Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

I made these tasty bars for a family gathering. I enjoyed them most when they were still warm but they were good the next day too. My husband really enjoyed these. I think it was because the ratio of batter to chocolate/peanutbutter chips was so low. Probably 1:1

Recipe Source

Ingredients:
1½ C flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ C brown sugar
¾ C peanut butter
½ C butter, at room temperature
½ C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C semisweet chocolate chips
1 C peanut butter chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with Pam. In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In large mixing bowl cream sugars, peanut butter, and butter. Add egg and vanilla until combined. On slow speed, mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Turn off mixer and fold in chips with a spatula. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Bake 16-20 minutes or until set.

No Molasses Gingerbread Men

 

      Every holiday season I find myself wanting to make gingerbread men. It is a conundrum because I don't really like the taste of gingerbread. I am not sure what it is but have suspected molasses is the culprit. Call me childish but I think the flavor is too strong. So when I found this recipe for gingerbread men that did not call for molasses, I had to try it. I was very pleased with the result. It is a mild gingerbread cookie with a very kid-friendly taste while still reminding me of Christmas. And I got to decorate cute gingerbread men!

Recipe Source

Ingredients:

1 (3.5 oz) package butterscotch pudding mix

½ C butter

½ C brown sugar

1 egg

1 ½ C flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

 

Directions:

 In a medium bowl, cream butterscotch mix, butter, and brown sugar. Stir in the egg. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover and chill until firm (1 hour).

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets. On a floured board, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into desired shape. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.

I used regular cake icing in a plastic bag to pipe on the decorations.

Ranch Dressing

 

       Just a warning before you make this: YOU WILL NEVER GO BACK. This is amazing homemade ranch dressing. Don't make it unless you want to never be satisfied with the Hidden Valley stuff again. So yummy! Credit goes to my sister Katie for the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 C. Mayo
1 1/4 C. Buttermilk
1/2 TBS onion powder
1/2 TBS Accent (you can omit if you don't have)
1/2 TBS garlic salt
1/2 TBS pepper
1/2 TBS parsley flakes
1/2 tsp onion salt (note that's 1/2 teaspoon!! Don't put too much in or it will be gross)

Directions:

Mix together and enjoy. You can half the recipe if you don't go through ranch dressing very fast.

Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie

YUMMMM!!! This is an amazing cookie. I had purchased about a cup of unsweetened shredded coconut from the bulk bins at my local grocery store. I had been planning on blending it up to make coconut butter as I had seen from several online sources. However, my blender was clearly not powerful enough for the said transformation. I did not want the coconut to go to waste so I began looking for a cookie recipe.

I found this recipe and was a little skeptical because there was no picture. And the recipe called for oil instead of butter, making it sound more like a muffin recipe than a cookie one. Add to all this that I do not particularly care for a strong coconut flavor and I am surprised I even tried it. But I am soo glad I did. This might be my new favorite cookie recipe. I kid you not, the dough is to die for. Maybe even better than plain chocolate chip cookie dough (if that is even possible). I think next time I might even fore-go the chocolate chips because this cookie has enough flavor and texture without them.

The dough was a little crumbly when I was scooping it out to put on the cookie sheet. I ended up using my hands to press the balls together. But the cookies came out moist and chewy. Please try this recipe if you ever find yourself with some shredded coconut! I only baked up a dozen cookies and saved the rest as dough to eat or bake later. However, I am pretty confident that I could have made 30 cookies total from the recipe.

Ingredients 
1 1/4 C oatmeal 
1 C flour 
1/2 C sugar 
1/2 C brown sugar 
1 C. flake coconut (mine was blended up into really small pieces) 
1/2 C. chocolate chips (I consider this optional) 
1/2 tsp. baking soda 
1/2 tsp. salt 
1/2 C oil 
1 egg 
1 tsp. vanilla 


Directions
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then mix in egg, oil, and vanilla. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 12 to 15 minutes.

