I woke up today and realized the month of September was coming to an end….  I smiled at the thought of fall and all my jacket wearing days that lay ahead.  Then for a brief moment I started to panick thinking with the warm weather sneaking out the back door my beloved strawberries would be taking a leave of absence as well.  Oh the horror!  As soon as the thought entered my mind it was rescued with the realization that California strawberries are grown all year long , and could be picked up fresh or frozen.  Either way I’m going to celebrate my california strawberries this fall/winter wearing a jacket!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley 

Ingredients for strawberry cream hand pies:

2 1/4 – cups flour

1/2 – teaspoon baking powder

2/3 – cup sugar

6 – tablespoons cream cheese (room temperature)

1 – stick butter (room temperature)

1 – teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 – large egg

Mix flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl and set to the side.  Then put cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer and mix for 3 minutes or until fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg in and mix well.  Then slowly add in flour mixture until combined.  Divide dough in half and pat into two disks.  Wrap with plastic wrap and place in fridge for an hour or over night.

Preheat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line cookie sheets with wax paper or a non – stick baking mat.

Take one disk of dough of of the fridge.  On a lightly floured surface roll dough about 1/4 inch thick.  With a round 2 1/2- inch circle cookie cutter cut as many circles as possible. With the scraps re-roll and continue cutting until you’ve cut all the dough.  Then place your circles on prepared cookie sheets and place back in the fridge for 15 minutes.  Grab your second disk and repeat process.

While you are waiting for your dough to chill, let’s make the filling.

Ingredients for the filling:

6 – tablespoons cream cheese (room temperature)

3 – tablespoons confectioners sugar

1/3 – cup strawberry preserves

3 – strawberries chopped

Mix cream cheese and confectioners sugar with an electric mixer till combined, then set to the side in a small bowl.  Chop strawberries into tiny pieces and mix into perserves in another bowl.

On half of the pie circles place 1/2 teaspoon of cream cheese mixture in center of circle, then place 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry mixture on top.

Now on the other half circles take a small cookie cutter and barely imprint the center with the cutter (I used a strawberry cutter, this step is optional) make sure not to push all the way down.  This is purely for decoration.  Then place pie circle on top of circle with cream cheese and strawberry mixture to make your pie.  Press around the edges with your finger to seal, then take a fork and indent all around.

Place in the oven and bake for 7 minutes then rotate cookie sheet and bake for another 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are golden.  Remove from oven.

Ingredients for topping: 

1/2 – cup sugar

1 – teaspoon cinnamon

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Then dip each hand pie in sugar mixture while still warm set on wire rack to cool completely!  Enjoy.  Should make 15 pies total.

Strawberries wrapped in warmth!  

In the words of Annabella from Bow Wow Wow…. “I Want Candy!” Aside from wanting candy all the time, I also want my favorite nut, pistachios. Why not combine the two for a perfect pairing and take my sweet nutty cravings to a new level of BIG LOVE.

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley and Mando Lopez

Ingredients for pistachio toffee:

1 – cup butter (melted)

1 1/3 – cups sugar

1 – tablespoon corn syrup

2 – tablespoons cold water

1/2 – teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 – cup salted Wonderful Pistachios

12 – ounces chocolate chips (melted)

First line a cookie sheet with a non- stick baking mat or wax paper. I use both, but I’m a freak… One method is good enough.

Then take your bag of Wonderful Pistachios, cut it open and GET CRACKIN! I like to shuck my pistachios before I start making the toffee.  Once done removing shells place 1 cup of pistachios to the side, and with the remaining 1/4 cup coarsely chop.

Let’s get the toffee rockin and rollin…. In a big pot over a medium flame with a candy thermometer attached to the side, drop in butter and allow to melt. Mix with rubber spatula.

Then add in sugar, and mix in completely before adding in corn syrup and water. From this point forward you will be mixing constantly.

Keep stirring your buttery sugar mixture until your candy thermometer reads 300 degrees fahrenheit.  This will take about 15 to 20 minutes and your mixture will go from pale brown to deep golden brown. Then remove from flame and add vanilla. Your mixture will bubble and pop. This is good news!

Add 1 cup of Wonderful Pistachios, and mix well.

Then pour onto prepared cookie sheet and top with melted chocolate.

Spread chocolate carefully over top of toffee to coat it!

Then if your anything like me…. you’ll run off and hide somewhere and eat the chocolate off the spatula.

Okay back to work…. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup pistachios on top of chocolate, and place in the fridge overnight or for at least an hour.

When ready to eat. Break it into pieces or eat the whole slab! Enjoy!

No compensation was received for this post. I was provided with a sample of  Wonderful Pistachios to aid this recipe. The recipe and opinions are my own.

Makes my mouth water.

A good friend of mine asked me for a dessert recipe that not only taste good, but is simple to prepare and appealing to the eye.  I immediately thought of an up-side down cake.  I happened to have a tribe of pluots hanging out in my kitchen fruit bowl, and a box of cake mix in the pantry.  I thought to myself  “why wouldn’t those little pluots make for spectacular cake?”  They did.  I incorporated blueberries in the mix for an added “OH MY WORD”, and the results left me ecstatic.  Ended up making this cake two days in a row, because I couldn’t keep it around long enough to photograph.  Enjoy!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for blueberry pluot up-side down cake:

1 – box yellow cake mix (I use Betty Crocker)

1 1/4 – cups water

1/3 – cup vegetable oil

3 – eggs

1 1/2 – cups blueberries

6 – tablespoons butter

1 – cup brown sugar

4 to 5 – large pluot (each pluot cut into 4 parts, then each part sliced into 3 pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a mixer add cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and eggs. Mix until combined for 2 minutes. Then add 1 cup of blueberries. Set to the side.

In a small saucepan over a medium flame add butter and allow to melt. Once melted mix in brown sugar. Mix well for 1 minute. Then pour into a 13 x 9 metal pan.

Now neatly place your pluots in a row on top of melted brown sugar mixture. Then sprinkle with 1/2 cup of blueberries.

Next pour cake batter over top of fruit.

Place in the oven and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the tester toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Once the cake comes out of the oven let it sit in the pan for 2 minutes, then turn pan up-side down onto a big platter and remove pan. PRESTO! Up-side down BLUEBERRY PLUOT cake…. YUMMERS.