Lemon Surprise Cookies

 

I tried a new cookie recipe yesterday and am very glad to share this success with others.  It's a chewy, sweet but tart, light cookie that's perfect for summer (or the tail end of summer, as everyone is feeling heading up to labor day).  It reminds me a bit of my chocolate peanut butter surprise cookies as far as technique goes, so I made a batch of those as well for my lucky coworkers.
The recipe comes courtesy of SewLicious Home Decor.  I've only made a few edits to make the instructions a bit easier for me to follow.  Enjoy!

Lemon Surprise Cookies
Yields approx. 2 dozen cookies
Prep time: 1-2 hours (filling needs to freeze before baking)
Bake time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Cookie

• 1 box supreme white cake mix (just using the powder mix; you do not prepare it as directed on the box)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (not butter)
• 3.4-oz box lemon Jello instant pudding mix

Cheesecake Filling

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Prepare cheesecake filling, mixing together all ingredients until creamy.  Spoon teaspoon-size dollops onto prepared baking sheet.  Place in freezer 1 hour or more until set.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the cookie ingredients (cake mix, eggs, oil, and pudding mix).  Turn dough out onto saran wrap and refrigerate until cheesecake filling is set.
4. When filling is firm, preheat oven to 350° and assemble cookies.  Scoop 1-2 tablespoons of cookie dough and flatten into a circle in your palm.  Place a frozen dollop of cheesecake filling into center, and roll cookie dough around the filling, being careful to close up all seams.  Roll into a ball.
5. Place balls of dough with filling centers on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
6. Bake 8-12 minutes or until set.  The tops won't brown, but the bottoms will.
7. Remove from oven and gently press down each cookie with a spatula or the bottom of a cup to flatten slightly.  Let sit on baking sheet 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
8. Serve warm, or cool completely before storing.

Aaa!  They just look so summery and yummy!  I wish I could give you smell-o-vision, too.

Mmm- delicious filling.

Mini Key Lime Cakes

The blessing and curse of Tastefully Simple is that you know just how good the food tastes, and you want to make all of these special treats, and just have to wait patiently for the right occasion to make them.  This was true of the key lime cheese ball mix I'd bought nearly a year ago.  One of the recommended ways to make it was to use it as a topping on Tastefully Simple's almond pound cake, which sounded delicious.  I wanted to make that little treat for a retirement party for one of my employees, but I didn't want to spend an hour prepping individual servings.  My edit was to serve up the different components and let everyone build their own little key lime cake, which worked out wonderfully.

Ingredients

• Key Lime Cheese Ball mix from Tastefully Simple
• Almond Pound Cake mix from Tastefully Simple
• 2 cups or more strawberries, sliced

Directions

1. Prepare cheese ball and cake according to package directions.  Place cheese ball in center of serving platter.
2. Cut cake into cubes, size depending on number of servings you want to have--bigger cubes for a dozen people; bite-size cubes to serve 40 as I did.  Arrange on platter.
3. Slice strawberries and serve with other ingredients.

I recommend writing up a little set of instructions to go with your components so you aren't forever explaining to your guests how they can serve themselves, and what the ingredients are.  A little chalkboard would be perfect for this!  I didn't think of it until I was at work, so I just printed out a little sign that I placed next to the serving platter.

All prepped!  Pound cake in 3 of the serving dishes and strawberries in the fourth, with the cheese ball in the middle.

End of the buffet line!

Mochaccino Brownies

I really love all things coffee, and definitely low brownies, so when I saw this recipe from The Curvy Carrot years ago I pinned it without thinking twice... and then forgot it.  I finally made these brownies yesterday, with a couple modifications to make the frosting work, and omg were they good.  I also can't wait to find more uses for the espresso buttercream, because it comes straight from Heaven.

