When I received Shaina Olmanson’s debut cookbook, Desserts In Jars: 50 Sweet Treats That Shine (The Harvard Common Press – June 2012), I was ecstatic. I just knew this cookbook was designed for me and my family.
My kids know, I love to prepare simple desserts that look fancy and I’ve got a little love affair with jars going. I’m always looking for new things to make and fun ways to serve them to my friends and family.
Olmanson has created wonderful recipes with cute and inventive ways to serve them. They are the perfect dessert portion and just beautifully presented. As soon as I got my book I wanted to try them all. Who wouldn’t want to, with delicious recipes such as: Orange-White Chocolate Cheesecakes with Cranberry Sauce, Lemon-Blueberry Bread Pudding, Peach Granita Bellinis and Spiced Hot Chocolate Mix with Cinnamon Marshmallows?
For anyone looking for inspiring dessert ideas and beautiful inventive ways to serve them, Shaina has provided an entire cookbook of great recipes to try.
You can watch the Dessert In Jars book trailer and check out Shaina’s fun food blog, Food For My Family, for more family friendly recipes.
Shaina Olmanson has given me an extra cookbook to give away to one lucky Daily Dish Recipes reader. One winner will receive their own copy of her cookbook Desserts in Jars, 50 Sweet Treats That Shine (Harvard Common Press). You are sure to fall in love with the recipes and photography as soon as you open the book.
Giveaway details: Daily Dish Recipes is giving away a copy of Dessert In Jars to one reader. All you need to do is leave a comment sharing with us your favorite dessert to serve your family and friends. One winner will be randomly chosen by Random. org and contacted by valid email. Open to US Residents only. Contest closes December 23, 2012 at 11:59 PM CST.
For additional entries:
- Share, tweet or pin this post on your favorite social media outlets…Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Leave a separate comment on this post (up to 3) for each share beyond your initial comment.
- You will receiving 5 Bonus entries for participating and tweeting to me (and using our hashtag) during the live chat with Shaina Olmanson on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 8pm EST on Twitter. Details will be added to this post as soon as I have them.
Here on my blog, I’m sharing with you a wonderful recipe from the book for Banana Buttermilk Trifles. They are gorgeous, taste amazing and are so much fun to serve up in little jars.
Rich, Creamy and Delicious Banana floating on soft, moist cake & topped with a creamy decadent cream pudding sauce. Heaven in a little glass jar.
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 3 overripe bananas
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
- Vanilla bean seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean pod
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
- 6 ripe bananas
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9 × 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Cream together the sugar and butter for 2 minutes. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and egg and mix on low speed until blended. Mash the bananas slightly, add them to the bowl, and mix well on low speed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones just until incorporated. Spread the cake batter onto the baking pan in an even layer.
Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Make the pudding: Whisk together the granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla bean seeds in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the egg yolks until well combined. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking to incorporate it. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat until it thickens, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter one piece at a time, making sure each piece is incorporated before adding the next. Cover the top of the pudding with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool, 1½ to 2 hours.
Using the top of an 8-ounce jar as a guide, cut 10 circles from the cake. Fit the circles into the bottoms of ten 8-ounce jars. Slice the ripe bananas ¼ inch thick and line the sides of the jars with the banana slices pressed up against the glass, two slices deep. Pour the pudding into the jars to cover the bananas.
In a medium bowl, beat together the heavy cream and the confectioners’ sugar until stiff peaks form. Spoon the whipped cream over the pudding. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
http://dailydishrecipes.com/banana-buttermilk-trifles-desserts-in-jars-dessertsinjars/
All this week, myself and nine other of my favorite food bloggers will be sharing treats from Desserts in Jars by Shaina Olmanson and all 10 blogs are giving away a copy of the book. So you have 10 chances to win!
Be sure and stop by to see the others:
Monday
- Karen from In the Kitchen with KP - Pull Apart Cinnamon Bread
- Nicole from Daily Dish Recipes – Banana Buttermilk Trifles
Tuesday
- Pam from The Meltaways – Spiced Hot Chocolate Mix with Cinnamon Marshmallows
- Heather from girlichef - Orange White-Chocolate Cheesecakes w/ Cranberry Sauce
Wednesday
- Sunithi from Sue’s Nutrition Buzz – Cherry Almond Squares
- Amber from Mama’s Blissful Bites – Campfire Bars Mix
Thursday
- Renee from Magnolia Days – Monster Cookies Mix
- Jamie from Mama.Mommy.Mom - Pumpkin Cheesecakes with a Gingersnap Crust
Friday
- Jen from Juanita’s Cocina - Basil Strawberry Lemonade Granita
- Lane from Supper For a Steal - Strawberry Shortcakes
If you would like to purchase this book for yourself or to give as a gift this season, you can purchase Desserts in Jars here.
