Guest Recipe: Irish Car Bomb Tipsy Cakes!

This recipe was made up by a young lady in our church and they are awesome! They are for adults only because of the alcohol in them, but they are not so super strong that you can't drive after having one. Just enough to give a taste - in fact, her mom suggested that next time she put in just a bit more. Either way, they are delicious and of her own design, so all credit for this recipe goes to Rebecca Simerick - and thank you for sharing with the rest of us (we moms with five kids appreciate it!)

These have ingredient lists for the cake part, the filling in the middle and the icing, so it looks like a longish list, but I see that there is a lot of overlap, so don't let it scare you. To simplify things, I'll include an overall shopping list at the end.

~ Irish Car Bomb Tipsy Cakes ~

Recipe Day: Fresh Peach and Berry Cobbler

We have been getting a boatload of super-tasty, super-ripe, do-something-with-them-right-now peaches
from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture/local farmer style co-op) lately and have had lots of fun eating them straight from the basket. But after a while you get some that are not quite ripe but you still want to do something... peachy with them. This morning for a special treat we decided to make a super-easy

Peach-Mixed Berry Cobbler

oh so yummy! If it wasn't breakfast, we
would have added ice cream... 

Homemade, All-Natural Peppermint Patties

Thought I'd put the recipe for making your own, homemade peppermint patties on here since I put those pictures up once before. I'm still working on making them "pretty", but for now we're going with "tasty"! I looked this recipe up online and found a few that I liked but I didn't like any entirely. Most of the other recipes called for chocolate chips, extract, etc. and I wanted to use cocoa powder, and essential oils, which I'm more likely to have in my house already.

The finished, perfect-tasting all-natural Peppermint Patty!

Recipe Day: Vegan Chocolate Crepes with Fruit Compote

These were vegan (egg- and milk-free), my own creation, and amazingly tasty. There really isn't much more to say - so on to the recipe!

Recipe Day: (Vegan!) Almond-Apple Spice Cake

Every so often, our family gives up dairy and eggs for a time, cuts back a bit on sweets and we practice a bit of self-discipline. Even though things like cheese, milk and eggs are cut out of our diet temporarily, a good vegan meal doesn't only have to be bland, boiled or steamed vegetables. On the menu tonight were: baked potatoes with homemade mango salsa, asparagus marinated in a chocolate-balsamic vinegar and walnut oil, and veggie meat substitutes (BBQ ribs for the adults and chicken fingers for the kids.) For dessert, I whipped up this delicious little cake. The recipe has its origins in The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, (a phenomenal little vegan cookbook!) but as usual, I changed it just a little.

Recipe Day: A little on the UN-healthy side!

Two recipes today - neither as healthy as the last few I've put up (nods to Spinster-Beth!) but both are extremely tasty and worth the time. One is short, one is longer. Both are Delicious (shhhh... and a little healthy,) for a dessert!

The first are the BEST COOKIES I have ever had. Introducing:

Sunflower Seed Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. butter, at room temperature
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbs. vanilla + 3" scraping of Vanilla Bean (this can be omitted if you can't find vanilla bean, but it is SO MUCH BETTER if you keep it in!)
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 c. quick oats
1 c. salted sunflower seeds (this does make a difference!), toasted
1 c. nuts (pecans or walnuts are best), chopped
1 1/2 c. dried cherries (you can use dried cranberries, but the cherries are extra-good)

Recipe:
1. Cream together the butter and both sugars.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla and vanilla bean
3. Add the flour, salt, baking soda and quick oats. At this point, the dough will be fairly dry.
4. Fold in the nuts, fruit and seeds.
5. Form in rolls or drop by the Tablespoon on a heavily buttered cookie sheet. Alternately, you can use a well-seasoned pizza-type stone (I have Pampered Chef stones, but others that might also work if they're well seasoned.) Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes. Watch the cookies carefully to remove them before they're brittle. If they're too brittle to get them off the pan, you can put them back in the oven for just a minute to soften them back up.) Remove them from the pan onto cooling racks.

The second recipe is for you chocolate lovers - super simple, super tasty, and just a small bite will do ya'!



Fruity-Yummy Chocolate Bars

Ingredients:
One package dark chocolate chips (Hershey's Special Dark works well for me)
1 - 1 1/2 c. salted pretzels, broken up
2 - 3 c. dried fruit, such as cherries, cranberries, blueberries, or chopped up apricots
1 - 1 1/2 c. salted sunflower seeds
*Optional Ingredients* 1/2 c. chopped up nuts
1 c. coconut
Dash of chili powder

Recipe:

1. Prepare ahead by laying out a sheet of wax paper on a cutting board. This is a quick recipe so try to have all the ingredients ready at hand before starting.
2. Melt the chocolate over low heat, stirring continually to keep it from scorching. The chocolate will not really get hot enough to burn at any point if the heat is low enough. It won't take long. Remove the chocolate from the heat.
3. Mix in the other ingredients.
4. Using a rubber spatula, spread the warm mixture out on the wax paper. Put the mix into the fridge overnight or the freezer for about 2 to 3 hours.
5. Remove from the freezer/fridge and cut into bars. If frozen you may have to let it sit out for 20 minutes to soften enough to cut. Store in a baggie or container in the fridge - the more pure the chocolate, the faster it will melt. The Hershey's SD melts rather quickly in your fingers so have wipes or a sink on hand when you eat them! A small piece is perfect for dessert!

I've done each of the optional ingredients, one at a time, in this recipe to great success. Just be careful with that chili powder, too much can ruin the whole thing!

Looking forward to hearing your reviews!