Ingredients
For the Brownie Layer

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 ounces (1/4 cup) bittersweet chocolate chips

For the Espresso Buttercream Frosting

• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (you can buy it in cans in the coffee aisle)
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (yes, I promise that's all you need)

For the Chocolate Ganache

• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Optional Garnish

• Chocolate-covered espresso beans

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease an 8 x 8" baking pan with butter or cooking spray.  Set aside.
2. In a large pot over low heat, melt the butter and the unsweetened chocolate pieces until smooth, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. Stir sugar into chocolate mixture until well incorporated.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla.
4. In a small bowl, mix the flour and baking soda.  Add to the chocolate mixture and stir until just combined.  Stir in the bittersweet chocolate chips.
5. Pour brownie batter into prepared baking pan and spread evenly.  Bake about 30 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool completely.
6. For the chocolate ganache, heat the cream and chocolate chips in a small pot over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth and thickened.  Set aside to cool to room temperature.
7. For the frosting, first dissolve the espresso powder in the cream and set aside.
8. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed 2 minutes until pale and fluffy.  Turn down speed to low and add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time.  After all sugar is incorporated, mix at high speed for 10 seconds to aerate the frosting and make it fluffy.  Turn speed back down to low.
9. Pour in the espresso and cream mixture and mix on low until incorporated and smooth, adding more cream if necessary for desired consistency.
10. Spread frosting evenly over cooled brownies.  Spread room-temperature chocolate ganache on top.  If desired, sprinkle chocolate-covered espresso beans on top for garnish.  Let brownie layers set at least 10-15 minutes.
11. Cut into bars and serve at room temperature.

What a nice looking treat to bring with you for any gathering.  I mean, in addition to your great smile and winning personality.

Brownie extreme close up!!!

Super Easy Rainbow Cake

I'm sure we've all seen the rainbow cake/cheesecake pins all over Pinterest, which often don't actually link to a recipe.  After investigating a few and some Google searching, I realized the "recipe" is really all about the technique of laying your dyed batter so you get the rainbow look in the end product.  That lesson learned, you can do this with any cake recipe, including simple boxed cake mix!  Keep it simple with white (premade) frosting and sprinkles, and this cake can lead you to crazy impressive results for minimal effort.  BINGO.

Look at that beauty!  Full on double rainbow across the plate.

So the trick here is that you mix your cake batter, separate out into 6 equal portions in bowls, mugs, whatever you have on hand, and dye each portion a different color.  You layer the batter by pouring into the center of your cake pan, and then pour the following colors in the center one by one.  This approach spreads out the layers below evenly.

See?

What's fun is deciding how to layer or change up your rainbow.  My cake is kind of reversed/upside down.  I poured in the purple first, then did the rainbow in reverse.  This gave me the fun red center spreading out to a thin purple edge, but had I started with red as the first color and flipped my cakes upside down, you can see how I'd have perfect Rainbow Brite style rainbows going on.  Bottom line?  Be creative, don't overthink it, and just have fun with the colorful result.

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix and required ingredients (likely eggs and vegetable oil)
• 1 container frosting
• Food coloring (at least red, yellow, and blue)
• Sprinkles

Directions

1. Prepare cake batter according to package directions.  Divide equally into 6 different mugs/containers- probably ~2/3 cups in each.
2. Dye each portion a different color of the rainbow.
3. Prepare cake pan(s).  I used two 9" round nonstick pans, which I coated with butter.  Pour half of your first batter color into the center of one pan, and the other half into the center of the other, to have identical cakes.  Pour half of the second color slowly and evenly into the center of your 1st batter color in pan 1; repeat in pan 2.  This should slowly spread out the first color, with the 2nd color making a circle in the middle.  Repeat with remaining colors.  When done, wiggle and/or tap your batter if it isn't filling the pan fully or is lopsided.  I did, and it wiggled the whole mixture well without making the colors bleed.
4. Bake according to package directions.  Cool completely.
5. Optional- trim the rounded top off of each cake to get a more professional look, not the rounded look I have.  In my opinion, though, rounded makes sense for a rainbow cake!
6. Frost the top of one cake, layer on the 2nd, and cover the entire cake in frosting.  Add sprinkles and you're done!  

Kahlua-espresso chocolate chip cookies

This awesome cookie comes courtesy of a new cookbook I got for Christmas- The Recipe Girl Cookbook.  Lori also has the recipe on her website if you want to take a look.  The flavors work so well, and the cinnamon is a nice mix in with the chocolate and coffee flavors.  YUM.

