Stressed and Visiting Teachers

I've got a lot of homework I'm doing this week and I'm stressed to no end. Over 40 pages to write, and I'm going crazy! It has NOT been a good week. But my lovely visiting teacher came by tonight with some tasty treats for me. Made my day and got rid of my stress... at least for a little while.

Give these Visiting Teachers a prize.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble gobble! Eat those turkey's up! That's all for this week. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Legend of Zelda Cake!

I didn't make this cake (well I put in like 2 ingredients, but I was just sort of there...), but I decorated it! I loved it so I'm sharing it with you all! My friend is almost as obsessed with Legend of Zelda as I am, so we made this for her birthday! Happy Birthday Liz!

Cookie Dough Cupakes

My husband and I had a couple of friends over a few nights ago and I made these for dessert. They're ridiculously tasty; even without the M&Ms that we forgot!

One Bowl Monster Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 Tbsp. Peanut Butter
• 1 Tbsp. Butter
• 1/4 c. Flour
• 2 Tbsp. Sugar
• 1 Egg White
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Milk
• a teensy splash of vanilla
• a small handful of Chocolate Chips

For the Cookie Dough Frosting:

• 2 Tbsp. Peanut Butter
• 2 Tbsp. Margarine or Butter (softened to room temperature)
• 2 Tbsp. Flour
• 2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1/2 c. Oats
• 3/4 c. Powdered Sugar
• 2-3 Tbsp. Milk
• a handful of plain M&Ms
• a handful of Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

For the Cake
1. Melt butter in the microwave for 10 seconds.

2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients until your batter forms.

3. Bake in cupcake liners at 350 for 19 minutes. Let cool.

For the Cookie Dough Frosting:
1. Using a fork mix together the butter, peanut butter, and 1/4 c. powdered sugar.

2. Add 1 Tbsp. milk. Whisk with the fork until it’s pretty smooth.
3. Add the remaining powdered sugar (1/4 cup at a time, mixing after each addition), the brown sugar, and the flour. Add milk as needed to help with the consistency.
4. Stir in the oats (you can use more or less depending on your preferences), M&Ms, and chocolate chips. 

This recipe only actually makes about 2-3 cupcakes, so I had to double it. But dang, it was good! Especially that frosting... which I basically ate like candy.

http://www.somethingswanky.com/quadruple-serving-monster-cookie-dough/

Breakfast Cookie Dough

So, obviously I love chocolate. And cookie dough, if you couldn't tell. Possibly my favorite thing on the planet it chocolate chip cookie dough. So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this little delight:

Breakfast Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Thank you Chocolate Covered Katie for bringing this to me. I've eaten it three different days now, and it's still ridiculously tasty. Perfect for the girl with a sweet tooth in the morning, while still getting some healthy things involved.

(Serves 1)

1 cup flake cereal (bran flakes, cornflakes, spelt flakes, etc.) (35g)

1/3 cup Mori-Nu tofu, or yogurt of choice (80g)

3/4 cup milk of choice (180g)

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

sweetener of choice (such as stevia, sugar, or even maple syrup)

handful of chocolate chips

optional:1 tbsp peanut butter

I always do the tablespoon of peanut butter, because a splash of peanut butter makes everything better.

Short, simple, delicious.

Enjoy! You know I did.


http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/10/22/breakfast-cookie-dough/

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever.

When I was a teenager, I found out that not everyone used the same recipes as my mom. There were many types of cookies, not just peanut butter or chocolate chip. And there were oodles of each type of cookie recipes. I then started my hunt for the best homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe. When I was a mia maid, I had my first taste of what I have now dubbed the best chocolate chip cookies ever. I got this recipe from one of my (now( dear friends and old Young Women leaders, Melanie Hillhouse. I've tried many recipes since, but these cookies cannot be outdone in their deliciousness. Many times, including the other members of my family, have asked for this recipe because they are so tasty. As I made these this week, I decided they would be the perfect recipe to post this time and share with cyber space.

