Peanut Butter Smore Brownies Recipe

So I've done the Baked Smores, and I've done the Marshmallow Brownies... oh and don't forget the Reesedoodles! But I have been told that this dessert is the best I've ever made. So run to the store, grab a few things from the list below, and let me know how it all works out!!

You will need:

25 Mini Reese's Cups (halved)

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

6 sheets graham crackers (broken into small pieces)

brownies (I used a boxed mix)

Directions:

Mix brownies according to directions on box. In a bowl, combine marshmallows, graham crackers, and halved Reese's. Bake brownies, removing 10 minutes before they are done. Spray sides of pan, and add marshmallow mix to the top of the brownies. Bake for the remaining 10 minutes. Let cool for at least an hour before serving (I recommend letting it cool overnight, but if you're anything like me that is definitely not happening).

I don't think I can really explain how delicious these are. Try them out, and let me know what you think. Be sure to have a glass of milk handy!!

PB Choc Chip Cheesecake Bars

I just started getting the daily newspaper because it's just as cheap as getting just the Sunday paper (for coupons!), and I discovered the recipes section. I'm in love! These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars are great. I don't like cheesecake but these only have a small amount so they taste great. Let me know what you think!

Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

7 tablespoons butter, melted

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:

5 tablespoons butter at room temperature

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup flour

1 cup peanut butter and chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling:

8oz cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a 9x9 baking sheet with foil. Spray with nonstick cooking spray, and set aside. Mix the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs until combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Bake for 6 minutes. Remove pan and set aside. Leave the oven on.

Prepare the chocolate chip cookie dough. Mix all ingredients except flour and chips with electric mixer. Beat in flour, slowly. Add in peanut butter and chocolate chips. Set aside.

Use electric mixer and blend together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in vanilla and egg. Pour cheesecake batter onto prepared crust. Drop cookie dough by the spoonful on top of the cheesecake batter.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cookie dough is firm. Chill before cutting and serving.

Copy Cat Red Velvet Hostess (Filled) Cupcakes

I have to warn you ahead of time that I did this on a whim at 10:30 at night and the picture quality is not that great. However, the cupcakes are divine! You have to try this. It's super easy, and will impress your family. Promise.

You will just need a skewer, a box cake mix,  a ziploc bag, and some icing.


Prepare cake mix as directed on package. Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease cupcake/muffin pan. Fill each half full with the cake mix. Bake as directed on package (20 minutes for mine). Let cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes.

Put your icing in a ziploc baggie and cut a very small hole in the bottom corner. (This part can get a little messy.) Use a skewer to poke a hole in the top of each cupcake. Fill the middle with icing, then ice the top of the cupcake as you normally would. You can use a little filling (like I did) or a lot, like the Hostess folks do.

 The possibilities here are endless!! I'm thinking peanut butter filled double chocolate cupcakes next... what about you?

Father's Day Crafts

Not sure what to get dad for Father's Day? Short on cash and out of ideas? Well, you've come to the right place! We don't celebrate Father's Day in our house but I know most of you guys do, so I thought I'd pass on a few cute homemade gift ideas, recipes, etc. Feel free to add your links in the comments. Don't forget, it's June 19th!!



A mini wallet collage from FamilyFun




Cute funky luggage tags from FamilyFun


If I had a dad, this is what I'd be making him!



This would be cute in his office. No need to buy the kit when you can make it yourself!

Remember the $.25 tiles/coasters we made a while ago? Make those with pictures of the kids, you as a family, or even use paints and make hand prints to go on top!


Does dad like to EAT? Let's make him some pancake cupcakes for breakfast...


Some  pizza cupcakes for dinner....


And Reesedoodles for dessert!

Some pictures for inspiration:






What do you like to make dad for Father's Day?

Pancake Cupcakes

I'm on this huge cupcake kick. We've done hamburger cupcakes, egg cupcakes, pizza cupcakes, and now pancake cupcakes. I wonder how many cupcake recipes I can find... maybe this should be a regular thing. :) This recipe is from Country Living Magazine.



