Lemon Meringue Pie

oh la la, I loves me some lemon! My boyfriend got me on the lemon kick so much I want my own lemon tree! This pie is all homemade, from the beautiful crust to the lemony filling to the fluffy meringue! My pie crusts never ever turn out until my wonderful sister-in-law showed me how she does her pie crust with her grandmothers recipe for her famous apple pie! Ever since then, I have been making perfect pie crust and I'm keeping this pie crust recipe a secret! :♥)

Pie Crust:

See this recipe on food.com because i'm mean and not giving away a secret recipe! :♥)

Filling:

1 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Cornstarch

1/8 tsp Salt

2 large Lemons (zest and juice)

1/2 cup Lemon Juice (i like extra lemony taste)

4 Egg Yolks (save whites for meringue)

1 1/2 cup Boiling Hot Water

3 tbsp Chilled Butter

~In a medium pot, whisk up the sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon zest and juices with the yolks until well blended. 

~Place on stove, on med heat; whisk in the boiling hot water and whisk until it thickens, remove from heat and add in chilled butter! Pour in pre-baked crust!

Meringue:

~With electric mixer stand, whisk egg whites until fluffy peaks, then slowly adding in 2-3 tbsp of sugar until soft peaks are formed! 

~Top on the lemon pie and bake on 350 until golden peaks form!

Cherry Pound Cake

this is not my picture but from robinhood.ca

This is a family favorite and a must at christmas time! Every year a cherry cake has to get baked as far back as I can remember!

1 ½ cup Butter

2 cup Sugar

3 large Eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tsp almond extract

3 cups flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 cup warm, undiluted evaporated milk

1 pound halved glace cherries

~Cream together butter and sugar. 

~Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add in the extracts. 

~Combine the flour and baking powder. 

~Mix the milk and add the cherries. Blend well and pour into loaf pans. 

~Bake at 350 until toothpick approved!

How to make: Easy Ravioli

Um, wow! This was soo easy to make with fresh wonton wrappers! I highly recommend you picking up a package and start filling because these are de-lish!! I made my favorite meat/veg parm spaghetti sauce but you can make a brown butter sauce or any tomato sauce of your choice! :♥)

1 pkg Wonton Wrappers

1 large egg

2 cup cooked ground pork

6 slices of bacon (sliced)

1 small onion

1 cup chopped baby spinach

1 small container ricotta cheese or cottage cheese 

pinch sea salt and pepper

~Cook meat, bacon and onion all together! Add in spinach, cook for 5 mins! Remove from heat and let it cool down. With a food processor, mince meat mixture. Fold in the ricotta cheese, sea salt and pepper. 

~In another bowl, whisk an egg to make an egg wash. With clean hands, grab two sheets of the wonton wrappers; they are thin so be careful and then dip a finger in the egg wash and begin wetting the edges of the wrapper. You can also use one sheet and seal like a triangle like shape!

~Place a teaspoon of meat and cheese mixture in the middle. Then top the 2nd wrapper sealing the edges. Make sure there are no air pockets if you can help it.

~Boil in water with a pinch of sea salt for 3-4 mins. Place in your sauce and boom you got homemade ravioli! :♥)

Keep Calm & Make Coffee

There are a lot of Keep calm... signs out there but this is the best one I have ever come across!! :♥)

Caramel Fudge Brownie Poppers!

I used my Butter Rum Caramel Brownies recipe but I let the caramel cook longer so it would be a toffee like texture and didnt add the rum at all. I let the caramel harden/cool and then i cut it into small pieces and covered the brownie mixture, pushing into the batter. I grabbed a spoon and spread the batter over the caramel! I topped with chocolate mini fudge filled chips! These are heavenly for sure! I cut the brownies in little bite size pieces so you can just pop one in your mouth! De-lish!:♥)

Crinkle Cookies

From Hershey's Chocolate Cookbook, These are a rich cocoa crinkle cookie and so delicious, a perfect chocolate fix and a great christmas cookie! :♥)

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup Hershey's cocoa powder 

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

powdered sugar

~Combine granulated sugar and oil in large bowl (or kitchen-aid mixer stand on 2); add cocoa, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

~Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to cocoa mixture, beating well.

~Cover and refrigerate until dough is firm enough to handle, about 2-3 hours.

~Heat oven 350. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in powdered sugar to coat. Place 2 inches apart on prepare cookie sheet.

~Bake 10-12 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched lightly and tops are crackled. Cool slightly then remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely!

Oatmeal Fruit Cookies

Oatmeal cookies are my absolutely all time favorite cookie! This time I thought to add dried cranberries, apricots and currents! These turned out so good being soft and chewy with crispy edges!

