Easter S'Mores Jars

I found this absolutely adorable idea on Pinterest and I COULD. NOT. RESIST. These jars are cute as a button!  And, the person you give them to gets to add a few ingredients and make them into S'mores Bars.  Perfect!  The jars are simple to assemble and the bars are easy for the recipient to make.  This is a perfect Easter Gift for the little people in your lives, but some adult supervision will be required to make the S'mores Bars.  My mom and I made a  whole batch of these jars to give to the kids in our family. 


Adapted from: Creative Holiday Gift Ideas


Here's what you need to make 1 jar:
1 One Quart Mason Jar
23 Hersey Kisses
8 Peeps
1/2 of a sleeve of Graham Crackers, crushed
1/4 cup of Brown Sugar


Here's what you do to assemble the jar:
1.  Clean the jar. 
2.  Put the crushed Graham Crackers in a baggie.  Add the Brown Sugar.  Set aside.
3.  Put the Hersey Kisses in the bottom of the jar. 
4.  Put the Peeps in the jar, with their faces facing out (so you can see their faces from the outside).  We could only fit 7 around the perimeter of the jar, so we stuck the 8th one inside the "circle" of Peeps.  
5.  Put the baggie of Graham Crackers and Brown sugar inside the jar above peeps. 
6.  Put the lid on the mason jar. 
7.  Create a recipe card with the instructions listed below.  Attach the recipe card to the jar with a piece of festive ribbon.  Ta Da!  You're done!


For the recipe card:
1.  Remove the contents of the jar and put on the kitchen counter. 
2.  Unwrap and cut Hersey Kisses into halves or quarters.  Put in a medium sized mixing bowl. 
3.  Cut (or tear) the Peeps into pieces.  Add to the mixing bowl. 
4.  Add the contents of the baggie to the mixing bowl. 
5.  Add 1 tsp of Vanilla to the mixing bowl. 
6.  Add 1/4 cup of melted Butter to the mixing bowl. 
7.  Stir the contents of the mixing bowl well. 
8.  Pour the contents of the mixing bowl into a small, well-greased baking dish. 
9.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. 


Enjoy!  Happy Easter!!

Energy Balls

My good friend Amber suggested that I try her AMAZING recipe for energy balls.  A while ago.  Like, last October.  I quickly opened the recipe because I get all excited when my friends and family share recipes with me!  Then I read the ingredients and quickly closed the recipe.  Pfffffft!  This recipe calls for wheat germ or flaxseed.   And no sugar.  At all!?!  NO SUGAR????  Are you kidding me?   Clearly, she didn't know me very well.  

So I thanked her for her recipe and told her I'd put it on my list of recipes to try.  Then I scoffed inside.  Because I knew there was nooooo way I was going to make that silly hippie food. 

Well, I've been feeling a little low on energy lately (helllllooo 15 hour work days).  So, this weekend I got desperate.  And decided to try her hippie energy balls.  I had most of the ingredients on hand, so why not?  And, I just knew that when I ate one and it tasted like cardboard, I'd be vindicated.  And I could return to sugar as my main source of energy. 

So, I made them.  And then I ate one.  And then I ate like one million more.  Because these things are deeeelicious, people.  There's no saving my pride here, folks.  I owe Amber one big fat apology.  So, here it is.  You were right and I was wrong.  (God, I hate how that sounds!)

Have a little faith in me and give these things a shot.  Seriously, I promise, you won't be disappointed.  They require very few ingredients and very little time.  They're scrumptious, healthy, and they give you energy.  What do you have to lose? 

I like these so much that I'm already trying to come up with variations.  But, for now, here is my version of Amber's  Energy Balls:

Here's what you need:

1 cup Quick Oats

2 heaping tbsp Peanut Butter

1/2 cup Honey

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 c wheat germ or flaxseed

2 tsp Vanilla

Here's what you do:

1.  Mix everything together. 

2.  Refrigerate for 1 hour. 

3.  Roll into one inch balls. 

4.  Enjoy!  Seriously -- that's it. 

FYI -- Amber's recipe also called for coconut and dried fruit.  I'm picky.  I don't like coconut, so I omitted that.  And dried fruit just didn't sound like it would fit all that well with all the other ingredients, so I kicked that out too.  I could have been wrong about that.  I've been wrong about other things.  *aaahheeemm*  Feel free to add those back in.  She suggested a cup of each. 

