4th of July Piñata Cake Recipe
We’ve got the 4th of July cake recipe of your dreams right here! Fun and festive red (and blue) velvet layers of cake complete…
A Better No Churn Ice Cream (and Frozen Yogurt) Recipe
This is THE PERFECT no churn ice cream recipe thanks to a secret ingredient. It’s just two ingredients (like the other famous no churn recipe), but this one has a way better texture, and it’s not overly sweet! It seriously tastes and feels JUST LIKE real ice cream.
YOU GUYS!!
I am so so so so sososososoooooooooooooooooo crazy excited to share this recipe with you today.
Did I mention I’m pretty pumped?? I’m SO pumped.
Why? Because I FINALLY have a two-ingredient, no-churn (read no machine required!) homemade ice cream that really, truly, 1000% tastes like ice cream. Really!
Have you ever made 2-ingredient, no churn ice cream like this? It’s fine. I mean, I liked it well enough when I thought that was all there was. That you couldn’t make anything better with just two ingredients and no ice cream machine. Back when I thought you had to settle for an overly-sweet-sort-of-weird-texture kind of ice cream. Back when that was all there was, it was good enough. It was maybe even kind of great.
But ohhhhhhhhhh, how wrong I was, my friends.
It turns out there is so much more to no-churn ice cream life than we thought there was!!
Okay, so what were the problems with the old recipe? Primarily two things: 1) it was WAY too sweet. Especially if you used the Cool Whip shortcut (guilty). And 2) it had sort of a weird texture as it melted. Because it never really melted down to a liquid… it was more of a semi-solid. Which was weird.
How do we fix that?
Well, for starters, we need an ingredient that balances out the sweet from the sweetened condensed milk. And secondly, we probably don’t need to add another thick ingredient like whipped cream!
Enter the magical secret ingredient: SOUR CREAM.
The answer was there the whole time! So unassuming and subtle, just sitting there in the refrigerator waiting for us to notice. Waiting for us to realize that when sour cream mixes with sweetened condense milk and freezes…. BAM. Ice cream! And not just any ice cream– good ice cream.
Way good ice cream, you guys.
Want to know what else is cool about this recipe?? You can actually substitute nonfat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. YES!!!! Isn’t that amazing?
Be forewarned, it does get ever-so-slightly (and I do mean only slightly) icier than the version with sour cream. But still– I think that’s totally worth it for an easy homemade frozen yogurt that does actually have some nutritionally redeeming qualities, amiright?!
So, what do you think? Is anyone else as excited about this revolutionary recipe as I am?? Because I’m literally still flipping out over this. I want to go make eleventy bajillion flavors of no churn right now. Imagine the possibilities now that easy homemade ice cream doesn’t suck! WOOT!
Strawberry Jell-O Poke Cake Recipe
This is the ultimate summer cake! White sheet cake soaked through with strawberry Jell-O, and smothered in Cool Whip. No bake perfection 🙂 **Originally…
Red, White, and Blue Poke Cake Recipe
Cool and creamy and SUPER EASY Red, White, and Blue Poke Cake is perfect for your 4th of July dessert! It’s been way too…
Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars Recipe
All the goodness of Salted Caramel Apple Pie in much easier bar form! My two favorite holidays of the year are Thanksgiving and the…
Easy Ice Cream Cookie Cake Recipe
Here’s how to make a super simple and delicious cookie dough ice cream birthday cake!
Summer is in full force around here! Swim lessons, air conditioning, hot leather seats sticking to your legs in the van, and daily ice cream runs.
Plus, in our house, summer = all.the.birthdays!!!
So I figure this easy ice cream cake is super appropriate.
Let me break down these layers for you:
????Sara Lee pound cake (it’s in the frozen section)
???? Vanilla ice cream
????Homemade eggless cookie dough recipe for one 🙂
???? Rainbow Chips (Wilton)
???? Hot fudge or chocolate syrup or chocolate ganache or whatever else you want on top!
That’s it!! How easy is that??
And really, you could use any flavor of ice cream you wanted to. I’m a vanilla girl, but I can think of plenty of other flavors that would be delicious in this cake. Cookies & Cream, chocolate peanut butter, or chocolate chip just to name a few!
Can you see those huge chunks of cookie dough in the ice cream? That’s my favorite part. I’m such a cookie dough snob when it comes to ice cream. I like knowing that I made the cookie dough in this dessert. And I like that I can make the dough a little softer if I want (I don’t like really hard chunks of dough in my ice cream) by simply adding a little more milk to the recipe.
