#305_Easy as 1-2-3 Strawberry Pie

 With Mamon as Cake Base


This dessert only takes 5 ingredients including the water
to make the strawberry glaze!!
It's the easiest pie I've ever made!!

  


 Strawberry Pie topped with Whipped Cream







Here's the recipe:1 box of strawberry flavor Danish Dessert
cooked in 1-1/2 cup water.
Follow directions on the box for making glaze, then let cool.

1-Graham Cracker pie crust
1-1/2 lbs. fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled and sliced
Cool Whip, or whipped cream.

Mix the sliced strawberries with the cooled glaze
then pour onto the pie crust.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
Top with cool whip.
Quick and easy, but also delicious!!

Enjoy!!

Note from MaMely:
For better result, brush pie crust with egg wash then bake in a 350 degrees pre-heated oven for just 4 minutes. Let cool completely before filling.

#253_Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie

YUM!!
It's the easiest pie you can make.

Here's the recipe which was adapted from Nestle:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips morsels
  
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=28218

#181_Quick and Easy Mango Turnovers

Mango Turnovers

You must have figured out by now that I'm crazy about mangoes
as I had posted several recipes with mangoes in this blog.
Yup, I heart fresh mangoes and anything mangoes
as long as they aren't too sweet
like the commercial dried mangoes or mango jam.
It is my #1 favorite fruit, so I have been looking
around cyberspace for other recipes using mangoes.

I found this recipe from Dallas Examiner
which is real easy and quick to do and uses mango jam,
I'll let you go to the site,
(click here) to save me from writing the recipe.

The recipe calls for one pound or a box
of store-bought Puff Pastry and makes 18 turnovers.

It is quite expensive at a little less than 5 dollars a box,

which is okay if you just want to make a few,
but if you want to make this dessert for a crowd,
you might consider making your own puff pastry.
I found a quick and easy homemade recipe by cafenilson,
click here, if you're interested to make your own.

Unfold pastry and cut into 4-inch squares.

I used my homemade mango jam with a little bit of peach jam.

The recipe says, "before putting the fillings on the squares,
sprinkle cinnamon powder on the pastry dough".
I modified that part by sprinkling cinnamon-sugar on top instead.
Brush the top of pastry dough with melted butter first
so the cinnamon-sugar mixture will adhere.

I left some of the turnovers plain, just brushed the top with egg yolk.

Don't forget to pierce each turnover with tines of a fork like I did.
They were in the oven for a couple of minutes before
I remembered to do that,
so I took them out of the oven and made slits with a pair of scissors.

A Note from MaMely:
Puff Pastries are best eaten when freshly baked and warm.
They are not good the next day.

Update:
You can fill this pastry with any kind of fruit fillings (or maybe even meat fillings) you desire and call it any way you want.... I found a recipe using apple pie filling, thus, Apple Turnover, click here.

*************************************

#160_Incredible Mango Custard Tart

I never had a goofier day than the day I was making this dessert for a Filipino get-together. First of all, my heart was set on making Brazo de Mercedez which is a Filipino dessert made of baked meringue with custard cream filling. Usually the custard is made of condensed milk and egg yolks, but I made mine totally different.

Early in the day, while making the custard filling for the "Brazo.." I found out that I didn't have enough fresh milk called for in the recipe, so I substituted some coconut milk which turned out to be super delicious! This is not an exaggeration and I don't usually like to pat my own back either, but because I'm so elated by the amazing result of this custard cream filling, I can't help but let everybody know how good it turned out.

The addition of the coconut cream in the the cream filling makes the taste so awesome and the amount that I added in was just the right amount. When you bite into it, the taste of coconut is not overpowering the custard, instead it just stays in the background. The blending of all the ingredients is so perfect and out of this world that when I first sampled the filling I thought I died and gone to heaven! I kid you not, it is that good.

I don't want to bore anyone reading this post with what had transpired while I was making the "brazo" dessert, so I will try not to go into details of the dilemmas I encountered along the way but rather give a synopsis.

Making the meringue for Brazo de Mercedes

While making the meringue, I got side-tracked and in short, the meringue didn't turn out, so I quickly grabbed a box of supposedly Puff Pastry from the freezer and set it on the counter to thaw out. I knew this would take about half an hour to thaw them out plus 18 minutes to bake the crust. By now, I had about an hour before I had to leave to go to the party. About 25 minutes later, when I opened the box, and to my dismay, they were not Puff Pastry, but instead they were Fillo Dough! I had used it before as a wrap but not as a pastry shell and I definitely didn't have time to thaw out the Puff Pastry again. So my first impulse was to go to the store and get some ice cream and cookies to take instead, as I had made a commitment to bring desserts. These desserts sure were stressing me out! (BTW, stressed, spelled backwards is desserts). Whenever I'm under any kind of pressure my brain freezes. I knew I had to calm down to get my brain to function and working right. Taking a deep breath didn't do it.

After a few gulps of my favorite soda, I finally calmed down and was able to figure out how I can best use the Fillo Dough for this dessert.

Well, I was 20 minutes late to the party but everybody liked my serendipitous dessert. It even got two thumbs up from the persnickety eaters. Sometimes good things can come out of mishaps!

So now, what I'll do is to put the recipe for the Brazo de Mercedez on the back burner for now, and post the recipe for the Mango Custard Tart.

The only caveat for this recipe is that you might need to figure out what to do with the egg whites if you don't want them to go to waste...that is, if you have time to make use of them. If you do, you probably can make some divinity or meringue cookies,etc. otherwise, aww, just chuck it.

Mango Custard Cream Filling:

3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup fresh milk
1 cup coconut cream
6 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 ripe mangoes, cubed

Mix the flour and sugar together in a sauce pan

Pour in the milk and the coconut cream and stir until the flour is totally dissolved. Turn stove on medium and cook the mixture until it becomes bubbly, stirring constantly, then turn the heat down to medium low and continue to stir. (I didn't have to cook this in a double boiler). Actually this is the only hard part of making this dessert.... constantly stirring the mixture. In a way, this makes a good work out for the arm!

Take the pan off the heat and, pour in the egg yolks little by little, continuously stirring the mixture. Make sure not to get impatient and pour in the yolks more than a tablespoon at a time, otherwise you'll end up with scrambled eggs.

When all the yolk is added in to the mixture, return the pan to the stove and continue to cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens but spreadable like the consistency of mayonnaise.

Add in the cubed mangoes and set aside.
(The filling can be made a day ahead and stored in the fridge).

The Custard Filling with coconut cream, chunks of mangoes
in a flaky and crunchy Filo pastry shell make this dessert so unique
and super delish and yet simple and easy to make.

Preparing the Pastry

There are 2 packages of Fillo dough in a box and each package has 20 sheets. You only need 20 sheets for this recipe.

1) Line a baking pan with a parchment paper.
2) Take a sheet of Fillo dough and brush with melted butter and lay it on the baking pan. Do this with each of the 20 sheets of Fillo dough stacking them on top of each other on the baking pan in a staggering manner. If they tear out don't worry, just overlap them. They don't have to lay flat on the baking pan so it is okay if they wrinkle up. This is not supposed to be a perfect crust.
3) After all the sheets are laid on the baking pan, roll up the edges. (Actually, what I've done because I was in a hurry, I took out more sheets from the other package, maybe about 4-5 sheets at a time, roll them up and twisted them and place them around the edges. It worked really good. If you look closely at the top picture, you can see that the edges have that twisted effect).
4) Bake the pastry in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for about 20 minutes or until it turns golden brown.
5) Take the pastry out from the oven and set it on a platter and fill it with the Mango Custard Cream Filling.

I'm already so excited thinking about the endless ways I can use the cream filling in different kinds of desserts. In fact I'm already thinking of using it to make a Boston Cream Pie. And how about mango sushi using malagkit? Not a bad idea, aye?

ENJOY!!!

UPDATE: 8-6-09


This is an update after a friend of mine made this recipe using the red/green kind of mangoes. She said the custard cream filling tasted so good but the mangoes tasted so bland.
Please, by all means, use this variety of mangoes...they can be found in most Oriental stores and at Costco. They are called Manila mangoes. Unfortunately, just like some other fruits they have their season.

#159_Carl's Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

Our SIL, Carl, who is a Dutch oven connoisseur,

loves making this dessert and have been making it for us
for the last few family gatherings and reunions.
He even brought his own Dutch oven all the way from
St. Joseph, Missouri to Idaho last time we had reunion.
Everybody loves it whenever he makes this dessert.

He showed me how he makes it, but
too bad I didn't get to take a picture of the finished product.

Here's how he makes the peach cobbler:


He puts slices of butter at the bottom of pot randomly.

Then dump a couple slices of cling peaches
with some of the syrup

followed by a box of yellow cake mix

then slices of butter on top of the cake mix.
He put the lid on and bake it over briquettes and
briquettes on the lid for about 40-50 minutes.

#153_Banana Caramel Cream Pie

For this dessert I use the graham cracker crust made from scratch.
Click here for the crust recipe.

This is a recycled concept from 2 recipes:
Banana Cream Pie recipe #31, (click here) and the
Banoffee Pie recipe #150 (click here)

For the cream filling,
I used the recipe for the Banana Cream Pie
with a little bit of twist
by adding store-bought caramel topping.
The outcome is a lot better than the
Banoffe Pie and the Banana Cream Pie.

(Option 1)
Using store-bought individual serving graham cracker crusts
such as the picture above is a convenient way to serve
this dessert as you can eliminate a lot of mess.

(Option 2)
or use the store-bought 9-inch graham cracker pie

crusts and slice them into wedges.

Spread half a jar of caramel topping evenly on the crust;
refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
I recommend using Mrs. Richarson's caramel topping,
if you have access to it.
I'm not into brands but I find this is the best kind
as the others are thinner in consistency
and tend to be runny when spread on the pie.

Cream Pie Filling:

1 large (5.1 oz) instant Lemon Pudding mix

1 large box (4 envelopes) Dream Whip

3 cups cold fresh milk
Combine these 3 ingredients in a bowl and whip until thick, but of spreadable consistency.
(If you have a food processor use it. It is the best for the job).

You can slice up some bananas and combine with the cream filling, (optional)

Slice bananas into disks and arrange them on top of the caramel topping.
Spread cream filling on top of the bananas.
Top with cool whip or whipped heavy cream.

Drizzle caramel topping on top

Place the whole pan on a serving platter and unlock the spring lock.

Spring form pan has spring lock on the side so you can get your cakes
or pies out easily without any mess.

Enjoy a slice!

Notes: 1. To prevent the bananas from getting dark, sprinkle some Ever Fresh fruit protector found in the canning section of your grocery store.

2. If you don't have Cool Whip, you can use 1 pint of heavy cream and whip it with 1/2 cup white sugar.

#150_Banoffee Pie

Banoffee Pie is a British dessert
made of bananas, cream and toffee or dulce de leche.

This recipe is from Curtis Stone, a chef from Australia,
who made this dessert

at the Kathie Lee and Hoda Show, click here.
When I made it for Father's Day, click here,
the whipped cream tasted like it needed some sugar,
so I added 1/2 a cup in this recipe.

Ingredients:
Crust

9 ounces graham crackers

1 stick butter, melted

Toffee sauce

1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons water

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Filling

1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar

5 small bananas (about 1 1/2 pounds total)

To make the crust:

1) Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.

2) Blend the graham crackers in a food processor until they are finely ground.

3) Pour the melted butter over the crumbs and process to blend well. The crumbs should stick together when pressed.

4) Press the crumb mixture over the bottom and 1½ inches up the sides of the springform pan. Refrigerate.

To make the toffee sauce:

1) Place a medium-heavy saucepan over medium heat.

2) Combine the sugar and 3 tablespoons of water in the saucepan.

3) Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil without stirring until the color is deep amber, occasionally swirling the pan and brushing down the sides with a pastry brush dipped into water, about 5 minutes.

4) Stir in the condensed milk and butter. Continue stirring for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly.

5) Remove the toffee sauce from the heat and spread 1 cup of the sauce over the prepared crust and refrigerate for about 1 hour or until the caramel is semi-firm.

6) Keep the remaining caramel sauce at room temperature.

Pie Filling:

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream in a large bowl until frothy; add sugar gradually and continue to whip until thick and very soft billowy peaks form.

Very thinly slice 3 of the bananas into discs. Fold the sliced bananas into the softly whipped cream and spoon into the prepared pie crust.

Slice the remaining bananas and arrange them decoratively over the pie.

Rewarm the remaining toffee sauce gently over low heat.

Drizzle some of the sauce decoratively over the pie. If the sauce has thickened too much to drizzle, stir a few tablespoons of milk into the sauce to create a thinner consistency.

Cut the pie into wedges and transfer to plates.

Drizzle each pie wedge with more sauce and serve.

#31_Banana Cream Pie

Calori-fic Dessert!

Forget your calorie counting because this is a calori-fic dessert. I don't know how else to describe it but just that....a calorie-laden dessert and yet it it terrific.

A friend gave me this recipe more than 20 years ago and it has been in the family since then. It is one of a few recipes I never altered or modified because there's no reason to, except for the garnish that I added.

My husband didn't care much for the garnish of shaved chocolate. He said the chocolate takes away the taste of the bananas. Hmmmm, now that I think about it, he did not make sense because his favorite milk shake is chocolate banana. I didn't dispute his criticism then because I actually forgot that he used to order that flavor of milk shake until now that I'm writing about it. He's been on a no-sweet diet since the first of the year until Halloween day when he went nuts over those treats we were giving out. I will not discuss how much candy bars he ate. Well, at least he only had 2 slices of banana cream pie!

Actually, I don't usually garnish it, I just did it today because I want it to look kind of dressed up for presentation and eye appeal. I think though, the bananas and the chocolate blended well together. The chocolate adds texture and color and also flavor to the pie.

The recipe is really simple and easy to make and it only calls for 6 ingredients. It requires no baking, but it is even easier if you use a food processor to mix the pudding as it only takes a minute. If you use a hand mixer to mix it, it takes awhile to get to the spreading consistency.

Here's the recipe:

2 prepared graham cracker pie crusts

1 large (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 large box (4 envelopes) dream whip

3 cups cold fresh milk

1 (8oz) cool whip or whipped cream, thawed

4-5 bananas, ripe but firm

Procedures:

1. Slice the bananas crosswise and line them up in the prepared pie crusts.

2. In a food processor, combine the vanilla pudding mix and the dream whip. Add 3 cups milk and process until thick,but of spreadable consistency.

3. Spread the pudding over the bananas.

4. Top with cool whip

5. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before slicing

Note:

1. To prevent the bananas from getting dark, sprinkle some Ever Fresh fruit protector found in the canning section of your grocery store.

2. If you don't have Cool Whip, you can use 1 pint of heavy cream and whip it with 1 cup white sugar.