Desserts
Desserts
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Cardamom Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Cardamom Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chunk Cookies, that's a mouthful! And these cookies are worth it. I love how unique they are, for me that is, as we settle into sugar cookies, chocolate chip or white chocolate chip cocoa cookies.
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How to Make Date Balls | Ancient Egyptian Meal
These Date Balls were so delicious, no junky dessert needed! There were very sweet, filling and rich. They are a very healthy snack or dessert alternative. If you have nut allergies, you can use coconut flakes instead.
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White Chocolate Cocoa Cookies
Hands down this is our family's favorite homemade cookie recipe. The recipe is inspired by a cookie recipe in Martha Stewart's cookbook. We cut the recipe in half and added cocoa powder and marshmallows and traded out the chocolate chips for white chocolate chips.
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Senegalese Banana Coconut Fritters
This delicious dessert is sure to impress you. It's simple with ingredients that are readily available. We got this recipe from the book Senegal by Pierre Thiam. We are using this book as part of our West Africa unit for homeschool. We love to include regional, cultural and when possible, historical foods.
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How to Make Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie
It is timely that our unit study on the Colonial Times, the voyage of the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving nestled perfectly with this time of year. Reservations about the actual events aside, this pumpkin pie was delicious, easy and ties in well with our unit study.
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Apple Pie Tartlet Dessert
I had the best of intentions when I bought pound after pound of fresh gala apples at the start of apples season. I wanted to make all kinds of apple deliciousness. We did manage an apple pie and some caramel apples, but then our apples rested at the bottom of the crisper for literally months....
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Caramel Apples
It's Kindergarten Week and it's fall...that means caramel apples! Though you can make your own caramel, today we are using store bought caramel by Kraft. We also used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips by Ghiradelli and white chocolate chips by Nestle. Used Gala apples, but Granny Smith apples would be delicious, too.
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How to Make Candied Orange Peels
We are making our way through our Colonial Times unit study and finding a lot of inspiration from a few activity books we have. Today we are using a recipe from Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide To Life In The New World by Laurie Carlson.
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How to Make Tiramisu | No Bake Recipe
Blend coffee, sugar, cocoa and milk together. Dip lady fingers in mixture and lay down flat in a serving dish. Once the bottom is filled, add a layer of whip cream. Repeat until you get to the top of the serving dish. Top with whip cream and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Serve chilled.
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How To Make Whipped Cream
The first time I saw my friend, Pernilla, make whip cream I thought to myself, "Why have I never done this before!!" I take it up a notch and use my NutriBullet to make whip cream in less than a minute!
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Graham Cracker Masjid
Snap graham crackers in half. If you want to decorate the sides of the masjid, do it before assembling it. Add icing to five graham cracker halves. Add sprinkles or chocolate chunks. Or leave it simple with icing and powdered sugar. Add icing to the edges of the graham crackers and hold for a minute until set. Add roof and dome with icing. Add minarets to the front or all four points.
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All Natural Organic Sugar Cookies with Icing
These were surprisingly easy to make and you can make these cookies and icing with no special tools or ingredients. I rummaged through the fridge and cabinets sourcing ingredients I could use to color the icing which was simply a mixture of 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with 1/2-3/4 teaspoons of water. I settled on pomegranate juice for the deep pink/maroon, raspberry puree (from a single smushed fresh raspberry), turmeric and saffron for the yellows and chlorophyll from my supplements for the green.
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The Best Fruit Scones
Even if you're not a baker or have never made scones before, you must try these!! They are a family and friend favorite! I have altered the original recipe which calls for blueberries and use nectarines or peaches. This has become a summer tradition. My friends literally can't wait till it's peach season. I serve these with butter and honey and a cup of hot chai.
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Kettle Corn
Melt butter in microwave for about 15 seconds. Set aside. In a large pan with a lid, hear oil with 3 kernels. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the popcorn. Keep the pot moving to avoid burning. It only takes 2-3 minutes to pop popcorn. Once it's done, you can transfer to a bowl and add butter, sugar, and salt.
dessert
dessert
I often skip making desserts as I don't like spending extra time making foods that don't support a healthy lifestyle. However, desserts are totally part of a healthy lifestyle! And you can modify recipes so the desserts are healthier. I spend more time cooking food than making desserts, but I wanted to share the few desserts I do make, even if they are not made regularly.