This cake is so easy and SO good. I love that it doesn’t take a ton of effort. Outside of making the cookie dough (which is easily done with just a small bowl and a fork– no mixer required!), there’s hardly any hands on effort required here.
So what are you waiting for? You’re just a few minutes away from the yummiest ice cream cake you’ve ever made! Happy Summer!
4th of July Berry Pie Recipe
Super simple filling bursting with juicy berries, buttery pie crust, and the 4th of July. What else could you possibly need? I am actually not much of…
Strawberry Shortcake Donuts Recipe
Dricoll’s has been the strawberry in everyone’s shortcake for more than 100 years, which makes them the perfect inspiration for this recipe! I worked in collaboration with Driscoll’s Strawberries to develop a unique strawberry shortcake recipe and have received compensation accordingly. Opinions expressed are always my own.
Summertime is practically here! Can’t you just feel it?? This time of year is just so intoxicating, so full of sunlight and flower buds. It’s like walking into a big hug after a long and dreary winter, followed by a very wet spring.
In between packing what must be thousands of boxes (okay… it’s closer to, like, 12) and move prep, we’ve been trying to soak up every moment of this new found sunshine! We’re taking nature walks, catching butterflies, running in the sprinklers, and eating lots and lots of strawberries.
Like…. gazillions of strawberries.
I think strawberries may be the real reason I fight to get through the winter at all. And when strawberry season comes, I’m eating them with every meal and every snack in between.
Like every other strawberry lover on the planet, I’m pretty crazy about strawberry shortcake. Besides being utterly delicious and a versatile flavor combo, strawberry shortcake is also classic and timeless. It’s an iconic American dessert, and I find the sheer patriotism of it as appealing as anything else. Did you know that Americans have been feverishly eating strawberry shortcake for over 100 years? And Driscoll’s has been growing beautifully plump, ruby red strawberries for just as long!
Strawberry shortcake has taken on many forms throughout the decades. Sometimes the variations are as simple as switching up the cake part and using a spongecake (like the ones you see in the grocery stores by the strawberries) or pound cake instead of a traditional sweet biscuit. Others are more creative and incorporate the flavors into desserts like ice cream or crepes!
I wanted to get a little creative with this recipe but also incorporate some tradition at the same time. Classic, old-school, southern-style strawberry shortcake is made with a biscuit (sort of like this blueberry shortcake I posted). Using biscuits happen to be my favorite way to eat this dessert, so I knew I didn’t want to deviate from that route.
As I started thinking about the different ways you can use biscuits in dessert-making, strawberry shortcake donuts became this blaring, neon sign in my mind as the perfect way to combine both tradition and creativity! By simply frying the biscuit dough, instead of baking, a classic strawberry shortcake goes rogue and becomes a donut. You can fry made-from-scratch biscuit dough or use refrigerated biscuit dough like I did for a delicious shortcut!
One more thing before you head to the kitchen… it’s a little obvious, but it’s worth saying anyway: be sure to buy the very best strawberries for the very best tasting donuts. Driscoll’s has been the strawberry in everyone’s shortcake for over 100 years, and there’s a reason– they’re the best!
Grain Free (Whole 30) “Oatmeal” Recipe
Seriously delicious grain free (Whole 30) “oatmeal.” You’ll want to try this healthy bowl whether you’re avoiding grains or not! **Originally posted in December…
S’mores Cookie Bars Recipe
Soft, chewy, and slightly crunchy graham cracker cookie bars with a marshmallow swirl and semi-sweet chocolate chips.S’mores Cookie Bars. Yes. If I could only…
Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Copycat Recipe
It’s Ice Cream Week on Something Swanky and Crazy for Crust!*
Click the links above to see all of our fun ice cream recipes from this week.
***Originally posted in July 2014
I’ve mentioned before that my husband isn’t a big fan of mix-in type ice cream places (like Coldstone). He’ll eat there if I make him go (I mean, it is ice cream, after all). But then, as we’re driving past the Baskin Robbins on our way home, he’ll heave a not-so-subtle sigh and gaze longingly at the rear-view mirror.
I determined that our difference in opinion over ice cream shops is really the difference between liking hard or soft ice cream. He prefers hard scooped, I’d rather have something more along the lines of ice cream soup. I dunno… he’s probably in the majority there. But I can’t help it– I love soft, mushy ice cream full of big candy chunks and hot fudge.