Dairy Free Banana "Ice Cream"

I have been on a dairy free diet for about two months now since my nursing baby is sensitive to the protein in cow's milk. One thing I have missed the most is ice cream. There really is just no substitute for the cold creamy texture and delicious flavor.

I found this recipe on a vegan website and decided it was worth a try. I kept my expectations low so that might have influence how successful I think this recipe was. It was the closest to "ice cream" that I have managed to come in my weeks of experimentation (and I have tried several things). It was very cold and the texture was great (thick and creamy). I ate it right out of the mixer! If they sold banana flavored ice cream (do they?) this would be it. I think next time I make it I will experiment with different mix-ins to try to tone down the banana flavor...I might try adding some strawberries! Maybe some cocoa powder (1/2 Tbs) to make it chocolate...

Anyway, this one is worth a try even if you can eat ice cream. I think it is a fairly healthy alternative (think a serving a fruit instead of cream) and quite tasty to boot!

Ingredients: (Makes 1 serving)
1 frozen banana
1 tsp almond milk (or regular milk)
1/4 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 Tbs peanut butter
chocolate chips, if desired (or other mix in)

Directions:
Cut the frozen banana into small slices and place in small food processor. Add milk, vanilla, and salt. Pulse until broken into small pieces. Add peanut butter and chocolate chips or any other flavoring. Pulse until smooth and creamy. Enjoy!

If you try it, let me know what mix ins you used!

Pumpkin Muffin Doughnut Holes

While Pumpkin Muffin Doughnut Holes is a long name for a recipe, I like to know what I am dealing with from the beginning. It is fall and so I am making a lot of pumpkin foods lately. I have been wanting to try these for a while but never got around to it until today. As I ate them I was wondering why I had waited so long. These were AMAZING! They were so delicious that I couldn't stop myself before I ate *six* of them. They definitely satisfied my doughnut craving and were so much easier than doughnuts - no deep frying!

I adapted the recipe from here. Sorry for the weird measurements again. I halved the recipe and still easily got 2 dozen doughnut holes.

Ingredients:

Scant 3/4 C Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Allspice

1/6 C Vegetable Oil

1/4 C  Brown Sugar

1/2 Egg

1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

scant 1/2 C canned Plain Pumpkin Puree

1/4 cup Milk

Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

3-4 Tbs melted butter

1/4 C of cinnamon sugar mixture

Directions:

In a medium bowl stir together first six ingredients. In a larger bowl, whisk oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Pour dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed. Spoon into a greased mini-muffin tin. Cook at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean.

Let rest two minutes before dipping.

While the muffins are baking, melt your butter in one bowl and create a cinnamon sugar mix in another. When the muffins are cool enough to handle, dip in butter and then in cinnamon sugar mix to coat. 

I did some calculations and each muffin is about 40 calories if you don't dip them. If you dip them (and I highly recommend you do) you are looking at closer to 60 calories a piece. So go ahead, eat a couple!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I have been on a breakfast food kick lately. Today I made these pumpkin pancakes and was blown away with how good they were. These were some of the fluffiest pancakes I have ever had. I think the secret is in the egg-white step. The recipe said to beat the egg whites until they were stiff. I did not want to dirty my electric mixer because this recipe had already used up several bowls (I don't like dishes). So I just whipped them by hand until they were frothy. I think it worked great though because the pancakes were delicious.

I used soy milk and vegan butter because I am on a dairy-free diet but I am sure it would taste just as delicious (or even more so) with the "real" stuff.

My only complaint: it was a bit of work for just 8 pancakes. I will probably double the recipe next time and freeze the leftovers so I can enjoy them for many days!

Original recipe here.

Ingredients:

1/4 C flour
1/4 C whole wheat flour
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C milk
1/2 C pumpkin puree
2 large eggs, separated
2 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla

*I mixed my own pumpkin pie spice: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp ground allspice. Makes 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.

Directions:
In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, butter and vanilla until smooth. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones until just combined. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold in to batter.

Cook 1/4 cup scoops of batter. Makes 8 pancakes. Serve with butter and cinnamon.