1 cup Butter

2 Eggs

1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar

3 cups Oatmeal

2 cups Flour

1 /2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 cup dried Cranberries (i love Ocean Spray Craisins!!)

1/2 cup Currents

1/2 cup Apricots (diced)

~Preheat oven 375

~In a bowl, cream butter and brown sugar! Add in eggs, one at a time. 

~Add in the cranberries, currents and apricots, combine. I add in with the wet cause I dont want my fruit with flour stuck to it hehe and I dont add them in last cause its a pain to mix them all together.

~Then blend in your oats. Add flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, combine together well with the fruit mix. Spoon on baking stone or parchment line cookie sheet, bake for 8-10 minutes.

How to make: Marshmallow Fondant

This recipe (below) was what I used to cover my first fondant cake.(above)  :♥)

1 (16 ounce) package mini marshmallows
4-5 tbsp cold water
2 pounds confectioners' sugar, divided

1/2 cup Crisco shortening 

~Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted.

~It usually takes about 2 ½ minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

~Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY - palms, backs and in between fingers, then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

~Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands. Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more.

~Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant is sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about ½ tablespoon at a time then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

~Its best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

~Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic- type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. 

~MM Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. If I know that I have a cake to decorate, I usually make 2 batches on a free night during the week so it is ready when I need it. Take advantage of the fact that this fondant can be prepared well in advance.

Here is a youtube video using a different recipe that does not use the crisco but shows you how to make it! :♥)

Carrot Cake.. Best ever!

I L♥VE carrot cake, its my all time favorite! When I came across this recipe I kept it and never again will i test out another recipe! This is moist and sooo freaking delicious I could eat the whole pan! :♥)

2 cups all-purpose Flour

2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 3/4 cups Sugar

1 cup Vegetable Oil

3 large Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 cups shredded Carrots

1 cup flaked Coconut

1 cup chopped Walnuts

1 (8 ounce) can Crushed Pineapple, drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

~Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; make a well in the center and add sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix with wooden spoon until smooth.

~Stir in carrots, coconut, walnuts and pineapple. Pour into 9x13 inch pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Don't panic, the centre will sink a little.

~Allow to cool; when cool, ice the cake. You can certainly use your favorite cream cheese frosting to ice this cake, but the one I've included is highly recommended (I usually leave the cake in the 13x9 pan and just ice the top).

To make the frosting:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar

~Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth; add the icing sugar and beat until creamy.

How to make: Alfredo Sauce

When we started Adventures of Cooking a few years back we made homemade pasta and this sauce! I'd love to continue with these adventures, it was so much fun making homemade things, the two time we done it! LOL But really this is the best quick and easy alfredo sauce! 

2 1/2 cups Heavy Cream

3/4 cup unsalted Real Butter

2 cups grated Fresh Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Melt butter and cream over medium heat in a heavy large skillet just until the butter melts, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Add parmesan to the cream sauce in the skillet. Stir over low heat until the sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute.

How to make: fresh pasta!

4 large fresh chicken Eggs

1/2 tsp Salt

5 cups all-purpose white Flour (you are not going to use all the flour)

Make a well and crack the eggs, add salt to eggs

with a knife slowly and gently incorporate eggs with flour

like a whisking motion, letting the eggs grab the flour from the sides gently

until you get a ball of pasta. then knead the dough like you would knead bread. Push down and away from you, turn and fold dough on to itself and repeat, push down and away until its smooth, for about 5-7 minutes!

wrap in plastic and let it rest for twenty minutes

roll out the pasta on a floured surface with a rolling pin or use a pasta machine

until its thin as you want it, maybe 1/16th of an inch! I used a knife(the hard way) then a pizza cutter (the easy way)! 

and boom you got pasta! You can dry on a towel or use a broomstick. Use right away or will keep up to a week! Boil for 3-5 minutes if using fresh pasta right away. I never stored mine so I'm not sure the cooking cycle, maybe 8 minutes? :♥)

"Melt in your mouth" Shortbread Cookies

love l♥ve love these! Best ever shortbread cookie... ever!! Enough said!  :♥)

1 cup REAL Butter (NO Substitutes :D ..no no no)

1 1/2 cup Flour

1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a electric mixer stand until it has a smooth consistency! Whip it up real good :) 

Line baking sheet with parchment paper, drop teaspoonfuls and bake for 12-15 minutes on 350 until light golden brown, I recommend not over baking them!

