Pecan Pumpkin Layer Pie

The years go by and my Thanksgiving guest list gets a bit smaller. My children have settled in with their growing families, and have pretty much taken over the joyous task of putting together Thanksgiving Dinner. But I like to have a small dinner of my own even if on a different day. The four homemade pies I used to make are no longer necessary. In fact, two is too many. I got this idea of a single pecan pumpkin pie. I looked for recipes … my idea was apparently not unique. My improvement … no pre-made crust (crust, to me, adds incredible taste) … never short-cut the pumpkin filling to a paste as I noticed in most recipes. I have simply combined my favorite fillings for these two pies (1/2 recipe each) and baked in two steps. Slather the cooled pie with whipped cream and you have a delicious two pie taste.

Continue reading



Pumpkin Recipes

 

It’s Pumpkin Season!

 


Braised Short Ribs     Cheesecake     Quick Bread     Pasta Sauce     Cupcakes


No Bake Pie                                                                              Pound Cake


French Toast                                Panettone                                     Sandies


Creamy Soup                                                                    Deep Dish Dessert


Mini Pumpkins         Popcorn Balls         Torte            Spice Cake          Cookies


 


Blueberry Ice Cream

 

Every holiday calls for a special taste treat as my husband used to say. Over Labor Day Week-end it was this! Only 5 ingredients and a Cuisinart were the essentials. Just so easy compared to the ol’ days!

Try this Blackberry Sorbet too!

 

 

Continue reading


Spice Cake

You taste one Spice Cake and you’ve tasted them all. Not true! A cake that will surely become a favorite! Looking for new birthday cake recipes! This was sent to me by my eldest as a possibility. Directly from Bake From Scratch Magazine but not exactly. The ingredients being advertised in this recipe were Heilala Pure Vanilla Extract (one of the best bourbon vanilla’s, so they say) which kinda gets lost in the spicy cake, and Heilala Vanilla Bean Paste. I can’t wait to try this vanilla extract in my Chantilly Cream. If you look closely you can see the crushed vanilla bean seeds in the frosting. Now that’s a great frosting! It may seem like literally too much frosting for the cake … But it works!

Continue reading


Triple Chocolate

When putting together the Citrus Ricotta Cookies I noticed an additional recipe by Beads and Basil in Values, an Owasso & Collinsville Values Magazine. I knew if I baked these first I’d be making them mostly for me. Chocolate is a favorite flavor of mine. Not that my visiting family friend wouldn’t enjoy chocolate too but he had his heart set on the Citrus Cookies. My thought about the triple chocolate cookie was … Is it going to be too chocolatey? You might be thinking nothing is too chocolatey! To me when there is too much I can’t appreciate the other additional flavors. This is not the case. It truly is a cookie with at least two distinct chocolate flavors, a hint of vanilla and crunch of toasted pecans. Enjoy this recipe I’ve revised slightly to make a smaller bounty without losing the brownie-like chocolatey cookie that amazingly hangs onto its moistness (unlike most brownies).

Continue reading


Citrus Ricotta Cookies

It’s not unusual for a guy friend of mine to bring along a new recipe when he comes to visit. Anything with ricotta and citrus seems to catch his eye and this recipe has both. (I need to give acknowledgement  to Beads and Basil for this recipe she shared in a monthly values magazine.) When I look at a recipe for the first time I not only anticipate the taste, just how good is this going to be, but also the complexity. Sometimes complexity doesn’t equal a better product. Cookies, I usually bake on a whim. So, the recipe must have a simple list of ingredients (mostly already in my pantry) and must be limited in prep time. This original recipe calls for overnight or at least 8 hours. As you might have guessed this is too long for me, and I found a way to cut the time to 4 hours without changing the outcome in my opinion. The prep is simple and the bulk of time is in the freezing. Hope you enjoy this citrusy taste treat. We did!

Continue reading


Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake

Yep, I’m old school. Please, no waste! It’s hard for me to discard ingredients as they approach the expiration date. Buttermilk is an ingredient I use frequently but sometimes not fast enough to avoid the dreaded use by date. If you know about buttermilk you know you can go beyond that use by date a bit without consequences. But then the pressure is on. Not to worry, buttermilk does freeze. If you’re like me you’ve got quite a bit going on in your freezer. I just prefer to bake a cake. Buttermilk just adds the most incredible moistness to a cake. With a little over two cups of buttermilk to use I was on the prowl. And here’s what I found. It is amazing!

Continue reading


National Chocolate Chip Day

Now, chocolate chip cookies, I’m a connoisseur! I’ve been baking these since I was 10 or so and I’m … well, let’s not get into details. These are my favorites, Old Fashioned Chocolate Chips, probably because I had eaten them as a kid over and over again. But I must say my children and grandchildren feel the same even if I have to change up the recipe to accommodate those that like certain nuts or without nuts or even without chocolate chips.

Enjoy National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. All these recipes whip up in minutes!

Quick Mix Chocolate Chips

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Chocolate Chip Cranberry

Chocolate Chocolate Chip

Almond Chocolate Chip

 


Mixed Berry & Hint of Almond Paste Galette

This rustic dessert is perfectly simple and hugely delicious. It was kinda a group effort. First the idea came from a friend of mine (thanks Gayle), who put this together with her pate brisee, peaches, and almond paste (as a little taste surprise). It sounded amazing but since we weren’t into peaches we filled this richest of pie crusts with mixed summer berries and a homemade almond paste. Not to worry! All this whips up quickly. Rustic always lessens time involvement in my mind. We’re looking for something not necessarily picture perfect but rather delicious in a plain and simple way. Although, this is picture perfect to me.

You will need a food processor or Ninja (thanks Dan) for the almond paste. I suppose it’s possible without but definitely would involve time in pulverizing the almonds. It’s just not recommended. The pie crust can be done with a pastry blender easily. Let’s get started!

Continue reading