Honey Blackberry Creme

I made up this recipe for supper using what I had on hand.  It was really good.  The yogurt and cream cheese are smooth and creamy, the blackberry jam adds a nice sweet/tart flavor and the graham cracker crumbs are crispy.  My daughter and I really enjoyed it.

BLACKBERRY HONEY CREME

• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 6 oz. container of  Greek honey yogurt (Yoplait)
• 3 honey graham crackers, crushed (about ½ cup), divided
• ¼ cup blackberry jam*

Blend the cream cheese and yogurt together until smooth – a small food processor works well for this.

In each of 4 dessert dishes, place 1 tablespoon of graham cracker crumbs.  Divide the cream cheese mixture among the four dishes.

Top each with 1 tablespoon of blackberry jam.

Sprinkle remaining graham cracker crumbs over the top of each dish.

Cover and refrigerate at least two hours.

Makes 4 servings

*I used my homemade blackberry jam.  Click here for the recipe.  http://lillianscupboard.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/good-blackberry-jam/

Cherry Fudge Mousse

I wanted to make a dessert that would use up some leftover frozen tart cherries and a carton of Greek yogurt.  I thought about how much we like a Cherry Fudge Pie I make and translated it into this dessert.  It is easy to put together, can be made ahead of time, and is really delicious.  Using 2% milk and lite Cool Whip, a serving is 250 calories.

CHERRY FUDGE MOUSSE

• 1-½ cups frozen tart cherries, thawed, with juice
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. quick cooking tapioca
• Pinch of salt
• 1/8 tsp. almond extract
• ½ cup chocolate chips (Ghirardelli milk chocolate)
• 4-serving package of instant French Vanilla pudding
• 1 cup milk
• 5.3 oz. container of Greek yogurt (Dannon)
• 1 cup Cool Whip frozen topping, thawed

To make the Cherry Fudge Sauce:

In a small saucepan over medium high heat, mix the cherries, juice, sugar, tapioca and salt.  Cook until mixture begins to boil, stirring occasionally.  Boil for another minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in almond extract and chocolate chips.  Let cool to room temperature.

To make the mousse:

In a medium bowl, place the instant pudding and milk – whisk until smooth and starting to thicken.  Whisk in the yogurt and then the Cool Whip topping.

Spoon into six small serving dishes.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Spoon the cooled Cherry Fudge Sauce over the chilled moose and serve immediately or cover and return to the refrigerator.  Further chilling will thicken the sauce.  Can be kept refrigerated for several days.

Yield:  6 servings.

You might also like this Cherry Fudge Pie

http://lillianscupboard.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/presidents-day-and-cherry-fudge-pie/

Twinkie Tiramisu

My youngest daughter loves Twinkies and dropped a big hint when she saw a recipe online for a recipe for Tiramisu that used them as the base.  I borrowed the idea of the Twinkies but otherwise used my own recipe for Tiramisu.

TWINKIE TIRAMISU

* 5-½ Twinkies
* 4 oz. light cream cheese (Neufchatel), softened
* 15 oz. light ricotta cheese
* 2 cups light Cool Whip whipped topping
* 1/2 cup Kahlua or coffeee liqueur (to pour over Twinkies)
* One Hershey chocolate Nugget

Place Twinkies in bottom of 9×9 inch dish.

Pour Kahlua or liqueur over Twinkies.  There will be some in the bottom of the dish which the Twinkies will soak up.

In a large mixer bowl, beat together the cream cheese and ricotta cheese until smooth.  Fold in Cool Whip whipped topping.

Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the top of the Twinkies.

A microplaner is good to use for grating the chocolate Nugget over the top of the dish.

Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

Yield:  6-8 servings

Since not everyone in the family is that fond of Twinkies, I also made a batch of my original version, using Italian lady fingers…

This recipe was first posted in November of 2008.  Click here for my original recipe.

For the big taste-off, only my youngest daughter and I were willing to try the Twinkie Tiramisu.  We found it to be very similar to the lady finger version -  a little bit sweeter.  My daughter said there was a faint Twinkie “aftertaste”, which I didn’t pick up.

The Italian lady fingers version would be lower in fat and calories, but for dyed-in-the-wool Twinkie lovers, there’s nothing like that jolt of sweet cream filling.

Margarita Mousse … with Leftover Cake

A few months ago, I made a cake with a thin glaze that used Margarita non-alcoholic frozen concentrate.  It was OK, but nothing special, so I cut the leftovers into slices and stuck them in the freezer.  For this past Sunday dinner, I decided to thaw the cake to use as both crust and topping for a delicious mousse, also made with the Margarita concentrate.

I adapted an old mousse recipe I have been using since 1976 and it turned out great.  I loved being able to make use of a rather ordinary cake and create an easy dessert that the family really enjoyed.

Although the Margarita-flavored cake added a bit of punch to the dessert, I believe any plain or lightly glazed cake would work just as well, since the mousse has a strong lime flavor.

MARGARITA MOUSSE DESSERT

• 3 cups leftover plain or lightly glazed cake
• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand Non-Fat)
• 3 Tblsp. Margarita non-alcoholic frozen concentrate (Bacardi), thawed
• 2 cups frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Spray or butter a 9-inch baking pan and a flat baking sheet

Take 2 cups of leftover cake and crumble coarsely.  Place in the prepared 9-inch baking pan and press down.

Bake @ 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

Take the remaining 1 cup of leftover cake and crumble into fine crumbs.  Spread on the prepared flat baking sheet.  Bake @ 350 degrees F for 5 minutes, stir and turn and bake an additional 5 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

Note:  The two pans can be baked at the same time.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, Margarita concentrate and whipped topping.

