Caramel Pull-A-Parts

Caramel Pull-A-Parts are sometimes called Monkey Bread. It's a simple, very easy snack to make. My family used to make a batch for car trips, and we would stop at a rest area and have them for a picnic breakfast. Bread + gooey caramel + finger food...what's not to love? For my little household, I just make enough for an 8 x 8 pan, but you can easily double it, and the baking and rise times stay the same.

Okay, here's what you need:

1 loaf frozen white bread dough (thawed)

1/4 cup margarine

1 small package cook & serve vanilla pudding

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

Thaw the bread dough, but don't allow it to raise. Grease an 8 x 8 pan. Tear half the bread loaf into small pieces and drop in the bottom of the pan.

In a small pan, melt margarine. Then add vanilla pudding, cinnamon, milk, and brown sugar. Beat until smooth.

Pour over torn up bread in pan.

Tear second half of the bread loaf, and throw on top. Try to get them in any empty spaces you might have from the bottom layer.

Raise for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Bake at 375* for about 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

Let cool for 10 - 15 minutes and then turn out onto foil. Try to get it turned out before the caramel really sets and cools too much in the pan. 

Strawberry Pie

This is a nice simple strawberry pie recipe. The crust is easy to make and doesn't need to be rolled out! This does take 4-5 hours to set, so plan ahead!

Here's what you will need:

4 cups Strawberries
1 box Strawberry Junket
1 cup Flour
1 stick Margarine
2 T. Sugar

Start by combining the flour, sugar and margarine in a food processor (or by hand). Pulse until the mixture is crumbled, and pour into pie plate.

Loosely pat the mixture down with your hands to the shape of the plate.

Bake crust at 325* for 15-20 min or until golden brown. Then set aside, and slice the strawberries.

Once all of the strawberries are sliced, cook the Strawberry Junket while following the "Pie Glaze" recipe on the back of the package. It will start out neon pink like this:

As it nears a boil, it will get much darker, and end up like this:

Let the glaze cool slightly, and then fold in the sliced strawberries. Pour the strawberries and glaze into the crust, and refrigerate until the glaze is fully set. Serve and enjoy!

Text Only:

Ingredients:

4 cups Strawberries
1 box Strawberry Junket
1 cup Flour
1 stick Margarine
2 T. Sugar

Directions: 

1.) Preheat oven to 325*
2.) Combine flour, sugar, and margarine in food processor until small crumbs form.
3.) Loosely pat crumbs into pie plate and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
4.) Slice strawberries
5.) Cook Strawberry Junket according to package directions for Pie Glaze.
6.) Cool glaze slightly, and gently fold in strawberries.
7.) Add Strawberries to crust, and chill in fridge until fully set.

Yucca Bread

I visited Ecuador last year and while I was there, I discovered a few foods that I really wish were found everywhere here in the US. One of those foods is plantain chips...amazing (especially when stuck in a traffic jam in the Amazon). Another is yucca bread. Yucca bread is a cheesy bread served warm and usually with yogurt in Ecuador. Variations of yucca bread can be found in a lot of other countries, and under many different names. The base of yucca bread is yucca flour, which comes from yucca root. Yucca flour is also called Tapioca flour. What this all really means, is that it can be difficult to find yucca flour. I went to many different stores looking for it, and I ended up finding it at Whole Foods, and later at Fry's in the organic/healthy food section. As a bonus, it's gluten free.

This is pretty simple and quick to make. Here's what you need:

1 1/4 cups yucca flour

2 cups "Queso Fresco" cheese (or grated mozzarella cheese)

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

4 tbsp butter, room temperature

1 egg

Start by crumbling the Queso Fresco into small, pea sized or smaller pieces. If you're using grated mozzarella, then skip this step.

Combine the cheese, yucca flour, baking powder, and salt until well blended. Add in the butter and egg, and continue mixing until a ball starts to form. Form the dough into a ball.

If you're not baking the bread right away, you can store the dough in the fridge for a day. I've accidently let it sit for 2 days, and although it was a bit hard to break up, it baked just fine. If baking right away, preheat the oven to 500°F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter, and then place them on the cookie sheet about 1 inch apart from each other.

