It's Apple Season - Make some Apple Crunch!

It's Apple Season!

Do you love baking with apples as much as I do?

Muffins, Cakes, Pies, Cookies... there are so many great apple recipes to try!

This is one of my family's all time favourite desserts; really, any time of the year, but especially in the fall. 

I started making this when I was a teen learning how to bake in my mom's kitchen. 

This recipe originally came from a little cookbook from the dollar store. I haven't got a clue who published that cheap little book, but it had some gems in it - this being one of them!

Ever since that first time, we've enjoyed this several times a year. 

I hope it becomes a family favourite for you too. :)

Apple Crunch {Print Recipe}

serves 6

3 medium apples, cored & chopped (you can peel them too if you like. I don't.)

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375º. Spray a 9x9 inch baking dish or small casserole dish with non-stick spray.

Mix apples & brown sugar. Pour into baking dish.

In a separate dish mix flour, granulated sugar, salt, & cinnamon. Add egg & mix again. Mixture will be crumbly & not completely consistent. Spread on top of apples. Pour melted butter over the crumb mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

YUM!

Looking for more fall baking ideas?

Click here for my Apple Streusel Muffin Recipe

Click here for my Chai Loaf Recipe

Click here for my Skinny Pumpkin Spice Muffin Recipe

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Peanut Butter Cup Trifle

I just can't seem to get enough of trifles!

Have you noticed??

They're just such a perfect summer dessert - 

they're so fast & no baking or cooking is required if you buy a pre made cake. 

Or brownies in this case!

I made this trifle in place of a birthday cake for my husband's birthday barbecue a couple weeks ago. 

It was a huge hit!

Layers of chocolate custard, rich fudge brownies, & of course, Reece's peanut butter cups come together to make a sweet success.

Peanut Butter Cup Trifle {Print Recipe}

serves 10-12

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cup cold water

1 package chocolate pudding mix

2 cups whipping cream, whipped, but not sweetened (you could use Cool Whip too)

1 - 8x8" pan of brownies (pre made or try this recipe if you want to make your own), cut into bite sized pieces

36 regular sized Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped **See note below**

Combine sweetened condensed milk & water. Stir in pudding mix. Chill for 20 minutes. Fold in the whipped cream. 

Put about a cup of the pudding mix into the bottom of a trifle bowl. Start layering: Pudding, brownie, peanut butter cups. Repeat. Top it all off with some more peanut butter cups, because that's just awesome.

Refrigerate until you're ready to serve it.

**Instead of buying a bunch of regular candy bar packages of the peanut butter cups, I found little flats of 12 individually packaged "snack packs". Three of those babies ($2 each at Wal-Mart!) & this ingredient is taken care of!

Check out my other trifle creations by clicking on the titles below:

Strawberries & Cream Trifle

Strawberry Covered Chocolate Trifle

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Summer Birthday Barbecue!

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? Our Saturday was busy, but in a good way. Let me fill you in...

My husband turned 40 earlier this spring, but we wanted to wait to do a party outside. The date was set & the guests were invited! 

The party date arrived. It was raining. Boo! 

We prayed over the weather & got to our party preparations anyway.

The menu was simple - we provided the hot dogs & burgers & we asked our friends to bring the side dishes. I just love a pot luck! Everyone makes their favourite dishes & it takes so much pressure off of the host family!

As I said, we had the party outside, so I wanted to add a bit of colour to our green backyard. :)

The rain stopped a couple of hours before the party started (ours prayers worked!), so we were able to get things "prettied up" in plenty of time.

Some lanterns with brightly coloured candles, paper lanterns, Off! bug lanterns (which work really well, by the way), my chevron tablecloth from HomeSense, topped with a vintage wire basket for napkins & paper plates, & some bright turquoise buckets held the plastic utensils. I brought out my yellow vintage step stool & we set up a drink station with it. 

The guests arrived & we had a wonderful meal with them. I didn't make the same mistake this year that I did last year: making blended drinks for our guests that had me running the blender all night! 

