Butterfinger cake batter truffles

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Butterfinger cake batter truffles

These are so good, melt in your mouth delicious. They are also super easy. you can switch up the cake mix, the candy bar, coat in chocolate, whatever you want! This recipe can be made to look very decadent (think red velvet cake + white chocolate coating) or very fun (funfetti + sprinkles). what else might be fun? Lemon cake mix + poppy seeds + white chocolate coating, or carrot cake mix + walnuts +white chocolate chips. coat in powdered sugar, throw in nuts, really its up to you!

Ingredients:
1 Cup yellow Cake Mix
1/4 Cup + 1 Tbs sweet and condensed milk
1 Tbs vanilla
Chopped Butterfingers

Directions:
1.Combine Cake mix, and sweet and condensed milk in a large bowl. Add in candy bars. Mix.
2. shape into 1" balls.
3........ you're done. Seriously. thats it.

Enjoy!

Butterfinger Cheesecake Cookie Brownies

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Butterfinger Cheesecake Cookie Brownies

Overwhelming. Really and truly these combine a bunch of fabulous goodies into one over the top treat with hints of all your favorites that come together to create a new favorite. This recipe is simple. Shockingly simple for the flavor outcome. Basically your going to make a brownie layer. throw in some butterfinger chunks, and blobs of cookie dough and dump a cheesecake layer on top of that. you stick all that in the oven, and while it looks like slop when it goes in, it comes out at this beautiful mouth watering bar that you just cant stop eating.

warning: be prepared for a sugar high.

Ingredients:
1 box fudge brownie mix + ingredients required for mix
1 Bag of funsize butterfingers, chopped into large chunks
1 bag chocolate chip cookie mix+ required ingredients
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1Tbs Vanilla

Directions:
1. Line a 9x13 inch baking dish with parchment or foil. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix Brownies according to directions and pour into baking dish. be sure to spread them evenly along the bottom of the pan- it will be a thin layer.
3. Mix cookies according to directions on package as well. Drop balls of dough over brownie layer, dispersing the mix as much as possible.
4. Chop butter fingers into large pieces. Fill in cookie dough layer with Butterfinger pieces until brownie layer is covered in either cookie dough or butterfingers.
5. Cream sugar, egg, vanilla, and cream cheese until mixed and fluffy. Mixture will be runny. Pour the mixture over the rest of the bars.
6. Put in the over for about 45 mins. When edges firm, and pull away from the side of the pan, and a toothpick comes out of the middle clean the bars are done. The top will be slightly browned and soft set.
7. Allow to cool and cut into bars.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cookie Cups

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Lemon cookie cups

I admit that this recipe is very simple and very store bought. That being said, they are also very good. I think people often think that cake mixes, or store bought items are "cheating". Well I say that's just silly. We all cut corners all the time; I don't raise or butcher my own chicken, do you? I am a busy woman and I think mixes can be great and convenient and very original if you know how to use them. That's my two cents on that though. By all means though, if you have a recipe you love and have the time for in place of whatever mixes I use, go for it. Baking and cooking have basic rules and ratios that make things work, but creating something new is all about trying new combinations and variations.

So anyway, I made these for a friend who loves lemon, and was entertaining guests. They are simple and small enough to be out out as something to serve with appetizers or other snacks without it being a full blown dessert. I adapted 'cake mix cookies' for this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 box lemon cake mix (any brand)
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 can lemon frosting (or whipped topping)

you'll need a mini muffin tin and liners.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini muffin tin  with liners.
2. Mix cake mix with eggs, and oil. Spoon cake mix into mini muffin tins. The dough will be thick- think cookie dough consistency. cups should only be about half full (so about 1/2 inch balls of the dough).
3. Bake cookie dough in muffin tins for about 12-15 minutes. Do not overcook these, but be sure they have cooked long enough or you will not have a solid cookie cup to put the frosting into.
4. When the cookies have baked and are still warm, they will look like mini muffins rather than cookies, use your thumb (be careful, they are hot!) or a cooking utensil to push the middles of the cookies down. this will be where you put your frosting.
5. Allow cookie cups to cool in baking tin a few minutes and them remove, setting them on a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Once totally cooled, put a dollop of frosting into the center of each cookie cup. I did this by putting the frosting into a plastic sandwich bag and cutting the bag to create a piping bag.
7. Chill until ready to serve to ensure the frosting does not lose its shape.

Other ideas? fill the cookie cups with lemon pie filling, strawberry jam, cream cheese frosting, or cool whip and top with lemon zest and powdered sugar. Be creative!

Enjoy!

White Chocolate Brownies

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White Chocolate Brownies

Honestly, I don't consider myself a lover of brownies. I love bars though, and if there is a brownie that is similar to a bar, I love it. I think it stems from always having overcooked and dried out brownies from a box at bake sales and other events as a kid. Anyway, I have never really got into the brownie. I saw this recipe though and was fascinated. I love dark chocolate, but white chocolate? A white chocolate brownie? Intriguing. Chocolate is chocolate though, white or dark, so I decided to give this a try. Maybe this would be the recipe to change my view of brownies.

All in all I thought it was pretty darn good. Everyone else thought they were pretty darn good too. Be sure not to cook them too long of they will be drier and have less of a "white chocolate" flavor.

Also- I was baking for a crowd and doubled the recipe and it doubles very easily.






Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces white chocolate
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8 baking dish (or 9x13 if you are doubling the recipe) with parchment paper. You can also grease and flour the pan if you like, but I had chancing brownies sticking to the bottom of the pan. 
2. Beat eggs, and sugar until well mixed and slightly thick and fluffy. 
3. Melt half of the chocolate chips and the butter. I did this in the microwave- being sure to do this very slowly because white chocolate burns even more quickly than milk or dark chocolate. Stir frequently and only heat enough to melt the chocolate chips. Once the white chocolate melts, stir in the rest of the white chocolate and stir until completely smooth and melted. 
4. Add the white chocolate and butter mixture to the egg and sugar mixture. Add in the flour and vanilla. Stir until well incorporated. Add in semisweet chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into prepared baking dish. The batter will be a little bit firm and may require a spatula to evenly spread in the pan. 
6. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center and the top is slightly browned. 
7. Allow to cool completely before cutting. 

Enjoy!

sweet and salty butterscotch bars

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Sweet and Salty Butterscotch Bars

As my blog is titled, I am an experimental baker. I could probably find a version of what I would like to make somewhere on the web, but who's to say their recipe is better than something I could come up with, and who has the time for endless web searches anyway? I sure don't. Plus, its more fun to come up with something on my own. So thats what this recipe is. It is a creation which I threw together and may or may not be very similar to something someone else has made. I have no idea however since I didn't go searching the web for something like this.

Anyway, I wanted to make something, and I was too lazy to go out in the cold and wind and rain to get other ingredients. That limited me to what I had on hand. which was quite a bit to be honest, but again.. I was feeling lazy. So I wanted something relatively simple. I ended up going with bars because everyone loves bars, and because you make one batch and you're done. Easy!

Note that when making these you want the cookie base to cook through without over baking but it still needs to be firm enough to be the base for the bars. this is a fine line, but use your best judgement. this is one of the few times i'd say to error on the side of over baking because if you under bake the bars, those in the middle will end up doughy and not be able to be picked up or support the next layer. which ends up being very upsetting. and then you're left with a bunch of bars that can't be picked up properly from the pan and require a fork just to get them out of the pan, so then you just start eating bites of the bars with a fork, and then you eat the whole pan. Then you're fat, you have no bars, and you are still upset they didn't turn out. I have obviously been through this before; take my advice and bake them a few more minutes if you're unsure if they are done.

