Pilgrim Hat Cookies

Here is a fun treat I wanted to try from Taste of Home. I thought I would be so prepared for Thanksgiving with a kid friendly goodie but ended up not using it this year. Hope you enjoy. Easy to make!

Pilgrim Hat Cookies
1 cup vanilla frosting
7 drops yellow food coloring
32 miniature peanut butter cups
1 package (11-1/2 ounces) fudge-striped cookies
32 pieces orange mini Chiclets gum or orange candy (Reese’s, orange part of candy corn, mini M& M’s, etc.)

In a small shallow bowl, combine frosting and food coloring and put in a ziploc bag with one corner cut. Remove paper liners from peanut butter cups. Holding the bottom of a peanut butter cup, squeeze out a quarter size amount of yellow frosting in the center of the cookie to create a hatband and add peanut butter cup to make the crown. Add a buckle of candy. Repeat with remaining cups and cookies. Yield: 32 cookies.

Williams-Sonoma Sandwich Cookie Cake Pan

Hi! I'm not really ready to come back, but I will be baking for a least the next two weeks. Maybe a few things will end up here for you to see.

Thought I would start out with something simple since I have a very good excuse for my four month absence. "Mr. Man" has been keeping me very busy since his arrival on June 18th and so has BabyGirl. However, I am going to pat myself on the back for making 2, count them, 2 cherry pies when he was only 3 weeks old for a family event that I did not get to attend. I'm not bitter and I hope my pies were not either!

Moving on. So, Sister-In-Law needed a cake this week for a Cake Walk. Can you believe I have never been to one? Crazy. I thought it would be a good opportunity to use my new pan I got for my birthday. Oh yes, I celebrated a birthday during my maternity leave. Too tired to bake myself a cake this year, but I did enjoy some Key Lime Pie Cheesecake along with a few other tasty treats. Anywho, I pulled out my new cookie cake pan today and got busy.

I read reviews and tips on this pan until late in the night and decided that either it was going to be a disaster or just fine. I decided to throw caution to the wind this morning and spray the thing with a tremendous amount of Baker's Joy and hope for the best. Worked great. I don't know why all those reviewers had such a problem. I decided just to use a box cake mix and a simple buttercream frosting, 2 cups. When the cake came out of the oven I put the pans on the cooling rack for ten minutes and flipped them over. Said a short prayer and lifted the pans carefully. I looked over at Mr. Man, who was sitting next to me in his seat, hoping for a smile of encouragement, but instead he stuck out his tongue and made a raspberry sound. So no encouragement from my little helper. However, the pan lifted fine and I moved on to the icing. It took about 2 cups and I did scoop out a bit of cake from both layers to make sure that I got a good amount in between. If I had not been making this cake to package up I would have put the icing closer to the edge to look more like an Oreo. The final thing is taste. I'm not exactly sure, but who could go wrong with a cake mix.

Banana Bread Sandwiches with Pineapple-Coconut Filling

My sophomore year of high school I took Geometry like most 10th graders in the state of Texas. However, I went to a very small school with a class of only 13 people. During this particular year my school had a hard time keeping a geometry teacher. I think we went through 3 of them. The first one quit either before school or as soon as it started, the second one found out she was pregnant on her first day, and the third one finished the year but did get married. Needless to say, I’m not the person to call when you a question about “proofs”. I thought of my crazy year of geometry as I was making this dessert. Why you might ask? Well, I will tell you.
The third teacher I had that year was the most memorable to me because she incorporated desserts into her geometry lessons. It was brilliant. I will never forget the shape of a parallelogram because of her. Every time we had a new shape to learn she would bake something and cut us each a piece in the new shape. For our final exam that year, we each got our own shape cut out of a pan of Marbled Cream Cheese Brownies. Mine, a parallelogram. Very exciting. So when I was cutting my 36 bars that were 3x1 out of a 9x13 pan. I thought of her.
So second question. Why was I making 36 bars? Well, my parents had a “Block Party” in their neighborhood and ask if I would make a few things. I thought I would give these treats a try. It was enough motivation for me to get in the kitchen since I have not had much lately. I picked this recipe out of Paula Deen’s magazine because I always have too many bananas and loved their luncheon style shape.
To me, this was a standard banana bread with a cream cheese filling full of textures from the coconut and tang of the pineapple. Very tasty and excellent for a shower or party. I have never heard of pineapple preserves before and was curious if it would be in my variety lacking grocery store. Well, no need to fear, Smucker’s makes it! I just knew my husband was going to have to scout out some for me in the Big City.
Using Baker’s Joy to spray the pan was very helpful. The cake came out with no problem. Also, 2 ½ cups of bananas was equal to 6 standard size ones. Finally, if you are good at filling celery sticks with cheese spread or making “Ants On a Log,” you will not find this treat hard to assemble.
BabyBoy will be arriving tomorrow! So, this is not good-bye, but see you later....much later.

Banana Bread Sandwiches with Pineapple-Coconut Filling
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp nutmeg
¾ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas (about 6)
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 13x9-inch baking pan with nonstick spray with flour (Baker’s Joy).
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
In a medium bowl, combine oil, eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, beating at a low speed until combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 23-27 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely. Cut cake into 3x1-inch slices. Cut each slice in half crosswise. Spread filling evenly over bottom halves of bread. Cover with top halves of bread and refrigerate.

Pineapple-Coconut Filling
1 -8oz. pkg of cream cheese softened
½ cup pineapple preserves
¼ cup coconut
¼ cup finely chopped pecans

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and preserves at medium speed until combined. Stir in coconut and pecans. Cover and chill until ready to spread.

The Garden Cake

BabyGirl turned 3 years old this month and to celebrate over the weekend we had a Garden Party. I debated for awhile over what kind of cake to make and decided that a chocolate cake that looked like a fenced in garden would do the trick. I took a couple of different ideas for garden cakes off the internet and came up with this creation. It was the Official Killer Chocolate Cake baked in a 9x13 pan cut in half and stacked. I then iced the cake with a homemade chocolate buttercream frosting and topped it with crushed Oreos for the dirt. I fenced in the garden with Pepperidge Farm's Pirouette French Vanilla Crème Cookies and went with fake flowers this time. I was not confident nor had time to make flowers out of rolled gumdrops but still would like to try someday. My husband did not think one cake was enough for 15 people so I made the same cake minus the decorations in a two layer 9 inch round. To our surprise, the one garden cake fed all 15 people. Chocolate cake a plenty around here!

The Official Killer Chocolate Cake

from grouprecipes.com
1 pkg chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 C water
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C sour cream
1 small pkg instant pudding (chocolate or butterscotch)
1 large pkg chocolate chips
Frosting:
1 lb box of confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 stick of butter, melted
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Decorations:
15 Oreos-minus filling; crushed
1 can of Pepperidge Farm's Pirouette French Vanilla Crème Cookies
Flowers-real, fake, or candy
Directions:
Pre-heat oven 350 degrees. Grease 9x13 pan. Mix ingredients in medium to large size bowl. Pour into pan and bake 40-45 minutes or until done. Cool completely before frosting. For frosting, mix, with mixer, sugar and cocoa together. Mix in melted butter. Add milk, and vanilla. Frost cake and decorate.

Carrot Cake Cheesecake

Two of my favorite things combined. How great is that! I was looking through my March issue of Better Homes and Gardens and came across this prize-winning recipe. I immediately pulled it out of the magazine to put in my file, but before I did I made a few changes. This weekend I decided that it was time to make this little beauty. I looked online to see if anyone had any comments or suggestions on how to improve its appearance. However, much to my surprise, not many have had much to say about this cake except for a few newspapers. I took some suggestions from a Seattle paper and finalized the recipe below.
So what is different? Well, in the original recipe it had a step and a lengthy list of ingredients for caramelized walnuts. Not worth my time. Instead, I traded the raisins in the cake for 1/3 chopped walnuts. The newspaper's baking time was 70-80 and the original recipe put it at 90-105 minutes. I settled on 90 because I did not want a dry cheesecake. Finally, I drizzled the entire cake with the powdered sugar glaze instead of each individual piece. But, it was still kind of ugly. So, to solve this problem I pre-cut each slice and put it on a serving platter to avoid having to show the ugly center.
Overall, this was the easiest cheesecake I have ever made and also one of the biggest. I got to pull out my 10-inch springform instead of my standard 9-inch. You do have to babysit it a little. The baking time is long and then there is 45 minutes afterwards of tasks and then complete cooling and finally chilling in the refrigerator. It is an amazing thing to watch in the oven. The carrot cake comes up out of the center and runs down the sides much like a volcano. That is how you get the cheesecake in the center and the cake on all sides.
Taste is great, reminded me of Cheesecake Factory’s version of Carrot Cake Cheesecake. I think that next time I will not use the glaze and go over the top with some sweetened whipped cream. Wow, I can’t wait!

