A light and delicious sugar-free dessert that will please the whole family.
The filling is a no-bake light and airy cheesecake flavored with pureed strawberries and raspberries.
Take your dessert from simple to stunning by topping with a fresh raspberry glaze and garnishing with stabilized whipped cream and fresh berries.
RECIPE: Continue reading
Filed under Desserts
DAY 7: Glazed Almond Butter Cookies
An uncomplicated cookie with a great almond flavor and a glaze that sets firm enough that you can stack the cookies. And no piping skills required.
Bake these until they are barely done to keep them soft.
NOTE: These are almond flavored “Butter Cookies” not “Almond Butter” (cousin to peanut butter) Cookies.
RECIPE:
Makes about 2 ½ dozen cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Glaze Frosting (recipe below)
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mats.
In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and almond extract, beating until well mixed.
Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually mix into wet ingredients. Chill dough for one hour.
Roll dough into 1” balls and place on prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.
Bake for 8 minutes; do not overcook. Let cookies cool for 3-4 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely before frosting with the glaze.
Glaze Frosting:
6 Tbs butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla (or ½ tsp almond) extract
1 lb (about 4 cups) powdered sugar
3-4 drops gel food coloring
Place butter and cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave for about 60-90 seconds, until butter melts. Stir in extract (if you want to use white icing, use a clear vanilla or other flavored extract). Use a whisk to mix in powdered sugar. Tint with desired gel food coloring.
Spread tops of cooled cookies with warm glaze and place on a sheet of waxed paper. If glaze gets too thick, heat in microwave for 15-20 seconds. Allow glaze to set on cookies for at least one hour before storing cookies.
To freeze: Freeze cookies in single layer and then place in a container and store in freezer. Thaw cookies in a single layer.
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These sweet rolls are light (not in calories, unfortunately) and soft with a slight tang from the addition of sour cream and fresh orange juice. A nice change from a traditional cinnamon roll.
To keep your rolls light and airy, do not add too much flour to your dough, and knead only until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl. I roll my dough out on a buttered silicon mat (instead of a floured mat). Greased hands will also help in handling the slightly sticky dough.
An easy way to cut your dough logs into rolls without crushing the dough and having the knife stick to the dough is to use dental floss (not mint!) or a strong sewing thread. The (really out of focus) picture below shows the floss in action.
I like to first make shallow knife cuts in the dough so that I have a cutting guide. Then place the floss UNDER the dough. Cross the ends of the floss over the top of the dough (lining up with the knife cuts) and pull crossed floss ends until the dough is cut through.
RECIPE:
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
3 Tbs butter
1 cup sour cream
½ cup sugar
3 eggs
about 4 – 4 ½ cups flour
1 Tbs instant yeast**
2 tsp salt
Filling:
6 Tbs butter, softened
½ cup sugar
2 tsp orange zest
Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbs butter, softened
3 Tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tbs heavy cream
1 tsp orange zest
dash salt
Combine orange juice, 1 tsp orange zest, 3 Tbs butter and sour cream in a small saucepan or microwave safe bowl. Heat slowly until butter melts and mixture is warm to touch, but not hot (do not allow mixture to boil).
Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer with a dough hook attached. Mix in ½ cup sugar. Add eggs all at once and mix well. Mix in flour (start with 4 cups), yeast and salt. Knead dough, adding additional flour if necessary, until dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl, but is still soft and slightly sticky. Cover and let dough rest 10 minutes.
Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl; stir well.
Divide dough in half. On a buttered surface, roll each dough half into a large rectangle about ½” thick. Spread each with half of the filling. Roll dough beginning with the long edge; press edge to seal seam. Slice each dough roll into about 12 rolls (use dental floss or sewing thread for easy cutting). Place rolls in a buttered pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Bake at 375°F for about 15-20 minutes, or until barely golden brown. Cool at least 15 minutes before spreading with glaze.
Combine glaze ingredients and mix well. Add additional cream or orange juice if glaze is too thick to spread. Spread on warm, but not oven-hot rolls.
**NOTE: If you are using regular, and not instant yeast, proof yeast for 5 minutes in ¼ cup of the orange juice (or water), warmed, before mixing into the dough. Allow dough to rise in a covered bowl until doubled before rolling and shaping into rolls.
Yield: about 24 rolls
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Filed under Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts
This is definitely a cheater recipe, starting with both a chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding mix. But it is easy, delicious and super-moist. Perfect. And baked in a bundt pan it makes a beautiful dessert suitable for serving company.
This is especially delicious served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each slice.
