Chocolate Chip Bars/Cookies

1 c. margarine, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 3/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 bag of milk chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, beat margarine until creamy; add sugars.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated.  Add vanilla and mix well.  Blend flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix well.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Bake in a 15x10x1 baking sheet (I line my sheet with nonstick aluminum foil) at 375 for 12-15 minutes.
**If you choose to make them into cookies just drop by spoonfuls and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  Let set on sheets for 5-7 minutes. They will look underbaked when coming out of the oven.  Don't be tempted to bake longer! Don't do it!! Walk away from the oven door!  They will finish up on the sheets.
Adapted from our Ward Cookbook titled A-Ward Winning Recipes contributed by Jenny B.

Cookie Dough Brownies

Prepared Brownies in 13x9 pan

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. granulated sugar

3 Tbs. whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. mini chocolate chips

Cool prepared brownies completely and leave in pan.  In stand mixer beat on medium speed the butter until light and creamy; add sugars, cream and vanilla.  Beat until nice and fluffy.  Add salt and flour; beat on medium high for about 10 minutes.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Spread the cookie dough on top of brownies.  Wrap or put a lid on the pan and place in refrigerator until thoroughly chilled. 

Oreo Cookie Pops

1 pkg. regular oreos

1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

Chocolate Bark

Sprinkles

Sucker Sticks

Process oreos in Food Processor until finely ground. Place in large mixing bowl. Add cream cheese. With a spoon blend the two together real well. (It didn't go well for me when I blended the two in my processor.) Form into balls about the size of large walnuts. Place in wax paper lined pan and put in the fridge to chill. Meanwhile melt the chocolates (I used Wilton milk chocolate and the pink white chocolate) with a little bit of shortening, like 1 to 2 teaspoons to thin it out some. Dip chilled balls in the chocolate. To make like above just let the balls sit for a while and then spoon some of the pink chocolate on top. Add sprinkles. Let set and then pick up and poke a sucker stick underneath. Super cute and fun to do with the kids!

Non Fried Fried Ice Cream

To prepare: Preheat oven to 425. Leave ice cream out while preparing first portions so it is easier to spread.

Ingredients
2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup melted butter
1 cup coconut
½ gallon vanilla ice cream
Chocolate/ caramel sauce

Directions:
Mix first five ingredients for topping.
Cook at 425 for 10-15 minutes. You want to stir it every 5 minutes and cook only until the brown sugar is melted. Be careful, it burns.
Put half of the topping mixture in a 9X13 pan. Place vanilla ice cream on top. Put other half of topping mixture on. Freeze.
Drizzle with chocolate or caramel sauce before serving.

Blueberry Crumble

This dessert is so delicious and easy, you wouldn't guess that it is low in sugar and has healthful ingredients. I've been making it like mad while the blueberries are in season. I eat it topped with whipped light cream.

1 pint blueberries, picked over, washed and stems removed
2 T sugar

For crumble topping:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, diced

Spread blueberries in an 8x8" glass baking dish and sprinkle the 2 T sugar over them.

Put crumble ingredients in mixer and mix until dough looks moist and sandy with small lumps. Spread crumble evenly over blueberries. Bake 45-50 min at 350.

Brown Sugar Brownies

I got this recipe off the back of the bag of brown sugar that I normally buy at Walmart. When making the batter I was worried that they would be too cakey, because I prefer fudgier brownies. They raised fairly high while cooking and it looked exactly like a chocolate cake, but when I pulled it out of the oven and let it cool, it fell a little and they were so fudgy and delicious! We shared these brownies with company and got rave reviews! Ice cream was the perfect side to balance out the richness!

Ingredients:

1 cup packed DARK brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup coursely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325. Grease 8x8x2-inch baking dish. In large bowl beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in chocolate, then flour. Stur in nuts. Pour into pan. Bake 25 minutes. Cool in pan and cut into bars. Dust with powdered sugar. (I made a double batch and did it in a 9x13 pan and just cooked it a little longer)

Zucchini Cookies

I wanted to let everyone know about "whole wheat PASTRY flour"! It's made from soft summer wheat instead of the usual hard winter wheat. It's not so rough as reg. whole wheat and you can substitute it for all-purpose white flour in recipes using baking powder or soda as leavening, i.e. cookies, pancakes, muffins, etc!! I found some in the health food section of Smith's. I have been having fun experimenting with it and have been really pleased. One of my tries involves this cookie recipe I got from Cooks.com and substituted the ww pastry flour. The consistency is soft and spongey, more like pumpkin cookies. They are so chock-full of healthy stuff, I let my kids have as many as they want, and I chuckle smugly as they eat...

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole grain old fashioned oats
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together and add to butter mixture. Beat well. Stir in rest of the ingredients. Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on rack. Makes 24 large ones or 48 small ones.

