Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites

These little babies are like little bites of love!  They are so good and you can't stop with one.  I made them for a co-workers birthday and they were a hit.









Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites
from Baked In

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (4 oz) butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature chocolate chips
• 1 cup Nutella, at room temperature

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line two mini muffin pans with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar together on medium speed until well-combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating each until combined. Beat in vanilla.
4. Turn off the mixer and add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips with a spatula.
5. Place about ½ tablespoon of batter in each cup. Dollop about ½ teaspoon of Nutella into the center of each. Then top with another teaspoon or so of batter.
6. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely in pans.

Yields: 36

Chocolate Crescents

One night Will wanted ice cream. We didn't have any and neither of us wanted to get out and get any. I knew I had crescent rolls in the fridge and chocolate chips so I made chocolate crescents for him and cherry pies for me. Chocolate crescents are very tasty and satisfied Will's sweet tooth. These a very easy to make.







Chocolate Crescents
a Lacey creation

8 crescents, 4 WW points per crescent

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1 tube reduced fat crescent rolls
8 T milk chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Unroll the tube of crescent rolls. If your rolls unroll okay you should have 8 triangles. When I made these I was having difficulties and mine were not unrolling very well. That is why I didn't end up with crescent shapes. I separated the dough as best as I could and ended up smooshing each piece of dough into a round, filling it with 1 T of chocolate chips, and closed up the round so the chocolate chips were completely enclosed. If you don't have those type of problems and your triangles come out okay you can place 1 T of chocolate chips on each triangle and than roll each triangle up starting at the wide side working towards the point making sure to keep the chocolate chips in. Place the crescent rolls unto a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Enjoy all the chocolaty goodness.

Homemade Twix Bars

My friend Jessica requested these. After hearing about the homemade Milky Ways she saw homemade Twix Bars somewhere and said I should try them out. They were very easy to make. I think next time I would try to make the shortbread crust thinner. I think it was too thick but they still tasted good. As a surprise for her I wrapped these tasty treats up and mailed them off to Arizona. I'll probably need to make these again soon to take to work because when they heard I made them they were very disappointed they didn't get any.



Homemade Twix Bars
from King Arthur Flour

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Shortbread layer

• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour

Caramel layer

• 2 cups caramel, cut into small chunks (I used a bag of caramel bits)
  
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream (I used water)
  

Chocolate layer

• 1 package milk chocolate chips
  

1) FOR THE CRUST: Preheat your oven to 300°F. Spray a 9" x 13" pan lightly with cooking spray, or line with parchment, and set aside.

2) In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the flour. At first the mixture may seem dry, but will come together as you continue to beat at medium speed.

3) Take the dough (it will be somewhat stiff) and press it evenly into the pan. Lightly flouring your fingertips will help with any sticking.

4) Prick the crust all over with a fork. The holes will allow steam to escape and the crust will bake evenly with fewer bubbles.

5) Bake the crust until it's lightly golden brown on top and the edges are deeper golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately run a knife around the edges to loosen the crust. Set it aside to cool completely.

For the Caramel Layer:

In a microwave safe bowl heat the caramel and water in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Pour over the shortbread layer and put in fridge to cool and set up for 30 minutes.

For the Chocolate Layer:

In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate chips in a 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Pour the chocolate over the caramel layer and place back in the fridge to cool and set up.

Or if you want to be more like Twix Bars cut the shortbread and caramel into bars and dip fully into the chocolate and place on a wax paper covered baking sheet. Place in fridge to harden.

Hungry Girls Chocolate Chip Softies

So one of my goals to a better me is to bake more weight watcher friendly treats. Chocolate chip cookies is one of my favorite treats but at 5-7 points a cookie it's not very WW friendly. I found Hungry Girls recipe for So Good Chocolate Chip Softies. I thought Hmm I'll give them a try.

Verdict: Do they taste exactly like a chocolate chip cookie? No. They really don't taste anything like a chocolate chip cookie but they are chocolaty and sweet.

