Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

I have made this recipe for 5+ years and I am always asked for the recipe. This can be served as an appetizer, snack or dessert. It can also be customized to your liking since any kind of fruit works well with this recipe except bananas.

This recipe is VERY time consuming. The fruit salsa is easy but cutting up all of the fruit does take time BUT the cinnamon chips seem to take forever. I just want you to be forewarned since it can seem like a lot of work but this dish is worth it. One note that I think you MUST know is that you need to make sure the chips are cooked until they are crispy. If they aren't they will be very chewy and believe me that will ruin what you think of them, if they are hard and crispy they taste delicious.

Recipe:

2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Fuji apples - peeled, cored and diced
8 ounces raspberries
8 ounces blueberries
1 pound strawberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons fruit preserves (any flavor, but apricot is best)
10 (10-inch) flour tortillas
Butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar (2 cups sugar, 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon)


1) In a large bowl, thoroughly mix all fruit, white sugar, brown sugar, and fruit preserves. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.

2) Preheat oven to 350°F.

3) Coat both sides of each flour tortilla with cooking spray. Cut tortillas into wedges using a pizza cutter and toss in a zip lock bag with cinnamon sugar mixture.

4) Bake in preheated oven 10 to 12 minutes or until crispy. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Note: Can use any kind of fruit, but do not use banana's. Can use frozen fruit, if desired. Tip: Put tortillas in a muffin tin to curl chips. Instead of tossing in a zip lock bag use a medium bowl and dredge the tortillas in the cinnamon sugar.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes per batch | Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes | Other Time: cool 15 minutes | Yields: 10 servings

Almond Pound Cake

This was such a hit at our house and trust me it did not last long. My husband loved eating this for breakfast with his coffee every morning and I just loved eating it, lol. I will make this again not only because it is good but I would also like to master drizzling the glaze on; it came out a little sloppy for my photo.

Recipe:

1 cup butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2¼ cups sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Almond Glaze

1½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

1) Allow butter, cream cheese, and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease and lightly flour a 10-inch fluted tube pan; set aside. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2) In a large mixing bowl beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or until softened. Gradually add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on medium speed about 5 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Add almond extract.

3) Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low to medium speed for 1 minute after each addition and scraping bowl frequently. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just until combined. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4) Bake about 1¼ hours or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool thoroughly on wire rack about 2 hours. Top cake with Almond Glaze. Let stand 30 minutes to allow glaze to set.

Almond Glaze

In a small mixing bowl beat together powdered sugar, cream cheese, almond extract, and enough milk for mixture to reach glazing consistency.

Prep Time: 40 minutes | Cook Time: 1¼ hours | Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes | Other Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes | Yields: 16 servings

Source: BHG

Black Raspberry Cream Pie

When I ate this dessert I thought I was in heaven. It is so DELICIOUS!!  After seeing that this recipe used fruit spreads for the flavoring of the pie, I don't see why you couldn't try this in any spread flavor. I can't wait to try this in strawberry and raspberry.

I will confess, I was very nervous when making this because I had never made anything with whipping cream that needed to be formed into peaks before. The original recipe did not explain how to do that so I looked it up and not that it was complicated to do but there was a lot more to it than I thought. I added those instructions to my recipe below in case any of you aren't sure how to do it either. A co-worker of mine told me that I didn't need to go through all of the steps that I did, but hey it worked for me so I am keeping it this way. If you already have your own method, by all means stick with it and ignore my instructions on it.

Recipe:

1 (9-inch) graham cracker crumb pie shell recipe
1 cup whipping cream or heavy cream
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (10 ounce) jar black raspberry spread
Fresh black raspberries, and/or mint leaves (optional)

1) Place a medium sized mixing bowl and the beaters in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. After sufficiently chilled remove the mixing bowl and beaters from the freezer and place the mixing bowl in a larger bowl of ice water.
2) Add the cream in the chilled mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer for 20 to 30 seconds on low until bubbles begin to form. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until the cream begins to thicken and the beaters show a slight trail in the cream.
3) Increase mixer speed to high and beat until the cream begins to thicken and puff up. Continue to beat the cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.
4) In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth. Add black raspberry spread. Beat on low speed just until combined. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon mixture into pie shell. Cover and freeze for 4 to 24 hours or until firm. Garnish with fresh black raspberries and/or mint.

Note: To check for stiff peaks, pull the beaters straight up out of the whipped cream. The peak should hold its shape and stick tightly to the beaters. DO NOT over-whip the cream. Once it forms stiff peaks, stop beating. If the cream is over-whipped it will start to separate and curdle.

