More Desserts!

Oh, boy! More delicious desserts. Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER COMBOS CANDY

Peggy Trowbridge Filippone runs About.com’s Home Cooking guide. She writes, “These delicious candies have a filling that tastes like peanut butter cups, sitting on top of a pretzel, and the whole shebang is covered with chocolate. What more could you ask for? You may use miniature pretzel twists or the newer square shape. Set up a production line and let the kids help.”

Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes; Cook Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes; Yield: about 48 candies

Ingredients:

1 cup of peanut butter, smooth or crunchy

1/2 cup (1 stick or 8 Tablespoons) of butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup club cracker crumbs

2 cups of confectioners' sugar

8 dozen small pretzel twists or square butter snaps pretzels (about 4 cups, approximately 5 ounces)

10 ounces special dark chocolate (2 5-ounce bars)

1 ounce paraffin, shaved

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine peanut butter, butter, graham cracker crumbs, club cracker crumbs, and confectioners' sugar on low to medium-low speed until well-mixed. Scrape sides often. Mixture will be very thick.

Using your hands, roll mixture into small balls about the diameter of a dime and place each on a pretzel. Press down gently to cover the pretzel and place on a jelly roll pan. Repeat until all of peanut butter mixture is used. Refrigerate at least 1 hour to firm up.

Melt chocolate and paraffin in the top of a double-boiler until smooth. Remove from heat. Swirl the tops of each of the pretzel candies in the melted chocolate, shaking gently to remove excess and return to the jelly roll pan with pretzel-side down. Refrigerate again to set chocolate.

Store leftovers between sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap. Cover and refrigerate.

CRANBERRY APPLE CRISP

Yield: 8 servings

View Online: http://diabeticgourmet.com/recipes/html/876.shtml

Ingredients:

Filling Ingredients:

3 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples

2 cups fresh or frozen thawed cranberries

1 cup Equal Spoonful*

Topping Ingredients:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup stick butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup Equal Spoonful**

* Substitute 24 packets Equal sweetener

** Substitute 12 packets Equal sweetener

Directions

For Filling, combine apples, cranberries and 1 cup Equal in an ungreased 10-inch pie plate.

For Topping, combine flour, pecans, melted butter and 1/2 cup Equal. Mix until well blended. Sprinkle flour mixture over apples and cranberries in pie plate.

Bake in preheated 350F oven 55 to 60 minutes or until fruit is tender. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutritional Information (Per Serving): Calories: 145; Protein: 1 g; Sodium: 67 mg; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Fat: 8 g; Carbohydrates: 18 g; Exchanges: 1 fruit, 1-1/2 fat

APPLE AND PEAR CRISP

This comes from the Food Network's Ina Garten, of the Barefoot Contessa. This yummy recipe yields 8 servings and can be viewed online at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/apple-and-pear-crisp-recipe.print.html?oc=linkback. Total Time: 1 hr 25 min; Prep: 30 min; Cook: 55 min; Level: Easy

Ingredients

2 pounds ripe Bosc pears (4 pears)

2 pounds firm Macoun apples (6 apples)

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the topping:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel, core, and cut the pears and apples into large chunks. Place the fruit in a large bowl and add the zests, juices, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour into a 9 by 12 by 2-inch oval baking dish.

For the topping:

Combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, until the mixture is in large crumbles. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely.

Place the baking dish on a sheet pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm.

CARAMEL APPLE OATMEAL CRISP

This one comes from the cooks at Betty Crocker. The recipe starts off, “Cookie mix and caramel topping make this ooey gooey caramel apple crisp super quick to make.”

Check out this recipe online here.

Prep Time:
20 min; Total Time:
1 hr 10 min; Servings
12

1 pouch Betty Crocker™ oatmeal cookie mix

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

5 to 6 large apples, peeled, coarsely chopped (about 6 cups)

1 cup caramel topping

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.

In large bowl, stir cookie mix and melted butter until crumbly; set aside.

