Coconut and Banana Cream Pie

This is a recipe I've used before for coconut cream pie. This time I wanted to try it with a normal pie crust and a graham cracker crust since I prefer the graham cracker crusts. I also did the same with the banana cream pie. Most of the pie was gone when I remembered to take pictures so my mom took these of what was left of the pie. I love Marie Calendar's coconut cream pie but this is so much better!

Coconut Cream Pie

• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups milk, scalded
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 cup coarsely shredded fresh coconut
  
• (I use 2 c. (1 3/4 c. in pie and 1/4 c. on top); I also toast it in the oven)
  
• 1 baked 10-inch pie shell
• 4 cups whipped cream

Preparation:

Combine cornstarch, sugar and salt; mix well. Gradually stir scalded milk into cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for two minutes, or until thickened and shiny. Add a small amount of the hot mixture to eggs and beat until well blended. Return to pan and beat for two minutes over medium heat until slightly thickened, being careful not to let mixture curdle. Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter, mixing until smooth. Place plastic wrap directly over filling; set aside to cool.
Add coconut extract and half the coconut to the cooled pie filling. Pour filling into pie shell; chill. Spread whipped cream over pie, mounding in center. Sprinkle with remaining coconut. Coconut cream pie recipe makes one 10-inch pie.

(To make a Banana Cream Pie omit the coconut and coconut extract and layer sliced banana's and the cream filling)

Graham Cracker Pie Crust

2 C. Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 stick butter, melted
2 T. sugar

Mix sugar and crumbs. Add butter and mix with fork until combined. Press in 10-inch pie pan and up the sides. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Cool.

Creamy Shrimp and Mushroom Pasta

Kaleb has never complimented my cooking as much as he did when I made this. He LOVED this dish (minus the mushrooms). He's always loved shrimp but he's not much of a sauce person. So I was crossing my fingers he would like it. He kept saying, "this is just so good, mom" as he was eating it. Ashton wasn't a fan of the shrimp but he loves mushrooms so it was a hit for him.

Creamy Shrimp and Mushroom Pasta
From: Chaos In The Kitchen

* 1 (8 oz) package fettuccine or linguine (I only had thin spaghetti on hand)
* 10 tbsp butter, divided (I know, but I’ve tried it with less and it’s just not the same)
* 8 oz fresh, sliced mushrooms (I used more than this because I love mushrooms)
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 3 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces
* 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
* 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (you can use dried herbs if that’s all you have)
* 2/3 cup boiling water (from your noodle pot)
* 1 lb cooked shrimp (feel free to buy frozen-gasp!)

1. Boil and salt a large pot of water and cook your pasta. I usually only use about half of an 8 oz box, preferring fewer noodles.
2. While your pasta is cooking, cook your shrimp if necessary and reserve. If your shrimp are pre-cooked and frozen, quickly thaw them under running water.
3. In a large skillet melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat and saute mushrooms until soft and brown. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Reserve cooked mushrooms and melt remaining butter in the skillet. Add minced garlic, cream cheese, and herbs. At this point, I generally feel like something has gone terribly wrong. The cream cheese doesn’t really melt and starts to look almost curdled, don’t worry about it! It will all smooth out and be wonderful when we add the water. I promise.
5. Simmer cream cheese mixture until well blended. Get a scoop of boiling pasta water from your noodle pot and mix it in, stirring quickly to smooth out the sauce.
6. Keep sauce hot and add shrimp and mushrooms, mix well and make sure everything is hot-you wont ruin this sauce by accidentally boiling it so don’t worry.
7. Toss sauce with cooked noodles and serve.

I'll have to try more pasta dishes with cream cheese in them. I've never used it before in a sauce but it made the sauce really creamy. I've heard that Olive Garden uses it in their Alfredo sauce and that would make sense because it's the same thick, creamy texture.

I also made a cupcake cake from a mold a couple of weeks ago for a birthday. The mold was easy to use. The bottom section was chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache frosting and the top was strawberry cake with a cream cheese buttercream frosting.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

I took these bars (along with these cheesecakes) to a church activity and everyone loved them. I've made them twice now and I'm sure I'll be making them again.
The recipe is from My Kitchen Cafe which is probably my favorite food blog to get recipes from. The only thing I changed is that the recipe said to use softened butter but usually when making a crust that you cut butter in with a pastry blender you use really cold butter. So I used cold butter and it worked perfectly. You could probably do either way though. (And I also didn't put nuts in but I'm sure they would taste good in them.)

