Individual Blueberry Pear Crisps!

I am back to blogging after a 4 month break!  I had my sweet baby boy in July and he has quickly won my heart!  I have been spending the majority of my time with him, but now that he is taking longer naps…I am having a bit more time to spend cooking and blogging!  This dessert is simply amazing!  It is a perfect late summer/early fall dish and and a great finish to any meal!  This recipe is very similar to other crisps that I have made with one additional surprise ingredient added to the topping.  I think you will really enjoy it!  Also thanks for sticking with me even though I haven’t posted in awhile!

Turtle Cheesecake Truffles and my One Year Blogiversary Giveaway!

One year ago today I started this blog and it has been a really fun year of trying and sharing new recipes and interacting with all of you wonderful people via this blog!  I have thoroughly enjoyed this year and am looking forward to many more!  I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate one year with at Chocolate Covered Recipe and I chose to feature these Turtle Cheesecake Truffles adapted from Steamy Kitchen’s blog!  I made them for my Mother-in-law’s 60th birthday party and they were a huge hit!  They are easy to make and are absolutely STUNNING on the plate!  They are not overly sweet but are very rich and are perfect for a party!  They also keep very well in the fridge for a couple days if you need to make them ahead of time.

I ALSO thought I would start off my second year of blogging with my first GIVEAWAY!  I am going to make a batch of my Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies for one lucky reader!  The rules are simple:  All you need to do to enter is to be a subscriber of my blog and leave a comment on this post!  I will then randomly pick a winner and contact you via email to find out where to send the cookies!  This giveaway is unfortunately restricted to within the USA.  Good luck to all!

Strawberry Pear Crisp, a delicious improvisation!

Happy Easter!!!

Ok..Easter was yesterday, but as I did not get to wish you all a Happy Easter then…today will have to do!  My husband Chris and I are in the middle of purchasing our first home, and are busy packing up our house while getting everything ready to paint and clean up our new place before we move it!  Saturday is the big move and the only reason I have one single second to put up a blog post is because the closing on our house keeps getting delayed, so we cannot get in the new place yet to start working!

That is also the reason I had time to make this quick, impromptu dessert for our Easter meal yesterday!  I was going to cop out and just buy some ice cream as I had been packing all morning!  However, all you need to make this crisp is flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, lemon juice and FRUIT!!!  Even among the packing I was able to put together a quick topping mixture and then we went by the grocery store to grab some ice cream and any fruit that looked good!  I wanted this dish to be Springy instead of Falley so I didn’t want to make an apple crisp.  The only other fruit that looked ripe and ready for me were the Strawberries and Pears!  SO, I thought…what the heck…lets make a Strawberry Pear Crisp!  And it turns out that Strawberry Pear Crisps are AMAZING!!!

Lemon Meringue Pie

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Lately I have been CRAVING all things lemon and have thus far satisfied this craving with lemon cake, and a lemon Bismark Donut, and Citrus drinks including Lillian’s SLUSH!  As it is a NEW YEAR, I thought I should celebrate the 1st of January with trying something new!  So this was my very first attempt at a Lemon Meringue Pie and all in all I think it turned out great!  I am not a big crust fan and think that next time I will simply make the lemon filling into little individual custards topped with Meringue!  I do know that most people LOVE crust so feel free to make and eat all of the crust you like…with no judgement from me!  This particular filling recipe was adapted from Paula Deen’s Recipe on Food Network.

We had some good friends over to enjoy this pie with us and their little son Cooper even enjoyed a small slice.  Watching his cute little face smile at the first taste and then slowly move into an involuntary pucker was one of the CUTEST things I have ever seen! We were all laughing really really hard watching him eat it, and then he started cracking up too in between bites enjoying the attention!  It was a pretty wonderful and precious moment…all thanks to this pie!  That in itself is a reason to try it!

