Tag Archives: dessert

Cherry Danish Cookies aka Little Bites of Heaven

These are little bites of heaven I tell ya’ll.  When I saw this recipe come across my Pinterest feed the other day, I knew I would have to give them a try, even though I am baking impaired and have difficulty with any kind of dessert that requires me to make dough and then roll it out.  I love Six Sister’s Stuff recipes and have had lots of success with them.  If you don’t follow their blog, you should.  They are sisters who share a blog and stay connected through blogging recipes.   Having 3 sisters myself, I can definitely relate.  We all love to cook and when I make a recipe that one of them gave me in the past, or we enjoyed together, I feel a connection with them no matter where they are or how long it has been since I have seen them.  It is funny how a special recipe can do that.  How words written on a page can transcend space and time and bring you right back to a special time?  I love that about recipes.  So I really love Six Sisters’ Stuff and enjoy their recipes.  This is one that they posted and they were dead on about how these taste exactly like a cherry Danish, but in bite sized form.  They are so delicious and not hard at all to put together.  You need to make the dough ahead of time as it is best to let it chill in the fridge for a few hours at least.  It makes it much easier to work with.  After that though, there is not much to it.  And for me, the non Martha Stewart, to say this…you should know I mean that.  I am easily intimidated by dough and this is totally doable.  My two princesses and I were left to our own devices this weekend (heaven forbid) while the boys went hunting.  Somehow, we muddled through.  We made up a batch of these tasty treats and we enjoyed the results.  We did manage to save some for the boys though.  We are sweet like that.  But not nearly as sweet as these little gems.  So, if you love Danish, you definitely want to give these a try.  I think you will be happy with the results!!! ~AMB

Cherry Danish Cookies (adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff http://www.sixsisterstuff.com

Stuff you Need:

Cookies:

1 cup butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 Tablespoon milk

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 can cherry pie filling

For Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

What to Do with the Stuff:

For the Cookies:

In a large bowl or bowl of your standing mixer, cream together butter, cream cheese, milk and sugar.  Beat in egg yolk.  In a medium size bowl, combine flour and baking powder.  Gradually add flour mixture into the butter cream cheese mixture, beating after each addition to make a stiff dough.  Cover with saran wrap and allow the dough to chill  in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.  As I said, the dough is easier to work with when it is chilled.

Once dough has chilled, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  On a pasty mat, roll out dough to about 1/4 ” thickness.  Using a 2 ” round cutter, cut out the rounds of dough.  Make an indention in the center of each circle, and add about 1 tsp. of cherry pie filling (I am trying blueberry as well next time…mix it up a bit) to the center.  Place each one on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 10-12 minutes.  Cool completely before drizzling with glaze.

For Glaze:

Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk.  If it is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.  If it is too thick, add a little milk.  You get the idea.  Now, in the original recipe, they say some nonsense about adding the glaze to a sandwich bag and snipping a little corner off to drizzle the glaze over the cookies.  Ummm…Cajun Mama ain’t got time for that.  Or maybe I am too lazy.  Either way, I got some glaze on my little whisk and then kind of tapped it on the edge of the bowl and then kind of waved my whisk over the cookies like it was a magic wand and the glaze was fairy dust.  I was the powerful Princess Glaze and those cookies were my royal subjects.  Ha ha!!!  Spending all weekend with just my girls has obviously given me a princess complex.  What’s a Mama to do?  Anyway, this method worked just fine for me.  Feel free to do your thing!!  As long as that glaze gets on those little bites of heaven, your work here is done.

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Heaven on Earth I tell you!!!  Little bites of Cherry Danish heaven.  

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Whoopie Pie Cake aka the ugliest cake I have ever loved and focusing on what matters

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Martha Stewart I am not…and that is ok