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

• 2 1/3 c. Flour
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2/3 c. brown sugar
• 3/4 c. butter (1 1/2 sticks)
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
• 1 c. coarsely chopped nuts (optional)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 package toffee bits, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9X13 pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture is crumbly. Add eggs and mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands. Mix in 1 1/2 c. of the chocolate chips and the nuts. Set aside 1 1/2 c. of the dough mixture. Press the remaining dough into the prepared 9X13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Pour the sweentened condensed milk evenly over the crust. Top with all but 1/3 of the toffee bits. Place pieces of remaining dough over the top. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c. chocolate chips. Bake for 25-30 more minutes, or until golden brown. Sprinkle the remaining toffee chips on top. Cool completely before serving.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

With all of the "Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie" recipes that have been all over food blogs for the last year I wasn't really interested in trying anything new. They all seemed too complicated or required odd ingredients that weren't worth buying. I came across this recipe on THIS blog last week and I really wanted to try them. The fact that they were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside and stayed puffed up, not flat really enticed me. I loved them and so did everyone else. My batch made 13 cookies so I will probably double the recipe next time (which will be soon).

PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Makes 16 cookies

Note: Avoid using a nonstick skillet to brown the butter; the dark color of the nonstick coating makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is browned. Use fresh. moist brown sugar instead of hardened brown sugar, which will make the cookies dry. This recipe works with light brown sugar, but the cookies will be less full-flavored.

1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large ( 18-by-12 inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium b0wl; set aside.

2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)

5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

(I was only able to fit 6 cookies per cookie sheet and I used 3 scoops of cookie dough per cookie)

Easy Crockpot Chicken

Things just never seem to slow down. This is a really easy recipe I put in the crockpot before work and I thought it turned out pretty good. I love the smell of dinner when you walk in the door. I got the recipe off of THIS blog.


Easy Crockpot Chicken



4-6 frozen chicken breasts

1 can cream of mushroom soup

about 1/2 a packet of onion soup



Put ingredients into the crockpot. Cook all day. Shred the chicken with a fork and serve over rice.

Soon......

Things were so busy with getting the house ready to move-in I've been neglecting this blog, more like abandoned it. I'm excited to start cooking in my kitchen and updating this blog but we've had a problem the last 3 weeks of having no stove/oven. So as soon as that gets worked out, hopefully within the next week I'll try to get something new posted.

On another note, my mom bought me the Worldwide Ward Cookbook for Mother's day and it's awesome. I looked through all 440 recipes and there are so many I'm excited to try. If you're looking for a new cookbook this is one to buy. (It even has the Olive Garden soup I love and the popular Cafe Rio pork salad/dressing plus recipes from all over the world)

'Tis the Season for Baking: Chocolate Coconut Nut Clusters

I love baking sweets this time of year to hand out to people and I've tried a couple of new recipes this year. I found this recipe last year and I love how easy it is but they look fancy. I found the candy cups (waxed cups) at Gygi. The next batch I make I'm going to make some with just coconut and then try a batch with almonds and coconut. You can add whichever nut you like best.

Chocolate Coconut Nut Clusters

Candy Cups
2 2/3 c. sweetened flaked coconut
1 6oz. jar macadamia nuts, chopped (or 2 c. pecans chopped)
2 2/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips
For the glaze: 1/3 c. white chocolate chips (melted with 1/2 T. vegetable shortening)

Line 4 miniature muffin pans with candy cups; set them aside. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the coconut and nuts on separate cookie sheets. Bake each until golden brown, about 9 minutes for the nuts and 10 for the coconut, stirring every few minutes to keep them from burning. Let them cool.

Combine the toasted coconut and nuts in a medium-size bowl. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave according to the package directions. Add the melted chocolate to the coconut mixture; stir well. Drop the mixture by heaping teaspoons into the candy cups. Chill until set, about 45 minutes.

Melt the white chocolate according the the package directions. Pour the contents into a ziplock bag. Snip off a corner of the bag, then drizzle the chocolate over the clusters. Chill until the glaze is set, about 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container in the refridgerator.

Makes 4 dozen clusters (I had some leftover)