Triple Chocolate Pizza

A couple of months ago I had the chance to eat at Pizzerie Limone, which was good and different.  I am not really a big fan of fruit on my pizza and most of their pizza's involved some kind of fruit.  While I ordered something off of their 'secret' menu for my meal I did take their suggestion to order their current dessert special, which I don't think they even offer anymore!

This pizza was made on their traditional pizza dough, instead of a sauce the crust was brushed with olive oil and then they put dark, milk and white chocolate on the crust and then giving the pizza another drizzle of olive oil before baking.  After it came out of the oven they drizzled it with caramel and salt before serving.

At least I am guessing how this amazing creation comes together!  I know the ingredients, but had to guess on the quantities and instructions!  Once I had this, I knew I had to try and re-create it and man alive I am glad I did!  I am not much of a pizza crust maker, so I took the easy way out and opted to use some pita bread, which I think worked great!  I also knew that I would need sheets or flat pieces of chocolate, wasn't sure if chocolate chips would melt sufficiently before burning.
I actually melted chocolate in advance and spread it out on a cookie sheet to cool and then break into pieces.  I thought I had a picture of that, but I can't find it!
This comes together pretty fast so it can be assembled and baked  right before you need it.  So, this is where the recipe gets a little vague!  I have made this 4 times and each time I have made minor tweaks, and being the imprecise cook that I am, I didn't pay attention to exact amounts!
So, you have your pita bread and flaked pieces of chocolate.  Brush your bread with a thin layer of olive oil and sprinkle your 3 different kinds of chocolate.  You can layer it thin or thick, depending on tastes.  Next you want to drizzle the chocolate with olive oil.  The oil on top of the chocolate helps the chocolate not to get crumbly and burn as it cooks.  This is where I don't know the amount!  I am going to say about 1 1/2 teaspoons per pita bread crust.  Pop that in your 350 degree oven and bake for 5-8 minutes.  Keep an eye on it, if the chocolate starts to look crumbly and burnt, remove immediately.  It will still taste amazing!
Drizzle with caramel syrup, serve and enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Pizza

Ingredients:

Pita Bread
3-4 ounces each of white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
Caramel topping for drizzling

Instructions:

1. Melt chocolate individually in advance, with oil and spread on cookie sheet to cool.  Break into smaller pieces.  Brush each pita bread with olive oil and sprinkle with chocolate pieces.  Drizzle with 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil.  Eyeball it a bit, if it looks to have enough, you can reduce the amount.
2. Bake for 5-8 minutes at 350 degrees.  Keep on eye on this, you don't want to over bake or burn it.  When chocolate looks soft and a little melty, remove and then drizzle with caramel syrup.  Slice and serve!

Heavenly Banana Cream Pie

Once again, I know it has been awhile!  It has been a crazy couple of months for me!  So while I haven't been posting, I haven't stopping baking!
So it turns out I am not very good at naming my original creations, hopefully this one is aptly named!  I made this for Thanksgiving dinner and it was kinda evolving and changing as I made it!  Even at almost the last second I was making fast changes!  One thing I like about this dessert is that I made it with boxed vanilla pudding, so it can come together pretty fast!

It also has the comfort of a classic with the banana's and the vanilla pudding that classic banana cream pies have.  Something I else I love about this is the unexpected and pleasant surprise that a coconut crust and a hidden layer of fudge add!

As mentioned, it is pretty easy as it starts with a coconut crust.  If you haven't tried one of these, do it now!  By toasting the coconut on the stove top in butter it becomes crunchy but also pliable to mold it into your pie plate. 

Once cooled you can slice up your bananas, spread some hot fudge on top (store bought or you can try THIS recipe that I used)

and then finish off with your prepared vanilla pudding.  So simple! 

Cut and serve with some Cool Whip or Whipped Cream!

Heavenly Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 cups sweetened coconut flakes
2 small boxes of vanilla pudding
Milk as per pie instructions on the box
Hot fudge
1-2 banana's
Whipped topping

Instructions:
1. Melt the butter in a large skillet, head and brown the coconut flakes, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes.  They should be golden brown.  Press the coconut firmly and evenly in the pan to form a shell.  Chill the crust for 30 minutes before filling.
2.  Slice the bananas covering the bottom of the crust.  Pour the hot fudge mixture over the bananas.
3. Mix up pudding as per the pie instructions on the box.  Let it sit for a minute before pouring into the prepared pie plate.  Depending on the size of the pan and how thick you like your pie, you may have extra pudding.
4. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.  Slice and serve with sweetened whipped topping of some variety.

S'mores Krispie Treats

I know that it has been awhile since my last post, for anyone counting!  I'm still here and baking, just been so busy!  Today's treat is a twist on 2 classics: Rice Krispie Treats and S'mores.  Who doesn't love either or both?  This is a great way to have the great combo of marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers without the fire and the gooey mess.

By swapping out Rice Krispie cereal and substituting Golden Grahams and adding chocolate chips, wham!  Done and done!  Just as easy, just as yummy and such a surprising treat!

Nothing fancy and makes up the same way as the traditional version.

Melt butter and marshmallows and then pour in your cereal.

Mix in some chocolate chips and then put into your pan.

Sprinkle additional chips on top and then let cool.  This recipe actually made a lot, so much so that in the future I will probably put in a larger pan so they aren't quite as thick and I can get more pieces to share with even more people!

S'mores Krispie Treats
As originally found on Country Cleaver

Ingredients

1 bag (10 oz) Mini Marshmallows
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips + 1/4 cup for topping
1 box (12 0z) Golden Grahams Cereal
6 Tbsp Butter
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla


Directions:

1. In a large non-stick pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add in marshmallows and stir together with butter until marshmallows have melted and become creamy. Stir in vanilla extract.
2. Fold in grahams cereal until all marshmallows and grahams are evenly mixed together. Mix in 1 cup of chocolate chips. Spread treats into baking pan. Press into pan and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top of the treats, lightly press into top of treats to make sure they stick. Allow to cool before cutting.

Enjoy!

Heavenly Morsels

Now, you may be thinking that this name might be a bit of an overstatement, but it really isn't!  The best thing about this one is just how simple it!  The basic version is just 3 simple ingredients, that's it!

Everyone that has tried these has been amazed at how wonderfully simple they are.

