Berry Upside Down Lemony Bundt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease and dust 1 Bundt pan

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

24 oz frozen mixed berry medley, defrosted

1 box lemon cake mix

1 small box instant lemon pudding mix

3/4 cup milk, room temperature

3/4 cup veggie oil

4 eggs, room temperature

In a small bowl mix melted butter and brown sugar, place in bottom of Bundt pan. Add Berry mix on top of butter mixture and set aside.

In bowl of mixer add cake mix, pudding, milk, oil and eggs, beat on low for 30 seconds. Turn mixer to medium and mix for 5 minutes. Place batter on top of berries and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Turn out cake on to platter and…….

ENJOY… (with ice cream)

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecakes Bites

Welcome to Day 3 of #Choctoberfest2017 !! First I would like to say a big thank you to Imperial Sugar! I received 88 lbs of their wonderful sugar in exchange for a post but all the opinions are my own! Now that all of that is out of the way on to the recipe for these delicious cheesecake bites!

First you need to start with making the raspberry sauce for your swirl since that will need to cool to room temperature while you make your cheesecake bites…..

Raspberry Swirl

1 cup frozen raspberries (defrosted)

1 tsp Cornstarch

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 Tbsp warm water

1 Tbsp Imperial Sugar 

In a small bowl stir cornstarch, lemon juice and water together, set aside. In a pot add raspberries and Imperial Sugar.

Place pot on burner over medium heat, cook berries and sugar until the raspberries begin to break down and release their juices, stirring constantly. Should take about 3-5 minutes. Stir in cornstarch paste continuing to stir for another 2-3 minutes or until your syrup thickens. Remove from heat and strain out all the seeds. The juice that is left now becomes the raspberry swirl. Let cool to room temperature while you prepare the cheesecake bites.

Cheesecake Bites…..

For the Crust….

3/4 cup Chocolate graham cracker crumbs

2-1/2 Tbsp Melted Butter

1 Tbsp Imperial Sugar

For the Bites Batter……

1- 8 ounce block cream cheese, room temperature

1/3 cup Imperial Sugar

1/4  cup cocoa powder

1-1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg, room temperature

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line 1 cupcake tin with 12 liners.

Mix together the cookie crumbs, butter and sugar. Place about 1 Tbsp crumb mixture into each of the cupcake liners. Press firmly into the bottom of the liners and then place tin into freezer while you make the batter.

In bowl of stand mixer add cream cheese, sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla, beat until smooth. Turn mixer down to stir and add egg, beat just until mixed in.Stir in whipping cream. Divide the filling equally between cups (about 2 Tbsp). Drop 1/2 tsp of your raspberry swirl on top of cheesecake batter and using a toothpick swirl it in. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-23 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool in tin for 10 minutes. Remove from tin and let cool 1 hour. Place bites in the fridge at least 4 hours to firm up.

Once firm it is time to make some whipped cream for the tops.

Raspberry Whipped cream

1/8 cup Powdered Imperial Sugar

1 cup Heavy Whipping cream

1 tsp raspberry Liquor

In bowl of stand mixer,with whisk attachment place powdered sugar, whipping cream and liquor, whisk until you get a pipeable consistency. Pipe whipped cream on top of your bites and ENJOY!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Welcome to Choctoberfest

Over 70 bloggers are participating in #Choctoberfest 2017 and will be posting 200+ chocolate recipes over the next week. Keep your eyes peeled, visit any of the blogs listed below, or use the #Choctoberfest hashtag on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to follow along. You can also check out our #Choctoberfest Pinterest board, where we post chocolate recipes all year long.

