I was introduced to this fabulous RECIPE a couple of years ago and tucked it into my must-make folder for safe keeping.  Juicy sweet pineapple, coconut, macadamia nuts, sweetened condensed milk, dark rum, and the surprise ingredient ginger snaps.  Baked into awe-mazing.  Oh my!!  We’ll call this heavenly dessert, that screams tropical paradise, Piña Colada Baked Pineapple.

The person who first introduced this recipe to me happens to be one of my work bff’s.  I thought it only fitting that we all enjoy warm unctuous pineapple love on her birthday, prepared in our office break room…that rocks!!  Jennica has appeared in several posts here on Lemony Thyme, as she is always full of energy, positivity, creativity, can-do AND more thoughtfulness than anyone I know.  THE, kind of vibe we all long to exude and most definitely benefit from.  Check out some of my favorite Jennica highlights below.

I’ve shared often that I work with a passionate bunch of people.  We give our all, in work and play.  This rock star joined 30 of her fellow teammates to celebrate Lock ‘n Roll Month (circa 2011) in pure Cher style.  Here’s the entire 80’s Rock Star Team.

I know she’s hating me right now, but damn girl.  She embraced the challenge (dress like your favorite 80’s rock star), stayed in character for her red carpet entrance, met the paparazzi with a fierce delivery, and those arms.  I say Rock Star extraordinaire.

While I love Jenn in Cher mode, she’s far superior than that.  She’s the individual who connected our company with Habitat for Humanity.  She worked tirelessly to find a way for Delaney to make a difference, one of our core corporate philosophies.  We were privileged to take part in our first ‘Got Locks’ community service project in 2011.

Besides running our stellar Inside Sales Department, she’s got mad party-planning skills.  And how we love to party.  This girl knows how to get the most out of dry ice, dimmed lights, spooky effects, and food.

Not to mention her special effects costumes.

We all need a friend, workmate, and awesome ‘being’ in our lives.  I’m blessed.  When my small family faced the most difficult days, Jennica delivered comfort.  My recreation of Jenn’s Chicken Enchilladas {with Red Sauce} recipe was a tribute to Mom and Jennica.  Never underestimate delivering food, even when ‘words’ are a challenge.

I’m sure by know you’ve developed a kinship to Jenn.  She’s that awesome.  Welcome National Watermelon Day.  I made Watermelon Gaspacho, she made a Watermelon Turtle.  You see the passion right?!  My heart is full for this girl, who never wants to steal the limelight, looks for ways to recognize her peers, and totally rocks on the dance-floor. #ChristmasParty2014.

So when she shared an experience of Gratineed Pineapple a couple of years ago, I made a mental note that we would recreate this recipe for her one day.  We celebrated Jennica’s birthday a couple of weeks ago with a delicious lunch out at a local Cuban restaurant, followed by Piña Colada Baked Pineapple for all.

Will you look at all that flavor love.  Now imagine it warmed until bubbly, wafting with the aroma of sweet pineapple rum.

One last shout-out to Jennica (although I could go on and on).  Every Christmas season, our office plays ‘Secret Santa’, and this girl rally’s the troops.  Serious mischief, full on elf-mode, with enough laughter to refill the tank.  xo Jenn.  Thanks for being on my team.

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Piña Colada Baked Pineapple

Author Wives with Knives

Ingredients

• 1 large fresh pineapple
• 2 cups additional pineapple chunks
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup crushed ginger snaps
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2 Tbl. dark rum we used Myers

Instructions

• Slice the pineapple in half with leaves intact. Cut the core from each pineapple half and discard. With a small sharp knife carefully cut the remaining pineapple out of the shell. Cut into 1-inch cubes and combine with additional 2 cups of pineapple chunks.
• Combine coconut, gingersnap cookies and macadamia nuts. Set aside.
• Whisk together sweetened condensed milk and dark rum. Set aside.
• In the cored pineapple halves, layer half pineapple chunks, sprinkle half of coconut/gingersnap mixture, drizzle of half sweet condensed milk/rum mixture; repeat.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly; about 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t brown too quickly. Tent with foil if necessary.

Notes

We tripled the recipe to serve a larger crowd.

The post Piña Colada Baked Pineapple appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Just a quick relatively wordless Wednesday post.

