Dessert Nachos!! Ole!!

Now this was during Superbowl time even though I don't really watch the game.  It is tailgating and parties and that's for everyone!!  I was watching TV or more like reading and the TV was on, Restaurant Rescue with Robert Irvine I think, and I heard him mention, these are dessert nachos, you can sell them for $8 a plate.  My head popped out of my book and said, nachos?? Dessert nachos?  Ok, you have my attention.  So I watch Mr. Irvine go through the steps and I thought I can make that.  I needed ingredients:

Dessert Nachos
1 pkg flour tortillas regular sized
2 pkg frozen mixed fruit, chopped bite size
1 8-12 oz jar raspberry jam
mixed chocolate and white chocolate sauce
deep fryer w/ oil
1 cup granulated sugar mixed with 3-4 tsp cinnamon
Now the tortillas need to be cut into 1/4ths and set aside while oil is heating about 350-400
but first cut fruit while it's frozen and then mix the jam in and stir.  Place in refrigerator after it has thawed a bit, maybe an hour.
first you will need the sugar and cinnamon mixed in a large bowl because the chips are going in right after being in oil so you will need tongs.

depending on how big you deep fryer is, you can put 3-4 at a time to watch and flip over when they are turning light brown.  Take out and dump in sugar mixture.  Once coated then have a pan or large basket lined with paper towel.  Repeat these steps until you have fried all tortillas and dredged in sugar.  Now to make the chocolate.  You can use dark and milk chocolate chips in a pan with 1/2 small heavy cream and stir over low heat until chocolate melts.  Add  a capful vanilla flavoring.  There are white chocolate chips and I would recommend melting them in microwave since they are more like an accent to everything.  Get a nice plate and assemble the chips on there and then drizzle the dark chocolate over them and a bit of the white chocolate.  In a little side bowl put your *salsa* or the fruit compote with jam you just did.  Just make sure it's completely thawed out before serving.  Trust me, it's delicious.

Sweet Chimichangas??? Really? Oh. Yes.

I know, I know, I haven't written in so long, I'm practically a memory.  But no worries, I can bring you back to the fold.  Strawberry chimichangas.  Yes, sweet fried goodness!!! I saw the recipe and decided I just had to make it.  It didn't look too  complicated and as I was making it, in my mind, I was already tweaking it for next time.  Yes, a little OCD but do not judge me.  To whomever first thought of this dessert, let me say muchas gracias.

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE CHIMICHANGAS

INGREDIENTS:

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon plus 1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
6 (8-inch) soft flour tortillas
1 3/4 cups sliced strawberries, divided
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
Vegetable oil, for frying

Equipment: toothpicks; deep-fry thermometer

DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese with the sour cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fold in 3/4 cup of the sliced strawberries.

Divide the mixture evenly between the tortillas, slathering each portion in the lower third of each tortilla. Next, fold the two sides of each tortilla toward the center and then roll the tortilla up like a burrito and secure it with a toothpick. Repeat the rolling process with the remaining tortillas.

Combine the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set it aside. Line a large plate with paper towels.

Add 3 inches of oil to a large, deep saucepan, leaving a minimum of 2 inches from the top of the oil to the top of the saucepan. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 360ºF on a deep-fry thermometer.

Working in batches, fry the chimichangas until golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes, flipping them as needed. Transfer the chimichangas to the paper towel-lined plate to drain for 1 minute, and then roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Repeat the frying and rolling process with the remaining chimichangas, returning the oil to 360ºF between batches.

Remove all toothpicks from the chimichangas and transfer them to serving plates. Top each with a portion of the remaining 1 cup of sliced strawberries and serve immediately.

Now for the tweaking part.  I am going to say freeze the chimichangas after you wrap them so the filling will not be as gooey when you bite into it.   Just for an hour or two then let them sit out while you are heating the oil to fry them up.  And I'm sure you can use a strawberry drizzle with whipped cream as well.  Enjoy!!

Cake of childhood, Pineapple Upside Down Cake (or cupcakes)

My friend CC and I are hosting a Mad Men themed Christmas party this year.  So we research and thought one of the desserts needs to be somewhat TV inspired.  PUDS(Pineapple Upside Down Cake) starting making an appearance after Dole started canning its pineapple and recipes flooded in after that.
I thought PUDS would be a simple, easy, tasty dessert.  We did a test dinner last night and yesterday morning I remembered, I don't have a cast iron skillet.  So I did the next best thing.  I made cupcakes.  You can't use pineapple rings obviously because muffin pans are smaller so you have to modify the recipe.  The one I found says you can break up the fruit into pieces and halve the cherries.  It turned out delicious and only took about 30 minutes to make.  Still kicking myself  that I didn't take a picture.  I'll have to remember to do so when we have the party.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake cupcakes recipe:

for the cake:

2 eggs

2/3 cup white sugar

4 TBSP pineapple juice 

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

for the brown sugar topping:

2 tablespoons of butter/margarine

1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)

can pineapple rings 

maraschino cherries

Instructions

1.Melt the butter and brown sugar in the microwave – 30 seconds should do it. Once melted, mix it well!

