Tag Archives: Dessert

an easy Easter treat..belles want s’more please…

14 Friday Apr 2017

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With Easter just a few days away and the arrival of a plethora of peeps, we thought we’d try a great recipe from one of our favorite blogs…How Sweet Eats

All you’ll need is a few of your favorite peeps. We chose Easter eggs, pink rabbits and yellow peeps. The yellow might even be considered vintage now…what with all the colors and shapes on trend now. 

Then reach into your pantry and grab a bag of chocolate chips. We used semi-sweet because that’s what we had but feel free to mix or use milk, dark etc. 


and now grab your handy dandy jar of peanut butter .
A little dolloping is required

The only other item you will need is an oven proof skillet or dish. We used a pie plate because we were serving a smaller number of folks. 

Now let your creativity shine…


Set your broiler on, and voila! 

Belles beware !!!

Now we have to admit, this where we ran into a wee bit of trouble. We put it under broiler and flames emerged within 30 seconds!!!  And it wasn’t warm enough underneath…not exactly what we had hoped for.

Thankfully we are partial to burnt peeps and we can’t show a pic because we ate the top right off in mere seconds. 
We re-peeped and it went in at 500 for a very few minutes and then we hit the broiler (one rack further down this time ) until gently browned, The teen belles entered en masse and inhaled giving their thumbs up of approval. 


Full and original recipe Here

Here’s what we did:

The Belles Easter Peeps 

2 cups chocolate chips 

1/2 cup peanut butter 

About 25 peeps 

Graham crackers for dipping 

Preheat oven to 500 

Place chocolate chips in an oven proof skillet or pie plate

Dollop peanut butter over chips 

Arrange peeps, and feel free to crowd them 

Place in oven for about five minutes at 500 degrees to allow chocolate and peanut butter to melt

Now crank up the oven to broil and watch carefully and constantly! 

Carefully remove and serve 

Watch the belle-bunnies devour!

a&a

what’s ringin’ our belle…round 69

30 Tuesday Aug 2016

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A dessert based on your horoscope

How about a little watermelon in your cocktail???


Finally, crisper drawer how-to guide !! 


The most common misused words that make us belles lose our religion. 


Via Notwithoutsalt.com

We’ve been making this all summer 


How to fake being a morning person….neither one of us is a morning person …we need all the help we can get! 

Does wine go bad ? We have no idea….


A must-have for fall…

Can’t ya just hear the belles ringin’?

a&a

what do you get when you clean out your freezer?

11 Friday Mar 2016

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What’s a belle to do when her freezer seems to be filled with a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a lot of what seems like nothing?  Well…we made the most out of an “over-stuffed” situation one recent rainy day…and the results were so delicious, we just had to share (as we belles do)!

Our version of a “Clean-out-the-freezer Fruit Crumble”:

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This recipe is very simple and you can use whatever fruit combination you have on hand. In this instance, we used peaches, raspberries and blackberries. About 1 bag each. We drained and thawed briefly in a colander and then got impatient (that should come as no surprise). To the fruit add: 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Put in a 9×11 casserole dish.

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The topping: 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 cup of old fashioned oats and 1 cold stick of butter cut into small slices. Combine all topping ingredients and with a pastry cutter or two knives mix topping until it resembles coarse meal. (impatience reared its ugly head here as well)

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Put topping over fruit and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour

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One more view of the finished product…just for motivation;)

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If you feel that now is a good time to empty the freezer of vanilla ice cream, we already beat you to it!!

So there you have it, another belle-icious recipe…and you cleaned out your freezer!! Multitasking is a belle’s way of life.

a&a

 

guilt-free dessert…a skinny-belle friend-1-1

23 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by in belle-icious, healthy belle

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One belle was recently assigned “dessert” for a large family dinner. Knowing that several loved-ones had recently celebrated great success with weight-loss and general feelin’ good on the Whole 30 plan, she figured a waistline-friendly dessert would be much appreciated (and better for those who might not have fully embraced the concept)!  But coming up with a dessert sans dairy, sweeteners (not even the chemistry lab ones, aka artificial ones), grains, or alcohol might have stumped a less-determined belle.

Well…pears, ghee, cinnamon, and walnuts to the rescue!!  Yum!!


Baked Cinnamon Pears 

– 4 Pears, plan on one-half per person (we used Bosc) and adjust recipe as needed

– juice of one lemon

– 1/2 c Ghee, or clarified butter, melted

– 1 t. Cinnamon (plus more for sprinkling)

– 1 c. Toasted walnuts (we toast with olive oil and salt)


Wash and peel pears, then cut in half. Toss or rub fully with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown before they bake (the lemon also adds another dimension to the flavor).

Place pears in baking dish, cut side down. Combine cinnamon and ghee, then poor over pears, making sure to fully coat. Sprinkle with extra cinnamon

Toast walnuts. At this point, the dish can be stored countertop or in the fridge until dinner begins. About a half-hour before serving, place pears in the oven at 350 degrees. Let the aroma cause great anticipation.


Top each pear with walnuts. Serve…and bask in the accolades. You’ve pulled off a skinny (and incredibly delicious) dessert!

PS…vanilla or cinnamon ice cream would be da bomb with this…for those wishing to throw caution to the wind, of course. Shut the front door!!

a&a

what’s ringin’ our belle…round 1

05 Tuesday May 2015

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Since belles are all about sharing, we thought we’d share a few things that are ticklin’ our fancy. 

We can’t wait to sip this . And with the leftovers make this .

Want these , this and this .

Going to collect these and use them everyday! 

Took this quiz…it actually got our ages right!! Let us know if it works for you.

A great page turner. Read it one rainy weekend.

And of course we can’t resist some major  arm candy !

If you can’t live without cheese…we can’t …then you absolutely must read this .

belles ringin’?…stay tuned for round 2
a&a

hello there , pumpkin…you’re lookin’ quite belleicious!

20 Thursday Nov 2014

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With Thanksgiving around the corner, we thought this might be the perfect time to share an old favorite of ours…a dessert that will have your guests giving thanks to the cheesecake fairy…and you!

This is the ultimate fall version of cheesecake, adapted over the years from two different recipes…one from Once Upon a Chef, and one from Fine Cooking. So gather your supplies and make your plan. You will definitely want this on your menu!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

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The instructions:

For the crust, you will need…
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– about 40 Gingersnap wafers (to make 2 cups crumbs)
– 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
– 5 T unsalted butter, melted

The how-to…
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Place cookies and sugar in food processor and pulse away til it looks about like this (uniform crumbs). Transfer to a bowl and add melted butter. Combine thoroughly (use your hands…best way to go about this).

Press the mixture into the bottom (and slightly up the sides) of a greased 9-inch springform pan.  Chill for 5 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes at 325 degrees. Let cool.

Now for the filling…you will need:
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– 1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
– 1 1/3 cups sugar
– 1 t cinnamon
– 1/2 t ground ginger
– 1/4 t ground nutmeg
– 1/4 t ground cloves
– 1/2 t salt
– 1 cup heavy cream
– 24 oz cream cheese, room temperature
– 5 large eggs, room temperature

In a small, heavy saucepan, combine pumpkin sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt…
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Bring to a sputter over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to med-low and stir for about 5 minutes until thickened.

Pour into food processor fitted with metal blade, leaving feed tube open…
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Process for 1 minute.
With the motor running, stream in the cold cream.
Add cream cheese (cut into chunks) and process for 30 seconds (stopping to scrape down sides if needed)

Add eggs and process for 5 seconds until incorporated (do not overmix!)
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Filling complete:
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In a tea kettle, bring about 4 quarts water to a simmer for a water bath.

Baking…
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Place springform pan onto 2 sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil
Pull foil up sides so that water cannot seep into cake in water bath
Place springform pan into a large roasting pan.

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Pour batter into the crust.
Pour boiling water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of springform
Bake until set, about 1 1/2 hours (if it jiggles, it’s not ready yet!)

Carefully remove roasting pan from oven and set on wire rack.
Carefully loosen cake from sides of pan using a paring knife.
Allow to cool for about 45 minutes.
Remove springform from water bath. Discard foil.
Allow to continue to cool on wire rack for about 3 hours.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Tempting…
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Sadie doesn’t really care about formality or presentation…she just wants a taste now!

However…for human purposes, we tend to make it a bit more presentable. Remove outer ring of the springform, then slide a thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen and slide into a serving platter. (Or…leave the cake on the pan bottom and serve as is).

Consider serving with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream or a yummy caramel sauce…you can’t go wrong.

Hope your guests (and furry babies) can control themselves!!!
a&a

an adult ice cream treat…a boozie belle recipe for the dog days of summer

03 Thursday Jul 2014

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Bourbon, honey, peaches, crumble…these are the words that will bring fond memories (or maybe some foggy ones) to any southern belle. Now throw a lil’ buttah in there, and we are ready to bring it all to the present and put it on a plate!!

This recipe has such a great combination of salty, sweet, creamy, fruity and crunchy. Perfect for a decadent dessert, and afternoon snack…or, heck, a breakfast of champions!

We found this decadent delight while trolling Pinterest and the internet. We happened upon a scrumptious blog called climbinggriermountain.

Drool-worthy recipes seem to be a specialty on this blog and this one is proof of that.

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Via Pinterest

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Hope you enjoy this this southern summer cooler!!

a&a

apricot bars…a scrumptious snack for the new neighbors (or yourself)…a belle-icious friday friend-1-1

30 Friday May 2014

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We’ve had a change in our neighborhood and while we were sad to see our old pals move on, we couldn’t be more delighted with our new neighbors.

It’s always a good thing to introduce yourself and welcome the new folk into your neck of the woods. We often deliver a plant, bottle of wine or a lil’ somethin’ from our very own kitchens.

We’ve been trolling the The Pioneer Woman website of late and drooling over all Ree’s recipes, so it only seemed right to put one to the test. And it passed with flying colors. So much so that two batches had to be made to keep our families from revolting!!

A recipe that is easy, delicious and enjoyed at anytime of day…or should we say, every time of day?!?!?…Thank you Ree Drummond !!

Apricot bars

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The main characters:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 3/4 stick salted butter
1 jar (10-12 oz.) Apricot preserves

The scene:

Mix together all ingredients EXCEPT apricot preserves.

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Press one half of mixture into buttered 8″ pan. Spread with apricot jam. Sprinkle remaining half of mixture in top and press lightly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool completely, then cut into squares.

The finale:

Try not to eat them all in one sitting…..good luck with that!!

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Now for the encore:

Put them in a box and tie with a ribbon!

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Can’t y’all just hear the applause!!

a&a

chocolate mousse…cupid’s sweet secret

06 Thursday Feb 2014

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We adore cooking. We crave chocolate. We love our blenders. And we are addicted to easy gourmet recipes.
As any good belle will do, we feel it IMPERATIVE to share this chocolate mousse. It was handed down and has withstood the test of time. Well, perfection usually does.

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Via therarebelle

What you’ll need:

1/2 lb good quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted (we’ve been known to use dark in these modern times and for the sake of health)
8 large eggs separated
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar
A pinch of salt
A shot of cognac (or not!)

Place all ingredients EXCEPT egg whites into blender. Blend for 1 minute.
Add egg whites and blend for 3 minutes.

Pour into compotes, pot de cremes, bowls or your mouth (just kidding) and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
Should make 10-12 compote servings

And that is it. A true masterpiece in a skinny minute!

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Via therarebelle

Now it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to accessorize these babies with some whipped cream and some chocolate shavings. Or even a chocolate covered coffee bean. But if your spoon gets in the way we will totally understand.

A special treat for all of your sweethearts…or just for yourself 😉

Belle-icious plain or dressed. Y’all decide.

a&a