Homemade Pudding Pops

These went over like CRAZY around here! My kids loved, my husband raved over them and I didn't think they were too bad, either.  I used a popsicle mold I bought at IKEA about 8 years ago (and this is the first time I've used it!), but you could also use paper cups and popsicle sticks. 

I do brush her hair every morning....

Homemade Pudding Pops
1 batch of homemade chocolate pudding
Popsicle mold or paper cups/sticks

Use a spoon to fill mold or cups. If using cups, cover with plastic wrap and then insert sticks.  Freeze for about 4-5 hours. Unmold and enjoy!

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

Like most kids of the 70's and 80's, I grew up eating Jell-O pudding from the box. I do believe my mom had to actually cook it, though.  We loved chocolate pudding and I still remember the little Tupperware bowls with lids that she'd put the pudding in for dessert later.

While I haven't actually looked at the ingredient list of a Jell-O pudding box in ages, I'm fairly certain it's not a whole foods, whole living kind of list.  I was also pretty certain that homemade pudding could not be that hard to make.

With the idea of making our own "pudding pops", the newly turned 5 year old donned her brand-new Star Wars apron from Aunt Mimi and we set to work.  The texture of this pudding is a bit different from the boxed stuff, but my kids don't seem to care (probably because I've never made the boxed stuff for them).

I don't know where she gets these poses from!

(Arrowroot powder is a substitution for corn starch. You could probably use corn starch, but I haven't tried it. I do, however, substitute arrowroot for corn starch all the time.)

Homemade Chocolate Pudding
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2/3 cup sucanat
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons butter

In a medium saucepan whisk together milk, sucanat, egg yolks, arrowroot and cocoa powders and salt.  STIRRING CONSTANTLY, heat over medium heat just until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and continue to stir until smooth and creamy (mine had some texture at first, but keep stirring and they'll go away!). Add butter and vanilla and mix.  Serve warm, chilled, or frozen.

Recipe from Heavenly Homemakers.

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce

We take our ice cream very seriously around here. We even have personalized ice cream bowls:

This is some of the best hot fudge sauce I've ever had.  And it took about 10 minutes to make. I used high quality, 70% cacao Sharfen Berger dark chocolate and I'm pretty sure that's what took this sauce over the top. But I think you could use semi-sweet chocolate chips and get a very good sauce.

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
4-5 squares dark chocolate (or 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)
A pinch of salt
A small dash of vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Put all ingredients in a heavy bottom sauce pan and heat over medium-low until melted together. Serve hot or warm. Store in refrigerator.

Adapted from Soda Fountain Classics: Ice Cream, Sundaes, Milkshakes, and More

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"Grilled" Brownie Cupcakes

I had intended to make these for Father's Day, but ran out of eggs and time.  We did manage to get them made for the 4th of July, though.  These are really, really easy and super cute. As an added bonus, if you like cinnamon candy (I do!) those Hot Tamales candies are awesome!

These would be cute at any summer get together!

"Grilled" Brownie Cupcakes
1 batch of your favorite brownie mix (I used this one)
1 tube black gel frosting 
1 box of Hot Tamale candy
Orange colored sugar

Bake brownie mix in a muffin pan (using paper liners is your choice!). Allow brownies to cool.

Use black gel to line each brownie cupcake.  Allow gel to set (about 15 minutes). Sprinkle orange colored sugar over brownie tops.  Using a toothpick, draw grill marks on the Hot Tamale candies. Place candies on brownies.

Blueberry Pie

I have a few bags of frozen blueberries left in the freezer from last summer's season.  I want to use them up so I can freeze a new batch later this summer. As it turns out, blueberry pie is my husband's favorite pie (how can you know someone for years and still learn new things about them?!).

I was prepared to tell you to ignore the terrible pictures because in general, my pies don't win any beauty contests, but they always taste wonderful.. I have the worst time getting the crust rolled out correctly.  I just finally figured out how to crimp the edges! But this pie turned out beautifully! I still can't believe how nice it looks.

Blueberry Pie
Pate Brisee recipe, doubled
6 cups fresh or frozen bluberries (allow frozen berries to thaw and drain)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter, cut in to small pieces

Egg wash: 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon milk

Prepare the crust. Roll out half the dough to about 13" in diameter. Fit the dough over a 9" pie pan. Trim edges to about 1/2". Put pie pan with dough in to refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

Gently mix berries, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Pour mixture in to chilled crust in pie pan. Dot with butter pieces. Roll out the other half of the dough the same as the first half.  Place dough on top of pie plate. Tuck and pinch seam together. Cut off extra dough and crimp edges.  Put pie back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Whisk egg and milk together and then brush top of chilled pie with the wash. Score the top of the crust with 4 cuts for steam to escape.  Bake pie on middle rack of oven (with a jelly roll pan underneath to catch any drippings) at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn temperature down to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

This post has been linked to Sweets for a Saturday.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Mocha Frosting

On a whim I decided to take cupcakes to my sister's house for our Memorial Day grill out. I needed something to do with my 4 year old daughter during her brother's nap anyway and the girl just loves to "help" me cook!