Creamy Dreamy Mint Chocolate Fudge.  Three ingredients.  Easy.  Melt in your mouth.  This is the first fudge recipe I learned to make back when I was in high school.  It has never failed me.

Yesterday I was asked how I got my fudge pieces out of the pan so easily.  Line your fudge pan with parchment paper for easy removal.

Combine 1 can of sweetened condensed milk with 3 cups of favorite chips (I used 2 cups Dark Chocolate & Mint & 1 cup semi-sweet).

Melt over medium-low heat.  Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla and mix until smooth.  Pour into prepared pan.  Chill for two hours.  Ta-da ta-done.

Cut Creamy Dreamy Mint Chocolate Fudge into squares.  Make some friends. Or as we like to say Share the Love.

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Creamy Dreamy Chocolate Mint Fudge

Ingredients

• 3 cups baking chips I used 2 cups mint chocolate and 1 cup semi-sweet
• 1 14- ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

• In a medium saucepan, combine 3 cups of favorite chips (I used 2 cups of Dark Chocolate & Mint and 1 cup semi-sweet) with one can of sweetened condensed milk. Melt over medium-low heat.
• Remove from heat; stir in 1 tsp. vanilla and mix until smooth.
• Pour into parchment paper lined pan. Chill for two hours. Cut in squares to serve.

Notes

This recipe can be adapted to use your favorite flavored chips. Peanut butter is a natural, but butterscotch is amazing.
I like to reserve a few chips to sprinkle on top of the fudge or stir in 1 cup of chopped nuts before chilling.

The post Creamy Dreamy Chocolate Mint Fudge appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I struggled with what to call these heavenly bars. I kicked around a few ideas.  Pretzel Toffee Bars.  Chocolate Coconut Layered Love Bars.  Magic Bars.  Seven Layer Bars.  Toothachers Met Their Match Bars.  Truth be told…they are a casserole with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  A dessert casserole.  I’m not sure anyone would click on a recipe called dessert casserole.

As I typed that, Decadent Dessert Casserole popped into my head, which actually might be good.

Blogger note:  You really must be careful when typing straight from the thought train.  Because while Decadent Dessert Casserole popped into my head, I typed Decadent Dessert Casserole pooped into my head.  And That’s NOT AT ALL what I was thinking.  Phew, thank goodness for proof-reading.

Phew.

I’m beginning to question my every word.  Do you read Phew as in relief…boy that was a close one OR as an expression of disgust? PU.  I’m not making this recipe any better am I??

Clear your minds.  Let’s try this again.  I still had leftover baking supplies from Christmas that needed to be used.  I also had an opportunity to make someone’s day.  We were smack in the middle of team-building exercises leading up to our annual company meeting.  We were revisiting the Fish Philosophy! ten years after we first introduced it to our team.  I was on Team “Be There” and one of our own was celebrating a birthday.  OOooo. Me me.  Let me bake something!!

So I baked a batch of Seven Layer Magic Bars.  Except I replaced the first layer with the base to our most treasured family recipe…Toothacher Bars.  Which added confusion to the title.  I’m not really sure how many layers these bars technically have.  I think I’m having a cooking fail right now.

Wait!  What am I saying?  These were the bomb.  No one that I served them to cared one iota what they were called.  Is anyone else surprised that my spellchecker didn’t scream red when I typed iota.  I’ve never used that word in print.

Point being, that when you layer things like pretzels, caramel, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans and drizzle them with sweetened condensed milk, you are going to make people very happy.  I’m convinced now that I should have simply called this reipce…Make Their Day Magic Bars.

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Seven Layer Magic Bars aka Make Their Day Magic Bars

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 6 Tbl. butter melted
• 25 caramels unwrapped
• 1 Tbl. milk
• 3 cups Snyder’s Buttersnaps broken slightly
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup sweetened coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 14- ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In microwave safe bowl, combine caramels with milk and microwave on high until completely melted, stirring at 30 second intervals, about 2 minutes.
• In large bowl, combine flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, and butter, and baking soda. Mixture will be thick and stiff.
• Press mixture into bottom of parchment lined 9×13 pan. Pour melted caramel over top and spread evenly. Sprinkle on pretzel pieces, chocolate chips, coconut, and chopped pecans.
• Pour can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over top.
• Bake for 20 minutes.