They remind of a cookie my mom and I used to buy all the time made with carob chips. I can't remember the brand or which store we used to find them at but they were pretty good for something sweet to eat and they were only 1 WW point apiece with the old point system. So I actually really like these HG Chocolate Chip Softies. I'll probably make these quite often. I do want to find a WW friendly chocolate chip cookie recipe that actually tastes like a chocolate chip cookie that isn't 5-7 points. Because really if a WW recipe is going to cost me 5-7 points per cookie I could just eat the real thing.

Hungry Girls says that this recipe makes 8 cookies at 2 WW points per cookie. When I inputted this recipe into the recipe builder on WW's it said that 8 servings would make these cookies 3 points apiece. Hmm, interesting. I just happened to make this recipe into 10 cookies and by doing so made the cookies 2 points a cookie. I used my medium sized cookie scoop. Below is the original HG recipe.

HG's Chocolate Chip Softies
from Hungry Girl

8 cookies, 2 WW points per cookie

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3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
6 T unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/4 cup fat free liquid egg substitute
2 1/2 T mini semi sweet chocolate chips
2 T brown sugar, not packed.
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt

Pre heat oven 375 degrees.

In a mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips (flour, Splenda, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt). Mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together all wet ingredients (applesauce, pumpkin, egg substitute, and vanilla extract). Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir until completely blended. Then, fold in the chocolate chips. Spray a large baking pan with nonstick spray or line with silicone baking mat, and spoon batter into 8 evenly spaced circles. Place pan in the oven for about 10 minutes (until cookies appear done and feel firm). Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool slightly. For best results, enjoy while the cookies are still warm and the chips are still melty. I think they taste just as good room temperature.

Homemade Milky Ways

"Lacey Klemm has made quite possibly the greatest dessert in her life, the Homemade Milky Way. It is addicting and i dare say, better than a real Milky Way." posted on Facebook by Will Klemm.

This is high praise coming from my loving hubby. He is correct in saying that these chocolate confections are addicting and better than the real Milky Ways.

My mom's favorite candy bar was the Milky Way. I have been wanting to find/create a homemade version for awhile. I just wish I would have thought about this before she passed away. She would have loved these.

I decided not to dip these fully because I was being lazy. No one missed them being fully dipped in chocolate. You can get away with not dipping if you don't want to. I highly recommend that you make these. Run, don't walk to your nearest grocery store!

Homemade Milky Way

adapted from Tasty Kitchen

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2 bags (12 Oz. Size) Milk Chocolate Chips

1 container (7 Oz.) Marshmallow Fluff

6 Tablespoons Evaporated Milk, Divided

1 bag (14 Oz. Bag) Caramels, wrappers removed, or Caramel Bits

Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for about 45 seconds. Stir to completely melt all the chocolate. If you need to microwave further, do so for very short periods; you do not want the chocolate to burn. Stir in the marshmallow fluff and half of the evaporated milk.

Pour this into an 8×8 pan that has been lined with foil or wax paper and sprayed with non-stick spray. Smooth the top. Place this in the fridge to harden while you work on the next step. My 8x8 was being used for lasagna so I just used a cookie sheet and spread the marshmallow mixture out not too thick and not too thin.

Put the caramels and the rest of the evaporated milk in a bowl, and microwave until they are melted. Start with 45 seconds, and then stir. If needed, heat for longer, checking every 15 seconds. Once nice and smooth, pour and spread this over the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

If you are going to fully dip your Milky Ways:

Once firm, remove from the pan and cut into desired size pieces. Melt the remaining bag of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 45 second intervals. Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, start your dipping! Set the coated caramels on a baking sheet and then place it in the fridge or freezer to harden. Enjoy!

