Raspberry Cheese Tartlets

It’s been well over a month since I have posted. I considered back logging all of the various recipes I have tried in the last month, but that’s too boring for me. So, today – I give you a delish mini treat…

These were fun to make. I was a little nervous about the shells. After they were in the oven for 5 minutes, they looked like they were rising into muffins so I pulled them out and re-mashed them around to make little cups. Popped them back in the oven for the remaining 15 minutes and they turned out great.

Filling:
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened (I used fat free)
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Tartlets/Cups:
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Mini Muffin baking pan

Fresh Raspberries

1. In a bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in milk, lemon juice and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.
2. In another bowl, beat the butter, flour, powdered sugar and cornstarch until smooth. (May have to mash around with your hands to get a dough like texture.) Roll into 1” balls. Place in greased muffin cups and press into the bottom and sides. If they begin to rise too much and are not shaped like a cup, remove from the oven and reshape while still raw.
3. Bake at 325 for 22 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack.
4. Pipe 1 tablespoon cheese filling into each tart shell. Garnish with raspberries. Cover and refrigerate until you serve.

Inspired by Taste of Home recipe.

Lemon Pound Cake

This is a cream cheese recipe that I got from my True Grits cookbook (thanks Lauren!). This cookbook has some truly amazing southern recipes with cute tales from the writer. Click here if you want to check it out.

The cake was very rich, tart yet sweet enough to satisfy. I could have done without the icing. By the way - baking is a dangerous hobby for someone as clumsy as me! I bought some new gadgets (mini grater and lemon zester) to use while making my lemon pound cake and I also injured myself with one of them. Proof below - Ever zested your finger? It was a lot of fun. It was like peeling a potato except it was my thumb :( Luckily, I was just zesting for decoration, so the cake was already in the oven at this point.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese

3 cups sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
6 eggs

3 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 powder sugar

3 tbsp milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Cream the butter in a mixer bowl until light. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the sugar and beat for 3 minutes until fluffy. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice, lemon rind and vanilla. Mix well.

2. Beat in the eggs 2 at a time. Add the flour and salt, beat until creamy. Spoon into a greased (and powdered if you prefer) 10-inch tube pan.

3. Bake at 350 for an hour and 10 minutes or until cooked through.

4. Let cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove and place on cake dish.

5. Mix powder sugar, milk and lemon juice in small bowl. Drizzle over the top and the sides of the cake.

Cajun Chicken Linguine

Creamy, full of flavor pasta dish. This is by far my favorite.

Ingredients:
4 thin sliced chicken tenderloins, cut into bite size pieces
1 tbsp cajun seasoning
salt
xtra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 small red bell pepper, choppped
1 small green pepper, chopped
5 baby bella mushrooms, chopped
2 green onions (white and green parts of the onion chopped and separated )
1 1/2 cup of Half and Half
2 fresh basil leaves - or 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp minced garlic (I use jar kind, can use fresh if you prefer)
1 package linguine (12 oz should be enough for 4 people)
For topping - fresh grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

Directions:
1. Prepare the pasta according to package.

2. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with Cajun seasoning and cook in small amount of olive oil. Remove and set aside. (Best to use a large pot because you'll eventually have all ingredients - even the pasta - in this one pot.)

3. Add about another teaspoon of EVOO, heat and cook the peppers, mushrooms, garlic and white portions of the onion until tender.

4. Once vegetables are tender, return chicken to pot and stir in Half and Half and basil. Add salt to taste. Cook over low heat for about 4 minutes.

5. Add linguine and toss to coat. Sprinkle cheese and chopped green onion on top of each serving.

Cupcakes

Just a few shots of some yummy cupcakes I made for a friend's birthday. Yellow Butter Cake with Chocolate frosting and an extra jolt of chocolate on top. Those cute purple candies are M&M's Premiums - three layers of chocolate - white, dark and milk. I liked the color because it matched the pink and purple paper I bought, but they were also a nice flavor addition to the cupcakes. If you want to see all of the new Premiums, click here.

Cinnamon Rolls

I needed a challenge today. It's Labor Day and I didn't want to turn on the work computer and hammer away on a media plan, soooo I decided to go through my recipe binder. This binder contains all of the challenging recipes that I have yet to try. After digging through, I found "the one" for the day - Cinnamon Rolls. When I pulled this recipe from Cooking Light back in January, I never expected I would wait 8 months to actually make these. By the way - there's nothing "light" about this so I'm not sure why it was published in that magazine.

This is an ALL DAY adventure, or at least for me it was. I made the dough from scratch with yeast and all. First time to ever use yeast. I enjoyed making these, but if you plan to try make sure you have some down time around your house. There's a lot of prep and wait and prep and wait. It's well worth it once you taste your very own sweet rolls!

I've detailed the recipe below as my version. This originally called for cardamom but I wanted to use cinnamon. The original also recommended a lime glaze, but I tried it and I prefer the regular glaze. I noted below how to make the lime in case you wanted to taste it for yourself. Enjoy!

Ingredients for Dough:
1 package dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
¼ cup warm water
½ cup light sour cream
1/3 cup plain sugar
¼ cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
2 1/3 cups all purpose flourFilling:
½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon (add more if you like)
2 tablespoons butter, meltedGlaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons water OR lime juice

Directions:
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand 5 minutes.

2. Combine sour cream and next 5 ingredients (through egg) in a large bowl. Stir until blended well. Stir yeast mixture into sour cream mixture.

3. Add 2 cups of flour to the large bowl with the other mixed ingredients. Stir to form soft, tacky dough. (I was shocked at how gooey this substance was. Be patient, it will thicken up.)

4. Spread some flour on the counter to prevent sticking and lay your dough on the flour. Add flour to your hands also and begin to knead until smooth and elastic. This will take about 8-10 minutes. Keep adding flour if you need to.

5. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place your ball of dough in the bowl. Cover and set aside for 1 hour or until the dough doubles in size. To check, gently place two fingers in the dough. If the indentation remains, it has risen enough.

6. Prepare filling by combining the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

7. After dough has risen, divide into two equal portions. Work with one portion at a time and roll out the dough into a rectangle that is approx 12x10”. Brush generously with butter and sprinkle half of the sugar mixture on top. Beginning with the long side, roll up the dough. Pinch seam to seal (NOT at the ends – on the long side). Repeat with other portion of dough.



8. Cut each roll into 1-inch slices. (Mine are slightly smaller.) Spray your baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and place rolls in dish. Cover and set aside for 25 minutes to allow the rolls to rise.

9. Preheat oven to 350. Bake rolls for 25 minutes or until light brown.

10. Mix water or lime juice and powdered sugar for the glaze. Remove rolls from over and drizzle glaze on top.

Turkey Bacon and Egg Sandwich

Here's a snapshot of the current breakfast of choice in our house. We don't eat much beef or pork, and I was really starting to miss bacon!!! I saw the turkey bacon at the grocery store last week and thought I would give it a shot. I've had it in restaurants plenty of times before, just never thought to buy it.

The hardest part about buying a new product is convincing the man of the house to try new things. His first comment when he saw the TB - "This looks funny." Well, yeah - it's not REAL bacon, it's meat from a turkey. He was still willing to taste it as long as I cooked it extra crispy. Hence the nickname "Crispy". Everything must be crunchy for him...guess we all have our certain preferences :)

After the first sandwich, my number one customer has been requesting this often! So here's a picture of breakfast this morning - a nice, juicy turkey bacon and fried egg sandwich on wheat bread with a dab of light mayo. (I tried to make this healthy!)

I plan to start using TB in any recipe calling for the real thing. I think it's an excellent substitute.

Fun with Chocolate

I picked up some chocolates on Friday while grocery shopping with no set plans to use it. After a quick search through the fridge and the pantry, I decided to whip up some sweet treats. I found peanuts, captain crunch, strawberries, peanut butter, graham crackers and some marshmallows....

I had so much fun with this. At one point, I was laughing (can you say sugar high) and eating melted chocolate off of my hands.

Chocolate covered strawberries - I LOVE these. Super easy to make and always impressive for parties or dinner. I've made these several times and they are so much better when they come fresh from your kitchen as opposed to store bought. Just melt a bag of small chocolate morsels on LOW heat until smooth. Wash and dry berries and dip in the chocolate. Lay strawberries on wax paper on a large tray or plate and pop in the fridge to cool.

I only had milk choc, but you can definitely play with this by creating swirls or tuxedos with white chocolate.




Open-faced Smores - Spread some melted chocolate on a graham cracker and top with a marshmallow. If you can't eat them all while warm, you can chill in the fridge. The marshmallows won't keep long, but the choc covered grahams will be delish!




Peanut-Peanut Butter Bites - Warning: I have no exact measurements for you, I just threw this together. Pour some unsalted peanuts into the remaining melted chocolate (take off the burner). Spoon out a small amount onto wax paper. Add a little bit of peanut butter and then top with another spoonful of the peanut mixture. This way, the PB is in the middle. Place in the fridge to cool and harden. (I also added some caramel to the top of a few of these.)



The chocolate covered Captain Crunch wasn't camera friendly, but it was yummy.