1 Cup margarine or butter (I perfer "Gold N Soft"- we usually melt it in the microwave- or at lest have it partially melted)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white suar
1 egg
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 package 12 oz chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients, roll into balls, bake at 375 degreees for 8-10 minutes

It can be a funny recipe, but we love them. Hopefully it'll work for you. DO NOT use Imperial margarine or some of the cheaper brands like it. It makes the cookie dough too soft and sticky.

These cookies will stay soft, and yet have a slight crunch to them. They are the perfect cookie. And so very tasty. Go try them out!

Ready-to-Eat Cake Batter Cookie Dough

This was never something I would have thought of in a million years, despite the face I love the taste of yellow cake. You know Cake Batter ice cream. The first time I had it, or had even heard of it, was at Maggie Moo's Ice Cream in American Fork. It was absolutely delicious. I loved it. And I wanted more of it.

To having cake batter dough as a cookie dough wasn't something I would have ever thought of. Wouldn't it just be regular old cake batter?

Either way, whatever you want to call it, it's super tasty.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup yellow cake mix

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons sprinkles

4-8 tablespoons water

Directions:

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until light, fluffy, and pale yellow. Mix in salt, flour, cake mix, sprinkles, and vanilla. Add water one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each, until you reach cookie dough consistency.

**On the end of the page, as I just noticed, there is a warning. Apparently raw flour, just like produce or raw eggs, can carry E.coli, however this risk is even less than getting Salmonella from raw eggs. But since it is apparently a risk they have found, I figured I should pass it along as the previous blogger had.**

http://willowbirdbaking.com/2011/03/20/three-safe-to-eat-cookie-doughs-chocolate-chip-sugar-and-cake-batter/

Read-to-Eat Sugar Cookie Dough

Maybe it's not just one of those weekends, but one of those months. These cookie dough cravings don't seem to be leaving. But this was perfect for me this weekend! What could be better than watching General Conference for 8 hours over the weekend than taking notes and eating as much cookie dough as a girl could want? Nothing. Nothing could be better. And this time I got to try a new kind of cookie dough that I hadn't even thought about looking for before!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup yellow cake mix

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons sprinkles

4-8 tablespoons water

Directions:

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until light, fluffy, and pale yellow. Mix in salt, flour, cake mix, sprinkles, and vanilla. Add water one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each, until you reach cookie dough consistency.

Once again, although the blog I got it from said 1 1/2-2 cups is what it yields, I found that it was a bit more than that. Though I had plenty of time to eat it all myself this time. 

http://willowbirdbaking.com/2011/03/20/three-safe-to-eat-cookie-doughs-chocolate-chip-sugar-and-cake-batter/

Ready-to-Eat Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

It was one of those weekends. 

Girls, you know the ones. All you want is chocolate, but pure chocolate isn't enough. You need something more. Cookie Dough is really the only thing that will help you out. And now I bring to you the saving grace of Pinterest in helping me find this blog. And this awesome page gave me just what I needed.

This chocolate chip cookie dough ready-and-safe-to-eat has been the best I've tried so far. I've had 3 other types, but this was the most similar to real cookie dough, without the eggs. It was definitely the most tasty and didn't leave me wanting something different like the others had.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (a few people have found this to be too much; if you want, just add a pinch and increase to taste. I add the full 1/2 teaspoon and enjoy it!)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (again, you might want to add this a teaspoon at a time to taste. I add the full tablespoon and enjoy it!)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
water

Directions:
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the flour, salt, vanilla and chocolate chips. Add water one tablespoon at a time (stirring between each) until the dough reaches cookie dough consistency. Honestly though, not much water is needed and you really need to put in just a little each time and mix it thoroughly before adding more or it will become far too liquidy.

