Fresh Strawberry Pie

Just ate some of this pie tonight.  My brother and sister-in-law are staying with us, so of course I get to host and impress.  This Strawberry Pie was perfect for the occasion of a Monday night, "sit around the table" and catch up, laugh and converse with each other. What makes this pie different than any other pie you have ever tasted?

{its fresh}


I am not a huge pie crust maker.  There are other people who do just as good of a job (thank you Marie Calendar's Pie Crusts).  It's only about $3 for TWO crusts-totally worth my time to not make crust.  The secret to this amazing pie is not in the crust...

The fruit filling is divinely delicious.  You cannot have good fruit pie if you use fruit filling from a box or a can.  

DON'T EVER DO IT!!  

Especially not once I give you the yummiest fruit filling recipe there is.

The Pie

Pie crust
2 pounds strawberries
Fruit pie filling (see below)
Whip cream

Bake your pie crust and cool completely.  Cook your fruit pie filling and cool completely.  Wash, cut and dry 2 pounds of strawberries (halves work best).  Layer strawberries at the bottom of the pie crust. Pour 1/4 of the fruit pie filling over the first layer.  Layer with more strawberries.  Pour half of the remaining fruit filling over the pie.  Place the remaining strawberries on the pie and cover the entire pie with the remaining fruit filling.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Before serving, cut slices and top with whip cream.



Fruit Pie Filling

1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed {straw}berries (I puree mine in a blender or food processor)
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
3 teaspoons lemon juice

Cook in a medium saucepan on medium heat-stirring constantly-until thick. Wait until cool to pour over fruit pie. 


There are many {best} parts about this pie, but do you want to know one of the best parts of this pie-you can make this with any of your favorite fruits.

My 2 favorites are {strawberries and peaches}.

I think I am going to go help myself to some more of this decadently, scrumptious, fresh fruit pie.  Mmmmm.....

Cookies + Cream {Cake}

I sort of have 2 stories that led me to this one amazing creation I made this past weekend.

Story {#1}

I am obsessed with Cake Boss.  I am no cake decorator, but my creative juices for baking go wild as I watch this show.  And I love the amazing cakes that I would have never even imagined possible be created.  During one episode, they added Oreo cookies to cake creme fillings to make a cookies and cream cake...I was sold-I had to try it! But I had never made my own cake filling before-time to experiment.  I was literally giddy as I put together my Cookies 'n Cream cake.

Story {#2)

Sometimes pinterest can lead you to unkind territory-unwanted failure.  I have tried a few creations that turn out horrible.  But again and again I try because to be honest-half of the fun is not know what the final result of this "claimed to be amazing" recipe is.  So I saw it again-"The BEST" cake recipe to ever exist.  I was somewhat skeptical at first, but I saw it all over Pinterest {Plastered everywhere}  It had to be good right?  So I followed the crowd on this one and decided to give it a try.


So Here it is:

I made that "Perfect Vanilla Cake" that has been circulating around Pinterest-and I'd have to say, it was pretty dang good.  My suggestion-follow the directions exactly!


The CREME filling:

{be sure roll your R's as you say cream to get the full effect of how giddy I was as I made this cake}

1/2 pint whip cream
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding
1 sleeve crushed oreo cookies

Whip the first 3 ingredients.  Add the vanilla pudding and mix well by hand.  Let stand for 5 minutes to allow the pudding to completely dissolve into the whip cream-and watch the magic happens as it thickens into richly divine goodness.  Mix in the Oreo cookie crumbs.

Once the cake is completely cooled-fill the center of the cake.  This is going to be a nice and THICK layer! 


{Side Note}:  If you don't want to make a cookies and cream cake-add rasberries to the cream, or grasshopper cookies, or pecans, or chocolate chips, or slivered almonds, or strawberries to make this cake whatever flavor you want it to be!

thesweetruffle.blogspot.com

Then Frost away using your favorite cake frosting.  I used THIS buttercream frosting.  It was pretty dang good, but-a little too buttery for me (I know...it was BUTTERcream, but still...)


And here is the final product

thesweetruffle.blogspot.com

(remember I am not a cake decorator-but I also know I could have done a better job on the cake-I was making the cake to surprise my hubby for his birthday and he was on his way home from work and so I had to hurry!)


Even though the colors on this cake are somewhat plain-this really was the best cake I have ever tasted-and I am a pretty hard critic when it comes to cakes.

