Tag Archives: dessert

S’Mores Baked in the Oven

Posted on August 16, 2025 | 1 comment

Oh Wow!!! what could be better??? truly easy and very little fuss perfect with the kids and perfect for the adults. Very rich and gooey. Whole thing takes about 40 minutes from start to finish and you can re-heat the sliced bars in the microwave for about 30 seconds if you have some left-over. It’s great for a large group and I would say about 12-15 servings here. Let’s hold on to the last few weeks of summer with this delicious dessert.

For a very traditional s’mores taste eat immediately, I think they tasted a little better after they cooled down for a bit. Whichever way you prefer them –this is a great recipe for a crowd. You can prepare first and then pop in the oven while you are having dinner. Enjoy!

*also I was able to obtain these amazing square marshmallows in the supermarket, if you see them –grab them otherwise just regular old marshmallows they will do the trick.

Ingredients:

Crust:

18 graham crackers

1/4 cup granulated sugar

pinch of salt

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter-melted

*parchment paper — I think you’ll want to work with it for this recipe–it can get difficult once they harden to get them out of pan. Clean up was a snap with it.

Topping:

3 extra-large Hershey Bars (or 7 regular-size ones)

24 jumbo marshmallows–look for the large square ones

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13 Pyrex type baking pan with cooking spray and then line with parchment paper , allow an extra couple of inches of paper to hang over the edge.

In the food processor bowl, pulse the graham crackers until they are finely ground. Transfer the crumbs to a medium-sized bowl.

Add the sugar and salt to the graham crackers and stir to combine. Add the melted butter and stir until the crumbs are moistened. Pour the crumb mixture into the prepared pan and press into an even layer.

Bake the crust for about 10 minutes or until the edges turn lightly golden. Let the crust cool off completely before adding chocolate. I probably let it sit off heat for about 1/2 hour.

Arrange the chocolate bars (see picture) evenly on the top of cooled crust, I had to remove 1 row of chocolate to fit it in pan and left a little uncovered crumbs around edges. Arrange the marshmallows on top of the chocolate, leaving a little space between each one (see photos) Marshmallows will expand slightly.

Bake until the chocolate is soft and beginning to melt, and the marshmallows are evenly toasted on top. Probably about 10-15 minutes depending on your oven.

I couldn’t wait to eat them but I would suggest letting them cool off for a little bit, cutting was easier when it cooled down ( after 15-20 minutes) I was able to cleanly cut slices. It’s more like campfire s’mores when you eat them hot out of the oven and certainly messier.

You can re-heat the sliced bars in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. If you are keeping them , cut them and store individual slices.

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Posted in Baked Goods, dessert

Tagged baking, chocolate, chocolate and marshmallows, dessert, recipes, s'mores, s'mores in the oven

A Berry Patriotic Trifle

Posted on July 4, 2025 | 1 comment

I made this for the Fourth of July a few years ago and it was so very pretty and pretty yummy too. I honestly didn’t care how good it tasted because it looked that good but it really was very yummy. Very easy to make and no baking involved. Perfect for the Fourth or Labor Day or really any old time . Actually this would be lovely made with all blackberries , all strawberries and just serve it any old time if you’re not feeling the Patriotic theme. It’s delicious and an easy solution for dessert for those summer bbq’s.

You’ll need a Trifle Bowl — worth the investment.

Happy Fourth of July America! Land of the Free because of the Brave!

Ingredients:

1 store bought angel food cake

For the syrup:

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp. Almond Extract

Whipped Cream Cheese:

2/3 cup sugar

1 lb. Cream cheese , at room temperature

2 cups Heavy Cream, at room temperature

Fruit:

2 pints blueberries

2 pints strawberries, hulled and sliced

Directions:

Heat 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice , and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and stir in the almond extract.

Cut the pre made angel cake into 1 ” slices

Brush both sides of the sliced cake with syrup — I put on a rimmed baking sheet to do this

Cut the slices into 1″ cubes

Beat 2/3 cup sugar and the cream cheese with a mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth and light. Add the cream and beat on medium-high speed until smooth and the consistency of whipped cream

Arrange half of the cake cubes in the bottom a 13 cup trifle dish. Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries. Dollop half of the cream mixture over the blueberries and gently spread

Top with a layer of strawberries

Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries. Then sprinkle with more blueberries

Top with remaining whipped cream and finish with the remaining strawberries and blueberries, arranging them in a decorative pattern. Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours. Overnight is perfect and what I recommend.

Like I said any berries will do , it’s a lovely dessert.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged baking, Cake, dessert, desserts, recipes, strawberries

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (very easy)

Posted on May 6, 2025 | 1 comment

I love Banana Cake and since I always seem to have rotting bananas in the house it’s the perfect thing to make. I have tried so many recipes over the years and have posted mostly loaf style banana breads. I decided to make this one a sheet cake in a 9×13 Pyrex and I also decided to frost it with a delicious cream cheese frosting! I think this is a super easy cake to bake, perfect for beginner bakers. The orange zest gives it a distinct flavoring, it met with raves in my house tonite. Making it in the sheet cake style takes out the room for error. A 9 inch round cake would be perfect as well and you can frost just the top or sides and top. Just follow the same directions. I baked cake in the afternoon and frosted it that night for the next day. I kept it in fridge overnight, and took it out of fridge for a few hours so frosting and cake would be at room temperature. Give this one a go!

*would also make great cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas , mashed

1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup sugar

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Grated Zest of 1 orange (don’t leave this out, it really adds distinct flavoring)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( optional) I didn’t use this time but nice to decorate the top with a few walnut halves as well. Totally optional. You can sprinkle chopped walnuts on the top of cake as well. I didn’t, I left it simple and clean .

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

6 tablespoons ( 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x 13 Pyrex pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the mashed bananas, sugar, and brown sugar on low-speed until combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low, add the oil, eggs ( one at a time) sour cream , vanilla and orange zest. Mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Flour, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 – 50 minutes. I baked for about 40 minutes, toothpick or cake tester should come out clean from the center of cake. I would watch cake the last 10 minutes or so for doneness.

To make the frosting. Mix the cream cheese , butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment on low-speed until just combined. Do not whip. Add the confectioners sugar and mix until smooth. Spread the frosting thickly on the top of the cake. Cake must be completely cool before frosting. Frosting is super delish! and I just put a few walnut halves or sprinkle chopped nuts over cake, if no nut allergies present.

*this cake also bakes up beautifully in 9 inch round cake pan. It will look a little fancier on the cake plate this way. For today I just did a good old fashioned sheet cake. ( no room for error) or delicious cupcakes!

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Posted in Baked Goods, Cake

Tagged baking, Banana Cake, Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, chocolate-cake, dessert, Old Fashioned Banana Cake, recipes

Chocolate Bark Surprise

Posted on April 8, 2025 | Leave a comment

Chocolate Bark Surprise

chocolate bark surprise before breaking it all up

Believe me when I say that I know how very difficult this Holiday is going to be for almost all of us. If you’re looking for something your kids can make with you this is one of the better recipes and fun to eat afterwards. I usually make this recipe on the holidays and it’s easy and delicious. If you have your kids or your grandkids and want to have a cooking project together this could be the one.

One of the most wonderful surprises to come out of my blog is the constant sharing of recipes, ideas, thoughts and sometimes even a little criticism. I love it all. Sharing has got to be the part I enjoy the most. I love sharing my family recipes with all of you. I especially love when you send me a recipe and I love it and I make it part of Cooking with Candi. As those of you who have gotten to know me and my blog you know this to be true. I try to always give credit where credit is due, sometimes I name the recipe after the person who passed it on to me. I rarely get to know the origin or provenance of these recipes but they’re way to good to keep “under wraps”. Thanks again to all my friends for their recipes and inspiration not to mention support with this “labor of love”. I write this blog so that you can all share the recipes that I have had come to know. Why keep it to myself? I love the feedback you all give me and nothing makes me happier than when I meet someone who started cooking and now enjoys it because of my recipes.

It’s hard to know the provenance of most recipes and I am doing this for fun not profit!

Speaking of sharing I got this wonderful recipe from At Home with Joy , thanks for sharing with us Joy. This recipe was so easy and so delicious, for those of you who love Candy and who doesn’t? Give it a try, please check out Joy’s blog you’ll be happy you did.

And this would be perfect on your Passover Table. It’s a really nice dessert served anytime but really perfect now.

www.athomewithjoy

Chocolate Bark Surprise

Ingredients:

1 9 oz. bag chocolate chips ( I used semi-sweet) this would have to be amazing with white chocolate chips as well

1/4 cup shelled pistachio nuts ( I used no salt but a little salt would probably be fine)

1/4 cup raw almonds

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 Tablespoon shredded coconut

Directions:

Line a small sheet pan with parchment paper

Place chips in microwave safe bowl and heat for app. 2 1/2 minutes. Check frequently as microwaves can vary. 2 – 2 1/2 minutes was sufficient. Once the chocolate is smooth and creamy, add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and stir until combined. Make certain your bowl is large enough to accommodate the chocolate and dry ingredients.

Stir until well combined, and immediately pour mixture onto parchment paper and using a spatula evenly smooth it around, it should be about 1/4″ thick.

Place pan in fridge and allow it to harden for at least an hour or until hardened.

Using your hands, break bark into pieces. The pieces will be uneven.

Store extra bark in freezer in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

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Posted in Candy, Holiday, Holiday Recipes, Passover Recipes

Tagged at home with joy, Candy, chocolate, chocolate bark surprise, dessert, food, recipes, sharing

Banana Pudding from Magnolia Bakery – One of my Top Ten Desserts that you don’t even bake

Posted on November 25, 2024 | Leave a comment

Since the first time my daughter Jenn made this dessert we have added it to our Thanksgiving Table. Just what you need after that big dinner is this dessert!!! We love it and can’t get enough of it. Whether you’ll be making it for Thanksgiving or anytime just be prepared to fall in love with it. Completely decadent and totally ridiculous in calories and richness it is love at first bite.

It is actually a subtle taste of bananas, but I wouldn’t make this if I didn’t like bananas. I happen to just adore bananas and I absolutely love love this pudding. I cannot have it in the house because I will continually find an excuse to go into the fridge and eat it till it’s pretty much all gone. As full as I was last year and swearing I wasn’t going to eat another thing for at least a week, when I saw this pudding I knew I was going to eat it. I find it impossible to resist and I know others who suffer from this same fate. If you’re in the market for a purely decadent rich over the top dessert then this is it for you. Probably up there on my top ten desserts ever. This is from the More from Magnolia Cookbook so how could it be bad?

*this recipe really needs time , so you must start the day before to let initial pudding set, and then you’ll need at least 4 more hours minimum before serving. So you must factor time into your prep of this awesome pudding but it’s so worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours.

Ingredients:

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 1 /2 cups ice-cold water

1 3.4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix ( preferably Jell-O brand)is there another brand?

3 cups heavy cream

1 12 ounce box Nabisco Nilla Wafers ( no substitutions) is there another brand?

4 cups sliced ripe banana

Directions:

In a small bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and cold water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more.* Cover and refrigerate for 3 – 4 hours or overnight, before continuing. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer , whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remains.

To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl ( preferably glass) with a 4 – 5 quart capacity. Arrange one-third of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, over-lapping if necessary, then one-third of the bananas and one-third of the pudding. Repeat the layering twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding . ( Just crush up a few remainder cookies in food processor) Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for *4 hours–or up to 8 hours, but no longer! Serve and behold the love!

Serves anywhere from 12- 15

It’s a large dessert and a substantial one. It stands alone beautifully!

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Posted in dessert, no bake dessers, Pudding, Thanksgiving

Tagged bananapudding, Bananas, dessert, food, Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding, No bake Banana Pudding from Magnolia Bakery, One of my top ten desserts, recipe, recipes, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Desserts

Apple Pear Crisp

Posted on November 23, 2024 | Leave a comment

It’s Fall and this is the most perfect dessert while apples and pears are abundant . Baked with brown sugar and oat topping served warm with vanilla ice cream and it’s perfection on a plate. This is what I did and it really is pretty easy and not very technical for those of you who want to bake a great dessert but don’t want to fuss with cakes and frosting etc. and special equipment. Most perfect!!! Can be made ahead of time and even frozen . Perfect Thanksgiving dessert and if you like just use all apples and omit the pears doubling up on the apples. But Pears are so wonderful — just saying.

Can easily be cut in 1/2 for a much smaller gathering. You can even put into small ramekins and bake like that for individual servings.

Delicious Easy Dessert.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from my kitchen to yours.

Ingredients:

Fruit Mixture:

3 ripe firm pears peeled, cored and thinly sliced

3 apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced

3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

3/4 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract