Month-of-Desserts: Mini Oatmeal Cranberry-Pecan Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

Back in the day, when we were both working outside the home (because of course there is always work inside the home!), DH packed his own lunch. THE.SAME.LUNCH.EVERY.DAY.

That is beyond boring to me, but he said he liked it because he didn’t have to think about it. Lunch prep had become automatic after decades of doing it. Okay, I get that, but I love the range of tastes and textures too much to enjoy the same lunch every day. He bought healthful cookies, even, that were a small size so he could eat three of them. EVERY.DAY.THE.SAME.COOKIE.

When I transitioned from my paying job to the job of occasionally-paying full-time writer, I offered to make him a new cookie, a better-for-him cookie than the ones he purchased which were full of unpronounceables.

This cookie is the result. I’ve been making it for him a long time now. He can’t even stand cookies from the store anymore. Wahoo!

I use a 1” cookie scoop so that I can give him the little cookies he likes so much. This recipe as written makes just about 7 dozen cookies. I just drop the balls on the cookie sheet so little cookie mounds form, not flat cookies. There are always some ready in the freezer when his cookie jar gets empty.

So what the heck does that have to do with today’s recipe? Wellllll…we like ice cream sandwiches for the occasional dessert and his cookies make perfect little ice cream sandwiches.

I flattened this small cookie sheet of twelve 1” balls of cookie dough so I could make six mini-ice cream sandwiches. They look bigger than they are because you don’t have perspective. Trust me. Two bites and they’re gone.

I filled each cookie half with 4 teaspoons of my homemade ice cream, wrapped most of them tightly (well, he had to test one), and popped them into the freezer for a future dessert.

So having given the directions for making your mini ice cream sandwiches, here are the two recipes for the components.  

David’s Oatmeal Cranberry-Pecan Cookies (about 7 dozen)   

1½ cups butter, softened                          

¾ c packed brown sugar                                   

½ c granulated sugar                                   

2 large eggs                                                     

3 teaspoons vanilla extract                                            

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1¾ cups flour

2½ cups Old-Fashion oats

6 ounce package dried cranberries

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Heat oven to 375°.

Beat butter and sugars in a bowl with mixer on med speed until fluffy.

Beat in eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt until blended.

With mixer on low speed, beat in flour and oats a small amount at a time to blend.

When well-blended, stir in cranberries and nuts.

Drop 1” balls of dough about 2” apart on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cool 1 min on cookie sheet, then put on cookie rack to finish cooling.

Easiest-Ever Vanilla Ice Cream (makes a little more than one quart)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 teaspoons best quality vanilla (I use vanilla paste)

Whisk together the three ingredients until thoroughly blended.

Pour into your ice cream maker and process for 20-30 minutes. The ice cream will easily come off the sides when done and probably will be slightly above the freezer bowl.

Store in an airtight container in the freezer. This is a very creamy ice cream.

NOTE: I have a whole passle of variations for this ice cream basic. Chocolate. Dulce de Leche with Pecans. Chocolate Chip and Walnuts. Candy Bar Ice Cream. Play with it!

DH’s RATING: 10 Tongues Up

Honestly, this man cannot follow rules. He says it’s because he gets to rate each component, the cookie and the ice cream. And he loves each of them. Sigh!

Month-of-Desserts: Mini-PUD Cakes

Growing up, Pineapple Upside Down (PUD) cake was a coveted dessert. Mother didn’t make it often, but when she did, we ate until gone. I still remember her huge cast iron skillet in which she melted butter and brown sugar, set in place pineapple rings, dotted the centers with maraschino cherries, and then poured a rich yellow cake batter over it all.

We kids all gathered for the turning over of the skillet onto a large platter and watched this delectable dessert land on the plate ready for whipped cream once it cooled down. The pineapple upside down cake was almost a miracle of transformation for us. No surprise then that Li’l Bro always requested this for his birthday cake.

Fast forward a couple decades (okay more than a couple), and Li’l Bro is visiting us over his birthday. I decided to surprise him with a PUD cake. But, now with his diabetes, this isn’t the best dessert option.

Fortunately for me, Betty Crocker, my partner in baking for many moons, had a solution. Mini-PUD cakes. If you follow the recipe as given, you end up with 24 PUD cakes. Only eating 1/24 of the total cake allowed him to have his sweet treat by planning his carbs carefully that day. (The rest went into the freezer to avoid temptation.) Portion control is a major key with diabetes.

