Peppermint Candy Cane Brownies

Found HERE! 

Brownies:
4 squares unsweetened chocolate (4oz)
1 C butter (2 sticks)
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1t vanilla
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 t baking powder
Frosting:
2 C powdered sugar
4 T butter, softened
1 1/2 t peppermint extract
1 T milk
pink food coloring

Chocolate Glaze:
6 oz (about a cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips ,you could also use dark
6T real butter
Additional:
1/2-1 C crushed candy canes (Use Bob’s NOT Spanglers!)
First, the Brownies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roughly chop baking squares so they’ll be easier to melt, then place them in a microwave-safe bowl along with the 2 sticks of butter (also chopped).
Melt in 30-45 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Set aside. Don’t accidentally stick your finger in the melted butter and chocolate combo because it will laugh at you for forgetting that it is unsweetened.
In a stand mixer or with electric beaters, beat eggs for about 3 minutes until thick and frothy.  Add sugar and vanilla and beat to combine. Then add in the melted chocolate and butter that you set aside. Combine flour and baking powder and whisk into brownie batter by hand until just combined. Pour into a lightly greased 9×13 pan. If you want to make the job much easier, line your pan with foil first.
Bake for 20-25 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness and don’t over bake! When brownies are done, cool on a cooling rack. When completely cool, pop in the fridge to chill. (makes the frosting spreading easier).
Next layer is the frosting:
Combine all frosting ingredients and beat until light and fluffy. Add extra milk by teaspoonful if you need a little more. Spread evenly over cooled/chilled brownies and place back in the fridge to chill again while you do the final step.
Chocolate Glaze:
Place chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and cook in 30 second intervals until smooth.
Set aside for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, so it can cool off just a bit. Remember in the first step when I told you to not accidentally let your finger fall in the chocolate butter mixture? Totally doesn’t apply to this chocolate butter mixture. Quickly spread on top of brownies. I say quickly because the frosting is cool and the chocolate is hot. If you take your sweet time and over do it, you’ll make a big gooey mess. Just spread it on quick.
Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top and return to the fridge until chocolate is set on top.
Remove from fridge a few minutes before serving. Cut into squares, eat, ooh and ahh, and then eat another one. Or two.

 ***Super yummy! Rich, so make sure you have people to share with. Hubby thinks this is a waste of good brownies (he dislikes peppermint and chocolate together!)***

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are an adaptation of one of our favorite recipes, Monkey Squares. I decreased the sugar a bit, added chocolate chips, and omitted the browned butter icing. Hey, there are some limits to being able to call something a muffin rather than a cupcake :-)

1 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
½ cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 ¾ cups (4) ripe bananas, mashed
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour (I did use GF)

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with papers, or grease and flour each tin. Beat first four ingredients until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla one minute. Add dry ingredients and blend one minute. Stir in chocolate chips.  Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes about 24 muffins.

***So good! I actually like the decreased sugar so much, I might change it in the original recipe! I like to have something portable in the mornings, and these turned out to be great!***

Peanut Butter Cups

I found this recipe at Taste of Home and I'm glad I did!

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
• 4-1/2 teaspoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 ounces each), coarsely chopped
• Colored sprinkles, optional

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter, butter, confectioners' sugar and salt until smooth; set aside.
• In a microwave, melt the chocolate chips, candy bars and remaining peanut butter; stir until smooth.
• Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture into paper-lined miniature muffin cups. Top each with a scant teaspoonful of peanut butter mixture; top with another teaspoonful of chocolate mixture. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container.
  Yield: 3 dozen.

***Hubby and I made these together on Valentine's Day! Super easy, fun, and definitely delicious!***

Cinnamon Cookie Crunch Popcorn

I came across this recipe on Our Best Bites. They always have great recipes!

Slightly modified:

12 cups air-popped popcorn
16 oz white chocolate (chips are fine)
1/2 cup red hot candies
10 Oreo cookies (Glutino GF work great)
optional: 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon flavored oil (I left out)
3 tablespoons semisweet or dark chocolate chips
kosher or sea salt (I left out)

Instructions
Pulse red hots in a food processor until they are just roughly chopped.

Break cookies up into rough chunks, by smashign in a baggie. Do not crush into crumbs!

In a medium sized microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate in 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth. Gently stir in red hots and chocolate cookies and then add cinnamon oil to taste (if desired).

Pour mixture over popcorn and stir well to coat. Pour popcorn mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and set aside. Melt chocolate chips and drizzle over popcorn mixture. Sprinkle kosher or sea salt lightly over mixture to taste (if desired). Let popcorn mixture harden. When completely dry, break into chunks and store in airtight container.

