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Irish Cream Pudding Parfaits with Oatmeal-Walnut Crunch

 Here's a few desserts for St. Patricks Day!



Ingredients for Crunch:
1        c. old-fashioned oats
3/4     c. all purpose flour
1/2     c. packed brown sugar
2        tsp. instant coffee crystals
1/4     tsp. ground allspice
1/4     tsp. salt
1/2     c. (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3/4     c. coarsely chopped walnuts
Ingredients for Pudding:
1-1/4  c. chilled whipping cream
12      tbsp. Irish Cream
3/4     c. packed brown sugar
6        large egg yolks
1/4     tsp. ground nutmeg
12      tbsp. dried currants
Preparation:
Crunch:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine first 6 ingredients in large bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture forms moist clumps. Mix in walnuts. Sprinkle mixture onto rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden brown and crisp, occasionally stirring gently and leaving mixture in clumps, about 35 minutes. Cool completely. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight.)
Pudding:
Combine 3/4 cup cream, 6 tablespoons Irish cream, sugar, yolks and nutmeg in large metal bowl. Place over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Using electric mixer, beat until custard thickens and thermometer registers 160°F, about 8 minutes. Remove from over water and beat until cool, about 8 minutes. Mix in remaining 6 tablespoons Irish cream. Beat remaining 1/2 cup cream in medium bowl to medium peaks. Fold into custard. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
Layer 1/4 cup pudding, 1 tablespoon currants and 3 tablespoons crunch in each of six 12 ounce goblets; repeat layering 1 more time. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 1 hour.

Irish Mince Tartlets

1 lg. jar of mince pie filling (or other flavor pie filling)
2 recipes for 2-crust pies
1 beaten egg
Oven 450F
Roll out two crusts at a time. Cut into 4-inch circles with large biscuit cutter or tart cutter for as many pairs as will fit. Place 2 tablespoons of filling in the center of the bottom crusts. With a pastry brush put egg around the edge to seal. Cut a slit or small hole in the top crust and place on top. Press down firmly and seal the edges. Brush with egg. Place the tartlets on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until crust is golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely on wire rack.
Repeat with second two pie crusts. Yield: about 20 tartlets

Irish Applesauce Spice Cake Fancies
Decorated for Christmas

1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1       c. whole wheat flour
1       tsp. baking soda
1       tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4    tsp. ground allspice
1       c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2    c. margarine, softened
1-1/4 c. sweetened applesauce
2       eggs, beaten
1/3    c. light molasses
In a medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and allspice; set aside.
In a large bowl, with electric mixer at medium speed, beat brown sugar and margarine until creamy. Add applesauce, eggs and molasses; beat until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended. Pour batter into 13 x 9 x 2 inch square pan lined with waxed paper. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack and remove waxed paper. Cool completely.
Glaze:
5     c. powdered sugar
1/2  c. milk
1/2  tsp. vanilla extract
Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth and it lightly coats the back of a spoon.
Assembly:
Trim off 1/2 inch of each side of cooled cake. Measure and cut into 1-1/4 inch squares.
With a spoon, drizzle glaze over the tops and sides of each piece. Do this 3 times to be sure each piece is covered completely. Sprinkle the tops with assorted holiday sprinkles or decorate with red and green glaze. Let dry completely and store in an air tight container.

Slow Cooker Chunky Black Cherry Applesauce Recipe

Sorry, no picture available...bummer!


Ingredients

8 cooking apples, peeled and chopped
1 (16-ounce ) pkg. of frozen unsweetened pitted dark sweet cherries
1/2 cup sugar or to taste
1/2 teasp. cinnamon
1/4 teasp. nutmeg
1/4 teasp. almond extract

Directions

put everything in a 4-quart slow cooker
cover cook on Low for 10 hours or until fruit is soft
cool and put into a container and store in the refrigerator
....................................................................
this can be served with pork chops or other meats
or make a parfait layering it with yogurt
serve it warm over pound cake or gingerbread

Homemade and All-natural Thin Mint Recipe

 Sorry, but I can never have enough good Thin Mint cookies, so here's another recipe..

Chocolate Wafers:
8 ounces organic butter, room temperature
1 cup organic powdered sugar, (I use Wholesome Sweeteners brand)
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 cup cocoa powder (I use Dagoba's cacao powder)
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
Chocolate Peppermint Coating:
1 pound good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
natural peppermint oil to taste

Preheat your oven to 350. Racks in the middle zone.
Make the cookie dough: In a mixer cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cream some more, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times if necessary. Stir in the vanilla extract and then the salt and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter is smooth and creamy, sort of like a thick frosting. Add the whole wheat pastry flour and mix just until the batter is no longer dusty looking, it might still be a bit crumbly, and that's o.k. You don't want to over mix and end up with tough cookies.
Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and kneed it just once or twice to bring it together into once nice, smooth mass. Place the ball of dough into a large plastic bag and flatten it into a disk roughly 3/4-inch thick. Place the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill.
Rollout and bake: Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin, remember how thin Thin Mints are? That's how thin you need your dough, about 1/8-inch. You can either roll it out between two sheets of plastic, or dust your counter and rolling pin with a bit of flour and do it that way. Stamp out cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cutter (this time I used one with a fluted edge, I've done hearts and other shapes in the past). Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a baking rack if you've got one.

Make the peppermint coating:
While the cookies are in the oven you can get the coating ready. I use a makeshift double boiler to melt chocolate (a metal pan over a saucepan of gently simmering water), but I know many people who swear by melting chocolate in the microwave. Slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until it is glossy and smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. If you think the chocolate needs a bit more peppermint kick, add more extract a drop or two at a time - but don't go overboard.
Finishing the cookies: You are going to coat the cookies one at a time and then gently set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to set. Drop one cookie into the chocolate and (using a fork) carefully make sure it gets fully coated. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. You are after a thin, even coating of chocolate. Place on the aforementioned prepared baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set. They will set at room temperature, it just takes much longer, and I prefer them straight out of the freezer anyways ;)
Make 3 or 4 dozen cookies.