Crushed graham crackers, a can of sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips, nothing more!  Mixing those three ingredients, scooping them onto a lined cookie sheet and baking them results in so much goodness!

By adding marshmallows they become Heavenly S'mores too.  Though, take my advice, only add 2-3 marshmallows to each cookie sized portion just before baking!

Bake for about 8-10 minutes and enjoy!

Heavenly Morsels

Ingredients

16 whole graham crackers crushed
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
Mini marshmallows (Optional)

Directions:

1. Mix the first 3 ingredients together and scoop onto a lined cookie sheet.  Lining is a must!  Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet.
2. For S'mores version, push 2-3 marshmallows onto the top of each cookie.  Bake the same, but keep an eye on them.

Streusel Zucchini Bread

I promised another zucchini bread recipe and I am ready to deliver!

This one is good enough that I made it twice, double batches both times, in about 7 days time!  I can't get enough of it, the streusel oat topping really puts it over the top!  This is gonna be a short post, I would rather send you to the site where I found this recipe.

Just know that if you like a traditional zucchini bread that has chocolate chips, you will love this one!  It has all the same basic ingredients, if you are planning on making some bread in the near future, I have no doubt you will have everything on hand.

So do yourself a favor, visit Sally's Baking Addiction to see how to make this oh so amazing bread!
Beware though, it is hard to cut and then hard to stay away from.  I am going to be trying the muffin versions next time, since those don't require cutting!

S'mores Treats

Who doesn't love a perfectly toasted and melted s'mores?  Ok, who has actually ever managed to make one where the marshmallow is nicely toasted and actually melts the chocolate a bit?!  Definitely not me!  Also, it is not every day, or in my case every year that I manage to be someplace where I can make s'mores over the fire, so these tasty little treats are the perfect substitute!

These come together the same way as a traditional rice krispie treat, but instead of a rice cereal you substitute Golden Grahams and then add chocolate chips in at the end.  So simple and brilliant!

This is pretty basic in how it comes together.  You melt the butter and then add the marshmallows.

Once melted, remove from heat and dump in the cereal and stir to coat.  Once coated, stir in the chocolate chips and pour into prepared pan.

The recipe does say to put it into a square 9x9 pan, mine ended up being very thick so next time I might increase the marshmallows by a cup and a cup more of cereal and just put it into a 9x13 pan.  Once in the pan, sprinkle some more chocolate chips on top and light press on them. Let it cool before cutting into squares.
Enjoy!


S'mores Treats

As originally found on Country Cleaver

Ingredients:

1 10oz bag of mini marshmallows

1 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips, divided

1 12oz box of Golden Grahams cereal

6 tbls butter or margarine

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat and then stir in the marshmallows.  Stir until everything is melted and smooth.  Stir in vanilla.

2. Remove from heat and stir in the cereal until everything is coated.  Add 1 cup of chocolate chips, stirring quickly before transferring to your 9x9 pan. Spread the mixture into the pan, pressing it into the corners.  Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top, lightly pressing them down into it.  Let cool either on the counter or on the fridge before cutting into squares.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

It is officially fall and man alive, the zucchini plants are exploding!  I don't actually own a plant, but a co-worker of mine has already supplied me several from his garden.  Zucchini is great in just about everything as it doesn't really have a lot of flavor.  It is absolutely perfect in bread as it brings so much moisture to the table.  I would bet that most of you have tried the traditional kind that comes with chocolate chips.  I love that variety and will hopefully be posting about one I recently tried real soon!  But this one is different, but still oh so good!

It isn't super sweet, but that lemon just makes it so refreshing!

The lemon glaze on top is a lovely touch and will have everyone reaching for the end pieces instead of going straight for the middle.

Just looking at these pictures makes me wish I had some right now!

To get started, gather your normal ingredients like four, sugar, eggs, salt, oil and of course the zucchini!  The additions to this variety are the lemon juice, fresh lemon and buttermilk.  Mix the dry ingredient first and set aside.  Beat your eggs in a separate bowl and add the oil and sugar.  Add the buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest next.  Blend everything and fold in the zucchini and stir until everything is evenly distributed.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and blend.  Be careful not to over mix.

Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for around 45 minutes.  If you divide this into smaller loaf pans, the baking time will be less.

When toothpick comes out clean, it is done.  Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the loaf is cooling you can make the glaze.  I have found that even when I double the recipe, I don't need to double the glaze.  Spoon that over the bread, don't be afraid to be heavy handed and use it all.

I doubled this batch and put it into 3 smaller loaf pans.  I had a lot of people I needed to share this with!
Cut and serve.

Lemon Zucchini Bread
As found on Nancy Creative

Ingredients:
 
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup grated zucchini (you don’t need to peel the zucchini before grating it)

Glaze: 
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon or 2 tbls lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, blend flour, baking powder and salt.  In a medium bowl beat eggs well, add oil and sugar, blend well.  Add buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest and blend everything well.  Fold in zucchini and stir until evenly distributed in mixture.
2. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and blend everything, be careful not to overmix.  Pour batter in greased 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  If you are like me, check it at 35 minutes!  When toothpick comes out clean, remove. 
3. Let cool for 10 minutes in pan and then remove to wire rack.  While the bread is cooling, mix up sugar and lemon juice for the glaze.  Spoon glaze over cooled bread.  Once glaze is set, cut and serve.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ribbon Dessert

One last frozen dessert, before it gets to be pumpkin dessert season!  At least I think this is the last one....might be one more in the near future!

Anyway, back to the recipe at hand.  This is one of my favorite types of desserts: layers, no baking, cream cheese and a high impression factor!  I seem to struggle to make baked goods and actually have them turn out, so that makes this no bake dessert perfect!

And of course, anything that combines chocolate and peanut butter is a guaranteed crowd pleaser!

Another nice thing about this one is that it doesn't make a ton.  If you have a group around 8 in number it works perfectly.  If it is pretty hard and frozen and you wait to add the cookies on top, you could even cut the pieces smaller to serve more people.

Ok, to get started, get your cream cheese out so it can soften to room temperature.

While makes this I had one of my absent minded moments.  After the cookies get crushed and mixed with the melted butter, the recipe says to line a loaf pan.  So yeah, I didn't notice that part and put my crushed cookies directly into my pan!