If you are being lazy like me:

Melt the remaining bag of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 45 second intervals. Once the chocolate is melted and smooth pour the chocolate over the caramel layer and place back in fridge to harden. Once chocolate is set cut the Milky Ways into desired size pieces. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I don't think I have the words to describe the insanity of these cupcakes. These are right up there with the caramel chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecakes. The frosting is just like a chocolate chip cookie. So you get a big dose of chocolate chip cookie all around and it's awesome. I have seen this recipe floating around the blogs I read for quite awhile but I wanted one that you actually baked the cookie right in the cupcake. With some searching I found what I was looking for and I adapted it to what I wanted. I made these for my bosses birthday. Her husband said that chocolate chip cookies were her favorite treat so I thought this was the perfect time to try this recipe out. She loved them and so did everyone else. The cookie dough center stays soft I think from not putting eggs or baking soda or powder into the batter. The dough doesn't rise it just stays in it cookie doughy goodness. I think I mentioned the awesome frosting. Try these soon!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
inspired by Kevin and Amanda blog and Annie's Eats

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Cookie Dough Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup caramel topping
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoon water or milk
4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups mini chocolate chips

For the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, combine the butter, caramel, and sugars for the cookie dough. Add the water (or milk), vanilla and blend. Mix in the flour, salt and 2 cup chocolate chips. The dough will be fairly soft. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out the cookie dough and place them on a wax paper lined plate or baking sheet. Place them in the freezer to harden. I let them freeze for 2 to 3 hours. You should at least get 24 balls.

For the Cupcakes:

1 box of white cake mix or party chip or your favorite homemade recipe

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Follow the instructions on the box to make the batter. Line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners. Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full with the batter. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.

Bake at 350 for 16-18 mins.

For the Frosting:

3 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips

In a mixer combine the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the salt, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth and combined. Add in the chocolate chips.

Frost the cupcakes. I used a pastry bag with a large round tip to frost my cupcakes.

It makes 24 cupcakes.

3pt Homemade Oreos

I make Will his homemade Oreos using chocolate cake mixes. I wondered if I could make them for me modifying the recipe a little bit. Instead of oil I used water and instead of whole eggs I used egg whites. For the filling I used marshmallow creme. The batter isn't as stiff as the original recipe but I just used my smallest cookie scoop instead of trying to hand roll them. You could use two spoons if you don't have a cookie scoop. I think these turned out great and one of Will's friends must have liked them because he ate the rest of them. I wasn't to happy with Will giving away my cookies but I can make more.

3pt Homemade Oreos

21 servings, 3 WW points apiece

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1 box chocolate cake mix
1/3 cup water
3 egg whites
1/2 container marshmallow creme


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl mix together the cake mix, water, and egg whites. Using a small cookie scoop drop batter onto a greased cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie slightly with fingertips. Bake for 8 minutes. Recipe makes 42 cookies, 21 Oreos. Evenly distribute the marshmallow creme between 21 cookies. Top each cookie with another cookie. Enjoy.

If you don't want to sandwich these cookies together with creme you can eat them plain. They are really good and only 1 WW point apiece.

Cake Pops are fun for all!

Cake pop fun with Joyce and her granddaughters. For Anastasia's birthday Joyce wanted to do something different. So we made ice cream cone cake pops and regular cake pops. They had a good time. Messy, but a lot of fun.

Twix Ice Cream Cake

I have now made two recipes off of Life as a Lofthouse's blog and both have been excellent. It was my cousin Kim's birthday on Monday and I wanted to make her a sweet treat. When I saw this recipe a while back I knew I would have to try it. It has caramel in it and I love caramel. I think I could eat caramel on almost anything, almost. My only complaint is that I think it needs more ice cream. And that could be because I doubled the cookie recipe. I couldn't find my 8x8 pan and I knew spreading a single recipe out in a 9x13 it would have been to thin. So I doubled it. I didn't have to use all the cookie and I didn't but I used most of it. The cookie part tastes like a brown sugar, sugar cookie. It was really good. Kim enjoyed it and that was my goal. I didn't get a picture before we tore into it but I think the picture shows all it's ooey gooey goodness.


