Valentine's Cookies

(peanut butter cup cookies)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
48 mini reese's peanut butter cups OR Hershey's milk chocolate hearts

Preheat oven to 350. Mix first 6 ingredients and then add dry ingredients. Mix well. Spread batter out on a flat surface and cut into 48 little pieces. Grease a mini muffin tin and roll little pieces into balls. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. As soon as you take them out of the oven place a chocolate heart or peanut butter cup in each cookie. Let cool for a couple of minutes in the pan.

Peanut butter and chocolate marshmallow cookies

These were delish!

1/2 cups Butter
1/2 cups Peanut Butter
1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 cups Brown Sugar
1 whole Egg
1/2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 1/4 cup Flour
15 large marshmallows, cut in half

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine the butter and peanut butter. Mix until creamy. Add baking soda, baking powder, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Slowly add the flour.

Roll dough into 1″ balls and line them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 6 minutes, remove from oven and place half of a marshmallow (cut side down) on each cookie and lightly press into cookie. Bake for another 2-3 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
In a sauce pan combine sugar, milk and butter. Bring to a boil, stir and remove from heat. Add chocolate chips to hot mixture and let cool, stirring occasionally. Frosting will come together as it cools.
Spread over cookies when cookies are completely cooled down.

Melanie's Delicious Fruit Pizza

2 sugar cookie mixes (she uses betty crocker 17.5 mix)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
12 oz cool whip
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
fruit (strawberries, peaches, kiwi, pears, pineapple, raspberries, bananas, mandarin oranges, etc)

Mix the sugar cookie mixes as directed on the package. After you have mixed, press it into a jelly roll pan and bake as directed on the package.
While it is cooling mix the cream cheese, cool whip, sugar and lemon juice.
After crust is cooled top with cream cheese mixture. Then top with any fruits you like.
Melanie, hopefully you don't mind that I put on your recipe :) Thanks for sharing!

oreo truffles

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz.) OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 4-1/4 cups), divided

2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

MIX cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended.

SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls. Dip in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.

REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

HOW TO MAKE COOKIE CRUMBS

Crushing OREO Cookies is a cinch with a rolling pin and a Ziploc® Brand Slider Bag with the Smart Zip™ Seal.

HOW TO MELT CHOCOLATE

Place unwrapped chocolate squares in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2-1/2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted, stirring every 30 sec.

HOW TO EASILY DIP TRUFFLES

To easily coat truffles with the melted chocolate, add truffles, in batches, to bowl of melted chocolate. Use 2 forks to roll truffles in chocolate until evenly coated. Remove truffles with forks, letting excess chocolate drip back into bowl. Place truffles on prepared baking sheet; let stand until firm.

We make these every year for our neighbor gifts. I always get asked for the recipe--and it's so easy! (Sometimes we crush candy cane and put them on top for a more festive look.)

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn Treat

My neighbor made this to hand out as neighbor gifts last year in little bags with a ribbon. It is soYUMMY. She taught us how to make it this week in enrichment. Everyone should try it it is so good!

First you make caramel popcorn. I'm sure any recipe would work but I will list mine below if you want a fast and easy one.

Microwave Caramel Popcorn


1 cube butter
½ tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup corn syrup
2 bags microwave popcorn
½ tsp soda
1 large brown paper bag

Pop both bags of popcorn. Set aside. Mix first 4 ingredients in glass bowl. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir. Microwave again for about 1-2 minutes. Stir. Mixture should be very hot. Stir in soda. Open bags of popcorn in brown bag. Pour hot mixture into bag over popcorn. Fold over edges of bag and shake. Microwave for 1 minute. Remove bag from microwave and shake again. Microwave for 1 more minute and shake bag. Pour out contents onto large cookie sheet to cool.

Once the popcorn is all cooled you can put it into a big bowl. Next we need chocolate.
1 bag of white melting chocolate. (chips or bark)
Melt how ever much you would like, she likes it a little less chocolatey so she melted 2 cups of chips. You can melt in a double boiler or in the microwave stirring every minute for the most 2 mins.
After you pour the white chocolate over the caramel popcorn and stir until everything is coated.
Now she adds whatever extra ingredients she wants:
preztel pieces, mini marshmallows, candy cane pieces, peanuts etc...
Once you add your extras stir everything around.
Then lay out on wax or parchment paper to cool.
Now she also melts some milk chocolate melting chips or bark just to drizzle over the top in little lines. This tastes good but it makes it look better. She maybe melted 1 cup to drizzle.
Let it cool and then eat up.
SO yummy - I'm warning you :)

Witch Cupcakes

This coven of witches is neither toil nor trouble. Heap on green icing; press on mini-candy-coated-chocolate eyes, a candy-corn nose, and licorice-lace hair and eyebrows. An upside-down chocolate ice-cream cone makes a wicked hat.