Ingredients

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon Kahlua or other coffee liqueur*
• 1/2 tablespoon espresso powder (found in the coffee aisle)
• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly
• 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine the Kahlua and espresso powder.  Stir until the espresso powder is dissolved.
4. Melt the 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips in a small bowl by microwaving at 50% power, stirring at 30-second intervals until just melted.  My chips are usually melted after 1 1/2 minutes.  Set aside.
5. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed until creamy (~2 minutes).  Add the Kahlua mixture, eggs, and vanilla, and beat until thoroughly combined.  Add the melted chocolate and continue to beat until mixed in.  Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Mix until flour is just incorporated.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Drop the the cookie dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.  Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown and no longer gooey in the middle.  Let cool on cookie sheets for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

*Note: If you don't want to use the Kahlua, just increase the vanilla extract to 1 tablespoon and dissolve the espresso powder in the vanilla instead.

Nutella French Toast Rolls

Every once in a while, the internet presents you with something so amazing, so perfect, that it MUST be a part of your life immediately.  This week, the internet blessed me with Nutella rolls.  A friend posted a pic on FB, I needed info STAT, her husband shared the very simple recipe, and I made them tonight.  Heaven.

EXTRA LARGE PIC FOR EXTRA LARGE DELICIOSITY.

Ingredients

• Slice of bread, crusts cut off, rolled thin
• ~1 tablespoon Nutella per slice of bread
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Pat of butter
• Cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top

Directions

1. Cut crusts from bread and roll out with a rolling pin.  Spread Nutella down the center of each slice of bread.  Roll up one nutella-free side to the other.
2. Set a pan on medium heat and melt a pat of butter in the pan.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and milk with a fork.  Dredge rolled bread in egg mixture and shake off excess.
4. Lay rolled bread gently in heated pan and cook until golden on each side, about 1-2 minutes per side.
5. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar as soon as removed from pan.  Serve warm.

What is so perfect about this recipe is that you can quickly whip up just a couple rolls as a snack like my pregnant self did, or churn out a dozen in short order for breakfast or dessert with the family.

It's a new world, people.  A delicious new world.

Peppermint Chocolate Cake Roll

I have been meaning to write up this recipe for weeks!  I pinned this amazing dessert about a year ago and couldn't find the right opportunity to make it until this year's office holiday party.  It was a HIT.  I was also reminded of Buche de Noel (Yule Log).  While this really isn't one (different ingredients, not at all decorated like a log, etc.) it still fits the bill of "cake filled with nummy icing and rolled up."
Part of the reason I wanted to write this up is because the original pin is a bit of a wild goose chase taking you to two different pages in order to make everything.  It will be nice to have this all written up in one spot, along with notes from my experience (e.g., don't let the cake hang around in your fridge for a day).

We'll talk about the rectangle shape later in the post.  But believe me, it tasted amazing.

Ingredients
Cake

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for parchment and pan
• 2/3 cup sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1/3 cup sifted cocoa powder, plus more to dust cake for handling
• Pinch of baking soda
• 6 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
• 5 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped Peppermint Andes (I used the Peppermint Crunch ones), plus more Andes to finely chop/shave for cake topping

Chocolate Pouring Sauce

• 2/3 cups dark chocolate (1 large chocolate bar, chopped)
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 4-5 tablespoons warm water

