Baking Supplies

Banana Cream Pie with Granola Pie Crust

11 · Apr 23, 2015 · 1 Comment

+ This Banana Cream Pie with Granola Pie Crust is brought to you by Nature Valley™ +

I have a husband who adores banana cream pie… Well he adores almost any kind of pie really, but he especially loves banana Cream Pie. I was thinking the other day, wouldn’t banana cream pie taste incredible with a granola crust?!

Think about it, it’s almost like a oatmeal type cookie with banana cream on top… Sounds kind of good huh?

I set about experimenting and sure enough, granola is a super delicious way to make pie crust. It’s just like your standard graham cracker crust, just with granola.

I decided to use my favorite kind of granola, Nature Valley™ Protein Granola Honey Oats. It seemed like a good fit for banana cream pie. However, think on this… What about a chocolate cream pie with Nature Valley™ Protein Oats N’ Dark Chocolate or a chocolate peanut butter cream pie with Nature Valley™ Peanut Butter Granola as the crust. You’re starting to get it aren’t ya?

Here’s another thought… When you make pie crust out of Nature Valley™ Protein Granola, you get all of that added protein when you are eating your tasty pie. That’s kind of a win in my books!

Here’s how you make it…

Preheat the oven to 350˚.

I took one bag of Nature Valley™ Protein Oats N’ Honey and one stick of melted butter. Put the granola into a food processor or blender and turn your granola into almost like a granola flour. Pour in the melted butter to soften up the granola and help it stick together. Pour the mixture into your pie plate.

Using the bottom of a measuring cup, gently press the mixture into a crust form.

Place the crust in the oven at 350˚ for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. In the meantime, mix up your filling.

I used a Jell-O Banana Cream Pie pudding mix, along with bananas and some heavy whipping cream for the filling part of my pie. Mix pudding according to package directions and place in refrigerator to fully set. Slice bananas into the bottom of the cooled crust and then pour pudding mixture on top.

Mix up some fresh homemade whipped cream using this recipe for Chantilly whipped cream, it’s lovely.

Place your whipped cream into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and place little whipped cream stars all over the top of your pie…

This is super simple, yet totally stunning!

The crust just turns into something truly scrumptious. You should give it a try.

What kind of pie would you make with a granola crust?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Nature Valley Protein Granola via Burst Media. The opinions and text are all mine.

Mango and Lime Cookies

6 · Apr 19, 2015 · 2 Comments

+ This Mango and Lime Cookies post brought to you by Pillsbury Baking +

This weekend we had a going away party for a good friend of ours. He’s getting ready to head off to the wilds of Eugene, Oregon for two years to serve an LDS mission and we couldn’t be more thrilled for him. We had a bunch of friends over to spend the evening and I was crazy busy getting things ready for the event. I knew I needed some kind of treat to share, BUT… I didn’t have a whole lot of time to spare in the kitchen whipping up all kinds of goodies.

One of my favorite easy go-to treats are cake cookies. They are SUPER easy to throw together and they are always so tasty. All you need are four ingredients… One box of cake mix, 2 sticks of butter, a little flour & 1-2 eggs. Yep, that’s it!!

The great thing is… Thanks to Pillsbury Baking, we aren’t limited to chocolate or vanilla!!!!

I used to be a total chocoholic until I became pregnant with my little guy over 5 years ago. For some reason my love of chocolate shifted to a love of fruity type desserts. Most especially citrus and tart desserts. I could pass on a chocolate cake at that point, but a lemon bar was my kryptonite!

Even after my pregnancy my fruity love remained and I’m always thrilled to find some fun new ways to create some fruity goodies.

The folks at Pillsbury Baking have been working on all kinds of innovative flavors and this spring they have released two new flavors, Mango and Lime.

Now I’ve tried these types of cake mixes before and they have always been too sweet without enough tart flavor. That’s why I LOVE this type of dessert, I love a little tart kick. I was thrilled when I tried these mixes this week and they had an amazing flavor. The mango cookies tasted like MANGO!

AND the lime cookies tasted just like luscious LIME!

I was SOOO EXCITED!! They are just like summer on a plate!

Here’s how you mix-up your cake cookies…

Mango & Lime Cookies Recipe

Preheat oven to 350˚

2 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature

1 box of either Mango or Lime cake mix

1-2 eggs

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

In the bowl of your electric mixer whip your butter until it’s nice and fluffy. Slowly add your cake mix and cream the butter and cake mix together. Add your eggs. If you like a flatter cookie add only one egg. If you like a fluffier cookie add two eggs. We tend to like the fuller, fluffier cookie at our house so we add two eggs. Mix that together with the butter and cake mix. Slowly add 2/3 cup of flour. Once mixed, scoop your cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

I use a one ounce scoop when I am baking cookies and they always bake evenly and generally come out more uniform which I like. Bake the cookies at 350˚ for 11-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. This will yield 22 1 oz. cookies.

I frosted my cookies with the Mango and Lime frosting from Pillsbury Baking and then topped the mango cookies with white sprinkles and the lime cookies with lime zest which added to the lime flavor.

If you’re feeling super crazy, you can grab some Dickinson’s® Lime Curd from the store and make a lovely lime curd cookie.

After the cookies bake, gently press down the center of the cookie with your thumb and spread a little lime curd into the thumbprint. Again I top it with a little lime zest. Now, this is my favorite way to eat these cookies! Like I said… I LOVE tart treats!

Now that you are in the mood for all kinds of summerie treats, you’ll have to visit Pillsbury Baking on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram for all kinds of inspiration!

