Tag: Desserts

Blog

Easy Cinnamon Apple Crisp

By Kendra

This easy apple crisp or apple crumble recipe (depending on what part of the country you live in) Is perfect for chilly fall mornings! It can be made sweet or tart depending on the type of apples used.

It’s near the end of a long hot summer here in New England, but I am yearning for an early fall. Lately I have been craving one of my favorite fall dishes: Apple Crisp!

I love the beach, but there is nothing like fall in Connecticut! We get the best of both worlds with endless views of beautiful fall foliage along the coastline.

One of my favorite breakfast recipes is apple crisp! The smell of warm apples and cinnamon baking in the morning while I have my morning coffee is heavenly. Fresh sliced apples are topped with a buttery cinnamon oat crumble topping that slightly crisps while baking.

 

***This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, when you make a purchase. Please, see my affiliate disclaimer for more details.***

Easy Cinnamon Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

  • 6 Golden Delicious Apples (peeled and sliced)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons salted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Topping:

  • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 stick salted butter cut in small pieces
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup Bisquick or all purpose baking flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

 *Use any apple variety that you like, just remember to adjust the sugar depending on the sweetness or tart of the apples. I like to use Bisquick because it gives the crumbled topping a richer flavor. You can make many variations by adding your favorite berries, raisins, or chopped nuts into the topping.

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
  • In a large bowl add apples, then pour lemon juice over and mix
  • Add butter, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg and flour, then mix
  • Place sliced apple mixture into a 8×8 inch baking dish and set aside
  • In a smaller bowl add butter, oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, baking soda and Bisquick or flour
  • Mix together with a fork until all ingredients are combined or appears crumbled
  • Spread topping all over apples
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees

 

*This recipe serves 6 people and takes less than 1 hour to prepare. Apple crisp is best served warm and fresh out of the oven. Top with your favorite vanilla ice-cream for a delicious fall dessert.

For another great fall recipe see: Buttery Soft Halloween Sugar Cookies

Posted in: , ,
No comments
Blog

Easy July 4th Flag Cake

By Kendra

Make your 4th of July celebration a hit with this easy, beautiful and delicious flag cake! There are 2 different variations, one for strawberry lovers or raspberry lovers. This cakes tastes home made and is best made with fresh ingredients!

What makes this cake easy is that it’s made from a box mix. What makes it taste home made is the altered ingredients. I never use water in any of my box cake recipes because water does not add any flavor. I also like to add butter to the recipe because butter just tastes better.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links; should you choose to make a purchase using said link, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

 

Ingredients:

  • 2 boxes Pillsbury Moist Yellow cake mix
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 cups of milk
  • 1/2 cup olive oil, canola, or corn oil
  • 2 sticks melted butter
  • 1 pint or 1 cup of fresh blueberries
  • 2 pints or 2 cups of fresh strawberries
  • 2 pints or 2 cups of fresh raspberries
  • 2 packages of cool whip
  • 1 can of whip cream

Directions:

  1. Prepare a large nonstick 13×9 baking dish or sheet pan by lightly coating bottom of pan with butter.
  2. Add  flour to dust the pan then place into the freezer.
  3. In a large bowl add cake mix, eggs, butter, milk, and oil.
  4. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
  5. Remove baking dish from freezer, then fill with mix.
  6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 29 to 33 min.
  7. Insert toothpick in the center of the cake to check and see if it comes out clean, your cake is done.
  8. Cool 10-15 minutes before removing cakes from the pan or leave in pan to decorate.
  9. Once cooled, add cool whip topping and decorate with fresh blueberries, strawberries or raspberries in the shape of the American flag.
  10. Pipe cool whip or whip cream in the can on top of blueberries and in between the lines of the strawberries or raspberries.
  11. Keep cake refrigerated until served. Serves 15-20, enjoy!

Invited to a 4th of July barbecue? Bring this delicious home made tasting cake with you! I have been making this cake for years and it’s always a hit! Also see my recipe for Coconut Malibu Rum Cake. Happy Fourth!

 

Posted in: ,
No comments
Blog

Hello Bunny Easter Cupcakes

By Kendra

“Hello Bunny” Easter Cupcakes

These delicious homemade vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting are perfect for an Easter celebration. They are best served the same day of baking, but will remain moist for up to 48 hours when covered in a sealed container. This recipe can be made with all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, but the texture will be coarser and cupcakes will be as tender. I highly recommend using cake flour. This recipe yields 15 cupcakes, prep time is 1 hour, and bake time is 18-20 minutes.

This post contains affiliate links, see my full disclosure here.

The bunnies are made of marshmallow fondant, but if you don’t want to make homemade fondant you can cheat by using peeps! (I recommend making the fondant a day ahead.) See this handy YouTube video below I found for the easiest fondant recipe.

You Will Need

The highlighted items are linked, you can click on the links to find the items on Amazon to make Marshmallow Fondant for 15 Bunnies

Easy Marshmallow Fondant

 

Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups cake flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • ½ cup milk room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cupcake pan with liners, set aside.
  • In a bowl, sift or whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat until creamed and fluffy.
  • Add eggs and vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated and smooth.
  • Add half of your dry ingredients to butter mixture. Stir until just combined. Add half of milk, again stirring until just combined. Repeat once more, adding remaining dry ingredients, and remaining milk, stirring until just incorporated.
  • Portion batter between 15 cupcake liners, filling about halfway full.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling

  • Next, prepare the buttercream frosting while cupcakes are cooling.