This doesn't affect the taste, just potentially how easily it comes out of the pan for serving.  I'll explain what I did at the end.  Next step is to mix the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla until well blended.  If your cream cheese was at room temperature you won't have any little bumps.  Whisk in 3 cups of the cool whip and then spoon 1/2 cup of that mixture into a smaller bowl.  Add your melted chocolate to the 1/2 cup amount.  Of what is left of the cream cheese mixture, spread half of that onto the cookie crumbs.  Top with the chocolate layer and then the balance of the cream cheese mixture.

Freeze that for 4 hours or until firm.  Can leave overnight.  If you lined your pan, then you should be able to easily remove the dessert from the pan so you can put it on a platter for serving.  Now I forgot to line the pan, but I think it worked out better for me in the long run.  Using a hot knife (I ran it under hot water) I loosened the dessert around the edge.  I then set it into a small amount of hot water.  I was then able to flip it over and get the dessert to fall out.  I quickly flipped it back on to my platter and voila!  Dessert was ready to go!  I think removing the aluminum foil from the creases might prove annoying!  Once it is out of the pan, top with renaming cool whip and some coarsely chopped cookies.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ribbon Dessert
As found on Taste of Home

Ingredients:

12-15 Nutter Butter cookies, divided
2 Tbls butter or margarine, melted
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tub (12oz) cool whip, thawed & divided
2 oz semi sweet baking chocolate, melted

Directions:

1. Crush about 8-10 cookies and mix with butter.  Press onto the bottom of a foil-lined 9x5 loaf pan.
2. Mix cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla together until blended.  Whisk in 3 cups of cool whip.  Spoon 1/2 cup of that mixture into a small bowl and add the melted chocolate to it.  Spread half of the remaining cream cheese mixture onto the crust layer.  Top with the chocolate layer and remaining cream cheese mixture.
3. Freeze 4 hours or until firm.  Invert onto plate.  Remove the foil, then re-invert dessert onto platter so that the crumb layer is on the bottom.  (If you opted not to line the pan, us a hot knife and a shallow hot water bath to loosen dessert to get it out of the pan).  Top dessert with remaining cool whip and some coarsely chopped cookies.

Creamy Chicken Enchilada's

I really do love enchilada's, especially those that are creamy and not just chicken wrapped up and then covered in the red enchilada sauce.  These totally fit the bill!  Sadly I don't have pictures that show amazing this dish tastes, so use your imagination! 

This recipe is a compilation of one I found on the Philly website using their now impossible to find Cooking Creams and the one on the back side of a can of green enchilada sauce.  It is really very good and makes a lot.  I have made it a couple of times already and plan on making it again, so that is the main reason for putting it on here!

If you are still lucky enough to find the cooking creams, this one works best with Zesty SW.  If not, you can soften a cube of cream cheese and add some southwest style seasons or a pack of dry enchilada seasoning.  Sorry I am not more precise here!  I used pre-cooked and shredded chicken since I had access to it.  Minus the shells, most of the enchilada sauce and some cheese, everything gets combined together and stirred well.  Try to make sure there aren't pockets of just cream cheese.

It may look a little strange cause of the black beans, but it's really very good!  Put about 1/3 cup of the filling in each tortilla and roll up.  You can fold the ends in or not, your choice.  In a 9x13 pan, pour just enough of the green enchilada sauce to cover the bottom (if you are like me and increase the size of the batch, you may need to save some to line another pan as well!).
Place the enchilada's seam side down in the pan.  Pour additional enchilada sauce over the tops.  At this point you could cover and freeze or refrigerate until you are ready to bake.

If you are eating immediately, bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes total.  At around the 10 minute mark, you can pull out and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake until that is melted and bubbling.
Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Enchilada's

Ingredients
1 lb of boneless chicken breasts cut into small pieces
1 Tbl chicken taco seasoning mix
2 tsp oil
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 8oz block of cream cheese mixed with 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning mix
1 8oz bock of cream cheese
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 large can of green chilies
1 large can of green enchilada sauce, divided
10-12 soft tortilla's

Directions:
1. Toss chicken with taco seasoning.  Heat oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add chicken and cook 6-7 minutes or until done, stirring frequently.
2. In a large bowl mix beans, both cream cheeses, seasoning, green chilies, 1/2 cup of cheese and 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce.  Add chicken to the bowl and mix together.
3.  In a 9x13 pan, pour just enough enchilada sauce to cover the bottom of the pan.  Start to fill your tortilla's, using about 1/3 cup of filling per tortilla.  Roll up and place seam side down in the pan.  Continue until the filling is gone.  Pour remaining green enchilada sauce over the enchilada's.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes in 350 oven.  Pull out and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake 3-7 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubble.
Note: Can freeze or refrigerate after step 3.  If freezing, make sure pan is well covered.  Will need to bake, covered, up to 1 hour, depending on how cold it is.

Fried Ice Cream

Have any of you gone to an authentic Mexican restaurant and tried their fried ice cream?  I did once, it was very good!  They took a tortilla, filled it with ice cream and some honey, rolled it up and dropped it into the fryer.  Even with that happening, when I tried to eat it, it was rock hard!  We had to wait for it to soften to truly enjoy.  While this dessert doesn't involve frying in any way shape or form, it still has an almost identical flavor, without a big fat fryer and it is much easier to eat!

I have now made this one several times and it always a huge hit with everyone who tries it.  No one can believe how simple it really is! 
Depending on how you keep your kitchen stocked, you may even have all of the ingredients already!  This one also doubles, or can be cut down pretty easily.

First thing I do is to take the ice cream out of the freezer so it can start to thaw and get a little soft.  Next is to take the corn flakes (best use of generic or bulk corn flakes ever!) and get them crushed up.  They don't need to be food processor crushed, just rolling pin or can crushed up.  Put those in a frying pan with melted butter and the sugar.

Stir and mix until the corn flakes are kinda coated, should only take about 5 minutes or so.  Put half of that mixture into the bottom of your pan.  This time around I halved the original recipe, so my pan was my 9x9 pan.  In a large mixing bowl, mix your ice cream, cool whip and cinnamon.

Once that is mixed up, pour that onto of your crust and top with remaining corn flake mixture.