RECIPE:
1 box chocolate cake mix (I used a dark chocolate fudge flavor)
1 small box (3.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
½ cup warm water
1 cup finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
Preheat oven to 350°F . Grease and flour a bundt pan (or spray with baking non-stick cooking spray: the kind with flour in it).
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs and water. Stir in the chopped chocolate and pour batter into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely in the bundt pan for about 90 minutes.
Invert onto a serving plate and drizzle with glaze. If desired, serve each slice topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Chocolate ganache glaze:
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (a little more than ½ cup)
½ cup heavy cream
2 Tbs corn syrup
1 Tbs granulated sugar
Place the chopped chocolate into a small bowl and set aside. In a Pyrex measuring cup or microwavable bowl, combine the heavy cream, corn syrup and sugar. Heat for 1 minute; stir. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for one minutes, then stir until smooth with a whisk.
Use a spoon to generously drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake, allowing it to drip down the sides.
(Adapted from SixSistersStuff)
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Filed under Desserts
DAY 9: Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Cookies
Cranberries and oranges are flavors that pair so well together. This is a soft cookie with a cake-like texture topped with an orange glaze. I like that they are not overly sweet.
A note on storing glazed cookies: The glaze will continue to set as the cookies sit at room temperature, but it does not become hard enough to stack the cookies, especially in humid climates. To store these cookies (or other frosted/glazed cookies, allow the glaze to set at room temperature for at least an hour. Then place the glazed cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the freezer until completely frozen. Transfer the completely frozen cookies to a tupperware container and store in the freezer. To serve, remove individual frozen cookies from the freezer and allow them to thaw in a single layer (not stacked).
My kids usually skip the thawing step. They just grab cookies straight from the freezer and eat them.
RECIPE:
½ cup dried cranberries
1 ½ cups flour
Zest of half of an orange (about ½ tsp), use other half in glaze
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbs butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tbs fresh squeezed orange juice
1 Tbs heavy cream
Zest of half of an orange (about ½ tsp)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Put the dried cranberries in a small bowl with about 1 cup of hot (but not boiling) water. Allow them to sit for 5 minutes; drain.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, orange zest, baking soda and salt.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat well to mix. Mix in the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately in batches at low speed, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix in the dried cranberries.
Drop the dough by tablespoons onto baking sheets. Bake at 350°F for 10-11 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 1 minute; then transfer them to a wire rack. Cool cookies completely.
For the glaze, whisk together the sifted powdered sugar, orange juice, cream and orange zest. Add additional juice or sugar until glaze is spreading consistency. Use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to spread the glaze over the cooled cookies.
STORAGE NOTE: The glaze will continue to set as the cookies sit at room temperature, but it does not become hard enough to stack the cookies, especially in humid climates. To store these cookies (or other frosted/glazed cookies, allow the glaze to set at room temperature for at least an hour. Then place the glazed cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the freezer until completely frozen. Transfer the completely frozen cookies to a tupperware container and store in the freezer. To serve, remove individual frozen cookies from the freezer and allow them to thaw in a single layer (not stacked).
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
(Adapted from TwoPeasAndTheirPod)
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Filed under Cookies, Desserts, Tips and Tutorials
DAY 4: These lemon poppy seed cookies are the texture of a soft sugar cookie, without the hassle of rolling and cutting. The cookies have just a hint of lemon flavor; I added a lemon glaze to intensify the lemon flavor.—
RECIPE:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
zest of one lemon (divided)
¼ cup buttermilk
Glaze:
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs light corn syrup
1 cup powdered sugar
lemon zest (from half of a lemon)
1-2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and poppy seeds. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and half of the lemon zest (save remaining zest for the glaze) and mix well. Add half of the dry ingredients; mix in buttermilk. Add remaining dry ingredients; mix well.
Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are set. The cookies should be puffy and fairly light in color when they are finished baking. Remove from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet. Move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Mix glaze ingredients. Add more lemon juice, if needed, for a thick drizzling consistency. Drizzle/spread over cooled cookies (or dip the tops of each cookie in the glaze).
Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Cafe
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TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS COOKIES (2010) RECAP:
DAY 1: Raspberry Crumb Bars
DAY 2: Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
DAY 3: Chocolate Nutella Cookies
Sugar Free Strawberry Cheesecake
Baseball/Softball Cookies
Peeps Cupcakes
Strawberry Lemonade Cake
Lemon Bars
Chocolate Covered Strawberries Cake
Strawberries & Cream Roll Cake
Easter Resurrection Rolls
Strawberry Nutella Muffins
Lime Glazed Raspberry Sweet Rolls
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