Spread this mixture over the cooled crust in the 9-inch baking pan.

Sprinkle the fine toasted crumbs over the top.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Cut into squares to serve.  Makes 6 servings.

The mousse alone also makes a nice dessert.  Spoon into dessert dishes and chill.

Summer Strawberry Dessert

I had a small amount of strawberries to use and wanted something for a lunch dessert that wasn’t too heavy or rich.  This recipe, adapted from one on Allrecipes worked out quite well.

SUMMER STRAWBERRY DESSERT

• 1-1/2 cups cold milk
• 1 (1 oz.) package of instant vanilla pudding
• 4 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1 cup whipped topping, thawed
• 2 cups (1 pt.) of fresh strawberries, halved (divided)

In a large mixing bowl, combine milk and pudding mix.  Beat on low speed for 2 minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

In another large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add whipped topping on low speed until blended.  Add the pudding mix and mix on low speed until smooth.

Fold in 1-3/4 cups of halved fresh strawberries.  Transfer mixture to a large bowl or individual dishes.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

When ready to serve, top pudding with reserved strawberries.

Makes 5 servings.

Honey Blueberry Pudding–Low Cal

My youngest daughter is a busy stay-at-home mom who always finds time to get together with me on Fridays for lunch.  I try to make meals that are tasty, quick and easy, and reduced in fat and calories.  Here is the meal we had this week.

This something I whipped up from what I had on hand and it turned out to be a delicious, low-calorie, low-fat dessert.  My daughter particularly loved it because it was the same Weight Watchers PlusPoints count as a serving of cottage cheese!

It’s easy to put together and makes a great guilt-free ending to a meal.

HONEY BLUEBERRY PUDDING–LOW CAL

• One 1 oz. box of Jello vanilla instant sugar/fat free pudding
• One cup 2% milk
• One 5.3 oz container of Dannon Greek Honey Yogurt
• One cup Cool Whip frozen topping, thawed
• ½ cup fresh blueberries

In a medium bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk until it begins to thicken.  Whisk in the yogurt and then the Cool Whip until smooth.

Divide among five dessert dishes and top with fresh blueberries.

Chill until ready to serve.

5 servings

Nutritional count based on 5 servings per my Diet Power software:  112 calories, 2.66 g fat, 18.4 g carb, .4 g fiber

Weight Watchers PlusPoints:  3

For the entree, we had an old favorite, Chicken a la King.  It was a good meal.

Easy and Quick Lemon Mousse

In 1976, I saw a cookbook at a reduced price in a book store and took a chance on it.  I’ve never regretted it.  The book was called The Garden Club Desserts Cookbook and this is the first dessert I made from it….certainly not the last.

EASY AND QUICK LEMON MOUSSE

• 14 oz. can of condensed milk (I use non-fat)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 8 oz. (2 cups) lite frozen whipped topping, thawed

In a medium bowl, whisk together the condensed milk and lemon juice.  Fold in the whipped topping.  Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Serve in a pretty dessert dish.  Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Blender Chocolate Mousse

I found this recipe in 1989 in a magazine and have taken this long to get around to trying it.  I needed to make a dessert quickly before heading out on an errand and this fit the bill.  It took minutes to make and is chilling in the refrigerator, ready for supper when I get home.

BLENDER CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

• 1 cup evaporated milk, undiluted, scalded*
• 6 oz. chocolate chips (one heaping cup)
• 1 Tblsp. granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

The reason for heating the milk is to melt the chocolate chips, so heating until almost boiling in a pan or heating until very hot in the microwave will work.  If heating in a pan, stir constantly to keep film from forming and to keep the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Place in a blender the chocolate chips, sugar and vanilla.  Pour the scalded milk into the blender and blend until mixture is smooth.

Pour into four dessert dishes.

Cover and chill for several hours.  Serve with whipped cream or topping.

Apricot Cream Dessert

This dessert was adapted from a recipe  in an old 1977 Dinner and Supper Cookbook.  It’s easy to make this tangy, creamy dessert.

APRICOT CREAM DESSERT

• 15.25 oz. can of apricot halves
• 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
• 3 Tblsp. cold water
• 2 Tblsp. lemon juice
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed

Drain the apricot halves.  Note:  I always save small amounts of drained juice to keep in a one-pint jar in the freezer.  Then, I have juice on hand to use instead of cold water when making Jello.

Puree the apricots in a blender or food processor.  Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the gelatin and cold water.  Add the puree, lemon juice and sugar.  Heat until gelatin and sugar are dissolved and mixture just starts to bubble.

Pour apricot mixture into a 4-cup container and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Fold whipped topping into chilled apricot mixture and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

Spoon into 6 dessert dishes.

This makes a nice light dessert.

Brickle Cream Dessert

This is a quick, easy dessert – made with ingredients I happened to have on hand.  Allow an hour for it to chill.

BRICKLE CREAM DESSERT

• 1 cup Cool Whip topping, thawed
• 3/4 cup Greek honey yogurt (or flavor of your choice)
• 1/2 cup brickle bits
• Large banana, sliced
• 4 maraschino cherries, blotted dry with a paper towel

In a medium bowl, combine the whipped topping and honey yogurt.  Stir in the brickle bits and banana slices.  Divide among 4 dessert dishes and top with a maraschino cherry.  Chill for an hour.

4 servings

Enjoy a cheery, delicious dessert.