Chocolate Caramel Cake

Sue Burnham gave me this recipe and it passed Jeremy;s taste test so it's a keeper! Feeding it to the missionaries tonight. We are going to top it with a dalup of whip cream.

1 German Chocolate cake mix
1 bag of caramels
1 bag of milk chocolate chips
1 stick of butter or margarine
1/3 cup milk
1 cup of nuts

Heat the oven to 350. Make the cake mix according to package directions. Pour half of the cake mix in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake 20 minutes. While baking melt over low heat caramels, milk, and butter. Pour on cake and cover with chocolate chips and nuts. Spoon batter on top. Bake an additional 20 minutes at 250 degrees. Then bake another 5 to 10 minutes at 350 but watch closely so you don't over cook it. Top with whip cream if desired.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

We went to visit Devin in Abilene and his new friends, the Woods family, invited us over to their beautiful home for a delicious home cooked meal. We were so grateful! They served us this dessert and it is wonderful! It melts in your mouth.


2 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cans crescent rolls
1 stick real butter
1 tsp. cinnamon


Preheat oven to 365. Beat cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until smooth. Spray bottom of pan with non stick spray. Put 1 can crescent rolls on bottom of pan. Spread cream cheese mixture over crescent rolls. Put other can of crescent rolls over mixture. Melt 1 stick of butter. Add 3/4 cup sugar and cinnamon to butter and stir well. Pour over top of crescent rolls and spread.
Bake 25-30 minutes uncovered.

Light Lemon Dessert

1 small package lemon Jello-O
2/3 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 small softened cream cheese
1/3 cup melted butter
2 tsp. grated lemon or lime peel
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 packages graham crackers (plus small amount for topping)

Mix Jell-O, water and sugar, let set 3 hours in refrigerator. Mix evaporated milk with cold beaters until somewhat fluffy, add softened cream cheese, lemon peel and then lemon juice, mix thoroughly. Add to chilled ingredients. Crush graham crackers with melted butter, and press in bottom of 9x13 pan. Spread the lemon mixture on top, sprinkle with small amount of graham crackers over top and freeze. Slice when frozen and serve when thawed.

Magic Mousse

1 6 oz. chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 cups whipped cream or thawed cool whip

Make pudding using 3 cups milk. Put in fridge for 15 minutes. Stir in sugar. Fold in 2 cups whip cream. Pour into glasses. Top with dallop of cool whip and top with grated chocolate and toasted nuts.

Frosty Strawberry Cake

1 Angel food cake
1 1/2 qt. strawberry ice cream
1 pint whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
red food coloring
4 cups sliced strawberries

Slice cake 2 times horizontally. Spread half of softened ice cream on bottom layer. Cover with middle layer. Spread remaining ice cream on top. Then cover with top layer of cake. Freeze cake until hard. Whip cream until stiff. Add 12 cup sugar. Mix in enough food coloring to turn pink. Frost with whipping cream. Return to freezer until serving time. Slice strawberries and sprinkle with sugar. Garnish with strawberries and serve.

Tres Leches Rice Pudding

Ok...I have tried over a dozen different Rice Pudding recipes over the years and I had never found one that compared to my mother in laws Colombian rice pudding until now! I found this recipe in the paper and it is delicious. Both of Henry's parents loved it and wanted seconds. It is a little sweet so next time I will leave out the sugar. The sweet milk makes it sweet enough.

6 cups water
1 cup white rice
2 cups whole milk ( I used skim)
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, or to taste
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
Ground cinnamon, for topping

In 3 quart nonstick saucepan, bring water to boil. Add rice, reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed. Add whole or skim milk, cinnamon stick and raisins; bring to simmer and simmer about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Bring to simmer and simmer at low temperature, stirring occasionally approximately 15 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick. Spoon into dessert dish. Serve warm, topped with ground cinnamon.

