Reese's Cup/Chocolate Chip Cookie

I think this recipe originally came from Modern Honey. What I love about it, as someone with nut allergies in the house, but also peanut butter lovers, I can bake a few off for a really awesome chocolate chip cookie recipe before I add in the peanut butter cups. The original recipe also called for 4 ounces of cookie dough, but I didn't feel like it got done enough inside. It was still pretty gooey. So, we did 3 ounces. I would probably bake a couple off at ten minutes, too, and see if you like that bake. It's really easy to overcook the bottoms. I would take them off the sheet as soon as you pull them out of the oven. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup Butter, cold and cubed

• 1 cup Brown Sugar

• 1/2 cup Sugar

• 2 large Eggs

• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 

• 3 cups Flour

• 1 teaspoon Cornstarch

• 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

• 1 teaspoon Salt

• 1 cup Chocolate Chips, I also added in some mini chips, too. Double the recipe and do a cup of each. You won't be disappointed 

• 1 1/2 cup Peanut Butter Cups (chopped)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

• Add in eggs and vanilla and mix for 1 minute longer.

• Fold in flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Add chocolate chips and a heaping 1 cup of peanut butter cups, reserving about 1/3 cup for the top of the cookies.

• Roll into 4 to 6-ounce balls. If making 4-ounce balls, you should end up with about 12-13 cookies or if you roll into 6-ounce balls, you should end up with 8-9 cookies.

• Place on a parchment paper lined, light-colored baking sheet. If you are NOT using light colored baking sheets, reduce the oven temperature to 390 degrees to ensure the bottom of the cookies don't become too brown. Bake for 9-12 minutes. Do not overbake as these cookies are supposed to be slightly soft in the center. As soon as you remove the baking sheet from the oven, carefully place the extra peanut butter cups on top of the cookies. Allow to set up for 10 minutes.

Best Bread Pudding

 From the Taste of Home Test Kitchen, this is super yummy. Always a big hit for a sweet breakfast treat. That caramel sauce is the bomb-diggity. I also use Texas Roadhouse rolls that I cut up. Note: get the half and half, it makes it. Don't try to make your own. It is different. Also, one times this recipe really is enough for two 13x9's custard wise. I only put a little of the custard mix in with the casserole after I've gotten the bread good and wet. I don't like bread pudding that is super soggy. The brown sugar is a nice touch sprinkled on. Make sure you whisk all that butter in to the brown sugar for the caramel sauce before you add the cream. Also, about 20 minutes for the caramel sauce to thicken on low. Don't try to thicken it beyond that. It will break. It is a sauce. 

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2-1/4 cups half-and-half cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 20 dinner rolls (1-1/4 pounds), cut into 1-inch cubes (18 cups)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• SAUCE:
• 1 cup butter, cubed
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together the first 10 ingredients until blended. Gently stir in bread. Transfer to a greased 3-qt. or 13x9-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar; let stand until bread is softened, about 15 minutes. Bake until puffed and a knife inserted in center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, for sauce, melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar; stir until dissolved. Gradually stir in cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until thickened, 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add vanilla, sea salt and baking soda, stirring well. Serve sauce with warm bread pudding.

Vanilla Butter Cake

This is my go to fancy, vanilla cake recipe. It is very easy, but has amazing flavor. I usually serve it with a raspberry layer and a buttercream frosting. I usually spread it over a whole sheet pan, then cut it in half for my layers. Then you don't have to do surgery to split a cake. I'm not entirely sure where the original recipe came from, except her name was Rose. 

2 3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup salted butter, softened

3/4 cup shortening

2 tsp. vanilla extract

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1tsp. salt

3/4 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Cream together the sugar, butter and shortening until smooth; then beat in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, until fluffy. 

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt). Add this flour mixture and the evaporated milk to the original mixture alternately; ending with milk. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed, then fold in the sour cream. 

4. Spread onto a parchment lined half sheet pan. Bake for 25-35 minute, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (check at 25 minutes).  

Chocolate Pie

Recipe put together by Grace Redwine Hall who Grandma taught personally how to make this pie. :)

Chocolate Pie by Hazel Redwine

1 ½ c Sugar

½ c Hershey’s Cocoa powder

½ t Salt

3 T Cornstarch

3 c Milk - divided 

3 Eggs

2 T Butter

2 t Vanilla

1. In a large bowl mix the sugar, cocoa powder, salt and cornstarch. 

2. In a small bowl mix 1 cup of the milk and the eggs. Pour into the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix well.