We made these last year, and Landry loved them. *Photo and recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart*

Mint Brownies

I made these for a little BBQ at Derek's the other day, and they are so delicious. I also made a chocolate frosting (that didn't turn out very good) to put on top. Good with frosting, good without.

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa
½ teaspoon salt
1 package Andes mints (24-28 mints)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9X13-inch pan with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

Unwrap all the mints and coarsely chop. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, stirring well to combine. Whisk in the vanilla and then the eggs. Blend well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Gently stir in the chopped Andes mints. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 32-35 minutes, until the brownies are set in the middle but not overbaked. Let cool completely, slice into squares and serve.

Strawberry Sorbet

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
5 cups strawberries, stemmed & halved
5 tsp lemon juice

Stir sugar into water until dissolved. Set aside. Puree strawberries in a blender or food processor, then use the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula to press the puree though a sieve to remove most of the seeds. (I didn't have a sieve so I skipped this step & it still turned out soooo yummy) Stir sugar-water into strawberry puree. Mix in lemon juice.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until well chilled, and then freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Freeze any leftovers.

Makes 8 serving, 1/2 cup each

We had this tonight and it turned out so good. Very yummy alternative to ice cream.

Vanilla Homemade Ice Cream

We tried this recipe on Tuesday night and it turned out great. I just found it at allrecipes.com

2 quarts half and half cream
1/2 pint heavy cream
2 cups white sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

Combine half and half, cream, sugar, vanilla and salt. Mix until sugar is dissolved. (one of the reviews for the recipe suggested mixing 1 quart of half and half with the sugar in a saucepan on low heat until the sugar dissolved so the ice cream wouldn't turn out grainy.) Store mixture in your ice cream maker container in the fridge until ready to mix/freeze/make.
We added crushed mint oreo cookies right before I turned the mixer on.

Ice Cream

Strawberry Ice Cream

3 cups fresh mashed strawberries

sugar strawberries

2 1/4 cup sugar

2 lemons juiced (6 Tbsp)

1 orange juiced (3 Tbsp)

**let stand 2 hours

1 pint cream

1 quart milk

1 can evaporated milk

Mix in mixer then pout into ice cream maker

Peach Ice Cream

3 cups crushed peaches (or raspberry)

3 cups sugar

2 lemons juiced (6 Tbsp)

1 orange juiced (3 Tbsp)

**let stand for 2 hours

1 pint cream

1 quart milk

1 can evaporated milk

Mix in mixer then pour into ice cream maker.

Oreo Ice Cream

4 eggs

1 3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 quart cream

5 1/2 cups milk

1 pkg crushed oreo’s

Beat eggs till yellow one at a time. SLOWLY add sugar (5 mins) until thick and lemon color. Add the rest of the ingredients. Can add some or all of the oreos after frozen. Freeze.

Brickle Flickle Ice Cream

1 pint cream

1 can evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 quart milk

3 butterfingers crushed

1 small pkg vanilla instant pudding

3/4 cup sugar

4 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients, except candy, in freezer can. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Churn until ice cream reaches a soft texture. Add crushed candy. Freeze

1 cup salt to 3 cup ice

These are some good base ice creams you can really add anything you want. Sounds yummy!

flag cake

This cake serves 20-24, so if you'd like, you can cut this recipe in half.

18 tablespoons ( 2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp

3 c sugar

6 extra-large eggs, at room temp

1 c sour cream, at room temp

1 1/2 t pure vanilla extract

3 c all purpose flour

1/3 c cornstarch

1 t kosher salt

1 t baking soda

For the icing

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temp

1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 1/2 t pure vanilla extract

to assemble

2 half pints blueberries

3 pints raspberries

Heat the oven to 350 deg. Butter and flour an 18 x 12 x 1 1/2 in sheet pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed, until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then add the sour cream and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and stir until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda in a bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 30 min. until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature.