Peanut Buttery Cereal Treats

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. light corn syrup {i like Karo}

1 c. sugar {regular white sugar}

2 c. creamy peanut butter {i like JIF}

5-6 cups of Raisin Bran Extra cereal*

DIRECTIONS:

Bring the corn syrup and sugar to a boil. Stir it up real good now.Take it off the heat and stir in the peanut butter. Get to Stirrin! Then pour it over the cereal in a big bowl & Stir like the dickens!! Plop it by spoonfuls onto wax paper & let 'em cool. Then eat them babies up! Or You can lightly spray a 13x9" pan {with like Pam or another cooking spray} and get a little of that spray on your fingers and press the peanut buttery cereal goodness into the pan & let it cool. Then you would cut them into squares & serve.

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* you can also use basic corn flakes or just Raisin Bran... or Cranberry Almond Crunch... anything really-- AND as long as there are flakes.

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Just do not use a "sugary sweet" cereal like Cap'n Crunch, Lucky Charms, Golden Grahams, Fruit Loops, or Trix etc..... talk about sweetness overkill if you do!

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Mu husband and one of my kids don't even like Raisins or dry fruit whatsoever... but they chowed down on these treats!!!

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Ü

~Merrianne~

Easter Treats

Little Nests:
1/4 cup butter (Mama bird melts in sauce pan)
1 cup marshmallows (baby bird measures and adds to melted butter, Mama bird stirs until melted smooth, then removes from heat)
1 cup bran flakes (baby bird adds to pan and Mama Bird coats it in marshmallow mixture)
coconut, dyed green
candy eggs
Shape 'em out, let them firm up a little, then eat 'em up!

Deluxe Chocolate Marshmallow Bars

I found this amazing recipe on a random recipe blog and I had to try it out. It got rave reviews from friends!

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional
4 cups miniature marshmallows

Topping:1-1/3 cup chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp butter
2 cups crisp rice cereal

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until fluffy. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture. Stir in nuts if desired. Spread in a greased 15 x 10 x 1" pan. (Can also use a 13 x 9)

Bake at 350F for 15-18 minutes. Sprinkle marshmallows evenly over cake; return to oven for 2-3 minutes. Using a knife dipped in water, spread the melted marshmallows evenly over cake. Cool. (I didn't spread the marshmallows out, I just used enough to cover the whole thing in a single layer of marshmallows)

For topping, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and well blended. (I just did mine in the microwave) Remove from heat; stir in cereal. Immediately spread over bars. Chill

I didn't let the marshmallows cool enough after I put them in the oven, so when I tried to put the topping on it didn't work out so great. It ended up being a little bit of a marshmallow/topping swirl. But it looked fine and still tasted great! I kept them in the fridge because they were so gooey!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

This cheesecake is my husband's favorite dessert. I like it because I don't have to bother with a springform pan and it tastes just as good! I also toyed with it using the 1/3 less fat cream cheese and there is absolutely no taste difference.

3 pkg (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. mini semi-sweet chips
1 extra serving size (9 oz.) graham cracker crust
2 Tbs. whipping cream

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Stir in 1 2/3 c. chocolate chips; pour into crust.

3. Bake 10 minutes. Without opening oven door, reduce temperature to 250; continue baking 30 minutes or just until set. Remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

4. Place remaining 1/3 c. chocolate chips and whipping cream in small bowl. Microwave on high 20 to 30 seconds or just until melted and mixture is smooth when stirred. Cool slightly and spread over top of cheesecake. Refrigerate 15 minutes or until topping is set. Enjoy!

Fruit Pizza Cookies

Ingredients:

Store bought Refrigerated sugar cookie dough
Store bought cream cheese frosting
fresh fruit

-Bake the sugar cookies as direction say ( I like to undercook them by like a minute or two so the cookies are more chewy)- You can use homemade sugar cookies but I find the store bought kind to be tastier and easier than making the dough from scratch.

-When cool- spread on the frosting then add fresh fruit to the top so they set in the frosting before the frosting dries. I love to use strawberry slices (you can also use peaches, kiwis, raspberries, blueberries,... you get the picture)

I love these! They are so pretty/easy and make good treats for a bridal shower, baby blessing, or holiday snack.

Easy Delicious Fudge

1 bag of milk chocolate chips
1 bag of peanut butter chips
1 bag of butterscotch chips
1 c. peanut butter

1 c. nuts and/or mini marshmallows, optional

Put all of the chips and the peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl & cook for 2 minutes; stirring every 30 seconds. Then add optional ingredients...if using any.
Place into a 13x9" buttered pan. Cover & refrigerate. Be sure & cut into small squares before it gets too hard & difficult to cut.

{Viola!}

{store in the fridge.}

It is soooo good & creamy & easy & addicting & fattening!

YUM YUM!

It's the next best thing to bathing in chocolate!

Which I WILL DO one day!!!!

♥Merrianne

Caramel Corn

This is my mom's caramel corn recipe. It's not crunchy like most caramel popcorn. It stays soft and gooey and is delicious.