Directions

Cake

1. Heat oven to 350°.  Butter a large Pyrex dish (mine is 11" x 15").  Martha Stewart's cake recipe recommends a 10.5" x 15.5" x 1" jelly roll pan.  I'm not a fan of using specialty pans/equipment for a one-time recipe, so I just used my large Pyrex and it worked just fine.
2. Line with parchment paper.  Butter the paper and coat with flour, tapping out the excess flour.
3. Sift flour, cocoa, and baking soda together twice into a medium bowl then set aside.  Now, this step is deceptive because I actually needed two bowls.  I sifted the mixture into bowl #1, but then needed to pour the mixture back into the sifter and sift again, without losing any of my mixture.  I just placed a small bowl under the sifter to catch any mixture that fell through during transfer, then resumed sifting into the newly-empty bowl #1.
4. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  Skim off the white foam with a spoon, and pour the clear yellow butter into a small bowl, discarding leftover white liquid at the bottom.  Set aside in a warm place (like on top of the preheated oven).
5. Set a small pot of water to simmer.  In a medium heat-proof bowl that will fit on top of the pot without touching the water, whisk together the eggs and sugar.  Set the bowl over the simmering water, and stir mixture until it is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (3-5 minutes).  Remove from heat, and beat on high speed in a stand mixer until thick and pale and has tripled in bulk, 5-7 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium, add vanilla, and beat 2-3 minutes more.
6. In three additions, gently fold flour mixture into egg mixture with a spatula.  While folding in the last addition, dribble melted butter over the batter and fold in.
7. Spread batter evenly in pan, leaving behind any unincorporated butter in the bottom of the mixing bowl.  Tap Pyrex dish on counter several times to remove air bubbles.  Bake until cake springs back when touched in the center, 15-20 minutes.  Don't overbake or cake will crack.  Let sit in pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle (~1 hour or more).
8. Dust surface with cocoa powder.  To make rolling easier, run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen from the Pyrex dish.  Cover cake with a sheet of waxed paper and a clean, damp dish towel.  Invert onto a work surface, and peel off the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.  Dust with cocoa powder.  Starting from one long end (the 15" side, not the short 11" side), carefully roll up the cake in the towel.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until ready to use, but no more than a couple hours.  If you let the cake sit for a day or more, it is going to harden more into its shape and be difficult to roll later, hence the odd rectangle shape I got rather than a nice circular roll.  Still, it all tastes the same in the end so don't sweat it too much.

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth.  Try not to eat it all.

Chocolate Pouring Sauce

1. Place chocolate and heavy cream in a bowl over simmering water.  Let chocolate and cream sit for 2-3 minutes to melt without stirring.  Then slowly stir mixture until well combined.  Add confectioner's sugar and mix to combine.  Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition, until pouring consistency is achieved.  It should be the texture of chocolate syrup (not watery).  Set aside and let cool until it is merely warm (not hot).

Assembly

1. Unroll the chocolate cake and spread with buttercream filling, to about 1/4" thickness.  Make sure you spread filling evenly over entire cake.  Roll filled cake from long end to long end, just as you did when you chilled it.  Trim ends for clean finish (and so you can get the very important tasting pieces).
2. Place fully assembled roll on a serving platter (or on a cooling rack if you want to pour the chocolate sauce, then transfer to another plate for serving with a clean presentation, which I clearly did not do).  Pour chocolate on top.
3. Sprinkle with peppermint Andes shavings.

So. Delicious.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Can we talk about some crazy good pumpkiny goodness?  I've been dying to make this recipe since October 13, 2013.  I can say that because it's from last year's Food Network page-a-day calendar.  This stupid recipe makes 18 mini cheesecakes, which is the exact wrong amount.  Too much to make just to have at home, and too little to make for the office.  SURE I could just double the recipe and take it to work, but my brain doesn't always work that way.  It has rules, like wanting the recipe to be just right as it is without having to double or halve things.  This is why it took me a year to make it.
Anyway, quantity issues aside, this is some seriously good stuff.  The gingersnap crust is so perfectly perfect I can't handle it, and don't let the sour cream topping scare you.  It's just right.  Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 18 gingersnap cookies
• 8-oz package cream cheese, room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup plus 1 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 15-oz can pure pumpkin puree (Watch out- many canned "pumpkin" purees are actually butternut squash.  GASP.  This horror was shared at last weekend's Pinterest Party I made these for. The horror.  Check your label.)
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, plus more for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300°.  Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.  Place 1 whole gingersnap in the bottom of each lined cup.  Set tins aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixture set to medium-high and using the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt until smooth and creamy, 2-3 minutes.
3. Scrape down the sides, reduce the speed to low, and beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined.  Beat in 1/3 cup sour cream and the heavy cream.  Stir in the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice by hand until the batter is smooth.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the cookie-lined paper cups, filling almost to the top.
5. Bake until the filling is just set, 40-50 minutes (mine took longer).  A sharp knife inserted into the center will come out moist, but clean.
6. Top each cheesecake with about 1 tablespoon of the remaining sour cream, and gently spread with a spoon.  This can be a bit tricky when the sour cream is cold and the cheesecakes warm.  Just a heads up.
7. Cool completely in tins on a wire rack.  Then refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours or overnight.  Top with a dusting of pumpkin pie spice.

