Fruit Pizza

My attempt at being healthy has failed me. It’s been a long time since I can remember being excited to eat well. Actually, to be fair, I can’t remember a time I was ever excited to eat well. Sure, I force myself to eat apples as a mid morning snack while at work. Sure, I’ll eat almonds and rice cakes in the afternoon, but if you put a bag of peanut M&M’s in front of my face, I’d choose them every single time over the healthy alternative. That’s just who I am. I can’t hide it.

So you’d imagine my surprise when my mother-in-law made a fruit pizza while visiting us a few weeks back. I took one bite and thought I’d gone to heaven. (Just so you know, I’d never tasted the likes of the fruit pizza…) Sister quickly pointed out that the crust of said pizza was made of…sugar cookie dough.
Are you kidding me?
Is there anything more brilliant?
Cookie dough as crust.
I was hooked.

So the other day, I set forth to make this glorious pizza. And you’ll be happy to know that I snacked on the fruits while making it! I know, total insanity. I even went so far as to chop up extra strawberries to eat with cereal.

If you feel the need to be naughty but feel like you’re being healthy because there’s the slightest bit of fresh fruit involved…then this recipe is for you.

Fruit Pizza

1 pkg sugar cookie dough (16.5 oz), softened
1 pkg cream cheese (8 oz), softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup apricot jelly (or apple jelly)
1/4 cup water

fruits: amounts vary to your own personal liking
1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup diced fresh peaches

To make:
Heat oven to 350°F.
Grease 12-inch pizza pan or spray with cooking spray.
Press softened cookie dough into the pan until it forms a crust.
Bake 15 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool pizza completely, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla with a mixer on low speed until thoroughly combined. (Feel free to taste test to make sure.)
*Heat jelly over low heat, adding water. Bring to a rolling boil. Set aside.
Spread cream cheese mixture over cooled crust.
Spread apricot jelly/water mixture on top of cream cheese mix.
Arrange fruit to top it off.
Chill for an hour.

Store in refrigerator.

*You can omit this step if you like and just spread the jelly over the cream cheese, but I wanted a slightly less thick version.

Now you can almost feel good about your dessert choice.

Almost.

WTW – Dipsticks, Snack of the Month

Not sure if I’ve mentioned, but I love getting emails from you guys. Love, love, love it. And what I really love is when you send me white trash recipes. It makes my heart all a-flutter. You know why? Because all I have to do is sit back and pretty much do absolutely nothing.

Kidding, kidding.
The other day Becki D. of Becki Bakes sent me her second White Trash Recipe recommendation.  The first one was the ever so tasty black ‘n blue pancakes. And this one, is more of a snack.  And she’s aptly named this snack, Dipsticks.

I discovered the perfect snack this afternoon while ransacking my pantry.
Anyhow, this most perfect WTW gem goes like this:
-Grab your jumbo-sized barrel of Pretzel Rods from Sam’s Club (because who doesn’t need a year’s supply of pretzel rods?)
-Grab your obligatory Foodie Approved jar of Nutella
-Dip pretzel and repeat as many times as needed to ward off the Crazies.
Not only does this recipe require 0 utensils or preparation of any sort, if you close your eyes you can almost pretend you’re chowing down Ferrero Rocher Fine Hazelnut Chocolates instead of pretzel sticks.

Sweet, salty, simple.

You’re welcome, ladies!

YAWYEOR note: These are awesome. I kid you not. I only had the honey wheat pretzel rods on hand, but went for it anyway and oh my goodness I thought I’d died and gone to chocolatey salty heaven.

Thanks Becki D. for introducing this treat to my world. From now on I will always have pretzel rods and Nutella stocked in my pantry.

*If you have a WTW recipe you’d love to share, email me at kmslat@yahoo.com. And just be prepared for me to include your entire email in the upcoming blog post*
Cheers!

Magpies and taste tests

I might have mentioned that my friendship with Elaine grew out of a mutual love of baked goods. So it really should have come as no surprise when she told me we’d be taste testing cakes for her munchkin’s 1st birthday party.

Now, I’m all for eating my face off. I love cakes. I love cupcakes. I love cookies. Hell, I love food in general, but a girl like me cannot afford to go blindly into a cake taste off. Elaine, and her skinny self, on the other hand, can. While she’s got guns from carrying around a baby all day, I don’t. So, while one of us can afford to indulge, the other one really just shouldn’t.

But I did.

Oh, I did alright.

And I loved every sugar filled second of it.

From the mini cupcakes from Magpies*

to the slices of cake from (insert bakery name here).

And then I walked back to Atlanta ate more. Chinese for dinner to be exact.  BBQ the next day. And I haven’t even talked about the fantastic brunch I had before the cake off extravaganza happened.  I’ll leave that for Thursday, when I’ve finally come down from my sugar high.

*And on a different note I wanted to highlight some of the cakes from Magpies.  Unlike one little bakery that shall remain nameless, Magpies was perfectly happy to let me take pictures of their goodies.  The sweet lady working even cleaned the cases that housed the cupcakes before I took pictures! And for that, I thank you Magpies.

If you’re ever in Knoxville and are in need of a sugar fix, go to Magpies.  In all sincerity, they have some of the best icing I have ever tasted. (And I have tasted a lot in my day.)

Puppy Chow – for humans

Call it what you want, this stuff is a little piece of heaven. Every year when it starts to get cold, I crave this stuff. I blame my high school friend Sarah. She first introduced puppy chow to me in the 11th or 12th grade when she gave it as a Christmas gift. I’ve been hooked ever since…and between you and me, 11th or 12th grade was a long, long, long time ago.

Let’s get down to the good stuff. Here’s what you’ll need:
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1, 6oz package of semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
9 cups Crispix

To make:
Measure the cereal out into an incredibly large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Heat chocolate, peanut butter, and butter over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted.

Remove from heat. Add vanilla, mix well.

Pour chocolate mix over cereal stirring until well coated. (Good luck with this step as it has proven to be the bane of my dessert making existence.)

Pour into a large, plastic food storage bag. Add the powdered sugar and shake well until everything is well coated.

Spread on wax paper to cool.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

And be amazed at how quickly this stuff disappears.

White Trash Wednesday!

The Paula Deen edition.

My disclaimer for this recipe is that:

a) it probably contains no less than 5,000 calories per bite

b) it’s the holidays, so you were probably going to eat poorly anyway

Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding

1 1/2 dozen glazed doughnuts, cut into sixths
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
10 large egg yolks
2 large whole eggs
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 250°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread the doughnut pieces on baking sheets and bake for about 30 minutes until dry on the outside and semi firm in the center. Increase the oven temperature to 350.

In a large bowl, whisk 2 cups of the cream with the milk, egg yolks, whole eggs and condensed milk. Add the doughnut pieces and let soak until softened, about 1 hour; stirring every 15 minutes.

Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Spoon the doughnut mixture into the prepared baking dish and cover with foil. Set the dish in a roasting pan and add enough water to the pan to reach halfway up the side of the baking dish.

Bake the bread pudding for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for approximately 20 minutes longer, or until the bread pudding is set.
Preheat the broiler. Broil the bread pudding for about 3 minutes, or until top is lightly browned. Let cool for 30 minutes.

Get in your car, drive to the nearest spin class.