Pineapple Strawberry Almond Pie

What makes you crave for desserts/sweets?? I guess u don't have to have any reason ...he he. The day I made this dessert was like that. I was so tired and didn't wanna do anything, but just craved for something that I had no idea about. I opened the freezer and here I see this pie crust, gosh I completely forgot about it. I saw that it's going to expire soon, hmm so something I have to make, but still keep it simple and concentrate on the ingredients to add more fruits and keep it healthy as well.

I cannot do anything more to the pie crust...but add more fruits and guess what...i decided to add some nuts too. I went to check my pantry, i remembered that I have a can of strawberry pie filling, hmm looked around and found a can of pineapple slices/rings. So here you go these ingredients makes this beautiful and yummy pie in minutes. :)

Ingredients:

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1 pkg Pie Crust (thawed)

1 can Strawberry Pie filling

1 can Pineapple Slices/rings chopped to desired size

1/2 cup Almonds (Blanched and powdered coarsely)

Method:

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1. Preheat oven to the desire temperature as per the package instructions.

2. Spray the bottom part of a pie pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with one sheet of the pie crust.

3. Now add the strawberry pie filling in between the pie crust, add the pineapple (without the juice), mix lightly and then sprinkle the powdered almonds.

4. Now layer the other pie crust, fold and pinch the edges gently and press with a thumb on one side and press in the opposite direction too get the wave effect.

5. Now with a knife draw slits, so that the steam comes out easily.

6. Bake it until done or until the top of the crust is golden brown.

7. Serve it hot or warm with a scoop of ice cream or whipped toppings or with some more fresh fruits.

You Might Also Like:

	Mixed Berry Cake
	Oats Strawberry Bars
	Strawberry Mango Popsicle

Blueberry Pie with Almond Crust (Made from scratch)

When I create something new with berries I guess I get very excited, cos I love berries and they are so easy to cook with and the results are amazingly delicious. I have made the same recipe with strawberries which I learnt it from a friend of mine, so I thought if I can make it with strawberries then why not with blueberries. :)

Here is the recipe for the Strawberry Pie that I made previously.

When I made with strawberries, I didn't add the cream cheese topping for the pics, so I thought this post would be a new one with all the enhancements and improvements in all aspects like pics, recipe etc.,

Before I could take the pics of the whole pie...we started eating it...so still have to work on that part! :)

 So I hope you all will enjoy it too! :)

Ingredients:
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For the Almond Crust:
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1 1/2 cups finely chopped Almonds (You can use blanched almonds too if you don’t like the whole almonds)
3 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Butter at room temperature.

For the Blueberry Filling:
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3 cups Blueberries washed and keep in fridge to keep it chill.

For the Blueberry Glaze:
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1 cup Sugar
2 tbsp Cornstarch or 1 tsp Knox
1/2 cup Water
2 cup mashed Blueberries

For Cream Cheese Topping:
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8 oz package Cream Cheese at room temperature
1 cup Whipping cream (cold)
3/4 cup powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

Method:
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To make the Crust:
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1. In a pan add the chopped almonds and roast them in medium low flame until they turn light brown. Allow to cool it and blend them in a mixer with the melted butter and sugar.
2. Preheat oven to 400F
3. Place this mixture in a 9" or 9 1/2" pie pan and press down with a fork in the center and work it through the sides up till you can take it. Make sure it is even.
4. Bake this crust for about 8-10 mins or until the crust turns light brown.
5. Remove it from oven and cool it to room temperature.
6. Now add the blueberries over the top of the crust or you can even place these blueberries over the glaze that we are going to make.

To make the Glaze:
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1. In a sauce pan add all the ingredients and mix it well with a whisk.
2. Bring the flame up to a boil, and then reduce it to low and keep stirring and cook the glaze for about 5 mins or until it becomes thick.
3. Off the flame. Allow it to cool and keep in fridge so that it's is chilled.

To make the Cream Cheese Topping:
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1. In a mixing bowl (make sure even the bowl is cold - to make it cold you can place the bowl in freezer too) add the the whipping cream with an electric hand mixer, beat it until stiff peaks form.
2. Add the powdered sugar and mix again.

3. In another bowl add the cream cheese and carefully add the whipped cream in batches and fold it in the cream cheese, so that you don't loose the air. (I did not use this topping this time, but I topped the pie with Vanilla Ice Cream while serving a piece of the pie - you can do anything of your choice or even you can use just a whipped cream topping and decorate the pie).
4. Keep this topping in fridge so that it remains cold.

Assembling the Pie:
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1. Place the pie crust and pour the glaze over it and arrange the strawberries and top it with cream cheese topping or any topping of your choice or ice cream and allow it to set in the fridge for about 2-3 hrs or overnight would be best to get a perfect slice of the pie.

