Heath Bar Blondies

We had some extra Heath Bar pieces left over from when I make Hello Dolly Bars so I decided to browse Pinterest to see what recipes were out there for Heath Bar cookies.  While searching the pins I found this super easy (and yummy) recipe for Heath Bar blondies.  Less time and less effort sounded good to me!! The recipe is from the blog Lovin' From the Oven.


1 cup All Purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped Heath Bars (I used 1/2 cup Heath toffee bits and 1/2 cup caramel chips)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.) Cream together the brown sugar and melted butter. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until blended.
3.) Stir in the Heath Bars and pour into a greased 8x8 pan.
4.) Bake for 30-35 minutes.

4th of July Strawberries and Strawberry Mojitos

At the end of my three week journey away from South Texas I stayed for a few days at my inlaw's house near Dallas.  My sister in-law wanted to make red, white and blue strawberries that she had seen her cousin make. My mother in-law wanted to make mojitos and I got really excited because I had JUST SEEN a recipe for strawberry mojitos on Pinterest.

The quick description for how to make these mojitos can be found here!  Blend together 1 can frozen limeade, 1/2 can (the one that held the limeade) rum, 2 cups frozen strawberries, and a muddled mixture of a few leaves of fresh mint and the pulp of two limes.

For the strawberries you need white chocolate melted with a tsp of oil, washed and dried strawberries and blue sugar.  Dip the strawberries in the white chocolate 3/4 of the way up the strawberry.  Immediately dip about half way up the strawberry with the blue sugar.  Place on wax paper to harden.  Afterwards I thought using some cream cheese frosting for the white would taste AMAZING!

Strawberry Cookie Tarts

I was blog stalking a month or so ago and found this recipe at Me and My Pink Mixer. I made these cookie tarts while I was home in Maryland and everyone LOVED them.  I think my grandfather loved them the most.  He is diabetic and I think he ate at least 6 along with some ice cream cake.  He was fine, no worries! You just need some cookie dough, sugar, cool whip and cream cheese.  Check out the recipe at Me and My Pink Mixer.

                                                                        My sister, Caitlin.



Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

Another food blog I like to check out is Kaitlin In The Kitchen. She always has really good recipes on her blog.  I had a major sweet tooth the other day and decided to make these blondies/brownies.  I don't have a picture because Fly Boy ate the entire pan in one day!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 Cups Packed Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Butter or Margarine, melted

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

3 Eggs

1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:

In large bowl, beat brown sugar, butter or margarine, peanut butter, vanilla, and eggs until well blended. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Spread batter into a greased pan and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Hello Dolly Bars

A few years ago, my roommate made these bars around Easter time and they were super yummy. I for the life of me could not remember the name of them other than they had some woman's name in the title. Then in my blog stalking I notice that Life as a Lofthouse had posted a recipe for Hello Dolly Bars. That was the name! So I checked out the recipe and notice the bars had coconut and nuts in them.  Well Fly Boy won't eat those things so for a few weeks I tried to decide if I should just make them with the nuts and coconut and gain 50 lbs eating them alone or figure out if there were some suitable substitutes.  So what I decided was to leave out the coconut and nuts and replace  those with just one ingredient: heath bar pieces. So I made Hello Dollys my way and you may go into a sugar coma after eating a piece but boy are they good!

1 stick of butter
8 graham crackers crushed
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
3/4 cup heath bar pieces OR (1 cup chopped nuts and 1 cup coconut)
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then place the stick of butter in an 8x8 pan and put it in the oven for five minutes to melt the butter. Remove pan from oven.

Spread the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter. Layer the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, heath bar (or coconut and nuts) on top of the graham cracker crust.

Pour the condensed milk over the top of the candies and bake for 25 minutes or until the condensed milk it bubbly and the center of the bars is set.

NOTE: If you use nuts and coconut your layers should be butter, graham crackers, nuts, choc chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, condensed milk (in that order).

Oh and Fly Boy liked the bars so much he asked me if I wanted some Dolly Partons to eat. I told him there were no big boobs in that pan at all :-)

Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is from www.ourbestbites.com and I found it in their published cook book.  These cookies were soooo good! I actually changed this around a little bit and put peanut butter in place of the coco powder and put in chocolate and white chocolate chips.

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 regular sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp coca powder (I used peanut butter)

1 cup peanut butter chips (I used chocolate)

1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Cream butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla and eggs. Add peanut butter here if you use it.

2. In another bowl mix flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder if you didn't use peanut butter.

3. Mix in the chips.

4. Spoon out onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake 8-10 min at 350 degrees. 

Muddy Buddies

I am sure we have all made this recipe. Sometimes my posts may not be new ideas but just simply reminders of easy things you can make that are super yummy!

I made this in college and my roommates loved it. Since it is covered in powdered sugar they said it looked like crack. Then they tasted it and said that is was as addicting as crack sooooo we call it crack.

Anyway, I made this for Fly Boys flight.  I made a huge mess but it tasted really good!

Oh this recipe is on the back of Chex cereal box and it is from Betty Crocker!

9 cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar



1.Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.

2.In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.

3.Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Garlic Cheese Rolls

So I have a few friends that have blogs...some are recipe blogs, some are personal blogs, some are DIY blogs.  I enjoy reading all of them to see what is going on in other people's lives and to get yummy food and awesome home decor ideas. So one day I was reading one of these blogs and they mentioned Ana White (be careful if you click that link because it will be hours before you return to what you were doing before). Ana White is a furniture DIYer. She posts plans for awesome pieces including some Pottery Barn knock offs. The plans are FREE!!!

So I was on Ana White's web page for the 100th time one day and looked at her blog roll (BIG MISTAKE) and found oh so many more blogs that I love.  (Stay tuned for projects from those blogs.) So then those blogs linked to other blogs and so on and so forth and somehow I found this little gem: Our Best Bites.

I wanted to eat and make all the recipes like right then but I grabbed ahold of myself and picked ONE to start with. So here it is and oh my where they yummy!

Garlic Cheese Rolls 

French Bread Dough:


1 Tbsp. yeast

1 1/2 c. warm water

1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

4-5 1/2 c. flour

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 egg yolk



Garlic Butter:

1/2 c. (1 stick) of real butter, no substitutions

1 1/2 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning


Shredded mozzarella cheese



Combine yeast, water, and sugar in large mixing bowl and allow to stand 10 minutes or until bubbly. Add salt, vegetable oil, and egg yolk (set white aside for later) and combine. Add 3 c. flour and mix well until combined. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough that barely sticks to your finger. Knead, either by hand or in mixer (my personal and very lazy choice) for another 2-3 minutes. Cover and allow to rise 1 hour.

While dough is rising, combine butter and garlic bread seasoning. Set aside.

Roll your rough into a rectangle that's about 18-20 inches by 6 inches. Smear garlic butter over the entire surface of the dough and then sprinkle with cheese.

Roll up jelly-roll style and then cut into 12 equal slices.  Place each slice in a muffin tin. Cover with a clean cloth. Preheat oven to 350 and allow rolls to rise while the oven is heating.

When the oven is ready, bake for 18-22 minutes.

Once you notice the cheese getting brown, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the rolls (you don't need to press it down or anything, just lay it on top). This will keep the cheese from burning, although it will get pretty brown on top.



French Breakfast Puffs

These were easy to make. They came out light and fluffy.  My camera is dead so I do not have a picture. The recipe is from one of my Taste of Home cookbooks.



1/3 cup shortening

1 cup sugar, divided

1 egg

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons butter, melted




In a small bowl, beat shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and egg until smooth. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; add to the sugar mixture alternately with milk.

Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Meanwhile, combine cinnamon and remaining sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll the warm puffs in butter, then in cinnamon-sugar. Serve immediately. Yield: 1 dozen.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Emily posted these on her blog. They are really good...soft, chewy and easy to make!!!



3/4 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar or white vinegar (I used cider)
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and 2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, corn syrup, and vinegar, then beat in the eggs. Beat in the vanilla, salt, baking powder, and baking sida. Stir in the flour and the chocolate chips.
3. Drop the dough by tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, until they are just set; the centers may still look a bit underdone. Remove them from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.

