Chocolate Crumb Bars

I know you can here the birds chirping here at the blog but if I told you everything that was going on in our world you would totally understand the silence.  I haven't even photographed anything in the last two weeks.  That's how busy I've been.  But hopefully I'll get to reveal the reason for my absence soon.  It's super exciting and a dream come true!

Now, let's talk about these bars.  Yes, another bar recipe.  I have a thing for them.  Especially when chocolate is involved and in this recipe chocolate is a must.  These were very easy to make and didn't take me very long at all to put together.  Take some to your neighbor!

Chocolate Crumb Bars

1 cup or 2 sticks cold butter

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

Mix butter in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in flour, sugar and salt until crumbly. With floured fingers, press 2 cups crumb mixture onto bottom of prepared baking pan; reserve remaining mixture. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Combine 1 cup morsels and sweetened condensed milk in a small, heavy-duty saucepan. Warm over low heat, stirring until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Spread over hot crust.

Stir nuts and remaining morsels into reserved crumb mixture.  I think I had less than a cup left but it turned out fine.  Sprinkle over chocolate filling. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cut into bars once cool.

Source:  Very Best Baking

K Bars

Peanut butter, chocolate, and butterscotch all meld together in this crunchy cereal bar!

Back in the day when I was a college student I was involved in the Baptist Student Ministry.  Many great memories came from there.  It was, and still is, staffed with the most wonderful secretary you could ever know, Mrs. Barbara Raines.  She is a classic lady and this recipe is straight from her recipe box.  I can still remember how wonderful it tasted back then and I'm so glad the recipe hasn't gotten lost.  This is a no bake recipe and is easily mixed together over the stove.  It has the perfect combination of crunchy and sweet tastiness!

Sack it up and take some to your neighbors!

K Bars
(click for printable)

1 cup sugar
1 cup karo syrup
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
4 cups Special K cereal
6 oz. butterscotch chips
3 oz. chocolate chips

Bring to a boil sugar and karo syrup.  Take off burner and add in crunch peanut butter.  Then gently mix in cereal.  Butter a 9x13 dish and spread cereal mixture in it.  Then melt butterscotch chips and chocolate chips together and spread over top.  Cut into squares and put in refrigerator for 30 minutes for icing to set.  Don't leave in longer than this as it will be too hard.

Source:  Mrs. Barbara Raines

Vanilla Cupcakes

Rich buttery cupcakes topped with cream cheese icing!

In my quest to get this "food photography" thing right, I'm discovering how much patience is truly involved.  When it comes to destroying the kitchen baking up a storm, I can easily conquer that.  But photographing what I made?  That's a whole other level.  It's stressful and fun at the same time. 

So let's be honest about this recipe.  It was denser than what I was expecting.  Korey liked it and said it would be good as a cake.  I decided to skip the buttercream frosting and try cream cheese.  Mine turned out runny.  FAIL.  Never had that happen.  I think because I used Neufchatel.  I was going to pipe this on but it just wouldn't cooperate.  So instead I ended up smearing it on with a spoon.  So these are kinda pretty in my book.  :)  They are redeemed by the cute sprinkles and cupcake liners.

Vanilla Cupcakes

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg yolks , room temperature
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil liners.

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

3. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from tin and transfer to wire rack; cool cupcakes to room temperature before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
 
1 stick unsalted butter
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
4 cups powdered sugar
Tinted with gel food coloring

Mix all together in a stand mixer on medium speed until creamy.  Store unused portions in airtight container.
 
Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Gingersnaps

Comfort food in dessert form!  Warm, spicy, crispy gingersnaps.

I needed an excuse to use more of the molasses I still had on hand from one of my previous recipes.  Shirley Corriher's Bake Wise cookbook came to the resuce.  Even though I haven't read through all of it yet, I will say I feverishly studied the cookie section and can declare a better understanding of how to make my cookie recipes better.  So much better in fact that Korey frequently asks me to make cookies for him and when I roll my eyes he said it's my fault for making such good cookies.  Sigh and smile!