Twix Ice Cream Cake
as seen on Life as a Lofthouse

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1 quart vanilla ice cream, slightly softened (I would buy two next time, but I like a lot of ice cream)
1 16 oz jar caramel ice cream topping
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Cookie Recipe (Reflects the doubling I did, if you know where your 8x8 pan is half the recipe)

1 cup butter, softened
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla


I knew I was going to be making this as soon as I got home from the store so I grabbed the ice cream first to let it soften while I shopped. The ice cream was ready to go when I got home. Spread the ice cream in a 9x13 pan, cover and put in the freezer to harden for about 2 hours. While the ice cream is chilling start making the cookie topping. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugars in a bowl. Add the flour and vanilla, mix until incorporated. Spread in a foil lined 9x13 pan, bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

When the cookie is completely cool pull out the pan with the ice cream. Pour the caramel over the ice cream. Break the cookie into pieces and sprinkle evenly over the caramel. I didn't use all the cookie since I doubled the recipe but I did use most of it. What you don't use, eat. The cookie is very good by itself.

In a microwave safe bowl place the chocolate chips and melt in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stir after each interval, until completely melted. Once melted drizzle over the cookie layer. Cover and freeze until ready to serve. You can cut into nice squares or just dig in like we did. Whatever way you choose will be the right way. Enjoy!

Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake

This my friends is Weight Watcher Friendly. And it's sooooooooooo good!!!! It tastes like a devil dog. My hubby even loved it. When I did my first turn at doing WW a few years ago I was told about making a cake with egg whites and diet pop. If you made cupcakes it was 1 point per cupcake. Now with the new points system it is 2 points per cupcake but that's not bad. Basically you take a box mix and mix it with three egg whites and a can of diet pop. Use light pop for light cakes and dark pop for dark cakes. I was going to make cupcakes but my pans were at the library. So I made a whole cake instead. Next time I will make cupcakes just because I can.

This is the cake frosted with fat free cool whip. It looks good like this but I can make it better.













That's what I'm talking about. Heated up chocolate frosting poured over it. Mmmm!!!

You hardly can tell it's WW.











Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake
a Lacey Original

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12 slices, 6 WW points per slice
If you make 24 cupcakes it would be 3 WW points a cupcake


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

1 devil's food cake mix
3 egg whites
1 can diet coke or some other diet dark pop
1 container fat free cool whip, thawed
1/2 can chocolate frosting

In a bowl mix together the cake mix, eggs, and diet pop with a whisk or mixer. Split the batter between two greased 9 inch round cake pans. Or if making cupcakes split batter between 24 cupcake liners. Bake according to the package directions. Let cool.

Take the cakes out of the pans. Place one cake face first on a cake plate. Spread 1/4 of the cool whip over the cake. Place the second cake bottom down on top of the cool whip. Spread the remaining cool whip over the rest of the cake. In a bowl heat up the chocolate frosting for about 20 to 30 seconds. Heat just long enough to make it pourable. Let cool a minute and pour the frosting over the cake. Cut into 12 slices and enjoy. Refrigerate the leftovers.

If making cupcakes frost each with the cool whip and pour the chocolate frosting over each cupcake.

Chocolate Iced Graham Crackers

Lately everything is reminding me of my mom. Many of the memories are happy but many are sad. My hubby and I went to a spaghetti dinner last Saturday and we had to drive the exact route I used to take to see my mom in the nursing home. Driving somewhere shouldn't be so sad. Now I have been fighting off depression since then. When I'm depressed I like to eat, which isn't helpful when you are trying to lose weight. I need to figure out a better way to deal with my grief than stuffing my face with food. It makes me feel better for a few hours and then I'm more depressed because I ate things I shouldn't. It's a vicious cycle.

One thing I made last week that my mom loved was chocolate icing sandwiched between two graham crackers and dipped in milk. Vanilla or cream cheese icing is good to. She wasn't picky. My grandma used to make this for my mom and her siblings as a treat. My mom said that graham crackers were fairly cheap and the icing was made from mixing powdered sugar and milk together. To make chocolate icing you would add cocoa powder. A cheap yet delicious treat. So when I was little my mom used to make this for us but would use canned icing since it was convenient and inexpensive. If you spread some marshmallow fluff on it as well I won't tell anybody. Sometimes the simple pleasures in life are the tastiest.

