Mini Cherry Almond Danish

Hot from the oven

I love Danish and I have never attempted to make them. I actually made this recipe for the first time Christmas morning. They are easy to make and a perfect bite size treat.

Ingredients:

1 can of Crescent rolls

4 ounces of room temp cream cheese

1 Tablespoon of powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

1 can of cherry pie filling

Slice the crescent dough into round circles

Make a well in the dough

Ready to fill

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove crescent rolls from package and keep dough intact. Do not roll out or separate. Slice the the crescent rolls in round circles. Lay on baking pan and make a well. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and extract together. Place a teaspoon of cream cheese in the well of of the dough. Place a cherry or two (I used 2) on top of cream cheese. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. While danish are baking, make glaze.

Glaze:

4 Tablespoons of powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 Tablespoon of milk

Mix well. Add more milk if you need to but I purposely make the glaze thick and it melted nicely when I drizzled the danish with it. drizzle the danish with the glaze.

Depending how you slice the crescent rolls, this recipe will make 10-12 mini danishes. If you double the recipe, you will use 8 ounces of cream cheese and probably use the entire can of cherry pie filling. Can you swap out a different fruit for pie filling? Absolutely. I used cherry since it was red for Christmas but it would be perfect for Valentine’s Day too. Stand back and watch them disappear!Enjoy!

1

Cannoli French Toast Casserole

My favorite breakfast is French Toast. Always has been. I love a recipe I can make ahead and pull out of the fridge in the morning and bake it. Perfect for special occasions but it’s so easy and delicious, make it anytime. I made this for Easter Brunch but I will be making it again for Mother’s Day.

Ingredients:

1 loaf of Brioche bread, a day or two old is best

4 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup or more of mini chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar, cream, ricotta cheese, vanilla and salt. Stir to combine and set aside.

I never measure chocolate or cheese!

Cannoli Filling:

1 8 ounce container of mascarpone cheese

1 1/2 cups of ricotta cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Cannoli filling

Mix to combine. Butter a 9” x 13” pan. Place about 2 tablespoons of cannoli filling on each slice of bread. You will also spread this on another slice of Brioche on top of the cannoli covered slice in the baking dish. Cut into fourths. Continue until pan is filled with cannoli filled sandwiches. Pour cream mixture over top, cover and place in fridge overnight. Remove baking dish from fridge 30 minutes before you place it into a preheated 350 degrees. While your casserole comes to room temperature, sprinkle mini chocolate chips over the top. Bake for 33-43 minutes until custard is set and toast is brown. Dust with powder sugar on top and enjoy!

Dust with powder sugar.

Recipe adapted from The Food Dolls.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

I have been thinking of making these muffins for a long time. These muffins have a delicious streusel topping along with an orange glaze drizzle. My daughter in love Danielle thought they were lovely. Princess Willow also loved them.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups of Craisins

Zest of one large orange

Streusel Topping:

4 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon flour

2 teaspoons butter, melted

Princess Willow approved.

Orange Glaze:

5 Tablespoons powder sugar

Freshly squeezed orange juice about a teaspoon or more for desired consistency.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners and set aside. Whisk flour, bakiNog powder and salt together. Using a mixer, blend room temperature butter and sugar together. Add eggs, vanilla, milk, craisins and the orange zest.

Scoop muffins into liners.

Mix sugar, flour and melted butter to make streusel topping. Top each muffin with streusel topping. It will be grainy.

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes. While muffins are baking, make the orange glaze.

Place powdered sugar in a small bowl and add fresh orange juice. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over cooled muffins.

Strawberries and Cream Overnight French Toast Casserole

My sweet family invited me to an Easter brunch. My daughter in love Danielle asked if I would bring Strawberries and Cream French Toast Casserole. I agreed. This is similar to my Peaches and Cream French Toast Casserole on my blog, but this one is made a little different.

Ingredients:

1 loaf Brioche bread, day old or 2 even better, sliced and cubed

4 ounces of cream cheese, cut into cubes

8 eggs

2 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 quarts of fresh strawberries, sliced

Powdered sugar for dusting on top of casserole

Maple syrup if desired

Spray a 13 x 9 inch pan with nonstick spray. Place cubed brioche bread in the bottom of the casserole pan. Add cream cheese cubes between bread cubes. In a blender or mixer, blend eggs, heavy cream and vanilla. Pour custard mixture over bread and cream cheese in casserole dish. Cover tightly with foil and place in fridge overnight.

