Candy Cane Crunch

You have to try these if you like Rice Krispie treats and peppermint!  The base recipe for this is from Buns In My Oven.  I saw it last summer and thought it looked so pretty, but thought it could really use some peppermint!  Because I added candy canes, I changed the name to Candy Cane Crunch.  I also added vanilla extract to the marshmallow mixture (something I always do with Rice Krispie treats) and a slightly larger pan so they wouldn't be so incredibly thick.

  

They turned out really nicely.  My husband is not a huge peppermint fan, but he liked them anyway.  These are a great little break from all the cookies at Christmastime.  I made them for the first time last year, but I'm sure we will have them again many times in the future.

   

If you want them super pepperminty, buy mint M&Ms.  That's what I used this time and they were really good, but I think next time I will try plain Christmas colored ones.  You could even add 1/2 tsp or so of peppermint extract to the marshmallow mixture and use mint M&Ms if you really want a peppermint blast, but I thought my beloved would complain about eating toothpaste if I did that.  As is, it was really nice having the mintyness offset by the vanilla and cereal flavors.

  

Quick Note: Chop the candy canes roughly.  They don't need to be obliterated into candy cane dust, but you don't want giant chunks that will be unpleasant to bite into.

  

Candy Cane Crunch

  

1/4 C salted butter

10 oz mini marshmallows

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 C Rice Chex

3/4 C Christmas colored M&Ms, divided

8 crushed mini candy canes, divided

2 Tbsp Christmas colored round sprinkles, divided

  

Line a 7 by 11 pan with parchment paper.  Get your cereal, candies, and sprinkles measured out.

  

Place butter in a large pot and heat over medium-low until melted.  Add marshmallows and stir constantly until they're completely melted.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, then stir in the cereal until it's well coated.  Add 1/2 C of the M&Ms, 3/4 of the crushed candy cane, and 1 Tbsp of the sprinkles.  Stir until the candy and sprinkles is evenly distributed.  Immediately press the cereal mixture into the parchment paper lined pan.  Sprinkle with the reserved candy and sprinkles, then press the toppings down firmly with your hands, keeping a layer of parchment paper between the bars and your hands so it doesn't stick.

  

Let the bars sit for 2 hours before cutting them into bars.

  

Yield: About 20 bars

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these for a friend's birthday when she requested chocolate chip cookies.  We're well into autumn here in Alaska, so a pumpkin twist seemed nice!  This recipe comes from the blog Two Twenty One.  Typical of me, I changed things a tiny smidge.  The recipe says to mix the baking soda with a teaspoon of milk.  That's something I'd never heard of, so I skipped that step and just added the baking soda with the dry ingredients and left out the milk.  I also streamlined the prep a little.

These cookies are super fast and easy to make.  No creaming ingredients together, no thinking ahead to take butter out of the fridge to soften.  You end up with a batter rather than a dough and just plop dollops of batter on a cookie sheet instead of making balls.  I used a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the batter.  Funny thing is the lady who wrote the recipe used the exact same scoop, but somehow got 6 more cookies?  Not sure how that happened!  Guess I just make big cookies.

We really liked these cookies.  They are soft and cakey and pillowy, like blobs of the fluffiest pumpkin bread you've ever had, but studded with a rather obscene amount with chocolate chips.  The cookies themselves are not excessively sugary, all things considered, but the chocolate chips bring the perfect amount of sweetness.  They are also extremely cute, fat little things in the cheeriest shade of orange!  Next time I'm going to experiment with using spelt flour, which bakes up lighter than whole wheat.  I think the texture and flavor of spelt would mesh well with everything about this cookie.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C white sugar
1 C canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 C canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 C chocolate chips

Mix together sugar, pumpkin, oil, vanilla, and egg until well combined.  Add remaining ingredients, except chocolate chips.  Mix until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Set batter aside to rest for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.  Drop 1 1/2 tablespoon blobs of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies.  Bake until lightly golden, about 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven.

These are rather delicate cookies, so let them cool 15 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to cooling racks.

Yield:  2 1/2 dozen cookies

Raspberry Oatmeal Jammies/Copycat Franz Bakery Raspberry Oatmeal Cookies

The only packaged cookie I have ever liked other than Oreos or some of the Pepperidge Farm ones is these lightly cinnamon flavored, raspberry jam filled oatmeal cookies from Franz Bakery.  I would buy about a pack a year, so it wasn't exactly a common indulgence.  One day, it occurred to me to try to make them, I did a Google search, and ta da!  Oatmeal Jammies from the blog Bake or Break!  I made them immediately, with a few fiddly little changes to the ingredient list and preparation.

Boy, are these good!  Undoubtedly better than the packaged ones.  They are chewy around the edges but soft in the middle, are a little caramelized from the dark brown sugar, have way more raspberry jam than the packaged ones, and have that perfect little hint of cinnamon. They're best the day they're made because the chewiness dissipates and the jam may start getting a wee bit soggy, but they're tasty regardless a couple of days later.

I've only made these once, but can tell they for sure will be made many more times.  Next time I'm going to experiment with adding a teaspoon of baking powder just to see if they'll puff up a bit more, but really, they're pretty perfect as is!

Raspberry Oatmeal Jammies

1 C salted butter, softened
1 C dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3 C old fashioned oats
about 1/2 C raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

Cream together butter and sugars until fluffy, then beat in eggs and vanilla extract.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Mix into butter-sugar mixture in 3 additions.  Add oats and mix just until everything is completely combined.

