Sweet Dreams Pie

 

We have had a wonderful vacation away from the blog, but at the same time it is great to be back sharing our new adventures in cooking with all of you. We have been so busy with just life in general it’s great to be back cooking and enjoying our passion in food.  Anyone who knows me will not be surprised that we are back and to starting things off with a dessert recipe, I really do love my sweets.  I heard about this idea over the summer and of course I had to try my hand at making my own version, the idea was to use cinnamon rolls as a pie crust for apple pie.  WOW, what a cool idea this was and so simple to boot and I love simple.

 

12.4 oz. - Pillsbury Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

21 oz. - Wilderness More Fruit Apple Pie Filling

1/4 C. - Smuckers Caramel Topping

1/2 C. - Sun-Maid Golden Raisins

9 Inch - Pie Plate

Crumble Topping:

1C. - Flour

1 C. - Brown Sugar

1/2 C. - Soften Butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl combine the flour, butter and brown sugar using a fork to create small pea sized lumps of crumble.  Set into the fridge while you make the crust.  Open the container of cinnamon rolls and set aside the cream cheese icing.  Roll each cinnamon roll into a 4-5 inch circle, place the first round into the center of the pie plate then surround with the other rounds.  Press together using your fingers and also pressing up the side of the pie plate to create your crust.  In a mixing bowl combine the apple pie filling, caramel sauce and raisins then pour into the prepared pie crust and top with the crumble. Bake for about 1 hour or until the topping is golden brown, let cool for another hour before serving.  Once ready to serve spoon the reserved cream cheese topping into a microwave safe dish and heat for 10 seconds or until easy to drizzle over the pie.  The pie can then be served alone or with either vanilla ice cream or whip topping.   

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Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish

 

My husband and I love cream cheese danish, when I was a kid and the family would go to Cannon Beach during the summer.  We would always stop at this cute little bakery in town and I always go the cream cheese danish.  I love the buttery, flaky pastry and the creamy cheese filling.  While I was looking at some of my favorite blogs the other day I popped into “The Country Cook” and she had made shortcut apple danish that look so tempting to me, I knew I would just simply have to make my own version at home.  I wanted to take her fruit idea and mix it with my favorite part of the danish, the cheese filling. These make a great morning breakfast with some coffee, a wonderful afternoon snack with some milk or a simple dessert after dinner.

  

Danish:

• 2 Tubes - Pillsbury Butter Flaky Crescent Rolls
• 1 Can - Wilderness Strawberry Pie Filling
• 2 Tbs. - Butter (melted)

Filling:

• 1 8 oz - Cream Cheese (soft)
• 1/2 C. - Powder Sugar
• 1/4 C. - Milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Separate the dough into eight rectangles.  Seal the perforations.  Using a pastry brush spread the butter over the rolls.  Roll up the dough from the long side: pinch the edges to seal.  Hold one end of the dough loosely coil into a circle.  Make an indentation in the center with your fingers and create a crater for the filling and fruit.

In a mixing bowl add the cream cheese, powder sugar and milk.  Mix until fully, blended and smooth.  Place about 1/2 tbs. of cheese filling into the center of the Danish, then top with about 1/2 tbs. of strawberry filling.  Bake these for about 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Once cool you can serve them plain, drizzle with a powder sugar glaze, or add a little more milk to the cheese filling to thin it out and drizzle across the danish.

Makes 8 

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White Chicken Lasagna

My family really loves lasagna; in my opinion my husband makes the best traditional lasagna I have ever had.  But, I really wanted to try white lasagna, when it comes to pizza I am a bigger fan of the white sauce over the red so I figured white sauce lasagna must be good too.  I think this was a great recipe but I would have liked a little more sauce so next time I will up the milk by another 1/2 c and also maybe instead of just using milk I might change to half and half for a more creamier sauce.  Other than that this lasagna really did taste wonderful, it was a very nice change from the traditional lasagna I am used to.