3. Place the remaining 2 cups of milk in a medium pot on the stove and bring to a rolling boil.

4. Once the milk is boiling pour the mixture in your large bowl into the pot, stirring with a whisk as you pour. *Your sugar mixture may have settled a bit so give it a quick whisk before you add it*

5. Stir the mixture on the stove continuously for about 5 minutes, it should be boiling but you can turn it down to a low boil so that hot pudding doesn’t splatter everywhere.

6. Once the pudding is no longer frothing and making bubbles when you stir, it is thickened properly.

7. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla. Stir until the butter is melted.

8. Pour into a prepared and baked pie crust.

9. Enjoy! 

Notes: This makes enough mixture for a deep dish pie. If you only have regular sized pie pans you’ll have a bit of filling left over which is delicious on it’s own!

I do not recommend doubling this recipe. If you want more than one pie (And why wouldn’t you?!) just make it twice. 

Make sure you buy Hershey’s Cocoa Powder, the off brands just aren’t the same. 

Cherry Cobbler

 I found this yummy recipe online... and, after a few tweaks to the original, we made a cobbler that is delicious!!! It can be made gluten free by just switching out the flours:)

CHERRY COBBLER

*Place 3 1/2 cups of cherries in the bottom of a 9 inch square grease pan. You can use fresh or frozen.

*Mix together the following ingredients until a dough is formed and spread over cherries.

3 T butter, melted

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 cup white sugar

*In a small bowl, mix together the following ingredients and pour over dough covered cherries.

1/2 cup sugar

1 T. cornstarch

1/2 cup boiling water

*Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!!!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies or Better Known as the Best Cookie of 1999

I remember my mother pulling this from somewhere. It was voted as the best cookie of 1999; possibly by Martha Stewart.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter


Mix sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, soda and butter. Add cocoa and flour. Chill for one hour. Roll balls of dough in sugar.

Bake.

Oreo Cookie Dessert

 

 

 

 

This is a dessert that my sister in law, Tamara Greenwood, has been bringing to family functions for a while now. It is super yummy and creamy. It is a recipe that has been in her family for a long time. I like the how recipes get grafted into other family recipe collections; through marriage, friendship and great dinners together. :)

 

 

1 pkg. oreos (leave 1 out for crumbling on top) Use half of pkg. for first layer and other half for second layer

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese softened

1 stick margarine softened

1 small box instant vanilla pudding

2 cups milk

½ cup powdered sugar

12 oz. cool whip

 

(Best if made the day/night before)

Allow cream cheese and margarine to soften and then mix.  Mix pudding with cream cheese/margarine mix, milk and powdered sugar for 2 minutes with electric mixer.  Stir in cool whip.  Make 1 layer of cookies, pour half of mixture over 1^st cookie layer, put another layer of cookies and pour rest of mixture over, crumble 1 cookie crust (take out cream and eat it!) on top.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

This is a super yummy chocolate cake recipe that came from Taste of Home. I think this might be a go to recipe when we want a chocolate cake. It is really rich, so cut it in small pieces! :)

 

Tip: Make your pudding and frosting first, so that those can be cooling in your fridge while your cake is baking and cooling. Also, you will not need all of this frosting for your cake. It is too much, so don't just start to put the whole thing on there. The frosting is kind of a runny ganache, but will firm up when you cool it. I put the whole thing out in the garage (It's winter time, right now) to set up.

 

Ingredients

PUDDING:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cups whole milk
• 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CAKE:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

FROSTING:

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

In a small heavy saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in

milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.

Reduce heat to low; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Stir in

chocolate until melted. Transfer to a bowl; stir in vanilla. Cool

slightly, stirring occasionally. Press plastic wrap onto surface of

pudding. Refrigerate, covered, 2 hours or until cold.

 

Preheat oven to 325°. Line bottoms of two greased 8-in. round

baking pans with parchment paper; grease paper. In a small bowl,

whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large

saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add cocoa; cook and stir

until blended. Stir in sugars. Remove from heat; stir in buttermilk,

coffee and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until blended.

Stir in flour mixture just until combined.

 

Transfer batter to prepared pans. Bake 35-40 minutes or until

toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10

minutes before removing to wire racks; remove paper. Cool

completely.

 

For frosting, in the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl over hot

water, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Remove from

heat. Whisk in hot water, all at once. Whisk in corn syrup and

vanilla. Refrigerate 25-30 minutes or just until spreadable.

 

Using a long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half.

Place a cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with half of the

pudding. Repeat layers. Top with a third cake layer. Spread frosting

over top and sides of cake.

 

Crumble remaining cake layer; sprinkle over top and sides of cake,

pressing lightly to adhere. Refrigerate leftovers.

Scotcheroos

These are those yummy peanut butter rise krispy treats with chocolate tops. So good! This recipe was shared with me by Maggie Liechty Christmas 2010.

