Category Archives: Desserts

Olive Oil Cake

Posted by busymomblogs in Breakfast, Brunch, Cakes, Desserts, Italian Food and tagged with , , , , , ,

This Olive Oil Cake was so good. It was moist and the orange zest gave it a light fresh taste. I found the recipe in an old BonAppetit magazine ( september 2009) but it says in the magazine that the recipe is from Abraco Coffee Shop in Manhattan. Normally I would have been thinking of a way to make this dessert more decadent, by adding a glaze over the top, but I really enjoyed the simple fresh taste of this cake. I had another piece this morning with my coffee, YUM!

The ingredients are:

  • 1-1/2 cups organic unbleached white flour
  • 1 cup organic sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • 2 large organic eggs
  • 3/4 cup organic whole milk
  • 1/2 cup mild-flavored organic olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel

(I did not have all organic ingredients and substituted them for what I had on hand and my cake still turned out great so don’t worry if you don’t have organic ingredients it will still turn out fine.)

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Oil and flour 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
  2. Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Whisk eggs, milk, olive oil, and orange peel in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk egg mixture into dry ingredients. Transfer to prepared pan.
  3. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 20 minutes. Invert pan to remove cake. Cool completely, top side up.

 

Cream Cheese Sheet Cake

Posted by busymomblogs in Bars, Cakes, Chocolate, Desserts and tagged with , , , , ,

The family got together for a wonderful Mothers Day BBQ to honor all of our wonderful Mommies. My grandmother being the first, my mother and aunts being next and then me! It was a great day with lots of delicious food (of course)! I woke up mothers day morning wanting to bake, so I made three desserts to take to the BBQ. This Cream Cheese Sheet Cake was one of them. The cake was so moist and the thin layer of chocolate frosting was perfect! I got the recipe out of my Taste of Home’s Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2006.

The ingredients are:

  • 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
  • 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 2-1/4 cups sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2-1/4 cups cake flour

Frosting:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add flour; mix well. Pour into a greased 15-in. x 11-in. baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
  2. For frosting, combine sugar and milk in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover and cook for 3 minutes (do not stir). Stir in butter and chocolate chips until melted. Cool slightly. Stir; spread over cake.

Yield: 24-30 servings

Mexican Chocolate Cake

Posted by busymomblogs in Cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Mexican Food and tagged with , , , , ,

 

The dessert I made for our Cinco De Mayo dinner was this Mexican Chocolate Cake. I found the recipe in an old Gourmet magazine (April 2004). This cake was perfectly moist, the glaze like frosting was rich and delicious, and the hint of cinnamon was perfect. We all really enjoyed this cake.

The ingredients are:

For Cake

  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
  • 2 Tablespoons vanilla
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

For Glaze

  • 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half
  • 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
  • 5 oz. fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Special equipment: a 9-inch tube pan or 12-cup bundt pan

Make cake: 

  1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter cake pan well and dust with flour, knocking out excess.
  2. Melt butter (2 sticks) in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, then whisk in cocoa. Add water and whisk until smooth, then remove from heat. Whisk in separately sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.
  3. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl, then sift again into cocoa mixture and whisk until just combined (don’t worry if there are lumps).
  4. Pour batter into cake pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 45 to 55 minutes. (my cake was done at 42 minutes)

Make glaze:

  1. Melt butter in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, then stir in half-and-half and confectioners sugar. Add chocolate and cook, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in salt. Cool glaze until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
  2. Spoon glaze over top and sides of cake (cake will still be warm) and spread with a small offset spatula or knife to cover completely.

Cooks’ note:

Cake (with glaze) can be made 2 days ahead and kept at room temperature in a cake keeper or covered with an inverted bowl.

