I took the plunge and did desserts yesterday for the PTO teacher meals.

dawn_mo

dawn_mo

Well-known member
I made a great potato soup, a Panera's knock-off, and these desserts: peanut butter cup brownie mini muffins, mini cheesecakes, mini pumpkin bundt cakes, mini fudge brownie bites and then I ran out of time. They turned out great and looked great. I ended up sprinkling the square black trays with powdered sugar and arranged the minis in rows. There were a lot of oohs and ahhs, so I was happy when I left and had a lot of fun making them. Who knew! The one thing I noticed was what a difference a garnish makes on things. I put a whole peanut in the center of the peanut butter cups, a whole pecan on the mini cheesecakes (I used pecan sandies for the crusts), one white chocolate chip in the center of the fudge brownie bites and coconut on the mini pumpkin bundts.

Thanks everyone for all your help and recipes!

I tripled this recipe and used 5 pounds of potatoes. I added some sliced green onions and fried crumbled bacon. It was a really good easy soup. I added about 1/3 of the potatoes in tiny cubes towards the end so it had a little bit more texture.

* Exported from MasterCook *

POTATO SOUP

Recipe By :

Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : Soups And Stews

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

4 cups chicken broth5 cups potatoes -- peeled and cubed

1 onion -- diced

2 large carrots -- diced

2 stalks celery -- diced

1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

8 ounces cream cheese -- cut into chunks

14 slices bacon -- fried crisp and crumbled

1/2 cup sliced green onions

Combine broth, potatoes, onion, and spices.

Boil on medium heat until potatoes are tender.

Smash a few of the potatoes to release their starch for thickening.

Reduce to low heat.

Add cream cheese.

Heat, stirring frequently, until cheese melts.

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* Exported from MasterCook *

Brownie Candy Cups

Recipe By :Bakerella

Serving Size : 30 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

1 package Duncan Hines Chocolate Lovers Double Fudge Brownie Mix2 eggs

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

30 mini Reeses cups unwrapped

1 Box Reynolds 2-inch aluminum foil mini cups for muffins

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Place 30 foil liners on baking sheet

3. Combine brownie mix, contents from fudge packet in mix, eggs, water and oil.

4. Stir with spoon until well blended. (about 50 strokes)

5. Fill each liner with 2 tablespoons of batter

6. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and remove from oven

7. Push 1 Reeses in center of each "brownie cupcake" until even with surface of the batter.

8. Bake 5-7 minutes longer.

9. Cool 5-10 minutes in pan and then move to cooling rack to cool completely.

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* Exported from MasterCook *

Pumpkin Mini Cakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Recipe By :

Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : Cakes Frosting

Minis

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

Cake:1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Icing:

1/2 cup cream cheese

3 tablespoons butter

1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a pumpkin mini cheesecake pan, or a 9" x 9" or 7" x 11" pan.

2) Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder till smooth.

3) Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.

4) Fill the wells of the pumpkin mini cheesecake pan about 3/4 full; use a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well.

5) If you're using a 9" square pan or 7" x 11" pan, pour the batter into the pan.

6) Bake the mini cakes for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Bake the sheet cake for about 30 minutes, till it tests done the same way.

7) Remove the cake(s) from the oven, and allow to cool. Remove the mini cakes from the pan after about 5 minutes, transferring them to a rack to cool. The sheet cake can cool right in the pan.

smileys/bigeyes.gif While the cakes are cooling, prepare the icing. If the butter and cream cheese are cold, warm them very briefly in the microwave, just till they feel soft but haven't begun to melt.

9) Beat together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla till smooth.

10) Spread the soft frosting atop the cooled cake(s).

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* Exported from MasterCook *

Fudge-Topped Brownies

Recipe By : Christy/Cathy Z

Serving Size : 36 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : Bars Brownies

Minis

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

Brownies:1 Cup butter melted

2 Cups sugar

1 Cup all-purpose flour

2/3 Cup Cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 Cup milk

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 Cup nuts (optional)

Frosting:

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips -- (12 oz)

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk -- (14 oz)

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixer combine butter, sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, eggs, milk and 1-1/2 tsp vanilla; beat well. Stir in nuts if adding. Spread in greased 9x13 pan. Bake 40 minutes until they begin to pull away from the pan. Just before brownies are done, in a saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk and remaining 1-1/2 tsp vanilla. Remove from heat. Immediately spread over hot brownies. Cool in the refrigerator. Cut into bars. (Makes 36 to 40 brownies).

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Using the foil liners really make a difference in how these hold their shape.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Mini-Cheesecakes

Recipe By :Sue/SanDiego

Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : Cheesecakes Cookies

Desserts

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

12 pecan sandies2 packages cream cheese -- (8 oz.) softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

Line muffin tin with foil liners. Place one vanilla wafer in each liner. Mix cream cheese, vanilla and sugar on medium speed until well-blended. Add eggs. Mix well. Pour over wafers, filling 3/4 full. Bake 25 minutes at 325°F. Remove from pan when cool. Chill. Top with fruit preserves, nuts or chocolate.

You may substitute similar cookie of your choice.

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Thanks Deb! I had a ball. I miss cooking for people, other than my family.

I just had a call from the secretary at school, and she asked me if rather than buying a token hospitality gift each month for the teachers and staff, if I would like to start making a lunch for them once a month. I jumped at the chance. It's hard finding 37 gifts each month with a budget of $500. So now I will have a budget of $70/month to feed about 40 people. That is a lot more fun than buying gifts!

 
wonderful! I would really enjoy that challenge----just once a month : ) rec:

I'm bringing in a big pot full of from scratch beanie weanies and CathyZ's spider topped deviled eggs and chocolate krispie treats tomorrow. i'm not sure why I made so much, but I "got the urge" to cook for a group.

another recipe from homesicktexan
Beanie Wienies for Grown-Ups (method adapted from Mark Bittman)
Ingredients:
1 pound of pinto beans
1 onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 pound of salt pork, diced
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup molasses
3 T chile powder (I used a mix of ancho and chipotle chile powders)
1 teaspoon pequin or cayenne
2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup of black coffee
Pinch of baking soda
8 good-quality hot dogs, sliced into ½ inch thick slices

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. Soak the beans in a pot filled with 8 cups of water overnight, or do a quick soak by boiling the beans in 8 cups of water and then covering the pot with a lid for one hour.
3. Heat the canola oil in a large pot on medium, and sauté onions until translucent, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
5. Stir in the molasses, chile powder, cayenne, mustard powder and brown sugar.
Add the soaked beans, and stir in coffee, baking soda and diced salt pork.
6. Add enough water to cover beans with two inches of water.
7. Cover the pot, and place in the oven. Leave alone for 2 hours.
8. After two hours, stir beans, add more water if needed, cover and then leave in the oven for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on beans tenderness.
9. Take pot out of the oven, and taste beans. Make taste adjustments with mustard powder, chile powder, and molasses if necessary. The beans should be tender at this point. If they're not, cook covered a while longer until they are.
10. Turn up heat to 400 degrees, uncover pot, and add hot dogs and cook for 30 more minutes or until sauce is thick.

for the chocolate krispie treats I used chocolate krispie cereal and melted some dark chocolate with the marshmallow/butter goo. then I tossed in some mini M&Ms at the very end of mixing so the mixture wasn't so hot to melt them(some still melted and broke, but didn't matter). I pressed some more M&Ms into the top after pressing the mixture in the pan. It looks very festive.

 
What a nice thing to do for the teachers! I am sure they were very appreciative! I give you an A++

 
Thanks everyone!

I am so excited to cook for a large group of appreciative people. It makes me realize how much I miss my Farmer's Market. This spring, I am going to try and get it going again.

 
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