Lazy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Anything that is easy to throw together with awesome results at the end is great in my book.  I made these for a Sunday dessert and we all loved them.  I think it would be easy to throw in some extra things like nuts, or marshmallows.  Yum!  Mix it up a little bit.

Lazy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
1 box of yellow cake mix
2 eggs beaten
5 Tbsp. melted butter
2 c. chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix everything up and place in a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool and enjoy with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream! 

Source-Lazy Mom

Hope you are all having a great Tuesday.  Let us all remember 9-11-01. I bet you can remember where you were when you heard the news.  I know I do. 

Love, Erica*

P.S.  I feel a giveaway coming on.  You all deserve it for still reading our blog after our summer off.  Every comment left this week will be entered in the giveaway for next week.  Yay!  Happy day!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a bunch of bananas turning brown on my counter, and I wanted to make something I haven't tried before.  These were just what we needed.  I even got a text this morning saying, "These cookies are awesome!",  from that sweet husband of mine. So they must be pretty darn good.  The kiddos love them too.  Yay!  It made a huge batch, so I put some in the freezer.  We will see if they freeze well.  

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. sugar

2 whole very ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add your mashed bananas, egg, and vanilla extract.  Mix well.  In a separate bowl whisk together all your dry ingredients.  Pour dry ingredients into wet mixture slowly and mix until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Scoop out with a cookie dough scoop or whatever you like to use onto your cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.  

ENJOY!

Hope you all have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend.  Eat some yummy food and enjoy your time with your families.  *hugs*

Love, Erica

Sugar Cookie Bars and a Giveaway!

I think I found a new favorite treat.  Seriously.  These were awesome.  I didn't eat as much as I wanted, because of this silly diet I'm on, but I got enough of a taste that every time I walked by them, my mind was screaming, "EAT THEM!  GET YOU A BAR AND ENJOY THAT SUCKER!  YOU DESERVE IT!  YOU CAN RUN IT OFF LATER!"  I ended up taking half over to my in laws to share with the grandkids.  I needed them out of my site! 

These would make a cute Valentine's neighbor gift but with cute Valentine's Day sprinkles.  I think I will be doing that for mine. 

Sugar Cookie Bars
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add your eggs one at a time mixing well after each one.  Add vanilla.  Add your dry ingredients and mix until well combined.  Press into a greased 13x18 in sheet pan.  A big cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  Check them and DO NOT OVER BAKE THEM!  Let it cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. shortening
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
4 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk or until you get your desired thickness

Beat your butter and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and then powdered sugar.  Mix until well combined.  Add in milk 1 Tbsp at a time until your reach the thickness that you want.  Spread over your cooled sugar cookie bars and then sprinkle with your favorite sprinkles right after so they stick to the icing.  Cut and serve. 

Source-Crunchy Rock

We are so excited about how well our little blog has been doing the last couple months that we thought we would do a giveaway!  It's our way of saying thank you to all of our followers.  We appreciate you coming back to read our blog and leaving us comments here and there.  It really makes our day hearing from all of you!

So, as you all know, I love Ree Drummond!  She is coming out with another cookbook in March, so I thought since I'm ordering me one, I would order a cookbook for one of our followers too!  Yay!  I can't wait!

You can enter up to 3 times!  You can enter for each thing you do.

Leave a comment if you are a follower of our blog, and let us know how we are doing or what you'd like to see different on the blog. 

Leave another comment if you are 'liking' us on Facebook.

Leave another comment if you shared with your friends and family on facebook, or any other social network that we are doing a fun giveaway on our blog, and leave us with a link to see.

We will choose a winner on Friday, the 17th!  So you have until Thursday, the 16th to enter.  :o)

And there you have it!  GOOD LUCK!!  I can't wait to see who wins!  Have a happy Friday, and again thank you for coming back to read our blog.  We love and appreciate every single one of you! 