Ingredients:
1 box double chocolate chunk cookie mix. (I used a chocolate cookie with chocolate chunks in it)
-all ingredients required for that particular mix
1 large jar jet puff marshmallow creme
1 bag butterscotch chips
about 24 pretzels (I used squares, but circles would work)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or whatever your particular mix says to use)
2. line a 9x13 inch baking dish with parchment paper. press the cookie mix into the bottom of the pan until even. note: the layer will appear very thin. trust me-it will rise when it bakes and it will be ok. it gets better. trust. bake the cookie layer about 20-25 minutes or until the edges pull away from the side of the dish and the middle is soft set and a tooth pick comes out clean.
3. Allow the cookie layer to cool; while that cools, warm (do not melt) the marshmallow creme. spread the creme over the cookie layer.
4. In a separate dish, microwave the butterscotch chips for 45 seconds, stir, and then repeat microwaving for 15 seconds and stirring until all chips are melted. pour melted butterscotch chips over the marshmallow layer.
5. Press a pretzel on top of what would be an individual bar (i.e. 4 rows with 6 pretzels each). you could also use chopped up pretzels on top and have a more liberal amount of pretzels.
6. Cool bars in the refrigerator. Cut into individual squares.

Enjoy!

Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie? I am constantly on the search for good cookie recipes. Cookies in general are great. They are shareable, convenient, fun, delicious, and the dough usually is pretty good too. I will say that I have made some bad chocolate chip cookies in my day. It drives me nuts when the dough is really thin and the cookie spreads so much that the cookie is a flattened translucent looking patty. I am also so inconsolably upset when that happens. This recipe does NOT do that. and it makes a pretty good cookie.


Original Recipe: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/06/21/thick-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons  flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips. milk chocolate chips will result in a sweeter cookie overall. 

Directions: 

1. preheat oven to 325 degrees. line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

2. Mix dry ingredients expect sugar together- baking soda, salt, flour

3. Mix wet ingredients-butter, egg, vanilla, etc with sugars. beat with a hand mixer until mixed. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. 

4. Stir in chocolate chips of your choice. 

5. Form 1.5 inch balls of dough. place on pan evenly and bake for 15-20 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE! 

The trick to a chewy cookie- which is my favorite kind, is to take them out when the edges brown and the middle is sort of soft set. Take the cookies out when you see this and then allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes after removal from the oven so that the bottoms can continue to cook enough to create a cookie that is solid enough to be picked up but that won't be hard all the way through. 

Note that this recipe doubles well- thats what I did. and if you double the recipe, you're able to freeze extra dough and then thaw and bake it later...OR eat it in ice cream.. I'm not judging. 

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

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Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

I have been working. A lot. This is my excuse for not blogging my baking lately. I have been baking but I have been so wound up in getting my baked goods out of the house -so I don't stuff my face with them, that I havent done adequate blogging. Not a good excuse- but the truth.


So anyway, when I finally got around to baking and even better- actually blogging about it this was the result: deliciousness. I wanted to make something "autumnal" cause well.. it's autumn. I love the fall. The smells, the flavors, the scarfs and football. Really and truely, the only thing I dislike about the fall is that it means winter is that much closer. I'm a summer baby, and me and winter are not on good terms. Never have been, never will be. The fall however is a perfect time to embrace the chill and the flavors of the season. In this case, its apples. Apple cider is warm and comforting and a classic.

These cookies are really simple to make but are packed with fall flavor. Feel free to play around with the amount of cinnamon, cider mix, caramel, really its up to you. Enjoy the season, enjoy the apples and enjoy the cookies!

Original Recipe: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/11/caramel-apple-cider-cookies.html

Ingredients:
1 cup crisco (butter flavor) - or you can use 1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (7.4 oz) box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix (10 packets)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 (14 ounce) bag of Kraft chewy caramels (I didnt need all of them)

