Ultimate Seven Layer Bars

These are bananas.  Hands down, the best Seven Layer Bars I've ever made.  I followed this recipe which includes all the normal ingredients from the familiar bars - chocolate, butterscotch, coconut, pecans, ooey, gooey sweetened condensed milk, etc - with one amazing variation.  Instead of a basic graham cracker crust, it's a graham cracker butterscotch cookie crust!  DID YOU HEAR ME?!  It's amazing.  This is the only picture I took before we ate the rest.  So much for gifting them to people!    

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White Chocolate Peppermint Candy Fudge

I love making fudge, especially during the holidays, but using a candy thermometer can be intimidating (remember this fudge fail?).  That's why I was excited to find a method that only uses your microwave!  I whipped this White Chocolate Fudge together in a matter of minutes and it's rich, creamy, and deliciously festive.  I followed this recipe but swapped the chocolate candy for peppermint M&M's, peppermint Kisses and chopped up candy canes.  Another great gift idea!  

*Note: to chop candy canes I place them, unwrapped, in a bag and use a hammer or meat tenderizer to smash them into pieces.  It's fun... a good stress reliever this time of year.

More fudge...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Bittersweet Chocolate Fudge with Sea Salt

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Cookie Butter Truffles

These Cookie Butter Truffles are absurd.  Absurd!!  I mean, first of all, Cookie Butter.  That's all, just... Cookie Butter.  Nothing else needs to be said.  Who invented this magical jar of goodness, because that person deserves a country named after them.  Or we could just call the country Cookie Butter, and I want to move to there.  Sorry this post is really getting away from me.  Probably because I've been staying up until midnight all week wrapping presents and then my baby wakes up at 5:45 which would be ILLEGAL ACTIVITY IN THE COUNTRY OF COOKIE BUTTER.  

Make these.  They are simple, require few ingredients, yield a crap load, will last forever in your fridge or freezer and make great gifts.  Recipe here and more truffle ideas below.

More truffles...

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

Nutella Truffles

White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Truffles

Cookie Dough Truffles

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Sea Salt Pumpkin Butter Cups

Halloween Candy season may be over, but Pumpkin has not gone out of style just yet.  I saw these online the other morning at 5AM because my 14 month-old is all, SCREW YOU TIME CHANGE, THIS FEELS LIKE 6AM STILL, and I realized I actually had everything I needed to make them!  Chocolate chips, pumpkin puree, almond butter, pumpkin pie spice and honey.  That's it.  A dark chocolate shell with a creamy pumpkin butter center.  Oh, and sea salt on top because chocolate can barely go without it these days.  They were easy to make and delicious (however I recommend popping them in the fridge to let the bottom chocolate harden before you add the filling and top).

Enjoy these.  Enjoy your weekends.  Enjoy your sleep if you're getting any (I hate you).    

Recipe here.

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Homemade Take 5 Bars

Are you ready for the best weekend ever?  A glutenous, guilt-free, indulgent weekend full of candy and costumes and sports??  At least that's the type of weekend I'm about to have.  I have my red cape and red lipstick all ready to go because I'm sorry, but I couldn't find a single non-slutty Little Red Riding Hood dress, so that's what I'm going with.  My Grandmother/Wolf, Hawkeye, Ariel and Elmo are very excited to trick-or-treat.  And last night I made these Homemade Take Five bars following this recipe, hence the beginning of the best weekend ever... because when you put peanut butter on pretzels and then caramel on top of that and then dip the whole thing in chocolate YOU WIN!

For more Homemade Halloween treats - like Butterfingers, Snickers, Almond Joys, Peanut Butter Cups and Peppermint Patties - click here.  For Baby Ruth Bars, click here.  Happy Halloween!

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Frozen Peanut Butter Banana

Carson came home from work the other day and was raving about this easy recipe: a banana, sliced in half, smothered in peanut butter and frozen.  What a great thing to keep in your freezer for a sweet, savory, healthy snack!  I, of course, would dip it in dark chocolate, maybe roll it in coconut... but I don't know when to stop.  You should make this, thanks Joy Bauer!    

Speaking of Carson, I wrote a little something about him for Father's Day here.  If you enjoy, please share, and vote, or better yet... join the site and write your OWN!    

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Dark Chocolate Ritz Bars

It has come to this.  I am writing this blog post in the parking lot of a Target.  I am about to enter the store, and wander around aimlessly for an hour, alone (every mom's Heaven on Earth).  In fact, I'm not even writing this.  I am dictating it to that idiot Siri, and she's doing it for me (sorry, Siri).