The perfect after school snack!

Gingersnaps

2 cups sugar, divided
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 T ground ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg

Beat 1 3/4 cups of sugar and all of butter until fluffy.  Slowly add in molasses with mixer on low.  Then add in egg and beat until mixed in with mixer on low.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Slowly add in dry ingredients to wet ingredients with mixer on low.  Cover dough with saran wrap pressing down on top of the dough in the bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350.  Place remaining 1/4 cup sugar in small bowl.  Remove dough from fridge after it's chilled and roll into one inch balls.  Roll each dough ball into sugar.  Bake for about 10 minutes or when edges start to brown.  After a couple of minutes cooling on the baking sheet, move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Source:  BakeWise

Rocky Road Bars

Yummy, gooey, comforting bars made from chocolate chip cookies, marshmallows, and nuts.

I first saw this recipe in the newspaper a few years ago and it sounded easy and delicious so I cut it out and saved it.  I remember making it for my coworkers when I first found the recipe and the bars disappeared fast.

They have been in my mind to make and so I finally got a moment to try these out.  I made a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough using only one cup of chocolate chips in the mix.  I was out of nuts otherwise, these would have been even extra delicious with walnuts on top.  They are best when they are still warm as the marshmallows will still be soft.  Dive in!

Rocky Road Bars
(click for printable)

1 pkg refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough or homemade batch
1 cup choc chips
1 cup marshmallows
1/2 cup nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350.  Press dough into brownie pan.  Bake about 28 min.  Remove pan from oven and sprinkle with 1/2 cup choc chips.  When they start to melt spread them out with a knife.  Then sprinkle marshmallows, remaining choc chips, and nuts.  Return to oven for 5 more min until marshmallows start to puff.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Cut into bars.

Peanut Butter Heart Cookies

Need a quick Valentine's dessert?  These are two ingredient cookies!

I had seen this floating around on Pinterest...using Dove heart-shaped chocolates with peanut butter cookie dough to make cookies.  I decided to take it one step further and use my heart-shaped cookie cutter on the dough.  Super simple and tasty!

Peanut Butter Heart Cookies

1 batch of peanut butter cookie dough or store bought
1 pkg Dove heart-shaped chocolates
Heart-shaped cookie cutters

Preheat oven to 350.  Pinch a ball of dough and press flat on a greased cookie sheet.  Press cookie cutter over it and tear off the edges.  Repeat until all the dough is used.  Bake for 10-12 min or according to package directions.  Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate into the center of the cookie.  Let cool and enjoy!

Frozen Nutella Pie

No bake Nutella pie that is cold and creamy like ice cream and simple enough to make that I must tell you about it.

I recently discovered the amazingness of Nutella.  When I spent a summer in Australia it was popular there.  But for whatever reason I never tried it.  It's popular here in the US, too.  Even though I've seen commercials about it I still hadn't tried it.  Just a couple of weeks ago I purchased a jar.  I spread it on toast for breakfast.  It was way too sweet for my breakfast tastebuds so I put it aside.

Then one evening I was craving chocolate.  My eye spotted animal crackers in the pantry and I decided I needed to dip them in Nutella.  Korey found me out and joined me in my discovery.  Together we enjoyed the awesomeness of "cracktella."

But then something bad happened.  I decided I needed to get rid of the Nutella in my house because it was too good to keep around.  "Aha," I thought.  I'll make a pie with it.  But not just any pie.  A no bake, frozen pie.  How could I resist?

Frozen Nutella Pie
(click for printable)

1 graham cracker pie crust
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 to 1 cup Nutella
8 oz Cool Whip
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk

Beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy.  Then beat in nutella and powdered sugar.  Slowly add in milk blending thoroughly.  Fold in cool whip with spatula.  Pour into pie crust and freeze for two hours.

