Personal Progress Treat Party

by penji1

So there you have the Personal Progress treat party, all set up and ready to go on my deck counter.  For those of you keeping score, you will notice that I have only posted 7 treats so here is the very last one:

and they are Pots of Gold Brownie Cups for the color gold and the value Virtue.  The recipe is already on the blog under “Tuxedo Brownie Cups”.  All I did to change it up to suit my color purposes was to leave out the strawberries and sprinkle gold sprinkles over the tops of the cups.  Another easy and delicious recipe where the brownie shells can be made the day before the party and filled the day of the party.

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Krispies

by penji1

Everything tasted great but after much deliberation, I’m pretty sure that these were my favorite treat from the party.  Sort of like the Avalanche Bars I posted earlier, only better!  These were white for Faith.  The recipe is from the blog called Plain Chicken.  YUMMY!  I gotta be honest, I’m gonna go eat one as soon as I finish this last post!

2 cups Rice Krispies

2 cups dry roasted peanuts (I used chunky peanut butter so didn’t put these peanuts in)

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1 cup peanut butter

2 pounds white chocolate chips (two 12 oz packages plus 1 1/3 cups)

In a large bowl, combine cereal, peanuts and marshmallows.  In a separate bowl, melt chocolate and peanut butter in microwave on high for 1 minute  and then at 30 second intervals until fully melted.  Stir chocolate into cereal mixture.  Mixture will be runny.  Drop by tablespoons onto wax paper.  Let set until firm, about 2 hours.  Store in airtight container.

Soft and Thick Sugar Cookies

by penji1

Sugar cookies with green frosting for Knowledge.  Love these!  Love, love, love these!  I love a good sugar cookie!  And they are easy to put together too which makes them even more loved!  They are from a blog called Homemade by Holman.  Thank you, thank you Holman, wherever you are for this recipe!

Cookies:

1 box white cake mix with pudding in the mix

2/3 cup flour

2 eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons sour cream

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix together cake mix and flour.  Add eggs, oil and sour cream and mix until incorporated.  Batter will be stiff.  Use a cookie scoop or roll into 1″ balls and bake on cookie sheets lined with parchment.  Use the heel of your hand or a glass dusted with sugar to gently flatten cookies to about 1/2″ thick.  Bake about 10 minutes until just set.  Let cool 1 minute on pan before removing.

Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 – 4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon meringue powder (optional)

food coloring or sprinkles as desired

Beat butter on medium for 2 minutes until smooth.  Add cream and vanilla and beat 1 more minute to incorporate.  Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing on low until incorporated and you reach the desired consistency.  Add meringue powder if using.  Frosting should be fairly thick.

Red Velvet Brownies

by penji1

These are gorgeous and delicious!  Your eyes see red but your mouth tastes brownies!  How fun is that?  These are for the color red (obviously!) and the value Individual Worth.  The recipe is from a blog called Newlyweds and if I ever need a simple recipe to impress, I’ll use this one.

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 oz red food coloring

4 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Butter and flour a 9 x 13″ clear glass baking pan.

2  In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition, then stir in food coloring and vanilla, mixing until color is fully incorporated.  Mix flour, cocoa and salt together then slowly add to batter, being careful not to overmix.  The batter will be thick.

3  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 – 40 minutes.  The brownies will have a thin crust on top and will be gooey underneath.

Mini Fruit Pizzas with Blueberries

by penji1

Mini Fruit Pizzas with blueberries for the color blue and the value Divine Nature.  This recipe is from a blog called Banner Boutique and once again her pictures are much cuter than mine because she used all kinds of fruit on her pizzas and I only used blueberries because of my whole color theme!  I made the shells the day before and then filled them the day of the party, love recipes like that that take some of the stress off of party day.

1 small package Pillsbury sugar cookie dough (I used a box of Krusteaz sugar cookie mix)

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

1 large container of Cool Whip

4 cups your choice of fruit

Cook sugar cookie dough either as 1 large pizza, small cups or small cookies at 350 for 6 – 7 minutes for small cookies, longer for large cookie, do not overcook.  (I baked mine in my mini muffin pans for 14 minutes, then smooshed them with my mini tart shaper to make cookie cups, let them set in the pan for 10 minutes before removing.)  Whip cream cheese then add Cool Whip and whip until nice and smooth.  Pipe or scoop filling into cups and top with fruit.