Cookie Pie

I ended up with one million left over Christmas Cookies.

One Million.  I counted.

Most of them were chocolate chip or M&M Cookies.  For some reason, when cookies sit on my counter in plastic baggies, they get crushed into tiny little pieces.  I think there is a little cookie smashing elf that comes around at night.  See:

Anyway, I didn't want all these cookies to go to waste, so I decided to try making a pie out of them.  This was super easy and it turned out delicious!  You could do this with any left over cookie you have, not just Christmas Cookies.

Here's what you need:
3 Cups of Cookie Crumbs
3 Tbsp Butter, melted
Dash of Salt *optional*
1 1/2 Cups of Cookie Chunks (or more to taste)
8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
2 Tsp Vanilla
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
8 ounces Cool Whip

Here's what you do:


1.  Use your blender or food processor to grind your cookies into cookie crumbs.  Grind enough cookies to make 3 cups of crumbs.

2.  Melt butter.

3.  Add butter to cookie crumbs.  Mix until well moistened.  I added a dash of salt because I buy unsalted butter and the crumbs and butter alone were a little too sweet for my taste.

4.  Press the cookie crumbs into the bottom and sides of a pie plate to form the crust.

5.  Beat the cream cheese until it is light and smooth.

6.  Add vanilla to cream cheese and mix well.

7.  Add powdered sugar to cream cheese mixture and mix well.

8.  Fold the cool whip into the cream cheese mixture.

9.  Gently fold 1 cup of cookie chunks into the cream cheese mixture.

10.  Put the cream cheese mixture on top of the cookie pie crust.  Garnish with remaining cookie chunks.

11.  Refrigerate until firm.

That looks like a lot of steps, but, really, it's not that bad.  It's mostly that I added one ingredient at a time.  It took me about 10 minutes to make this pie.

I'm not a very good pie cutter, but here is what one of my "slices" looked like:

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Pie

There are certain dishes that I make every year, but only at certain times of the year.  This is one of them.  This is a delicious recipe that is easy to make, but tastes like it isn't.  I'm not sure where the recipe came from . . . I may have gotten it from my Aunt Julie.  But maybe not . . . 


Anyhow, who doesn't like creamy peanut butter with a little chocolate on top?  Nobody.  That's who.  So, why don't I make this pie more often, you ask?  Because it's very rich.  It doesn't matter how delicious a recipe is, too much of a good thing can be bad.  So, I save this pie for holiday time.  Although sometimes I make it and keep it in the fridge for breakfast.  For myself.  And I don't share.  


Here's what you need:
1 Block of Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 Cup of Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream 
1 Pie Crust (sometimes I use a graham cracker crust and sometimes I use a chocolate one)
Chocolate Dessert Topping or Spare Chocolate Chips for Topping (optional)
Whipped Cream for Topping (optional)


Here's what you do:
1.  Mix the Cream Cheese, Peanut Butter, Sugar, and 1/3 of the Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream until well blended. 


2.  Fold in the remaining Heavy Whipping Cream. 


3.  Gently spoon the mixture into a pie crust and smooth. 

4.  Drizzle Chocolate Dessert Topping on top and use a fork or knife to create a pretty design. 


     Hint:  If you don't have Chocolate Dessert Topping, melt a few chocolate chips with 
      some of the remaining heavy whipping cream.  Make sure you stir well to combine 
      and then put that on top of the pie and proceed with step 4. 


5.  Refrigerate for at least one hour. 


6.  Cut into tiny pieces for serving.  Top with whipped cream if desired. 


Enjoy! 

