Strawberry Napoleon

Ok, so this dessert is truly a winner!  I just realized that you are never going to take me seriously if I say almost all of my desserts are amazing, I will be the girl who cried "Yummy" to everything! 

One of my brothers did tell me that he thought this was the probably the best tasting dessert of mine he had tried!  That counts for something, right?!

One of the best things about this one, is how easy it really is!  Practically fool proof!  The only mistake I made was forgetting to sprinkle some powdered sugar to add to the presentation and it still tasted dreamy!

The only part that could be messed up is overcooking the pasty sheets.  Let them thaw, cut them up to small rectangles and place on a cookie sheet for baking.

They should look something like this when done:

While they are baking you can get your almonds toasting in a small frying pan on low.  Mine took awhile, but I also didn't burn a single one!

Next is the filling.  A couple packages of pudding mix, some milk, Cool Whip and the key ingredient, almond extract.

Start with the milk and pudding before mixing in the extract and then folding in the Cool Whip.  So you can bake and mix up everything hours before you actually need it, another bonus for this one.  I also got my strawberries sliced up.  I imagine this would taste great with any sweet fruit and I am just this minute reminded that I have some frozen strawberries that might be very tasty with this!
Anyway, back to this version!  Now it is time to assemble!
Start by cutting each one in half.  If yours puff up enough, feel free to cut into 3 sections so you can have an extra layer for each dessert.  I only did 2 sections, mine didn't seem thick enough for 3.  Sprinkle some almond slices and then strawberries on the bottom.  Spoon some filling on, your choice on how much.  Spread some more strawberries before putting the top back on.  Finish it with a sprinkle of powdered sugar (which I forgot!), another dollop of pudding mixture and strawberry.
Voila!  Yummy but light goodness!

Not the easiest one to eat, but seriously, so mind blowing good!
*I made this again, this time with raspberries and still so very good!

Strawberry Napoleon

Ingredients
4 Long rectangle sheets of frozen pasty
2 small boxes of vanilla pudding (sugar free or regular)
2 cup milk
2 tsp almond extract
1 8oz tub of Cool Whip (can whip up your own if you have the time)
2 cup strawberries, sliced
Powdered sugar, optional garnish

Directions
1. Removed pastry sheets from oven to let them thaw for 20 minutes. If you can break them apart sooner, do that so you can put the remaining 2 long rectangles back in the freezer.  Break or cut apart the sheets into long rectangles and then cut those in half to make small rectangles.
2. Place on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.  Be careful not to burn them.  If you decide to toast your almonds, place in small skillet and medium low and stir frequently until lightly browned.
3. Whisk pudding mixes and milk in medium bowl until smooth.  Add almond extract and then fold in Cool Whip.  Stir until everything is well blended.  Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl.  Cover and refrigerate.
4. To assemble, carefully split each pastry in half horizontally, like you would a bun.  Layer with almonds, strawberries, pudding mixture and more strawberries.  Put the top back on and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Garnish with a spoonful of the pudding mixture and another sliced strawberry.

Based on this amount of filling I was only only able to make 7 of these, but I know you could get 8 if you portioned out the pudding a bit better!

Recipe courtesy of: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/02/easy-strawberry-napoleon-recipe.html

Peanut Butter and Fudge Ice Cream Squares

This is another yummy dessert, but after making and serving this one I have decided that I must be lacking in the skill required to cleanly cut desserts in general!  Seems like they never look as good as they taste, based on how messy it is to cut and serve them!  Never the less, this one is easy enough and good enough I will most likely be making it again in the future.

It is fairly basic, especially if you go the route that I did and bought my hot fudge and used a tub of Cool Whip instead of whipping up some fresh whipping cream.
Start by crushing your cookies, mixing those with the melted butter.  Whenever I am making this type of crust I always mix it up in the pan itself, saves me at least one dirty dish!

Press that into the bottom of the pan.  The crust will need to be put in the freezer for about an hour to get hard.  If you skip this step than it is harder to spread your ice cream while having the crust stay put.  You can reduce it down to 30 minutes if need be.  Plan on pulling your ice cream out to have it soften for about 30  minutes, makes for easier spreading.  Once the ice cream is spread on the crust (forgot to take a picture of that, please forgive me!).  Now this next step, don't shorten it!  Put the dessert back in the freezer for at least an hour.  You will need the ice cream to harden up so when you spread or pour the fudge topping the ice cream is firm enough so the fudge doesn't sink, like it did in mine!

