I iced a tall triple layer strawberry cake with a classic vanilla buttercream and then covered it in white fondant and decorated it with a pastel green border at the bottom and blue and yellow circles everywhere else.  It was my first time covering a cake in fondant, so I was a bit nervous, but thankfully it worked beautifully on my first try.

Then I rolled the dice and decided to see if my eggless sugar cookie dough decorations would work well on a cake.  I was inspired by this cake and so happy with how my cute jungle animals turned out – they really spruced up the front of the cake!  Since the dough has butter in it, it’s a bit shiner than fondant, but it also doesn’t dry out as easily.  It’s also a bit more fragile than fondant and the finish isn’t quite as clean and crisp, but boy is it a lot more tasty! I will definitely be decorating with it again.

Anyway, when I saw 30 people were attending the shower I got nervous that the cake wouldn’t be enough, so I decided to whip up a cheesecake as well.  This is the third time I’ve made this cheesecake and I finally nailed it.  I topped a crust of pecan shortbread cookies with a layer of classic creamy cheesecake, and added a layer of eggless chocolate chip cookie dough on top.  Then I crowned the dessert with a layer of homemade caramel, pecans, and chocolate!  It was so rich and sinful and the perfect treat to bring to a celebration!  Congrats Geeti and Puneet!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Turtle Cheesecake
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust:
8 ounces pecan shortbread cookies, pulsed in the food processor until finely ground (1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Cheesecake Layer:
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel:
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Toppings:
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350˚F.  To make the crust, mix the pecan shortbread cookie crumbs and butter in a large bowl until well blended, transfer the mixture to a greased 9-inch springform pan, and press into a uniform layer over the bottom of the pan.

To make the cheesecake, combine the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl and beat on medium-high speed with a mixer for 3 minutes or until smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Blend in the vanilla.  Pour into prepared crust and bake at 350˚F for 32 to 35 minutes or until edges are set and middle is slightly wobbly.  Cool to room temperature, about one hour.

To make the caramel, place apple juice and sugar in a medium saucepan, stir well, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, or until mixture is a caramel color. Monitor closely so the sugar does not burn! Remove pan from the heat and slowly stir in cream and vanilla. The mixture will boil up. Return pan to the heat and boil an additional 2 to 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow caramel to cool to room temperature.

To prepare the eggless cookie dough, mix butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until creamy; add milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. Gradually mix in flour and salt; stir in chocolate chips.  Spread cookie dough evenly over cooled cheesecake layer and top evenly with caramel.  Sprinkle toasted pecans and chocolate chips on top.  Refrigerate for several hours or until cheesecake is chilled.  Allow cheesecake to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting into wedges.  Makes 16 servings.

Nutrition:  427 calories, 25.0g fat, 1.4g fiber, 5.7g protein per serving
Cost:  $0.69 per serving

Happy 4th of July! I wanted to whip up a fun treat to celebrate the holiday this weekend and while I was mulling over the red, white, and blue color scheme, I was reminded of the Chicago Cubs Dessert Sushi I made last year. Suddenly a light bulb went off – I should try making decorations with my eggless sugar cookie dough, which was the base of my dessert sushi! While I like playing with marshmallow fondant and creating crisp cute shapes to top cakes and cupcakes, I don’t enjoy the overly sweet bland taste and have often wondered why no one has come up with a tastier alternative. So, here’s my attempt!

Eggless sugar cookie dough is absolutely delicious so I whipped up a small batch, rolled it out, made cute little shapes with cookie cutters, and topped some Oreos with my designs. The dough is not quite as stiff as fondant, so you have to be a bit more careful with it, but I think it has a lot of potential! It’s also very moldable like Play Doh so I was able to make some cute little American flags. I’m going to try decorating cupcakes with it next time and maybe play around with chilling the dough as well before rolling it out. Overall, I think my foodie arts and crafts project was pretty successful! Ok, I’m off to eat a hot dog and munch on some yummy sweet potato chips from Trader Joe’s – hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Sugar Cookie Dough Decorations
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Food coloring

Directions:
Mix butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamed. Add milk and vanilla and mix until smooth; stir in flour and salt and knead with your hands until well mixed (if the dough is too sticky you can add 1 more tablespoon flour). Mix dough with desired food colorings. Roll dough out with a rolling pin and use cookie cutters to create cute shapes or mold dough into desired shapes by hand. Top cookies or cupcakes with your decorations!

Nutrition: 784 calories, 35.8g fat, 2.0g fiber, 8.9g protein per batch
Cost: $1.15 per batch

I often joke that I’m a walking advertisement for Costco because I’m always gushing about my latest find or fabulous deal. From their cute greeting cards to their juicy sweet fresh strawberries – I love it all! In fact, I’ve talked about Costco in eleven posts already, and this mention makes it number twelve! When I noticed the Costco Connection magazine features member recipes, I sent in two of my own and look what they published this month! Apparently my Costco karma has come full circle!

To celebrate, I decided to combine two of my favorite things – eggless cookie dough and Oreos. I whipped up a batch of my peanut butter cookie dough and mixed in some leftover Oreos. Then I rolled the dough into truffles and coated the outside of each one in more crushed cookies. Just writing this post is actually making me crave one of these little guys – they are so yummy and completely addicting! The best part is that they are the perfect treat to make on a hot summer day when you don’t want to turn on the oven.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 Oreo cookies

Directions:
Cream butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Stir in milk and peanut butter and then gradually beat in flour and salt. Pulse 10 Oreos in the food processor until coarsely chopped and mix into the cookie dough. Roll into 32 1-inch spheres. Pulse remaining 4 cookies in food processor until finely ground and coat truffles in the crushed cookies. Makes 32 truffles.