 The original recipe says this makes 18 cupcakes if you fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. I only got 12 cupcakes, but they rose quite a bit above the top of the cups. I think you could easily fill the cups 1/2 full and get 18 cupcakes. If you really want moist cupcakes, put the cupcakes in a container that has a lid and allow them to cool with the lid ON. It will take a while, but you will have some super moist cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon butter at room temperature
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1 egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse for a few seconds to mix. Scrape sides of bowl and pulse until smooth.  Line muffin pans with paper liners. Fill muffin cups 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Milk Chocolate Mocha Frosting
9 ounces of milk chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
1 Tablespoon instant coffee
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Put chocolate in a medium bowl.  Combine rest of ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour mixture over chocolate and mix until all chocolate has melted.  Allow frosting to cool to room temperature. Frost cupcakes.

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking.

Chocolate Gelato

I'm not very good at making ice cream (yet). I just haven't found a recipe that I love. When I ran across a recipe for gelato in the March 2011 Food Network magazine, I wondered if gelato would be easier.

It was easier! Well, this recipe is, at least. But after a little research on-line, I've discovered that this is not your typical gelato recipe. Aside from the chocolate, this recipe does not have any dairy in it! I was thrown for such a loop trying to figure out when I put the milk in. This would be a great recipe to make when you want homemade ice cream, but don't have any "fancy" dairy products in the house. It is very, very rich so small servings are better.

Chocolate Gelato
8 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Put the milk chocolate and cocoa in a blender or food processor. Bring water and sugar to a simmer in small saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Pour the hot syrup in to the blender/processor. Pulse 4-5 times until the mixture is smooth, but not foamy. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and salt and pulse once more to combine. Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until very cold.

Whisk the chocolate mixture, then transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers instructions. Pour mixture in to an air tight container and freeze until firm (at least 2 hours).

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day was last week.  I generally avoid making chocolate chip cookies because they never turn out soft and chewy and perfect. Ever. I've tried countless recipes and have never achieved the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Until now.

You will never need another chocolate chip cookie recipe ever again. Just trust me because I've tried them all. As an added bonus, this one super quick and easy.

(As I was typing this up, I realized that I actually baked my cookies at 400 degrees and I only used a 1/4 cup measure to make the cookies! Ooops! But, they only took about 6 minutes to bake and they still turned out perfectly!)

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 Tablespoons melted butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.  In bowl of electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined.  Beat in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined.  Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll a scant half-cup of dough into a ball.  Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves.  Put each half on parchment lined cookie sheet with jagged surfaces facing up (I put 9 on a sheet).  Bake, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes).  Do not overbake. Take them out just after they've risen and when they still look a little gooey in the middle.

Recipe found at Annie's Eats, but originally from Baking Illustrated.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake for Thanksgiving. In fact, I made it a week or two prior to Thanksgiving day and froze it. I let it thaw for 24 hours before serving and it was perfect. It was so good that we all agreed it would be making appearances at Thanksgiving every year.

I do not own a springform pan, but I was ready to buy one until I started reading up on cheesecakes. Apparently the problem with a springform is that if you bake the cheesecake in a water bath, it can leak in to your cake. I certainly didn't want that happening! Instead, I baked the cake in a 9 inch round cake pan with a pan of water on the rack below. The first few pieces coming out of the pan weren't pretty, but the rest were just fine.

I also found that it was pretty important to have all the ingredients at room temperature in order to get a nicely combined filling. 


Pumpkin Cheesecake
1 1/2  cups  gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 30 cookies processed in the food processor)
1/2  cup  finely chopped pecans
6  tablespoons  unsalted butter, melted
1/4  cup  sucanat (or white sugar)

3  8-oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sucanat (or 1/2  cup packed light brown sugar and 1/4  cup  white sugar)
2  large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1  cup  pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)
1/2  cup  sour cream, at room temperature
2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
1 1/2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
2  teaspoons  pumpkin-pie spice

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 inch cake pan. Stir together all crust ingredients. Press into bottom and up sides of pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a rack.

With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and sucanat until light. Beat in eggs and yolks, 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin, sour cream and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour and spice. Pour into crust.

Place cheesecake on center rack of oven. Fill a separate pan with 2 inches of hot water and place on the oven rack below the cheesecake. Bake until cake is set around edges but still slightly jiggly when lightly shaken (cheesecake will firm as it cools), 55 to 65 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 10 hours or up to 2 days. Can be frozen and thawed.

Original recipe from All You.