• 2 C. - Boneless Skinless Chicken (I used a store bought rotisserie chicken)
• 1 14oz. - Can Artichoke Hearts (chopped)
• 1/2 C. - Chopped Sun-Dried Tomatoes (I used some packed in herbs and olive oil)
• 8 oz. - Package Mozzarella Cheese (shredded)
• 1/2 C. - Parmesan Cheese (grated)
• 2 8oz. - Cream Cheese (softened)
• 1 C. - Milk (or 1 1/2c. half & half)
• 1 Tbs. - Garlic (minced)
• 2 Tbs. - Chopped Basil (I used the kind in a squeeze tube)
• 12 - Lasagna Noodles (cooked)

SIDE NOTE ON NOODLES: (generally we don’t cook the noodles first, but being not enough liquid to cook properly, it would be best to cook at least half way through, too ensure being done)

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Combine the chicken, artichokes, tomatoes, 1 c. mozzarella and the Parmesan.  Beat the cream cheese, milk and garlic with a mixer until well blended and smooth, then stir in the basil.  Mix half of the sauce with the chicken.  Spread half of the remaining sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish: cover with 3 of the noodles and 1/3 of the chicken mixture.  Repeat layers of noodles and chicken two more times then top with the remaining sauce and mozzarella cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes or until heated through. Remove the foil and place under the broiler until brown and gooey.  Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

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Nutella Peanut Butter Cake

My mother-in-law has Celiac Disease so I wanted to find a new dessert idea for Easter Dinner; I was looking on Facebook the other day and noticed a flour-less cake recipe that Foodista had posted from Kirbie's Cravings. It of course grabbed my attention; the other cool thing about this recipe is that it only had 2 ingredients. A 2 ingredient recipe that was also flour-less, WOW I so had to make this for sure. I did tweak this recipe with 1 more item to make it more my own and to add one more flavor component that I simply love with chocolate.

4 - Eggs

1 C. - Nutella

1/3 C. - Peanut Butter

Put in 4 Ramekin Dishes

Heat oven to 350 degrees, place the eggs into a stand mixer and beat on high until double in size, this will take about 5 minutes. In the mean time place the Nutella and peanut butter into a large glass bowl and microwave for about 20 seconds just to loosen them up. Pour 1/3 of the egg mixture into the Nutella and fold in until no egg remains, do this step two more times until all of the egg is well incorporated into the Nutella. Divide the batter between the 4 ramekins dishes then place onto a baking sheet for easy transport in and out of the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Garnish with some chocolate shavings, whipped topping or a few sliced berries, these little cakes can be served warm, room temp or cold.

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Pineapple Upside Down Cookies

My husband and I were talking Christmas cookies the other day, he was asking if I could make a pineapple upside down cookie this year since he loves the cake so much. I started looking online to see what I could find to make these little gems for him; I was really surprised at how many versions I ran across. After about 10 minutes of looking I found the perfect recipe for me, it used a box cake mix. I knew this would turn out amazing and also be quick and easy.

4 - Eggs
1/2 C. - Oil
1 C. - Candied Cherries (chopped)
1 C. - Candied Pineapple (chopped)
18.25 Oz. - Pineapple Cake Mix (you will need 2 boxes)
1/4 C. - Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. - Butter (soft)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix eggs, oil and 1 box of cake mix using either your stand mixer or hand mixer. Once combined mix in the other cake mix then fold in the candied fruit, this mix will be very thick. In another dish mix together the butter and brown sugar, then set aside. On a parchment lined baking sheet place about 1 inch balls of dough about 2 inches apart then sprinkle with a little of the brown sugar butter mix. Bake the cookies for 8-11 minutes or just until the edges are golden brown. Let cool on the rack for 1 minute then transfer to a cooling rack. My husband was very happy that I found this recipe and made these cookies for him, they were so easy to make and are big on flavor.

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