Low Fat Pumpkin Mousse Pie

Raise your hand if you're challenged in the baking department.
Raise your hand if you love all things pumpkin with the exception of pumpkin pie.
Raise your hand if you'd rather spend your calories on a grande pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.

(I raised my hand to all three.)

If you did too, than this pie is going to be your new best friend this fall.  It's really light but rich in flavor.  It pairs nicely with a hot cup of tea and best of all, there is absolutely no baking involved.  You need to get on this one quick my friends.

*****Low Fat Pumpkin Mousse Pie****************************************************

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup cold fat-free milk
1 package (4 serving size) vanilla flavor fat-free, sugar-free instant pudding
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin*
1 tub (8 oz.) frozen reduced fat non-dairy whipped topping, thawed and divided
1 1/2 cup Honey Maid graham cracker crumbs 
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Instructions

1.  To make the crust, simply combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a bowl.  When the crumbs are moist, pour mixture into a 9 inch pie pan.  Using a large spoon, press mixture evenly along the bottom and sides of the pie pan.  Set aside to chill in the refrigerator.

2.  In a large bowl, beat milk, pudding mix and spice with a wire whisk for 1 1/2 minutes.  Whisk in pumpkin.  Fold in half of whipped topping.  Spread mixture into crust.

3.  Top the pie with remaining whipped topping using a flat spatula to spread evenly.

4.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Garnish as desired.  (I used a sprinkle of cinnamon!)  Store pie in refrigerator.

Cooks note:  Save remaining canned pumpkin to stir into muffins, pancakes or chocolate chip cookies.

Grandparents Day: Cherry Hand Pies

Sunday is Grandparent's Day and they certainly deserve a little extra love throughout the year!  I've lost all my grandparents unfortunately, but my kids are blessed with some of the best.  I made these heart-shaped cherry hand pies for the boys to give to them this weekend.   (They are SO easy and come together in a matter of minutes!) Just a small token to show our gratitude and how thankful we are to have them in our lives.  Hope you enjoy the weekend whether it's spending time with someone special or simply remembering them with a happy heart.


*******Cherry Hand Pies ****************************

// Ingredients //

2 ready made pie crusts, thawed ( I love these Pillsbury pie crusts)
1 egg white
1/2 cup cherry preserves (I like Bonne Maman)
1 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. decorating sugar


// Instructions //

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Unwrap dough and lay flat on a clean surface.  Sprinkle dough lightly with flour.  Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut dough into several heart shapes.  (You may have to roll out remaining dough)  I got eight hearts using the two pie crusts.

3. Then, spoon 1 tbsp. of cherry preserves into the center of four hearts, being careful to keep the preserves in the center of the heart.  Gently brush the edges of the preserved-filled hearts with water.  Carefully place remaining hearts on top of preserves and press seams together with your finger.

4. Use a fork to make indentations around the edges of the pies.

5. Place hearts on baking sheet and lightly brush tops with egg whites.  Sprinkle with decorating sugar.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

To make envelopes out of parchment paper, I used this simple online tutorial.  I tied twine around them and am storing them in an airtight container until Sunday.

Peach Pound Cake

I think it's safe to say that peach season has begun here in Georgia.  They're popping up on sale in the markets and being featured in magazines galore!  I thought it would be fun to dedicate a whole week to this southern favorite and call it peach week.  Are you in?

Can I share a secret with you?  Neither of my kids will touch a peach.  Never have.  Not even as infants!  But I sneak them into smoothies and desserts like this over the top delicious peach pound cake with peach soaking syrup.

You may have noticed this peach pound cake in my segment on Fox 5 atlanta last week and several of you asked for the recipe which I am oh so happy to share.  I wrapped individual pieces of the cake for the crew to take home with them and then my family and I finished this baby off that very night.  It is that good!  Here's a little peek at the treat boxes I put together in case you want to share some with a friend.  (It' so good though, I don't blame you if you keep it all to yourself!)

*adapted from here 

Cake Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups diced fresh peaches, skins and pits removed

Syrup Ingredients:

1/3 cups fresh peach puree *

2/3 granulated sugar

2 tbsp. orange juice

Instructions:

1.  Place rack in middle of the oven and heat to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

3.  Using a mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy for about 2 minutes.  Gradually add sugar and beat at medium-high speed for about 3 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition.  Scrape down the sides of bowl if necessary.  Beat in vanilla extract.

4.  At low speed, add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream.  End with a flour addition. (Flour, sour cream, flour, sour cream, flour.)

5.  Scoop half of mixture into the prepared bundt pan.  Then add diced peaches on top of the batter, evenly around the ring. Scoop remaining half of batter on top of peaches and smooth with a spatula.

