Cadbury Creme Egg Pie

Ahhhhh  - I love Easter.

No.  Not EASTER.  What comes at Easter.  Cadbury Crème Eggs.   ooooohhhh yaaaaaa..  You know you love them!

Let's be honest, I'm wildly satisfied just stuffing them in my face as they are, but I also terribly enjoy making things with them.  Like muffins and tarts and brownies.  And I have a couple more things up my sleeve.

Like this pie - read on.

I have had this recipe up my sleeve for AGES, but just like these tarts, I was confounded by the recipe.  Although I like to pretend that I'm a total whiz in the kitchen and I know EVERY.THING.

'cept I don't.

But I read through the recipe a couple of times and thought, "yeah, there's no way that's going to do anything at all".

This is what you need.  Peabody said that 10 ounces of mini creme eggs came to about 22 eggs, but I wound up with about 30 eggs.  Or maybe I can't count.  But I weighed the eggs with my scale. 

I'm weird like that.

Unwrap the creme eggs and place them in the upper pot of a double boiler and melt the eggs.

Mix one package of gelatine (which, yes, is the same as gelatin) with 1/2 cup cold water and let stand for about 1 minute.

Turn the heat on and stir the gelatine until it is completely dissolved, then remove from the heat.

Add in the other 1/2 cup water.

Stir in the vanilla.

Then mix in the marshmallow fluff.

And the melted Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Then put in the fridge to thicken.  The recipe says that it should only take about 20 minutes - but it took a couple of hours.

And it will look like this when you pull it out.

But when you stir it up, it'll look like this and be gloopy like pudding.

Then, whip 2 cups of whipping cream until stiff peaks form and fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.

And pour into a pie shell.  I bought a pie shell, but it didn't hold all of the filling - I should have just used my deep-dish pie plate and made my OWN pie shell.

Put the pie back in the fridge and let set up.  It'll take a few hours.  Maybe don't fill it as much as I did.  haha

The rest that didn't fit in the pie, put it in a big darn bowl, let it set overnight and then grab the big darn bowl and a spoon and put on your favorite chick flick, scary movie, action film or whatever floats your boat and eat.  I don't judge.

Then serve.

The pie filling was light and fluffy and actually tasted like chocolate soft-serve ice cream - you know, the high end GOOD stuff.

The day after I made this pie, Dusty and Nate came for dinner and I asked if they would just give some of the leftover filling a try.  As they were prepping for their wedding and not ALLOWED to have treats like pie.

I know.  I don't understand them either.  And yes - I wrote this post like a zillion years ago.  What?  I've been busy!

So, with the honest intentions of just getting them to TRY the filling without shoving pie down their throats, I gave them each a spoonful.

Then Dusty wouldn't leave. me. alone. about it for the rest of the night.

So I fed her pie - even though her wedding was only a couple of months away....

I really do think they love me.

Make sure the pie crust isn't tooooo full and let it set overnight.  It'll be so much better set the next day.  And you could also use a bigger, deeper pie plate and make your own crust.  It'd probably be worth it.

To get this delightful recipe - follow the link!

Gnocchi with Spinach in Parmesan Cream Sauce

Let's say one night you're having meatloaf.  Or a meat pie.  Or hamburgers.  Or cabbage rolls.  And you need a different side than the regular old mashed potatoes, or French fries, or potato salad, or mac and cheese.

I would say that you should absolutely make this Gnocchi with Spinach in Parmesan Cream Sauce.  It's kind of like mac and cheese, except for totally mature and grown-up like.

It's creamy, and rich, and extra good for you cause, spinach.

Never you mind about the cream.

And don't worry about the ridiculously long name.  It's actually super quick to put together!

In a pot over medium heat, melt the butter and add the garlic - cooking until fragrant.

Then add in the flour.  And cook until golden.

Slowly whisk in the cream.

While you're waiting for the cream to thicken, cook the gnocchi according to package directions.

Once the gnocchi is cooked and drained, toss into a hot pan with a little melted butter.  Cooking, stirring often to brown and caramelize the gnocchi.

Once the cream mixture has thickened, stir in the Parmesan cheese.