Nutrition: 82 calories, 5.0g fat, 0.4g fiber, 1.5g protein per truffle
Cost: $0.10 per truffle

So after a few nights in Vilnius, we headed out on a road trip to see the rest of the country. The Lithuanian countryside is just gorgeous. Rolling cow pastures and farmland are interspersed with forests full of pine trees. We couldn’t resist stopping a few times to stretch our legs and take in the scenery.

Our first official touristy break was a visit to Castle Island in Trakai, where a castle built in the 1400s has been restored. I worked up quite an appetite as we roamed the grounds and climbed up all the towers.

Apolinaras couldn’t resist punishing me for whining that I was hungry.

I was in luck though because next up was a fabulous lunch with his family friends who spend their weekends in a traditional Lithuanian village. Their property is protected by national heritage laws, which means they must keep the house and barn in their original working condition. This means no upgrades – including no indoor plumbing! They have a well right outside their door and an outhouse in the barn. I’m not sure this is the way I’d want to spend all my weekends, but we really enjoyed checking out their home.

They served a very tasty lunch of beet soup, sausages and potatoes, and banana sour cream cake. Cold beet soup is a staple of Lithuanian cuisine and is packed with buttermilk, pickles, and dill.

It’s not my favorite, but I did my best with it and then quickly switched bowls with Apolinaras who slurped his down quickly. I hope our hosts didn’t notice! The banana cake was absolutely amazing though.

After lunch we took a long stroll and visited the neighbor’s cow. She was very sweet but I think the clicking of the camera made her a bit nervous.

After thanking our hosts we drove to Druskininkai, which has many mineral water springs and is considered a place of healing. Several of the springs are tapped on public grounds and you’re welcome to drink to your heart’s content. The mineral water was delicious directly out of the ground…

Haha, undiluted mineral water actually has a very strong pungent taste. Apolinaras kept encouraging me to drink more for my health, but I think he was really just amused by the faces I was making after each sip. Druskininkai was one of my favorite places though because the town is full of spas and I got a traditional mud bath and a lovely massage!

Next we headed to the Hill of Crosses, which is a spiritual place where people bring crosses representing their hopes. The first crosses were placed on the hill in the 1800s and now many Catholic pilgrims visit every year. It’s estimated there are well over 100,000 crosses! It was a beautiful and inspiring site, but a bit eerie since we went at dusk when no one else was there and the fog had rolled in.

In my next post I’ll be telling you about our time by the Baltic Sea, but first I need to share today’s sweet treat, which was inspired by that incredible banana cake we devoured. There was a chocolate cake layer covered by a banana cheesecake which was smothered in chocolate cake crumbs. I decided to make mini cheesecakes and give them an American twist by topping Oreos with slices of banana.

Then I topped the bananas with a layer of peanut butter cheesecake and crumbled Oreos. Mmm, these were definitely a winner!

Peanut Butter and Banana Mini Oreo Cheesecakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 Oreos
2 medium bananas, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Make the peanut butter cheesecake by beating together cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until fluffy. Mix in egg, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Line 12 cups of a muffin pan with paper cups and place an Oreo in the bottom of each cup. Add three slices of banana on top of each Oreo. Pour peanut butter cheesecake batter on evenly on top of the banana layer.

Crush remaining 4 Oreos in a bag with a rolling pin or pulse in a food processor until crumbled. Sprinkle Oreo crumbs evenly on top of peanut butter cheesecake layer. Bake at 350˚F for 25 to 28 minutes or until set. Remove from pans and let cool to room temp, about an hour, and then place in fridge until chilled, about 1 more hour. Remove mini cheesecakes from paper muffin cups. Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition: 182 calories, 11.5g fat, 0.9g fiber, 2.8g protein per serving
Cost: $0.29 per serving

I’ve been meaning to tell you about the very cool Culinary Arts High School Program my mom runs at Central Campus in Des Moines, Iowa for awhile now, and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity since I won’t be cooking up any recipes to share while we’re on vacation!

This is the sixth year my mom has taught the program and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous of all the cooking experience her students get – they are truly ready to tackle culinary school or directly enter a restaurant upon graduation. In fact, students that complete both years of the program receive 33 college credits at the Des Moines Area Community College (and enter as sophomores if they choose to attend after graduation) and many of these credits transfer to other culinary schools as well.

Students commute from their high schools to attend Culinary 1 and 2 classes for 3 to 3 1/2 hours a day. During the first year they learn basic cooking skills and are servers at the Central Campus Café and during their second year they expand upon their basic skills and do all the cooking for the café, where the menu always includes two kinds of soup, side salads, several kinds of sandwiches, a daily special, and a few desserts. And the prices are right – a daily special of a grilled chicken breast, rice pilaf, green beans, a homemade roll, and your choice of a soup, salad or dessert is just $5.25! My very favorite thing on the menu is my mom’s chocolate cake, which is also my go-to chocolate cake recipe (and is shared below!). They serve 40 to 80 people a day and all the proceeds go back into the program – for ingredients or trips to competitions!

Yes, that’s right, the students also get to battle it out at Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and Skills USA culinary competitions for scholarships! For FCCLA, a three person team has one hour to prepare a three course meal. My mom’s students rocked this year’s menu of corn chowder, Maxwell Street-Style pork chops with Roesti potatoes, and a lemon tart with Chantilly cream, became state champions, and will be attending nationals in July! At Skills USA individuals compete in the culinary arts, commercial baking, or food and beverage service categories. This year the students found out the menu at the competition and had three hours to whip up a Waldorf salad, beef stroganoff, and broccoli with Hollandaise sauce for culinary competition and dinner rolls, coffee cake, cream puffs, and a decorated cake for baking section. For the food and beverage service competition, students are given a menu and have to set up a table and serve food and beverages to the judges. My mom’s students placed in all of these categories this year and will be heading to nationals in June, where the winners get a full ride to the culinary school of their choice! As you can see, this is a really valuable program for those high school students that know they want to pursue a culinary career.

