2012 Favorites

I know i'm a little late on the whole "2012 Favorites" thing, but hey, better late than never. It's always hard for me when it comes to choosing favorites when I love so many different things. Although this time I found myself with several "definite" items that I make all the time, making it a little easier. Half sweet, half savory, all really good! Hope you enjoy!

Best Chicken Pot Pie -I'm a fan of chicken pot pie. And to me, it doesn't get any better than this.

 Cheese Ball -perfect party appetizer!

Crepes -I didn't know just how easy crepes were to make. So glad I gave them a try! We love making different sweet and savory ones for breakfast..or dinner!

 Carmelitas -Chocolate and carmel..two of my favorite combinations.

Birthday Cake -It's a little more work than one flavor, but I really like the different layers going on in here. Chocolate cake + yellow cake sandwiched between buttercream and frosted with chocolate and not to mention covered in sprinkles. You'll have a completely messy kitchen when you're done but it'll be worth it.

 Chicken Tortilla Soup -I could eat the whole pot.

 Chicken Gyros with Tzatki Sauce -Simple and delicious.

 Creamy Garlic Pasta -Who knew a few simple ingredients could taste so good?

                                    

Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake -It gives The Cheesecake Factory a run for it's money. And for how much they charge, do yourself a favor and make this!

Giant Smores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies -I love smores. Did you know that? Chocolate chip cookies also happen to be one of my favorite things in the world.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies -These things are big! And indulgent. Please have milk on hand.

Chocolate Toffee Pretzel Bark -This stuff is just down right addicting. Get your fat pants out.

Oreo Truffle Brownies

Holy cow it's been a long time since I posted something. Having a baby and with all the holidays, it's been busy around here to say the least. This month alone is packed with family and work events and baby showers. But I love it. It's good to be busy, right? Last month a friend moved away, and as a 'last' treat this is what I made. Knowing they're a fan of brownies and oreo truffles, this was sure to please. And please they did! Me, atleast. These make a huge pan and that means I ate way too many!
Oreo Truffle Brownies
adapted from Chef in Training

Ingredients:

1Box of brownies and ingredients called for on box (or make your own)

1 pkg. Double Stuffed Oreos

4 oz. Cream cheese softened, add more as needed

10 oz. Dipping Chocolate

Directions:
Bake brownies as directed on box using a 9x13 in. pan. Allow to cool completely.

Crush oreos until finely ground. Mash cream cheese, starting with 4 oz. and adding more as needed with oreos until well combined. Hands work best for that part. Place the oreo truffle layer on top of the brownies.

Melt dipping chocolate then spread over the truffle layer. Cover and refrigerate until set.

Pumpkin Waffles (french toast)

It's crazy to me that it's the middle of October and we're planning a trip to the beach this week. It's not supposed to be in the 80's! It's supposed to be cool, and overcast out. And as much as I love the sun, i'm ready to enjoy the cool fall weather.

The other day Matt mentioned how french toast sounded good. I had been wanting to make pumpkin waffles and it just so happened that I had some left over pumpkin in the fridge from these pumpkin bars that I can't get enough of. So I combined the best of both worlds and had some pumpkin waffle french toast. Leave them as waffles, or make french toast..it doesn't matter, we all liked them a lot both ways, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to toss some chocolate chips in the batter :) 

Pumpkin Waffles 

The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 TBLS baking powder
1 TBLS cinnamon
1 TBLS sugar
½ t. nutmeg
¼ t. salt
4 eggs, seperated
1 ½ cup milk
1 cup pure canned pumpkin
¾ cup butter, melted
1 TBLS vanilla

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Beat egg whites until they form peaks. Set aside.
In a separate bowl add the egg yolks, milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Then add the dry mixture slowly until incorporated using a mixer.

Fold beaten egg whites gently into the pumpkin batter. Spray waffle iron with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron and cook according to waffle iron instructions. Yield: 8 waffles

*Stop there or continue to make french toast from the waffles. I'm not posting french toast steps but I did add a little pumpkin pie spice to the egg/milk/cinnamon mixture.

Fluffernutter Chocolate Gobs

With my other 2 pregnancies I never really got to the point where I could no longer stand pregnancy and just wanted to be done. I mean, as much as I haaate being pregnant, i've been lucky to have felt great for the most part, almost like I wasn't pregnant at all. This time around...is a different story. I'm very ready to be done, and I still have 7 weeks left. That doesn't seem very long in terms of having another person living with us, but knowing that i'll continue to grow and be uncomfortable for that long seems like an eternity! As busy as I am with day to day stuff, i've also got some fun stuff planned for this fall to look forward to, and hopefully distract me from how many weeks I have left until my body is mine again. Part of that list includes some fall baking, which i'm so excited to start doing. I have a list of things I want to make, now I just need to find the right occasions to get it done! One of the last treats of summer i've made were these cookies that I took for a girls night. They were calling my name as soon as I saw them. PB cookie, topped with marshmallow and chocolate...yum. The glaze recipe really should be doubled. I ended up melting chocolate chips and spreading on top, but by the next morning the melted chocolate looked a little funky (still tasted fine though!) So just double up on that glaze and you should be good. Oh..and these are way better warmed up!

Fluffernutter Chocolate Gobs

Baker girl

Cookies:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Mini marshmallows

Chocolate Glaze:
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk, depending on how thick you want it

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla.