Top with jam or cherries. If you are using jam, make a well in the middle of the dough with your finger then spoon in jam and bake! :♥)

Nanaimo Bars

First time ever I made these bars!! I actually don't like nanaimo bars because I'm not a fan of icing. These were actually really good, although I'd thin out the chocolate for a better look!  :♥)

1 cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Butter

1 1/4 cup Graham Wafer Crumbs

1 cup Coconut

1/2 cup Walnuts or Pecans

2 cups Icing Sugar

1/4 cup Butter, softened

3 tsp Milk

2 tbsp Custard powder

1 tsp Vanilla

3/4 cup Chocolate Chips

2 tps Vegetable Oil

In medium saucepan over low heat (or in large bowl in microwave) melt chocolate chips and butter. Stir in graham wafer crumbs, coconut and nuts. Press it evenly into 9-inch square pan. Chill in the frigde for about 30 minutes. OR put it out in the cold like I did lol

In small bowl, blend icing sugar, butter, milk, custard powder, vanilla and spread evenly over chilled base.

Melt chocolate chips with vegetable oil over hot water (or in microwave). Spread evenly over filling. Chill. Cut into bars and watch the icing ooze out LOL

Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies

These are the best peanut butter cookies I have made! With crispy edges and chewy middle, you cant beat that! You can also add chocolate chips or nuts or even raisins! :♥)

1 cup Butter (softened)

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 Large Eggs

1 tbsp. Vanilla

2 cups Peanut butter

1 1/2 cups Flour (sifted)

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

Preheat oven 375°F

~Cream butter and brown sugar until you get a pretty maple colour, light and fluffy. Mix in the peanut butter, then the eggs, one at a time with vanilla, combine!

~In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and soda together then add to the peanut butter mixture slowly until well blended!

~Now grab your baking stone or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Roll dough into 1-2 inch balls and then flatten. Bake for 7-10 minutes. You can freeze left over dough if you don't want to bake them all. Enjoy! :♥)

Peanut Butter "whatever shape you want" Balls

These are a hit every christmas! Each year I have requests to make more and I cant blame them! Between the crunch of the rice crispies and the creamy peanut butter covered in a silky milk chocolate coating!!
nom nom mm :♥)

1 cup Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Butter

1 cup Icing Sugar

2 cup Rice Crispies

1 cup Walnuts (chopped)

1 bag Milk Chocolate Chips

2 tsp Cooking Wax

Parchment Paper

~In a bowl, combine peanut butter, butter and icing sugar together. Add in the rice crispies and nuts. Chill for 30 minutes.

~Roll in to 1 inch balls and lay on the wax paper atop a cookie sheet. I like to chill/freeze before dipping!

~In a pot, melt wax and chocolate chips on lowest heat, stirring often until almost melted. Do not overheat. Stir until smooth, remove from heat. If chocolate becomes too thick for dipping, reheat on low until desired consistency.

~Place 1 ball on fork. Dip into chocolate until coated, allowing excess to drip back into the pot. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet, cover fork holes and chill to set, for about 1 hour.

Best Ever Rocky Road Fudge

To die for!! This is the first time ever I made fudge and OMG, its so freaking good. I cant believe it! I hate fudge cause its flaky and sugary but this...its soft, fudgy, chewy and mm mm good melt in your mouth & way to easy to make. :♥) 

1 bag of Hershey Milk Chocolate Chips

1/4 cup Butter

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated)

2 cups Mini Marshmallows

1 cup Pecans

1 cup Walnuts

Parchment paper 

In a small pot, melt butter, chocolate chips. Take off heat and add in sweetened condensed milk, blend together.

In a medium bowl, combine marshmallows and nuts. Stir in the chocolate mixture and blend well together.

In a 8x8 or 8x11 pan, line with parchment paper. Spread the fudge mixture and freeze or chill for 2-3 hours or over night.

Classic No Bake Snowballs

This is a childhood classic for me! I make these every year at christmas, brings back happy memories! :♥)

1 1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Coco

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup Butter

2 cups Coconut

3 cups Rolled Oats

In a sauce pan, bring to a boil sugar, coco and milk. 
Add in butter and remove from heat. 
Stir in 1 cup coconut and oats. 
Chill for 30 minutes or cool to touch. 
Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in 1 cup coconut and store in freezer.

Its better to eat them straight from the freezer in my opinion. :♥)

Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes

• Chocolate Mousse:
• 
  
• 3 cups mini marshmellows
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 9 ounces best quality semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 1/4 cup hot water from a recently boiled kettle
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 
  
• ~Place the marshmellows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan. Put the saucepan on the stove, over heat, though keep it fairly gentle, to melt, stirring every now and again.
• 
  
• ~ Remove from the heat.Meanwhile whip the cream with the vanilla until thick and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture. Chill until ready to top the cupcakes! :♥)

Chocolate Cake: 

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
• 
  
• ~Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl.
• 
  
• ~In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. 
• 
  
• ~With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into greased cupcake pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. 

