Desserts – Life with the Lawsons

November 11, 2020

Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder (I prefer this aluminum free version)

Place stick of butter in baking dish in cold oven. Preheat oven with pan in it to 350 degrees. (Sometimes I will make several of these at a time to freeze or share with friends. If so, I use these pans with matching lids.)

While the oven is preheating, I will heat in a saucepan over medium heat, the sliced peaches and 1 cup of sugar until the sugar is desolved.

Whisk together 3/4 cups of the sugar, all of the flour, salt, baking powder and milk and pour over butter in heated baking dish.

Top with peaches and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

You can do this cobbler with other fruits as well, or even with canned fruit. If using canned fruit, reduce sugar to 1/2 cup.

These can be frozen after baking and cooling completely. After I freeze them, I will thaw overnight in the fridge and then bake on 300 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until warm just before serving.

May 26, 2020May 26, 2020

Iced Lemon Cookies

My sweet hubby loves all things lemon! I whipped these cookies up last week and he and the kiddos went nuts over them! They’re delicious with or without the lemon frosting!

For the Cookies:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick of salted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Lemon essential oil (I dipped a toothpick in the oil and swirled into batter and that was enough) or you can use 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract

For the icing:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or cookie paper.

In stand mixer (I use one like this), beat softened butter and cream cheese for about a minute or until well incorporated and creamy.

Add sugar and continue mixing until it gets fluffy. Usually after 2-3 minutes.

Add in egg and lemon zest.

Stir baking powder and flour together and slowly add to mixer.

Add lemon juice.

Dip a toothpick into lemon essential oil and swirl into batter, or if you prefer, use 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract.

Mix until well blended.

Using a small cookie scoop, drop dough onto cookie sheets, leaving plenty of room between cookies.

Spray a measuring cup with cooking spray and dip into sugar, as shown, and gently press cookies to flatten the tops.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cool cookies on wire racks.

While cookies are cooling, mix together with a whisk or fork the powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Store in pie save or other air tight container!

Y’all try these and let me know what you think!

May 18, 2020

Easy Strawberry Pie

This is a light and cold dessert that is perfect for those hot summer days! Whip this up ahead of time for summer parties, weekend dinners, or just because! You can make this pie in the graham cracker crust described below, or you can use my Mamaw’s Pie Crust recipe here. Both are perfect and I have made this both ways, depending on my mood!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 sleeve graham crackers
1 stick of butter, melted
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

For the filling:

1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
1 small package strawberry gelatin
1 small package vanilla pudding and pie filling
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 cups water
8 ounces whipped topping

Instructions:

For the crust, combine all dry ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. Add in melted butter and pulse until combined.

Dump into pie plate and use hands or a greased measuring cup to press into the bottom and up the sides of a glass pie plate. (Affiliate link: if you purchase items from these links, I will receive a small portion of the sale at no additional cost to you! Thank you for supporting my blog!)

Place in refrigerator to cool while prepping the pie filling.

Slice fresh strawberries and line graham cracker crust sides and bottom as shown.

Place crust with berries back in refrigerator.

In medium sauce pan, whisk together gelatin, pudding, lemon juice and water until it begins to thicken.

Set aside and allow filling mixture to totally cool.

Pour mixture over berries and refrigerate until the filling begins to set up.

Cover in cool whip and garnish with additional fresh berries or however you choose!

Enjoy!

April 23, 2020

Strawberry Lemonade Poke Cake

Ingredients:

1 box strawberry cake mix
1 small box strawberry flavored gelatin
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c. water
3 eggs
2 – 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. frozen lemonade concentrate
5 oz. evaporated milk
1 small box instant lemon pudding
8 oz. tub whipped topping
8 oz. Fresh strawberries, sliced
2 Tbsp sugar
Fresh lemon, optional, used as garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 13×9 glass baking pan. (This is the one I have.)

Slice strawberries, sprinkle with sugar and refrigerate.

Combine cake mix, gelatin, oil, water and eggs until well mixed and pour into greased pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

While cake is baking, prepare the lemonade cream cheese filling by beating cream cheese in a bowl alone for 2-3 minutes or until creamy, then add the lemonade concentrate until fully combined.

In a separate bowl, mix evaporated milk and lemon pudding until fully incorporated, and then add pudding mixture into cream cheese mixture.

Scrape a handful of the cream cheese lemonade mix into a ziplock bag, and cut a small hole in the corner in order to pipe into the cake.

When the cake is done, remove from oven and immediately poke holes with a wooden spoon.

Once the cake has fully cooled, use the ziplock filled with cream filling and fill each hole as shown.

Spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over top of the cake and spread. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Top cream cheese layer with sliced strawberries.

Spread cool whip over the top of the strawberry layer. If desired, use strawberry slices, lemon slices, or garnishes of your choosing.