For the Love of Chocolate!

What better time of year to make chocolate treats than during the holidays? (Okay, well Valentine's Day might be a good time to bring this one back, especially considering how I love the whole idea of girls making homemade chocolate for the boys they like as they do in Japan).

But anyway, what I love about making your own chocolate is that you can totally control what goes in it, and (if you use chocolate chips for melting), it's so completely fast and easy!

I actually made these Peanut Butter Cups and S'mores Pops in November (shh, don't tell anyone I'm that behind on my blogging!) but the Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries and the Fun Chocolate Shapes were this month at least! As we reach the end of 2011, it's the perfect time for a few final indulges before January rolls around and we all start dieting again!

Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:

1 bag (about 12 oz.) dark or milk chocolate chips (your preference--I like Ghirardelli 60% Cacao chips since they're easier on my stomach than milk or semisweet chips, plus they have more antioxidants! Note: chocolate over 60% Cacao will be better for you, but taste extremely bitter)
1 jar (about 15 oz.) creamy peanut butter
Mini cupcake liners and a mini cupcake pan


Directions:

1.) Fill a mini cupcake pan with paper liners. Empty the chocolate chips into a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for approximately 90 seconds, stirring after 30 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth.

2.) Immediately pour about 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of chocolate into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Then, using a teaspoon or other small spoon, drop a dollop of peanut butter into the center of each liner (the amount of peanut butter you want is up to you!). Pour another 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of chocolate in each cupcake liner so that the peanut butter is completely covered. Twist your spoon to drizzle the chocolate into swirly designs on the tops. You may end up with extra chocolate and peanut butter leftover to do with as you please--it all depends on how many candies you have the desire (and energy) to make.

3.) Refrigerate approximately 30-45 minutes, then remove from fridge and let come to room temperature. Congratulations, you now have delicious homemade "Reese's"! Remove the paper liners and eat the cups up or share them with friends and loved ones! There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's so there's certainly no wrong way to nibble, bite, inhale, and devour these babies!

 

S'mores Pops


Ingredients:
1 bag (about 12 oz.) chocolate chips
1 bag (about 16 oz.) marshmallows (regular or large, not the minis)
Graham crackers of your choice
Bamboo sticks or other small wooden skewers

Directions:

1.) Crush as many graham crackers as you like into small pieces using a food processor or by sealing them in a plastic baggie and running a rolling pin (or a mallet) over them. Place into a bowl and set aside. Empty the chocolate chips into a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for approximately 90 seconds, stirring after 30 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth.

2.) Skewer marshmallows at the end of your wooden sticks and dip immediately into the chocolate until the marshmallows are thoroughly coated. Quickly dip into the bowl of graham cracker crumbs. Let the pops sit out at room temperature until the chocolate has hardened (I found this worked easiest by pushing the skewers through the bottom of a paper cup turned upside-down, and taping the cup to the countertop so it wouldn't topple over).

3.) Eat plain, or light on fire first for a true campfire S'more experience! (Please do not eat while the fire is still going--wait until it burns itself out or else blow out the flame before consumption!) There's nothing quite like the taste of charred marshmallow (I'm serious here--it's SO good!

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

Ingredients:
1 bag (about 12 oz.) dark or white chocolate chips
1 container large strawberries (I found long-stem strawberries at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market).
Parchment paper


Directions:

1.) Empty the chocolate chips into a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for approximately 90 seconds, stirring after 30 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth. Immediately dip the strawberries deep into the bowl until thoroughly coated. Remove from the chocolate and let sit on the parchment paper until the chocolate hardens.

2.) Eat immediately, or refrigerate to eat later! With luck these will last in the fridge at least a few days, though they taste best (obviously) when they're fresh!

Fun Chocolate Shapes!

Ingredients:
 
1 bag (about 12 oz.) chocolate chips
Maldon sea salt (a nice flaky salt, or a nice sea salt works best, though any salt will do. For a good explanation of salts, check out this blog!)
Small cookie cutters of your choice
Parchment paper



Directions:

1.) Place cookie cutters upside-down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Empty the chocolate chips into a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for approximately 90 seconds, stirring after 30 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth.

2.) Immediately pour the chocolate into the cookie cutter molds and let sit. Sprinkle with salt (this makes for such a nice salty-sweet contrast!). As carefully as you can (the chocolate will want to escape the molds) transfer the baking sheet to the fridge and let the candies completely harden.

3). When ready to eat, remove the chocolates from the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature before attempting to push them out of the cookie cutter molds. Some will pop out easily while others may require a little more pushing. Yes, you will get chocolate on your fingers. It's delicious.

