Category Archives: dessert

Chocolate Pudding Cake

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On Saturday evening, Mike was grilling steaks to celebrate our new deck and I threw together this tasty chocolate pudding cake.  I had seen a similar recipe on Something Swanky for Easy Hot Fudge Cake (wish she’d host a photography class…) late last week and it reminded me of this recipe.  However, I knew if I called it Hot Fudge Cake Mike would be 10 times more likely to eat it.  So I dug out my old “Heavenly Dishes” cookbook that my mom and my deceased ex-step-grandma bought for me (I have two copies) when I was around 9 and threw together this recipe, dubbed it Hot Fudge Cake instead of Chocolate Pudding Cake, and it was was enjoyed by all.

This was actually the first cake I ever made from scratch by myself.  It’s extremely easy — it is all mixed in the same 9×9 pan it’s baked in — and turns out super rich and gooey.  I remember eating it as a kid with milk poured on top.  However, it’s even better with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.  It’s very rich so a little goes a long way.  Definitely one of my ultimate comfort foods!

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Chocolate Pudding Cake
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Serves: 9
 
Ingredients
  • Cake:
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp. cocoa
  • ½ cup milk
  • 3 Tbsp. melted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Topping:
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup cocoa
  • 1½ cups water
Instructions
  1. Combine dry cake ingredients in a 9 inch square pan. Stir in milk, butter, and vanilla. Spread batter in pan. Mix topping sugars and cocoa together and sprinkle over batter. Pour water over all (do not mix) and bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm with cream.

 

Laura’s Eclair Cake

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I’m starting to wonder if my best bud Laura is trying to make me fat.  🙂  On Saturday evening, we got together to make tortellini and she made this delicious eclair cake for dessert.  She’s made it for me one other time and it always ends up being my nemesis.  I just can’t stop eating it.  I had two pieces on Saturday night and then she left the cake at my house — and I’ve eaten it for breakfast every day this week.  Healthy much?

Laura says that this recipe is quick and easy to pull together — the trick is that it needs to be made at least 24 hours in advance.  However, when you’re getting together for dinner that can be nice because it is all made and cleaned up in advance.  The best part — it’s delicious!  Even Mike, avid pudding hater, thinks this cake is pretty amazing!

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Laura's Eclair Cake
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 1 box graham crackers
  • 2 large packages instant French Vanilla pudding
  • 9 oz Cool Whip
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1 container chocolate icing
Instructions
  1. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with PAM. In a large bowl, combine the milk and pudding until thick. Fold in the Cool Whip. Place a layer of graham crackers over the bottom of the pan. Spread half of the pudding mixture over the top and add another layer of graham crackers, then the other half of the pudding mixture. Add the last layer of graham crackers (3 layers of crackers total). Microwave the icing for 30 seconds to 1 minute until pourable and pour over the top of the graham crackers. Chill for 24 to 48 hours before serving. This is a recipe that gets better with time!

 

Banana Pudding

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I’ve made this recipe four times in the last 5 days.  Yes, seriously.  Take it as evidence that this banana pudding is amazingly good — and that it’s super quick and easy to prepare — and that I’ve been making dinner and desserts for too many people this week!  I need a nap!  🙂

On Saturday, we celebrated my Mother-in-Laws’ birthday and she requested banana pudding and French Silk Pie.  I made a double-batch of both for her birthday celebration with the family.  On Sunday, I made it again as we hosted dinner for a friend and her family.  On Wednesday, I made it again, as we hosted Mike’s boss for dinner. Apparently, I’m on a banana pudding kick.

My mom first made this recipe for me when I was in high school and it became one of her staple dessert recipes since I enjoyed it so much.  I didn’t make it myself for the first time until a few years ago when my mom gave me a binder for Christmas of some of her most loved recipes.  Now, I know the recipe by heart, which makes it even easier!

This pudding receives 5 wooden spoons from my family.  We all love it.  Mike, Bo, and Clara refuse to eat bananas on theirs (so it’s really vanilla pudding…. details…) but both Anna and I like the bananas on ours.

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Banana Pudding
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Serves: 8-10
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pint heavy whipping cream
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1½ cups water
  • 1 small box Jell-O instant vanilla pudding
  • 1 box vanilla wafers
  • 2-3 bananas
Instructions
  1. In a mixing bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, water, and instant pudding mix -- mixing well to avoid lumps (I usually end up blending this with the hand mixer). Fold the whipped cream into the pudding mixture until combined and uniform in color. Layer the dessert by placing a layer of vanilla wafers, a layer of bananas, and topping with the pudding mixture. Repeat until all of the pudding is layered. Allow to chill for 2-3 hours before serving.

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

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We had a crazy busy weekend.  How we manage to fit so many things between the hours of 4 pm Friday and 7 am Monday is always a mystery to me — but some how we do — and have fun doing it!

Mike and I spent the night in Chicago on Saturday and followed it up on Sunday with two birthday celebrations with the kids.  The first was a birthday party that we attended and the second was a family dinner with the Cetwinski family at our house to make up for Riley’s 6th birthday party we missed the previous weekend when the trio was sick.  I took some short-cuts with our meal and our dessert — mostly because we arrived home only 2 hours before our guests were set to arrive.

