Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

These days, a chocolate craving isn't just a craving. It's a non-stop need for something rich and chocolatey. We don't keep many treats around the house, so one day when the NEED came, I decided to figure out something yummy with the ingredients I had on hand. 

I found a recipe for Chewy Chocolate Cookies, but decided I was going to alter it to use to make sandwich cookies with a peanut butter filling. I followed the recipe except I omitted the chocolate chips. When they were cooled I made some peanut butter filling by simply mixing creamy peanut butter and powdered sugar until it was a frosting consistency. Spread it on and put another cookie on top and your ready to devour.

We immediately sat down to enjoy some. A cold glass of milk are these cookies' perfect dunking companion. YUM!

Blueberry Lemon Cookies

Almost every time I go to the store, I can resist buying lemons and limes. They seems to go with so many things, and even when a recipe doesn't call for it, I like to add a little bit of zest to lighten things up. So, I had some lemons sitting in the fridge calling my name. Sitting next to the lemons were some blueberries. I was secretly wishing the blueberries were raspberries, because lemon and raspberry are one of my favorite combos. I pulled everything out to get baking some Blueberry Lemon Cookies- let's see if they turn out. By the time I had all the ingredients out including a few white chocolate chips, my boy had devoured the blueberries . . . so I replaced the fresh for some frozen and my idea still turned out delish!

Blueberry Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup blueberries or raspberries (fresh or frozen & semi-thawed)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in lemon zest and gently fold in white chocolate chips and berries.
4. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Cool for 3 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container. 

Pulled Pork & Homemade Buns

I love finding yummy looking recipes on Pinterest and having them turn out just as tasty as they initially appeared. I make pulled pork quite frequently, but I normally just slather it in barbecue sauce. This time I made it with a can of Coke, and it was great. I just put about 4 lbs. of pork sirloin roast in the crock pot, sprinkled on 1/3 cup brown, then poured the can of Coke on top. I cooked on low for about 10 hours. Then I took out the liquid, simmered it down to thicken (put a little corn starch in if you want it thicker), and shredded the pork simply by taking tongs and twisting the meat around- so tender! 

When I started the meat in the morning,  I realized that I didn't have any buns. I had vowed that we were going to stay home, so going to the store was out of the question. Good old Pinterest to the rescue. I found a recipe from King Arthur Flour for Burger Buns and gave it a try. They were so easy to make, and turned out perfect except for the fact that I slightly burnt them. I sat down to play a game of Chutes & Ladders and lost track of time. They still were tasty, just a smidge harder than they should have been, next time I'll pay attention! No one seemed to mind and my kids were asking to eat the buns for a snack the following day. I am definitely keeping this as my go to bun recipe! [Note: It calls for 3 1/2 cups of flour- I used 3 cups white unbleached and 1/2 cup wheat flour.]

Krispie Pops & a Free Printable

I made these fun little Rice Krispie Treat pops for the girls in my Primary class at church. (Primary is a children's program in our church for those 3-11 years old.) I teach the 11-year-old girls, and they are so adorable and sweet. I love how excited they get when I bring something for them, whether it's a treat to eat, or just a cute little quote.

Since the 4th of July is this week, and since I'm an over achiever when it comes to holidays, I had to make them something. So, I made some Rice Krispie treat pops. Just make the treats according to the directions on the box, cut into rectangles, stick a lollipop stick through, and decorate as desired. I dipped mine in red candy melts then added some festive sprinkles. After wrapping in bags, I finished them off with a simple little 4th Star.

Click HERE to download the pdf printable file for the stars. 4 stars print to a page.

Pinterest Recipes

This meal/dessert has been made possible thanks to Pinterest. 

I have to admit, pre-Pinterest days, I never really got excited about cooking or baking. Finding a recipe was always hit or miss because oftentimes there wasn't a picture or it wasn't recommended by a person, so I never knew how a recipe would turn out. So most of the time I just made my set tried-and-true recipes and would venture out to try new things only every now and then. Thanks to Pinterest, I try new recipes every week. If I have a hankering for a certain food, I just search Pinterest and see which one was posted the most- thinking if it's common it must be good. So far, it hasn't failed me. Check out my board Yummy for the ones I love or want to try. Here are a few of the yummy recipes I've tried lately.

Crock Pot Baby Back Ribs

Wild Rice with Craisins and Almonds (this was incredible!)

