Category Archives: Misc

April 3, 2013 · 9:00 am

Pregnant Lady Cookie Dough

This is actually just a post rewind of sorts… bear with me.

…the other day, my husband said I should make chocolate chip cookies. Cookies are basically his favorite thing ever. (And I don’t mean my decorated sugar cookies. He likes regular ol’ cookies.) Me being the hormonal, whiney, cranky-pants that I am lately, protested because A) I would have to make cookies, and B) I couldn’t eat any dough.

See, people always say you shouldn’t eat raw cookie dough or cake/brownie batter because the raw eggs and salmonella blah blah blah… and no one actually listens to that.

BUT. When you’re prego, salmonella is a really big deal. Like it can cause miscarriage big deal. So I wasn’t even trying to tempt myself.

Thankfully, I had these Cookie Dough Truffles up my sleeve. Raw cookie dough sans eggs. I will now refer to it as Pregnant Lady Cookie Dough.

(**Quick note: While this satisfied my cookie dough need, it didn’t quite satisfy my husband’s cookie need. You can’t bake dough without eggs, it just won’t work! I think I owe him…)

When I posted the original recipe, I coated them in chocolate. I’ve made this dough a few times now, and most of the time it doesn’t make it to the dipping stage. Usually I bake it into something. This time, no way.

I scooped the dough into small balls, lined them up on a wax lined baking sheet, and left them in the freezer overnight. The next morning, I packed them all in a quart-sized zip top bag and gifted them to my brother-in-law for this birthday. He’s a cookie dough fiend.

…not all the dough made it into cute little balls. The rest resided in my fridge until we polished it off last night.

To make things easy, here is the recipe again, appropriately renamed:

Pregnant Lady Cookie Dough - adapted from eat.drink.smile.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla
scant 1/3 cup milk (little less than 1/3 cup)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used reg size but mini would work!)

Directions:

1. Beat together butter and sugars until combined.

2. Add vanilla and milk and beat, scraping and cleaning beaters/paddle a couple times.

3. Mix together flour, salt, and baking soda, then slowly add to wet mixture until completely combined.

4. With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Scoop into small balls and freeze on a baking sheet. Once solid, store in a zip top bag for anytime snacking.

Pregnant ladies everywhere, you’re welcome.

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Tagged as chocolate, cookie dough

March 29, 2013 · 8:00 am

Rainbow Krispy Treats

Krispy Treats with Fruity Pebbles mixed in.

I have been wanting to make these for awhile.

I went to the store to get the ingredients and the Fruity Pebbles were special neon colors! Perfect for me because basically that means red is replaced with pink and the rest of the colors are a little brighter. My perfect palette.

Mix together 4 cups of Rice Krispies and 2 cups of Fruity Pebbles.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a medium pot on low heat, then add an entire bag of regular marshmallows (4 cups if using mini marshmallows).

Once they are completely melted (this takes an eternity), pour over the cereal and mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula quickly until all cereal is coated.

Dump into a 13×9 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Spray cooking spray on hands and press down into pan as evenly as possible. Wait at least 2 hours. (Torture, I know.)

Invert the pan on a cutting board and cut into 2 inch squares.

I LOVE these. They’re not overly fruity because we just used a small amount of Fruity Pebbles. Plus, they’re fun and pretty and easy. And they would go perfectly with Easter!

Recipe adapted from Kellogg’s and Cookies and Cups.

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Tagged as marshmallows, rainbow, rice krispy treats

January 25, 2013 · 7:30 am

Double Birthday Blondies

Birthday Oreos are back in stores.

This is cause for a celebration of birthday proportions. I give you, Double Birthday Blondies.

I started with my basic blondie recipe, and went to town.

Double Birthday Blondies

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter (I use salted)

2 cups packed brown sugar (I used light)

2 egg

2 tsp vanilla

2 pinches of salt

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup funfetti cake powder

about a dozen birthday Oreos, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Melt butter. Beat with brown sugar until smooth.

3. Beat in vanilla and egg, then add salt.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and funfetti cake mix powder until all lumps are gone. Slowly add to batter and mix until fully incorporated.

5. Mix in Oreo chunks by hand.

6. Spray a 13×9 pan with non-stick spray, then pour batter into pan. Smooth out as evenly as possible.

7. Bake for 25 minutes, or until center is set. Let cool completely before cutting so that the ooey gooey inside can set.

9 Comments

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Tagged as blondies, funfetti, oreos, sprinkles

January 22, 2013 · 8:00 am

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

I’ve made cinnamon rolls like this a few times now.

They are so easy to make, and so delicious… and they only take a couple minutes to put together.