Go ahead and press those flakes down into the ice cream just a bit.  Pop it in the freezer for at least 4 hours.  About 15 minute before you are ready to serve, take this out so it can start to soften.  Cut into squares and drizzle with a little bit of honey and enjoy!

I know that it is almost fall so ice cream desserts aren't top on your list, but try and squeeze in this final summer dessert before going crazy with all things zucchini and pumpkin!
*Teaser, I have lemon zucchini bread coming up soon!

Fried Ice Cream
Originally found on The Imperfect Housewife

Ingredients: 
4-5 cups of crushed corn flakes (measurement is after crushing, go heavy for sure)
1 stick butter or margarine
1 C sugar
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
1 12oz container of Cool Whip
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions
1. Remove ice cream to counter so it can start to soften.  Melt butter in large frying pan, add crushed corn flakes and sugar, stir for 3-5 minutes.  Watch it so the butter and sugar don't burn.  Put about 1/2 of that mixture in the bottom of your 9x13 pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine the ice cream, cool whip and cinnamon.  Mix until well combined.  Pour that onto the bottom crust in your pan.  Top with remaining crust, pat the crust mixture into the ice cream mixture.  Place in freezer for at least 4 hours.  Remove about 15 minutes before you are ready to serve.  Drizzle each piece with a little bit of honey.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee Cheesecake

Since it has been awhile since I made a cheesecake I decided it was time to make one.  Of course I couldn't just make a basic one.  I am also a big fan of creme brulee so this dessert was a perfect combo.

Creme Brulee when done right is amazing, one day I'll invest in a torch to really do it right!  In the mean time though.....
But back to this cheesecake.

By using real vanilla beans instead of just the extract I was able to take this cheesecake up an extra notch.

Cheesecake is actually quite basic, cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla.  That is all!  Using real vanilla beans can be a bit of a pin.  Most likely you will want to soak them in some water to soften up the outside before splitting them in half with a sharp knife and then using a spoon to scrape out the seeds.  One bean is equivalent to 1 tsp of vanilla.  When your cream cheese is softened, mix in sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth and creamy.

Not sure if you can see the little black flecks or not, but that is the vanilla bean.  Since my bean was probably a little too dry and I wasn't able to get it all cleaned out I did add a tiny bit of vanilla extract.  Once that is all mixed in, pour it into your crust.

I know I can be lazy by not making one, but these are just so easy!  Pop that into the oven, I recommend having a water bath in there too.  That is just pan with some water in it.  I put it in the oven as I warmed it up.  The moisture it creates helps reduce or prevent the cheesecake from cracking.  Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the center is almost set.

Mine does have that one crack, I should have rotated it or removed it a minute or so earlier.  Let it cool completely before refrigerating at least 3 hours.
Right before serving, mix the brown sugar with some water to make a thick paste.  Spread that over top of the cheesecake.

 Put your oven rack about 6" from heat and broil for 1-2 minutes, until the topping is bubbly.  Serve immediately.  Store leftovers in the fridge.
This was the first time I attempted a creme brulee top where I combined the brown sugar with water.  Usually I have just sprinkled the brown sugar on top.  I would love to have used a torch on this.....one day!
This ended up being very good and it was a nice variation from regular cheesecake.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee Cheesecake

Ingredients:

2 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1 graham cracker crust

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbls water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until well blended.  Add whole eggs and egg yolk, mix until blended.  Pour into crust.

2. Bake for 35 minutes or until center is almost set.  Cool completely.  Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.

3. Just before serving, turn oven onto broil.  Combine brown sugar and water in small bowl, spread over cheesecake.  Place in oven 4-6 inches from heat for 1-2 minutes or until topping is hot and bubbly.  Serve immediately.

Lasagna Rolls with Prosciutto

So first off, I have changed the name of my blog. This is going to sound crazy, but there were times when I had trouble remembering what I had chosen to call it!  This is simpler and honestly fits me!  So from here on out, this is An Absent Minded Cook!  I love to bake and cook, but I make a lot of mistakes cause sometimes I just forget to pay close enough attention!  The recipe I am sharing today is another example of forgetting something, but fortunately I am also lucky in that it still turned out very good!

I think I have mentioned before that I love anything with lots of cheese, either on top, inside or both.  This fits the bill.  I use 4 different cheeses for this and the prosciutto that really adds good flavor.  It wasn't hard, just gotta make sure you add all the ingredients!  I actually combined 2 recipes for this but if I make it again, would slightly change it again.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First off I got my water boiling for my noodles.

Next I get a basic roux recipe started.  Not sure where the fancy name comes from, it could also be called a bechamel sauce, another fancy name for a basic white gravy.  It's butter, flour and then milk.  A little salt and pepper with nutmeg gives it some flavor.

You will want to watch this until it has thickened up and then keep on very low, stirring occasionally until you are ready to use it.
Next you will start working on the filling.

This is your ricotta cheese, cream cheese, egg, mozzarella cheese and some more seasonings.  At this point, hopefully your noodles are done and you are ready to start assembling.  This time around, I got some clean towels out and laid out all my lasagna noodles.

I'm sure all of you has made at least one type of recipe that involves filling or stuffing individual shells, noodles or even tortilla's.  You start filling, being skimpy so you have enough, then you think you will have plenty and go heavy on the filling, only to run out at the end!  So frustrating!  Laying out all of the noodles at once took a lot of space on my small counter, but in the long run, so worth it!  I could ensure that every noodle had filling and they were all pretty much even!
So for this version, you take the prosciutto and lay the thin pieces on each noodle.  In the future I think I will just cut it up and add it to the cheese mixture.

Those thin slices weren't that easy to work with!  Next you spread the cheese mixture on top.  Make sure to leave an edge at one of the ends.

Once again, it was so nice to do it this way!  Once you have used all of the filling, you are ready to start rolling.  Before you start though, spread about 1/2 of your white roux mixture in the bottom of the pan.  I love the extra sauce for these types of recipes so I also spread some marinara down as well.

Time to start rolling, starting with end of the noodle that has the filling.  Hopefully that makes sense!  You want to leave the end without filling at the other end so the filling has a place to go as it kinda gets smooshed out as you roll.  Place those seam side down in the pan.  Continue until done.  This recipe made 16 rolls for me, so I did have to divide it between 2 pans.  Divide sauce accordingly.

