Peaches & Fruit Banditos

 After a long, long time - another baking experiments.

I have been thinking of making a peach cobbler for some time. When, quite by accident, we got the fruit cobbler mix (the Rustling' Rob's Fruit Banditos), it was time to experiment again.

I follow the recipe given by the Fruit Banditos (used canned peaches) and the result was wonderful. Much better that I hoped for! 

 We "destroyed" it quite quickly.

 Next time, I will try to use apricots instead of peaches.

Summer Treat

 What is your favorite summer treat?

Polish Fruit Cake

I am not sure whether I have tried that particular recipe before. Polish fruitcake is nothing like the Texas dessert which includes the same "fruitcake" name. It is simply a sort of coffee cake with lots of raisins, nuts, and fruits.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

 Made from scratch for the very first time.

Friut & Jello Bowls

 Which one would you choose? Fruit and jello or jello only?

Lemon Bar

Made for the first time.

My Version of One, Two, Three, Four Cake

Last week I made that cake, following the Old-Fashioned recipe. 
I decided to give it a try as, frankly speaking, I had no 'cake from a box' to use.
I had not made one from scratch for quite a long time but the recipe worked well. Even though, I followed the instructions rather randomly.

I did not have vanilla, butter and nut flavoring and the vanilla extract either, I used lemon extract instead. I was afraid that the flavor might be a bit flat because of that substitution so I covered the cake with vanilla icing and added some colorful sprinkles to it.

Peach Cobbler Experiment

Cobblers are not popular in Poland. Actually, I did not hear about them when I lived there. I learned about them when I moved to Texas.

Last week, my husband brought home some fresh peaches (which were 'straight from a peach tree') and asked me to make a peach cobbler. The fruit was great so I thought it was a very good idea. The only problem was I did not know how to make one.

I read some peach cobblers recipes online but each one of them was different and called for different ingredients (besides peaches of course). Some suggested adding water and cornstarch to peaches, some mentioned lemon and orange juice as well. I decided a Southern recipe would be best. None of such included pie crust as part of the dessert, though.

I peeled, stoned the peaches and cut them into pieces. I do not know how much fruit we had that day - when sliced it was about 5 cups, I reckon.

What I did

First I melted 1/2 stick of butter in a pan. Then I added 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the sliced peaches. I intended to use about 1/2 cup of granulated sugar but I made a mistake and added almost 1 and 1/4 cup instead. I cooked the mixture for a few minutes and tasted the juicy part. There was a problem — my peach cobbler mixture was too sweet so I decided to save it adding about a glass of cold water and about a tablespoon of potato flour (I do not have cornstarch). I cooked it all for about ten minutes. I tasted and tasted and tasted the cobbler mix and the peach slices again. It seemed alright, not overly sweet. However, I was not sure how it would be after baking it in the oven. I had never had such a cobbler before. Anyway, I placed the mixture in a Pyrex dish.

Next, I took a layer of ready-made (bought in a store) pie crust (maybe home-made would have been better but I needed to make the procedure simple). I cut it into strips and placed them on the cobbler mix (see in the picture).

Then, the baking time came - about 50 minutes in the oven (350F).

I still did not know what the results of my work would be, hoped for the best, though. I was happy when it turned out to be really tasty. And my husband was happy too. He said he had not had such a peach cobbler since he had lived with his mom (ages ago, when he was a school boy) and she had made that. Could it be a better compliment? I do not think so.

P.S.
The cobbler was maybe a bit too juicy, due to the water which I had added to dissolve the sugar and make it all less sweet. Nevertheless, it tasted soooooooooooooooo good! I saved the juicy part and it was a perfect topping for the vanilla ice cream which we had later.

Our Early Valentine Cakes

Our Valentine weekend cakes are ready. 💑

Smaller heart cakes

And a bigger one :-)

What I used to make them:

• 1 box yellow cake mix + what the instructions on the cake box say (water, eggs and canola oil),
• 1/2 can cherry pie filling,
• some powder sugar + a few Tbs hot water to make the icing,
• decorating 'beads'.

 

The cherry part is hidden inside of course 😐.

Have a happy weekend!

12 Months 12 Cakes: Coconut Pie

Our September choice was...............

this Old Fashioned Recipe for Coconut Cream Pie! 

