Strawberry Dump Cake

Repeat after me:

DUMP CAKES ARE EVERYTHING.

Now that we've got the basics down, let's get into the dirty details. Dump cakes are amazing because they're versatile, cheap, fast, and mouth-watering delicious. They can be as complicated or as easy as you want, and there are a few different methods for making them.

For this particular dump cake, I didn't use pie filling because I was craving fresh strawberries. But hear me…there is no shame in using pie filling. It will be just as tasty, and much less work. We're just over achievers here at my house {note the sarcasm}. Another beautiful thing about this dessert is it can easily be made to be gluten-free, for those of you who have dietary restrictions.

Let's get started!


Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix {we used a gluten-free cake mix, but regular is just fine}
•  1/2 cup of butter
• 1 can pie filling {21 oz.} OR a small container of fresh strawberries
• 2 tbsp sugar {but only if you're using fresh strawberries}

Directions:

If you're using pie filling, you can skip the next few steps and head right to assembly.

We're going to start by washing and de-stemming our strawberries. If you need a tip on how to do that quickly, just click here to see my tutorial.

Next we're going to make the strawberries nice and juicy. You can always go the old-fashioned route and mash them by hand, but this is 100x faster. If you don't have a manual food chopper, these are cheap and save tons of time. I highly recommend getting one similar to this.

I kid you not, making this juicy strawberry mix took less than 10 seconds. Buy the chopper, people!

Put your strawberry mix {or pie filling} in a bowl.

Add your sugar and mix {unless you use the pie filling. No sugar needed for that}.

Pour strawberries or pie filling into a baking pan. I think 13x9 is preferred, but I used my round pan.

Top with cake mix. Spread evenly over strawberries.

Slice butter into thin pieces and layer over the cake mix.

Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Enjoy warm with vanilla ice cream.

Love and dump cakes,

No-Bake Oreo Marshmallow Bars

It's rare that I cook anything complicated anymore. Gone are the days of long, drawn-out recipes. Most of my meals involve tater tots and some kind of squeezable yogurt.

Every Wednesday, Tim and I attend Shepherding Group. We have a meal, which is always nice, and I inevitably forget about said meal until about 2 hours beforehand. Enter the No-Bake Oreo Marshmallow Bars.

Super easy, and takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. And they're good. Just Oreo's, marshmallows and some butter. That's healthy, right?

Naptime's almost done, so I need to hurry up and get all this out. Enjoy!


Ingredients:

• 1 package Double-Stuff Oreos
• 1 bag marshmallows
• 1 tbsp. butter

Directions:

Who came up with this stuff? They deserve a medal...a chocolaty, cream-filled medal.

Crush up the Oreos.

Place marshmallows and butter and place in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until it's melted and combined.

Combine the crushed Oreos with the marshmallow/butter mixture.

This is Judah licking the spoon. In the corner. Facing the wall.

Spread into an 8x8 pan and refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes.

We went outside the play in the meantime. It was super windy, though, and Judah couldn't even stand up without being knocked over. He gets his gracefulness from his mother.

Cut up and enjoy!

Really, it actually is that easy and fast.

Love and Oreos,

 

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

The holidays are starting, which means that the holiday parties are starting. In case you're new to this blog, here's as little PSA: I live for the holidays. I hibernate during the summer. You might occasionally see me by a pool in the middle of July, but otherwise I'm locked up in my air-conditioned home binge-watching Netflix. I don't do heat. I do scarves, leggings, boots and hot chocolate. Heck, I Christmas shop year-round.

I also do no-bake. And peanut butter. And chocolate. And pie.

Also, if you're new to the blog, you don't know my baby, Judah. He's turning 1 in two weeks. It's devastating. I can hardly talk about it. He's all independent now and crawls around and doesn't need me. He's actually pre-enrolled in several ivy league schools. Such an over-achiever, this boy of mine.

He doesn't need me anymore. So, I'm back to baking. Which is how this pie came to be. I hope you love it as much as I did!


Pie Ingredients:

• Store-bought pie crust of your choice. I used both graham cracker crust and Oreo crust, and the Oreo was my favorite (hint: more chocolate).
• 14 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Ganache Ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp. butter

Directions:

First step: cheat. Buy a pre-made pie crust. The real stuff is great, but if you're going no-bake, you really need to commit to being totally lazy.

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Add the peanut butter and mix.

Nom-nom-nom. Toss in the butter and combine.

Quickly whisk the heavy whipping cream until it stiffens at a peak.

Go ahead and add the vanilla to the peanut butter mix and combine. 

Add the whipping cream to the peanut butter mix and slowly and gently fold it in until well-combined.

Pour the peanut butter mixture into the graham cracker crust.

Place cocoa powder and butter in a saucepan and heat over low heat until butter is melted.

Slowly add in the heavy whipping cream.

Slowly whisk until thickened.

Pour chocolate ganache on top of pie.

Let cool in the fridge for 1-3 hours until set.

Love and never-enough-chocolate-peanut-butter,

 

Vanilla Greek Yogurt Soufflé

Don't be intimidated by the word "soufflé." I think that the easier the recipe, the more difficult the name is to spell. My theory is that it creates a level of class to an otherwise super-easy dish. Just like soppressata-seriously, guys, it's just salami. Let's not complicate things. And bechamel? Can anybody say "alfredo sauce?"

You get my drift.

So in the midst of painting all my doors black and mourning over the state of my bathroom floor, my husband had the nerve to ask for dessert.

On a Friday night.

How dare he.

Tim's all-time favorite dessert is cheesecake. I've tried and failed three times in that department, but this has the same consistency of cheesecake, yet it's significantly lighter. I can't really describe it. It's like you're eating a vanilla cloud. Now wouldn't that be something? This is as close as you'll get to the pie in the sky.

Okay, let's get started.


Ingredients:

• 1 cup vanilla greek yogurt
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 egg whites
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cream of tarter
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• Butter

Directions:

First, we're going to separate the egg yolks and the egg whites. 

Separate in two separate bowls.

You can use whatever Greek yogurt you'd like, but I use Cabot Greek. It's SO good.

We're going to pour that into a bowl-if you have a stand mixer, do not use that for these first steps.

Add the egg yolks to the greek yogurt.

Add flour.

Throw in the salt.

Pour in the vanilla.

Whisk together. I used a hand whisk and it took all of 15 seconds. No need to pull out the big dogs for this one.

Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer with some speed on it), combine the egg whites and cream of tarter. As a general rule of thumb, pour the cream of tarter into the egg whites, not on the side of the bowl like I did. I have depth perception issues.

Slowly add in half the sugar (1/4 cup).

While that's working, butter 6 ramekins and cover in sugar using the other 1/4 cup. 

After a few minutes of whisking, your egg whites should peak.

Gently fold egg whites into the other mixture, one scoop at a time. Do not stir-fold the egg whites into the mixture. We need to keep as much volume as possible.

Pour into ramekins, almost the to top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, making sure to keep the oven closed the entire time. You'll know it's ready when they have all risen and are slightly browned on top.

They are so pretty. Serve immediately. They'll still be good when they fall, but trust me and don't try to eat them the next day.

These are incredibly light, fluffy and guilt-free. And, as we discussed, very impressive.

Love and fancy desserts (or not so much),

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