Tuesdays With Dorie: 4 Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

I missed last week's Tuesdays With Dorie and was going to pass on this weeks too until I saw it was bread pudding.

Dorie's 4 Star Chocolate Bread Pudding was chosen by Lauren, of Upper East Side Chronicle. You can get the recipe from her blog or from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours cookbook.

I couldn't just make the recipe as it says though. I always have to make my own version of it. So, this time, I halved the recipe so I wouldn't eat it all to start with. I used whole wheat bread! Probably a major "no-no" for bread pudding, but it was "healthier" and still amazing. I used dark chocolate instead of bittersweet and I added caramel bits (those aren't nuts) to the pudding right after it came out of the oven. After I took it out of the oven, I went and ran a few miles because I could feel myself expanding just looking at it. Let me just tell you, the one bite I had when I got back was worth every drop of sweat, every sharp pain from my shin splints, and every mosquito bite I got. As if I could only keep to one bite! Absolutely rich and delicious bread pudding!

Another great recipe from Dorie!

Pretzel Jell-O!

Don't knock it until you try it! Since I live in the jell-o capital of the world, it was time to add a jell-o recipe to my recipe box. This pretzel jello is more like a dessert than a side dish or salad though. You have the sweet and salty pretzel crust, cream cheese and cool whip middle, and strawberry jello with blended strawberries mixed in for the top. People are always surprised at how amazing this treat really is!

Pretzel Jello

1 3/4 C chopped pretzels
3 T sugar
3/4 C melted butter

mix together, press into a 9x13 pan, and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, or until firm. Cool completely.

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 C sugar
8 oz Cool Whip

Blend cream cheese and sugar together. Fold in cool whip. Spread over pretzel crust when completely cooled. You need to be sure to seal all the edges with the cream cheese mixture.

6 oz pkg strawberry jell-o
1 C hot water
1 C cold water
16 oz frozen strawberries, mostly thawed.

Blend the strawberries and 1 C cold water until pureed. Dissolve jell-o in 1 C hot water. Mix with strawberries. Let cool, but not set, before pouring over cream cheese layer.

Keep in fridge until jell-o is set.

Daring Bakers: Pizza Party

Wow! An overloading of cooking and posting is going on my house lately. I'm exhausted! But, nevertheless, I couldn't wait to share my Daring Baker's Pizza Party. This month, Rosa, of Rosa's Yummy Yums chose a recipe from “The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread” by Peter Reinhart. You can get the recipe from her blog. The recipe called for 4 1/2 C flour and I just couldn't bring myself to do it, so I did half whole wheat. It made a lot of dough too so I had to have some friends over for a make-your-own-pizza night and let everyone build their own personal pizzas. The kids had just as much fun doing it as the adults did so everyone was happy.


We had so much fun! We had a variety of sauces including tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, pesto, and ranch dressing. We had a whole bunch of toppings too like mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, olives, tomatoes, pine-nuts, bacon, caramelized onions, mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage, and more! Our friends brought salad and bread-sticks from Olive Garden so we couldn't have asked for a better meal!

My personal pizza had BBQ sauce, lots of mozzarella cheese, crumbled bacon, pine-nuts, and goat cheese and it totally hit the spot!


Now on to better things...

To keep with the theme of the dinner party, I made a dessert pizza with a sugar cookie crust baked right on the pizza stone, 8 oz strawberry cream cheese blended with a jar of marshmallow cream for the "sauce", and topped it with lots of beautiful strawberries, mandarin oranges, and kiwi. I can't even tell you how refreshing and delicious this fruit pizza was. I could eat the whole thing right now! I took lots of pictures too, but I will spare from having to look at all 30 of them since you aren't even getting a bite of this beauty!

Okay, stop drooling and plan your own Pizza Party! Who doesn't love pizza?

Halloween Food Fun!

I was so lucky to have my mom and sister come visit this past weekend. The kids got lots of playing in and we got to do some shopping and baking. The problem was that I didn't get to my blog for what seems like forever! I was excited to get to my computer this morning and share the fun things I've been doing!

First are my Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats. I first tried making pumpkin rice krispie treats with pumpkin puree and that was a disaster. The krispies were soggy instead of krunchy! So, take my word and don't try it. I kept trying things and found a winner!