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

I love sugar cookies! I love everything about them. I love to mix of the dough, taste it, roll them out, cut them, bake them, and most of all decorate them. It's just fun. I can be basic or creative with these. I like mine really thick and soft. Oh baby. :)

This time I took the long approach. First I outlined each cookie with a thicker frosting in blue. Then I thinned my blue frosting and flooded my cookie to get the smooth blue finish. When that had set up, I piped on the white with a Wilton tip #4. I added some silver candy balls and there you have it, a beautiful sugar cookie. There is just something fun about eating a decorated sugar cookie!

You can see some waiting for the white in the upper left corner.

Lot's of yummy goodness!

You can find my favorite sugar cookie recipe HERE. We've shared this recipe before.
Here is a Wilton tutorial for the technique I used.

And here is a fun blog called Bake at 350. She mainly uses this technique with her cookies. I've shared this blog before. So fun.

Thanks for dropping by! Happy Tuesday!

Fluffy Brown Sugar Cookies

*sigh* These cookies.  THESE cookies are the bomb diggity!  :o)  As you know, I've been dieting.  Well, let's just say the diet went out the window yesterday for these babies.  This recipe made about 3 dozen cookies.  The first dozen went in the garbage because I didn't bake them long enough.  I got it down the next two batches.  They were seriously one of the best cookies I've ever had.  The brown butter icing just added to the perfection.  I will be making these again and again.

Fluffy Brown Sugar Cookies

2/3 c. butter, softened

1 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 c. flour

1 c. sour cream

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add in eggs 1 at a time.  Add in vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.  In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients.  Mix it alternately with sour cream to butter mixture.  Mix well.  Using a cookie scoop or whatever works best for you, spoon cookie dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 minutes.  You want the cookie to not shine.  If it still looks shiny and gooey then bake it a little longer.  You want them to stay fluffy once they cool.  Once they've cooled make your icing.

Brown Butter Icing

1/4 c. butter

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 Tbsp milk

Melt butter in a medium sauce pan on medium heat until it starts turning a golden color.  Keep your eye on it, because you don't want to burn it.  Stir it often.  Take off the heat once you get to that point.  Add in your sugar and stir it together.  Add in milk.  If it's the consistency you want it then leave it.  If you want it runnier add a little more milk.  Eyeball it!  Mine was great with no changes at all.  Ice your cookies and try not to eat them all. 

Source-Cafe Scrapper

Here's an update on my diet so far.  It's going better than I expected.  I've been staying on course with the exercising.  I fall to the wayside once in awhile on the diet.  I can't help it.  I love me some sweets!  I've lost a total of 3.9 lbs.  I can't see any difference yet and I can't wait til I do. 

All of my other resolutions are going good so far too.  I'm actually impressed with myself.  2012 is gonna be a great year.  I can feel it!

Have a happy Thursday!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookies

These are a fun quick little cookie to whip up for a special occasion. I love peanut butter cookies and a little kiss on top makes these perfect. My favorite recipe for these you can find on the back of your bag of Hershey's Kisses. Seriously, if you want a peanut butter chocolate fix today these can be ready in no time. Just make sure you give some away because I bet you can't stop at one! :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookies

48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Granulated sugar



Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates. This part is perfect for the kiddos.

Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into the center of each
cookie; cookie will crack around edges. You have to do this quickly. If you let the cookies set up then they will break when you try and put your Kiss in. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Source: Hershey's Kitchens

Enjoy!!!



Brown Sugar Cookies

I haven't made cookies for a loooooong time.  I was getting sick of the same old, and wanted something different.  I was browsing Tasty Kitchen one day and came across these. I had to try them!  They only made about a dozen cookies, but I think maybe that's a good thing, so I don't eat them all week.  They are awesome!  I thought I would healthy them up a little bit, and put in half wheat flour.  My son gobbled them up.  Try them...TODAY!  :o)

Brown Sugar Cookies
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 c. flour or you can use 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white like me
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 c. sugar, to roll your doughball in

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add your egg, and vanilla and mix well.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix until well combined.  Scoop out dough with cookie dough scoop to form a nice ball and roll in the 1/4 c. of sugar.  Place on cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.  Let cool 2 minutes and then let them cool on cooling rack.  Scrumdiddly!  Enjoy!!!