Instead of making a meal, we ordered pizza, and instead of making homemade cupcakes, I just fancied up a box mix.  However, the resulting cupcakes were amazing!  I loosely based this on the idea behind the Oreo Cupcakes I made previously.  These were quick to throw together and truly tasted fancy — as we discussed that evening, they were much better than some of the local cupcake shops we’ve tried.  They are definitely worth a bake!

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Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
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Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • 2 bags individual peanut butter cups
  • 1 box chocolate cake mix
  • ½ cup canola oil
  • ¾ cup water
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
  • 5 Tbsp. butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 bag miniature peanut butter cups (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners. Place a peanut butter cup (regular size) in the bottom of each tin. Prepare cake mix according to package instructions. Fill each cupcake liner ¾ full. Bake for 18-22 minutes.
  2. Once the cupcakes have cooled, prepare the frosting. Cream together the peanut butter and butter. Add the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until well combined. Add the milk to reach the desired creaminess and texture for the frosting. I used a Ziplock bag to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
  3. To garnish, cut miniature peanut butter cups in half and place on top of each cupcake.

 

Snow Day Ice Cream

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If you’re in one of the many states currently experiencing a winter storm, let me introduce you to a beautiful little secret – snow ice cream.  My kiddos aren’t huge fans of hot chocolate – I think in part because it’s hot.  Bo will drink it but it truly isn’t something that the kids are excited about.  (And yes, I find this very strange — personally, I love hot chocolate.  Maybe when they are a bit older!)

The trio was dismissed from school early today and Mike’s work closed early as well due to our winter storm.  I had everyone home for the afternoon and we made the most of it by playing out in the snow.  We “helped” Mike shovel the driveway (he mostly used the snow blower) and then built a snowman and a snow fort in the yard.

After we stripped off our wet snow pants and boots, I threw together this snow ice cream – literally in minutes.  This recipe is extremely easy and provides instant gratification.  The trio all sat on the barstools at the counter and slurped this up in no time.  It’s delicious!  If you like vanilla ice cream, I promise this will be a recipe you will enjoy!

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Snow Day Ice Cream
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Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 3 Tbsp good quality vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • snow
Instructions
  1. In a medium bowl, combine the white sugar with the vanilla. Add the milk and heavy cream and stir until well combined. Using an ice cream scoop or measuring scoop, scoop packed snow into individual bowls (I filled a large bowl with snow and brought it inside). Pour cream mixture over the top of each scoop until it looks coated and absorbed. Serve immediately.

Vegan Banana Bread with Coconut Oil and Flax

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The picture doesn’t begin to do this banana bread justice.  It’s delicious!  Moist, yummy, and highly munchable.  My kids love it.  So much so that Clara and Anna got in trouble on Friday afternoon for ripping chunks of the warm loaf off and eating them in the kitchen while I was folding laundry.  Needless to say, even though the picture isn’t great, our loaf of banana bread didn’t look this nice for long…

I originally developed this recipe when I was out of eggs and wanted to make banana bread by replacing the eggs with flax.  I loved how it turned out so much that I’ve made it this way numerous times.  I think it yields a more flavorful loaf — with loads of extra fiber!

We ate this bread for dessert on Friday and breakfast on Saturday.   Gotta love recipes that double as a dessert and a breakfast! This banana bread receives 4 Wooden Spoons from our family.  Mike won’t touch anything that has banana involved.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Vegan Banana Bread with Coconut Oil and Flax
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Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbsp flax seed mixed with 6 Tbsp water
  • 2 medium sized very ripe bananas, mashed
  • ½ cup sugar (I am sure you could replace with agave or honey, but I haven't tried it)
  • ½ cup applesauce
  • 3 Tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1.5 C flour (white/wheat/or a mixture)
  • ½ tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. In a measuring cup, combine flax and water and stir. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas with the sugar, applesauce, and vanilla. Add the flax mixture and then add the baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until just combined. Bake for 55 minutes. Moist and delicious! This recipe makes 1 loaf.

 

OREO Cupcakes

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Last Friday, we celebrated the Kilmartin trio’s birthday’s with bowling and pizza.  I volunteered to make the cupcakes — any excuse to bake some sweet sugary goodness!

That morning, I settled on OREO cupcakes.  These cupcakes spice up a traditional boxed cake mix, but could easily be made completely from scratch as well.  If you’re a cookies-n-cream fan, you’ll love these.  They smell and taste delicious!

All of the kids enjoyed these cupcakes.  And so did the grown-ups too!  I sent the leftovers home with Laura so I wouldn’t devour all of them myself!