And of course I have to finish up by bragging a bit about my mom. She was recently selected as the Des Moines Rotary Teacher of the Year and received the National Restaurant Association’s ProStart Educator Excellence Award. And these accolades are very well deserved. She is always working with her students on the weekends and over the summer to make sure they all graduate and do well at competitions – her dedication is truly inspiring.

If you live in Iowa and would like to support her program, you can visit their café, which is open from 10:55am to 12:30pm most Wednesdays and Thursdays from October through May (the menu and directions to the school are posted here). And they are always looking for local chefs to mentor students for competitions, perform demonstrations, donate expensive ingredients, and provide internships.

And as promised, here’s my mom’s chocolate cake recipe that they serve at the cafe. I’ve been completely spoiled by this recipe and can’t order chocolate cake at restaurants anymore because I’m always disappointed – this version beats them all!

My Mom’s Chocolate Cake
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup cold coffee (use regular strength coffee and nothing too strong like Starbucks!)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting:
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
6 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
6 ounces butter (12 tablespoons), at room temperature

Directions:

For the cake, heat oven to 350˚F. Grease two 9-inch round cakes and line with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of a mixer. Mix buttermilk, coffee, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until well combined. Add liquids to dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes. Scrape down bowl and mix again briefly. Add cake batter evenly to prepared pans and bake at 350˚F for 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes and remove cakes from the pans. Remove parchment paper and cool completely. Cakes can be wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap and frozen in the freezer until needed, if desired.

For the frosting, add vanilla to the milk and set aside. Sift powdered sugar and cocoa together in a large bowl. Beat butter in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup of the sugar/cocoa mixture to the butter, then part of the milk mixture, alternating until the ingredients are well mixed. If the frosting is too thick, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time to thin it out, mixing well after each addition until desired consistency is reached.

To assemble the cake, spread 1/4 of the frosting on top of one cake layer. Place other cake layer on top and use remaining frosting to cover and decorate the cake.

p.s.  My mom has requested I skip the nutrition stats for this one and I agree!

I’m sitting in Heathrow right now taking advantage of the free internet from Starbucks before we head to Vilnius via Helsinki in a couple of hours! I’m a planner by nature and usually take charge of organizing all the details of our vacations, but this time Apolinaras has done everything and I have to admit that I could get used to just going along for the ride and not worrying about the details! We’re touring the entire country and visiting many of his family and friends – I’m so excited!

Before we left, I was frantically finishing up a couple recipes for contests and didn’t have much time to whip up any treats for my blog, but I found this goody that I made back in December that was just waiting to be shared. Puff pastry shells are filled with a sweetened goat cheese and topped with balsamic strawberries, which makes for a very tangy dessert.

We’re going to be here for 2 weeks and while I won’t be posting as often as usual, I do have a couple of fun posts ready to go – one of which involves chocolate cake and one of which is a giveaway, so stay tuned!

Balsamic Strawberry and Goat Cheese Tarts
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 (10 ounce) package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells
6 tablespoons high quality balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups chopped strawberries
6 ounces goat cheese
3 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Directions:
Prepare the puff pastry shells according to package directions. Let shells cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes, and remove tops.

Meanwhile, heat balsamic vinegar and granulated sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and a thick syrup forms. Remove from heat and mix in chopped strawberries.

Mix goat cheese, milk, and 6 tablespoons powdered sugar in a small bowl. Scoop goat cheese mixture evenly into the cooled shells, followed by the balsamic strawberries. Sprinkle remaining 1 teaspoon powdered sugar over the filled pastry shells. Makes 6 tarts.

Nutrition: 345 calories, 18.4g fat, 1.5g fat, 9.0g protein per tart
Cost: $1.75 per tart

Apolinaras and I just booked a trip to Lithuania! He grew up there and came to the US in 1995 for college, and while I’ve heard a lot about it, I actually haven’t visited yet. So I’m very excited to see where he grew up, meet his extended family, and visit the Curonian Spit, which was recently named the second best beach in the world by The Lonely Planet. You can probably guess that I also can’t wait to try the local cuisine! I love being inspired by flavor combinations during our vacations.

In fact, one of the first things I did when I got home from URS was to make this bread pudding because I was so inspired by Andria’s idea to use donuts instead of bread in her version of the dessert! My own little twist was to add instant coffee since donuts remind me of breakfast (I may or may not have started my day with this treat one day…), and I couldn’t resist a little chocolate drizzle. This is a really easy dessert to pull together since you’re already starting with the baked donuts.

Mocha Donut Pudding
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups cubed cake donuts (I used a 12 ounce package of 12 donuts)
1/4 cup hot fudge sauce or warm chocolate ganache

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Place doughnut chunks in a greased 9-inch bread pan. Whisk eggs and milk until smooth in a medium bowl. Stir in sugar, instant coffee, and vanilla extract. Pour egg mixture over doughnuts and soak for 5 to 10 minutes.

Bake donut pudding for 40 to 50 minutes or until the custard is set, but still soft. Cool slightly and cut into slices. Drizzle hot fudge or warm chocolate ganache over each piece. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 406 calories, 20.7g fat, 1.1g fiber, 7.5g protein per serving
Cost: $0.65 per serving

I ran my very first 5K last weekend! After being inspired by the book Born to Run and many runners including my half-marathon champion Dad and bloggers like Shannon and Elina, I decided to try jogging on the treadmill in January on a whim. Even though I’ve always been pretty athletic, running has never come naturally to me, so you can imagine my surprise when I actually got hooked fairly quickly.

