Ann's Banana Cream Pie

This pie has a custard base that makes it extra good-no comparison to the jello pudding variety. Ann says to make sure you give it several hours to chill and set. Thanks for sharing.

Ingredients 

Baked Pie Shell
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
3 cups whole milk
5 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp butter - cut up
2 tsp vanilla
4 ripe medium bananas
3/4 cup whipping cream

     In 3-quart saucepan, stir cornstarch, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar.  With wire whisk, beat in milk.  Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils - stirring constantly.  Boil 1 minute. Remove saucepan from heat.
     In small bowl, with wire whisk, lightly beat eff yolks. In thin steady stream, whisk about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into yolks.  Gradually whisk yolk mixture back into milk mixture - stirring rapidly to prevent curdling.  Cook over low heat until mixture is very thick and coats the back of a spoon well or temperature reaches 160*, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat.
     Stir in butter and vanilla until butter melts. Transfer custard to medium bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface. Refrigerate until cool - about 30 minutes.
     Slice 3 bananas and arrange half of bananas in bottom of baked crust. Spread with half of custard. Repeat with remaining bananas and custard.  Press plastic wrap onto surface; refrigerate until filling is set - at least 4 hours or overnight.
 
     To serve - in a small bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat whipping cream with remaining 2 Tbsp of sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread over filling. Slice remaining banana and arrange on top of pie. 

Best Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt Cake from Genius Kitchen

Wonderful cake that is not too sweet and nice and dense.  I think next time I will try a little more lemon in the cake.

READY IN: 1hr 5mins	SERVES: 16

Ingredients 

• 2 ³⁄₄ cups flour
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons baking powder
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon baking soda
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or 1 cup margarine
• 1 ³⁄₄ cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest (1 lemon)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 ¹⁄₄ cups blueberries, tossed with
• 1 tablespoon flour

• Glaze

• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups confectioners' sugar
• 8 -10 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• lemon zest (to garnish)
• Directions

• Heat oven to 350°F Butter a 12-cup bundt pan.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• In another large bowl, beat butter (or margarine) until smooth. Add sugar and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in flour in three additions, alternating with buttermilk. Beat for 2 minutes. Fold in blueberries. Spoon into prepared pan.
• Bake at 350F for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a sharp knife around edges of the pan. Turn out and cool completely.
• Glaze: in a small bowl, mix together confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and corn syrup until smooth. Drizzle over top of cake and let it roll down the sides.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

This was the one Lynn and I made for Claire's Open House.  The perfect dessert to serve in the fall. Super tasty- Like pumpkin pie, but with a yummy topping. Serve it hot or cold with a bit of whip cream.  I do find that it is better the first day because the crust does get a little soggy when it sits.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

Mix together:

Bottom Crust

1 box yellow cake mix

1⁄2 C. butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

Save one cup of this mixture and press the rest in bottom of buttered cake pan ( 9X13 or 10X15)

Filling:

1-29 oz. Can pumpkin

1 1⁄2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1⁄2 tsp. ground cloves

1 can evaporated milk

Mix and pour over crust.

Topping:

1 cup of the saved crust mixture

1⁄2 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1⁄4 cup soft butter

Mix topping and sprinkle on top. (Mine usually isn’t crumbly, so I make little pancakes of the topping

and drop it on top.) Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until knife test proves done.

Grandma's Banana Cake

Grandma Gray's Banana Cake

My grandma used to make this for our summertime gatherings and I still remember how I looked forward to it.  The cake is good. The frosting is fabulous.  My husband loves it when we get over-ripe bananas that I need to use up because more often than not he gets this cake.

Banana Cake

2 eggs
1 and 1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. butter or margerine
1 C. mashed bananas
2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 C. buttermilk or sour milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. nuts, optional

Heat oven to 350*. Grease and flour a 9 X 13 pan.  In a mixing bowl cream together eggs, sugar and butter until fluffy.  Add bananas.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Alternately add milk and flour mixture to wet ingredients until well combined. Stir in vanilla. Add nuts, if desired.  Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool and top with Caramel Frosting.

Caramel Frosting

1/2 C. butter
1 C. packed brown sugar
1/4 C. milk
2 C. powdered sugar

In a 2-3 quart saucepan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar. Bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add milk slowly, stirring until mixture boils again.  Remove from heat and cool.  Add powdered sugar; beat with mixer until creamy.  Add a dash of hot water if icing becomes too stiff.

Orange Brownies

Orange Brownies

A recipe of Pam's that is a little twist on your usual brownies or lemon bars.