Out of This World Brownies

I got this recipe from Krista Adams who said she found it in a old ward cookbook. I was a little skeptical at first but after making them, they are to die for! They just melt in your mouth and you'll start craving them they are so good!

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 tsp. salt

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 (16 oz) can chocolate flavored syrup

1 cup sugar

Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Pour batter into a 9x13 inch pan. Bake @ 350° for

25-30 minutes. Top of brownies will appear wet. Cool completely. Combine the following filling ingredients:

Filling:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 T water

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

3 drops green food coloring

Spread over cooled brownies. Refrigerate until set.

Topping:

1 (10 oz) package mint chips (or Andes mint chips will work great too)

1 T butter

Melt mint chips and butter over low heat in small sauce pan. (You can use 1 bag of chocolate chips & 1 and 1/2 t peppermint extract as well if you can't find either kind of chips mentioned above.) Let cool 30 minutes or until lukewarm, stirring occasionally. Spread over filling. Chill before cutting. Store in refrigerator. You can also color the frosting pink and

then add crushed candy canes on top of the chocolate during Christmas. 

Sugar Coated Pecans

I made these and put the pecans in waffle cones and then in a cellophane bag and tied it with a ribbon. They were so cute to give away as gifts.


Ingredients

1 egg white 
1 T. water 
1 pound pecan halves
1 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon


Directions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Grease one baking sheet. In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Chocolate Covered Raisins

Mom used to make this every Christmas as part of her goodies to give away.

Melt 1 pound sweet (milk chocolate) chocolate over boiling water (double broiler). Add 1 cup sweetened condensed milk and 4 to 5 cups raisins. Mix well. Drop by tsp. on greased baking sheet. Chill several hours before serving.

Mud Pie

1 package of Oreo cookies
3 T. butter or margarine
1 half gallon of vanilla
1 regular size container of cool ship
Hot fudge and carmel topping.

Separate Ice cream topping and scrape the cream out of the middle. Mash the chocolate cookies until crumbly. Save 1/3 cup of crumbs. Mix melted butter with cookie crumbs and spread in bottom of a 9x13 pan. Open ice cream and slice in 1 inch slices place on top of cookie crumbs and spread evenly until flat. Drizzle with hot carmel and hot fudge. Spread cool whip over top. Drizzle more carmel and fudge on top as well as the 1/3 cup cookie crumbs. Freeze for 1 hour before serving.

Homemade Ice Cream

Pauline gave me this recipe. She served it at Cindy's wedding.

1 gallon pineapple sherbet
1/2 gallon raspberry sherbet
2 pkg. frozen raspberries
2 T. frozen lemonade
4 bananas, diced
1/3 cup crushed pineapple
1/3 cup frozen Hawaiian punch
flavor with vanilla and almond extract.
Soften sherbet enough to come out (mix in big metal bowl)
Add fruits and flavoring
Stir all together and refreeze in cartons.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

This recipe was given to me by Aunt Renee Page who is a fantastic cook.

2 ½  cups crushed pretzels

¾ cups melted butter or margarine

Mix together and line 9x13 pan with the mixture. Bake at 400 for 8 minutes. Cool.

1 cup sugar

1 8 oz. cream cheese

2 8 oz. cartons of cool whip

Combine sugar, cheese and cool whip and beat until smooth and creamy. Spread carefully over cooled pretzels.

1 6 oz. box strawberry jello

2 cups boiling water

2 10 oz. pkg. frozen strawberries

1 cup crushed pineapple with juice

Combine jello and hot water. Add strawberries and pineapple. Combine jello and hot water. Add strawberries and pineapple. Chill until it starts to get up and spread over topping and pretzels. Refrigerate. 

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

This recipe is from Bryan and Michelle Dillon. They always make the best ice cream when we go to their house to visit.  