Well hello, you handsome yummy devil.

Mom's Snickerdoodles

These snickerdoodles have been a staple in my mom's Christmas cookie rotation since I was a little kid, and probably for years before I was born.  I wasn't feeling well last week, and had a random craving for these super soft, fluffy cookies.  I included them in the mega cookie gift basket I made last Christmas, but didn't write out the recipe at the time.  Here you go- the long overdue secret family recipe.  ;)

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Cinnamon sugar topping (1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, blended)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, use a wire whisk to gently mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix butter, sugar, and eggs at medium speed.
3. Turn speed to low and beat in sour cream and vanilla until smooth.  Gradually add flour mixture until well combined.
4. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375° and spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray.
6. Drop chilled dough by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.  Sprinkle unbaked cookies with cinnamon sugar topping.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until just golden along bottom edges.
7. Transfer to wire racks and cool completely.

The Perfect Brownie

I need not make any other brownie ever again: this is the one.  Superwoman Martha does it again, this time in the form of the best combination of peanut butter and chocolate and cakey soft brownie-ness with just a touch of salt to make it all amazingly yum.  The first batch of brownies I whipped up for a friend's baby shower was devoured with nary a picture (woops!) so of course the solution was to make a second batch later in the week.  ;)  A big benefit of this recipe is that it lends itself to making two batches in the same week very easily!  Mostly pantry staples are used, and just half of a baker's chocolate bar (meaning you can use the other half when you HAVE to have another batch!).

Ingredients

    Chocolate batter

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for pan
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

   Peanut butter mixture

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.  Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and cut a sheet of parchment paper to fit, leaving a couple inches to hang over the handles (to make the brownies easier to lift out later).  Butter the parchment paper, too.
2. Set a pot of water to simmer.  Place the butter and both types of chocolate in a large glass bowl that will fit over the pot.  Set the bowl over the simmering water, and stir mixture until melted and smooth.  Lift bowl off of pot (using dish cloth or pot holders) and set on counter to cool slightly.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Whisk the granulated sugar into the chocolate mixture.  Add the eggs, and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in vanilla, then the flour mixture, mixing until well combined.
5. Stir the peanut butter mixture ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth.
6. Pour one third of the chocolate batter into the prepared pan, spreading and/or tilting the pan to evenly coat the bottom.  Drop dollops of the peanut butter mixture on top of the batter, about 1 inch apart.  Drizzle the remaining chocolate batter on top, and gently spread to fill the pan.  Drop dollops of remaining peanut butter mixture on top, filling in between the spaces of the bottom dollops.  Gently swirl peanut butter and chocolate portions together by running a butter knife lengthwise and crosswise through the layers, touching the tip of the knife to the pan as you drag so that you reach through all the layers.
7. Bake about 45 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted into the brownies comes out with a few crumbs, but is not wet.  Let cool in pan about 15 minutes.  Lift out and let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.  Store in an airtight container.

Look how beautiful these are!