Once I had all of them rolled, I first spread the remaining roux on top.

Once again, I like these dishes saucy!  Next, take your marinara and cover the rolls.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake.  When everything is bubbly, remove and sprinkle with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.  Return to oven and broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Let it sit and set up a bit before serving.

So if you like manicotti, but get frustrated filling those shells that don't like to stay together, give this one a try!

Lasagna Rolls with Prosciutto
Adapted from Amanda's Cookin'

Ingredients

Sauce:
4 Tbls butter
2 1/2  Tbls flour
2 1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Lasagna:
4 cups marinara sauce
16 uncooked lasagna noodles
3 cups ricotta cheese
1 cube (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
2 cups grated parmesan cheese
4 cups mozzarella cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbls parsley
2 Tbls basil
16 slices of prosciutto

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. For roux sauce melt butter in medium saucepan over low heat.  Add the flour and whisk for 3 minutes.  Whisk in the milk.  Increase the heat to medium.  Whisk until sauce begins to simmer and is thick and smooth.  Whisk in salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Reduce heat to low and stir occasionally until ready to use.
2.Get a large pot of water boiling for noodles, add a couple teaspoons of salt before adding noodles.  Cook according to package directions.
3. Mix the ricotta, cream cheese, 1 cup parmesan cheese, 2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, eggs, salt, pepper and herbs.  (Can add prosciutto, chopped up here).  Set aside.
4. When noodles are done, drain, rinse and lay out on clean, dry towels.  Pour about 1/2 of the roux into the bottom of your baking pan(s).  I used a 9x13 and 1 qt rectangle baking dish.  Pour about 1 1/2 cups of marinara on top of that.
5. To assemble: Place 1 slice of prosciutto on each noodle.  Spread about 1/3 cup cheese mixture onto bottom 3/4 of each noodle, leaving the top uncovered.  Starting with the end with cheese, roll into the noodle, arrange seam side down in the baking dish.  Top evenly with remaining roux and marinara, covering each noodle completely.
6. Cover with aluminim foil and bake for about 40 minutes, until the sauce bubbles.  Remove and sprinkle with remaining cheese and broil until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned (don't replace foil).  Let it cool and set up for about 10 minutes before serving.

Note: This can be prepared through step 5, covered with foil and then refrigerated.  Plan on baking for around an hour or until center is heated through.  Can also be frozen.  Pull out of freezer the morning before baking to keep bake time at around an hour.

Nutella Crunch Ice Cream Cake

I am behind on posting recipes and while this isn't the oldest recipe, it surely is the best tasting!  This would actually make a great dessert to have after a summer party or BBQ so I thought I had better get this up before the weekend so as many as possible can enjoy this!  This was so easy and so surprisingly amazing!

 I mean, I knew it would be good!  It was a recipe for success with Nutella and ice cream, but this was so much more than just those 2 ingredients!

Usually when I have a lot of leftovers I take them to work so I can share, be a good co-worker and make sure I don't over indulge.  For this one, I had serious doubts about sharing.  I seriously wanted to keep this and enjoy it over the next couple of days!  The more generous side of me did prevail so I did share but I think I am going to have to make this again real soon!  This can also be adjusted slightly to serve more or less people, so yet another bonus!
So without further delay, let me show you how it's done!

So this is simple and perfect, 3 little ingredients!  Another bonus, if you live near a Winco you can buy the cereal in bulk!
To begin, place a large bowl and your spring form pan in the freezer and place your ice cream in the fridge so it can get soft.  Then combine the Nutella and cereal in a sauce pan, mix until the Nutella is soft and has completely coated the cereal.

Once done, spread that mixture on a lined cookie sheet and pop in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  It doesn't need to be frozen solid, just cold and firm.  Once that has gotten firm, remove and break into small, kinda bite sized pieces.  Now just because these are bite sized, doesn't mean you should sit and eat them all!  I did decide that this could be my new favorite snack though!

Once it is pretty much broken up, take 2-3 cups worth and set aside.  Combine the rest with the softened ice cream in your ice cold bowl.  Hopefully the ice cream is soft, without being too runny.

When that is all mixed in, put into your ice cold spring form pan.  Press it down to make sure there are no air pockets in the ice cream and then top with remaining Nutella mixture.  Press those pieces into the ice cream.  Cover that with plastic wrap and pop that into the freezer for at least 4 hours.  About 20 or so minutes before you want to serve, remove from the freezer.  Cut and serve!

I also decided that cereal coated in Nutella is a perfectly acceptable breakfast as it is A. Cereal and B. Nutella, which is advertised as going on your toast for breakfast!  So make extra and enjoy the most amazing breakfast food every!

Nutella Crunch Ice Cream Cake
As originally found on A Family Feast

Ingredients

1 gallon Vanilla ice cream
1 small container of Nutella (or any brand of hazelnut spread)
4-5 cups of crisped rice cereal

Directions

1. Place 6-8 inch spring form pan and large mixing bowl in the freezer to chill.  Place ice cream in fridge to start to soften.  In large saucepan over low heat, combine Nutella and cereal and stir until the cereal is completely coated.  Remove from heat and transfer to a lined cookie sheet.  Spread it out and place in the freezer for around 30 minutes.
2. When cereal mixture is hard, not frozen, remove and break into smaller pieces.  Remove spring form pan and large mixing bowl from the freezer and ice cream from fridge.  Combine softened ice cream and all but 2-3 cups of the cereal mixture in the large mixing bowl.  Pour that into the chilled spring form pan, packing firmly so as to remove air pockets.  Top with remaining cereal pieces and press down.  Cover with plastic and place back into the freezer for at least 4 hours.
3. About 20 minutes before serving, remove so it can start to soften. Remove outside piece and then cut and serve.

Strawberry Fluff Angel Food Cake

As you can tell, this is an eye catching dessert!  It was yummy and actually fun to frost and decorate.  I grew up in a house where my mom was baking and decorating wedding cakes on a regular basis, especially in the summer.  She always made it look SO easy, when it really isn't!  Using a little gadget I got from Walmart, I was able to make this happen!