***Super yummy! Great flavor combination. It is super sweet, so I didn't find it hard to control myself, but really great to pop a few chunks here and there throughout the day! What a fun holiday treat!***

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Found this recipe on Food Network, courtesy of Paula Deen. Of course I modified it!

3 cups all purpose flour (I used GF for half!)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips

Optional: 4Tbs cocoa powder

Directions
Preheat oven at 325 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, and chocolate chips. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing.

*Can also make 24 cupcakes-Bake for about 18-22 minutes*

***Delicious! I made one loaf GF and one regular. Hubs wanted the regular to be chocolate zucchini bread, so I added 2 Tbs Cocoa powder, which he loved! This will be another regular in our house...good way to sneak in some veggies too!***

Peanut Butter "Cheese" Ball

I found this amazing recipe HERE! (Slightly adapted to fit what we had at home)

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (not all-natural)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup crushed toffee
Graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, and/or apple slices for dipping

Directions:
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until blended.

Spoon onto a large piece of plastic wrap; bring up all four corners and twist tightly forming into a ball shape.

Freeze for about 1 hour or until firm enough to keep its shape. Place toffee and chocolate chips in flat dish. Remove plastic wrap from ball and roll ball into morsels to completely cover, pressing morsels into the ball if necessary.

Place ball on serving dish; cover and freeze for 2 hours or until you can't stand it anymore and HAVE to eat it NOW!

Serve with graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, or apple slices for dipping or spreading.

***Super yummy snack. We ate this with apples to make it a little more healthy...and really, it isn't the worst thing you could eat anyway :-) Will definitely be making this for parties in the future!***

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I have had a craving for chocolate covered strawberries for a while now. And my friend Melanie started talking about them last weekend...since then, I have been obsessing about them! So, with Valentine's Day here, I thought it would be the perfect time to make some!

Basically, I melted some chocolate chips (semi-sweet) in the microwave with a few drops of canola oil (to keep it from hardening so much when cool).

Make sure to wash and DRY your strawberries. And make sure you have the chocolate in a small, deep container so you can really dip them.

Place on parchment/wax paper when done and cool in fridge. DELICIOUS!

***Happy Valentine's Day to you and your loved ones!!!***

Chocolate Mug Cake

4 Tbs. flour (I used GF)

4 Tbs. sugar

2 Tbs. cocoa

1 egg

3 Tbs.milk (I used Silk soy milk)

3 Tbs. oil

3 Tbs. chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips-excellent choice!)

a small splash of vanilla extract (BE careful!)

1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.

Add the egg and mix well.

Pour in milk and oil and mix well.

Add choc. chips and vanilla extractand mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 mins. athigh.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don'tbe alarmed, it won't overflow.

Allow to cool for a few minutes and then enjoy warm cake!

I ate mine as is, but you could definitely top with melted chocolate, whipped cream (not my fav) or a scoop of ice cream!

Found HERE!

***Awesome, easy, awesome, delicious, AWESOME!!! Perfect for those times where you need a 'fix" but don't want to bake a whole cake, or take the time to bake! Lots of variations could be made with different flavors of chips!***

Cranberry Caramel Chex Mix

• 3 cups Rice Chex
• 3 cups Corn Chex
• 1 1/2 cup honey roasted nuts
• 1 1/2 cups twisted pretzels
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1/4 cup light Karo syrup
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups craisins
• 1 1/2 cups M&Ms or chocolate chips

Gently mix cereals, nuts and pretzels in a large bowl. In a 2 cup glass measuring cup add brown sugar, butter and Karo syrup. Microwave for 2 minutes until melted, stirring well after 1 minute. Add baking soda to the caramel sauce and mix well. Pour sauce over cereal mixture and mix gently until cereal is completely coated.

Pour coated cereal mixture onto a jelly roll pan and bake at 250 degrees for 40-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Be SURE to stir so that the chex mix won’t get stuck together.

Cool completely and add craisins and M&Ms.

Makes about 14 cups of Cranberry-Caramel Chex Mix.

Found HERE!

***Delicious!!!! Stores well in airtight container. Carmel hardens nicely, but not too hard! We enjoyed this on a recent ski weekend! I also had a little fun and used chocolate and cinnamon chex!***

Rolo Pretzel Bites

Bag of mini pretzels
Bag of Rolos, unwrapped
M&Ms (Or pecan halves)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pretzels on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place unwrapped Rolos on top of pretzels and bake for 3 minutes. You don't want them too melted. Remove from oven and pushM&M or pecan half halfway down into the melted Rolo.

Found HERE:



***Hubs has deemed these "crack" candy and nearly ate the whole batch in one sitting! Incredibly easy and incredibly scrumptious at the same time!***

Chocolate Cinnamon Scones

3 1/4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cups cold butter

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup chocolate chips

course sugar for garnish

melted butter for brushing

Preheat oven to 425.