 Individual Apple Pies

A few other recipes I've tried and loved (but didn't take a picture of) are:

White Chicken Enchiladas (I make these almost every other week now)

Slow-cooker Salsa Chicken (this is another on the frequent rotation)

Biggest Loser Oat Pancakes (I omitted the sugar)

Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

What recipes have you found on Pinterest and loved?

Carmel Apple Chex

Thanks so couponing, I had several boxes of Chex sitting in my pantry. When I got the boxes, I figured I could use it for making Chex mix of all varieties. Pinterest has several Chex Mix/Buddies recipes out there- one of my favorites being Lemon Buddies- so good! Today as I walked into the pantry, I saw those boxes staring at me. Though I've already done my share of baking this holiday season, I decided it was time to whip up a batch of Chex something-or-other. However, this time I was going to create my own recipe.

Introducing:

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp Butter

2 Packets Apple Cider drink mix

3 Tbsp Sugar

4 Cups Chex (I used rice variety)

1/3 cup Caramel bits

3 tsp water

Directions:

1. Put first three ingredients in sauce pan. Melt butter over medium-high heat and simmer 1 minute after melted, stirring constantly to combine.
2. Pour over Chex and stir gently to coat evenly.
3. Using same sauce pan, add caramel bits and water. Melt down until smooth. Drizzle over coated Chex. 
4. Cool and enjoy! 

Cinnamon Rolls

My hubs had been asking me to make some of my delicious homemade cinnamon rolls for a week or two, and I finally got around to making them this past weekend. Oh how glad I am that he asked me to make them, because I have been in heaven enjoying their deliciousness! A few friends have asked me to share the recipe, so here you go:

I halved my original recipe because it makes a ton. This halved version made 16 huge cinnamon rolls filling both a 9x13 and an 8x8 inch dish.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

1 1/2 T yeast
1/3 c. warm water
Dash of sugar

Combine the ingredients above in your mixing bowl and let proof for approx. 15 minutes until puffy.

Add:
2 c. milk
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 T salt
1 T lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed orange juice since I planned on making an orange frosting.)

-I then switched to a kneading hook on my KitchenAid before adding the flour. Add flour a cup at a time until the dough sticks together forming a ball and no longer sticks to the bowl. Don't add too much flour or your rolls will be tough instead of fluffy. I'm sorry I didn't keep track as a added, but I think it was somewhere around 4 cups, but I could be off.
-Cover bowl with tea towel or greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until dough has doubled in size.
-When dough has doubled, flour your surface, and place dough in center. Knead 4-5 times, and roll out into a long rectangle.


-Melt butter and spread on top of dough. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top of melted butter. (I even grated some orange peel in there.)
-Roll up into a long roll. Cut into 16 rolls, about 2 inches thick.
-Grease pan and place rolls into pan squishing each roll down just a bit. Cover again and let rise for 30-60 minutes (however big and fluffy you want them to be)
-Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until lightly browned and no longer doughy.

Cream Cheese Orange Frosting

With electric beaters, mix 2 1/2 T cream cheese, 2-4 cups powdered sugar, 1-2 tsp. orange juice, and grated peel of one orange. Mix until smooth. I give ranges on each of these because I just added a bit at a time to taste. It's even better the next day because the orange peel gets more infused into the frosting- DELISH!

Now slather that frosting on your warm cinnamon roll and savor or devour each delicious bite!

Yummy Recipe & Freebie

I found this yummy and super easy treat recipe the other day and we've already made it three times! It's a fun one for the kiddos to help with and my little munchkin loved unwrapping kisses then later pressing m&m's into the melted chocolate. It's a Pretzel M&M Kisses (or Hugs) combo that I found on TaDa! Creations

We couldn't find the ring pretzels, but found the window shaped ones, and I actually like having more pretzel base to add a salty crunch- yum! These are a fun addition to Christmas goodie plates, or put a bunch in a bag and tie with one of the Christmas Gift Tags that you can download for free!

(These images below are low res copies, the ones you'll download are high res PDFs)

Just click on the design you like to download the PDF, then print out as many as you'd like for goodie plates, Christmas presents, or whatever else you're giving this holiday season.

Pumpkin (Choco-chip) Bread

After searching 3 stores, I finally found canned pumpkin. So I bought 12 cans... I still don't think I have enough! Once we got home from the store, and the kids went down for naps, I decided to use up my first can and make pumpkin bread. Not just any pumpkin bread... pumpkin bread with chocolate chips in it. How can you go wrong with chocolate?!

(This is a mini loaf... your loaves will be much bigger. But bigger doesn't mean it will last much longer! This bread goes quick!)

Pumpkin Bread



1 (15-16 oz.) can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

4 large eggs

3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup - 1 cup chocolate chips (or nuts or raisins for a healthier version)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans (I used foil ones and it actually made two regular loaves plus one mini loaf.)

2.  Mix canned pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs. Stir in remaining ingredients adding chocolate chips at the very end so that they don't get too crunched.

3.  Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place foil over the top if it starts to get too dark. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan and continue to cool on wire rack. Slice once completely cool (or if you are like me, remove and cut immediately to enjoy your bread fresh and warm!)

Try this: After bread is completely cool, especially the next day, toast a slice and spread a little butter on it- YUM!

Lemons Part II

After making lemonade you will have a pile of lemon peels staring you in the face just begging to be used. Every morning for breakfast I eat a yogurt parfait. I was putting my parfait together with those lemons staring me in the face. So what did I do? Pulled out my grater/zester. The result was DELICIOUS and so fresh and refreshing!

Strawberry Lemonade Yogurt Parfait:

1 individual strawberry yogurt
1/2-1 cup fresh cut strawberries
1/2-1 cup granola
lemon peel zest

Layer strawberries, yogurt, granola, and sprinkle some lemon zest then do another set of layers until you've used all of your ingredients. I always end up mixing it all together so that the granola gets a good coating of yogurt. This works really well with the lemon zest because it mixes throughout the whole bowl and tastes perfect! Enjoy!

When Life Hands You Lemons...

It's summertime and lemons seem like the perfect summer taste. I bought a big bag of lemons and have been using them all over the place.

But the first and most obvious thing we made was LEMONADE! YUM!

Homemade Lemonade

Mix together the following ingredients:

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 cups of water
1/2 cup sugar

You can play with the proportions until it's just how you like it! We've been gulping this stuff down faster that we can squeeze those lemons- it's the perfect summer heat refreshment!

Banana Coconut Lime Bread

The other day I really wanted some yummy bread. Coconut kept coming to mind as a flavor I wanted. As I was trying to think of what to make, I thought, oh! coconut and lime go together and I just happen to have a lime that I need to use up. Hum... maybe I could alter my banana bread recipe, throw in some coconut and lime, and have my dream bread. Well, I started making it, adding random amounts of those main flavors and it turned out DELISH!! The loaf disappeared all too quickly, and I headed to the store and bought a whole bag of limes to make more loaves. So here is my recipe to share with all of you hungry friends- Enjoy!

(I didn't take a picture of the bread, so here is your visual.)

Kinzie's Banana Coconut Lime Bread

Ingredients for 2 loaves:

- 1 1/4 cups sugar

- 1/2 cup butter, softened

- 2 large eggs

- 3 ripe bananas, mashed

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- juice from 1 lime

- 1 teaspoon (more or lest) zest from same lime

- 2 1/2 cups flour

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1 cup shredded coconut

1. Heat over to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans.

2. Mix sugar and butter. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, milk, vanilla, and lime juice. Beat until semi-smooth (though I like to leave the bananas a bit chunky. Add lime zest. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt just until moistened. Stir in the coconut. Pour into pans. {optional: sprinkle some shredded or flaked coconut on top of loaves before baking.}

3. Bake 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Sandwiches

My daughter and I made these yummy ham and cheese pastry sandwiches this weekend, and our family gobbled them up. Try this fun, fast, and festive recipe for a simple Halloween snack or meal.

Ingredients:
1 box refrigerated pie crusts (2 count)
Sliced ham
Sliced cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 425ºF. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil.
2. Unroll pie crusts and cut each of the two crusts into as many pumpkin shapes as you can fit (make sure you have an even number as you wil use two pumpkins for each pastry sandwich.) Using a round cutter slightly smaller than your pumpkin cutter, cut 24 rounds from the sliced ham and 24 rounds from the sliced cheese.
3. Layer 2 slices each of ham and cheese in the center of half of the pumpkins. With a small brush, brush beaten egg around edges of pumpkin crusts
4. Top with remaining pumpkins, carefully pressing on edges to seal. Using a spoon, make ridges on pumpkins by pressing into tops in a few places. Pierce ridges with a knife in a couple of places to vent.
5. Place on pan. Brush tops of pumpkins with beaten egg. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light golden and flakey. Let cool for a couple of minutes before serving.