Easy Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • 3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

  • In a large bowl, add room temperature butter and beat until creamy, about 1 minute.
  • Add confectioner’s sugar and slowly mix until ingredients are fully combined. Then, whip at high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
  • Add vanilla extract and heavy cream, then whip until fluffy, another 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Separate frosting into several bowls and add food coloring, then add to piping bags.
  • Pipe buttercream frosting with a onto cupcakes, then pipe a small circle of chocolate frosting in the center.
  • Place 3 small jelly beans into chocolate frosting.

Fondant Bunnies:

  • Roll out chilled fondant and cut shapes using mini cookie cutters.
  • Draw faces on and let dry.
  • Shape bunny hands by adding a tiny bit more fondant.
  • Place jellybean into bunnies hands, then place into the center of the frosting.
  • This will hold the bunny and jellybeans into place.
  • Place cupcakes on you favorite platter and surround with plastic Easter eggs or real decorated Easter eggs.
  • Enjoy!

 

Posted in: , ,
No comments
Blog

Buttery Soft Sugar Cookies

By Kendra

Save PDFPrint

Do you love sugar cookies? I admit they are my favorite cookies to make especially on Christmas Eve. This soft delicious cut out cookie recipe is sure to please a holiday crowd! Use your favorite cookie cutters to make this recipe and add icing once they are cooled. The total prep time is 3 hours (2 hours to chill the dough)  bake time 8 to 10 minutes and yields about 4 dozen cookies.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links; should you choose to make a purchase using said link, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Buttery Soft Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 cup softened butter (not melted)
  • 1 1/2 cups of granulated white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions: 

  • Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add in the vanilla. Gradually blend in the sifted ingredients until fully absorbed. Cover dough, and chill for 2 hours.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. On a clean floured surface, roll out small portions of chilled dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. You can find cute and fun Christmas cookie cutters here.
  • Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are barely brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Once cooled decorate using your favorite royal icing colors. Enjoy!

These cookies will keep their shape nicely and remain soft and chewy long after being cooled. Bake ahead and store in the freezer. They will remain fresh for 3-6 months as long as they are wrapped tightly in plastic and kept in an airtight container.

I hope you enjoy making this recipe if so share it and also see my classic recipe for Easy Royal Icing!

 

 

Posted in: , ,
46 comments
Blog

Coconut Malibu Rum Cake

By Kendra

Coconut Malibu Rum Cake

This buttery Coconut Malibu Rum Cake is a taste of the Tropics and easy to make!

Here is a delicious rum cake that is a simple and easy dessert recipe perfect for Holidays, a beach barbeque or just in time for Labor Day! It’s easy to make and you can use just about any of your favorite box cake mix. I love the ease of a box mix for baking but felt that it sometimes lacked the extra flavor that I wanted. So I started experimenting with different recipes and this by far is one of the best. When I first created this recipe it took about 3 tries to get it perfect. You will notice in the ingredient list below that I substitute the box mix recommendations to add more flavor and make it taste home made.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see our privacy policy.

The Ingredients

  • 1 box cake mix (I recommend Pillsbury Moist)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup pineapple juice
  • 1/2 cup Malibu Coconut Rum
  • 1 stick melted butter
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 bag shredded coconut

The pineapple juice and rum substitutes the one cup of water recommended and adds more flavor.

You can tweak the pineapple juice and just use 1/2 cup of water instead.

Directions

  • Set your oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Prepare 2 or 3 8-inch round pans or 1 13 x 9 – inch baking dish to keep cake from sticking by lightly coating bottom of pan with butter
  • Add  flour to dust the pan then place into the freezer.
  • Blend cake mix,  pineapple juice, Malibu Coconut Rum, 1 stick melted butter, oil and eggs in a large bowl until moistened.
  • Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Cake Batter should be a pretty yellow.

Most of the alcohol in the cake mix will cook off in while baking in the oven leaving more of the coconut flavoring behind but not the rum. This is why you add more rum to the cake while slightly hot. It will mix with the butter and will add a delicious buttery rum flavor to the cake.

  • Remove pans from freezer, fill each equally with mix.
  • Bake at 350 degrees F for 29 to 33 min.
  • Insert toothpick in the center of the cake to check and see if it comes out clean, your cake is done.
  • Continue to poke hole into the cake with a toothpick.
  • Gently pour 1/3 cup of Malibu Coconut rum over cake while still slightly hot.
  • Cool 10-15 minutes before removing from pan.
  • If baking in 13 x 9 – inch baking dish, simply add your favorite white frosting then sprinkle shredded coconut on top.
  • If using 2 or 3 8-inch round cake pans, add the frosting and coconut in between layers, & on top then garnish with maraschino cherries.
  • Cake is best served room temperature or on a hot day you can serve it cold as a cool refreshing dessert.

For more Holiday baking ideas see my recipe for Buttery Soft Sugar Cookies & Easy Royal Icing!

Enjoy!

 

Posted in:
4 comments
Save PDFPrint