Working with the fluff mixture, which is simply a mixture of jello and cool whip, is very forgiving and since I am not a perfectionist this was much easier than I thought it would be.  This is a 3 ingredient recipe, well 4 if you want to be picky and count water, but water really shouldn't count!
Now, if you are not a fan of store bought angel food cakes, then this will take a bit longer.  I am not picky in that regard so this came together quite easily.

First step is to get the jello made.  You don't use as much water as what the package calls for, so watch for that.  The longest stage of this recipe is waiting for the jello to be about 3/4 of the way set up.  Now, this may come as a shock to you, but with all of the baking and cooking I do, I am not very adept at making pain ole jello!  The quick method with ice kinda confuses me, so I do it the slow way and had to wait a couple of hours before moving onto the next step.

Get your cake cut in half and then mix your almost set up jello and that entire tub of cool whip!

This now becomes your filling and your frosting.  You have enough so you can be heavy handed with it as you spread it on the bottom layer of the cake.

Make sure to get the edges good and in the middle.  Once done add the top layer and continue frosting.  Since I had enough and had a little tool I added some decorative touches.  Get creative based on what you feel like!  Store in fridge until ready to serve.

It makes a striking dessert when cut and stays together pretty good.  If you are trying to watch calories and such, this would be a good option.  Not healthy per se, but still, better than others!  Plus this one can serve a lot of people.

Strawberry Fluff Angel Food Cake
Original recipe found on Cookin Food

Ingredients:

1 Angel food cake (store bought or made according to directions)
2 ~ 3 oz packages of strawberry gelatin (might be fun to try orange!)
1 ~ 16 oz container of Cool Whip

Directions:

1. Mix both packages of strawberry gelatin with 2 cups of hot water in large mixing bowl.  Stir until all of the gelatin is dissolved.  Place in fridge and allow to chill and set up until about 3/4 of the way set up.
2. Just before removing gelatin from fridge, cut your cake in half horizontally to create 2 layers.  Take the almost set up jello and mix with all of the cool whip.  Combine well.
3. Spread jello fluff frosting on bottom layer.  Replace top layer and cover entire cake with the remaining fluff.  Store in fridge.

Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas

It has been awhile since I have made anything that somewhat resembles something healthy, so here you go!

I used to make roasted chickpeas a lot, they are such a yummy snack to take care of a craving for something crunchy, either sweet or salty.

While they aren't hard, they can take a bit until they are done.  When I first made these, I followed the recipe exactly but my chickpeas never got crunchy.  They would actually start to burn on the outside before the insides got even a little crunchy.  I tried lots of different variations when it came to cooking until I found the process that works best for me.

First you want to drain and rinse, get all of that starchy liquid rinsed off.  Then they need to be dried off and the little white skins removed.  I found that rubbing them with a paper towel gets them dry and loosens up that skin to be easily pulled off.

Once they are all clean, I actually put them in my oven for an hour on 200.  This is my own personal theory, but if you immediately toss them in oil, that oil keeps any moisture on the inside from getting out, resulting in somewhat soggy chickpeas.  By drying them out before they get tossed in the seasoning mix of your choice, the chance of a crunchy chickpea goes up dramatically!

You can see they look a little dried out, which is what you want.  Then toss them in the seasoning mix.  This version, which is now my favorite, includes canola oil, cinnamon and sugar.  The great thing about these little guys, is that you can customize that mixture based on preferences and mood.  Once your mixture is ready, toss in the chickpeas and stir until coated.  Put them back on the cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Check them, toss them around a bit and sample one.  If they aren't crispy enough, put back in for 5-10 minutes.  Keep checking them so you don't burn them though!

 They should look something like this when done.  This is when you toss them in some honey and put back on the cookie sheet to cool off before eating or storing.

I made these last night and it seriously took A LOT of willpower not to polish off most of them!  They tasted so good!  The honey coating after they have baked really takes them up a notch!  I am eating them now, oh my, so good!  Finger licking good to be precise!  I am definitely making more tonight!  One can doesn't really make a lot, so might as well just double or triple the recipe right off the bat!
So I have done some research on these and cooking methods and all of them, including the source of this particular version: Two Peas & Their Pod, shows that you toss in the seasonings and bake.  Try both ways, maybe you will have better luck than me!

Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients:
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas or garbanzo beans
2 tsp canola oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbl granulated sugar
1 Tbl honey

Directions:

1. Drain and thoroughly rinse off beans.  Pour onto paper towel and gently rub with another paper towel to help them dry off and that will loosen up the shell type pieces.  Remove and discard those.
2. Place beans on a lined cookie sheet and bake/dry out in 200 degree oven for about an hour.  Remove and turn oven up to 325.
3. Place oil, cinnamon and sugar in bowl, mix.  Toss beans in oil mixture until coated.  Return to cookie sheet and bake for at least 25 minutes.  If they haven't reached your desired level of crispiness, return at 5 minute increments.
4. When beans are done, toss with honey until coated.  Return to cookie sheet to cool off.  Once cool place in an airtight container.  Best if eaten within the first 24 hours.

*Note: If increasing the size of the batch, make sure your cookie sheet has enough 'wiggle' room, if not it will take them longer in the oven, for both stages.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't usually make chocolate chip cookies.  So many variables and then the time it takes to make all of the cookies, plus baking time for each cookie sheet.....forget about it!  Give me a bar recipe any day of the week!  Randomly though, I decided to make some cookies and had pinned this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction and decided to see if they were as soft and chewy as she wrote about.

Well they were!  Her blog on these cookies has loads of advice about cookies in general so rather than try and repeat what she has said, just go there and give these a try!  I only made one minor change and added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, otherwise I followed her steps completely!

These turned out so yummy and soft!  I froze some of the dough for another day.  Even after freezing the dough, they cookies still turned out so soft and moist.

I will definitely be making these again and I recommend you give them a try.  Hmmm, those look good enough I may have to make some this week!

Glazed Cinnamon Scones

Since I had posted a teaser picture of this one I figured I had better not delay getting out the recipe!

Lately I have been seeing scones all over Pinterest.  For me though, scones are dough that get fried, not something that gets baked.  So I wasn't interested in these baked varieties, but I am glad I finally gave in and whipped these up!

They are light and flaky and better eaten warm, right out of the oven.  I took these to work and by the end of the day, they weren't as good, still good mind you, just not as good!

