Cherry Rhubarb Crumble

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

3-4 cups diced rhubarb, mine was fresh from my neighbor Eileen

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 cup water

1 tsp. almond extract

1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine the following: oats, brown sugar, flour and salt.  Stir well.

Add butter.  If I were a true baker I would have a pastry blender, but I didn't... I used a fork and my Pampered Chef Meat Chopper - it worked - eventually but if I made something like this more often I would pick up a pastry blender for sure!

Work the butter in until it is crumbly.  

Then, into a greased 9x13 pan pat 2 cups of the mixture in.  Be sure to press the mixture down into the pan as this is your crust.

Add rhubarb in an even layer.

In a saucepan, combine the sugar and cornstarch.  

Stir in the water. And continue to stir on a medium/high heat.

Cook until mixture is thick and clear.

Stir in extract and cherry pie filling.

Spoon the cherry mixture over the rhubarb.  

If you are adding the walnuts, at this point add the nuts to the remaining oat mixture. Then sprinkle the oat mixture over the cherry mixture.

Bake until filling is bubbly and topping is lightly browned, about 40-45 minutes.  If desired, serve with ice cream.

Right out of the oven this was a sloppy mess but I couldn't wait.  The next day it was setup a bit more, but still not a bar you could pick up and eat - this is for sure a plate/fork dessert.

Seven Layer Magic Cookie Bars

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. Graham Cracker crumbs
1/2 c. butter, melted
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
6oz butterscotch chips
6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 c. flaked coconut
1 c. pecans, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Either spray 13x9 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter.  Mix will then press mixture into the bottom of pan.  Use the bottom of a measuring cup to pack the mixture tightly to the pan.

Pour sweetened condensed milk over crumb mixture. 

Layer with remaining ingredients - press down again with bottom of measuring cup. Make sure top has some chips on the top.

Bake 25-30 minutes.  While bars are warm, loosen the sides from the pan or lift parchment paper out of pan.  Let bars cool completely before cutting into bar size pieces. Store in airtight container.

Sour Cream Almond Pound Cake

1 cup butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs - separated
1 teaspoon Almond Extract
3 cups flour
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven 325 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar.

Separate egg yolks from whites.  I suggest getting a LARGE bowl for the egg whites.  This one ended up being too small.

Add in egg yolks and almond extract to the butter mixture.

Add in 1 cup of flour to butter mixture. Then incorporate 1/2 cup of sour cream. Repeat with another cup of flour and the 2nd half of the full cup of sour cream, finishing with another cup of flour.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they are stiff peaks.  Here's a video from YouTube if you've never had to do this before that helped me out:

Ha... my egg whites got duck lips!

Fold the egg whites carefully into the batter.

Pour batter into a floured and greased angel food cake pan, the kind with the high straight sides with the cone in the middle.

Bake for one hour and twenty minuets.

Cool in pan for 5 minuets.

Patriotic Cake Pops

So, I was at my Sous Chef's house over the 4th of July Holiday.  We decided to find something on good ol' Pinterest to make to be oh so festive.  Patriotic Cake Pops it was!

Ingredients: {Per cake pop mix directions}
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
Cake Pop Mix

Super easy... add all the ingredients into a bowl.

Mix all ingredients together.  Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl.

Preheat the cake pop machine.  Grease the cake pop machine and add 2 Tbsp batter to each well.

 

Close the lid of the machine... no peaking for four minuets.

Pop out the individual cake pops and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the pops have completely cooled melt the candy wafers one color at a time in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until all pieces have melted.

Dip each cake pop stick in the melted wafers and push into cake pop.  Then dip entire cake pop into the melted wafers.

If you are putting another melted layer decoration on, put the cake pops into the fridge to harden.

To add the white stripe use a pipping bag with a tiny tip.

If you are adding sprinkles, do this before you put them in the fridge to harden.

 So cute... we made an American flag out of our cake pops!