Oatmeal Bars

These bars have four layers...an oatmeal shortbread crust, chocolate, caramel, and topped off with another layer of oatmeal shortbread mix that results in a crumbly topping. These are melt-in-your-mouth divine. So divine in fact that I was tempted to eat one for breakfast one morning. After all, it did have oats in it but I refrained. Only until lunch.


Korey and I recently attended a gathering of his friends that was potluck-style.  I brought lasagna.  Well, really Korey did because he made it from start to finish.  It's his specialty.

The true food winner, in my mind...er mouth, was the dessert made by our hostess.  It was a bar layered with oats, caramel and chocolate.  I love bar desserts.  I knew I had to make these soon! 

The next weekend I dug through my recipe box and found a similar recipe I had stashed away and had been wanting to try.  It just so happened that it resembled what I had tasted the previous weekend.

I'm so glad that I split half of the pan with my parents because who knows how many we would have eaten in just a short time.

Oatmeal Bars

(click for printable)

1 pkg caramel bits (in baking aisle)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups oats
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter, cut into pieces
1 pkg chocolate chips

Melt caramels and milk in pan over low heat for 5 min stirring until the caramels are melted and the milk mixed in.  Let cool.  Stir oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt together.  Using a pastry cutter or fork, blend in the butter pieces until the mixture is crumbly.  Press half of mixture into lined 9x13 pan.  I used parchment paper.  Foil would also work.  Bake at 350 for 20 min.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips and then pour the caramel mixture over the chocolate.  Top with the remaining oat crumble mixture and bake in the oven for another 20-25 min.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Lift out from the pan and cut into squares.

Carrot Cake in a Jar

My Pinterest obsession has led me to the discovery of using jars as serving dishes.  For Hunter's half birthday, I decided to make him a cake in a jar.  I thought this might be difficult and I fretted over putting a glass jar in the oven, but after all, I needn't worry because you bake pies in a glass pan all the time.

I found this method to be quite simple because you just pour the batter in the jar, bake it, and then when it's cooled enough to be frosted there is no neatness required for icing the cake.  (I confess to not being the world's best cake decorator.)  I just spooned some icing on top and voila I was done!

Carrot Cake in a Jar

Cake:

4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots

Icing:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  In a mixing bowl, beat together eggs, oil, and sugar.  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly mix in with the wet ingredients.  With the mixer on low, add in the carrots until blended.

Pour batter into glass canning jars** (without the lids), filling halfway since it will rise, and bake for 40 min.  Mix ingredients for icing together on medium speed until creamy.

Remove jars from the oven and attach the lids.  This will seal in the moisture as they cool.  Once jars are cooled, remove the lids and spoon icing over the top.  Serve and enjoy!

**I used 16oz canning jars which I purchased at Target.  I have also seen these at Albertson's.

Cake recipe adapted from Allrecipes

Banana Crumb Muffins

Another recipe with a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture included!  I've decided that the topping on these reminds me yet again of a donut.  I'm addicted to this flavor, I tell you.

I had intended to make Banana Bread for a friend but as I flipped through my recipe box I found this recipe.  Banana muffins with a crumb topping.  Yes, please!

While all sorts of sickness has hit our house this week, I did not get to deliver these but have selfishly enjoyed them for breakfast every day.  I added oats to these to make these more healthy and I increased the amount of cinnamon because I'm a huge fan of the spice.

Banana Crumb Muffins
(click for printable)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oats (optional)
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 T ground cinnamon (you can reduce the amount)
1 tablespoon butter

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salts and oats together in a bowl.  Then in a separate bowl mix bananas, sugars, egg, and butter until creamy.  Combine the wet with the dry ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour into greased muffin pan or a muffin pan lined with cupcake papers. 

Mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle over the batter.  Bake at 375 for 18 minutes.

Adapted from Allrecipes

Apple Crisp Pie

I took advantage of the fact that ice cream and apples were on sale and I decided to make Apple Crisp.  But then I realized I had pie crust in my freezer, so Apple Crisp Pie was born.