That's all there is to it! Now you can have your own homemade chocolates any time you want! Even though it's still technically December (for one more day) I've noticed that all the grocery stores are already decked in Valentine's Day displays....  So I guess it's not too early to start practicing your chocolatier skills too. It's certainly never too early for chocolate. So with that, I wish you a happy end to 2011, and a very sweet New Year! More treats to come in 2012!

Coconut Cookies!

If you can host Christmas in July, you most assuredly can invite tropical flavors to baked goods in December. Having a few leftover bags of sweetened coconut flakes from my kids' cooking program at the library (posted here--the spooooky Banana Ghosts) I decided to experiment with making a cookie that I could easily bring in to work around the holiday season and also satisfy my own craving for coconut. This is a love that only recently developed within the past few years when I discovered how wonderful coconut and dark chocolate pair in candy boxes (I couldn't stand "that shredded stuff" as a kid). Instead of going with chocolate in my cookies, however, I opted to put a twist on traditional chocolate chip cookie recipes, using the same basic dough, but adding coconut instead of chips. First found here (a recipe by N. Hoff on AllRecipes.com), I again made a couple of changes for my own personal tastes--basically whole wheat pastry flour and a whole teaspoon of vanilla extract. The results? Such compliments as "awesome & oh so yummy!!" and "the best coconut cookies I've ever had!" Much thanks to N. Hoff for the idea and to my coworkers for their kind words! I now plan to repeat Coconut Cookies whenever I can!

Ingredients:

1 and 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and 1/3 cups sweetened coconut flakes

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spread a piece of parchment (NOT wax) paper on a baking sheet.

2.) Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and stir together. In a separate bowl, combine the soft butter with both sugars and beat until the mixture is smooth (you can use an electric mixer, but I just used a fork and stirred really hard!). Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixture and continue to beat until everything is well combined.

3.) Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until no more flour is visible. Then stir in the coconut.

4.) Form the dough into small Tablespoon-sized balls, slightly flattened, and place on the parchment paper (or if you don't have parchment paper, just an ungreased cookie sheet).

5.) Bake for about 10 minutes until the cookies are golden brown around the edges. Allow them to cool slightly, but you can eat them while they're still warm!

I love cookie season! But lots of chocolate is coming up next!

Holiday Feast!

Okay, this really should have been posted in November so that if I decide to look back on my blog for recipes come next Thanksgiving I'll be able to actually find them.... But it is true that same kinds of desserts and sides made for Thanksgiving can also be made at Christmastime (Plus that whole Bronchitis for a month thing really messed up my November plans). So before it gets too late into December, let me post the traditional (and soon to become traditional) Thanksgiving recipes I made this year.

In addition to my regular Pumpkin Pie (I made the recipe this year already in October for a bake sale before baking two more at Thanksgiving), I also had my annual Bourbon Pecan Pie that I've been making for at least five years now, adapted from Paula Deen's recipe. And if that wasn't enough pie, I decided to break tradition and make one of my favorites that I hadn't done in about five years: Sweet Potato Pie. To round out the menu (since Thanksgiving can't be just about dessert--I know, it's sad) I also created a Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce side (hmm, also a sweet dish) and a sweet Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip (wow, maybe Thanksgiving at my house can be all about dessert?), leaving the turkey, potatoes, and stuffing to my mom.

The easy thing about these pie recipes is that they start with a pre-baked pie shell (I buy whole wheat crusts from Whole Foods) so you don't have to make the dough from scratch and can just focus on the delicious filling. While the cranberry sauce is slightly more labor intensive than the kind from a can (and yes, we had that at Thanksgiving too--don't mess with tradition), it comes together fairly easily with only four ingredients. The pumpkin dip was something new to our Thanksgiving table (a recipe I made for a fall scrapbook party last year), which I served with apple slices and graham cracker sticks. All in all, I think our holiday was quite festive and successful, and I might just have to repeat some of these recipes for Christmas dinner too!

Bourbon Pecan Pie


Ingredients:


1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
3 eggs, beaten
1 and 1/2 to 2 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup whole pecans (may need more depending on how many it takes to cover the top of the pie)
2 Tablespoons bourbon (I've been using the same bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey for the past five years)
1 pie shell (8 or 9 inches in diameter)

Directions:


1.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and butter. Add the corn syrup, eggs and bourbon, stirring after each addition. Then stir in the pecan halves.

2.) Pour almost all the filling into the pie shell. Leave some liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Add your whole pecans to this liquid and coat them thoroughly. Using your fingers (they will get sticky), carefully lay each coated pecan on the top of the pie's filling to form a pattern (I like to start around the outside edges and just make circles. This part takes a little patience, but the aesthetics of the end result is worth it).

3.) Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees, putting foil around the edges of the pie to prevent the edges of the crust from burning. Then lower then temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about 22 minutes longer until the top of the pecans become firm and a deeper brown. Let cool on a baking rack and serve at room temperature or refrigerate overnight and serve cold the next day. Basically, this pie tastes good at any temperature, and can be eaten for several days after Thanksgiving for dessert, in your lunch at work, for breakfast....

