Pineapple Upside down Cake

Well Sunday's seem to be my experiment days.  A couple of Sundays ago I made this cake along with a Pineapple Chicken.  I had bought a pineapple and before it went bad I need to make something.  I wanted to make a main dish and a dessert.  I haven't made pineapple upside down cake since I was in my 20's.  That's like light years ago.  :)  Well anyway I found a recipe at all recipes and adapted it.

Ingredients

4 eggs

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

4 or 5 slices fresh pineapple or (20 ounce) can sliced pineapple

10 maraschino cherries

3/4 cup sifted  flour

1/4 cup corn starch

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar 

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup can crushed pineapple w/juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a 10 inch heavy skillet with a heat-resistant handle (I use a cast iron skillet), melt 1/2 cup butter or margarine over very low heat. Remove from heat, and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over pan. Arrange pineapple slices to cover bottom of skillet. Distribute cherries around pineapple; set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Separate the eggs into two bowls. In a large bowl, beat egg whites just until soft peaks form. Add granulated sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks at high speed until very thick and yellow. With a wire whisk or rubber scraper, using an over-and-under motion, gently fold egg yolks and flour mixture into whites until blended. Fold in sour cream, crushed pineapple  and almond extract. Spread batter evenly over pineapple in skillet.    

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertip. Loosen the edges of the cake with  knife and the invert to

a plate.  

Thanks for taking the time from your busy day to stop by.  Have a wonderful day remember to find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU love.

Donna

Cherry Surprise

We had a bbq Monday. Labor Day and my son-in-law cooked steaks, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, salad and he asked me to make a dessert.  I had been out running most of the day, had to do the Sam's run, was out of flour...eeee gads can't have that!  :)  We also stopped by to see my friend Patsy, she had surgery on her hand Thursday and she was really not feeling well.  So back to the dessert.  I have wanted to try the puff pasty shells so what better time than today since I was in a crunch.  I bought some cherry pie filling and doctored it up.  I added some sugar about 1/4 of a cup and 1/4 cup of red drinking wine and 1 tsp. of almond extract.  I cooked the cherries until the sauce reduced.  I baked the shells, cut the tops off and pushed the inside around so I could fill them.  I then topped them with whipped cream (real whipped cream)....don't they look delish.

 The puff pastry look great don't ya think.  And boy are they yummy.

My youngest grandson AJ doesn't always like desserts, but he told me he wants me to make this for his birthday (which isn't until April  ;)  )He had two so guess they were pretty good.  I think kids can be a good test for foods (sometimes)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.  Tomorrow is AJ's first football game.  Speaking of which I have a picture to share of Jake, my grandson, in his football uniform.
Remember to Find the Time to Do all the Things you LOVE.
Donna

Bing Cherry Shortcake - YUM

Ok this was one of those ideas that came from having a bowl of bing cherry's on the countertop and thinking oh gee I better eat all of them soon or they will go bad.   Soooooooooooooooo what better to do with them than turn them into a YUMMY Dessert.  I first rewashed them all then  painstakingly took the time to pit them.  I did that like you would do a peach, by cutting around the pit and twisting, didn't take much time at all. but is a bit messy.   I think I had about 3/4 of lb.  I then put them into a pan and cooked them til the juice was reduced to a nice syrup.

Cherry filing:
3/4 lbs. bing cherries (or whatever you want to put in them)
1/4 sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon *you can add more if you want*
1 tsp. nutmeg  *you can add more if you want*
2 TBL butter (unsalted)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup red wine ( I used Redwood Creek California Cabernet Sauvignon -  2008) *more or less  if you want but don't go over board* LOL

Shortcake:
***Shortcake***
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold butter or margarine
1 egg
3/4 cup sour cream
For shortcake, combine dry ingredients in a large bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. In a small bowl, beat egg; add sour cream. Stir into the crumb mixture just until moistened.

Turn onto a floured board; knead 25 times or until smooth. Roll out into a 7 1/2 inch circle. Cut a 2-inch hole in center to form a ring. For mine I used this pan.  I used a large glass and cut circles and pushed them into the pan so they would take that shape.

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 12-14 minutes or until golden. Remove from baking sheet; cool on a wire rack.

This recipe was found here  I wanted to make a cake tort like you buy at the grocery store but was not sure about the ingredents, so this will be something I will tackle soon and will post the recipe for that at another time.  I bought one of those shortcake pans at Michael's this past week (they had a 50% off coupon).  *see above*

From the oven

And now served with the whipped cream.  Oh these are soooooo good you must try them.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day, and Do Find the Time to Do the Things you Love.

Donna