Make walnut sized dough balls and place them 2 1/2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets- this dough spreads come.  Use your thumb to make an indentation in each dough ball.  Don't press too hard because you want a cookie layer thick enough under the jam that the jam won't seep through!  You can kind of shore up the dough around the indentation to keep the jam contained.

Spoon about a teaspoon of jam into each thumbprint.

Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, about 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven.  They are a bit fragile, so let them cool for 20 minutes or so before moving them to cooling racks.

Yield:  About 2 dozen cookies

Strawberry Swiss Roll Cake

I've always been fascinated by cake rolls.  They just look so pretty and yummy!  A while back, I finally decided to make one and settled on this recipe over at Home Cooking Adventure.  For once in my life, I followed the recipe to the letter.  I know when it is and is not safe to tinker and this type of cake definitely seemed like one to follow precisely!
  
Mine turned out beautiful and delicious.  The lovely, moist sponge cake is perfect with all the creamy, fluffy filling and strawberries.  It was also very heavy on the filling, which was not a problem at all!  To my surprise, it lasted quite a few days in the fridge without the cream filling deflating.
 
I will for sure make this again and would like to experiment with different fillings.  I'm not too eager to mess with the cake itself because it was so good and rolled so perfectly, but adding citrus zest or spices certainly wouldn't change it any.  I wonder how many chocolate chips would fare?  Next time, I want to make the cake and creamy filling as written, but substitute Nutella for the strawberry part, just because I can.  Lemon curd or, ooh, rhubarb curd would be great as well.  Lots of options!
  

   
Strawberry Swiss Roll Cake
 
strawberry filling:
10 oz strawberries, chopped finely (this is by weight)
4 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp water
  
cake:
3/4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp canola oil
  
creamy filling:
1 C whipping cream

9 oz cream cheese, softened (I know this is a weird amount, but go with it)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C powdered sugar
  
Make the strawberry filling first so it has time to cool.
  
Combine strawberries, sugar, and water in a medium saucepan.  Heat over medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes, or until slightly thickened and jammy.
  
Move it to a separate bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
  
Make the cake next!
  
Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 12 by 16 inch jelly roll pan.  Cut a sheet of parchment paper to fit exactly in the bottom of the pan.  Set aside.
  
Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then set aside.
  
Beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract until foamy and light yellow.  Mix in oil.  Add the flour mixture a little at a time and mix just until it's completely combined.
 
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to spread it evenly all the way to the edges of the pan and corners.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 10-15 minutes.
 
Spread a large, thin, very clean dish towel (not terry cloth, regular cotton) on the clean table and sprinkle generously and evenly with powdered sugar.  Carefully flip the cake onto the cloth (it may help to have two people).  Remove the pan and peel off the parchment paper.  Sprinkle with more powdered sugar.  Use the towel to roll up the cake nice and tight, starting from one of the short ends- don't roll the towel into the cake, though!  When the cake is all rolled up, put it aside, seam side down, and still in the towel until completely cool.  Don't refrigerate it, room temperature is good.
 
When you're ready to fill the cake, make the filling.  First, whip the whipping cream until (shocking!) you have whipped cream.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth, then beat in the vanilla extract and powdered sugar.  Gently fold in the whipped cream.
 
Gently unroll the cake and spread the strawberry filling evenly over the top, then spread on the creamy filling.  Gently roll it up again, place it seam side down on a platter, cover with plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out, then refrigerate it for a few hours so it has time to firm up.
 
Cut into slices with a serrated knife and serve!
 
Yield: about 8 servings

Rhubarb Crumble with Custard, aka My Favorite Dessert

This has become my all time favorite dessert.  Yes, of all the wonderful desserts that I love, rhubarb crumble is It for me.  The tart rhubarb, sweet and buttery crumble with a tiny hint of cinnamon, and custard poured on top all just come together to make something truly amazing.  It tastes like joy. comfort, love, and well being.  I urge you to try it if you have access to rhubarb and want a really special treat.  Lucky for us, we have a ridiculously huge and robust rhubarb patch!

 

This recipe is from the book Great British Cooking: A Well-Kept Secret by Jane Garmey.  She apparently got the recipe from a nun in cooking class while in school, very cute little story.  I altered it a bit by moving the cinnamon from the filling to the topping, increasing the filling amount by half, increasing the baking temperature, and baking it much longer than the original recipe states.  The book says to bake it for 20 minutes and you'd be crunching your way through raw rhubarb if you made it like that!

 

Rhubarb Crumble with Custard
 

filling:

1 1/2 lbs rhubarb, cut in 3/4 inch pieces

3/4 C sugar

3 Tbsp lemon juice

 

crumble:

1 1/2 C flour

1 1/2 C dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

6 oz cold salted butter, cut into small cubes

 

topping:

warm vanilla custard (I used Bird's custard powder, but you could look up a recipe)

 

Preheat oven to 350.  You do not need to grease the baking dish.

 

Place filling ingredients in a 2 quart baking dish and toss with a spoon to coat.

 

Combine dry ingredients for crumble in bowl and mix well.  Add butter.  Rub mixture together with fingers until the ingredients are well combined and look like wet sand with pea sized clumps.  Sprinkle evenly over filling.

 

Bake for 45 minutes, then check on it and cover with foil if the crumble starts looking like it's browned enough.  Continue baking until rhubarb is tender and bubbly throughout.  It should be bubbly in the center and a fork stuck in should not meet any resistance from the rhubarb.  This will take about an hour and a half total.

 

Let the crumble sit for 10-20 minutes before digging in.  Serve crumble in a bowl with warm custard poured over top.

  

Yield: 8 servings

Chocolate Coconut Bars

My husband loves these chocolate coconut bars!  He requests them for special occasions.  They're essentially a no-bake cookie base topped with coconut buttercream and a thin layer of chocolate.  The first time I made them with Oreos, like the original recipe over at Taste of Home says, but they were so over the top sweet that I've made them with Nabisco Famous Wafers since.  They're still very sweet, but not as sweet as with Oreos.  Someday I would like to make them with chocolate graham crackers, but I can never find them at the store when I'm planning to make these.  My husband has a huge sweet tooth though and you probably won't mind all the sugar if you do, too!

 

The recipe below has a few changes from the original, other than the type of cookies used.  I basically added more coconut flavor.

 

Also, if you ever find yourself needing a coconut buttercream, you could use the coconut filling recipe and end up with a really delicious frosting!  Just double the recipe and only add powdered sugar until it reaches a normal frosting consistency.  As written, the filling recipe is quite stiff, which is needed for this bar recipe, but less powdered sugar will change that.

 

Note that the cream of coconut is not canned coconut milk, it's the sweetened goopy stuff used in mixed drinks.  The brand we purchase is called Coco Real.

 

Chocolate Coconut Bars

 

cookie base:

3 C Famous Wafers crumbs or chocolate graham cracker crumbs (this is about 1 1/2 packs of wafers)

2 C sweetened, shredded coconut

1/2 C cream of coconut

2/3 C butter, melted

 

coconut filling:

1/3 C butter, softened

4 Tbsp cream of coconut, or more as needed

1/2 tsp coconut extract

3 C powdered sugar

 

chocolate layer:

1 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

4 tsp canola oil

 

To make the base layer, just stir together all of the base ingredients until well combined.  Press it evenly and firmly into the bottom of an ungreased 9 by 13 dish.  Refrigerate for an hour so it can firm up, then make the coconut filling.

 

To make the coconut filling, beat together butter, cream of coconut, and coconut extract, then mix in the powdered sugar.  It will be quite thick, you want it to be thin enough to spread but still pretty thick so it doesn't squirt out the side of your bars when you slice them.  Add more cream of coconut if you need to thin it any more.

 

Spread the coconut filling evenly over the cookie base and set aside while you make the chocolate layer.

 

To make the chocolate layer, melt the chocolate and oil together however you'd like: over a double boiler, or on 50% power in the microwave for 1 minute to start with, then 20-30 second increments afterwards, stirring between stints in the microwave.  Don't let the chocolate get too hot or it will seize.

 

When chocolate is melted, pour it over the bars and spread with a spatula.

 

Refrigerate bars until the chocolate has firmed up.  After that, you can store the bars at room temperature.

 

Cut into pieces and enjoy!

 

Yield: about 12 servings

Instant Pot Rice Pudding

 A while back, I had a sudden craving for rice pudding.  This was odd because I'd never had rice pudding before.  I went ahead and made it though and it was exactly as good as I'd hoped!  You should try it, too.  It's good hot or cold, but we both preferred it hot.  You could add raisins at the end if you want, but I am in general not an "add raisins" kind of person.
 
Instant Pot Rice Pudding
  
1 C rice, rinsed (I used jasmine)

2 1/2 C milk

1 1/4 C water

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp butter

1/2 C sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

sprinkle of cinnamon

 

In Instant Pot, stir together rice, milk, water, and salt.  Put on lid, seal, and push Porridge button.  It will cook for 20 minutes.  When the 20 minutes are up, do a 10 minute Natural Pressure Release, then quick release the rest of the pressure.  Stir in the butter, sugar, and vanilla.  Spoon into serving bowls and sprinkle with a little cinnamon.

  

Yield: 6 servings

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

These Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats are so easy to make and only have 4 ingredients.  They're very rich and peanut buttery.  They're almost like candy- I'll bet they would be awesome cut into small squares (or rectangles!) and dipped in chocolate to make candy bars.  I found the recipe on Food.com. 

 

Quick Note: My finished "sheet" of treats was about 9 by 9 inches, but I found it easier to use a 9 by 13 pan and just not spread the mixture over the entire thing.  My parchment paper is about 15 inches wide and it worked well to just line the pan with a torn of sheet the entire width.  If you do want to use a 9 by 9 pan, cut a sheet of parchment paper about 10 or 11 inches wide.  Alternatively, the mixture is thick enough that you could just put a large piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet, pour on the mixture, and press it into a square as thick as you want with a spatula.

 

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

 

1 C sugar

1 C corn syrup

1 1/2 C peanut butter

5 C Rice Krispies

 

Pour Rice Krispies into a large bowl and line a 9 by 9 inch pan with a piece of parchment paper large enough to hang over the sides by a 5 inches.  Set aside.

 

Place sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter in a medium sauce pan and heat over medium until it comes to a slight boil.  Stir constantly and let simmer for a couple of minutes.  The mixture will be very thick and can burn easily.  It may not look like much of a simmer because it's so thick and you're stirring the whole time, but just stick with it.

 

Remove pan from heat and immediately pour over Rice Krispies.  Stir until cereal is completely coated.  Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and spread with a spatula.  Press flat your hand over the folded edges of parchment paper.

 

Let set an hour or so until cool, then cut into squares and serve.

 

Yield: Completely depends on how large you cut them.  I got about 16 squares.

Jam & Oat Bars

This is a Pioneer Woman recipe.  I stumbled upon it recently, couldn't stop thinking about it, and had the ingredients on hand, so whipped it up!  It's so quick to make, and the bars are wonderful.  For some reason I had been reluctant to make this kind of bar with jam instead of making my own fruit filling, and let me tell you, that reluctance was unfounded.  These bars will be made many times over.  I used Bonne Maman cherry preserves for this batch, but it seems like pretty much any jam would work.  Just don't skimp on the jam!  A full 13 oz jar went into this.