In another large bowl, toss apples, 1/2 cup of the caramel topping and the cinnamon. Spoon into baking dish; sprinkle with cookie mixture.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender. In small microwavable dish, microwave remaining 1/2 cup caramel topping uncovered on High 20 seconds. Drizzle over crisp. Serve warm.

Note:

For more fiber and color, leave the peel on the apples.

Try to cut all of the apples in this recipe into slices of the same thickness, so they’ll cook evenly. To test for doneness, simply poke the tip of a sharp knife into an apple, and you’ll be able to feel if it’s tender.

Nutrition Information: Serving Size: 1 Serving Calories 350, Total Fat 9g (Saturated Fat5g, Trans Fat0g), Cholesterol 20mg; Sodium 320mg; Total Carbohydrate 63g (Dietary Fiber1g, Sugars23g), Protein3g; Exchanges: 1 1/2 Starch; 1/2 Fruit; 2 Other Carbohydrate

CHOCOLATE BANANA PARFAIT

Yield: 4 servings; Online Recipe: http://diabeticgourmet.com/recipes/html/691.shtml

Ingredients

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 (0.8-ounce) box sugar-free chocolate pudding mix

2 medium bananas, 6 ounces each, peeled

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup reduced-fat frozen dairy whipped topping unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon chopped walnuts

4 fresh Bing cherries with stems for garnish (optional)

Directions

In a food processor or blender, combine yogurt and pudding mix until smooth.

Cut each banana into 6 pieces on the diagonal. Sprinkle with lemon juice.

Place 2 banana quarters in each of 4 dessert parfait glasses or goblets.

Top with 1/4 of the pudding mix. Top each with 1 tablespoon whipped topping.

Using a fine sieve, sift a little cocoa powder on top of each serving. Sprinkle with walnuts and add a cherry on top, if desired.

Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories: 138; Protein: 4 g; Fat: 3 g; Sodium: 336 mg; Cholesterol: 4 mg; Saturated Fat: 1 g; Dietary Fiber: 2 g; Carbohydrates: 25 g; Exchanges: 1/2 bread/starch, 1 fruit

TIRAMISU CAKE

This comes from About.com's Gourmet Food guide, Brett Moore. He writes, “Tiramisu is a delicious Italian cake dessert that people love to order at restaurants and are always impressed when you bring it out at a dinner party. Although thought of as a 'fancy' dessert, making it actually quite simple and there's very little cooking at all. The traditional recipe consists of just a few ingredients: lady fingers, sugar, mascarpone, coffee and cocoa powder. I've added cream to lighten the mascarpone and amaretto liqueur here but that is optional. Store-bought Lady Fingers are perfectly acceptable to use but you can make your own if you desire. You can also substitute the the Lady Fingers with a sweet yeast bread such as a Panettone.”

To view this online, click here. Prep Time: 240 minutes; Cook Time: 15 minutes; Total Time: 255 minutes; Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

3 to 4 dozen Italian Lady fingers (store bought or homemade)

1 cup cold espresso

1/2 cup amaretto or coffee liqueur (optional)

1 Tbsp cocoa for dusting

Preparation

Combine egg yolks and sugar in a heat-proof bowl over a pan with 2 inches of water or in the top of a double boiler. Bring water to a boil then reduce heat to low, and cook for about 10 minutes, whisking constantly until thick and pale yellow. Remove pan from the heat and whip the mixture for another 3 or 4 minutes to help cool it down.

Beat the mascarpone into the whipped yolks until combined. In another bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture and set aside.

Mix the cold espresso with the liqueur. Dip the lady fingers quickly into the mixture just long enough to get them wet. Place a single layer of lady fingers in the bottom of a 9- x 13-inch baking dish (you can also use a large springform pan or large trifle bowl.

Spread half the mascarpone cream filling in an even layer over the lady fingers. Add another layer of lady fingers and top with the remainder of mascarpone cream.

Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Just before serving, dust with the cocoa powder.