However, he has totally turned me on to Baskin Robbins’ Chocolate Chip and Mint Chocolate Chip ice creams.
Because….. ohemgee.
I am so in love with the way their “chocolate chips” aren’t really chocolate chips at all. Instead, it’s full of a thin pieces of brittle chocolate that ribbon throughout the ice cream. And it takes chocolate chip ice cream to an amazing new level.
Just like the Stracciatella I mentioned last week, Baskin Robbins-style chocolate chip ice cream is achieved in the same way– by pouring chocolate (or in this case, Homemade Magic Shell) into the ice cream during the last 5 minutes of churning.
This Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is SO easy and so yummy. Mint is one of my husband’s favorite ice cream flavors, but you could easily make this regular old chocolate chip ice cream by simply omitting the peppermint extract!
I use a Cuisinart ICE-21 Ice Cream Maker to make churned ice cream, and far I’ve loved it. It’s pretty inexpensive (only $49!), easy to use, and makes delicious ice cream in about 20-30 minutes. I would highly recommend it if you’re looking for a simple, day-to-day use ice cream machine.
Enjoy!
Red Velvet, White, and Blueberry Cheesecake Trifle Recipe
Layers of sweet red velvet cake, cheesecake filling, and juicy blueberries make an easy and patriotic summertime trifle. I made this Red, White, and…
Homemade Horchata Recipe
Horchata is THE drink to make this summer! It combines rice, almonds, cinnamon, and a little natural stevia for a refreshing, family-friendly summer drink….
Fruit Pizza for the 4th of July Recipe
A patriotic fruit pizza for the 4th of July on a soft sugar cookie crust topped with a sweet cream cheese whipped topping. One…
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cake Recipe
Fudgy chocolate cake layered with rich peanut butter frosting, peanut butter cups, and a rich peanut butter chocolate ganache make this an excellent cake to share with a crowd.
Happy Thursday!
I’ve been saving a good one for my peanut butter and chocolate trifecta finale. Things may have started out a little more conservatively with this Super Skinny Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie, but we are definitely finishing on a wild note! Because there is nothing mild or tame about this two-layer chocolate fudge peanut butter cup beauty!
This may look like a simple 2-layer cake at first glance. But what you’re really seeing here are actually nine layers of peanut butter chocolate-y goodness. Count them with me:
???????? my all-time favorite chocolate cake.
???????? homemade peanut butter frosting.
???????? Reese’s peanut butter cups.
???????? more chocolate cake.
???????? more peanut butter frosting.
???????? peanut butter chocolate ganache.
???????? more peanut butter frosting.
???????? more peanut butter chocolate ganache.
???????? MORE Reese’s cups!
See those Reese’s cups in the middle?
That’s my favorite part. You know I’m all about the texture, and those little bits of Reese’s give the middle of this cake a perfect little something extra to bite into.
What are you waiting for?! It’s practically the weekend– dig in!
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pretzel Bites Recipe
Easy no-bake chocolate peanut butter pretzel bars made with only 5 simple ingredients!
I’ve been on a real chocolate and peanut butter kick lately, with three back-to-back Chocolate PB recipes coming your way! Be excited ????.
I like chocolate and peanut butter in all sorts of ways. From the super indulgent recipes like Tagalong Pound Cake, No Bake Peanut Butter Cup Bars, and Peanut Butter Brownie Trifles to healthier recipes like this Super Skinny PB Cup Smoothie or my favorite Peanut Butter Granola.
My favorite way to eat PB will always be in the form of a cookie. Preferably my Grandma’s Monster Cookies or my mom’s Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies!
Or in any of these 75+ Ways to Eat a Reese’s. Obviously.
Today’s recipe combines three of my great loves: PB + chocolate, pretzels, and no bake.
Side note: the way to my heart is to make something EASY. And these no-bake bars have do that in spades!
We’re basically mashing these Peanut Butter Cup No Bake Bars (have you made them yet??) with two cups of pretzel crumbs.
Speaking of mashing…
You could put your pretzels in a food processor for a rough chop if you want when you’re making this recipe. But I just dumped mine in a gallon-sized zipper bag and beat them with a rolling pin. It worked out just fine (and one less thing I have to clean).
