How’s your sweet tooth? See if any of these recipes will work for you.
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Creamy lemonade pie
1 can of evaporated milk
1 box of instant lemon pudding mix
2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese
3/4 C frozen lemonade concentrate
Pie Crust:
2-1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
1/3 C sugar
2/3 C butter, melted
Or you can use 1 graham cracker crust, 9-in. (making this a no bake dessert)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all crust ingredients and whisk together until well combined. Press mixture into deep dish pie dish and make sure to go up the sides. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
In a small mixing bowl, combine can of evaporated milk and pud-ding mix. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes (mixture will be thick). In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Gradually beat in lemonade concentrate. Gradually beat in pudding mixture. Pour mixture into cooled graham cracker crust, or into a pre-made graham cracker pie crust. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
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Chocolate clusters
2-1/2 C pecans
1/2 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C light corn syrup
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk (1/2 of a 14-oz. can)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 12-oz. pkg. milk chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)
Toss 2-1/2 cups of pecans into a large skillet. Toast them over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until they have darkened just a bit and smell fragrant. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Arrange pecans into clusters – three to a group works well. Leave some space (about an inch) between each cluster.
Place 1/2 C butter into a medium-sized saucepan. Melt it over medium high heat. Add 1 C brown sugar, 1/2 C light corn syrup and 7 ounces sweetened condensed milk to the pan. Increase heat just a bit and stir it continually. Cook and stir until it reaches 235-240 degrees. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
Carefully drizzle about 1-1/2 teaspoons of caramel over each nut cluster. Work quickly, as the caramel will begin to set up. Be sure there is caramel touching all the nuts in each cluster. The caramel works like glue, sticking nuts together.
In a microwave safe bowl, pour in 12 ounces of milk chocolate chips. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each cooking interval. Add 1/2 teaspoon of shortening to melted chocolate. Allow it to sit for a minute or two (so it can melt and make the chocolate chips more spreadable). Stir it all together. Spoon about 1-1/2 teaspoons of melted chocolate over top of caramel and nuts. Allow chocolate to set up. Once it has hardened and cooled you can serve them immediately, or transfer them to an airtight container.
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Candy clusters
1 pkg. chocolate chips (about 1½ C)
1 pkg. peanut butter chips (about 1½ C)
1 C peanuts
2 to 2½ C of chow mein noodles
Combine chocolate chips and peanut butter chips in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat on stove. Stir often until fully melted. Remove from heat. Add in peanuts and chow mein noodles and stir to fully combine. Drop tablespoons of chocolate mixture on a sheet of wax paper. Let them sit for a few hours until the chocolate hardens.
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She said, “Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes – small, large, circle, square, thin crust, thick crust, stuffed crust, and extra toppings.”
If you would like to share a recipe with me, just send it to the J-T or email it to me.
(Melanie Behrens – melb@marysvillejt.com)