 

These bars are pretty perfect as is, but I'd like to experiment with it in the future.  Perhaps applesauce in place of the 3/4 stick of butter (it would still have a full stick!) and half the sugar.  Normally I don't worry about healthifying desserts, but almost 2 sticks of butter really is a lot for such a thin dessert and the jam itself has plenty of sugar.  I'll update this after I try it out!  If those tweaks don't work, well, full butter and sugar it is.

 

Jam & Oat Bars

 

1 1/2 C oats (I used instant)

1 1/2 C flour

1 C brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 3/4 sticks cold salted butter, cut into cubes (add 1/4 tsp salt if your butter is unsalted)

13 oz jar jam (I used Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves)

 

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 dish.  Place first 4 ingredients in bowl of stand mixer and mix until combined.  Add butter and mix until everything comes together in a chunky dough.  Press half of the dough into the prepared dish and spread jam on top, going almost to the edges (jam will burn a little if it touches the edges).  Sprinkle remaining dough on top and press down gently.  Bake until golden, about 35 minutes.

  

Yield: 12 servings

Chewy Chocolate Fudge Caramel Frosting

I know it may not sound like a good thing for frosting to be chewy, but trust me on this.  It's not chewy like gummi bears, but chewy like a homemade caramel candy, with a solid helping of chocolate.  It starts out the perfect glossy spreading consistency, then firms up into a thick, fudgy texture.  How could that not be good?  Let me note that I have no idea how well this would work with a layer cake where the frosting has to stick to the sides, but it works well on cupcakes or spread over a 9 by 13 inch cake left in the pan.

This frosting is also astonishingly easy to make and only has two ingredients: chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk.  It's the fudge frosting from Joanne Fluke's titular fudge cupcake recipe.  I was excited about trying the cupcake recipe for months because I've had a lot of luck with her recipes and love all things raspberry (the "secret" ingredient in the cupcake batter is raspberry syrup), but didn't care for the cupcakes themselves.  They weren't very chocolatey, but were both dense and dry.  Sorry, Joanne.  The frosting, on the other hand: divine!  Make it!

Chewy Chocolate Fudge Caramel Frosting

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

Pour sweetened condensed milk into a medium sauce pan and heat over medium, stirring frequently, just until it's hot and bubbly.  Remove from heat and wait for the bubbles to subside a little (about 30 seconds), then dump in the chocolate chips.  Stir mixture until chocolate chips are melted and the frosting is thick, glossy, and very smooth.  Spread immediately over cake or brownies.  

Nectarine Banana Bread

This is just my regular banana bread with diced nectarines added, but it sure is good, and worthy of its own post!  Wow!  It's so moist, dense (in a good way), and sweet that it's practically cake.  One large loaf has 3 bananas and 3 nectarines in it, so it's full of fruit.  The nice thing is that you can taste both the nectarines and the bananas well.  Banana tends to cover up all other flavors, but because the nectarines are diced and not pureed, they come through great.  In the future, I'd like to try adding fresh raspberries instead of the nectarines and see how that turns out.
 
Nectarine Banana Bread
 
3/4 C softened butter
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
3-4 mashed overripe bananas (you want about 1 1/2 C)
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C buttermilk
3 nectarines, peeled and diced
  
Preheat oven to 350and grease a one large bread pan (I use this one) or two normal sized ones.
  
Mix butter and sugar until fluffy, then mix in eggs and bananas.  Add baking soda, salt, and half of the flour to the mixing bowl and beat to combine.  Stir in 1/2 of the buttermilk, then stir in the rest of the flour.  Stir in the last of the buttermilk until everything is well combined.  Stir in diced nectarines.  Spread batter in prepared bread pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour for a large loaf, or around 40-50 minutes for two normal loaves.  You can cover the pan with foil if the bread browns too much.  Let baked bread rest for about 20 minutes, then invert it onto a plate to finish cooling. 

Yield: About 12 servings

Junk Food Fruit Salad

I love fresh fruit, and few things are better than a big bowl of fresh pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, mangoes, and kiwis all chopped up and tossed together.  So why does fruit salad made with canned fruit, pudding mix, and Cool Whip still so good?  I have no idea, but it is.  I've been making this recipe a couple of times a year for a long time now (with a special version at Christmas), so I think it deserves to be on my blog.  It may be low brow, but I kind of am too, so there you go.

 

You can use whatever flavor instant pudding mix you like.  Pistachio is the norm, and that's what I use at Christmas, but the rest of the time, I always use cheesecake pudding mix.  Also, the exact amount of fruit you use is up to you.  This time I used only two cans in addition to the pineapple (pears and peaches), but I often use 4 or so cans, and like for at least a couple of those to be a tropical fruit mix with mango, papaya, and pineapple.  Sometimes I also add grapes or bananas, but bananas only if it will be eaten quickly.

  

 Junk Food Fruit Salad

 

20 oz can crushed pineapple, with juice

3 oz box instant cheesecake pudding mix

2-4 additional cans of fruit, drained and cut into bite sized pieces if necessary

optional: 1 1/2 C mini marshmallows

8 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed

 

Drain pineapple juice from can into large mixing bowl.  Add pudding mix and stir until well combined and smooth.  Stir in crushed pineapple, then remaining fruit and mini marshmallows.  Fold in Cool Whip until evenly mixed.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.  This keeps well in the refrigerator for 4 days or so.