1& 1/2 C flour
2 C sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 C butter, softened
4 eggs
2 tsp. orange extract
1 tsp. grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350*.
Grease a 9X13" pan and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt.  Add butter, eggs, orange extract and orange zest and beat until well blended. Pour batter into pan and bake for 30 minutes or until light golden brown and set.  Remove from oven and pierce top of entire cake with fork. Pour glaze over cake.

Glaze
1 C powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange zest

Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth.  Pour over cake and cool.

Chocolate Trifle

An easy dessert that tastes rather decadent. It is from a neighbor - Diana Evans - who is a fantastic cook.
The Skor Bars are the expensive part so make it when they go on sale or buy and freeze the bars.

Chocolate Trifle

Brownie Bites - pkg from the store or make brownies and cut up into small cubes

1/2 of a #10 Can Chocolate Pudding ( Can Get for Sam's club)  or it equals 5-6 cups of pudding

1 pint whipping cream , whipped and sweetened

8 Skor Candy Bars, crumbled


Layer twice in a glass bowl, if you have it, so people can see the layers

Chocolate Mint Brownies

     These are my favorite brownies.  I love the mint but Bryan likes me to make a section without. The brownie recipe and glaze are delish without the mint.

Chocolate Mint Brownies                                                                                                    

1 c butter                                                                                 1½ c flour

2 c sugar                                                                                  1 tsp salt

4 eggs                                                                                      2/3 c cocoa

2 tsp vanilla

     Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients. Spread in greased and floured 10x15 inch pan.  Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.  Cool in fridge then frost with mint filling.

    Mint Filling

            1 lb. powdered sugar                                                  ½ -1 tsp. mint extract

            6 Tbsp melted butter                                                   2-3 drops red or green

            3 Tbsp. evaporated milk                                                       food coloring

                Combine all ingredients. Mixture will be very thick.  Spread on brownies and cool again in fridge.  Top with chocolate glaze

    Chocolate Glaze

            3 Tbsp butter                                                              ½ tsp vanilla

            3 Tbsp water                                                               1 ½ c powdered sugar

            3 Tbsp cocoa     

             Melt butter. Add cocoa and water.  Stir constantly. Do not boil.  Remove from heat.  Cool slightly.  Blend in 1 ½ c powdered sugar and vanilla.  Pour over top.

Lemon Bars

     Amelia isn't real crazy about cakes so she likes to choose something different for her birthday.  This is one of her favorites.

Deer Valley Resort’s Lemon Bars                                                      

2 cups plus ¼ c flour                                                   4 eggs

½ cup plus 1¾  c granulated sugar                              4 tsp grated lemon zest

1 c (8 oz) unsalted butter, cut into                              ½ c lemon juice

       ½ inch pieces                                                        powdered sugar to sprinkle on top

½ tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 325*

     Mix 2 cups of flour with ½ cup sugar. Cut in the butter, mixing until the dough resembles sand.  Press evenly into the bottom and a little bit up the side of a 9x 13 inch baking pan.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes until the crust loses its shine and barely begins to show a hint of color.  Let cool.

     In a large bowl, sift the remaining ¼ c flour with the remaining 1 ¾  c sugar and baking powder.  In another bowl, beat together the eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Mix into the sugar/flour mixture until the ingredients are homogenous.  Pour over the crust.  Bake until the filling has set and the edges are light golden, about 20 to 25 minutes.  Let cool.  Place in the refrigerator to chill.  Cut into 2-inch squares.  Dust with powdered sugar.  Makes about 24 bars

    .

Key Lime Squares

I took some limes up to Hebgen that needed to be used up and tried out this recipe.  It was very rich and good and calorie laden -definitely a once-in-a-while treat.  The key limes are usually sweeter so I wished that is what I had used. The squares were a little tart and the key limes would have helped that.  I enjoyed them better the next day when the flavors had blended a little.  I really liked the almond flavoring of the crust.     

   

Key Lime Squares

Crust

¼ cup slivered blanched almonds

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp. powdered sugar

¼ tsp. almond extract

Key Lime Filling

5 eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

¾ cup bottled Key lime juice or freshly squeezed lime juice

½ tsp. finely grated orange rind

¼ cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 12x8 inch baking dish.
2. To prepare crust, chop almonds in a food processor until they resemble fine meal. Combine almonds, butter, flour, powdered sugar and almond extract in a large mixing bowl. Blend well. Scrape mixture into baking dish and pat to a uniform thickness.
3. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 325*.
4. To prepare filling, beat eggs. Add granulated sugar, salt, lime juice and orange rind. Mix well. Pour filling over crust and return to oven.
5. Bake 20-30 minutes, until filling is set.  Remove from oven and let cool. Sift powdered sugar over top and cut into 12 squares

Serves 12 Per Serving: 400 calories, 19g fat, 120 mg cholesterol, 5g protein, 55g carbohydrates, 1g fiber, 55g sodium