Peanut Butter Jack-o-Lanterns

So, I bought this house.  It sounded like a good idea at one time.  I'm pretty sure it's brought out the worst in me.  When it comes to this house, I cannot make a decision to save my life.  I've frustrated everyone around me.  Plus me. 

Anyway, when I get frustrated I like to eat delicious food (I also like to eat delicious food when I'm not frustrated -- in case you were wondering).  I've made these peanut butter balls before and they were delicious.  They are very rich and satisfying.  If you like Peanut Butter Pie, I guarantee you'll love this recipe! 

So, I decided to make this recipe again to ease my woes.  Or distract me from having to make decisions.  Whatever.  Since it's almost Halloween, I decided to add a little Halloween twist.  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to make much Halloween food this year.  I've got a few days left, though, so maybe I'll squeeze in the time to make something else.  Even if I don't, I'm pretty satisfied with this cute little number.  These are ridiculously simple to make and are quite the crowd pleaser. 

Source: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Here's what I used:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (not all-natural)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
Red Food Coloring
Yellow Food Coloring
Black Tube Decorator's Icing
Yellow Tube Decorator's Icing
Teddy Grahams

Here's what I did:
1.  Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until blended.

2.  Divide mixture into 3 even portions. 

3.  Spoon each portion onto a piece of plastic wrap; bring up all four corners and twist tightly forming into a ball shape.

3.  Refrigerate the balls overnight.

4.  Put sugar in a bowl.  Add  yellow and red food coloring, adding one drop of each color at a time.  Stir well until color is well blended into sugar.  Repeat until sugar attains the color of orange desired.

5.  Remove the balls from the refrigerator and unwrap. 

6.  Smash each ball down so that it is smashed into a circle (rather than being the shape of a ball).

7.  Place each circle in the bowl of sugar, one at a time, spooning sugar onto the circle until it is fully covered with orange sugar.

8.  Decorate each circle with the Jack-o-Lantern face desired.  I used the black icing to outline the eyes, nose, and mouth of each Jack-o-Lantern and then used the yellow to fill in each outline so it looked like a candle shining through. 

9.  Keep covered and refrigerated until ready to serve.  I served mine with both chocolate and graham cracker Teddy Grahams.

Happy Halloween!! 

Enjoy!

No Bake Cookies

I can cook up a storm when it comes to baking cookies.  I've never been able to make a  No Bake Cookie.  Not even to save my life.  Seriously, if someone told me I had to make a no bake cookie or die, I'd be as good as gone. . .  until . . . I found this recipe!  I conquered the No Bake!

I don't even like No Bakes.  The texture is unpleasant to me (I'm finicky about the texture of my food).  That probably has something to do with my inability to make them.  I did try one of these cookies after I made them.  It tasted pleasant, but I still couldn't get over that texture. 

The people who I shared them with (read: the poor souls who are kind enough to eat the results of my never ending recipe experiment) reported that the No Bake Cookies were really good.  And these are the kind of folks who are not gonna blow smoke for me.  So, you're just gonna have to rely on their opinions and give it a shot yourself!

Slightly adapted from: Indecisive Baker

Here's what I used:

1/2 Stick of Butter
1/2 Cup of Milk
2 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla
1/4 Tsp Salt
3 Heaping Tbsps Cocoa
1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 3/4 Cups Quick Cooking Oats
1 Cup Mini Marshmallows
 
Here's what I did:

In a saucepan I melted the Butter and then added the Milk, Sugar, Vanilla, Salt and Cocoa.  I let that mixture boil for 90 seconds (don't let it boil longer than that!).   

After the 90 seconds, I removed the pan from the heat and immediately added the Peanut Butter.  After I mixed the Peanut Butter in completely, I added the Oats.  (You may use slightly more or less oats than I did -- somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 cups) 

After the Oats were mixed in, I added the Miniature Marshmallows and stirred just until it was well combined.  

Finally, I dropped the cookies by heaping Teaspoon full onto waxed paper.  Let them cool completely before you eat them.

Enjoy!