cream cheese Archives - Fresh From Oregon

The Hoods are here… Mini Strawberry Pretzel Pie

May 25, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

Strawberry Pretzel Pie

Fresh strawberries are over flowing everywhere here in Oregon. As I was walking through the farmers market this weekend the question I kept hearing as people were buying strawberries was are they “Hoods”. The strawberry variety everyone looks for here in Oregon are “Hood” Strawberries, so what are Hood Strawberries? They emerged from Oregon’s Hood River Valley in 1965 and are prized for there bright red color and large size. Nothing can compare to these Northwest grown sweet and juicy berries. Hoods are a June-bearing strawberry so there is a short window to enjoy them. Look for these great tasting strawberries at farmers markets, farm stands or grocery stores that sell local produce. Here is a easy strawberry treat I made with my Fresh From Oregon Hood strawberries.

Mini Strawberry Pretzel Pies
3 1/2 cups pretzels, salted
1 stick (8 tablespoon) butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 pints strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
juice 1/2 lemon
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup cool whip

For the pretzel crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Crush the pretzels in a large resealable plastic bag with a rolling pin. Mix in a bowl with the butter and brown sugar. Press into six 5″ mini pie pans and bake for 6 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.

To prepare the glaze: Wash strawberries and remove the green tops and core. Take half the strawberries and slice, set aside. Chop the remaining half of the strawberries in a food processor. Place the chopped strawberries in a sauce pan and begin to cook over medium heat. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl; add to the sauce pan of strawberries. Add lemon juice and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Set aside and cool. Once cool take remaining sliced strawberries and fold into the glaze mix, set aside.

To prepare cream filling: In stand mixer bowl beat the cream cheese, sugar and milk until combined. Fold in the cool whip.

To assemble the mini pies spoon the cream cheese mixture among the six pretzel pie crusts and smooth to the edges. Spoon and mound the strawberries that have been glazed over the cream mixture. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread Pudding

February 7, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

Here is my second bread pudding recipe for my 2015 bread pudding mission. This bread pudding is layered with a lemony cream and sprinkles of poppy-seed. If you think this is not enough lemon wait until you pour some warm lemon sauce over the top. A burst of lemon flavor is in every bite!

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread Pudding

5 1/3 cups bread, day old and cut into 1-inch cubes

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

juice of 1/2 lemon

zest of 2 lemons

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon poppy-seeds

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

juice of 1/2 lemon

To make the bread pudding heat the milk with the sugar in a pan on low heat (or in a microwave) and stir until completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer this mixture to a bowl and mix in the heavy cream. Whisk in the eggs and egg yolks gradually until well combined. Add the vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix well. Stir in the poppyseeds. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the cream cheese together with the sugar and lemon juice; set aside. Spray an 8×8 inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange half the amount of bread cubes in a single, even layer. Drop dollops of the cream cheese on top of the bread cubes. Pour about 3/4 cup of the custard mixture over the bread cubes. Top with the remaining half of bread cubes. Drop dollops of the remaining cream cheese over the bread. Carefully pour the rest of the custard mixture evenly over the whole thing. Set aside for 1 hour at room temperature or overnight in the fridge, covered and let come to room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 45-50 minutes until the pudding is set. Best served warm drizzled with the warm lemon sauce.

Lemon Sauce

3 egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar

juice of 2 small lemons

zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes

To prepare the lemon sauce combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Mix well. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice together in a pan over low heat. Stir constantly for about 4 minutes until slightly thickened. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and continue stirring for 3 minutes or more until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and add the butter, one cube at a time. Stir until smooth. Transfer to a container. Press a sheet of plastic wrap on the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Heat in the microwave quickly before serving with the bread pudding.

Recipe ~ Food Wanderings in Asia

Cowboy Candy Poppers

January 29, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

Quick and easy, these Cowboy Candy Poppers are perfect to serve at your next gathering. Only three ingredients make up these mouth watering poppers that you can make ahead or assemble, cook and serve. Surprise your guests at the upcoming Superbowl game and serve these sweet & spicy poppers but make sure you have plenty of beverages to serve with them.

