WHITE CHOCOLATE POPCORN

-3 bags Pop Secret "Homestyle" Popcorn, popped
-1 lb. white chocolate chips (I prefer Guittard)
-1 bag mini marshmallows
-1 bag Holiday mint M&M's*
 
Melt chocolate, pour over popcorn, marshmallows, and mints, and stir until evenly coated.  Cool on wax or parchment paper.

Recipe Source: Lisa Jensen

Chocolate Cream Pie

32 chocolate wafer cookies (such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, enough 1 and 1/3 cups cookie crumbs)
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1 cup sugar, divided
6 Tablespoons melted butter, plus 2 tbsp. butter cut into small cubes
6 large egg yolks
3 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, plus more for grating over pie
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse cookies until finely ground. Transfer to a medium bowl, set aside. To processor, add almonds and 3 tbsp. sugar and pulse until almonds have texture of course meal (be careful not to grind them into nut butter). Add ground nuts to cookies and stir in 6 tbsp. melted butter. Press into bottom and sides of a 9 in deep-dish pie plate (crust should be fairly thick).
Bake on center rack 15 minutes; let cool.

2. Put egg yolks in a medium bowl and beat to blend; set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together milk, 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly (mixture will begin to thicken). Reduce to medium.

3. Whisking constantly, pour 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg yolks, then pour egg-milk mixture into saucepan, Bring to a simmer (about 190 degrees on an instant-read thermometer), stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (it will thicken noticeably). Remove from heat and stir in chocolate, vanilla, and 2 tbsp butter.

4. Pour chocolate filling into a medium metal bowl, then set the bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and let cool 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until filling reaches room temperature. Pour Filling into prepared crust and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface (to prevent a skin from forming). Chill until cold, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.

5. Just before serving, combine cream and remaining 1 tbsp, sugar in a chilled bowl. With an electric mixer on high speed, beat cream until medium peaks form. Spread whipped cream in a thick dome over chocolate filling. Grate chocolate over pie.

***The chocolate wafer cookies are hard to find so I substitute w/ Winco's chocolate graham crackers or Trader Joe's chocolate cat cookies. I don't add almonds.

Coconut Milk Fudgesicles

Nathan got me some popsicles molds for my birthday and we had fun all summer trying different recipes, but this was by far the favorite!!! It makes 6 popsicles. 

Ingredients

• 1 13-ounce can coconut milk
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp. sugar 
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• pinch of kosher salt

1. Place all ingredients in the blender and process on high speed about 60 seconds, until completely blended.
2. Taste, and adjust sweetening if needed - some kinds of cocoa may be more bitter than others.
3. For extra creaminess, let the mixture sit for 30 minutes to completely hydrate the cocoa, then give it another whiz on high speed. [this is optional, if you are in a hurry]
4. Divide the mixture evenly in popsicle molds, and freeze for 3 to 4 hours before serving.
5. [to unmold, you may have to run warm water on the outside of the mold for a few seconds]

White Nectarine & Mint Salad

You can just as easily use peaches or yellow nectarines in this fruit salad. For color, add cherries, raspberries, strawberries or blackberries to the mix.

Ingredients:

·      Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

·      1 tsp honey

·      4 nectarines, pitted and cut into wedges

·      2 Tbs minced fresh mint

Directions:

1.     In a small saucepan, heat the lemon zest and juice with the honey until the honey melts. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

2.     Put the nectarines in a  bowl, pour the lemon-honey mixture over the fruit, and toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle with the mint, toss to mix, and serve.

Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
2 tsp. lemon zest
7/8 cup + 1 tbsp. cinnamon-sugar mixture (1/8 cup=2 tbsp.)
1 egg (room temp)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh berries (any combination is good...I did a mix of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries and it was really yummy)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter, lemon zest, and 7/8 cup sugar til light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beating til combined. Meanwhile, toss berries with 1/4 cup flour. Then whisk together remaining flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to batter a little at a time, alternating with buttermilk. Fold in berries.

Grease 9" square glass pan and flour in batter. (The batter will be very thick and you will king of have to spread it in). Sprinkle batter with remaining tbsp of cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake 30-40 min. or until toothpick comes out clean (careful not to dry it out).

This cake is seriously delicious!!!

