Candy Bar Cupcakes

Candy Bar Cupcakes

This is the recipe I made for Valentine's Day...and lovvvved it! I found this recipe in my Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine. I will be making them again! They are a chocolate cupcake, with a cream cheese/Snicker filling, with a caramel frosting. Mmmm..

Make sure to look at the last photo. It shows what the cupcakes look like when you bite into them. I love how you can see the cream cheese center and the candy pieces inside the chocolate cupcake!

Ingredients:

CUPCAKES:

1 c sugar

1 c buttermilk

1/4 c oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

1/3 c baking cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

FILLING:

6 oz fat free cream cheese

2 T powdered sugar

1 egg

2 Snickers candy bars (2.07 oz each), chopped finely

FROSTING:

1/3 c butter, cubed

1/3 c packed brown sugar

3 T fat free milk

1 1/2 c powdered sugar

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, buttermilk, oil and vanilla until blended. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into sugar mixture until blended.

2. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg; mix well. Stir in the candy bars.

3. Fill paper-lined muffin cups half full with batter. Drop filling by tablespoonfuls into the center of each cupcake. Bake at 350 20-25 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.

4. In a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar. Bring to a boil; cook for 2 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat; stir in the milk, then powdered sugar. Cool until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Frost cupcakes... I frosted the cupcakes by using the ' dip method. ' Just tipped the cupcakes upside down by holding them by the base and dipped the tops in the pan of frosting. Then just used a butter knife to smooth the frosting out and make them look nice. Then top with sprinkles!

**These are best when eaten soon after frosted!! After a day or two the frosting gets hard. Still good, but best the day of!

The Ultimate Cookie Recipe

MMMmmm...Chocolate Chip Cookies = my favorite thing ever! I sought out a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, and came up with (what I think is) the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe! As far as cookies go, I consider myself an expert...second only to my father:). There are many different preferences when it comes to cookies. Some like crispy, some like chewy, some like cakey. Personally, I like soft & chewy with lots-o-chips. I searched the net for 'ultimate cookie' recipes and combined three different finds (1 from Food Network's Giada de Laurentiis, 2 from fellow bloggers). After these turned out so well, I'm never going to buy pre-made cookie dough again.

Here is what I came up with:
This cookie is soft and chewy and it contains dark chocolate chips, toasted walnuts, and oats. From Alton Brown's advice, I used 1 whole egg and 1 yolk, as he says egg whites lead to a more dry cookie. I added some nuts and oats from Giada's recipe (although she used hazelnuts) and opted to use Hershey's special dark chocolate chips because of my own preference. Next time I would like to try chopped dark chocolate.
Ingredients:

• 3/4 c butter, soft
• 3/4 c sugar
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 c quick oats
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 12 oz dark chocolate chips
• 3/4 c toasted, chopped walnuts
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325degrees. Toast walnuts for a few minutes on baking sheet, then chop.
Meanwhile, cream sugars and butter with mixer in large bowl. Add egg, egg yolk, vanilla; mix.
In seperate bowl combine flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
Add half of flour mix to wet mixture. Mix. Add remaining half of flour mixture. Mix.
Fold in chips and nuts.
Drop by rounded spoonfuls on to parchment paper lined cookie sheets or sheets sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
Bake @ 325 degrees for 14-17 minutes or to desired doneness.
*Also, can roll dough into logs and freeze to have cookie dough ready whenever it strikes you:)

Here are some alterations to form YOUR ultimate cookie:

Peanut Butter:
Add 1 cup peanut butter to butter and sugars. Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Decrease salt by half.

Hazelnut + Toffee chip:

This is more similar to Giada's recipe. Add 3/4 c chopped, toasted hazelnuts instead of walnuts. Add 4 oz chopped chocolate-toffee bar(like Heath). Only use 3/4 bag of chocolate chips.

Oatmeal Raisin:

Decrease flour to 1 1/3 c. Increase quick oats to 1 cup. Add 1 cup raisins to chocolate chips. (or can eliminate chocolate all together and increase raisins). Add 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon-optional.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

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Pumpkin is everywhere these days! Candles, food, in coffee, I've seen pumpkin ice cream, in cappuccino, on clothes, on porches..haha, so why not put it in your cheesecake? :) I recently became a huge fan of pumpkin and am finding ways to put it in more things. I love putting pumpkin spice in coffee, canned pumpkin in oatmeal, and trying this new pumpkin cheesecake recipe. Hands down, I WILL make this again! The good thing about this recipe is it doesn't take as long as some cheesecake recipes. Trevor and my parents loved it and it was gone waaay too fast, so that is a good sign:)