Directions:
1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Beat together crisco, sugar, eggs, salt, vanilla, and stir in the 10 packets of cider mix.
3. Add in the remaining ingredients- not the caramel though!
4. Once ingredients are well mixed, take 1" balls of the dough and form into "patty" shape. Place an unwrapped caramel in the middle and wrap the dough around the caramel on all sides. An alternative method is to form a ball with the dough and press your thumb into the dough  making a large hole, and placing the caramel inside and then enclosing the dough around the caramel. Either method will yield the same results. Essentially you want to get the caramel in the middle of a ball of dough. The balls of dough will appear large, but do not spread much.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. smaller cookies with less dough will need less time than this. I dont recommend using too much dough or you will end up with a cookie that has caramel in the middle but a lot of excess 'cookie' around the edges and will get bites without caramel stuffing. ya know what I'm saying? If you use too much dough, you'll know what I'm saying. Bake the cookies until the edges begin to brown. the middles may look slightly undone. These cookies do not brown very much so a brown cookie is a burnt cookie.
6. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet in order to ensure that the bottom is not too soft and you won't lose your chunk of caramel. --this is when using enough dough comes in handy: using too LITTLE dough can result in the caramel 'leaking through' the dough and onto your baking sheet.
7. Allow cookies to complete cooling on wax paper or cooling rack.

These are awesome as is, or you can really make them visually appealing by melting caramel over the tops (or dipping the bottoms ?!), or sprinkling with cinnamon (although they have quite a bit of flavor).

Hopefully you enjoy the season as much as I do.


Enjoy!!

Frosted Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

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Peanut Butter + Cocoa Krispies

So this recipe is similar to a previous post for Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats, but this one is a little different- both with the cereal, and the more traditional marshmallow aspect. Oh and the spectacular peanut butter frosting. Last minute I had to pull together a dessert for a BBQ. It was a family thing, so I wanted something kid friendly and fast. what is more classic than the peanut butter and chocolate combo? In my opinion its a fairly kid friendly choice, and rice krispie treats are quick. Use whatever plain (or only lightly sweetened) cereal you have on hand. I had cheerios and I wanted to finish up my cocoa krispies, grab some peanut butter, and your set. If you have frosting on hand, you can make a peanut butter frosting topping to go on top- which was ALMOST too much. But I don't think you can have too much peanut butter. Therefore I loved it. Any everyone else thought they were pretty darn good too.

Ingredients:

6 cups cereal (I used 3 cups cocoa krispies + 3 cups cheerios)
1 package marshmallows
3/4 cup peanut butter (I always end up using about 3/4 of the jar- which im sure is more than called for but I love peanut butter and I hate when you pour it over the cereal and realize you dont have enough pb/mallow to cover it all)
3 Tbs butter
1 Tbs vanilla

peanut butter topping (optional):
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup cream cheese frosting - or vanilla if you prefer
Mini chocolate chips for garnish (or mini peanut butter cups or peanuts)

Directions:
1. Line a 9x 13 inch baking dish with wax paper or foil and set aside
2. In a large sauce pan melt marshmallows, 3/4 cup peanut butter, vanilla and butter. stir repeatedly until smooth.
3. Quickly stir in cereal(s) of choice, and gently toss until coated. Dump cereal mixture into the lined baking dish. allow to cool
4. In a medium sized bowl, mix the 1 cup peanut butter with the 1/2 cup frosting. the mixture will be thick. Spread the frosting over the cooled bars. Sprinkle with chocolate chips or other topping of choice.
5. Cut the bars into squares.

Enjoy!

Churro Chex Mix

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Churro Chex Mix

Ingredients:
12 cups rice Chex cereal
1 package cinnamon chips1/2 cup butter or margarine1 cups powdered sugar1/2 granulated sugar3 teaspoons cinnamon


Directions:
1. In a large bowl put all your chex cereal. I mixed half rice chex and half wheat. whatever you have is fine, and I'm sure this would work with other cereal as well such as rice krispies or plain cheerios. 
2. place sugar, powdered sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl, mix and set aside.