Healthy Blueberry Oats N Almond Sandwich Cake - No Egg No Butter

I love all kinds of berries especially Strawberries and Blueberries. I saw these cute looking blueberries and just grabbed two boxes...when I looked into, they were smaller than I have usually seen. So I thought of making something really special and of course healthy. I made these and really felt very satisfied, it came out so good and perfect. Really liked the taste, not too sweet and I ate it even for breakfast. So here is the recipe... :)

Dry Ingredients:
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2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
2 cups Oats (Quick Cooking)
2 cups fresh or frozen Blueberries (I prefer the fresh ones :))
1/2 cup slivered Almonds or Walnuts ( used almonds)

Wet Ingredients:
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1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2 cups Buttermilk
1/2 cup Canola Oil

Method:
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1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, ground cinnamon and salt.

3. In another bowl mix the wet ingredients, unsweetened applesauce, buttermilk and canola oil.
4. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix just until blended. Make sure u don't over mix the batter.

6. Now spray a baking pan or your choice and sprinkle some flour.

7. Pour the half of the batter, spread the blueberries all over the bottom layer of batter, then pour the rest of the batter on top.
8. Sprinkle slivered almonds over the top evenly and bake it for about 50-55 mins or until the almonds are toasted and the cake top is golden brown.

You Might Also Like:

	Mixed Berry Cake
	Blueberry and Dates Puree/Shake in a cup
	Lazy Man's Blueberry Pineapple Crumb Cake
	Very Berry Banana Shake
	Mixed Berry Gratin

Valentine Heart Shortbread Cookies and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY To You ALL! :)

Today is my parents Wedding Anniversary too! I hope they live long together happily......

Happy Valentines Day! :)

Running out of time for making something special on Valentine's Day? Here is a very simple recipe for heart shaped shortbread cookies.

 I came home in the evening and thought I had some free time and was wondering if I can make some cookies for Anush, but wanted to keep it simple and easy, but a heart shaped. These shortbread cookies came out so good and it was so soft and the colored sugar really brought the shape pop out and looked very pretty.

These are the easiest cookies that I have ever made.....I hope you all like it too!

Ingredients:
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1 cup Butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 cups All purpose Flour
2 tbsp or more Colored Sugar (I used pink and orange as I didn't have red)

Method:
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1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer cream up butter, sugar and vanilla extract until the sugar is well blended.

3. Now add the flour and mix gently, it will be better if you mix with hand.
4. The dough may seem to be crumbly but, keep kneading, so that you get a soft dough.
5. Now place a cling wrap, and place the dough and shape it to a 2 diameter roll.

6. Now flatten it on one side a bit, then tilt it to other side and flatten it again a bit, so that you get a "V" shape.
7. Now remove the dough and keep it aside.
8. On the same cling wrap spread out the color sugar and then place the dough over the top of the sugar and roll the dough.

9. Now cover the dough gently with the cling wrap and press a little bit so that all the sugar sticks to the dough.
10. Now take a knife and cut the dough into slices each of 1/2" or the thickness you want.

11. Now take each slice of dough and press with a knife in the middle of the third side.
Note: Third side is the side other than the "V".
12. Now try to get the shape of the heart, else the easiest way is to roll out the dough and if you have a heart shaped cookie cutter then cut it and then roll each cookie in the sugar.

13. Now place these cookies 1/4" to 1/2" apart in a cookie sheet and bake it for about 8-12 mins.

You Might Also Like:

	Dark Chocolate Cookies
	Cinnamon Sugar Hearts
	Crunchy Orange Muffin Cookies

HERMOINE CAKE - Harry Potter Character CAKE

I know everyone who sees this cake name would/may be wondering like I did when I heard about the name from one of my very good friend, her name is Rini. She asked me to help her make this cake for her daughter on her birthday. When she said the name, I said I don't know who she is. Then she explained to me that it was the girl in the Harry Potter movie. I kept thinking as to how would I get a girl's picture on the cake and when I googled for some pictures I could not get any and those I got this looked kinda hard for me.

Then I decided to cheat a little bit :) as there was no much time for me to plan and buy things accordingly. So I got his cute cake picture which I thought of recreating.

So I told her to order a simple white butter cream frosted round cake and buy fondant for me and a color printout of the picture.

So....here it goes.....

I got all already colored fondants, but did a little mix up to get the right colors. Actually i could not capture the right colors of the fondant after I was done. So I thought of mentioning it here...it is a purple dress with pinkish purple shades.

First I got the cake, then I layered the top with white fondant. Then I made the body, dress, flowers and all the leaf shaped dress and hair with little black and brown and brushed with silver glitter to get the shine over the dress.

The best and easy part of the cake was making the face of the girl. I cut only the face from the printout, applied some butter cream icing at the back and stuck it over the fondant. :) Is that not very simple? I didn't have much time to paint myself for the face as I didn't have much time and didn't want to take risk of spoiling the cake. So found a very simple and easy way to do it.

The other best part is that my friend also liked it. After she went home, her daughter called me and said she liked the cake very much. So this is the kind of happiness that gives you when someone really appreciates your work. :)