Tuesdays at the Table (7)

I missed last week's link up with Cole for Tuesdays at the Table!

I haven't really done much in the kitchen lately so I was stumped as to what to share today. Then I remembered that a couple of you have asked me to share about the desserts I made for the dessert table at my best friend's bachelorette party.

I did most of the work the day before the party and finished up a couple of things the day of. I'm going to break each dessert down by ingredients, tasks, and timeline. I feel kind of silly doing this because everything was literally so easy, but I do hope this helps at least one person searching for dessert tables on the internet....

List of Desserts:

Chocolate Brownie Parfaits - makes 20 servings, using these mini parfait cups

Banana Pudding Parfaits - makes 20 servings

Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

White Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Cheesecake Pops

Chocolate Brownie Parfaits

1 JELLO instant chocolate pudding (the large size)

1 Betty Crocker fudge brownie mix

1 lb. Freshly chopped strawberries

1/2 tub Cool Whip

Day Before - Make your instant chocolate pudding and the brownies.  You can keep the pudding in the refrigerator until needed.  Once the brownies have cooled, break into small pieces and keep in a tupperware container.

Day Of - Chop the strawberries into small pieces. Line up your parfait cups and set up an assembly line - brownie bits, pudding, and strawberries. Put a small amount of brownie in the bottom of each cup and top with a couple tablespoons of pudding. Add a handful of the chopped strawberries. Repeat until you have 2 layers of each ingredient.

Right Before - Add cool whip to each parfait and top with a sliced strawberry.

Notes - I actually had a really hard time finding mini parfait recipes so I kind of made these up!

Banana Pudding Parfaits

1 JELLO instant vanilla pudding (the large size)

1 box Mini Nilla Wafers

2 Freshly sliced bananas

1/2 tub Cool Whip

Day Before - Make your instant vanilla pudding. You can keep the pudding in the refrigerator until needed.  

Day Of - Slice the bananas. Line up your parfait cups and set up an assembly line - broken vanilla wafers, pudding, and bananas. Put a couple of broken vanilla wafers in the bottom of each cup and top with a couple tablespoons of pudding. Add 2 banana slices. Repeat until you have 2 layers of each ingredient.

Right Before - Add cool whip to each parfait and top with a vanilla wafer.

Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

1 bag Snyder's pretzel rods

1 bag milk chocolate candy melts

1 bag white chocolate candy melts

Sprinkles or other topping

Day Before - Set up a cookie tray covered with wax paper. Sort out your pretzels, eliminating the ones that have been broken. Melt your chocolate according to the package directions (usually 1 minute in the microwave, followed by increments of 30 seconds). Quickly dip your pretzel in the melted chocolate, using a rubber spatula to distribute the chocolate on about 3/4 of the pretzel. Be sure to apply sprinkles before the chocolate cools. Set on the wax paper and allow to cool completely, about 24 hours.

Notes - These are so easy to make, and everyone loves them! I've seen etsy sellers that sell these, but why pay for it when you can do it yourself in about 5 minutes? These also look really cute packaged up in plastic treat bags and tied with ribbon. You can change the color of the chocolates/sprinkles to fit just about any theme!

White Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 box Duncan Hines white cake mix + Ingredients to make

1 cup butter, softened

3 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 t. vanilla extract

1 to 2 T. whipping cream (I used whole milk)

Sprinkles or other decorative topping

Day Before - Make your cupcakes according to package directions. Allow to cool, then store in a tupperware container until ready to frost.  

Day Of - Make the vanilla buttercream frosting. Top each cupcake with a swirl of frosting and add sprinkles.

Notes - I was able to make 18 cupcakes and generously frost all of them using the above recipe.

Cheesecake Pops

1 store bought cheesecake

1 bag milk chocolate candy melts

1 bag white chocolate candy melts

Sprinkles or other topping

Paper straws or other stick, optional

Day Before - Make the cheesecake balls by using a melon baller. Place on a cookie tray lined with wax paper. You can use paper straws or short lollipop sticks (from Michael's) to make the ball into a pop. Place in the refrigerator until ready to dip in chocolate.

Day Of - Melt the candy melts and dip each pop individually. You will want the pops to be completely hard, otherwise they will fall apart. I found that 30 minutes to an hour in the FREEZER will help a lot. Sprinkle each pop before the chocolate cools down. Set on a tray and put back in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Notes - The cheesecake will get hard to work with once it warms up. Try to work as quickly as possible. I was able to make 30 pops from a store bought cheesecake.

Like I said, these are more like how-to's than actual recipes. I do hope that someone finds this useful though! And I promise I'm done talking about the dessert table now :)