Ok…so we had some good friends over for supper the other night.  Truth is, it would have been far easier to skip having anyone over that day.  We had gone to visit my sister and her family in South LA and got  back into town that afternoon.  But we had been planning on having Chris and Sarah and their kiddos over for a while and Christmas break was almost over.  It is so easy to put things off.  It is so easy to say “oh forget it!”  “I am too tired”  or “another time”.  But we were committed.  I had promised Chris I would make him something good and that includes dessert.  So I got on Pinterest to find the perfect dessert.  I knew what I was making for the main dish so dessert was all that was left.  I got home and got to work on prepping dinner.  I was exhausted ya’ll.  But I was looking forward to dinner with our friends.  As parents of 4 kiddos…we enjoy downtime with just our family.  Just driving down the road with all of us in a vehicle tends to be a little chaotic, so of course we savor our version of calm.  I learned long ago though, that if we were to have any social life at all, we would have to open our home to others.  Is our home clean all of the time?  No.  Is our home a showplace?  No way.  Is our home serene and always pleasant?  Negative Ghostwriter.  Is our home full of energy, laughter and noise?  You bet.  So if you are going to roll with us, know that ahead of time.  Get ready for it and embrace imperfection.  Nothing about my life is perfect.  It is by all accounts…perfectly imperfect.  And finally, finally, I am growing comfortable with this.  I no longer apologize.  We are who we are.  So come on in, feel comfortable and welcome, and grow comfortable with the chaos.  We had our friends over.  We accepted what was and knew as long as everyone ended the evening with a full belly and a happy heart, our mission was accomplished.  We were doing this!!!

So, as the evening went  on, the chicken breasts were so dang big they took too long to cook.  (that is a recipe for tomorrow)  and the cakes I made for the whoopie pie cake were all broken up and I did not cool it long enough because I was in a hurry, so lots of crumbs got into the filling.  Yet, I persisted.  I was making this cake.  Chris comes over and says “Cajun Mama, that cake does not look perfect” (he was joking) and to this I said “this is not Cajun Mama bakes and I am not Martha Stewart”.  Funny but so true.  I hope that I am every cook’s cook.  I do not want to be an example of a cook who does everything perfectly or shows you all only the perfect side of things.  I am all about the imperfect side.  The real stuff.  Because I am real.  If I set that bar so high and make it all look easy, that discourages other and they put so much pressure on themselves.  There is far too much pressure on us as a society to be perfect as it is.  Who needs that?  So…my cake did not look perfect.  BUT, as many things go in my life, it was DELICIOUS!!!  Kiddos raved.  Big Daddy raved.  Our friends raved.  That was all that mattered.  We could have waited to have them over when everything was perfect and I could have made another cake.  That is not me though.  That is not us.  I am above all a realist.  And I know I could wait forever and nothing will be perfect.  There will always be a kink.  Life is busy, mommies get tired, cakes fall apart…but things can still be sweet.  As the saying goes, dip it in chocolate and it will be fine.  This cake is amazing and not too hard and everything good about dessert and life all rolled into one.  Layers of yum!!!  I hope if you make this cake that it turns out beautifully.  Picture perfect.  But in case it doesn’t, persevere.  It is so good, it can be ugly and everyone will love you more.  It is how sweet and tasty the cake is that matters.  Enjoy!!!

Please do not be intimidated by the 3 part recipe.  Every step is easy and painless.  Don’t be deterred by the word ganache.  I almost let this turn me away, but my friend, Sarah, whisked the 2 ingredient ganache together quickly and easily.  This is a delicious, seems as if you worked for hours, special dessert that is in reality easy peasy.  Just do it!!!

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Being together is the sweetest thing of all…sweet friends making sweet memories

Whoopie Pie Cake (adapted from http://cookiesandcups.com)

Stuff you need:

1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Duncan Hines triple chocolate fudge), baked according to package direction plus add one more egg)

Filling:

2 sticks of real butter

2 cups of marshmallow fluff

3 cups of powdered sugar

Ganache topping:

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

What to do with the stuff:

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cake mix according to package directions, adding one egg.  Divide into 2 prepared (greased and floured) 9 x 13 ” pans.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cakes cool completely. (trust Cajun Mama on this one…)

Now make the filling while the cakes are cooling.  In a stand mixer, combine softened butter and marshmallow fluff until smooth.  Try to not stick your fingers in this utterly delicious concoction.  I…um…thought it looked delicious.  Ok, ok, I totally tasted it.  5 times.  MMMM!!  Ok, now add powdered sugar one cup at time, beating after each addition.  Once your cakes are cooled, spread the filling on top of one of the cake layers then place the other cake on top.

Now, make the ganache.  You can so do this.  In a small saucepan, bring the heavy whipping cream almost to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Whisk in chocolate chips until smooth.  Allow this to cool for about 10 minutes and then pour over the cake.  See?  Now matter if there is a crack or 10, pouring this over that broken up cake makes it all better.  Ain’t life sweet?

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Layers of chocolate and yummy filling…how sweet it is