Red Velvet Cake

Valentine's day at our house is not complete without a decadent red velvet cake.  My husband and I celebrate our anniversary and well, every holiday, with this all time favorite dessert.  I am no baker by any means, but I do want to learn.  MJ is 6 months right now, but I can just imagine how much fun it will be to cook and bake together :)

Here's a recipe that I followed

For cakes:

• 1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
• 2 cups granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling the parchment paper
• 1 Tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 4 1/2 tsp. (2 tubes) red food coloring gel
• 3 cups cake flour, plus more for flouring the cake pans
• 1 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
• 1 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp. distilled white vinegar
• 3 extra-large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter (approx.), nonstick spray or vegetable oil, for greasing the cake pans

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Churros con Chocolaté

INGREDIENTS:

Churro Dough:

1 cup water
6 tbsp unsalted room temp. butter
2 tsp instant espresso powder
Pinch salt
1 cup flour
2 eggs at room temp.
Pastry bag
Large start piping tip
Canola oil
Scissors

Cinnamon- Sugar Coating:
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
½ cup sugar

Chocolate Dipping Sauce:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
½ cup heave cream
1 tbsp room temp. butter

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Badam (Almond) Kulfi

Ingredients:
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz) 1 cup heavy cream
½ cup milk
½ cup almonds (if you don’t have enough add some almond milk)
½ cup pecans (or substitute with whatever nuts you want- pistachio, walnuts)
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1  cup sugar (taste the mixture while it’s hot and add sugar as needed)

*add a pinch of saffron into the milk if you want. I didn’t have saffron so I didn’t include it. 



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Baraf (Snow Cones)

This recipe is probably the easiest thing I have ever made. Snow cone is such a refreshing drink to have on a hot summers day. And now you can make it too in a matter of minutes!

Ingredients

Crushed Ice (as much as you wish)
Syrup of choice (I used Kool Aid flavored syrup, you can certainly use assorted juice, soda etc)


Method

All you need is a blender to crush the ice and it will become "snow" in a matter of minutes.

Tip: I suggest fill the blender halfway with crushed ice to get the maximum effect of snow.

Fill a glass or Snow cone Cone cups with the ice and then drizzle with your desired syrup.

Enjoy!

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Banana Coconut Cream Parfait

Quick and easy dessert you can whip up (literally) in no time!

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 cup fat free cottage cheese
4oz Neufchatel cheese, slightly softened (Find it right next to the cream cheese)
2/3 cup canned coconut milk (see note below)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (add more if needed)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 banana (sliced)
1/2 cup sweeted shredded coconut toasted
Vanilla or chocolate wafers, chopped small

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Mini Fruit Parfait

{This comes from Jalpa}

Ingredient:

- Filo cups (prebaked or bake using filo sheets)

- two fruits, diced into small bites (sweet and citrus, or any combo)

- low fat plain yogurt

- heavy whipping cream

- sugar, vanilla extract and chocolate chips or shaved chocolate for decor

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Choco-bana​na rolls

Ingredients:

Wonton wrappers or egg roll wrappers

Nestle chocolate chips

half banana, cut into thin stripes (cut vertical into quarters)

ground cardamom

butter or margarine

baking sheet

water

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Chocolate Chip Vanilla Cake

To make CAKE
Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cup(s) sugar
• 1/2 stick of butter (add 1 stick if you're not afraid of the extra calories)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1-1 1/2 cups mini–chocolate chips

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350ºF. Coat with cooking spray or butter, 9inch or 10inch round cake pan.  I separated the batter into two cake pans to create a "layered cake" (Yes, you can say I'm fancy lol :)
• Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. 
• Whisk milk, water, oil, vanilla and eggs in a 4-cup liquid measuring cup or medium bowl.
• Slowly pour in the milk/water mixture in the flour mix. Whisk well. 
• Stir in chips.