6.  Bake cake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool the cake inside of the pan for 10 minutes on a cooling rack.  Invert cake onto cake stand or another cooling rack.  (If placing on another cooling rack, you may want to slide a baking sheet underneath to catch any drips or spills from the syrup!)

While cake is baking, make the peach syrup...

1.  Combine peach puree, sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved (3-4 minutes).

2.  Remove pan from heat and brush syrup on top of warm cake, allowing it to soak into the cake.  Repeat process until all syrup has been absorbed into the cake.

*If you prefer, you can strain your peach puree before adding it to the saucepan for cooking. This will give the cake a slightly different look that is free of any fruit pieces.  I left mine on because I like the texture of the diced peaches on top of the cake.

Road Trip Cookies

The family and I packed up and took a little road trip yesterday to a sandy location.  I cannot tell you how much we need some family time right now.  My husband has been traveling a lot for work lately and the boys and I have really been missing him at home and I know he's missing us too!

For our long haul, I packed these substantial and somewhat healthy cookies to keep us happy in the car.  Made with steel cut oats and dried cranberries, these cookies are the perfect treat for those long stretches of road with no stops in sight.  The drive was long but the look on the boys faces when they see the ocean is absolutely priceless!  

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening Sticks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups steel cut oats, finely ground
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
• No stick cooking spray

1. 
   
   Instructions (recipe adapted from here)
   
   
   1.    HEAT oven to 350ºF. Coat baking sheets with no-stick cooking spray.  
   2.    Using a coffee grinder, finely grind steel cut oats and set aside.




2. 3.
   BEAT shortening, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl at medium speed of electric mixer until blended. Beat in eggs and maple. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. Beat into shortening mixture until smooth. Stir in oats, dried cranberries and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2-inches apart on prepared baking sheets.


3. 4.
   BAKE 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown. Cool on baking sheets 2 minutes. Place on cooling rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze

The flavors of fall are so absolutely decadent that many of us who don't consider ourselves "cooks" often find ourselves in the kitchen trying a new recipe or two.  Pumpkin. Apple. Pear. Cinnamon. Maple.  Who can resist them?

Today I found some time to make this scrumptious pumpkin bread which was almost too easy.  Before I started, I knew I wanted to glaze the bread with Ree Drummond's maple frosting that she uses for her infamous cinnamon rolls.  Ever since my friend and I made them last fall, I've been thinking of ways to incorporate this frosting into my life.  

So, long story short, I married two wonderful recipes and this is it's first born child.  It's practically perfect.  I urge you to try it...soon.  It's not glamorous but it tastes divine.  And like my beloved banana bread it yields two (or three) loaves, depending on what size pan you use.  Today I made two (8x5) loaves, as well as 12 mini muffins and still had some leftover for a small rectangular cake.  Here's a photo just to show you.  Please excuse the aluminum baking dishes.  I needed them to be portable.

See how many people you could make happy with this recipe?  And by the way, this is my official taste tester.  He loved it!

Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze 

Yields: a lot

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Bread (Recipe found here)

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg\

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

Maple Frosting (adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon maple flavoring

1/4 cup milk

1/8 cup melted butter

1/8 cup brewed coffee

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

2. Grease and flour loaf pans.  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin and oil.

3. To the pumpkin mixture, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add pumpkin mixture.  Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour batter into prepared loaf pans and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until a wooden pick comes out clean.  (You will have to adjust the baking time for muffins.)

5. While the bread bakes, combine the ingredients for the maple frosting.  You may want to adjust it a bit to suit your taste or preferences on thickness.  Just go with it.

6. Once the cakes have cooled, generously add the maple glaze.  Allow the glaze to set a bit, then slice, serve and enjoy a little slice of fall goodness!

Glazed Lemon Cookies

I love lemon.  I love everything about them. Their color, their smell, their flavor.  I try to always have them on hand for cooking, cleaning, cocktails and the occasional aromatherapy.

Last week I started craving glazed lemon cookies and searched high and low for my recipe which is most likely tucked away in one of my cookbooks.  I recalled that the recipe was from Living magazine so I headed to their website to search for it.  Apparently my good friend Martha is also craving lemon goodies because on her main page is a tab that reads "Lemon Desserts."  Of course my favorite cookies made the list and now I'm sharing them with you!   Please note that the lemon glaze makes this recipe!  However, I did cut the glaze recipe in half and still had plenty in my humble opinion.  (Sorry Martha!)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Lemon Glaze

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat until combined. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture.
2. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto two baking sheets. Bake until edges are golden, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool 2 minutes on sheets, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Spread cookies with Lemon Glaze and let set, about 1 hour.

Cook's Note

Always zest the lemons (preferably with a Microplane tool) before juicing them. For orange- or lime-flavored cookies, substitute the zest and juice of those fruits.

