I {Heart} S’mores

I love summer, and what goes better with summer than s’mores.  There have been so many great s’more ideas floating around the blogosphere.  My favorite round up so far was posted by Lori over at Be Different . . . Act Normal.

My favorite link she shared, Chocolate Cake S’more Cookies by Picky Palate.  Yumm-o! 

I {Heart} Muddy Buddies

My favorite snack/treat to make . . . ever!  Muddy Buddies, Monkey Munch . . . Whatever you call it I LOVE IT!

Betty Crocker has an awesome tried and true recipe. 

 

 Muddy Buddies

9 cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

 

Note:  Especially delicious to eat while watching Project Runway, Bones, Lost, or Modern Family.  Ok go eat and enjoy.

Fondue: Eggless Cookie Dough

Have you ever tasted the goodness of fondue? It’s such a simple tasty treat. We love taking it parties and impressing all our friends. Ok, well impressing the same friends over and over, we don’t have that many friends! The possibilities of things you can dip in that chocolaty goodness are truly endless! One of my favorite things to dip is cookie dough. Take a minute . . . think about it . . . Genius right. I’ve tried a few different cookie dough options. I made my own chocolate chip cookie recipe and used that dough. I’ve used just plain and simple Pillsbury cookie dough, we always keep some in the fridge incase we need something quick. Both were good, but there were two problems. First neither stayed together very well when you skewered the balls, it always fell apart in the fondue pot. Second, I worried about the raw eggs. So my solutions, da dada daaa (trumpets blaring), this awesome egg free cookie dough recipe. It was originally used to make cookie dough truffles. But solved my two problems and is so delicious!

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour (*You may need more flour than this. I added about 1/4 cup more because the dough was a little too sticky.)
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
(Optional) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour, milk and vanilla; mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Shape into 1-in. balls; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Loosely cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until firm. (I put them in the freezer for about 40 minutes and that worked well, too. All about speed.)

So what do YOU like to dip in fondue?

Mint Shamrock Cupcakes

These ended up being my most successful St. Patrick’s Day project.  That was until my husband asked, “What are those supposed to be?  Flowers?”  “No shamrocks!  You know for St. Patrick’s Day!”

I found the recipe and idea at Pleasant Home, via Be Different . . . Act Normal

I started out with a boxed cake mix, a package of Fudge Grasshopper Cookies, and a can of chocolate frosting (but ended up using almost two cans), and white chocolate almond bark. 

Mix cake mix according to directions.  In each cupcake liner place one cookie, fill 1/4 full with batter. 

While cupcakes are cooking start making shamrocks.

 

 

I only had white chocolate almond bark on hand, which is not very St. Patricky, so I melted the chocolate and added some green food coloring.  Wha-la green chocolate!

To make my shamrocks I found some clipart online, printed it off and stuck it under some wax paper on a cookie sheet.  I need an outline, freehand scares me!  I filled a ziplock bag with the chocolate, snipped off the corner and piped away.  Note:  I have learned that the sandwich baggies do not work so great for using as a piping bag.  The freezer bags are much sturdier and won’t grow extra unwanted holes. 

 

 

 

After the cupcakes have cooled frost and top with shamrocks.  To frost I filled a ziplock bag with frosting.  This time I wanted something fancy.  First I reinforced the corner of one of the bags with a few pieces of packing tape.  Then snipped off a good portion of the corner.  Just using this would give me smooth swirlies, so I snipped a few zig zag triangles and ta-da cheap disposable fancy frosting bag. 

 

 

 

 

The results:  De-lish.  Got the husband and 18 month old stamp of approval.  The cookie in the bottom made a delightfully crispy little crust!

 

 

I used my Cricut to cut out some shamrocks, put a few on a plate with those chocolate gold coins, used some cellophane, added a tag and ribbon, and gave them to neighbors and the families that my husband and I home/visit teach. 

To Die For Hot Fudge

Fact: One of my favorite desserts of all time is brownies and ice cream.

The other night we were supposed to take the dessert to go with dinner at a friend’s house. Problem, we had been there done that with brownies and ice cream several times, and we wanted to bring something awesome so they would invite us back. Solution, when in a pickle I always turn to my trusted Blogging Idols.

I found this A-MAZ-ING Hot Fudge recipe (and it gets bonus points for being simple). It was a hit! We will be doomed to bringing dessert now forever.

To Die For Hot Fudge Sauce

1 can of Condensed Milk (like Eagle Brand) - Do not use evaporated Milk

1 stick of Butter

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 cup of Milk or Semi chocolate Chips.

Mix all ingredients together in saucepan over low heat, until melted and well blended.

Store remaining Hot Fudge in jar with lid, or well sealed container.

You can keep this in your fridge for many days. Simply warm when ready to use.

Seriously people. If you are not convinced head over to the mastermind behind it all. She just posted a new recipe today where she uses this same sauce on Hot Fudge Oreo Cupcakes. Maybe bringing dessert from now on won’t be so bad.