Peanut Butter Popcorn

Recipe by Stephanie Hill from "dessert night"

(Disclaimer: can be highly addictive and will cause weight gain if taken every day in large quantities over the course of a month or more)

Ingredients:
1/2 C uncooked popcorn
1/2 C light corn syrup
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C peanut butter

cook the 1/2 C uncooked popcorn in hot air popping machine and sift through for old maids

heat 1/2 C light corn syrup and 1/2 C sugar to boiling. Reduce heat and melt in 1/2 C Peanut Butter.  Stir in with popcorn.

Fruit Pizza

Recipe provided by Katie Frantz on "dessert night"

Crust:
1/4 C margarine, softened
1 egg
3/4 C sugar
mix together, then add:

1 1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

mix together then press in a greased 13 or 14 in pizza pan

bake at 350 for 8-12 min. Remove from pan and cool completely

Frosting:

mix:
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 C sugar
2 T pineapple juice

spread over cooled cookie and add favorite fruit
examples may be Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Kiwi, Mandarine oranges, Grapes, Pineapple, Mangos, Peaches, and Apples, etc.

Chocolate Cake (Really, Really Rich and Delicious)

(I took the picture from the internet so don't mind that bottle of wine in the background)

Ingredients:

Cake-

3/4 cup dutch cocoa powder plus extra for dusting the pan

1/2 cup boiling water

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (for reference a regular sized Hershey's bar is 2.55 oz)

2 cups flour

2 cups confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon salt

5 eggs (at room temperature)

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

Ganache-

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup light corn syrup

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

To Make

     Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350.  Grease the bundt pan and dust with cocoa powder.  In small bowl pour boiling water over chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth.  Let cool to room temperature.  Which cocoa, flour, confectioners sugar and salt in large bowl.  Beat eggs and vanilla in separate bowl.  With an electric mixer on med-high speed, beat granulated sugar, brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).  On low speed add egg mixture until combined (about 30 seconds).  Add chocolate mixture (about 30 seconds).  Beat in flour mixture until just combined (about 30 seconds).  

     Scrape batter into prepared pan, smooth batter and bake until edges are beginning to pull away from side of pan.  This should be about 45 minutes (I wouldn't do less unless you know you have an oven that bakes things too fast).  Cool upright in pan on wire rack for 1.5 hours.  Then invert onto serving plate and cool completely (at least 2 hours).

     To make the ganache cook the cream, corn syrup and chocolate in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth.  Stir in vanilla and set aside until thickened (about 30 min).  Drizzle glaze over cake and let set for 10 min.  Then serve.  Mmmm ...

-Katie Rice

Raspberry & Bavarian Cream Puff Pastry Doughnuts

Recipe from Monica brought to cooking club on "dessert" night. I got this recipe from this amazing blog called,  http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/. You must visit this site, this lady is amazing!!!!

For a direct link to the pastry doughnuts click below...
http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/?p=2679

INGREDIENTS
1 Egg

1 tablespoon water

1 package (17.3 ounces) Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed

Raspberry jam or Pie filling like Raspberry, Blueberry, Strawberry, etc.

Bavarian Cream

(I used Raspberry filling and Bavarian Cream from the Prepared Pantry)

Turbinado Sugar

ICING:

1 cup Confectioners Sugar

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1 tsp. Vanilla.

Now add:

*Enough Milk to make it the consistency of glaze that you like.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork. Unfold 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Using a round cutter, cut the pastry sheet into 9 (3 inch) circles. Repeat with the remaining pastry sheet. (Don’t waste the scraps – re-roll them and cut into as many circles as possible)

Place half of the pastry circles onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Spoon about 1 tsp. each of the berry or jam filling and also the Bavarian Cream. If you are not using the cream, add 2 tsp. of the berry filling instead. Brush the edges of the pastry circles with the egg wash. Place the remaining pastry circles over the filling. Press the edges firmly to seal. (I crimped my edges with a fork) Using a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen shears, cut a small slit in the top of each filled pastry.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown on the top and the bottoms. Let the pastries cool slightly and drizzle confectioners sugar glaze over the top, or simply shake confectioners sugar over the tops.

*You could be creative and add just about anything to the inside of these pastry filled doughnuts!