Keep It Simple Foods » Desserts

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Jennifer — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:18:48 +0000

A few weeks ago, on a hot and sunny day, a few of my friends hosted a barbecue. To my delight and surprise, one of them made this.

And I ate it like this.

Strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my favorite summer comforts. You can find the recipe for this pie here at Smitten Kitchen.

Praline Bundt Cake with Praline Icing

Jennifer — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:18:01 +0000

A few months back, my boyfriend’s mother sent him back up to D.C. with this sweet baby.

Drroooooooool. Needless to say it didn’t last long in our apartment. I ate praline cake for breakfast, snack and dessert most days. I have a nasty morning cake habit. I probably at least should have crumbled it in some oatmeal or something. Oh well.
Anyway, definitely make this if you get a chance. You can find the recipe here at Southern Living Magazine.

Chocolate thumbprint cookies

Jennifer — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:53:24 +0000

Over the holidays I found this easy cookie recipe in Cooking Light magazine. I was looking for a new twist on the traditional thumbprint and thought hazelnut and cocoa sounded like the perfect way to go. The cookies were painfully simple to make and only required a few, simple ingredients. An added bonus is that they called for Nutella in the middle. So good! Mine turned out looking more like turds than cookies, but they were still tasty. ~~Turds~~ Cookies are delicious!

When It Snows..

Jessica — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:54:43 +0000

This weekend we enjoyed our first snow here in Arlington, VA. The view from our outside window was just magical, especially since I didn’t have to travel in it

When it snows, I definitely feel like baking and it was the perfect lazy afternoon to do so. I was once again craving an apple dessert so I whipped up this Cooking Light cinnamon apple cake. It is SO good- check out that crackly cinnamon sugar top! This cake is not fluffy, it’s more dense, but it is very moist and incredibly tasty. My fiance definitely gobbled it up and of course I had a piece or two…

Also, I got a copy of Eat, Drink, Be Vegan and found an incredible recipe for banana cream pancakes. I adapted the version a bit to my liking and they turned out fab! You can’t really taste the coconut milk, but it makes the pancakes creamy and the added chia seeds make it even more healthy!

Banana Cream Pancakes, adapted from Eat, Drink, Be Vegan
1 & 1/3 cup of spelt flour
1 tablespoon + 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of chia seeds
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 egg, beaten (preferably local & organic)
1 & 1/2 cups of light coconut milk
1 cup overripe banana, mashed
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of canola oil

Combine dry ingredients. Then add wet ingredients. Let sit for about 10 minutes (let chia seeds gel). Add about 1/2 tablespoon of canola oil (or spray lightly) on griddle and cook each side of pancake until golden brown.

Apple Crumble

Jessica — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:51:11 +0000

Now that the season of beautiful apples is coming to a close, I thought I would post one of my favorite apple desserts. While I adore apple pie, apple cake, and many other apple creations, apple crisp or in this case, crumble, tops the list. While I’m not a huge dessert person and definitely don’t make homemade desserts often, this was made especially for my fiance who was craving this!

I used the Neely’s recipe as inspiration, but added some additional ingredients. This takes no time at all to make- dicing up the apples is what takes the longest and it is so delicious. The smells from the apple crumble baking alone is reason enough to make this. Try it before apple season is over!

Apple Crumble

Filling:
5 Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored, chopped small
About 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Little more than 1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the Filling: Mix all the ingredients together. Place into casserole dish.
For topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Blend the butter into the mixture until it forms pea size lumps. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool before serving with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream (I used TJ’s vanilla bean).

Sweet Potato Pie

Jennifer — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:19:09 +0000

This time of year, when we get overloaded with all things pumpkin (pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin butter, pumpkin oats), let’s not forget about our friend the sweet potato. Sure, we all know and love the celebrated sweet potato casserole, but the sweet potato can do so much more! She is much sweeter and often times more flavorful than pumpkin, so you can cut back on added sugars and spices when cooking with her. You can also use sweet potato as a delicious and easy substitute in your favorite pumpkin recipes.

I recently found this pureed goodness next to the canned pumpkin.