Chocolate Cheesecake Covered Strawberries

I'm not sure I can describe how decadent and scrumptious these not so little babies are. You take a sweet strawberry wrap it in rich cheesecake and dip in milk chocolate goodness. Am I making you drool yet? I have been toying around with this concept for awhile. Strawberries are great dipped in chocolate so why not kick it up a notch and put cheesecake in the mix as well. Oh my my my were these great for Valentines day. My co-workers loved them and so did I. These beauties are fairly simple to make they just take about four steps.

1. Make the cheesecake.
2. Cover the strawberries in cheesecake.
3. Freeze the cheesecake covered strawberries.
4. Dip them in chocolate.

Not to difficult you just have to give yourself enough time. I recommend making the cheesecake the night before and doing the rest the next day.


Chocolate Cheesecake Covered Strawberries
a Lacey original

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For the cheesecake:

2 sleeves cinnamon graham crackers, finely crushed
1/2 stick of butter, melted
4 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
3 Tbsp. Flour
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
4 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix together the crushed graham crackers and the butter until moistened. Press into a 9X13 pan. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until blended. Add the sour cream, vanilla, and flour; mix well. Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Pour over the graham cracker crust.

Bake for 45 minutes or until center is almost set. Let cool. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

This cheesecake recipe is my favorite. I found it on Kraftfoods.com a couple of years ago. It calls for you to bake it in a 9X 13 pan but I have used a springform pan and it always comes out beautifully.

How to cover the strawberries:

2 containers of strawberries, washed and dried

Take the cheesecake and put it in a bowl. Crumble it up. Using clean hands take some of the cheesecake and start molding it around the strawberry. Keep doing that until the strawberry is covered 3/4 of the way up. You want some of the strawberry to show and you don't want to cover the leaves. Repeat until all the strawberries are covered. Place them on a baking sheet covered with wax paper or a silicone mat and put them in the freezer for about an hour.

How to dip the strawberries:

2 packages milk chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Place one package of the chips and one Tbsp. oil in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing after each interval until chocolate is melted and smooth. Take the strawberries out of the freezer. Dip each strawberry in chocolate. It's okay to leave a little of the cheesecake showing at the top. Place back on pan. Repeat until half of the strawberries are covered. Place back in freezer and melt the remaining chips and oil using a different bowl if necessary. Dip the rest of the strawberries. Store in the refrigerator.

Mint Oreos and Peanut Butter Oreos

Superbowl has been the hot topic lately on the food blogs I read. If you are a fan of football you are probably watching the game right now. I'm not a fan of most sports and neither is my hubby so we have been watching CSI: Miami on DVD. Will wanted cookies so I made him homemade Oreos, which he loves, with a twist. Mint Oreos and Peanut Butter Oreos. I think they both turned out really good.

I apologize in advanced because when I cook I have a tendency to just throw in ingredients without measuring. That makes it hard for me to give measurements when I put recipes on here. The peanut butter frosting I made is a testament to that. I didn't measure anything but I'll try to put it in measurements.

Homemade Oreo Recipe

2 boxes of devils food cake
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. In a mixing bowl combine the cake mix, eggs, and oil with a mixer. I use my Kitchenaide. The batter will be stiff. Split the batter in half.


For the mint Oreos add 1/4 cup of Andes baking mints to the batter.

Pinch off pieces of the dough and roll into balls. If you have a small cookie scoop you can use that. Place 1 inch apart and flatten slightly with your fingertips. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack or plate.

For the filling use the icing recipe here and add 1/2 teaspoon mint extract or more depending on how minty you want it but start slow. A little goes a long way.

Frost the cookies. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.


Pinch off pieces of the dough and roll into balls. If you have a small cookie scoop you can use that. Place 1 inch apart and flatten slightly with your fingertips. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack or plate.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 stick of butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

About 2 cups powdered sugar, I didn't measure I just started adding powdered sugar into the mixer until I got the consistency I wanted which was like a paste then I added about 2 tablespoons milk to thin it out a little.

Mix together the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, mix until combined. Add milk until you get the consistency you want.

Frost the cookies. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.

Mini Reese's Cheesecakes

I checked out a cookbook from the library by Pillsbury called Easy As Pie. The one recipe I flipped to right away was called Candy Bar Pie and oh did it look good. I had most of the ingredients I needed except the candy bars and with the big storm that hit running to the grocery store was out of the question. So I improvised. And I made them mini. I really like the hold in your hand small bite desserts. I can have one or two without feeling totally guilty.

These have a mild peanut butter flavor and I really liked the crust. The crust needed to be thinned out a bit but other than that I thought they were tasty. I want to make this using the Snickers candy bars instead because I think they would be really good.

Mini Reese's Cheesecakes
adapted from Pillsbury's Easy As Pie Cookbook

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1 package of 2 refrigerated pie crusts
2 8 0z. packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 creamy peanut butter
12 mini Reese's cups, the new ones sold in a bag
1/4 cup Reese's peanut butter chips

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.

Lightly flour your work surface and place the pie crusts on top. Using a rolling pin thin out each pie crust. I left my rolling pin at the library so I used a cup but it didn't work so well and my crusts were a little to thick. Using a round cookie cutter cut out as many rounds as you can. Re-roll the scraps and cut some more until you have 24. Shape the rounds into the mini muffin pans. Place a mini peanut butter cup in 12 of the holes and in the other 12 place a few of the peanut butter chips. You can use all peanut butter cups but I wanted to make some without chocolate.

In a mixing bowl cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add each egg one at at time until well blended. Add sour cream and peanut butter beating until mixture is smooth. Using a small scoop or spoon fill each muffin cup with the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes.


I had left over batter so I took two ramekins and sprayed them with cooking spray. I filled each 1/2 full with the batter. I added some peanut butter cups and filled them up the rest of the way with the rest of the batter. I baked them for 30 minutes.

Thank You Brownies

Yesterday when I got off work at 8:30pm my car wouldn't start. It's never good when you turn the key and all you get in return is a ticking sound. I called my hubby and found out we don't have jumper cables. I need to put that on my shopping list because you really should have those in your car. Fortunately for me our security guard had jumper cables and was willing to help me. We soon found out that my battery was on one side while his battery was on the other and so he had to move my car out of the parking space so it could face his car. He did that with the help of a patron dropping off his material. So he gets the cables on and it takes awhile for my car to come alive.

I get from our parking lot to the stop sign to get out on Front street and my car refuses to go any further. It was strange because I don't think it died but it wouldn't move. While this is going on Joyce and Cody are waiting for me at my house because we are supposed to go out for $1 tacos at Cagney's. Joyce calls and I tell her I'm stuck so they come to help me move my car out of the way. That didn't happen because my car wouldn't go into neutral. All three of us tried and my gear shift would not move. I call Will. He comes and still nothing. The girls leave for tacos and Will goes home to get some tools but nothing works. I had to have it towed. Towing isn't cheap. Cost me $65 and I probably have to replace my alternator that is only a year old. Boo! I finally got home at 10:30 freezing and poor Will missed work to help me out.

To thank our security guard for helping me I made him brownies. These are made from scratch brownies. I never realized how easy brownies are to make from scratch. Just as easy as making a box mix. I liked these brownies because they were thick and solid. You could really sink your teeth into them. Not as moist as a box mix but not dry either and I liked them cold. I doubled the recipe so I could use a 9X13 pan instead of a 9 inch pan. I got the recipe out of a Brownie cookbook I got for Christmas. A cookbook all about brownies. The possibilities are endless.

Basic Cocoa Brownies
as seen in Good Housekeeping's Brownies cookbook

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1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 ts. baking powder
1/4 ts. salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 ts. vanilla
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (Optional)
1 bag milk chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 9-inch square baking pan with foil, grease foil. In small bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt mixing together with a wire whisk.