Butter Rum Caramel Brownies

• Butter Rum Caramel
• 
  
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbs light corn syrup
• 1 tsp Rum
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 
  

~In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt. Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved. set aside.

~In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt.

~Cook over high heat until candy thermometer reads 350 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Without a thermometer, just pull the sugar off the heat when it is a medium goldish brown – it will continue to cook in the heat of the pan. Better to pull it too early than too late. Remove from the heat and let cool for one minute.

~Add the cream mixture and the rum to the sugar mixture. Whisk in the sour cream then the butter. Let the caramel cool to room temp, then follow the brownie instructions.

Best Brownies Ever

1/2 cup Butter (melted)

1/2 cup Coco Powder

1 cup Sugar

2 large Eggs

2 tbsp Coffee

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup Flour

1/4 tsp Salt

In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined. Stir in vanilla and coffee, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not over mix).

Bake at 350. DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.

~To build the brownies, pour a little over half of the brownie batter and bake. Remove from oven and pour in the caramel. On top of the caramel, add the rest of your brownie batter. If it doesn’t pour smoothly, just plop it in and swirl it around a little bit. Return to oven and bake. Brownies will still appear a little shaky, due to the caramel, but they will firm up once cooled. Do not over bake!!

Oreo Truffles

Oreo truffles, mmm! These are rich and creamy yet soo good that you'll be going back for more. They are soo simple to make and just think, you can use any type of cookie you'd think would be good as a truffle! I love eating them straight from the freezer! :♥)

1 box (big) Oreo Cookies

1 pkg of Light Cream Cheese (softened)

2 bags of  Milk Chocolate Chips

1 inch chunk Cooking Wax (grated)

1/4 cup Chocolate Sprinkles

With a food processor, pulse the oreo cookies into fine crumbs. In a large bowl, blend the oreos and cream cheese together.

Roll into 1/2 balls, Chill for 1 hour.

In a small pot, melt chocolate and wax on minimum. With a toothpick or fork, roll oreo ball in chocolate and lay on parchment paper. Then top the sprinkles right away on each ball as the chocolate will start to harden.

Chill for another hour and enjoy!

Mini Turtles Cheesecakes

I love anything caramel, pecan and chocolate.. and these are so good! I recommend grating three chocolates, white, dark and milk! mm mm nom nom :♥)

3 pkg. (250g) Light Cream Cheese

3 large Eggs

1 cup Sugar

2 tbsp. Real Maple Syrup

1 tbsp. Vanilla

3 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/2 cup Butter (melted)

1/4 cup Honey

1 jar of thick Caramel Icecream Topping

2 cups Pecans

1/2 cup grated Chocolate

Preheat oven 375F

In a bowl, mix up the 1/2 cup melted butter, honey and graham cracker crumbs until there are no dry crumbs left.

In a 24 muffin tin, place graham mix in each slot then pat the graham cracker crumbs down firmly until its half way up. Set aside!

In a large bowl whip up the cream cheese, add in sugar, maple syrup, 1/4 cup butter and vanilla. Add in one egg at a time and whip with electric hand mixer until all eggs are well blended.

Spoon cream cheese filling in each slot evenly. Bake for 25 minutes or until cheesecake begins to crack.

Cool for 10 minutes then top with caramel, pecans and shaved chocolate! Makes 72 =)

My preeecious...

what does one do when they break the coffee maker, besides cry? ...Buy a new one and I saved $50, bonus!! Had my first cup and WOW it was sooo freaking good!

Lickety Split Lemon-Lime Cake

 this is the BEST cake I ever made!! :♥)

Lemon Cake:
~Beat together 1/2 c softened butter, 1 c white sugar in an electric mixer stand until light & fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. 

~Add in 4 large eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. It should look like its curdled. Sift together 2 1/2 c cake flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 large lemon of zest. ~Add the flour mixture slowly with 1/4 c fresh lemon juice mixing until you have a smooth batter.

~Grease sides of 10" cake pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper (not waxpaper, it'll melt and burn). Bake at 350 until toothpick approved and check every 15mins.

Lemon Filling:
~In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 c sugar, 2 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp cornstarch and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir in 1 1/2 c water, 2 large lemon, juiced and zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat

~Stir in 3 tbsp butter. Place 4 egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Then whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat and cool.

Lime Mousse:

~I used boxed mousse, shocking I know eh, that I didnt make this one from scratch!! lol I did followed the directions on a box of  Dr. Oetker Shirriff Mousse, the Vanilla flavored mousse!

~Then I grabbed 1 large Lime, grated all the of zest and squeezed all the juice and added it in!  :♥)

~Whip up a 500ml carton of Whipping cream for the topping to spread around the outside the cake!