I made plenty of fruity iced tea (a berry blend from Steeped Tea), combined it with frozen lemonade concentrate & some Sprite to add a bit of fizz. It was a great punch that was easy to throw together as the night went on. I was actually able to sit & visit with friends instead of being in the kitchen all night! It also helped that my friend, Krysta, took on dishwashing duty towards the end of the party & cleaned up all the leftover food as well! Thanks, Krys! 

Instead of a birthday cake, I put together some of my sweet husband's favourite flavours - chocolate & peanut butter - & made a summer friendly (no turning on the stove!) trifle! Recipe coming soon - stay tuned!

It was a great party & my husband's 40th birthday was definitely celebrated in style! 

Thanks to all our friends for coming & celebrating with us!

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Skinny Strawberry Cream Fruit Dip

Summer is such a great time to fill your diet with fresh fruit. It's also a great option to have at a party or shower. Here's a great dip to include with your next fruit tray or just to have on hand for you & your family! 

It's low fat too so it's a guilt free treat!

Skinny Strawberry Fruit Dip

makes approx. 6 cups

2 envelopes Dream Whip or 4 cups low fat whipped topping

1 package strawberry jello mix

1 cup low fat strawberry yogurt 

Prepare Dream Whip according to package directions. In a separate bowl, prepare the jello  according to directions, but don't allow it to completely set. Only refrigerate for 45 minutes to an hour - until thickened, but still a liquid. Fold jello & strawberry yogurt into the whipped topping. Refrigerate for 2 more hours, until thickened. 

Serve with fruit. 

Note: If it gets runny, you can whip it for 2 minutes on high & it will bring it right back to life!

Enjoy the fruits of summer!

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Strawberry Covered Chocolate Trifle

Happy Monday, friends! I hope those of you in the U.S. are having a great Memorial weekend.

Last week, we were invited over by some friends for supper - it was a fabulous night with lots of laughs, great conversation, & delicious food. My friend, Sarah, asked me if I would bring a dessert & I was happy to oblige! 

I did a twist on my Strawberries & Cream Trifle. Here's what I came up with...

Strawberries & Cream Trifle

On Friday evening, I had the pleasure of attending a baby shower for a dear friend of mine. We were celebrating the birth of her precious little boy. 

The night was full of delicious food & desserts, cuddles with the new baby, & laughter with friends. Perfection.

I was asked to bring a dessert of some kind 

so I was thinking through some of my favourite things to bring to a party, 

& this trifle popped into my mind.

It's a wonderful thing for a spring party. After all, strawberries just scream spring, don't you think?

Just look at the yummy layers of angel food cake, strawberries, custard, & jam... **drool**

Never-Fail Chocolate Cake

When I was a beginner in the homemaking profession, a big goal of mine was to build up a repertoire of great recipes that I would go back to & use time & time again.

One such recipe I wanted to find was a great basic chocolate cake that I could use for birthday cakes & such. Ever since I first made this chocolate cake years ago, it's been my go-to recipe for chocolate cake. You can use it for a sheet cake, a layer cake, & it also makes great cupcakes! Just adjust your baking time accordingly.

Another great thing about this recipe is that you can reduce the fat & it tastes just as good if not better! (See my notes in the recipe.)

Spring Coconut Cake

What kind of recipes do you like to make for Easter? One of my favourite flavours for Spring is coconut.

This past weekend, we had an early Easter/birthday celebration with my family. It was the first opportunity we had to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday with them & since we're all busy people (plus some of us will be out of town next weekend) we also decided to have our Easter get-together a week early.

Chocolate Dr. Pepper Cake

Last week was my husband's 40th birthday party. Big stuff, right? Happy birthday, hunny!

Every year, I ask him to choose what kind of birthday cake he would like. 

Seriously, he picks the best cakes... even though they usually are really time consuming to make. 

He's worth it! 

After taking a stroll through my "Let Them Eat Cake" board on Pinterest, he chose this cake. 

He's been a lover of Dr. Pepper for a long time.

It turned out to be a wonderful, moist chocolate cake with just a hint of Dr. Pepper flavour.

This was one of the simpler cakes he's chosen for his birthday, but so very yummy!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies with Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting

Romeo & Juliet.

Salt & Pepper.

Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Darcy.

Spaghetti & Meatballs.

