Pineapple Sheet Cake

We were at a family get together last weekend and we had potluck for lunch, and what's better at a potluck than the table of desserts! I stumbled upon this recipe a few years ago from an old church cookbook and have since added it to my collection of family favourites.

I always found the cake to be just a little on the thin side when it was baked so I doubled it by half. I was a little nervous as it started to rise in the oven but it fell just shy of turning into a dirty oven disaster! I use the aluminum 12x17 cookie sheets with the 1" sides.

                 

Cinnamon Rolls

I have a love/hate relationship with cinnamon rolls. I love the taste, but hate how quickly they lose their soft ooey gooeyness. If I leave them out overnight often they are already on the stale side. So I  was quite delighted when I tried this recipe and they stayed super soft and delicious even when left on the counter overnight!

This is a fairly large recipe but I like to bake them in smaller pans and freeze them, that way I can take out just small amounts for the family.

Mars Bar Squares

Yikes, it's been a while since I posted a recipe! Summer is always such a fun time for us with camping and outdoorsy stuff that I don't take a lot of time to try new recipes. These squares were something I had a long time ago and it has turned into one of our camping staples. I brought them along once and now it has become a great snack and really quick to make too!

The original recipe that I had was much sweeter and it also had a layer of melted chocolate on top. But that was just waaaaaaaaaaaaay too sweet for me so I never put the topping on and I searched online until I found this one. It uses marshmallows, something that my first recipe didn't use and it seems a little chewier then the other one.


Mars Bar Squares

4 Mars bars
1/2 cup margarine or butter
2-3 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies

Melt the margarine over low heat. Break up the bars and add to the margarine along with the marshmallows. Keep stirring over low heat until the bars and marshmallows are melted. Stir in the cereal and pat into a 10x13 cake pan. Once cool cut into squares. Super quick and really good, but not so great for the hips... lol.

Enjoy!
Tina

Maple Rolls

My family had been asking or should I say hinting for some cinnamon rolls for a week already but I saw this recipe for Maple rolls and figured they might come close to what they were craving and it gave me something new to try.

I have had rolls similar to these before but they still didn't quite taste like what I remembered, they were good and I will make them again but I'll still search for the others ones that were unbeatable in taste!

Maple Rolls

1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 heaping tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
approx. 4 1/2 cups flour

Mix dough, stirring in flour until it pulls from the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading and adding flour until you have a nice soft dough but not too sticky. Cover and let rise for 1 hour, punch down and let rise for another hour. (I was running low on time so I only let them rise for another 30 minutes the second time around)

Roll dough into a rectangular piece. Mix 1/4 cup softened margarine and 1 tbsp maple extract, spread this over the dough. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups brown sugar over top. Roll up jelly roll style and slice into 1" slices. Let these rise for 30 minutes, the bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden. When cool, drizzle with the icing and sprinkle pecans over top.

Icing:
1 cup cream
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/8 cup sugar
1 heaping tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla

Combine ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil until thickened. Stir in 1 1/2 cups icing sugar. Spoon over the cooled Maple Rolls.

Enjoy!
Tina

Cinnamon Rolls

Well after smelling someone else baking cinnamon rolls and after reading about someone else baking cinnamon rolls on Facebook I decided that perhaps I should make them as well, lol. And my kids were eager to test taste them for me. A quick search on All Recipes resulted in these, with a few minor changes. The original recipe said to make the dough in your bread maker, but I did it the traditional way. I also added the caramel sauce which makes these more of an ooey gooey type cinnamon roll.

Cinnamon Rolls
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1/2 small pkg vanilla pudding mix
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, room temperature
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour (if using regular flour add 1 tsp bkg powder)

Filling
1/4 cup butter softened
1 cup brown sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup pecans, optional

Sprinkle the yeast in the warm water and let this sit for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and knead while adding the flour. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. (I put the bowl in the oven with the light on) Roll dough into roughly a 17x10" rectangle and spread dough with the butter. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top of the butter. Roll up jelly roll style and cut into 16 pieces, place in a 9x13 cake pan on top of the caramel sauce. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350F until done. Drizzle with icing of your choice.


Caramel Sauce
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp milk or cream
Melt together in a small saucepan and pour into the 9x13 cake pan while dough is rising. Once rolls are finished baking I like to drop the rolls upside down on a clean tea towel so the sauce oozes in the rolls.