I make this cake just as described EXCEPT I only make 12 mini PUD cakes. I use the rest of the pineapple slices and batter in mini-loaf pans. I freeze them for later. When thawed, I upend them and they are cute, too.

So here’s Betty’s recipe. Enjoy!   

1 can (20 oz) sliced pineapple, drained, juice reserved

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix

½ cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/3 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

12 maraschino cherries, cut in half

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 24 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray.

Cut each pineapple slice into 4 pieces; set aside. In large bowl, beat cake mix, oil, eggs and reserved pineapple juice with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

In small bowl, stir together melted butter and brown sugar. Spoon 1½  teaspoons butter mixture into each muffin cup. Top each with 2 pineapple pieces. Place cherry half, cut side up, in center of pineapple pieces. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each cup.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Run knife around edge of cupcakes to loosen; invert onto cookie sheet. Serve warm.

NOTE: I drain the pineapple juice into the cake mix bowl and cut the pineapple rings into four equal segments while still in the can. Easy peasy.

DH’s RATING: 5+ Tongues Up

The fruit and cake and brown sugar butter make this a different kind of cake recipe from what I usually make. And with little effort he can have a mini-dessert of it whenever I pull some from the freezer.

Mini-Cream Puffs Three+ Ways

Long before DH, I was making cream puffs for dinner guests. They are always so impressed with cream puffs, as if they are a super complicated French recipe. Unh unh. Cream puffs are super easy as well as being quick to put together. In fact the hardest part of cream puffs is cutting off the tops. Honest!

So go ahead. Keep this to yourself and let them think you are Julia Child reincarnated or spill the beans about how easy it is to make this favorite dessert.

There are many cream puff recipes on line. Give some of the others a try along with this one. At the end I suggest three ways to fill the puffs to give some variety to the same base--the puff itself.

Mini-Cream Puffs Three+ Ways (makes 12 mini-puffs)

½ cup water

3 tablespoons butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ cup flour

Preheat oven to 400°. Prepare baking sheet with non-stick spray. Sprinkle on flour and then bang pan in sink to shake off the excess.

In a small saucepan, bring water, butter and salt to a boil. Remove from heat and add the flour. Beat vigorously. The dough will form a ball that comes off the side of the pan.

Add one egg and beat well until fully incorporated. Then add second egg, beating again until the batter looks smooth and shiny.

Put about about 2 tablespoons per puff on the prepared pan. You should have 12 puffs. They will rise so allow at least two inches between puff. 

Moisten a finger and smooth the top of each puff.

Bake about 25 minutes until the puffs are golden and then remove them from the oven. Turn off oven but leave door closed.

Immediately puncture the side of each puff to allow the moisture out. Put puffs back in the oven for 12-15 minutes so they will dry out more.

Remove puffs and put on cookie rack to cool. Once cool, cut off the top of each puff with a serrated knife. Handle carefully as they are delicate.

After all the tops are cut off, with a small fork twirl around the inside of the top and bottom of the puff to remove the remaining wet dough. Discard the dough.

Fill puffs right before serving as they get soggy. Refrigerate leftovers or freeze the ice cream ones. You can use a single filling or a variety of fillings. Notice the beautiful plate fellow writer and fused glass artist, Caryn McGill, made for me!

3 Ways to Fill:

Fill with whipped cream (traditional) and dust with powdered sugar (optional)

Fill with ice cream of choice and drizzle on chocolate and/or caramel sauce

Fill with a lightly sweetened cream cheese-fruit combo

I’ll bet you have your own take on the classic cream puff. I'm thinking lemon curd would be tasty. Please give me more filling ideas in “comments” below!

NOTE: I keep flour in a plastic shaker top container to put on baking pans or add thickening to a gravy. I’ve never tried to do anything with the doughy centers I discard. I’ve thought about tossing with a cinnamon sugar mixture and baking to make crumbs for ice cream or fruit, but I’ve never done it.

DH’s RATING: 4.5 Tongues Up

I served him three puffs: whipped cream, ice cream with chocolate and caramel, and cream cheese with strawberries and blueberries. His least favorite was the whipped cream, but the others were 5 Tongues Up, so I averaged them. His #1 choice? The caramel and chocolate ice cream one!