Carrot Cake Cheesecake
1 2-layer-size carrot cake mix
1 cup water
½ cup cooking oil
6 eggs, divided
½ cup walnuts
3 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 tsps. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
3 to 4 tsps. milk
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch springform pan; set aside.
In a large bowl combine carrot cake mix, water, oil, and 3 of the eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Fold in raisins. Pour into prepared springform pan.
In another large bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in granulated sugar and vanilla until smooth. Beat in remaining 3 eggs just until combined. Slowly pour over carrot cake layer. Use a thin metal spatula to gently swirl the batters. Place cheesecake on a baking sheet. Bake for 80-90 minutes or until top is set except for a 1-inch circle in the center. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a small sharp knife, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Cool for 30 minutes. Remove sides of pan; cool cheesecake completely on rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours before serving.
In a medium bowl combine 1 cup powdered sugar and enough of the milk to make drizzling consistency. Cut cheesecake into wedges and place each wedges on a serving plate. Drizzle each serving with some of the powdered sugar icing. Serves 16

Chocolate Upside-Down Cake

My mother turned another year older this month so as always I made her a cake. Well, I made her 2 cakes. The first one was the famous Coconut Poke Cake with the sweetened condensed milk and the cream of coconut. My mother is not in the least choosy when it comes to desserts. Real food, yes. If it has sugar in it, around it, under it, it is for her. So I knew that my choice would not matter that much. I had never made the poke cake before so therefore, I have not had a lot of experience with cream of coconut. To my dismay, I opened the can and half of it was green. I quickly assessed the situation which was something like, “would I want to put that in my mouth.” The answer was no! So I turned it into a Tres Leches Cake instead. Now, if it had not been her birthday I would have brought her the cake and moved on. However, I felt bad that I had to substitute ingredients and was not just really happy with my selection. So, I made this cake. A Chocolate Upside-Down Cake.
Very fun to make, but it looks like a disaster in the prep. You make this brown water mixture that looks like beef broth on the stove and pour it into the pan. Throw in a bunch of ingredients consistenting of all different kinds of textures. Then you mix up a cake mix and pour it over the soupy mess. Fun stuff! Reminded me of my childhood when I would have pretend cooking shows.
The taste was great! A lot like a German Chocolate Cake but more chocolaty. I was not really happy with my picture of this cake. To me, it looks a lot like meatloaf with onions on top. It was difficult to plate this one up. I would scoop this into bowls with vanilla ice cream while it is still warm much like you would Chocolate Cobbler. Yum.

Chocolate Upside-Down Cake
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup coconut
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 (18 1/4 ounce) package German chocolate cake mix
Directions
In a small saucepan, heat water and butter until butter is melted. Stir in brown sugar; mix well. Pour into a greased 13x9 inch cake pan. Sprinkle with coconut, chips, pecans and marshmallows.
Prepare cake batter according to directions; carefully pour over marshmallows. Bake at 325 degrees for 55-60 minute or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minute before inverting onto a platter.

Can’t Leave Alone Bars

Another recipe name that lacks creativity. A few months ago I decided to join an online club called the Cookie Club. Very simple, they send you a dozen recipes a month by email and if you use one you must give them credit. No problem. Today’s recipe is one that I received but the name did not draw me to it, the ingredients did. Very moist bar cookie with a thick fudgy layer of chocolate topped off with a cookie crust. Chocolaty.
I do have some suggestions for this easy dessert. If I were going to make this bar again I would leave out one egg. You see, the crust would become the recipe for a cake mix cookie minus one egg. This would give the dessert more of a cookie crunch to compliment the fudgy filling. Also, dropping the mix on top is always such a problem. My mother, of all people, suggested that I roll the remaining dough and make a lattice-like design or just stripes. I liked this suggestion. I think that would look much better than the strange polka dots that I had on mine. Finally, nuts. I think that would be a personal choice. If you a nutty fudge person than I would say go for at least a ½ cup of finely chopped pecans in your filling.
I feel like with all my suggestions I have a totally new recipe. Hmmm, if I changed the name and used all my suggestions would I have to still give Cookie Club the credit? I don’t think so.

Can’t Leave Alone Bars
From: cookieclubrecipes.com

1 package (18 1/4 ounce) white cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 c. vegetable oil

1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk

1 c. (6 ounce) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 c. butter, cubed

In a bowl, combine the dry cake mix, eggs and oil. With floured hands or spatula, press 2/3 of the mixture into a greased 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Set remaining cake mixture aside. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the milk, chocolate chips and butter. Microwave for 45 seconds, stir. Microwave 45 to 60 seconds longer or until chips and butter are melted; stir until smooth. Pour over crust. Drop remaining cake mixture by teaspoonfuls over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool before cutting.