Sweet Potato Pie


Ingredients:


2 cans (16 oz. each) candied yams (I prefer the kind in light syrup, not heavy syrup, since I can't seem to find any without syrup)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk of your choice (I used a can of fat free evaporated milk since I'd been using that for the pumpkin pies)
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 pie shell

Directions:


1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the filling, stirring until the eggs are beaten and the yams have been mashed in (though I like a few remaining chunks in mine).

2.) Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake for approximately 35 minutes. You can again place foil around the edges of the pie to prevent the crust from burning, or just take your chances if you trust your oven!

At this point you can also top the pie with about 1/2 a bag of mini marshmallows and bake it for an additional 15 minutes to let the marshmallows melt and brown. But I decided to skip the marshmallows this year and just focus on the flavor of the sweet potato, which came out being not too sweet, but just right for me and my younger brother who, it turns out, likes sweet potato pie better than pecan or pumpkin. Looks like this recipe will be a keeper in our house!

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

2/3 cup water 
1/3 cup orange juice
1 cup brown sugar
12 oz. cranberries (frozen or fresh--this is usually one package of Ocean Spray Cranberries)

Directions:

1.) In a large pot, bring the water, juice and sugar to a boil. Add the berries and return the mixture to a boil again.

2.) After it's started boiling again, reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for approximately 30 minutes, stirring at regular intervals, until it becomes thick and begins to stay coated on the spoon you use to stir.

3.) Remove from heat and pour into a heat-resistant (glass or ceramic) bowl. Cover and cool in the fridge a few hours or overnight before serving--it tastes best cold rather than warm or room temperature.

I can't remember exactly where this recipe originated from, but I know that during some baking experiments a few years ago I tried to adapt the cranberry sauce recipe from the back of the Ocean Spray bag, combining it with a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com (the inspiration to use orange juice). For a more tart sauce you can experiment with more orange juice and less sugar, but this recipe has served me well for several years as a nice compliment to the canned cranberry sauce tradition as well.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip

Ingredients:

2 packages (16 oz.) lite cream cheese
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 teaspoons maple syrup (this time I used a "pumpkin syrup" I found!)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1.) In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, brown sugar and canned pumpkin with an electric mixer until most of the larger chunks are broken up and no longer visible.

2.) Add the syrup and cinnamon and continue to beat until smooth.

3.) Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, though overnight works well too. Since this is a sweeter dip, serve with fruit, graham crackers, ginger thins, vanilla wafers (basically any kind of mild cookie) rather than chips. Though you could try it with chips. I've never done that before.

Again, I don't remember where this recipe originated from now, though I do remember experimenting with proportions and ingredients last year when I first created it for my scrapbooking party. It makes a nice appetizer for guests who can't wait for the official dinner to be ready, or a lighter dessert for people who choose fruit over pie. Due to the dairy in the cream cheese, I can't eat very much of this dip, but I did taste test in small amounts and absolutely love how the fall flavors shine through. You only get to use pumpkin for so long during the year--I take advantage of every opportunity!

So that was the basic Thanksgiving menu on my end (I still don't know how to cook a turkey and have a personal vendetta against mashed potatoes ever since I learned they are secretly made with milk or cream). But in another year (or maybe for Christmas dinner?) I might add a few new experiments to the list. One day I do plan to try recreating my mom's recipe-less cornbread stuffing, which I never wanted to eat as a kid (due to chunks of celery and onion) but I just can't get enough of now! Overall, my best advice for holiday dinners is just make what you like, try balancing tradition with something new, and (most importantly) don't stress over the food--take the time to enjoy just being with the people that mean the most to you.

Happy Holidays! Christmas cookies and chocolate will be up next!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Bites

Need a tasty cookie in a hurry? Want something both different and familiar? Love the whole, "You got chocolate in my peanut butter" flavor combination? Look no further than these quick and easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Bites! Adapted from my traditional Peanut Butter Thumbprints recipe, this one's even easier. I just put it together last night in a (successful) experiment to be brought to my coworkers this morning. The peanut butter I used is Sunland brand, bought at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and has the chocolate already inside it! (Sunland also makes a variety of other flavored peanut butters that I love, including Banana. Check out their website home page and you'll be greeted by an entertaining Valencia peanut song as well). Or you could always try with Nutella. But to keep the flavors as simple and clean as possible, I stuck with tradition. ("You got peanut butter in my chocolate!')

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate peanut butter spread
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg


Directions:


1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter sugar and egg, stirring with a fork until all ingredients are well incorporated.

2.) Use your fingers to keep the dough together and form small 1-inch balls by rolling the dough in the palms of your hands. Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment (NOT wax) paper, and flatten slightly to form small discs (or what I like to call "buttons").