Cardamom Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chunk Cookies | Indian Cookies
Cardamom Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chunk Cookies, that’s a mouthful! And these cookies are worth it. I love how unique they are, for me that is, as we settle into sugar cookies, chocolate chip or white chocolate chip cocoa cookies. This cookie recipe is is full of flavor and seldom used ingredients. I would suggest omitting ingredients you don’t have or substituting as I did. I used raisins rather than golden raisins and chocolate chunks from a Swiss bar of chocolate with almonds rather than chocolate chips. I would try to source good quality cardamom. I got mine on a trip to Dubai and shelled dozens of cardamom pods and ground it myself so the flavor of the cardamom was strong and amazing, but not stronger than the cinnamon which overpowered the other flavors. I’m using the book Vibrant India: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Brooklyn, and the recipe is in the dessert section titled Cardamom Oatmeal Cookies.
Recipe: Warm two sticks of butter until lightly brown. Add 1 cup of raisins, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom, 1-2 teaspoons of molasses, 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla paste or powder, and 1 cup of brown sugar. In a separate bowl, beat two eggs lightly. In another bowl combine 2 cups of oats and 4-6 ounces of chocolate chips or chocolate chunks with almonds. In a third bowl, sift 1.5 cups of flour. Remove butter mixture from stove and let it cool a bit. Add eggs and combine well using fork or spoon. Slowly add flour 1/3 cup at a time until incorporated. Add oats with chocolate. Refrigerate for 6 hours. Add 6 1-inch balls to a parchment lined sheet pan and bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool before serving. Best with coconut or pistachio ice cream.
How to Make Date Balls | Ancient Egyptian Meal
For our Ancient Egypt unit study we decided to make some ancient Egypt inspired dishes using the book “Food and Cooking in Ancient Egypt” by Clive Gifford and illustrated by Paul Cherrill. You can find the book at Rainbow Resource. These Date Balls were so delicious, no junky dessert needed! There were very sweet, filling and rich. They are a very healthy snack or dessert alternative. If you have nut allergies, you can use coconut flakes instead.
Recipe:
3 Tablespoons of honey
1 1/3 cups of moist dates (pitted)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 1/4 cup walnuts
Ground or slivered almonds
Blend dates, cinnamon and walnuts in a blender. Form into balls. Coat them with warmed honey, coat with slivered almonds. Serve immediately or chilled. Watch them disappear!! Serve as an appetizer or a desert following the chicken in this recipe. Or watch the complete Ancient Egypt Cooking Playlist.
White Chocolate Cocoa Cookies
Hands down this is our family's favorite homemade cookie recipe. The recipe is inspired by a cookie recipe in Martha Stewart's cookbook. We cut the recipe in half and added cocoa powder and marshmallows and traded out the chocolate chips for white chocolate chips. Those changes made a cookie recipe we all liked into one we loved. We made a half batch and froze the dough in 1 inch diameter portions for easy storage and even easier defrosting and baking.
Here's the recipe:
Mix the following:
2 sticks unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs lightly beaten
Add mixed dry ingredients to wet ingredients:
1.75 cups of flour
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Once incorporated, add 12 ounces of white Chocolate chips and 10 quartered marshmallows.
Place 1 inch portions on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Senegalese Banana Coconut Fritters
This delicious dessert is sure to impress you. It’s simple with ingredients that are readily available. We got this recipe from the book Senegal by Pierre Thiam. We are using this book as part of our West Africa unit for homeschool. We love to include regional, cultural and when possible, historical foods. This book offers all of that. It’s a breathtaking journey through Senegal, the people, the food and the culture. You learn about culturally religious foods and celebrations, and in the process you learn what is important to the Senegalese people. This cookbook is more than a cookbook, it’s an experience. We’ve made a couple recipes from this book and we aim to do more. We weren’t sure how we were going to like this dessert, so I halved the recipe.