In large bowl combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Cut in butter until it forms coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Fold in chocolate chips. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently.

Divide in half and pat into 7 inch round circles. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cut into 6 or 8 wedges.

Bake at 425 for 13-15 minutes.

Found HERE!!!

***Really good!!! I made the with GF flour, and they still turned out great!!! Scott even liked them, and he is not a scone lover!!! Very moist, not too sweet! I think I will add a little more cinnamon next time!***

GF Brownies with frosting

I am trying out a new GF flour blend. Since I love brownies, I thought it would be a great way to try it out. The brownie recipe can be found here, minus the caramel. I found the GF flour blend on a blog I follow regularly, Organizing Junkie. She has some fabulous recipes! Here is the basic recipe:

1 cup brown rice flour
1 1/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2/3 cup tapioca starch
3/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 tsp xantham gum

She suggests keeping it in the fridge, pre-mixed and ready to use as a replacement in any recipe calling for all purpose flour.

***The brownies were A.MA.ZING!!! Great texture, the edges crisped just like I like them!!! Hubby even thought they were good! Definitely found a winner here!!!***

Oh, and the chocolate frosting recipe went a little like this:
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter, add sugar, cocoa, and milk in batches, alternating between the three. Add in vanilla and make sure it is well blended. Frost!

***This is a thick frosting. I placed a few lumps on the still-warm brownies and let it get a little melty before spreading it. Delicious! Although you could probably make half a batch and it would be enough. But, the extra frosting in the fridge is a nice little treat, too :-)***

Caramel Brownies

What to do when your Salted Caramels don't completely set? Make homemade Caramel Brownies of course!

I use a basic brownie recipe from Baker's Chocolate:
4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour

Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in large bowl on high 2 minutes. Stir until chocolate is completely melted (I usually put the chocolate in for a bit first, as it takes longer to melt than the butter).
Stir in sugar, add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour.
Spread into greased, foil-lined 9x13 pan (or pan with parchement paper).

Now you take the caramel and spread it on top, taking a knife and swirling it a bit.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 or until toothpick in center comes out with crumbs.

Place pan on wire rack and let cool completely. Try to keep husband out of the pan.

Pull parchement paper and brownies out of pan and cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Cupcake:

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 4 large Peanut Butter Cups, cut into small pieces (I used 16 mini)
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin cups with paper cupcake liners. In large bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla and then add the dry ingredients, alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Gently fold in the peanut butter cup pieces. Spoon batter into cupcake liners, a little over 3/4 full. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool about 5 minutes; remove from pan and let cool completely. Then add the frosting:

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I used 2 1/2 cups)
• If you want a creamier frosting, add 2-3 Tbsp. milk to get the consistency you want. (I did)
• Mini Peanut Butter Cups, for garnish

Cream butter and peanut butter until well blended, then gradually add in the powdered sugar and blend well. (If creamier consistency is desired, add in some milk.)

Place a scoop of frosting on each cupcake–the scoop can be however large or small you want; you will have plenty of frosting to work with. Place a mini Peanut Butter Cup in the center of each scoop and press down slightly. Yum!

Found HERE!

***Today is hubby's birthday! He really enjoyed these, as did his family! We only had crunchy PB, hence the specks in the frosting. Definitely need to get some creamy, although they were still great! Mine cooked about 16 minutes and made 15 cupcakes. Plenty of leftover frosting!***

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup organic unsalted peanut butter

3/4 cup granulated cane sugar

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped

fine grain fleur de sel to finish cookies

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line the bottoms of two 12-by-18-inch sheet pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir the peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda and kosher salt until combined.

Stir in the chocolate and peanuts.

Using a small, greased ice cream scoop, measure out the dough in teaspoon sized balls.

Place the dough on the prepared pans, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Bake on the middle shelves of the oven, rotating the pans 180 degrees halfway through the baking time, until lightly golden and spread to a puffy mound, about 12 to 14 minutes.

Sprinkle lightly with fleur de sel.

Let cool completely on the pans on wire racks.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to week.

Found HERE!

***I cooked these for about 10 minutes and it was plenty...although I do like my cookies a little on the soft side! I used chocolate chips...I definitely recommend getting some good dark chocolate! And I used chunky peanut butter, so I left out the chopped peanuts. Yummy! Great flourless recipe!!!***

Triple Chocolate Scotcheroos

1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup Nutella
6 cups crisp chocolate-flavored rice cereal
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch-flavored chips
sea salt (optional)

1. Butter or spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
2. In a large saucepan (at least 6 quarts) over medium heat, bring the sugar and corn syrup to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and Nutella, then mix the rice cereal in until completely coated. Press the mixture into the greased pan, making sure the top is smooth.
3. Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips together in a clean, dry bowl set over a double boiler or microwave, stirring gently until smooth and well-blended. Spread over the rice cereal mixture and cool until set. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.