I’m really enjoying it because I feel so energized after I jog, and like I’ve done something good for my body, unlike when I use the elliptical or bike where I tend to have trouble pushing myself. I also love just being able to throw on my shoes and run outside, without having to trek all the way to the gym to use the machines. So, when Shannon mentioned she was running the Ras na hEireann 5K, an Irish themed race celebrating St. Patty’s Day, I decided to sign up and use the race as motivation to make myself run a bit farther and faster every week.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t corporate at all on Sunday and we had to run the whole thing in the gusty cold rain! The wind was blowing hard and the water cups were flying off the tables. My pants got so waterlogged that I kept having to hike them up, and I actually got too hot because I wore too many layers under Apolinaras’ bright yellow rain jacket, but I still had fun and managed to meet up with speedy Shannon after the race! I was pretty happy with my time of 32 minutes flat – I still had some steam left when I was done, and I know I will be able to get faster as I increase my training and figure out how to run a smarter race!

To celebrate, I decided to bake some cookies! I made a rich mocha dough, stuffed a balled-up caramel into the center of each cookie, and then rolled them in chopped macadamia nuts. I polished off a few of these right away – good thing I had already worked out!

Caramel Mocha Crunch Cookies
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
18 caramels, rolled into balls
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Place butter and chocolate in a bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; mix until smooth, microwaving for 15 additional seconds at a time, as needed. Place melted chocolate mixture in a large bowl and stir in both types of sugar, instant coffee, egg, and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt until soft dough forms.

Wrap cookie dough evenly around the 18 caramels and roll each cookie in chopped macadamia nuts. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350˚F for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool 5 minutes and transfer to wire racks to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Makes 18 cookies.

Nutrition: 187 calories, 10.9g fat, 1.6g fiber, 2.4g protein per cookie
Cost: $0.31 per cookie

I’ve always loved the Olympics (just hearing the theme song makes me smile!) and have been glued to the couch the past week enjoying the games every night. Since I usually don’t watch nearly this much TV, I’ve been keeping my restlessness at bay by multitasking and brushing up on my vector art skills while designing a new header for my blog! The change was inspired by my recent WordPress crash and Apolinaras’ comment that the fonts in my header look like they’re stuck in the early web development age of the 90s – LOL, thanks honey! I agree though, it’s time for a makeover! I’m having fun with it, although I’m tired of watching Adobe Illustrator tutorials every time I can’t figure something out (which is often…). I’m starting over from scratch, so stay tuned for the big reveal later this week!

The downside to all the Olympic festivities is that I haven’t been cooking anything exciting for the past week. Luckily, I have a few recipes saved just for occasions like this that I can still share! Today’s treat is one I made right before Christmas but thought would be more appropriate to share after the holidays when people would be more interested in lighter dessert options. I decided to make a creamy faux mousse (no eggs are involved) of roasted butternut squash and apple cider. It’s rich, creamy, and indulgent. I served it in martini glasses topped with toasted walnuts and gingersnap cookies, but it would also be lovely as part of a layered trifle.

Oh, and I’m submitting this to Natasha’s 5 Star Mousse Makeover!

Roasted Butternut Squash Mousse
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise and seeded
1/2 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup apple cider
1 8-ounce container light whipped topping, thawed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
6 gingersnap cookies

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Use a pastry brush to evenly brush flesh side of the squash halves with melted butter and place flesh side down on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400˚F for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until tender. Let squash cool for 10 minutes. Remove flesh from the squash halves with a spoon and mash with a fork until smooth (my yield was 2 cups).

Place mashed butternut squash, powdered sugar, and apple cider in a pan over medium heat and heat for 5 minutes or until sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool completely and puree in a blender until smooth.

Mix squash puree, 2 cups of whipped topping, and vanilla extract until smooth. Place into serving bowls and sprinkle evenly with nuts and remaining whipped topping. Garnish with gingersnap cookies. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 220 calories, 9.8g fat, 2.5g fiber, 2.8g protein per serving
Cost: $0.93 per serving

You didn’t think I could resist dreaming up a treat for Valentine’s Day did you? I’ve always enjoyed the holiday and have fond memories of pouring through all the cartoon cards in my heart decorated box in grade school and placing small boxes of chocolate outside the dorm doors of all my girlfriends in college. I’ve also always loved stocking up on Dove hearts when they go on sale! Now I use the holiday as an opportunity to pour over cookbooks and blogs and come up with an indulgent gourmet meal. I haven’t decided on the menu yet for this year, but I’m leaning towards braising short ribs!

When I think of Valentine’s Day, I think of chocolate covered strawberries and truffles, so why not combine the best of both worlds? These truffles contain a rich and creamy strawberry center that I initially had a bit of trouble with – in fact, it took 4 batches of wasted strawberry puree until I achieved the consistency I was looking for (thank goodness I was using the less expensive frozen berries and not the out of season expensive fresh ones)! But my patience and persistence paid off and I finally nailed it. The strawberry centers are simply coated with chocolate. I did drizzle a bit of white chocolate over the truffles and included the directions for this in the recipe below, but would probably actually skip this step next time because I think it detracts a bit from the gorgeous red strawberry centers and it was extra work. The filling is a bit sticky when it warms up, so be sure to chill the dough as needed to avoid this. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Truffles
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup pureed strawberries (I pulsed 8-10 thawed frozen whole strawberries in the food processor)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
Several drops of pink gel food coloring

Directions:
Place strawberry puree, sugar, and butter in a small nonstick pan over medium low heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until reduced to 1/2 cup. Mix reduced liquid with flour and salt in a small bowl. Chill truffle filling for 1 hour in the fridge or until cold.

Carefully roll chilled strawberry filling into 12 round truffles and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until cold.

Melt semisweet chocolate chips in a shallow bowl on High 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, microwaving an additional 10 seconds as needed. Mix in 1 tablespoon oil. Using 2 forks, dip strawberry centers into melted chocolate and cover evenly. Place on waxed paper and smooth tops with the back of a spoon, if needed. Cool in the fridge until chocolate is set, about an hour.