3.) Bake for approximately 8 minutes until the edges of the cookies just begin to harden. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

That's it! You're done! Wasn't that easy? Next time I might try pressing some kind of white chocolate or other candy in the center to make a "thumbprint." Or see how the recipe turns out with that banana peanut butter....

Mini Eggnog Cupcakes!

I have been away from blogging for far too long. The month of November passed with several Thanksgiving projects that I will have to go back and upload including a Bourbon Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip, Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce, and Sweet Potato Pie. But unfortunately coming down with Bronchitis for four weeks knocked me out of commission and away from my keyboard during that time as well. Thankfully, winter colds are all gone now and I can talk about my most recent baking success: Mini Eggnog Cupcakes! I had planned well before the fall to experiment with eggnog baked goods in the winter, and my December office holiday party--complete with a staff potluck dessert arrangement--was the perfect opportunity to get cooking!

I personally love the flavor of eggnog, though the dairy in it keeps me from having it that often (that's why I was so happy to discover Silk Nog soy eggnog!). Since I'd mostly been making cookies for my coworkers lately, I wanted to try some sort of bread or cake with the eggnog flavor instead, and thus searched online for eggnog cupcake recipes until I came across one by Minneapolis couple Matt and Kat on their blog, A Good Appetite. It had all the important things I felt an eggnog cupcake might need: eggnog. And rum. But the amount of butter (thus fat) and use of egg whites (my dad is allergic to them) led me to alter the recipe just enough to make it my own. Even with cutting the butter content in half, however, these cupcakes still tuned out so moist (perhaps because I added extra rum), with the eggnog flavor coming through especially well when paired with homemade eggnog frosting (this I also altered from the original recipe to add actual eggnog in with the powdered sugar). Best of all, the recipe turned out to be so easy to put together the day before the office party, making little mini cupcake bites that no one had to feel guilty about indulging in!

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon rum
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup eggnog or soy eggnog
3 whole eggs


Directions


1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a mini cupcake tin with paper liners. In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the rum, vanilla, and eggs one at a time. Beat after each addition.

2.) In a separate bowl, sift the baking powder, salt, and flour together and mix well. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating between adding the flour mixture and the eggnog until both are well incorporated into the batter.

3.) Fill the cupcake liners to just below the surface of the tin, smoothing the batter flat with a small spoon to spread it evenly. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the cupcakes start to brown just slightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

4.) Remove the cupcakes from the oven and carefully turn them sideways in the tin to prevent the bottoms from getting mushy. Finish cooling on a wire rack until the cupcakes reach room temperature, then feel free to frost and enjoy! (Frosting recipe below).

Eggnog Frosting


Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
1 Tablespoon rum
2 Tablespoons eggnog

Directions


1.) Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Add the salt and spices and continue to beat. Finally, add in the rum and eggnog and beat until the frosting is smooth. For a thinner icing, add more liquid. Adjust to your personal taste!

I refrigerated the cupcakes overnight, then let them sit out until they reached room temperature before serving them the next day. The hardest part about making these treats was keeping myself from eating too many of the little things as I "taste-tested" the batter, the warm cupcakes fresh from the oven, the cooled cupcakes at room temperature, the cupcakes with frosting, and the cupcakes after being refrigerated. Thank goodness they were small, and that I still had enough left for my coworkers. Have fun with this holiday recipe--both the making and the eating!

Tot Chefs!

In the public library where I work as a Youth Services Specialist, we host a quarterly baking program I dubbed "Bake with Me" where children as young as 2 and old as 6 can experience real food creation as they become tot chefs for the morning! It's a cooking class/story experience that encourages motor skills, counting skills, and creativity, while promoting special one-on-one time with parents and caregivers. For the fall season, however, our Halloween "trick" was that none of our "treats" required any baking at all! On Oct. 25, the kids and I created four special Halloween desserts that are cute, easy, and so much fun! If you need ideas for next Halloween, or for funny kids snacks any time of year, check out the simple recipes below:

Apple Fangs (inspired by the Disney Family Fun "Apple Bites" recipe)

Ingredients:

1/4 apple (cut in half twice)

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

2 almond slivers

Directions:

1.) Spoon peanut butter (or a peanut butter substitute if your child is allergic) onto the center of the apple slice.

2.) Press 2 almond slivers onto the peanut butter for fangs.

3.) Bite carefully, if you dare...and enjoy!

Mummy Wands (inspired by the Bright Ideas M&M'S blog "Mummies" recipe)

Ingredients:

1 large pretzel stick

1 Tablespoon vanilla frosting

2 mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1.) Use a spoon to drizzle or smear vanilla frosting onto your pretzel stick in strips like a mummy's wrapping.

