Berries & Cream

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home magazine and it looked delicious! It was quick, easy to throw together, and tasted great! We had company over for dinner and I made this for dessert. Everyone licked their dish clean. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 loaf of pound cake, thawed

4oz. cream cheese, softened

1 + cup marshmallow creme

fresh sliced strawberries

fresh blueberries

Directions:

1. Cut pound cake into 1/2" cubes. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and marshmallow creme until smooth.

2. Layer cake and berries alternately in serving dishes. Top with a dollop of cream cheese mixture and garnish with blueberries on top. Chill until serving.

Caramel S'more Cups

I hope everyone had a fun Labor Day weekend! My family and I just got back from a fun week at Lake Powell and it's good to be back on solid ground again! I made these cookies before I left and am finally getting a chance to post them. They were as yummy as they look. You can't wrong with a chocolate chip cookie, rolos, marshmallows, and chocolate all in one! 

Ingredients:

1 pouch of Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

24 Rolos, unwrapped

72 mini marshmallows

1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Spray 24 muffin cups with cooking spray.

2. Make cookie dough as directed on package. Shape dough into 24 1 1/2" balls and place into muffin cups.

3. Bake for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees, or until the edges begin to brown. Remove from oven; firmly press one rolo in the center of each cookie and top with 3 marshmallows. Bake 2-4 minutes longer or until marshmallows are puffy. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from pan.

4. Once completely cooled, melt chocolate chips in a ziploc bag (about a minute). Cut of a corner of the bag and drizzle chocolate on each cookie. Let stand until hardened.

Yummy Fruit Dip

This is another dessert I made for the baby shower I threw a week or so ago. Super simple, only two ingredients!

                              

Ingredients:

1 7oz. container of marshmallow creme

1 8oz. container cream cheese, (I used plain, but you can use strawberry too)

Directions:

Using a hand mixer beat the two ingredients together until well combined. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Cake Pops

I made these for a baby shower last night and had a lot of people ask me how I made them, so I figured I 'd post them. I've seen people all over blogland making these and putting their own cute twists on them. I used the directions from Bakerella and it's super simple, just a little time consuming.

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (cooked as directed on box)

1  16oz. tub frosting (I used cream cheese frosting)

1 package of chocolate bark or candy melts (any additional candy melts if you choose to drizzle them)

sucker sticks

Directions:

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 tub frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. I used my cookie scooper to get a consistent size and I ended up with 47)
4. Insert sucker sticks and chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and place on wax paper until firm. Drizzle with additional colors if you choose. 

Chocolate Dipped Tofee Sugar Cookies

Mmmm, and just in time for Valentine's Day! I found this idea on Our Best Bites last year and thought they looked so yummy. I used my own sugar cookie recipe and crushed Skor candy bars instead of using Heath bits. I definitely recommend using semi-sweet chocolate or dark chocolate. Milk chocolate just doesn't do it for me. I thought they turned out great.

1 recipe for sugar cookies, you want the cookies a little firm so they don't break when dipping

dipping chocolate, I used Baker's semi-sweet

white chocolate chips or almond bark

Heath bits or crushed Skor/Heath candy bars

1. Make sure your cookies have cooled completely. I baked mine the day before and placed them in a sealed container. If you want to dip them same-day, I recommend putting them in the freezer for a little while.

2. Melt your chocolate according to packaging. Place melted chocolate in a shallow bowl. Dip one-half of the cookie in the chocolate. Smooth out chocolate and remove excess with a small rubber spatula. Place dipped cookie on a lined (parchment or wax paper) cookie sheet. Top immediately with toffee bits. Place sheet of cookies in refrigerator until chocolate sets up.

3. Melt white chocolate according to package. Pour into a ziploc bag and snip corner of bag. Drizzle chocolate over dipped cookies and return to refrigerator to set up.

4. Remove from wax paper and remove any excess chocolate.

*keep refrigerator till ready to serve.

Triple Berry Cobbler

Wow, I've never had cobbler like this before. I've always made dutch-oven cobbler using the cake-mix crumb topping. This however is made from scratch and has an insane amount of sugar in it....but it's so good. The original recipe just calls for blackberries, but I used raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries- highly recommended. It is super good out of the oven, but it was my favorite the next day, cold out of the refrigerator. It was so chewy and addicting! Thanks again to the PW for this one. She is one amazing cook!

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, melted

1 1/4 cups, plus 2 Tbsp. sugar

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup milk

2 cups fresh or frozen berries

Directions:

1. Grease a 3 qt. baking dish with butter.

2. In a medium bowl whisk 1 cup of sugar with the flour and milk.

3. Whisk in melted butter.

4. Pour the batter into the baking dish and sprinkle berries evenly over the batter.

5. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over the top of the berries- this will seem like a ton, just do it!

6. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. When ten minutes of baking time remain, sprinkle remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar over top.

Serve alone, with ice cream, or whipped cream, or the next day straight out the fridge- even better!