Melt white chocolate chips in a shallow bowl on High 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth Mix in remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil and pink gel food coloring and place chocolate in a pastry bag with a number 4 tip. Drizzle chocolate over truffles. Makes 12 truffles.

Nutrition: 106 calories, 4.1g fat, 0.8g fiber, 0.9g protein per truffle
Cost: $0.34 per truffle

Have you ever thought you didn’t like an ingredient and then suddenly realized that you’d actually been enjoying it for years? This recently happened to me. I never liked Whoppers growing up and remember being thoroughly confused about why someone would prefer a chocolate malt over a milkshake. But this all changed when the lovely Shannon announced she was hosting a Boston blogger cookie exchange. I decided it would be fun to come up with a cookie version of my very favorite Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor, Chubby Hubby. Between the fudge covered peanut butter filled pretzels and streaks of fudge and peanut butter, I was completely hooked the first time I tried it! So you can imagine my surprise when the label of the pint I picked up for “baking research purposes” said the ice cream itself was vanilla malt! Huh, how come I never noticed this before? I was a bit flustered. I mean, how could I have been enjoying malt ice cream and turning my nose up at Whoppers over all these years? I think the answer is that the flavors of Chubby Hubby are perfectly balanced. I would have never thought to pair malt with pretzels, peanut butter, and chocolate, but I am sure glad the geniuses at Ben and Jerry’s did!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any malted milk powder at the store, so I picked up some Whoppers and decided to use peanut butter cookie dough as the base instead. I sandwiched coarsely chopped pretzels and Whoppers between two layers of cookie dough and then baked the bars up and topped them with a chocolate ganache. The bars were very rich and I loved getting a bit of Whopper and pretzel in each bite!

All the cookies at the exchange were delicious and unique! Ready for your mouth to water? I got to pig out on Adrienne’s Lime Meltaways, Bridget’s Chocolate Almond Orange Macaroons, Elina’s Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, Kelly’s Cookie Dough Truffles, Mary-Kate’s Black and White Cookies, Nicole’s Lemon Almond Cranberry Crescents, Shannon’s Maple Bacon Toffee Oatmeal Cookies, and Tina’s Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Bars! The event was so fun and I think Shannon wants to make it an annual tradition, so I am already looking forward to next year!

Peanut Butter Chubby Hubby Bars
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini pretzels, coarsely chopped
1 cup Whoppers candy (malted chocolate balls), coarsely chopped (I just cut mine each in half)
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder, and salt. Spread half the dough in a greased 13×9-inch pan. Sprinkle pretzels and Whoppers evenly on top; drop remaining dough in chunks on top and spread evenly, until all the pretzels and candy pieces are covered. Bake at 350˚F for 23 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

In a medium bowl, microwave chocolate chips and milk on High 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Spread ganache over cooled peanut butter bars and refrigerate for an hour or until ganache is set. Cut into 32 bars after the pan reaches room temperature (this makes it easier to cut the ganache). Makes 32 servings.

Nutrition:  288 calories, 15.4g fat, 1.4g fiber, 5.7g protein per serving
Cost:  $0.21 per serving

The countdown to our flight to Arizona has begun and we’re playing our favorite game of trying to finish up all the perishables in our fridge before we go. We got a little off track when Apolinaras brought a half gallon of milk home on Sunday and thawed six pork chops, but there are only two porkchops left, so I think we still have a shot! Even the huge roll of goat cheese from Costco is over half way gone and I’m going to make this pizza tomorrow night to use up the rest of it. I also found a cup of extra pumpkin puree in the fridge that was leftover from making Apolinaras his favorite low-fat oatmeal cookies the other day and decided to make myself a little treat.

I whipped up a super thick and creamy pumpkin pudding and was planning on just eating it straight out of the bowl, but some puff pastry shells caught my eye.  I was experimenting with recipe ideas for the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Contest (which are due December 31, so you still have time to enter!), and had some extra shells, so I filled them with the pudding instead! I topped the little tarts with some toasted walnuts and powdered sugar and they were just a wonderful quick and easy holiday treat. Merry Christmas!

Pumpkin Puff Pastry Tarts
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 (10 ounce) package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells
1 (3.4-oz.) package instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup pure pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoon toasted chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Directions:
Prepare the puff pastry shells according to the package directions. Let baked shells cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes, and remove the tops.

Meanwhile, prepare the pumpkin filling. In a large bowl mix instant pudding, milk, condensed milk, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice. Refrigerate 10 minutes or until set. Scoop pumpkin filling evenly into the puff pastry shells. Sprinkle toasted walnuts and powdered sugar evenly on top of each tart. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 277 calories, 4.8g fat, 1.8g fiber, 6.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.77 per serving

If you’re having a bit of déjà vu, it’s because I posted a similar dessert sushi recipe back in March when I started my blog. But, I’ve since tweaked the original recipe after a few email requests and I think this version is definitely worth sharing! In all honestly, I don’t think this will be the last dessert sushi variation you’ll see on my blog. I think I’ll always be a bit obsessed with it and working towards improving my recipes and trying new techniques and flavor combinations!

The sushi itself contains a chocolate “seaweed” cookie dough wrapper, which is stuffed with coconut sticky rice and fruit. I played with the chocolate sushi wrapper ingredients and found that the dough is easier to work with when I used cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate. I’ve also included additional measurements so you can make it if you don’t have a kitchen scale. Plus, you know I couldn’t resist filling the sushi with red and green fruit (strawberries and kiwi!) so it would be perfect for Christmas!

