Raspberry Cream Dessert

This is another take on one of my favorite chilled desserts which combines yogurt, frozen topping and cream cheese.  This makes a delicious chilled dessert base which is creamy and smooth but not too sweet.  The addition of raspberries makes it special.

• Servings: 4-6
• Print

1 cup yogurt
1-½ cups frozen topping, thawed (Cool Whip)
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
12 oz. frozen raspberries, thawed (about 1-½ cups with juice)

Mix together the yogurt, whipped topping and cream cheese until smooth.

Stir in the raspberries.

Spoon mixture into 4-6 pretty dessert dishes.

Cover and chill for at least two hours.

Makes 4-6 servings

Easy Cannoli Cones

These cannoli cones aren’t going to be as good as the cannolis from your favorite Italian restaurant but they’re really delicious, easy to make and fill the need for a quick cannoli fix.  I combined several recipes, ideas and tips from online to make this fun dessert.

To hold the cones while coating them with chocolate and chilling them, you can cut an “x”  for the number of portions in the top of the cardboard cone box covered with foil…

… or, my favorite, the bottom of a Styrofoam egg carton, inverted with an “x” cut for the portions.

At first, I thought it would be nice to serve the cones in a tall flute along with the filling and garnishes in separate bowls …

… but the cones are  too hard to remove.  I found it best to just let each person grab a cone and alternate layers of filling, chips, cherries and nuts.

• Servings: 6
• Print

6 sugar cones (the cake type with pointed ends)
½ cup chocolate chips, melted
¼ cup heavy cream
8 oz. ricotta cheese (one cup)
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup each of mini chocolate chips, chopped pistachios and chopped candied cherries

Place a spoonful of melted chocolate into each cone, turning and swirling to coat the inside of the cone.  Spread a little bit of chocolate over the rim of the cone.  Place cones in a container and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes until set.

To make filling:
Beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form.  Beat in ricotta, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Place in a covered bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

The chocolate coating on the cones and the filling can be done ahead of time, but wait until ready to serve before filling the cones so they will be nice and crisp.

Fill cones with alternating layers of filling, chips, cherries and nuts.

Servings:  6 cones   

Strawberry and Amaretto Tiramisu

I’ve seen a few recipes for Strawberry Tiramisu online but went back to my original recipe which my family loves, substituting Amaretto for the Kahlua I normally use and adding fresh strawberries.  This might be our new favorite, certainly during the strawberry season.  It’s very easy to put together, not too sweet and a good make-ahead dessert.

• Servings: 9
• Print

One package Italian lady fingers (about 12 lady fingers – I use Alessi Biscotti Savoiardi)
¼ to 1/2 cup Amaretto (to pour over lady fingers – they should be evenly moist)
One cup of fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
15 oz. light ricotta cheese
2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip)
9 fresh strawberry-halves for garnish

Place the lady fingers in a layer in bottom of 9-inch pan.  Pour Amaretto over the lady fingers.  Arrange sliced strawberries over lady fingers.  Set aside.

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

Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the top of the lady fingers and strawberries.  Place the strawberry halves over the top of the dessert, creating 9 servings.  Cover and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.

To serve, cut dessert into 9 servings, including a fresh strawberry half.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Clementine Cheesecake Pudding

We love Clementines but always seem to lose our enthusiasm before finishing the last few.  This is one way to enjoy the Clementine flavor in an easy pudding, using three Clementines.

• Servings: 4
• Print

3 Clementine oranges, processed (see below)

1 egg
¼ cup granulated sugar
Dash of salt
2 Tblsp. cornstarch
1 cup milk
4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup frozen dairy topping (Cool Whip), thawed

Wash and dry Clementines, remove stems and place in a microwave-safe dish.  Cover Clementines with cold water, put a lid on the dish and microwave on high for approximately 10 minutes.  Clementines should be quite soft and look something like fresh, ripe apricots.  Let cool in microwave – be careful, they get very hot.

Cut the Clementines in half and process as finely as possible in a food processor or blender (remove seeds if necessary but, yes, process both rind and flesh).

Makes about ½ cup.  Set aside.

