Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

The blog post perfectly describes these Lemon Squares.  They are super fast, super easy, and super delicious to boot.   These would be great on a cookie/candy tray delivered to your neighbors doorstep on Christmas Eve.  They’d be great to take to a cookie exchange.  They’d also be good for leaving out for Santa.  Heck…these little suckers would be good anywhere, anytime!  Let me show you how easy peasy these are.

First, you need to spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper.

Now grab a big bowl and dump in 1 cup oatmeal, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 1/3 cups coconut, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt.

Give it a good stir to get the dry ingredients combined.

Now, pop 3/4 cup of butter into the microwave until melted.  Pour into the dry ingredients.

Stir together until mixed well and press half the mixture into the prepared pan.

Now, in a seperate bowl (sorry…I know, I hate washing dishes too!) empty one can of sweetened condensed milk.  Add to that 1/2 cup of lemon juice.  I just used the bottled stuff…I was too lazy to juice that many lemons. Plus I was out.

Stir well and pour over mixture in pan.

Crumble the reamining half of the dry mixture over the top.

Bake this in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Let cool and cut into bars.

It doesn’t get much simpler than that.  And like I said.  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy. 

Quick and Easy Microwave Caramel Corn

If you love Caramel Corn half as much as me, you’re probably giddy right now. Caramel Corn that is quick?  Easy?  And you can make it in the MICROWAVE?  Yes.  Yes.  And Yes!  I could eat my weight in Caramel Corn.  (And that is part of the reason that my weight is what it is.  Which isn’t small.)   But who wants to labor over the hot stove for days cooking the caramel?  Not me.  When I discovered that I could make it in the microwave, I did a quadruple somersault.  And that’s quite a feat for a girl who has eaten her non-small weight in caramel corn.  You don’t believe that caramel corn can be quick, easy AND made in the microwave?  Let me prove it to ya.

First, pop 2 bags of microwave popcorn. (I was doing a double batch, so ignore the fact that there are more than 2 bags in this photo.)

Pour the popped popcorn into a new, clean brown paper grocery bag.

Now, grab a large microwave safe glass bowl or measuring cup.  Place one cup of brown sugar in the cup.

 Add 1 stick of butter, cut up, into the cup.

Then pour in 1/4 cup corn syrup, either light or dark.  I used dark this day.

**Here’s a tip for measuring corn syrup or anything sticky like that – spray the measuring cup with non-stick spray before pouring in your syrup.  This helps the syrup to slide right out of the cup without a sticky mess!

Add 1/2 tsp salt.

Now, pop this into the microwave for 3 minutes.  Carefully remove it from the microwave (the cup could be pretty hot!) and give it a good stir.

Stick it back in the  microwave for another 1-1/2 minutes.    Remove from the microwave and stir in 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Give it a good stir.  It will bubble up and get all foamy looking.  This is good.

Now, pour this mixture over the popcorn in the paper bag.

Roll the top of the bag down to close the bag, and give it a shake, shake, shake. 

Shake, shake, shake.  Shake your booty.  Oh.  Sorry.  Back to the caramel corn.  Stick the bag into the microwave for one minute and ten seconds.  Remove, and shake, shake, sh…  Sorry.  Shake the bag good and put it back into the microwave for another one minute and ten seconds.  Remove from the microwave shake one more time.  Now, dump the caramel corn onto some waxed paper.

Let it cool, break it up and eat it up!  You could also package it up in clear bags with a pretty ribbon on top as give it as gifts to your neighbors, mailman, hairdresser, etc.  That is, of course, if you can keep from eating it all yourself!

Cookie Dough Brownies

Um…hello!  Cookie Dough AND Brownies!!!  Does it get much better than that?  I. Think.  Not.

I recently came across another cooking/baking blog called Five Year Plan who is hosting a monthly baking challenge.  I decided to join in on the challenges because, well…I love to eat bake!  This month’s challenge was something chocolate.  Um…yeah…this was a simple one for me!  Enter Cookie Dough Brownies.  (FYI – October’s challenge is “Halloween” check out Rach’s blog if you wanna join in!)

I can’t remember where I got this recipe exactly, but I think I came across it somewhere online.  But once I made these, I was hooked.  Totally hooked.  I mean seriously.  Hooked.  I have always been a cookie-dough eater.  Straight from the bowl when making homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Straight from the package when making break-apart chocolate chip cookies.  Cookie Dough Blizzards.  You name it, I’ve probably had it.  So when I found this recipe I think I actually yelped in excitement.  And let me tell you…when I tasted them…I think I screamed in delight!

So, here’s what you need for these ridiculously easy brownies.