That was a mistake! It was so delicious, I made it again the following day. We made a few alterations to the recipe, as a Muslim family, we did not add rum to the batter. We also didn’t let it sit for an hour as directed. We were too impatient! I used avocado oil and a sauce pan for frying. Even without the right equipment, you can achieve success with this recipe. I also didn’t have the right kind of shredded coconut, so we took our slivered coconut and pulsed them in the NutriBullet until they were flour consistency. That mixed well with the flour, which was white wheat flour and not millet flour as I didn’t have that on hand. Since the coconut was sweetened, I put less sugar in the batter. That too was a mistake as the batter could have used more sugar. After gently frying the banana fritters a few at a time, I placed them on a paper towel and dusted them with powdered sugar. I paired them with some vanilla ice cream, but I think coconut ice cream would have been even better!
How to Make Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie
It is timely that our unit study on the Colonial Times, the voyage of the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving nestled perfectly with this time of year. Reservations about the actual events aside, this pumpkin pie was delicious, easy and ties in well with our unit study.
I can’t believe I this is my first year making pumpkin pie…it’s so good! I got this recipe from my Martha Stewart cookbook edited by Roy Finamore 1995. The “Perfect Pie Crust” is on page 7 and the Brown Sugar Pumpkin Pie is on page 490.
The ingredients for the Pie Crust:
2 cups flour
1.5 sticks of butter
1/4 tsp. salt
up to 1/4 cup of iced water
Directions:
Cut in butter into sifted flour. Use a pastry tool if needed, but don’t over incorporate or heat the butter. At salt if your butter is unsalted. I added a little bit of brown sugar. Add a bit of iced water to help mix the remaining flour into the mixture.
Roll out pie crust large enough for the pie tin. I found it easier to do this between two sheets of wax paper. You may need to chill the dough. Set the pie crust in the pie pan and put it in the fridge while you make your filling.
The ingredients for Pumpkin Pie:
1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
(or 1.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice mix)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Direction:
Mix all ingredients together until well incorporated. Fill pie and bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, then drop the temp to 375 and bake for about 30 minutes until a knife cuts clean.
Apple Pie Tartlet Dessert
I had the best of intentions when I bought pound after pound of fresh gala apples at the start of apples season. I wanted to make all kinds of apple deliciousness. We did manage an apple pie and some caramel apples, but then our apples rested at the bottom of the crisper for literally months….
Finally I remembered to add phyllo dough to our shopping list…then another long pause. Finally, and I’m not sure how, but we decided to make these delicious charming apple tartlets. Maybe I was needing to clean out the refrigerator, or maybe the apples were getting too soft, or maybe it was shopping day and I needed room. No one remembers, and no one cares, but these desserts were awesome! And…EASY!! Plus they’d make a stunning addition to your dessert table. Or, you could make them when the kids get home from school. Or, you could make them just to have your home smell of cinnamon and apples. Who doesn’t love that!?
Recipe:
4-5 peeled and dices apples
Juice of one lemon
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
Phyllo dough and butter
Cupcake tin and circle cookie cutter
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together (except butter and phyllo dough). Set aside. Cut large round circles of phyllo dough using a cookie cutter (ours was the Martha Stewart biscuit cutters size 4 inches), and set about 4-5 sheets of phyllo over each cupcake spot. Spoon in a generous amount into the phyllo dough. It was mold into the cupcake tin. Put a pat of butter (1/4 teaspoon) on top of each and sprinkle with a bit of brown sugar. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Let cool before taking them out of the cupcake tin.
Tip: If your phyllo dough doesn’t hold up well and falls apart when you remove these mini apples tartlets, try using more sheets of phyllo dough or make your ‘batter’ less moist.
Caramel Apples
It’s Kindergarten Week and it’s fall…that means caramel apples! Though you can make your own caramel, today we are using store bought caramel by Kraft. We also used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips by Ghiradelli and white chocolate chips by Nestle. Used Gala apples, but Granny Smith apples would be delicious, too.
Recipe:
4-5 apples (we like gala and granny smith apples)
1 bag of Kraft Caramel bites
1/2 cup of white chocolate chips (melted)
1/2 mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
dowels or twigs (washed in hot water)
Directions:
Melt caramel bites in a narrow pan on very low heat. If the caramel begins to burn, put the pot in a water bath and allow the caramel to melt that way. Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave and set aside. Put mini chocolate chips in a small bowl. Insert dowels or twigs into the top of apples. Dip apples in caramel half way, then immediately dip in mini chocolate chips. Drizzle while chocolate on top. Or do any variation you’d like!