2.) Dot the stick with 2 mini chocolate chips for eyes.

3). Time to eat it! Spookily delicious!

Banana Ghosts (Inspired by the Disney Family Fun "Banana Ghosts" recipe)

Ingredients:

½ banana (cut horizontally)

Drizzle of honey

¼ cup coconut flakes

2 mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1.) Cut your banana in half and drizzle with honey to coat.

2.) Roll the banana in coconut flakes until it looks white as a ghost.

3.) Add 2 chocolate chips for the eyes!

Spider Cookies (the most labor intensive, but the most adorable--inspired by many similar recipes, such as the Bright Ideas M&M'S blog "Spider Cupcakes" recipe).

Ingredients:

1 Oreo or other sandwich cookie

1 Tablespoon chocolate frosting

2 Tablespoons chocolate sprinkles

2 candy eyes

4 mini pretzel sticks

Directions:

1.) Dip cookie top in frosting, then sprinkles.

2.) Use dots of frosting to stick candy eyes to the cookie top.

3.) Snap pretzels in half to make 8 legs. Open the cookies and place 4 on each side, sticking them into the cream!

These directions were kept especially short and sweet so that the kids and parents could easily follow them in the limited time period of a single library program. The results were definitely a success!

Nom, nom, nom the mummy!

Spider cookies!

And some kids got a little experimental with their spiders....

Crispy Rice Treats!

 

I can't tell you how excited I was to discover Rice Krispies Gluten Free cereal! Not because I can't eat gluten (thank goodness for that--lactose intolerance is enough to deal with), but because it's actually made with brown rice! As a whole grain, brown rice makes for a healthier option than white rice, and I sure didn't expect to find it in a name-brand cereal at Wal-Mart Market. What does this mean? It means I can listen to the familiar "snap," "crackle," and "pop" of one of my favorite childhood cereals again, knowing it might actually have health benefits! It also means I can make Rice Krispies Treats for a Red Rock hiking excursion tomorrow!

Oh how I've missed Rice Krispies Treats! Ever since Kelloggs started making them with the processed high fructose corn syrup sweetener, I've stayed away. According to Kelloggs.com, however, they don't use HFCS anymore (yay!). But given the long list of ingredients and preservatives (take a look), it might just be better to make your own anyway. They only take about 10 minutes, come out warm and gooey, and--if you make them with gluten-free brown rice--can actually have some health benefits. A treat. With health benefits. Plus, oh my gosh, it's fun! Who doesn't love to get sticky?

To whip these out I just used the recipe on the back of the cereal box, but halved the ingredients since I only had half a bag of marshmallows left in the cupboard--about two heaping cups. (That's what happens when you don't replenish your supply after making marshmallow leaf wreaths to go on pumpkin pie...). The halved recipe makes about a dozen small treats (2-inch squares), or four really big treats. I've also made them before with different whole grain cereals such as Kashi GOLEAN and Erewhon brand, but it just tastes the most authentic when made with Kellogg's Rice Krispies (which I believe is trademarked, but I don't know how to type the little trademark circle symbol on this blog...).

Thus, without further ado...Crispy Rice Treats! (so I don't have to worry about that trademark symbol...).

Ingredients:

3 cups puffed brown rice cereal (like Rice Krispies Gluten Free)
2 heaping cups of large marshmallows
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons butter
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

1.) In a large pan or skillet (I used a wok!) melt the butter on low heat, then add the marshmallows and stir until all the marshmallows are melted (it will be gooey, and kind of lump together, so it helps to spray your wooden spoon or other utensil with nonstick cooking spray and stir constantly once the marshmallows start to lose their shape).

2.) Remove the marshmallows from the heat, add your cereal and continue to stir until the rice puffs are evenly coated. It should look something like this:

Gooey, beautiful mess.

3.) Spray a flat container (like a brownie pan) with nonstick cooking spray and press the gooey mixture into it until the treats are flat. I like to put a plastic baggie sprayed with nonstick cooking spray on my hand to press the mixture down and shape it into something resembling rectangular.

4.) Allow the treats to cool, then cut them into squares and share with your friends! The original recipe recommends serving them the day they're made to preserve freshness, but they should keep at least a day or two longer in a sealed container. After that, they'll start to get hard, so eat 'em up fast! (Which shouldn't be a problem).

Next experiment I might try more fun shapes (pumpkin or sushi anyone?) test out a peanut butter base instead of regular butter, or dip the finished products half in dark or white chocolate to see just how tasty these brown rice treats can get! The results of such experiments will most assuredly appear on this blog, even if I end up eating the evidence....

Easy Breezy Morning Cinnamon Rolls!

