Heptadecagon

When I was a child, I had a favorite dessert recipe. I loved it so much, I offered a copy of it to my teacher the year we made a class cookbook for Mother's Day. The recipe? We called it Lemon Fluff, but Mom never made the dish with lemon pudding. Instead, she usually used chocolate or pistachio flavored puddings. Mom and Dad visited last week and for Dad's birthday, I thought I'd pull out that old recipe. I couldn't actually find the cookbook, but I found the right recipe on the good old internet, of course. The recipe doesn't take much time, and based on the oohs and ahhs from my parents, it had been a long time since they'd tasted the dessert. It was so good to see my Mom enjoy something sweet. Ingredients: 2 cups flour 1 cup butter dash of white sugar 2 cups powdered sugar 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (light or regular), softened 2 (3 1/2 ounce) packages instant chocolate (or lemon or pistachio) pudding 3 cups milk 1-2 (8 ounce) cont...

This time of the year, the girls start asking about Cherries in the Snow. For those of you not familiar with what that is, it's a dessert. And a pretty delicious one at that. Best of all, it's easy. In fact, the only downside I see about it is that the dessert is heavy on the artificial ingredients. Hence, I make it once a year and only once a year. (I guess another downside would be that it has cherries in it, if you don't like cherries. I would imagine that another fruit could be substituted pretty easily.) Ingredients: 1 8 oz tub fat-free cream cheese 1 cup sifted powdered sugar 1 12 oz carton frozen whipped topping (reduced-calorie), thawed 8 cups cubed angel food cake (cubes about 1 inch in size; homemade or store bought) 1 20 oz can light cherry pie filling (I usually buy two cans, because we love the cherry part) What to do: 1. Beat the cream cheese at medium speed of a mixer until it is smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat until blended. Gently fol...

I'm getting to be very predictable. How so, you ask? In terms of recipes. I've begun (if you haven't noticed) to post my very favorite ones. Lest you think it is simply because I love to share the wealth, I am here to correct you. It's not. I'm forgetful and dare I say, lazy? If I have the recipes here, then I have my own personal cookbook. In honor of Ruthann's birthday, I'm making Raspberry-Lemon Shortbread Tart. This is a fantastic summer recipe that I found years ago in one of my MIL's Rachael Ray magazines, which can be found here . I've tried it with frozen or fresh berries -- both work wonderfully. The best part? It's another easy dessert to whip up. Okay, here we go! Raspberry-Lemon Shortbread Tart 1 pound raspberries (fresh or frozen) 1 stick + 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into pieces 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3 large eggs Zest and juice of 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup juice) Powdered su...