TMJ Friendly (EASY) Desserts

Last Friday, I posted about TMJ friendly recipes:http://positivelytmjtmd.blogspot.com/2017/07/tmj-friendly-recipes.html
and also shared a link to a list of TMJ friendly foods and foods to avoid: http://positivelytmjtmd.blogspot.com/2015/09/lets-talk-food.html.  This week, I am sharing a few of my favorite TMJ friendly desserts.

I use to tell people my favorite food group was junk food, but my taste buds changed after surgery.  I no longer love sweets or sugary snacks.  I can't stand the taste of chocolate.  I have no idea what caused this change.  My friends and family are shocked.  Before this, I was an avid baker who enjoyed trying different recipes.  Even though I haven't baked since surgery, I found some of my favorite recipes to share:

Old Fashioned Banana Pudding

I love this recipe, but have been known to break the cookies up (or crush them) and let it sit over night to make the cookies mushy so I can eat it.  Some people even add a layer of chocolate pudding, so this is an easy recipe to play with.

Ingredients:

3 cups cold milk

2 packages (40serving size each) JELLO Vanilla Flavor Instant pudding (you can make this from scratch, but why?)

30 vanilla wafers

3 medium bananas, sliced

1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whipped Topping, Thawed

Directions:

Pour milk into large bowl.

Add dry pudding mixes and beat with a wire whisk for 2 minutes (or until well blended).

Let stand 5 minutes.

Arrange half of the wafers on the bottom of a 2-quart serving bowl.

Top with layers of half the banana slices and pudding

Repeat all layers.

Cover with whipped topping.

Refrigerate 3 hours.

Microwave Fudge

This is super quick and easy.  It takes no more than 5 minutes to make.  It tastes good to dip the fudge in peanut butter.

Ingredients:

1 pound of powdered sugar

½ cup cocoa

¼ cup milk

1 stick of butter or margarine

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup nuts (I leave this out)

Directions:

Combine sugar, cocoa, and milk.  Stir only once.  Add stick of butter.  Microwave on high for two minutes.

Stir in vanilla and nuts until well blended.  Pour into greased cake pan and put in the refrigerator for an hour.  Cut into squares and serve.  Store in refrigerator.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Some people place a Hershey’s kiss on the top.  Often times, I melt chocolate and dip the cooled off cookies in it and then let the chocolate cool off.  Most cookies are too hard for me to eat, but these aren't.  In addition, these cookies give me a tad of the saltiness that I crave.

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well

Roll dough into balls

Place balls onto greased cookie sheet

Bake 10 minutes at 350

Mandarin Orange Cake

This cake is surprisingly easy, soft, moist, and a real crowd pleaser!

Part one:

(Mix all these ingredients together)

Yellow cake mix

1 can mandarin oranges (11 ½ ounces-don’t drain)

4 eggs

½ cup oil

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes

Cool the cake

Part 2

In a bowl, put…

1 20 ounce can crushed pineapples (Dole)

1 Box instant vanilla pudding

small cool whip and fold into the mixture

Triple Layer Peanut Butter Brownies

I never really liked brownies, yet I loved these.  All the layers make the brownies extra moist.  When I am ready to eat this, I take it out of the fridge and leave it out for awhile.  This helps the layers melt, and it makes the brownie layer extra moist.  

Ingredients:

1 box (19-21 ounces) brownie mix, prepared in 13x9-inch pan (just follow the directions)

1 cup cold milk

1 package (3.4 ounce) Jell-O vanilla Instant pudding

1 cup creamy peanut butter

½ cup powdered sugar

1 ½ cups cool whipped topping (thawed)

3 squared baker’s semi-sweet baking chocolate (I often just use chocolate bars)

Directions:

Make the brownies according to the directions and let them cool.

Whisk milk and pudding about 2 minutes.  Add peanut butter and sugar; mix well.  When the brownies are completely cooled, spread the pudding mixture over the brownies.

Microwave whipped topping and chocolate for one minute, stirring every 30 seconds.  Spread over the pudding. 

Refrigerate 1 hour.

Banana Bread

This is a super easy recipe.  Any type (pumpkin, zucchini, blueberry, etc) of bread should be pretty easy to eat, or you can mix it into a smoothie.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

½ cup oil

1 egg

3-4 bananas (rotten)

1 ½ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 pinch of salt

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together

Pour into greased bread pan

Bake at 350 for 45-1 hour

Coca Cola Cake

This is decadent and delicious!  This is also good served with ice cream.  Even though this is more labor intensive, is worth it.  This takes about 45 minutes to complete.

Preheat oven to 350

Mix:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda (or powder)

½ teaspoon cinnamon

In a saucepan over medium heat until it boils:

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 cup coca cola

½ cup buttermilk (1/2 cup milk and a tablespoon lemon juice)

Take off heat & add flour mix, then add:

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix, put in greased pan, and bake for 30 minutes.

When the cake is nearly done, make a glaze in a saucepan:

½ cup butter (1 stick)

¼ cup cocoa

½ cup coca cola

Once it boils, remove, & slowly stir in 4 cups of confectioners’ sugar until smooth.

Once the cake is out of the oven, pour the warm glaze over the hot cake.  (I poke holes in the cake so some of the glaze gets into the cake)

Strawberry Poke Cake

This is a quick, easy, and refreshing cake.  

Ingredients:

White cake mix

Strawberry jello mix (3 ounces)

1 cup water (boiling)

cool whip

Strawberries (optional)

Direction:

Bake the white cake as stated in the directions on the box.  Let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Use a fork, chopstick, straw, or end of a wooden spoon and poke holes all over the cake (the smaller, the batter it will be)

Boil a cup of water and mix the strawberry jello in it, wait two minutes then pour it all over the cake so it goes into the holes.

Cover the cake then let it chill in the fridge for a couple hours.

Top with cool whip and sliced strawberries.

Easy Pumpkin Pie

After surgery, I couldn't eat the pie crust.  However, I was fine with eating the pumpkin pie filling with whipped cream!

Ingredients:

Already made pie crust

2 eggs

¾ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

½ teaspoon salt

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat eggs with wire whisk.  Stir in remaining ingredients until well blended.  Pour into the crust.

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean)

Cool completely, approximately 2 hours, in fridge.

Cinnamon Roll Casserole

Most people have heard of a French toast casserole, but few people have heard of the cinnamon roll casserole.  This amazing dish combines the best of the breakfast world with the snack world.  Some people add nuts, but since that is not TMJ friendly, I left that out of the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cans Pillsbury cinnamon rolls

½ cup milk

4 eggs

1 Teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup pure maple sugar

Instructions:

Grease a 9 x 13 pan with Pam

Cut up rolls in small pieces and lay in the pan

In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk, and cinnamon

Pour over rolls making sure they are well coated

Drizzle on the maple syrup

Bake at 350 for approximately 35 minutes or until puffed up and golden

Microwave the icing that came with the 2 cinnamon roll packs in a microwave safe bowl.

Pour on top and serve warm. 
Eat with additional syrup (if you want it more sweet)!