Initially, I had set out to make a classic pumpkin pie in the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. But, as I reached for the canned pumpkin on the shelf, Garrison Keillor’s voice popped in my mind and remined me that, Pumpkin pie is a synonym for mediocrity. The best pumpkin pie you ever ate wasn’t that much better than the worst-just an excuse for eating nutmeg. So, I opted for sweet potato instead.

I followed the “easy as pie” directions on the can and got this!

Which I ate like this.

The pie tasted mighty fine! The sweet potato was devine! Hope you will try sweet potato instead of pumpkin next time! Ok, I promise to stop now.

Georgetown Cupcake and Jennifer’s 30th Bday!

Jennifer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:18:44 +0000

Omg ya’ll. I’m actually 30, today. Can you believe it?
To help me celebrate the big 3-0h no! my boyfriend organized a petite fete at his house with a champagne toast to accompany these sugar babies from Georgetown Cupcake.

We feasted on a dozen cupcakes-pumpkin spice, chocolate, berry, vanilla, and red velvet. These cupcakes = heaven. They were light and fluffy and the icing was creamy, but not too sugary. And, the adorable decorative candies on top were painfully cute! Thanks to Georgetown Cupcake for making my 30th birthday absolutely delicious.
Thanks to my sweet for being so sweet! xoxo

Happy Birthday Keep It Simple Foods!

Jennifer — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:24:03 +0000

November is Keep It Simple Foods’ birthday month and this month we are celebrating 1 year of blogging! Can you believe a year has already gone by? I can’t. Jessica and I want to thank all of our readers, old and new, who have loyally kept up with us over the past year. Thank you for keeping KISF going strong!

In celebration of our 1 year birthday and the festive fall season, I decided to whip up a pumpkin spice cake. I love cakes like this because they can be eaten at any time of day-breakfast, snack, dessert. Yum!

I followed this southern pumpkin spice bread recipe. I used one cake pan instead of loaf pans so it was more like a cake, rather than a bread. I added a 1/4 cup rolled oats for even more texture and heartiness. I also added cinnamon and raw sugar sprinkles to the top of the cake for a spicy, crunchy finish.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin purée
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs

Preparation:
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin and oil.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
(add in oatmeal-optional)
Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Pour batter into a greased 8×8 inch pan or 2 loaf pans. Bake at 350° until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

This cake comes out moist, delicious and not too sweet! And it’s perfect for getting into the holiday spirit. Top it off with a small pat of butter and/or a smear of pumpkin or apple butter and enjoy!

Blueberry Molasses Cake

Jennifer — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:42:10 +0000

A few weeks ago, I spotted Heidi’s old-fashioned blueberry cake and decided right away that I had to make it. I’m pretty much a sucker for any recipe with the title “old fashioned” and I loved that it used blueberries and a small amount of natural molasses to sweeten the cake, rather than several cups of refined sugar. I used the molasses we picked up on our trip to Saluda, N.C. The result was similar to a blueberry coffee cake with a very mild sweetness and a bold molasses flavor. I really enjoyed it!
I recommend serving this cake for breakfast or dessert. Serve with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and garnish with mint leaves for color.

Ice Cream with a CRUNCH!

Jennifer — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:40:48 +0000

I love eating ice cream in the summer time. Oh, who am I kidding, I love eating ice cream anytime, any day, any season. But, it’s extra good to eat something cold and creamy when it’s 90 degrees outside. When eating ice cream, I like to have a gigantic bowl, but, as we all know, ice cream is loaded with fat and calories. So, in an effort to get control of the portion size, I add a broken graham cracker to just one or two small scoops of ice cream. It bulks up up the volume of the bowl so you think you’re eating more. It also adds flavor and crunch and is very satisfying! Of course graham crackers aren’t the healthiest of all treats, but they are low in fat and calories, are made with whole grains and are a lot better choice than sprinkles, hot fudge, marshmallows, etc…

You could also spread ice cream between two graham crackers for a mini ice cream sandwich (this would also be a fun treat for the kiddos). This is a great, healthier topping idea for an ice cream social. Graham crackers are a delicious way to jazz up everyday ice cream.