What's nice about these is that they come together pretty quickly and don't take that long to bake so it wouldn't be that difficult to whip these up for a brunch or even in time for breakfast if you get up early already.

And except for the buttermilk, you might already have everything you need.  Please forgive me for leaving the glaze ingredients out of this particular picture!  Start but cutting your butter into your dry ingredients, I did use some whole wheat pastry flour in mine.

Get your egg separated and set the egg white aside.  Add the honey and butter milk to the yolk and get that all mixed up.

You need to then add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.  They don't come together super quick, but you need to be careful not to over mix, so I would recommend just using your hands to get it to come together as quickly as possible.  Next, sprinkle your countertop with a bit of flour and roll your dough out on it.

It should only be about 8" in diameter and 2" tall.  This dough doesn't rise a lot so you want to make sure it stays pretty thick.  At this point I would transfer it to a sprayed cookie sheet.  You could roll it out on the cookie sheet itself, up to you. 

Using a pizza cutter, cut into 8 wedges.  Or more if you need to serve more people, the decision I made just after taking this pic!  Taking your egg white, whisk until white and frothy.

Brush that onto your dough and then sprinkle generously with a cinnamon sugar mixture.

The dough will absorb some of it, so feel free to add some more!  Pop that bad boy in the oven, it only needs about 10 minutes.  Which is the perfect amount of time to do a couple of those dirty dishes and make up the glaze.  The glaze consists of vanilla, milk and powdered sugar.  Pretty basic and simple.  If you have another glaze recipe that you prefer, have at it!

Once your scones are lightly browned, the edge of the pan will be a little darker, pull it out and start glazing.

I used almost all of mine since I wanted to make sure every edge and any nooks had plenty.  In making this I did realize it is time to look at those links on Pinterest about cleaning my cookie sheets! 
Anyway, back to this!  While it wasn't fried, it was still very good!  On the plus side, the dough itself didn't ask for any sugar, only honey and using some whole wheat pastry flour made this a bit healthier than the fried version... gotta always look for the positive when baking something that essentially qualifies as a dessert!

Glazed Cinnamon Scones
Original recipe found on MoneySavingMom.com

Ingredients

2 cups flour (can use whole wheat pastry flour for part)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, separated
3 Tbls honey
1/3 cup buttermilk
1-2 Tbls sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tsp milk (use as needed to get good consistency)
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.  Separate egg white and yolk, set egg white aside.
2. In small bowl, combine egg yolk, honey and buttermilk.  Add to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
3. Form dough on a floured surface.  Roll or pat out to half an inch in thickness and about 8" in diameter.  Transfer to greased baking sheet and cut into 8 equally sized pieces.
4. Whisk the egg white until it is white and frothy.  Brush on top of the scones.  Make sure to get between all the cuts and on the edges.  Mix cinnamon and sugar together and liberally sprinkle on top of dough.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until a golden brown.
5.  While dough is baking, mix together glaze ingredients until it is runny enough to drizzle on top of the scones.  Drizzle as soon as they come out of the oven and serve immediately.

Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I had first seen these on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago on Just a Taste.   They of course looked amazing and I am drawn to anything that can make a lot, cause I love to share!  I picked up some pretzels to have on hand for when the time came to actually make these.  That day came when I was invited to a potluck BBQ at the last minute and told to bring a dessert.  I made a classic Kathy mistake and didn't pay attention to how long these little guys actually take before they can be served, but fortunately everyone that tried them enjoyed them.  I had made a double batch so I was then able to take most to work the next day, by then they were perfect for eating and got gobbled up really fast!

They come together pretty fast, it's the setting up before cutting and serving that takes awhile, be aware!

If you like chocolate chip cookies, plus the salty flavor of a pretzel, these will be just perfect the next time you need a treat to share, or eat by yourself!  If you choose not to share, don't worry, I won't judge or tell!

To start, it is pretty much the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, with some pretzel pieces thrown in for good measure.

Start with your butter and sugar, cream those together until smooth.  Add in the eggs and vanilla until those are all blended in.  Stir in the dry ingredients until just incorporated, being careful not to over mix.  Finally stir in the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces.

Spoon that into your pan and sprinkle more pretzels on top.  Lightly press those into the dough.  The site where I found this had lined her pan with parchment paper.  I honestly struggle lining pans and then getting the lining to stay put.  So until someone invents a lining that is shaped like my pan, I will deal with cutting around the edge of my pan!
You will end up baking this for at least 30 minutes.  The dough needs to cook all the way through.  Keep an eye on it and do toothpick tests so you can take it out when it is done.
So this is where I hadn't paid enough attention.  These need to cool completely before you move onto the chocolate drizzle step.  Like normal cookies, this continues to bake when out of the oven and then it needs to set up so you have individual bars vs a gooey mess.  A very yummy gooey mess but still a little messy when trying to serve!  When they are cool, drizzle with melted chocolate and oil mixture.

Once that is done, they need to cool completely again.  The chocolate needs to cool and harden before serving.

If you can manage to wait for them to set up you do have some very yummy and addicting cookie bars that will get you lots of compliments, if you can save enough to share with others!

Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients
1 cup of butter, melted (I always use salted, just my preference)
1 cup brown sugar, packe
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips, divided
1 cup crushed pretzels, divided
1 tsp vegetable oil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  If you choose, line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.  You can also just spray your pan.
2. Whisk together melted butter with both sugars until smooth.  Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.  Stir in flour and salt just until combined.  Stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the pretzels.
3. Pour or spoon batter into prepared pan.  Smooth the op and sprinkle remaining pretzels on top.  Press them lightly into the batter.  Bake for at least 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
4. While they are cooling off, melt remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and oil in double boiler or microwave.  Once bars are cool, drizzle with melted chocolate.  Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

Who loves velvety, smooth and mouth watering chocolate?!  Hopefully everyone raised their hands.  If not, this is not the post for you!  This is another dessert that is a combo of a couple, so I figure it's a Kathy original!  I'm pretty horrible at creating recipes from scratch but pretty decent at making changes to recipes to hopefully make them even better.  This is one of those.

I had seen a picture of a strawberry lined Oreo crust and they were pouring in chocolate pudding.  At this point I had already found and used this amazing chocolate mousse and knew the combo would make an amazing dessert, and I was right!