This recipe yields a TON of cookie dough. The blog I got this from said 1 1/2-2 cups... I think it's more. I halved the recipe and my husband and I still had too much to finish and had to save some. And I love cookie dough. If it's for yourself, I suggest halving or quartering it even.

http://willowbirdbaking.com/2011/03/20/three-safe-to-eat-cookie-doughs-chocolate-chip-sugar-and-cake-batter/

Next week, I'll make another batter and give a review!

Caramel Chocolate Brownie Crinkle Cookie

One of the most tasty things in the world is chocolate. Who doesn't love chocolate? And to add caramel in the mix just makes it that much better! Here I've got another recipe for chocolately goodness. It's not from scratch, which means it takes less time to mix up! They're tasty, if firm/soft enough. 

1 package fudge brownie mix

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

1/4 cup water 

1/4 cup canola oil

About 24 caramels, cut in half

Powdered Sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl beat the brownie mix, flour, egg, water and oil until well blended (and be sure it is not runny, but somewhat firm and moldable, otherwise this will be an issue later when rolling into balls and in powdered sugar). Place powdered sugar into a separate bowl. Scoop up a tablespoonful of dough (you can use a cookie scoop if you want, but it will still work if you don't have one) and push a piece of caramel in the middle (I would put 2 halves of a caramel into the cookie. It needed more when I made them). Roll the dough around the caramel so it is completely covered. Drop by tablespoonfuls into the powdered sugar and gently roll, shaping into a ball. Place 2 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.   

Yields: about 4 dozen cookies (if they're really small cookies...)

*We found that after these cookies cool down, the caramel in the middle hardens. We popped them in the microwave for a couple of seconds before eating them and the caramel melted right up! They are so good warm!

Adapted from sixsistersstuff.com

Reese's Chocolate Cake

Any true American loves peanut butter. Even those who are allergic to it love it, they just don't get to enjoy it. I've never met a single person who doesn't love the taste of that creamy, peanut buttery goodness.  And then there's chocolate. Is there anyone out there who doesn't, at the least, like chocolate? I think not. "I don't like chocolate," said no one, ever. It's my husband's birthday this week and at the family dinner, I was supposed to bring the dessert. My husband is one of those who loves his peanut butter and chocolate together. That being the case, I bring to you my favorite "made from scratch" chocolate cake that my mom has made for years and years and holds many memories with me. Along with it, a twist of peanut butter filling and frosting to make one of the richest, most filling, and delicious cakes you'll ever have!

The following is what you need:

Cinnamon Chocolate Cake:


Mix:
½ cup Buttermilk (or Milk)
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 Eggs

Boil:
1 cup Water
½ cup Butter
4 Tbsp. Cocoa
½ cup Shortening

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar

Mix everything together, "Mix," "Boil" and 2 cups of both flour and sugar. Pour into 2 greased 9" round pans. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes. It is very crucial to check it at 18 minutes as this is a cake you DO NOT want to over bake. It is meant to be dense and almost fudge like. You can also bake it at 400° in a 9x13 pan for 25-30 minutes if you'd rather, and just do the Peanut Butter Frosting.

BOIL

BAKE

Peanut Butter FILLING:

8oz semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped

8oz heavy cream

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup Reese's peanut butter cups, roughly chopped

Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Pour it over the chocolate in a medium bowl. Whisk until it melts, then whisk in the peanut butter. Set aside 1/4 of the filling for the first layer of frosting (You don't have to do this, I skipped this step). Cool the other 3/4 completely, then gently stir in the chopped up peanut butter cups.

Peanut Butter FROSTING:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature (Important)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar 

Cream together the butter and peanut butter until they are fully combined and kind of fluffy. Add the vanilla, then stir in the sugar. Be sure to check the consistency of the frosting while adding the powdered sugar. I ended up needing to add some extra heavy cream (milk would have worked fine) to the frosting because 2 cups of powdered sugar was a little much. 

