Creme de Menthe Sugar Cookie Bark

by penji1
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Creme de Menthe Sugar Cookie Bark

Here’s another easy treat idea if you’re needing one for a neighbor gift or party potluck and not only is it easy to make but it is so tasty too!

1 pouch sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 bag Wilton white candy melts

1/3 cup Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips

red and green sugar sprinkles

1  Heat oven to 375.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Mix together cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms.  Press dough into a large rectangle on cookie sheet.

2  Bake 10 – 14 minutes or until light golden brown, cool slightly.

3  Melt candy melts according to package directions.  Pour and spread over cookie base.  Sprinkle with Andes chips and red and green sugar.  Let sit until candy melt layer is set then cut or break into bars.

recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

No Bake Speculoos Truffle Cookies

by penji1
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No Bake Speculoos Truffle Cookies

I love the holiday season for all kinds of reasons but one of them is that I get to make lots of treats for neighbors and friends and family so I get to try out all kinds of recipes!  Fun, fun, fun!  I had dinner the other night with some good friends and made these for them.  They were pretty easy to make and Bob and Zach loved the leftovers.

1 sleeve graham crackers (which is 9 crackers)

1 cup speculoos spread aka cookie butter (you can find this at Trader Joes)

1 bag Wilton white candy melts or whatever color you like

sprinkles for decorating

1  Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper.  Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor until finely ground.  Take 1/3 cup of the crumbs and put them in a bowl.  Add cookie butter to crumbs in food processor and pulse until well combined.  Add mixture to reserved crumbs and combine.

2  Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into 1″ balls and place on baking sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour up to overnight.

3  Melt candy melts according to package directions.  Carefully dip cookie balls in chocolate then set on lined cookie sheet to dry. Top with desired sprinkles immediately then allow to set for about 30 minutes.

recipe from Food Network

Black Bean Chili

by penji1
Black Bean Chili

Black Bean Chili

Trying out different recipes for the weekly pot of soup, decided to do a chili this week and since everyone here loves black beans, this was a good choice, thick and hearty, perfect for winter.

2 onions, chopped, about 2 cups

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

3 (15 oz each) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with liquid

2 tablespoons pressed or chopped garlic

2 tablespoons honey

1 (7 oz) can tomato paste

4 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook on high for 5 – 6 hours.

recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

Christmas Ornament Cupcakes

by penji1
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Christmas Ornament Cupcakes

Here’s another popular Christmas treat idea floating around on Pinterest.  If you need an easy Christmas treat, these fit the bill, they would be fun to make with kids too.  Just whip up a batch of your favorite cupcakes (straight from the cake mix box being the easiest option), frost with a batch of your favorite frosting or even easier with a can of frosting,  anchor 1 Rolo at the top of your cupcake with frosting and then decorate as desired with some red and green Christmas M&M’s and whatever other holiday sprinkles and candies you have on hand or find at the store.  The hardest part of this is getting the Rolo to stick to the top of your cupcake, just use a lot of frosting and hold it in place for a bit.

Mini Eggnog Cupcakes

by penji1
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Mini Egg Nog Cupcakes

My husband and son love eggnog so I gave these a try for neighbor gifts and got the thumb’s up from both of them so if you like eggnog, these would be a yummy and easy treat idea for Christmas.

cupcakes

1 white cake mix

1 1/4 cup eggnog

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup eggnog

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

4 – 5 cups powdered sugar

1  For cupcakes, preheat oven to 350.  Line mini muffin pans with paper liners or spray wells with cooking spray for baking.

2  Combine cake mix, eggnog, eggs, nutmeg and vanilla and whisk until combined.

3  Spoon or scoop batter into prepared pans, filling 2/3 way full.

4  Bake 8 – 10 minutes or until barely golden brown.  Remove and let cool completely.

5  For frosting, cream together butter, eggnog, vanilla and nutmeg then mix in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time.  Spread or pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

Yield:  the recipe said it would make 48 mini cupcakes but I got 72, if you get that many too then make sure you double the frosting recipe because I ran out

recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff

Disney World’s Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake

by penji1
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Disney World’s Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake

Tell me you don’t want to eat that right now!  I want to eat it and it’s 10:30 in the morning!  We had our Christmas Bunco dinner last night and I signed up for dessert, of course, so made these bad boys and they were divine!  There were some extra and Zach had one and told me that it tastes like a restaurant dessert so he obviously liked it as did the Bunco ladies.  If you need a dessert to impress that isn’t too difficult to make, then may I suggest this one?

cake layer

1 yellow cake or white cake mix

1 egg

1/2 cup butter, softened

cream cheese layer

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chocolate covered toffee bits

toppings

vanilla ice cream

caramel syrup

chocolate syrup

more toffee bits

1  Preheat oven to 350, 325 for dark pans.  Generously grease two 12 capacity muffin pans with baking spray with flour.

2  Mix together cake mix, egg and butter until well blended.  Divide into 24 little balls and press into bottom of muffin cups.

3  Beat cream cheese until smooth then add in eggs, vanilla and butter and mix well.  Add powdered sugar and beat until well blended.  Fold in chocolate chips and toffee bits.  Spread 1 generous spoonful over each cake layer in muffin pans.

4  Bake 25 – 30 minutes.  Cool and loosen around edges with small knife before removing from pan.

5  Top with ice cream, syrups and toffee bits.

This can also be made in a 9 x 13″ pan.  Grease pan, spread cake layer in bottom of pan then top with cream cheese layer and bake for 40 minutes until golden brown with gooey center.  Cool, cut into squares and top each piece with toppings.

recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff

Sweet ‘N Salty Caramel Mousse Cups

by penji1
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Sweet ‘N Salty Caramel Mousse Cups

Christmas Book Group last night where we do a book exchange and eat, so last night we did appetizers and desserts and it was all yum-o!  I tried these out and they were really easy and really delicious.

2 cups mini pretzel twists

5 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 (1.4 oz) bar milk chocolate English toffee candy

1/4 cup caramel sauce

6 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup Cool Whip, thawed

additional caramel sauce for drizzling

1  Preheat oven to 375.  Spray wells of mini muffin pan (24 cup capacity) with Pam for baking.

2  Pulse pretzels into crumbs in food processor.  Pour into bowl and add butter and sugar and mix well.

3  Spoon about 1 tablespoon of mixture into each well of mini muffin pan and press down using mini tart shaper or back of spoon.  Bake 6 minutes.

4  Pulse candy bar into crumbs in food processor.  Mix caramel sauce, cream cheese and candy in same bowl then fold in whipped topping until blended.

5  Spoon filling into gallon size resealable bag and trim corner.

6  Remove pan from oven and let sit for 2 minutes then carefully loosen edges of crusts and remove them to cooling rack.

7  Squeeze filling evenly into crusts.  Pour a few spoonfuls of caramel into a sandwich size resealable bag and snip corner then drizzle over cups.

recipe from Pampered Chef

Oreo Snowman Pops

by penji1
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Oreo Snowman Pops

I’m sure you’ve seen these all over Pinterest so I’m not exactly sure where the original idea came from to give credit to but they are cute and pretty easy to make.  We had a neighborhood Breakfast with Santa on Saturday morning that myself and a couple of friends were in charge of so we made 100 of these babies for the treat that Santa gave out after visiting with him.

popsicle sticks (I found a package of 100 at the dollar store)

Oreos (I bought the giant box at Sam’s Club)

mini chocolate chips (1 bag was more than enough)

candy corn (1 bag also more than enough)

white candy melts (I found large bags, 2 pounds each, of Ghiradelli White Melting Wafers at Sam’s Club, you could also use Wilton Candy Melts which you can find at Michaels)

1  Carefully insert popsicle stick into each Oreo, doesn’t have to go in too far.

2  Melt chocolate as per package instructions and then carefully dip each Oreo into chocolate until covered then hold over chocolate to allow for excess to drip off.  Put onto wax paper to set.

3  Immediately press 1 candy corn for the nose, 2 mini chocolate chips for the eyes and 5 mini chocolate chips for the mouth onto the dipped Oreo before the chocolate sets.  Allow chocolate to set before packaging.

Salted Caramel Pecan Pie Bark

by penji1
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Salted Caramel Pecan Pie Bark

I’m not gonna lie, this was my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner!  YUM-O!  Courtney wanted a pecan pie but when I showed her this, she was fine without a pie.  It’s the perfect mix of sweet and savory.

1 box refrigerated pie crusts, softened as per box instructions

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecan halves

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup salted caramel topping (I couldn’t find salted so just used straight up caramel)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1  Heat oven to 450.  Line 15 x 10″ jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides), with parchment paper, allowing edges to overhand on two sides.  Press crusts in bottom of pan, cutting to fit and moistening seams with finger dipped in water, pressing seams firmly to seal.  Once bottom is covered, use additional crust, cut into strips, along edges of pan to thicken edges.  Do not prick crust.  Bake 11 – 13 minutes or until golden brown.

2  Heat pecans, brown sugar, water and vanilla to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 3 minutes.  Immediately spread evenly over hot crust.  Drizzle topping over pecan mixture.

3  Bake 3 – 5 minutes or until caramel is bubbly in center.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips and salt.  Cool pan on rack for 30 minutes then place uncovered in fridge for 30 minutes or until chocolate chips are set.  Lift from pan and cut or break into pieces.

recipe from Pillsbury

Betty Crocker French Apple Pie

by penji1
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Betty Crocker French Apple Pie

If you follow my blog then you know how I feel about pie, I don’t really like pie and I haven’t made enough of them to feel comfortable making them but I’m getting there.  This pie was super easy and was a big hit for Thanksgiving, even my son Zach who is not the most talkative guy, went on and on about how good this pie was, that’s when you know it’s a success.  There have already been requests for a repeat of this pie so if you’re pie shy like me then give this one a try, I think you’ll like it!

pie

9″ single pie crust (I used a Marie Calendars frozen pie crust which was surprisingly good)

6 – 7 cups cored, peeled and sliced apples (this is about 6 – 7 apples)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

streusel topping

1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1  For pie, mix sugar and cinnamon and toss with sliced apples.

2  Place sugar coated apples in pie crust, they will mound up above edges of pan.

3  Mix streusel ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until you have pea sized pieces.  Top apples in pan generously with topping.

4  Set pie on cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 for about 50 minutes.  Check pie periodically and cover with aluminum foil if browning too much.  Let cool slightly before cutting.

recipe from Art of Natural Living