Found HERE!

***I lined my dish with parchment, to avoid spraying the pan. I also only had plain crispy rice cereal, so sadly mine were only DOUBLE chocolate scotcheroos. Even so, they were AMAZING!!!***

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 sticks softened butter

3/4 Cup granulated sugar

1 Cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 Tablespoons pure vanilla

1/4 Cup burnt caramel sauce (any caramel sauce works)

3 3/4 Cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

12 oz bag mini chocolate chips

1 1/2 Cups chopped good quality chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until well combined. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, then the caramel sauce until well combined.

2. Place the flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl; mix. Slowly add to wet ingredients, then add chocolate chips.

3. Place 1/4 Cup of cookie dough into muffin top cups. Press down, then sprinkle with a pinch or two of sea salt, then press chocolate chunks over top. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until just golden around edges. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Serve with milk!!

18 Large cookies

Found HERE!

***Sadly, I am without a muffin top pan...so I used a regular muffin tin and made smaller cookies. I actually think this was a good thing...you can eat more than one if you really want to, ya know? :-) I'm all about eating multiple cookies! Definitely make sure to let them cool a bit before trying to take them out of the pan! I cooked mine for about 8-9 minutes (regular sized muffin tin). And I decreased the sugar by 1/4 cup since there is also caramel in there...I'm a sugaraholic, but I have my limits :-) Pretty good!***

~Oh dear! I went to bed, Scott came home, and...He nearly finished a dozen of these!!! His advice: Have a LARGE glass of milk available :-) ~

Banana Chocolate Chunk Frozen Yogurt

3 1/2 cups plain yogurt or greek yogurt (I used greek)
1-2 bananas, mashed (I left mine a little chunky)
1/2-3/4 cup sugar, depending on taste
1-2 teaspoon(s) vanilla
4oz good chocolate, chopped (I used 70% dark chocolate-it was salted as well)

Mix all together except chocolate. Freeze in ice cream maker per manufacturers instructions, about 30 minutes. When done, place in freezer safe container and stir in chopped chocolate.

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop.

Awesome flavor!!! Very similar to my favorite Breyers Ice Cream flavor when I was younger! The only thing I would change is the chocolate source. I am not a fan of hard chocolate in my ice cream (like choc chips). I think I will try brownie bits or a Nutella swirl next time! Either way it is sure to be delicious!!!

Frozen Banana Bites

2 large bananas
1/4 to 1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 to 1/3 cup peanut butter
coconut flakes

1. Set out a large plate or bowl with a piece of parchment or wax paper on it.
2. Cut up the bananas into good-sized chunks. Each banana should give you around 5 to 6 pieces.
3. Heat the peanut butter and chocolate chips in the microwave on high for about a minute. Then stir until smooth.
4. Dip the banana pieces in the chocolate-peanut butter mixture. Lay them out leaving some space between them on the parchment/wax paper. Then when you've "covered" them all, use the remaining mixture to spoon over the tops.
5. Then sprinkle the unsweetened coconut flakes on top. Transfer to the freezer for about an hour until hardened.
6. You can enjoy them like this (but they really aren't frozen yet -- and when they're frozen, the banana tastes like vanilla ice cream) . . . I suggest then covering with some plastic wrap and let freeze overnight.

Found HERE!

Soooo good! A nice little treat to keep in the freezer for when you just need a little something sweet... or when you are out of homemade frozen yogurt! :-)

Hip Hugger Bars

Base
1/2c butter- softened
1c brown sugar
1 egg
1t vanilla
1 1/4c flour
1 1/2c oatmeal (I use Quick Oats)
1/2t baking soda
1/4t salt

Filling
12oz semisweet chips
1T butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk

1. Line a 9x13 with parchment paper. Set oven to 350.

2. Cream butter and brown sugar, add the vanilla, and egg. Then mix in the oats, flour, soda and salt..

3. Press 2/3 mixture into bottom of a parchment lined 9x13.

4. In a microwave safe bowl dump chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and 1T butter. Microwave 1 minute, stir and continue to nuke until combined...stopping and stirring every 30 seconds.

5. Pour the most awesome mixture of chocolate onto the oatmeal base. Then break up the reminding 1/3 over the top in little chunks. Covering what you can.

6. Pop that baby into the oven for 20-25minutes until the topping looks lightly golden.

7. Cool COMPLETELY on a wire rack before cutting. It makes a horrific mess if not. Trust me. Get a LARGE glass of milk and indulge later.

Makes 20ish bars. IF you are lucky enough to store - room temp in a sealed container up to 3 days is good

***Pretty much heaven to eat! Definitely a rare-occasion kind of indulgence!***

Found these here: Indecisive Baker