dessert recipes – 4 little Fergusons (2024)

We are sure enjoying our Florida company! Here is a teeny sneak peek of who I am so distracted by this week:

What, you can’t see their little sweet faces?

You mean you don’t like my Birds Eye View of the twins?!?!?! 🙂

Tell you what, you let me go have fun with them now, and I PROMISE to share pics next week of their stay with us.

On to the food: these Butter Pecan Turtle Bars are as amazing and RICH as they sound. Easy to make, too!

{click title for easy printable}

Ingredients

• FOR THE CRUST:
• * * * * * *
• 2 cups Flour
• 1 cup Brown Sugar, Packed
• ½ cups Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Pecan Pieces
• FOR THE CARAMEL LAYER:
• * * * * * *
• ⅔ cups Butter
• ½ cups Brown Sugar, Packed
• 1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Mix flour, sugar and butter until combined. Pat into a 9×13 pan evenly. Sprinkle with 1 cup pecan pieces. DO NOT BAKE. Set aside.
In a 1 qt. saucepan, combine butter and sugar, stirring until combined. When entire surface boils, time 30-60 seconds, stirring constantly. Pour over unbaked pecan crust.
Bake at 350* for 18-22 minutes, or until caramel is bubbly all over, and crust is slightly browned.
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the caramel layer, spread carefully as they melt. Allow to cool before cutting and serving.

Happy Baking!

~T

This is post 2 for today, be sure to scroll down topost one tomeet sweet 2 year old, Miles!

I teasingly call my friend Brandie, from over at The Country Cook, “The Poke Cake Queen”. That girl has more delicious poke cakes on here site! I’ve got my eye on her Boston Cream Poke Cakenext, mmmm!

I am a sucker for Coconut or anything PinaColada-ish, so I knew I had to make this right away! I had everything on hand but the Cream of Coconut naturally, so sweet Dale stopped at the store for me on his way home from work!

Coconut Cream Poke Cake

by The Country Cook(tell Brandie Tonya says HI!) 🙂

Ingredients

• 1 box Cake Mix: White Or Golden Yellow
• Ingredients Listed On Cake Box: Usually Eggs, Oil And Water
• 15 ounces, fluid Can Of Cream Of Coconut (found In The Alcohol Aisle)
• 8 ounces, weight Cool Whip , Thawed
• 8 ounces, weight Sweetened, Flaked Coconut

Prepare and bake cake according to directions in a 9 x 13 pan. Remove cake from oven and while still hot, poke holes all over it with the end of a spoon.
Open your can of Cream of Coconut and stir well, pour evenly over entire cake. Chill cake for an hour, then spread with cool whip and sprinkle coconut over the top of all. Refrigerate until serving time for a minimum of 3 hours. It gets even BETTER, if you can wait overnight!

Dig in!

~T

I don’t know why, but Coconut always reminds me of Easter. Maybe because people dye it green for edible Easter Grass, or maybe its cause I am crazy!

I say Easter Grass all the way. {Shhh, just go with it!}

Anyhow, I found these Coconut Cream Pie Bars on Pinterest, and I had everything on hand to make them, YAY! I love it when a foodie plan comes together. They were delicious and I like the idea of a bar rather than a pie, you can feed a crowd, and its easier too!

Coconut Cream Pie Bars

by Dough Puncher

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cups shortening
5-7 Tbs. cold water

1) Cut shortening into flour, until shortening is in pea-sized pieces. Stir in water as needed, until just combined.
2) Roll out on a floured surface, and press into a 9 x 13 glass pan. Prick all over with a fork.
3)Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool.

For the Vanilla Coconut Pudding:
2 2/3 cups whole milk (1/2 evaporated milk and half water is a great substitute for whole milk!)
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch (don’t do the flour substitute, just use cornstarch)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups sweetened, flake coconut

Topping:
Toasted Coconut
8 oz Cool Whip

1) In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk and egg well. Add the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Cook over medium heat, whisking often, until thickened.
2)Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in coconut. Pour into cooled crust.
3) Place in refrigerator for a few hours, or until chilled.
4) Spread an 8 0z container of Cool Whip on the top.
5) Toast 1 cup coconut in a 350 degree oven for 2-4 minutes, until lightly golden. Sprinkle evenly over pie.
6) Store in fridge until serving time.