1. Start with a can of crescent rolls. Unroll each crescent and lay them out on a cutting board.

2. In a small bowl mix together about 3/4 cup sugar and a few shakes of cinnamon. Mix them together with a spoon and add more cinnamon if needed. (I didn’t measure an exact amount, sorry.. but you can’t really mess this up…)

3. Butter each open raw crescent roll, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. You don’t want heaps, but be a little generous.

4. Roll up the crescents and curl the edges to form a crescent shape. Place on a baking sheet a couple inches apart. Pinch the ends in a little so that the cinnamon goodness doesn’t escape.

5. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.

6. While they are baking, make your icing. Mix together powdered sugar and milk to make a thick syrup consistency.

7. When rolls are done baking, let cool for about a minute before transferring to a serving plate. Drizzle icing across the top and enjoy!

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Tagged as cinnamon, icing

December 20, 2012 · 8:00 am

Fudgey Brownies with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

That might be my longest titled treat yet.

Don’t worry, it’s worth it.

Just as a disclaimer, the cookie dough frosting does not have eggs in it – so while it tastes just like raw cookie dough, it won’t kill you. At least not from salmonella. I can’t promise it won’t if you eat the entire bowl of it with a spoon. That’d be a good way to go though, I must say…

Fudgey Brownies with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

Brownie Ingredients:

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/4 cups)

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 3/4 cups cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

scant 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

about 2 tbsp milk

3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Spray 13×9 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Melt butter, then beat with sugar until mixed well. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Slowly add to sugar mixture until mostly incorporated. Batter will be thick.

4. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out as much as possible.

5. Bake for 30 minutes (toothpick inserted into center should be mostly clean). Let cool at least 20 minutes.

**While brownies are baking, make the frosting.**

6. Beat together sugars and butter. Add vanilla, then salt and baking soda. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with a little of the milk to keep it from getting too thick. Add more milk at the end if necessary to bring it to a thin enough consistency. Mix in the mini chocolate chips by hand.

7. When the brownies are cooled, spread the cookie dough frosting evenly across the top with an offset spatula.

8. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

9. The next morning, cut the brownies into small pieces. It was easier for me to cut one whole row, then move it to my cutting board to cut into small pieces.

10. Try not to eat the entire pan.

This is basically the same brownie recipe I used for my Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. It’s fudgey and dense, and just rich enough to hold up the cookie dough well.

From the words of one of my coworkers, these are “amazeballs.” For the record, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him say that word.

6 Comments

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Tagged as brownies, chocolate, cookie dough

December 12, 2012 · 8:00 am

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Growing up, I got to decorate a gingerbread house ever single year. My grandmother spent hours and hours baking the house pieces so that my cousins, my brother, and I could enjoy the tradition. She made real gingerbread and real royal icing with egg whites. We took pictures with our houses every year and it’s so fun to flip through them all!

Now that I am grown up, I knew it was my turn to start my own tradition. I found Wilton gingerbread house cutters at Michaels. I baked chocolate cookies (my friends and I are not fans of actual gingerbread) and I made royal icing for the first time. We all brought lots of candy and went to town!

Here is my finished house:

Here are the houses my girlfriends made…

I just love the way Chelsea did her roof!

Michelle got so creative with her Santa and elves on one side, and a snowman on the other side.

Here is my brother’s girlfriends’ house. Her grinch is so cute!!

The chocolate cookies held up perfectly against the weight of the rest of the house plus all the frosting and candy. And my first time making royal icing was a success, woo hoo! I do think I overbeat it, but it still hardened well and held up against the weight. Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

6 Comments

Filed under Cookies, Misc

Tagged as chocolate, gingerbread house, royal icing

December 3, 2012 · 10:07 am

Elf Munchies

This snack munch is easy and pretty and sure to impress!

Elf Munchies

Ingredients:

About 8 cups of popcorn (1/2 cup of kernels if popping them fresh)

12 oz white chocolate chips, almond bark, or white candy melts

Assorted sprinkles

Directions:

1. Pop some popcorn. You can use microwave popcorn if you want, I just don’t know how it will taste if you get the buttery kind. I used white popcorn and popped it the same way I make my Kettle Corn, but without the sugar. Let it cool.

2. Melt white chocolate chips, almond bark, or white candy melts until smooth. Pour over popcorn and stir until evenly coated. I added sprinkles while my husband was stirring. Non-pareils, jimmies, and quins!

3. Spread popcorn out on wax paper. I broke it up so that there were no large clumps.

4. In freezer zip top bags, melt green and red candy melts. (I like to use leftover candy melts for this because it doesn’t have to melt perfectly smooth to be pretty as drizzle!) Massage bag until smooth. Snip the corner of the bag and drizzle the candy over the white chocolate coated popcorn. I finished off with some more sprinkles – snowflakes this time!