I made this very rustic...no skinned apples and no gooey pie filling.  Just simple baked apples with an oatmeal crumble topping.  Yum!

 

Apple Crisp Pie

(click for printable)

1 frozen pie crust

4-5 sliced apples (I used Granny Smith)

1/2 cup sugar

1 T flour

1 T cinnamon

1/4 cup water

Topping: (Next time I will double this!)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup softened butter

1/2 cup oats

Preheat oven to 350.  After pie crust has thawed, unroll and press into pie pan.  Combine sliced apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, and water.  Pour into pie crust.  Mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle over the top of the pie.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.  Serve warm topped with ice cream!

Honeybun Cake

This is one of my absolute favorite cakes made with a cake mix.  While I try to keep my cakes made from scratch, I make the exception with this recipe.  This is so moist, and best of all, it tastes just like a donut to me because of the glaze.  The cinnamon and brown sugar filling will remind you of a cinnamon roll.

You can have it for breakfast or dessert!

This is also a simple stir and bake recipe.  I didn't even use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this.



Honeybun Cake by kSk



Honeybun Cake

(click for printable)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 container (8 oz) sour cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk

 In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients by hand or using an electric mixer on low.  Once everything is well combined, pour HALF of the batter in a greased, 9x13 glass pan.  Combine brown sugar and cinnamon together in a separate bowl and then sprinkle over the bottom layer of batter.  Pour remaining batter over the top and spread it out with a knife.  Bake for 45 min at 350.  Mix one cup of powdered sugar with the milk and pour over the cake once it's done cooking, while still warm.
 
**I only had 3 eggs at the time so I increased the amount of vegetable oil to compensate for the missing egg.  The original recipe calls for four eggs and less oil.
 
Adapted from Betty Crocker

Saltine Cracker Toffee

I simply call this Toffee in my book because I haven't yet attempted to make real toffee with a candy thermometer.  The surprising ingredient is saltine crackers.  Really?  Yes, crackers.  It's the perfect combination of sweet and salty.  It also makes the perfect gift for neighbors for Christmas or an easy dessert that everyone will love.

I've seen this floating around the internet for awhile but I like to think that my sister and I discovered it first.  This is my go-to recipe every Christmas.

This recipe is not complicated but it does require you to babysit it while it's in the oven lest it burn.  And burnt toffee is not good.  Bleh. 

I first lined a baking sheet with foil that overlaps the edges and laid out saltine crackers on it.  If there's an inch of space left in your pan that won't hold a whole cracker you can cut a cracker in half with a serrated knife and finish lining your pan.

I then microwaved one cup of butter and brown sugar until they melted.

Then stir, stir, stir it all up until it's one color.  I used a whisk for this.  Stir, stir, stir, I tell you!

Then you pour your butter/sugar mixture over the top of the crackers and spread it thin with a knife so that every cracker is covered.  No cracker left behind!

Then you place it in the oven for FIVE MINUTES at 350.  It will start to bubble and turn light golden brown.  Don't walk away and let your oven keep beeping.  Take them out at the buzzer!  This is what they look like after they came out of the oven.  I used a knife to push the crackers back into line.

Then I dumped a bag of peanut butter and chocolate chips (the combo one) over the top.  Since the pan is super hot the chips started to melt so I spread them out with a knife.  I could have used an offset spatula for this but I forgot to tell Santa I needed one.  Once the chocolate was spread out I sprinkled crushed pecans on top and pressed them down with a piece of foil.  This is less messy than using your hands.  Trust me on this one.

Freeze or refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, maybe an hour.  Then peel the foil off FIRST before you break the sheet into pieces.  And voila!  You have toffee!

I like to keep mine in the freezer and pull it out when I need something sweet to munch on.

Bag it up and hand it to your neighbors!