1 box brownie mix, plus ingredients to make ‘em.  (or your favorite scratch recipe)

1-1/2 sticks butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

4-1/2 tbsp milk

1-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 cups mini chocolate chips.
Just prepare your brownies according to the package in a 9×13 pan.  Let cool completely.

 

Next, combine the butter, sugars, milk and flour until well combined.  Then stir in the mini chocolate chips.

 

Spread the cookie dough on the cooled brownies.

 

Then chill the brownies until the cookie dough is firm.  Cut into bars.

Printable Recipe:  Cookie Dough Brownies

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies

So, you know those amazing “sizzling” blondies you can get at one of the big chain restaurants?  The one with the walnuts and white chocolate chunks and is topped with ice cream and bathed in a sinful sauce that sizzles when it reaches the hot skillet they serve it on?  You know the one?  Sure.  I’ll pause a minute while you wipe the drool from your chin. 

Okay…now that you’ve composed yourself…I’m going to show you how to make that SAME awesome dessert!  Here’s what you’ll need:

For the Blondies:

4 egg whites

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

8 oz. white chocolate (coarsely chopped, or use chips)

1 cup chopped walnuts

 

Preheat oven to 325.  Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.  Add the softened butter, sugars and vanilla.

 Mis this until smooth. 

In a seperate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Then add the dry ingredients to the wet.

Mix until smooth.  Stir in the white chocolate and walnuts.  Spread into a greased 9×13 pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes.

While the cake bakes, combine the following ingredients for the luscious sauce:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened

1/4 tsp salt

Stir it all together.  When the cake is finished, pop the sauce mixture in the microwave for about 30-60 seconds until warm and pourable.

 

To assemble…Place a big ol’ hunk of blondie on a plate…

Oh man.

Now, plop a big scoop of ice cream on the blondie…

Oh my.

Now, smother the whole thing in that luscious, sinful sauce…

Oh yeah baby.  That’s what I’m talking about!

Heaven help me. 

Now, you can heat up a cast iron skillet and do it up just like the famous restaurant does…but I was too lazy for that.  But if you wanna…go ahead.  It won’t taste any different, but it’s a nice presentation none the less.

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars

I think it takes longer to SAY the name of these little gems than it does to make them.  Seriously.  I’ve tried to come up with a name that’s shorter, but I’ve had no luck.  Chocolate Chip Bars doesn’t hint to the creamy filling stuff, Cream Cheese Bars doesn’t hint to the fab-o chocolate chip cookie layers.  I got nothin’.  Any suggestions?   I’m babbling.  Let’s get on with the cookin’, huh?

Okay, all you need to whip up these tasty little babies is 16 oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 2-1/2 tsp. vanilla, 2 eggs, and 2 pkgs of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough.  That’s it people.  Simplicity is delicious.

To start, you just press one package of cookie dough into a 9×13 pan. 

Then, in a bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and eggs…

Stir well to combine and then pour over the cookie dough base…

Then, crumble the other package of cookie dough over the top. 

Oh yeah babe!  Now just pop this in a 350 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes.  You can eat them right away, but they’re best if you let them chill for a couple hours first…the filling firms up and is super creamy.

Peanut Butter Hollywood Squares

Remember those awesome peanut butter bar cookies they served in the school cafeteria?   You know the ones…the bars that are so peanut buttery it makes your teeth hurt just to think about them?  The ones that were so good, you wished you could ask for seconds? Yeah…that’s them.  And today, I’m going to show you how delightully easy they are to make.  I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen website.  The first thing my husband said when he tasted them was “These are JUST LIKE the ones we had in school!”  And after seeing the ingredients, you’ll see why it was something they made in the school cafeteria…it’s all things that they could get in ‘commodity bulk’. 

I’m not going to tell you we ate half the batch in the first 5 minutes.  But we did.  And I wonder why I keep gaining weight?!?!

So, here’s the super simple recipe for these amazing bars.

In a bowl, combine the following:

2 cups peanut butter

2-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter, melted
(See what I mean?  Commodity type items!)

Stir until well combined.  Then press into a 8″ square pan, lined with foil.  Why line with foil?  Two reasons.  One – it’s easier to remove the bars from the pan later.  Two (and the most important to me!) – it makes cleanup SO much easier…no pan to wash!

Prepare the chocolate topping.  Combine about 6 ounces of chocolate chips with 2-3 tbsp peanut butter in a microwave safe dish.  Melt slowly in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth.

Spread over bars and chill until set.

Cut into squares and have flashbacks of the school cafeteria and that awesome hairdo you sported back then!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to for another COOKBOOK WINNING WEDNESDAY!!!

Chocolat Chunk Chewies – use up those egg whites!