You will need:

2 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 stick or 1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 c maple syrup
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 c buttermilk (I used skim milk and they turned out fine)
1/2 c nuts or chocolate chips (optional - we did not use these)

Preheat your oven to 350F. Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Beat your butter and sugar in large bowl until they are creamy. Add in eggs, vanilla, and syrup. Mix until blended.

Mix in flour mixture and milk. Add in nuts/chocolate chips if you'd like.

Spray the cupcake/muffin tin, and pour the mixture in until they are half full. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve with syrup to dip them in.

Do you ever share recipes on your blog? I'd love to see them. Leave your link in my comments and I may feature you in an upcoming post!

Earthquake Oreo Brownies

This is not technically my recipe. My close friend served it at her daughter's birthday party and I begged her for the details. She finally gave me the recipe, and I couldn't wait to post it (with her permission of course!). Going to try something new with posting pictures. I thought this little set-up was cute. What do you think?

You will need:

1 bag chocolate chips

Oreos

brownie mix (and everything listed on the box)

1/2 c hot fudge

2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
2 sticks (1 cup) of butter (softened but not melted)
3/4 c brown sugar
1 c sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 1/2 c flour

Preheat oven to 350F. Grab a 9x13 baking dish and line it with wax paper. Use nonstick spray to coat the wax paper (this is important!).

Mix together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl with a mixer. Add in the eggs and vanilla, and continue mixing until creamy.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking soda. Pour this mixture into the other and blend with mixer. Stir in the chocolate chips and spread the cookie dough on the bottom of your baking dish.

In another bowl, mix together the brownie mix and all ingredients that it calls for on the box. Add in 1/2 cup hot fudge (melt it a little so it mixes easily). Set aside.

Top the cookie mixture with Oreos. Pour the brownie batter over the Oreos.

Bake at 350F for 55-60 minutes.

I baked these last night, waited about 30 minutes for them to "cool", and then tried them. Honestly, I wasn't impressed. I started to wonder if I followed the recipe correctly, but I knew I had! So I waited until this morning and tried them again... WOW! World of difference! They are delicious (though very rich). When my friend served these, they were in very tiny portions - and for good reason. Let me know what you think of them!

Pizza Cupcakes

This would've been posted yesterday, but Blogger hates me. I know I said I was going to start posting healthy recipes. Compared to my chocolate cocoa earthquake cake, these are healthy. :) I used turkey pepperonis and low-fat cheese. Win.

You need:

biscuits (1 for each 'cupcake', so we used 18 for 5 of us)

pepperonis

shredded cheese

pizza sauce

Preheat oven according to biscuit packaging. Flatten biscuits in your hands and place into a greased cupcake/muffin tin just like with the hamburger cupcakes.

Add a pepperoni to each.

Add some cheese, a spoonful of pizza sauce, and another pepperoni.

Add some more cheese and bake until golden brown.

Our biscuits said 8-10 minutes but they took 15.

Yum. Need I say more?

Serve with fruit for a "balanced" meal. :) These cupcakes are simple, inexpensive, and delicious!! Let me know what you think when you try them out.

*Featured here.*

Best Mac Ever

I've been on a cooking and baking kick lately, but Gracelynn is so picky she usually just wants macaroni and cheese. So instead of getting the boxed stuff, I've been trying new recipes. This one is from a book called Down Home With the Neelys. I changed it just a little bit because we were missing a few ingredients.

I forgot to take a picture of all of the ingredients... if I make it again I will edit this post. Sorry!

You will need:

6 tablespoons butter
1 pound spiral pasta
1 cup flour
4 cups whole milk, warmed
1 t dry mustard powder
1 t salt
1/2 t cayenne pepper
pinch of nutmeg
dash of hot sauce
dash of worcestershire sauce
4 c grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/4 c white cheddar

Topping:

1 1/2 c crushed potato chips (we used BBQ)
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
bacon bits

Heat your oven to 375*F. Butter a 3 quart casserole dish.