In a 3 quart saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Stir in eggs one at a time until well blended. Add vanilla. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture until blended. Stir in nuts, if using. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Pour on milk chocolate chips and let melt. Spread over brownies evenly. Cool completely.

When cool, lift foil, with brownie, out of pan. Peel foil away from sides. Cut into 4 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 4 pieces.

I doubled the recipe and used a 9X13 pan. I didn't use walnuts. Since I didn't have chocolate frosting I used milk chocolate chips.

Name That Cookie

I'm not sure what to call this cookie. It has hot fudge, mint hot chocolate, and mint fudge mini cups in it. So maybe I should call the cookies Mint Fudge Cookies. I had wanted to use mint extract to enhance the mint flavor but I didn't have any. I did on the other hand have mint hot chocolate mix. The mint flavor is subtle in the cookie dough. When you get a bite of the mint fudge mini cups the mint flavor is stronger but not overwhelming. I'm not a huge fan of mint but these cookies are good and my hubby liked them. He is a fan of mint.


Mint Fudge Cookies

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1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup hot fudge topping
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 package mint hot chocolate
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup mint fudge mini cups or Andes baking chips

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl mix together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and hot fudge topping. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla. Mix in the package of mint hot chocolate. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until fully incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips and mini mint cups.

Using a cookie scoop or teaspoon drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Let cool slightly and remove from pan to cooling rack. Using a cookie scoop makes about 3 dozen cookies.















I found these at the Dollar Tree when I was in Arizona. I haven't checked to see if ours carries these. If you can't find this or something similar you can use the Andes baking chips available at most stores. I have seen them at Walmart.

To Bake or Not to Bake? I Baked!

Since I'm going to start back on my diet on Monday I decided to do a little baking today. I plan on still making sweets in the future but healthier ones. These are not healthy but oh so good. These are made with Reese's peanut butter chips, milk chocolate chips, and the new mini Reese peanut butter cups.



Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
adapted from the Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

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2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 bag (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl mix together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. And vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Gradually mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture until incorporated. Mix in the peanut butter chis, milk chocolate chips, and mini peanut butter cups. Using a cookie scoop or teaspoon drop cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake for 8 to 9 minutes. Cool slightly and remove from pan to cooling rack. Using my cookie scoop I got about 3 dozen cookies.

Cookies, Cookies, and Cookies

While I was enjoying the warm weather in Arizona I also did a lot of baking. Along with making the pumpkin roll cookies I made butterscotch chocolate chip cookies, cream cheese spritz cookies, and Mexican wedding cookies or I know them as Snowballs. Mexican wedding cookies are Jessica's favorite. She also loves butterscotch.

I remember one time in high school we had a blizzard that knocked out some houses power. Jessica's house was one of them so her dad brought her over to stay with my mom and I. We decided to make cookies and was out of butter so we trekked across the street in knee high snow to my neighbors to get some. Crazy I know but nothing stands in our way when it comes to cookies. I believe we made butterscotch chocolate chip cookies with walnuts.


I found the recipe for the cream cheese spritz cookies in the Woman's World magazine I purchased to take on the plane. This cookie is Paula Deen's recipe. I didn't exactly follow the recipe. You are supposed to pipe the dough onto a cookie sheet using a pastry bag with a star tip. I didn't have a pastry bag so I used a cookie scoop. I thought these cookies were very tasty and they ended up really soft. I love soft cookies. I will defiantly try these next time following the recipe better because they are really pretty in the magazine and she dipped hers in white chocolate and I think that would be really yummy.

Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies
adapted from Paula Deen

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2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract

I didn't use this when I made them:

1/8 tsp no-taste red concentrated food coloring
1/8 tsp Kelly green concentrated food coloring
1 cup white chocolate chips melted, cooled
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips melted, cooled
red, green and white jimmies or sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, reserve. On medium high speed, beat butter, and cream cheese until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. On low, beat in sugar, 30 minutes. Add egg and almond extract, beat 30 seconds. Gradually beat in flour mixture until dough forms.