2-3 c fresh strawberries, crushed

1 2/3-2 c sugar

2 cans evaporated milk

1 pkg raspberry jello (small)

1/2 c boiling water

1 pint whipping cream

enough milk to fill freezer 2/3 full

Dissolve jello in boiling water.  Then add canned milk.  Stir well.  Mix sugar with crushed fruit and add to jello and canned milk mixture.  Add whipping cream and milk.  Mix well and freeze in ice cream freezer.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

Pauline made about a million of these to serve at our wedding! We did the same for Ambers.

3/4 cup sugar

2 8-oz. cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 tsp. lemon juice

Put a vanilla wafer in the bottom of a muffin paper, round side up. Beat ingred. until smooth. Spoon filling 12 full into paper. Bake 350 for 20 minutes. Cool completely. Remove papers. Top with cherry pie filling.

Dump Cake

30 oz. Cherry Pie Filling
1 pkg. white cake mix
15 oz. crushed pineapple
1 cup margarine
1/2 cup chopped waluts

Sread un-drained pineapple on bottom of 9x13 pan. Add cherry pie filling. Sprinkle cake mix on top. Slice margarine on top. Add nuts. Do not stir. Bake about one hour in 350 oven. Top with cool whip or ice cream.

Strawberry Dessert

This has always been one of our favorite cakes.

1 white cake mix
1 pkg. strawberry danish dessert
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 pint whipping cream
2 pkg. frozen strawberries

Make cake according to directions on package; cool. Mix softened cream cheese with powdered sugar. In a separate bowl, ship cream. Fold cream cheese mixture into whipped cream. Spoon on top of cooled cake and chill for 2 hours. Drain juice from strawberries into a saucepan. Add 1 cup water and the Danish dessert. Cook, stirring constantly, over high heat until it comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and fold in strawberries. Allow to cool for 20 minutes or so. Spoon over cake/cream cheese and chill for 2 more hours.

Easy Pretzel Turtles

I found this recipe at http://www.ourbestbites.com/ and Henry made many batches of these to give away for Christmas 09. 

Rolo candies - one bag has about 55 candies
Pecan halves - or optionally peanuts, cashews, and m&m's
Optional: almond bark or white chocolate for drizzling

This is easy as can be! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place pretzels on a parchment lined baking sheet. I like to use parchment paper for easy handling, but you can also put them on foil, a silpat, or directly onto the cookie sheet.

Unwrap your Rolo candies and place one on top of each pretzel like a cute little hat.


Place pan in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Any longer is probably too long. You just want the chocolate on the outside to look glossy and melty, but they should still hold their shape.

Remove pan from oven and take a pecan and gently press it right into the center of the chocolate candy.

small pretzels.If you want to get fancy you can give them a little drizzle of almond bark or white chocolate. Just melt some in a plastic baggie and nip the corner off to drizzle. A little goes a long way; I used a half a square of almond bark for half a batch and had plenty left over.

Raspberry Bars

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam
Glaze:
2 to 3 Tbsp. water
1 cup powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar. Blend flour in, as you would pie crust. Sprinkle water over. Blend . Keep mist. Roll 1/3 of dough on flour surface. Roll into log on cookie sheet. With side of finger make a groove down the center. Roll in nuts. Place on un-greased cookie sheet. bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Fill with jam. Bake 10 minutes. While hot put on powdered sugar glaze.

Holiday Rice Chex Mix

Aunt Renee Page's recipe. It is very yummy!

½ large box Corn Chex

½ large box Rice Chex

½ large box Golden Grahams

1 cup coconut (large unsweetened chips)

1 cup slivered almonds

Put in large bowl

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cubes butter

2 cups sugar

2 cups light Karo syrup

Bring to a boil, for about 7 minutes. Pour over cereal. Stir until covered. Let cool overnight on wax paper. 

Carmel Corn

Grandma Betty used to make this all the time for Halloween while I was growing up. She used to pass out popcorn balls to all the trick or treaters. How times have changes. 

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup karo syrup

Bring to a rolling boil and then add:

1 can condensed milk

1 square margarine

Bring to a boil again and pour over 2 quarts popcorn. Butter hands and mold into balls if desired.