I had never cooked a pudding from scratch. Although the recipe worked really well, I did not cook it on low heat. The mixture was heating so slowly that I would have been cooking it for hours. I set the oven at 3, then 4 and then 5. I did stir the pudding all the time so all was fine.

 

The pie was so wonderfully delicious! While making this wonderful pie, I followed the recipe step by step. I used a graham pie crust. However, I decided to cut down on calories and did not put a whipped cream topping layer on the pie. I sprayed it with some whipped cream instead.

The results - an exquisite dessert! Both of us like vanilla pudding based desserts and that recipe is a certainly a keeper.

12 Months 12 Cakes: Blueberry Cake

The blueberry cake, which I made in August, was light and tasty. I used canned fruit instead of fresh ones, but the result was still great. Certainly, I will make it again, maybe with some other kind of fruit, though.

The original recipe comes from Alexandra's Kitchen. No, not mine, but Tobo liked it as well, so it will be made in our kitchen now and then.

Our Anniversary Banana Trifle

This delightful dessert was our wedding anniversary treat.

I had come the banana pie filling by Musselman's and thought I would do something with that. I was not sure what exactly it could be good for though - I had never had a banana pie. Therefore, I decided to check the Musselman's website.

It appeared, they have quite a lot of various recipes there, including this banana trifle. Simply delicious! And easy to make, easier than traditional banana pudding.

Next time when I get the banana pie filling, I will probably give a banana pie a try, unless my husband prefers to have the trifle again. :-)

12 Cakes 12 Months: Pineapple Cake

The July cake is wonderful. Its frosting is light and tasty. Delicious!

I followed an old-fashioned, southern recipe by Mary Oxendine, except one thing. I did not have canned crushed pineapple, had pineapple in chunks only. That was why, I added sugar to the contents of the can (as the recipe says), then drained the pieces of the pineapple. After soaking the cake with the sweetened pineapple juice and frosting the lower cake round,  I put the fruit chunks on the frosted cake.
Next, I placed the other cake layer on it and frosted the entire cake, according to the recipe instructions.
The pineapple pieces very much add to the flavor of this great holiday dessert.

Thank you Mary for this superb recipe/cake!

You can read more entries on my 2016 project '12 Cakes 12 Months' here.

Our cake of July

Ciasto ananasowe według przepisu Mary Oxendine jest zaprawdę wspaniałe. Smaczniejsze niż przypuszczałam, że będzie, gdy po raz pierwszy czytałam wskazówki autorki bloga 'Old Fashioned Recipes'.

Biszkopt upiekłam w dużej tortownicy. Gdy był jeszcze ciepły po upieczeniu, przekroiłam ciasto na dwa krążki. W domu miałam tylko kawałki ananasa w puszce (zamiast rozdrobnionego ananasa jak zaleca przepis). Zawartość puszki przelałam do rondelka, dodałam cukier.

Po wymieszaniu, odsączyłam kawałki ananasa na sitku, a pozostałym syropem nasączyłam obydwa krążki ciasta. Było ono jeszcze wtedy ciepłe. Obawiałam się, że wyjdzie z tego klucha: gorący biszkopt i sok. Na szczęście nic takiego się nie stało, ciasto nie straciło swoich właściwości.

Dalej postępowałam zgodnie z instrukcjami przepisu. Przygotowałam krem i posmarowałam nim dolny krążek biszkoptu. Na to nałożyłam odsączone kawałki ananasa, po czym przykryłam 'nadzienie' drugim krążkiem. Obłożyłam wszystko kremem i już! Wspaniały deser na niedzielny/ świąteczny obiad. Krem z dodatkiem bitej śmietany jest lekki, nietłusty, nie za słodki - w sam raz. Cząstki ananasa w środku ciasta-tortu sprawiają, że jego smak jest jeszcze bardziej interesujący. Pyszny!

Quick and Tasty Raspberry Bread

Recently, I have been trying different cake mixes from various stores. This time my choice was Simply Homemade Muffin & Bread Mix found at Dollar Tree.

We found the the bread so tasty that, after baking, when it was warm and fresh, we ate a half of the loaf at once. In our opinion, it makes a wonderful dessert or/and breakfast option. Not to mention that the price of the mix is very good as well. It contains pieces of real fruit that is why the bread had a slightly sour flavor. Well, if you prefer very sweet treats only, probably you would not find the raspberry bread/ muffins good enough. Anyway, we liked it a lot.