Fresh Peach (or Nectarine) Pie

Makes 1 pie

The key to a delicious fresh peach pie is delicious fresh peaches or nectarines! They must be fully ripe and ready to eat. They should have a great flavor and texture. No green, hard, mealy, or otherwise imperfect fruit. If you cannot find good fruit, wait to make this pie until you can.

1 c mashed peaches + additional fresh, ripe peaches, sliced
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c water
2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp butter
1 c whipping cream, whipped + approx. 3 tbsp sugar (to taste) and a dash of vanilla
1 pie crust (I use the refrigerated, pre-made Pillsbury crust)

Mix cornstarch with water in a small pot. Add mashed peaches and sugar. Cook and stir until thick. Remove from heat and add 1 tbsp butter. Cool while preparing crust. Bake one crust and cool. Peel and slice fresh, ripe peaches into baked, cooled crust. Cover with cooled, cooked mixture, then chill for at least 2 hours. Cover with whipped cream just before serving and enjoy!

Chip & Joanna Gaines Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Apparently this is their traditional family Valentine's Day treat. They sold it on expensive little recipe cards at the Silos :) I haven't tried it yet but it sounds yummy!

1 (15.25-oz.) pkg. devil’s food cake mix
1 cup plain yogurt
4 large eggs
1 (3.4-oz.) pkg. vanilla instant pudding mix
½ cup plus 1 tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 cup powdered sugar, plus more for serving
Fresh strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Combine cake mix, yogurt, eggs, ½ cup warm water, pudding mix and ½ cup oil in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium, and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Pour mixture into a lightly greased and floured Bundt cake pan. Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.

2. Remove cake from oven, and cool in pan 10 minutes. Transfer cake from pan to wire rack; cool completely, about 1 hour.

3. Combine cocoa, 2 tablespoons water, corn syrup and remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a medium saucepan. Cook over low, stirring constantly, until blended, 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add powdered sugar, whisking constantly, until smooth.

4. Drizzle glaze over cake. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar. Serve with strawberries and vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Serves: 12
Active time: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, plus cooling

Aunt Denice's Green Ice Cream

Aunt Denice used to make this for us all the time when we lived with Grandma Lee. So delicious, and sugar-free! 

• 3/4 cup half & half 
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 2/3 cup nonfat powdered milk (or vanilla protein powder)
• 2 cups spinach, lightly packed
• 1 1/2 tbps vanilla
• 2 1/2 -3 cups of ice

Combine all ingredients in your blender (doesn't work well in a normal blender...use the Blendtec). Replace lid.  Blend on med-high for about 20-30 seconds and high for an additional 20-30 seconds, until smooth.

You can eat immediately or freeze in a freezer-safe container for about 5 hours to give a more firm consistency.

We also have made this recipe without the ice, churned in our ice cream maker. Works just as well!

Sour Cream Pound Cake

This is my great-grandmother's recipe and my absolute favorite cake. I ask for it every birthday. I love it just plain, but you can add a lemon glaze if you want to add a little more dimension (I don't have a good recipe for that though...let me know if you find one!)

• 3 cups sugar
• ½ lb. butter
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 cups flour
• ¼ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325. Cream together sugar and butter.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then mix in sour cream.  Sift flour and salt together, then add to wet mixture. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Bake 90 min. (Or less! Barely underdone is good with this cake!)

Banana Pudding

·       1 can sweetened condensed milk

·       1 ½ cups cold water

·       1 small pkg. instant vanilla pudding

·       1 pint whipping cream, whipped

·       Vanilla wafers

·       Bananas, sliced

Mix together sweetened condensed milk, cold water, and pudding. Beat 2 minutes with electric mixer and refrigerate 5 min. While pudding sets, whip whipping cream. Fold whipping cream into pudding mixture. Make 3 or so layers of wafer, sliced bananas, and pudding into 2 ½ quart serving dish. Garnish with extra vanilla wafers.

Cranberry Cream Freeze

·       2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs

·       2 tbsp. butter

·       6 tbsp. sugar

·       1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese

·       1 pint vanilla ice cream

·       1 (16 oz.) cranberry sauce

Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, and 2 tbsp. sugar; press into bottom of 9x9 pan or dish. Beat remaining sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Stir in ice cream and cranberry sauce until thoroughly mixed, then pour over crust. Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Traditional Jones Christmas dessert!