Best eaten the same day or one day later, but the apple begins to rot where the dowel is inserted.
Share your variations on caramel apples below! And don’t forget to tag my Instagram if you make this.
How to Make Candied Orange Peels
We are making our way through our Colonial Times unit study and finding a lot of inspiration from a few activity books we have. Today we are using a recipe from Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide To Life In The New World by Laurie Carlson. The recipe calls for three oranges, but as weren’t sure we were going to like it, we reduced the recipe to one orange and used the single orange on our orange tree.
They turned out so good!! We’ll definitely be making this again.
Recipe:
1-3 oranges (we used 1 orange)
2 cups sugar (we used 1 cup sugar)
1 cup water (we used 1/2 cup water)
Carefully peel orange and slice the peel into stripes. Soak orange peels overnight with 2 cups of water and a tablespoon of salt. Rinse the peels with fresh water the next morning. Add orange peels to water and sugar in a pan. Heat on medium heat for about 20-30 minutes until the water is evaporated and the sugar is thick and syrupy. We left ours on for a bit too long and it became sugar and crumbly. If that happens, add a tablespoon of water.
Remove from heat and remove the orange peels. They are very hot! Be careful. Toss in sugar (optional). They were so delicious, we ate ours before they cooled down completely!
How to Make Tiramisu | No Bake Recipe
This has got to be the fastest, easiest and tastiest recipe for tiramisu! The recipe is below and you can find more pictures at http://www.pepperandpine.com
1 package of Lady Fingers
2 cups of milk
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
1 tablespoon of instant coffee
4 tablespoons of sugar
whip cream
Blend coffee, sugar, cocoa and milk together. Dip lady fingers in mixture and lay down flat in a serving dish. Once the bottom is filled, add a layer of whip cream. Repeat until you get to the top of the serving dish. Top with whip cream and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Serve chilled. You can make this the day before. It holds up well and is even tastier the next day!
How To Make Whipped Cream
The first time I saw my friend, Pernilla, make whip cream I thought to myself, "Why have I never done this before!!" I take it up a notch and use my NutriBullet to make whip cream in less than a minute! Yep, it only take a carton of heavy cream and a tablespoon of sugar (optional) to make homemade whip cream. It's so easy, delicious and healthier, I don't know why it took me so long to make it on my own!
Recipe:
1 carton of heavy cream (I used a pint)
1 tablespoon of sugar (I used powered sugar)
Blend using a NutriBullet or comparable blender for less than a minute.
Keep chilled.
Graham Cracker Masjid
You can assemble simple project with ingredients you can find at a local grocery store. Of course you can make it from scratch as well. I found that even with store bought graham crackers, meringues and wafers assembling and decorating took a big chunk of time. We also made crescent and star cookies with some icing I made that didn’t work (not shown in the video). This festive project brings joy to my children and creates deep loving memories for Ramadan. Of course you could do this project anytime of year. This project and 28 more can be found in my Ramadan Blessings in a Box project that is part of the Ramadan Bundle which is on sale now! The bundle includes 8 projects I made for my children and their friends that we have been enjoying over the years. The product is digital and the activities are simple. All you need is some basic office supplies.
For this Graham Cracker Masjid, all you need is a box of graham crackers, some wafer cookies for the minarets, white chocolate chips for decorations on the top of the minaret, meringue cookies (large) for the dome of the masjid and some powdered sugar to make the icing and ‘glue’. Mix 1 cup of powdered sugar with a tablespoon of water. You want the consistency of the icing to be smooth but not to watery. The thicker the better for ‘glue’ and a bit more watery works well for icing. Go slowly with the water. It’s easy to add too much. I did so when I was mixing the chocolate icing. Snap graham crackers in half. If you want to decorate the sides of the masjid, do it before assembling it. Add icing to five graham cracker halves. Add sprinkles or chocolate chunks. Or leave it simple with icing and powdered sugar. Add icing to the edges of the graham crackers and hold for a minute until set. Add roof and dome with icing. Add minarets to the front or all four points. Hold in place until icing is set. Let it set and dry completely before moving them off the wax paper.
All Natural Organic Sugar Cookies with Icing | No Artificial Colors
These were surprisingly easy to make and you can make these cookies and icing with no special tools or ingredients. I rummaged through the fridge and cabinets sourcing ingredients I could use to color the icing which was simply a mixture of 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with 1/2-3/4 teaspoons of water. I settled on pomegranate juice for the deep pink/maroon, raspberry puree (from a single smushed fresh raspberry), turmeric and saffron for the yellows and chlorophyll from my supplements for the green. I also mixed vanilla for a light tan color and left one plain white with nothing added.
The recipe is just as easy and requires no special mixing bowls or tools and you don't even need cookie cutters for these 'full moon' cookies.
The first several times I made these I mixed flour, eggs, sugar and butter together without measuring or mixing dry into wet ingredients. They turned out great but in the spirit of sharing this recipe with you, I altered a Martha Stewart sugar cookie recipe. While her recipe calls for a single egg, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder, salt and brandy, mine is simply 2 cups of organic flour 3/4 cup of organic sugar, 2 pasture raised eggs, 1/2 cup of organic butter (though this time I used a new butter I found that has a cultured butter taste), and a teaspoon and a half of non-alcoholic organic vanilla. This makes about 2 dozen cookies.
I also used some Watkins all natural sprinkles for a new of the smaller cookies.
Mix the sugar, melted butter, vanilla and eggs together. Add in flour a little at a time. Refrigerate dough for a firmer dough or roll it out on a flat surface with flour. Use a cup or cookie cutter to form shapes. Release cookies with a metal spatula and put them on a baking tray with our without parchment paper.
Bake for 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees. Once cooled you can add a dollop of icing and a sprinkle of sprinkles. Let sit and set all the way before stacking. Best eaten within 1-2 days.
I used less sugar which means the cookies weren't as sweet, but because the icing was just sugar, I felt okay doing it this way. They are more like biscuits in their sweetness, but with the icing, I think they are okay. You may add about 1/4 of sugar to make them sweeter.
*Update on how the icing tastes: the icing with the saffron does impart a slight flavor. Also, it's possible the saffron (being that it's ground and not loose filaments) may be contaminated with dye.
**Update on sugar content. My friends said they prefer the sugar content in these cookies because they like to enjoy them with tea and these had a nice balance of sweet to go with their tea. Plus it means less sugar for the kiddos which is always a good thing in my opinion.
The Best Fruit Scones
Even if you're not a baker or have never made scones before, you must try these!! They are a family and friend favorite! I have altered the original recipe which calls for blueberries and use nectarines or peaches. This has become a summer tradition. My friends literally can't wait till it's peach season. I serve these with butter and honey and a cup of hot chai. A tasty alternative is to bake them plain, which is the way my children prefer them, and cut them in half and fill them with whipped cream and fresh fruit! You won't be disappointed.
I have my friend Teyebeh to thank for this recipe. She's my food inspiration for many of our family favorite meals. She got the recipe online years ago, but since then, we have both taken liberties with the recipe.
My recipe is as follows:
3 cups flour
3/4 cups brown sugar (less if you're using white sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 sticks of cold butter
1/5 cups buttermilk
2 peaches (hard, ripe ones will add too much moisture and won't hold their shape)
Mix the dry ingredients together. Cut in butter. Add fruit and gentle mix in buttermilk. Shape into wedges or rounds and place on a buttered or parchment lined baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool before topping with whipped cream and fresh fruit, but serve hot if you're topping them with butter and honey. Serve with tea.
Tip: Reduce buttermilk if the fruit is moist.
Kettle Corn
Recipe:
1/2 cup popcorn
4 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons oil
1/8 or less salt (if your butter is salted, go easy on the salt)
2 Tablespoons sugar (we used sugar in the raw, but any sugar should do fine)
Melt butter in microwave for about 15 seconds. Set aside. In a large pan with a lid, hear oil with 3 kernels. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the popcorn. Keep the pot moving to avoid burning. It only takes 2-3 minutes to pop popcorn. Once it’s done, you can transfer to a bowl and add butter, sugar, and salt. Mix and toss well and serve it warm!
Share your favorite popcorn recipe with me in the comment section!