The post Seven Layer Magic Bars appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Oh boy.  I did it this time.  I took three ingredients, conveniently on hand and 10-minutes later I was licking the spoon.  This spoon.  The one dripping with Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce.

You see that container of malted milk powder in the background.  It’s his fault.  I was reaching into the pantry for baking soda when malted milk powder tumbled to my feet.  “What are you trying to tell me?”  I thought quietly to myself.  I’m certain he whispered “Make Dusty Miller Sundaes.”  I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind.

And so I found a recipe from Land O’Lakes for Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce and 10 minutes later….the whole spoon thing happened.

And not long after that I was making Homemade Ice Cream in a Ziploc Bag.

And then I was topping ice cream with Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce and malted milk powder and whipped cream.  I was happily reflecting back to my childhood and my lifelong love of the Dusty Miller Sundae.  Without a care in the world.

The post Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake {with Chocolate Ganache}.

Be careful what you wish for.  That’s how I felt when I was first handed this recipe.  You see it had been quite some time since our last Adventure in Chocolate.  I’ve been following a new healthy living routine and couldn’t quite figure out where chocolate would fit in.

So I called on an expert.  Wendy.  Friend.  Coworker.  Fellow lover of life and chocoholic.

I asked her to select a decadent chocolate dessert that I would make, picture, post on Lemony Thyme and ultimately deliver to her.  To devour.  That’s how she approaches chocolate (and mac ‘n cheese, but we’ll save that for another thyme).  Wendy stands about 5ft nothing and weighs what most of us weighed in 3rd grade.  For those of us who know and love her (you can’t do one without the other) we’ve learned that this bundle of high energy can put away some manly portions of food.  We have names for girls like her.  MmHmm.

Well dear Wendy chose Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake.  As I write this post I have already delivered the finished product and I have to say I was quite proud.  So while I was a bit intimidated by this, my first cheesecake recipe, I’m so happy now to have one under my culinary belt.  A notch in my wooden spoon.

I must share that I did not bake this cheesecake without the help of many…strangers.  You see I couldn’t tackle such a challenge without doing suitable research.  And my initial assumption was correct, cheesecakes can be tricky to make.  I found countless articles with tips and tricks on how to succeed and avoid disaster (hard to imagine a bad cheesecake).

• TIP #1 ~ Invest in a springform pan if you don’t already have one.  And go ahead and lightly grease it and line the bottom with parchment paper.  It won’t hurt.
• TIP #2 ~ Allow your ingredients to come up to room temperature (minimum of 1 hour)
• TIP #3 ~ Beat cream cheese alone until light and fluffy, scraping down sides with a rubber spatula.  Then put the spatula away.  To avoid lumps which can lead to cracking, once you begin to add additional ingredients only beat long enough to incorporate and DO NOT SCRAPE THE MIXING BOWL.
• TIP #4 ~ Whether you choose a water bath or a pan of water on the rack below, the moist water will help with even cooking and creamy texture.
• TIP #5 ~ A lower slower cooking temp. and cooling off period will help avoid cracking.
• TIP #6 ~ When the baking time is complete, turn oven off and allow cheesecake to begin the cool down process and rest in oven for an hour.  Do not open oven door.
• TIP #7 ~ Once removed from the oven, run a knife gently around the edge to help the cheesecake release from sides.  Do not remove sides.
• TIP #8 ~ Allow cheesecake to cool completely on a wire rack before refrigerating.
• TIP #9 ~ Chill cheesecake in refrigerator for 8 – 24 hours before removing springform side.
• TIP #10 ~ If applying a topping, such as Chocolate Ganache or Chocolate Curls, chill cake another hour after applying before slicing.

This was such a fun way to Share the Love with my work family and with you.  Hmm, I wonder who will be chosen to select our next Adventure in Chocolate.

