Cream Puffs

I made these Sunday as a sugar free dessert. I made sugar free pudding to put in them, we could choose from butterscotch or chocolate. They were delicious! Yes, they are from a cookbook, but sometimes we don't notice what our cookbooks contain. Hope you all enjoy!

Cream Puffs
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup butter (I used margarine, and some recipes call for shortening instead)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

1. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to boiling. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Cool for ten minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

2. Drop 12 heaping tablespoons (large tablespoons, not teaspoons, and definitely heaping)onto greased baking sheet. (I used parchment paper instead of greasing my baking sheet.) Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden. Transfer cream puffs to a wire rack; cool.

3. Cut tops from puffs; remove soft dough from inside. Fill with pudding (and/or whipped cream, if you are not going for sugar free). If desired, sift powdered sugar over tops.

ENJOY!

Pineapple Upside-Down Muffins

Ok, so these aren't really upside-down muffins, but they sure do the trick if you ever catch yourself craving pineapple upside-down cake. You can make this with a box of yellow cake mix, and I'm sure that it works with any other yellow cake from scratch.

1 box of yellow cake mix
can of pineapple (we did crushed, I'm sure tidbits would work, too)
jar of maraschino cherries
butter
brown sugar

Mix the cake up as directed, BUT instead of using just water, mix pineapple juice from the can with water until you have the directed ammount and use that in the mix. Mix in pineapple and cherries (we sliced them in half). You can really use however much you want, but we used about half the can of crushed pineapple and a little over half the jar of cherries. Bake into cupcakes.

Melt a stick of butter and mix brown sugar in. It should not form a paste--that's too much brown sugar. Drizzle brown sugar/butter mixture on top of cupcakes (this is to make up for the fact that you did not bake the cupcakes upside down soaking in a similar brownsugar/butter mixture). Viola! Easy to make, and they go fast!

Buttercream Frosting

This is a great frosting recipe for cakes and decorating. It works great and is very yummy too. That way it can look good AND taste great too.

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla (can get anywhere Wilton products are sold)

4 cups Powdered Sugar (that is approx. 1/2 of the 2 lb. package)

2 tablespoons milk

Cream together butter and shortening with electric mixer (make sure your butter is not hard, the best is to leave it out to warm). Then add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best, keep in refrigerator until ready to use. In an airtight container, this icing can be stored up to 2 weeks. Re-whip before using. Makes 3 cups. (This recipe can be found in the Wilton 2008 Yearbook, pg. 114)

I have found when mixing in the coloring it is best to use a spatula and do it by hand, if you use the mixer your icing will be whipped too much and be more the consistency of hard cool whip.

those ubiquitous BYU mint brownies

I just pulled this from the BYU Alumni Newsletter. You may already have the recipe or the newsletter, but for those who don't - eat your hearts out!

MAKES ONE 9-BY-13 PAN OF BROWNIES.
PREP AND COOK: 90 min. COOL: 1 hr.
1 c. margarine
1/2 c. cocoa
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
12 oz. chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)

MINT ICING
5 Tbsp. margarine
dash of salt
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. mint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring

1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.

2. Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.

3. Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.

Mango with Sticky Rice

I promise this is really not hard to make. The directions are just very clear. I also learned that you really have to use the sweet rice. I made it with regular Jasmine rice and it was fine, but not the same as the sweet rice. Usually to find the sweet rice, at least down here, you have to go to a Thai store. FYI

1 1/2 cups glutinous (sweet) rice 1 1/3 cups well-stirred canned unsweetened coconut milk
1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large ripe mangoes (chilled whole in refrigerator)*
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted lightly
Edible flowers or mint leaves for garnish

*Try to get yellow-skinned "Manila" mangos, if you can, as the flavor is stronger and more acidic than the green and red-skinned South American varieties. Fresh ripe peaches may be substituted for the mangoes.

To prepare the sticky rice: Working in the sink, put the rice into a large bowl with plenty of water; stir well by hand. When the rice has settled to the bottom, pour off most of the cloudy water, refill and repeat until the water runs fairly clear. Soak the rice in plenty of water (so the water is approximately 2 to 3 inches above the rice) for 6 to 8 hours, preferably overnight (the grains will absorb water and grow in size). When ready to cook, drain rice well in a sieve (I use a cheese cloth). Set sieve over a large deep pot of simmering water (sieve should not touch water) and steam rice, covered with a kitchen towel and a lid, approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until tender (check water level in pan occasionally, adding more hot water if necessary). When rice is translucent and somewhat tender, it's done. NOTE: Can also use a shallow heat-proof dish on the steamer rack. You can also purchase the special sticky rice steam baskets (steaming baskets and pots are available from Asian markets).

While rice is steaming, in a small saucepan bring coconut milk to a slow simmer, stirring constantly (hard boiled coconut milk will curdle). Add sugar and salt; stirring until sugar is dissolved; remove from heat. Keep mixture warm. Reserve approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut-milk sauce; refrigerate until cool and thicken slightly.

Transfer hot cooked rice to a bowl and stir in coconut-milk mixture. Stir well with a spoon to make sure all the grains are well coated. Let rice stand, covered, approximately 20 to 30 minutes, or until coconut-milk mixture is absorbed (the rice should be a little mushy). NOTE: Rice may be prepared up to this point 2 hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature.

Just before serving, peel mangoes and then thinly slice by cutting lengthwise through flesh to the stone; discard the stone. NOTE: Peel the mangoes carefully so as not to bruise the fruit. Slice in half as close to the seed as possible, then slice each half into 1/2-in (1-cm) slices.

Serve at room temperature. To serve, mold 1/4 cup servings of sticky rice in the center of individual dessert plates (an ice cream scoop works wonderfully). Drizzle reserved coconut-milk sauce over the rice mounds and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Arrange mango slices around the rice. Garnish with edible flowers or mint if desired.

NOTE: The finished dish can be kept, covered at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours. Do not refrigerate or the rice will harden!

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

I got this from a friend who got the recipe at http://whatscookingamerica.net/Fruit/MangoStickyRice.htm