For the icing, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mixing just until smooth.

Spread 3/4 ths of the icing on the top of the cooled sheet cake. Outline the flag on the top of the cake with a toothpick. Fill the upper left corner with blueberries. Place 2 rows of raspberries across the top of the cake like a red stripe. Put the remaining icing in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe two rows of white stripes below the raspberries. Alternate rows of raspberries and icing until the flag is completed. Pipe stars on top of the blueberries.

This is a GREAT cake to serve at a 4th of July get together. It's always a big hit. It's too bad I don't have a picture of it, because it looks so pretty and festive!

Banana Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Beat butter, sugar and eggs. Add sour cream, vanilla & banana and mix well. Add dry ingredients. Spread batter into a greased large cookie sheet. Bake at 300 for 25-30 minutes.

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup soft butter
3 cups powdered sugar

Spread on cooled cake. Keep cake refrigerated.

Lemon Blackberry Crisp

4 cups fresh blackberries
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
25 vanilla wafers, crushed
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
Ice Cream
Place Blackberries in a lightly greased 11x7 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar. Stir together cornstarch and lemon juice, stir into berries. Combine vanilla wafer crumbs and next 4 ingredients. Stir in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over berries. Bake at 400 for 30 mins or until lightly browned. Serve with Ice Cream

Ginger Crunch Cake with Strawberry sauce

Ginger Crunch Cake with Strawberry sauce

Crunch Topping

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped fine

1/2 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs (from about eight 2-inch gingersnaps)

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted

Ginger Cake

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsulfured molasses

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg, beaten lightly

3 cups well-chilled heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 pint strawberries

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Garnish: strawberries, with leaves and blossoms if desired (not

recommended

for eating)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease three 8- by 2-inch cake pans.

For crunch topping:

In a small bowl combine crunch topping ingredients, stirring until

combined, divide topping among pans and press evenly onto bottom.

For ginger cake:

In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon,

and salt. Add remaining ginger cake ingredients and with an electric mixer beat on high speed 2 minutes. Carefully spread batter over crunch topping in pans and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans in oven halfway through baking, 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center of each layer comes out clean. Immediately invert cake layers onto racks lined with wax paper and cool completely. Cake layers may be made 2 weeks ahead and frozen, wrapped separately in plastic wrap. Thaw layers in refrigerator before proceeding with recipe.

In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters of an electric mixer beat 2 cups

cream with vanilla and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar until it just

holds stiff peaks.

Cake Assembly:

Arrange 1 cake layer, crunch side up, on a cake plate and spread with a heaping cup whipped cream. Repeat with another cake layer and another heaping cup whipped cream and top with third cake layer, crunch side up.

Leaving top plain, spread remaining whipped cream on side of cake to

coat (a final coating will be added later). Chill cake, covered loosely with plastic wrap, at least 4 hours (to facilitate slicing) and up to 24.

Hull strawberries and slice half of them. In a bowl with a potato

Masher mash sliced berries with lemon juice and remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. In a food processor purée remaining berries and strain through a fine sieve into bowl with mashed berry mixture. Sauce may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters of an electric mixer, beat

remaining cup cream until it just holds stiff peaks and spread decoratively on side of cake. Arrange some whole strawberries on top of cake and garnish plate with additional whole strawberries.

Serve cake with strawberry sauce.

I love this cake and I am not a cake lover. I was getting the recipe out to make for Easter dinner. It looks a little complicated but really it isn't and it is so worth it. Enjoy!!!

Chocolate Birds Nests

Makes 5 large or 10 small

* 5 oz crunchy chow mein noodles (1 small can)

* 1 c. chocolate chips (1/2 a bag)

*1 tsp. vegetable shortening

*Candy eggs (med size speckled jelly-eans, or Cadbury mini eggs)

-Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Melt the chocolate and shortening together in a microwave or over a double boiler, stirring until melted.

-Allow to cool slightly, but do not let it set up. Stir in the chow mein noodles until evenly coated.

-Drop the coated noodles onto the baking sheet with a large spoon. For 5 large nests, form into circle about the size of an adult palm or half that amount for 10 small.

-Use your fingers to sculpt the noodles into a round shape and to form and indentation in the middle of the nest.

-Place eggs in the nest while chocolate is still wet. Place nests in the refrigerator to harden.