Christmas Dessert Sushi
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup jasmine rice
1 1/3 cups (11 ounces) light coconut milk
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 ounces quartered strawberries (2-3 medium strawberries)
1 1/2 ounces kiwi, sliced into long rectangular strips (3/4 of a medium kiwi)
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions:
Combine rice, coconut milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until the mixture boils. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender and sticky. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, mix butter and remaining 4 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl until creamed. Add milk, vanilla, and cocoa powder and mix until smooth; stir in flour and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Roll chocolate dough into a 12-inch log and place down the middle of a large sheet of waxed paper. Place another piece of waxed paper on top of the log and use a rolling pin to roll the log into a 12×6-inch rectangle. Remove top sheet of waxed paper.

Spread room temperature coconut rice on top of chocolate dough rectangle in a 12×5.5-inch rectangle, leaving a 1/4-inch border on both long sides of the rectangle. Line up quartered strawberries horizontally down the center of the coconut rectangle. Line up sliced kiwi below the line of strawberries. Roll up dough into a cylinder like a “sushi roll” by lifting up waxed paper and sealing the ends of the dough together. Roll the roll on the counter and press together firmly. Remove waxed paper from the roll and cut into 16 dessert sushi pieces with a sharp knife. Fill in any gaps with extra fruit, if needed.

Place melted chocolate into small soy sauce containers. Serve dessert sushi with chocolate “soy sauce” and eat with chopsticks! Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 209 calories, 10.6g fat, 1.3g fiber, 2.7g protein per serving
Cost: $2.92 total

I figured it’s about time that I actually post a cake recipe – you know, since my blog is called Cake, Batter, and Bowl and all… I couldn’t resist the cute word play on Shake, Rattle, and Roll when I was brainstorming names with my Dad over Christmas last year, but in reality the title wasn’t totally appropriate because prior to starting this blog my favorite cake to make was from a box of Pillsbury’s Funfetti mix! I had made my mom’s famous chocolate cake from scratch a couple of times, but didn’t really get into other recipes until I kept running across cakes on the blogosphere that I was inspired to make. Even though I kept gaining more and more experience, for the longest time I was still too intimidated to experiment on my own. However, this all changed when I was encouraged to come up with an original cake recipe (details about that in a future post). I actually had fun dreaming up flavor combinations when I got into it and found it wasn’t quite as challenging as I had envisioned. No cakes fell in the oven or were inedible because they were too dry. I even managed to nail the frosting consistencies and improved my piping skills. These cupcakes were one of the first ideas that popped into my head.

I decided they needed to be stuffed with shredded apples and spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cloves. Then I topped the cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting with a hint of lemon and toasted pecans. My very favorite part of this recipe is the caramel drizzle. Caramel is actually pretty easy to make at home, since you don’t even need a candy thermometer. I used apple juice as the base instead of water and it turned out so well! This recipe is broken down by each component so it doesn’t get too confusing, and you really only need a couple tablespoons of the caramel for the cupcakes, so you’ll have lots left over for other treats!

p.s.  The winners of my Hotel Chocolat giveaway were Danielle and Biz – congrats!

Spiced Apple Cupcakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large Gala apple, cored, peeled, and shredded (should have 1 1/2 cups of shredded apples)

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Caramel Drizzle:
1/4 cup unsweetened 100% apple juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Directions:

Prepare the Cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Mix together flour, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, baking powder, and salt and sift the mixture into a large bowl. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer in a large bowl until creamed. Add in eggs and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly mix in sifted flour mixture until smooth. Mix in shredded apples. Line a standard 12-cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners and evenly spoon cupcake batter into the liners, filling cups 3/4 full. Bake cupcakes at 350˚F for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the tops are light golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack. Cool for 20 minutes or until cupcakes are room temperature.

Prepare the Cream Cheese Frosting: Place powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and lemon juice in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.

Prepare the Caramel Drizzle: Meanwhile, prepare caramel drizzle. Place apple juice and sugar in a medium saucepan, stir well, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, or until mixture is a caramel color. Monitor closely so the sugar does not burn! Remove pan from the heat and pour in slowly stir in cream and vanilla. The mixture will boil up. Return pan to the heat and boil an additional 2 to 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow caramel to cool to room temperature.

Cupcake Assembly: Place cream cheese frosting in a decorating bag with a 1M decorating tip. Frost cupcakes evenly. Top cupcakes evenly with chopped pecans. Drizzle caramel sauce over the top of each cupcake, using a new decorating bag with a 4 tip. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Nutrition: 379 calories, 15.7g fat, 1.2g fiber, 3.8g protein per cupcake
Cost: $0.67 per cupcake

Hmm, this is my third post in a row featuring pumpkin and I have a couple more pumpkin recipes all ready to go! Sorry for the lack of variety – I’ll try to mix it up and refrain from posting the others for awhile, but I have to get this one in before Halloween!

For my sweet Halloween treat, I wanted to make truffles that tasted like pumpkin pie and looked like cute little mini pumpkins. I think I’m at 90% of the way there with this recipe. The taste is right on (pumpkin pie and white chocolate – yum!), but my pumpkin shaping skills need a bit of work…these are supposed to be pumpkins, not basketballs! Anyway, this was actually my third attempt at getting the truffle filling right, so I was glad to have finally nailed it! Canned pumpkin puree is a tad watery, so I was having consistency issues, until I realized that the best solution was to simmer the puree for awhile to remove some of the water. I also colored white chocolate for the first time with my gel food coloring kit, which worked surprisingly well.  If I can successfully cover truffles in chocolate, anyone can!  I was planning on cutting up chocolate for the pumpkin stumps, but then I saw pecans and decided that was the way to go. These little guys are RICH, so you only need one to satisfy your sweet tooth craving!

Pumpkin Pie Truffles
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips
Several drops of orange gel food coloring
15 small pecan pieces

Directions:
Mix butter, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice in a small nonstick pan and heat over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup.

