Surprisingly Easy!

So if we can all remember back that far, let's talk about Thanksgiving desserts!! As a vegetarian and a sweets fanatic, dessert is my happy time for me - it is my Turkey. This year I made two staples, my Apple Oatmeal Crisp, which is honestly wonderful because there is a crisp later on the bottom and on the top.........thank god it is wonderful and worth it because the apples I bought from Target weren't big enough and I needed more so a quick run the nite before Thanksgiving to the foodstore we were back in business, my fresh Whipped Cream ( I think I did the recipe times 5 - no one will ever complain about too much whipped cream.) (I think new pictures are in order next Thanksgiving!

My cousin sent me an email asking me if I received Cooking Light with a picture of a recipe, after telling her no but the recipe looked great I was asked to make it for Thanksgiving.  I have never made a mousse before and some people (thanks mom) doubted my abilities to carry this off but I have to say in the long run it came out great and it was not hard at all.

The recipe does call for 1 tablespoon of Brandy and I somehow don't know anyone who keeps it on hand so my dad and I (family bonding right?) headed to the liquor store and bought a cheap MINI bottle - and seriously it worked out perfect.  Also, it says instant espresso granules and I don't drink coffee but my mom leaves some good British instant coffee in my fridge for when she comes down so I used that. For the Dutch Process Coco I just used my normal Hershey brand coco.  O yeah I forgot to read the Cool Whip directions on how to thaw it and so it wasn't really/fully thawed before I went to go use it so I mixed it a little before I measured it and I think put in some extra. Also, I had a 9 inch pan and just used that - maybe a little thinner but still delicious.

This recipe was declared a HUGE hit by the family even though when trying to cut and serve it, it fell apart a little bit. I love chocolate but even for me this is super chocolate so a little goes along way - isn't that what the whipped cream is for.

As I said one of my resolutions is to be better about taking pictures and honestly, this is the reason! I totally forgot to take the picture until people were halfway thru it!  




BAKED CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
(Source: Cooking Light)

Ingredients

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon instant espresso granules

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon brandy

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs
2 large egg whites1/3 cup sugar

Dash of salt

1 1/2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed

Baking spray with flour (such as Baker's Joy)

 

DIRECTIONS:

  - Preheat oven to 350°.

 - Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add cocoa and espresso, stirring until smooth. Remove pan from heat. Add chocolates; gently stir until mixture is smooth. Stir in brandy and vanilla. Pour chocolate mixture into a large bowl. Let stand 10 minutes; stir occasionally.

- Combine eggs, egg whites, sugar, and salt in the top of a double boiler, stirring with a whisk. Cook over simmering water until a thermometer reaches 115° (about 2 minutes), stirring constantly with a whisk. Place egg mixture in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until ribbony, soft peaks form (about 5 minutes).

-  Gently stir one-third of egg mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold in remaining egg mixture. Gently fold in whipped topping. Spoon batter into an 8-inch springform pan coated with baking spray, spreading evenly. Bake at 350° for 27 minutes or until almost set (center will not be firm but will set as it chills). Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

OR USE WHIPPED CREAM: You can substitute an equal amount of whipped cream for the whipped topping BUT you have to cook for 5 minutes longer.

 

 

 

What to do with all of those cookies??

It's that time of year again! The time of year when you get suckered by cute little girls and buy more cookies then you ever need..........yup it is Girl Scout Cookie time!!!! I have a soft spot in my heart for Girl Scout cookies, I used to be a Girl Scout (I actually have my Gold Award). I was an extremely successfull cookie seller because when people told me that they couldn't buy them because they were on a diet I would tell them that they froze very well and they could have them after diet was over! OOOO how sweet I was!!

So now I am the one who is being suckered and I decided instead of sitting down with a box of Thin Mints and polishing them off in one sitting I would bake with them. So after doing a google search I found some great recipes, especially from the Girl Scouts of Kentuckania.

I am in love with this recipe, Mint Delight! It is fantastic and delicious - I actually froze it inorder to bring it into work and when it was frozen and defrosting it was good but once it defrosted it was AMAZING!! I was not a fan at first but after it was completely defrosted I totally was.

I am not a purist, to my mother's chagrin, and when I can I use low fat or reduced fat ingredients and it worked really well in this recipe. I forgot the recipe when I went into the store (not the first time and not the last time) and I had to guess the package sizes. I knew I needed the large box of chocolate pudding; however, the large size at the store was 5.9 oz and not 8 oz, it worked out well. Also, I wasn't sure how much cool whip I needed so I bought a large 12 oz and a smaller container. It was still frozen when I needed the first cup and I ended up using the large and a little bit of the second smaller container; however, I think if it was actually defrosted I could have gotten away with one.

This recipe is fantastic, it doesn't seem like it is going to work out when you are making it but as they say the proof is in the pudding!!


This is what it looked like frozen




MINT DELIGHT
(Source: the Girl Scouts of Kentuckania)


INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg. of Thin Mint cookies (crushed)
3 tbsp. butter or margarine (melted)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) softened cream cheese
2 pkgs. (5.9 oz. size) instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
4 cups whipped topping


DIRECTIONS:

- Combine cookies with melted butter or margarine, (save ¼ cup of cookies for topping). Press cookie mixture on bottom of 13” x 9” pan. Chill.
- Combine cream cheese with 1 cup whipped topping. Spread over cookie mixture. Chill for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Prepare pudding with 3 cups of milk and pour over cream cheese mixture. Chill for 1 hour or until ready to serve.
- Top with remaining whipped topping and Thin Mint cookie crumbs. (I put this on top and let it sit in the freezer over nite)

Thankful for Desserts!

Thanks to traveling for work and visiting my family in NY I am a little behind. Also, I apologize for all the nice comments that were left for me that I didn't respond to yet....the past few weeks have been super hectic but nothing like baking to help me relax!

I made the desserts for Thanksgiving dinner and I made Cheesecake, correctly this time and it came out delicious!!! I also made an Apple Oatmeal Crisp, which I didn't try but it looked delicious and it wsa interesting because there is a crisp layer on the bottom and on the top! (Read the note below). I topped it off with some homemade whipped cream, which came out fantastic this year. I think it is because I made a huge batch, five times the amount!






It might not look pretty but it tasted fantastic!

APPLE OATMEAL CRISP
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan.
- In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, oats, flour and butter. Mix until crumbly.
- Place half of crumb mixture in pan. Spread the apples evenly over crumb mixture.
- Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and top with remaining crumb mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

NOTES

- I didn't think an 8 inch square pan would have been enough for Thanksgiving so I put it in a rectangle pan and used 6 apples and did all the ingredients at 1 1/2 times EXCEPT for the Sugar



WHIPPED CREAM
(Source: allrecipe.com)
I did the recipe times 5

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.