The original recipe called for chocolate chips sprinkled on top of the batter before baking. I left the chips out this time, but may add them next time to try it out. Also, the original recipe called for a crust made with gingersnaps, but I opted for a more traditional graham cracker crust. However, I guess it wasn't completely a "traditional" graham cracker crust (at least the ones I'm familiar with) because I found a 'heart healthy' recipe made with oil instead of butter, and with a little honey and cinnamon. Sooo here it is..!
Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 c finely crushed graham cracker crumbs (used food processor)
• 2 T honey
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake:

• 8 oz cream cheese, slightly softened (I used 1/3 less fat)
• 1/2 c plain yogurt or plain Greek yogurt
• 1 c canned pumpkin puree ( NOT pumpkin pie filling)
• 3/4 c granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• 2 egg whites

Directions:

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In medium bowl, combine all ingredients and mix with fork until well combined.
Press mixture into a 9 in round pie pan, coated with nonstick spray.
Bake for 8 mins @350 degrees. Set aside to cool
For cheesecake:
Lower oven temp to 275 degrees
With electric mixer, beat cream cheese and yogurt until smooth
Beat in pumpkin, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, egg.
In separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
With a spatula, fold the eggwhites into the pumpkin cheesecake batter.
Pour into prepared crust. (This is where you could sprinkle the top with chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or pecans if desired).
Bake 60 mins. Turn off oven. Let the cheesecake remain in closed oven for 1 hour (prevents cracks).
Remove from oven and let cool completely.
Tranfer to refrigerator, chill @ least 3 hrs before serving.

Apple Turnovers

This recipe had my dad written all over it. He loves every and any type of turnover ever created. I thought I would take a stab at making homemade apple turnovers because I knew he would be in favor. I saw this recipe on a few different fellow bloggers' websites, (I think it was a recipe in some baking club called TWD--but I still haven't figured out what it stands for or what it actually involves:)). Anyway..These are worth the time it takes to make and roll out the dough, because they can be frozen for like ever and then just pulled out of the freezer and popped straight into the oven for fresh baked turnovers in a very short time. This recipe has to be made in stages, however. (you have to refridgerate the dough a couple times before cutting into rounds for the turnovers).

Ingredients:

DOUGH-

1 c sour cream

1/2 c sugar

4 c all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (I used a little less)

FILLING-

1 T all purpose flour

1/2 c sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

4 large apples, peeled, cored, chopped

3 T cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg, beaten with 1 tsp water (for egg wash)

Sugar, for dusting

FROSTING: optional

I mixed powdered sugar+milk+vanilla

Directions:

For dough:

Stir sour cream and sugar together; set aside

Whisk flour and salt together in large bowl. Toss butter bits into flour. Working with pastry blender, or a fork, cut the butter into the engredients until resembles course meal. (don't be too particular about this part-better to have uneven mix than overworked dough). Switch to a fork and gently stir in sour cream. Dough should be soft--this is the point where I had to change the recipe. My dough was far too crumbly and not moist enough, so I just added water by Tablespoon fulls until a moist dough was formed.

Divide dough in half. Put each half in a piece of plastic wrap and use the plastice to shape into a rectangle. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for @ least 1 hour or up to 2 days. (I left it in over night)

Remove one piece of dough from fridge and roll into a large rectangle. (@ least 9x13) I rolled it between two sheets of the plastice wrap dusted with flour. Fold the dough into thirds, like a business letter, wrap and refrigerate again. Repeat with 2nd piece of dough and refridgerate for @ least 2 hours or up to 1 day.

Filling:

Whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon together in large bowl. Add apples and toss to coat.

Preparing to bake:

Position racks to divide oven into thirds; preheat to 375.

Roll out 1 piece of dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. (make sure it's pretty thin). Cut 4 1/2 inch rounds with a large cutter (I used a small pot lid). Repeat with second piece of dough. I gathered the scraps of the dough back into a ball and refridgerated again to make use of the extra. Then I brought it back out later and make more turnovers from the leftover scraps.

Place 2 T of apples into center of each round; dot with butter. Moisten the edges of each round w/ a little water and fold in half, sealing edges with fork tines. Use the fork to poke steam holes in each turnover(I forgot to do this and they turned out fine). **This is the point where the turnovers can be individually wrapped in plastic, placed in an airtight freezing container and frozen for up to 2 months. When ready to bake simply add a few more minutes to the baking time if frozen. Otherwise..Place turnovers on a sprayed baking sheet. Bake them without frosting.