Yes, I’m much later getting this posted than I planned.  With fall baseball season starting, and BOTH my kiddos playing, it’s been super crazy around here lately just trying to get homework, dinner  and practice in each night.  And I’m back to working my regular schedule now that the kids are in school, so I don’t have as much free time during the day as I did over the summer.  I’m adjusting back to the busy school-time schedule, so please bear with me!

So, after making (or at least reading the recipe for) that make-you-slap-yo-mamma yummy Key Lime Pie, you’re probably wondering what on earth you’re going to do with all those egg whites.  I did too.  Of course, you could make an angel food cake, or an egg white omelet (or just add a couple egg whites to whole eggs for omelets or even scrambled eggs), but those things just weren’t trippin’ my trigger that day.  I dug through lots of my cookbooks, in search of a recipe that used a ton of egg whites only.  When I came across one for “Chocolate Chunk Chewies” I knew I’d have to try those…I mean…HELLO!!!  Chocolate!!!

For this recipe, you’ll need:

4-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp espresso or instant coffee powder (you can leave it out, but it really adds a nice dimension of flavor)

2 cups cocoa powder

6 egg whites

4 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cups chocolate chunks

 

Start by placing the egg whites and vanilla in mixer bowl…

Then add in the powdered sugar, salt, espresso powder and cocoa…

Mix at low speed for about 2 minutes. 

The batter will seem a little dry at first, but will become shiny and smooth as it mixes…

Refrigerate the batter for a couple of hours, or overnight.

Stir in the chocolate chunks and resist the urge to dive in with a spoon and a glass of milk right now!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray cookie sheets well with nonstick spray.  Drop dough by spoonfuls (I actually use a cookie/ice cream scooper) onto the pans…

Bake for 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on pans for about 5 minutes.

Remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Now pour yourself a big ol’ glass of cold milk and stuff your face until you can’t button your pants and you can’t breathe treat yourself to a couple of these cookies.

I’m making a couple of yummalicious desserts for a family dinner on Sunday, so I’ll be sharing more sweet sensations soon!  (That’s almost a tongue twister!)

Have a blessed day!

Another 4 ingredient dessert… Key Lime Pie

I love anything and everything lime.  But my number one favorite is key lime pie.  I’ve made several different key lime pie recipes, and honestly, they were all good.  But this one is probably THE EASIEST to prepare.    I mean, come on…FOUR ingredients!  And that’s including the graham cracker pie shell! 

Well, here we go.  Here are the four simple ingredients you’ll need for this.  Sweetened Condensed milk, eggs, lime juice and a graham cracker pie shell.

Using an electric mixer, in a medium bowl, (or in your KitchenAid mixer bowl) combine 2 cups of sweetened condensed milk (which is about 1-1/2 cans), 6 egg yolks (I’ll show you what you can do with the whites tomorrow!), and 2/3 lime juice just until the ingredients are combined, don’t overbeat it.

Pour into the graham cracker shell…

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until the filling jiggles only slightly when shaken.  Cool until room temperature and then chill for several hours before garnishing and serving.

Of course, you can serve it as is, but if you want to pretty it up a bit, here’s what you can do…

Slice a lime into thin slices – get them as thin as possible.  Then pat them dry on paper towels.  Take a knife and cut from the center out to the rind on one side…

Whip some heavy cream to stiff peaks, and spoon it into a piping bag with a star tip — if you don’t have a piping bag, just make a cone out of some waxed paper, like I did here…

Go ahead and cut your pie into slices…I cut mine into eighths, because I like a nice hefty piece of pie!  Then, pipe a ‘rosette’ of whipped cream on each slice by just swirling the piping bag slightly while squeezing.  Then, take a slice of lime and twist it where you cut the slit – moving one side in one direction and the other side to the other direction.  Place on top of the rosette of whipped cream…

That’s it!  You’ve just made a professional looking garnish, easy peasy!

If that doesn’t make you want to head to the kitchen, I don’t know what would!  It’s simple.  It’s quick.  It’s DELICIOUS!!

Get Cookin’!

Cracker Toffee…with only FOUR ingredients! 4!

The recipe I’m sharing with you today is a good one.  Simple.  Easy.  Quick.  And only has 4 ingredients!  And, I’m ashamed to say, I could easily throw down the entire batch in one sitting.  Seriously.  They are THAT good.  I’ve heard these called several different things…Toffee Bars, Pine Bark, etc.  But I choose to call them “Cracker Toffee” because it gives a hint to the unusual ingredient in these little gems.

It doesn’t get much simpler than this recipe, folks.   Preaheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Firstyou line a jelly roll pan (11×15x1-inch pan) with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Then, just lay crackers out on the pan, fitting in as many as possible.  My six year old loves to do this part.  You can use any kind of plain cracker really (saltines, club, ritz, etc), but I always have saltines in the pantry, so that’s what I typically use.  It will take about one and a half sleeves of saltines to fill up the pan…

Now, in small sauce pan, melt 2 sticks of butter.  Or, if your husband does the shopping and came home with the one-pound BLOCKS of butter instead of sticks, you’ll need two honkin’ chunks of butter that weigh about 4 oz. each, totalling, of course, 8 oz.