Saltine Cracker Toffee

(click for printable)

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 sleeve of saltine crackers

1 bag of peanut butter/chocolate chips

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Line a large baking sheet with foil that overlaps the edges. Line the foil with saltine crackers. Melt butter and brown sugar together in the microwave for 30 second increments until both are melted. Using a whisk, stir the two together until it is all one color. Pour over the saltine crackers. Bake for 5 minutes until light golden brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top and spread with a knife. Sprinkles with pecans, pushing them down with a piece of foil on top. Remove the foil and refrigerate the whole pan until firm. Once chilled, peel off the foil from the back and break into pieces.

White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

If you still need a holiday recipe then try these!  A combination of molasses, spices, and white chocolate all rolled up into a simple cookie.  These were absolutely DIVINE!  My first thought in comparing it with a flavor was that it reminded me of a cinnamon roll followed by the taste of gingerbread.  I am definitely keeping these in my recipe book!

A combination of late-night internet surfing and a need to make something for an upcoming Christmas party led to this find.  And I knew I had to make these because cookies are my specialty!

White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies by kSk


There were no extra steps or waiting time for these.  I just put all the ingredients into my Kitchen Aid mixer and let it go to work.  I did debate about whether or not to add an extra egg but in the end I went with the recipe as it suggested.  I think next time I will add two eggs and adjust the recipe around that.

Korey mentioned he wanted to eat these topped with whipped cream.  Yum! I thought these were best right out of the oven.  I typically like to wait for a cookie to cool down but these were even better warm.


White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies by kSk



White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

(click for printable)

1 cup shortening


1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup molasses

2 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 package white chocolate chips



In a large bowl, mix shortening and brown sugar until creamy.  Slowly add in an egg until it's mixed in.  While the mixer is running on low speed pour in the molasses. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients.  Stir in white chocolate chips. Using a large ice cream scooper, scoop out on onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let them sit on the baking sheet for a minute longer and then using a spatula move them to wire racks to cool.
 
Adapted from Hanging on by a Needle and Thread

Peanut Butter Cookies

Korey asked for Peanut Butter cookies last week so I obliged.  I asked him if he wanted me to add chocolate chips.  He said no.  He wanted simple peanut butter cookies.

I strongly recommend refrigerating the dough once it's mixed.  Otherwise, your cookies will spread and be huge.  I used my large ice cream scooper to scoop out the dough and once I saw how big they turned out I had to reduce the size.  Drastically!

Grab a glass of milk and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies

(click for printable)

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars together on low speed.  Add in eggs one at at time until well blended.  In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients.  Slowly add those to the wet ingredients at low speed.  Place a layer of plastic wrap over the top of the dough in the bowl and refrigerate for one hour.  Scoop out enough dough and roll into balls and place on your baking sheet.  Use the back of a fork to press down.  This will make the criss-crossed lines in the dough.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

This made a lot of dough so I decided to save the rest.  You can freeze whatever amount you don't want to use.  Scoop out the remaining dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap.  Bring up the bottom layer over the top and form it into a log.  Wrap it up and freeze.  Then when you want to use the dough you can "slice and bake."

PB Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today is Wednesday and you need a cookie to get through the rest of the week. 

Oh, that's just me?

The good news is that these are good.  As in moist with every sweet thing you like to eat all rolled up into a cookie.  The bad news is that these are gone.  As in we ate them all.  We would have had more but we decided to share them with someone.

Speaking of sharing with someone, I like to be nice like that.  And when I do decide to share, I have to find the PERFECT recipe.  Something they wouldn't normally eat that would just wow their tastebuds.  (Darn the need to be perfect!)  When I saw this recipe I knew it was a winner!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The only changes I made were to double it because we like to make our cookies BIG.

Peanut Butter S'mores

Who says you have to use Hershey bars to make s'mores?  Not me!  For all those peanut butter lovers out there this is the perfect, simple dessert!

I came up with this a couple of years ago when I was craving dessert but didn't have any chocolate chips on hand.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has put this together.  If you like peanut butter and are a fan of s'mores then this is for you.

Dig out your leftover Halloween candy and let's get started.

Here I have graham crackers, Reese's PB cups, and marshmallows (which happen to be stuck together).