Enjoy!
Tina

Bienenstich

A local family restaurant that I regularly enjoy serves a great Bienenstich. It looks amazing and is surprisingly easy to make. In a restaurant this cake would be baked to be a tall two layer cake with a thick custard filling. The recipe that I use asks for mostly whipping cream and I have to say I prefer the taste, it's lighter and changes the taste. It also has only half the height, it doesn't look as elegant but it's easier to eat.

Bienenstich (Honeycomb Cake)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

Beat eggs with sugar, add four and baking powder. Scald milk with butter and add quickly to eggs with vanilla. Grease and flour a 12x18 in cookie sheet, or two round cake pans for a higher (better looking) cake. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Prepare topping.

Topping
10 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp butter
6 tbsp whipping cream
3/4 cup coconut
3/4 cup sliced almonds

Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan, add coconut, cream and almonds. Spread on cake and broil to a golden brown. Freeze and prepare filling.

Filling:
2 cups whipping cream (I use nutriwhip)
1/2 cup sugar (don't use if using nutriwhip)
2 tbsp instant vanilla pudding mix

Whip cream and add sugar and pudding mix. Slice frozen cake in half horizontally. Spread bottom later with the cream and reassemble.

*Note: Freezing the cake makes cutting the cake a lot easier. You could even serve this frozen.

Have a great day!
Tina

Ninety Minute Cinnamon Rolls

I had this recipe sitting in my computer for so long, just never got around to posting it. One day after school my kids were asking for cinnamon rolls, and well they would have never been done in time if I had made them the traditional way. So another quick search on All recipes resulted in this recipe.

They were easy to make and really didn't take long at all. I did let them rise a little longer than the recipe stated, I had the time and thought why not. These were really good and the kids loved them!

Ninety Minute Cinnamon Rolls

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tbsp instant yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine,softened

Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, remove from heat. Stir in the margarine until melted. Let this cool until lukewarm.

In a large mixing bowl combine 2 1/4 cups flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add water, egg, and milk mixture, beat well. Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Cover the dough and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile mix together the cinnamon and brown sugar.

Roll dough into an approximate 12x9 rectangle. Spread the 1/2 cup margarine onto dough and sprinkle the sugar mixture on top. Roll up dough dough and press seams to seal. Cut into 12 equal portions and place cut side up into 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes or until light golden. Drizzle with icing to serve.

Icing:
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp vanilla

Note: I use traditional yeast so I first mixed the warm water and yeast to let that rise and than add the milk mixture, and egg. Than I stirred in the flour.

Enjoy!
Tina

Cream Puffs

Cream puffs have given me so much grief for so long, lol. I made my first batch a few years ago and they turned out perfect, but then all of a sudden they never EVER turned out. They didn't puff up in the oven, some could have used them as a weapon! My sister and I had many discussions on what I could possibly be doing wrong, until it hit both of us one day, I was leaving the pot on the burner while adding the eggs! So essentially I was cooking the eggs too much so they didn't have a chance to rise in the oven. Now that I take the pot off, no problem. Such a small change but it makes the world of difference.

Cream Puffs

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs

Bring water and butter to a boil. in the meantime, stir the flour, bkg pwd and salt together in a separate bowl. Now dump this into the boiling water, stirring vigorously until the dough forms a large ball and leaves the sides.

Take the pot off the burner (I let this sit for just a few minutes to make sure it's not too hot). Using your mixer add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between eggs. You can do this by hand but unless you have super strength arms, they will probably get sore.

Drop by teaspoonfuls on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 425 F, than turn the oven down to 325F and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Baking the puffs at a high temperature for a few minutes is what helps the cream puffs to puff up so nicely.

Let cool and fill with whatever you like. I love to do nutriwhip and a couple tablespoons of vanilla pudding mix and 1 tsp vanilla. I whip this together until firm and fill the puffs. Now you can either dust the tops with icing sugar or if you're like me and love chocolate, you can dip the tops in melted chocolate. It makes them taste more like an eclair but either way, they're great.

Note: Depending on how much pudding mix you add to the cream, you might need to add a tbsp or two to sweeten it a little. Taste it for yourself and decide if it needs a little more sweetness.

