Boston Cream Pie

I've somehow become known for my desserts among our group of friends. So, yesterday I was in need of an awesome dessert to wow them once again. Not only were we having the missionaries over for dinner, but then a bunch of John's dental school friends and their wives were coming over for a little get together for one of the wives who's having a baby soon. It was quite the night to say the least. 

I've had Boston Cream Pie on my mind lately, and when Mom suggested I make that for dessert, I didn't hesitate. Not only is this cake super simple to make, it looks impressive, and tastes even more amazing. I think I just rediscovered my new favorite dessert. And the great thing is, one boxed yellow cake mix makes TWO Boston Cream Pies. The recipe below is just for one cake though.

They all loved it, and I left them impressed once again. Success!

Boston Cream Pie:

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1 cup  plus 2 Tbsp. cold milk, divided

1 cup thawed LIGHT COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

1 moist yellow cake layer (8 or 9 inch)

*2 squares unsweetened chocolate 

*2 Tbsp. butter

*1-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Make yellow cake mix according to box directions (8 or 9 inch layers)

While the cake is baking, mix the package of vanilla pudding with 1 cup of milk, mix with whisk for about 2 minutes. 

Then add 1 cup of cool whip to pudding mixture (I used a little less than it called for) and set aside in fridge. 

Cool cake completely.

Once cooled, cut the cake in half horizontally and place the pudding mixture on top of one of the halves.

Place the other cake half back on top of the cake and pudding mixture.

Melt 2 unsweetened chocolate square with 2 TBS of butter in the microwave for one minute. 

Stir until chocolate is completely melted. 

Add 2 TBS of milk and 3/4 cup powdered sugar to chocolate mixture, (add more or less powdered sugar depending on sweetness level) and pour on top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides. 

Let the cake set in the fridge for at least an hour or two before serving. 

Yum!

*If your cake layer is only an 8 inch, you can half the chocolate frosting recipe.

Rice Pudding

I'll be honest, I don't have much experience eating rice pudding. I don't even think mom ever made it (maybe because she doesn't like it).  But, our cousin Paul's wife, Catherine, made this when I was at their house for dinner, and I haven't stopped craving it since. So, I gave it a shot this week, only to discover I was out of sugar and white rice.  So, I used brown rice and brown sugar, and it was still pretty good, though I'm sure it would be better with white rice. This recipe doesn't call for it, but when she served it, Catherine poured a little cream (or half and half, I'm not sure which) over it, and it was the perfect touch!  I have been also eating mine this week with strawberries.  (I also didn't put in the raisins, and neither did Catherine). Mmmmm. So good!    

Baked Rice Pudding

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked rice
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch glass baking dish.

In a large bowl, stir together first 7 ingredients. Spoon into prepared baking dish. Place baking dish in a large pan; pour water into the pan to a depth of 1-inch. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until lightly browned and set. Combine cinnamon and nutmeg; sift over top ofpudding. Cool slightly and cut into squares to serve.

Chocolate Almond Zucchini Bread

Andrea use to make this recipe, she thought it was great with chocolate chips added....I liked it without the extra chocolate.

3 eggs, beaten
1 c. sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. almond extract
2 c. grated zucchini
2 c. flour
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. slivered or sliced almonds

Add sugars and oil to the eggs. Melt chocolate; cool slightly.  Add zucchini & almond extract; add chocolate.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients together and stir into wet ingredients. Fold in almonds (if desired)  Bake in 2 loaf pans that have been spayed with pam and dusted with flour. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool in pans for at least 15 minutes, remove from the pan and cool on rack.

Blueberry lemon waffles

The other day, I wanted waffles for breakfast and had some leftover lemon zest plus fresh blueberries so this is what I made:
Stir into your favorite waffle fix  about 1 cup of fresh blueberries and at least 2  heaping tsp. of fresh lemon zest.  Serve with homemade coconut syrup. . . . so delicious and easy!

Pumpkin Scones with Caramel Glaze

A friend made these tonight, and I could have eaten the whole batch by myself... they were amazing!  A little extra (a lot, actually) glaze on top makes them even better!

Half Batch Alice’s Tea Cup Pumpkin Scones

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt (I used Morton)
2 full tablespoons ground ginger
2 full tablespoons ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (mine was cold)
5 oz buttermilk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree (all pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Caramel glaze:
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. With clean hands, work the butter into the dry mixture until it is thoroughly incorporated and has the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the buttermilk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract into the well. Still using your hands (I did this with a spatula scraper), combine the ingredients until all the dry mixture is wet, but do not knead!

Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and gather the dough together. Gently pat the dough to make a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick.(My dough was pretty soft, so I used about a 1/3 cup measure and made drop scones) using a 3-or 3 1/2- inch biscuit cutter, cut out as many scones as you can and lay them on a nonstick baking sheet. Gather the remaining dough together lightly to cut out more scones—just don’t knead the dough too much (Again, I bypassed all that and made drop scones.)

Bake the scones for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let the scones cool slightly on the baking sheet (about 20 minutes) before glazing them.

While the scones are cooling, prepare the caramel glaze: Place the butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk gently until the mixture is smooth. Just as the mixture comes to a light boil, add the heavy cream and reduce the heat to low. Whisk well for 2 minutes, or until the glaze is thickened and smooth; then remove the pan from the heat.

To glaze a scone, hold it by the bottom, dip the top in the warm caramel glaze, and place it back on the baking sheet. Makes 5 o 6

Avocado Salsa

Thanks to the spring weather we've been having here, I thought of this salsa recipe that an old BYU bishops wife used to make. It's delicious and so fresh tasting! 

2 Avocados (peeled and cut in small chunks)

1 cup green pepper (cut in small chunks)

1 cup roma tomatoes (cut in small chunks)

1 cup red onion (cut in small chunks)

1/2 TBS crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup craisins

1 TB garlic oil

Combined all ingredients and serve with tortilla chips.

Coconut Filled cake

1 pkg devil’s food cake mix

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1 egg

2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) Jello-O pudding (vanilla or coconut)

¼ c. powdered sugar

1 c. cold milk

2 c. thawed Cool Whip (I used sugar free)

1 c. coconut flakes

1.        heat over to 350 Prepare cake batter in 2 ½ qt. ovenproof bowl, as directed on package; scrape side of bowl. Beat cream cheese, egg and granulated sugar until well blended; Spoon into center of the batter in bowl.

2.      Bake 1 hour 5 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in bowl 10 min. Loosen cake from bowl with knife; using potholders if necessary, invert onto wire rack. Remove bowl. Cool cake completely.

3.     Beat dry pudding mix, powdered sugar and milk in medium bowl with whisk, 2 min. Stir in Cool Whip. Refrigerate until ready to use.

4.      Place cake on plate; frost with pudding mixture. Cover with coconut. Keep refrigerated.