I am totally open to new frosting recipe's too-still looking for that perfect one!

Caramel Grasshopper {icecream}

If you could not already tell, I am obsessed with {CARAMEL}

Put Caramel in any dessert and it automatically makes it better! At least thats what I live by.

I would like to introduce the easiest, but yummiest ice cream dessert you will ever make!

Best Part: {you only need 3 ingredients!}

mint chocolate chip icecream, caramel, oreos

In a food processor, blender or good old fashioned smashing by hand-take 1/2 a package of Oreos (or 1 1/2 sleeves) and crumble well (the smaller the chunks for the bottom layer, the better. I am sure you could use either regular or double stuffed.  I have only used regular, but I bet if you use double stuffed the crust might stick together better.

The Ingredients

Place crumbs in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Using your caramel sauce (and Smuckers really is the best tasting and easiest to use) cover the entire surface area of the Oreo crumbs.

Open your ice cream container (I love using the cardboard containers that you can completely rip open because you can then slice your ice-cream like you would a loaf of bread-it makes life much easier) and layer using entire ice cream container.

Then crumble the rest of the oreo package (or 1 1/2 sleeves of oreos).  Layer on top of the ice cream and then coat with caramel syrup. Freeze until serving!

Make sure you make this dessert ahead of time to give it time to set back up in the freezer! 

I have eaten this dessert year around!  Ice cream is always so delish for the summer months, but somehow the minty-ness of it makes me think of the winter holidays.

Anytime I have served this dessert I get a TON of compliments.  In fact, my hubby who doesn't even like mint desserts-LOVES this ice cream dessert!  

{And if you don't even want to take the time to make a full on dessert, but just want a late night treat all to yourself-make yourself up a bowl with the combination of Oreos, mint ice-cream, and caramel and I can guarantee you will be in heaven!}

Chewy Chocolatey Marshmallow Brownies

This recipe was handed down to me from my mom.  I'm not sure where she got it from, but any recipe you can find in my moms collection is guaranteed to be not just great, but the best!  I am a pretty good baker, but I don't know if I could ever aspire to reach my moms level of greatness.

She has made these brownies for as long as I can remember.  Sometimes with the marshmallows and sometimes without, but we ALWAYS have the {frosting}!

My favorite time to eat these is on a hot summer day with a bowl full of homemade strawberry ice cream. Or on a cold winters night, snuggled up in a blanket, satisfying my winter chocolate craving.

You can make these in a 9x13 baking dish as you would regular square brownies.  Or you can make them as 24 individual cupcake brownies-{especially if you want to make an impressive dessert for your upcoming party.}

There is a gooey-ness about marshmallows and chocolate combined that seems to just make about any moment in life perfectly satisfying.

Brownies

1 cup butter (2 cubes-at room temperature)

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons salt

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and and vanilla and beat well until very creamy looking.  Add dry ingredients and mix in well. The batter with be thick.

Grease your cooking pan well-either a 9x13 baking dish or 2 cupcake pans (enough for 24 cupcakes).  Pour brownie batter into your baking dish.  

Bake at 350 degrees.

9x13 pan-cook for 25 minutes, take brownies out and cover entire surface with marshmallows and place back in the oven for 3-4 minutes, or until marshmallows look about double their size.

Cupcake pan-cook for 13 minutes, take out and cover tops of cupcakes with marshmallows (about 10-12 minis). Place back in oven for 2-3 more minutes.

Wait until brownies are completely cool to frost.

If you are one of those imitation vanilla users-I can gurantee you that these brownies will be a million times better if you use {REAL VANILLA EXTRACT} in the frosting!

Frosting

1/4 cup soft butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup cocoa

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

milk to consistency you prefer (I use about 1/4 cup)

Beat all together and frost away!  It is much easier frosting marshmallow once it is completely cooled!  If you are frosting the cupcakes-remove them from the cupcake pan before frosting-it will make your life much easier.

Mmmm...my mouth is watering for this gooey goodness just thinking about them!

Enjoy!

S'More Bars

{If you can't get to the campfire...bring the campfire taste to you!}

S'more bars

1 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

4 king size Hershey bars (or 8 regular size)
2 cans marshmallow creme/fluff

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients (graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, salt).  Add to wet ingredients and mix well.