Brush the tops of turnovers with a little egg wash and sprinkle each one witha pinch of sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes. When done, the turnovers will be puffed, firm to touch, and golden. Gently transfer to racks to cool.

I opted to drizzle the turnovers with a simple powdered sugar frosting mixture of milk+powdered sugar+ vanilla and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Oreos and Cream Rice Krispie Bars

I think it is pretty safe to say that everyone liked rice krispie bars right? I know in my opinion they rock! I combined a few recipes I found on other blog sites to make these gooey, oreoy, rice krispity bars:) They are a standard rice krispie recipe with added mini oreo cookies and then the tops are dipped in melted white chocolate. Mmmm...

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 bags marshmallows (I like them gooey)

4 T butter

6 cups rice krispies

8oz bag mini oreos

5 oz white chocolate

Directions:

1. In large pot, melt butter over low heat.

2. Once melted, add marshmallows and heat until combined. All the chunks of mallow will be gone...careful not to burn them. Stir constantly

3. Add cereal and cookies; stir to combine. **reserve about 6 cookies and finely chop to use later for the crumb top of the bars

4. Press mixture into greased 8x11 pan. (I used this smaller pan to have thicker bars; can use 9x13 also). PS: a buttered spatula, spoon, or wax paper helps a lot in this step!

5. Let bars cool completely.

6. Meanwhile, chop chocolate.

7. Once bars are cooled, cut into squares.

8. Place chopped chocolate into small bowl and microwave on high at 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.

9. Dip the tops of each bar into chocolate, then into reserved cookie crumbs.

**These keep well in a air tight container for a long time.

Chocolate Passion Triffle

For my last birthday, my mom got me this glass triffle bowl that is perfect for making layered desserts, salads, or dips. This past weekend was my friend Tiff's birthday, so I decided to make her a triffle to bring to her wine party she was having. I just searched Kraft's website and found this awesome & easy recipe. I read all the reviews and everyone raved about how easy it was and what a great presentation it was for bringing to parties. I made a few alterations: instead of raspberries I used strawberries, and I added two additional layers to the triffle because while picking up some cool whip I spotted the new Cool Whip Dips (pictured below) in strawberry and chocolate flavor that I hadn't seen before. I figured they would make great extra layers! (the chocolate one is realllly good!) I will be making thing again! For one, I love brownies and number two, it looks really impressive as if it took a lot of work, but is really simple!
Btw, it was a hit at the party:)
Ingredients:
1 brownie mix box (+ eggs, water, oil to make brownies--I used applesauce in place of oil)
2 pkgs instant chocolate pudding mix (used sugar free/fat free)
1 c skim milk
1 c cool whip
Sliced strawberries
Strawberry & chocolate Cool Whip Dips (optional)

Directions:
1. Bake brownies according to directions.
2. Cut brownies into 1 inch squares.

3. Add milk to 2 pkgs of chocolate pudding mix. Whisk for 2 minutes or until set.
4. Mix in 1 cup Cool Whip.

5. Slice strawberries

6. Place 1/2 of brownie pieces in bottom of trifle bowl.
7. Spoon 1/2 of pudding mixture onto brownies.
8. Layer 1/2 of strawberries on top of pudding.
9. This is wear I then did the Strawberry Dips layer (using almost the entire container, but saved about 1/3 cup to put on the very top, center).
10. Then I placed the rest of the brownies on top of the Strawberry Dip layer.
11. Layer of Chocolate Dips layer
12. Rest of pudding
13. Rest of strawberries around the remaining Strawberry Dip. (As you can see in the picture, I kept a few pieces of brownie out to put on top).





















You can really layer this triffle any way you'd like! Enjoy!

Caramel-Apple Nut Bars

In the spirit of autumn quickly approaching, I am adding two apple recipes. (I mentioned earlier that my family has a boat-load of apples right now, so I've found a couple of recipes to use some of them up..along with the apple pie recipe previously posted).

This first apple recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens. I altered a few things, however...I used about double the amount of apples it called for, and I think it still could have used more! The moist, caramelly-apples were the best part, so feel free to load the apple layer up! PS- I thought these even tasted better the next day

Ingredients:

2 c all-purpose flour

2 c quick-cooking oats

1 1/2 c packed brown sugar (I used half b.sugar, half splenda brown sugar)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 c butter (This is a LOT of butter..I only used half! The bars were a bit crumbly, but I enjoyed them w/less butter, so feel free to experiment)

1/2 c caramel topping (used sugar free caramel topping--picture below)

3 T flour

1 c apples, chopped (**Use @ least 3 cups! The more the better in my opinion)

1/2 c coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 pan

2. In large bowl, beat 2 c flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, butter with a mixer on low until crumbly.