You can see in the photo above that you don’t need to aim for super fine crumbs. The PB mixture will hold the pretzels together perfectly even if there are some bigger chunks. In fact, you may find that you like having big chunks of pretzel bites in there!
You only need 5 simple ingredients for this recipe, and you probably have them all on hand already!
- creamy peanut butter
- pretzels (2 cups of CRUSHED pretzels)
- chocolate chips
- powdered sugar
- butter
See? Easy peasy.
I added some honey roasted peanuts to the top of mine for some additional crunch (and I like the look of it), but that’s totally up to you.
I also think M&MS would be pretty on point if you’re considering additional toppings ????????.
Enjoy!
Whole Wheat Crepes Recipe
You may not be able to tell from these pictures, but this recipe really is part of my attempt to eat a little cleaner…
Super Skinny Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie Recipe
35 whopping grams of protein in this skinny peanut butter cup smoothie (with no powders), and it tastes like a milkshake!
I’m going to be really honest with you… the weight loss thing isn’t really my strong suit in life. I haven’t quite cracked the code on that one.
Do I love Weight Watchers? You betcha.
I love to exercise too, believe it or not.
And I can whip up healthier versions of dessert recipes all day long (like Skinny Chocolate Donuts, Skinny Brownie Batter Dip, and Banana Pancakes). Or Cottage Cheese Breakfast Ideas.
But when it comes to actually dropping the pounds… not so much.
However, I fully anticipate that I will one day eat my way through enough Halo Top Ice Cream to discover that it’s finally made me skinny.
At least that’s what I tell my husband every time I spend 5.99 on a pint ????.
Good man that he is, I never actually see him roll his eyes.
Anyway. The point that I’m trying to make here is… I may not be very good at the actual losing of the weight. But I’m very, very good at breakfast on day one of a new diet. Ahem, er, “lifestyle change.” ????
Side note: how irritating is it that no one is allowed to “diet” anymore. The PC way to say diet these days is, “lifestyle change.” But… what if I just want to lose 30 pounds? Do I really have to change my mindset and my pantry for the rest of forever. Is that really totally necessary?? Is it???? *hysterics*
But back to breakfast on day one…
How about a ridiculously decadent skinny peanut butter cup smoothie WITH 35 FREAKING GRAMS OF PROTEIN that tastes like peanut butter cups? Works for me.
Enjoy!
Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Classic, creamy, EASY Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. This frosting is SO good on banana bread, pumpkin cupcakes, red velvet cake, and so much more!
My favorite topping on just about anything is cream cheese frosting. I use it on banana bread, cinnamon rolls, cookie bars, and cupcakes just to name a few things.
This particular recipe is my very favorite, and with only 4 simple ingredients!! Fewer ingredients = always better in my book.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that such a simple recipe produces a subpar frosting. This is pure cream cheese deliciousness. It’s smooth and creamy, sweet and tart, everything that you ever want your cream cheese frosting to be.
Lemon {Marshmallow} Meringue Pie Recipe
Homemade lemon filling, buttery crust, dreamy marshmallow meringue topping– this is the lemon meringue pie recipe of your dreams! Today, we’re talking about pie…
Cinnamon Roll Stuffed Baked French Toast Recipe
Soft French bread stuffed with a cinnamon roll filling, baked to perfection, and topped with cinnamon roll icing. Make ahead so all you have to do in the morning is pop it in the oven!
This recipe combines two of my favorite breakfasts: french toast and cinnamon rolls!
I’ve literally stuffed the inside of french bread with cinnamon roll filling, soaked it in an eggy custard overnight, baked it to golden perfection, and smothered it with cinnamon roll icing.
Comfort food at it’s finest ????.
I used about half of a french bread loaf in a 9×9 baking dish. But you could use the entire loaf and fit it into a 9×13 baking dish just fine. Just be sure to double the milk and egg portion of the recipe as well.
The best way to make stuffed french toast is to simply cut a large slit in a thick piece of the bread– not cut it all the way through. This way you can literally stuff the inside of the piece of bread instead of sandwiching it together. It’s a lot easier to prep, cook, and serve if you do it like this. That way you don’t have the filling falling out all over the place!
Speaking of filling…
This filling is pretty simple, but extremely delicious. Brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter– the makings of a perfect cinnamon roll filling. I also added pecans, because I love pecans in my cinnamon rolls. But that’s totally up to you.
As it bakes and the butter melts into the sugar, it becomes ooey and gooey and perfect.
