Beignets

231. Recently we had the wonderful experience of tasting freshly made, hot, New Orleans Beignets!

Puffy little fried dough with three sweet, luscious sauces to compliment these little babies.

When they arrived at our table, they were piled high in a wonderful napkin basket and dusted with powdered sugar.

When I broke open the first beignet, a puff of steam escaped and the smell was intoxicating! I just sat and smelled the beignet...I just couldn't get enough of the wonderful smell. And then the first bite. How can fried dough taste so good?

They arrived with three sauces, a chocolate sauce, raspberry sauce and a white cream whisky sauce. The raspberry sauce was my favorite!

If you have the opportunity to dine at a Grand Lux Cafe, make sure you order the New Orleans Beignets. The experience is unforgettable!!

1. (n.) beignet a square doughnut or fritter dusted with powdered sugar.

~Etymology: (1830-35, Amer.;

Banana Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

202. With a couple of over ripe bananas and a craving for something sweet and yummy, I decided to make Banana Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling.

My recipe is developed from several different recipes but the key is the Chobani Greek Yogurt. It adds such great texture and delicious flavor.

Banana Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

1 stick butter, 1/2 cup

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 over ripe bananas

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

6 oz Chobani Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup milk

Cream butter and brown sugar till pale, about 3 minutes. Add bananas, egg and vanilla. Blend together well. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. Blend together yogurt and milk in a separate bowl. Alternate adding flour then liquids twice till all ingredients are incorporated. Do not over mix.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool.

Filling:

1 8oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

5 cups confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

milk, add as desired to achieve right consistency of filling

Mix all together till smooth. Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Assemble cookies by matching cookies that are the same size. Pipe a generous amount of filling onto bottom of one cookie and top with another.

"C is for cookie, it's good enough for me;

oh cookie cookie cookie starts with C."

~ Cookie Monster, Sesame Street

Pandan Cake Roll

197. This past holiday we enjoyed so many delicious desserts and sweets from friends and loved ones. The most unique was a Pandan Cake Roll.

This cake was very light, fluffy and had a unique taste, one I have never experienced before. Our friends have a Philippine heritage and we so enjoy when they share these yummy treats with us! The Pandan Roll was light green with the texture of an angel food cake. Last Christmas they treated us to an Ube Cake Roll which was purple in color, see this post.

To learn a little more about the origin of this cake I went online. I found out that the flavor for the cake comes from the leaf juice of the Pandanus amaryllifolius. Some bakers may not have this plant but will use the Pandanus extract and add green food coloring to achieve the correct taste and look.

I found quite a few recipes for a Pandan Cake Roll. This recipe at ISOHungry's Blog looked delicious.

A cup of tea and a beautiful slice of Pandan Cake Roll was a treat.

I realized that in the Philippine culture Pandan flavoring is used in other sweet treats such as Pandan flavored icepops, drinks and cookies or cakes.

"When someone asks if you'd like cake or pie,

why not say you want cake and pie?"

~Lisa Loeb

Caramel Apples

183. One of the easiest and most fulfilling fall treat is caramel apples. If you haven't made caramel apples, you need to. Kraft has made it so simple with a microwave recipe on the package of caramels.

I was watching the new Food Network program on Sundays with Anne Thornton called "Dessert First". *LOVE* She shows her recipe for making caramel sauce.

You could make your own or grab a couple bags of caramel squares at the market.

You just unwrap all the caramels then add a little water, microwave and stir till desired consistency.

I like to add extra goodies like nuts, chocolate chips and sprinkles to my apples.

You can choose to coat them up to the stick or just along the sides.

Then let the caramel rest a few minutes.

This batch was dipped in melted dark chocolate and then dipped in toasted walnuts or sprinkles.

What a delicious gift or slice them and place on a dessert plate for Thanksgiving dessert.

When was the last time you made caramel apples????

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

~ George Bernard Shaw