Cranberry Shortbread Bars

Cranberries are in season! Yay!!!!!  I bought 2 bags the other day.....I just knew I'd find something to do with one of them besides my cranberry sauce. I found this recipe and, again, it's simple and delicious! The cranberries are just tart/sweet enough! Thinking this would be a nice addition to your 'Dessert Table' for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas.

CRANBERRY SHORTBREAD BARS

Makes 12 Bars

1 Bar = 5 PointsPlus™

Cranberry Filling:

8 oz. (2 1/4 cups) fresh cranberries
2/3 cup Splenda granulated
3 TBSP water

Shortbread Batter:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 TBSP cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup light butter, room temp
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375º.

Cranberry Filling:

In a medium saucepan, place all the ingredients and stir. Cook over medium-high heat until it boils. Continue at a low boil until the cranberries 'pop' and the filling becomes thick and syrupy, @5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool while you make the shortbread.

Shortbread Batter:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt. Set aside.

(Don't know what happened to this picture, but it's just a bowl of white stuff!)

In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla.

Gently stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture with a fork until just combined.

Evenly press 2/3 of the shortbread batter into the bottom of a 9 x 9 pan that has been lightly sprayed. Evenly spread the cranberry filling over the batter, leaving @1/4” border.

With the remaining batter, use your fingers and crumble over the filling; lightly press the crumbles into the filling.

Bake for @30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely in pan.

YUMMMMMM!!!!!!

 

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!!   *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***
 

Later!

Loving Life!
Jan

Lemony Cheesey Ramekins

I was in dire need of some Kitchen Therapy yesterday and I actually made 3 different things. I spent most of my day in the kitchen which, for me, is great! And I only used ingredients I had on-hand.  This is really easy to make.

LEMONY CHEESEY RAMEKINS

Makes 8 (5 oz) Ramekins

1 Ramekin = 6 PointsPlus™

1 can (14 oz.) fat-free unsweetened condensed milk

1 (8 oz.) tub fat-free whipped topping
1 (8 oz.) package Neufchatel cream cheese (room temp)
1/3 cup lemon juice

In a mixing bowl, mix together the first 3 ingredients until well combined and smooth.

Add the lemon juice until well combined.

Pour into the ramekins and refrigerate for at least an hour.

MY SPIN: I would add the zest of a lemon to give this more color and a little more flavor. This can also be made using orange or lime juice (and don't forget the zest). If you don't want to put these in ramekins, you can put into a graham cracker pie crust but you'll have to figure out the PointsPlus™ value for that. If I was going to make this into a pie, I think I'd toast some flaked coconut for the top....more PointsPlus™!!!

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!!   *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life!
Jan

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I thought I would look for something different that 'we' can serve for dessert. This is it! I'm telling you!!! This tastes like pumpkin pie only on a cheesecake-y level and with no crust! And how simple -- everything gets dumped in the mixing bowl at once. Anything pumpkin is good in my book!

PUMPKIN PIE CHEESECAKE

Makes 8 Servings

1 Serving = 3 PointsPlus™

1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

1 (8 oz) package Neufchatel cream cheese
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup fat-free egg substitute
3/4 cup Splenda granulated
1/2 cup original Bisquick mix
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 9” glass pie plate; set aside.

Don't forget to spray it in your dishwasher so you don't have to clean up any over-spray!

Place all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix using an electric mixer until well combined and smooth.

Pour into pie plate.

Bake 45 minutes or until just puffed and center is dry (do NOT overbake).

Cool completely, @1 hour. Refrigerate at least 3 hours until chilled.

This can be served 'as is' or with a dollop of fat-free whipped topping.

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!!   *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life!
Jan

ChocoNanaBerry Bread

Well, I made this on November 14th and wasn't thrilled with the way it turned out. I was actually going to toss it in the trash can.  But then I figured I'd share it with some people who I *know* wouldn't lie to me.....tell me it was good so they wouldn't hurt my feelings......and obviously they thought it was goo because here it is!  I thought it was a tad too moist, but all 5 of my 'taste testers' thought it was great!  Soooo.....there's no 'fancy' picture of it ........ just what you see!

ChocoNanaBerry Bread

Makes 12 Servings

1 Serving = 3 PointsPlus™

 

3/4 cup fat-free egg substitute

1/2 cup light butter, softened
1 cup Splenda granulated
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups mashed bananas
1/3 cup light sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup blueberries

 

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, beat egg substitute, butter, Splenda and vanilla until smooth.

Add bananas.

Add sour cream, flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and blueberries.

 

Transfer to the loaf pan and smooth the surface with a spatula.

Bake 55 – 65 minutes until the top is browned and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan.

 

This will keep for 3 days at room temperature wrapped in foil or it can be frozen.

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!!   *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life!
Jan

AppleBerry Muffins

I have a 'few' apples and some frozen blueberries (as well as other goodies I'll be using soon)  laying around and I was bored. Actually, I baked something yesterday that smelled so good but was yucky and it ticked me off! Had to make up for that. I just love the combination of apples and blueberries and who doesn't love muffins?

APPLEBERRY MUFFINS

Makes 18 Muffins

1 Muffin = 3 PointsPlus™

 

2/3 cup light butter, room temperature

1/3 cup Splenda granulated
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup fat-free egg substitute
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup pulverized oats*
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 small or 1 large apple(s), peeled, cored and diced
1/3 cup fat-free milk
1 cup blueberries

Forgot to put the milk in this picture. Ugh.

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray muffin pans.

Mix butter, Splenda, brown sugar and applesauce together until creamy. Add egg substitute and vanilla.

 

Whisk flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together. “Dump” into the butter mixture along with the pulverized oats and mix well.

 

Mix in the apples and milk. Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon batter into each cup, filling @ 2/3 full.

Bake 20 – 25 minutes.

MY SPIN: *Pulverized oats.......smoosh the oats until it's kind of powdery. This is what I used to pulverize the oats:

And......you know I used a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon and put a few extra blueberries in the batter.

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!!   *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life!
Jan

Peanut Butter Custard

Today would've been a good day to do some baking, but I came across this simple custard recipe and just HAD to try it. So glad I did!

PEANUT BUTTER CUSTARD

Makes 6 Servings

1 Serving = 2 PointsPlus™

2 cups fat-free half & half

1/4 cup Splenda granulated
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup reduced-fat creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan, combine the half & half, Splenda and gelatin. Let stand for 5 minutes. Cook and stir over medium heat until the gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Add peanut butter and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.

Pour evenly into 6 6-ounce custard cups or ramekins. Cover and chill @3 hours or until set.

Mixture will separate into layers while chilling.

Was delicious!!!!

MY SPIN: I used Better'n Peanut Butter. If you use a different peanut butter, you'll have to adjust the PointsPlus™ value.  This can be served 'as is' or with a dollop of fat-free whipped topping.

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!!   *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life!

Jan