 

Yield: 8 to 12 servings

Secret Recipe Club: Chocolate Apricot Marshmallow Crunch

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog Mother Would Know, which is written by a wonderful woman named Laura.  Laura is the mother to two grown children, but is ready and willing to be the fill-in mom for anyone who needs cooking advice!  Her blog has great recipes, lots and lots of tips, and is incredibly welcoming.  I really enjoyed poking around on the blog.

 

There were plenty of very appealing recipes to pick from.  I strongly considered Overnight Holiday Dinner Buns, Moist Almond Bread, and Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes, and will probably make all three very soon.  The recipe I ended up choosing was Chocolate Apricot Marshmallow Crunch: Rice Krispie treats topped with mini marshmallows and diced up dried apricots.  Why have I never thought of putting apricots on Rice Krispie Treats?  The combo just sounded amazing, and I was already looking for a dessert recipe to try, so the choice was simple.

 

How did they turn out?  Every bit as good as I hoped!  My husband and I were happy I made a double batch.  I'm also grateful for the trick I learned from Laura- use parchment paper to press down the cereal mixture and the topping!  It won't stick and works much better than a spoon or hands.  Why didn't I think of that before?  The funniest part is that a few hours before I made these treats, my own mom called and in the course of the conversation, she mentioned that parchment paper was awesome for pressing sticky Rice Krispie Treats into the pan.  So, thank you to both Mother Would Know and my actual mother!

  

My tiny changes were to not soak the apricots in juice because the chewy texture of the plain apricots appealed to me, and I added vanilla extract, because why not?  Regardless, what a fun and slightly different dessert choice for any time of year, but especially autumn/Halloween because of the colors.  I actually chose them in part because of the colors.  We live in Alaska and I love it here, but the end of summer is always sad and a tiny bit panic inducing as we gear up for another 6+ months of nonstop snow and cold.  I make a real effort to to try to get excited about autumn: wintry foods, Halloween movies, fall decorations, etc.  These Rice Krispie Treats fit in perfectly.  Thank you, Laura, both for the great recipe and for helping ease the transition into fall!

 

  

Chocolate Apricot Marshmallow Crunch

 

1/2 C finely diced dried apricots

1/3 C mini chocolate chips

3 Tbsp butter

8 oz mini marshmallows (by weight)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

5 C Rice Krispies cereal

 

Cut two long strips of parchment paper to fit the inside of an 8 by 8 baking dish with a few inches of overhang on each end.  Overlap the strips so they make a + sign in the dish.  Set aside.

 

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-low heat, then add marshmallows and cook, stirring constantly, just until marshmallows are melted.  Immediately remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, then the cereal.  

  

Once the cereal is completely coated, dump it into the prepared baking dish and press it in evenly with the back of a spoon.  You can use the parchment paper ends to press the mixture down, too.  Sprinkle the apricot pieces and mini chocolate chips evenly over the cereal mixture.  Use the long ends of parchment paper to firmly press the topping down.  

  

Let set for a couple of hours until cutting into pieces to serve- you can use the parchment paper overhang to lift the Rice Krispie Treats out of the dish and then cut them into serving pieces.

An InLinkz Link-up

Peanut Butter Pie

This is probably the recipe on my blog that I feel the most sentimental about.  My husband and I found it in a free booklet of Smucker's recipes at the grocery store in the summer of 2006, when we'd just been dating for a couple of months.  Seeing as we're both peanut butter lovers and had basically been eating our way through all of the peanut butter pies offered as dessert at the restaurants around town, we scurried home from the store with the ingredients for the pie and made it that night.  A favorite was born.  We started a little tradition of making peanut butter pie together every year on our dating anniversary, in addition to once or twice randomly throughout the rest of the year.  My husband even proposed to me on our dating anniversary in 2009 while we were eating this pie.  It's definitely a special recipe to us, and I don't really have an explanation for why I haven't posted it until now!

 

As much as I enjoy trying different versions of the same recipe (I have multiple favorite recipes for mac and cheese, spaghetti sauce, baked ziti, chocolate cake, etc), this is the one and only peanut butter pie recipe I've ever made.  The reason isn't actually really sentimentality (not entirely, at least), it's just that this pie is incredible and can't really be improved upon, so I haven't tried!  I found the recipe in a Smucker's booklet, but it online it can be found here on the Jif website, where it's called Decadent Peanut Butter Pie.  I have changed a couple of small things, namely that we like to divide the fudge into two layers and I use less Cool Whip because I've never seen a 12 oz tub of it at the store.  I also streamline the process a bit (no waiting for it to chill in the refrigerator between layers) and make my own cookie crust.

 

Quick Note:  If you don't have a food processor, you can crush the cookies in a gallon Ziploc bag with a rolling pin and just mix up the filling in a mixing bowl with a spoon.

 

Peanut Butter Pie

 

25 Oreo cookies

5 Tbsp butter, melted

8 oz brick cream cheese, softened

1/2 C sugar

1 C peanut butter, plus 2 Tbsp more for garnish

11 oz jar hot fudge topping for ice cream

8 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed

 

Place Oreo cookies in the bowl of a food processor and process until they turn into crumbs.  Pour in melted butter and pulse until well combined.  Dump cookie crumbs into a pie plate and press evenly along the bottom and up the sides.  Set aside.

 

Wipe out food processor.  Add cream cheese, sugar, and peanut butter, and pulse until combined.  Scrape down sides with a spatula, and pulse again until mixture is smooth.  Remove cutting blade.  Add 2/3 of the container of Cool Whip to the food processor and fold into the peanut butter mixture with a spatula until well combined.  Set aside.

