Wednesday, June 28, 2006

More recipes


This gorgeous graphic is by Abby at Little Birdie Blessings
Well, just in case anyone thought that all I cooked over the weekend was breakfast, I thought I’d better report with the true information. The ministry team members were fed lunch and dinner at the church, but different folks contributed necessary food items. My assignments were: for Thursday night, dessert for 20. For Friday night, a gelatin salad for 20 and, again, dessert for 20. I needed to get the items to the church a day or two ahead of time, so I chose a frozen dessert -- Heavenly Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert (appropriate for a church function!) -- for Thursday night and a refrigerated dessert (a cheesecake-like torte with fruit) for Friday night. I tried a new salad recipe for Friday night -- Raspberry Applesauce Salad.
In addition, I had to prepare something to share at a family reunion on Saturday. For that, I made a layered fruit salad in a jar (transferred to a bowl for serving so the fruit could be mixed) and a batch of my favorite blond brownies.

I’m going to share all except for the torte recipe here. I don’t have it typed out and it is rather lengthy, but if anyone is interested, just let me know and I’ll post it later. Now, to the recipes!

HEAVENLY ICE CREAM SANDWICH DESSERT

12 ice cream sandwiches
12 ounces of frozen whipped topping, thawed
1/2 pkg. toffee bits (made by Hershey’s, found near the chocolate chips in the baking aisle)
Chocolate ice cream topping to drizzle on when serving

Line a 13x9-inch pan with ice cream sandwiches, cutting to fit if necessary. Spread the whipped topping over the ice cream sandwiches, then sprinkle the toffee bits over the topping. Freeze for 6-8 hours or overnight (or longer).
When ready to serve, cut the dessert in squares. Drizzle chocolate topping on decoratively when serving. Yield: 10-12 servings.

RASPBERRY APPLESAUCE SALAD

6 ounces raspberry gelatin mix (either one 6-oz. pkg. or 2 3-oz. ones)
2 cups boiling water
3 cups frozen unsweetened whole raspberries
2 cups applesauce.

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in the frozen raspberries until thawed, Stir in applesauce. Pour into a glass bowl or dish -- about 2-quart size. Chill for 4-5 hours. Yield: 8-12 servings.

LAYERED FRUIT SALAD

Fruits of your choice, cut in bite-size pieces if necessary
Orange juice
Sugar
Vanilla

Layer the fruits of your choice in a jar, measuring the fruit as you go. I used blueberries, strawberries, canned pineapple chunks, frozen peach slices, cantaloupe balls, watermelon chunks, red grapes, and kiwi slices. For every 4 cups of fruit, make the following syrup: Shake together in a jar 1 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Pour this over the fruit. Chill the fruit salad overnight before serving. (Note: I had about 16 cups fruit, but I did not quadruple the syrup. A double batch of the syrup was plenty.) Tote the salad to your event in the jar -- it looks so classy -- but transfer it to a bowl before serving and serve with a slotted spoon. The number of servings will depend on the amount of fruit you use.

BEST BLOND BROWNIES

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup vanilla chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped almonds, divided use

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix well. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the vanilla chips, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup chopped almonds. Spoon into a greased 13x9” baking pan; spread dough to evenly cover bottom of pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup almonds on top. Bake at 350ยบ for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Yield: 2 dozen.

These blond brownies truly are the best. They are so easy, and I like the fact that they only call for 1/2 cup butter. The almonds add a very nice crunch. These are very quick to make and take along to a potluck or a friend’s house.

Enjoy these recipes!

2 comments:

  1. Wow, you know how to make all kinds of delicious things! I'm intrigued by the rasberry applesauce and the fruit in a jar.....I'm not quite sure I understand it.....is it for ease of transport?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, it really does simplify transporting the fruit salad. We had to drive 1.5 hours to another state for the reunion. I put the jar in a large ziplock bag (just in case it leaked, but it didn't) and then in one of those insulated bags you can buy in the frozen food aisle at Walmart (keeping the jar upright, with the handles of the bag facing up). It traveled well and stayed nice and cold.

    I think the main reason for the jar, however, is that it looks pretty with all the different layers of fruit. You could accomplish the same general effect, perhaps, with a glass trifle bowl, but it wouldn't transport very well. A covered Tupperware® bowl wouldn't serve the purpose at all -- it just wouldn't be pretty. This jar of fruit looks so nice that you could even use it as a centerpiece at your event prior to serving it. I'm going to do just that tomorrow at a brunch with several friends. Because it's a small group, I'm not going to fill the jar completely -- and I'm going to experiment with just serving it straight from the jar using a slotted spoon. We'll see!

    Hope you have fun with the recipes!

    ReplyDelete

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