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Coconut & Cherry Kisses

December 15, 2011 By Kate 2 Comments

It is my most favorite time of year – Christmas cookie baking time! Oh sure, I love Christmas – the tradtions, the excitement from the kids, the gifts, the music, the trees – all of  that is wonderful. But there is just something abouth making Christmas cookies that lets me know all is right with the world.

I spent the entire day this past Sunday making cookies. The kids came in and out of the kitchen and anxiously helped whenever the opportunity arose. It was a great day. I’ve made a few more cookies the past couple days as well, just because there’s no such thing as too many Christmas cookies in my world.

Needless to say, I’ll be posting a bunch of cookie recipes the rest of this week and next. Ready? Here we go…

Coconut & Cherry Kisses

  • 1 7 oz. package shredded coconut
  • 2 T. cornstarch
  • 1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 t. vanilla
  • 1/2 t. almond extract
  • 1/2 c. red candied cherries (and/or green candied cherries), chopped

1. Pour coconut into a mixing bowl and stir in the cornstarch. Add the sweetened condensed milk and the extracts, stirring until combined. Fold in the chopped cherries.

2. Drop about a teaspoon of batter at a time onto a greased or foil-lined cookie sheet. If the batter spreads when you drop it, mound it a little with your fingers.

3. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes at 325 degrees, just until the bottoms get lightly browned and the tops are set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool after 1 minute.

These are not what you’d call “subtle” cookies. They are definitely sweet, but so good!

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Nutella Cream Pie with Hazelnut Crust

November 16, 2011 By Kate 7 Comments

Sometimes, I just don’t understand our kids. At the beginning of the month, I bought a 2-pack of large Nuttela. My thought was that those would last us at least 2 months of yummy breakfasts and tasty treats and snacks. Smart idea, right? (Because really, is there ever a time when turning down a jumbo container of Nutella is a good idea?)

Well, it would seem like a smart idea. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way when the kids purposefully set out to find the second container to open for a breakfast of toast and Nutella one day. Seeing as how we’d hardly put a dent in the first container, this move did not make for a happy mom!

Needless to say, using up all of this Nutella before it goes bad has become a huge priority for me. When we had company over this weekend, I really saw no choice but to come up with a Nutella-based dessert. If you’re a fan of Nutella, I know I don’t need to sell you on the deliciousness of this Nutella Cream Pie with Hazelnut Crust. If you’re a Nutella novice, this is the perfect introduction! Just take my word on this – you MUST make and enjoy this pie. It’s unbelievably good!!

Nutella Cream Pie with Hazelnut Crust

For the crust:

  • 1 1/2 c. chopped hazelnuts
  • 1/2 c. oats
  • 1 T. sugar
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 6 T. butter, melted

1. Combine the hazelnuts, oats, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. Slowly pour in the melted butter while continuing to pulse, until combined.

2. Press the mixutre evenly into a 8 or 9 inch pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned and set. Cool completely.

For the filling:

  • 1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
  • 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
  • 1 c. Nutella
  • 1/4 c. milk
  • 1 8 oz. container cool whip (or fresh whipped cream)

1. In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until combined. Add the Nutella and milk and beat for 5 minutes, until thoroughly combined and somewhat fluffy. Fold in the cool whip.

2. Spoon into completely cooled hazelnut crust and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to allow pie to set.

Note – Due to the richness of both the crust and the filling, this pie is best served in smaller slices.

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Pumpkin Apple Pecan Muffins

September 28, 2011 By Kate 3 Comments

Is it possible to pack all of the best flavors of fall into one little muffin? That’s what I was wondering and that was what I set out to do.

So, I got to work by setting out all of my favorite fall flavors and adding a bit of this and a bit of that until the batter had that smell that just said fall to me. Combine that with a bottle of New & Improved PAM Spray and these muffins turned out perfectly and tasted as delicious as they smelled!

Pumpkin Apple Pecan Muffins

  • 1 c. canned pumpkin
  • 1/3 c. vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 c. brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1/4 c. maple syrup
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • 1/4 t. nutmeg
  • 1/8 t. allspice
  • 1 apple, peeled and diced
  • 1/2 c. chopped pecans
  • 1 1/2 c. flour
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 1/2 t. baking soda
  • 1/2 t. salt

1. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, oil, eggs, sugars, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice until fully mixed. Stir in apples and pecans.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a seperate bowl. Fold into pumpkin mixture just until combined.

3. Spray muffin tin with PAM Cooking Spray. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Enjoy!

Now, let me give you the scoop on that New & Improved PAM Spray I mentioned earlier. I’ve always loved the idea of a cooking spray much more than I actually liked using it. Part of the issue for me was always the way the overspray would burn onto pans, especially muffin tins. When I was approached about trying out this new version of PAM, the description had me cautiously optimistic.

I decided to really test it out to see just how well it work. So I sprayed my muffin tin with wild abandon.

The first thing I noticed was that while the muffins baked, all I could smell was that delicious fall scent and not the burning of excess cooking spray.

After pulling the muffins out of the oven, I was shocked with what I saw. I mean, this is pretty impressive, isn’t it?

Do you see that? The PAM cooking spray did not burn or bake onto the pan. And then this…look at how clean the pan is as I took out the muffins.

I have never had such an easy time cleaning a muffin tin after using cooking spray as I did this time!

So far, I’m definitely a fan of the New & Improved PAM. I’ll be testing it out with a new ooey, gooey casserole recipe next week and we’ll see how it holds up to that test. But it’s looking good so far.

You can visit PAM’s facebook page for more info on the new spray.

Disclosure: I am being compensated to write this post. I also received products, including PAM Cooking Spray, to aid in the development of this recipe. Yet as always, both the recipes and the opinions are 100% my own.

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