What you need to make the raspberry bread (besides the mix of course):

• 2/3 cup Greek yogurt which can be substituted with regular yogurt (I used vanilla Greek yogurt),
• 2 large eggs,
• 1/3 cup oil (my choice was Canola oil),
• 1/4 cup water.

Then, just mix all the ingredients with a spoon, place the batter in a slightly greased loaf tin and bake it at 350F. After 45 minutes in the oven, our bread was ready. We let it cool down for about 10 minutes before the eating time started. The raspberry bread was really yummy! Certainly, I will buy this muffin and bread mix again.

Raspberry Bread

What was left after 'the first sitting'....

Wednesday Peach Cobbler

Yesterday we (very much) enjoyed our home made peach cobbler. It was so good, I would have eaten more than two servings, but I was simply not able to...

12 Months, 12 Cakes: #2 Lemon Cake / Babka Cytrynowa

I made this cake some time ago, but am a bit behind with writing about it.
The original recipe of the lemon bundt cake was found here, among a favorite old fashioned recipes collection. Since we would eat such a big cake for a year maybe, I used a half of each of the ingredient.
However, I added less sugar. I simply thought the cake would be too sweet with the original amount of both powdered and granulated one.  So I only added 1/4 (instead of 1/2) glass of each kind of sugar. The result of it was a light cake version, which could be not sugary enough, according to some people. In our opinion, it was a good, tasty, and light dessert. The double icing layer which I put on the cake made it sweet (the second one was with no lemon juice). The taste of the lemon (light) cake with lots of glaze reminded me the cakes which I used to buy when I lived in Poland. They were round and big (called 'Amerykanki' = 'American ladies).

Read more about my

New Year's Project: 12 Cakes, 12 Months / Projekt 12 Ciast, 12 Miesięcy,

January Cake:  #1 Crescent Cherry Cheesecake

Babkę cytrynową upiekłam jakis czas temu, ale nie za bardzo mialam czas, by o tym pisać. Uzupełniam teraz wpis do mojego projektu '12 ciast, 12 mieisęcy'. Przepis pochodzi z kolekcji tradycyjnej kuchni amerykańskiej, z których to receptur czasem korzystam.
Dawno nie pikłam żadnej babki, a cytrynowej nigdy przedtem więc postanowiłam spróbować. Z ilosci produktów podanych w orginalnym przepisie, wychodzi duża babka (typowa duża forma 'babkowa'). Jedlibysmy to z miesiąc, z tego tez powodu nasze ciasto zrobiłam z połowy tego co podaje ów przepis. Wydawało mi się jednak, że  zalecana ilosć cukru to będzie za dużo dlatego dodałam mniej.

Produkty (po mojej adaptacji):

• 1/2 kostki masła
• 1/4 szklanki cukru granulowanego (kto lubi słodkie może dodać 1/2 szklanki każdego rodzaju cukru zamiast 1/4)
• 1/4 szklanki cukru pudru
• 2 jajka
• 1 i 1/2 szklanki mąki
• 1 łyżeczka proszku do pieczenia
• szczypta soli
• 1/2 szklanki mleka
• 1/2 łyzeczki olejku waniliowego
• 1/2 łyżeczki olejku cytrynowego

Z robieniem tego ciasta miałam trochę 'przebojów'. Początkowo nie doczytałam, że należy oddzielić białka od żółtek i wrzuciłam do miski cale jajka, wymieszałam. Zanim dodałam mleko, zorientowałam się, że popełniłam błąd. Konsystencją ciasto przypominało tzw. kruche ciasto, z którego robi się ciasteczka. Po chwili wahania zawinęłam je w folię aluminiową i włożyłam do lodówki. Następnego dnia upiekłam z tego herbatniki. Smakowały jak biszkopty i całkiem niezłe były - część z nich polukrowałam i posypałam kolorowymi koralikami.

Wracając do babki. Nasza wersja light była smaczna. Dla niektórych może byłaby za mało słodka. Polukrowałam ją dwa razy - za drugim razem przygotowując lukier bezsoku cytrynowego. Ogółem smakiem przypominało to (według mnie) moje ulubione 'Amerykanki' - ciastka, które lubiłam bardzo, gdy mieszkałam w Polsce.