And now for a change of pace. Don't worry, pumpkin, I still love you. But I opted to not add pumpkin to this particular recipe experiment since, for me, cinnamon rolls are more of a Christmas morning treat. In fact, every Christmas morning for at least four years now, I've made cinnamon rolls for breakfast--a late breakfast after our family's opened all our presents because, well, even gooey, delicious cinnamon rolls take a backseat to presents.

The recipe I use for Christmas involves a biscuit dough instead of a yeast dough so you don't have to wait for the dough to rise. Simple, short, and sweet. But last week I happened to see a freshly made, already packaged pizza dough at Whole Foods that looked awfully tempting. I wondered, could I make cinnamon rolls with pizza dough? It has been done before. As soon as I found out that the pizza dough was actually whole wheat (the only kind of pizza crust I don't feel guilty about eating, and such a rarity to find!) I was sold.

Taking the filling recipe from my Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls (since I know from four years experience that those always turn out awesome), I created Easy Breezy Morning Cinnamon Rolls that might just become my new Christmas morning bun. And also possibly an item for the next bake sale. Since cinnamon rolls are so much fun to make (you get to roll them up!), I took pictures of the entire step-by-step process so next time you want to bake cinnamon rolls you can know exactly how to put them together too!

P.S. Your house will smell amazing.

Ingredients:

Flour (for dusting)
1 package whole wheat pizza dough (though any kind of pizza dough will work)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon melted butter
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread flour on a wooden cutting board or surface of your choice for rolling out your dough, creating a thin layer to keep the dough from sticking. Dust your rolling pin with a touch of flour as well. Then roll your pizza dough into the shape of a rectangle, slightly larger than 9x13 inches (see picture below). It should be about 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch thick.

2.) In a large bowl, combine the sugars, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until the mixture resembles wet sand. Spray your dough rectangle with just a touch of nonstick cooking spray, then sprinkle the sugar mixture on top evenly, patting it into the dough. Be sure to reserve a little bit of sugar mixture for the pan.

3.) Using your fingertips, roll your dough rectangle into a log shape slowly and carefully so that it stays together and doesn't stick to your floured surface. Crimp the edges together to seal the log and then flip it over so the seal is on the bottom.

4.) Cut with a serrated knife into 8-16 pieces depending on the size of your log and how thick you want your cinnamon rolls to be. I like to cut my logs in half and then cut each half in half until I get at least eight pieces, but this time I somehow ended up with 14.

5.) Spray a round 9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust the bottom with the remaining sugar mixture (you may need two pans if you end up with 14-16 rolls). Place up to 8 cinnamon rolls in each pan, flattening them just slightly. You can arrange them with one roll in the center and seven around the edges. Make sure they don't touch and have enough room to expand while baking. Then bake approximately 18 minutes, keeping an eye on them so they brown but don't burn. Cool at least 10 minutes before icing.

Icing Recipe!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons soy creamer (or milk product of your choice--milk, half and half, and buttermilk also work)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.) Carefully pour your powdered sugar in a bowl (powdered sugar always makes a mess when I use it). Add the soy creamer or milk product of your choice and the vanilla. Stir to combine then drizzle over cooled cinnamon rolls.

I've had problems making icing in the past since it used to end up tasting too much like powdered sugar for me. But using a thicker milk product (soy creamer or buttermilk instead of milk or soymilk) and adding vanilla really turns this icing into the perfect match for your cinnamon rolls.

With only one tablespoon of butter in the filling, soy in the icing, and whole wheat dough as the base of the rolls, you can actually count this breakfast treat as relatively healthy (as you nom on the gooey bottom of the roll and lick up all the frosting). So go on, have another one. Christmas is still two months away. You'll have plenty of time to make more for your family and friends then.

The gooey bottom of the roll.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Are you sensing a theme here? Ah, the image below that I saw on Pinterest (originally from MemeBase.com) sums it up nicely:

So after previously blogging about pumpkin pie and pumpkin cupcakes, why not blog another pumpkin experiment--this one you can drink. I also found this recipe on Pinterest, originally from the RedHead Recipes blog. Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. This one (unlike the cupcakes, sorry) has a few more health benefits, and some of my favorite staple ingredients including nonfat Greek yogurt and soy milk (though I actually used almond milk--my milk of choice). The resulting smoothie had a perfect creamy pumpkin pie taste, though seemed to be lacking a little sweetness. If I were to make it again, I would cut back on the ice that I think watered it down a little, and either use sweetened vanilla yogurt or add a little maple syrup. Yum! For now, though, here is the original recipe.

Ingredients:

1 small banana, frozen, peeled, and diced
1/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt (I like the FAGE brand)
3/4 cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk (might try it with the sweetened kind or light soy milk next time)
A few shakes of pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-5 ice cubes (might skip the ice cubes altogether and add an extra half of frozen banana)

Directions:

1.) Add all ingredients in the blender and blend for approximately 10-15 seconds until the banana chunks have broken down and the smoothie is smooth.