Flat Apple Pie

One word...yum! (and yes that is a bite missing before I could take the picture!) This is a recipe out of the Pioneer Woman's cookbook and it is so quick, easy, and delicious! It makes the perfect amount for my little family with no left overs, which is a good thing so we aren't eating apple pie everyday for 5 days. The recipe makes 2 of these, but I halved the recipe since my family is small.

Ingredients:

5 peeled and sliced Granny Smith apples

2 Tbsp. flour

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2- 9" round pie crusts, or 1 recipe for homemade

1/2 stick of butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Stir together apples, flour, lemon juice, sugars, and salt. Set aside.

3. Roll out pie crusts into large circles and place on a baking sheets.

4. Place half apple mixture on one crust and the remaining on the other.

5. Fold over the edges of the crust so that it covers 2-3 inches of the apple mixture. (No need to be artistic here!)

6. Dot the tops of the pies with chunks of butter. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and bubble. Slice with pizza cutter and serve in wedges.

*Top with jarred caramel for extra sweetness, if desired.

Caramel Corn

This is a very deserving "re-post". I discovered this caramel corn recipe last year and it is soooo good! It makes a great neighbor gift and makes a ton. It is fairly easy to make and inexpensive. Trust me on this one- try it and you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup light corn syrup

1 can Eagle brand sweet and condensed milk

8 quarts (5 bags of microwaved) popcorn

Directions:

1. Prepare popcorn. Remove kernels. (see tip at bottom)

2. In a medium saucepan, combine syrup , butter, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Simmer for 10 minutes and continue stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add milk and vanilla.

3. Pour over prepared popcorn.

This is so yummy and gooey!

*Tip: I got an awesome tip that I wanted to add. An easy way to remove the kernels from the popcorn is to pour it out over a cooling rack. The kernels will fall through the slats and the popcorn stays on the rack...genious! No more sifting through popcorn for me!

Chocolate covered Caramel Pretzel Rods

First off, thank you Melody from Cheat Day Cafe for this awesome recipe! I made these as a party favor for my sister's baby shower and they turned out so yummy! The homemade caramel is a must!

Ingredients:
Pretzel rods (recipe makes about 50!)
Whole package of Chocolate candy quick (found at Wal-Mart)
Vanilla candy melts to drizzle (optional)
Caramel ingredients (listed below)

First make a batch of caramel:
1c. Karo syrup
1c. Brown sugar
1c. White sugar
1 cube of butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Put first 5 ingredients in a large sauce pan over medium heat and stir until melted and combined. Bring to a boil and stir for five minutes. Be careful to keep stirring so that it doesn't start to burn on the bottom of the pan. Take caramel off the burner after 5 minutes.Put the hot caramel in a deep container. I used my Pyrex 4 cup measuring cup.
Prepare a couple cookie sheets lined with wax paper.Dip pretzel rod in caramel, about 3/4 of the way and let it drip off any excess caramel. Then lay the rod on the cookie sheet.Repeat with remaining pretzels.
Put cookie sheets in the fridge to help set up caramel.Once caramel is set, lift up each pretzel rod off the wax paper and mold caramel around the rod since it will puddle on the sides as it cools.
Prepare the cookie sheets again with new pieces of wax paper.Melt chocolate in a deep container and dip caramel covered pretzel rods.Place chocolate covered pretzel rods on cookie sheets and place in fridge to set up.
In a zip lock baggie, melt the vanilla candy melts in the microwave. When completely melted, cut a tiny hole in the corner and drizzle the chocolate on the rods.Place back into the fridge to set up.

Lemon Cake Mix Cookies

If you are looking for a quick and simple way to make cookies, cake mix cookies are the way to go. These are great for making with the kids as well, so simple and very few ingredients to work with.

Ingredients:
1 box Lemon Supreme cake mix (or flavor of choice)
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 egg

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients for approximately 2 minutes, or until well combined. Roll into balls and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a juice glass, flatten the balls of dough. I sprinkled mine with clear decorators sugar. (optional)
2. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-12 minutes. Edges should lightly brown. Let cool slightly before removing from pan.

Strawberry Frozen Delight

Sorry for the lack of posting! I've been MIA as I have family in town. I should be back to my normal routine by next week. Thanks for checking in.
This was a nice, light, summer dessert. I made this for a family party and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I will definitely be making this again.

Ingredients:
4 cups strawberries, (2 cups smashed, 2 cups sliced)
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 cups cool whip, separated
16 oreos, crushed in food processor
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Directions:
1. Line a bread pan with heavy duty foil.
2. Mix 2 cups smashed strawberries, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and cool whip for 2 minutes. Pour into lined bread pan.
3. Combine oreo crumbs with melted butter and press over top strawberry mixture.
4. Cover pan with foil and freeze for at least 6 hours.
5. Just prior to serving, invert the frozen dessert onto a plate, remove foil, and frost the with remaining 2 cups of cool whip and top with sliced strawberries. (I only frosted the top, so I didn't use all the cool whip)

Cookie Dough Pie

As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it! My husband loves cookie dough so I decided it would be great for his Father's Day dessert. It was so yummy and everyone loved it! It was super simple to make and took no time at all. I do recommend refrigerating the chocolate syrup first or you'll run into the same problem I had- chocolate running everywhere! Didn't matter though, still tasted great!
Unfortunately, I cannot find the blog I got this recipe from, so if it was you, please leave me a comment letting me know so I can credit you and link back. Thanks!