Enjoy!

~T

Every household needs a couple “Go To” recipes. You know for those, “Come and bring a Dessert” kind of events. The Deep South Gooey Butter Bars that I am sharing today, are my #1 pick, pictured down by the recipe,followed VERY closely by these…….

Can’t Leave ‘Em Alone Bars.

Deep South Gooey Butter Bars

{click for easy printable}

Ingredients

• 1 box Yellow Cake Mix (dry)
• ½ cups Melted Butter
• 2 whole Eggs Beaten
• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• 3-½ cups Powdered Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs Beaten

Mix dry yellow cake mix, melted butter and 2 eggs well. {It will be thick and sticky.} Pat into the bottom of a sprayed 9×13 pan.
Mix softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and 2 beaten eggs together. Spread over cake mix layer.
Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes. Eat warm or room temperature.

AMAZING!

~T

Quick note: For those that have been following4 little Fergusons from the beginning, you know I post Monday–Friday at 8 am.Due to the 125ish or so of you coming to visit every morning before 8, I figured I owed you an earlier post time. Soo, I will now be posting M-F at 7 am! 🙂Have a great one! Thanks for starting your day with us!

This recipe comes from a friend and former neighbor. If you like crumbly chocolate and silky peanut butter, than THESE are the Bar for YOU!

Buckeye Cookie Bars

(click to be taken to TK for easy printing)

Ingredients

• 1 package Chocolate Cake Mix
• ¼ cups Oil
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 cup Chopped Cashews
• 14 ounces, fluid Sweetened, Condensed Milk
• ½ cups Creamy Peanut Butter

Preheat oven to 350*. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil and egg. Beat until crumbly. Stir in chopped cashews by hand. Press crumb mixture into bottom of greased 9 x 13 pan, being sure to leave out 1 1/2 cups for the top.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Spread over crust and top with remaining crumbles.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool then cut into bars.

Dig in! Dale says you HAVE to have a cold glass of Farm fresh milk to go with these. Don’t tell him I said so, but I am pretty sure store-bought milk will do in a pinch! 🙂

~T

Be sure to head to Post 2 for today. Pinterested: Making A Sock Bun.

I got an amazing cookbook for Christmas and I am super excited to start working through my 2 page list of recipes I want to try, but as always, I must pace myself, or our 2 fridges tend to get a BIT full! 🙂

I wanted to make something fun over the weekend, and I had everything on hand to make these Austrian Cream Cheese bars. What I didn’t count on, was my house eruptinginto mass chaos right as I began. (How DOES that happen?) Anywho, long story short, I made a ROOKIE MISTAKE!

A BIG Rookie mistake!

I was reading überfast trying to get it in the oven so I could move on to supper prep and the errand we were going to run as a family, and I quickly glanced at the ingredient list, layed everything out and began dumping. And…..

Idumpedthebrownsugarinforthewhiteandthewhiteforthebrown.

Oh what?! You didn’t hear what I said?

Sorry.

{SIGH}

I dumped the brown sugar in where the white belonged, and the white sugar where the brown belonged.

RRR, I was super ticked, but rather than waste all that butter, I rolled with it. Needless to say, the crust was a bit chewy and the cream cheese layer had a different kick to it, but what I will tell you, is made CORRECTLY, these have the potential of being FANTASTIC!

Don’t tell my Sunday School Class, but they were supposed to get a Breakfast Cake with their Eggs Benedict Casserole Sunday morning. Instead, they got Austrian Cream Cheese Bars because I didn’t want a whole pan of them left at my house for me to eat on all week. LOL 🙂 {They didn’t seem to mind.}

Austrian Cream Cheese Bars

(From Recipes & Recollections of the Better Baker)

(click recipe title for easy printable)

• 1-½ cup Flour
• 1 cup Packed Brown Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
• ⅔ cups Butter, Softened
• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
• ¾ cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 2 whole Eggs
• 12 ounces, weight Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• ¾ cups Chopped Walnuts Or Pecans

For the Crust: In your mixing bowl, whip butter, add flour, brown sugar, & cinnamon. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed or until crumbly. Press mixture into an un-greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 12 minutes at 350*. Remove.
Topping: In clean mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, add in white sugar, flour and eggs. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Pour over crust and return to oven for 20 minutes, or until topping is almost set. Remove pan from oven long enough to sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top, return to oven 1 more minute to soften chocolate chips. Pull pan from oven, and carefully spread melted chips over the whole top. Sprinkle with nuts and press lightly. Refrigerate 1 hour before cutting into bars.