Chubby Hubby Bars

There's this thing called Pinterest.  It is the place to go when you want to dream about delicious foods, fill your brain with crafts to create, dream of what you want your home to look like, and laugh at some interesting things.  I found these bars on there and they have been in my brain ever since.  Monica was here visiting, and I thought this would be the best time to whip them up, since she was wanting to try them too.  Plus, we needed to take a thank you plate of goodies to a friend of ours. 

We whipped these up pretty easily.  I was a little worried when I pulled them out of the fridge.  The caramel hardened up and made them very hard to cut.  So, Monica suggested I leave them out to get to room temp.  I did, and they were 100 times better and easier to cut through.  I think next time we want to try to use the caramel you put on top of your icecream.  Much more of the good and melty texture that I was hoping
for.  :o)

Chubby Hubby Bars
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pretzels
1 (8oz) bag of Reese’s Mini cups, or 2 cups of coarsely chopped regular size Reeses.  (It took 1 bag)
1 (14 oz) bag of caramels, unwrapped
1 Tbsp water
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, melted

Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 13x9 dish.

Chop up your pretzels and Reeses. 
In your mixing bowl beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add your eggs, and vanilla and mix until just incorporated.  On low speed add your flour, baking soda, and salt. Mixing until just combined.  Pour in the pretzels and Reeses and stir until evenly combined.  Spoon into your pan and spread out evenly.  Baked for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let them cool completely.

When cooled, melt your caramels in the microwave with the 1 Tbsp of water, stirring in 1 minute increments until completely melted.  Pour over cooled bars.  Refridgerate until caramel is set up a bit.

Melt chocolate chips in a double broiler or in the microwave and pour over caramel.  Refridgerate until set up or eat them now!  ;o)  Cut them into squares before serving and enjoy!

Source-Cookies and Cups

18 days left until Christmas!!  Are you ready?! 

Blogging will probably continue to be slow until this Holiday season is over.  We will post some of our favorite yummy Christmas treats and i'm working on a couple crockpot recipes for those busy nights.  Have a great day!

Thanksgiving Sugar Cookies

I've been wanting to make sugar cookies for awhile. Halloween came and went so on to the next Holiday right? That's what is so wonderful about sugar cookies is the fact you can make them anytime of year. I know there are a million sugar cookie recipes out there but this one is my favorite. I discovered this recipe years ago while teaching special education in Logan. My students would make these and sell them at the school store. It is a soft sugar cookie. The best kind. Plus they are really quick to whip up. You just need to refridgerate them for a few hours. So it's best to do them at night for the following day or first thing in the morning for the afternoon.

Erica posted this recipe last Fall. You can find it here.

This is a big cookie. Super soft and yummy. I used a butter knife to spread the orange frosting, then a pastry bag with Wilton tip # to make the stem and leaves.

This is a variation on a cookie done by Pillsbury. I couldn't find candy corn at my local grocer. Seriously. So I used sour patch kids. I love sour patch kids but my kids pick them off. I also used mini M&Ms for the eyes and then Wilton tip #4 to pipe the beak and feet. Quick, easy, and cute!

Sugar cookies are so fun to give away. Put this on your to do list to do with the kids sometime this Holiday season. Have a great Thursday!

Lemon Burst Cookies

I know these aren't much of a fall flavor, but I seen the picture and the recipe and my brain kept thinking about them.  I had to try them!!  I actually baked them up this morning, and have already eaten a few...or 10!?  Ha ha!  My Coy loves them too.  They didn't come out as puffy as I thought they would, but they were still tasty and very easy to throw together. 

