What is it about desserts that just make my eyes roll to the back of my head and mouth water uncontrollably…

Maybe it’s the fact that I was born with an incredible sweet tooth.  Yeah, I’ll go with that.  It must come in the genes, you know the ones that are bestowed upon us through birth.  Did you know that when I go into a restaurant or anywhere to eat I always look at the dessert menu first.  No lie, for real.  If your menu has an amazing dessert I promise I will be the one to find it, taste it, judge it and rave about it… that is if its yummy enough to rave about.

I think it all boils down to being my dad’s fault.  Now let me explain… You see the thing is, is that my father has a HUMONGO sweet tooth!  I mean no matter what he eats, there is always room for dessert.  I used to always wonder where my incessant need to finish off my meal with something sweet came from and now I know, it all stems from my daddy.

My parents were coming in town along with my sister for the weekend.  You see my dad got me, my sisters and mom tickets to go and see So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) at the Amway Arena and I knew I had to show my appreciation with a little gift, that is “sweet gift.” **wink,wink**

I thought Jamaican Bread Pudding would be a great surprise for him, especially when its soaked in rum and a smooth sweet glaze is dripping from each fork bite.  t just so happened that at the same time I was thinking of a dessert for my dad, Foodbuzz had sent me a lovely coupon for a free Nature’s Pride product in exchange for making up a little ol’ recipe highlighting Nature’s Pride bread. I know, it kinda pays off being part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program, especially when six bloggers’ recipes will be chosen to be an ambassador for Nature’s Pride at this year’s Foodbuzz Festival!

Let’s hope this recipe tickles the judges tummy!

Bread Pudding with Rum Cream

Ingredients

For Bread Pudding

• 1 lb day-old bread (I used Honey Wheat)
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 4 cups whole milk
• 5 large eggs

Rum Cream

• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon dark rum

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9-inch square baking dish with butter or cooking spray.

Start off with one loaf of bread.

Remove the crust from the bread and place in a large bowl.  Break up the bread into small portions.

Combine the bread, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum, raisins, and melted butter in a mixing bowl.

Pour into the baking dish.

Mix the condensed milk, eggs and whole milk.

Pour this over the bread mixture in the baking dish.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 1¼ hours. You can test if it is baked by inserting a small knife in the middle until it comes out clean.

While the bread pudding is cooling prepare your rum cream.

Heat the milk in a heavy saucepan until bubbles appear around the edge. While heating, stir occasionally so the milk does not burn to the bottom.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks slightly. Stir in the sugar; do not beat.

Stir in the sugar; do not beat.

Gradually stir the hot milk into the eggs a little at a time, tempering them, and then return the entire mixture to the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens slightly and will coat a clean metal spoon with a thin, creamy film.

Cool slightly, and then stir in the vanilla and dark rum.

Cover and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Makes about 1-1/2 cups. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Pour over cooled bread pudding.

Enjoy!

I like you.

I really do….

I like you alot…

I think we can be great friends!

Not just any kind of friends but friends that bake each other delicious treats, like my Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. That’s right its a cookie and a cake combined, and if your really nice I’ll even add vanilla ice cream with hot fudge…

How does that sound to you…

Would you like to be my friend?

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream the butter, light brown sugar, and vanilla extract on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute.

1. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat for 15 seconds.

2. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg.

3. Blend on medium speed for 30 seconds.

4., 5., & 6. Add the dry ingredients and combine on low speed until just a few dry streaks remain.

7. & 8. Add the chocolate chips and mix for a few seconds until combined.

Scrape the batter into a greased and lined 9-inch round cake pan.

Press the batter into a smooth and even layer in the pan. Bake until lightly golden and puffy around the edges (the center should still feel quite soft), 18 – 22 minutes.

Cool for 10 minutes and then run a paring knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake.

Cool for at least 4 hours before turning the cake out of the pan and onto a large plate.

Slice then serve…

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

(adapted from Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake – Dam Good Sweet by David Guas and Raquel Pelzel, as seen on Lemonpi)

Ingredients

1 stick butter, unsalted
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream the butter, light brown sugar, and vanilla extract on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute.

Increase the mixer speed to high and beat for 15 seconds.

Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg.

Blend on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Add the dry ingredients and combine on low speed until just a few dry streaks remain.

Add the chocolate chips and mix for a few seconds until combined.

Scrape the batter into a greased and lined 9-inch round cake pan.

Press the batter into a smooth and even layer in the pan. Bake until lightly golden and puffy around the edges (the center should still feel quite soft), 18 – 22 minutes.

Cool for 10 minutes and then run a paring knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake.

Cool for at least 4 hours before turning the cake out of the pan and onto a large plate.

Slice then serve…

Enjoy!

I made this delicious easy cake in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day.  Let’s just say that it was a huge success with the kids and their friends.  They thought it was so cool to see a cake that was green.

You would make it the same exact way you would a Red Velvet Cake just substitute the red coloring for the green one.  That easy!

So if your feeling a little green just bake this baby and you’ll feel much better… especially when its completely covered in cream cheese frosting! YUMMMMMMM

Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.

Lightly whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Then add remaining liquid ingredients: Oil, Buttermilk, Vinegar, Vanilla, and Green Food Coloring, stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.

Place all the dry ingredients: Flour, Sugar, Cocoa, Salt, and Baking Soda in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.

Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I also cover in plastic wrap while the cakes cool.

While the cake are cooling, make the frosting.

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

Sift sugar and set aside.

Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla.

Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition.

Now its time to frost your yummy cake… just try not eat all the frosting before.

Enjoy!

Green Velvet Cake

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 oz. green food coloring

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.

Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.

Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.

Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

Bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cake are cooling, make the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups confectioners’ sugar

Sift sugar and set aside.

Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla.

Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition.

Now its time to frost your yummy cake… just try not eat all the frosting before.

Enjoy!

Each week we round up our most yummy posts and recipes from our friends at the Kitchn.

This week, the kitchn celebrates Halloween this year with homemade candy corn with candy dough.

Also in the kitchn, roasting stuffed pumpkins, dyeing pasta, oreo bat cookies, and panna cotta puddings.

• Autumn Supper: Savory Stuffed Pumpkin: Have a hallow pumpkin that is going to waste… add roasted garlic, bread, spices and cream… Yum!

• Colorful Cooking: How To Make Colored Pasta: All you need is vegetable puree to add some color to your pasta.

• Halloween Recipe: Thomas Keller Oreo Bat Cookies: Try these crunchy chocolate cookies, with a white chocolate ganache sandwiched in between them.

• Autumn Cooking: Savory Kabocha Squash Panna Cotta: Savory Panna Cotta Puddings are delish!

Each week we round up our most yummy posts and recipes from our friends at the Kitchn.

The week, the Kitchn confesses their thoughts on some delicious fried dough… what are your thoughts?

Also in the Kitchn, tips on using mealy apples, a creamy blue cheese dressing for iceberg wedges, end of summer recipe, and ten ways to display your fruit.

• Waste Not! Five Ways To Use Mealy Apples: Quick and easy tips on how to maximize use on mealy apples.

• I’ll Raise You A Wedge: Iceberg Lettuce With Blue Cheese: Though Iceberg is quite boring on its own with blue cheese will surely make it a winner.

• End Of Summer Recipe: Grilled Eggplant With Goat Cheese And Tomato: End your summer right with this yummy recipe.

• Display Your Fruit! 10 Lovely Fruit Bowls: Display your fruit in a number of ways.

Each week we round up our most yummy posts and recipes from our friends at the Kitchn.

This week, the kitchn shows us the wide ranges of ice creams that mix-in yummy chocolate bits.

Also in the kitchn, how to eat spicy foods, a dessert version of balsamic vinegar, differences in peppercorns, and a new version of chocolate mousse.

• Can’t Take The Heat? How To Eat Spicy Foods:  Though I may not have this problem I know that some of my readers do, hope this helps!

• Ingredient Spotlight: Saba: This is found in the  balsamic vinegar family, it’s sweet and syrupy perfect to drizzle over fruits and cheeses.

• What’s The Deal With Green, Black, White, and Pink Peppercorns?:  Do you know all of the differences between all of these peppercorns?

• Recipe: Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil and Sea Salt:  This is a perfect recipe for chocolate mousse if expecting.

• Quick and Easy Recipe for a lazy kid-friendly morning, Peanut butter and Chocolate Chip Pancakes.

• Sugar shortage in america can be the new dilemma.

• What to do with a basket of yummy lemons.

• Stores are reintroducing larger packages for our favorite foods again. 

• There are so many different ways to write a shopping list, what’s yours?

According to Wall Street Journals report this past thursday, “Several giant food producers sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warning that the U.S. might “virtually run out of sugar” of the country didn’t reduce import restrictions on the increasingly expensive commodity.”

Big time firms, such as Kraft Foods Inc., General Mills Inc., Hershey Co. and Mars Inc. have implied that if they weren’t able to receive supply markets like Brazil, they would run out of sugar to make our favorite candy bars, cookies, cereal and other products.

In order to keep prices within reason for domestic sugar farmers, the government only allows unlimited sugar imports from the Mexican market without the paying of tariffs. The price of raw sugar has increased to its highest level since 1981.

 The US Department of Agriculture said earlier this week that domestic supplies were now increasing and this was being backed up by the sugar industry group American Sugar Alliance (ASA).  ”There is absolutely no shortage of sugar here,” said Jack Roney, director of economic and policy analysis at the ASA. 

What do you think? Do you believe that America can run out of sugar?

Image: Alicia Nijdam/Flickr

Each week we round up our most yummy posts and recipes from our friends at the Kitchn.

This week, the Kitchn gives all a taste of heaven with scupltiliuptious Nutella cake with chocolate hazelnut ganache.  Oh I am in heaven!

Also in the kitchn, 4th of July wines, refreshing summer tea, tips on how to measure and store lemon zest, and frozen nectarine-yogurt pie.

• July 4th: Great Wines for Independence Day Celebrations: Need a wine to celebrate independance day, here you go!

• Refreshing Drink for Summer: Cold-Brewed Iced Tea: Now this looks so refreshing on a hot summer day.

• All About Zest: How To Measure and Store Lemon Zest?: Do you know how to measure and store lemon zest?

• Recipe: Frozen Nectarine-Yogurt Pie: Try this quick, easy, delicious dessert.

Each week we round up our most yummy posts and recipes from our friends at the Kitchn.

This week, actually Yours Truly was cookin in the kitchn… whipping up some yummy, gooey, Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies.  After submitting a few recipes of mine I was asked by the kitchn to be a guest post on their site and I just jumped up for this cool opportunity.

Also in the kitchn, quesadilla pie… yummy, Part One of growing alfalfa sprouts, getting plastic off the oven, the ingredient turmeric, to the principles of melting cheese.

• Recipe Review: Quesadilla Pie from Simply Recipes: Sounds too yummy for words.

• How To Grow Your Own Alfalfa Sprouts: Part One: Avoid health hazards by growing them yourself.

• Good Question: How Do I Get Melted Plastic Off the Oven?: Ever have this problem, if so try this then.

• From the Spice Cupboard: Turmeric: Do you have a small tin of turmeric just sitting in your cupboard, if so take it out and use it for other things.

• Cheese: On Melting:  The principles on how to melt cheese, gooey and yummy!