I’m taking part in a blog series to help you plan and throw the best BBQ this summer. Follow the below links for the all the tips, tricks, and recipes!

Step 1: Planning {Dawn of Joyful Scribblings}

Step 2: Decor / Tablescapes {Cathy of Creations by Cathy}

Step 3: Appetizers {Chelsea of Whatcha Makin’ Now?}

Step 4: Main Dishes and Sides {Nicole of Daily Dish Recipes}

Step 5: Desserts!!! {Katie of What Katie’s Baking}

Step 6: What to wear {Ginny of My New Favorite Outfit}

Dessert #1:  Funfetti Ice Cream Cake Bars

Everyone loves a BBQ on a hot summer day, but summer days are just that…hot!  Which is why it’s nice to have a cold dessert to accompany the weather.

Notes about the recipe:  These cake bars are most delicious when served immediately.  I will warn you that the bottom of the cake will dry up a bit once they are frozen for more than 2 or 3 hours.  This can be avoided by, like previously mentioned, serving immediately or solved by letting thaw a bit before serving.  Luckily, there is not much ice cream on the top layer and letting this dessert sit out won’t hurt it.  The ice cream on top is more for flavor and not about being frozen.

How to display: As you can see, I served this immediately and left it in it’s clear 9×13 inch serving dish.  It isn’t necessary, but if you want to keep this cake cool, it can be served on a tray of ice.  I suggest this be made in a clear serving dish if you really want the layers to be seen to impress your guests!  Sometimes, when I make bars, I cut them up and serve them stacked on a plate, but this is best left in it’s dish due to the many (and messy) layers.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 2 egg whites (4 tablespoons)
• ½ cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 cup vegetable oil
• 1 ¼ cups flour
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup (1/2 a stick) butter, softened
• 1/8 cup sprinkles

Topping:

• 15 crushed Oreos
• 1/2 cup chocolate frosting, softened
• 3 cups vanilla ice cream, softened
• Sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray a 9×13 inch pan with oil, butter, or cooking spray.
3. Combine egg whites, vanilla, vegetable oil, and whole milk.  Whisk together and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, sift the dry ingredients.
5. Blend the dry ingredients with butter and half of the milk and egg white mixture.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl, and slowly add the remaining mixture just until incorporated. (Do not overmix).
6. Fold in the sprinkles and pour mix into pan.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Watch the cake carefully so you don’t over bake it.  You want it to be especially moist since you will be freezing it and freezing will dry it out.
7. Take out of the oven and let cool.
8. While cooling, soften the ice cream.  In a small bowl, mix together the crushed Oreo’s and chocolate frosting.
9. Once the cake is cool, spread the Oreo/frosting mixture over the cake and put the softened ice cream on top of the Oreos.
10. Freeze until the ice cream is hard (about 1-2 hours).
11. Serve and enjoy!  This is best eaten right away, but can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 days.  To serve after storing, let thaw first.

Dessert #2: Creamy Brown Butter Yogurt Apple Pie

I am a huge sucker for great apple pie, and this apple pie is more than great.  If you’re into overflowing, creamy, sweet apples in a flaky crust, then I probably don’t have to do too much convincing to get you to make this pie.  Plus, a BBQ wouldn’t be quite right without a good ol’ fashioned apple pie, right?

Ingredients:

Pie:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ cup plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 5 cups apples (5-7 medium), thinly sliced
• 1 unbaked pie shell

Streusel:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup firm butter

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F. In 1-quart saucepan, cook 1/4 cup butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted and lightly browned. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
2. In a mixer, beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar and the egg until light and fluffy. Beat in 2 tablespoons flour, vanilla, and cinnamon. Beat in cooled butter and yogurt. Gently stir in apples. Pour into crust-lined pan.
3. In medium bowl, stir together all streusel ingredients except butter. With pastry blender or fork, cut in 1/4 cup butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over apples. Place pie on cookie sheet in oven.
4. Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and cover edge of crust with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning. Bake 40 to 50 minutes longer or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown.
5. Let cool and eat!  To store, place in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

This fruit pizza is a serious hit with the taste buds.  If I have an event to go to and I want to impress the guests, this is my go-to recipe.  This is the perfect BBQ dessert.  Seriously, how much more Americanized can this dessert get when banana split and pizza are both in the title?  P.S. The crust for this recipe is an adaptation of a family favorite shortbread crust recipe and it’s absolutely amazing. I’ve seriously never tasted a dessert pizza crust this good before and I’ve had a lot of fruit pizzas in my time.

