Quadruple Chocolate Spicy Cookies

If you like chocolate & you like cookies, this is for you! Get ready to wear your favorite pajamas because when you try these chocolaty & spicy cookies, you’ll be ready to sleep the day away in heaven. It’s a simple addition to almost any chocolate chip cookie recipe that can take them to the next level. It’s time to turn a boring chocolate chip cookie into a quadruple chocolate chip cookie with a spicy kick.

These cookies are amazing & something different that everyone will love. I like to serve them with blueberry pie & ice cream or even by themselves. Because they are dry, you can pair them with almost anything that is moist or wet like ice cream or cakes.

Quadruple Chocolate Spicy Cookies
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • Your favorite cookie recipe
  • 1 tsp Hershey's Cocoa Powder
  • ⅓ lb dark chocolate chips
  • ⅓ lb white chocolate chips
  • ⅓ lb milk chocolate chips
  • Ancho Chili powder
  • Light brown sugar
Instructions
  1. Take your favorite cookie recipe & substitute the light brown sugar for the dark brown sugar
  2. Put all of the ingredients from the cookie recipe into a bowl & before you mix, add a heaping tablespoon of Hershey's Dark Chocolate cocoa powder
  3. Buy 3-1 lb bags of different chocolate chips & add ⅓ of each bag to the mix
  4. Take the Ancho chili powder & hit it 8 times for some spice or 16 times for a real kick. The extra powders help make the cookie dry so the spice from the Ancho chili powder is able to come out after the chocolate taste is gone.

 

Summer Fruits Bread Pudding

A great summer recipe to satisfy your sweet tooth on a hot summer day!  The best way to ensure an absolutely perfect dessert is to use top of the line food prep machines.

Summer Fruits Bread Pudding
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 1 loaf unsliced bread
  • 2 c. strawberries
  • 2 c. blackberries
  • 2 c. plums
  • 2 c. blueberries
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ - ½ c. sugar
  • 2 tbsp orange, raspberry, or almond liqueur (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to its lowest setting, no higher than 200°F.
  2. Slice your bread thickly. You can use white bread, challah, cinnamon bread, Hawaiian bread, brioche or any bread other than aggressively savory types such as sourdough, rye or whole wheat.
  3. Lay your bread slices out on a baking sheet. You may need more than one baking sheet. Place the bread in the oven & let it sit for 20 minutes. Turn the slices over & let the bread sit for another 20 minutes. This dries out the bread, allowing it to soak up the fruit juices without becoming soggy. You can also lay the bread out on sheets & let it sit on the counter overnight to air dry.
  4. While the bread is drying, wash all of your fruit & drain it well.
  5. Pull the tops off the strawberries. Slice the strawberries thickly.
  6. Slice the plums & discard the pits.
  7. Place the strawberries, plums & blueberries into a large saucepan. Add the orange, raspberry or almond liqueur for a richer dessert, if you like. Gently stir in the sugar & cinnamon. Heat the mixture to a simmer & let it cook for 5 minutes.
  8. Stir in the raspberries & remove the fruit from the heat.
  9. Cut the crusts off the bread.
  10. Line your casserole dish with cling wrap, making sure that at least 2″ overhangs the edge. You may need to lay one sheet across the width & one across the length.
  11. Press half of the ‘crustless’ bread slices into the bottom of the casserole dish. Arrange them with the edges overlapping so that they make a complete crust.
  12. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the fruit out of its bowl & into the casserole dish on top of the bread. Keep the leftover juices, because you’ll use them later.
  13. Arrange the other half of the bread loaf on top of the fruit. Press it down firmly.
  14. Cover the bread completely with cling wrap. Place a plate that fits just inside of the casseroles dish on top of the cling wrap. Weight it down with two or three small cans of soup or a large can of tomatoes. Refrigerate the pudding for 8 hours or overnight.
  15. Take the pudding out of the refrigerator & remove the cans and cling wrap. Turn the pudding out onto a serving plate & remove the cling wrap. Pour the reserved juices over the pudding & sprinkle just enough sugar on top to lightly coat it.
  16. Cut the pudding into wedges & serve it with whipped cream & fresh mint for a garnish.