Split bar dough in half and press first half in the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Cover dough with Hershey chocolate bars.  Then on top of the bars add spread the marshmallow creme (it is super sticky-I have found a spatula works best to spread this).

With the remaining half of the bar dough, take sections and smash between the palm of your hands and place it on top of the marshmallow creme until it is completely covered (its like putting puzzle pieces together!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes.

Party Ideas:
-Coming soon: Feature on having a S'more party with a lot of fun ways to serve and eat S'mores...

{There's a reason they were named S'mores}

Fruit Tarts

{I took these to a party last night and it was the ONLY dessert that got completely polished off-they are my favorite!}

Crust

1 cup butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups flour


Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs and almond extract and beat well into the mixture, almost to the point to where it looks whipped.  Add the flour, and BEFORE mixing add the remaining dry ingredients-then mix all the dry ingredients into the dough together.

The dough will seem sticky.  Wrap it in one big ball with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for a least 3-4 hours.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a cookie scoop-scoop dough and make sure it is level in the scoop (if there is more it will be too much dough for each tart).  Plop the scoop into the slot of a MINI muffin's tin (Do not grease your tin).  Then gently press down in the middle of the dough forming a small crater.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-11 minutes.  Each tart should look somewhat doughy/greasy in the middle but nicely browned around the edges.

Remove muffin tin from the oven, and cool for NO MORE than 5 minutes (if you wait any longer the dough sets and you will not be able to make a bowl to fill cream in the middle).

The way I remove each of these from the tin is by using the cap of a water bottle (as pictured below).  I turn the water bottle upside down, and firmly press right in the middle of the crust forming a perfect cavity to fill with cream.  The tart should come up with the water bottle as you pull it out.  Place the crust on a cooling rack, and cool until no longer warm.

Cream Filling

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 package softened cream cheese (8 oz.)


1/2 pint whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract

You will need two separate bowls.  In one bowl, beat the cream cheese until the consistency seems silky.  Add the brown sugar and beat well (the mixture will look brown-but don't fear it will turn white again).

In the second bowl, whip the whip cream with the sugar and almond extract.  Then fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.  Make sure it is well mixed.

Scoop cream mixture into a gallon size ziplock bag (unless you have a pastry bag-then for sure go ahead and use that). Cut a dime size hole out of the bottom corner of the bag and use it to fill the cream in each mini crust.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Right before serving, garnish with whatever fruit you would like to place on top! 

{My personal favorites are raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries}

Party Ideas

-Decorate with blueberries and strawberries and make mini flags out of these for the 4th of July!

-If you want to make these even a little more fancy for a Bridal Shower, dip the bottom of each crust in some chocolate and then place on parchment paper to firm before filling with cream and fruit.

-Serve a refreshing finger food dessert at your next summer BBQ

-Garnish with tropical fruits (pineapple, kiwi, mango) and have a LUAU

Pina Colada Cupcakes

Cupcakes

1 box Pillsbury white cake mix

1 can crushed pineapple (20 oz can)

1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)

3 eggs

Dump cake mix into a mixer.  Beat eggs and add to the cake mix. Add the coconut oil to the mix and beat in well (you want to make sure it is well beaten so that the coconut oil doesn't solidify as you add the rest of the ingredients)  Open can of crushed pineapple and drain 1/4 cup of the juice and save it for the frosting.  Add the remaining pineapple and juices to the cake mix and whip the mixture well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners.  Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 the way full with cupcake batter.  Bake for the instructed time on the cake box (about 20 minutes)

While they are cooking you can make the frosting.

Frosting

1 cube butter (room temp)

3 1/2 cups powder sugar

2 teaspoons coconut creme (see below)

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup pineapple juice

milk for desired consistency

dash of salt

Shredded coconut for garnish

Open can of coconut creme and whip it for about 2 minutes (you are only using about 2 teaspoons of this creme but it stores well...so put the rest in an air tight container and put it in the fridge).  Cream together the soft butter, coconut creme and sugar.  Add almond extra, pineapple juice, and dash of salt and continue to mix.  If you would like your frosting to be slightly thinner so that it glazes the cupcakes (like shown in picture) add a little bit of milk.

Once cupcakes are cooled. Frost the cupcakes and add coconut to the top.  The frosting does set after letting the cupcakes stand for a few minutes.