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Blue Cheese Citrus Mousse with Roasted Blueberries

Sometimes we like sweet desserts and other times one that's tart or even slightly savory. Today’s dessert is unlike any you have tasted, I’ll bet. The lightly sweetened whipped cream combines with blue cheese, orange, and roasted blueberries not only to challenge the taste buds but also create smooth, crunchy, and chewy textures in each bite.

If you are interested in the original recipe, I greatly adapted this recipe for Goat Cheese Mousse with Roasted Blueberries.

Blue Cheese Citrus Mousse with Roasted Blueberries (3 half-pint jars) 

1 cup blueberries

4.4 ounce package of blue cheese
1 cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar, divided

1 tablespoon orange juice

zest of one orange, divided

3 tablespoons sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 400° degrees.

Place blue cheese in a medium size bowl so it warms to room temperature.

Line a baking pan with sides with parchment paper.

Spread blueberries on baking sheet and roast for four minutes. Shake the pan to turn blueberries. Return to oven for four more minutes. Repeat until blueberries are roasted (about 12-16 minutes). Let cool on pan. Once they burst, they don't roll, so turn with a tool.

With electric mixer, beat cream and sugar until stiff peaks form.

Fold the orange juice and half the orange zest into the whipped cream mixture.

Put remaining sugar in with the blue cheese and mix to combine.

Put half of whipped cream mixture in with blue cheese and mix until smooth.

Gently fold the remaining whipped cream into the blue cheese mixture.

Refrigerate for at least one hour. Put one cup of the whipped cream and cheese mixture in each of the three jars. Top with ½ tablespoon almonds and 1/6 of the blueberries per jar.

Repeat layers. Top with remaining orange zest. Refrigerate with cap and ring until ready to serve.

NOTE: I'm not at all sure why you roast the blueberries as it didn't seem to make any difference in taste or texture of any cooked blueberry. AND it was a mess. Next time I would just use fresh, not roasted, blueberries.

DH’s RATING: 3.5 Tongues Up

He didn’t like the tart-savory flavor so much. He agreed it was savory, salty, and slightly sweet and had a variety of textures, but it wasn’t his favorite dessert this month. He would have liked it sweeter. Maybe I should have put a chocolate sauce on it. He won’t be asking me to make this one again.

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Cupcakes--Two for Two

No, this isn’t a sports statistic! The post for the recipe for a single chocolate chip cookie was very popular! So, I dropped a post to make space for this one. Okay, it’s not just one cupcake, but use some self-restraint and freeze one of them for later if you only want/need one.

DH likes cake but he hates it when I bake one. There is soooo much cake for the two of us. I usually cut it in half and freeze it, but the remaining cake is still more cake than we can eat in a reasonable time.

So imagine how happy he was when I found these recipes (and there are many more out there on the Internet. Go hunting!)

We have vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes here that I’m printing pretty much as they were published. I did make some modifications, such as spraying the liners with baking spray so they’d release better and to make the recipe formats consistent with mine. I also used the pictures from their sites.

Each recipe makes two cupcakes. Perfect for an evening’s dessert.

I’ve served mug cakes made in the microwave for years, but this gives us some variety with a different texture with little more effort. Interestingly, both these recipes are adaptations of others’ cupcakes.

Vanilla Cupcakes for Two (makes two cupcakes)  

1 egg white

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ tablespoons milk 

¼ cup all-purpose flour 

¼ teaspoon baking powder

frosting 

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a muffin pan with 2 liners. Spray with non-stick cooking spray so they release better.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the egg white and sugar until combined.

Stir in the vanilla, melted butter, and milk. Add flour and baking powder and mix everything together well.

Divide the batter between two cupcake liners and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely and frost/decorate as desired.

NOTE: While the author used store bought frosting (I had leftover icing in the freezer), she did provide a homemade frosting recipe. 

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes for Two (makes two cupcakes)

For the Chocolate Cupcakes:
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ teaspoon vanilla

For the Nutella Frosting:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup Nutella
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
½-1 teaspoon milk

For the Chocolate Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Line 2 cups of a muffin tin with paper liners. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

Whisk in milk, oil and vanilla until just combined. Divide batter evenly between cups.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the Nutella Frosting:

With an electric mixer in a medium bowl, beat butter and Nutella until smooth.

