Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

This recipe is 1) easy and 2) delicious...which means I made it more than once this December ;)

While you can absolutely make this from scratch, my new promotion to "mom of 4" has left me in an odd state of using pre-made foods occasionally-gasp!  

For the easy cheater way...

You will need...

*Mini muffin pan

*Peanut butter cookie mix (and any ingredients to make the mix...i.e. eggs, oil, etc)

*Mini Reese's peanut butter cups, wrappers removed.

What to do...

*Grease or spray muffin pan

*Mix peanut butter cookie dough according to package instructions.

*Roll into small balls and place inside mini muffin pan holes.  Make sure the balls are only about 2/3 of the muffin hole, or they will totally overflow!

*Bake cookies according to directions.

*Remove from the oven and immediately press peanut butter cups into the top of the cookies.  

*Allow to cool before removing as they can easily fall apart if they are still hot. 

Eat one.  Or two.  Or five.  I won't tell.  

Peanut Butter Cup S'mores in the Oven

Last week was my week to make dinner/dessert for our church gathering (we always eat together).  For dessert, I really wanted to do s'mores.  The problem with this idea is that when you have to make dessert for a big group of people, and you do not have a fire pit (or even a BBQ at the moment), it makes it a little more difficult to accomplish.  When it's just our family, we will roast marshmallows over candles, but this wasn't feasible or safe with all the kiddos running around.

And so, we did them in the oven.  Not only that, but I had this (genius) idea to replace some of the chocolate squares with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Mmmm....

1.  Turn your oven on to broil.  

2.  On a baking sheet, layer your graham cracker, chocolate (or peanut butter cup), and marshmallow.

3.  Do not put the top cracker on!

4.  Place baking sheet in the oven. 

5.  Keep a close eye on your marshmallows.  Pull them out of the oven when they are browned to your liking and the chocolate has started to melt.

6.  Place the top graham cracker on your s'mores.

7.  Enjoy!

Lofthouse Cookies, the Park, and Morning Sickness

The girls went over for a playdate this morning for a couple hours, so the little man and I ran to the Dollar Store to get some items for his birthday party (he's turning 2 this month)!  We ran home, washed some dishes, and then began to bake up a batch of my Lofthouse knock-off cookies.  Everyone at Ben's work loves these!

After I picked up the girls, I surprised them with a picnic lunch at the park.  It was a nice day, but it's starting to get hotter and their little cheeks were all red by the time we left!  

They are all sleeping now, the cookies are frosted and sitting, and I'm left with a messy kitchen that I don't really want to clean.  Anybody want to come take care of it for me?

On another note, how absolutely lame is it that I have had almost no morning sickness with this pregnancy, yet the day I hit 14 weeks I puke for the first time?  I hope it's not a sign of things to come...because that would be dumb.  

Frozen Yogurt Bites

As I was cleaning up my "drafts" section in my blog, I came across this recipe experiment from Pinterest that I had tried over a year ago but never published.  This is why I'm working to be more organized!  Here it is:

I stumbled across a yummy and easy idea on Pinterest a while back that I wanted to try.  Frozen yogurt bites for my kiddos (oh, okay, and me too!).   All you need is yogurt!  You can do this with any kind of flavored yogurt.  I only had plain on hand, so I made my own flavor.  I mixed plain yogurt with a bit of strawberry preserves (the strawberry chunks got in the way, but again, it's just what I had on hand...avoid preserves if possible), and a touch of agave nectar to sweeten it.

Scoop your yogurt into ziploc bag.  

Cut a small corner off of your ziploc bag and begin to squeeze the yogurt into small dots on a plate (I used an 8x8 ceramic dish).  It needs to be able to fit in your freezer.  

Freeze the dots until they are solid, remove them from the plate, and place them in a bag or container to be stored in the fridge until eaten.  Eat them frozen!  My girls thought this was the coolest treat!  It does take work, but it was special and fun, so it was worth it ;)

Have you tried anything new from Pinterest recently?  How'd it turn out?  

P.S....You can follow me on Pinterest by clicking on the "Follow Me on Pinterest" button on the right side of my blog!

Dirt Cups Recipe (Great for Earth Day)

I have loved these dirt cups since I was a little kid.  My mom used to make them and I always thought they were just the coolest thing!  So, today, our Earth day recipe was Dirt Cups! Yum!  The pudding serves as the "mud", the Oreo's as the dirt, and the gummy worms as, well, the worms!

We made a double batch because we brought the to Ben's work, but for a regular sized batch you will need:

2 cups milk

1 small box instant chocolate pudding

1 package Oreos

1 small tub Cool Whip

Gummy Worms

Clear cups (preferably)

Place 1/2 a package of Oreos in a Ziploc baggie.  If your kids are helping you, you may want to put a few Oreos each in several bags so they can all participate!  Crush them up with your hands or with a rolling pin.  We leave the cream filling in, but you can scrape it out if you don't want the white in there. We crush ours until they are in small pieces or crumbs.  Small chunks of the cookies are okay.