 

 

Coconut Macaroons

Posted by busymomblogs in Cookies, Desserts, Lactose free desserts and tagged with , , , , ,

 

I was looking through my Taste of Home 30-Minute Cookbook when I came across this recipe for Coconut Macaroons. We love Coconut Macaroons (well 3 out of 4 of us do, my daughter is not a fan). These cookies were said to have won a first place ribbon at a county fair and I can see why. They were perfectly crisp around the edges and soft and chewy in the middle, with a sweet coconut vanilla taste! Not to mention they were super easy to make! The only thing I would do differently next time would be to double the recipe. There definitely was not enough for my family. I had to hide some so that my son could have some when he got home from school.

The ingredients are:

  • 1-1/3 cups flaked coconut
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a small bowl, combine coconut, sugar, flour and salt. Stir in egg whites and vanilla; mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto greased baking sheets.
  3. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Note: the recipe says that it makes 1-1/2 dozen cookies. I made my cookies a little bigger and only got 9 cookies and increased the baking time to 20-22 minutes.

Cinnamon Cheesecake Bars

Posted by busymomblogs in Bars, Brunch, Desserts and tagged with , , , , , ,

 

I’m going to start this post off by saying everyone should have this dessert recipe in their files! I have had this recipe for Cinnamon Cheesecake Bars for around 10 years now. I have brought them to numerous gatherings, Bunco night, fundraisers, BBQ’s, Birthday Parties, Brunches. Wherever you need to go and bring a dessert or whenever, these bars will be loved! What also makes this recipe so great is that I can prepare it in only a few minutes, and I normally have all of the ingredients on hand. Without fail if I bring these somewhere I am asked for the recipe. So here it is just click and print! They are not super fancy but they are delicious and sooo easy to make!

The ingredients are:

  • 2 tubes of crescent rolls
  • 2 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sugar plus 1/2 cup sugar for the topping
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 Cup butter, melted
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Flatten one tube of crescent rolls in bottom of ungreased 9×13″ pan.
  3. Mix cream cheese with 1 cup sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Spread mixture evenly on dough. Place the remaining tube of rolls over filling and with fingers press perforations together.Drizzle melted butter over top layer of dough.
  4. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tablespoon cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of melted butter.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool. Refrigerate well before serving.
  6. Enjoy!

 

Banana Bread Pudding

Posted by busymomblogs in Desserts and tagged with , , , ,

 

How can you make bread pudding even better? Add some sliced bananas and drizzle some warm vanilla sauce all over it! This Banana Bread Pudding was delicious! The top had a nice golden crust and the center was soft and sweet with the perfect banana goodness. I found the recipe in my Taste of Homes Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2006.

The ingredients are:

  • 4 cups cubed day-old French or sourdough bread (1-inch pieces)
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sliced firm bananas (1/4-inch pieces)

SAUCE:

  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Place the bread cubes in a greased 2-qt. casserole; pour butter over and toss to coat. In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs; add milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in bananas. Pour over bread cubes and stir to coat. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
  2. Meanwhile, for sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan. Combine sugar and cornstarch; add to butter. Stir in milk and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture comes to a full boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat; stir in the vanilla. Serve warm sauce over warm pudding

Yield: 6 servings.

Raspberry Coconut Cookies

Posted by busymomblogs in Cookies, Desserts, Lactose free desserts and tagged with , , , , , ,

 

 

I’m always on the lookout for lactose free desserts because my grandmother has allergies to dairy. I hate showing up to a family gathering with something she can’t eat. If I do make something that does have dairy then I try to also bring something that she can have. This last Saturday we had a BBQ over at my Aunts house and I brought these cookies for my grandma. These Raspberry Coconut Cookies were very good. They are soft and yummy with the raspberry filling. As a matter of fact my son was so disappointed to find out that there wasn’t one left to put in his lunch today! I found the recipe in one of my Taste of Home Cooking School magazines.