You can also enter to win our #Choctoberfest prize pack. Thank to our amazing sponsors who are contributing the following items for the prize:

• $100 gift card to Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table from our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar
• 1 case of granulated white sugar (40 pounds), 1 case of light brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of dark brown sugar (24 pounds), and 1 case of powdered sugar (24 pounds) from our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar
• 16 oz Barlean’s Butter-Flavored Coconut Oil, 9.52 oz canister of Chocolate Silk Greens, and 8oz bottle of Essential Women Omega-Swirl Chocolate Mint from our silver sponsor Barlean’s
• 300-piece Lindt LINDOR Truffles gift bag (you choose the flavors!) from blog sponsors The PinterTest Kitchen

This prize pack is valued at over $450! To enter, simply follow participating sponsors and bloggers using the below giveaway widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stay tuned to see the delicious recipes bloggers have cooked up using Imperial Sugar and Barlean’s products. Thank you also to Davis Chocolate and Rodelle for being #Choctoberfest shoutout sponsors! Watch Instagram and Facebook to find out more about about their chocolate products.

Here is a complete list of all the bloggers participating in #Choctoberfest 2017, so you can see the recipes they are posting throughout the week:

The PinterTest Kitchen ♥ Fix Me a Little Lunch ♥ Savory Moments ♥ Crumbs in my Mustachio ♥ House of Nash Eats ♥ Bake It With Love ♥ That Recipe ♥ Hardly A Goddess ♥ Cooking With Carlee ♥ A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures ♥ Body Rebooted ♥ Cindy’s Recipes and Writings ♥ The Redhead Baker ♥ Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice ♥ Sweet Coralice ♥ Seduction in The Kitchen ♥ Cooks&Books&Recipes ♥ Everyday Eileen ♥ Under My Apple Tree ♥ Family Around The Table ♥ Bottom Left of the Mitten ♥ The Spiffy Cookie ♥ Fairyburger ♥ Join Us, Pull up a Chair ♥ Jonesin’ For Taste ♥ Jane’s Adventures in Dinner ♥ Take Two Tapas ♥ Jennifer Bakes ♥ The Unlikely Baker ♥ Hostess At Heart ♥ Karen’s Kitchen Stories ♥ Kate’s Recipe Box ♥ Kelly Lynns Sweets and Treats ♥ Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen ♥ Chocolate Slopes ♥ Little House Big Alaska ♥ Makes, Bakes and Decor ♥ 2 Cookin Mamas ♥ That Skinny Chick Can Bake ♥ Books n’ Cooks ♥ Mildly Meandering ♥ Living Ideas ♥ Restless Chipotle ♥ Get the Good Stuff! ♥ The Weekday Gourmet ♥ An Affair from the Heart ♥ West Via Midwest ♥ Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt ♥ The Bitter Side of Sweet ♥ Cookaholic Wife ♥ Daily Dish Recipes ♥ For the Love of Food ♥ The Saucy Southerner ♥ Cook’s Hideout ♥ By the Pounds ♥ Tramplingrose: Cooking, Baking & Ranting in Small-Town South Dakota ♥ Sarah Cooks the Books ♥ Chef Sarah Elizabeth ♥ Fantastical Sharing of Recipes ♥ Sarah’s Bake Studio ♥ The Pajama Chef ♥ Frankly Entertaining ♥ Long Distance Baking ♥ Palatable Pastime ♥ The Freshman Cook ♥ The Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine ♥ A Day in the Life on the Farm ♥ Wendy Polisi ♥ Tampa Cake Girl ♥ My Southern Sweet Tooth ♥ Canning and Cooking at Home ♥ Full Belly Sisters ♥ SuperSizeGuy.com ♥ Our Good Life ♥

Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Muffin

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line 1 Texas Muffin tin with large cupcake papers and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine

3 cups flour

1/4 cup baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

In another medium bowl add

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

And

2 eggs

Whisk until combined and then add

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup veggie oil

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk until combined well and then fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. ADD

2/3 cups chocolate chunks, fold in until combined and then ADD

1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen (partially thawed) raspberries, fold in gently

Add batter to your already prepared Texas Muffin tin filling until just almost full. Place in oven and turn temperature down from 500 degrees to 375 degrees bake for 25-30 minutes. Once done let pan cool on rack for 10 minutes, remove muffins and let cool completely. ENJOY!!:)

Fresh Four Berry Pie

For the crust:

3/4 cup Flour

1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest

3 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, butter 1 pie pan/dish

In bowl of stand mixer, mix all of your crust ingredients together until combined. Press into the bottom and 1/4 inch up sides of your greases pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely

Pie filling:

3 cups fresh strawberries, quartered

3 cups fresh raspberries

3 cups blueberries

3 cups blackberries

6 oz package Raspberry jello

2 cups sugar

6 Tbsp cornstarch

2 cups water.