2.) Pour into a glass and sprinkle the top with a little more pumpkin pie spice and cloves.

That's it! Smoothies are pretty easy to throw together, though it takes a few experiments to get the flavors and textures just right. Be mindful of how powerful your blender is and how thick or thin you prefer your smoothies to be. This makes a great breakfast and a nice, healthy snack!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Bake sale recipe #3! More pumpkin....

This was a brand new one for me. I don't usually buy cake mixes in a box so I didn't know much about the FUN da-Middles product, which turned out to be the main ingredient in this recipe. But anything with "pumpkin" in the title always immediately intrigues me. When I was introduced to the website Tablespoon.com, the first recipe that caught my attention was one for Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes. Did that just say "pumpkin pie" and "cupcake" in the same sentence? Yes, please!

The neat thing about FUN da-Middles compared to other cupcake mixes is that they come with a packet of cream filling that you can bake right into the center of each cupcake. The neat thing about the Pumpkin Pie Cupcake recipe I followed for my final bake sale item was that you could make that filling taste like autumn with a little maple syrup in the center of the cream.

This recipe I pretty much followed exactly according to smwise--another blogger named Stephanie who originally posted the Pumpkin Pie Cupcake recipe. You can check out her awesome directions and photos here, but I'll still re-post the recipe below!

Ingredients:

1 box Fun da-Middles yellow cupcake mix with creamy vanilla filling
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
maple syrup

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with paper liners. Then beat together the cupcake mix, water, pumpkin, eggs and pumpkin pie spice. (It's recommended to use an electric mixer on a low speed for 30 seconds and then a medium speed for 2 minutes, but I just used a fork and my arm muscles to power through as I counted in my head).

2.) Fill each cup in the tin about 1/3 of the way up. Knead the filling packet 20 times to mix it up, cut the corner off, and then squeeze the filling into the center of each cup, dividing it equally until it's all gone. Add a couple drops of maple syrup to the center of each filling, then scoop the rest of the batter on top of the cups until all are filled to the top and the cream is completely covered.

3.) Stephanie (smwise) recommends topping the cupcakes with pecans (which I love), but I was in a hurry to get these done before the bake sale, so you can always skip that step, especially if you plan to frost the cupcakes after they've cooled. Bake approximately 24-29 minutes, then cool 20 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the tin. Frost or drizzle with more maple syrup if you desire.

Unfortunately I didn't get to taste test these because I can't eat the cream filling, and they disappeared before I had a chance to find out if anyone liked them. I'm assuming their disappearance is a good sign....

That's it for my bake sale recipes! (I figured there was no need to write about my bake sale caramel apples since I covered that recipe in a previous September blog post, here). Even more pumpkin goodness to come soon! Because I just can't get enough of the stuff....

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

Bake sale recipe #2! It's PUMPKIN TIME!!!

Every year I wait for late September/October to roll around. Yeah, the weather is getting cooler and Halloween can be fun, but what I'm really waiting for is super special treats that are only--say it with me--seasonal.

Pumpkin Spice frozen yogurt at Red Mango.

Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino at Starbucks (with soymilk, please)

Pumpkin breads, pumpkin cakes, and quite possibly best of all...Libby's canned pumpkin returns to grocery stores so that I can make Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie!

Of course, what would even the most traditional holiday recipe be without a little experimentation? I could just follow the recipe on the can every single time, but I've made variations of this recipe with pumpkin butter, with different spices, and even with sweet potato! But if you need a go-to Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie recipe, this one really can't be beat!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white sugar
1 and 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (a substitution that Libby's recommends instead of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves--I prefer the pumpkin pie spice since it has a little bit of nutmeg in the mix, which goes exceptionally well with pumpkin)
2 eggs
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin (make sure it is 100% pumpkin and nothing else!)
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk (not condensed milk, which I tend to keep calling it accidentally. Also, I prefer to use Nestle brand fat-free if possible, or at least 2%).
2 empty 9-inch pie shells (I like using whole wheat crusts from Whole Foods, but any 9-inch pie shell will do. You can also make your own! But I don't have a recipe for that yet...). 

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine the sugar and spice in a small bowl and mix well.

2.) In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then stir in the pumpkin and the sugar mixture. Gradually stir in the milk.

3.) Pour into the pie shells, filling them as much as possible (if you're using a deep-dish pie crust that Libby's recommends, you might only get one pie out of this). Line the edges of the pies with crumpled foil to protect the outer rim of the crust from burning (a pie crust shield will also work for this if you spray it with nonstick cooking spray first so it won't stay stuck to your pie after baking).

4.) Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 40-50 minutes (I find that 10 minutes, then 40 minutes works well for cooking without burning, but oven temperatures do vary). Cool pies about two hours before serving, or refrigerate overnight. (To me, they taste best cold, straight from the fridge, with a dollop of soy whipped cream).