Lemon Burst Cookies
1 box lemon cake mix
1 egg
1-8 oz container of cool whip
1/2 c. powdered sugar for coating

Mix together cake mix, egg, and cool whip until well combined.  Put the powedered sugar in a seperate bowl.  With a cookie scoop, or spoon, spoon your batter into the powdered sugar and roll it around to coat.  Put it on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake on 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

Source-Tidy Mom

I'm sure you could change up the cake mix if you want too.  Experiment!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

Special K Peanut Butter Cookies

These were yummy and quick to throw together.  Just what I wanted!!  The kids love them too, so this will be something I make often.  And it's got Special K in it, so it must be healthy, right?!  Does it count on the Special K diet?!  Hmmmm...:o)

1 c. sugar
1 c. white corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 1/3 c. peanut butter
4 c. Special K cereal

In a 2 quart microwave safe bowl combine sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and salt and microwave on high for 4 minutes or until it comes to a boil and dissolves all the sugar.  Stir in peanut butter and then cereal.  Spoon mixture onto parchment paper and let it cool before you eat it...if you can wait that long.  Pretty dang good!!

Source-Allrecipes

Have a great weekend!  Stay warm..or cool.  :o)  It is so chilly here!  I love it!  Perfect weather for all my favorite foods.  Bye!!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had the pleasure of opening my very first can of pumpkin this season. Why does that make me so happy? Aw, I just love Fall. LOVE it. I'm sure you all have your own Pumpkin Chocolate Chipe Cookie recipe, but I thought I'd share my go to. They are easy to whip up and sooooo tasty. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin. Mix well. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients minus the chocolate chips. Gradually mix the flour mixture into the creamed sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough using a spoon or your handy dandy cookie scoop onto cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes until they are light brown. Cool. Enjoy!!!!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

I love Pinterest. Every time I get on there I get giddy at all the beautiful things there are in this world. It has been a plethora of inspiration for me. Well, my husband asked if I would make cookies for a friends birthday and luckily I had just pinned a cookie. I went to the linked website and the cookie was easy plus I had everything so I whipped this cookie up in no time. Seriously, I started and finished in an hour. This recipe makes 2 dozen cookies. Really they are super easy.

I have been a peanut butter fan lately. Mixed with some chocolate, and you have my idea of a tasty treat. Not to mention the fun peanut butter surprise in the middle. Yum. I really liked these and will be making them again. :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup granulated sugar (plus more for dipping)
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
¾ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375˚F.

Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter and 1/4 cup of the peanut butter until light and smooth. Add in the vanilla and egg, beat to combine. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Set dough aside.

To make the filling, cream together the powdered sugar and remaining 3/4 cup of peanut butter until smooth. (All I had was reduced fat peanut butter, so I had to add a little water for this to come together. It worked perfectly.)

To assemble the cookies, spoon a generous tablespoon of chocolate cookie dough and flatten into a circle with your hands. (I used the Pampered Chef medium scoop.) Scoop a small amount of peanut butter filling mixture and place in the center of the chocolate dough. Wrap the chocolate dough around the peanut butter filling, pinching ends together to seal. Roll the cookie in between hands to smooth into a ball. Roll into a bowl of sugar and place on the cookie sheet. Flatten each cook with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool on wire rack.

Source: Pennies on a Platter

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Mmmmm, you say lemon+butter+sugar and I am so there. This may sound a little nuts to most of you, but before I met my in-laws I didn't really care for chocolate. (Blame them and all their chocolate goodies for my giant hips!) Anyway...sorry, although I love chocolate now (dark please, not milk, blech), if you give me a choice between a chocolate dessert and a lemon dessert, I will go for the lemon 9 out of 10 times. Seriously.

So my very good friend Cheryl sent me an email saying I must try a cookie she had recently made and she mentioned lemon, and maybe the word amazing, and I was so intrigued. <--- (I have excellent run on sentences today!) The other day I had an event that needed sweets and I knew exactly what I needed to make. Thank goodness for events, because I get to sample then off they go to give someone else the extra calories.

These were really good. I love lemon and do think next time I will add even a little more zest and juice. Maybe even a brush of straight lemon juice to the top of the cookie? Hmmm, maybe. So, yes these are a keeper and if you like lemon you must try. :)

Ingredients:

½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Source: What's Cookin?

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles have to be one of my favorite cookies.  I don't make them a lot, because I know if I did I would eat the entire batch.  I just about ate this entire batch.  I started out with a huge stack to take pictures and ended up with a not so tall stack in the end.  These are just too dang tasty to keep in my house! 



Snickerdoodles
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar for coating
2 Tbsp cinnamon for coating

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Shape dough into balls and roll in the sugar and cinnamon mix.  Place on cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.  They will still look a little doughy once they are done but will harden up a bit.  Try not to burn yourself while eating one.  :o)  Transfer to cooling rack immediately.

Have a wonderful and safe weekend.  We are having a birthday party on Saturday.  Hope it's a success.  :o)  Wish me luck!!  See you Monday!!

Source-All recipes

Gooey Layered Everything Bars

It was the name that stopped me on this recipe. Can you go wrong with a name like that? This is a pretty quick recipe to whip up and I'm sure you can add or take away anything you want. The way they are I enjoyed, but I don't think my kids would love them and I can think of a few picky adults who would pass these up too..*cough* *cough* Brian. My dad would love them minus the raisins, etc. etc. You get the picture. This is definitely a recipe you can play with.

Enjoy!!!

Gooey Layered Everything Bars
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks) cut up
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teas. salt
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnut pieces (I used pecans) toasted
1/2 cup raisins
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch baking dish with parchment paper leaving an overhang on two sides. Lightly coat with vegetable spray. In a food processor, pulse together the butter, powdered sugar, flour, and salt until it resembles a coarse meal. Add oats and pulse until just combined. Press evenly into your dish and bake until lightly browned and firm about 20 minutes.

Scatter chocolate chips, nuts, and raisins on top of crust. Drizzle with the milk and top with the coconut. Bake untill coconut is golden, 10-20 minutes. Keep an eye on it. Let cool completely, loosen sides, and pull bars from the dish. Cut into whatever size you prefer and enjoy! These are rich so a smallish squares work well!

Hope you are having a great week! We are keeping an eye on the sky in Missouri and I've been working on our Emergency Preparedness. You just never know when something will happen. We are told to be prepared for a reason. How are your 72 hour kits and food storage? Any great ideas for me? I would love to hear! Have a great day!

S'more Stuffed Cookies

These were some big A cookies!  :o)  They are delicious!  I could only eat a half of one, because they are pretty rich.  But if you like rich, then this is your cookie.  It has a whole s'more stuffed inside chocolate chip cookie dough.  When you break it in half it has the BEST good and melty marshmallow.  I love it!!  The taste of the s'more made me even more excited for summer.

S'more Stuffed Cookies
2 sticks of butter, softened

1 c. sugar
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
6 full sheets graham crackers broke into quarters, equalling 24 quarters
3 Hershey Bars, broken into rows of 3 bars
12 large marshmallows cut in half lengthwise

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper, or spray it good with cooking spray. 

Beat butter until creamy, and add sugars.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Then add your flour, salt, and baking soda.  Mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Layer a graham cracker, 3squares of chocolate, 2 halves of marshmallows, and then another graham cracker.  Top the s'more with a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough.  Pick up with dough in the palm of your hand and add another scoop.  Form dough around s'more adding more if you need it.  (These are HUGE cookies, so don't think yours are too big...the most likely aren't.)  It gets kind of messy, but it only makes 12 cookies, so keep going!  :o)  Place on cookie sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes or until light brown around edges.  Let them cool a few minutes before transfering to a cooling rack.  ENJOY!

Source-Picky Palate

Hope you have a wonderful week! 

Green Chocolate Mint Cookies

Better late than never!  What a morning!  Not only is it a gorgeous dreary day, but me, and my 2 boys have a nasty head cold.  It's been quite challenging trying to get cookies baked and keep my boys happy.  Why didn't someone tell me being a mother of 3 is so tough.  It's worth it though, right?  :o)

I found these babies on foodgawker.  I wanted to do something green and festive for the upcoming St. Patrick's day and thought these not only sounded easy, but yummy too!  I made my basic sugar cookie dough and added green food coloring to it, and then stirred in some chopped up Andes chocolate mint candy.  I think they are scrumptious.  Not too sweet, and the right amount of minty-ness.  :o)  The center is soft and cakey.  I think next time I will add more green.  I'm glad I baked these.  I felt like I accomplished something today.  Now...if I could just stop eating them.  Grrrr....