What's nice is that by using a pre-made crust and strawberries don't take long to rinse and slice, the time and effort all goes into the mousse filling!  I have made desserts that each layer takes time and while the end result is still amazing, something that requires a little less time and effort is even better!

Now, that being said, mousse isn't as easy as instant pudding and it does dirty several bowls and dishes, but is so worth it!

I start by getting my chocolate pieces, butter and water in the double boiler.

The key for melting chocolate is taking your time.  If the water isn't already hot and I put it on low, I can have it slowly getting warm while I start whipping up the whipping cream.  For my hand mixer it usually takes me about 10 minutes to whip up a batch.  If you plan on doing this, keep this burner as low as possible!  You are running a risk when trying to multi-task of burning the chocolate, so if all else fails, whip up the whipping cream, refrigerate and then start melting the chocolate.
For the chocolate, slowly melt the ingredients together until the chocolate pieces are all melted and everything is smooth.

Let this cool for about 10 minutes.
The third piece to this mousse puzzle is the egg yolk, water and sugar combo.  This can be cooked up while the mousse is cooling.

The saucepan you use to mix these 3 ingredients will most likely end up being the same pan that everything else gets added to so this needs to be a medium to large sized saucepan.  This only needs to reach 160 degrees.  I don't have a candy thermometer so I cooked it on medium low for a couple of minutes whisking the entire time.

You now have all 3 pieces, pretty much ready to go.  Add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture, stir and then put in an ice bath of some sorts.  I fill a metal bowl with water and ice and rest the saucepan inside of that.  Making sure that none of the water gets into the pan!

It was while this was cooling that I placed my sliced strawberries into the crust.

Once the chocolate mixture is cool, fold/stir in the whipped cream.

You will want to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed together.  This is when I switched from using a whisk to a spatula and it was a great time to taste test the mixture, and it was good!
Pour that into crust, you will most likely have a little extra.

This will need to set up in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.  It is pretty rich so you are gonna want to garnish with some cool whip, or additional whipped topping that was sweetened.  Add some extra strawberries if you have them and prepare to indulge in this truly wonderful dessert!

Note: This would also be a perfect filling for the French Silk Pie from this post!: http://lifeloveandsolace.blogspot.com/2014/05/french-silk-pie.html

 

 Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

Ingredients:

1 Oreo cookie crust
1 cup sliced strawberries
8 oz semisweet baking chocolate (typically 2 boxes)
1/2 cup water, divided
2 Tbls. butter
3 egg yolks
2 Tbls. sugar
1 1/4 cups whipping cream, whipped
Cool Whip for garnish

Directions:

1. Slice strawberries and line Oreo chocolate crust.  Refrigerate until ready.
2. In the top of a double boiler, heat chocolate, 1/4 cup water and butter until the chocolate and butter are melted. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
3. In a medium to large saucepan whisk egg yolks, sugar and remaining water.  Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees or 2-4 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate mixture.  Set saucepan in ice and stir until cooled, about 5-10 minutes.
4. Fold in whipped cream until completely blended and pour into prepared crust. (If making as a stand alone mousse, pour into 5-6 dessert dishes).  Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight before serving.  Garnish with Cool Whip or sweetened whipped topping.

Coconut Cheesecake Squares

In the past couple of years my sister Amy has really turned me onto coconut desserts.  Especially anything where the coconut gets toasted!

Toasting coconut really just does something amazing to it.  The extra crunch, a little sweeter, and then add that to a creamy dessert, heaven!

This is another very easy dessert that can come together without too much effort.  Since it does have multiple layers it will take a bit though for each one to do it's thing.  The nice thing about this is while you are working on the first layer the cream cheese can get naturally softened.

Starting with the crust, combine the flour ( I did use half whole wheat pastry flour), the melted butter, sugar and pecans in my square baking dish.  Once again, for me when it comes to making crusts I almost always mix them up in the pan or dish that they will end up in.

Now, this crust has almost no sugar in it, making it not very sweet at all.  My family all thought it tasted great, but I think I will try adding a bit more sugar, maybe brown, next time I make this.  Get it mixed and pressed into the pan before baking it.  Be careful not to over bake it.  It should hopefully be lightly browned around the edges.  Now the crust needs to cool before the next layer goes on.  If you are in a hurry, feel free to pop this in the fridge for a bit.
While it is cooling, you can work on the cheesecake layer, which is layer #2.  It is key that your cream cheese is at room temperature.  If need be, pop it in the microwave (unwrapped of course!) for 20 second intervals.  The key to having smooth cream cheese is the temperature.  I'm sure everyone has mixed up cream cheese and gotten little lumps, right?  That comes from it being too cold.  So mix it up with the powdered sugar and then add the cool whip (1/2 of the container).

When the crust is cooled, carefully spoon and then spread this onto the crust.  My crust was starting to pull up a bit so I had to be extra careful.

The third layer is the pudding one.  Very simply combine the pudding with 1 1/2 cups of milk and whisk until it is all combined.  So the pudding for this is coconut cream and this was my first experience with it.  I was whisking away, when I realized I had more little lumps than normal.  So I adjusted the angle and whisked with greater fervor!  My frustration climbed when those little lumps didn't go away!  I finally realized that they were actually flecks of coconut, so heads up, this pudding doesn't get as smooth as other varieties!  So once that is relatively smooth and slightly thickened, pour that on top of the cream cheese layer. 
Top with remaining cool whip and the toasted coconut.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Note: To toast coconut, put in a medium frying pan on medium heat.  Stir until most of the pieces are browned, without burning!

Feel free to sample along the way to make sure it is progressing nicely!

I don't excel at the cutting and extracting my desserts from the pan but these came out good and didn't mangle the piece in the process!
These were a very delicious, light alternative and perfect for a summer evening!

Coconut Cheesecake Squares
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8 oz container of Cool Whip, divided
1 small (4 servings) package of coconut instant pudding
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup toasted coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.  Mix first 4 ingredients together in a square 8x8 pan.  Press until even.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Be careful not to over bake.  Cool completely.
2. Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.  Mix in 1/2 of the cool whip until well blended.  Spoon/spread onto cooled crust.
3. Whisk together the pudding and milk until relatively smooth.  Let sit until partially set.  Pour onto cream cheese mixture.  Top with remaining cool whip and toasted coconut and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.