Caramel Corn

Did you know that they sell microwaveable caramel popcorn? They don't yet have it at WalMart, and I was too lazy to go drive to another grocery store for it, so I decided to make it from scratch. Glad I did, because fresh caramel popcorn is the best!! Something about it is perfect on a cool, lazy Fall day.

Caramel Corn

Approx. 12-15 cups of popcorn

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. stick butter

1/4 c. light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. salt (I suggest less if you are using presalted/buttered popcorn)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Optional: You could also add M&Ms, nuts, or other candys to the popcorn before tossing with caramel sauce.

1. Cook brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around edges.

2. Continue cooking 5 minutes; remove from heat.

3. Stir in baking soda until foamy

4. In a large bowl or dish, pour mixture over popcorn and toss until evenly coated.

5. Let cool slightly and ENJOY! Store in airtight container or in ziplock bags.

White Chicken Chili

What started as this: Turned into this: White Chicken Chili
Given the temperature got up to the 70s yesterday, and it wasn't really chili weather, this just sounded good as I went through my recipe box. I got the recipe way back in high school and finally tried it out. The result was delicious. We topped it with sour cream, fresh tomatoes, cheese, and we ate it with tortilla chips and corn bread- YUM!

White Chicken Chili

1 large onion chopped (about 1 cup)

1 clove garlic finely chopped - I used 1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 c. margarine or butter

4 c. chicken breats, 1/2" cubes

3 c. chicken broth

2 T. snipped cilantro or parsley

1 T. dried basil leaves

2. t. ground red chilies

1/4 t. ground cloves

2 cans (16 oz. each) great northern beans, drained

1 can white peg corn, drained

1. Saute onion and garlic in margarine over low heat, stirring until lightly browned.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
4. Serve topped with tomatoes, sour cream, tortilla chips, cheese, or whatever else sounds good to you! Enjoy!

Makes 6 servinges- 1 1/2 cups each

Tasty Ghosts in the Graveyard

Here is a fun idea for your halloween parties or get togethers... and doesn't it just look so yummy!

15 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies , crushed
3 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4 serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
1 (12 ounce) tub COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
3 CAMEO Creme Sandwich Cookies
Decorating gel
5 candy pumpkins
10 pieces candy corn

Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Let stand 5 min. Gently stir in 3 cups of the whipped topping and half of the cookie crumbs. Spread evenly into 13x9-inch baking dish; sprinkle with the remaining cookie crumbs.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Meanwhile, decorate creme sandwich cookies with decorating gel to resemble tombstones. Set aside until ready to use.

Insert decorated cookies into top of dessert just before serving. Add candies. Drop large spoonfuls of the remaining whipped topping onto dessert to resemble ghosts. Cover and store leftover dessert in refrigerator.

Yield: 18 servings

Coconut Chicken- Mmmm!

So a little while back I decided that I wanted to try some new recipes and branch out from the easy ones I have been making for forever. We had this Chinese food cookbook just sitting on its shelf so I decided to look through it. It was little surprise that everything looked and sounded incredible, seeing as I love (and David loves) Chinese food. The recipe title "Coconut Chicken" seemed to stand out in my mind as I searched the pages- so that's what I made. It called for some fun new ingredients that don't frequent my kitchen: coconut milk, ginger root juice, and the like. Our little family walked to the Chinese grocery store and bought all that we needed, and some. Then I got to work... I had to somehow get juice out of that funny looking ginger root! Not much time later and we had this delicious meal to devour! If anyone wants the recipe let me know but for now I am too lazy to type the whole thing out. Let me just tell you that David said that it is his new favorite food :) Doesn't it look like a dessert?! Yumm

Carrot Souffle

For all of you who aren't visitors of our family Bake 'n Make blog, here is a link to a recipe I just tried- Carrot Souffle. My cousin-in-law posted it and I made it today and loved it. I especially loved its bright orange color- so cheery and summery feeling despite the snow we woke up to this morning. If anyone has any other great recipes, let me know. I'm always keen on trying something new. While we enjoyed souffle, K enjoyed some freshly cooked carrots!