Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas

So basically its been super hot lately.  And with that, our need for dessert goes from warm gooey cakes to cold and icy delights.  We decided to create our own version of Trader Joe's Gone Bananas, which are delicious little bite sized  frozen banana chips and chocolate. These Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas are ridiculously simple with only 2 ingredients. Plus even more importantly, Ashley recently got herself a new camera.  One that makes taking pictures of our kitchen creations even more enticing.  So you can be sure that there will be plenty of recipes to come soon!

There are really two ingredients needed.  Bananas and chocolate. 

Start by slicing bananas into small pieces.

Place the slices onto a lined cookie sheet and freeze for 10 mins.

 Meanwhile heat the chocolate in a saucepan over low heat.





Add a small piece of paraffin wax into the saucepan.  Continue stirring until completely melted.

Ashley's Tip: The more wax you use the thinner the chocolate.  If you want the bananas to be covered in a thicker layer of chocolate use less wax.

Use a toothpick to dip the bananas in the chocolate.

Aubree's Note: if the bananas get soft and the toothpicks fall out put them back into the freezer for a few minutes.

Once they are dipped put them back onto the sheet and into the freezer.  Now the patience has to occur--it takes about 30-40 minutes for the bananas to completely freeze.

Super quick and easy, these go even faster with more hands.  Also if you have other fruit laying around the house the chocolate is perfect to cover strawberries and such. 

Recipe

4 Bananas

1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

1 oz parrafin wax

Slice the bananas.  Freeze for 10 minutes.

Melt chocolate in saucepan over medium to low heat.  Add wax.

Use toothpick to dip bananas in chocolate.  Place on cookie sheet.

Freeze for 30-40 minutes.  

Enjoy!

Pirate Cake Pops

Helloooooo SUMMER! Hello to more free time, enjoying that beautiful summer sun, and more baking adventures to please our souls.  Summer is all about relaxing and doing the things that make us happy.  So naturally we had to start this summer off right by making some Cake Pops.  This time around we made little pirates.  They are random but cute and super easy to make.  And most importantly, ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.  If you're unfamiliar with cake pops, 1. Where have you been lately? 2. You can find the step by step guide here.

Start the pirates by using a white colored modeling chocolate as the base.

Let them dry completely before moving on to the next steps.

Separate some red (or whatever color you would like to use as the bandannas) M&Ms and star sprinkles into a small bowl. You will need them before the dipping of the bandannas starts.

This step requires some quick or multiple sets of hands.  Dip half the cake pop into another color like red.

Ashley's Tip: in order to get a smooth top don't tap the cake pops on the rim of the bowl like you would when dipping the entire pop. 

Immediately after dipping, add the M&M and one sprinkle.  They might want to fall off but if you hold them for a few seconds they will stay.

Last step is to add faces with black marker or frosting.  Then these one eyed pirates are ready to eat.  Hope you enjoy them!

Traditional Bruschetta

So the word bruschetta presents a very large challenge for poor old Ashley.  She cannot pronounce it to save her life. So while we were making these traditional bruschetta, there was much fun had at Ashley's expense.  Aubree continuously asked, "What is that?' as Ashley fumbled over sounds and tried to say this word.  It was all good fun.  And in the end, it doesn't matter if you can prounounce bruschetta, as long as you can make it! And luckily for us all, this is one of the easiest recipes ever.  Just a couple incredients, a bit of baking, and you're sinking your teeth into a crunchy Italian classic.
Bon Apetit!

This recipe is quite simple.  Start with tomatoes and basil.

Roll up the basil and finely chop 1/4 cup worth.

Chop two tomatoes and place into a bowl.

Add the basil and 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil.

Slice one loaf of bread and place onto a cookie sheet. Sprinkle garlic salt over each piece.

Grate Parmesan cheese and cover each slice with it.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400F.

Once that cheese is nice and melted, add a small amount of the tomato and basil mixture.

Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

 

When this is finally done, you have warm gooey cheese, soft baked tomatoes and a toasty slice of bread.  The Trifecta!

Enjoy!

Recipe

2 diced tomatoes

1/4 cup finely chopped basil

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1 loaf sourdough bread

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

dash garlic salt

.

Combine tomatoes, basil and olive oil in a bowl.  Add a dash of garlic salt.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Slice bread approx 1-1/2 inches thick.  Lay on cookie sheet.

