WC Recipe Exchange - Yummy!

So on thenest.com's What's Cooking board, a recipe exchange was put together. I was very excited to participate in this! I was a little intimidated though when I received my recipe. It was definitely a recipe for a nice party, which we happened to go to tonight! I really impressed my family with these little pumpkin treasures, as my husband called them. While this recipe looks intimidating, it really isn't. I was able to make most of the recipe in advace (yesterday) and assembled them before going. Now, unfortunatley I was not able to get a picture of this lovlies before going to the party. I had left my camera at school this past week and so I figured I would just take a picture of the leftovers tomorrow. The problem, you ask? There were no leftovers! These were gone in 15 minutes flat! I was very excited about this, but disapointed there would be not picture of these little treasures. Here is a picture though, from the original recipe. I made just a few changes, but the original recipe is under the recipe title.





Pumpkin Custard Profiteroles With Maple Caramel Syrup
(source: epicurious.com and Bon Appetit November 2004)


Maple caramel
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pumpkin custard
3 cups whipping cream
2 1/4 cups canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
9 large egg yolks

Profiteroles
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk

Lightly sweetened whipped cream
1 cup pecans, toasted, chopped

Directions

For maple caramel:
Stir sugars and butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until blended and smooth. Whisk in cream. Bring to boil, stirring until caramel bits dissolve. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in bourbon and vanilla; simmer 1 minute. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. I did this the day before)

For pumpkin custard:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk cream and next 6 ingredients in heavy large saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk sugar and egg yolks in medium bowl. Gradually stir hot pumpkin mixture into egg yolk mixture.

Pour pumpkin custard into 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish; cover with foil. Place dish in 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Fill baking pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of dish. Bake until custard is set in center, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool completely. Cover and chill until cold, at least 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. I made this the night before.)

For profiteroles:
Preheat oven to 425°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Bring 1/2 cup water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt to boil in heavy large saucepan. Stir in flour; cook over medium-high heat, stirring vigorously, until dough is smooth and pulls away from sides of pan, about 1 minute. Transfer hot mixture to standing mixer. Beat dough with paddle attachment at medium speed until slightly cool, about 3 minutes. Add 3 eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in egg yolk until blended.

Spoon 16 mounds of batter about the size of large eggs onto prepared sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Beat remaining egg in small bowl to blend. Brush tops of profiteroles lightly with beaten egg. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 375°F. Continue baking until puffed and dark golden brown, about 30 minutes longer. Transfer to rack to cool completely. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container in freezer. Remove from freezer a few hours before continuing. I made the night before and stored in the fridge.)

Rewarm caramel sauce. Using serrated knife, slice profiteroles horizontally in half. Spoon rounded 1/3 cup filling into bottom half of each profiterole. Cover with top halves. Drizzle with sauce. Spoon dollop of whipped cream atop profiteroles. Sprinkle with chopped pecans and serve.

I did not figure points for this! They were so tastey though! It was great that I could do it all before then we just assembled them right before leaving. My aunts house is just down the street so they were still warm when we got there. They were definitely a hit and I got so many compliments on the presentation of these little guys. The original recipe calls for maple sugar, which I couldn't find. The reviews of the recipe though gave the suggestion of 1 cup light brown sugar/1/4 cup maple syrup and then the cream needed cut back to 1/2 cup. It worked great! I would definitely recommend making these for your next holiday party. They are not as labor intensive as they look, but it did help to make everything the night before too!

A Little Treat for Me!

Let Peter have his delicious white cake and brownies, while I eat my 100 calorie packs and WW ice cream. Now I can have my elaborate desserts too! I found the perfect way to satisfy my sweet tooth. These little Keebler pie crusts are perfect for portion control! If you have 3 points to spare, you can enjoy a little parfait!



Pudding Pie Parfaits
(source: me!)

1 Keebler Mini Graham Cracker Crust
1 pkg sugar free pudding (any flavor but I was craving chocolate!)
FF Readi - Whip (or FF cool whip would work too)
1 tsp mini chocolate chips
skim milk according to pudding package

Make pudding according to package directions. Fill pie crusts to just below rim. Allow to set in the fridge for a couple of hours. Top with 1 tbsp readi-whip and chocolate chips.

I made the entire package of Keebler crusts because I had the pudding ready and wanted the crusts to be ready to go when I was craving one. I kept all of the filled crusts in an airlock container in the fridge without the whipped cream. As I wanted to eat one, I put the whipped cream and chocolate chips on top at the time of the dessert. The crusts stayed in the fridge nice and crisp for about 5 days before it started getting mushy.

POINTS per 1 pie: 3

Chocolate Cake - Happy Birthday Dad!