3. In a microwave safe dish, melt the butter and cinnamon chips on high for 45 seconds and then every 15, stirring in between. microwaving chocolate chips (in this case cinnamon) is risky business because you can easily burn the chocolate if they aren't stirred repeatedly. 
4. pour the melted butter/cinnamon chip mixture over the cereal and gently stir until all the cereal is coated. 
5. while the cereal is still warm, sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture over the cereal, and continue to stir until coated. spread on a baking sheet lined with wax paper to cool. store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Drooling? Because I know I was while I made these. And after I made them. And every time I think about them. Basically, they are amazing. There's really no need for me to go into detail about the chewy brownie layer that is fudgey and the perfect cookie dough that feels sinful even though it doesn't have egg. Describing the combination of chocolate and cookie dough that comes together to make a soft chewy bar that is heavenly would be pointless because you really can't imagine how amazing this bar is. Now, if you intend to make these, gather your self control and wipe the drool from your chin before you begin.

original recipe:http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/07/21/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-brownies/

Ingredients:
¾ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups milk chocolate chips


1 Box of your favorite brownie mix + ingredients called for (or your favorite recipe)- I used Betty Crocker Supreme Brownie Mix

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 350. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper to cover all edges. Mix brownie mix as directed, and bake 25-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from the center. 
2. Mix together all other ingredients together forming cookie dough.
3. Allow the brownie layer to cool completely. Then layer the cookie dough on top. I did this by making cookie dough patties and then pressing them onto the brownie layer and filling in the holes as needed until the whole brownie layer was covered by a layer of cookie dough. 
4. Allow to sit and cool, the layers will compress a bit and become this dense bar that is spectacular. Cut when cool, and store in air tight container, and for a firmer bar, store in the fridge. 


Enjoy!

Cheese Cake Stuffed Red Velvet Cupcakes

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Cheese Cake Stuffed Red Velvet Cupcakes

I will be honest, I don't love cake. I never have. Unless its cake batter, or ice cream cake, or with layers of fudge or something ridiculously rich, cake just doesn't do it for me. I had some requests for red velvet cake though. And I always deliver. In comes the cupcake. Cute. Convenient. Yummy- if you like cake. Seeing as how I require something insane to up the yum factor of cake I stuffed these plain jane cupcakes with cheese cake, and WALLAH! I approve of these cupcakes, even though they are cake.

I also admit, i used some boxes for the recipe. If you have recipes for either cheese cake or red velvet cake that you are fond of, by all means, use them, and assemble the cupcakes in the same way. I just don't make cake often, so I don't have any particular recipes I like.

Ingredients
1 box red velvet cake mix + the ingredients required to make the cake
1 6 inch store bought cheese cake-with or without crust (I used one with a graham cracker crust)
1 Can cream cheese frosting, or a recipe enough to cover 24 cupcakes

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with baking liners, or grease with butter.
2. Mix cake mix and required ingredients as directed. Spoon batter into each cup about till about 1/3 full.
3. Using a spoon or cookie dropper, drop 1 inch balls of prepared cheese cake into center of cupcake tins.
4. Spoon additional cake batter over cheese cake until muffin tins are about 2/3's full or cheesecake is covered.
5. Bake approx 20 minutes, or as directed by the box mix/ recipe you are using for the cake. Allow to cool and frost if you'd like. I used cream cheese frosting.

Yield: about 24 cupcakes

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Krispie Bars

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Peanut Butter chocolate krispie Bars

These are super easy, kid friendly classic bars that can be made with plain or cocoa krispies and likely any other cereal you have on hand as long as it goes with peanut butter (chex, cheerios, smacks, quaker squares). These bars are also very good with chocolate topping.
original recipe:
http://www.ricekrispies.com/en_US/recipes/peanut-butter-treats.html#/en_US/recipes/peanut-butter-bars

Ingredients: 
1 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3 Tbs butter
1cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 Tbs milk
1/2 Tbs vanilla
3 1/2 cups cocoa krispies

optional: 1 cup milk chocolate chips; melted and drizzled on top

Directions:
1. in a large bowl cream butter and peanut butter, then add in milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Blend until well mixed and fluffy.
2. pour in cocoa krispies, stir until evenly coated.
3. dump mixture into lined 8 x 8 baking dish, and refrigerate for about an hour. cut into even pieces.

Enjoy!