Soda Cracker Delight…or the easiest “Toffee” you will ever make!

photo by my friend Matt Turner

This is an old school recipe that is still around for a reason…it is awesome!  I believe it has many names and many different versions and this is simply my adaptation.  I will warn you (don’t say I didn’t warn you) it is one of the most addicting desserts ever so you might want to make a couple batches…one for yourself and one to share with others!

I was first introduced to this recipe in high school at my friend’s the Eichler’s house!  Bethany Eichler is one of my oldest and dearest friends and this dessert is one of the many important contributions she has made to my life!  This is really an easy dessert but is impressive both visually and deliciously!  I hope you will try it this holiday season and that it will make a beautiful addition to your dessert table!

Scotcheroos…deadly deliciousness!

I was first introduced to this deadly dessert by my sister-in-law Amy!  This is one of those desserts that is so sO SO good…that I can now only make it when I have somewhere to take at least half of the pan!  If I let the whole pan sit on our counter or in our fridge…the results would not be pretty.  Between my husband and I, there would be…no…survivors.

This is an extremely simple recipe with only 7 ingredients!  It is a Rice Crispy Cereal Recipe and I think it can be found on the side of some of the cereal boxes or on their website!  It is really really good and even though you probably already know how to make this, if I am introducing this to even one person…then it is worth it!

Gooey Gourmet Caramel Apples!

The last installment of my Caramel Apple Series is here!  I know that making Caramel Apples at home is nothing super new or original, but it is really fun and really yummy, and if you have never done it…YOU SHOULD!  The finished products are great for entertaining, sharing, or giving as gifts!

My family lives in Cashmere, WA near Leavenworth, WA.  Growing up, when guests would come to visit us, we would take them to Leavenworth (a quaint Bavarian Village) to do the whole tourist thing!  Part of that experience for my family was stopping by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and each of us getting a little treat!  Often I would get a small Raspberry Caramel, which is one of my FAVORITE things, but sometimes my parents would splurge and get us each one of their gourmet Caramel Apples!  When I was younger, I always went for the Original apple covered with mini chocolate chips…SO GOOD!  As I got older I branched out and found a new favorite!  It is their Apple Pie Caramel Apple.  It is the original Caramel Apple dipped in white chocolate and then rolled in Cinnamon and Sugar!  Something about this particular flavor combo just DOES It for me!  If you have never tried it…it is something you simply MUST try!  I am not a real big White Chocolate Fan, but for some reason in this case I LOVE it!

This was my first attempt at making the Apple Pie Caramel Apple on my own and I have to say, it turned out JUST like the Rocky Mt. Chocolate Factory Apple…but WAY cheaper!  Ok…mine was not QUITE as pretty as theirs, but it tasted just as good!  I made 4 of this particular apple, and took two of them to my friends, the Mumley’s house as a hostess gift, wrapped up in wax paper, cellophane and a pretty ribbon!   Who wouldn’t be happen to get that?  Lucky for Chris and I, they cut up the apples and we all shared them together…yes that was my plan all along!  haha

Caramel Apple Ice Cream

Fall is officially upon us and I have decided to spend the first few weeks of October devoting this blog to all things Caramel Apple! The plan is to start with this ice cream, move on to my caramel apple pie, and finish up with some gourmet Caramel Apples (my favorite!)! I hope you will enjoy this little series as much as we already have…haha!

When developing the recipe, I was working to combine two of my very favorite things, Caramel Apples and Ice Cream. I had never heard of Caramel Apple Ice Cream, and thought I would give it a try. The result was a delicious ice cream that tasted like fall and caramel, and apples, and apple pie and just really good! It is a unique ice cream for sure, but I have a feeling it will become a “Welcome to Fall” traditional food in our house as it really turned out quite yummy! I hope you will enjoy it too and will come back and let me know if you try it!

My family presses fresh apple cider each fall and even though we live in Seattle, they always manage to get a gallon or two of the fresh fall nectar out to me and my husband and we are always very very grateful! I used this fresh cider as part of the ice cream base, but if you don’t have fresh cider, I am sure some store bought would work just fine.