Cookies and Cream Bars

Boy have I been busy concocting recipes, I think I've baked more sweets this month than ever before. Sugar makes me smile :)

Here is on of the recipes I came across in my baking adventure that is so simple but yet so addicting its not even funny. This has easily become on of my fave recipes I have made.

Ingredients:
1 lg pkg. Oreos
5 c. large marshmallows
4 tbs. butter

Line a 8 or 9 inch pan with foil. In a food processor chop up whole package of cookies until fine. In large microwavable bowl heat marshmallows and butter 1-2 minutes or until puffed up. Add chopped oreos and mix until thoroughly combined. Spread into foil lined pan with spatula. Let set about 10 minutes. Remove foil, cut and enjoy!

Cookie Dough Cream Pie

Amazingly at the request from my non sweets loving husband I made this pie last weekend. I brought it for dinner over to my in-laws house and it was a hit. If you enjoy rich flavor combinations together that this pie is for you. Tricky to make since you have different components but well worth the work.

This pie called for a homemade crust but I had a pre-made one on hand already so I used that instead.

Ingredients:
1 pre-made pie crust (your choice)

For Cookie Dough:
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, room temperature 3/8 c. granulated sugar
3/8 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 tsp. milk
1/2 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

For Filling:
3/4 c. light brown sugar
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. whole milk
3 egg yolks
1 tbs. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:
1 c. heavy cream
3 tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Bake crust for about 7 minutes. Cool completely.

To prepare cookie dough, beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Using some of the dough, make 8 small (1/2" in diameter) balls. Place on a non-stick baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until edges are lightly golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Reserve remaining dough (dough can be made 1 day in advance and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature prior to using).

In a medium saucepan, mix sugar, flour and salt. Stir in 1 cup of milk, mix until smooth, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until smooth and thickened, about 2 minutes, then remove from heat.

Beat the egg yolks with the remaining cup of milk. Temper the egg mixture with a small amount of the slightly cooled milk mixture then blend this into the larger saucepan with the cooling milk mixture.

Return saucepan to the heat and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly, lower heat and simmer until mixture is the consistency of thick pudding, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and quickly stir in butter and vanilla. Set aside.

While filling is cooling, break off pieces of cookie dough and press them into the cooled pie crust. You want an even layer of dough approximately 1/2" thick (you may have leftover dough, but remember, it's eggless! so enjoy it!)

Pour in filling on top of dough layer, leveling the top with a rubber spatula. Filling should come up about 1/2" from the top of the crust. Refrigerate until completely cooled.

Whip cream until it begins to form soft folds. Add sugar and vanilla, and beat until cream holds stiff peaks. Gently spread all but 1/3 cup of whipped cream on top of cooled filling, smoothing top into a slight dome. With remaining cream, pipe or dollop mounds evenly around the pie, and garnish with mini cookies.

Butterfinger Blondies

I honestly have never made blondies before. I have accumulated quite a collection of recipes for them though. I had finally decided that I was going to make them and I'm so happy I did. These were amazing, they were a hit with everyone. I had brought a few of these to my mother at work foe her to try. Poor her she had brought them home and she had only gotten to take a bite at work because I made her (I love to see the expressions on peoples faces when they try my baking.) Anyways poor lady brought them home and apparently my dad thought they were all for him so he ate them all up before she got the chance.

Thanks to Pinterest and leading me to the Six Sisters Stuff site I had found these delicious concoctions. The only alteration I made to this recipe was to use a different frosting then they had used. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1c. butter
1 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
2 c. coarsely chopped Butterfinger Bars (approx 16 “Fun Size” bars)

Preheat oven to 350° Cream butter and sugars in mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until incorporated. On low add your dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking soda) until just combined. Stir in your chopped Butterfinger. Spread in a 9×13 baking dish and bake for 25 minutes until center is set. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Butterfinger Frosting

Ingredients:
3 tbs. flour
1 c. milk
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2-3 fun sized Butterfingers

Make paste of flour and milk over heat. Remove from heat and let cool completely in refrigerator. Mix granulated sugar, butter and vanilla with mixer. Cream until fluffy and then add the paste and mix at high speed until it fluffs up. Add Butterfingers and mix until combined. Spread on top pf blondies and enjoy.

