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My Christmas dinner was a disaster.

I may be exaggerating.  Maybe not quite a disaster.  But it did leave me crying into my hands at the table, quietly sobbing "I'm sorry, it's so bad" to my family.  My poor husband knew just how to respond and patted my shoulder lovingly with a "it's really not that bad honey..." But when it all came down to it, when asked if he'd eat any leftovers he hesitated for a long while before saying sweetly, "no... I don't think so." And that's when I knew it had been a huge flop.  A 9 lb ham in the trash... Not for my lack of skill or trying.  I cooked all afternoon!  But I'll spare you the details of the slimy ham I purchased from Albertson's and get down to the fact that dessert saved the day.

Not the prettiest looking pie, I couldn't get the crust to come together like a pastry crust should.  It was crumbly and hard to handle and I ended up just smashing the edges together in an effort to "seal" the two crusts.  No decorative crimping here... sorry folks.  And for this reason alone I figured the dessert would likely follow in the footsteps of the disastrous dinner.  But no, this thing was amazing... and even better on days 2 and 3!

Walnut Crusted Apple Pie

1 lb fuji apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 lb golden delicious apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
6.75 ounces all purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter cut into pieces
3 tablespoons ice cold vodka (or water)
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon milk
1 egg yolk

Combine first 8 ingredients (through cinnamon).  Toss to coat.

Place nuts in a food processor; process until finely ground.  Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.  Add flour, 3 T brown sugar and 1/4 t salt to food processor; pulse 5 times.  Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse meal (about 6-8 times.) Turn processor on and slowly add vodka through food chute processing just until combined (do not form a ball.)  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 3-4 times.  Divide into 2 equal portions.  Flatten each portion into a 4 inch circle on plastic wrap.  Chill 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425.

Unwrap and place 1 dough piece onto plastic wrap.  Cover with 2 overlapping pieces of plastic wrap.  Roll dough, still covered, into a 10-inch circle.  Place into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Spoon apple mixture into crust.  Follow same rolling instructions for second dough piece, rolling into a 12-inch circle.  Place over apple mixture and press edges of crusts together.  Fold under and flute.  Cut slits in top of dough to allow steam to escape.

Combine milk and egg yolk, stirring with a whisk.  Gently brush top of dough with egg mixture.  Place pie plate on a foil lined baking sheet (or on one of these amazing pie drip catchers from Williams Sonoma that my step mom bought me!) Bake at 425 in lower third of the oven for 20 minutes.  Shield edges of pie crust with foil.  Reduce oven temperature to 350 (do not remove pie from oven) and bake an additional 30 minutes or until browned.  Cool on a wire rack.

Original recipe courtesy of Cooking Light

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I often run across recipes that sound so incredibly good to me that I want so badly to make but never really have a need to.  I used to use Joe as my baking experiment tester.  When he worked in Portland I would try out new cookies, cakes and desserts... try one piece and send the rest to work with him.  He would then turn around and email me the chain of correspondence starting with his all-staff announcement that "my wife has made cookies and they are in the 6th floor lounge" and ending with a string of compliments that would make any baker beam.  It was therapeutic for me... I could try new things without wasting or eating more than humanly necessary and I got positive feedback for trying new recipes.  But now that we've moved to Bend and he works in an office of 4, this system no longer works for me.  Fortunately I work with a good number of coworkers who, for the most part, enjoy my experimentation.  UNfortunately, I work with nothing but women and I never know when, at any given time, all, some or none of them could be on some crazy diet for which I will be accused of sabotaging with my baking endeavors.

Day 1: took the cake to work and managed to pawn off about half of it to much appreciative coworkers.
Day 2: took it back home, Joe, Shawna (my niece) and I ate a piece for dessert
Day 3: Shawna and I ate a piece for dessert
Day 4: Shawna ate a piece for dessert
Day5: I threw a small leftover piece away

Not too bad, I suppose for such a large (and oh so delicious) cake...


Apple Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

CREAM CHEESE FILLING:
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

APPLE CAKE BATTER:
1 cup finely chopped pecans
3 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups peeled and finely chopped Gala apples (about 3 medium apples)

PRALINE FROSTING:
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Prepare filling: beat first 3 ingredients with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth.  Add egg, flour, and vanilla, beat just until blended.

Prepare batter: preheat oven to 350.  Bake pecans in a shallow pan 8-10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.  Stir together 3 cups flour and next 7 ingredients (through allspice) in a large bowl.  Stir in eggs and next 3 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moist.  Fold in apples and pecans.

Spoon 1/2 of apple mixture into greased and floured 14-cup bundt pan.  Pour cream cheese filling over batter and swirl with a knife.  Top with remaining apple batter.   Bake at 350 for 1 hour, to 1 hour 15 minutes or until a long wodden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes then remove from pan to rack to cool completely.

Prepare frosting: bring 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter and 3 T milk to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly.  Boil 1 minute, whisking constantly.  Remove from heat; add vanilla.  Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.  Stir gently until mixture begins to cool and slightly thicken. Pour immediately over cooled cake (frosting sets up quickly!)

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I love that this is the time of year for frozen desserts.  I've torn out several recipes for mouth-watering frozen yogurts and ice creams but somehow seem to forget that I even OWN an ice cream maker.  But when I got this incredibly easy recipe in an email, it gave me the inspiration I needed to dig the darn thing out of the garage and get freezing!  The kids were thrilled to be making our "own" frozen yogurt and Brendan (as with nearly all of my food creations) proclaimed that it was better than any frozen yogurt he'd ever had.  Have I mentioned I love that boy? :)

I must admit that this requires an ice cream maker.  If you don't own one you can get one relatively cheap here at under $40.  My ice cream maker is simple.  Cuisinart brand, 1 1/2 quart capacity.  Store the freezer bowl in the big freezer.  Nothing fancy but SO worth the excitement of "homemade!"


Lemonade Frozen Yogurt

1 quart (32 oz.) vanilla low-fat yogurt
1 can (12 0z.) lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 cup half and half
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients.  Chill until cold, about 30 minutes.

Freeze mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions until motor stops or dasher is hard to turn.  Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm enough to scoop, about 2 hours (frozen yogurt will keep in freezer for up to 2 weeks.)

Serving size = 1/2 cup

Cal: 190, Pro: 4.4g, Fat: 3.3g, Sat: 2.1g, Carb: 37g, Fiber: 0.1g, Chol: 11mg
*recipe courtesy of Sunset magazine*

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Um... seriously? There really was no way these could turn out badly. Raspberry? Yum... Cream cheese? Yum... Chocolate? DOUBLE yum! I really could have used a little more cream cheese but hey, recipes are for experimenting... so maybe I'll double the cream cheese filling next time :)

I told the girls at work that I would bring in a batch of brownies and dug out this Cooking Light recipe. Stuck them in the oven and with 25 minutes left to bake, a minor disaster struck our household as my 3-year-old daughter tripped, fell and split her chin open, sending blood all over the dining room floor. As I (slightly overreacting) loaded us all up for a trip to Urgent Care, to my dismay I had to pull the "not yet done" brownies from the oven. Of course my daughter's well being was more important at that point...

But a little skin glue, a bandaid, a sticker and a chocolate milk for being a good sport seemed to remedy the situation. In the process I happened to get called off from work but decided to "rebake" the brownies in an attempt at salvation anyway (no way I was tossing them without at least trying...) It took a little more time than I had anticipated but I managed to bake them back to near perfection. Of course, being called off work meant they were mine for the taking (my "brownie disliking" husband actually ended up enjoying this twist on the classic and ate a few himself.) They lasted a good week... I had to pace myself.

But fear not, I aim not to disappoint my sweet coworkers. The pictured batch was my second round baked for the shift I actually worked which was kindly displayed in the common room and devoured shortly after.