We just made these for Landry's pre-school party tomorrow. Really easy and something fun for Easter.

Glazed strawberry-banana bread

I haven't actually tried this recipe. I just found it in a magazine yesterday, and plan on making it as soon as I'm off bed rest. It sounds so delicious.

1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 C butter, softened
3 TBSP cream cheese, at room temp
1 1/4 C sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 C buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 bananas, mashed
3/4 C strawberries, chopped
1/2 C strawberry preserves

Glaze
2 oz cream cheese, softened
2 TBSP strawberry preserves
2 TBSP water
1 TBSP mashed banana
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C powdered sugar

*Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a loaf pan. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
*In a large bowl, beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar until creamy. Beat in the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.
*Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients. Stir in bananas and fold in strawberries and preserves. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
*For the glaze, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese, strawberry preserves, water, banana, and vanilla until blended. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until blended. Spoon glaze over cooled bread loaf or slices.

-I seriously thing this would be so good, even without the glaze.

Hazlenut Ravioli (I call them Chocolate wontons)

• • 16 wonton wrappers
  • 1 egg, beaten to blend
  • 1 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • 16 fresh mint leaves
  • Nonstick vegetable oil spray
  • Granulated sugar, for dredging
  • Powdered sugar, for dusting

  Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Place 1 wonton wrapper on the work surface. Brush the edges of the wrapper lightly with egg. Spoon 1 tablespoon of chocolate-hazelnut spread into the center of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper diagonally in half over the filling and press the edges of the wrapper to seal. Place the ravioli on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining wonton wrappers, egg, and chocolate-hazelnut spread.

  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Add enough oil to a heavy large frying pan to reach a depth of 2 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat to 350 degrees F.

  Working in batches, carefully add the ravioli to the hot oil and cook until they are golden brown, about 45 seconds per side. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the ravioli to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Then, transfer the cooked ravioli to another baking sheet and keep them warm in the oven while frying the remaining ravioli. (The fried ravioli can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool them completely, then cover and refrigerate. Before serving, place them on a baking sheet and rewarm in a preheated 375 degrees F oven just until they are heated through, about 7 minutes.)

  Spray the top side of the mint leaves very lightly with nonstick spray. Working with 1 leaf at a time, dredge the coated side of the leaves in sugar to coat lightly.

  Arrange 2 fried ravioli on each plate. Dust the ravioli with powdered sugar. Garnish with the sugared mint leaves and serve.

  This is also a good one for V-Day. Landry loves help me make this by spooning the Nutella on the wonton wrappers.

Chocolate Cheesecake

18 oreo cookies, crushed

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

3 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 pkg. (8 squares) Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted, slightly cooled

3 eggs

1 cup thawed strawberry cool whip

1-1/2 cups assorted seasonal fruit (chopped strawberries and sliced kiwi

HEAT oven to 325°F. Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 min.

BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add chocolate; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

BAKE 45 to 55 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with strawberry cool whip and fruit.

This is perfect for V-day and one of my favorite cheesecake recipes!

Dinosaur Food

1/4 C. dirt (cocoa)
1/2 C. swamp water (milk)
2 C. crushed bones (sugar)
1/2 C. fat (margarine)
3 1/2 C. grass (uncooked oats)
1/2 C. squashed bugs (peanut butter)
1 t. muddy water (vanilla)

Mix dirt, swamp water, crushed bones and fat. Bring to a boil; boil for ONE minute. Add grass, muddy water and squashed bugs. Stir until bugs dissolve. Drop on waxed paper, let cool.

This is one of our favorite recipes. Really it is just no bake cookies, but something about letting Cade put the swamp water in makes it fun for them.

Sugar Cookies

So, I have a sugar recipe that I love, but I couldn't find it so, I tried this one, and it was REALLY GOOD!

White Velvet Sugar Cookies

2 cups butter, softened
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 3/4 cups flour

Cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add sugar, egg yolks and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add flour. The dough will be VERY soft; don't worry, it gets firmer after chilling. Cover and chill two hours or until firm. Roll out on floured surface to ¼ inch thickness. Cut into shapes; place on greased baking sheets (or use parchment paper). Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until set (but not browned). Cool 5 minutes. Place on wire racks to cool. Frost as desired.

I topped them off with Jenny's cream cheese frosting recipe:

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 C butter, softened
4 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!