To Die For Brownies

 I saw this recipe last week and HAD to try it out! It calls for a secret ingredient ...

Yes! Black Beans!!

These brownies are made with black beans and NO eggs or oil! I thought there was no way that they could taste like brownies, but I just had to try it and see! They were AMAZING!! Plus, you can get the added benefit of protein and fiber while eating your dessert!

2 (15oz each) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 - 3/4 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa (I used Hershy's Special Dark)
1 T. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 (12oz) pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Puree black beans in blender with water until smoothie like consistency. Combine black bean mixture, sugar, and milk in a large mixing bowl. Mix with electric mixer until well combined. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan. 

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Lydia and Jeff both LOVED them!! I will definitely be making these again and again!

Aunt D's Banana Pudding

This is a family recipe that my great aunt came up with years ago, and actually sold it to Betty Crocker! Of course, they didn't pay her nearly enough! She could have made a fortune off of it! Oh well ... She always makes it for family get togethers! It makes a HUGE bowl, so you will want to make sure you have a big crowd, or you can half the recipe.

Here is what you need ...

2 large vanilla pudding mixes

6 cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla

8 oz. sour cream

1 can eagle brand

1 large cool whip, thawed out

bananas, sliced

2 boxes/bags of vanilla wafers

I use skim milk, fat free sour cream, eagle brand, and cool whip if I can find it. Still tastes GREAT and is low-fat! Can't beat that!!

Mix pudding, milk, and vanilla together in large bowl. Add sour cream, eagle brand and mix well. Fold in the cool whip.

Layer first cookies, then pudding, and then bananas in a large bowl. Keep doing this until you are done! End with a layer of pudding and you can top the pudding off with cookies if you would like.

I'm not a fan of cool whip, so I put all the cool whip in the pudding mixture. If you want, you can do 2/3 of the cool whip in pudding mixture, and put cool whip on top.

Made a little Christmas tree for our Christmas get together!

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

This is another dessert staple in our house! EASY and very yummy! My aunt Betty (aka GiGi) gave me the recipe and I have made it so many times it's ridiculous! What's not to love about a chocolate cake with sour cream and chocolate chips!

1 yellow cake mix
1 cup oil
1/4 cup water
1 small pkg. chocolate pudding mix (instant)
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 - 8 0z. carton sour cream
1 pkg. chocolate chips
** optional - 1 cup chopped nuts

Combine all ingredients, except chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into a greased and sugared bundt pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out ALMOST clean (don't want to overcook it!). Let cool for a few minutes and then turn pan over on top of a serving platter and let cool!

If you want, you can sprinkle the top of the cake with powdered sugar. I normally don't, but just because it makes a huge mess! =)

Blonde Brownies

This recipe came out of a church cookbook that my cousin Brian gave me ... and we LOVE them! They have become a dessert staple in our house! They are so easy to make, so when we have to take a dessert some where, this is what I usually make!

2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 pkg. chocolate chips (I've been using dark chocolate chips and really like the taste of them!)

Combine sugar and melted butter in a bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Mix together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Add to sugar/butter mixture, blending well. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350* for 25 minutes.

Corn Flake Clusters

These little guys are easy to make ... and taste wonderful! I doubled the recipe when I made them and it made around 30. You can make them smaller if you would like.

Here is what you need to make them ...

1/2 cup Karo Syrup
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups Corn Flakes

Bring Karo Syrup, sugar and vanilla to a boil in a sauce pan. Remove from heat.

Stir in peanut butter.

Stir in Corn Flakes.

Drop in balls onto waxed paper. Store in an air-tight container.

Cake Balls

I found this recipe for "Cake Balls" on another blog that I read and decided to try them out for a baby shower for one of Jeff's co-workers. They turned out great! I made pumpkin ones, but you can use any cake flavor that you want!

I'll put the recipe that I used at the end, but you can use a box cake if you want. You bake the cake as directed on the box and while still warm you crumble the cake up into a large bowl.

Once crumbled, you add a container of icing. I used cream cheese icing for mine. Mix it up well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

After your cake mixture has cooled, melt a package of almond bark. I used the white, but you could use chocolate if you wanted! I decided to color the almond bark pink, since it was a baby shower for a little girl!

Take the cake mixture and scoop out spoonfuls (an ice cream scoop works GREAT!) and roll into a ball. Put cake ball down into almond bark and cover. You can use a fork or toothpick (or an egg separator if you have one!). Once covered, put on a piece of waxed paper to dry.

I had some extra almond bark left, so I drizzled the extra on top. Put on a platter and enjoy!



You can get creative as you want with the cake flavor and icing! One suggestion was red velvet cake with cream cheese icing! I want to try that one out...maybe for Christmas!


Pumpkin Cake Recipe

2 cups sugar
1 cup oil (I used 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup applesauce)
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon (or more!)
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350*

Mix together sugar, oil, and eggs. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and salt together. Add to egg mixture and mix well. Add pumpkin.

Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes.