Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

The only thing I know about football is that once a year there is a Super Bowl which means loads of good food. I tried this recipe this year, and they were a hit! Also, I did a good enough job arranging them on the plate that my guests from didn't know I'd already eaten half the pan before game time. Win win!

Ingredients:

3/4 C butter melted and cooled (I just stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes)

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 C + 2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1.5 C chocolate chips

11 oz caramels 

3 Tbsp milk or cream

1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Combine butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, blend. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Press half of the cookie dough into a Pammed 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips on top of dough.

In a microwave safe bowl, cook caramel as and milk on high for 30 seconds. Stir and continue to microwave in 20 second intervals until caramel is melted. Pour caramel over dough. Sprinkle with half of the sea salt.

Stir the rest of the chocolate chips into the cookie dough, and drop by spoonful onto caramel as evenly as possible. Sprinkle with remaining sea salt.

Bake at 325* for 25 minutes (edges should be slightly golden brown).

Remove from oven and let cool before cutting.

I think these would be even more awesome if served with some vanilla ice cream. Yuum!

These were super easy and extremely delicious. Let is know what you think!

Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake

I had to make a dessert for a church function, and after hearing about this deliciousness a while back, I decided this would be my cake of choice! If you are a Snickerdoodle cookie fan, you will be in heaven with this scrumptious little cake!  It takes a lot of mixing so if you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, I highly recommend using it!!

I got this little recipe from Jamie Cooks it Up and if you haven't visited her blog, you totally should. She has tons of delicious recipes that are very family friendly!

 (We all know I am not the best food photographer, especially when my phone is my camera of choice! :D)

You will need:

2 t ground cinnamon

1 C white sugar

**Mix together and set aside--you'll need this two different times. 

Next you will need:

2 1/2 C. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. butter, softened

1 C. sugar

1 C. brown sugar

3 eggs at room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla

1 C sour cream at room temperature 

Directions:

**Grease the inside of your bundt pan with shortening, or spray heavily with Pam Cooking Spray With Added Flour and dust the entire inside of your pan with the cinnamon sugar mixture. You will probably use about 1/3 C. of the mixture. Set aside the leftovers to use in the middle of the cake.

**In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Set this mixture aside for later.

**In a Kitchen Aid mixer or using hand held beaters beat the softened butter on medium speed for 1 minute.

**Add the white sugar and mix for 3 minutes.

**Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the brown sugar. Mix for 2 minutes.

**Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for a full minute after each one.

**Stir in the vanilla.

**Grab your dry mixture and add it alternately with the sour cream. When both sour cream and all of the dry mixture are added continue to mix for 2 minutes.

**Spread 1/2 the batter into your pan. Pour the leftover cinnamon and sugar over the top. Spread the rest of your batter over the top.

**Bake at 325 degrees for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

**Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake

A big thanks to my friend Amy and Pinterest for this little bit of heaven! I had to make a cake for refreshments at school on the day we were meeting our new principal. Lucky, Ame had just told me about this little beauty so I was just looking for a reason to make it. Of course, it didn't disappoint. I'm pretty darn sure you'll love it too!

 (picture from here)

You will need for the cake:

1 box of Devil's Food Cake Mix

1 box of instant chocolate pudding (4 oz.)

3/4 C. hot water

3/4 C. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

For the Filling you will need:

1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese (softened

1/2 C. sugar
1 egg

 1 C. chocolate chips

For the frosting:

Your favorite chocolate frosting

(I happen to LOVE Betty Crocker's chocolate frosting so I used that. :D)

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour.
2. In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. In large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and 1 egg with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon filling by tablespoonfuls evenly over top of batter. Using table knife, swirl filling through batter. Sprinkle with nuts.
4. Bake 47 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Spread frosting over cake. Store covered in refrigerator.

Makes 15 servings

Muddy Buddies

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Um... Why have I never HAD these before, let alone never made them for myself? I got this recipe to use on the 101st day of school (using the 101 Dalmations of course!) and it was called "Puppy Chow," but since that sounds pretty nasty to anyone who is over the age of 7, I decided we'd call them what they really are: Muddy Buddies. These come together SO quick and are nearly impossible to stop munching once you start. So, get making and get eating ASAP!!

You will need:

1/2 C. peanut butter

1/4 c. butter

1 c. chocolate chips 

1/2 tsp. vanilla

9 c. Crispix cereal

2 C. powdered sugar

**Place Crispix cereal in a large bowl.

**Combine peanut butter, butter, and chocolate chips in a microwave save bowl. Microwave for 1 minute and stir to blend ingredients then add vanilla.

**Pour peanut butter/chocolate mix over cereal and stir until well coated.

**Put powdered sugar in a large Zip-Loc bag, add cereal mixture, zip, and shake until coated. 

**DEVOUR!

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

Once upon a Christmas party I had this delicious, amazing, outstanding, wonderful dessert! The moment I saw it, I knew I HAD to have a bite! It was indeed as delicious as it looked and I have just been waiting for an excuse to whip it up--the Super Bowl just happened to come along (Isn't it all about the food--and commercials--anyway?!) So here is the perfect recipe or all you peanut butter lovers out there!

(recipe found here and yes, their picture is MUCH better than mine taken with the ol' iPhone!)