Mix in powdered sugar until well blended.

Add vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon milk; mix until incorporated. Add additional milk if necessary to achieve desired consistency.

Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

DH’s RATING: 4 ½ Tongues Up

The cakes, while tasty, were no better than my regular cakes, but he did like that they were manageable portions. He wondered if I could make them more distinctive by adding in other ingredients. Yeah, I can do that! A little liqueur in the chocolate cake. A plug of Nutella in the vanilla. Nuts are always good.

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Cherry Pie Shots

Here’s a mini-dessert to celebrate National Cherry Pie Day. It’s an easy one for you today. No real recipe, but you can assemble this dessert pretty quickly. Get out those cute shot glasses with spoons I showed you earlier this month or you can use liqueur glasses.

Cherry Pie Shots (makes 8-10 shots)        

1 pie crust, homemade or store bought

cinnamon sugar mixture

¼ cup cherry pie filling per shot glass

dollop of whipped cream for the top (optional)

Tear or cut a pie crust into several large irregular pieces. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes until the crust is crispy and lightly browned.

Let cool, then crumble into chunks. 

Layer some pie filling into the shot glass, top with cinnamon-sugar crumbles. Repeat until the glass is full. 

Top with whipped cream if desired.

NOTE: There are best assembled right before serving so they aren’t soggy. I served some right away and put some in the refrigerator until the next day to test that. Immediate was best.

DH’s RATING: 5 Tongues Up

He does like cherry pie in all its iterations, and so I wasn’t surprised he liked it.

The crunch and the gooey were a nice combo for him. And the cinnamon-flavored crumbles were a nice surprise.

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Chocolate Chip Cookie for One

“Bet you can’t eat just one!” Remember that commercial? You may not remember what it was advertising (it was Lay’s potato chips), but the phrase entered the language as a stand-in for something irresistible.

Maybe for you that’s potato chips. For me, it is a great chocolate chip cookie BUT I don’t need more than one chocolate chip cookie. (For years I’ve struggled distinguishing “want” and “need”.)

As an aid to temptation, so you don’t have to bake a full batch and then freeze the other 35 cookies (Yeah, like that’s going to happen!), I bring you this wonderful recipe to make one cookie at a time. Yes!

I found this recipe in a group of single-serve desserts. I used brown sugar (for a deeper taste), chocolate chunks, and added pecans, otherwise the recipe is as I found it.

You could mix up a batch of cookie mix and keep it ready to use (the flour, sugar, and baking powder well mixed). When you need a cookie, measure out 3 tablespoons of mix, add chocolate chips (and nuts), butter, and milk and bake! Easy peasy!

If you want a different cookie, substitute oats for half the flour and dried cranberries for the chocolate chips. There are lots of ways to modify this recipe to your taste and hold down the calories.

Here’s the original recipe, as I modified it:

Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookie (makes one cookie)

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon brown sugar (or white sugar)

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1-2 teaspoons chocolate chunks or chips, or to taste

1-2 teaspoons nuts

2 teaspoons butter

½ tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk together flour, sugar and baking powder.

Blend in the butter. When well-blended, add milk.

Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop all the cookie dough on a prepared cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

DH’s RATING: 4+ Tongues Up

He liked the cookie for what it is, but he hated it only made one! I got dinged for quantity not quality. Still, 4+ is very good!

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Candy Tarts

For this recipe, you can buy mini-shortbread tarts or you can make your own. Everyone has a good shortbread cookie recipe, I’ll bet, but if not, here are some links.

Ina Garten’s Shortbread Cookies   

King Arthur’s Flour Shortbread   

Martha Stewart’s Shortbread Recipes  

Here’s the recipe for shortbread I use just as I posted it on Twitter (@Good2Tweat):

ShortBread: Mix .75lb butter+1c sugar. Add 1t van. Mix then +.25t salt+2.5c flour. Chill 30m. Roll, cut out. Bake 20-25m @ 350 degrees

You normally make cookies with these recipes, but you can also cut circles and bake in mini-muffin pan to make tart shells.

You’ve seen them: Shortbread tarts with Lemon Curd, Blueberry Pie Filling, Cheesecake, and so on. Delicious, but ho hum!