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OREO Cupcakes
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Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • 1 bag OREO cookies
  • 1 Devil's Food cake mix
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 - 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • mini OREO to garnish (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake cups with liners and place one OREO in the bottom of each cup. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Mine called for 3 eggs, ½ cup vegetable oil, and ½ cup water. Once the mix is prepared, chop half of the remaining OREOs into bite sized pieces and fold into the cake mix. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each cupcake liner until it is ¾ full. Bake according to package directions.
  2. Allow the cupcakes to cool and then prepare the frosting. Using a blender or food processor, puree the remaining OREOs into crumbs. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until well combined. Add the vanilla. Slowly add the powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Fold in the OREO crumbs. Scoop the frosting mixture into a large Ziploc bag. Cut the end off one side of the bag to pipe the frosting on to each cupcake. Garnish with a mini OREO if desired.

 

Laura’s Butterscotch Snack Cake

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I’m alive — we’ve been drowning in Christmas celebrations and I’m finally starting to come up for air now that the kids are back in school.  We’ve had so much fun, but returning to our normal routine is kind of nice too. 🙂

You’ve seen my friend Laura’s recipes here before.  We manage to share a meal with our families fairly regularly and recently enjoyed a fun trip to the Dells together.  We are always doing something fun!  She first made this cake for a girl’s night at my house last year — and left the leftovers at my house.  I picked at the cake for days — eating it for breakfast, lunch, snacks, until it was finally gone.  It’s one of those cakes that I think about obsessively when I know it’s sitting on the counter.  Let’s just say I don’t recommend making this if losing weight is part of your resolution this year…

This cake is loved by all — including my trio.  It’s moist, sweet, and ridiculously quick and easy!

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Laura's Butterscotch Snack Cake
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 1 - 3.5 oz Butterscotch Cook and Serve Jell-O Pudding
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 yellow cake mix
  • 1 - 11 oz. butterscotch chips
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. In saucepan, combine pudding and milk and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in dry cake mix. Pour into a 13x9 inch pan sprayed with PAM. Sprinkle with chips and nuts. Bake for 35 minutes.

 

Pumpkin Roll

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Last Wednesday, Mike and I spent the afternoon baking for Thanksgiving.  Mike made chocolate pecan bars and I made pumpkin pies, pumpkin roll, and pecan pie.  I first made this pumpkin roll in September of 2001 using a recipe from AllRecipes.com.  That feels like the dark ages — I was in college, it was pre-Mike, and very pre-Pinterest.

Luckily, AllRecipes.com saves all of my past recipes so I was easily able to find the recipe and thought it would be relatively painless to pull together as I’ve made it several times and never had any issue.  However, since I’m all about keeping it real, here’s a picture of what my first attempt at this pumpkin roll came out looking like last week.

Yeah, there was no way I was serving that at our Thanksgiving dinner.  Mike ran to the store to obtain the ingredients I needed to try again (cream cheese) and the photo above is of the finished product that turned out much more appealing.  I think the issue with the first roll is that the cake was not fully cooked.  I baked it the 15 minutes noted on the original recipe but for the second I baked for 18 minutes.  I also let the successful cake cool longer than the original recipe states – I let it cool almost an hour instead of the 20 minutes recommended.

This pumpkin roll is always a hit and went over well at our Thanksgiving gathering.  It’s the filling that makes it so delicious.  Anna thought so anyway…


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Pumpkin Roll
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice
  • 1 - 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a 9x13 inch jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with parchment and spray with Baking PAM.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, eggs, and lemon juice. Add the sugar, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and flour, stirring well to combine. Spread the mixture evenly on the to the prepared pan and bake for 15 to 18 minutes.
  3. Lay a damp linen towel on the counter and sprinkle it with confectioner's sugar. Turn the cake onto the towel and roll the towel up with the cake in it. Place the rolled cake-in-towel on a cooling rack and cool for at least 40 minutes.
  4. To prepare the filling, blend the cream cheese (soften in the microwave for 10 seconds if needed), butter, and vanilla. Once combined, add the powdered sugar and blend well.
  5. When the cake has cooled, unroll it and spread the filling. Immediately re-roll and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate and cut into slices to serve.

 

S’more Bars

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I made these bars a few weeks ago when we were going to the Kilmartin’s to watch the Bears game.  I’d originally planned to make cookies but there were three king size Hershey Bars sitting on our counter that one of our neighbors gave the kids for Halloween. I’ve religiously pinned every s’mores recipe that comes across my feed on Pinterest so I knew there would be a recipe there that would satisfy my love of s’mores and use the Hershey bars in one fell swoop.

I used this recipe from Sugar Cooking as the base recipe for my s’more bars with a few minor adjustments.  My bars are extra marshmallowy and gooey due to extra marshmallow fluff and they definitely aren’t as beautiful as hers!

I really enjoyed these bars but I miss the roasted flavor of the marshmallow.  I’m one of those people who likes their marshmallows blackened, so obviously these s’mores didn’t provide the cancer-causing carcinogens I was craving from blacked sugar molecules.  However, the gooey factor is definitely there — and they are definitely ooey and messy.  Yum!

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S'more Bars
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Serves: 9
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter, room temperature
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 king-sized milk chocolate bars
  • 2 (8 oz) containers marshmallow fluff
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with PAM. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix until well combined.
  2. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff.
  3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned.