S'mores Brownies!

Dusty is crazy for s'mores so last week I decided to take boxed brownies to a new level and make s'mores brownies. I realize it's probably not an original idea but I thought I'd share because it's easy and delicious!

 I just mixed up a brownie mix and spread it in a baking dish like usual. Then I sprinkled mini-marshmallows across the top and topped it with crumbled graham crackers. Bake as usual and devour while they are warm. Awesome (& easy) s'mores!!!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting ~ Yum~

Tidy Mom has some amazing cupcakes on her site! I love to drool over them so when I was searching for a recipe for a dessert for a benefit dinner, I ran to her site to search through her archives! It was so hard to pick but I was looking for something I could make with ingredients I had on hand so I came up with these! 

The frosting is DIVINE! Fluffy and rich! I will say that the chocolate base needs to be rich. I did a fudge chocolate using her technique (homemade tasting using box cake mix) and it was not rich enough to go with the frosting. Go rich or go HOME! :)

Can’t go wrong with Peanut Butter & Chocolate!

 

Photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman

I made this pie last week to take to some friends. My friends told me it was delicious… hope they were telling the truth. I did lick the bowl …. oops! It was yummy!

This was an easy recipe that is pretty much fail-proof! A great summer dessert!

Friday Favorite: White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer

My parents gave us a 6 quart White Mountain ice cream freezer for Christmas. I used it a few weeks ago – I actually made two types of ice cream in one week!

I love how quickly this freezer works compared to the Rival that we had. The ice cream is ready in 20 minutes! I think it would sometimes take me an hour or more to make a batch with the other freezer.

I tried this Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream recipe and it turned out wonderful! Love it! I was unsure about the graham cracker crumbs in it, but they really added to the flavor and texture of the ice cream. I also made 6 quarts of vanilla ice cream for my son’s birthday (pics on the Mickey party to come this weekend! I promise!). Oh, I loved the vanilla ice cream and can’t wait to make some more. I have several more recipes that I want to try this summer.

Hope everyone has a blessed weekend!

Friday Favorite: Martha + Key Lime Bars Recipe

My mom bought me Martha Stewart’s Cookies cookbook for Christmas this year. I Love this book with a capital L. I wasn’t crazy about the 1st recipe I tried (Chocolate Sugar Cookies), but I just love to flip through the book looking at all the yummy recipes. So many to choose from!!!

I may have mentioned that I made Key lime bars for our church dessert auction. I love Key lime – one of my favorites is Cheesecake Factory’s Key Lime Cheesecake. Oh, yum! Heaven by the slice!

This recipe is pretty straight forward and simple – except for squeezing 23 key limes. That was a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end.

Key Lime Bars

Ingredients
For the Crust:

1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling:

3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (like Eagle Brand)
2/3 cup fresh Key lime juice (about 23 key limes total)

For the Garnish:

1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Key limes, thinly sliced into half-moons

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Make crust by stirring together the crust ingredients in a small bowl. Press evenly into the bottom of an 8” square glass baking dish. Bake until dry and golden brown, about ten minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

2. Make filling: Put egg yolks and lime zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on high speed until very thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add condensed milk in a slow, steady stream, mixing constantly. Raise speed to high; mix until thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add lime juice; mix until just combined.

3. Spread filling evenly over crust using a spatula. Bake about 10 minutes or just until filling is set, rotating halfway through, Let cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

4. Make garnish: cut into 2 inch squares. Put cream in clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the clean whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. (I added some sugar here to make the whipped cream sweet.) Garnish bars with whipped cream and a slice of lime. Ungarnished bars can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Here my guys are crushing the graham crackers for me. Such helpful guys I have!

My laptop is going to visit the Dr. today... I don't know when we'll be reunited but hopefully, it wlil be a happier computer. So, I'll be behind on my blog reading and commenting. Boo! Guess I'll get a lot done while it's gone...

Peanut Butter Balls

Here's the recipe for everyone to make for their honeys for Valentine's Day! Sorry, it's taken me so long to post. I've been having Internet issues and was out of town yesterday (I got to shop in the city!!!) After a 40 minute phone call, I got my Internet issues resolved! Yea!

Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients

2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 stick of butter, softened
1 16 oz package of powdered sugar
2 1/2 - 3 cups Rice Krispie cereal (use as much depending on how crispy you want them)
approximately one bag of chocolate chips
Shortening (optional)

Directions:

Mix peanut butter and butter until smooth. Gradually add in powdered sugar. Once it is light and fluffy, pour in cereal and mix well.

Roll into balls using your hands and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. I used my cookie scoop and it made this go much quicker! If you choose, you can stick sucker sticks in. I normally don't mess with this step. Chill for 30 minutes.

Extra Step for using sucker sticks! Melt chocolate however you choose, stirring frequently. I add a tablespoon or so of shortening to my chocolate. Remove each sucker stick and dip the tip in chocolate and the reinsert it into the ball. Chill again to harden the chocolate. This helps keep the balls from falling off the stick.

Melt chocolate (or remelt if you did the above step). I add a tablespoon or so of shortening to my chocolate. Dip the balls into the chocolate. Skewers and toothpicks can be helpful for this step. Place balls back on lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with goodies and chill until hardened. I store this in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Your Valentine will love you FOREVER if you make these!!!!!!!!!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These are little pieces of chocolate gold - seriously! I actually mixed the dough up the night before and it worked perfectly since the dough is supposed to be chilled. These taste a bit like a brownie cookie covered in yummy powdered sugar!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough and place in freezer for 30 minutes or chill in refrigerator for 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray. Use a cookie scoop to scoop dough into one inch balls. Coat each ball with powdered sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! And hide some.

Peanut Butter Brownies

One of my husband's work parties was pot-luck last weekend.... and I, being the genius that I am, decided to try two brand spankin' new recipes. Hhhmmmm.... probably not the smartest idea on the block, buuuuttttt, it turned out All Good. Both recipes were edible... and some days, that is all I aim for.

I made these peanut butter brownies (have you noticed I like peanut butter & chocolate together?)... I found the recipe on Dinner & Dessert. They turned out delicious! They were a little time consuming but well worth it. They do dry out quickly so they only keep for a few days in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Brownies

For brownies

2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 large eggs plus 1 large yolk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon salt
For ganache

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 ounces)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

Make brownies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with rack in middle. Butter a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan, then line bottom of pan with parchment paper and butter parchment.

Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until mixture is light and fluffy, then add peanut butter and beat until incorporated.

Beat in whole eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Reduce mixer sped to low, then mix in flour and salt until just combined.

Mix in chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups) then spread batter in baking pan, smoothing top. (It will be thick, almost like cookie batter.)

Bake until brownies are deep golden, puffed on top and a wooden pick inserted in center come out with some crumbs adhering, 40 to 45 minutes.

Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

Make ganache: Put chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups) in a heatproof bowl.

Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan, then pour over chocolate chips and let mixture stand for one minute.

Gently whisk in butter until it is incorporated, chocolate is melted, and a smooth mixture forms.

Spread ganache on cooled brownies and let stand until set, about 15 minutes. Cut & enjoy!

Oatmeal Spice Cookies

I am sooo not a fan of oatmeal cookies. I guess I think a cookie isn't a cookie unless it's chocolate! I'm not really a fan of oatmeal choc. chip cookies either. I have tasted a few oatmeal cookies that I like... most have spices in them.... so last fall, I worked on my own oatmeal spice cookie. I loved the outcome but of course, I didn't write the recipe down! AAhhh! Last night, I worked on recreating it so here is the recipe.

These are the perfect autumn snack... I made mine for one of the baby showers I am helping with this weekend.

Oatmeal Spice Cookies
1 cup butter, softened (I use half margarine, half butter)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (oops! Realized I forgot this last night!)
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups uncooked oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Stir together flour, spices, baking soda, & salt. Set aside. Beat butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients in until just blended. Mix in quick oats. Roll into balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes (according to how crispy you like them).