Cook pasta until al dente.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Add the flour and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in the warmed milk and bring to a simmer. Whisk constantly to thicken.

Stir in the dry mustard, salt, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, hot sauce, and worcestershire sauce into the thickened milk. Stir in 3 cups on sharp cheddar and all of the white cheddar, until cheeses melt.

Add the cooked pasta to the cheese sauce and stir.

Pour the mixture into the casserole dish.

Make the topping (combine all topping ingredients in a bowl).

Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of cheese/noodle mixture, and then add the chip/bacon topping. Bake for 20 minutes. The book says 35 but ours burnt!!

This mac was very rich. The flavor was very different from anything I've baked before. If you don't have the spices on hand, this recipe can get very expensive (I paid $3 each for nutmet, cayenne, and mustard powder!) - but it is a great dish to take to a pot luck. You will definitely impress everyone. Let me know if you try it, and what you think!

Meatless Monday: Round-Up

To be honest, our meatless dishes are pretty boring. We've done baked mac & cheese and loaded baked potato soup, but really most of the things we eat aren't worth blogging about. Last week we had meatless spaghetti casserole. This week we are having egg 'cupcakes'. Nothing too special! So, this week I'm doing another round-up. I'm a pretty picky eater, especially when it comes to veggies, but I'm trying to be a little more daring when it comes to trying new foods. :)

Mushroom Rigatoni Bake

Veggie Fried Rice

Farfalle with creamy mushroom sauce

Roasted Veggie Sandwiches

Grilled Vegetable and Mozzarella Sandwiches

You can click here for 160 vegetarian dishes, here for 20 meatless dishes that will save you $$, or here for some great meatless recipes from a fellow blogger. Feel free to leave your own Meatless Monday links in the comments!

Help me out, which meatless recipes would you like me to blog about?

**Featured today: My Mary Kay Shop. Visit on Facebook, too!**

Marshmallow Brownies

Okay, so this one is super easy.

You just need: boxed brownie mix, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips (not pictured).

Grease/spray your 9x9 (or whatever size) pan. Preheat oven according to directions. Mix brownie mix, then bake until 15 minutes before your brownies are supposed to be done.

15 minutes before the time is up, add marshmallows,

and chocolate chips.

Finish baking. You can bake a little longer if you want the marshmallows to brown.

Grease/spray knife before attempting to cut. :)

This is best served warm with ice cream!! But it's great after it's completely cooled off, too.

Let me know what you think when you try it! And don't forget to check out my other recipes here.

Baked S'mores!

You will need:

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. sugar

1 stick butter at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon salt

7 graham cracker sheets

1 tsp baking powder

4 regular or 2 large Hershey's bars

1 egg

1 1/3 c. flour

1 cup marshmallow creme or 2 cups marshmallows

1 tsp vanilla extract

{Make graham crackers into crumbs, or use 1 cup already prepared crumbs. Grease 9x9 glass baking dish.}

Preheat oven to 350*F. Mix together wet ingredients (butter, egg, vanilla). Add sugar and brown sugar and set aside. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and graham cracker crumbs. Slowly add the second mixture to the first and mix with electric mixer.

Roll graham cracker mixture into a ball. Divide in half. Take the first half and press into the bottom of your greased 9x9 baking dish.

This is what it should look like when you're done.

Add Hershey's.

Sneak a bite of the leftovers. Shhhh.

Add marshmallows or marshmallow creme. We used cream but I recommend using mini marshmallows. I think it would taste much better!

Take the other half of the prepared graham cracker crust and roll it out flat. You can do this in pieces, in your hand, or you can flour your counter-top and attempt it there. :) I think I used a little more than half on the bottom so my top crust wasn't as pretty. :(

Bake at 350*F for 35 minutes, and let cool before cutting.

These would be great to take to a pot luck, BBQ, etc. They cut up into squares quite nicely. Try them and let me know what ya think.

I am going to add a marshmallow brownie recipe later today, and next week will be the last edition of Mouth Watering Wednesdays... I'm transitioning into healthier recipes after that. So enjoy these goodies while they last!