Add 1 cup packed brown sugar to the pan…

Bring the mixture to a boil, and boil for two or three minutes, stirring constantly.  Then, pour the mixture over the crackers, spreading it with a spatula to make sure that all crackers are covered…

Bake for 6 minutes.  The toffee mixture willbe nice and bubbly.  Sprinkle about one cup of chocolate chips (or you can use Hershey Bars instead) on top and let them sit for just a minute.  Once they start to soften, spread over the crackers with a spatula…

Then, trasfer each cracker to waxed paper to cool completely. 

OR, if you’re lazy, as I sometimes am, or just in a hurry for them to set up, you can leave them on the pan, pop them in the fridge until set and just break it into chunks instead of having neat little individual squares.  Either, way, they taste awesome!  Remember when I said I could devour a whole pan of these in one sitting?  I wasn’t kidding.  I don’t think I have ever actually done that, but that’s only because my kids and husband insist on gettting a couple too.  Otherwise, back off – they’re all mine, dude. 

Fresh Fruit Turnovers

Oh.  My.  Goodness.  These things are the bomb-diggity!  They are similar to fried pies you might be familiar with (especially if your local…think Haney’s fried apple pies!), but they are baked, not fried.  I dare say they’re healthier than fried pies because of that…but with all the butter and cream cheese in the dough…I’m not so sure.  But who cares…they are divine!  I made two kinds…peach and cherry, because I had both that needed to be used before they went bad.  You could make these turnovers with pretty much any fruit though…I’d love to make some raspberry ones sometime.

So anyway,  let’s get started.  First you need to make the dough.  Start by adding the following to your food processor bowl:

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp sugar

Now, cut one stick of butter into small cubes, and do the same with one  8 oz. block of cream cheese. 
Add the butter to the flour mixture…

And process for about 10 seconds to blend, until it looks like coarse crumbs.  Now, add the cream cheese chunks and pulse quickly about 25 times or until the dough forms a ‘ball’ in the bowl.  Dump that big wad of dough out onto waxed paper and knead it gently 2 or 3 times to bring it all together well.  

Flatten into about a 6 inch square, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least a half hour (or up to 2 days).

While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling.

If you are using something like peaches, you’ll need to chop your fruit.  If you’re using berries, just leave them whole.  Of course, for the cherries, I had to pit them…I don’t have a cherry pitter (but I’m now trying to find one!), so I just cut the cherries in half and scooped the pit out with a grapefruit spoon.  I left my cherries in halves, but next time, I’ll go ahead and quarter them, b/c the halves were a little too big.

So, chop up about 2 cup of  fruit and add the following to it:

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp cornstarch (or 2 tbsp flour)

1/4 tsp salt

Stir together…

Now, grab your dough from the fridge and roll it out.  At this point, decide whether you want to make half-moon shaped turnovers or triangle shaped turnovers.  If you want the half moons, just cut circles out of your dough (I didn’t have circle cutter the size I wanted, so I just used a plastic container!):

Or, if you want triangles, cut squares…

Place your cut out pieces on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Then spoon about 2 tbsp of fruit filling on HALF of the dough:

Now, make an egg wash with one egg yolk and 2 tbsp milk or cream.  Brush the egg wash along 2 edges of the dough (or along half the circle)…

I just use my finger for that…it’s just easier.  Then, fold the dough over…

Use a fork to press the edges together…

Then brush the egg wash over the entire turnover, and cut 2 or 3 slits in the top with a sharp knife.  Sprinkle a little sugar over the top.

Now bake the turnovers at 375 for about 25 minutes, or until they’re golden brown.  Remove them to wire racks and they’ll look something like this:

Now, make a glaze with about 1 cup powdered sugar and a few tablespoons of milk.  Just add milk until it’s a smooth drizzling consistency:

 

Mmm…I think I just put on another 5 pounds just looking at those! 

These will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 days.  They will get a litte ’soggy’, but you can crisp them right back up by popping them in a 375 degree oven for a few minutes.

This recipe made  about 10 triangles and oh, about 6 or 8 small half moons.  We took them on a picnic down to Cumberland Falls…and only came back home with a couple!  Yes, they are THAT good!

I think they’d also be good with just some milk chocolate inside, or a cream cheese filling, or OOH, what about chopped apples with some caramel sauce.  Well, there went another two or three pounds on the ol’ hips!

Please don’t let the length of my post discourage you from trying these…they really aren’t difficult at all.  I just try to give you as many step by step photos as I can!