So rich and good!

Thanks for another great recipe, Mrs. Baker!

~T

Head to Post 2 for today: “Required: Nap Time & Quiet Time”.

When I saw these ButterfingerWhoopiePies that Jocelyn shared with us at FoodieFriday, now called Weekend Potluck, I just KNEW I had to make them ASAP. Lucky me, I just so happened to have every single ingredient necessary! SCORE!!!!!!

Her photo is WAAAYbetter than mine, so if there is any doubt about wanting to make these based on appearance, you’re going to want togo check her’s out instead!

ButterfingerWhoopie Pies

From Inside BruCrew Life

1 white cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

1 egg

1 c. crushed butterfingers (10 snack size)

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix ingredients in a mixing bowl for about 2 minutes. Form into 1 inch balls and place on a non stick baking sheet. Bake 9 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes then remove to your wax paper lined counter to cool completely. Fill with Peanut Butter Butterfinger Butter Cream. Enjoy.

Peanut Butter Butterfinger Butter Cream

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/4 c. shortening

1/2 c. peanut butter

1 Tbsp. honey

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 Tbsp. water

3 c. powdered sugar

3/4 c. crushed butterfingers (6 snack size)

Cream butter, shortening, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add in honey, vanilla, and water and beat again. Slowly add powdered sugar until all is incorporated. Beat in the crushed butterfingers.

Y-U-M!

Thanks for an AMAZING recipe, Jocelyn!

I sent some to school for Destiny’s teacher and she asked for the recipe,I always take that as the sign of a “keeper recipe”! 🙂

~T

This is post 2 for today, head back a post for some Egg-citing news!

This pie is really simple, has simple flavors and reminds me of a mix between Custard, Snickerdoodles and sugar cookies. In other words…..SO SO good!

First, make Easy Push Crust:

Easy Push Crust

(click title to print)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chilled Crisco (butter flavored is best)

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup cold water

1 T. milk for basting (only when fully cooking crust)

Combine flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut shortening into flour. Sprinkle with water. Form into ball, divide in 2. Flatten each to fit your pie pans, all the way to the edges. Crimp with fingertips to make pretty. Prick with a fork before baking. Baste with milk if fully baking. Makes 2 crusts.

I baked this at 425* for 10 minutes to just firm it up a bit before I put liquidy pie filling in it. This is called Par-baking and will help the crust from getting soggy. (Now, if you were using this crust for say Peanut Butter Pie, you’d want to baste it and fully bake it at 425* for 15 minutes, and then cool completely before filling. Make sense?)

Vanilla Crumb Pie

• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 cups Water
• 2 Tablespoons Flour, Heaping
• 1 cup Corn Syrup
• Pinch Of Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Crumbs For Top:

• 2 cups Flour
• 1 cup room temperatureButter
• ½ cups Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Soda
• 1 teaspoon Cream Of Tartar

First, make Easy Push Crust, listed above.

Mix together and bring to a boil first 6 ingredients.
Remove from heat and cool mixture.
Add 1 T. Vanilla and 2 eggs.

Mix crumb ingredients and divide between the 2 pies evenly. Bake at 350* for 20-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve warm.
Makes two pies.

Happy Baking! This simple push crust and pie recipe will make you feel like Susie Homemaker in NO TIME at all! It really is simple!

~T

Hi everyone! I was gone allllday yesterday helping my mom at her new house,and it was grocery day too. I literally left the house at 9 and returned home for dinner. I did stop home once, at 11:30 to throw the groceries in their homes, but then back to my mom’s. This time, I didn’t return until supper time. (Dale was super sweet and had supper started!!!! Brownie points!!!!!!) I don’t know how momma’s that work outside the home do it. I am exhausted, and I didn’t get HALF the stuff accomplished I wanted to today. So alas, all I have to offer youtodayis a recipe, but that’s fun too, RIGHT?! Especially when I tell you it’s DESSERT! Mmmm!