Bake for about 7-10 min, and keep an eye on them after 7 minutes. Take them out of the oven when the tops are golden brown, and enjoy them while they're warm! If you have a few left over, reheat them before eating them because they may be a bit hard.  

Text Only:

Yucca Bread

Adapted from: Laylita's Recipes 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups yucca flour

2 cups Queso Fresco cheese (or grated mozzarella cheese)

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

4 tbsp butter, room temperature

1 egg

Directions:

1.) Crumble Queso Fresco into small pieces.

2.) Combine cheese, yucca flour, baking powder, and salt until well blended.

3.) Add in the butter and egg, and continue mixing until a ball starts to form.

4.) Form the dough into a ball.

5.) Preheat oven to 500°F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

6.) Roll the dough into small balls and place on cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.

7.) Bake for about 7-10 min, rolls are done when the tops are golden brown.

Oreo Truffles

I’m not sure how I managed to live over two decades without ever hearing about Oreo Truffles. They are perhaps one of the most simple and decorative desserts that one can make. They don’t require a lot of ingredients, dishes, or prep time; however, the results are delicious. These make a great snack for parties!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 – 16 oz package of Oreos (regular, not double stuffed)

8 oz Cream Cheese (I use reduced fat cream cheese and they still turn out great)

Almond Bark – chocolate or vanilla flavored

Chocolate Chips – chocolate and white chocolate

Directions:

First, you need to crush all of the Oreos. This is a great way to let stress out. I usually put all of the Oreos into a gallon sized Ziploc bag, and then use a rolling pin to crush the Oreos into crumbs. When you are done crushing the Oreos, put them in mixing bowl. Here’s what my finished Oreo crumbs looked like:

Next, add in the 8 oz of cream cheese and mix with a hand mixer until well blended like this:

Now the messy part...form the Oreo mixture into 1 inch diameter spheres and place them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. After you are done forming them, pop them in the fridge for about an hour so that they can firm up.

Right before you take the truffles out of the fridge, start melting the chocolate for the coating. I like to use Almond Bark because it won't melt in your hands when you're eating the truffles. Melt about 3-4 squares of Almond Bark with a handful of matching chocolate chips at a time, you can always melt more as you go if you run out. I've discovered the hard way that if I just use Almond Bark, it doesn't glide over the truffles nearly as well as it does when I add in a few chocolate chips to the mixture. This is also why there isn't an exact amount of chocolate chips to add in, just toss about 1/4 of a cup in to help make the mixture smoother and more elastic.

Coat the truffle and then transfer it back to the cookie sheet. Once they're all coated, put them back in the fridge to assist in hardening the coating.

 Meanwhile, melt a contrasting color of chocolate to drizzle on the top. For this, just melt chocolate chips, no Almond Bark, because the chocolate chips are a softer chocolate that's easier to drizzle. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly and then put it in a decorating bag or if you don't have one handy, you can cut a very small corner off of a sandwich bag and use that.  Then, just drizzle the chocolate over the top of the truffles, let it cool/set, and you're all done!

I usually get about 50 truffles, more or less, depending on how many Oreos I sample for quality testing before I start. ;) Store these in an airtight container in the fridge.

The possibilities with these can be endless. You don't have to make spheres, you can make them whatever  shape you want! I made football truffles for the Super Bowl, and they were a big hit.

Text Only Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 – 16 oz package of Oreos (regular, not double stuffed)

8 oz Cream Cheese (I use reduced fat cream cheese and they still turn out great)

Almond Bark – chocolate or vanilla flavored (about 6-8 oz)

Chocolate Chips – chocolate and white chocolate (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of each)

Directions:

1.) Crush Oreos into small crumbs; place in mixing bowl.

2.) Add 8 oz. cream cheese, mix until well blended.

3.) Roll into 1 in diameter spheres or other shape of choice.

4.) Refrigerate truffles for one hour.

5.) Melt 3-4 oz of Almond Bark with about 1/2 cup of matching color chocolate chips.

6.) Dip truffles in chocolate and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet.

7.) Refrigerate until set.

8.) Melt contrasting color chocolate chips (about 3/4 cup); fill decoating bag

9.) Drizzle chocolate over truffles; allow truffles to set in fridge.

10.) Store truffles covered in refrigerator.   

Enjoy!