Like I said at the first of the post I used THIS sugar cookie recipe and added green food coloring.  And then I stirred in chopped up Andes.  My local store didn't bave brown mint chocolate chips.  They had green, but I thought brown would be much more pretty.  My good friend brought me some from her local Walmart.  How sweet is that?  Pays to have good friends that live in big cities.  :o)  I used my cookie scoop and baked on 350 for 12-14 minutes.  Don't bake them too long, or they will dry out fast! 

Hope you have a great week!!!

Cadbury Egg Cookies

As I was doing my weekly grocery shopping, I seen the Easter candy out.  My mouth started watering instantly for these heavenly Easter treats.  Cadbury Mini Eggs.  OH MY!  There they were.  They were calling my name, so I bought a bag.  I promised myself I wouldn't pig out on these and think of something to bake up with them.  My sister came to visit and I opened the bag to share with her and the kids thinking there's no way we'd eat the whole bag and I'd do my baking the next day.  Well...we almost did eat the entire bag, not leaving enough to do anything with them...SO...I finished them off myself *TEE HEE* and had Monica bring another bag the next day.  I decided to make a cookie with them, and experiment.  I made them 2 different ways, and decided in the end that if you put the crushed up eggs in with the dough then plop some of them on top that they would probably be perfect.  The taste of the eggs didn't really come through, but I think if you added them to the dough and on top that they would.  Or Monica said she seen a dark chocolate version and I bet the flavor of those would come through.  

This is the first way I made them.  I smooshed the dough down a little then plopped them on top.  They spread out a lot.  The cookie was good, but not perfect.

Here's the recipe-

Cadbury Egg Cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 1/2 c. shortening

2 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

5 c. flour

1 lg bag of Cadbury Eggs, crushed.

Mix butter and shortening together until light and fluffy, and then add your sugars, mixing until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix well and then add dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Stir in Cadbury eggs reserving some to sprinkle on the tops of the cookies.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.  Mine took 10 minutes and they looked a little doughy still, but once they were cool they were PERFECT!

This is the 2nd batch I did.  Isn't it pretty with the colors coming through?  I liked these better than the first and I loved the crunch the hard candy shell made.  Mmmm...

It's still an experiment, and if I try something different and it's better, I will for sure let you all know.  If you try something different and better, let us know! I'd love to hear what you create.  Hope you are all having a wonderful week. 

Homemade Oreo Cookies

I love Oreo Cookies especially the Double Stuffed. I rarely buy them because I really don't have any self control when they are hanging around the house. In my boredom one day Stumbling around the net I came across the recipe for homemade Oreo Cookies. At first I wasn't too intrigued. I have tasted many Homemade Oreo Cookies that taste good but nothing like a REAL Oreo. This blog claimed they tasted pretty close to real, so I thought I'd give them a try.

Were they good? Yes. Did they live up to what I was hoping for? No. Will I make them again. Probably. I think my expectations are just too high. What I liked was the cookie, the dough had a nice flavor and the finished cookie was tasty. Next time I'll cut the bake time for a softer cookie. What I didn't love was the filling. It was just too sweet for me. They are super easy and you can be done in an hour. They are a fun cookie for a potluck or to give away. As far as the recipe goes, I followed it to a T. I'm going to post it as is and will highlight my definite changes for next time.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

For the chocolate wafers:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa  I didn't have Dutch, I used regular, worked fine
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar 1 1/2 cups for sure. The filling was a little too sweet for my taste.
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2.In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

3.Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool. I baked mine for about 8 minutes, next time I will shorten the time to probably 6 minutes. My cookies were more crisp than I would prefer.

4.To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

5.To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

I used a Pampered Chef medium scoop and got 11 completed cookies. They were kinda big and I would prefer a smaller cookie. If you have a small scoop, use it. These would be great with a nice cold glass of milk. Try them out and let me know if you make any changes. :)

Source: Sugar Cooking

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