Orange Honey Butter Spread with Melt Organic

5 · Jan 14, 2015 ·

+ Orange Honey Butter Spread Recipe brought to you by Melt® Organic +

This is one of my favorite culinary times of year… Citrus Season! I don’t know about you, but I love the oranges this time of year. They are like candy and I just can’t get enough of them. Which is probably good since we all seem to be fighting the cold and flu war this time of year, a little extra vitamin C is perfect! I thought a lovely Orange Honey Butter would be a great addition to a brunch table.

Recently, I was invited to try a new product out on the market called Melt® Organic. It’s this really cool “butter like” spread that has all the stuff we love about butter, but it’s packed full of healthier fats and it’s dairy and soy free. I would have to say I was a little skeptical at first. Can this product made out of a blend of organic coconut, flaxseed, canola, palm fruit & sunflower oils really have the taste and creamy texture of butter? I decided to put it to the test.

First test, compound butter… Last Christmas, for my neighbor gifts, I made some lovely compound butters. I whipped together some honey, garlic & berry butters, packaged them up and gave them to my friends and neighbors for holiday gifts. They were a hit.

I wanted to give this idea a go with this new Melt® Organic product. I whipped it up the very same way, I place roughly 6 oz. basically half a container of Melt® Organic into my mixer with roughly 1 heaping tablespoon of orange marmalade.

Then whip the two together really well. Place in a small jar and serve immediately or store in the refrigerator and use as needed. It turned out beautifully!

I whipped up some black cherry butter spread with the other half of my container and I was all set for a lovely brunch.

What I LOVE about the Melt® Organic is that it is GMO-free and it’s helping get my healthy fats in the right way. Here’s the skinny about Melt® Organic…

Ideal balance of Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids – 2:1
Good daily source of Omega 3 ALA’s at 425 mg – 26% RDA per serving
Good daily source of Vitamin E – 15% RDA per serving
Certified USDA Organic and OU Kosher Pareve
Verified non-GMO by the Non-GMO Project
Absolutely no hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils
Trans Fat Free
Gluten Free
Soy Free
Dairy Free
Vegan
No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives

Not bad if you ask me!

The next test… Baking Cookies.

I mixed up a batch of our favorite Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Cookies with Melt® Organic rather than butter. They mixed up beautifully and baked even better. My family didn’t even notice the difference.

I noticed a difference knowing that even though cookies aren’t exactly health food, and fat is still fat, I felt better knowing that the cookies they were eating were made from healthier fats. You can grab this recipe HERE, just substitute the Melt® Organic for the butter.

The next test… I sautéd some corn with Melt® Organic and I really liked that much better than butter. You still have the butter flavor without all the yucky fats. My family loved this test too.

All in all, my experience with Melt® Organic has been super positive and we have been converted for sure!

Click HERE to find a store near you that carries Melt® Organic. You can generally find it in the organic dairy section of your local super market. If not, you can always order it online. Grab some and give it a spin, tell me what you think!

MELT® Organic is a line of luscious, organic spreads made from healthy oils for butter lovers seeking a much healthier alternative, available in Rich & Creamy (original), Honey, and NEW Chocolate.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of MELT Organic. The opinions and text are all mine.

English Toffee Cinnamon Bun Sweet Cake + Easy Neighbor Gift

14 · Dec 17, 2014 · 3 Comments

+ English Toffee Cinnamon Bun Sweet Cake post brought to you by Pillsbury Baking +

We’re hitting crunch time friends! Christmas is about a week away. Have you figured out what you are giving your neighbors and friends this Christmas season? I have a super easy and super sweet gift idea for you… English Toffee Cinnamon Bun Sweet Cakes!

Uh yes… YUM!!

This is just a simple and scrumptious box cake mix and prepared frosting from my favorite folks at Pillsbury Baking. They have done all the hard work of making it perfect… All you have to do is bake it and make it look amazing!

Here is what you need…

Yep, that’s it. Well… You will need eggs and oil for the cake, but other than that, this is it.

I also found these great baking cups at Target that come with a clear lid. Super Cute and easy to use. You can find it in the baking section at Target.

Mix up your cake according to the package directions and fill you baking cups 1/2 way.

Place in a 350˚ oven for 19-20 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool. If you would like a flat top to decorate, carefully cut-off the dome with a serrated knife.

Using a Jumbo Closed Star Decorating Tip, and a pastry bag… Pipe some simple stars on the top of your little sweet cakes.

Next, in a Ziplock bag, add some English Toffee. Using something heavy item like a rolling pin or meat tenderizer, take out some aggression and crush your toffee. Sprinkle on top of the sweet cakes and you’re finished!

All you need to do now is package your sweet treats.

I place the lid on the sweet cakes and then wrap with a ribbon. Then I add a fun gift tag that I created for this Holiday Season.

You can download the gift tag HERE

I’ve printed the tag on kraft paper, but you can use whatever you like. All I did was tie it onto a stack of sweet cakes and we were ready for delivery!

It can’t get any easier than that. The cool thing is you can customize it for each family.

One box of cake mix will make 10 little sweet cakes. You will need two cans of frosting for that application. Stack them in 2’s and 3’s and it’s a fun new way to share some Christmas Cheer!

For a Savory gift tag option… Check-out this post.

How fun will it be to combine the two?!

Disclaimer // This post is sponsored by Pillsbury Baking. All thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own. However, I want you all to know that I will never promote a product or company that I do not love and use in my normal day to day life.

Baking Supplies

Mango & Lime Cookies Recipe

You can download the gift tag HERE

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