Simplified Banana-and-Vanilla Pudding/ Deser Waniliowo-Bananowy

Banana pudding is quite a popular kind of dessert. Here is my simplified and lower in calories version of this treat. From time to time, we enjoy it when we finish having our dinner. The dessert is simple but quite tasty too!

Yield: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 box instant vanilla pudding (5.1 oz / 144g), milk;
• 1 banana - sliced;
• round vanilla wafers;
• 1TBS whipped cream (optional)*.

What to do with it:

1. Prepare the pudding according to the instructions provided on the package (I always add 2 1/2 cups milk instead 3).
2. Chill the pudding in the fridge. Prepare to dessert bowls.
3. Get the pudding out of the fridge. Spread a Tablespoon of pudding at the bottom of the dessert bowl.
4. Place a single layer of wafers on the pudding.
5. Put banana slices on the wafers.
6. Fill the bowl with pudding, put a few wafers at the top.

Note:

* If you wish, you can mix the pudding with some whipped cream. Do it gently, with a spoon, when you the pudding is chilled already.

Bon Appetit!

Pudding waniliowo-bananowy, który jest czymś więcej niż zwykły budyń, to popularny w Teksasie (oraz innych stanach USA) deser. Poniżej przedstawiam jego uproszczoną i mniej kaloryczną od tradycyjnego przepisu wersję. Ten łatwy w przygotowaniu deser, od czasu do czasu, jest elementem finałowym naszego domowego obiadu. Z powodzeniem może być też serwowany jako poczęstunek dla gości.

Ilość porcji: 2

Składniki:

• 1 podwójne opakowanie budyniu waniliowego* (te, które kupuję w lokalnych sklepach spożywczych ma 144g), mleko;
• 1 banan pokrojony na plasterki;
• okrągłe biszkopty waniliowe;
• łyżka bitej śmietany (opcjonalnie)**.

Przygotowanie:

1. Przygotowujemy budyń według przepisu na opakowaniu - zawsze dodaję pół szklanki mleka mniej niż jest podane w instrukcji, dzięki temu masa budyniowa jest trochę gęstsza.
2. Po ostudzeniu wstawiamy budyń do lodówki. Przygotowujemy dwie miseczki deserowe (lub jedną większą).
3. Kiedy budyń stężeje, wyjmujemy go z lodówki. Rozprowadzamy łyżkę budyniu na dnie miseczki deserowej.
4. Układamy na tym pojedynczą warstwę biszkoptów waniliowych.
5. Na biszkoptach układamy plasterki banana (też jedną warstwę tylko).
6. Wypełniamy miseczkę budyniem, a na wierzchu kładziemy biszkopty waniliowe.

Jeśli mamy jedną większą miseczkę (zamiast dwóch mniejszych), po ułożeniu plasterków banana na biszkoptach, nakładamy na nie warstwę budyniu. Następnie potarzamy czynności: 4 i 5. Dopełniamy naczynie budyniem i dekorujemy biszkoptami.

Smacznego!

Uwagi

* Zazwyczaj używam budyń błyskawiczny, który bezpośrednio po wymieszaniu z mlekiem można wstawić do lodówki. Wszystko zależy od naszych upodobań i jakości budyniu, nie każdy budyń błyskawiczny jest smaczny.
** Jeśli chcemy, by deser był 'bogatszy', po schłodzeniu masy budyniowej mieszamy ją delikatnie z łyżką bitej śmietany. Osobiście jednak nigdy śmietany nie dodaję.

Pecan Pie and Simple Truth

"Everyone that asketh receiveth;

and he that seeketh findeth;

and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

-Matthew 7:8

It works if you believe it

First pecan pie try

My first try with light corn syrup and - good results. :)

 

Ingredients:

• sugar - 1/2 cup
• butter - 1/4 cup
• light corn syrup - 1 cup
• salt - 1/4 tsp
• vanilla - 1 tsp
• eggs - 3
• pecans 1 - to 1 1/2 cups
• pie crust

Baked at 350 F for about 45 minutes

Very Nice Spice Cake

Our latest discovery.