I love the dessert cups they sell for strawberry shortcake, but it seems we always run out of strawberries before we finish the cakes. This past weekend, I took our leftover dessert cups and make sorbet sandwiches out of them for Celia and Charlie. They were beautiful and delightfully tasty and messy: a perfect dessert combination! This would work even if your cakes are a little stale! You can make them ahead and freeze them for a party or a children's play date.
Sorbet Sandwiches
Ingredients:
Dessert Cups
Sorbet or Ice Cream
Scoop one big ball of sorbet or ice cream into the center of the dessert cup. Place other dessert cup on top. Cut through the middle to make two ice cream sandwiches. We sprinkled sprinkles on top to make them even fancier :) Enjoy!
I don't normally buy coconut because I don't like the texture. I love the taste, I love the smell, but not the texture. My friend Kimberly gave me an extra bag of it to cook with and it's been sitting in my fridge for awhile, just waiting for inspiration to occur. Lucky for us, it occurred last week in the form of a dessert recipe. Growing up, my neighbor Cathy used to make us a dessert called dump cake. This is a very easy pie/cobbler dessert where you just dump everything into a cake pan and bake. I took that idea and used the coconut to make a cherry cream cobbler. It is delicious and very simple to make. It is a perfect summer dessert: fast, easy, and unforgetable :)
Cherry Cream Cobbler
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
1 Cup Almond Flour
1 and 1/2 Cups Pecan Meal
1 Cup Coconut
1 Stick of Butter
For the Filling:
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Can Cherry Pie Filling
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 11" deep dish baking pan.
2. Take out 2 bowls. In one, mix together almond flour, pecan meal, and coconut. In the other, mix together milk and cherry pie filling.
3. Spray pie pan. Pour milk and cherry pie mixture on batter. Spread out evenly. Pour flour and coconut mixture on top.
4. Melt butter. Drizzle over the top of the cobbler. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Top will be golden brown when finished. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
This is my last week of work for the summer, so I'm breaking out some summertime dessert recipes. I made these bars a week ago for a family dinner. They are creamy and cool, in addition to being delicious! 
CheeseCake Layer Bars
Layer 1- Crust
25 Large Marshmallows
1 TBSP Butter
4 Cups Cornflakes
Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, microwave marshmallows and butter in 30 second increments. When marshmallows have puffed up, stir in cornflakes. Spread out on the bottom of your pan. Let sit for 30 minutes and smash down.
Layer 2- Chocolate
3 Chocolate Bunnies
6 Squares Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
Break up chocolate bunnies into a bowl. Mix in baking chocolate squares. Microwave in 10 second increments, stirring in between. When melted, spread chocolate over cornflake crust. Let sit 10-15 minutes.
Layer 3- Cheesecake Layer
1 Bar Cream Cheese
1 Cup Sour Cream
2 Boxes Pudding, Chocolate or Vanilla
1 Can Evaporated Milk
Soften cream cheese. Mix all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Pour over chocolate layer. Put in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
With Summer right around the corner, I decided it was probably time to get rid of the rest of our Easter candy. After the kids get their baskets, I tend to hide a whole bunch of their candy for later and then we forget about it. In our pantry, we had numerous boxes of peeps and chocolate bunnies they either had forgotten about or I had gotten rediculously cheap after Easter. Andy's Granny makes an awesome crockpot fudge that I thought I could recreate with peeps and bunnies. When you're making this candy, make sure you stir FREQUENTLY. I only say this in caps because the first time I tried this recipe, I did not. On Saturday I put all the ingredients into my crockpot and Celia and I went grocery shopping. 2 hours later, we came home to some very burnt candy. We had to rush out to an engagement party, so I didn't get it thrown away until later. Andy cleaned up the crockpot, but when we washed it in the dishwasher, there must've still been some burnt chocolate on it. It proceeded to clog up our dishwasher. I learned so many lessons in a short amout of time. Needless to say, the 2nd time making this, I was much more cautious and they turned out delicious!