Apple Muffins

I am posting this recipe in search of some help. I made these muffins and they came out okay.  They are more of a coffee cake than a nice moist muffin (which is what I was looking for).  They were good but just did not hit the spot. Suggestions?  Do you have any good recipes for apple muffins??? This recipe is from Family Circle.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon  ( I used 2 tsp)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tablespoons milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup diced peeled apple (I used an extra 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped ( I left out)

I topped my muffins with butter, cinnamon and sugar once they came out of the oven.




1. Heat oven to 375°F. Coat 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in medium-size bowl. Beat in milk and oil.

3. Make well in flour mixture. Add egg mixture. Stir until flour mixture is moistened and batter comes together. Add apple and nuts. Spoon rounded 1/4 cup batter into each cup.

4. Bake in 375°F oven 20 minutes, until toothpick tests clean. Cool in pan on rack 5 minutes. Turn out to cool.

Beer Bread

I love the Tastefully Simple Beer Bread but it is really expensive to buy so I looked up copycat recipes online, found one, made it and it was reallllly good!!! The recipe is from http://www.food.com/.

3 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

12 ounces beer

2 tablespoons melted butter

(If you only have all purpose flour for every cup of all purpose flour add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt.)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Mix all ingredients except melted butter together-stirring just until blended.

3. Pour into greased bread loaf pan.

4. Spread melted butter over the top of the bread during the last 10 minutes of baking.

5. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

Peanut Butter Brownie Pie

I made this, ate it and almost died.  It was so yummy and rich.  Fly Boy said it should be more peanut buttery (not a word, I know).  I told him he was crazy.  The recipe is from http://www.justapinch.com/.

1 bx fudge brownie mix
1 pkg deep dish frozen pie crust (thawed)
1 c creamy peanut butter
1 pkg of cream cheese (8 0z.)
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 sm tub of whipped topping


Mix brownie mix according to directions on box. Spread 1/2 cup of the mix into one thawed pie crust ( you can always make brownies with the rest). Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and brownie is set.

While cooling, mix the cream cheese (best mixes if cheese softened to room temp.) with the powdered sugar. Mix until creamy then mix in the peanut butter until well blended. Mix in 1/2 of the tub of whipped topping until well blended.

Spread the mixture into the crust when it is completely cooled.

Spread the remaining whipped topping over the filling and if you wish you can top it with miniature peanut butter cups. (I just topped with chocolate chips)

 Refrigerate for at least an hour and enjoy.

Icing Recipes

In the fall I took a cake decorating class and I had more problems with the baking and making the icing than the decorating.  I am not sure what my baking issue was because I have made cakes before with no problem but I could not seem to make a cake and get it out of the pan.  The other issue I had was I hated the icing we had to make.  Let me remind you that I LOVE ICING!!! This icing (to me) was gross. It tasted like it had wayyyy too much shortening in it.  After some research of other icing recipes, I think the recipe we were given to make did have too much shortening (or maybe I was making it wrong?) In any case, a teacher I work with made a cake the other day and the icing was AMAZING.  She said the recipe came from the back of the CH Cane's Sugar box.  I went to the website and found a whole list of icing recipes so I thought I would share!


CLICK HERE!

http://www.verypink.com/Images/jingles/candh.jpg

Let It Snowman, Let It Snowman, Let It Snowman!!!

I have a confession...and an obsession with one thing that deals with winter...Snowmen.  I love them. I have all kinds of snowman ornaments, snowman decorations, snowman pictures, etc.  I have recently seen several snowman crafts that you may enjoy creating.  I have not made these but they were too cute not to share.

Snowman Paint Stick

The 3rd graders at my school made these and they are adorable! The directions and picture are from http://www.familycorner.com/homegarden/crafts/angels_and_snowmen.shtml.

Paint stir stick

small craft or ice cream stick

white & black acrylic paint

orange toothpick

scrap material for scarf

black fine tip marker

green embroidery floss

gold cord

light pink acrylic paint



Paint the stir stick white. Paint the handle end of the stick black. Pain the ice cream stick black, let dry. Glue ice cream stick across from of paint stirrer, this will act as the hat brim. Tie fabric scrap around neck as the scarf.