Instead of a nice fudge layer, I ended up with this!  Now I believe every piece had a good amount of fudge and everyone said how yummy it was, but still!  I used a store bought variety and had warmed it up for spreading so the heat just cut right through my semi-soft ice cream!  Put it back in the freezer, another 30 minutes or so.  Next comes the Cool Whip layer followed by the chopped up peanut butter cups. 

Store in freezer until about 10 minutes before you want to serve it.  Hopefully you will have better luck getting pretty little pieces out of your dish!

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Fudge Ice Cream Squares

Ingredients
12-14 Nutter Butter cookies, crushed
3 1/2 Tbls butter, melted
1 carton vanilla ice cream
1 jar of hot fudge topping
1 8oz tub of Cool Whip
20 small peanut butter cups roughly chopped

Directions
1. Mix crushed cookies and melted butter in 8x8 square baking pan.  Put in freezer for 30-60 minutes to harden.  30 minutes before you need the ice cream have it sitting out on your counter to get soft.
2. Spread softened ice cream onto crust layer, be careful that crust doesn't pull up when spreading.  Put back into freezer for at least an hour.  The ice cream needs to be frozen.
3. Shortly before pulling the dessert out of the freezer start warming up the fudge sauce.  Since you will be using the entire jar, transfer to a larger bowl so it will heat faster, make sure it isn't super hot.  Carefully pour the fudge onto the ice cream layer and try to create a solid fudge layer.  Freeze again for 30 minutes.
4. Spread the Cool Whip on top and then sprinkle with chopped peanut butter cups.  Freeze until you are ready to serve.
5. Let sit out for about 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

This recipe was originally designed to make a 9x13 pan and was found here: http://lovelylittlekitchen.com/peanut-butter-cup-ice-cream-dessert/

Nutella Fruit Pizza

 

This isn't my first Nutella recipe I have posted so all of you should know how much I love this stuff!  I first made this last summer and haven't been able to stop thinking about it and I have been waiting for the good fruit to be in season so I could make this again!  It is super easy, fast and oh so amazingly good!  Now, I know I say that about a lot of the desserts I make, but for this one it really isn't an exaggeration!

It is also pretty flexible, you can change up the fruits based on your preferences. It can also make one pretty big pizza plus a small-medium sized one so it can feed a crowd.  I'm sure you could also spread the crust onto a cookie sheet and cut into squares for even more servings!

To start, take a yellow cake mix and mix it with just 2 eggs and some oil, and not as much as the box.  Plan on ignoring the box instructions!  The dough will be thick.

This is when you need to dig in with your hands.  Take a little over 2/3 of the dough and spread it out on your pan.  Make it slightly thinner than you would think as the dough rises and gets puffy during baking. Make sure the edges aren't too thin though, makes getting it off the pan tricky.

Now with the leftover dough, you can make smaller pizza's....

or just eat it, I won't judge!  Or bake it and eat it like giant sugar cookie!  Once baked this crust tastes like a sugar cookie, making it a perfect crust!  Once the dough has cooled just a little, you can go ahead and spread on the Nutella.  If it starts pulling up, wait a minute and let the Nutella soften and melt a little.

 Spreading Nutella isn't actually super easy, so it can be made easier by doing it when the crust is still warm.  Get it spread, leaving a small edge to grab hold of.

 Next you add the fruit, I like strawberries, banana's, blueberries, raspberries and kiwi.  You could pick any fruit combo you want.  Keep in mind though, if this is going to sit for a bit, banana's will turn brown and any juicy fruit will soften the crust up, potentially too much.  This is better served right away, for both of those reasons.  When I was slicing fruit in advance I patted down my strawberries to get some of the moisture out.

Slice it like you would a pizza and serve.  Mine was thick enough everyone could pick up each slice and eat it like a slice of a pizza.  These are pizza's from two different days, they both just look so pretty!
Have fun with this and enjoy it more than once this summer!

Nutella Fruit Pizza

Ingredients:
1 yellow cake mix, unprepared
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
Nutella
Mixed fruits, sliced

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs and oil.  Dough will be thick.  Spread about 2/3 of the dough onto prepared pizza pan or large cookie sheet.  It is best to use your hands at this point.  Don't be afraid to spread thin.
2. Bake dough at 350 for about 8-10.  Watch it so you don't overbake.
3. When slightly cooled, (watch for it pulling up) spread with Nutella.
4. Top with sliced fruit.