Thai Sweet Rice with Mango

This delicious Thai dessert will satisfy both your tummy and your taste buds!

Ingredients

1 cup sticky rice
1 3/4 cups water
pinch of salt
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon stevia (or 1 tablespoon sugar)
1 ripe mango, refrigerated*

*I like to use the smaller yellow mangoes for their smoother texture and sweet flavor, although any ripe mango will do.

Soak the rice in the water for at least 30 minutes in a rice cooker. Add a pinch of salt and 1/4 cup coconut milk, and turn the rice cooker on.

After the rice cooker stops, taste the rice. If it is not soft and chewy, add a little more water and turn it on again.

Once the rice is finished cooking, allow it to sit on the "warm" setting while you prepare the sweet coconut milk and the mango. Mix the stevia in with the coconut milk and stir over medium-low heat until warm. (Do not boil it.)

Dish the rice and pour sweet milk over it. Slice up the mango and lay it on top. Serve warm with chilled mango and enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Love Cake

Here's a cool and creamy treat that's sweet yet not too heavy, 

with all the favorite goodies.

 

Ingredients

2 cups heavy whipping cream
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
20 Oreos or similar cookies
2 Reeses Cups or similar candy

Mix together ¼ cup of the whipping cream and all of the peanut butter until smooth.

In another bowl, beat the rest of the whipping cream together with the powdered sugar and vanilla until the mixture is puffed up and forms little ripples.  Combine this with the peanut butter mixture, adding a bit at a time.

Separate the Oreos just like you did when you were a kid.  Lay them out along the bottom of an 8"x8"x2" pan.  (For nice presentation, it's best if you have a springform pan or a recyclable one that you don't mind ruining, so you can cut the sides off when it's cooled.)

Spread about half of the whipped mixture evenly over the cookies.  Repeat with another layer of cookies, and another one of the whipped mixture.  For the top, break the remaining cookies into small pieces and line the border with them.  Sprinkle finer crumbs over the rest of the cake.  Cut up the Reeses Cups into small pieces as well and add them to the border.

Refrigerate for at least 5 hours.  To serve, remove the edges of the pan and leave it as it is or transfer it to another serving platter.

Libby's Pumpkin Rolls

Ingredients

                         

(Cake)

    ¼ cup powdered sugar

    ¾ cup all-purpose flour

    ½ teaspoon baking powder

    ½ teaspoon baking soda

    ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

    ½ teaspoon ground cloves

    ¼ teaspoon salt

    3 large eggs

    1 cup granulated sugar

    ²/₃ cup pumpkin puree

    (optional: 1 cup walnuts, chopped)

(Filling)

    1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature

    1 cup powdered sugar

    6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    A bit of powdered sugar (for decoration)

For cake:

Preheat oven to 375° F (190°C). Grease a 10x15 inch baking pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour the wax paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar to keep the cake from sticking to it later.

Ccombine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in a large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in the flour mixture. Spread evenly into the pan, over the wax paper. Sprinkle with the chopped walnuts nuts.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn the cake onto the towel prepared with powdered sugar. Carefully peel off the wax paper. Roll up the cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on a wire rack.

To add the filling:

Beat cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in a small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll the cake and spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over it. Reroll the cake, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least an hour. Sprinkle the edges with powdered sugar before serving.

Sweet Red Bean Soup

This sweet & yummy Chinese soup is very easy to make, if you have a few hours to hang around and watch over it.  It makes a nice last touch to a meal as a dessert soup, but you can also cut some or all of the sugar and enjoy it as a main course.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups small red beans
• 20-25 cups water (5-6 quarts)
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup dry tapioca

Boil the beans for two and a half hours, stirring occasionally. (Start with about half of the water and add cups periodically as it starts to boil out.) While the beans are cooking, soak the tapioca in a small bowl of water.  

After two and a half hours, add the tapioca and sugar, stirring constantly.  When the tapioca is transparent and the beans are soft, it's ready.  Enjoy your sweet red bean soup!