Category Archives: Desserts and Cakes

Pumpkin Custard

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OK, this is not a pretty picture. I know that. Partly because I’m a lousy photographer and partly because mushy brown food is hardly ever attractive.

But you will still love this custard if you love pumpkin pie. I have been making this recipe for about 40 years. It was first presented as a “diet” recipe, but now we just call it healthy and delicious.
I’m not sure where to categorize this. Technically, it could be a vegetable dish. Or a side. Or dessert. Yes, I do love this for dessert, plain or with whipped cream. (Sorry I didn’t have any on hand for the picture.)

whisk in baking dish


Ingredients for Pumpkin Custard
3 eggs
15 oz can pumpkin puree (about 2 cups)
1 cup low fat milk (or almond or soy milk)
1/4 cup Stevia (sugar alternative) (You can skip this and double the brown sugar.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each: nutmeg, cloves, ginger
1/8 tsp salt

test for doneness


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Use a two quart baking dish.
Break the eggs into the baking dish and whisk.
Add pumpkin and the rest of the ingredients.
Whisk until smooth.
Bake 45 – 55 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve warm or cool.

Now whenever you crave pumpkin, you can indulge without ending up looking like a pumpkin.
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Glazed Nuts

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My husband loves his nuts.

mmmmm


Let me rephrase that. Ken just loves nuts – all types of nuts. And I’m not speaking of people, although he DID marry me.

glazed nuts


When he comes home at night, Ken grabs a handful of nuts to tide him over until we have dinner. (Which is usually seconds away.)
The nuts may be roasted and salted, dry toasted, or even raw, in a pinch. It doesn’t matter. Ken loves them all.

sweet gifts


When he saw me getting out big bags of nuts and tossing some into a roasting pan he was very interested. And it was a great and easy experiment.
Much faster than the Mall Nuts I blogged about a few months ago. They required lots of boiling time and then produced a result that was a dentist’s delight – filling crackers.

gift nuts


I was excited to see how easy and addictive these are. I got the inspiration from a magazine, but used only the directions, not the ingredients. The original recipe called for maple syrup, oregano and chilli pepper. No thanks.

I did use some maple syrup, but didn’t want the maple to be a dominant flavor. And I wanted more holiday spices. You could easily double the cinnamon, if you love that spice like we do. I actually made a second batch of these the day after I made the first so I could play with the ingredients and see how much flexibility there is. Turns out, there’s a lot of play with this.

nuts as gifts

Ingredients for Glazed Nuts
2 cups each: Raw walnuts, almonds and pecans
2 TBS maple syrup or agave nectar (I suspect honey would be great too.)
2 TBS light corn syrup
2 TBS canola oil
1 TBS cinnamon
Optional: 1/2 tsp each: nutmeg, ginger, cloves

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place a piece of parchment paper in a large bar sheet or roasting pan.
Toss in the nuts.
In a small bowl, whisk the rest of the ingredients and spices together.
Pour it over the nuts and stir to coat them all.
Bake 15 – 18 minutes.
Stir again when you pull them out of the oven and then again in about 10 minutes to keep them from clumping.
If you didn’t use the parchment paper, turn these out onto waxed paper as they cool.
They will crisp up as they cool, so don’t fret if the nuts are soft as soon as they come out of the oven. (Don’t ask how I know this!)

Enjoy and share with the nut-crazed people in your life. Just don’t serve them in cups and call them “nut cups.” My nutty sons say this isn’t “PC”.

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Banana Almond Chocolate Chip Cake-in-a-Cup – GF

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I’m going nuts. Or should I say bananas? The political ads have bombarded us with fear and loathing for months -years really. But the last six months have been a steady diet of jabs and punches. If you believe all the attack ads you are left to wonder if only crazy people run for public office.

It’s nuts! Bananas! No wonder I’ve been playing with nuts and bananas in my kitchen for an escape from the insanity. That’s my excuse at any rate and I do hope you enjoy this latest cake-in-a-cup.

Banana Almond Chocolate Chip Cake-in-a-Cup is my offering for my friends who need gluten free and who crave a baked dessert. I”ve tasted some of the GF items on the supermarket shelves that were dry and tasteless. I promise this one is moist and fabulous.
And even if you don’t need gluten free, you have my permission to make and enjoy this latest offering from my “Single Serving” collection.

Ingredients
2 TBS slivered almonds (I used honey glazed)
1 egg
1 TBS honey
2 TBS plain or vanilla yogurt
2 TBS almond meal (or almond flour)
1 TBS oats (quick or old fashioned)
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 TBS dark chocolate chips

Directions
Use a glass cup or mug that will hold at least 12 – 16 oz.
Add the nuts to the cup.
Mix the rest of the ingredient in a separate bowl.
Use a fork to mash the bananas into the rest of the ingredients.
Add the chocolate chips last when everything is well blended.
Pour the batter over the nuts before you “bake.”
Bake in a microwave oven 2 – 3 minutes depending on your microwave.
Turn the cake out onto a plate and let it cool for a minute or two before you devour it…if you can.

Enjoy responsibly.
This message has been approved by Nana Clare.

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake-in-a-Cup

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Growing up in the 1950′s and ’60′s we ate cake as if it was health food. And judging from the old cookbooks of the time, everyone was indulging. Sure there were pancakes, coffee cakes, muffins, and cupcakes to go around.

But we punctuated every occasion with a proper cake: devil’s food, angel food, carrot, oatmeal-cinnamon, caramel apple, German chocolate and pineapple upside-down cake.
As the third of eight girls, I did a ton of the baking and I loved making this cake. You melted brown sugar and butter in the bottom of a 9 x 13 cake pan and then placed rings of canned pineapple. The actual cake batter went on top. After it was baked, you tipped it over onto a large platter to show off the succulent pineapple all warm and gooey from the brown sugar.

moist


I recently decided to see if I could create a single serving of this nostalgic dessert. With one exception – I added coconut. My sister Cecelia (#4) didn’t like coconut, so I only added it to baked goods when I was mad at her. But since this is a single serving, I didn’t need to worry that she might drop in and complain about my choices.

coconut is a great addition

delicious

I made several versions of the cake and the one we liked best mimiced the old format of having the pineapple and coconut on the bottom. “Try it…you’ll like it!”

Ingredients for Pineapple Upside Down Cake-in-a-Cup – with coconut
1 tsp butter
3 TBS brown sugar – total
1 TBS coconut
3 TBS canned pineapple tidbits
1 egg
2 TBS yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 TBS flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash salt

Directions
Use a large glass mug that holds 12 – 16 ounces
Put the butter, 1 TBS brown sugar, pineapple and coconut in the bottom of the cup.
In a separate bowl, whisk the rest of the ingredients together with a fork until blended.
Pour the batter into the cup.
Microwave 2 minutes or until done.
Invert onto a plate and admire your work.

Note: If you want to skip a few ingredients, use 3 TBS of your Muggin Mix instead of the flour, salt and baking powder. Using the mix will add more fiber and may put this into the “health food” category.

Also note, this is part of the Single Servings Collection. Here are a few more recipes to try:
Chocolate cake in a cup

Caramel apple cake in a cup

Cinnamon Muggin