{ENJOY yourself as you take a mini vacation to somewhere tropical while these tickle your taste buds!!}

I had always wanted to use coconut creme in a recipe but had never tried it before.  I picked some up at our local Trader Joes.  I didn't realize that it actually has a really bitter taste to it, but when the right amount is added to the frosting, it gives it a perfect coconut hint of flavor! 

Party Ideas

-Serve these at a summer luau or Hawaiian themed party

-These are great for any beach themed party too.

Oreo Truffles

1 package DOUBLE stuff oreos (you need the extra cream to hold the truffle together)
1 8 oz. package cream cheese (room temperature)
Dipping chocolate (white or milk chocolate)

{Yes folks, those are the only ingredients you are going to need!}

In a blender, or food processor (which is my preference...until I get one of those fancy smoothie blenders...sigh...) blend all the oreos until there are no chunks.  The finer the crumbs, the better the truffle.

Set a small amount (about 1/8 cup) of the oreo crumbs to use as garnish for the top of the truffle.  Add the cream cheese and with the back of a spoon, pushing the mixture repeatedly up against the bowl, make sure the cream cheese and oreo crumbs are well combined.

Use a cookie scoop to ball the oreo mixture, and then roll in the palm of your hands.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and then stick the balls in the freezer for 30 minutes.

While the balls are in the freezer, melt your dipping chocolate according to the instructions on the package. 

{Make sure your chocolate is cooled before dipping the Oreo balls, or else your chocolate will crack when it hardens}

When the 30 minutes are up, drop one ball at a time into the chocolate and then using a fork fetch it out and place back on the parchment paper (I like to use a fork because then the excess chocolate can fall through the cracks, whereas a spoon you might pull up too much extra chocolate as you spoon the truffle out).  While the chocolate is still soft (and it hardens FAST because the balls just came from the freezer) sprinkle the extra Oreo crumbs on top.

{Enjoy!!}

I dropped these off at a baby shower I was unable to attend and I have never had so many people seek me out to ask how I made them.  I also sent these to work with my hubby and I was basically proposed to by another man...They are that good!

Party Ideas:
-these really are great to serve at any party as a finger-food dessert.  I served them at my husbands graduation party and they were one of the first things gone!
-Baby shower-add food coloring to your white chocolate before dipping to match the theme of the shower.
-Use these as dirt mounds to decorate a "truck or tractor" themed cake.
-Place them on sticks and they suddenly become Oreo pops.

Ice Cream Caramel Crumble

The most delicious summer caramel dessert you will ever have.  I couldn't even get a picture of the put together product because it was eaten so fast!



Caramel Crumble

2 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup oats (minute or regular)
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt


2 cups smuckers caramel syrup (it is important you use GOOD caramel in this dessert)
1 half gallon vanilla ice cream.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil, and spray foil with non-stick spray.  Mix the first 6 ingredients with either a fork or pastry, until all ingredient appear wet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Edges should be light brown.  When you take the crumble out of the oven, lift foil and immediately dump onto baking sheet to crumble the mixture.

Wait until crumble is completely cooled.  Place half the crumble in the bottom of a square-8x8 or 9x9 dish (and technically you really can use a 9x13-the crumble ice cream ratio just isn't quite as great as I would like it to be).  Top with half the caramel syrup.  Scoop out icecream on top of caramel layer (you may not use ALL of the ice cream-unless you make it in the 9x13 dish).  Run a metal spoon in HOT water and smooth the ice cream over before placing top layer.  Using remaining half of crumble, sprinkle on top of ice cream and drizzle rest of caramel syrup.

Cover and freeze overnight.

{If you are taking this dessert to an event, make sure you do not make it the DAY of-it will be "soupy"}

Party Ideas:
-Bring this dessert to every party and you will pretty much be everybody's favorite person ever.
-Have an ice cream open bar and make the crumble as one of the choice toppings.

Fiesta Salsa

This salsa is perfect for any summer party, or for a late night craving!

Fiesta Salsa

4-5 medium sized roma tomatoes
1 avocado
1 1/2 cups frozen corn (defrosted but not heated)
1/2 onion (red or yellow)
1 can black beans (rinsed and dried)
2 Tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
chopped cilantro
hot sauce (optional)

Chop the tomatoes, avocado, onion and cilantro.  Add ingredients and mix well.  Chill until ready to serve.

{If you're like me, you won't be able to wait to dip that first chip right in}

Party Ideas:

Fill "Tostitos Scoops" tortilla chips and arrange platter to serve.