Gradually add in flour mixture on low speed. Chill dough for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

Place by rounded spoonfuls on a lightly greased cooking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes, until edges are very lightly browned. Remove from oven and flatten slightly, then place 3 or 4 mini marshmallows on top of each cookie then return to oven for 2-3 minutes, until the marshmallows are melted. Let cool completely.

When cooled completely, make the glaze by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the cocoa powder and mix until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Slowly stir in the powdered sugar, gradually adding the milk as needed to get it the desired consistency (you want it thin enough to drizzle, but thick enough that it won't run all over- a little thicker than molasses). Spoon a small amount over the top of each cookie. Glaze with set slightly upon cooling.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

It's not often Matt goes to the grocery store (atleast alone). Since i'm home all day I end up going out to stores just about everyday, so there's usually no need for him to go. Except for on occassion we need something *cough*ice cream*cough* or to return a redbox dvd. And when he goes to the grocery store you can bet he usually always comes back with steak among some other random things. His last trip he came back with a bag of bananas. Not just a little clear plastic bag with a few bananas in it..but a paper sack full of ripe bananas. When I asked what all the bananas were about he replied, "the guy at the store said I could fill the bag full for $1.50." Ook..so we've got about 15 yellow-soon-to-be-brown bananas and let me remind you, he's still on his diet so he won't be eating any of them. And the kids don't really eat bananas, not usually alteast. So rather than making 4 or 5 loaves of banana bread, i've been trying to find other uses for them; mainly healthier snacks I could give the kids. I was so happy to find this recipe! It has such basic, simple ingredients that I don't mind feeding my kids. They were a little like banana bread but they weren't very sweet (although you could easily make them sweeter if you prefer, but we were fine with them the way they were). And you can easily adapt this a number of ways, one batch I added cinnamon, another batch I added peanut butter.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Keeping Up with the Joneses

Ingredients:

2 /1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 c. of plain low fat greek yogurt (I used unsweetend applesauce)

2 eggs

3/4 cup sweetener of choice, or 2 tbs stevia sweetener (I used stevia)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda
2 bananas (I only used one but realized it needed at least one more
optional: cinnamon, peanut butter, etc.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 deg F.

Spray 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.

Place all ingredients (wet first) into a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into muffin tins and bake about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Chocolate Toffee Pretzel Bark

As if you all need another addicting recipe, right? I mean, who can resist the sweet/salty combo? And to make matters worse, there's a good chance you already have all (or most) ingredients on hand! Not to mention it takes no time at all to whip up. I made 2 batches at once not realizing how much I would end up with! But I had no problem getting rid of it. This would make a nice addition to your Christmas plates this year as well, but let's not think about that just yet!
Chocolate Toffee Pretzel Bark
mama say what?!

Ingredients:
½ bag of mini pretzel twists
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips
Sea salt or table salt

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Line a large jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and lay a single layer of pretzels down.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let it boil gently just until it starts to stick to the bottom and it forms a nice smooth caramel. You’ll want to let it bubble a little and get really thick.
Remove from heat and pour evenly over the top of the pretzels. Put in the oven at 350 degrees for five minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Pop back in the oven for a minute then spread chocolate evenly.
Spread the chocolate chips around with a spatula until mostly melted and sprinkle generously with salt.
Let cool on the counter top for a few minutes and then pop in the freezer for about an hour. When it comes out of the freezer, break it up into uneven chunks with your hands and serve.
*I stored it in the freezer because it softens up a little when left out.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

So, I told ya i'd be posting a "fall cookie" next. Ok so technically it doesn't really have anything to do with fall. BUT it would definitely go nicely with a nice hot drink like some hot chocolate. Yes, skip the milk and go for the cocoa. Maybe it's a winter cookie? In any case, it's a cookie and I never need a reason to eat cookies! I have to admit I couldn't help but think it wasn't much different than a snickerdoodle, and although they're not something i'd make often, they were fun to try and it's always fun to try something different. I had a friend tell me she tried them and asked what they were because she liked them. I admittedly replied that it was just store bought sugar cookie dough with cinnamon. Sounds pretty simple, right? The original recipe used a pack of mix but I thought i'd take an even bigger short cut by using refrigerated dough. Not sure if that was a wise choice or not, because it was really soft and a little difficult to roll up, but I got it done! I'm sure it didn't help that my house was so hot. But i'll post the recipe as is and if you want to use refrigerated dough, you know there's that option as well!

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

The Country Cook via. In Katrina's Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 pouch (17.5 oz.) sugar cookie mix (or 1 roll refrigerated dough such as Pillsbury)

½ cup butter or margarine, softened to room temp. (omit if using refrigerated dough)
¼ cup all-purpose flour (omit if using refrigerated dough)
1 egg (omit if using refrigerated dough)
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. milk

Directions: In medium bowl stir cookie mix, softened butter, flour, and egg until dough forms.
On a floured surface, roll dough to about ¼-inch thickness and brush with melted butter.
In a small bowl mix together sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over dough.
Begin to roll up dough, starting at the long side. Pinch the dough back together if it tears.
Cut dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap and pop dough in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes until firm.
Heat oven to 375F degrees.  Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take dough out of freezer and begin cutting into ¾-inch slices. Place slices about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown.
Cool for about 2 minutes, remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely.
In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.