The ingredients are:

  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 6 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1-1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 Cup flaked coconut
  • 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
  1. In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, water and extract. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in coconut (dough will be sticky).
  2. Set aside 2/3 cup dough; roll remaining dough into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make a 3/8-in. deep indention in the center of each ball. Fill each with 1/2 teaspoon jam. Cover jam with a teaspoon of reserved dough; seal and reshape into a ball (I didn’t pick dough balls back up to reshape. I just patted dough over the raspberry filling sealing the dough as best as I could). Repeat.
  3. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

 

Blooming Candy Cupcakes

Posted by busymomblogs in Cupcakes, Desserts and tagged with , , , , ,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I had a great day with my family, making special memories and eating of course! We pretty much ate all day long. My mother and sister came over in the morning, we had a big breakfast together and then they helped me prepare our Easter dinner. We made the traditional ham and mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli and salad, but being Italian we had to have Lasagna and Peetz (fried bread dough) as well. For one of the desserts I made these Blooming Candy Cupcakes. I found the recipe in my Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate Easter magazine. The cupcakes had a light lemon flavor and the frosting was light, fluffy, and delicious! The candy was cute but I preferred the cupcakes without any on them, so I did some with and some without. I think I’ll be eating light for the rest of the week to make up for all the calories consumed on Easter (It was so worth it though)!

The ingredients for the Blooming Candy Cupcakes are:

  • 1-1/3 cups cake flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 1 cup sugar, divided
  • 1/2 cup butter-flavor shortening
  • 2 large eggs, divided
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon zest
  • 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Garnish with jelly beans

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pans with paper liners; set aside
  2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt twice; set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, combine half-and-half, vanilla, and lemon extract; set aside.
  4. In a separate medium bowl, beat 3/4 cup sugar and shortening at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg yolks (reserving whites), one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture to shortening mixture alternately with half-and-half mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir lemon zest into mixture.
  5. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar at medium speed until soft peaks form. Increase mixer speed to high; gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. Fold one-third of egg-white mixture into cake batter; fold in remaining egg-white mixture. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans, filling each cup two-thirds full.
  6. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the centers come out clean. Remove from oven; cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
  7. Spread Marshmallow-Cream Cheese Icing onto tops of cupcakes. Garnish as desired with assorted jelly beans.

Makes 1-1/2 dozen cupcakes

Marshmallow-Cream Cheese Icing:

  • 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 (7-ounce jar marshmallow creme
  • 1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
  1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add marshmallow creme, and beat until combined. Add whipped topping and beat until smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Swedish Butter Cookies

Posted by busymomblogs in Cookies, Desserts and tagged with , , , ,

These cookies may not look like much, but boy are they deceiving! These little cookies are sweet, buttery rich and delicious! I made them to bring over to my family’s dinner night and everyone loved them! I had to make everyone copies of the recipe, and my grandpa said to my grandma as they were leaving ” honey make sure to bring some of those cookies home for me”. So if you are a fan of butter cookies then I think you will love these too!

The recipe is out of the cookbook, Taste of Homes’s Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2006.

The ingredients are:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons maple syrup
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • confectioners’ sugar
  1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add syrup; mix well. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Divide dough into eight portions. Roll each portion into a 9-in. log.
  2. Place 3 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cut into 1-in. slices. Remove to wire racks to cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. (I was out of confectioners sugar so I sprinkled a little sugar over the tops.)

Yield: about 6 dozen

Pride of Iowa cookies

Posted by busymomblogs in Cookies, Desserts, Lactose free desserts and tagged with , , , , ,

I got this cookie recipe from a friend about 8 years ago and I’m just now making them for the first time…. I needed to make a dessert for our families sunday dinner, but I needed to find a recipe that had no dairy (my grandma has dairy allergies). That’s not an easy task, most baked goods have some sort of dairy whether it be milk or butter. So when I came across this recipe and saw that it was made with shortening and no milk I thought I would give it a try……I was very pleased with the results. The cookies were chewy and delicious! Everyone loved them including my grandma….. My next task will be to find a yummy gluten-free dessert recipe, both my nephew and my friend’s daughter have gluten issues. (I have a strange feeling that this is going to be a harder task, we will have to see) The ingredients for the cookies are:

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp.Baking soda
  • 1 tsp. Baking powder
  • 1 cup coconut
  • 2 cups oats
  • 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
  1. Cream together the first 5 ingredients. Add the dry ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.