Cherry Cake Pudding

When I logged on the The Pioneer Woman's website early one morning and saw a picture of this Cherry Cake Pudding, I immediately wanted to whip some up because licking my monitor wasn't working out so well for me.

This recipe is really easy to make, and of course you can see the wonderful step by step pictures on The Pioneer Woman's website.  I broke my cardinal rule and served a new recipe to guests, but she has never lead my wrong.  It was pretty delicious.  Ciara begged me to make another batch as soon as the last serving was gone.

I used a different brand of Cherries that I just love from Trader Joe's.  Maybe the syrup that came with these cherries was sweeter, but I thought the sauce was a little sweet.  I would definitely cut down on the sugar next time.  Oh, and I left out the nuts.  I love them personally, but since we had guests, I thought it best to leave them out.  I'm sure you could probably make this would whatever fruit happens to be your favorite.


Pioneer Woman's Cherry Cake Pudding

• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ⅛ teaspoons Salt
• ½ cups Whole Milk
• 1 can (15 Ounces) Cherries In Syrup (NOT Cherry Pie Filling) Drained, Juice Reserved
• ½ cups Pecans, Finely Chopped

• 1 cup Juice From Cherries (add Water To Make 1 Cup If Necessary)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• Unsweetened Freshly Whipped Cream

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter a square 9 x 9-inch baking dish.

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and mix well. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt then add to mixing bowl alternatively with milk. Add cherries and chopped nuts and mix gently. Pour batter into buttered pan and smooth out the surface. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown on the surface and no longer jiggly.

While cake is baking, make the sauce by combining cherry juice, sugar, and flour in a small saucepan. Boil for 8 to 10 minutes, or until thick. Turn off heat and stir in 1 tablespoon butter and vanilla extract.

Drizzle 1/3 of the sauce on the cake as soon as you remove it from the oven. Spread to distribute over the surface and wait ten minutes before serving so the sauce will seep into the top of the cake a bit.

Spoon out pieces of warm, sticky cake and top with unsweetened whipped cream.

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie

I'm always looking for a different take on Pumpkin Pie. Mainly because I don't like it - something about the texture.  I do love the smell of them cooking though!  Last year I made Libby's Pumpkin Rolls which are delicious but I didn't have a lot of time to dedicate to baking on this particular day.  I had a lot of cream cheese to use up so I really wanted to utilize that somehow.  Thanks to google, I found this recipe by Paula Deen.

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie

1  8oz package cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups canned pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg plus 2 egg yolk slightly beaten

1 cup half and half *

1/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place dough into a 9 inch pie pan.**  Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the pie shell completely.  Fill the shell to the edges with pie weights or dried beans and place it in the oven.  Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color. ***

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer.  Add the pumpkin and beat until combined.  Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined.  Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half and half, and melted butter.  Beat until combined.  Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set.  Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

This pie was a big hit.  The texture ended up being a cross between a pie and a cheesecake.  Add some whipped cream on top and you have a delicious dessert!

* I didn't have any half and half but had some heavy whipping cream.  So I added 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1/2 cup milk.  

 ** I used a deep die pie plate.  If you are using regular pie plates/or shells you can probably make two pies from this recipe.  

*** I don't have any pie weights, so I pricked the pie crust with a fork, covered it tightly with the foil, baked for 10 mins, removed the foil and baked for another 10 mins.  It worked out fine.  Some reviews I read said you don't even need to bake the pie crust ahead of time.

Peach Cobbler

Every year Uncle Rick graciously hosts Thanksgiving.  Said Uncle Rick is my husband's aunts ex-husband.  (Follow along please people!)  No only does he invite my family of 5 but also includes my mother and stepfather.  So when he said he would like something peach for Thanksgiving dessert I was happy to oblige.

What to make though?  Obviously fresh peaches are not in season , and I sometimes find the store bought canned stuff to be too sweet,  so I decided on a Peach Cobbler.  I used some frozen peach slices and tried out this recipe from Paula Deen.

Paula Deen's Peach Cobbler

4 cups peeled, sliced peaches

2 cups sugar, divided

1/2 cup water

8 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups self rising flour

1 1/2 cups milk

Optional Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar, and water in a saucepan and mix well.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

Put the butter in a 3 quart baking dish and place in the oven to melt.*

Mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour and milk slowly to prevent clumping.  Poor mixture over melted butter.  Do not stir.  Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup.  Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon if using.**  Batter will rise to the top during baking.  Bake for 30 to 45 minutes. (Took a full 45 minutes in my oven)

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream - Yummy! 
(Note to self:  Can some peaches when they are in season next year!)

*I made this again a few days later with apple instead.  I sprayed the baking dish with Pam and reduced the butter in half.

**I also added some freshly ground nutmeg.

Apple Crisp? Apple Crumble?

Ever since we canned our apples, my daughter Ciara has been dying to eat them.  I even bought some premade crust but for some reason was not in the mood for apple pie.  Due to illness in our house this week, dinner was just boring hot dogs so I decided to make a quick yummy dessert.  Based on what was in my pantry I decided on Apple Crisp.  Or is it Apple Crumble?  I'm not sure what the difference is.

Anyhoo.......I heated the oven to 375 degrees and then sprayed the bottom of a small casserole dish with Pam.  I poured in some of our homemade Apple Pie Filling. (A 1 pint jar) In a bowl I mixed together:

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

 Then I cut in:

1/3 cup butter cubed

Topped the pie filling with the oat mixture and baked for 40 minutes.  Soo delicious with a scoop of whipped cream.  Yum!

This made just enough for our family of five since it is fairly rich.  If your family is bigger or if you want seconds or leftovers, I highly recommend doubling this recipe.