Friday was my dad's 45th birthday. He is doing WW as well so I wanted to make him something that he didn't feel totally guilty about but still was special. I found on the WW etools site a recipe for a chocolate layer cake and it had "Dad" written all over it! Despite a frosting mishap and the use of an old reliable friend (Mr. Pillsbury Milk Chocolate Frosting of course!) the cake turned out great! Now it's not completely sin-free at 6 points a slice but compared to a store bought cake, the guilt wasn't as bad. Especially not for us since we left the cake there! :)




Chocolate Layer Cake
(source: WW etools)

6 tbsp fat free margarine
3 large egg whites
6 tbsp fat free milk
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup water boiling
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 oz chocolate chips
1 3/4 cup flour
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar
16 oz powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 9 in round pans with Pam.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, and salt in bowl. Use fork to break up brown sugar.

Melt 4 tbsp butter in microwave. Combine butter milk, egg whites, melted margarine, and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla and mix on low speed until blended. Gradually beat in boiling water and then dry mixture. Beat on low speed until blended.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake about 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

FROSTING: (this is where I flubbed)

Melt 2 tbsp butter in saucepan over medium low heat. Add milk and chocolate chips. Stir constantly and cook until smooth, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to larger bowl. Stir in 1/2 tsp vanilla, cover and cool in fridge about 15 minutes. Using mixer, mix in powdered sugar and mix until blended.

To assemble, level cakes and spread 1/2 cup frosting on first cake. Top with 2nd cake and frost remainder of the cake. Cut into 16 pieces.

Now, my frosting did not look right. It looked like light brown poo. That is putting it nicely. Maybe I am a chocolate frosting snob but it didn't look right and it tasted...ok. I could only taste the powdered sugar and no chocolate. So after a few tastes from the bowl and my husband pleading with me not to make him taste any more, I tossed it. Luckily I had a faithful standby, Pillsbury Milk Chocolate frosting and there was PLENTY to frost these cakes. I garnished with a few leftover chocolate chips. The great thing, it didn't change the POINTS value at all. Sweet!

Servings: 16 small ass pieces but worth every bite
POINTS per serving: 6

Favorite Summer Cake - JELLO

One of my family's favorite summertime dessert is Jello cake. My mom started making it when her work began making it (she works at a deli and they make something similar to this all the time!). She gave me the recipe once and it's been a favorite ever since. I love this cake because it can actually be a light and healthy dessert, given the right ingredients. I have altered this a bit from the original recipe by using the famous "Diet Coke" cake recipe to reduce the fat in a cake mix. I also used Fat Free Cool Whip instead of the regular Cool Whip. I also used my Bundt pan this time, but usually make it with a 13x9 cake pan. I had only used my new Bundt pan once since we got it, so I was excited to try it out on this recipe. Here is our recipe (more of a method really, it can easily be changed to fit your family's tastes), I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Mom's JELLO Cake

1 box white cake mix
12 ounces Diet 7up or Sprite Zero
2 boxes of 4 serving Jello - any flavor, I used strawberry
2 cups boiling water
1 container Cool Whip Fat Free


Mix the cake mix with the Diet 7 up (or make according to the cake mix with the usual eggs, oil and water). I am not sure why this works but it does. It makes any cake SUPER moist and it's less fat! Pour into a lightly Pam sprayed Bundt pan (or 13x9) and bake according to the cake mix directions.

When cake is done, allow to cool for about 10 min. Boil 2 cups water (I did it in the microwave) and add in the 2 boxes of JELLO. Be careful! The water really bubbles when the JELLO is added! :o) Mix until the JELLO is dissolved.

Carefully and slowly, poke holes in the cake with a fork, while cake is till in the baking pan. Use your best judgement regarding how many pokes to give it. We like ours really JELLO-y so I made a lot of pokes. Carefully pour the JELLO over the cake, evenly disbruting it around the cake. I do not usually use all of the JELLO mixture, and as you can see from the pictures, it's very JELLO-y.

Refridgerate for 3 or more hours in the baking pan. If you used a Bundt pan or cupcakes, then you would want to remove the cake from the pan at this time. For the Bundt cake pan, I dipped the bottom of the pan in a sinkful of hot water and it fell right out on my cake server. Spread Cool Whip (or frosting!) on the cake, like frosting. Cover and store in refridgerator.

Again, this is more of a method than a recipe. You could use any kind of cake mix (lemon with strawberry jello would be divine!), diet soda methods or the usual oil, eggs and water, any flavor JELLO (sugarfree too), any type of Cool Whip (strawberry or chocolate - yummy!), or you could use frosting too! Enjoy!