 

You will need:

• 1 fudge brownie mix (13-inch x 9-inch pan size)
• 1 package (10 ounces) peanut butter chips
• 2 packages (13 ounces each) miniature peanut butter cups
• 4 cups cold 2% milk
• 2 packages (5.1 ounces each) instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cartons (8 ounces each) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

• Prepare brownie batter according to package directions; stir in peanut butter chips. Bake in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs (do not over bake). Cool on a wire rack; cut into 3/4-in. pieces.
• Cut peanut butter cups in half; set aside 1/3 cup for garnish. In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Add peanut butter and vanilla mix well. Fold in 1-1/2 cartons whipped topping.
• Place a third of the brownies in a 5-qt. glass bowl; top with a third of the remaining peanut butter cups. Spoon a third of the pudding mixture over the top. Repeat layers twice. Cover with remaining whipped topping; garnish with reserved peanut butter cups. Refrigerate until chilled.

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Homemade Twix

How is it that I have NOT posted these heavenly little morsels? I got this recipe several years ago from my cute friend Stephanie! Wow! These are one of my favorite treats, they are really easy just require multiple steps. Don't let that deter you, the rave reviews you get will be worth it! I made these little beauties to take Visiting Teaching and I hope they enjoyed them as much as I did! Of course they are not EXACTLY like a Twix, but you get the idea. :)

(image from here)

 

Step 1)      Cookie Bottom:

1 C. butter

2 C. flour

     ½ C. Sugar

 **Cut together.  Press into a Pammed 9 X 13 pan.  Bake at 350° for 20 minutes

Step 2)      Caramel Center:

1 C. butter

1 C. brown sugar

4 T. corn syrup

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

**Put ingredients in sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, stir constantly with a whisk.  Boil exactly 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, wait 5 minutes, pour on crust.

3)      Chocolate Top:

1-2 bags Milk Chocolate Chips

1 tsp. vegetable oil

**Melt together in a saucepan and pour over top.

Cool completely (I stick them in the fridge) before cutting.

Bars of Steele

(image from here)

We had these little beauties at a baby shower and couldn't possibly leave without the recipe! Well, we did leave without the recipe, but we got it later when it was included in the Thank You card! I also took these to my ESL class and everyone asked for the recipe. They are definitely one of those things that you can't just eat one of, they are way too delish!!

In a bowl combine:

1 C. shortening
2 C. brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
4 C. oatmeal
1 C. chopped nuts (optional)
**Mix ingredients together & reserve 2 cups.
Press remaining mixture into the bottom of a Pammed 9x13 pan

In a saucepan melt together:
1 pkg. chocolate chips (Ghiradelli are best!)
2 Tbs. butter
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. nuts (optional)
**Pour over the oatmeal mixture.
Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture on top.
**Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

winger's concrete pie

so i have this friend. she's pretty awesome. we went to snow college at the same time and worked together at the best pizza place ephraim has to offer. she taught me about eating saltine crackers with vanilla ice cream. you haven't tried it? i know. it sounds terrible. but it's not. then she moved away. and i never talked to her again. until! a few years ago, i discovered her on facebook and then discovered that she had a blog! it's here. she is an awesome mom and photographer and i laugh at every single post she writes. check it out if you'd like. anyway, one day i found this recipe on her blog. and i was in heaven. because who doesn't like concrete pie? (not to be confused with asphalt pie which is made of mint chocolate chip ice cream.) my husband's least favorite food combination in the world is mint and chocolate, so when we discovered winger's had ventured to the concrete side of things, we were stoked. then we were even more stoked when i learned how to make it. so here ya go:

 

image here

i didn't take a picture because we were too busy devouring it, but we substitute caramel for the chocolate :)

ingredients:

1 pkg double-stuffed oreos

1/4-1/2 bottle caramel topping

1 carton cookie dough ice cream, softened (breyer's mrs. fields or dryer's nestle tollhouse are the best)

whipped cream

you can make your own oreo crust by putting 12 oreos in the food processor and then pressing them into a pie tin, or you can be classy (like me) and buy a pre-made oreo crust. 

once you have your crust, fill it half way with ice cream. then, pour caramel topping over the ice cream until it is completely covered. finally, cover the topping with more ice cream until the crust is completely filled. freeze over night. before serving, crumble oreos on top of the entire pie, top each piece with more caramel and whipped cream, and then die and go to heaven (after you take a bite, of course :)

homemade oreos

this recipe came along when our sister-in-law, tif, came into the fam. at that point i was in high school, and i hadn't even heard of things as heavenly as homemade oreos. she introduced me, and whenever she'd come over to hang out with our brother (we're still not sure how he lucked out with her), she'd whip some up with me. isn't she dreamy?

i know there are a few versions of this, but here's the one i use. i've made these quite frequently this summer because the guys my husband works with request them regularly.

cookie:

2 devil's food cake mixes 

4 eggs

1 cup oil

1/2 cup flour

blend ingredients together and bake at 350* for 8-9 minutes. don't overcook! you don't want them to be crunchy. bleh.when cookies are cooled, pair each cookie with another one its same size.

frosting:

1 pkg. cream cheese

1 cube butter--softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

blend together and put between 2 cookies. the frosting makes a ton, so be generous with each sandwich/oreo.

yum-stinking-o. i made these last night and am pretty sure they'll be gone by tonight. i brought one to school with me for lunch, and i'm seriously regretting it. i am currently daydreaming about when i get home to have another. seriously. they might be my favorite treat. i can't stop thinking about them! ha. they're super healthy, though. so no guilt :)