My twist this year for the bake sale was a fun idea to decorate the pie that wouldn't melt in the fridge the way whipped cream eventually does. I wanted to use one of the leaf-shaped cookie cutters I got from Williams-Sonoma as well, but didn't have any extra pie crust to use them to decorate the edges (also, I'd tried this before at Thanksgiving one year--the pie dough leaves ended up falling into the filling or burning...). If only there was something I could cut into the shape of a leaf that wouldn't perish and could still look pretty. I searched my cabinets, trying to come up with something. Then I spotted a product I'd bought recently for future s'mores experiments: Kraft Jet-Puffed StackerMallows. That's right, flat marshmallows!

The results:

Ah, I love this season.

Peanut Butter Thumbprints

 
Bake Sale recipe #1! I call these cookies "thumbprints" because traditional recipes involve pressing your thumb into the center of each ball of dough in order to make a spot for your filling (chocolate, jam, etc). In my simple recipe, however, you need only press your chocolate into the center of each baked cookie while they're still warm. Saves you time. Saves your thumbs. All you need to remember is the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly!), with a pile of handy HERSHEY'S KISSES.

The first three steps in this recipe can also be used for plain peanut butter cookies without the chocolate KISSES. I first learned it from my aunt/Godmother when she found out I liked to bake. It's a quick peanut butter cookie recipe that only requires three ingredients, and not even any flour! So when I'm not in the mood for chocolate, I just take a fork sprayed with a touch of nonstick cooking spray and make a criss-cross pattern on the top of each ball of dough to flatten it. The finished cookies instead will look like the ones below.

For Peanut Butter Thumbprint cookies, however, you can get a great presentation without that much extra work. So for a bake sale that requires a lot of product to sell, I knew this would be the perfect recipe to utilize.

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (I use Skippy Natural (Creamy) as it doesn't have hydrogenated oils but is still nice and smooth).
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
12-18 chocolate KISSES (for the bake sale I went with milk chocolate, but previous batches I've made using dark chocolate--see the picture above "About Me and This Blog"--since it's healthier and also better on my stomach).

Yes, that's really all you need!

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, sugar, and egg. Stir well until the egg is no longer visible.

2.) Form the dough into 1-inch balls (you can vary the size, going a little bit smaller if you want the cookies to match the size of the KISSES or larger if you prefer big cookies). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten just slightly with your hand.

3.) Bake approximately 10 minutes (keep an eye on them so they don't over bake).

4.) Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate KISS into the center of each cookie. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 more minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and allow the chocolate to harden again. You want the bottom of the KISS to melt into the cookie just a bit while the tip keeps its pointy shape. Or, if you prefer traditional "thumbprint" cookies, you can press the kisses flat and have a little pool of chocolate in the center of each cookie instead.

And that's all there is to it! Simple, quick, pretty, and delicious! My older brother is a big fan of this cookie because he loves peanut butter, and apparently it was a hit at the bake sale too--my boxes of thumbprints disappeared before the end of the first sale day, so I made more to bring for day two.

Bake Sale!

I feel like it's been far too long since I've blogged. Fortunately, this isn't because I haven't been baking. Quite the contrary--I've been too busy baking! As recently as Friday and Saturday I faced one of my biggest experiments yet that I was all too eager to take on: a bake sale! Not only was this my first bake sale ever (so excited, so excited!), but the money raised is being donated to the library district where I work through the Henderson Libraries Foundation! Books and baking? Definitely a fundraiser I can get behind!

The biggest challenge was deciding just what I was going to bring to the table, and when I'd have the time to bake it all. My final menu ended up being: 15 Caramel Apples, 48 Peanut Butter Thumbprint cookies, 12 Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes, and 3 good old fashioned Pumpkin Pies! These sounded like perfect fall treats, were a great mix of successfully tested recipes and recipes I'd been wanting to try, and were easy enough to make in the short period of time I had free after work Thursday evening (four hours of baking from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.) and on Saturday morning (another hour and a half before work).

I wasn't the only one baking, of course. Our talented library staff pulled out all the stops with a variety of goods that included cupcakes, muffins, cookies, brownies, cereal bars, lemon bars, sheet cakes, cake pops, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, breads, Buckeyes and more! Tomorrow I'll learn the grand total amount of just how much we raised together. I couldn't be more proud. And more inspired to bake than ever.

I don't know if I'll ever own my own bake shop (maaaybe one day...) but I can go all out with any bake sale I encounter, having a blast baking up big batches of treats for the members of my community and wrapping them in eye-catching adornment from craft shops like Michael's for the perfect presentation. I live for this kind of thing.

My experiences with each bake sale recipe, and my personal twists on those recipes, coming soon!