Peanut Butter M&M Pretzel Cookies

Salty and sweet are a great combination, one I've used before with my Pretzel M&M Toffee Bars. I'm bringing those same flavors back but this time adding peanut butter to make these Peanut Butter M&M Pretzel Cookies.

I came up with this recipe a few months back. When thinking of recipes to enter into the Orange County Fair Get Baking Cookie Contest, I decided to use this one. A yummy peanut butter cookie, mixed with a classic candy and chunks of pretzel to make this cookie more than your average cookie, I hoped the judges would like it.

And they did! I won third place in the peanut butter category in the contest which had over 200 entries total! I still can't believe it! I am so excited to share my cookie recipe with all of you.

Peanut Butter M&M Pretzel Cookies

makes about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup softened unsalted butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate M&M's
• 1 cup pretzels (broken into pieces)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F Degrees

2. Beat butter, peanut butter and sugars together until creamy. Beat in eggs.

3. In a separate bowl, stir flour, baking powder baking soda and salt together. Stir into batter until blended. Add M&M's and pretzel pieces and mix well.

4. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Birthday Cake Remix Blondies

I was at the gym when I saw a commercial come on for one of my favorite ice cream shops 25th anniversary.

Well Happy Birthday to Coldstone! and Happy Birthday to one of my favorite ice cream sundaes (besides any off of Main Street at Disneyland - those can't be beat), Birthday Cake Remix!

The Birthday Cake Remix sundae from Coldstone is delicious. It has hot fudge, rainbow sprinkles and brownies all mixed in to their amazing cake batter ice cream. As soon as I saw the commercial at the gym,  I knew I wanted to bake something to celebrate those great flavors together.

If you've never mixed in ice cream into brownie batter, then you need to try it now. It takes brownies to a whole new level, and you can pick any flavor you want. I went with the theme, and used Kroger Deluxe Jammed Birthday Bash ice cream. These brownies were super tasty on their own but I baked them, crumbled them up, added them in with some classic yellow cake mix, rainbow sprinkles and a few other ingredients and these were created.

They taste just like cake batter, one of my favorite flavors...see my Chocolate Cake Batter Cookies. The  waffle cone crumbs give these blondies a nice texture and the fudge brownie bits complete them. Thank you Coldstone for inspiring this yummy creation!

Birthday Cake Remix Blondies

makes about 20 blondies

Ingredients

• 1 package brownie mix
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup fudge ice cream topping
• 1/2 cup birthday cake/cake batter ice cream
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles
• 3 waffle or sugar ice cream cones

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F Degrees

2. Prepare brownie mix as directions say on the packaging. Add chocolate chips, fudge topping and ice cream and mix well. Cook brownies for a few minutes less than directed on the package.

3. Combine yellow cake mix with oil and egg. Add milk slowly. Mix in sprinkles. Crumble up baked brownies (I used only half of the pan) and add into batter. Crush 2 ice cream cones and mix into batter. Spread into a well greased 13x9 inch baking pan (I line my pans with aluminum foil). 

4. Top with more rainbow sprinkles, brownie crumbles and the last ice cream cone. Bake for 25-30 minutes. 

Oreo Chocolate Layer Cream Pie

I'm not sure how I came up with this one. It just sort of popped into my head one day. And man it is good. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted most of the photos I had, but I couldn't let that stop me from sharing this awesome pie. Perfect for any Oreo lover, this pie has a chocolate cookie crust, followed by a layer of creamy Oreo fillings, a chocolate ganache layer, a thick chocolate pudding layer topped with cool whip. It is amazing. 

Oreo Chocolate Layer Cream Pie

makes one 9-inch pie

Ingredients

• 24 Oreo cookies
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 package cool whip topping

Instructions

1. Remove the fillings from the Oreo cookies and place the cookies into a food processor to make into fine crumbs. Melt 1/4 cup butter and mix with the Oreo crumbs. Press butter and cookie crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie pan and refrigerate.

2. After refrigerating for at least one hour, press the Oreo fillings into the bottom of the pie crust to create the first layer.

3. Cook 1/2 cup whipping cream on medium heat until it comes to a boil. Pour over chocolate chips and whisk together. Pour over Oreo filling layer to create the second layer of the pie.

4. Combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt together in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk and bring to a boil. Boil mixture for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add the rest of the butter and vanilla extract. Pour this over the previous chocolate layer to create the third layer of the pie. 

5. Top the pie with a cool whip and garnish with Oreo cookie crumbs.

*You could easily use a packaged chocolate pudding mix and prepare as directed on the box instead of making the chocolate pudding layer from scratch.

White Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

For the Fourth of July I wanted to celebrate with something creative, yummy and festive.

I've made cookie dough stuffed cupcakes before, but these flavors were not only patriotic in their colors but worked so well together. I stuffed the cupcakes with chocolate ganache as well as white chocolate chip cookie dough. The white chocolate helps to cut down the richness of the red velvet and ganache and brings the whole cupcake together along with the creamy cream cheese frosting.

With some red, white and blue sprinkles and firework toppers, these cupcakes were ready for a Fourth of July celebration and everybody loved them!

White Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For cookie dough:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups white chocolate chips

For cupcakes:

• one box red velvet cake mix (pus ingredients needed to prepare on box)
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup chocolate chips

For frosting:

• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 package (16 oz) powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions:

1. Start with preparing the cookie dough. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla together. Add the eggs and beat until well mixed. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture and beat until well blended together. Add in white chocolate chips. 

2. Next prepare the chocolate ganache. Cook heavy whipping cream over medium heat until boiling then pour the boiling cream over chocolate chips and whisk together.

3. Prepare the red velvet cake mix as directed on the package. Distribute the cake batter evenly into papers in a cupcake baking tin. Next add a small spoonful of chocolate ganache into the center of each cupcake then add a quarter size ball of cookie dough into the center of each cupcake. Make sure the top of the cookie dough is covered with cake batter. Bake the cupcakes as directed on the box. 

4. For the frosting, beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing completely after each addition until well blended. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting them.

*There will be leftover cookie dough. This can be baked by dropping teaspoons of dough onto a cookie sheet and baking for 8-10 minutes at 375F Degrees.

Butterscotch Fudge

Fudge is a great sweet treat and it's so incredibly easy too! Unlike most baking, there's barely any dishes to clean and it's ready in the matter of minutes. Butterscotch is one of my favorite flavors so the other night I whipped up a batch of this Butterscotch Fudge. I have made this recipe once before and put it in a bucket on my dorm room door, it was gone in less than an hour! You can cut these into squares, but I like to use fun cookie cutter shapes.

Butterscotch Fudge

makes one 9x9 square pan

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 package butterscotch chips (about 8-10 ounces)

Instructions

1. Line pan with aluminum foil

2. Combine sugar, salt and evaporated milk, and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallows and butterscotch chips until melted. Pour mixture into prepared pan and let sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares (Refrigerator will speed up this process but fudge may get too hard and you will have to let sit out at room temperature). Store fudge squares in an air tight container at room temperature.

Vegan Caramel Apple Crisp

One of my oldest friends had a birthday party recently and I wanted to bring her something delicious! I remembered her telling me one of her favorite desserts was apple crisp, one of my family's favorites as well. She's been a vegan for a few years now so I needed to adjust my recipe for that, and it was just as good if not better!

Vegan Caramel Apple Crisp

makes one 9 inch pie pan

Ingredients

• 1 can coconut cream, separated from water
• 3/4 cup + 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 4 apples (I used two gala apples and two granny smith, but any type will work)
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• more cinnamon to taste
• 6 tablespoons Earth Balance vegan butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F Degrees

2. Put the creamy part of the coconut cream into a saucepan over medium hear and whisk in 1 cup of dark brown sugar. Cook at this temperature for 20-25 minutes, stirring constantly and lifting off from the heat when it starts to bubble over. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and salt. Pour into a glass bowl to cool, this should create a thick but pourable caramel sauce.

3. Peel, slice and core the apples. Put into a bowl, sprinkling cinnamon and pouring caramel over the apples until well covered.

4. Combine the rest of the brown sugar, flour, oats and cinnamon in a bowl. Start to add in butter with an electric mixer until crumbly mixture is made. 

5. Spray a 9-inch pie pan and pour apples into the bottom of the pan. Spread the topping evenly over the apples. Drizzle leftover caramel sauce over the topping. Bake for 35-40 minutes. If desired, raise temperature to 400F Degrees for 5 minutes to crisp up the topping.