Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients for filling:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
• 2 eggs, room temp
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup Too Good Pumpkin yogurt or sour cream
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• whipped cream for serving optional

Ingredients for crust:

• 1 ¼ cups graham crumbs
• ¼ cup sugar
• ⅓ cup melted butter

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.

Crust

• Mix graham crumbs, sugar, & butter until well combined. Place in a 9″ glass pie pan and press along the sides and bottom.

Filling

• Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a whisk attachment. Pour into prepared crust.  Bake for 45 minutes. Cool for 4 hours in the fridge.

(recipe adapted from https://www.spendwithpennies.com/wprm_print/136121)

Easy Rolls for Burgers, Sandwiches and beyond

 

Ingredients

1 cup very warm water

2 tablespoons active dry yeast (or two .25oz packets)

1/4 cup melted butter

3 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt

3 -3 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

Heat oven to 425°F

In a mixing bowl, stir yeast, oil, and sugar into warm water, and allow to stand for 10 minutes, or until mixture is foamy.

Whisk in egg and salt.

Stir in flour, starting with 3 cups, adding a little more if necessary to form a soft dough.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5ish minutes.

When dough is elastic and no longer sticky, divide into 6 equal pieces and shape each into a slightly flattened ball.

Place 3" apart on greased baking sheets, and allow to rise for 20 minutes, or until the buns have nearly doubled in size.

Bake for 10- 12 minutes or until golden brown (maybe 15 minutes?)

Remove buns from pan to wire rack. Brush with melted butter immediately after removing from oven. Allow to cool.

(This made 6 good-sized hamburger rolls, You could also divide it into smaller balls prior to baking, 8-10 of them for maybe 8-10 minutes cooking time.)

Quick & Easy Rice Pudding for Two

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup instant rice, uncooked

1/4 cup sugar

.5 oz raisins (half of a 1 oz box)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

Sprinkles of ground cinnamon

Directions:

Combine milk, rice, sugar, raisins and salt in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Beat egg and a sprinkle of cinnamon (you could also drop a little vanilla in if desired) lightly in a small bowl with a fork. Stir small amount of hot mixture into eggs, repeating until eggs are warmed through. Stirring constantly, slowly pour egg mixture back into hot mixture. Stirring constantly, cook on low heat 1 minute until thickened.

Remove from heat. Let stand 30 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with more cinnamon. Store in containers in refrigerator.

 

Oh hello.  Was gifted a massive zucchini from my son's friend's garden.  

I found this recipe and tweaked it for what I had on hand.

Gluten Free Almond Zucchini Cake

Ingredients

For the cake

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted and partially cooled
• 2 1/4 cups almond flour or meal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini, lightly packed

For the frosting

• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray a 11 x 7 glass pan lined with parchment paper.
• Use a hand mixer, beat the eggs and the sugar until very pale and thick, a few minutes.
• Add the melted butter and vanilla or almond extract, and briefly mix to combine.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
• Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture. I like to do this by hand with a silicone spatula.
• Gently fold in the zucchini just until everything is combined, don't over mix.
• Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan and bake for about 45 minutes. The cake should be risen and golden brown, and the top should spring back when touched lightly. If the cake is getting too brown on top before it is done baking, tent it with tinfoil.
• Allow the cake to cool for a few minutes in the baking pan, then gently turn it out onto a baking rack to cool completely before frosting.
• To make the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese together in a hand mixer until smooth. Beat in the salt and vanilla/almond, and then the sifted powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time.
• If the frosting seems too loose, put it in the fridge for 15 minutes or so to thicken up before frosting the cake.
• Add the frosting to the top of the cooled cake, and enjoy immediately or keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

 

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Social-Distancing Day #?  Recipe makes 9 cupcakes

Ingredients

small squeeze of lemon juice

1/8 cup milk (1 oz) 

1 egg separated

1/4 cup butter (half of a stick)

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

2 ripe bananas mashed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

1. Add lemon juice to bottom of measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 1/8 cup (of lemon juice and milk) and set aside.

1. Beat egg white on high until stiff peaks form and set aside.

1. In a separate larger bowl, cream together butter and sugar with hand mixer.

1. Add in yolks and milk mixture.

1. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. Slowly add to butter mixture and mix.

1. Stir in bananas. Then gently fold in egg white mixture.  Make sure it gets completely folded in.

1. Pour muffin mixture into lined muffin tin.

1. Bake for 15 min or until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.

1. Let cool completely.

• 
  
• Frosting:
• 4 oz (half a brick) cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/4 cup (half of a stick) butter, softened to room temperature

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and mix for about 30 seconds-1 minute until well combined and smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and continue mixing until fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

(recipes adapted from spendwithpennies.com and livewellbakeoften.com)

Bangin' Banana Blondies

Captain's log.  Coronavirus Self-Quarantine: Day 10

Did 3 loads of laundry.  Had some bananas that needed to be used up.  Searched for recipe that wasn't muffins or bread.  Awesome results.

Ingredients for blondies: 

1/2 cup butter, melted 
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup mashed banana (1 medium banana)

Ingredients for frosting: 

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions for blondies

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Line an 8×8 baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine melted butter and brown sugar. Mix until combined. 

Add in egg and vanilla and continue mixing until incorporated. 

Stir in salt, flour and banana until batter is smooth and even. 

Spread in prepared pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until center is set.
Transfer pan to wire rack to cool.
Frost the blondies when they are cooled.

Directions for frosting

In a medium saucepan melt butter. 

Add brown sugar and milk and stir until mixture comes to just a boil. 

Remove from heat, allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Stir in powdered sugar with a whisk.

Spread on top of blondies and allow frosting to set before cutting into squares.

(recipe adapted from https://cookiesandcups.com/banana-blondies/)

Pregnant Cookies

You know when you are scrolling your newsfeed and a cooking video starts automatically playing and you watch it like "Damn, that looks good, I'll make it sometime," only to save it and forget it exists?  Well, today I came across this video and was like hmm, I have all of those ingredients, I'm going to go make them immediately.  As my husband came into the kitchen, I explained what I was making and he thought I should called them pregnant cookies not only because I am currently pregnant with our 2nd son, but because these cookies have something hidden inside.  So essentially, these are Oreos sandwiched in between 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies.  The original recipe was doubled, but I halved it.  AAAND I only had 8 Oreos, not 12 so I supplemented 4 of these with snack size Milky Way bars.  Makes 12 total.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 standard Hershey bar cut up, or 1/2 chocolate chips
• 12 Oreo cookies or anything else you'd like to impregnate your cookies with

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together with a mixer until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients until just combined. Toss in chocolate chips of chopped chocolate and mix slightly.
4. With a cookie scoop, form balls with the dough. Make sure you get 24 balls.
5. Place one ball on top of an Oreo cookie, and another ball on the bottom. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until a large ball is formed, like you'd make meatballs, flatten slightly and make sure Oreo cookie is fully enclosed with dough.
6. Place into the muffin tin cups. Bake cookies for approximately 16 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

(recipe adapted from bellyfull.net)