2.Sift the dry ingredients.

3.Mix the wet ingredients thoroughly!

4.And preheat the oven to 350 F.

5.Once the wet ingredients are mixed well and the dry ingredients are sifted, you can mix them together.

6.Pour the dry into the wet, and mix until everything is combined and you can’t see any clumps of dry ingredients.

7.Spray your muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

8.Spoon in a little bit of the butter/brown sugar mixture into the bottom of each cup – it ends up being a little less than a tablespoon each. Then place a maraschino cherry in the middle and surround it with bit of pineapple.

9.Now you’ll spoon the batter onto the toppings.

10.Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 20 minutes. Test their doneness with a toothpick – it should come out of the middle of a cupcake nice and clean!

11.Once they’re done, you need to let them cool for at least 15-20 minutes, preferably on a wire rack.  If you try to take them out of the pan right away, you’ll probably lose your toppings because they’ll be too hot.

12Go around the edge of each cupcake with a butter knife to help loosen them. Then cover the muffin pan with a large plate or a cutting board and flip it over! This should let them come out nice and easy, and in one piece!

Try it!! So good!! 

Key Lime Pie is so Divine!!

Key Lime pie says summer to me.  It has that bit of tart I just love.  I made this pie several times in the past few months and I made it for my friend's 30th birthday party at our office.  I am a bit of a snob when I comes to certain things homemade.  The crust is so important.  Seriously, I hate store bought crust.  If I'm in a hurry and I need to get something quick, it's one of those last resort decisions to use one.  The recipe is so crazy simple but I did have a friend of mine tell me I need to add more key lime because it's just not tart enough.  Now I like tart but apparently she wants to have lemon/lime face.  Here is the recipe:

Key Lime Pie
filling:
1 can (14oz) condensed milk
4 egg yolks (separate the whites out)
3-4 oz of Key Lime juice

crust:
3 oz of toast almond slivers - buy them and use a tiny slice of butter and toast.  Must watch carefully or will burn and taste horrible.  Believe me, it's happened.
4 tbsp butter melted
1-1 1/2 cups of graham cracker
3 tsp white sugar
sprinkle of cinnamon.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and mixed all the crust ingredients and press into pie plate and bake for about 8 minutes.  Take out of oven and let completely cool
Use a mixer and pour in condensed milk, key lime juice and egg yolks.  Mix well and pour into crust.  Bake for about 20 minutes.
Cool and then spoon cool whip topping on pie and chill for at least 4 hours.

This is what was left at party.  And then it was gone after the picture was taken.

Cookie Pie?

The reason I put a question mark on my title is I was iffy about doing it.  Now I love anything Tollhouse usually but the recipe I used called for a crust to make it a "pie".  I've never done that before.  I used the Tollhouse recipe on the bag but I also lined a pie plate with a ready made crust. Baked as usual and let cool for a few minutes because I wanted to taste it warm with the vanilla ice cream I bought.  Yeah, I live dangerously.  So I bite into it.  Moooaaannnnn!! It's good until I bite into the crust. Should it taste like a cookie and a pie?  In theory, it sounds great but the reality is, eh.  And now my whole Tollhouse experience is destroyed. I will try again of course.  Now it's sitting on the counter top and no one else has touched it.  Crust is bad.

Lesson learned.

Mmmm, pie.

I have made something I haven't in quite some time.  A bourbon chocolate chip pecan pie.  Oh yes, it just rolls off the tongue.  Bourbon chocolate chip pecan pie.  Same diabetic friend that asked for the cream cheese pound cake wanted this.  I make sure she has her insulin available at work.  I used a pretty quick and easy recipe this time.

Easy Peasy Bourbon Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

1   (9-inch) unbaked pie shell
2 cup pecan halves
3   large eggs, beaten
3 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup dark corn syrup (I used light)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoon good-quality bourbon (Jim Beam)
3 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped (doesn't have to be finely done, just rough)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

Cover bottom of pie crust with pecans. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, sugar, bourbon and the chopped chocolate. Stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into the pie shell over the pecans and place on a heavy-duty cookie sheet. 

Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for an additional 25 minutes or until pie is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. 

I can't wait for her to taste it.  I'll keep ya posted.

Brownies!!

I made Knock You Nekkid brownies tonight just for fun.  Yes, you have to say nekkid, not naked but it sounds dirtier that way.  :)  I haven't made them in a long while and they aren't much to look at but my gosh, I bet dollars to donuts that it will be consumed tomorrow before noon.  You know, a nice breakfast, mid morning snack, and hell, lunch.