Browned Butter & Candied Bacon Cereal Bars

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Browned Butter & Candied Bacon Cereal Bars

Mostly this recipe intrigued me. I saw it and wondered how bacon would taste in a cereal bar; would it be bacony? or salty? Honestly, they are neither. Imagine a cereal bar, but a little nuttier tasting, a little more caramel flavored, less sugary. The bacon adds a bit of warmth and sweetness to the bar without it being too sugary. The bacon is candied so it isn't salty like bacon typically is.

The original can be found at:
http://www.bettycrocker.com/community/blogs/viewblog/andiblog/2010/7/19/twin-cities-bacon-takedown


Ingredients:


1 lb bacon
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (no substitutions)
1 1/2 bags (10 oz each) marshmallows
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt
6 cups rice Chex® cereal
6 cups corn Chex® cereal

Directions:


1. Heat oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil. Place bacon on pan in single layer. Sprinkle with half of the brown sugar. Bake 9 to 11 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Turn bacon over, sprinkle with remaining brown sugar. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until bacon is crisp and sugar is melted. Allow bacon to cool, and then chop finely. if you didnt bake your bacon long enough it may be a little sticky, and that's ok, just be sure that it is chopped well. it may take some time. 


2. In large saucepan melt butter on medium heat, stirring frequently until it turns golden brown and begins to smell nutty. if you are prone to burning your butter rather than browning it- which is very easy to do- just add the marshmallows while the butter is melted. As the marshmallows melt, the butter is likely to brown some on its own anyway. 


3. Add in marshmallows, stir until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, salt and finely chopped candied bacon until well mixed. Gently stir in cereal, until well coated.


4. Pour Mixture into 13x9-inch glass baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Wet your hands slightly with water or butter and press the mixture evenly into the pan. Cool completely. Cut into Squares.


Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip S'more Cookie Bars

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Chocolate Chip S'more Cookie Bars

Chocolate chips are a classic. S'mores are a classic. Combine the two, and you have created a masterpiece that satisfies that craving for home baked goodness. Admittedly, I cheated a little and used a packaged cookie mix. I know, I know, they are not that good and all that. But, I wanted to bake and I'm all about convenience. So, essentially you're going to layer cookie dough, then s'more ingredients, then cookie dough.

Ingredients:
1 Package premade chocolate chip cookie dough (either the break and bake, or a pouch mix, whatever you prefer- Or feel free to use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe)
15 large marshmellows
10 graham crackers
5 hershey's chocolate bars- optional. I omitted these because I was trying to curb the sweetness because I was making this for someone without much of a sweet tooth. however.. I think they would be WAY better with this ingredient. If you're on the fence about using it, I say use the chocolate! You can never have too much for my taste.

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. line an 8 x 8 baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Mix your prepackaged dough according to the directions, or make your recipe. If you are using premade dough, you dont need to do anything.
3. when you have your dough, take half (enough for 12-15 cookies) and line the bottom of your lined baking dish with it. it will be thin and difficult to spread. Remember that cookies inflate when baked so the layer won't be as thin in the final product as it is when it's still dough.
4. layer the graham crackers on top of the dough, do not break them unless you need to do so to make them fit.
5. using a microwave safe dish, put your marshmallows in the microwave for about 45 seconds or until they have puffed up and are able to be stirred into a cream. (you could probably use marshmallow creme for this as well, but I have not tried it)
6. spread the melted marshmallows onto the graham cracker layer.
7. layer the chocolate bars on top of the marshmallows.
8. layer another layer graham crackers on top of the chocolate.
9. finally, spread the remaining chocolate chip cookie dough over the top of the grahams. This makes for a very thick looking bar, but they bake down a bit.
10. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and soft set.
11. allow to cool completely, and then cut.

Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Caramel Mocha Bread

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Double Chocolate Caramel Mocha Bread

Original Recipe: http://www.shugarysweets.com/2012/06/triple-chocolate-caramel-butterscotch.html

This bread is rich, indulgent, and decadent. The best part is, its also easy! I love butterscotch as much as the next person, but the deep dark chocolate flavor of the bread is so reminiscent of a mocha- which I LOVE- that I  went the coffee route because coffee and chocolate are the loves of my life. 