5. Wait for the candy to set up completely, then break up popcorn and store in a airtight container or zip top bag.

This would be so cute to leave out with cookies for Santa. The elves deserve some treats too!

5 Comments

Filed under Candy, Misc

Tagged as candy melts, popcorn, sprinkles, white chocolate

November 23, 2012 · 11:56 am

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

Happy Christmas season everyone!!!

I have been itching to make Christmas desserts for a while now, and I have been listening to Christmas music for weeks. It is my firm belief that Thanksgiving is about food and family (and football if you ask my husband), and about being thankful for all that we have. To me, Christmas means much the same, with the addition of giving and sharing. It is just another step in the holiday season and there’s nothing wrong with Christmas decor/excitement/music/shopping coming before Thanksgiving. (I know Jennifer agrees with me!) My husband definitely does NOT agree, but he did bring in my decoration boxes last night, so I can officially get going into the holiday spirit properly.

To celebrate, I made brownies! Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. Because nothing screams Christmas like the classic combo of chocolate and peppermint.

I found these gems at Cost Plus World Market right before Halloween. Snatched them up with the thoughts of brownies immediately!

I saw the Andes chips at Walmart last night so I know you can get them there too. (Yes I was at Walmart on Black ~~Friday~~ Thursday at 9pm. I survived. But for the record, I didn’t buy a thing – I will not give Walmart my money. I was with others who needed to get things there.)

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies – adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) + 2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 cup + 2 tbsp special dark cocoa powder

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp of salt (omit if using salted butter)

1/2 package peppermint baking chips

Directions:

1. Spray 8×8 (or 9×9) pan with non-stick spray. Preheat oven to 325*.

2. Melt butter in microwave. Beat with sugar until it becomes a grainy paste.

3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

5. Slowly add to sugar mixture until mostly incorporated. Batter will be thick.

6. Mix in peppermint chips by hand. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out as best as possible. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candy if desired. I desired.

7. Bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

8. Let cool completely to set before cutting.

I thought the chips would completely melt into these, but you can see some of them peeking through in my taste tester below. The peppermint flavor and smell magically soaked into the brownie itself too. It was just the perfect punch of peppermint without being overpowering.

The brownies themselves were dense but not super fudgy. Not cakey either. Almost like a dense, thick, rich cookie. Unlike any brownie I’ve ever had. They’re pretty spectacular.

Make these and get into the Christmas spirit with me!

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Tagged as brownies, chocolate, peppermint

November 2, 2012 · 8:00 am

Chocolate Chip Blondies

I recently made some blondies that were… not so great… so then I decided I needed to keep trying blondie recipes until I found heaven. Because I knew it had to exist out there.

It didn’t take long.

Just this recipe, the very next recipe I tried after the failed ones.

These are basically a blondie base. You can add literally whatever you want to them. I can’t wait to try another batch!

Also – I threw the batter together in like 5 minutes. Not joking.

Chocolate Chip Blondies – recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

1 stick butter (I use salted)

1 cup brown sugar (I used light)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Melt butter. Beat with brown sugar until smooth.

3. Beat in vanilla and egg.

4. Add salt, then stir in flour until fully incorporated.

5. Mix in chocolate chips.

6. Spray a 8×8 pan with non-stick spray, then pour batter into pan. Make sure it’s as even as possible.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until center is set. (Mine took 25 minutes.) Let cool completely before cutting so that the ooey gooey inside can set.

Heaven!!

Look at that shiny cracked crust… that ooey gooey center… okay, I’m going to make some more of these now.

Please try them!

3 Comments

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Tagged as blondie, chocolate

October 19, 2012 · 8:00 am

Anniversary Sweets

My coworker Jaz asked me to make sweets for his wife for their 3rd anniversary. He said I could make whatever I wanted! He had not yet tried my cookies, so I definitely wanted to include some cookies… and then I thought, what is more romantic than chocolate covered strawberries?! Together they would make a cute little love tray.

Here is the picture I used for color inspiration (since he had no idea what colors would be good)…

… and here are my colors. My pink came out a little more purple, but I still love how they looked together.

Here are the cookies. I stuck with hearts. Cuz they’re all lovey and stuff.

and the romantic strawberries…

On a side note, I know 3 people (they happen to all be men) who don’t like chocolate covered strawberries. Why you might be wondering? Because they don’t like strawberries. WHAT? How is that even possible? They must be aliens or something.

What a lucky lady you have, Jaz!

12 Comments

Filed under Cookies, Misc

Tagged as buttercream, chocolate, icing, orange, purple, strawberry, sugar cookies, teal

Category Archives: Misc

Rainbow Krispy Treats

Double Birthday Blondies

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Elf Munchies

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

Chocolate Chip Blondies

Anniversary Sweets

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