So anyways, I wanted to leave you this weekend with something indulgent, because that's what weekends are for, right?  And when a reader sent me a recipe that combined buttery, salty Ritz crackers with dark chocolate and sweetened condensed milk, I knew it was it.  She also made the genius decision to add peanut butter and I of course followed suit.  These are rich, sweet and salty bites of magic and you can make them in under 15 minutes. Happy Weekend!  And Happy Shopping Without Your Kids At Target to meeeeee. 

Recipe HERE.

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Bourbon Balls

Sorry for my lack of posts this week.  MY HOUSE IS FULL OF THE SICK.  That's right, The Sick.  I'm going to call it that, because it's so mighty it deserves it's own title, capital letters and all.  It started with one kid, and just as that kid showed signs of getting better, another kid went down.  The Sick likes to overlap, oh, and The Sick is many things.  It is a viral hacking/snotty nose in one kid, it is pinkeye in another, and a fever/barf in the last kid.  I'm calling them "kid" because I can't even remember their names.  I've lost it SO MUCH, in fact, that I threw out pinkeye kid's eye drops the other night, completely absentmindedly (which led to a night-long search ending in the dumpster).  

However!  We still managed to have a fun weekend celebrating the fight and the baseball and the hockey and the draft and the basketball and the Derby... which is where these Bourbon Balls came in (recipe here).  Oh, hello Bourbon!  These are not for kids (although maybe they would help sick kids?  Hmm...).  They are very bourbon-y.  But delicious.  And rich!  And did I mention the Bourbon?  (Recipe here.)

And finally... Carson and I are doing a cooking segment on the Today Show tomorrow!  It's a Mother's Day segment in honor of our mama's... tune in!

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Frozen Banana & PB Oat Bites

That's what I'm going with... Frozen Banana & PB Oat Bites.  I had no idea what to call these, because a more suitable name is probably Garbage Bites, but who wants to eat a bite of garbage??  I threw everything in these no-bake treats without any sort of direction (crispy cereal, coconut, honey, vanilla, mini chocolate chips and of course banana, peanut butter and oats - the 3 ingredients that actually made the title).  The combination tasted great, but when I realized they were a bit too mushy to eat at room temperature, I froze them.  Guess what?  They're delicious frozen!  And without any added sugar, I think they could also be called Frozen Banana & PB Breakfast Oat Bites, don't you?

Frozen Banana & PB Oat Bites

(Makes 30)

Printable Recipe

2 ripe bananas

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 1/2 cups crispy cereal

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1/4 cup sweetened coconut

1 cup mini chocolate chips

3 T honey (or agave nectar)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl, mash bananas completely.  Add peanut butter, and stir to combine.  Add the rest of the ingredients, and stir to combine.  Batter will be slightly messy.  Using lightly floured hands, roll into ping-pong sized balls, and place in a parchment lined tupperware.  Place in freezer for an hour or so, and then enjoy when desired!  (All the time.)

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Snacking Chocolate

I recently discovered that 'snacking chocolate' is a thing that exists in this world.  Now tell me... what is a more brilliant than taking wholesome foods like nuts, seeds, pretzels and coconut, covering them in dark chocolate, sprinkling them with sea salt and proclaiming to the world, eat this snack and feel good about it!?  I'll tell you what's more brilliant... saving some money and making your own.  It's basically chocolate bark... but if you call it 'snacking chocolate' it's much more acceptable to eat at various times throughout the day, like for a pre-breakfast snack and a mid-morning snack and a pre-lunch snack and then a post-lunch snack and a mid-day snack and so forth...

It's super easy to make.  Just scatter whatever you want on parchment paper, in my case pumpkin seeds and broken-up pretzel pieces...    

Melt good quality dark chocolate in the microwave for 30-second intervals.  Pour over snacks using a rubber spatula to spread (it won't be perfect, but that's the beauty of snacking chocolate!), and immediately sprinkle with sea salt (if desired)...

Let harden on counter or in fridge, and then break apart.  Snack away!