  

In a bowl, whisk together the pudding, milk, and about 2/3 - 1 whole tub of Cool Whip.  Allow it to set for about 2 minutes to thicken a bit.  Stir again.

Now, in your clear cups, have your little helpers aid you in layering pudding and Oreos until you run out.  We typically are able to make 2 layers of each.  

Finally, top it all off with some gummy worms!  We have also done gummy bugs (I can usually find them at WalMart), which the kids enjoy, too.  Refrigerate until you're ready to eat them!

Note: The Oreos will get soft if these sit for a long time.  We don't mind next-day dirt cups, but if you want your Oreo's to be crunchy, you'll want to wait to make these until just before you want to eat them.

Happy Earth Day!

Lemon Blueberry Bread

Don't you love Pinterest?  It's like the jackpot for all things great.  I found this delicious recipe for Lemon Blueberry Bread on there last week, and had to try it!  

It truly is not a bread, though.  Just a warning.  It is more like a cake.  It is so moist and delicious.  And the lemon syrup and glaze are amazing.  I found and adapted the original recipe via Pinterest HERE.  

Ingredients:

For the bread:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 TBS flour (keep separate)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup vanilla yogurt

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

For the lemon syrup:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

For the lemon glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

3 TBS lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour a 9x5" loaf pan.

Stir together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl.

In a larger bowl, stir together yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest vanilla, and oil.  

Add dry ingredients into the wet, stirring until fully mixed.  Fold in blueberries (still frozen is fine).

Pour into loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until set.

Once slightly cooled, remove bread from pan and place on a cooling rack.

While you're waiting to dig in to your delicious bread, add lemon juice and sugar for the lemon syrup in a small pan.  Heat until well combined.  Slowly pour over warm bread to coat the top.

Mix together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the lemon glaze in a small bowl.  Pour evenly over the top of your bread.

Allow bread to cool completely before serving!  

Our "bread" was gone in two days!  It was tasty, but definitely more like a cake!

DIY Lofthouse Cookies

I mentioned a week or two ago that I made Lofthouse style cookies for Ben to take to work.  I didn't intend on posting it here, so I didn't take any pictures.  Everyone at the office was requesting more, so I whipped up a batch today and even remembered to take a few pics!

I originally found the recipe while browsing Pinterest...imagine that ;)  The original recipe is HERE if you want to read any comments about the cookies!

Lofthouse Style Frosted Sugar Cookies

Cookie Ingredients:

6 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 c. soft butter

2 c. sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla 

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 c. sour cream

Frosting Ingredients:

1 c. soft butter

1 tsp vanilla

4 c. powdered sugar

6 Tbs heavy cream

food coloring

sprinkles

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar at medium until light and fluffy (I used the paddle attachment).  Add the eggs, one at a time until thoroughly mixed. Add the vanilla and sour cream and beat on low until combined well.

Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined.  

The dough will be extremely sticky!  Flour your hands and divide the dough into 3 parts.  Wrap each in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least two hours until firm (I place mine in the freezer for about an hour).

Once the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 425.  If you are not using non-stick pans, you may want to use parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Pull the dough out of the fridge and unfold from the wrap.  Dust flour over all sides of the dough and roll out to about 1/4" thick.  Cut into circles (mine were about 2 1/2 inches in diameter).  Place on cookie sheet and bake for 7 minutes (mine actually did best at about 8 minutes).  The bottoms should be light in color:

Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to fully cool before frosting them.  Pull out more dough from the fridge, and repeat until they are all cooked and cooled.  

While the cookies are cooling, begin the frosting.  In your mixer, cream together the butter and vanilla.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time.  Once it is smooth and creamy, add the heavy cream in 1 TBS at a time until the frosting reaches a desired consistency.  Split into smaller bowls to add food coloring (if using different colors), or add drops into the bowl directly if they will all be the same color.  

Frost completely cool cookies and then add sprinkles.  Allow the frosting to completely set before serving.  Store in an airtight container.  

Warning: This will make a TON of cookies.  I got 44 out of this batch!  

There ya have it!  Homemade deliciousness!  Lofthouse style cookies at home...what could be better?

Delicious "Lactation Cookies"

For those of you who love a good cookie, this is a great recipe.  If you are nursing, you will doubly like this recipe as it should help boost your milk supply (hence the name, "lactation cookies").   The recipe can be found HERE.  I have read that the Brewer's Yeast is one of the most important ingredients in this recipe as far as a boost in milk is concerned.  However, I bought Nutritional Yeast out of the bulk bins at Winco since I couldn't find Brewer's Yeast (and I figured they were fairly similar as far as nutrition goes) .  Nutritional Yeast is different than regular yeast, and is much more expensive, so if you can find it in a bulk bin you can just buy what you need (2-4 TBS).

Let me tell you, these taste soooo good.  My entire family likes them!  It would be no problem at all for me to add this in to my daily diet ;) 

The recipe says to bake each batch for 12 minutes, but if you like softer cookies, I found 10 minutes to be perfect.

Enjoy!