This creamy, mousse-like cake was DIVINE! And pretty too!

Fluffy S’Mores Cake

• FOR CRUST
• 9 whole Rectangles Graham Cracker, Crushed
• 6 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
• ¼ cubes Sugar
• FOR FILLING:
• 12 ounces, weight Extra Creamy Cool Whip, Thawed (divided Use)
• 11-½ ounces, weight Milk Chocolate Chips
• 8 ounces, weight Sour Cream
• 7 ounces, weight Marshmallow Cream
• 6 whole Graham Rectangles, Crushed
• TOPPING:
• 1 whole Hershey’s Bar, Broken In Bits
• Graham Crackers, Broken In Bits
• Mini Marshmallows
• Large Marshmallows, Cut In Half (Optional)

Crush Graham crackers and mix with sugar and melted butter. Form a crust in the bottom of your springform pan. Bake at 350* for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool before continuing.
Carefully melt chocolate chips on stove top or in microwave, stirring often so it doesn’t scorch. Stir in 1 cup cool whip and pour over cooled crust, spreading evenly and freeze for 10 minutes to set.
Combine sour cream, marshmallow cream,remaining cool whip and crushed graham crackers. Spread over chocolate layer. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set.
“Decorate” using marshmallows, broken graham crackers and chocolate. You might want to press large marshmallow halves all the way around the perimeter to make it pretty. (I used Gingerbread marshmallows)

Return to fridge until serving time.

It’s very rich, slice ‘em small!

~T

We’ve established I’m a Foodie, right?! Cooking, sharing and eating food just makes me happy!!!!! Guess it’s fitting then, that my most popular boards on Pinterestare 4 little FergusonsFood & Proud to be a Foodie.

Come see me: http://pinterest.com/4littleferguson/

So, here are my latest Foodie Cravings:

(And no, I am NOT pregnant, when you are a Foodie you have cravings pregnant or not.) 🙂

Manchego Cheese:

At $8 a package, this craving will have to be far and few between, but thanks to the generosity ofDale’s momma, I have a whole block to enjoy and savor. This cheese is salty, a bit dry and tastes amazing on crackers or shredded over a salad. YUMMMMMMM!

Blue Bell Ice Cream:

Christmas Cookie

Hello beautiful

Tiramisu

This is Dale’s bucket, but it sure is good. Tastes JUST like the dessert!I have to be careful with this one though, because I don’t do well with caffeine. Like bounce off the walls, jitter all night kind of problems.

Which brings me to THIS, may latest Foodie Favorite:

My friend Lori swears up and down she doesn’t like to cook. You’ve met Lori recently in THIS photo session with her sweet twin boys and hubby. She is ALSO the Lori that shared the “Can’t Leave ‘Em Alone Bars” with us. For not liking to cook, she sure comes up with some amazing recipes to bring to our Sunday school functions!

Cheddar Bacon Dip a.k.a “Crack Dip”

Ingredients

• 16 ounces, weight Sour Cream
• 1 packet (1 Oz.) Ranch Dip & Dressing Mix
• 3 ounces, weight Real Bacon Bits
• 1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate 24 hours. Serve with chips and PREPARE TO BE AMAZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we are starting our Holiday baking this week and will continue into next week, getting ready to give out Goodie Platters to friends and teachers. The kids LOVE to help! We make things after school, or when daddy is home & supper is in the oven. This year we are making:

Christmas Kisses

Milk Chocolate Florentine Cookies-maybe

Spritz Christmas Tree Cookies

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

Spiced Crackers(Dale’s favorite, so we do these every year)

AND last but not least……………………..

a batch of Coyote Poo!

And man,was it DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELICIOUS!

This last one wasn’t necessarily for our Christmas goodie platters, but I HAD to try this recipe I found from Mama Bennie……

Now, if any are left by next week, they WILL be gracing our Goodie Platters, because they are THAT good! Savory and sweet, crazy and will be the unique pop, or poop, I guess, on the platter. Poo poo platter. tee-hee 🙂 That’s so gross.

I will be posting this recipe soon, as well as the others, IF they get the stamp of approval!

Hugs & Happy Snacking!

~T