Enjoy!
Tina

Nutella Balls

Christmas is coming and I love to bake all sorts of goodies to enjoy over the holidays. I've been meaning to try these for a while and I'm glad I did, they're really good. This is basically just peanut butter balls but using Nutella instead of PB.

Nutella Balls

1 cup nutella

1/2 jar marshmallow creme

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or other nuts)

1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Gently mix all of the ingredients together. Roll into balls and freeze for about an hour. They are a little stubborn when trying to shape them into balls but it does work. I find freezing them makes it easier to cover in the chocolate. Melt milk chocolate for dipping. I add shortening to make the chocolate thin enough for dipping.

There are two ways you can cool the nutella balls after you've dipped them in the chocolate. The easiest method (but not the prettiest) is to simply set them on wax paper to cool, but you get the pool of chocolate which isn't a huge deal but again, not as attractive.

The second method is to poke a toothpick or a lollopop stick into the ball, after you've dipped the ball in the chocolate you want poke the the other end in florists foam or styro foam. This allows the chocolate to dry without sitting on anything thus leaving you with a perfectly shaped Nutella ball. And if you use the lollipop sticks you have a really pretty way of presenting them!

I looked over a few recipes and basically just took a little from all of them to come up with this, so feel free to change things as you see fit.

Enjoy!

Tina

Coconut Cream Dessert

This recipe is a really nice dessert to serve to guests after a great meal. The best part? You can prepare it the day before and not have to fuss over it while you're hanging out with your dinner guests.

Coconut Cream Dessert

Crust:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1/2 cup melted butter

Mix & press into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 325 F for 20-25 minutes. Cool

1st Layer

1 block cream cheese

1 cup icing sugar

1 cup Cool whip (12 oz. thawed)

In a small mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in 1 cup Cool Whip. Spread over crust.

Layer 2

3 3.5 oz pkg instant coconut cream pudding ( I can never find that stuff so I use 2 boxes of the cooked coconut cream pudding)

4 cups cold milk

Cook according to directions on the box except add only 4 cups milk in total. Let it cool completely and spread on top of the first layer

Top layer

Remaining Cool Whip

1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted

Spread over the pudding and top with the toasted coconut.

Let this cool for several hours so everything firms up. I cut mine up too soon and as you can see in the picture, it's a little sloppy.

Enjoy!

Tina

Peanut Butter Pie

Today was my husband's birthday. Since he loves anything to do with peanut butter, I thought pie. At first I thought of making a peanut butter cake but then I found this recipe on Martha Stewart's website and new that my husband would love it. I changed a few things though. I don't have a tart pan so I just used 9" round springform pan. I didn't want to use graham crackers so I used a package of digestive cookies and 1/2 cup of melted butter. I mixed that together and baked it for 10 minutes at 350F.

Peanut Butter Pie (adapted from Martha Stewart)

FOR THE CRUST
Ten 4 3/4-by-2 1/2-inch graham crackers, broken into pieces

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE FILLING
3 ounces best-quality milk chocolate, plus more for curls
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup cream cheese (4 ounces)
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

Place graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until fine crumbs are formed. Transfer to a medium bowl, and add butter. Stir with a fork until thoroughly combined. Place crumbs in a 13 3/4-by-4 1/4-inch rectangular tart pan with a removable bottom. Press crumbs up the sides of the pan to form the edge of the tart and then evenly over the bottom of the pan. Place in the refrigerator while making the filling.

Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Finely chop chocolate, and place in a medium bowl. Place 1/2 cup cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Pour over chopped chocolate, and set aside for 5 minutes to yield chocolate ganache. Whisk to combine. Set in ice bath until ganache is cool, whisking constantly. Once cool, remove from ice bath, and whisk until ganache is just thick enough to hold its shape; do not overbeat. Spread in the bottom of the prepared crust, and return to the refrigerator until set.

Combine peanut butter, cream cheese, and sweetened condensed milk in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Whip 3/4 cup heavy cream to soft peaks. Add whipped cream to peanut butter mixture; whisk to combine.

Spoon mixture into prepared crust; return to the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight. Remove tart from refrigerator, and transfer to a serving platter 10 minutes before serving. Whip remaining 1/2 cup cream. Top tart with dollops of whipped cream. Use a vegetable peeler to make chocolate curls for garnish.

Enjoy,

Erna