 

Heat jar of hot fudge in jar according to directions on the label, then pour half of the jar into the pie crust.  Spread over the bottom of the pie crust with a spoon.  Set the rest of the hot fudge aside.  Spread pie filling evenly into the crust.  Top with the remaining hot fudge, reserving 2 tablespoons.  Spread to cover the filling evenly.  Spread remaining Cool Whip over the hot fudge.

 

To make the garnish, spoon the remaining 2 tablespoons hot fudge into a small Ziploc bag and the remaining 2 tablespoons peanut butter into another small Ziploc bag.  Cut the tip off one of the corners of the bag with the fudge and pipe it randomly over the pie.  Microwave the bag with the peanut butter for about 10 seconds (just so the peanut butter melts), then do the same as with the bag of hot fudge.

 

Place pie in refrigerator and chill until filling is set, about 4 hours.  Enjoy!

 

Yield:  About 8 servings.

Oatmeal Flax Chocolate Chip Cookies aka Lactation Cookies

My beautiful little nephew was born recently and my sister-in-law was having some issues with breastfeeding while I was visiting, so I searched the internet and found a cookie recipe that's supposed to help increase a mother's milk supply.  I decided to go with this recipe from food.com, but was forced to leave out the brewer's yeast after not finding any in the 4 stores I looked in.  Brewer's yeast is supposed to increase milk production, but so is flax seed, so I decided to quadruple the flax instead.  The other changes were due to necessity (mini chocolate chips!) and advice (the baking powder to help them puff up a bit more).  

 

I can't know for sure whether they helped with the milk supply, but I can say they were surprisingly good even for us non-lactaters.  Nice and sweet and soft, and rather unique because of the flax meal, which adds some pleasant texture.  Even my 6 year old nephew enjoyed them, as did my parents and brother.  Honestly, I'd like to make these again, lactation cookie or not.  If you'd like, you can add 4 Tbsp brewer's yeast, though that has a pretty distinctive flavor and probably will not improve the flavor of the cookie.  That's beside the point though if you're making them for milk supply purposes!

  

Oatmeal Flax Chocolate Chip Cookies aka Lactation Cookies

 

1/2 C flax meal

10 Tbsp water

1 C butter, softened

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 C oats

6 oz by weight mini chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

 

Stir together flax meal and water and set aside for 5 minutes while you begin to make the cookie dough.

 

Beat butter and sugars until fluffy.  Beat in eggs, then flax meal mixture and vanilla extract.  Add flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder, and mix in.  Add oats and stir just until combined (don't over mix), then stir in mini chocolate chips.

 

Drop spoonfuls of dough (make as big or small as you'd like, ranging from large cherry to large walnut) onto prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch or two between cookies.  Bake until they begin to turn golden on the edges and on the little craggy bits on the top, anywhere from 8 to 15 minutes depending on your oven and the size of the cookies.  Cool cookies for 10 minutes on cookie sheets, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

 

Yield:  About 60 average size cookies

Jellied Pineapple Rings

I have an odd fondness for Jell-o, considering that I didn't grow up in a household where Jell-o was made frequently (the one time I remember making it with my dad as a kid, it didn't set up!), and I've never really cared for the texture of plain Jell-o without anything added to it, but the fondness is there nonetheless.  It's no surprise, then, that I decided to make these pineapple rings right after I came across the recipe on Joy of Jell-o.

  

This is seriously one of the quickest, easiest recipes a person could ever make and is about 1/2 a step up from just making a plain box of Jell-o.  It's been around for quite a while, as evidenced by the cute 1960s style ads describing how to make it.  My one change was to use the drained pineapple juice in the Jell-o instead of just dumping it and using water.  I've included that in the directions below, because the added pineapple juice really punched up the flavor.  My husband and I both really enjoyed them, much more than I expected.  

  

As adorably tacky as these pineapple rings are, I'll probably make a can with lime Jell-o and a can with cherry Jell-o for Christmas.  How cute would they be arranged in alternating colors in a spiral on a platter?

  

Quick Note:  I suggest using name brand pineapple vs store brand.  We tried it both ways and liked the name brand better.  We also tried both strawberry and lime Jell-o and preferred the lime.

  

 

Jellied Pineapple Rings

 

20 oz can pineapple slices

3 oz box Jell-o powder (I used lime)

 

Drain pineapple juice from can into a measuring cup.  Add enough water to it so that you have 1 cup total liquid.  Bring liquid to a boil in a small sauce pan, remove from heat, and stir in the Jell-o powder until completely dissolved.  Pour Jell-o mixture over the pineapple rings.  You will have some Jell-o mixture left over, just pour that into an extra bowl to enjoy as a snack.  Place the can of pineapple rings and bowl of extra Jell-o in the refrigerator to solidify.  This will take several hours.

 

When you're ready to eat the pineapple, dip the can into a bowl of hot water for about 10 seconds.  Flip it upside down over a plate and open it from the bottom with a can opener.  If the can is the traditional style that you had to open with a can opener, you can just gently push/shake the pineapple out of the top of the can.  If the can is the newer style with the pull tab, flip it right side up again and gently push/shake the pineapple slices out the bottom of the can onto the plate.  You want the pineapple to come out the bottom of the can because they will get mangled if they come out the top, since pineapple cans have the pull tabs and are slightly narrower at the top.

  

Gently slice the rings apart with a knife, and serve.