1 c. peanut butter
1 c. light corn syrup
1 c. sugar
6-8 c. Rice Krispies
1 pkg chocolate chips
1 pkg peanut butter chips

Mix together peanut butter, corn syrup, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until melted. Then add Rice Krispies and evenly coat. Spread in the bottom of a 9x11 pan. Pack down with a greased spoon. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter chips in microwave. Pour over Rice Krispies. Let chocolate/peanut butter cool until hard before serving. (You can put it in the freezer for a bit if you don't have time to wait very long.) Cut with a serrated knife.

Carmel Apple Cake

I found this recipe on Pinterest (it is a Paula Dean recipe that has been modified) and it is absolutely delicious!!! I have made it twice in the last two weeks (once for a church get together and another for when we had family in town... just so you didn't get to thinking that our family was sitting around doing nothing but eating these;)

Ingredients for the Cake:
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts (you can add these but I didn't)
2 1/2 cups apples, canned or fresh (diced)

~Preheat oven 350 degrees. Cream together sugar, eggs, and oil. Add flour; mix together until well blended. Add vanilla, nuts, and diced apples. Spread into a lightly greased and floured 13 x 9-inch baking dish; bake for 45 to 60 minutes. 
~Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. When cake is done, punch holes in it with a knife and pour topping over.

 

Ingredients for the Caramel Topping:

1 1/2 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1/8 cup of milk

~Heat all ingredients together over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Let boil for about 2 minutes. Pour over warm cake. Enjoy!!!

Apple Tea Ring

I found this recipe at Flour Me with Love... and it is so very good!!! I modified it a little bit so that I could use my bread machine but other than that I followed her recipe pretty closely. If you don't have a bread machine, you can follow her recipe:)

Dough... 1st layer:
3/4c milk
1/4c butter
1/4c water
1 egg

2nd layer:
3c flour
1/2c sugar
1/4tsp salt
1 pkg instant yeast

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A BREAD MACHINE:
~Mix together milk, melted butter, water and a beaten egg... and add this to the bottom of your bread machine pan.
~Mix together flour, sugar and salt... and add this to the top of the wet mixture. Sprinkle yeast on top.
~Run these layers on the dough cycle.

***Take dough out of bread machine and roll it out into a rectangle on a floured work space. Mix together filling and spread evenly over dough.
Filling:
8oz cream cheese
1/2c sugar

***Mix together apple mixture and spread over filling.
6 apples, peeled and diced
2T cinnamon
2T sugar

***Roll the dough up and form it into a circle... make sure the ends are all sealed. Placed on a parchment lined cookie sheet and make cuts 3/4 of the way through the ring every 2 inches... all the way around. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

***After it is done cooking, you can drizzle cream cheese icing on it to make it even more delicious:) Enjoy!!!

Mini Key Lime Pie

Allie made these delicious little Key Lime Pies after we finished studying Florida... aren't they cute!?!? And everyone gets their own!!!

No Bake Key Lime Mini Pies

•12 mini graham cracker crusts **see note

•6 oz reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature

•1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
•2/3 cup key lime juice
•1 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
•1 tsp vanilla extract
•1 cup whipping cream
•2 heaping Tbsp powdered sugar
•key limes or limes for garnish

1.In the bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and 1/3 cup of the lime juice with a hand mixer. Beat until smooth.

2.In a small bowl, combine remaining lime juice, gelatin and vanilla extract. Heat in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, until juice is hot enough that the gelatin dissolves into it completely when you stir it.
3.Beat the gelatin mixture into the cream cheese mixture in very slowly stream.

4.Divide mixture in between pie crusts and refrigerate for 3-4 hours, until set.

5.Before serving, whip whipping cream and powdered sugar together until it forms firm peaks. Spoon or pipe the whipped cream onto the pie and garnish with a slice of key lime or wedge of lime. Serves 12

** Note: you can forgo the crusts if you want to and just serve them in custard dishes. Just sprinkle with some graham cracker crumbs instead. Enjoy!!!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pie

We found this great recipe on the Jif website... and it is delicious!!! 

CRUST
No-Stick Cooking Spray
1 (7.4 oz.) package Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup salted peanuts, chopped

FILLING
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed

TOPPING
2 tablespoons Smucker's® Hot Fudge Microwaveable Topping, warmed (as you can tell from our picture we left this off;)

*HEAT oven to 350º F. Coat 9-inch pie plate with no-stick cooking spray. Combine muffin mix, butter and peanuts in large bowl. Blend with fork just until crumbly. Press evenly into bottom and up sides of prepared pie plate.

*BAKE 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown. If crust is slightly puffy, press down gently with back of a wooden spoon (do not press it down to much or you end up with a very thin crust like ours). Cool.