It's funny how weekends are supposed to be filled with relaxing downtime, but they often end up being busier, but more fun, than the work week! We've had an exciting weekend hanging out with friends and family! In fact, some of them are still hanging out in our kitchen. We also got to eat out at some really great restaurants. But don't worry What's for Leftovers readers, I still managed to squeeze in a couple of new recipes. This one is a variation of a recipe I read in a Guideposts a while back. It's called a Finnish Pancake. I told Celia and Charlie it was a 'GIANT' pancake. No matter what you call it, it's delicious. After you finish baking it, make sure you let it completely cool. This gives the inside time to settle. Top with fried apples and powdered sugar for a breakfast treat or a great dessert!
Fried Apples
Ingredients:
8 Medium Apples
1/4 Cup Honey
2 TBSP Butter
1/2 Cup Water
Pinch of Salt
1. Spray a large frying pan.
2. Peel Apples. Cut into large slices and put into frying pan.
3. Add honey, butter, water and salt.
4. Cook on high heat until water has evaporated. While cooking, stir frequently so apples don't burn. Lower heat and continue cooking until apples are soft and smell like apple pie filling.
Finnish Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 Cup Pancake Mix
2 1/2 Cups Milk
4 Eggs
1/4 Cup Honey
4 TBSP Butter
Powdered Sugar
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray a 10"-11" round baking pan or skillet with PAM.
3. Pour pancake mix, milk, eggs, honey and butter into a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into baking pan.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Top should be golden brown when 'Finnished'.
5. Let cool completely. After slicing, top with powdered sugar and fried apples.
We went over to our friends' house for dinner last night and I made a chocolate cake for dessert. Thanks to the modern convenience of cake mix boxes and icing tubs, it turned out great! However, I had just a little bit of creamy, chocolaty icing leftover. I definitely thought about just getting a spoon and eating it, but in the end, I made it into something new. These are very easy to make and a great chocolate fix. You might want to make them and hide them for yourself.
Chocolate Graham Cracker Balls
Ingredients:
4 Whole Cinnamon Graham Crackers
3 TBSP Chocolate Icing
2 1/2 TBSP Peanut Butter
1 Tsp Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Powdered Sugar
1. Smash graham crackers into small bits. You don't want to grind them to a powder so your balls have some crunch, but you don't want them too big so they won't hinder you when you're rolling your balls.
2. Mix in 2 of the TBSP of chocolate icing, 2 1/2 TBSP of peanut butter and 1 Tsp of Powdered Sugar.
3. Fill a small pot with water. Place on the stove and place a bowl on top of it. (or if you have one, use a double-boiler). Heat your water and pour your chocolate chops into the bowl. Mix in 1 TBSP of chocolate icing with them. Heat water until your chocolate becomes a large, soft ball. Make sure you stir constantly so your chocolate won't burn.
4. After chocolate melts, pour into graham cracker mixture. Mix until smooth. Roll chocolate mixture into small balls. Roll these balls into powdered sugar. This recipe will make 12 to 15 balls. Place in refrigerator until ready to eat.
I promise this is my last birthday cake recipe for a while, at least until April when Celia turns 4. I successfully used up all of our leftover birthday cake with this recipe. Now, in general, I am not a baker. I have every intention of baking cookies or cakes and breads, but it never happens. I don't like to follow recipes and if I make cookies my second batch always burns because I forget about them in the oven. Well tonight I baked! I made up my own recipe and since it was a cheese/custard cake, there wasn't a second batch to burn. The pie turned out absolutely fabulous and it was really easy and fast to make. I hope you enjoy making it and serving it as much as I did.
