Maple Bacon Crack

Ingredients
1 lb. bacon
1 pkg. Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/2 c pure maple syrup
3/4 c brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees°F.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet (like a 15×10) with foil and liberally grease the foil with cooking spray.
3. Unroll the crescent rolls into one single plane of dough and pinch any perforations together to seal.
4. Stretch the dough out to fit the size of the pan with your hands so it’s even.
5. Prick the dough with a fork all over. Set aside.
6. Meanwhile, cook your bacon till lighter in color and not quite crispy.
7. Drain the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate.
8. Drizzle 1/4 cup of the maple syrup over the crescent roll dough.
9. Sprinkle with about 1/4 cup of the brown sugar.
10. Top with torn pieces of the cooked bacon.
11. Drizzle the remaining maple syrup on top of the bacon pieces, and top with the remaining brown sugar.
12. Bake for approx. 25 minutes or until bubbling and caramelized.
13. Remove from the oven and allow the pan to come to room temperature.
14. Cool before cutting into pieces.

Recipe from Get In My Belly.

Olive Oil & Blackberry Bundt Cake

Ingredients
5 large eggs
1-1/2 c sugar
2/3 c olive oil
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c almond flour
1-3/4 c unbleached cake flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c milk
1-1/2 c fresh blackberries

Preheat oven to 325*. Grease a 10-12 c bundt pan.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until very light and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Add the olive oil and extracts and beat until incorporated.  In a separate bowl combine the flours, salt, and baking powder.

Add the dry ingredients to the liquid mixture alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir until smooth.  Gently fold in the blackberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a rack to cool. Turn it out of the pan onto a rack after about 10 minutes to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Enjoy!

Speckled Robin's Egg Malted Coconut Cake

Ingredients

Baking spray, for pan

3 c. cake flour, spooned and leveled

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 c. malted milk powder

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1 c. canola oil

1 c. half-and-half, at room temperature

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. pure coconut extract

1 large egg plus 2 large egg whites, at room temperature

Coconut Buttercream (recipe below)

1/8 tsp. brown gel food coloring

Phyllo nest and robin egg candies (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease three 8-inch cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper rounds. Whisk together flour, baking powder, malt powder, and salt in a bowl.

Whisk together oil, half-and-half, sugar, vanilla, coconut extract, and whole egg in a separate bowl until smooth. Fold in flour mixture just until incorporated. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Fold egg whites into batter just until combined.

Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert onto racks to cool completely.

Place one layer on a cake plate and frost top with 1 cup  Coconut Buttercream. Repeat two more times. Frost sides with remaining Coconut Buttercream.

Stir together food coloring and 2 drops water in a bowl. Dip the tip of a wide, stiff paintbrush into the mixture. Holding the brush 6 to 8 inches from the cake, gently fling the mixture onto iced cake. Repeat for desired effect. Spread Phyllo nest around the base of the cake, and nestle candies in nest.

Coconut Buttercream

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 c. cream of coconut

6 c. confectioners' sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

pinch of Kosher salt

Blue gel food coloring

Beat butter and cream of coconut with an electric mixture on medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.

Gradually beat in sugar.

Beat in pure vanilla extract and a pinch of kosher salt until combined.

Beat in blue gel food coloring, one drop at a time, to desired color.

Phyllo Nest

6 sheets of phyllo dough

Cooking spray

Tightly roll 6 sheets of phyllo dough lengthwise. Very thinly slice.

Transfer to a baking sheet, loosely separating layers. Spray with cooking spray.

Bake at 350 degrees F until golden-brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely.

Recipe taken from Country Living Magazine.

Enjoy!

Zeppole With Ricotta Cheese & No Yeast

This is a quick and easy version of the traditional yeast dough Zeppole.  While the taste is different, it still satisfies the craving for a fried donut smothered in confectioners' sugar.

Ingredients
Canola oil
2 eggs
1 c all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 c whole milk ricotta cheese
1 tsp vanilla
Confectioners' sugar and/or cinnamon sugar

Heat 2" of oil in a heavy duty pot until it reaches 350 degrees.  In the meantime, make the dough.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs until frothy.  Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until combined.  Add the ricotta and vanilla.  Continue mixing only until incorporated. Do not overmix. Using a 1" cookie scoop, add dough to hot oil a few at a time so as not to lower the oil temperature greatly.  Cook for about 3 minutes or until a deep golden brown.  Transfer to a paper towel lined baking sheet.  Add confectioners' sugar to a brown paper bag and toss in the zeppole. Shake them up until well covered.

Recipe adapted from Hard Core Italians.

Enjoy!