Some things are just meant to go together. Like Chocolate & Peanut Butter.

Can I get a witness?

And what better way to celebrate this celebrity food pairing than to make Peanut Butter Cup Brownies!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies  (Print recipe)

makes 16 brownies

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup cocoa

2 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/8 tsp. salt

8 or more Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Melt butter (I melt mine in the microwave) & stir in cocoa. Set aside.

In medium bowl beat eggs until frothy. Add sugar, flour, chocolate chips, & salt. Don't stir yet. Pour cocoa mixture over top & stir all together. 

Scrape half of the brownie batter into the pan. Top with the peanut butter cups.

Then top the peanut butter cups with the rest of the brownie batter.

Bake for 30 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes before frosting.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cup icing sugar (also known as confectioner's sugar)

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp. salt

5 Tbsp. milk

Cream the butter & peanut butter together. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the icing sugar, cocoa, salt & milk. If it's still too thick, add more milk 1 Tbsp. at a time until it is a nice smooth, spreadable consistency. 

Frost the brownies. 

Wouldn't these make a great Valentine's treat? 

Nothing says "I love you" like some yummy chocolate treats. :)

If you love peanut butter & chocolate you may also want to check out some more yummy recipes:

Peanut Butter Nummies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Pie

Almost Instant Buckeyes

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Cheater's Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

For the past few weeks, I've been wanting to make a coconut cream pie. Having never made one (from scratch or otherwise) I wasn't sure what all went into making one. In my ignorance, I grabbed a few things at the grocery store that I thought would work to make one. Then I went on a search for a recipe. 

I think I did things backwards. 

I couldn't find a recipe that worked with the ingredients that I had. 

So, um... I made one up.

It turned out really good & my family loved it!

Here's what I started out with:

Cheater's Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

makes 1 pie

1 Pie crust

1 pkg. cream cheese, softened and divided in two 

1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding

1 pkg. chocolate instant pudding

2 cups milk, divided in two

1 cup coconut, divided in two

4 cups whipped topping, divided

Here's what I did:

Bake pie crust according to package directions. Cool.

Mix chocolate pudding mix with 1 cup milk until well combined. Add half of the package of cream cheese & mix well. Add 1/2 cup coconut. Fold in 1 cup whipped topping. Mix well. Pour into cooled pie shell.

Repeat process with vanilla pudding. Carefully spread vanilla mixture over chocolate mixture. Top with the remaining whipped topping. 

Let set in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

You're done!

Cut a few slices & share with your friends & family.

It's a perfect pie to make when you're short for time.

YUM!

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Caramel M&M Bars

Are you done your Christmas baking? I was.

Then, I decided I wanted to make these yummy bars to share with you. And hey, my family wasn't complaining. :)

M&M's are my favourite candy - by far. Ask anyone. Okay, ask anyone that knows me.

Caramel M&M Bars  Print Recipe

makes 24 bars

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1 cup Rice Crispy cereal

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

35 vanilla caramels, unwrapped

1/3 cup milk

1 (14 oz) package of M&M's (I used the Christmas ones), divided

~Heat oven to 350º. Spray 13x9 inch pan with nonstick spray. In large bowl, combine brown sugar & butter; beat until smooth. Stir in oats & cereal. Add flour, baking soda & salt; mix until well blended. **Reserve 3 cups oat mixture for topping.** Press remaining mixture in bottom of sprayed pan. Bake at 350º for 10 minutes.

~Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine caramels & milk. Heat over low heat until caramels are melted & mixture is smooth, stirring constantly.

~Remove pan from oven. Sprinkle 1 cup of the M&M's evenly over base. Drizzle with caramel mixture, being careful not to let caramel touch the sides of the pan. (Sounds like such a little thing, but trust me, you will have a heck of a time getting the bars out of the pan if they are caramel-glued to the sides! I'm speaking from first hand experience here.) Drop reserved oat mixture by heaping teaspoonfuls over caramel mixture. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate pieces.

~Return to oven; bake an additional 20-25 minutes or until centre is set & top is golden brown. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. Cut into bars. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 

 Look at the layers of candy & caramel - delish!

I hope you're having a wonderful countdown to Christmas!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

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