Category Archives: desserts

December 23, 2012 · 8:06 am

HASTY TASTY HOLIDAY COOKIES

All you need!

All you need!

I’m not a great baker, so I’m a fan of cake mixes. I seldom make cakes, but the mixes make good cookies, muffins, etc. During the busy holiday season, I whip up these cookies in half an hour, which qualifies them as “hasty tasty” treats. They’re simple and as reasonably healthful as cookies can be because I use coconut oil. Coconut oil is a good choice for cookies because it is solid at room temperature like Crisco or butter but without the trans fats. Coconut oil is monounsaturated fat. Still, it’s fat and 120 calories per serving, so it isn’t a free pass. Hey, it’s cookies and it’s the holidays. Live a little!

RECIPE

Cake Mix Cookies

Ingredients:
1 standard box cake mix
½ cup coconut oil
1 egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine the oil and the egg (I soften the coconut oil about 15 seconds in the microwave, but no more. You don’t want scrambled egg!).
Add the mix and stir to combine. You can use a pastry blender, but I use my hands. The heat from my hands helps soften the coconut oil.
Press or roll out the dough and cut out cookies (or you may drop rounded teaspoons of dough onto the cookie sheet).
Bake cookies on an ungreased baking sheet for 8-10 minutes, just until they start to brown at the edges.
Remove cookies immediately to a cooling rack.
Enjoy!

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Hasty Tasty Holiday Cookies

(Makes approximately 3 dozen, depending on how large your cookies. One-inch diameter cookies yield about 3½ dozen)

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September 30, 2012 · 10:10 am

Hasty Tasty Pecan Tea Cakes

This recipe idea came from watching Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade. I modified her recipe to make it a bit more healthful. These cakes are good as a dessert, as a breakfast, or anytime you want to enjoy one with a hot cup of tea!

RECIPE

Pecan Tea Cakes

12 Servings

Ingredients:

Muffins:

  • 2 cups Bisquick®
  • ¼ cup egg substitute
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup
  • ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ½ cup chopped pecans

 

Glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 Tbsp. milk
  • 1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
  • 12 pecan halves

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Add paper liners to a 12-cup muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, beat together the syrup, egg substitute, cream, and vanilla, about one minute.

Gradually add the 2 cups Bisquick® and mix about one minute. Don’t over mix. Fold in the chopped pecans.

Scoop 1/12 of the mixture into each cup of the muffin pan.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted tests clean. Remove from oven and cool muffins on a wire rack.

While muffins cool, combine the powdered sugar, spice, milk, and maple syrup to make a glaze. Whisk until thick. If mixture is too tight, thin with additional milk.

Dip muffins into the bowl of glaze to coat the tops. Garnish each muffin with a pecan half. Serve.

Pecan Tea Cake

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July 26, 2012 · 8:11 am

A Very Berry Shake

Very Berry Shake

It’s hot. We’re in the midst of summer, a time when we love a frozen treat. You can burn fuel driving to the local ice cream shoppe, spend several dollars for a milk shake, and return home feeling guilty for overindulging on sugar and fat. Or you can save time, money and calories by making your own milk shake. Here’s a recipe I make in my Vitamix.

RECIPE

Berry Shake

Ingredients:

  •  1 cup 1% or skim milk
  • ½ cup frozen cherries
  • ¼ cup frozen berries medley (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries)
  • ¼ cup frozen strawberries
  • 1 prune for added natural sweetness (optional)

Directions:

  • Add all ingredients to the Vitamix. Secure lid but leave the plug out to insert the tamper.
  • Run the Vitamix on Variable Speed 1, gradually stepping up to 10 then High. Use the tamper to push the frozen fruit into the blades.
  • Run until the mixture is smooth but do not overprocess. When the consistency resembles a milk shake (about 1 minute), stop the Vitamix, remove container, and pour into a glass. Enjoy!

Yield: 1 large or 2 small shakes

Variation: Pour extra mixture into molds to make frozen pops.

If you make this for the kids, you don’t have to tell them it’s good for them. Using whole fruit and milk, you have a delicious treat that contains vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber. The milk adds calcium. Treat yourself and your family guilt-free!

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May 17, 2012 · 9:12 pm

Have You Lost That Oven Feelin’?

I live in Florida and rarely light my oven. It heats up my kitchen and makes the air-conditioning work harder. I’ve made it my mission to adapt favorite baked dishes to stovetop cooking, such as the electric skillet pizza. Here is a hasty tasty recipe (and I can’t take credit for it–this comes from the Americraft Cookware kitchens in Westbend, WI.) for a pineapple upside down cake made in a skillet. I lightened it up a bit.

RECIPE

Pineapple Upside Down Skillet Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 box yellow cake mix
  • 1 20-oz. can sliced pineapples, drained (reserve the pineapple juice)
  • 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 10 Marachino cherries

Directions:

  1. Combine pineapple juice (from canned pineapple) with water to make 1 cup liquid.
  2. Mix liquid with the cake mix.
  3. Preheat a 10″ skillet over medium heat.
  4. Melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar to coat the bottom of the skillet.
  5. Arrange pineapple slices in the brown sugar and decorate with Maraschino cherries.
  6. Pour cake mix batter over the pineapple slices. Cover skillet.
  7. Time for 7 minutes then reduce heat to low. Do not lift cover!
  8. Cook over low heat for 15 additional minutes (for a total of 22 minutes) before lifting lid to check for doneness.
  9. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. If necessary, cover and cook an additional 5 minutes.
  10. When cake is done, remove skillet from heat and run a knife around the cake’s edges to loosen.
  11. Place a plate or cake tray over the skillet and invert to remove the cake.

Variation: For more pineapple flavor, use Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix instead of yellow cake mix.

 

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