3. Press about 3 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the greased pan. (I pressed it firmly with the bottom of a measuring cup). Bake 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix caramel topping and 3 T flour.

5. Sprinkle apple and pecans over partially baked crust.

6. Drizzle with caramel mixture.

7. Sprinkle with remaining crust mixture.

8. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely. Cut/serve.

Nutrit Info: This info was from the original recipe, so if using the alterations I used, they will be lower in calories/fat...

1 bar: Calories-160, fat-8g, carbohydrates-21g, sodium- 130mg

Bert's Easiest Apple Pie

Next time you get a batch of apples or have a craving for an apple pie here is a great, eeeaasy recipe to try! This pie is great warm from the oven, with a lot of cinnamon and a sweet, buttery crust topping that's great all by itself or with some whipped cream or ice cream on top. Mmmm. .

But, the best part...there is absolutely NO rolling out of a crust for this pie!! Oh! and this recipe comes from my Grandma (Bert) and is a recipe we use again and again. Thanks Grams
Ingredients:
1 c flour
1 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 c cinnamon
1/4 c sugar
Apples-sliced, pealed (Amt depends on size of apples and pie pan-enough slices to fill pie pan 2/3 full)
1 greased pie pan
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Mix flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, egg, butter in a medium bowl.





























2. Fill greased pie pan 2/3 full with peeled, sliced apples.















3. Mix cinnamon + sugar

4. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon+sugar mixture. (Reserve about 1/2 T to sprinkle over crust before baking).

5. Cover apples with flour mixture.

6. Sprinkle dough with reserved cinnamon + sugar.
7. Bake @ 350 for 45-50 mins. Do not overbake

That's it! A simple recipe for a classic homemade apple pie. Enjoy

German Chocolate Cookies

This recipe comes from the Better Homes & Garden Magazine, from a section called 'Healthier Chocolate Desserts.' I've always loved the combo of coconut + chocolate and these didn't dissappoint! They are quick to make (only take about 9 mins to bake) and taste really chocolatey! They use dark baking chocolate and leave the option of adding flax meal (I didn't because we didn't have any..)
MAKES 35 COOKIES

Ingredients:
1/4 c butter, softened

1/4 packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp, baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 c all-purpose flour

2/3 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup flax seed meal (optional)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 oz dark of sweet baking chocolate, chopped (I used half and half semi-sweet baking chocolate and chopped dark chocolate chips, b/c it's what was in the pantry!)

1/3 c flaked coconut

1/3 c chopped pecans

Optional- chopped pecans/coconut for top
Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350

2. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium for 30 seconds.

3. Add brown sugar, baking soda, salt. Beat until well combined, scraping sides occasionally.

4. Beat in egg, vanilla until combined.

5. Beat in flour.

6. Stir in rolled oats, flax seed.

7. Stir in cocoa.
8. Stir in chocolat, coconut, pecans. Dough will be thick.

9. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. If desired, sprinkle tops with chopped pecans, coconut.

10. Bake @350 for 8-10 minutes. (edges will feel a little firm, not much)

11. Let cookies cool on sheet for 1 min. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Storage:

Keep for 2 days at room temp or freeze for up to 3 months

Nutrit. Info:

84 cal, 4 g fat, 45 mg sodium, 11g carb

Makeover Banana Bars

A banana recipe? What a shocker. These bars are aaaamazing! Use this recipe next time you have a few over-ripe bananas lying around.. you won't be sorry. I brought a few of these to the dental office I worked @ today and everyone loved them! They are really moist with a creamy, sweet cream cheese frosting. The recipe comes from the Healthy Cooking Taste of Home Magazine and is one we make often at my house. Whenever I bring these anywhere, I often get asked for the recipe. YUM
MAKES 3 DOZEN
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar (I used half sugar, half Splenda)
2 eggs (I used 1/2 c egg beaters)
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash salt
FROSTING:
**I made half of the frosting and it was plenty! What is below is the full batch**
1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
1.In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the bananas, applesauce and vanilla.














2.Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into butter mixture just until blended.














3.Transfer to a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.














5.For frosting, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Frost bars. Refrigerate leftovers.