JuBella.com – Get Your Creative Dose

This is the easiest most satisfying dessert. All you need are a few bananas or one if you are solo (however after tasting it you may want to make several at a time and store them in an air tight container in the fridge), chocolate,chopped almonds, and popscicle sticks.

Frozen Chocolate Dipped Bananas
Stick your popscicle sticks into your banana from the bottom with the peel on. Do not peel your banana and then try to insert your popscicle stick as you will end up with a big glob of mush in your hands. Once inserted remove the peel from the banana. Freeze for several hours or better yet overnight. Remove your bananas from the freezer and pour your cooled chocolate all over your banana (I actually cheated a bit and used the Hersheys squeezable shell chocolate that hardens instantly). Cover your banana in chocolate twice. Sprinkle your almonds on top of chocolate. If using Hersheys shell chocolate you will want to sprinkle your almonds quickly as it does freeze within seconds just as it says on the bottle.

If you have kids then I highly suggest adding colorful sprinkles to the scene. Our five year old absolutely LOVED this dessert and I did not feel too bad eating it myself, I mean hey, it’s a banana…that’s healthy right? LOL No, but seriously it is a lot better than sugary popscicles or fattening ice cream. Enjoy!

I recently made this peach cobbler. I must say that it came out quite nicely. There are many different types of peach cobblers, and the one that I am most familiar with has more of a pie crust on the bottom and top. However, this is more of a dumpling, which I love! It gives it great texture and not overbearingly sweet…leaving that job to the peach filling.

Peach Cobbler

Peach Filling:
6 Fresh peaches, peeled and sliced into wedges
1 C. Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp, Salt
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Allspice
1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger
1 tsp. Cornstarch (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring all of the above to a boil in a sauce pan and then simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Dumpling/Crust

3 C.Flour
1 C. Sugar
1 tsp. Double Acting Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 + 2/3 C. Milk (fyi: I used almond milk)
4 Tbsp. Butter

Directions: Combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add 1/3 C. of milk and stir. Cut in butter and use your hands to incorporate butter in until well combined. It should have a sand like texture. Now stir in the remaining amount of milk.

Take half of your batter and spread it into the bottom of a non stick baking dish(spray with cooking spray if your dish is not non-stick).

Take the remaining batter and gradually add flour until a non-sticky ball forms. Roll out onto a floured surface and cut into strips.

Now spoon your peaches into the dish. Place your strips of dough on top of your peaches and bake for about 30-45 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

I really would like to get back into having a “Me Myself & I tea time! There is something about a warm cup of tea that’s sipped out of your favorite tea cup or mug in the midst of a quiet morning or the calmness of the late night. Anyhow, I love this table setting via Tea Time Magazine, it’s so girly and delicate!

Mmmm…this looks delightful! I ran across this recipe in the latest Tea Time Magazine, which is filled with sweet loveliness and inspiration. I imagine that if you do not want to make 6 separate cakes, that you could do this in a circular cake pan.

Peach Upside Down Cakes
Makes 6 Individual Cakes
via Tea Time Magazine,July/August 2009, pg.19
3/4 C. Softened Unsalted Butter, divided in half
1 C. + 2Tbsp. Sugar
3 ggs
1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C. Cake Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Buttermilk
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
25 to 30 1/8-inch-thick peach slices

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 6 4″ ramekins with nonstick baking spray with flour.

2. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat 1/2 C. butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift twice. Alternately add the sifted flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 1/4 cup of butter. Divide the melted butter evenly among the prepared ramekins, then sprinkle each evenly with brown sugar. Arrange 4 to 5 peach slices in a single layer over the brown sugar. Pour batter over peach slices.

5. bake for 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in ramekins for 10 minutes. Invert a plate on top of each ramekin, and carefully flip cakes onto plate while warm.

Recently I received a lovely little package in the mail. I opened up the standard brown shipping box and found the cutest black box adorned with white polka dots & wrapped ever so eloquently with a bright pink ribbon. I then took off the top of this pretty little treasure and found samples of heaven nestled inside!

The wonderful Sue of Harvard Sweet Boutique sent over some delightful samples of her gourmet cookies, toffee, brownies and bars, and boy was I excited to taste test them all! My absolute favorite from her collection is the Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies..oh my…doesn’t the name alone make you want to drop down to your knees! Her cookies, candies, brownies, and bars are perfectly sweet and super moist. Next up in line as my favorite was definitely the Chocolate-Glazed Macadamia Caramel Shortbread Bars(swoon) & the Chocolate Toffee Cookies! The shortbread and the caramel in the Macadamia bar is heaven! Everything for that matter was to my pure delight!

Ok, so now it’s time to indulge right? So click on over and check out all of the sweet concoctions that Sue offers online. Be sure to bookmark her site as these would make the perfect gift for Mothers Day or just an everyday sweet package to send to a friend and of course to yourself. Enjoy..your taste buds will surely thank me after your first bite!

Thanks to Sue for sharing such a “sweet” package!

Can we all take a moment of silence to give thanks to such pretty cupcakes that are carefully placed in pretty window vignettes and adorned with juicy colors like fuschia, orange, yellows, turquoise, and pinks. Oh my! If you are ever in Europe, near the Covent Garden Piazza, Fitzrovia London, or roaming Kingly Court off of Carnaby Street, then you must pop into the sweet shop of Candy Cakes! The decor is so lovely and the cupcakes, oh, why I have not had the pleasure of devouring one of these personally, I am more than positive that these sweet gems would be divine, and when you’re asked to create 300 cupcakes for Madonnas 5oth Birthday, then you know they must be tasty! Not only am I in love with their pretty cupcakes, but I think that their decor is great, especially the Covent Garden Piazza location with its jeweled greens, pinks, and whites, and the cute outside eating area!

Oh I am sure that if you had an Amy Atlas spread to adorn your next gathering, you would be quite the hostess about town! Don’t you just love these magnificent dessert tables! Filled with sweet colors, tasty sparkles, and decadent textures…oh my! So with the holidays coming up, you might want to go all out with your dessert tables. Whether you can hire Amy herself, or do a Sandra Lee or Hostess With the Mostess Tablescape, or just create your own style, creating a whimsical dessert table will make your family and friends feel super special and you get a chance to show off your crafty talents!

Good morning everybody! Trusting that everyone had a creative weekend? It’s a holiday(labor day) here in the Sates so I get an extra day to spend with the family. Last weekend I finally got around to fixing some homemade jam! I will probably never by store bought jams & preserves again…because this homemade jam in which I combined fresh strawberries with fresh blueberries was pure delight! It’s fresh, not too sweet, natural, and you know exactly what is going into it. My favorite part about “jamming” is that the combinations are endless when it comes to getting creative with your fruit blends and spices! I really want to make peach-apricot next, and then pear(my grandmother use to make pear preserves and it is so good). Anyhow, I made this jam in a matter of minutes and then we all enjoyed it on non other than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! If you really want to make some quick jam, then you might want to try buying the Freezer Jam/fruit pectin in your canning section of your market.

A few days after the little one wanted to make some ice cream, so we added in a bit of the strawberry jam into the ice cream before freezing to make strawberry ice cream and it was fantastic! Usually homemade ice cream calls for heavy cream, but I opted to use a non-fat yogurt(you could use soy if you like) and rice milk and the flavor was perfect and the texture was very much like yogurt/sorbet…see…

Homemade Strawberry Jam
Makes 1-1/2 cups

Ingredients
4 C. Whole Strawberries (if you want to make the one pictured, use 2 C. blueberries & 2 C. Strawberries)
1 C. Natural Cane Sugar
1-2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice(optional)

Directions:

Chill a small plate or bowl in the freezer or over ice water.

In a 10 or 12-inch wide skillet, bring fruit, sugar, and lemon juice to boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly and skimming foam as necessary. Cook about 8-10 minutes, until mixture begins to look syrupy and thickens slightly.

Spoon ½ teaspoon of the hot fruit onto the cold plate and let it rest for 30 seconds. Tip plate to one side; jam should be a soft gel that moves slightly. If mixture is thin and runs down side of plate, the gel is too soft. Return skillet to heat and cook jam 1 to 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and repeat test.

Cool jam to room temperature before serving. Because a minimum amount of sugar is used, the jam needs to be refrigerated to prevent mold from forming. Refrigerate 2-3 weeks.

For longer storage, freeze or process hot jam in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.**

Option: If jars are sterilized (heated in boiling water for 10 minutes) it’s possible to use the inverted method to preserve jam: Pour hot jam into hot sterile jar leaving 1/8 inch head space. Wipe rim and apply prepared lid and ring. Screw ring on firmly. Invert jar and leave for 5 minutes. Turn jar right side up and let cool 12-24 hours. The heat from the jam will destroy mold spores. This method is not foolproof, so if you are preparing a lot of jam, process the jam in a boiling water canner. ~Recipe by Marjorie Braker

Looking forward to a week of creative bliss!

So, one night, or should I say morning…because it was around 12am, I got an urge for something sweet. I did not have much in the pantry but I was determined to bake something. So, I did have some fresh pears, and I did have a recipe for a pie crust, some pecans, some brown sugar, a little dutch cocoa, & vanilla, and just a dallop of ice cream in the fridge; and this is what I came up with.

This is so easy! all you have to do is peel and core your pear(save the stem of the pear for garnishing. I rubbed the pear with a bit of lemon juice and then take your favorite pie crust (you could buy your favorite pre-made crust from your local market for quicker prep) and mold it around your pear (I put a lot, because the crust is my favorite part, but you could make yours thinner). At this point you may feel as though you are creating pottery than baking dessert. Then take a bit of your pie crust and mold it around the center hole of your pear. Bake until golden brown. Let cool and then fill with a small amount of vanilla ice cream. Top with your chopped pecans(brown sugar, a small pinch of dutch cocoa, and vanilla). Snuggle the your pear stem in the center of the pecan filling & add a sprinkle of cinnamon. Needless to say, this was a delightful treat for my midnight hungers!

Good morning everybody! Oh my, I got a lot done over these past few days and I want to thank you all for checking in on me and for visiting JuBella while I was on my little hiatus! My mission for organization was quite successful and eye opening. I managed to clean every single inch of our little apt…from top to bottom, I now know where everything is and exactly what we have in our home and it feels great! I also finalized my daily schedule for home tasks, homeschooling the little one, blogging, creating, me time, etc. After I got everything cleared out I did manage to get in a bit of mini decorating(because that’s the real reward of cleaning up)! YAY…I still have a lot of loose ends to pull together(don’t you hate when you are cleaning and re-decorating and it seems once you get one thing done you notice something else that just does not quite fit in with your decor? This happened to me a lot) but I will be sure to share a few corners of our playful little home in a few weeks or so!

So I trust everyone had a wonderful weekend? I recently fixed this Banana Nut Bread which makes a sweet little treat for welcoming in the morning sunshine every now and then and goes great with some warm chai tea. The little bundt cake in the photo above is the banana nut muffin mix only it has chocolate chips in it(per my little ones request…and I must say that it was VERY good!) OK, Here’s the recipe:

Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients
1 3/4 C. Unbleached Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/3 C. Butter or Margarine
2/3 C. Natural Turbinado(cane) Sugar
2 Eggs
2. C Ripe Bananas, mashed (about 4-5)
1/2 C. Chopped Walnuts
Chocolate Chips(optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the first 4 ingredients(flour, baking powder, salt, & baking soda). Cream margarine. Then add sugar and continue to cream. Add eggs one at a time making sure to beat well after each egg. Now gradually mix in your sifted dry ingredients alternating between the flour mixture and your mashed bananas. Stir in your walnuts and chocolate chips if you are using them. Pour batter into a greased(non-stick spray) loaf pan or mini bundt cake pans. Bake until golden brown and center comes out clean. Enjoy! I am back to posting regularly now, so keep an eye out for your daily creative dosage!