Dipped Rice Krispie Pops

by penji1

And so here is the treat for the color orange and the value “Choice and Accountability”, another cute, easy and yummy idea from a blog called The Party Wagon.  Her pops were much more uniform looking than mine and as I’m looking at the picture of them on her blog, I’m wondering if she used store bought rice krispie treats in order to get that uniform appearance, maybe so.  But anyways, all you have to do is make a batch of rice krispie treats and press them into a 9 x 13″ pan, let them cool and set and then cut them into bar shapes.  Next stick a popsicle stick (which you can buy at any craft store like Michaels) into one end of the treats and then dip into the Wilton candy melts that you have melted according to package directions, sprinkle with jimmies, etc if desired and then set on wax paper until candy coating has become firm.  Rice Krispie treats are addicting by themselves but when dipped in candy melts they are even more addicting, consider yourself warned!

Lemonade Slushies

by penji1

Not a great picture of the slushies so go to the website where I got this recipe called That’s What We Said! and see the picture there which is so much cuter and also it is for a Strawberry Lemonade Slushie whereas mine is just lemonade slushie since I needed a yellow item to go with Good Works.  I’ll give you the original recipe for the strawberry version, I just left out the strawberries for the straight lemonade version.  It was really tasty and refreshing and super tart which we all loved!

1 cup water

12 oz frozen lemonade concentrate

10 oz frozen strawberries in sugar syrup, thawed slightly

1 1/4 cups crushed ice

In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth.  Add more water if too thick.

Makes 4 servings.

Dipped Pirouline Cookies

by penji1

Another big shindig with the Young Women here yesterday!  Our church has a goal setting program for our teenage girls that is called the “Personal Progress” program.  We issued a challenge to the girls to set and accomplish 8 goals during the summer months and when school started back up again in the fall, their reward for achieving these goals would be a treat party at my house.  There are 8 categories that they set goals in and each of these categories has a corresponding color so I thought it would be fun to make a treat in each color.  This is the first one which is purple for integrity.  The idea came from a blog called Amanda’s Parties To Go! and they couldn’t be any easier.  I bought these cookies at Dollar Tree and then got some purple Wilton candy melts at Michaels and I was set.  Just melt the candy according to package directions, carefully dip one end of the cookies in the melted candy, sprinkle with jimmies, sprinkles, etc as desired and then set carefully on wax paper until the candy is set.  Easy, cute and yummy!

Chocolate Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches

by penji1

Here is my last post from the Camp Wrap Up and my last post of the night.  I made those Cake Mix Waffles last week and when I was thinking about a dessert for this party, I originally thought about doing the waffle sundaes again but I had made all finger foods so then I thought why not make ice cream sandwiches with the cake mix waffles!  So I followed that recipe for cake mix waffles and just made the waffles a little smaller this time (instead of the large or cupcake scoop, I used the medium or cookie scoop).  When they were done and cooled a bit, I put the waffles in the freezer so that they would be easier to handle when filling with ice cream.  I took some store bought vanilla ice cream and let it get soft at room temperature for about 10 minutes or so then took the waffles out of the freezer and put a medium scoop of ice cream between 2 waffles and then wrapped them each in a baggie and returned them to the freezer.  They were awesome and the perfect treat to finish up the night of finger foods!

Parmesan Pretzel Bites

by penji1

Now these little beauties were the definite favorite of most of the girls and the leaders.  I made almost 100 of these things and they were almost completely gone by the end of the night.  These come from a blog called Get Off Your Butt and Bake!.  She also gives a dessert version called Cinnamon and Sugar Pretzel Bites so I’ll give you the recipe for that as well.  I’m sure I’ll be making that version in the future at some point and when I do, I’ll include a picture of those too.

Texas size Rhodes frozen roll dough, as many as you like, each roll makes 4 bites

butter

coarse salt, garlic and Parmesan

or

cinnamon and sugar

1  Take a thawed roll and cut it into 4 sections.  Place dough on greased cookie sheets and cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Let dough rise until double in size, about 35 – 45 minutes.  Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil.  Plop about 10 pieces into the boiling water, tossing gently for about 45 seconds.  Remove with slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain.  Move bites to greased baking sheets and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

2  Brush bites with melted butter and sprinkle with a mixture of coarse salt, garlic and Parmesan or you can mix together about 1 cup sugar with 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon and sprinkle with that after brushing with butter.

You can serve the Parmesan Bites with a Cheddar Dip:

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup milk

1 1/2 – 2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.  Add flour and stir until well blended and butter has turned light golden brown.  Slowly whisk in milk and cook until thickened slightly.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese until smooth and cheese has melted.  Season with salt and pepper.

And you can serve the Cinnamon and Sugar Bites with a Vanilla Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients and mix well.