Category Archives: dessert

Craisin peach crumble bars

baking, breakfast, dessert 5 Comments

Ohhhhh my moly.

If I were the demanding type I’d demand that you make these immediately. I’m not, of course so I’ll just strongly suggest it.

The peaches are so good this year and I bought more than I’ll ever be able to eat, so I wanted to some up with something to do with them. This is based on the apple crisp recipe, but with more of the crumble part so that you end up with a crust. It is OH so good.

Craisin peach crumble bars

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-to-large peaches, chopped
  • 1/3 cup Craisins
  • 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and chop the peaches, then put them in a saucepan with the Craisins, cornstarch and sugar. Bring it all up to a nice bubble and let it cook till it thickens, then set aside
  2. Cream butter and sugar, then mix in remaining ingredients — it will look coarse like a crumble topping
  3. Take two cups of crumble mix and press into a greased 8×8 dish and bake till it’s lightly browned, around 10-12 minutes, then spread fruit mixture over crust. Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture over the top and bake till that’s lightly browned, about another 15-18 minutes or so

Fast and good! How can you beat that?

PB&J muffins

baking, breakfast, dessert, kids, snacks 3 Comments

Hello, lovelies!

Not to get all Bob Ross-ey on you, but these are happy little muffins. It’s a Paula Deen recipe (that involves only 3 Tbsp. butter, I might add) and were apparently quite a hit at The Yankee’s office. Yay!

PB&J muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 cups AP flour
  • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tsp. creamy peanut butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup thick jam (not jelly!)
  • 1/3 cup honey roasted peanuts, chopped (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with nonstick spray
  2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the food processor; add in all the peanut butter and pulse till it looks like coarse crumbs (think biscuit making); add in milk, egg, and melted butter and pulse till just combined
  3. Scoop half the batter into the muffin cups, then drop a teaspoon of jam on each; cover with the remaining batter and top with chopped peanuts if you’re using them
  4. Bake until muffins are light golden, about 15-20 minutes; cool on a wire rack (or eat immediately — these are SO GOOD still warm)

 

Paula says these will keep for 1-2 days, but they lasted about 1-2 hours in The Yankee’s office. So there you have it. 🙂

 

Lazy woman’s peach cobbler

baking, dessert 6 Comments

This recipe comes from my great grandma, who maybe named it thusly? Or maybe that was always its name? Either way, it is, indeed, one of the easiest desserts you’ll ever make.

Lazy woman’s peach cobbler

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 cups fruit (cut up; don’t drain)

Instructions

  1. Combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt; cut in butter like you’re making biscuits, or pulse in a food processor, then stir in milk till well combined
  2. Pour batter into a buttered cast iron skillet or baking dish and top with fruit and its juice
  3. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes; sprinkle sugar on top for the last few minutes of baking

Simple syrup

dessert, drinks 11 Comments

Try not to be blown away by the beauty of that picture, okay?

I saw bottled simple syrup for sale the other day for a kind of ridiculous price and I was kind of horrified. Its name is no accident, folks; this stuff is crazy easy to make.

Simple syrup

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water

Instructions

  1. I fill my glass Pyrex to the one cup mark, then pour in one cup of sugar, and microwave. I leave a chopstick in it while microwaving because it helps the bubbles escape as it comes close to a boil, and because it’s handy dandy for stirring it every so often
  2. Microwave the syrup for a minute or so at a time, stirring after each minute, till the sugar is completely dissolved, then set on the counter to cool
  3. I store mine in a Wilton squeeze bottle, but any bottle or jar will work just fine.

 

Now you’re all set to make key lime amaretto sours! Iced coffee! Key lime margaritas! The possibilities are endless.

Magee’s caramel corn

baking, dessert, kids, snacks 6 Comments

This recipe is from the fabulous Magee. The fabulous Magee is the mother of my fabulous friend Lissa (perhaps you’ve heard of her here? Or here?). This is her recipe for caramel corn and it is to die for. Crazy good. The Yankee doesn’t like caramel corn (should I call a neurologist?) and of course the Kiddo doesn’t (since it’s not Cheerios), so I cut the recipe down to involve just one bag of popcorn, but I doubled the amount of caramel because hey, it’s caramel. So here’s what I used:

Magee’s caramel corn

 Ingredients
  • 1 bag popcorn
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. white Karo syrup
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

Instructions

  1. Pop the popcorn and dump onto a parchment-lined baking sheet
  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan with sugar and Karo syrup, then boil for five minutes without stirring
  3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda
  4. Pour over popcorn carefully — this stuff is crazy hot and sticky; dangerous combo (just ask my pinkie finger)
  5. Bake at 250F for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes (the stirring will really help evenly coat the popcorn, so don’t worry if it’s not too even to start with)
  6. Slide parchment paper off cookie sheet (again, carefully) onto a rack and let cool. Store in an airtight container if any lasts that long

Notes

For the sake of reference, here are Magee’s original amounts: 4 bags microwave popcorn (6 quarts) 2 cups brown sugar 1/2 cup white Karo syrup 2 sticks butter 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp baking soda