Clean all your fruit, quarter strawberries and place and fruit in a bowl and set aside. In a large sauce pot place sugar, cornstarch and water, stir to combine. Over medium heat bring to a boil, remove from heat and stir in jello. Place in fridge for 10 minutes to cool. Add fruit to your jello mixture, stir to combine. Pour mixture in your already baked and cooled pie crust. Place in fridge to firm up for at least an hour. Serve with vanilla bean ice cream and ENJOY!:)

Easy Ramen Noodle Soup

32 ounces chicken broth

3 cups water

1 Tbsp sesame oil

4 cloves garlic, diced

1 tsp ginger, minced

16 ounces ramen noodle

1 cup shredded carrots

1 bunch green onions, chopped

In a stock pot heat sesame oil on medium heat, add garlic and ginger sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken broth and water and bring to a boil. Add noodles, carrots and onion and let boil 3-5 minutes. Turn down heat and let simmer until veggies are cooked. Serve and ENJOY!!:)

Semi Sweet Chip Cookies

Makes about 36 cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line baking sheets with parchment paper.

1 cup  unsalted butter softened

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 cups brown sugar 

2 eggs, room temperature

2-1/2 tsp vanilla

2-1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

18 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips

First you are going to want to combine your dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer cream butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Once mixed together we’ll add your dry ingredients to you wet and beat until your dough forms. Stir in your chips. Rest dough in fridge for about 10-15 minutes and then scoop 1 Tbsp of dough (golf ball size) onto already prepared cookie sheet placed about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool and enjoy with an ice cold glass of milk.

Chippy Chunk Cookies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a small bowl combine

2-1/4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Set aside

In the bowl of your mixer cream together

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Add…

2 eggs, room temperature

On at a time mixing completely after each addition.

Add you bowl of dry ingredients to your mixing bowl and beat until combined well.

Add….

6 ounces chocolate chips and 6 ounces Chocolate chunks… I use the Trader Joe’s brand which are located above the ice cream freezer. Stir until combined.

Scoop on to already prepared baking trays in 1 Tbsp scoops.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven let rest on tray for 2 minutes and then remove from tray and let cool completely. ENJOY!!

Creamy Country Potato and Ham Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 cup matchstick carrots

4 potatoes, chopped in to 1/2 inch pieces

32 ounces chicken broth

2 cups ham, chopped

6 Tbsp butter

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup flour

1 cup half and half

1 cup milk

1 cup frozen peas

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp black pepper

shredded cheddar cheese for topping

In a stock pot……

Heat olive oil, add onion and carrots and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add potatoes and chicken broth, turn heat to high and bring to a boil, let boil until potatoes are tender but not mushy. Stir in the ham.

In a Medium sauce pot……

Melt butter, stir in the garlic and saute for a minute or 2. Whisk in your flour and cook until thick. Slowly add half and half and milk, whisking constantly, until your mixture becomes thick. Stir your milk mixture into your stock pot potato mixture.

Stir your peas into your stock pot. Add cayenne pepper and black pepper. Heat until your peas are cooked through. Serve, sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top and ENJOY!! 🙂

Easy Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray one loaf pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

3 ripe bananas

1/3 cup melted butter

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1 lrg. Egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cup flour

In a medium bowl…..

Place bananas in your bowl and mash with a fork until smooth. Add melted butter and stir until combined. 

Add baking soda and salt, stir until combined.

Add sugar, egg and vanilla, stir until combined.

Finally, stir in the flour.

Pour into already prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. ENJOY!!:)