Tip: The cream should be kept in the coldest part of the refrigerator until just before using. Try different pie flavors with changing the fruit spread. If using a stand mixer, be careful because the cream can become over-whipped quickly.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 4 hours, 27 minutes or Overnight | Other Time: Pie Shell: 17 minutes | Yields: 8 servings

Source: BHG

New England-Style Banana Foster

This dessert is super easy to make and ready to eat in minutes. This really isn't a good dessert the following day so make sure have enough people to polish it off all at once.

Recipe:

⅓ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup dark rum
3½ cups diagonally sliced firm ripe bananas
⅓ cup chopped walnuts, toasted
Vanilla fat-free frozen yogurt

1) Combine syrup and rum in a large skillet; bring to a simmer over medium-low heat.
2) Add bananas; cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add walnuts; cook 1 minute.
3) Serve immediately over frozen yogurt.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Yields: 6 servings

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

If you love peanut butter this is a must have in your personal recipe collection. This recipe makes 2 pies so just be aware of that before you get started. I also found a recipe for homemade graham cracker crust instead of using the store bought kind and trust me you will never go back to store bought crust again.  It really is not hard to make and you will thank me for it, trust me.

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie Recipe:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup milk
1 (16 ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 (9 inch) recipe for graham cracker crusts
Hershey’s chocolate syrup
10 Hershey’s Peanut butter cup miniatures, quartered

1) Blend cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar together until smooth. Beat in peanut butter and milk until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.
2) Spoon mixture into two 9 inch graham cracker pie shells; drizzle with Hershey’s chocolate syrup and top with peanut butter cups.
3) Cover and freeze overnight or until firm.

Notes: If you like chunky peanut butter, replace the 1 cup creamy peanut butter with 3/4 cup creamy and 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes or Overnight | Other Time: Pie Shell: 1 hour, 10 minutes | Yields: 8 servings per pie

Granny Smith Apple Pie

A couple of months before my wedding I was on a hunt for an apple pie recipe that used Granny Smith apples. The reason for this was because the centerpieces at our wedding were vases filled with Granny Smith apples. I wasn't sure how our guests would take to winning a centerpiece of apples instead of the traditional flowers so I thought it would be nice to give the winner a recipe for apple pie to go along with it. After having the first bite of this pie I knew I found a keeper and a few months after our wedding I had several people tell me that they made the pie and really enjoyed it as well. It was such a great feeling knowing that people actually made our pie and LOVED it.

Oh, and one other thing that I wanted to mention - if you are like me and have never really been a big fan of crust, please don't let that stop you from trying this. The sugar concoction you pour over the crust makes it so yummy. It is definitely worth making at least once.

Granny Smith Apple Pie Recipe:

1 pastry recipe for a 9 or 10-inch double crust pie
½ cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup water
½ cup white sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
6-8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

1) Preheat oven to 425°F. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2) Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3) Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350°F and continue baking for 35-45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Tip: Place a sheet of foil on the lower rack in oven to catch the drippings.

Prep time: 30 minutes | Cook time: 1 hour | Other time: 30 minutes for Pie Crust | Total time: 2 hours | Yield: 8 servings

Double Crust Pie Recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup shortening, butter flavored
6-8 tablespoons cold water

1) In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half so one ball is slightly larger than the other.
2) Roll out the larger ball to fit a 9-inch or 10-inch pie plate. Transfer pastry to pie plate. Trim pastry evenly with edge of plate. Pour desired filling into crust.
3) Roll out second ball; cut slits in pastry or cut into strips if making a lattice pie. Position over filling. Trim pastry to 1 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold top crust over bottom crust. Flute edges.
4) Bake according to recipe directions.

Tip: Make sure the water is ice cold. For a sweet pie crust add 1 tablespoon of white sugar.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

I was introduced to this wonderful yummy recipe about 5+ years ago. It is so rich, sweet, and delicious that you won't be able to stop eating it until it is gone. I love to serve this with cinnamon or honey graham cracker sticks, but I'm sure it would taste great with pretzel rods, vanilla or chocolate wafers, or even cookies.

In the recipe you can roll this in nuts which really does make it look pretty, but as you can see in the photo I did not. I love it with the nuts, but when making this for a group of people that may or may not have nut allergies I tend to stay away from it and honestly it still tastes great without them.

Recipe:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
¾ cup finely chopped pecans, optional

1) In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in confectioners’ sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
2) Shape chilled cream cheese mixture into a ball. Serve with Graham cracker sticks, pretzels, or cookies.
3) If you want to add the nuts, wrap the cheese ball with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until it is firm. Roll the cheese ball in the finely chopped nuts.

Notes: Could also be rolled with toffee bits or walnuts. If you are in a rush and can't wait overnight - place the mixture in the freezer for 1 hour and then shape the ball and roll it in the nuts.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: Overnight | Yield: 32 servings