I wanted to share this recipe for “Chocolate Malt Sandwiches” that I made via Martha Stewart. They came out light and delicately sweet, so it was a nice sweet fix without that over the top chocolate richness (Well, at least I felt like I was eating lighter…Ha!)

I made several adjustments to mine: I did not have any creme fraiche so I just used plain soy yogurt. I do not buy regular milk, so I think I used either rice or almond milk in place of that. For my filling, I only used a mixture of cream cheese, dutch cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. If you are vegan, you could easily try using soy/tofu based cream cheese for the filling and soy/tofu based sour cream(in place of the fraiche. I must say that the tofutti sour cream is quite divine), egg replacer for the eggs, and vegan margarine. Anyhow, either way you do it, you should definitely give them a try because they are super yummy & pretty once baked. Oh, and by no means do you have to make them as big as I did, I could barely eat one of these in one sitting!

Summertime is pretty much here and that means that the sweet smell of honeysuckles are in full bloom, cool glasses of fresh lemonade, ice-cream, and candlelit porches filled with laughter and friends, and but of course something sweet to top it all off! What should it be you say? Rhubarb! Rhubarb is a vegetable plant in which you can only eat the stems, as the leaves are quite toxic. The beautiful red stems are packed with nutrition and is a bit tart, so when added with a bit of sugar, you get the perfect filling for a scrumptious rhubarb dessert. Here is a great video recipe of cook Annabel Langbein of New Zealand. She is one of my favorites among many others and I thought this Rhubarb & Yoghurt Crumble Cake sounded absolutely divine and perfect for a summer get together with friends and family! For more recipes using rhubarb, check out this cookbook: Life’s Little Rhubarb Cookbook: 101 Rhubarb Recipes

Rhubarb & Yoghurt Crumble Cake

Prep 15 minutes
Cook 50-60 minutes
Ingredients:

140g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp natural vanilla essence
3/4 cup plain yoghurt
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 stalks rhubarb, thinly sliced, or 190g berry fruits or other chopped fruits
Topping:

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup slivered almonds or chopped walnuts
4 tbsp flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60g butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180-C. Grease a 25cm spring-form or loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Beat butter and sugar together until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Beat in yoghurt then add sifted dry ingredients and stir gently to just combine (mixture will be a thick consistency).

Spread into prepared tin and sprinkle over rhubarb.

Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over cake. Bake until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Stand 15 minutes before turning out. Allow to cool before cutting. Store in an airtight container.

Serves 8-10
Variations:

In summer I like to make this cake with stone fruit. Use 6-8 stoned plums or apricots cut in wedges in place of rhubarb. In autumn use feijoas or apples cut in chunks in place of rhubarb and flavour crumble topping with 1 tsp ginger in place of cinnamon.
Copyright Annabel Langbein Books 2000 – 2007

Cookbooks by Anna Langbein:

Cooking to Impress Without Stress,

Assemble: Sensational Food Made Easy,

Desserts.

There is just something about photos of food that just makes me happy & these photos from JuBella’s Entertain Me Group are just scrumptious! The reason why I think I like culinary photography so much is because it pauses a moment that you create something special, and many times it is something special for your family and friends. I guess to me it represents togetherness, because with great food comes great entertaining, and along with great entertaining comes wonderful people.

These photos were taken by Anastasia, Shevon Gant Ceramics, and Tara Anderson. I must say that Tara takes some amazing photos of food, but more impressive is that she cooks it all in her very own kitchen (and these cotton candy cupcakes are fantastic)! Do any of you take photos of your culinary creations? If so then join the Entertain Me Group and post away.

If you love Sprinkles Cupcakes that are petite in size, and big in taste, then you will be happy to know that for $14 you can enjoy a dozen of theses little cuties in your own home. They come in Dark Chocolate, Lemon, red velvet, and Vanilla. It comes with their signature confectioners’ “dots” as well as a simple recipe for frosting!