Mini S'Mores Bites

As my husband so gently pointed out to me, I'm in love with s'mores-based treats.  When DQ released their  s'mores blizzards, I was ON that stuff.  Heaven.  So are these bites, which I thought would be a perfect accompaniment to fireworks viewing tonight.  I got the recipe from Sweet Pea's Kitchen, but made a fair number of changes on the fly.  Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 7 whole graham crackers
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large chocolate bars (8.5 oz total).  I used Hershey's Symphony with almonds and toffee and it was an AMAZING choice.
• 12 large marshmallows

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Break graham crackers into chunks and place in a food processor.  Pulse until finely crushed.  Add the powdered sugar, and with the food processor on, slowly pour in the butter through the chute.  Mix until thoroughly incorporated.  When I opened the container, I had to stir my graham cracker mix a bit more because there were parts that didn't have as much of the butter incorporated.
3. Scoop about 2 teaspoons of graham cracker mixture into each cup of a 24-cup mini muffin pan.  Press into the bottom of each cup to form a little crust.  Bake 5 minutes or until edges are bubbly.
4. While crusts bake, break apart chocolate bars into the mini bars.  Run kitchen scissors under water, then cut the marshmallows in half horizontally.
5. Remove mini muffin pan from oven, then top each crust with a chocolate bar and a marshmallow, cut side down.  Bake another 3 minutes so that marshmallows are puffy and just golden.
6. Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes, then remove gently.  Cool completely on the wire rack.
7. Place remaining chocolate in a small bowl, and microwave at 20-second intervals until melted.  Dip the top of each treat into the chocolate, or simply drizzle the chocolate onto the marshmallows.
8. Rest until chocolate is set.  Store in an airtight container for up to 2 week.

Mini Green Onion Biscuits

Tonight's dinner was so tasty!  Grilled steaks, baby red potatoes roasted in foil on the grill (extra crispy- the way I love them), salad, and these new biscuits.  They smelled awesome while I made them, and made me think of sour cream and onion potato chips.  Now I really want to try them with sour cream...

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped green onions
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup cold whipped cream cheese
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and green onions.  Using your hands or a pastry blender, add the butter and mix until coarse crumbles form.  Your hands really are the best bet for this step, even if it's messy.
3. Add the cream cheese in dollops.  Using your hands or a pastry blender, again mix until larger crumbles form.  Stir in the buttermilk until just combined- do not over mix.
4. Sprinkle work surface with flour, turn out dough, and sprinkle top of dough with flour.  Pat out dough until 1 inch thick.  Coat a small biscuit cutter or the clean top of a spice container (I used the lid of my onion salt- similar flavor I figured!) in flour, and cut the dough into small 1" rounds.  Re-use scraps, being careful not to over work the dough, and continue until all biscuits are cut out.
5. Place biscuits on nonstick baking sheets, about 1" apart, and bake 6-8 minutes, until slightly golden.  Best served warm!

Chubby Hubby Cookies

I've mentioned before that How Sweet It Is is taking over my cooking world, and I should point out my baking as well.  This amazing recipe is thanks to her, and I'll be more than happy to work it into my cookie rotation.

Ingredients

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, melted and cooled (really!)
• 1 cup loosely packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups pretzel sticks, crushed (seriously- make sure they're crushed or you get a big pretzel javelin like the one you see in my top cookie!)
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
3. In a stand mixer, mix the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until combined.  Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until combined.  Gradually add flour mixture until dough forms (it will be crumbly at first, but will come together).  Fold in the crushed pretzels and chocolate chips.  
4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
5. Bake 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden and set.  Let sit for 2 minutes, and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

 Om nom nom nom.

Coconut Macaroon Bird Nests

This sweet little treat has the best simplicity to wow factor ratio.  Minimal effort yields amazed smiles from your family, friends, coworkers, etc.  Can you tell I've been doing school work?  When do I ever say "yields" otherwise?!?  Anyhoo...  Adorable spring cookies await.  I can thank Pinterest for the nest idea, and Martha Stewart for my macaroon recipe, which I've already posted here.

I love how some of the eggs are speckled and adorable.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Nutella (about 1/4 jar)
• Cadbury mini eggs or other egg candy (M&Ms are good, too)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine ingredients.  Mix well.
3. Dampen tablespoon with cold water.  Scoop a generous tablespoon (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) of coconut mixture and lightly tap onto the cookie sheet for mound to drop out.  Place cookies about 1 inch apart.  Moisten measuring spoon periodically so that coconut will continue to slide off of spoon instead of sticking.
4. Using the bottom of a wooden spoon (or your finger), press down in the center of each macaroon to make a nest shape.
5. Bake until macaroons are golden brown, 16-17 minutes, rotating halfway through.  Remove from oven, and press down in the center of each nest again (this is where the wooden spoon method is better than your fingers- hot!).
6. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of nutella into the center of each macaroon.  Top with Cadbury mini eggs or other egg candy.  Let cool, and then store in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Seriously- so cute, and amazingly yum.  ESPECIALLY yum when still warm from the oven.

Strawberry Limeade Bars

Oh how I love Wit and Whistle.  Amanda makes the best fun things to try!  This recipe is no exception.  SO yummy- bright and light and sweet, it just hits the spot for spring.  Definitely a keeper.

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 box strawberry cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons lime zest (2 limes were enough)

Topping

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup lime juice (juice from the 2 limes + store bought lime juice)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° and butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan.  Mix crust ingredients in a stand mixer until well blended.  Press crust mix into the pan and bake for 15 minutes.
2. Mix topping ingredients (may have some clumps; that's ok) and pour over baked crust.  Bake an additional 25 minutes, until set.
3. Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm.  Allow to cool, then cut into bars.  Some of mine were a bit crispy at the edges of the pan, so you may want to trim the crispy parts after cutting the bars.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Yum yum yum yum yum!

Bunny Cinnamon Rolls

I saw an adorable pic on Pinterest of cinnamon rolls reshaped into a bunny silhouette.  Hey- I can do that!  And I did, but I'm still not sure whether this should be classified as a pinstrosity or a pin win.  The end product was certainly  tasty if not quite looking the way I wanted it to, and the poor little bunny tails fell off left and right.  For a first try though, I give this a pass.  Let's see if my experience can be of any help to you. ;)

Ingredients

• 1 tube of premade cinnamon rolls with icing

Directions

1. Unroll the individual cinnamon rolls.  This may involve some tearing to get it started.  Tear off the end of the rope (which was the center of the cinnamon roll) and set aside for your bunny tail.  Roll the dough into an even rope (yes, you must do this, otherwise you get weird non-bunnies and sigh and realize you have to do it after all).  My ropes were lumpy and uneven and they resulted in some... odd looking... bunnies...  so be sure the ropes are nice and even, okay?  Twist the rope to make the bunny shape.  Nestle the bunny tail into the hole at the bottom of the twist.  I just set mine on top and that wasn't enough- the tail really needs to be inside the hole as part of the bunny.  Shape the bunny ears as desired.
2. Bake as directed- mine took 9 minutes at 400°.
3. Spread icing on warm rolls and let sit.

Shaped dough bunnies.  Hey, we're looking good here!

Baked bunnies. Some are cute and bunny shaped others... ummmm...

Yay for frosting!  Still, that 3rd "bunny" on the bottom row is just not right.

Hey this little guy looks pretty darned perfect!  This is why I will credit myself with a partial pin win.

Construction Birthday Party

One of my favorite things about this year's birthday party for my son is that he keeps talking about it.  From sharing details about the cake ("it had jellybean lights!  and cookie wheels!") to playing with our guests, to reminding me about the things we decorated together ("we put up streamers"), his over the top happiness over it made the work so worthwhile.

First up are the worms in dirt.  I kinda botched the recipe a bit, forgetting to stir milk into the pudding mix before I added my whipped cream.  Whoops.  Still edible, though!  I also like the idea of the Dig In sign which I stole from Pinterest.

 

I also had the idea to serve creamsicle punch.  I don't know why I stuck on that idea- maybe it was the thought of orange punch that made sense?- but I found a good recipe on Pinterest and it was a hit. The funny thing is, the pic and recipe I pinned are totally different from the ones the pin actually linked to.  Anyway, I'm happy with the one I used.

More Pinterest sign idea thievery- treating the drink area as a gas station.  Cute!  I like my sign more, too.

Now this one I can take total credit for.  What better way to serve lunch at a construction site than in lunch pails?!  Just a few bucks sent to Oriental Trading and I was in business. I forgot to nab a picture of it, but behind the lunch boxes I put up a picture of construction workers eating their lunches from pails on a steel beam as they built a skyscraper.  Extra bonus: with the lunches labeled, I didn't have to decode each sandwich for each guest like I did last year.