Cowboy Candy Popper
1 package Wonton Wrappers
1 batch Cowboy Candy Dip
Canola Oil

Open wonton wrappers but make sure to cover with plastic wrap they dry out quickly. Fill a small bowl with water, you will need to wet around the wontons to seal them. Take one wonton and with your finger wet around the outer edge with water. Place a heaping teaspoon of Cowboy Candy in the center of the wonton. Bring back of wonton up and over the filling. Now take both sides and fold in, finish by rolling wonton forward to seal. Make sure the wonton is completed sealed or the cheese will melt out when you are cooking. Place on a paper towel-lined baking sheet. In a deep skillet or pot heat about 1-inch of canola oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Add one Cowboy Candy popper to check if the oil is hot and popper starts to fry. Add more to the skillet or pot about 8 total and cook about 1 to 2 minutes or until a golden brown. Using tongs flip over and cook the other side. The first batch always seems to take the longest to cook. Cook remaining poppers but watch these will brown up much faster. Place finished poppers back on the paper towel-lined baking sheet. They are ready to serve and you need no dipping sauce for these poppers. If you would like to serve later, cool poppers on paper towel. To reheat remove paper towel and place in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 3 minutes or until they are hot.

Pumpkin Roll

November 25, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

The pumpkin pie is the traditional dessert at the Thanksgiving table and here is a great and easy recipe to make “Nana’s Trax Pumpkin Pie”. If you are looking to add something new to the Thanksgiving dessert table this pumpkin roll is the perfect addition. The soft sponge cake with just the perfect amount of spices is rolled with cream cheese icing and dusted with confectioners sugar.

Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Icing
Cake:
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup fresh* or can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
6 tablespoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 10x15x1-inch baking pan with cooking spray and line with a piece of parchment paper (this will make it easy to flip the cake after it is baked). Spray parchment paper with cooking spray and dust with flour, set aside. Lay out a large cotton kitchen towel on your work surface and dust with confectioners sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and salt. In a bowl of an electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture is very thick. Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. Add in the flour mixture and mix until combined. With a spatula evenly spread batter in the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 13-14 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and immediately turn the cake onto the confectioners sugar dusted kitchen towel. Carefully peel off the parchment paper. Starting at one of the short ends, rolling up the cake and towel together. Cool on wire rack.

To make the cream cheese filling beat the cream cheese, confectioners sugar, butter and vanilla in the bowl of a electric mixer until smooth.

When the cake has cooled, unroll and remove the towel. Spread the cream cheese filling over the cake, leavening a 1-inch border all around. Starting at one of the ends, re-roll the cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. Dust with confectioners sugar before your serve. This can be made a few days ahead of time.

*How to prepare a fresh pumpkin

Krusteaz Honey Cornbread Poppers…

October 6, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

I met so many great food vendors at the IFBC 2014 in Seattle. One of my favorite sessions was presented by Krusteaz . Krusteaz’s Culinary Specialist Malia Hasegawa and event stylist and entertaining personality Jennifer Sbranti of Hostess with the Mostess had a fun filled session where they gave us “out-of-box” recipes and some great tips on table setting and entertaining ideas. This is a local family business started here in the Northwest. I learned from the founders grandson that it all started back in 1932 with one man, a group of woman from a Seattle bridge club and a pie! The first product that Krusteaz (a cleaver combination of “crust” and “ease”) made was a boxed pie crust. Since then they added pancake mix, biscuits, muffins, brownies, breads, desserts and more. One of their newest mixes are three different Krusteaz Flatbreads but we will save that for another post. During the presentation Malia and Jennifer gave us so many ideas I wanted to go home and start creating myself. With the cool weather upon us and football tailgating I decided to make an easy pop in your mouth treat using the Krusteaz Honey Cornbread & Muffin Mix. The recipe is easy and quick to make but you need to have some “Cowboy Candy” around to make this sweet and spicy little popper.

Krusteaz Honey Cornbread Poppers
Makes 36
1 box Krusteaz Honey Cornbread & Muffin Mix
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz jar of Cowboy Candy, drained, chopped finely

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare mini muffin pans by spraying 36 mini muffin cups with a non stick spray.

In medium bowl combine the Krusteaz Honey Cornbread mix, milk, oil and egg until moistened, do not over mix. Scoop into mini muffin pans and bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pans for 5 minutes, remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Combine in the bowl of a stand mixer the cream cheese and cowboy candy. Mix until combined and soft, about 1 minute. Place in a icing bag that has been fitted with a large tip and pipe onto cooled muffins. These are ready to serve or refrigerate for later.

The Hoods are here… Mini Strawberry Pretzel Pie

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread Pudding

Cowboy Candy Poppers

Pumpkin Roll

Krusteaz Honey Cornbread Poppers…

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