The Pumpkin Dessert

Believe it or not, but my Mom actually found this recipe in The Friend when I was little.
Crust:

• 1 box yellow cake mix (reserve 1 cup for topping)
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter melted
• 1 egg beaten

Filling

• 1 can (29 oz) pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup canned milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping

• 1 cup yellow cake mix
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup margarine/butter. softened

1. Mix the crust ingredients together. Spread the mixture in the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan.
2. In a bowl beat eggs, brown sugar, colves, and cinnamon. Stir in pumpkin and milk. Stir till well blended. If you use a mixer to mix in the pumpkin and milk be careful because the batter will be thin and splatter. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the crust in the pan and spread evenly.
3. Mix together the dry cake mix, sugar and cinnamon. Cut in softened margarine. Sprinkle little pieces over the top of the pumpkin layer.
4. Bake 350 for 60-70 minutes. It is done when a toothpick comes out clean. Can be served warm with ice cream or cold with whipped cream.
   

Tres Leches

This is the recipe from Allrecipes.com :)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract*

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract*

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
3. Cream butter or margarine and the 1 cup sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and the 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract*; beat well.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture 2 tablespoons at a time; mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Pierce cake several times with a fork.
6. Combine the whole milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk together. Pour over the top of the cooled cake.
7. Whip whipping cream, the remaining 1 cup of the sugar, and the remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla* together until thick. Spread over the top of cake. Be sure and keep cake refrigerated, enjoy!

*I almost always add extra vanilla (not quite doubling) to every dessert I make.

Kellie's Amazing Shortbread Cookies

1 c butter
1/3 white sugar
1/3 brown sugar
1 small egg
1 Tbsp almond extract
2 1/2 to 3 c white flour

Cream the butter and the sugar. Add the egg and flavoring. Add and stir in the flour and knead by hand a little. Dough should be firm enough to form into a ball and hold a shape. Bake for 10 min or so in 400 degree oven.

Katie's plug: ohmygoshbestcookiesever! They're the perfect amount of sweetness. And you can eat like 7 of them without pausing for air, because they are so delicious. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway...they're great.

Portuguese Fruit Salad

The "Portuguese" is really just to impress people.

• Chop your favorite fruits up and put them in a bowl. I used bananas, pears, apples, kiwis, oranges, and grapes, and I should have added strawberries.
• Pour a few tablespoons of sugar over the chopped fruit. (Not too much, lets still keep this healthful!)
• Pour some kind of fruit drink in just below the top of the fruit. I used V8 Splash "Fruit Medley," but I think any of them would have been good. (p.s. V8 Splash is WAY cheaper than V8 Fusion, but feel free to go wild with what juice you put in.)
• Stir up the concoction carefully, so as to avoid mashing the fruit.
  
• Cover and store in the fridge for about 2 hours. I didn't have time to do this, but it probably would have been a little better if I had.

Yay!

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

as per request by Bob...he can testify to its deliciousness.

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
assorted fresh fruit

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, brown sugar and vanilla; mix well. Serve with fresh fruit for dipping. Refrigerate leftovers.

Laura and I used this as dessert pizza "sauce" on a sugar cookie dough crust, and topped it with fresh fruit. It was awesome. I would highly recommend this use of it.

Pumpkin Roll

So, I got a few requests for this recipe and one stolen recipe page so i thought just maybe I'd put it up on the blog :)

Pumpkin Roll

13 x 18 x 1 jelly roll pan- greased and floured

3 eggs- beat 5 minutes on high
1 cup sugar- add gradually to beating egg

2/3 cup pumpkin + 1 tsp. lemon juice } use wire whip to add to above

Cake... 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Frosting... 1 cup powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese
4 T. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry cake ingredients into liquid. Spoon evenly into pan, nuts opt. Bake 12-15 minutes at 375 degrees. Turn out onto dish towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll up with towel until cool. When cool, frost and reroll without towel. Refrigerate over night.

Enjoy :)
Natalie