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Mini Chipwich's

I am exhausted.  Like, beyond.  I spend all night in my 7 month-old's room, trying to coax and nurse her tiny, teething body back to sleep (because she's all, HELL NO to this sleep training rubbish).  I spend all day negotiating with my 2 year-old who is on a very productive hunger strike... have one ITSY BITSY bite of food to MAKE MOMMY HAPPY BECAUSE MOMMY IS SAD (it doesn't work).  As I type this, I have asked my 6 year-old to go potty and get dressed for school 17 TIMES and I've even threatened that our neighbor with his scary dog will have to drive him if he misses the bus.  I'm exhausted.  There used to be room in my brain to think about food.  Now, I'll realize it's 10am and I haven't eaten a thing yet and I'll drive my minivan into the wall of a Starbucks and buy every breakfast sandwich they have.  I'm sooooo tired.  But, then I'll read an article like this one, and I'll laugh and ugly cry simultaneously, and I'll remember... these are the days I'm going to miss.

(And then I chant that over and over again like a lunatic)

So, until my brain regains some sense of normalcy, all I have for you are these Mini Chipwich's I brought to a dinner party last night (because an "adult dessert" is waaaaay beyond my comprehension right now).  I used this recipe for a "cafe-style" cookie, made them as small as I could, flattened them prior to baking, smushed some vanilla ice cream in between the cooled cookies and rolled the sides in mini chocolate chips.  I may be brain dead, but they were delicious.  

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Vanilla Snow Cream!

Is it snowing where you are?  Are you stuck at home with your kids because school was cancelled (again)?  STOP EVERYTHING YOU'RE DOING, go outside, scoop up some fresh (clean) snow and make Vanilla Snow Cream!  Ice cream made of snow!  It takes 3 ingredients!  You might not have sweetened condensed milk, in which case you might want to make a harrowing, 5 mph drive to your supermarket like I did, but it will be worth it.  Snow, vanilla extract and a can of sweetened condensed milk.  It's superb, I tell you, SUPERB!  Recipe here.  

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Oscar Party Ideas

If you're having an Oscar party this weekend, or you just want to make something festive for yourself, here are some ideas from my blog.  I haven't seen many of the movies, but if Julianne Moore doesn't win for Still Alice, I will throw things at my TV.  Have a great weekend!

Popcorn: 4 Ways

Parmesan and Herb Cheese Straws

Orange Sugar Cookies with Orange Icing

Buffalo Deviled Eggs

Parmesan and Herb Cheese Straws

Three Green Bites

Cocktails: 5 Ways

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Dipped Pretzels

Yes, Valentine's Day has come and gone... and these pink and red treats look like they should have been posted PRIOR to February 14th.  But, I don't do anything on time anymore soooo, there you have it.  When you have to put "shower!" on your to-do list, just like that with an exclamation mark, then you know you're not going to have your blog posts organized like the rest of the blogging world.  I'm sorry.  But only sort of sorry, because if you'd do me a favor and imagine that the candy melts are GREEN, then you could say I'm a month early for St. Patrick's Day treats!  I'm awesome!  

These are really easy to make and fun for children too (if you're okay with them looking extremely messy).  Simply melt candy melts (or chocolate) in a disposable decorating bag.  I do this in my microwave for 30 second intervals, massaging the bag in between each to help with the melting process.  This usually takes about one minute and thirty seconds... and make sure to fill the bag only 3/4 full so your candy doesn't ooze out.  Then, fold the top over a bit to make it easier to dip your pretzel.  Dip, twirl, let the excess drip off, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet... 

Decorate with more piping, sprinkles or mini chocolate chips!  Mmm, coconut would be yummy too. The possibilities are endless, just make sure to decorate quickly because the candy sets fast.

I found pretzel bags that made them very presentable and easy to travel with.

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Valentine's Day Treats

How are you celebrating Valentine's Day this weekend?  Are you going to eat chocolate?  Are you going to make heart-shaped pancakes?  Are you going to drag your sweetie to see Mr. Grey on the big screen?  However you celebrate, you should probably make some of the treats below, because that's what Anastasia Steele would do (I have no idea, I only read half of book one...) 

Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Nutella Truffles

Chocolate Raspberry Pie Pops

White Chocolate and Cherry Shortbread

Petites Pains au Chocolat

Pink Lemonade Cake Pops

Conversation Heart Cookies

White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Truffles

Chewy Reese's Chocolate Cookies

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cup

Luckily for me, Carson often comes home with the best recipes (as seen in this series).  It's easy to get in a rut when you have a food blog, so I always welcome new ideas, especially if they have to do with peanut butter, banana and chocolate.  OBVIOUSLY.  Now you know I'm not overly concerned with nutritional facts, especially when it comes to desserts, but these little guys are only 155 calories each.  I was Math Student of the Month once in Middle School so I know that means you can eat like 17 of them all at once.  No really!  Dark chocolate with a whipped peanut butter banana center, gah.  I've kept mine in the freezer, because they're delicious that way.  