In the morning, take out casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice strawberries and cover the top of the casserole. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until custard is set. Garnish with powdered sugar and pour on the maple syrup if desired. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Breakfast Parfait

I was buying these breakfast parfaits at Publix and decided to make my own. This recipe is for a 6 ounce serving size of yogurt but I am not opposed to buying a larger container and making a large container of pumpkin spice yogurt. It’s delicious and so easy to make.

Cast of Characters

Ingredients:

1 6 ounce container of vanilla yogurt (I used fat free but feel free to use Greek, just use vanilla flavor

1 heaping Tablespoon of puréed pumpkin (canned packed pumpkin)

1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin spice (feel free to add more if you wish)

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1 small apple, diced in bite size pieces

3 small ginger snaps or cinnamon graham cookies, or granola (Publix uses cinnamon cookies), crushed

Pumpkin Spice Yogurt

The cookies add a great crunch to this breakfast parfait.

I used these cookies and store brand ginger snap cookies on top of my parfaits, both are delicious.

Open yogurt and add pumpkin, pumpkin spice and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Put in your favorite bowl. Top with apples and crushed cookies or granola. The yogurt alone is delicious on its own. Adding the apples and cinnamon takes it over the top. Enjoy!

Dig in!

Disney’s Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Banana French Toast

This is not a copycat recipe but a recipe from Disney’s PCH Grill at the Paradise Pier Hotel at Disneyland. I would like to thank my sweet friend Elizabeth Sausville for finding this recipe and sharing it with me. When I first read the recipe, I thought it would be more like bread pudding but I changed my mind after I ate it. Definitely breakfast. And don’t make the powdered sugar and chocolate syrup optional, use both! I used my Copycat Saunder’s Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge syrup on this recipe. Delish. Decadent. Fabulous.

Challah Bread

Bread cubes

Ingredients:

Peanut butter, eggs, chocolate milk, cinnamon and salt

8 thick slices of day old challah bread, 1 loaf will do

2 ripe bananas, I used 3 because my bananas were on the small-medium size

1/4 cup chocolate chips, I used milk chocolate, I used 1/2 cup

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

6 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup chocolate milk

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate syrup and powdered sugar, optional (not optional in my opinion!)

Mix gently until bread has absorbed the egg mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Golden brown, right out of the oven.

Cut bread into one inch cubes and place in a large bowl. Slice bananas into 1/2 inch slices and add to bowl. Stir in chocolate chips.

Combine peanut butter, eggs, chocolate milk, cinnamon and salt in a blender. Process until smooth.

Warm right from the oven.

Pour egg mixture over bread mixture. Stir gently until bread cubes have absorbed the egg mixture.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 35 to 40* minutes or until top is golden brown. I baked mine for 40 minutes, next time it will only be 35 minutes.

With powdered sugar.

Before serving, drizzle with chocolate syrup and dust with powdered sugar if desired. Enjoy!

With powdered sugar and chocolate topping. Highly recommended!

Quiche Me Baby One More Time

When you have an extremely cute quiche pan, you name your recipe after your pan. I love all quiche, especially Quiche Loraine. This quiche is crustless, making it a delicious low carb recipe. Perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. I made this many times for my Mom and my friend Ana. Family and friend approved.

Ingredients:

6 eggs, I used extra large

1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg

1/4- 1/2 cup Onion, I did 1/2 cup

6 strips of Bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

4-6 ounces Swiss Cheese*, grated

1- 1 1/2 cups Ham, cut into bite size pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray quiche pan with Pam.

In a blender, add eggs, heavy cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg and onion. I put the blender on purify and let it blend and chop the onions until they were incorporated into the smooth liquid. Set aside.

Place 6 strips of broken cooked crisp bacon on the bottom of the quiche pan. Top with Swiss Cheese. Place ham on top of cheese and carefully pour egg mixture in blender over the top of the ham. I placed my quiche pan on top of a cookie sheet just in case. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until custard is set. I covered the top of my quiche midway through the cooking time to prevent excess browning. Let quiche cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

*I prefer gruyere cheese in this recipe but I had Swiss in my fridge and used that. Both make excellent flavored quiche.