Mix cooked pumpkin, brown sugar, flour, and salt in medium bowl until well combined. Chill dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Shape chilled dough into 15 1-inch balls. Place on waxed paper on a cookie sheet and chill in the refrigerator while preparing chocolate.

Melt white chocolate chips in a shallow bowl on High 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Mix orange gel food coloring with the melted chocolate until smooth. Using 2 spoons, dip pumpkin balls into melted chocolate and cover evenly. Place on waxed paper and top each truffle with a pecan piece “stump”. Serve after chocolate sets, about 5 minutes. Makes 15 truffles.

Nutrition: 141 calories, 7.5g fat, 1.2g fiber, 1.2g protein per truffle
Cost: $0.19 per truffle

Our whirlwind NYC tour would not have been complete without visiting a few famous bakeries! The two at the top of my list were Bouchon and Levain, so the first thing we did after checking into our hotel was head up to Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center right next to Central Park. I will probably never make it to The French Laundry or Per Se, so I was excited to sample a bit of Thomas Keller’s genius at Bouchon. We had a light lunch (I highly recommend the rich dark meat chicken veggie and herb dumpling soup!), so we still had room for double chocolate and Nutter Butter cookies, which were incredible! Bouchon was our favorite bakery and my mom actually kept suggesting we head back there for another meal during the remainder of our trip!

After lunch we headed up to the Upper West Side so we could sample the famous cookies at Levain. We got a chocolate chip walnut and dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookie and enjoyed them outside on a bench in front of the bakery. Both cookies were still warm with a crispy outside and gooey middle. They were really really good, but were they the best I’ve ever had? Probably not. But, I still think Levain is a bakery everyone should visit at least once!

Next up was Amy’s Bread, a cute bakery in Chelsea Market that features both breads and desserts. I had a butterscotch cashew bar, which was delicious, but the real highlight was meeting Emily (which I know you’re all super jealous about!), the gorgeous superstar blogger of Sugar Plum! I’ve been a huge fan of Emily’s blog for a long time now.  In fact, her blog was one of the ones that inspired me to start my own! She was also the first person to ever comment on my little blog. She’s just as sweet and funny as she comes across on her blog and I think we could have chatted all day!

I was also very excited that to meet up with my good friend Annika. She treated me to an amazing spread of sweets at Billy’s Bakery, which is around the corner from her apartment (lucky girl!). We reminisced about causing trouble in college and turning 30 and overdid it on a piece of ice box cake (which tasted like a huge Oreo – yum!), cheesecake, carrot cake cupcakes, and a stack of snickerdoodles!

The last sweet spot of our trip was a visit to M&Ms World in Times Square. My mom is a HUGE M&Ms fan and collects their dispensers. She picked out a couple things for her birthday and we both got cute matching measuring spoon sets (I seriously can never have too many, I swear all my 1/4 teaspoons are hiding out together in some random drawer because I can never find one when I need it!).

So, of course I had to come up with a recipe featuring M&Ms for this post! The cookies were inspired by the butterscotch cashew bars I had at Amy’s. To play with the salty and sweet contrast even more, I mixed chunks of pretzels into the dough. My original plan was to top the cookie bars with a homemade caramel sauce (which I’ve recently discovered is actually pretty easy to make), but I realized our cream had gone bad while I was heating the sugar, and using milk didn’t exactly work out. Anyway, you can never go wrong with chocolate, so I made a quick ganache instead and topped the bars with it and then sprinkled as many M&Ms and beautiful whole cashews on top that I could. The cookies themselves were really crunchy, so I had to be very careful getting them out of the pan. I actually lifted them all the way out (I think lining the pan with parchment paper would work really well) and then cut them on a cutting board with my chef’s knife. They are very tasty though and definitely worth this extra hassle!

M&M Cashew Pretzel Bars
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coarsely chopped pretzels (I used the honey wheat pretzel rods from TJs cut into eighths)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup whole cashews
1/2 cup M&Ms

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Mix butter, brown sugar, flour and baking powder in a medium bowl until smooth. Mix in chopped pretzels. Spread dough evenly into a greased 8×8-inch pan (or line the pan with parchment paper so the bars can be easily pulled out of the pan) and bake for 15 minutes at 350˚F or until lightly browned and set. Cool for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, microwave chocolate chips and milk on High 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Spread ganache over cooled pretzel bars and top ganache evenly with cashews and M&Ms. Refrigerate for an hour or until ganache is set. Cut into 16 bars. Makes 16 servings.

Nutrition: 194 calories, 10.7g fat, 0.9g fiber, 2.2g protein per serving
Cost: $0.37 per serving

I can’t believe almost a week has gone by since my last post! I just got back from an extended weekend trip to NYC with my mom and we were enjoying the city so much that I didn’t quite get around to posting this recipe while we were there. We’ve been meaning to take this trip for a few years now and had an amazing time. I can’t wait to go through my pictures and post a little recap of all the foodie spots we visited!

I’ve been dreaming about cookie dough a lot lately and I think the only thing better than eating cookie dough straight out of the bowl is enjoying it in a dessert! This is a really easy no bake recipe that comes together in no time, but is just incredible with the perfect ratio of cookie dough to ice cream.  This is one of my go to dessert recipes when we have people over because it’s a huge crowd pleaser. I love the pie with mint chocolate chip ice cream (which I’m sort of sad is now always natural and no longer the bright green color I enjoyed during my childhood!), but feel free to substitute your favorite ice cream flavor.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Pie
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1 6-ounce Oreo pie crust
3 cups mint chocolate chip ice cream, softened
1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

Directions:
To prepare the edible egg-free cookie dough, mix butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until creamy; add milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. Gradually mix in flour and salt; stir in mini chocolate chips.