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Cannoli Cake

 {I borrowed this recipe from here. I made slight variations}

Ingredients

• 1 package French vanilla cake mix (regular size)

FILLING:

• 1 carton (16 ounces) ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon rum extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

FROSTING:

• 2 cartons (8 ounces each) Mascarpone cheese
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons miniature semisweet chocolate chips

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Fourth of July Rice Krispies Treats

Ingredients:

- 6 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
- 1 package marshmallows
- 3 TB butter
- Food coloring (red and blue)

Method:

1. Divide Rice Krispies and marshmallows into three parts.
2. Put one part of the marshmallows and 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave for about a minute. Depending on your microwave it might take less than a minute to "melt" them. They should be super soft. Take a large enough bowl otherwise they will overflow.
3. Remove from the microwave and mix in the blue food coloring first. Then add the cereal to the mixture. Once they are well mixed, put them in a greased tray. Flatten them using a piece of wax paper.
4. Repeat step 2 and 3. Don't add any food coloring to the middle "white" layer.
5. Once they layers are all on and pressed, let it set for about 10 minutes before cutting them.

The more food color you add, the brighter it will be. I obviously didn't add enough didn't like the idea of you girls eating too much food coloring. It just doesn't seem natural to eat red and blue treats! Yes, that's why they look like that.

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Peanut Butter & Cool Whip Treat

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of peanut butter
• 1 tub of fat free cool whip
• Chocolate syrup

Method:

• Combine the peanut butter and the cool whip.
• Line cupcake trays with cupcake liners
• fill the tray with mixture (will yield 8)
• Drizzle with chocolate syrup and freeze for an hour or so

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Split Pigeon Peas Balls

Ingredients:

1 cup of split pigeon peas

1 cup of sugar (more or less)

Baker’s chocolate

Cardamom powder

Few strands of saffron

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Tiramisu Crepes

This time it was my turn to make dessert since I haven't made one. I knew I was going to make crepes because I was craving them so badly:)) Since this was a "Fusion" theme Exchange, I thought why not make Tiramisu Crepes!! I love Tiramisu and I love Crepes!! This is a perfect recipe for me to indulge:)) And the best part is it's so easy and fast. I am sure you all making this very soon:-)

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup 2% milk                                            
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

FILLING:

• 1/2 carton (4 ounces) Mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 package (4 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons coffee liqueur or strong brewed coffee
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• Optional toppings: chocolate syrup, whipped cream and baking cocoa
  

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"grilled cheese" for dessert and root vegetable sorbet

This exchange was about healthy foods. And it was my turn to make desserts.  I immediately thought about a grilled cheese sandwich for dessert.  I wanted to include chocolate and vegetables.  Chocolate zuchinni bread came to my mind first..but now I needed the "cheese".  How am I going to create that without using cheese?  Ah ha - sweet potatoes!  I played with colors.  Check out this super delicious easy to make decadent grilled cheese for dessert.  Now we all know every grilled cheese sandwich isn't complete without ketchup.  My next challenge was to mimic ketchup somehow for this dessert.  What vegetable (and yes, I wanted use vegetables over fruit) do I use? Beets!  But my taste buds had always rejected beets, doesn't matter what shape or form they were in.  Check out the evolution of beet pudding to beet sorbet below.

You might argue that the "chocolate zuchinni bread isnt healthy, but the beet pudding or sorbet sure are.  Aren't we all about a balanced diet anyways? :)

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Parul's PECAN PIE

CRUST
1 cup all- purpose flour
½ cup shortening (minus a little bit)
1/4 tsp salt
2 TBS water (cold!)
*I actually used ¼ cup shortening and it worked fine.

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Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Ingredients:

Strawberries

Baker's chocolate

Wax paper

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Grilled Mango Pinacolada

Ingredients:
- pineapple slices
- mango slices
- honey
- hot sauce
- whipping cream
- vanilla extract
- granulated sugar
- coconut shavings

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Chocolate Crackles

Ingredients

1 cup confectionary Sugar
1/2 to 2/3 cup cocoa powder
4 cups rice crispies
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 & 1/4 cup coconut oil (can be purchased at Vitamin shop,, healthfood store and speciality stores)

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Honey Joys

Ingredients

2.5 tablespoons of margarine or butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey
4 cups Kelloggs Cornflakes

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Peach and Cinnamon Streusel Cake

2 boxes of Cinnamon Streusel Muffin Mix Recipes

1 Can of peaches - you can use fresh peaches

Cranberry sauce – optional

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