Note:  Clementines can also be covered with water and boiled on the stove top for two hours.  Clementine puree can be frozen.

In a medium saucepan, place egg, sugar, salt and cornstarch.  Whisk until blended, add milk and whisk until smooth.  Place on medium-high heat and whisk constantly until mixture begins to bubble.  Lower heat and continue whisking for one minute.

Remove from heat and stir in processed Clementines.

Whisk in softened cream cheese until smooth.

Set aside to cool to room temperature, then whisk in thawed dairy topping.

Divide between 4 dessert dishes, cover and chill for at least one hour.
Makes 4 servings. 

Mist Mint Mousse

I first made this recipe from Family Circle Magazine in 1986 as a small pie.  The recipe at that time was doubled and placed in an 8-inch baked pie shell.  I noted in my dessert recipe binder:  “12/23/86 – Shannon loved this.”

Daughter Shannon was 16 years old then and loved rich desserts.  Now, she tries to avoid the extra fat and calories of pie crust, so I used the adapted recipe below and made four servings of light, refreshing mousse.  Using low fat cream cheese and whipped topping along with non-fat condensed milk helps trim it down a bit, too.

• Servings: 4
• Print

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)*
• 1/2 tsp mint extract
• One drop green food coloring
• 1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1/3 cup Andes chocolate mint baking chips

*Save remaining milk in a covered jar and freeze for future use

4 dessert dishes

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and condensed milk.  Whisk in mint extract and food coloring.

Stir in whipped topping and Andes chocolate mint chips.

Spoon mousse into four pretty dessert dishes (about ½ cup each).

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

4 servings 

Banana Rum Fluff

At the end of each week, I always seem to have a banana or two that should be used that day.  I have containers of banana puree in the freezer, I’ve made every kind of cake, muffin, pudding, cookie and bread.  I was looking for something different to use up some bananas and put together this chilled dessert which is very good with a strong banana flavor and a little kick of rum.  Easy and quick to make.

• Servings: 3
• Print

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 Tblsp. dark rum
• 2 ripe bananas, pureed
• 2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip)
• 4 vanilla wafers
• 4 tsp. dark rum
• 1 banana for slicing

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese and 1 Tblsp. of rum until smooth.  Add pureed bananas ….

… and stir in the thawed whipped topping..

In each of four small dessert dishes, place a vanilla wafer and sprinkle each with 1 tsp. dark rum.

Spoon the banana mixture on top of the wafers and freeze for one hour or refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

4 servings.  Just before serving, add a few slices of banana to the top of the fluff.

Apricot Raspberry Trifle

On Christmas Day, my daughter and I have dinner alone and try to have something a little different that would not be appreciated by the men in the family.  This is a very easy trifle that can be made with any type of pound cake.  My youngest daughter always gives us her prize-winning Lemon Pound Cake for St. Nick (December 6) and I freeze a portion of it to use in this dessert.  I like the use of the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar to stabilize the whipped cream to make a dish that is still delicious on December 26.  I don’t know if it will last another day, since we have always eaten the last crumb by then.

• Servings: 6
• Print

• One 15 oz. can of apricots, drained
• One 10-12 oz. bag of frozen raspberries, thawed and drained
• 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3 cups pound cake cubes, divided
• ¼ cup brandy, divided (or juice drained from fruit and/or orange juice)

In a large bowl, combine drained apricots and thawed/drained raspberries.  Toss lightly to combine.  Set aside.

Beat cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth.  Add cream and beat until soft peaks form and mixture is like soft mousse (don’t overbeat).

In a 6 inch glass container, place 1-½ cups of cake cubes on the bottom.  Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of brandy.  Place half of the fruit on top of the cake cubes.

Top with half of the cream/mousse mixture.  Repeat with cake cubes, brandy, fruit and cream/mousse.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

6 servings 

Blueberry Chocolate Mousse

I got the idea for this dessert from a recipe on the Blueberry Council web site.  I changed it to suit my taste, ingredients and the way I wanted to serve it.

The mousse alone would be very good but the addition of the cookie adds a bit more richness and flavor.  My daughters and I really enjoyed it.