Birthday Cake Pie
Ingredients:
For the crust:
2 1/2 Cups Cake (mashed)
1 Stick Butter or Margarine
For the filling:
1- 8oz box Neufchatel or Cream Cheese (room temperature)
2/3 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup Sour Cream
3 Eggs
1/3 Cup Mayo
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Smash up birthday cake with icing until crumbly. You need to have 2 1/2 cups after you finish mashing it up, not before. If your icing is pink and blue, your crust will have a bit of a grey tint- don't worry, it will still taste delicious! Melt margarine in the microwave completely, then mix in with cake. Spray a 9 and 1/2 inch glass pie pan (or a larger one) with PAM. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Smash cake mixture into bottom of pie pan, spreading it out all over the bottom of the pan. Put in the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. The crust will puff up and start to turn light brown. Take it out at this point.
While the crust is baking, make the filling. Pour all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Beat with your mixer until it is a creamy, airy mixture. It is okay if there are a couple of lumps from the cream cheese left. Pour the mixture into your pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for around 35 minutes. It is finished when the center no longer jiggles and the edges and bottom have turned light brown. Take out of the oven and let cool.
Last Saturday I turned 30! Woohoo! My wonderful husband and family threw me a smashing surprise party. Friends and family from all over Missouri gathered together to celebrate my birthday. It was wonderful! At the party we had 3 cakes, cupcakes, a giant cupcake and a peanut butter pie. Even with the large crowd we had leftover cake. We took a sheet cake to church with us on Sunday, but we still had some leftover cake. Tonight I turned some of the cake into Chocolate Covered Cake Dippers. They were easy to make and a great use of leftover cake.
Chocolate Covered Cake Dippers
Ingredients:
Leftover Cake
Dipping Chocolate
Sprinkles (optional)
Cut cake up into 12 to 14 large cubes. Lightly coat a baking sheet with canola or vegetable oil. Put cake cubes on pan and cook at 350 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes. You will need to turn them so all sides get toasty and don't burn. Take cake out of the oven and let cool while you melt chocolate. To make this recipe super easy, I jut bought a container of fruit dipping chocolate. I followed the directions on the container to melt it. When finished dip cake cubes into chocolate and lay them on parchment paper, chocolate side up. Add sprinkles if desired. Cool in fridge until chocolate hardens.
This morning, Celia, Charlie and I sat down to a nice breakfast of bananas and yogurt. They promptly peeled (or took the tape off, as Charlie says) their bananas and said they were done. They didn't want to eat them. I did not want to eat three bananas, so I had to figure out something to do with them. I made a caramel sauce and cut them up into it. I put the sauce on top of their pancakes. You could also put it on top of ice cream or waffles. I thought it was great. Celia and Charlie still wouldn't eat their breakfast. I guess it wasn't a breakfast kind of day for my two and three year old. Oh well. Here's the recipe. It was just enough to top the pancakes for two little ones. You'll probably want to double or triple the recipe if you're going to serve more people.
Banana Caramel Sauce
Ingredients:
2 Bananas
3/8 Cup of Honey
1/4 Cup Olive Oil or Butter
3/4 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon
Heat butter or olive oil up in skillet. Slice bananas into the hot oil. Add honey, vanilla, and cinnamon to the skillet. Stir constantly because the mixture will burn easily. You want the liquid to boil and become sticky. After boiling, turn stove off and mixture will continue to thicken. Serve warm.
A little while ago I had a baby shower and served some punch. The punch was a hit, but I still have half a container of sherbert left. Tonight I decided to do something with it. My kids love Jello. It is a treat that is so easy to make, but I never do. I'm not sure why, something about the texture freaks me out. It's oooey and gooey and moves funny. But I decided I was going to make our sherbert into jello. Here's how I did it. Let me know what you think.
Sherbert Jello
Ingredients
1 Cup Sherbert (I used lemon lime)
2 cups juice (I used apple)
3 packs gelatin
Put the cup of sherbert into a square pan and let it melt. After it melts, sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let it sit for a minute or two. Boil the three cups of juice and then pour over the sherbert. mix until all the gelatin is disolved. Put in the fridge until jiggly.