Strawberry-Filled White Chocolate Blondies

I cut this recipe out of the November 2006 issue of Southern Living and made it once.  I put a few notes on the recipe and tucked it away in my "keep" file for later.  Well, here it is, five years later and I still love this recipe.

I mixed it up a bit and opted for a strawberry filling since we're approaching their peak season.  However, you can certainly be creative with your flavor of filling or nuts topping.  

A note from my hips....Beware: these are dangerously good.  

(Recipe adapted from Southern Living) 

Ingredients

Prep: 15 min., Cook: 5 min., Bake: 45 min.

Yield: Makes 16 bars

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup  butter
• 1  (12-oz.) package white chocolate morsels, divided
• 2  large eggs
• 1/2  cup  sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon  almond extract
• 1  cup  all-purpose flour
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 3/4  cup  strawberry preserves
• 1/3  cup  sweetened flaked coconut
• 1/2  cup  sliced almonds

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring just until melted. Remove pan from heat, and add 1 cup  of the white chocolate morsels. (Do not stir.)

2. Beat eggs at high speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until blended. Stir in white chocolate mixture and almond extract, stirring until blended. Add flour and salt, stirring just until blended. Spread half of batter into a lightly greased and floured 8-inch square pan.

3. Bake at 325° for 20 minutes or until light golden brown.

4. Melt 3/4 cup strawberry preserves in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring often. Spread evenly over partially baked blondies in pan. Stir together coconut, remaining 1 cup white chocolate morsels, and remaining half of batter; spread over melted cherry preserves, spreading to edges of pan. Sprinkle batter with 1/3 cup sliced almonds.

5. Bake at 325° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

(Not Quite) Perfect Red Velvet

This is not a perfect post, hence the title.

Sometimes (or a lot of times) recipes don't turn out like we envision.  It might be good and look pretty, but not quite perfect. 

A few weeks ago I made the above red velvet cupcakes for my brother-in-laws birthday.  It was my first attempt at "from scratch" cupcakes, meaning no help from my good friends Betty or Duncan.  I used this recipe and as many of the reviews state, they turned out a little too oily.  You can see how the white liners soaked up a lot of the oil if you look closely at my photo.   While they got good reviews at the party and were eaten up quickly, they weren't quite perfect.  Now don't let this post lead you to think that I am a perfectionist because I am not!  But, if I'm gonna throw down some calories, I want them to be pretty perfect.

This week, I'm attempting another round of these Southern classics using her recipe which calls for butter instead of oil.  I'm hoping for better results and if I fail, I shall try again....and again...and again, until I reach perfection.  I don't give up easily.

Do you have a favorite tried and true recipe for red velvet cake or cupcakes?  For more red velvet cooking and craft inspiration, check out this recent feature.

Banana Bread w/ Cinnamon Streusel Topping

I believe that bread is meant to be shared.  It's a nice gesture and it keeps me from sitting at home and eating it all myself!  

I brightened the mornings of a few preschool moms and teachers last Friday by handing out little slices of this yummy banana bread and it got rave reviews.  I got the recipe from one of my cookbooks titled, "1001 Ways to Cook Southern," a Southern Living specialty.

The cream cheese makes this bread extra moist and the cinnamon compliments the banana so well.  I skipped the pecans so that my son would eat it but if I had my way, they would be in there.  This recipe makes two loaves and I like making them in the disposable aluminum baking pans so that they can be given as gifts or frozen.  It's easy, trust me.  And I promise, after this recipe, you'll never look at a black spotted banana the same way again.

Cream Cheese Banana Bread 

via Southern Living

Prep: 15 min., Bake: 1 hr., Cool: 40 min.  To get perfect slices, allow full 30 minutes to cool and use a serrated bread knife.  Also, the riper the banana, the better!  You want to see those things covered in brown spots!

Yield: Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

• 3/4  cup  butter, softened
• 1  (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2  cups  sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 3  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1 1/2  cups  mashed bananas (1 1/4 pounds unpeeled bananas, about 4 medium)
• 1  cup  chopped pecans, toasted
• 1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract

Preparation

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8- x 4-inch loafpans.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan, shielding with aluminum foil last 15 minutes to prevent browning, if necessary. Cool bread in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool 30 minutes on wire racks before slicing.

Cinnamon Streusel Topping

Prepare bread batter as directed, and spoon into desired pans. Stir together 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar;  1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; 1 tablespoon melted butter; and 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon. 
Sprinkle mixture evenly over batter. Bake and cool as directed.

Kitchen Tips

Well, the cooking and baking season is among us!  I love fall and all the yummy goodness it brings to our tables.  I've been working on organizing my kitchen and getting rid of things that I just don't use.  A simple kitchen is an efficient kitchen.