As much as they love to "hate" me for sabotaging their diets, I love them as some of my best food critics and deep down, I know they truly "love" me too ;)

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I'm a pudding lover. I'll admit it. Whenever I'm at a loss for something to fix for dessert, I whip this one out (or, let's face it, I'm not afraid to admit that I've been known to indulge in a box of Jell-O pudding now and again... but only if it's the cook-n-serve kind!) But the thing that ultimately draws me to this recipe time and time again is the quickness and ease of the "always on hand" ingredients. Seriously... crazy easy and SO delicious...


Creamy Butterscotch Pudding

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (I use whatever I have... light or dark)
2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
2 cups fat free milk
2 egg yolks lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add milk and egg yolks; stir with whisk until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes longer or until thickened.

Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Cool to room temperature, stirring several times. Pour into 4 individual desert dishes. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or until chilled (who are they kidding... I never have enough discipline to actually wait 1-2 hours!)

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I was hard pressed on the spot to find a dessert "without chocolate" for a recent Christmas party I threw with a good friend of mine. Lauren came to the house the night before with her dessert contributions... chocolate dipped pretzel sticks (beautiful, adorned with festive sprinkles) and her famous chocolate topped rice-krispie treats. "So you might want to make something without chocolate..." she informed me.

What do you do when most of the desserts you know and love involve chocolate? You sit down with a few cookbooks and start browsing (and if you know me, you know that, to me, this is nothing short of the perfect way to spend my time.) These just happened to pop out at me from one of my beloved Cooking Light books and I knew I found my dessert. Like little mini lemon meringue pies with macaroon crusts... mmmm...

*here is my adapted recipe, the original calls for a dollop of whipped topping on each but I opted to omit it... feel free to add to your liking*

Lemon Macaroon Tartlets

Macaroon Tart Shells (recipe follows)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Prepare macaroon tart shells and set aside.

Place egg in a small bowl and set aside. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and lemon rind in a small saucepan. Gradually add water and lemon juice, and stir with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually stir one-fourth of hot lemon mixture into egg while whisking. Add to remaining lemon mixture, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly. Spoon warm mixture into tart shells (this recipe when used for tartlets may yield slightly more than needed to fill shells.)


Macaroon Tart Shells

2 cups flaked, sweetened coconut
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray. Divide mixture evenly among 16 muffin cups, pressing into bottom and up sides of each cup. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are browned. Remove pan from oven and use a small spoon or melon baller to press into center of each cup, reinforcing the "shell." Cool in pan for 2 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

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About a year ago among a search for an Apple Sour Cream Pie recipe, I came upon this delicious sounding dessert and absolutely had to try it. This soon became one of my most beloved pies and a permanent addition to my recipe file. I frequently have requests for the recipe and as my friend Lauren pointed out, the blog is lacking in the dessert category (although not for my lack of good recipes... just for my lack of posting them!) So, in honor of Lauren and this insanely good pie, I am finally sharing this recipe with you all.

Berry Sour Cream Pie

1 9-inch unbaked pie shell (if you're feeling adventurous you can make it from scratch)
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries

Topping:
1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 Tbsp. cold butter, cut up

Beat eggs. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla. Mix flour, sugar and salt. Add to egg mixture. Gently stir in berries.

Pour into pie shell and bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Mix brown sugar, flour and nuts. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly (alternatively, chop nuts in food processor, add brown sugar and flour and pulse until combined. Add butter and pulse until crumbly.) Sprinkle over hot pie and bake 10-15 minutes more.

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Banana Cream Pie is a tasty dessert. I won't deny that (if partly for fear of the angry looks from my husband who deems it his all-time favorite.) But when I decided to throw a surprise party for my dear husband's 30th birthday, I knew a banana cream pie wouldn't feed our 10 guests. In an effort to find another palate pleaser, I ran across this amazing recipe. I could barely believe the moistness, the flavor, the look... the perfect party dessert.

A couple of slight alterations to the published recipe (from Cooking Light.) I added 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the cake batter after reading in reviews that the almond flavor was too weak. I also added the fresh raspberries to the top for a visual appeal and opted to drizzle the sauce over the entire cake rather than each individual piece.

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