Pop 1 1/2 cups of popcorn and set aside (this is just an estimate. you might want to do more or less depending on how gooey you want it)

In a saucepan add:
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. Karo syrup
1 c. Butter or Margarine (I use butter)
dash of salt

-Cook to softball and stir in 1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk.
-Pour over corn-Store in an airtight container

Pretzel Jello Salad

Ok Ladies... really... It's been over a month and no new recipes? We are seriously slacking. :)

This probably isn't a new recipe to a lot of you... But it's one of my favorites to make for when we have people over, or if I'm in charge of bringing a family a meal. It's technically a jello salad... but it's definitely good enough to be dessert! :) There's never any leftovers with this dish! :)

Pretzels (Somebody asked how many- & I don't know! :) Just enough so after you crush them, they cover the bottom of the pan... I just guess)
1 Cube Butter
1 c. Sugar, plus 4 tsp Sugar
12 oz. Cool Whip
8 oz. Softened Cream Cheese
6 oz. Strawberry Jello
16 oz. Frozen strawberries (sliced)

*Crush Pretzels in Bottom of 9x13 pan.
*Melt butter with 4 tsp. Sugar.
*Pour over pretzels and bake at 400 for 6 min.

*Cool in refrigerator (I put mine in the freezer- Make sure it's completely cooled or it melts the next layer and everything meshes together!)

*Beat softened cream cheese, cool whip, and 1 cup Sugar on med/low until smooth

*Spread over COOLED pretzels. (Make sure to seal all the edges so the jello doesn't get into the pretzels)

*Mix Jello with 2 cups Boiling water. Stir until well dissolved.
*Stir in frozen sliced strawberries.
*Let Jello partial set (3 minutes or so) then pour over cream cheese mixture.
*Put in Fridge and let set for 3-4 hours.

Muffins, Muffins, Muffins

This is a great "base" muffin mix so that you can add your own favorite fruits, etc. They aren't too sweet and really satisfying!

2 c. all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. sugar (add up to 1 cup if you like them SWEET)
1 egg
1 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. In a 2 cup measuring cup, mix the egg in with the milk. Pour milk mixture and oil into the flour mixture. Mix quickly and lightly with a fork until moistened..but do not beat. Batter may be lumpy. At this point add your favorite fruit or cinnamon & sugar for "coffee cake" muffins.

Pour into paper lined muffin tins. Usually I can squeeze out 14. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Store in ziplock bag or tight lid container to keep fresh.

To my muffins, to make "Lemon Blueberry" muffins, I added:

2 Tbl. lemon zest
2 capfuls of lemon juice (or fresh juice if you have it- add 1 1/2 tsp depending on how "zingy" you want it!)
1 cup of frozen blueberries

Then for the topping:
Glaze: 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar
Mix together until smooth and drizzle over warm muffins.

Luscious Banana Pudding

This is Paula Deen's "Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding." It's awesome.

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Cookies
6 to 8 bananas, sliced
2 cups milk
1 - 5 oz box french vanilla pudding
1 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 12 oz container cool whip, thawed

Directions:Line bottom of 13x9x2" baking dish with 1 bag of cookies and put bananas on top. Blend milk with pudding mix well with a handheld electric mixer. Beat cream cheese and condensed milk together in a bowl until smooth; fold in whipped topping. Add to pudding mixture, stirring until well blended. Pour mixture over cookies and bananas; cover with remaining cookies. Refrigerate.

Jumbo Molasses Cookies

Cream:

3 c. butter-flavored shortening
4 sugar
Add and mix well:
1 c. molasses
4 eggs
Combine and gradually Add:
8 c. flour
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ginger
Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours.
Shape ¼ c. dough into balls. Roll in sugar.
Four cookies per sheet.
Bake 350* for 18-20 min or until edges are set.
*Can do “normal size” cookies and reduce baking time.

No Bake Cheesecake

You need:

a graham cracker crust (if you homemake it, it's, like, 10 times better)
8 oz of cream cheese
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 c. lemon juice
1 t. vanilla
berries

If you've baked your crust, make sure you've let it cool. Mix the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla. Keep in freezer till 30 minutes before serving. Top with any kind of berries.

Homemade Raspberry Ice Cream

I know there are homemade ice cream recipes all over the place, but I combined a few that I couldn't decide between, and we had a tasty result! It was so flavorful and creamy. This recipe takes a little extra work, but it's worth it! This is for a 4 quart ice cream maker.

4 cups half & half
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 (24 oz.) container plain yogurt (I like Activa by Dannon because it's so smooth and creamy)
4 (6 oz.) containers fresh raspberries
1 (12 oz.) package frozen red raspberries

In a large bowl, mix half & half, cream, sugar, and vanilla with a wire whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Rinse the fresh raspberries and put in the blender with 1 cup of the cream mixture. Blend for 1 minute or until the raspberries are pulverized. Pour the raspberry mixture through a fine sieve with a bowl underneath to remove the raspberry seeds (be patient, it will be very thick and might need some stirring to get it through, but you'll be so glad to get rid of all those nasty seeds). Stir the raspberry juice/cream in with the remaining cream and add the yogurt. Stir in the frozen raspberries and pour the entire mixture into the ice cream maker tub. Follow your ice cream maker's directions for layering rock salt and ice and churn until it's thick and creamy.