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts

My husband and I made these donuts a few months ago after I saw Tasty's short video showing how to make them.  It was the first time we'd made donuts, and they were a lot of fun.  These are cake style donuts, not the typical yeast dough based glazed donuts.  Someday I'd like to try yeast donuts, but this was a good recipe to start with and very yummy!  They're awesome either glazed or rolled in cinnamon sugar, I actually couldn't decide which I liked better.  Even nicer, they keep very well.  After the first day, they're softer, but pleasantly so and the flavors are very well melded together.  

   

For the glaze, feel free to use whatever type of extract you want.  I've mentioned it before on this blog, but I despise the flavor of powdered sugar.  I think it's the cornstarch.  Whatever it is, powdered sugar has a very overpowering, unpleasant flavor to me, so I had to use a lot of lemon extract to cover it.  One of these days, I'll buy a bag of powdered sugar that only has sugar as an ingredient, but it's so expensive!  If you don't want to use glaze, you can either leave them plain (not as sweet of course, but really tasty), or roll them in cinnamon sugar.  Or how about lemon sugar, or allspice sugar?  So many possibilities!

   

One last thing, you can fry the donut holes along with the donuts, they just won't need to cook as long.  If you don't want donut holes, just squish the holes together and roll them out to make more big donuts, but we think donut holes have their own charm.

   

Quick Note:  The original recipe says to score the donuts so they puff properly while frying, which you are free to do- just make 3 shallow cuts forming a large triangle.  I forgot to do that for the first half of the donuts and they didn't suffer any ill effects.  They puffed up and split around the outside, but I thought they looked cute that way.  

  

  

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts

 

For the donuts:
2 1/4 cup (255 grams) cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream
about 2-3 Tbsp milk
Canola or vegetable oil, for frying (about 2 C)
 
For the glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 2 tsp lemon extract, or to taste (or use a different flavor extract)
1/3 cup hot water
  
Stir together dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg) in a smaller bowl. Set aside.
 
In mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar on a low speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and mix together on medium speed. Add half the dry ingredients, blend. Add the sour cream, blend. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients and blend until the dough is well-combined, add enough milk for dough to come together. Place dough in greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for an hour or overnight.
 
Place chilled dough on a floured surface. Roll out to about 1/3 inch thickness. Cut the donut shapes with round cookie cutters or use a larger glass and a shot glass.
 
Pour oil into a large skillet so it's about 1 inch deep.  Heat oil to 325°F.  Carefully place the donuts in the oil with heat safe tongs and cook until golden, then flip and cook until golden on the other side. Remove donuts to cookie cooling racks set over paper towels.
 
After all the donuts are done frying, make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar, extracts, corn syrup, and hot water until it becomes smooth.  Dip the top of each donut in the glaze and set on a drying rack to allow glaze to dry and any extra to drip off.  Double dip if necessary.  Alternatively, you can roll the hot donuts in cinnamon sugar.

Ultimate Chicken Strips

This is a recipe that my friend makes frequently and comes from Betty Crocker.  I'm so glad I finally got around to trying it myself, because these are the best chicken strips I've ever had.  Better than this one that's breaded in crushed crackers (though we still love that one and will continue to make it), better than the Honey Chicken Nuggets, better than a buffalo chicken strip recipe I haven't posted yet.  Better than any I've had in restaurants, too, but that's not too much of an accomplishment.  They're so good!  Lots of flavor, crunchy, very moist, and just great.  My husband dipped his in barbecue sauce, but I thought they were good enough to eat plain.  I served the nuggets with Cheesy Ranch potatoes and a fresh fruit salad, what a yummy dinner.

 

Quick Note:  I make my own Bisquick mix using this recipe.  It's very quick and easy and cheaper than the purchased kind, tastes better, too.

 

Ultimate Chicken Strips

 

2 large chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lb)

2/3 C Bisquick

1/2 C grated parmesan

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 egg

3 Tbsp butter

 

Preheat oven to 450 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Lightly grease the parchment paper, and set aside.

 

In a gallon sized Ziploc bag, place Bisquick, parmesan, salt, paprika, and garlic powder, seal the bag, and shake to combine.  Beat the egg in a bowl.

 

Clean chicken breasts and cut into 1/2 inch thick strips.  Dunk half of the strips in the beaten egg, then place in the bag with the Bisquick mix.  Seal and shake well, until chicken is coated.  Arrange chicken on baking sheet, and repeat with the rest of the chicken strips.

 

Melt butter and spoon a little over every piece of chicken.

 

Bake until chicken is golden, crunchy, and cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.

 

Yield: 4 servings

Secret Recipe Club: Oreo Brownie Trifle

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Making Memories with your Kids.  The blog is written by Erin, who is a school counselor and mom of two super cute kids.  I'm very fond of Erin's blog and have been visiting it since I was first assigned it a couple of years ago and made Pop Tart Cookies.  Since then, I've made her Coconut Macaroons and Snickerdoodles, plus a couple others.  I actually made a recipe she made for a past SRC tonight for dinner, and made a casserole of hers last week, which I'll post about soon.  Erin's blog is very playful, for lack of a better term, and she makes all kinds of incredibly delicious looking and at times off the wall recipes that really appeal to my off the wall self.

 

So, my original plan was to make Slug Candy.  It's just too hilarious.  I will still make it sometime, but decided now wasn't ideal for a number of reasons too boring to go into.  My next plan was to post about the Chicken Broccoli Casserole I made last week, but my camera up and died on me.  Since I don't have a cell phone (weird, I know), I had no way to photograph it.  That meant I was forced (forced!) to make another recipe for Secret Recipe Club since the post had to have a picture.  Lucky for me, I managed to scrounge up a cell phone to photograph SRC Take 2, which is Oreo Brownie Trifle.  It's a terrible picture, but better than the MS Paint rendition I would have had to make if I didn't have the cell phone, so I'm happy.