Spread edible chocolate chip cookie dough evenly in the bottom of the Oreo crust. Place heaping spoonfuls of ice cream on top of cookie dough. Lightly press and smooth top with back of spoon. Freeze pie 2 hours or until firm.

To serve, set pie out at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften and cut into 8 wedges. Garnish each piece with warmed hot fudge ice cream topping. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 376 calories, 13.7g fat, 2.1g fiber, 4.3g protein per serving
Cost: $0.69 per serving

My loaded sweet potato skins were featured on the Glamour Magazine Health and Fitness blog yesterday, how cool is that? Ever since I started my blog, I feel like I always have something to look forward to in my inbox, whether it’s an email update about a comment, a question from a reader, or a cool opportunity like this one!  So thank you for making food blogging so much fun!

So, I promised to tell you what I did with the extra sweet potato flesh I had after making the sweet potato skins. I knew I wanted to make a dessert. My first thought was to make a sweet potato cheesecake since I had some leftover cream cheese in the fridge, and I really wanted to do little mini layered cheesecakes, because they are just so cute! So, I mixed ginger snap crumbs with the mashed sweet potatoes and topped them with a creamy cheesecake layer mixed with pumpkin pie spice and crunchy pecans. I baked them in muffin cups, since I still haven’t gotten my hands on real mini cheesecake pan.  They turned out really well, but I need to stop talking about that pan and just order it!

Mini Sweet Potato Cheesecakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup crushed gingersnap cookies
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Mix mashed sweet potatoes, crushed gingersnap cookies, and salt in a large bowl until smooth. Line two muffin pans with cupcake wrappers and evenly spoon sweet potato mixture into 16 cups. Bake at 350˚F for 25 to 30 minutes or until set. Push down sweet potato layer with a spoon and cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, egg, vanilla extract, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl until smooth. Evenly spoon cream cheese mixture over the cooled sweet potato layer and top with chopped pecans. Bake at 350˚F for 28 to 32 minutes or until cheesecake layer is set. Cool at room temperature for 30 minutes and then cool in the fridge for an hour, or until chilled. Carefully remove cupcake wrappers from each mini cheesecake. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 256 calories, 16.7g fat, 2.7g fiber, 4.6g protein per serving
Cost: $0.54 per serving

Thanks so much to everyone for the bday wishes! We’re continuing the celebration this weekend by going out for dinner and on a little shopping spree! There’s something about the seasons changing that makes me want to buy a whole new wardrobe.

It feels like summer is almost over, but a few weeks ago during the hottest weekend of the year, my baby brother drove up to visit us after a business trip in NYC! It was his first time in Boston, so we went on a Duck Boat tour and checked out parts of the Freedom Trail, harbor, and Harvard Square. Two of the highlights were visiting the Harpoon Brewery (where they let you sample as many kinds of beer that you’d like on tap for free!) and indulging in a delicious Italian feast in the North End. After dinner we decided to have a throwdown and bought cannolis from both Mike’s Pastry and Modern Pastry, which have a bit of a rivalry. The ricotta filling is sweeter at Modern and the shells are more crispy because they fill them as you order them. But, the cannolis at Mike’s are double the size for the same price and are covered in more chocolate, which is always a good thing! In the end, I voted for Modern, Richard voted for Mike’s, and Apolinaras couldn’t pick a favorite, so it was a tie. The moral of the story is that you really can’t go wrong with either choice!

I was inspired by our cannoli battle to make these cute little cannoli chips! I decided to use pita chips as the base since they’re so crispy, and then topped them with sweetened ricotta cheese and mini chocolate chips. Not quite as good as the real thing, of course, but a very satisfying treat that comes together quickly and is perfect for using up that last bit of ricotta at the bottom of the tub! I suggest making the entire batch of ricotta at once and then topping just the chips you’re going to eat that day so they don’t get soggy.

Cannoli Chips
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 pita chips
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Spread 1 tablespoon of ricotta mixture onto each pita chip and sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly on top. Makes 24 cannoli chips (4 servings).

Nutrition: 309 calories, 14.3g fat, 1.1g fiber, 13.5g protein per serving
Cost: $0.73 per serving

It’s my birthday tomorrow and I’m turning the big 3-0!  I’m not exactly sure how this happened so quickly, but I’m excited for the future and by the fact that Apolinaras promised to bring home my favorite carrot cake cupcakes from Petsi’s Pies!

Speaking of birthdays, I realized that I never posted the dessert I made for Apolinaras’ birthday last month. He actually doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, and I usually make this cake by Paula Deen for him that features pineapple and coconut, but this year he said he didn’t even want a cake since he was still in cutting mode for his bodybuilding. I couldn’t take no for an answer though and decided to whip up something healthy that he would still enjoy. I combined fresh pineapple with low-fat cottage cheese, lime juice, and sugar, ran it through my ice cream machine and then made mini sundaes layered with toasted coconut and fresh strawberries. You can definitely taste the cottage cheese, which Apolinaras really enjoyed, but I have to admit I prefer the real deal. But, it’s a nice light treat for those days that you’re craving something sweet but don’t want to undo the progress you made in the gym!

Pineapple Ice Cream Sundaes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped fresh pineapple (one pineapple, my 4 cups were 25 ounces)
2 cups low fat cottage cheese
Juice of one lime
3/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
1/2 cup toasted shredded coconut
2 cups chopped strawberries

Directions:
Place pineapple, cottage cheese, lime juice, and sugar in a food processor and pulse until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. Place mixture in the fridge and chill until cold, about 2 hours. Place mixture in the ice cream maker and churn according to the machine directions. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving. Layer pineapple ice cream with toasted coconut and strawberries to make mini sundaes. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 192 calories, 2.2g fat, 2.3g fiber, 8.5g protein per serving
Cost: $0.92 per serving