A recipe for birthday fun

So, I'm such a slacker. I haven't been keeping up with the "Foodie Fridays" as I had intended to do. But in my defense I've been really sick the last few weeks and....wait...this is my blog. No defense needed.

Anyway...
My husband surprised me with a trip to Austin to The Melting Pot on Saturday. Oh my gosh. Yum! It's one of my favorite restaurants and it was amazing. I know most people go there for the chocolate, which of course we had. But the best part to me is the cheese fondue. Except for the fact that I'd be 300 pounds and unable to move, I could live on cheese fondue and granny smith apples. Mmm!

In addition to the surprise from my awesome hubby, we also had a party with our church Lifegroup which is always a blast. The concept for the party was to bring a homemade dessert to share with the group and to bring a copy of the recipe for me. I loved it! We had a great variety of desserts (including the ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins that we brought). I treasure each of these recipes so much not simply because I can add more recipes to my collection, but because they came from dear friends who have made my life a better place. :)

Listed below are the pictures (poor quality that they are) and some of the recipes from the desserts that were enjoyed that night. I'm looking forward to making all of these again in the near future. Some of the recipes like the Tiramisu are very long, so I'll have to type those up when I have more time.

"Good Luck Cookies" - Courtesy of Anne

Ingredients:
2 C. Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger
1 tsp. Ground Cloves
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Shortening
1/4 C. Molasses
1/4 C. Butter
1 C. Brown Sugar
1 Egg

Directions:
Sift dry ingredients (including spices). Beat shortening, butter and sugar together. Add egg and molasses. Mix in dry ingredients. Chill dough for one hour. Roll dough into 1 1/4" balls. Dip quickly into ice water, then roll in white sugar to coat. Place on lightly buttered cookie sheets (2" apart) and cook for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool for 1 minute before transferring to cooling rack.
(No picture available for this one, sorry).

Happy Pudding Bundt Cake - Courtesy of Amy

Ingredients:
1 White Cake Box Mix
1 Chocolate Pudding Mix
1 Bag Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Follow directions on cake box, plus mix in the chocolate chips and chocolate pudding mix. Cook at 325 for 25-30 minutes.

Fool's Toffee - Courtesy of Larissa

Ingredients:

1 C. Butter
1 C. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 package Soda Crackers
2 C. Chocolate Chips
Optional: Chopped nuts

Directions:

Boil the first 3 ingredients for 4 minutes. Place foil on a rimmed cookie sheet and butter the foil. Place a single layer of soda crackers on the foil, then pour the melted butter mixture over the crackers. Bake at 375 for 5 minutes. Pour all of the chocolate chips on top of the crackers, let them melt, and then spread evenly. Spring with nuts. Chill for at least 30 minutes and then break into pieces.

Apple Dumplings - Courtesy of Erica

Ingredients:

2 Large Granny Smith Apples, peeled & cored
2 Cans Crescent Roll Dough
1 C. Butter
1 1/2 C. White Sugar
1 T. Cinnamon
1 Can Mountain Dew

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Cut each apple into 8 wedges. Separate dough into triangles and roll each apple wedge in one triangle of dough. Melt butter and stir in sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew over the dumplings. Bake 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Oatmeal Shekinah Glory Bars - Courtesy of Grant

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C. Flour
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 C. Butter
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
3/4 C. White Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 C. Old Fashioned Oats
3/4 C. Butterscotch Chips
3/4 C. Chopped Walnuts
1/4 C. Milk Chocolate Chips + 1 1/2 C. Milk Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Mix together and set aside the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Add both eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture. Mix completely. Mix in the oats. Then stir in the butterscotch chips, chopped walnuts, and 1/4 C. milk chocolate chips. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish, and bake at 375 for 18-22 minutes. Melt 1 1/2 C. milk chocolate chips and pour over the top.

Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake - Courtesy of Becca

Ingredients:

1 can (16 oz.) crushed pineapple
1 can (20 oz.) cherry pie filling
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 to 2/3 C. chopped nuts
1/4-1/2 C. butter (or less if preferred)

Directions:

Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. Dump in the pineapple and juice, spreading evenly. Pour cherry pie filling over the pineapple, spreading evenly. Add dry cake mix evenly over the fruit. Add nuts, then drizzle melted butter all over the top. Do not mix. Bake in a 350 degree oven 1 hour.

Mardi Gras King Cake - (I brought this item as well as the ice cream cake, but the recipe is courtesy of http://gourmetgirl1.blogspot.com/), with a few changes of my own.

Cake Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast or 1 package instant yeast
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter softened (1/2 stick)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon nutmeg
grated zest of one lemon (1 tablespoon)
2 1/2 cups flour

Filling Ingredients:

10 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 C. to 1 C. Raspberry Jam or Jelly

Icing Ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
colored sugars (green, purple and yellow)

Directions:

1. Heat milk to 105-110 degrees in a small saucepan over low heat. Place milk in the bowl of a standing mixer, add yeast and stir to combine. Allow milk mixture to rest for about 10 minutes or until frothy.

2. Beat the egg in a small bowl and add to milk mixture. Then add 2 1/2 cups flour, butter, sugar, salt, nutmeg and lemon zest. With the dough hook on low speed, mix until dough comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky, not too wet. If the dough seems very moist you may add up to 1/2 cup additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time. (having made my dough twice using both amounts of flour, I found less flour worked best as I incorporated a little extra flour when kneading it by hand).

3. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes until dough is soft and smooth. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise in a warm and draft-free place for about an hour, or until doubled in size. (Since it is quite a cold day today and my house is a little drafty I turned on the oven and sat the bowl on the range).

4. Make filling by beating the cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar together with a mixer until fluffy then set aside.

5. Lay dough on lightly floured surface, punch down and roll into a 20" by 10" rectangle. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly on one half of the dough, then spread raspberry jam on top of that, then fold other half over to cover. Pinch dough together to seal in cream cheese. Make a ring and pinch ends together, the ring can be a circle or oval. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rose for 45 minutes.

6. In 375 degree oven bake king cake for 20 minutes or until slightly browned. Remove from oven and set a side to cool. I add the bean at this point by making a small slit underneath the cake with a paring knife.

7. Mix icing ingredients together and whisk until smooth. Drizzle icing heavily over king cake, and while still wet, sprinkle with colored sugars.