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Cherry Vanilla Whoopie Pies

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Cherry Vanilla Whoopie Pies

It’s no secret that we enjoy a tasty dessert at my house. I am even happier when I can whip up a tasty treat without spending a long time in the kitchen.

My recipe for Cherry Vanilla Whoopie Pies is a treat that is quick and easy to make and the taste is AMAZING!

It starts with a box mix and a bottle of 7UP. Yep, those two ingredients are all you need for the cake portion of this recipe. I have been making cakes this way for years.  I found the idea on the dieting message boards a long time ago. I was skeptical about a cake made with soda at first but once you try it you’ll see that it’s absolutely delicious!

The cake comes out crazy moist and has a great taste. Now the dieting version is just to add some fresh fruit and maybe some whipped topping. My Cherry Vanilla Whoopie Pies are not quite as low cal but they are incredible when you want huge flavor in a small package!

Like I mentioned before, the cake is super moist so I often eat these with a fork. If you don’t mind messy hands you can absolutely pick these up and eat them like a regular Whoopie Pie…I’ll happily get messy for these!

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Cherry Vanilla Whoopie Pies
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
CAKE
  • 12 oz 7UP
  • cooking spray
  • 1 standard vanilla boxed cake mix
FILLING
  • cherry preserves
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1½ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 7 oz marshmallow creme
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
CAKE
  1. Preaheat oven to 350ºF.
  2. Spray a whoopie pie pan with cooking spray.
  3. In a large bowl beat together the cake mix and 7UP for two minutes until light and fluffy.
  4. Fill the whoopie pie pan cavity until ¾ full.
  5. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  6. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
FILLING
  1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
  2. Add sugar and salt to the butter and mix well.
  3. Add the vanilla and marshmallow creme and beat until smooth and creamy.
ASSEMBLY
  1. Spread one side of a cooled whoopie pie with about a tablespoon of cherry preserves.
  2. Spread approximately 2 tablespoons of the prepared whoopie pie filling on a second whoopie pie cake.
  3. Press the two filled sides together and serve!
Notes
No whoopie pie pan? Simply bake up in a muffin/cupcake tin. Cut the cakes in half and fill!

 

 

Maple Buttercream Frosting

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Maple Buttercream Frosting

Thanksgiving is next week so I thought I would share one of my favorite buttercream recipes. This is one I always pull out for as it’s perfect for a pumpkin cake or a simple yellow cake. It’s a delicious recipe any time of the year but for some reason I tend to make it more often in the fall.

I love to make this Maple Buttercream and then add pecans or walnuts to the sides of the cake. It’s such a beautiful presentation AND it makes the job of icing the cake a breeze! I had a dear friend share this tip with me many years ago and I do it often. It’s such a great decorating shortcut! It comes in very handy if you are running short on frosting as you can use the majority of the frosting where it will be seen. Plus if you don’t have great cake decorating skills…this is the technique for you! Simply spread the frosting and push nuts, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, candies or whatever into the sides of the cake and you’re done. It really couldn’t be any easier!

My buttercream is just as easy. It requires only 3 ingredients and only 10 minutes. Heck, you can even pop it over a boxed cake mix or even a pre0made cake from the bakery and have a semi-homemade dessert. Your guests will be super impressed – I promise!

If you want to kick up your basic buttercream, give this a try and let me know what you think!

Maple Buttercream Frosting
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
  • 4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
  • 6 tablespoons real maple syrup
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the butter for 5 minutes on high, until fluffy and white (scrape sides occasionally).
  2. Add confectioners sugar to the whipped butter a cup at a time mixing on high between additions.
  3. Add the maple syrup.
  4. Whip frosting for 2 - 3 minutes.
  5. Spread frosting onto completely cooled cake or cupcakes.

 

Chocolate Covered Cherry Dream Pie – No Bake Dessert!

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Chocolate Covered Cherry Dream Pie

Cherries are in season right now and whenever I walk through the store I have visions of chocolate covered cherries dancing in my head. I also think about one of my all time favorite pies – my Chocolate Covered Cherry Dream Pie.

This one is great because you don’t even have to turn on the oven. In fact it really requires very little effort. It’s a three stage dessert but honestly it doesn’t take very much time to put together. I’d give this one an easy rating – so it’s a perfect recipe even for beginners!

If you are craving chocolate covered cherries but don’t feel like pulling out your cherry pitter, this is the recipe for you!

