Tangy Pineapple Cream Pie

I'm still looking for tasty low calorie desserts. And, I think I may have hit the jackpot this time! I saw a recipe awhile back on Cookie Madness for something called Millionaire Pie. I had never heard of this pie, even though Anna on cookie madness says that its a southern classic. Recipes that have pineapple in it, can't be southern classics, can they? I mean, unless you live in Southern Hawaii or something. Who had pineapple in the south?

I digress... I read over the ingredients for this millionaire pie and I started thinking... I might could make this low calorie!!! At first, I was a little hesitant... my last low calorie idea didn't turn out so well... but this one had promise.

I went to the grocery store yesterday afternoon seeking out the ingredients... crushed pineapple in it's own juice (no extra sugar added) check fat free sour cream check low calorie, fat free cool whip check... so far so good... and then we get to the sweetened condensed milk. Now, I knew that there was a fat free sweetened condensed milk... I checked the label and the sucker has 1100 calories for one can!!!!!! Yikes!!!! So, I paced up and down the baking aisle for a few minutes, pondering what to do... should I just scratch the whole pie? Nahhh.. I dont want to walk back to the refrigerated section and put the cool whip and sour cream away. I tried to think of what has the sweetness and consistency of sweetened condensed milk... not much, but I finally decided to buy a box of instant fat free, sugar free vanilla pudding...

And that's how this recipe was born... I've made a bunch of changes to the pie, so I changed the name and I'm calling it my own....

Tangy Pineapple Cream Pie

Graham Cracker Crust: (you could use a pre-made one if you like, but if you do, I'd halve the rest of the recipe).
3/4 cup of Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Butter melted

Filling:
1 box of jello instant pudding, vanilla fat free, sugar free
(you'll actually only use 14 oz of prepared pudding)
3 cups of cold milk (for the pudding)
4 tbsps sour cream
4 tbsps of key lime juice
2 8 oz cans of crushed pineapple in its own juice, drained
3 cups of cool whip

First, prepare your pudding according to box instructions, set aside to set.

Preheat the oven to 350 and mix the melted butter, sugar, and graham cracker crumbs together and pat into the bottom of a 9.5 inch glass pie pan. If you like more crust and want it to go up the sides, then double the recipe. I just wanted a little base crust. Put into the oven to bake for about 3-4 minutes. Just enough to firm up a little. It will still be pretty loose on top, but its okay, the filling is thick.

Prepare filling. Measure out 14 ozs of the prepared pudding (almost 2 cups) and place in a large mixing bowl. Then add sour cream, key lime juice, drained pineapple, and the cool whip and Stir well, incorporating all ingredients.

Pour filling into cooled pie dish and freeze for 1 hour then pull out of freezer and put into fridge for at least 4 hours. It fills the pie pan COMPLETELY.

What you get when you are finished is a deliciously tangy and sweet, creamy, refreshing pudding type of pie. It is yummy! I might also just skip the crust all together and pour into individual ramekins for little pudding desserts sometime, also.

The Signature Cookie.

So, I know that this blog is still young and I haven't even scratched the surface of cookie recipes, but this one folks... this cookie might just become my signature cookie.

By signature cookie, I mean the cookie that I'm known for. The cookie that I bring to functions and mail to friends on their birthdays... Amy's Cookie, if you will. So, with that being said, I shouldn't reveal the recipe, right? I mean, it's my signature cookie, it deserves some mystery, that's part of the allure of a signature cookie (yes, I will italicize signature cookie everytime I type, and when I say it aloud, I will always use the quotation mark fingers, because it's that type of cookie). But. whatever, I'm not a bitch. I always hate that actually... when someone brings something to a potluck that is smack ya momma, finger lickin' good... and then when you compliment them profusely they never offer up the recipe and then when you actually ASK them for it, they say.... "Oh, it's an old family recipe." Like, if I had the recipe, I'd rush home and mass market it or something. Jeez. Give me a break. I'm about sharing. And this is a cookie recipe that should be shared!!! (For one, because its pretty freaking time consuming... so, I dont want to get stuck with being the only one making it...) The only thing I require for those of you who make it... is that you tell peeps... Yeah, this is Amy's Signature Cookie... Unless you hate it, in which case, you don't know me, never heard of me.

Here is the recipe... It's really time consuming because you have to let it chill overnight and then after you do, you have to essentially work each cookie into a ball and then flatten them out for your cookie shape, cause they stay the exact same way through cooking. And the require a LOT of ingredients, but they are worth it. I think next time, I'll double the batch and freeze half the dough into a cookie dough log so that I can just slice and bake the next time without having to shape the cookies everytime. Also, the cookies look underdone when you pull them out of the oven, but after they sit out, they firm up.

The pictures didn't turn out well, I actually almost forgot to take pictures before I packed them all away! So, thats why the pictures suck. Don't judge this cookie by the pics, it's delicious.

By the way, these probably have like 10,000 calories per cookie... which is why I only had two last night. And I counted those calories as my dinner. I had to chew gum the whole time I was baking them to keep from nibbling on them as I took them out of the oven. I'm such a sucker for hot out of the oven cookies.

See, they look a little underdone, but they are perfect.

Packaged up and ready to go! (Don't think there aren't 15 more sitting in my freezer waiting to be eaten... mmm)

Energy Bars

It's about that time again. Time to start buying energy bars and thinking about what to eat before and after weekly long runs. I usually stick with Kashi brand bars, rolls, etc. They are fairly natural and have lots of fiber, protein, etc.

But, I like the idea of homemade energy bars. And I found a good base in this recipe. It might be a little sweet for me to actually eat after runs, so I might use a little less honey, but it is so versatile and could have any nuts or fruits throw into it! It tastes like no bake cookies without chocolate.

Energy Bars:

1/2 cup Peanut Butter

1/2 cup Honey

1 1/2 cup Quick Oats

In a sauce pan, heat the peanut butter and honey until it is well incorporated and a little runny. Then add in the oats and stir. Heat them just long enough to incorporate everything. Not to cook it. Pour into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper and let cool.

They come out very sticky and chewy, but nonetheless delicious. (and cheap!).

I wrapped them in parchment paper and then put them in a ziploc bag to make them easier to handle on the go.

Low calorie=crap.

Well, that's probably a little too harsh of a title. But this didn't exactly turn out the way I had envisioned.

It was supposed to be a chocolate sponge cake that has like 50 calories per slice. I've never made a sponge cake, so maybe that's to blame... but it turned out to be more like a rubber pancake than a spongy cake.

It kinda looks pretty though doesn't it? The cool whip (I can't say whip without over pronouncing the "h" ever since I saw that episode of family guy) and strawberries tasted good! There's a low cal dessert recipe for ya!

Yeah, no more low cal sponge cakes for me...

White Chocolate Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

When the people speak... I listen. And this time the people requested something with oatmeal. And so I scoured countless cookbooks for the perfect oatmeal cookie recipe.This is what I found.

Okay, so it actually came out about like this...
My mom: "Why no oatmeal cookies? I love oatmeal in cookies."
Me: "Oh yeah, I like oatmeal in cookies, too."
Then I went on recipezaar, found the recipe in like 2 seconds and whipped them up.

My alterations:I made them even MORE healthier by splitting the cup of flour into 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all purpose flour. They came out delicious! But watch them, because I only had to cook them for about 5-6 minutes (smallish cookie scoop). Also make sure you flatten them out before you bake them, because they do not spread. I used white chocolate squares instead of chips. Next time, I might try the chips.

They are very homey tasting, and I think that's because of the cinnamon flavor in them. Usually, I'm not a big fan of fruit with chocolate, but this combination of cranberry with white chocolate is absolutely perfect! But I'm sure you could substitute any dried fruit.

They are delicious though! I'm going to use this same basic recipe but do some experimenting try to make some good energy bars.

Brownies

I have never, not once considered making brownies from scratch. Why? Because of this: I've found that brownie mixes are so delicious... why bother with trying to make them from scratch?

Well, I decided that it would be nice to have a recipe for homemade brownies (even if they aren't likely to be as good as the mixes). So, I found a recipe on Cookie Madness for these brownies. She had lots of brownie recipes, but I chose these because I already had all the ingredients. And 28 minutes was wayyy too long to cook these brownies (at least for my taste), I should have taken them out after about 20-22, I think. I like my brownies moist and slightly undercooked. Mine were dry and overcooked. Damn.

I will try these again, I think though. They were easy and they make huge, thick brownies... I just wish I hadn't overcooked them.

The Redemption Cookies...

(angels singing in the background)

Now... this my friends... this is a cookie recipe.

So, I was a little disappointed by the last cookies I made... Alton Brown's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I did not let that defeat me. I soldiered on and decided to make a peanut butter cookie.

I used to make peanut butter cookies a lot when I was a kid, because we always had the ingredients for them. But the recipe I used was out of an old cookbook and made the kinda soft but sandy type. Well, I wanted a chewier (of course) but crispy around the edges type.

So, I found a recipe for Mrs. Fields Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies on recipezaar and then I doctored it up a bit (using peanut butter chips, reese peanut butter cups, and shorterning instead of butter).

They turned out so incredibly rich and decadent. Yum. Definitely a cookie for when you are in the mood for something sweet and rich. You can only eat a couple, so bask in the wonderfulness of every bite.. thank you Mrs. Fields. Thank you.

Reese's Cup Peanut Butter Cookies

makes about 36ish cookies.

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup butter flavored shortening

6 tsp water

3 large eggs

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 10oz package of reese peanut butter chips

36-40 minature reese peanut butter cups.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

On medium speed, in a large bowl, blend sugars with shortening and the 6 tsp of water, mix till grainy consistency. Add eggs, peanut butter (hint: spray the measuring cup with cooking spray before you measure the peanut butter so that the peanut butter slides right out) and vanilla extract. Beat until fluffy. Carefully stir in flour mixture with a wooden spoon and then barely mix on low speed with mixer until incorporated. Add the peanut butter chips and stir.

Drop by cookie scoop 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake until the edges are lightly browned, about 15 minutes (with my medium cookie scoop), as soon as you remove them from the oven, place a reese cup down in the center of the cookie and allow to cool for a minute before placing on a cooling rack.

Pour a glass of milk and enjoy...

They look like little fried eggs... weird.