust me you won’t need it with this amazing cheesecake!

~ Arielle