Photo Courtesy of Susanne Nilsson

Gary’s Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

An optional serving method would be to place the layers in a punch bowl.

Gary's Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 14 oz. Gingerbread mix
  • 1 pkg. Cook & Serve Vanilla Pudding Mix
  • 30 oz. Pumpkin Pie filling
  • ½ c. brown sugar
  • ⅓ tsp. cinnamon, ground
  • ½ c. Ginger snaps, crushed
  • 12 oz. whipped cream
Instructions
  1. Bake the two gingerbread mixes according to the directions on the package.
  2. Prepare the pudding according to the package directions & set aside to cool. When fully cooled stir in the pumpkin pie filling, brown sugar, & cinnamon into the pudding.
  3. Pour ½ of the pudding mixture over one gingerbread & add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread & pudding mixture with the whipped cream.
  4. Sprinkle the top with crushed ginger snaps if desired & refrigerate overnight.

Photo courtesy of Gingerbread Couple by sweetopia*.

Festive Recipe Ideas

Vegan Sugar Cookies by Renee on FlickrThe holidays are a time when you choose a variety of ways to celebrate your family and what you have been given in life. One small way you might choose to do that is by preparing a hearty meal with treats to match. You probably also decorate your home with festive ornaments. Well, why not meld the two together and make your treats decorative too? The easiest foods to make festive are desserts, though you can implement the idea in other ways too.

A simple and tasty chocolate snowman shaped cake is easy to make and highly festive. Best with Dutch cocoa, you can use coconut flakes to create the coating. You can use black licorice sticks for the arms, black licorice drops for the eyes and peppermints for buttons with gum drops on top. For the mouth, you can use a piece of red shoestring style licorice. Fruit leather makes a great decorative scarf.

Alternatively, or in addition to, you can create a Christmas tree cake with equal festivity. By creating individual cake squares, you can stack these to create a tree-like shape with green frosting and other colored frostings to your liking. You can use candies for ornaments and smaller cake squares decorated with colored frosting to make presents under the tree.

Gingerbread houses are a classic way of creating decorative treats. However, there are more creative ways to make artistic gingerbread treats. One less known design is the gingerbread lantern, created by four rectangular pieces of gingerbread connected by frosting. You can cut holes in the pieces to let the light out, such as stars or hearts. Once settled, you can place candles inside these and use them as actual lanterns.

Another creative design is the gingerbread train. You have a great amount of creative license with this, in that there is room to decide how intricate you want to get with the design. However, there is a minimum amount of intricacy involved. The frosting is used for piping and a combination of circular and rectangular gingerbread cookies create the body. You can use candies, licorice and frosting to decorate it anyway you like. Gum drops work well to top the train while licorice works well for the pistons. You can also decide how long you want to make the train.

If you are looking to go more gourmet than flashy, you can make chocolate espresso snowballs with fair trade coffee. Using cocoa, pecans and sugar you can have a treat both decedent and decorative. There are plenty of ways to brighten up holiday cheer just with culinary creativity.

Debbie’s Corn Pudding

Debbie Says: This can also be prepared ahead of time and re-heated before service.

Debbie's Corn Pudding
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Side Dish
Ingredients
  • 2 cans creamed corn
  • 4 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 c. milk
  • ⅔ c. sugar
  • 6 tbsp flour
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp nutmeg, ground
  • ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray 9"x9" baking dish (or other appropriate sized casserole dish).
  2. In a large bowl, mix together creamed corn, eggs, sugar, flour, salt, nutmeg, black pepper, & milk. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish.
  3. Slice the butter in half & place the slices on top, separated. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown on top. The center of the pudding may still appear to be loose due to the butter, but the edges should appear done.
  4. Server warm.

Photo Courtesy of Ishikawa Ken on Flickr