Join us on Tuesday at 12 noon during the Midlife Roadtrip Blogtalk Radio Show Call in to speak with Shaina, hosts Sandi & Rick and Isabel from FamilyFoodie.com (213) 943-3502. We would love to hear from you!
Disclaimer: Harvard Common Press gave me a copy of Desserts In Jars for review and one to give away. All opinions are mine. Photographs and Recipe are © 2012 by Shaina Olmanson and used by permission of The Harvard Common Press.
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh my gosh these are so cute! And those jars are amazing, I love them
Lane, Shaina has a way with finding the cutest jars I’ve ever seen. This book is amazing!
These are TOTALLY on my list of things I want to make from this book, they sound amazing!
My list of things to try from this book is ridiculously long. There are so many GREAT things in there!
These look amazing! I am so excited about this week and these amazing desserts we’re sharing! Can’t wait for the chat!
I’m really excited for the chat too Pam! Will be so much fun!
OOh, these look beautiful !!! The combo of banana, buttermilk and cream is making me drool ! Can’t wait to receive my book now
! Yummmm !
You will be thrilled with it. So many yummy things to make all wrapped up in one brilliant cookbook by Shaina!
Nicole, these are so adorable! And I love bananas and pudding so this is the perfect little jar of dessert for me. Everyone’s recipes look amazing – can’t wait to read everyone’s posts!
I love bananas and pudding too Nancy, and these were SO good! I can’t wait for you to check out the rest of the team’s recipes!
I love serving sour cream lemon pie in small jars!
Yum, Mary that sounds delicious! Hope you’ll join our chat tomorrow and tell us more.
These look amazingly delicious! I’m adding it to my list of gifts this year!
Thank you for sharing!!!
This book is fantastic for it’s gift giving purposes. Not only does the book make a great gift (especially with some cute jars all packaged up) but the items within the book make for lovely gifts as well.
My family likes when I make banana pie (or any yummy pudding dessert) – can’t wait to try this recipe!! Thank you!!!
Stephanie, that sounds amazing. Thank you for sharing your favorite dessert. Hope you’ll stop by the chat for 5 extra entries for the giveaway! (Tuesday (today) December 18, 2012 at 8pmEST on twitter – hashtag #DessertsInJars – the author Shaina Olmanson will be there talking about Desserts In Jars and answering questions. Hope to see you there!
I am having such a hard time choosing which recipe to make next from Desserts in Jars! They all look amazing and my kids told me that we must try all 50 of them!
I’m having a hard time with that too. There are just so many and I’d like to make them all as well. Brielle has already bought the ingredients for the Frozen Banana Splits – they look so super yummy! I’m leaning towards to Pains au Chocolat. So many amazing recipes!
Sounds so good Nicole! I’ll drop by Tues to chat at #dessertsinjars see ya then!
Can’t wait to see you there Cindy!
These desserts are adorable and I love the built-in portion control.
We don’t have desserts often in my house, but I’d say either chocolate cake or chocolate chip cookies.
Chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies are favorites around here too!
Those are so cute, and look so delicious! In our house, holiday cookies are our favorite dessert at the moment!
Holiday cookies abound at my house too. I’ve been in the kitchen for two days and we’re not done. Looks like more baking over the weekend. haha The best part of course, is eating the ones that turn out less than gorgeous…
I’d love this book in my kitchen! I enjoy making chocolate desserts, especially anything that can be made ahead of time before company arrives.
Holly, chocolate is my thing too. I love chocolate anything. Thanks for entering!
My favorite Holiday dish would be My Oyster Stuffing that I only make at Thanksgiving and Xmas time.
Mmmm…. Cindy, Oyster stuffing sounds amazing. Hopefully you will see this but the comment needs to be your favorite dessert to share with your family.
At any rate, you have three other entries and I have them down 
I shared this post on Facebook.
I tweeted this post on Twitter.
I pinned this post on Pinterest.
This looks like a great book to add to my cook book collection. I love to make cupcakes for my family.
Arlene, you would love it! Cupcakes are so fun – so many flavor combinations and different icings/frostings. Cupcakes are perfect!
Right now I’m on a bananas foster kick.
Mmm…. Banana’s Foster … love it! Do you have your recipe on your blog?
Caramel apple pie is a family favorite.
I tweeted about your giveaway @liasim
I shared your post in facebook
Desserts in jars … who knew they were so amazing!!!
I love making brownies and homemade ice cream
Mmmmm…. delicious dessert. I love brownies and homemade ice cream is so much better than the store bought kind.