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Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake {with Chocolate Ganache}

Course Dessert

Servings 12

Author Southern Living December 2010

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups crushed dark chocolate-and-almond shortbread cookies about 18 cookies. We used Keebler Dark Chocolate and Almond Shortbread Sandies
• 2 Tbl. melted butter
• 2 4-ounce semisweet chocolate baking bars, chopped
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 4 8-ounce packages Philadelphia cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs room temperature
• Ganache Topping see recipe link in post
• Chocolate Curls for garnish see recipe link in post

Instructions

• ***BEFORE YOU BEGIN*** Be sure your cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature (set out at least one hour).
• Set oven rack to middle. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place a 9×13 pan on lower rack. Add 4 cups hot water.
• Lightly grease 9-inch springform pan with butter. Line bottom with parchment paper. Combine crushed cookies and melted butter. Press mixture into bottom and slightly up sides of prepared springform pan. Use empty measuring cup to press firmly.
• Microwave chocolate and cream at HIGH for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring at 30-second intervals. Remove and stir until chocolate and cream are combined well.
• Beat cream cheese at medium speed with a stand mixer for 2 minutes or until light and smooth, scraping down sides with rubber spatula (now put spatula away, no more scraping from this point forward). Add sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, beating until just combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Add chocolate mixture, beating just until blended. Pour batter into prepared crust. **DO NOT SCRAPE BOWL**
• Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes, gently rotate pan 180 degrees midway through baking. Turn oven off and allow cheesecake to stand in oven with door closed for 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from oven; gently run knife around outer edge of cheesecake to loosen from sides of pan. **COOL COMPLETELY** in pan on a wire rack (minimum 1 hour). Cover with waxed paper then plastic wrap and chill 8 to 24 hours.
• Remove sides then gently separate parchment lined cake from bottom of pan and slide onto a serving plate. Slowly pour warm Ganache Topping over cheesecake, slightly tipping cake to encourage ‘overflow’ around the edges. Chill 1 hour before garnishing or serving.

The post Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake {with Chocolate Ganache} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

From the moment I…

Rewind.  That intro has been completely over used.  HmmMmmm.

These Key Lime Bars with Macadamia Crust will change your life.  Much better ;)

They are so incredible that the first thing you will think of is…who can I share them with. Yes, there will be an urge to keep them all for yourself, but they are rich and luscious, and will beg you to Share the Love. For me that was with my sister.

Just delivered them.  Life changer, that’s me.

I began by squeezing a 1/2 cup of Key lime juice (about 2 pounds).  Which now also makes these bars a Labor of Love.  I choose to believe that fresh squeezed Key lime juice makes all the difference.  Said she, who at the time had no idea you could buy bottled Key lime juice.

Then came the Macadamia nut crust, which is absolutely perfect with the tart, yet luxurious topping.  The topping is a blend of Key lime juice and sugar, combined with unflavored gelatin, sweetened condensed milk, and lime zest, which is then folded into fresh made whipped cream.

Into the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight before being sliced into bars.  The original recipe from Southern Living says the yield is 2 dozen.  I beg to differ.  I cut mine into 24 diamond shaped bars (pictured above) and they were huge.  I then cut them in half again (pictured below) to share.  I always prefer the ‘have two they’re small’ approach.

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Key Lime Bars with Macadamia Crust

The Macadamia nut crust is absolutely perfect with the tart, yet luxurious topping.

Course Dessert

Servings 24

Author Southern Living

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 7 Tbl. butter cubed
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup Key lime juice
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 2 Tbl. Key lime juice
• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp. grated lime rind
• 2 1/2 cups whipping cream whipped
• grated lemon & lime rind and fresh raspberries for garnish

Instructions

• Process first 5 ingredients in a food processor until thoroughly blended and nuts are ground. Press into a greased heavy-duty aluminum foil-lined 9×13 pan, letting edges of foil extend beyond edges of pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes or until barely golden. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
• Heat 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup lime juice over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; set aside.
• Sprinkle gelatin over 2 Tbl. lime juice in a medium bowl. Stir gelatin mixture, and let stand 3-5 minutes. Add hot mixture, stirring until gelatin dissolves. Whisk in sweetened condensed milk and 1 tsp. lime zest. Place bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice, gently whisk mixture 10 minutes or until partially set.
• Fold lime mixture into whipped cream. Pour evenly over baked crust, cover and chill 8 hours. Carefully lift foil out of pan. Cut dessert into diamond shapes or bars. Garnish.

The post Key Lime Bars with Macadamia Crust {Share the Love} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.