Ingredients: 

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup boiling water - I microwaved the water for a few minutes for the same effect
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk chocolate morsels
Milk chocolate morsels/ semi sweet/ dark chocolate/white - enough to cover the top of the loaf (about 1 cup depending on how packed you like it)

 1 Duncan Hines frosting creations frosting starter + one packet mocha flavoring (for duncan hines frosting) + one packet caramel flavoring (for duncan hines frosting)

Directions: 
1. In mixing bowl beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs. Beat in vanilla, greek yogurt and water. Slowly add flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Mix completely. stir in 1 cup milk chocolate morsels.

2.Grease the loaf pan, or if you prefer, you can make cupcakes with this as well. I did 3 mini loaves. Pour batter into pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 60-65 minutes. If you're doing this in cupcakes or something other than a single loaf pan be sure to check the bread after about 45 minutes, less for cupcakes. poking the center of the bread (or cupcakes) with a tooth pick will tell you when they are done. The tooth pick should come out clean. 

3.Allow to cool in loaf pan about 10 minutes. Remove to wire rack and cool COMPLETELY.

4. Mix flavor packets into frosting starter, and spread over loaves or cupcakes. Press the remaining chocolate chips (of whatever flavor you decided- I did milk chocolate) onto the frosting. Store in air tight container. 

Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Scones

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Carrot Cake Scones

Adapted from: http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/carrot-cake-scones

Typically scones are dry, these however are not. They are moist just like carrot cake would be, so if you're looking for a more traditional scone, these may not be what you're looking for. That being said, they are very good, lots of flavor, and convenient.

Also, this is one of those recipes where you need to read through it first. I made the mistake of not doing that, and adding baking powder at the wrong spot and ended up having to play around and kinda guess how to remedy the mistake. It worked out pretty good, and I fully advocate experimenting in cooking and baking- obviously, but it needs to be more of an educated guess as to how it will all work out. So in the original recipe, you have to add the Baking Soda to the greek yogurt and have it "poof" or fluff up. I added to the dry ingredients. stupid. But then I also added it to the greek yogurt so it went poof. Baking soda is meant to make the thinks you bake get more airy, so I knew having extra would allow me to add more wet ingredients, or heavy ingredients. I love a very carrot-y flavor, so I added an extra 1/4 cup of carrots, and 2 Tbs honey to the original recipe and they turned out very moist and delicious. The take home message though is read through recipes prior to diving head first into it.

Ingredients: 

1 cup of Greek yogurt
1 tsp baking soda (into greek yogurt) + 1 tsp into dry ingredients
4 cups of flour
1 cup of white sugar
1 cup of raisins- optional, I used chocolate covered raisins and they were good too
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup of cold margarine or butter
1 egg
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves


Directions: 


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or cooking spray.
2. Mix together all dry ingredients, including spices, flour, sugar, baking powder and 1 tsp of baking soda.
3. Cut in the cold butter- make sure it is cold- into the dry ingredients. Do this by slicing the butter in small chunks into the dry ingredients.
4. in separate bowl mix together the 1 cup of greek yogurt with the other tsp of baking soda, and stir so that it beings to 'poof'. Next beat the egg and add it to the greek yogurt. Add the Mixture to the dry ingredients, and then add the honey. 
5. mix dough. This will be tough, so I just used my hands, since the dough is pretty thick. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 mins to 1 hour. This part isn't totally necessary, but I think it helps the scones to hold their crisp clean edges when baking. 
6. cut the dough into 3 large sections, pat each third into a large ball and flatten into a pancake like shape, and cut each round into 6 pieces. Place the pieces on the baking sheet and bake for approximately 20 minutes. 
7. allow to cool completely (i'm impatient and didn't and my frosting melted) and then frost or ice. Cream cheese frosting goes very well with these, or if your not a frosting person, sprinkling with cinnamon sugar about 3 minutes before coming out of the oven would be good too. 

Makes 18 large scones. 


Enjoy!