 

I had my husband pick between this, Snickers Brownie Trifle, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup S'mores.  He loves Oreos, so chose this trifle, surprising no one.  I'm definitely going to make those PB S'mores soon, though!  You really should take a stroll through the dessert section on Erin's blog, it's quite the treasure trove.

 

The trifle turned out well.  It's very sweet and a little goes a long way!  I did have to change the recipe a little, sorry, Erin.  My husband is lactose intolerant and can't have sweetened condensed milk, so I left that out and used lactose free milk instead.  I also sorta halved the recipe because the full batch would have been a LOT of trifle for two people.  The recipe is still essentially the same, though!  It's sure to please kids and Oreo lovers everywhere.  I will definitely make it again when I want something over the top and fun.

  

Quick Note:  You can use vanilla or cheesecake pudding mix if you can't find Oreo. 

 

 

Oreo Brownie Trifle

 

1 box brownie mix that makes an 8 by 8 pan, plus ingredients on box

about 15 Oreos

4 serving size box of instant Oreo pudding mix

1 1/2 C milk

8 oz tub Cool Whip, divided

 

Prepare and bake brownies according to directions on box, set aside and cool completely.  Cut into small cubes.

 

Whisk together box of pudding mix and milk.  After it sets, fold in half of the Cool Whip.

 

Layer 1/3rd of the brownie cubes in a trifle dish.  Top with 1/3rd of the pudding mixture, then dollops of 1/3rd of the Cool Whip.  Sprinkle with 5 crushed Oreos.  Repeat layers twice more, starting with brownies and ending with Oreos.  

 

Cover trifle and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

 

Yield: 10 servings
   

An InLinkz Link-up

Princess Leia & Chewie Cupcakes

I'm a big Star Wars fan and made these cupcakes in honor of May 4th.  A Facebook friend posted a link to the Princess Leia cupcakes on May 3rd, and I thought they were so cute that I got to work making them almost immediately.  It appears that the Leia cupcakes are originally from the blog Just Jenn Recipes.  I made a few small changes, namely chocolate frosting instead of black (Leia's hair is brown!), Oreos with chocolate filling, mini chocolate chips for eyes, and I got to use my lip sprinkles.  My mom gave me those sprinkles a couple of years ago and I've used them for Valentine's Day manatee cookies and Lofthouse cookies, it was fun actually using them as mouths.  You could definitely use the heart shaped ones shown in the original recipe, though.

 

The Chewbacca cupcake design idea was my husband's.  They aren't super fancy, but they are cute!  While the Leia cupcakes are pretty easy, the Chewie ones are even easier and would be a great choice for children to decorate.

 

I just used a box of cake mix and canned frosting.  I fully admit to enjoying boxed cake mixes, but as I get older, the canned frosting gets grosser, particularly the vanilla flavor.  Feel free to use a buttercream frosting instead of the canned frostings.

 

Quick Note:  As I mentioned below, 1 package of the chocolate filled Oreos has 30 cookies, so enough to make 15 Leias, assuming none of the Oreos are broken.  Buy a second pack of Oreos if you want to make more Leias!  I thought it was fun to have an even number of Leias and Chewies, but you do what you want.  You will have enough frosting to make more than 12 Leias and 12 Chewies, but the exact number depends of course on how generous you are with the frosting.

 

 

Princess Leia & Chewie Cupcakes

   

1 box cake mix, big enough to make 24 cupcakes (I used strawberry flavored)

ingredients called for on cake mix box

1 can vanilla frosting

1 can chocolate frosting

mini chocolate chips (for Leia's eyes)

semi-sweet chocolate chips (for Chewie's eyes)

larger sized milk chocolate chips (for Chewie's nose)

pink food coloring

orange food coloring

long chocolate sprinkles

lip or heart shaped sprinkles

1 package chocolate cream filled Oreos (this will be enough to make 15 Leias)

  

Prepare and bake cupcakes according to directions on box.  Cool completely.

  

Add very small amounts of pink and orange food coloring to the vanilla frosting, and stir thoroughly.  This frosting is for Leia's face, so try to approximate a caucasian skin tone.  Set aside.

  

Spoon about 1/2 cup of the chocolate frosting into a sandwich sized Ziploc bag, squeeze the excess air out, seal it, and cut the very tip off one of the corners.

  

To make a Leia cupcake, spread a dollop of the peachy colored frosting over one of the cupcakes, and smooth it out.  Use the bag of chocolate frosting to make her hair.  Press two mini chocolate chips upside down into the frosting to make eyes, and a heart or lip sprinkle for the mouth.  Spread a small dollop of chocolate frosting on two of the Oreos and press them gently to the sides of the cupcake so they look like Leia's buns.  Hold them gently in place for a few seconds, then carefully move the cupcake to a safe place to dry, holding onto the Oreos.  Repeat with more cupcakes.

  

To make a Chewie cupcake, sprinkle about 1/4 C chocolate sprinkles into a cereal bowl.  Spread a dollop of chocolate frosting on a cupcake, going all the way to the edges.  Gently press the cupcake, frosting side down, into the bowl of sprinkles, making sure the frosting is completely covered.  Set the cupcake back down on the table and press in two normal sized chocolate chips (upside down) for eyes, then a big chocolate chip (again, upside down) for a nose.  Repeat with more cupcakes.

   

Yield: 24 cupcakes