• Servings: 4
• Print

• 1 cup undiluted evaporated milk, divided
• 1-¼ teaspoons unflavored gelatin
•  ½ cup milk chocolate chips (Ghirardelli)
•  4 chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreo)
•  ½ cup fresh blueberries

In a medium microwaveable bowl, place 1/3-cup evaporated milk.  Sprinkle gelatin over and stir to mix
Set aside to allow gelatin to soften for 5 minutes

Microwave on high until bubbles appear, 30 to 60 seconds
Add chocolate chips and stir until smooth then stir in remaining evaporated milk

Cover and refrigerate until the mixture starts to set.
Meanwhile, crumble half of a chocolate sandwich cookie into each of 4 dessert dishes

Set aside

Remove bowl of chocolate chip mixture from refrigerator and stir until smooth.   Fold blueberries into mousse.

Spoon mousse mixture into the four dessert dishes.  Crumble half of a chocolate sandwich cookie over the top of each dish of mousse.

Cover loosely and chill until firm, about 2 hours

4 servings 

Sort of Like Whip ‘n Chill

In the 1960s, there was a little box of powdered mix called Whip ‘n Chill which was mixed with water to make a very light and delicious mousse-like dessert.  On the rare occasions when my mother-in-law came for supper, I struggled to find something she would eat.  She didn’t like my cooking but one thing she seemed to enjoy was Whip ‘n Chill so that was always our dessert when Grandma Mary visited.

Whip ‘n Chill has been out of the regular grocery stores for many years and for a time could only be purchased at the Vermont Country Store.  Now, they no longer have it, but it is sold in bulk on Amazon.com at a pretty hefty price.  For our purposes, my version will do just fine.  If Grandma Mary were still with us, I wonder if she would like it.

Grandma Mary

• Servings: 6
• Print

• 1 envelope (¼ oz.) unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups milk, divided
• One 3.4 oz. package of Cook and Serve Chocolate Pudding (not instant pudding)
• 2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip)

Soak gelatin in ¼ cup of cold milk.  When dissolved, place in a medium saucepan with the remainder of the milk and the chocolate pudding mix.  Whisk over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil.  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

Whisk the whipped topping into the pudding mixture and spoon into six dessert dishes.  Cover and chill for an hour.

Makes 6 servings. 

Based on 6 servings – 156 calories/serving

A St. Patrick’s Day Doll and an Easy Dessert

On this St. Patrick’s Day morning, my daughter had my doll table all ready for the celebration.  The doll was decked out in a hand crocheted shawl and tam o’shanter and there was a new embroidered cover for the table.  The picture of the cover doesn’t do it justice – it only measures 2-½ x 5 inches, so you can imagine how tiny the stitches are.

We’re having our traditional Reuben sandwiches for lunch (corned beef and cabbage in a more palatable form for us) and a quick and easy dessert with a little green to honor the day.  This is a deliciously rich dessert.

ST. PADDY PISTACHIO DESSERT

• Servings: 6 to 8
• Print

Crust:
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup butter, cut in small cubes
* 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Filling:
* 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 8 oz. carton of Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed, divided
* One small package of instant white chocolate pudding (four ½ cup svgs)
* One small package of instant pistachio pudding (four 1/2-cup svgs.)
* 1-1/2 cups milk, divided
* Green sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

To Make the Crust:

Mix the flour, butter and pecans well.  Press mixture in a 9×9 baking pan.  Bake @ 350 degrees F for 15 minutes until lightly brown.  Cool

To Make Filling and Assemble:

Layer 1: Beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.  Fold in 4 ounces (half of an 8-oz. carton) of whipped topping.  Spread over cooled crust.

Layer 2: Whisk one package of white chocolate pudding and 3/4 cup of milk until thickened.  Spread over Layer 1.

Layer 3: Whisk one package of pistachio pudding and 3/4 cup of milk until thickened.  Spread over Layer 2.

Layer 4: Spread remaining 4 oz. of whipped topping over Layer 3.

Sprinkle top with green sugar – maybe you’ll be more creative than I was in sprinkling the sugar.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

6 to 8 servings