Drizzle my favorite cinnamon roll icing over top, and you are in for a real treat! You could also totally add maple syrup to this… I wouldn’t judge.
If you’re looking for the perfect Mother’s Day breakfast… this is it. I promise.
10 Memorial Day Desserts
Memorial day means it’s SUMMER TIME!! Which means going to the pool, eating popsicles for dinner, and ALL THE BIRTHDAYS (in our house anyway)….
Old Fashioned Buttermilk Donuts Recipe
How to make old fashioned buttermilk donuts at home!
Donuts are my eternal weakness. There is absolutely nothing in this world that I love better than a donut. No, not even my beloved chocolate chip cookies. Donuts always win with me.
My family and I make this recipe for old fashioned pioneer donuts twice a year on General Conference weekend, and it’s a tradition we all look forward to. They are super soft and fluffy on the inside, golden crisp on the outside (we’re frying today, people!), and coated in sugar. Sometimes with cinnamon, sometimes without.
Just like biscuit-making, the key to making these donuts is NOT OVERMIXING! See how lumpy and clumpy that is? It’s exactly how you want your dough to look. Don’t aim for smooth, elastic, yeast-y perfection here. This dough doesn’t work that way. And if you try to knead it into submission, you’ll end up with donuts that work better as hockey pucks than as actual food.
But there’s no need to stress! These are EASY, I promise. Lumpy dough = less work for you.
Same rules apply here. We don’t need to roll the dough out into a long, thin strip of dough. Since there’s no yeast in these donuts, it’s all about keeping the dough THICK even before they go into the frying oil. The best way to do this is to simply press out the dough to about 1/4-inch thick with your hands.
Again, easy. Simple. No problem!
I feel like there is always so much trepidation when it comes to frying food at home. It’s really no big deal! You don’t need a deep fryer or any other fancy equipment. And it doesn’t have to be messy. All you need are a few simple tools you probably already have on hand.
- a deep soup pot (although I’ve even fried food in a small saucepan using just a cup of oil! It doesn’t have to be big, just work with what you’ve got)
- tongs
- a cooling rack
- paper towels
The key to deep frying at home over the stove is to WATCH THE HEAT. You should never take the temp above medium. Let it heat up at medium, stay at medium, and never leave medium!!!
Got it? Good! You’ll be fine. Frying donuts is fun ????, I promise.
Once the donuts are fried and beautiful, dunk ’em in some sugar. Cinnamon sugar is really good too.
This is one of our favorite family recipes, and now I hope it will be one of yours too. Enjoy!!
Peanut Butter Oreo Banana Bread Recipe
Super moist banana bread with triple the peanut butter and an Oreo ganache on top.
I don’t really feel like I need to pitch you the merits of peanut butter, chocolate, and banana bread. Because if you’re not already a fanatical lover of all three… you’ve possibly lost your way and landed here on Something Swanky.
When I first made this recipe back in 2013, I wasn’t totally sure how to incorporate the Oreos. All I knew was that I wanted to make a peanut butter banana bread with lots and lots of Oreos. So I just tried cramming them all into the batter. And it was…. fine. A little chaotic, not quite perfect, but still pretty okay.
And then about a year later, I made this Scotcheroo Banana Bread with the dreamiest peanut butter-butterscotch ganache on top. And that’s when I realized exactly what I wanted to do with the Oreos in this banana bread recipe.
It’s taken me another 3 long years to finally get around to doing it, but here we are– making a deep, dark chocolate and peanut butter ganache packed to the brim with Oreo crumbles! ????
🍌🍌🍌 CHECK OUT more of our favorite Banana Bread Recipes 🍌🍌🍌
The ganache! People! The ganache was the answer all along. They were never quite right in the batter. Somehow they blended in. That signature cookies & cream taste was lost in the flavor of bananas and the texture was way too soft. You just could find the cookies in the bread!
Well, there’s no getting lost in here. We’re smothering those babies in chocolate and spreading them front, top, and center of this recipe. You can’t take a bite without getting a mouthful of cookies and cream!
Peanut butter was another flavor that surprisingly got a little lost in the old recipe. It didn’t really have a place to stand out and shine back then. But today’s version of banana bread puts peanut butter right back out in the spotlight. It’s in the bread batter, in the ganache, and drizzled right on top where you can’t possibly miss it.
Chocolate, peanut butter, Oreo, and banana lovers– this bread is for you!
Enjoy!