*BEAT peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium high speed until smooth. Beat in milk. Gently fold in whipped topping. Spoon into cooled crust. Drizzle warm fudge topping over pie. Chill 3 to 4 hours or until serving. Enjoy!!!

Mississippi Mud Pie

I found this recipe on The Cookie Jar for Mini Mississippi Mud Pies and we had to make them- especially since we have just finished studying Mississippi. Now before anyone says anything, I know they are not TRUE Mississippi Mud Pies but they were so easy to make and so YUMMY!!!



All you need is...

Chocolate Cupcakes (just decorate as many as you need- you can freeze the others;)

Can of Chocolate Icing

Mini Marshmallows

Chocolate Syrup

Ice the cupcakes... we used a decorating bag and tip to give it the swirl on top. Place marshmallows all over and drizzle in chocolate.

See what I mean... so easy (our 8 year old did them!!!) and oh so yummy!!!

Polvorones de Canele

We have entered another state... New Mexico!!! And these cookies were so delicious that we just had to share:)

1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or use parchment paper.

*In a medium bowl, cream together 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Combine flour, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture to form a stiff dough. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Mix together 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; roll balls in cinnamon mixture.
*Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in preheated oven, or until nicely browned. Cool cookies on wire racks. Yummy!!!

Apple Enchilada Dessert

Oh MY!!! This is so delicious... and yes I can thank Allie once again for allowing us to go along on her state travels;) This is another one from Arizona!!!

1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling

6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup margarine
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup water

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
*Spoon fruit evenly onto all tortillas, sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down on lightly greased 8x8 baking pan.
*Bring margarine, sugars and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Pour sauce evenly over tortillas; sprinkle with extra cinnamon on top if desired. *Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. (Makes 6 large tortillas; may be cut in half to serve 12... we found that it easily feed our family of 8 eaters and we even had extras but those didn't even make it til morning;)

Jello Magic Mousse

We made this the other night for supper... it was a huge hit:)

Jello Magic Mousse
~1 1/2 cups boiling water
~1 pkg. Jello (you can use any kind:)
~1 8oz. tub of whipped topping, frozen or thawed

*Add boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl; stir until completely dissolved. Whisk in topping until well blended.

*Refrigerate until firm. Serves 5 (1/2 cup each). Enjoy!!!

**Next time I make this I may layer it by making a batch of Jello and chilling that... then adding this to the top:) ***

Pumpkin Pie Bars

This was super easy and comes from the Libby website

1 can (30 oz) Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix
2/3 cup Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk
2 large eggs slightly beaten
1 pkg. (18.25 oz) yellow or spice cake mix
1/2 cup butter melted
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Whipped topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Spray 13x9 baking pan. Combine pumpkin pie mix, evaporated milk and eggs in large bowl. Pour into prepared pan. Combine cake mix, melted butter and nuts in large bowl until crumbly. Easiest to mix it with the hands. Sprinkle over filling. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Top with each serving with whipped topping, if desired.

New York Style Cheesecake

This is a recipe that I've been making for a few years now that seems to be a good one. I myself am not a true cheesecake fan, but do kind of like this one. The only thing I changed from the original recipe was to add about a half teaspoon of cinnamon to the graham cracker crust (really, I just do a good puff of it from my cinnamon container).

1/4 cup butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 8oz bricks of cream cheese (Philly)
1/2 cup flour
4 eggs, beaten
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in crumbs, cinnamon and sugar. Pat firmly in the bottom and about halfway up the side of your cheesecake pan. In large saucepan heat cream cheese until fluffy. A wire whisk works well for this to make sure there are no lumps of cheese left. Whisk in flour and eggs; mix well. Add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and lemon rind. Carefully pour into pan over crumbs. Bake 50-55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers. I have read that it is better to refrigerate it overnight before you plan to serve it; it makes for a better cheesecake. Also to help prevent cracking: Don't peek at it while it's baking...the rush of cooler air can cause cracking if you check on it before it's set.

Peanut Butter Pie

This is what we made for Aaron's birthday this year. It was a big hit with Aaron, who, if you don't know him, loves all things peanut butter. I got the recipe from a friend of mine from church, Amber Still.

1/2 package of oreos
3 Tablespoons of butter
8 ounce brick of cream cheese
1/2 of an 18 ounce jar of peanut butter
8 ounce tub of cool whip

Mix oreos, crushed, with about 3 tablespoons of butter. Press this into your pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Mix cream cheese with half of an 18oz jar of peanut butter. (That's a bit more than a cup) Fold in the tub of cool whip. Spread into pie crust and refrigerate. We kept ours in the freezer and just took it out 30 minutes before we wanted to eat it. Shaved chocolate on top is a nice touch.