Make a loop and glue gold cord to the back of the head. Draw on eyes, nose and mouth, as well as belly buttons. Add rosey cheeks with slight touches of pink paint. Glue toothpick in place for nose. Tie floss into a small bow and attach to the front of the hot with hot glue.


Melted Snowman Cookies

From http://www.crazydomestic.com/2010/12/melted-snowman-cookies.html


1 package Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix


10 large marshmallows

Betty Crocker Cookie Icing (white and orange)

Wilton Decorating Icing Tubes in Black, Red, Green, Blue and Pink




Mix cookie mix according to directions, or prepare your favorite cut out sugar cookie recipe, then just grab a golf ball sized chunk and squish it down until it's about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Do not worry about the shape or how lumpy it is, the more misshapen the better! Bake according to recipe directions.

Once the cookies are cool, load them up with the cookie icing and spread it around with the back of a spoon, let some dribble over the edge for a "puddle" look.


Spray a microwave safe plate with cooking spray, and place marshmallows on the plate. Set the microwave for 30 seconds, but watch the marshmallows as they cook. Stop the microwave as soon as the marshmallows start to get puffy, do not let them double in size.

Spray your fingers with cooking spray or grease them up with shortening, and carefully pull the marshmallows off, by the base, and set them on top of the frosted cookies.


Then just decorate as you'd like with the Wilton frosting, or your own homemade frosting



Fudge Puddles

My favorite cookie recipe from my Aunt Trish:

1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla


Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars; add egg and vanilla. Add soda, salt and flour. Mix well. Drop by spoonful into mini muffin pan. Bake 325 for 14 minutes. Take out of oven and make wells in the mini muffins.

Melt chocolates, condensed milk and vanilla over a double boiler. Spoon into the centers of the cookies/mini muffins.

Molasses Cookies

From Nate's Grandmom:

3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 c molasses
2 eggs
4 tsp baking soda
4 cups sifted flour
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Blend shortening and butter.  Add sugar,  molasses, egg. Mix well. Sift flour, soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Add to first mixture. Mix well and chill. Roll into 1 inch balls and coat with sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 for 7-10 min.

Peppermint Bark

Photos and recipe from joyofbaking.com

Peppermint Bark:


6 ounces (170 grams) semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

6 ounces (170 grams) white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/3 - 1/2 cup (50 - 80 grams) crushed candy canes



Peppermint Bark: Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan with aluminum foil, smoothing out any wrinkles.




Melt the semi sweet chocolate and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Immediately pour the melted chocolate into the prepared pan and tilt the pan so the chocolate makes an even layer. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.



Then, melt the white chocolate and remaining 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Immediately pour the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate and tilt the pan so the chocolate is in an even layer. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes evenly over the white chocolate. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.



Remove the Peppermint Bark from the pan by lifting the edges of the aluminum foil. Peel back the foil and break the bark into small irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.



Makes about 25 pieces.





Sources:



Pappas, Lou Seibert. The Christmas Candy Book. Chronicle Books. San Francisco: 2002.



Wilson, Dede. 'A Baker's Field Guide to Holiday Candy & Confections'. The Harvard Common Press. Boston: 2005.

Cookies and Cream Balls

This recipe is from Nate's Aunt Maggie...very easy!

1 package of double stuffed oreos
1 package of cream cheese at room temp
1 bag of white chocolate chips melted (use 1 tsp veggie oil to help melt chocolate)

Crush oreos in a food processor or blender. Add cream cheese and blend.  Refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and coat with melted white chocolate. Freeze again to let chocolate set.

Banana Spiced Cookies

This recipe is from my Aunt Trish but I found it online too so I borrowed the other lady's typing and picture!

http://ourrecipeclub.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-moms-banana-spice-cookies-with-lemon.html

1/2 cup shortening (Or 1/4 Cup butter, 1/4 cup shortening)

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas, about 2 bananas
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I left this out)


In a large bowl cream together shortening, sugar, eggs & banana. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover & chill about 1 hour.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool & frost with Lemon Butter Icing.


Lemon Butter Icing


1/3 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest


Blend together butter & sugar. Stir in lemon juice & zest. Beat until smooth & of spreading consistency.