Lunch pails were packed the morning of the party, with sandwiches catered by The Corner Bakery (sooo good, and the ones with pretzel bread went the fastest), a handful of chips, and a napkin.

And the Best Supporting Actor of the party (second fiddle to our star, the birthday boy) is the dump truck cake!  Recipe here.  Like I say in that blog post, I couldn't find a cake pan worthy of this party, so I decided to get creative and craft my own.  Lots of oohs and ahhs and "what's that filling in the truck bed?" over this one.  (Answer: pieces of the cake from when I trimmed it, cut up Reese's pb cups, and crushed graham crackers.)

When I served the cake, I also doled out ice cream in no time flat.  I took this genius idea from the Pinterest gods, and scooped ice cream into cupcake liners before the party.  When it came time for cake and ice cream, I  just dished out a cupcake liner full of ice cream on the plate with the cake.  My friends were in love with this idea.  Nobody was left with mushy, last-scoop-from-the-container ice cream!

We can thank someone's bridal shower for this idea- stringing pictures from balloons.  My modifications: I used pics of my son from birth to just a month ago, put pictures on both sides so there was no white space, and as my mom and I learned during pre-party setup, those pictures weigh down the balloons.  I was prepared for that, so when my mom said "Well, it was a nice idea" I knew there was no "was" about it.  We just tied/wrapped the ribbon to my chandelier and voila- still worked.  A bit more subtle was the idea that the blue and white balloons were like a sky over our little tabletop construction site.

Here's a better view of the hanging pictures, as well as the little construction zone.  My husband is a city planner, so of course I put him to work laying out a black duct tape and masking tape road on the green table cloth.  I raided the play room for a bunch of construction toys and decorations, plunked down some construction worker duckies from Oriental Trading, and had one heck of a cute setup in place.  What was really sweet was watching my son investigate the pictures.  Some of them he remembered, like playing in the snow over Christmas, going to a park, Halloween, and visiting the train yard.  Others he didn't realize were of him, so he said things like "Look at the baby in the bathtub!  Baby in a blanket!"

Other side of the pictures.

Here we spy my traffic sign lollipops- another original idea, thank you!  I was disappointed that I couldn't find sign stickers to use, so I was left with printing out clip art signs I found online.  I cut those out and taped them to lollipops- easy peasy but very popular with the birthday boy and some guests.  :)

One of my son's favorite snacks is pretzels, and I thought they would be great stand ins as timber on our site.  I filled up some of his toys with them, and stacked them in a couple spots on the table, too.

In the week leading up to the party, I started asking my son these 20 questions I found on Pinterest.  He was a bit squirmy and funny answering some of these, but eventually my husband and I got answers to all 20.  I put out the album on the dining room table for our friends to look over.  The idea is that we'll add to the album with his answers each year and see how his answers change over time.  The moms and moms-to-be all thought this was a super sweet idea, and I definitely agree.

Ok this project makes me laugh, because I had it all planned out in my head as a very simple set up to use orange electrical tape to make a construction crane on the pillar and wall between our dining room and living room.  I told my husband he was going to make this for the party, and he must have been browsing the internet when I first told him because when I set out the supplies the night before the party, he was aghast at my evil plans.  He also critiqued the materials, because unbeknownst to me, electrical tape contracts.  Hence some of the off-kilter bits.  Still, our son spotted the construction crane right away and could tell what it was supposed to be, so in the end: mission accomplished.

The last bit of fun from our party: dump truck bean bag toss, another Pinterest idea.  How in the world did people plan kids' parties before Pinterest?  So many great and creative ideas out there, both to adapt or straight out steal, and to generate some ideas of your own.  Like I said, this was a great party that my son and our guests loved.  Some of the ideas will be keepers for years to come (like the ice cream scooping trick, and pre-portioned, labeled meals) and who knows- maybe some will be requested again by the special little guy.  Either way, I can tell that we're setting up some very fun memories for him, which just makes me grin ear to ear.  :)