Start with an Oreo crust. It’s a very simple whirl around the food processor with a little butter and then pressed into a pan.

oreo crustNext your whip up your filling. A little cream cheese, powdered sugar, cherry pie filling, and whipped cream is all your need!

fillingFinally the ganache is the finishing touch! Just heat whipping cream to boiling then take it off the heat. Add your milk chocolate morsels and let it sit for five minutes. Stir it up and that’s it!

ganacheThe hard part is waiting for it to chill!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Dream Pie - No Bake Dessert!
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 24 Oreo Cookies
  • ¼ cup butter, melted
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 can cherry pie filling (21 oz)
  • 1 cup Cool Whip, thawed
  • ½ cup whipping cream
  • 11½ oz milk chocolate morsels
Instructions
Crust
  1. Place Oreo cookies into a food processor and pulse until broken into small crumbs.
  2. Add the butter and pulse to combine.
  3. Pour into a deep dish pie pan and push to bottom and sides.
  4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until set.
Filling
  1. Combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and mix until creamed together.
  2. Fold in the cherry pie filling and then the Cool Whip.
  3. Pour into the Oreo pie crust then place back into the refrigerator while you prepare the ganache.
Ganache
  1. In a small saucepan, bring the whipping cream just to boiling over medium-high heat.
  2. Remove from heat and add chocolate morsels, but do not stir.
  3. Let stand for 5 minutes then stir until smooth.
  4. Pour over pie and refrigerate at least 2 hours until set.

 

Hidden Surprise Meringue Cookies

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hidden surprise meringue cookiesI love meringue cookies for so many reasons…

  1. They require very few ingredients
  2. They are super easy to make.
  3. They taste delicious.
  4. One batch makes a ton of cookies!

All those reasons make them a perfect cookie! How can you not love that crispy, melt in your mouth goodness?

It’s teacher appreciation week at my boys’ school. The room moms emailed asking that I send in a different “gift” each day to show my appreciation for the boys’ teachers.

I have been very lucky and my boys both have excellent teachers. I am more than happy to put forth a little effort to show them that I really do appreciate all they do. After all, there is no way on earth I could imagine doing their jobs! I’d be good to last an hour with that many kids and that much noise. Then to do it all year long…that definitely deserves a little pat on the back.

I was asked to send in a homemade treat so I my mind went to Meringue Cookies. I wanted to change them up a little so I decided to hide a surprise in the middle. I placed a Brookside Acai and Blueberry Chocolate in the middle of each meringue and thus the Hidden Surprise Meringue Cookies came about.

Surprise Meringue Cookies
The textures work perfectly together and that little burst of flavor really makes these meringue just phenomenal.

I’ll pop about 10 in each cellophane bag with a pretty ribbon. Then it’s just a matter of adding a note and I have a bunch of teacher appreciation gifts that the boys can hand out to all their teachers.

Don’t let the time on the recipe scare you. All that time is simply just letting them sit. Your actual hands on prep time is maybe 15 minutes! Don’t be intimidated by meringue. Give these a try and let me know what you think!

brookside chocolate meringue cookies

Hidden Surprise Meringue Cookies
 
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Serves: 48
Ingredients
  • 4 egg whites at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 cup super fine granulated sugar or caster sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup Brookside Chocolate
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
  2. Add egg whites to a clean, dry mixer bowl. With whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low until frothy (approximately 30 seconds).
  3. Add vinegar and cornstarch and beat another minute until soft peaks form.
  4. Slowly pour in the sugar and vanilla and beat 4 - 5 minutes until stiff peaks form.
  5. Transfer meringue to a decorating bag with a star tip.
  6. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and pipe a small dollop onto the paper, then top with a Brookside Chocolate.
  7. Pipe over the chocolate lifting up to create a decorative point. Repeat with the remaining meringue/chocolates.
  8. Place in preheated 200 degree oven and bake for 90 minutes.
  9. Leave cookies in oven to cool for 6 hours or overnight.
  10. Peel the parchment paper and serve.
  11. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
Meringue recipe adapted from Shugary Sweets

Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake

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Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake-

What do you do when you have overripe bananas? I hope you don’t toss them! There are so many great things to do with them…Banana Bread, Banana Muffins and you can also make my Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake!

While I don’t like coffee, I love a good coffee cake! I have a basic recipe that I make and kick it up based on what I have on hand. Since I had a few overripe bananas and a pint of neglected blueberries, I decided to see how they would taste together.

I was thrilled at how this recipe turned out….it might just be my best version yet!

Blueberries and bananas go together beautifully and work to make a delicious, moist cake. The crunch of the crumble on the top makes this out of this world delicious. I can say for sure that my guys loved it. They were practically climbing on the table to get a piece. I barely had time to snap my pictures before they starting attacking it.

Next time you see those ripe bananas on your counter don’t toss them. Try this recipe and let me know what you think!

5.0 from 2 reviews
Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
Cake
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1 pint fresh blueberries
Crumb Topping
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter
Icing (if desired)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350º.
  2. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
  3. Add the sugar and butter to a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
  4. Add the eggs, vanilla, mashed banana, milk and lemon zest and beat until combined.
  5. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine.
  6. Gently fold in the blueberries.
  7. Pour the batter into a 9" cake pan or springform pan that has been cooking spray.
  8. Create the crumble by mixing the flour and sugar together then use a fork to cut the butter into the butter/sugar mixture.
  9. Sprinkle the crumble over the batter.
  10. Bake at 350º for 50 min to 1 hour (or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean)
  11. Prepare the icing by mixing the powdered sugar and lemon juice. The icing should be thin and pourable. If too thick simply add additional lemon juice. If too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.
  12. Once the cake is done, drizzle the icing over the top of the cake and serve warm.

Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake