St. Patrick's Day Recipes

With St. Patrick's Day only a week away, here are some quick and easy recipes to whip up for the kids, courtesy of Duncan Hines.

CLOVER PATCH BROWNIES

Bring a bit-o-luck to the kitchen by creating these shamrock-covered Clover Patch Brownies.

Ingredients:
1 pkg Duncan Hines Family Style Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix
1 pkg pre-made marzipan or fondant
green food coloring
green toothpicks

Baking Instructions:
1. Bake brownies according to instructions on box. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut brownies into squares.
2. Meanwhile, knead green food coloring into marzipan or fondant until desired shade of green is achieved.
3. Form small (1-inch) 3-leaf and 4-leaf clover shapes out of fondant or marzipan. Be realistic and make a lot more 3-leaf clovers than 4-leaf clovers.
4. Stick clover shapes on top of green toothpicks.
5. Insert little bunches of clovers onto each brownie.

Viv's take: My brownies usually end up tasting fine, but looking terrible, mostly because they stick to the pan (or each other) and fall apart when you take a bite. I used the Duncan Hines mix in this recipe on my last batch, opted for the cake-like variety, and received rave reviews. The kids couldn't eat them fast enough. Best of all, my brownies looked like they came from a bakery. Perfect little rectangles that didn't fall to pieces! The fondant clovers are optional for me in this recipe. They are cute as can be, but I'm thinking maybe some lucky charms marshmallow bits or green icing decorations would be even easier.

LEPRECHAUN KEY LIME CAKE
Ingredients:

Cake:
1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
1 (3.4 oz) pkg lemon instant pudding and pie filling
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/4 cup Key lime juice

Glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup Key lime juice
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Garnish:
Additional confectioners' sugar, lime slices and fresh strawberry slices.

Baking Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt or tube pan.
2. For cake, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup Key lime juice in large bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer until moistened. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.
3. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes. Remove cake from pan onto cooling rack. Return cake to pan. Poke holes in top of warm cake with toothpick or long-tined fork.
4. For glaze, combine 2 cups confectioner's sugar, 1/3 cup Key lime juice, 2 tablespoons water and melted butter in medium bowl. Pour slowly over top of warm cake. Cool completely. Invert onto serving plate. Dust with additional confectioner's sugar. Garnish with lime slices and strawberry slices, if desired.

Viv's take: If you love Key lime, this cake is for you. I'm a FL girl, but I think this might be just a little TOO "lemon limey" for me. I think I'd change the pudding mix to something innocuous, like vanilla, and just add extra water instead of the Key lime juice, so my kids would enjoy it more. I do like the simple glaze, lime and strawberry slices for garnish.

I received a box each of the Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Lemon Supreme Cake Mix and Family Style Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix to try out for this post.