Back to School, Back to Blogging!

Yes, it's been a while.  A long, long while.  But lots of changes have been occurring, and I'm ready to relaunch this blog!  I have missed it.  I haven't stopped baking and I haven't stopped taking pictures of my food...but I have not been blogging about ANY of it, and if you know me at all, you know I use recipes more as "guidelines" and if I don't write it down right after I change it, I probably won't remember what I changed!  So I am going to do my best to get this back up and running and bring you something yummy to try each week!  Feel free to leave comments, tips, suggestions...or just drop in to say hello!

So our biggest change is that we have moved - from Northern NY (where there are more cows than people) to a city in Wisconsin!  We have stores and restaurants and parks - all within walking distance of our new house!  Our older two kids have started their new school (also within walking distance) and are really enjoying their second grade classes.  For their first day of school, I took a page from my friend Chris's book and made them a Giant Cookie to celebrate!

I got the original recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and of course tweeked to for what I had on hand.

GIANT COOKIE RECIPE 

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup *coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup peanut butter chips (you can use chocolate chips or whatever you want here; I happened to have pb chips so that's what we used!)
Buttercream Frosting

*You can use butter (melted & cooled) instead - I have started substituting coconut oil for butter and oil in recipes with great results!

Cream together sugars and coconut oil.  Add in egg, soda, salt and vanilla; mix well.  Stir in flour until fully combined; fold in chips.

Pat into a circle shape (about 1/2" thick) onto a parchment paper lined pan, or a baking stone.  It will spread while baking, so make sure there is room so it doesn't outgrow the pan!

Bake at 350 for 13-16 minutes until lightly golden.  Let cool COMPLETELY on pan.  Decorate with Buttercream frosting if desired.

Here is the recipe for the frosting I made:
1 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese
2 sticks butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb confectioners sugar, more or less for desired thickness
1 Tbs milk or cream, more or less for desired thickness

Cream together cream cheese and butter until fully combined and fluffy.  Add in vanilla and add confectioners sugar a cup at a time.  Add 1 Tbs of cream.  Beat on high until nice and fluffy (you can adjust the amounts of sugar and cream to get your desired taste and texture).

To decorate, put frosting in gallon size baggie, squeeze into corner, snip off corner and pipe frosting onto cookie.  You can color the frosting with food coloring (paste is recommended).

Kids love the huge cookie (my kids are already asking for one instead of a birthday cake!)...keep it in mind for your next special or fun occasion!

Peanut Butter Pie with a twist

Check this decadence out:

That, my friends, is a two layer peanut butter pie with a cheesecake/pudding layer on the bottom.  Light, yet rich.  Addicting, definitely!  And did I mention easy to make?

Recipe:

1 pre-made chocolate crust (or you can make your own with crushed Oreos and butter)
1 small package cheesecake-flavored pudding mix
2 cups cold milk, divided
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 small package vanilla pudding mix (I used sugar free)
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. Cool Whip, thawed (save the rest of the container for garnishing)


In medium bowl, pour 1 c. milk, add cheesecake pudding and whisk for 2 minutes - mixture will be very thick.  Pour into prepared crust.  In bowl of mixer, cream the cream cheese, slowly adding in milk until fully combined.  Add pudding mix and peanut butter, beat until fully combined.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Pour into crust on top of pudding layer.  Chill at least 2 hours.  Cut into 8 wedges and serve with additional Cool Whip.

You're welcome.

 

Countdown to Valentines Day ~ Peanut Butter Blossoms...sort of

Day 4 of Sweets for my Sweet ♥

OK.  Today was not a gourmet day for me.  It wasn't even a homemade day for me.  Tomorrow won't be either.  But that doesn't mean I can't come up with tasty treats that are perfect for sharing with your loves.  

Today, I'm doing a "cheater" version of peanut butter blossoms (you know, the cookies that usually have a chocolate kiss stuck on top?).  While I do have a favorite peanut butter cookie recipe or two -- have you all tried the 3 ingredient recipe? -- today I went with "premade."  As in, I had refrigerated cookie dough, already portioned for me, that I used.  And it was a GOOD kind:

And I added a little of this (I LOVE this stuff SO MUCH!!):

And to top it off (literally), some of these:

So easy, and so delicious!  Simply take your dough, roll it into a ball, coat with raw sugar, place on cookie sheet and bake 10-13 minutes at 350 (depending on the size of your cookies).  Do not flatten the cookies before baking!  When you remove from the oven, immediately press one unwrapped Dove heart shaped chocolate in the center of each cookie.  Let sit a couple minutes before removing to a wire wrack to cool completely.