Praline King Cake

I hit the jackpot with this one, it was PERFECT! Now I did cheat a little, using a boxed dough mix. But the filling was homemade and the end result was just delicious!

1 box of Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix all ingredients except for butter. Slowly add butter until the mixture is crumbly.

Icing:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
dash vanilla extract
water as needed

Mix all ingredients, adding water as needed. You want the icing to be thin enough to drizzle on the cake, but not too thin that it won't stick to the cake. You can add water if too thick, or more confectioners sugar if too thin.

Colored Sugar:
1 cup sugar, divided into 4 parts
4 different food colorings

Put 2 drops of food coloring into the sugar and stir until well blended.


For the dough:
Make dough according to box. After kneading, let rise for about 30 minutes.
On a well floured surface, roll dough out into a rectangle.
Spread the filling evenly all over the dough, leaving about a half an inch from the sides.
Slowly roll up the dough, starting with the widest end. Roll up as tight as possible, like a jelly roll. Make sure your surface was well floured, or the dough will stick.
Place roll on a well greased baking sheet. Form into a ring and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour.
Cook at 375 for 15-20 minutes, until brown on the outside. Remove the cake and brush with a bit of melted butter.
Immediately ice the cake, and top with colored sugars.

Peanut Butter Cornflake Balls

What's not to love about sugar, peanut butter and cereal? These are super easy and super yummy!

1 1/2 cups light Karo syrup
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
5 cups Cornflakes or Rice Krispies

Melt the Karo Syrup and sugar on the stove until dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. When creamy and smooth, mix in with cereal. Form into balls and place on greased pan (or wax paper). They will harden quickly. Enjoy!

Strawberry Crepes

Crepes:
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt

Beat eggs, add flour. Slowly add other ingredients and beat until smooth. Grease a skillet with cooking spray and add about 1/4 a cup of batter. Swirl the pan around quickly to spread the batter. Cook until the edges start to crisp, then flip.

Filling:
1 block of cream cheese, softened
1 pint strawberries
1/4 cup sugar

Chop about 6 of the strawberries into small pieces. Mix with the cream cheese and add sugar.

Put a spoonful of the filling into each crepe and roll tightly. Place seam side down and top with whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (Reese's Cake)

I made this for my brother-in-law's birthday this past weekend. I didn't eat any, but everyone said it was delicious! The hardest part was not eating all of the Reese's Cups as I made it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Source: Amber's Delectable Delights

For the cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional)

For decorating
1 ½ – 2 batches peanut butter frosting
Miniature Reese’s cups, halved and/or chopped (I put them in the freezer for about half an hour to make it easier to cut)

Directions
1. For the cake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Butter two 9×2” round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Place the pans on a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter. Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, if using, folding it in with a spatula. Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans. 4. Bake for 26-30 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and start to pull away from the sides of the pans. Transfer to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
5. To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cardboard circle covered in foil. Spread peanut butter frosting on top of the cake layer. (If desired, sprinkle with chopped Reese’s cups.) Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting. Frost the top and outside of the cake with remaining peanut butter frosting. Decorate with halved and chopped Reese’s cups as desired.

Strawberry Pie

I look forward to the spring for 2 reasons--boiled crawfish and strawberries! This pie is so quick and easy to make. I'm not sure where the recpie originated, but my mom has been using it for years.

Ingredients:
2 pints fresh strawberries
6 ounces water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
10 ounces Sprite
1 small strawberry Jell-O
1 cup sugar
Cool Whip
12 mini graham cracker crusts or 2 baked pie shells

Cook water, Sprite, sugar and cornstarch until thick and clear. Add Jell-O and cook a few mor minutes. Slice strawberries and place them in crusts. Poor liquid mixture over strawberries, let chill. Top with Cool Whip.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

I actually made this for Thanksgiving, but just ran across the picture I took. The recipe came from the Hershey's website and I followed it exactly, only adding a few mini chocolate chips on top.

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING(recipe follows)

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

I added about 1/2 a cup of mini chocolate chips on top.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: Joy the Baker

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup peanut butter- crunchy or smooth, but not natural
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips, whatever kind you have on hand
1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling cookies

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 350 degrees F . Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for a minute or two, until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and beat for another minute. Add the sugars and beat for 3 minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and, on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they just disappear. Mix in the chocolate chips. You’ll have a soft a pliable dough.
Pour the 1/2 cup sugar into a small bowl. Working with a level tablespoonful of dough for each cookie, roll the dough between your palms into balls and drop the balls, a couple at a time, into the sugar. Roll the balls around in the sugar to coat them, then place on the backing sheet, leaving 2 inches between them. Dip the tines of the fork in the sugar and press the tines against each ball first in one direction and then in a perpendicular direction- you should have a flattened rough of dough with crisscross indentations.

Bake the dough for 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and from front to back at the midway point. When done, the cookies will be lightly colored and still be a little soft. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a minute before transferring them to a cooling rack. Cool to room temperature.
Repeat with the remaining dough, making sure to cool the baking sheets between batches.

The Chewy

I love these cookies. They always come out so soft and chewy (hence the name!). I doubled the recipe because I wanted to send some to daycare with my daughter to share with her friends. I think it's important to use real butter and not margarine. I tried using margarine once and it just wasn't the same. Source: Alton Brown

2 sticks unsalted butter (I used salted)

2 1/4 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt (I cut back to 1/2 teaspoons since my butter was salted)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of mini Reeses Pieces)

Hardware: Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact) (I didn't use this, just regular spoons)

Parchment paper

Baking sheets

Mixer

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside. Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Since I did a double batch, I always put the dough back in the fridge between batches.