Italian Love Cake

I cannot stress enough how simple and how wonderfully delicious this recipe is.  Everyone that tasted it loved it and asked for the recipe.  It definitely shows love, and makes you fall in love.

Ingredients
1 box Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge or Devil's Food cake mix + ingredients listed on box
2 lbs. whole milk Ricotta cheese
4 eggs
1/3 c granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 5.9 oz. box of Instant Chocolate Pudding (I couldn't find that size and used 1-1/2 boxes of the 3.9 oz.)
1 c cold milk
1 8 oz. carton frozen whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
Using a mixer, prepare the cake ingredients following the instructions on the box.  Set aside.
In another bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla.
These directions are correct.  The cake and the ricotta cheese layer switch during baking!
Pour the cake mix into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Slowly pour the ricotta cheese batter over the cake mixture, being very careful not to blend the two.
Bake for 1 hour.
Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
Whisk together the pudding mix and milk until smooth.  Fold in the whipped topping. Spread evenly over the cooled cake.  Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.  The longer you can keep it in the refrigerator and resist temptation, the better it is.

Can you feel the love?  Oh, you will when you bite into it!  It will quickly become you're new "go to" dessert.

Mangia!

Blueberry Ricotta Cake Squares

Girlfriends were coming for lunch.  I had time to kill so wanted to put together something that was quick and easy. I had blueberries and ricotta cheese on hand, Googled the two, and voila!  These were a big hit.  So moist, and the plump, fresh blueberries were so refreshing.  I think anything with blueberries is fabulous; add the element of ricotta cheese and the end result is awesome!!

Ingredients

1 cup flour

3⁄4 cup sugar

1 1⁄4 teaspoons baking powder

1⁄4 teaspoon salt

1⁄3 cup milk

1⁄4 cup shortening

1 egg

1⁄2 teaspoon lemon extract

2 eggs

1 1⁄4 cups ricotta cheese

1⁄3 cup sugar

1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1⁄2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 9 square baking pan. Set aside.

In small bowl, combine flour, 3/4 sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add milk, shortening, 1 egg and lemon extract. Beat on low speed until combined. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

Pour batter prepared pan; spread evenly.

Spread blueberries over batter.

In medium bowl lightly beat 2 eggs with fork and add ricotta cheese, 1/3 c sugar and  vanilla, beat until combined.

Spoon ricotta mixture over blueberries and spread evenly.

Bake at for 55-60 minutes, cool.  Cut into 16 squares.

Recipe adapted from Food.com

Betcha can't eat just one!

Baked Macaroni & Cheese Your Way

This macaroni and cheese is very versatile because you can use any type of semi-hard cheese and/or soft cheese you'd like.  I would stay away from hard cheeses like parmesan or romano as they don't melt as easily.  They are fine to use on top. If you want to use a soft cheese, such as brie, it will give you a looser, creamier sauce. The typical cheese is a sharp cheddar. For this recipe I used a combination of extra sharp cheddar and Pepperjack as that is what I had on hand.  The peppers add a little bit of zip to it  Feel free to use a bacon and cheddar, garlic and herb, tomato basil, swiss or any other cheese that you'd prefer.  A combo of cheese adds a multi-layer of taste.  Experiment.  As long as the bechamel (white sauce) is done correctly, the cheese really doesn't matter.  A chunk of blue cheese in the mix is also a great taste!  Some people even like to add bacon!  Now, to personalize this even further, instead of extra cheese on top, consider crushed Ritz crackers, seasoned panko, crushed onions from the can, etc.  The choices are endless.  This really is Macaroni & Cheese YOUR WAY!
Here we go ...

Ingredients
1 lb. of cooked pasta, any shape will work
4 T butter
4 T flour
3 c whole milk
16 oz. cheese, divided
S&P to taste
Paprika

Boil the pasta for approximately 8 minutes or until al dente, using the water measurement specified on the box.  While the pasta is cooking, make the cheese sauce.
In a 2-quart sauce pan make a rue by melting 4 T butter; and whisking in the flour, Continue to whisk for about a minute to cook the rue and eliminate the raw flour taste.  While whisking, pour in the milk. Vigorously whisk until smooth; add salt and pepper.  Continue to cook until the bechamel thickens. Remove from heat and add 3/4 of the cheese.  Stir until completely melted.
After 8 minutes has passed, check the pasta for doneness.  It should be firm; but not hard.  (Note: Pasta cooks even more after it's been removed from the water.) Drain the pasta. Combine the pasta with the cheese sauce and pour into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish.  Top with remaining cheese; sprinkle with paprika.  Bake for approximately 25-30 or until bubbly.

Enjoy!