Several years back, I attended a cooking class at The Viking Cooking School in Atlanta.  I learned more in that one day than I did my entire first year of marriage!  Now, we're in our eighth year of marriage and there are a few more tricks I've learned along the way.  I am no Julia Child, but I'm learning and I thought I would share a few of my favorite kitchen tips with you today. 

1.  Mise en place which essentially means having all your ingredients and tools ready before you begin a recipe.  I find this especially helpful when I'm baking or when I'm cooking with children. 

This photo was taken when I was making my Monkey Bread.  Of course, my oldest son wanted to help with this recipe so I prepared all the ingredients while he was playing and then called him over to help pour, mix and stir.  Mise en place is a little work on the front end but I promise you it will make your cooking experience much easier in the long run.  If you're baking, you reduce the risk of measuring incorrectly or starting a recipe only to discover half way through that you don't have any eggs.

2.  Place a kitchen towel under your cutting board to keep the board from sliding and spinning around while your chopping. 

3.  Invest in a good quality, multipurpose knife and keep it sharp.  I bought this Wustof Santoku knife after my cooking class at Viking seven years ago.  I can honestly say that I use it every single day at almost every meal.  I use it to slice English muffins, cut crusts of of PB & J and chop produce for dinner. 

A lot of people think that using a large knife will increase their chances of cutting themselves but that could not be further from the truth.  A larger knife, used on a proper size cutting board, will give you more control and is less likely to slip around like smaller knives.

4. Keep a "garbage bowl" close by to quickly toss your trash and scraps in while you cook.  I'm pretty sure Rachel Ray made this tip famous but it's one that I use all the time. Although, I have two trash cans strategically located in my kitchen, having this little bowl (or even a plastic grocery sack) within arms reach saves time and makes clean up a lot faster.

5.  These mini flour & sugar mason jars come in handy when I'm preparing a recipe that may call for a small amount of these kitchen staples that usually are sold by the pound!  There's nothing worse than having to pull out a five pound bag of flour when you only need two measly tablespoons.  I keep these little jars with my other common spices so they're always nearby. 

So, there you go!  A few basic kitchen tips from my sweet, southern kitchen.  I know they're pretty elementary but perhaps there are a few new cooks out there that will find them useful or inspiring. Do you have any kitchen tips you'd like to share?  Feel free to post your favorites in a comment below!

My First Peach Cobbler

I made my first peach cobbler.  I made my first peach cobbler and it was delicious!  I know, I know, cobbler's are virtually fool proof but I am not a baker.  Baking is an art that I am far from mastering.  I can cook fairly well but as I stated in my previous post, Recipe Rebellion, I tend to get creative halfway through the process.  This does not work well with baking where measurements need to be more precise.  So anytime I actually bake something and it comes out remotely edible, I am very proud of myself.

Now, I know that a peach cobbler seems like an obvious choice for a blog titled, "Your Southern Peach" and I apologize for my apparent lack of creativity.  However, we are in the middle of peach season here in Georgia and it's one of my husband's favorite desserts so I figured I'd give it a shot.

After much time scouring the Internet for the perfect recipe, I finally grabbed my nearby copy of "The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook" by Paula Deen. (I know.  She's an obvious choice too, but hey, the woman can cook and there's no doubt that she is Southern!)  I like Paula's recipes because they're approachable and not pretentious.  At this time in my life, being a mom to two young boys, I'm looking for recipes that are simple yet delectable.  This one fit the bill!  Here it is, straight from the cookbook.

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 self-rising flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• One 28-ounce can sliced peaches in syrup, undrained (See variations below for fresh peaches)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put butter in deep baking dish and place in oven to melt.  Mix sugar and flour; add milk slowly to prevent lumping.  Pour over melted butter.  Do not stir.  Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup.  Still do not stir; batter will rise to top during baking.  Bake 30 to 45 minutes.  Good with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. 


VARIATION:  When available, fresh fruit is wonderful.  You may use fresh blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, cherries, apples, peaches, or pears.  Simply clean, peel, and core 2 cups (Your Southern Peach thinks it should be 3 cups) of fruit and mix with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water.  In a saucepan, bring mixture to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Stir often, making sure sugar is completely dissolved.  Substitute this for the canned peaches.

Of course I used fresh Georgia peaches rather than canned peaches.  The recipe calls for 2 cups of peaches but next time, I would slice closer to 3 cups total.  The two key factors for success with this recipe are using self-rising flour and not stirring the batter.  The end result was very good!  The crust was more soft and cake-like versus crisp and flaky.  I served it to my husband with low-fat vanilla yogurt and he went back for seconds which is the greatest compliment a cook can receive!  I would love to try some variations of cobbler so if you have a recipe you'd like to share, send it over to me.  There's still six weeks left in peach season and I plan on making the most of it.


Your Southern Peach