Tag Archives: dessert

baked mango with brown sugar & cinnamon

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I have a quick, easy & delicious recipe to share with you today!

At the grocery store yesterday mangoes were on sale for $1. I never really ate mangoes until a year or so ago — I’ve always enjoyed mango-flavored things, like gelato and tea and smoothies, but for some reason buying the actual fruit at the store was intimidating to me.

Then Mike came into my life. As I’ve shared before, Mike loves trying new foods, especially exotic and intriguing fruits. On one of our first grocery trips together, he bought a mango and showed me how to test it for ripeness. We let it soften for a couple days until it had some give, like a ripe avocado. Then Mike showed me how to prepare it: slicing the fruit off from the core and peeling off the skin. I was surprised at how easy it was!

Ever since then, I’ve been enjoying mangoes on a fairly regular basis. Last night I was in the mood for something new, so I decided to try baking a mango, much in the way I’ve baked peaches and pears in the past.

baked mango with brown sugar & cinnamon

– 1 mango
– 1 tbsp brown sugar
– 1 tbsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice the mango away from the core and arrange the pieces, skin down, in a glass baking dish.

3. Sprinkle the slices with the brown sugar and cinnamon.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the sugar-cinnamon mixture starts to bubble. Peel off the skin and serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.

Mike and I enjoyed this as a healthy dessert tonight! I think it would also make a great snack, or even breakfast!

Hope you’re having a wonderful week! Make today a masterpiece!
-Dallas

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Time spent: 30 minutes {including bake time}
Cost: $1.00

lemon bars for my gramps

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I have always been especially close with my Gramps — I’m even named after him! {His middle name is Dallas.} I’m really grateful to be home for this week and get to spend time with my family. I love being able to just hop in the car, drive three minutes down the road, and pop into my Gramps’s house to say hi. We usually end up chatting over TCM movies, episodes of M*A*S*H or “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.”

Speaking of The Food Channel, my Gramps loves lemony desserts. Lemon meringue pie, lemon cake, lemon sorbet. He was diagnosed with cancer this past December {that is mercifully in remission now} but ever since undergoing radiation his taste buds really crave sour food. So I decided to make him some lemon bars after I was inspired by this recipe on a blog I love, Recipes Happen.

I’d never attempted lemon bars before, but these were easy-peasy and turned out really well! I like the shortbread texture of the crust mixed with the smooth tartness of the lemon and the sweetness of the powdered sugar on top.

gramps’s favorite lemon bars

for the crust:
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-1 cup flour
-1/3 cup powdered sugar

for the lemon topping:
– 1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar
– 3 eggs
– 3 tablespoons flour
– 1/3 cup lemon juice {I used two medium-sized lemons}
– zest from one lemon {about 2 tablespoons}
– powdered sugar to dust on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish and set aside.

2. Combine the softened butter, flour and sugar to make the crust. Dough will be crumbly. Press into the bottom of the baking dish and bake for 10 minutes.

3. While crust is baking, make the lemon topping: beat the eggs and add the sugar and flour. Juice the lemon and pour the juice through a sieve to make sure no seeds get into the dessert! Grate the lemon peel and add to the mixture. Blend well.

4. Pour the lemon topping over the hot crust and put back into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.

5. When done, lemon bars should be solid in the middle, not soupy. Dust with powdered sugar. I’d recommend letting them cool before attempting to cut them. {I personally think lemon bars are delicious refrigerated!}

Enjoy! Gramps and I sure did! 🙂

Hope you have a wonderful weekend with lots of time with your loved ones,
Dallas

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Time: 40 minutes {including bake time}
Cost: about $3.00

red velvet cupcakes with coconut cream-cheese frosting

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I like to bring my students baked goods as a surprise at the end of the term {that is, if they’ve been a good class — which so far, they always have been!} I had an especially wonderful creative writing class this summer so I decided to eschew the usual cookies or brownies for a special treat: homemade Red Velvet Cupcakes with this fabulous coconut cream-cheese frosting you might remember from my carrot cake recipe last month.

{Here are the finished cupcakes all ready to go to class:}

I have made Red Velvet cupcakes to great success from a boxed mix before — I like substituting applesauce for the oil to make them a little healthier while still retaining moistness. I am a big fan of the Duncan Hines Red Velvet boxed cake mix.

If you’re feeling more adventurous, like I was, here’s a recipe I was excited to find on the wonderful site Annie’s Eats to make Red Velvet cupcakes from scratch:

Ingredients:

for the cupcakes
– 2½ cups cake flour
– 1½ cups sugar
– 1 tsp. baking soda
– 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
– 1 tsp. salt
– 2 large eggs
– 1½ cups vegetable oil {I substituted 1 cup applesauce}
– 1 cup buttermilk
– 2 tbsp. (1 oz.) liquid red food coloring
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
– 1 tsp. distilled white vinegar

for the frosting:
– 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
– 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
– 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
– 1 tablespoon heavy cream
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon coconut flavoring {optional}
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend.

3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, vegetable oil {or applesauce}, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar. Beat by hand or with an electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.

4. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Beat until the batter is smooth.

5. Fill the cupcake tins about 3/4 of the way full.

6. Bake 15-18 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. While cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter in a mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with heavy cream. Beat in the salt, coconut flavoring, and vanilla extract. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and spreadable. Add additional confectioners’ sugar if necessary to thicken the frosting, or more cream to thin. Stir in the coconut.

9. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, use a knife or a spatula to spread the frosting onto the top of each.

10. {Optional} I like to refrigerate the cupcakes for twenty minutes or so to let the frosting solidify.

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend!

Always,
Dallas
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Time spent: about 1 hour {including bake time}
Cost: $5-$7

marvelous monday guest post: energy-packed peanut-butter breakfast cookies

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Just like a calm, organized and productive morning can set a great tone for the rest of your day, a marvelous Monday helps set the tone for a marvelous week! Personally, the more “together” I feel on Monday, the more prepared I feel to tackle all the projects I want to get done over the week. And what better way to start your Monday off on a marvelous note than with a yummy, healthy and energizing breakfast? I’ve got a recipe for you today that I promise will do just that!

I am so excited to share a guest post with you today: a recipe from my wonderful cousin Julie! I tried making these over the weekend and I’m looking forward to eating them for breakfast all week. YUM! ❤

Here’s what Julie has to say about this delicious and healthy recipe:

“I’ve tried many variations on these cookies — by substituting different nuts and dried fruits, adding some shredded coconut, swapping a teaspoon of honey for some of the sugar, etc. — and they always come out delicious! These make a good hearty breakfast, but if you don’t like too much sweetness early in the morning, they are also great as an afternoon snack or a healthy dessert.”

peanut-butter breakfast cookies

{makes one dozen cookies}
– 1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 egg
-1/4 cup nonfat powdered milk
-1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit
-chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and oatmeal to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat egg into sugar. Add peanut butter, powdered milk, raisins, and chocolate chips/nuts/oatmeal.

3. Spoon onto greased cookie sheets and bake for about 10 minutes.

You can make the dough ahead of time, keep it refrigerated, and make up as many or as few as you want at one time. {Making the dough the night before and popping a few in the toaster oven in the morning makes for a quick and tasty breakfast!}

Hope you enjoy! And thanks again Julie for sharing this recipe with us today!

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Time: 20 minutes {including bake time}

Cost: less than $5.00

blueberry pie

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Looking for a quick, easy, and antioxidant-filled summer dessert? Try this blueberry pie! I had never made a blueberry pie before so I was a little anxious about how it would turn out, but all I did was throw the ingredients together in a pie crust and pop it in the oven.

I modified the recipe from this one I found on Food.com and served mine with whipped cream.

Blueberry Pie

-1 pie crust {I used a premade shortbread pie crust but I think a graham cracker crust would be nice, too}
-1/4 cup sugar
-2 tbsp flour
-2 {overflowing} cups blueberries
-1 tsp lemon juice
-pinch of salt
-whipped cream {if desired; I used the Kroger-brand fat-free kind}

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour blueberries into a strainer and rinse them. Pat dry with a paper towel and pour them into a large bowl.

2. Add the flour and toss to coat the blueberries. Then add the sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Mix well, being careful not to mash the blueberries.

3. Pour the berry mixture into the pie crust.

4. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the blueberries start to bubble.

5. Top with whipped cream if desired.

YUM!

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Time spent: 10 minutes prep, 45-60 minutes baking
Money spent: $6.00