Notes about the recipe: You want to make sure you don’t overwork the crust or it will not turn out as flaky.  Also, do not forget to prick the dough or you’ll end up with unsightly bubbles all over the finished product.  This can be made with any variation of fruits you’d like, but I kept with the banana split theme with mine.  Helpful tip: Make a well, or dip, around the edge of the dough by pressing your fingers around the edges before you bake it so that when you pour the filling on the pizza, it doesn’t go spilling over the pizza.

How to display: Make sure your fruit slices are all about the same size when you slice them.  Then, place the fruit in circles, following the edge of the crust, arranging them however you’d like until you reach the center.  I kept mine on the pizza stone because I didn’t have a plate big enough to display it on.  I suggest that you freeze the pizza about 30 minutes before placing outside so the filling doesn’t start to run over the edges.  You can either cut this pizza in triangle wedges or in squares.

Dessert #3: Banana Split Fruit Pizza

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 14 oz. can condensed milk
• 8 oz. cream cheese (1 block)
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Crust:

• 1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Toppings:

• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• ½ cup pineapple pieces
• ½ cup walnuts, chopped *Optional
• ¼ cup chocolate syrup
• Maraschino cherries
• Whipped cream

Directions:

Filling:

1. In a mixer, mix together all of the filling ingredients.  Chill in the refrigerator while you make the dough for the crust.

Crust:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and cream together the butter and brown sugar in your mixer (or by hand).  Once fluffy, add flour, oats, and chopped nuts and mix until the dough comes together.  It will be flaky!  (If you don’t like crumbly crust, add a little bit more butter or oil, but not too much because you don’t want your dough to be greasy.)
2. Take the dough and form into a circle on a pizza stone (can also be made on a greased cookie sheet or in a 9×13 inch pan).  Work it until it is even and flat.  Prick the dough with a fork all over and bake 10 to 12 minutes at 375 degrees.
3. Allow the crust to cool, then spread filling on the cooled pizza crust. 
4. Chop your fruit and nuts and place on fruit pizza.  Sprinkle on the chopped walnuts, drizzle on the syrup, and spray on as much whipped cream as you like!
5. Cut and enjoy!  To store, place in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

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I’m sure everyone has had Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies before.  I remember when I first tried these cookies, I thought they were magical.  I mean, how could any human being possibly make something that tastes sooooo good?

Now that I’m a baker, I am apparently magical and I can make things that people didn’t know were humanly possible.  It’s funny to be on the other side of the fence.

Seriously, before I knew how to bake, I was impressed every time my mom made a box mix cake.  Now, I’m a box mix snob (okay, not really, Funfetti cake will always hold a special place in my…stomach) and willing to take on any magical baking challenge.

If you’re like I was, saying, “These cookies are magical, how did you make them?!” then you’re in the right place.  This recipe is so simple, but so impressive.

I followed the All Recipes recipe word for word, so click here for the recipe.  P.s. When the recipe calls for chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped, do not skimp out and use Great Value.  Trust me, I use Great Value for almost everything else, but do not replace the real Reese’s.

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Honestly, I would have titled this post “My Favorite Banana Bread” and not just “My Favorite Healthy Banana Bread,” but my moms banana bread will forever be my favorite.

I’ve made many, many, many banana breads, so it’s saying something to give this recipe such a label as “my favorite.”  

So, here you have it, my favorite healthy banana bread.  Full of chia seeds (which I do not suggest you leave out because they add a fantastic crunch), honey, whole wheat pastry flour, orange, banana, coconut oil, and other good-for-you ingredients.

What’s your favorite banana bread recipe?

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Anyone who knows me knows I love Joy The Baker.

I turn to her when I have rotting bananas sitting on my counter, when my bread starts to stale, or when I don’t know what to do with peanut butter.  That last scenario is very rare, by the way.

She gets me.  Even when her suggestion for peanut butter is making it into a peanut butter & pickle sandwich, I trust her.

So, when I had 4 black bananas on my counter, I knew I could count on her.   She didn’t let me down.  Her recipe for this skillet cake only had 1 banana, but I had 4, so I made it work.  And work it did.

This awesome recipe is adapted from Joy The Baker, if you haven’t gathered.

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Spinach and bamboo shoots: two things I never thought I’d bake with together, one thing I never thought I’d bake with at all.

Can you guess which one I never thought I’d bake with?

I was really craving some hot spinach and artichoke dip and just happened to have some almost-starting-to-wilt spinach.  Lucky me, right?  Right, but I didn’t have artichoke hearts.  So, like usual, I improvised.

For some reason, my dad loves bamboo shoots.  He eats them every so often, so we usually have them in stock.  Lucky for me, because they have a similar texture to artichoke hearts and not too much of a taste.

