Holiday Recipe: Easy Caramel Pumpkin Cake

2TheAdvocate photo: Catherine Threlkeld 

From Denny:  Want a simple dessert that simplifies your life while cooking the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner?  Even if family and friends help bring their favorite dishes to contribute to the holiday feast it's always a good idea to have a dessert that is simple to put together and cooks itself while you are distracted by other preparations, waiting to go on stage and show off. :)  

This cake is full of melted caramel candy and Heath toffee brickle bits complementing the autumnal pumpkin flavor.  This dessert texture is a moist pudding cake that friends well with a happy dollop of freshly whipped heavy cream or whipped topping or just a sprinkle of the toffee brickle bits - you decide.  

When I serve desserts like this I offer my guests their choice of toppings as they enjoy getting involved.  Holidays are often when I try out new recipes.  Since I value their opinions my guests enjoy morphing into the all important taste tasters to evaluate the recipes, determining if  the new ideas survive to see another holiday gathering.  It's all great fun and gets everyone involved to express their likes and dislikes, helping to perfect a recipe.  Sometimes, all a recipe needs is a better way to serve it, like a good topping.

This little pudding cake dessert gem cooks in a slow cooker on High for two hours, giving you plenty of time to serve the dinner before the crowd starts breaking into the table of desserts.  This dessert is assembled at the last minute into individual dessert dishes so you can serve as little or as much as your guest prefers.  Besides, this dessert cake gives you a chance to use those tiny custard or individual flan dishes some older relative gave you but you just didn't know what to do with them.  Enjoy!...

Santa Diva Cat Round Ornament

Get a laugh and make sure your family kitty has her own Christmas ornament to grace the tree with her awesome presence! Check out Diva Cat adorned with her Santa hat just in time for the season.  Design also available: in other styles of ornaments, phone cases, makeup mirrors and greeting cards!  Santa Diva Cat sports her divine image: on plenty of mugs, teapots, cocktail plates and platters.

Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  

Fourth of July Recipe: Raspberry and Blueberry Creme Tart

Photo: King Arthur Flour. This festive Berries and Creme Tart is a red, white and blueberry addition 
to a Fourth of July -- or any summer -- gathering.

From Denny:  Want to play with your food like you did when you were a carefree child?  Holidays are the perfect time to have some fun playing with recipes: adult style.  St. Patrick's Day brings about the fun of green beer so why not red, white and blue colorings for Fourth of July celebrations?

Summer berries are so refreshing this time of year when the weather turns hot and humid. Recently, at our house, we enjoyed some very sweet small blueberries imported from Mexico.  They were almost as awesome as Maine blueberries and good to enjoy before the American crops were ready.  For any raw food, especially berries, be sure to wash them in a vinegar and water bath for a few minutes before eating.  Vinegar kills off loads of bacteria and doesn't mess with the flavor like bleach does.  Vinegar is also more environmentally friendly than bleach.  

Just pull out a large mixing bowl like you would to mix up cake batter, fill it with cold water and then add about a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar.  Swirl it around to distribute the vinegar into the water.  Then dunk the entire plastic box filled with berries into the water bath, turning it so the water washes over the berries.  Do for about three minutes or so and then drain the berries.  I don't rinse with water as I want the vinegar to remain a little bit on the berries, especially the ones I don't use for the recipe as it's a snap to store in the fridge, already washed and ready to go the next time you feel like eating a handful of fresh berries as a snack!

Check out this colorful patriotic dessert sure to be a holiday winner:

Floral Blush Shoulder Bag

This customized bag is unique, functional, and durable. It's the bag you'll want to use everyday.  Design available in more handbags, wallets, totes and all sizes bedding, pajamas, pillows, blankets, area rugs and curtains too!

Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!

Romancing The Chocolate: Christmas Gift Recipe: Peanut Butter Fudge

Romancing The Chocolate: Christmas Gift Recipe: Peanut Butter Fudge: From Denny:  This is an easy unique way to cook fudge - in a slow cooker!  What fun, a super simple fast recipe!  It has our name all over it and think how you can make up many batches of this to give as hostess gifts at Christmas parties or other seasonal gift giving.

It's also a kid friendly recipe it's so easy to do.  You cook the fudge on High in the slow cooker for about 20 minutes total and then pour it out into a pan lined with waxed paper.  Place in fridge to cool and harden.

Santa Rejoices Music Round Ornament

Santa loves the music of the season!

Romancing The Chocolate: Christmas Gift Recipe: Peanut Butter Fudge

Romancing The Chocolate: Christmas Gift Recipe: Peanut Butter Fudge: From Denny:  This is an easy unique way to cook fudge - in a slow cooker!  What fun, a super simple fast recipe!  It has our name all over it and think how you can make up many batches of this to give as hostess gifts at Christmas parties or other seasonal gift giving.

It's also a kid friendly recipe it's so easy to do.  You cook the fudge on High in the slow cooker for about 20 minutes total and then pour it out into a pan lined with waxed paper.  Place in fridge to cool and harden.

Santa Rejoices Music Round Ornament

Santa loves the music of the season!