ASSEMBLY:

Place one 9-inch round on a cake stand or plate. Cover the top in the peanut butter fudge filling. Place the second 9-inch round on top. Using the reserved filling, spread a thin layer on the outside of the cake (not necessary, but adds an extra fudge layer to the cake). Refrigerate until the fudge is set and firm to the touch (whether you use the fudge on the outside or not, make sure it firms and cools).

Slather the whole thing in the peanut butter frosting. Be sure not to let the cake crumble all over the place!  Decorate with peanut butter cups however you'd like. 

This dessert was an absolutely hit at my in laws place. It tasted absolutely delicious and could not have possibly gone better. 

This is where I got the peanut butter filling and frosting recipes from. My mom is who gave me the chocolate cake recipe. From what I understand, it was the one my paternal grandmother made when my dad was younger too.

http://sixoneseven.blogspot.com/2011/01/not-for-faint-of-heart.html

Jalapeños Popper Chicken: American

Chicken is one of the most commonly eaten foods throughout the entire world. In Ukraine, the whole chicken is used in borscht to make it taste better and give it some real flavor. In Norway, cooking up tenders in a frying pan with some mashed potatoes and vegetables as sides is a common dinner. Here in America, chicken is something most will eat as their meat in hopes to be healthier in place of other possible red meats. Chicken even has jokes written about it, ones that most Americans know from being small children (“Why did the chicken cross the road?”).  Simply put, chicken is a staple food in many different cultures and areas in the world. 

I love jalapeños. I believe that they are the perfect taste of both flavor and spice and add something special to any dish. I also love jalapeño poppers; if you've never had those, get them. Now. You won't regret it in the least. I was introduced to them this last year and they're more delicious than most things I've tried with jalapeños. Who wouldn't love jalapeños with lots of cheesy goodness? That's what I though. No one. For those of you who know all about jalapeño poppers, just imagine chicken being thrown into the mix and that's what we've got here; deliciousness in one of its tastiest forms!

Jalapeño Popper Chicken

Serves 2
Highly adapted from Allrecipes, via Sunny Side Up in San Diego

1/2 cup panko
2 tsp. canola oil
1.5 – 2 tsp. taco seasoning or mixture in notes*
1 egg
2 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (we used 2%)
1-2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and ribs removed, minced
2 chicken breasts

Preheat the oven to 375 and place an ovenproof rack onto a rimmed baking dish. Spray with cooking oil.

In a small skillet over medium heat, combine the panko with the canola oil. Cook, stirring often, until the panko is golden and crispy. Place in a shallow bowl or dish. To the panko, add the taco seasoning* and stir to combine.

In another shallow bowl or dish, lightly beat an egg. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and jalapeños.

Using a small utility knife, cut a pocket into the side of each chicken breast, or horizontally slice the chicken through the center, until it is almost butterflied. Season the chicken lightly with salt and pepper, and then divide the cream cheese mixture evenly between each chicken breast’s pocket. Use toothpicks to secure, if necessary.

Dip the chicken pieces one at a time first into the egg, and then into the panko mixture, making sure to coat the chicken completely. Place the chicken on the prepared baking rack and cook for about 25-30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

*Note: To make your own taco seasoning mixture, combine 1/2 tsp. chili powder, 1/4 tsp. cumin, 1/8 tsp. garlic powder, 1/8 tsp. onion powder, 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, 1/8 tsp. oregano, 1/8 tsp. paprika, and salt and black pepper to taste.

Enjoy this tasty dinner. It's typical American food at its finest.

This was taken from:

http://ellysaysopa.com/2012/07/24/jalapeno-popper-chicken/

NEW BLOG!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog! I'll be posting lots of tasty food (mostly dessert) that you should definitely try because I'm sure you'll love to sink your teeth into it! I get my recipes all over the web and from family recipes. I hope you like the look of them enough to try them, because they're bound to be good!

Also, thank you Pinterest for giving me all of the tasty dessert recipes I could ever need.