I really wanted to pat myself on the back when this came out of the oven because I’m pretty sure the bamboo shoots were the best idea ever.  This dip is so creamy, rich, and flavorful.  It tastes best right out of the oven (duh), but is still delicious the next day (also duh… how can you go wrong with mayo, sour cream, and cheese?)

Also, I made this in a total of 25 minutes from start to finish.  So stinkin’ easy.

This fantastic dip is adapted from Food Network.

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Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Here I go again, being late with my festive posts, but luckily, if you don’t have time to make this trifle today, you can enjoy it any time, not just on Cinco De Mayo.  This trifle is amazing. If you love the combination of pineapple and coconut then you will be a huge fan of this trifle.  It may not be as refreshing as a Pina Colada (Paula Dean can help you out with that recipe), but I guarantee it’s just as tasty (tastier, even).

I hate to inform you that this trifle has no alcohol in it, but feel free to add some!  For a boozy edition, just go ahead and whip in your favorite alcohol (preferably pineapple, coconut, or whipped cream flavored) with the whipped cream.

P.S. the Toasted Coconut Pound Cake I used in this recipe can be found here!

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A lot has been going on lately! Bad (kind of) and good.

I’m still looking for a job, but I quit worrying about it and I know one will come when it’s supposed to.  

We got 3 of our animals at the same time, so they’re all getting old at the same time.  Bad idea.  They’re all 3 having problems at the same time and it’s really wearing on us! But, it’ okay!  Everything will work out and be okay, but it’s sad to see my animals sick.  Our dog, Sunny, has congestive heart failure and she’s been having some seizures lately.  Our cats, Tabby and Chloe are just having various issues that come with age.

Anyway, good things have been happening lately, too.

I’ve been substitute teaching and it’s been going really well.  I’ve subbed almost every K-12 grade now, so that’s a kind of cool accomplishment.  The little kids are hilarious and I always have funny stories to tell.

Intuitive eating is going really well and it’s completely changed my entire mindset, so I’m feeling great!

Kellen and I had a great time at his formal :

Annd, lastly, I’ve been baking a lot. These cookies were (obviously) inspired by Reese’s.  I was really craving some chocolate/peanut butter in a cookie form, so I made these.  If you don’t like too much peanut butter in your chocolate, you might want to make your peanut butter balls smaller when you make these!  I am a huge fan of peanut butter, though, so that’s why my peanut butter lumps are so huge.  These are faaantastic cookies!

How do you deal with stressors in your life?

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The weather today is beautiful where I live.  I don’t know if it was 80 degrees and sunny where you live, but baking probably isn’t on the top of your priority list if it is.

However, these chocolatey marshmallow peanut butte might change your mind.  I love baking with marshmallows because they disappear when you bake them and I’m a kid at heart and magic still impresses me.  (It’s magic, not science, okay?)

Chocolate and peanut butter also still impress me, so this recipe is perfect for all you kids-at-heart out there.  I also thought I’d stick with the kid theme by using a word in my title that is not actually a word.  It happens.

These bars are ooey and gooey and the flavors are seriously perfect. (If you’re wondering why there’s a red spot in one of my pictures, I used red velvet chocolate instead of chocolate chips…I suggest it if you can find red velvet chocolate!)

What’s your favorite ingredient to bake with?

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Today’s going to be a super short post, but I wanted to give you a head’s up that Sunday is National Blueberry Pie Day!

If you’re wanting to celebrate, check out Tasty Kake’s recipes at A Bull’s Eye View.  Check out these beautiful photos from Tasty Kake (these are not my photos):

For the recipes, click here!

I have actually made my own Blueberry Pie Ice Cream before! However, this was before my photography skills improved… aka the photos are horrendous, but I promise it still tastes good!

Oh my, that is an embarrassing photo.

Have a happy National Blueberry Pie Day on Sunday and have a wonderful weekend! 

The post National Blueberry Pie Day – Blueberry Pie Ice Cream appeared first on What Katie's Baking.

This toasted coconut pound cake is just comforting.

That’s the best way to describe it.  It’s a dense cake with an almost creamy texture, but the crust is crunchy.  The textures of the creamy inside and the crunchy outside really compliment each other.  The taste is sweet (but not overly sweet) with a deep, nutty hint to it.  Toasting the coconut is mandatory! No if’s, and’s, or but’s!

I used to be obsessed with coconut, but we’ve gone our separate ways.  Since making this cake, our connection has been rekindled and I have gained my love for coconut again.

In all seriousness, this cake is the boooomb.

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