Diet Donuts

I know the words Diet Donuts sound too good to be true. An oxymoron. But it’s true. I watched Joy Bauer on The Today Show several months ago and that is where I got the idea for Diet Donuts. The glaze recipes are mine. Remember, the more toppings you put on your donuts, the more calories you will consume. According to Joy, one plain donut is less than 50 calories. With glazes or toppings 70 calories or more. Donuts are fat free without a topping or depending on what you choose. This is a great way to satisfy a craving without blowing your diet.

Ingredients:

1 box of Duncan Hines Angel Food Cake Mix

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare cake mix according to the directions on the box. Spray donut cavities with a nonstick flour spray. Fill donut pan almost full and bake for 7 minutes. Cool in pan and remove. Eat plain or with glazes and toppings. The choices are unlimited. Yields about 36 donuts. Enjoy!

Vanilla Glazed Donut 70 calories

Glaze Recipes

Basic Vanilla Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons Milk or Cream

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

In a small bowl, stir sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Use immediately to glaze donuts.

Chocolate Glazed Donut, 70 calories

Chocolate Glaze:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 Tablespoons of Butter

2 Tablespoons of corn syrup

1-2 teaspoons of hot coffee

In a medium bowl, melt chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup in the microwave on 50% power for a minute, stirring constantly until it’s completely melted. Stir in 1 teaspoon coffee until glaze is thick and smooth. Add additional coffee if needed.

Coconut Donuts:

Dip donuts in vanilla glaze and immediately put glazed donuts into coconut. Coconut extract can be substituted for vanilla in coconut donuts.

Any extract can be used to make your glaze. Fruit juices and zest of fruit can be use to make a flavor glaze. The possibilities are endless.

Plain Donut, 50 calories

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

This recipe brings back many sweet memories of my Mom. My Mom loved muffins of every kind. When she was undergoing treatment for her cancer, she had a very hard time swallowing. She could however, still eat and swallow muffins. I would make different flavors a couple of times of week. Lemon Poppy Seed muffins were her favorite. In your memory Mom with love. 

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 stick butter, room temperature 

2 eggs, room temperature 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Zest of  2 large lemons

Juice of two large lemons*

3/4 cup of sour cream

1 1/2 Tablespoons of poppy seeds  

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk flour, salt and soda and set aside. Blend sugar and butter together in a separate bowl. Add eggs, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice. Blend in sour cream. Blend or stir in poppy seeds. 

Line with baking cups or spray your muffin with nonstick cooking spray. I bake muffins either way, so it’s your choice. Fill each muffin cavity about 2/3 full. Bake for 13 minutes or until a cake tester is inserted and comes out clean. Yields a bakers dozen, lucky 13! Enjoy!
*Using fresh lemon juice produces a subtle taste of lemon. If you prefer a stronger taste, omit the juice and use lemon extract. I actually prefer real lemon juice and lemon zest. Also, make sure you microwave your lemon(s) for 15 seconds on high and you will easily get twice the juice. This tip works on all citrus.

Perky Peach Coffee Cake

I like coffee cakes. I have been asked several times if I have one on my blog.  I don’t!  This is my first time making one and I don’t know what took me so long to get one on my blog. I hope you enjoy my Perky Peach Coffee Cake.

Ingredients for coffee cake:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups  flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 (21-ounce) cans peach pie filling

Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup  flour

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup chopped pecans, optional

2 teaspoons cinnamon

6 Tablespoons butter

Heat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour 13 X 9 baking pan (I use spray with flour), set aside.

Combine sugar and butter in a bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add sour cream, eggs and vanilla and almond extracts, continue beating until mixed well.  In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add slowly and mix at low speed until combined.

Spread half of batter into prepared pan. Spoon pie filling over batter. Spread the remaining batter over pie filling.

Whisk flour, sugar, pecans (if you are using) and cinnamon in bowl. Cut in 3 tablespoons of butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crumb mixture over batter. Bake 45-50 minutes until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean and topping is golden brown.