Some of my recipes and pictures. Feel free to share your own!

[IamRainey]

My daughter's bday is Monday. I'm making this cake with the vanilla buttercream and sprinkles outside and strawberry buttercream between the layers. I hope to have some extra strawberry buttercream to pipe some rosettes around the top instead of the top sprinkles. But I do want that inch or so at the bottom.



She's going to be 38. She'll eat up something that looks like a kids' teaparty with a spoon!

She's making her own ice cream since I gave her my ice cream churn a couple years ago. (I've gained soooooo much weight over the years!)

We like Ben & Jerry's Sweet Cream Base #1. This time of year I used to just keep some in a pitcher in the fridge and when fresh fruit is at its best, just crush some up, sweeten to taste, add it to the base and freeze. No other recipe necessary!

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

Thanks for replying about the yogurt -- I'll try to make some this weekend!
Also, welcome, Mesalina! Glad you're here!
Here's the recipe for the poppy seed and cream cheese baklava. I use a can of Solo poppy seed filling, but you can most definitely use homemade. Just make sure that you have about 1 1/4 cups:

1 12.5-oz can Solo Poppy Seed filling, or 1 1/4 cups homemade

Cream Cheese filling:
8 oz. low-fat or Neufchatel cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream all ingredients together with a spoon until smooth. Set aside.

About 16 (14-inch by 18-inch) sheets of phyllo dough
Melted butter (at least 1/2 to 3/4 cup)

1: Grease an 8-by-8-by-2-inch pan with melted butter.
2: Cut a sheet of phyllo dough to fit in the bottom and brush with melted butter. Lay on another cut-to-size sheet and brush with butter. Repeat until you have five or six layers in the pan.
Note: When cutting the phyllo sheets, save the edges and use them as layers.
3: Spread about 1/3 cup of poppy seed filling over the dough.
4: Place three or four more layers on top of the poppy seed filling, buttering each one, and spread about 1/3 cup of the cream cheese filling over the top.
5: Add three or four more layers, once again buttering each one, and spread 1/3 cup poppy seed filling over the top.
6: Repeat until you have three alternating layers each of poppy seed and cream cheese. There should be some of each filling left over. Mix them together
7: Layer on three or four more sheets of phyllo, and spread on the mixed fillings. Place about five layers of phyllo dough, brushing each with butter, on top, with the last layer being a perfect (or as perfect as you can get) square. Brush with butter.
8: Bake in a preheated 350-degrees-farenheit oven until the top is golden brown and crispy (exact time varies, but is about 30-45 minutes, I think. Keep an eye on it!). Take out and let cool on a rack.
9: After it has cooled completely, cut into 36 pieces. Enjoy!
Tip: you can sprinkle some sugar over the top during the last few minutes of baking.

I can also calculate the calories and carbohydrates, if you'd like.
So, there's the recipe! Let me know what you think if you make it. Again, this isn't proper baklava, but it's got a bunch of layers and it tastes good, so that's what I've been calling it.
I'll put up the greek yogurt truffles sometime, if not tonight, then tomorrow.
Looking forward to hearing back!

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

IamRainey -- I forgot to say it last post, but congrats on your daughter's 38th birthday! That cake looks good...

 

[Marjorielou]

Thanks for the easy-to-make Baklava recipe. I tried this dessert in Turkey once, and it was mouthwatering. I wanted to cook something like this at home.