You can find the recipe here or here.

*Tip: when putting the first layer of chocolate down, use a spoon to push it up on the sides, which will help your "cup" shape take form.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Sticks

What a week this has been!  Thank you for all the nice things you had to say about my Rachael Ray appearance.  I would love to go back, but I need your help!  Tell me if you've seen recipes online that baffle your little brain (just kidding... your brain is huge), particularly if they have to do with upcoming celebrations like the Super Bowl or Valentine's Day.  Ok?!  Ok.

I will leave you on this cold, snowy Friday with a messy treat that's fun for kids.  As you can hopefully tell from the photos, I let mine completely take over this project.  After all, it was my nearly-six-year-old's idea.  He said, mom, let's take pretzels and dip them in peanut butter and then chocolate.  I said, sure!  And so we did.  I melted some creamy peanut butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, just to make it easier to dip.  Then we dipped, placed them on parchment-lined baking sheets, and placed them in the fridge for about an hour to set.  After that, we melted chocolate chips (for 30-second intervals in the microwave, stirring in between) and dipped again!  Warning: this is messy.  But the kids loved it, and I took deep breaths and let go.  Let it GOOOOOO...     

Pajama sword fight!

More chocolate dipped pretzels.

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Holiday Baking Ideas

What are your plans this weekend?  Frantic holiday shopping?  Cocktail parties?  Baking up a storm? Well I can help you there, with a collection of ideas from my blog.  As far as the shopping... deep breaths, and as far as the cocktail party... a karaoke version of "Santa Baby" only seems like a good idea.  So, from top left moving clockwise... Merry Weekends!

Snowball Cookies

Peppermint Meringues

Homemade Almond Roca

Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Peppermint Marshmallows

Chewy Ginger Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Nutella Truffles

Homemade Hot Chocolate

Buckeyes

Andes Mint Brownies

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Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

Hello there, how were your weekends?  I was alone with my kids, so it felt approximately 17 days long.  Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to spot that big, yellow school bus this morning!  As I tend to do, I filled some of the time by making sweets.  There was a gingerbread house that turned into gingerbread wall cookies (our home could not stand the test of time).  And there were these Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles.  I found the recipe on the back of these Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips and you must, must, must try and find a bag or twelve...

They taste like creamy, white chocolate candy canes.  You could sprinkle them on top of cakes, bake them in cookies or just throw handfuls in your mouth.  OR, you could make these super easy and delicious truffles which make GREAT gifts.  Rich, minty dark chocolate inside a peppermint crunch coating is exactly what you need at the end of the day while you're wrapping presents, trust me.  

That, and a bottle of wine.  

Andes Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

(Makes 2 dozen)

Printable Recipe

1 cup whipping cream

8 oz. dark chocolate chips (at least 60% cocoa)

1 10 oz. pkg of Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips, reserve 1 cup for coating

Place dark chocolate chips and peppermint baking chips (reserving one cup) in a heatproof bowl.  In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil.  Turn off heat, and let sit for a minute.  Then pour half of the cream over the chocolate.  Let sit for 30 seconds, then whisk until smooth.  Pour remaining cream over chocolate and whisk again until smooth.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least an hour.  When ready to make truffles, remove bowl and let sit on counter for a few minutes.  Take a heaping teaspoon of the chocolate mixture, and roll between your palms (this will be messy), and then roll in reserved peppermint chips.  Let sit on parchment lined baking sheet in the fridge to set.  Place in airtight container to store.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

I'm all about making little trays of baked goods and treats for random people during the holidays.  Even if you have no idea what sort of likes and dislikes the person may have, it's a gesture that says, "Hey, Nice Lady At The Bagel Shop Where I Spend Way Too Much Money, you're nice, Happy Holidays!"  I tend to make things all December long, storing them in airtight containers in the fridge, so I can pull them out when someone like the Amazon delivery dude comes by (every, single, day).  Fudge is the perfect treat to make... it lasts for a long time and is very rich, therefore you can cut them in teeny, tiny pieces.  This Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge is sooooo good, and topped with sea salt?  I mean, the Amazon delivery dude might fall in love with you.  Which could be a problem, since he's at your house every, single, day.         

Recipe here.

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