I then stacked one Reese's PB cup and a blob (or Tablespoon) of marshmallows in between two graham cracker squares.  I heated mine up in the microwave for about 25 seconds but you could also broil or toast these.

If you like to keep your PB cups in the freezer like we do then let them sit out for a few minutes so they will melt well once you cook the s'more.

Chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallows, and graham crackers, amen!


Peanut Butter S'mores by kSk



Peanut Butter S'mores

(click for printable)

1 sheet of graham crackers
1 T marshmallows
1 Reese's PB cup
Break cracker sheet in half to make two squares. Stack marshmallows and one PB cup in the middle. Place another graham cracker on top. Heat in microwave for about 25 seconds until marshmallows start to expand. You can also toast these for the same amount of time.

Pink Salad

In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month I decided to share one of our favorite family recipes.  We call it Pink Salad and it's a concoction of cherry pie filling, cool whip and some other yummy ingredients!  We serve it at every holiday meal and it's a family tradition.

The recipe we use calls for canned pineapple but since I forgot to take my list with me to the store I forgot to buy it.  So we'll just pretend that there is crushed pineapple in this photo.

It's a simple recipe that doesn't even require a mixer.  All you do is stir the ingredients together and you are left with this beautiful dessert!

Pink Salad by KSK

Pink Salad 

(click for printable recipe)

 

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can cherry pie filling

1 can crused pineapple, drained

1 cup of marshmallows

1 cup of chopped pecans, optional

8-12 oz Cool Whip

Mix all ingredients together and top with pecans or stir them in.  Refrigerate and enjoy!

Caramel Pecan Brownies - The Condensed Version

Grab your favorite brownie recipe or mix and get to mixing! Mine is done on the stove because it's super-fudgy!

Melt one bag of caramels with 1/3 cup of evaporated milk in the microwave. Don't burn it!

Chop up some pecans...as many as you want. I wished I had done more.

Pour HALF of the brownie mix into the pan and bake for HALF the time you need to. Once you remove it from the oven (you don't need to wait for it to cool) pour the caramel liquidy goodness over the bottom half and sprinkle with pecans. Then take the remaining HALF of the brownie mix and plop it, yes I said plop it, over the caramel pecan layer. It will look clumpy but will spread when baked. Bake for the remaining HALF of the time needed. Remove from the oven and let them cool and voila! You have gooey caramel pecan brownies. I tested these out on my coworkers and they were a hit. Dee-lish!

How to Make a Cookie Monster

Every year for my dad's birthday instead of making him a cake, I make him a cookie monster. I learned how to do make this while I was living in Thailand from my supervisor. He did his in a cast iron skillet but mine was looking kind of rusty so I used a pie pan. If you've ever had one of those hot cookies served in a skillet at a restaurant with stuff piled on top...well this is the same thing.

First, comes the cookie dough. I make mine from scratch but you could get away with using storebought. Press it into a pie pan or cast iron skillet and bake at 350 for about 20-25 min. We don't like crispy cookies in our family so I settle on this time limit to still have the slightly underdone effect.

Next, you want to add scoops of vanilla ice cream or the flavor of your choice while the cookie is still hot. You have to get the hot-cold contrast in order for it to have maximum flavor.

Spray whipped cream on top. Go ahead. Don't be scared. Pile it on.

Chocolate syrup! Yum!! Drizzle that stuff on.

We always add pecans in our family. Everyone is a nut lover.

Finally, you add cherries! I don't eat these but they add color. And taste for those of you that like them. Isn't it pretty!

Then you show it to the birthday boy to see what he thinks about it.

Since Thailand, being an Asian country, is very community-oriented no one gets their own dessert here. You all share. Grab a spoon!

1, 2, 3..GO!

And the joy of it, after the 30 seconds it took for 6 people to devour it, is that you only ate with a spoon while you were fighting other people's hands so calories consumed are MINIMAL.

P.S. Thanks go to my sister for being the hand model/assembler demonstrator.