 

I decided to experiment. I placed grocery store candies in tart shells and here’s what I got. In this

picture, I placed a Hershey’s Kiss, Snickers, malted milk balls, dark chocolate square, and two stacked mini Peppermint Patties.

I baked them for about 10-15 minutes (eyeball the meltiness) and let them cool on a cookie rack. Here’s what they looked like melted. I actually had to stir the chocolate square and kiss with a toothpick because they held their shapes. Go

figure, huh.

Try out a variety of favorite candies that might be meltable. Milky Way, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and so on are all possible. I’d try M&Ms if I had any around, just to see what happens. Experiment. No real recipe for this treat. But your guests will love having the variety of tastes and textures.

DH’s RATING: 4 Tongues Up (the average)

His favorite was the crunchy malted milk balls and his least favorite was sticky Snickers! Huh? The others were in-between, but he liked them all to some degree.

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Blueberry Cobbler-in-a-Jar for One

I’ve written in my food column for The Pinewood News about keeping pre-made spice blends and food mixes on hand to speed up meals. My own pre-made spice blends and food mixes, that is. The stuff you buy has too many unpronounceable ingredients for my taste.

I can serve DH a chocolate mug cake in 5 minutes from measuring out the mix to mixing it with water to cooking in the microwave for 1-1½  minutes.  That’s a pretty quick dessert, start to finish. And it’s because I keep the cake mix in a zipper bag in the pantry. Five tablespoons mix with 3 tablespoons water, mix, add stuff, nuke, dessert is served.

The same thing for fruit cobbers, except you cook them in the oven, but the prep is a breeze. Take six tablespoons of this cobbler mix, sprinkle on fruit in a half-pint jar, top with butter, and you can put your cobbler in the oven in under five minutes.

A version of this appeared in our local paper (Jan D’Atri’s column), but, of course, I messed with it! The recipe as written didn't work for me, so I modified it. Start with your own pre-made cobbler mix.

Cobbler Mix: (servings: enough for 8 half-pint jars)

1½ cups flour

1½ cups sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

Whisk together all ingredients. Store in a sealed container in cool, dry place near your flour.

When ready to use, put six tablespoons on top of single-serving fruit in half-pint jar. Top with butter and bake.

Blueberry Cobbler for One        

¾ cup fresh or frozen blueberries

6 tablespoons cobbler mix

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place blueberries in a half-pint jar.

Top with cobbler mix, shaking down the jar to disperse the mix and make room at the top.

Add butter to the top in the middle of the cobbler mix.

Bake for about 60-65 minutes, until the top crust has browned. Cool. Eat warm or put on lid and store in refrigerator. Great with vanilla ice cream. Mix it up by using peaches, or apples, or some other favorite fruit.

DH’s Rating: 4 Tongues Up

He loves fruit desserts almost as much as chocolate ones. The blueberries created enough juiciness that it wasn’t dry nor too juicy due to the cobbler mix down in and around the blueberries.

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Dark Chocolate Avocado Truffles

Today is National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day so we are doing truffles! Now, not all truffles are filled with cream or anything else, but this was the closest mini-dessert I could get for this food holiday.

I have to admit, early on in my cooking experience, when someone told me she was making truffles to give as Christmas presents, I was by parts appalled and mystified. Why would you give someone a box of mushroom-like stuff and how do you make them? I thought they grew in France and you needed pigs.

Well. That wasn’t it, now was it?

I had a good chuckle to myself later, but then the word guy in me wondered how in the heck a dessert got the truffle name. People make up new words all the time. Why didn’t they do that for the dessert? Upon reading about the origin of dessert truffles, I found it was because the ganache ball, rolled in cocoa powder, resembled the savory truffle. Okaaaay. I still would have renamed it!

In today’s truffle recipe, avocado and dark chocolate are both superfoods you should be eating, so this is practically mandated by healthcare professionals. Right.

I found this recipe and modified it.

One modification was serving size. Instead of tablespoon-size balls, I used teaspoons. Three teaspoons = one tablespoon, but there is something psychological about eating 3 of something as opposed to only one that has the same total mass. You agree, right? You can make your balls bigger if you like. Another modification was using mini-chips instead of chopping regular ones.

When I tried a chocolate and avocado pudding with DH, he really didn’t care for it, so when I told him I was making chocolate avocado truffles, he said, “Why can’t you just do normal ones? Like the ones I like.”