Sprinkle shredded cheese on one side of bread.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Put a tablespoon of tomato mixture on bread.  Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Low Calorie Red Velvet Cupcakes

Donna from the television show Suits is one of our favorite characters right now.  She is smart, witty, clever, and has her crap together.  In addition, she knows how to make justifications.  Have the skinny Starbucks in order to justify the whipped cream on top.  Well this cupcake is just like that.  We have a lower calorie cupcake  to compensate for the glorious mountain of our Cream Cheese Frosting.  This recipe has been adapted from a Weight Watchers Cookbook and was only 5 points for the entire cupcake.  Add in our cream cheese frosting with this red velvet cupcake is pretty perfect for Valentine's Day.

Start with a few ingredients.  Luckily, most of these should already be in the pantry.

These Low Calorie Red Velvet Cupcakes use sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, flour, unsweetened cocoa, baking soda, salt, low-fat buttermilk, red food coloring, white vinegar, vanilla extract and almond extract.


Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup  and 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil.  Add two eggs, one at a time and beat until creamy after each egg.

In a separate bowl, combine 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 2 cups flour.

For the flour, spoon flour into a measuring cup and then level off with a knife.

Combine 1 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon red food coloring, 2 teaspoons white vinegar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in a separate bowl.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately to the sugar mixture.

Be sure to start and end with the flour mixture.

Ashley's Tip: To spoon the batter in evenly use a 1/4 measuring cup.  It's makes the process easier. 

Bake the cupcakes at 350F for 16-18 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Top with some cream cheese frosting (our favorite recipe found here). 

Make sure to enjoy these red velvet cupcakes without feeling too guilty!!!

 

Recipe

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup and 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup low fat buttermilk

1 tablespoon red food coloring

2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Cream Cheese Frosting 

Combine sugar and vegetable oil in a large bowl.  Add in eggs one at a time, beating until creamy after each egg.

In a separate bowl, add flour (spoon into measuring cup), cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  

Combine in a medium bowl buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and both extracts. 

Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternatively into sugar mixture.  Start and end with the flour mixture.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups.  

Bake at 350F for 16 -18 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.

Top with Cream Cheese Frosting and enjoy!

Caramel Covered Pretzel Sticks

Our grandmother has turned into a teenager.  She has become someone with a million different nicknames and frankly we can't keep up.  In December her nickname on our presents was "Granny J."  Where this came from, don't ask us.  Then there's our nickname for her when we're texting- "Gma" and lastly the good old "Grandma" because we're classy like that. She is not only responsible for many good times, but is also responsible for these Caramel Covered Pretzel Sticks.  We know what you're thinking: Caramel AND drizzled chocolate? That must be super rich! But the pretzel provides a perfect salty balance to that delicious sweetness.  Perfect for the Super Bowl or other parties, these Caramel Covered Pretzel Sticks will become your favorite go-to snack.

This recipe requires pretzel sticks, one 16 oz package of caramel, walnuts, condensed milk, and chocolate--we used bother vanilla and semi sweet.

 Start by melting one package of caramels in a sauce pan on medium heat.  Add 2 tablespoons of cream.  We had condensed milk on hand and used that.  It's only a small amount so use what you have on hand.

Continue stirring until the caramel is completely melted.  Be sure not to over heat.

Meanwhile chop a cup of nuts. The more pretzel sticks you cover, the more walnuts needed.

Once the caramel is melted start covering the pretzels.

Aubree's Note: Use a spoon to cover the pretzel with caramel.  Tip it down so the extra caramel goes back into the sauce pan and so the layer of caramel isn't too thick.

Cover the pretzels with the walnuts. Having multiple hands help with this process.

Ashley's Tip: Roll the caramel covered pretzels in nuts on a plate and then place on a greased cookie seat.  

Melt both chocolates and prepare them to cover the caramel covered pretzel sticks.  Only a cup of chocolate melted is needed.

Create any design you want. The zig zag was the easiest. 

These Caramel Covered Pretzel Sticks were made in a snap and destroyed even quicker.  Best thing is our Gma discovered something great in time for the Super Bowl.

Recipe

1 Package Pretzel Sticks
1 16 oz Package Caramels
2 Tablespoons Condensed Milk
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
1 Cup Melted Chocolate

Melt the caramel in a sauce pan on medium heat.  Add in the condensed milk.
Cover the pretzels with caramel and immediately add nuts. Let dry on greased cookie seat.
Use melted chocolate to drizzle over pretzels.
Enjoy!