Monkey Munch

One of my favorite show is Jon and Kate Plus 8, a reality show about a couple that has a set of twins and sextuplets. She served this to her kids recently and it sounded delicious! It was easy to make and is goooddd!

The recipe came from the Chex website. They call it Muddy Buddies, but I like Kate's name of Monkey Munch better.

9 cups Chex® cereal (any variety) (I used rice)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla (totally forgot to add this)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation Directions:
1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, stir together chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. (forgot the vanilla, but it was still good) 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.

Stove-Top Directions: Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside. In 1-quart saucepan, heat chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

HERSHEY'S Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

This was not the best chocolate chip cookie we've ever had. I didn't have a lot of special ingredients on hand, so this was what I was able to make. I added the m&m's on my own. It was ok, but I think I will be looking for a new recipe next time I want to make something like this again.

That hasn't stopped DH from eating half of it though....

HERSHEY'S Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-2/3 cups HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips, HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, HERSHEY'S Mini Chips Semi-Sweet Chocolate or HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Chips

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 12-inch metal pizza pan with foil.

2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in medium bowl until fluffy; add egg, beating well. Stir together flour and baking soda; stir into mixture with chocolate chips. (This is where I added one small bag of m&m's) Spread batter evenly in prepared pan, spreading to 1-inch from edge.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly brown and set. (20 minutes is WAY too long, I cooked it for 13 before taking it out) Cool completely; carefully lift cookie from pan and remove foil. Decorate as desired; cut into wedges to serve. 8 to 10 servings.

Bread Pudding with Amaretto Sauce

OMG, this stuff was so good. I had a loaf of regular white bread that was about to go bad in the pantry, and I knew I wanted to make bread pudding with it. I had to search for a while to find a recipe that used just plain white bread, but this one was a winner. Recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/.

INGREDIENTS
6 slices day-old bread
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional) (I didn't use any)
4 eggs, beaten (I will probably just use 3 next time)
2 cups milk (I used one cup of milk and one cup of half-and-half)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. (I accidently added the butter with all of the other ingredients, but it still turned out well) If desired, sprinkle with raisins. (no raisins for me)
In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

The only liquor we have is Amaretto and Crown Royal. I found this recipe for Amaretto sauce and it was divine. It has quite a bit of sugar in the sauce alone, but you really don't need much of the sauce. Even after it sat for a little while, I was able to whisk it for a minute and it came back together nicely.

Amaretto sauce

INGREDIENTS
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 egg well beaten
1/4 cup amaretto Liqueur

DIRECTIONS
Stir the sugar and butter on top of double boiler, set over simmering water, until butter melts, sugar dissolves and mixture is very hot. remove from over water and whisk in the egg. Continue whisking until cooled to room temperature. Mix in the Amaretto. Serve as a top for the Bread Pudding.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

I made these to bring to our annual New Years Day lunch with my in-laws. They were delicious and so easy to make. I found the recipe in Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats, and she got it from Kyla's blog.

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar

2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of Nestle mini chocolate chips

For dipping:

1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips (I used 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 tsp shortening)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat all ingredients together, except chocolate chips. Stir in chips.

Shape heaping tablespoons of dough into 3" think logs. Place on non-stick or lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake until the bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet and place on waxed paper, carefully, to cool. Freeze overnight or longer. (This confused me a bit, so I just threw them in the freezer for about 20 minutes to help them "set".)

Melt a half bag of milk chocolate chips in a double boiler. If you do not have a double boiler, melt the chocolate in your microwave on high heat for 1 minute, at 30 seconds intervals, stirring well between each interval. If the chocolate is not completely melted, continue heating it in your microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring well between each interval, and being careful not to burn the chocolate. (I had to add a little bit of milk to my chocolate to make it smooth enough to dip in)

Dip each stick into the chocolate about 1/3 the way up. Immediately place on waxed paper.

Chill to solidify chocolate.

Yield: Approximately 24 cookies.

Apple Pie

I'm not a sweet lover, unlike my daughter and husband, but I do enjoy the occasional treat. We had my parents over for dinner Sunday night and my mom loves pie, so I wanted to make this for her. She ended up helping me a lot, but I guess that's what mom's are for. Click here for the original recipe.

6 cups thinly sliced apples (I used 4 Granny Smith apples)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie (I used frozen deep dish crust)

Prepare your pastry for a two crust pie. Wipe, quarter, core, peel, and slice apples; measure to 6 cups.
Combine sugar and cinnamon. The amount of sugar used depends on how tart your apples are.
Arrange apples in layers in pastry lined pie plate. Sprinkle each layer with sugar and cinnamon. Dot top layer with small pieces of butter or margarine. Cover with top crust.
This is where I made a mistake. When I got home from the store, I left the crust out. When it was time to put the top layer on, it was too soft and crumble. Lesson learned!
Place on lowest rack in oven preheated to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake for 30 to 35 minutes longer. It took a LOT longer than this. After the 30-35 minutes the apples were still hard and it went back in the oven for another 30 minutes or so.

It was really good. Hubby just got finished with another piece!