2. Fit medium star tip into large pastry bag. Using small brush, starting at tip of bag, paint one line of each food coloring inside along opposite sides of the bag, ending 1 inch from top edge. Fill bag with dough. I didn't do this step I just used a cookie scoop and scooped them onto the cookie sheet.

3. On baking sheets, pipe dough into round and or S-shaped cookies. Bake 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pan on racks 5 minutes. Transfer to racks, cool completely.

4. Line cook baking sheets with wax paper. Dip ends of the cookies into melted chocolates, shaking off excess, transfer to wax paper. Sprinkles with jimmies. Let stand until set, 1 hour.

Mexican Wedding Cookies
as seen in Taste of Home Cookies cookbook submitted by Sarita Johnson

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2 cups butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Additional powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Gradually add flour, mix well. Beat in vanilla. Stir in pecans.

2. Place dough in fridge to chill for about 15 minutes. Pinch off pieces of the dough and roll into balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Roll warm cookies in the powdered sugar, cool on wire racks. Makes about 6 dozen.

I have made these cookies quite a few times over the years and I don't remember the powdered sugar melting on the warm cookies. I would cool them a little bit next time before rolling them in the sugar. They tasted good anyway.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

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2 sticks butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a mixing bowl mix together butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Once incorporated mix in the chocolate chips.

2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Place rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 1o minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies onto wire rack to cool.

These turned out pretty thin. I'm not sure why because I followed the recipe. They still were addictive.

Trip to Michigan cont. and Kilwin's Chocolate and Ice Cream

On the path to New Holland Brewing Company is Kilwin's Chocolates and Ice Cream. I had to drop in. The chocolate smell when you walk in the door is incredible. I could just spend time in there breathing deeply. They had plenty of treats to choose from. We sampled their peanut butter fudge. It was very good.

Along with the normal chocolate confections were chocolate caramel Oreos, chocolate covered rice krispie treats, and chocolate striped Twinkies. Yes, folks that is typed correctly. Chocolate covered Twinkies. I thought it was really good and I know I can defiantly make them myself. I could probably make a whole box of them for the price I paid for one.

This was Will's pick and he liked it but said he didn't love the chocolate that they used. I thought the chocolate was good. I picked out a snapadamia. I'm pretty sure that is what it is called. I tried looking it up on their website and didn't find it. Basically it's macadamias covered in caramel and white chocolate. It was good but the macadamias overpower the caramel and white chocolate. When I try and recreate it, which I will, I think I will use fewer macadamias.

Homemade Golden Oreos

After making homemade Oreos it only seemed natural to try making golden Oreos with chocolate filling. My only change when making these again will be to use a regular yellow cake mix and not a yellow butter cake mix. These were really buttery. If you love butter than you will love these. If butter doesn't tickle your taste buds then try them with the regular yellow cake mix. This frosting is killer. I had a lot of filling left from the whoopie pies so I knew I wanted to make chocolate so I added cocoa powder. I could eat this frosting up with a spoon. Who needs to put it on anything?

Homemade Golden Oreos
adapted from the homemade Oreos recipe

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Cookies:

2 box yellow cake mix, butter cake mix if you love butter
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil

Chocolate Icing:

1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/3 cups Marshmallow Fluff (I get the marshmallow fluff from Aldis and use the whole container)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cocoa powder or more depending on how chocolaty you want it

Directions:

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. In a mixing bowl combine the cake mix, eggs, and oil with a mixer. I use my Kitchenaide. The batter will be stiff. Pinch off pieces of the dough and roll into balls. If you have a small cookie scoop you can use that. Place 1 inch apart and flatten slightly with your fingertips. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack or plate.

While the cookies bake make the frosting. In a mixing bowl beat together the butter, shortening, sugar, and marshmallow until well blended. Add vanilla and beat until smooth. Add cocoa, mix well and taste. Add more if needed.

Try and put same size cookies together. Flip over half of the cookies. Spread or pipe frosting onto the flipped over cookies. Top each frosted cookie with an unfrosted cookie to make a sandwich. Place cookies in an airtight container and store in the fridge.

Makes about 2 dozen