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispy Treats
recipe by Becky

3 T butter or margarine
40 regular mallows or 4 C mini mallows
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
6 C rice krispie cereal
1 pkg pumpkin spice Hershey kisses (I hear they are only sold at Target and I had to go to two before finding a store that wasn't sold out yet)

Melt butter or margarine in large saucepan with mallows. Add pumpkin pie spice and mix well. Add rice krispies. Spread in greased cookie sheet with greased spatula and let cool. Frost with melted Hersey Kisses. Cut into 1 1/2 inch squares when cool.

Candy Corn Hershey Kiss Cookies

I can hardly take too much credit for these because they weren't that difficult or anything. But they sure are cute and tasted really good too! I sure was having fun with all the seasonal Hershey Kisses though. I look forward to the new flavors each holiday!
Candy Corn Hershey Kiss Cookies
recipe by Becky

Start with your favorite sugar cookie dough. I used the Betty Crocker pouch mix where you just add egg and butter because I got a really good deal on them and love those sugar cookies. I did add 2 T extra flour though to they weren't as flat after cooking them.

1 bag of Candy Corn Hershey Kisses (found mine at Walmart and haven't seen them anywhere else!)

Bake sugar cookies as you like them.

Unwrap all kisses and melt 10 of them when cookies have about a minute left before they are done baking. Put melted kisses in frosting decorating bag with about a size 4 tip or a plastic bag cutting a small corner off and drizzle across tops of baked sugar cookies.

Place one kiss in the center of each cookie and let cool to room temp. You really have to work quickly so that the cookie doesn't cool too much before you get the kiss on top.

Spooky Cheesecake Pops

Okay, these were the biggest mess, but so worth every sprinkle on my floor and glob of chocolate on my counter. I had so much fun making these for a Halloween party we went to. When we got there though, I had to make a name-card for them that was creative and Halloween-ish, and I really couldn't come up with anything at all except Spooky Cheesecake Pops. I know, I'm totally lame!

I know I talk a lot of my good friend, Steph, from Stephanie's Kitchen, but really I don't know where I would by in my little baking world without her. She made these for a Daring Baker's Challenge a few months ago and I happened to be throwing a baby shower at the same time, so she donated them to me and they were such a hit. I was so excited when I found a good enough excuse to make them myself for this Halloween Party!
You can find the recipe here on her blog. And yes, I know, her's look a lot more professional than mine, but hey, I tried!
Here are some fun variations I did though...

White chocolate dipped covered in Orange Creamsicle flavored crunchies. Found them at Target with the Halloween stuff and they were SO yummy!

I also melted dark chocolate and added orange extract to it before dipping. It tasted like those chocolate oranges you have to whack at Christmas time!

Other than that I just did milk chocolate with lots of different fun Halloween sprinkles.

A good tip: I melted the chocolate to dip in mugs so I could easily dip the pops and coat the whole cheese cake with no problem. The chocolate hardens pretty quick though so be sure to work quickly with your sprinkles or whatever topping you choose to use.
You really have to take the time to make these for your next Halloween party. They were such a hit and I can't wait to make them again for Thanksgiving and Christmas parties with all sorts of variations!

Mini Mint Oreo Cheesecake Cups

So, I haven't mastered the "prettiness" of these things, but they are so rich and delicious and just the right size for popping into my mouth...well, in about 3 or 4 bites.

Mini Mint Oreo Cheesecake Cups

13 mint Oreos, ground in food processor
2 T melted butter

8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 T buttermilk
5 mint Oreos coarsely crumbled

1/4 C chocolate chips
2-3 T heavy cream
3-5 mint Oreos, crumbled

Preheat oven to 300. Combine ground cookies and butter in medium bowl. Drop about 1 T of cookie mixture into mini muffin tin that has been sprayed with cooking spray. (If you have mini muffin wrappers, use them. They will look a lot better and come out a lot easier too.) Press crust into cups with back of spoon or fingertips.

Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and buttermilk until well combined. Stir in crumbled cookies. Pour cheesecake mixture onto prepared crusts. Bake for 25-28 minutes. Let cool for about 15 minutes.

Melt chocolate chips and add cream. Stir until chocolate is smooth and shiny. Spoon over cheesecake. Sprinkle with additional crumbled cookies.

I can't wait to try this recipe with other cookies!