Sigh. It’s hard living with a Philistine. Sorry. Only kidding. We all have our own tastes. But I thought it was worth a shot. Never should have told him what was in it. But over the decades he has learned to be suspicious when I say, “Try this.”

Dark Chocolate Avocado Truffles (makes about 15-20 truffles) 

1 large, ripe avocado

5 ounces of the darkest chocolate you can find

5 ounces mini-chocolate chips

Coatings to roll balls in (see NOTE below)

Scoop out the avocado halves and mash with electric mixer or put in mini-food processor to pulverize the flesh. It should have no lumps.

Meanwhile, your dark chocolate is melting in the microwave in two 15-second intervals then 10-second intervals until all are melted. Some chips may hold there shape but still be melted so check periodically to see if melted.

Fold avocado into melted chocolate and stir thoroughly to incorporate.

Add mini-chocolate chips. Stir thoroughly.

Refrigerate for 1 hour until the mixture is firm enough to roll into balls. (If you wait longer, the chocolate won’t be malleable. Just pop it into the microwave for 15 seconds to get it malleable.)

Scoop out teaspoon-size bits of mixture and roll into balls. I place them on a chilled plate while I roll balls.

When all your balls are done, roll them in one or more coatings.

Put on a cute plate. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

NOTE: Coatings: I used finely ground walnuts, toasted coconut, cocoa powder, and orange zest. But choose whatever sounds good to you!

DH’s RATING: 5 Tongues Up

To my great surprise, DH loved these little chocolate goodies. He especially liked the coconut-coated ones. Didn’t care as much for the orange zest ones. He says I can make this chocolate-avocado mixture again! Yay!

There are dozens of truffles recipes out there. Here are a few of my favorites:

Eggnog Truffles  

Alton Brown’s Chocolate Truffles    

 

Oreo Truffles    

Ina Garten’s Chocolate Truffles    

Martha Stewart’s Truffles Recipes   

Easy Chocolate Truffles    

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

Who doesn’t love apple pie, but we probably eat way too much of a good thing if a whole pie is staring us in the face just begging to be eaten!

One solution is to make pielets. 

Another solution is to make an apple filling with much less sugar and a crunchy topping with no bottom crust. These are both more healthful alternatives than eating one-sixth of a pie!

I love spicy dishes, so feel free to adjust the cinnamon and nutmeg for your taste. Or substitute ground cloves for the nutmeg. Play with spices to find the flavor combo your family will love.

I don’t know if I addressed this earlier, but one reason I put out an array to tiny desserts for people to choose among is that they appreciate my consideration for dietary restrictions by allowing small sweet bites. And for those without restrictions … they’ve been known to have three or four different desserts just for the novelty of it all. This picture shows a regular  ramekin next to the three-bite mini ramekins. I know the proportions are off. The minis are all the same size.

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp (4 mini-ramekins)

Filling:

½ apple, medium, diced

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons water

2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar mixture

Crisp Topping:

1 tablespoon oats

1 tablespoon oat flour (see NOTE 1 below)

2 tablespoons brown sugar (I use Splenda-Brown Sugar Blend)

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 tablespoon nuts, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 4 mini-ramekins with non-stick cooking spray and place on cookie sheet with sides.

Put apples in a small dish and toss with lemon juice, water, and cinnamon sugar.

Distribute apple slice among the four mini-ramekins.

Combine oats, oat flour, brown sugar, spices, and salt. Blend thoroughly. 

With a fork, cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add nuts and stir again. 

Distribute topping across the four mini-ramekin, covering as much of the fruit as you can.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the top is lightly browned and the fruit is cooked. (Use a toothpick to check doneness.)

Serve warm or chilled.

Note 1: Make oat flour by putting a cup of old-fashioned oats into your food processor and pulverizing it. One tablespoon of oat flour = one tablespoon of wheat flour. Store the oat flour to use in crisp toppings or other recipes calling for flour that you want to make gluten-free. Store at room temp in a sealed container.

Note 2: Of course, you can use canned pie filling instead of fresh fruit. Bake until the top is browned, as the fruit is already cooked, about 20 minutes.

DH’s RATING: 5 Tongues Up

He loves my apple crisp (or pear or cherry or peach or … ). I originally created this gluten-free version because of a friend’s condition. Now it’s all I do!