Back to the gnocchi.  Toss the spinach into the pan and stir it around until its wilted.

Then stir the gnocchi and spinach into the pot with the cream sauce.

Stir in some cooked, chopped bacon.

Serve immediately.

Try not to eat it all by yourself.

I completely loved this.  I wanted to dive headfirst in the sauce.  I even loved the spinach - again, the sauce.  

The sauce, the spinach, the bacon, the gnocchi.  It all played together beautifully. 

You could even throw some sun-dried tomatoes in there.  Or use cheese tortellini instead of gnocchi if your heart so desired.

And I don't want to hear any complaining about how you "don't like" gnocchi.  You're GOING to like it after this!

Bailey's Cheesecake

Aaaaahhhh - St Patrick's Day.  The day when most of us fools gather round and drink green beer and have a rowdy good time.

Did you know that it's actually the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland?

Yeahhhhh - we mostly focus on the party time...  Not the death stuff.

I've done a couple of different stews and sampled a couple of different soda breads.  You can check them out here, here, and here.  Oh, and these Vanilla Bailey's Cupcakes are to die for.

But we should really talk about this Bailey's Cheesecake.  Normally, I tend to do no-bake cheesecakes simply because they are so much simpler.

There's just something about a traditional cooked cheesecake that is so special.

First, start with the crust.

Combine the sugar,

With graham cracker crumbs,

And melted butter.  Stir it all together and press it into the bottom and up the sides of a springform pan.

Bake the crust.

Then make the filling.

Beat the cream cheese until its smooth.  And add the sugar.

Then add the eggs one at a time and beat them into the cream cheese.  Make sure the eggs are at room temperature so the cream cheese doesn't seize up.

Then stir in the Baileys and vanilla.

Pour the cream cheese mixture into the crust and bake.  I like to make a little nest of aluminum foil for the springform pan just in case it leaks.

The cheesecake is going to puff and turn golden.  Don't be bummed if it cracks.  You can fix it with a little patience - I prefer to cover it with whipped cream and call it perfect.

And how perfect it was. 

Rich and creamy - just like something you'd get at a high-end bakery...  And it came out of MY kitchen!

If you're a little hesitant about making a baked cheesecake, please don't be!  In fact - I recommend starting with this one!

Complete perfection.  The Baileys flavour wasn't lost at all.  It was 10,000 times better than Baileys and coffee and made my insides all glowy and happy just the same.

xoxo - Heather

Cinnamon Meatballs

Cinnamon Meatballs.  Cinnnamonnnnn meatballs.  Really - no matter how many times I say it - it sounds sooo weird.

I mean - I realise that cinnamon is a fairly common ingredient in lots of dishes.  Especially in North African (see Morocco) dishes.

But it took me a long time to take the plunge into actually trying it.

I wish I'd done it sooner.  Trust me and go with it.

In a large bowl, combine the onion and parsley.

The egg.

Add the oregano and thyme.

And the cinnamon.

And salt and pepper.

Then throw in the breadcrumbs.

And the beef.

Gently mix everything together and then divide into meatballs.  I used a medium cookie scoop.

Throw the meatballs into the oven.

While the meatballs are baking, make the sauce.

Melt some butter and cook with some garlic.

Add in the flour and cook until it's slightly golden.  Slowly pour in the milk and cook until it starts to thicken.  Add in the tomato sauce.

The parmesan cheese.

And cinnamon.

Stir it all together, bring to a simmer and thicken.  The stir in the meatballs.

Stir to coat.  I recommend serving over egg noodles.  The cinnamon gravy on the egg noodles is like something out of a dream.

And you know what?  They kindof tasted like cinnamon, but they kindof tasted like so much more.

The cinnamon was present, but unobtrusive.  The meatballs were tender and flavourful.

If you live in my neck of the woods, we've just launched into a beautiful warm spell.  I even had the kitchen window open today!

Although the beautiful day has me all confident about Spring, but it's totally likely that we'll get an enormous dump of snow - you should absolutely make it on that day.  BUT - if we don't get that Spring dump of snow - I'll remind you about this when the Fall comes.

Enjoy!  - Heather