Ingredients:
15.25 ounce package Chips Ahoy Cookies- Original kind
8-12 ounces Cool Whip- I used 8 ounces
1-2 cup milk (1 cup was enough for me in a 1 cup liquid measuring cup)

Directions:
Quickly dip cookies in milk, shake off excess liquid, and layer in 9 inch pie plate, breaking cookies to fill any gaps. Once the first layer is complete, top with a thin layer of Cool Whip. Repeat twice more making last layer of Cool Whip a bit thicker. Garnish with chocolate syrup if desired. Place in freezer 2-3 hours before serving. Serves 6-8.

Note- You must dip quickly or your pie will be very soggy. Make sure to shake off excess milk as well so that you do not have a puddle of milk in your pie. You will have leftover milk but you do need that amount to get the cookie completely immersed. The final product will be like a soft cookie dough-like consistency.

M&M Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening (I used butter flavored)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup oil (I used vegetable)
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
m&m's (I used the whole big bag)

Directions:
Combine first 5 ingredients and cream about 2 min. Add vegetable oil & mix well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to dough; mixing just until combined. Fold in m&m's. Place on un-greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 min. (I had to cook mine for 14 minutes.)

Yields 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

I got this yummy recipe from Heidi's blog, Tried-and-True Cooking with Heidi. If you haven't seen her blog, you should check it. She seriously posts something new every day. I was looking for something to make with the kids and these were perfect. Now I need to find someone to share them with so we don't eat all 4 1/2 dozen of these! Thanks Heidi.

Cookies N' Cream Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons Butter
4 Cups mini marshmallows
8 Cups rice krispies cereal
8 oz bag mini Oreo cookies, slightly crushed

1/2 Cup chocolate chips, melted

Directions:
Melt butter and marshmallows over medium heat. Add rice krispies and oreos, mix well. Press firmly into a greased 9x13 pan. Drizzle melted chocolate over top.

I found this recipe at Picky Palate, check out her other yummy recipes.

Oreo Cupcakes

Ingredients:
18 oreos, crushed in food processor
1 18oz. white cake mix
1 cup water, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Frosting-
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 Tbsp. boiling water, maybe more
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Mix cake mix, water, eggs, and oil in a large mixing bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fold in the cookie crumbs until evenly distributed.
2.Pour the batter evenly between lined cupcake tins, about 3/4 full.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes.
4. Let cool before frosting.

Frosting-
1. Place the cocoa powder and boiling water in a medium size bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon.
2. Add butter and mix on low speed until smooth.
3. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until well incorporated. Add a little more water if needed.
4. Mix on medium speed till frosting becomes fluffy and lighter in color, about 2 minutes.

* I crushed additional oreos to garnish the edges of my cupcakes.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat eggs in, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir into cocoa mixture.
3. Cover dough and place in freezer for 30 minutes.
4. Scoop dough into 1 inch balls and coat with powdered sugar. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Let stand for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:
10 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used granny smith)
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions:
1. Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
2. Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

The Most Dangerous Chocolate Cake

I received an e-mail the other day from my Mom with this recipe in it (thanks Denise for forwarding it to her) and thought I should share-

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

A small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug (Microwave Safe)

Directions:

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.Then EAT! This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night.

Death by Chocolate Cake

Sorry, I forgot to take the picture before we cut the cake!

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Caramel Rolls

YUM!

Prepare one recipe for Lion House roll dough, (click here for recipe); allow to rise once. Divide dough into three equal parts. You will need 2/3 of this dough for these caramel rolls. The other 1/3 of dough you can make into a loaf of bread (see post below, or click here).

Ingredients:

2 parts Lion House roll dough

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup brown sugar

6oz. (2 small boxes) vanilla pudding mix (NOT instant)

3 Tbsp. milk

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

cinnamon-sugar

Directions:

1. Spray a 9x13 cake pan or a bundt pan with non-stick spray. Take 1/3 of dough and tear into small pieces, placing them randomly in the bottom of greased pan.

2. Melt butter and add remaining ingredients, except cinnamon-sugar.

3. Drizzle 2/3 of the caramel mixture over dough pieces.

4. Take remaining dough and tear into small pieces placing them in any empty spots. Drizzle remaining caramel mixture over top. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise till doubled.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

7. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto platter or cookie sheet.

*you may substitute Rhodes frozen dough for Lion House dough. Allow 2 loaves of frozen dough to thaw completely. Use one loaf for the top and one loaf for the bottom.