A Life in Food by real-life Chef Cheryl Bennett
Cherry hand pies are the perfect, portable summer treat. Pack them in lunches, take them to potluck dinners, freeze them for the cold months when you need a burst of summer. Like all of my fresh cherry recipes, these mini pies are made from sweet cherries. Made from scratch, they are a hand held remake of a childhood classic.
If you make a purchase through one of the affiliate links, I make a few pennies at no extra cost to you. Questions? Please see disclosure for info.
…No bake strawberry cheesecake bars swirled with fresh strawberry sauce are quick, easy and made from scratch. The filling has only 4 ingredients, and like my no bake blueberry cheesecake, it uses no gelatin and comes together in only a few minutes. The buttery crust is made from crushed wafer cookies mixed with a bit of butter and sugar.
The strawberry sauce tastes like fresh strawberry jam and is swirled through the cheesecake making a dessert that is as delicious as it is pretty.
If you make a purchase through one of the affiliate links, I make a few pennies at no extra cost to you. Questions? Please see disclosure for info.
…Strawberry cream cheese icing made with fresh strawberries is an intensely strawberry-flavored, fluffy icing. This icing is perfect for topping cupcakes, cookies, pound cakes or even muffins. Fresh strawberry purée is added to a cream cheese frosting base to create a soft icing. If you are looking for a frosting that you can pipe into tall swirls, try my strawberry cream cheese frosting.
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This is the Ultimate Malted Milkshake. Made for lovers of extra maltiness! Made with malted chocolate candy, extra malted milk powder, homemade whipped cream and a mini ice cream cone garnish – this the ULTIMATE malt!
I loved this malt. It was surprisingly not too sweet, it was perfectly malty and oh so delicious! This is a childhood treat. In my humble opinion, a malt is so much better than a regular milkshake. It has more flavor and complexity than just ice cream and milk.
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Easy pumpkin empanadas are only 30 minutes away with this quick and easy short cut recipe. Seasoned with pumpkin pie spices and barely sweet, these treats make a great dessert or breakfast.
For another fun Halloween treat, try these Mexican Chocolate Day of the Dead Cupcakes. They are the perfect addition to a día de los muertos fiesta!
If you make a purchase through one of the affiliate links, I make a few pennies at no extra cost to you. Questions? Please see disclosure for info.
…Chocolate Hazelnut Bread Pudding. Luscious bread pudding swirled with chocolate hazelnut spread. It requires little more than a bit of mixing and whisking. Whether you dust it with powdered sugar or give it a drizzle, you seriously cannot go wrong.
Bread pudding is one of those recipes that’s great for a crowd (think holidays!) because you can make a large batch without much extra effort. And seriously, what’s better than a warm bowl of gooey, sweet, comforting goodness?
This post for Chocolate Hazelnut Bread Pudding is sponsored by Sprouts Farmers Market. As always, all opinions, recipes and photos are my own.
Coconut yogurt popsicles with fresh fruit are a healthy summertime treat. A simple blueberry pureé, yogurt and fresh raspberries are the only ingredients in this icy treat. Summer is officially here and this is how I plan to beat the heat.
Recently, I met up with my friend Sue. She generously bestowed upon me pounds and pounds of fresh blueberries from her farm. I have to admit that I ate a quite a few. Have you ever heard someone describe something as “jammy”? Well, these blueberries were most definitely jammy. As in, they tasted like JAM. They were so incredibly sweet, I could help myself. That’s my defense. They were too good, so I had to eat them. Lots of them.
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This week, Betsy from Desserts Required is doing a guest post! I love Betsy and I know you will too! We’ve been friends for a few years now and I must tell you, when you are around her – a good time will be had, whether you like it or not! 🙂 She is a ball of energy, a ray of sunshine and has a serious sweet-tooth just like your truly. Betsy is a “girl’s girl”, a cheerleader & champion of her friends, the kind of friend everyone should have.
Hello Pook’s Pantry readers!
I am so excited to guest blog while Cheryl takes some much needed time to recover from her surgery. I met Cheryl at Food Wine Conference a couple of years ago and last year she was my roommate. To say that I love and adore her would be an understatement. I mean, seriously, you already know how fabulous her sense of humor is in addition to her talent in the kitchen but I got to see it firsthand. Cheryl was on team Betsy’s Balls in the Chopped competition and, holy moly, can that woman cook!
My blog is Desserts Required and I live by the mantra, “Without desserts, life would not be as sweet.” If there is a delicious dessert within reach, driving distance or flying distance, I am always up for giving it a try. That goes for candy, too.
Since Thanksgiving is two days away, I thought it would be best to offer a quick and delish option to make; Holiday Candy Bark. I love the idea of making something that is as easy to serve at home as it is to take to someone for a hostess gift.
The key is to use high quality chocolate. I love bittersweet chocolate but Holiday Candy Bark will work just as well with semisweet, milk or even white chocolate. When I was at Whole Foods buying dried cranberries and unsweetened shredded coconut, I had trouble locating dried apricots. I was directed to a bin of very dark, almost black, apricots. I thought something was wrong with them but learned that they were Turkish apricots and, as such, did not contain sulphur, which gives that very bright unnatural orange color. Although, initially, I wanted that bright orange color, I opted for the natural dried fruit. Feel free to use whichever dried apricot you prefer.
Assembly is a breeze. It’s just a matter of adding layers of dried fruit, coconut and toasted pecans over most of the melted chocolate and then drizzling more melted chocolate over the top to keep the goodies in place.
Best of all, Holiday Candy Bark is great throughout this holiday season. I’ve even heard a rumor that Santa loves a batch with his milk and cookies!
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A delicious, no-bake treat perfect for hostess gifts and holiday gatherings!
Holiday Candy Bark
Ingredients
Instructions
Greetings, All! I am away in Idaho this week with my friends from Idaho Potato! In lieu of posting a new recipe, I wanted to share some awesome recipes from my super talented friends.
I do hope you will check out their recipes, as I happen to think they are pretty great! Besides being amazing in the kitchen, they are good humans and I am lucky to know them. I can’t wait to tell you all about Idaho and the fun things happening there right now! I’m updating and sharing pics on social media every day, so if you want to see what we’re up to, check out my Facebook page, Instagram account or Twitter feed for the latest shenanigans.
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I try, I mean I REALLY try to eat a healthy diet about 90% of the time… but, there is this issue I have with sweets. I don’t limit myself to candy a few times a year like most reasonable people… I limit myself to chocolate a few times a month (ok, a WEEK!), it’s a problem but honestly I don’t care. Chocolate Bark is one of the easiest treats to pull together and this one has fruit and nuts in it, so it’s practically health food.
We have all seen the peppermint bark for sale around the holidays. Why limit yourself to peppermint and why limit this deliciousness to only the holidays? While we’re on the topic, why pay $20 a pound when you can double that amount for half the price?
This treat is perfect for those times when you want a little something (which for me, is always), but you just don’t feel like turning on the oven, or getting the big stand mixer out, or cleaning up a huge mess (does anyone ever want to clean up a big mess?!). During the summer months, I’m especially inclined to make something that allows me to have my sweet fix without having a 400 degree box of heat cranking in the kitchen.
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