Gooey Butter Cookies

At the beginning of March my family and my parents went to stay at a hotel for my mom and dads celebrations. I refer to it as celebrations because my moms birthday is the 1st, my dads the 3rd and there anniversary the 5th. We got the whole thing done on one day!

I told my mom that I was going to bake something to bring up there since she had purchased a premade cake (shame on her). So I made the Gooey Butter Cookies- they were a hit! They are so soft and delicious there is no way possible you can have just one.

Ingredients:
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (18.25 oz) yellow cake mix
1/4 c. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl cream together cream cheese and butter. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add cake mix and stir until well blended. Roll into 1 inch balls then roll in powdered sugar. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes. They will appear soft and they should be. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with more powdered sugar if desired.

*Variation-use other cake mixes for different flavors.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Who wants to take all that time rolling and cutting and individually frosting sugar cookies? Not I. Here is your solution- sugar cookie bars! Thanks to the author of chef-in-training.com I found this simple easy recipe that will sure impress. I had my little guys around as taste testers and decorators this morning and let's just say they had more samples than me!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. butter, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray jelly roll pan (15x10x1) with cooking spray. In your mixer cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together. Add in egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. With mixer on low, add in your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until just combined. Press dough evenly into your prepared pan. (dough will be sticky). Bake for 20 minutes until edges begin to turn golden brown.

You can always make your own frosting for this but I had some pink vanilla frosting with sprinkles left over from Valentines day that the boys wanted to use. Decorate, cut and indulge!

Whoopie Pies

Honestly I cannot say how Whoopie Pies have become so popular lately. I sure am not complaining! These little creations are so cute and delicious. Not really a pie per se more of a cake, but who's checking. Yesterday I had posted that I was going to bake something for my husband to bring to work for his birthday, well I made a compromise. I made the Cookies and Cream Bars as well as these Whoopie Pies and I'm giving him a little bit of each to bring. The best part of this........I get to keep some for myself, yay!

I don't think I have ever mentioned before but I used to hate to bake! Then somehow I got to baking and now I can't stop. I this this may be a good and a bad blessing. Good, I make others and my kids happy with my sweets. Bad, I think I'm putting on weight. All in all though I'm happy that I started again. I've been baking things I never thought I would. It's fun!

Anywho, here is the recipe for Whoopie Pies that I adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor Cookbook. Hope you enjoy how simple and quick this recipe really is.

Cakes:
1 pkg. (18.25 ounces) plain chocolate cake mix
8 tbs. (1 stick) butter; melted
1 large egg

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets. Place the cake mix, butter, and egg in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients come together in a stiff mass, 1 to 2 minutes. Form the dough into 1-inch balls with your hands or scoop the dough into balls. Place the balls of dough on baking sheets 2 inches apart. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake the cakes until they are still a little soft, 10 to 12 minutes. If your oven cannot accommodate both baking sheets on the center rack, place one on the top rack and one on the center rack and rotate them halfway through the baking time. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cakes cool on them for 5 minutes. Then, using a metal spatula, transfer the cakes to wire racks to cool completely, 30 minutes longer.

For the filling:
8 tsb. butter
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. Marshmallow Fluff (about 1/2 of a 7 1/2-oz. jar)
1 tsp. vanilla

In a medium bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and remaining ingredients until light and fluffy.

Boston Cream Pie

I love Boston Cream Pie, who doesn't! Cake, cream filling, chocolate glaze. It is so decadent yet simple to make. Yum is all I can say.

My husbands birthday is in 2 days, happy early birthday hunny! I told him that I would make him a cake, which our 3 year old thinks is for him lol. He said he would rather have me make my Cookies and Cream Bars so he can bring them to work. I told him that I honestly couldn't guarantee that if I made them that they would last long enough to take. I'm bad, I know but there are some things on tgis earth that I can't control myself around and one of them is. Cookies and Cream Bars.

Anyways back to the topic, it has been quite a windy Minnesota day. Things flying across my yard, my 3 year old asking ever few minutes "what's that noise". So I took today as a good day to make my husbands cake. I know its a little early but that's just how I am. So here is a simple, delicious version of the beloved Boston Cream Pie.

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix(and ingredients called for on the package.

Filling:
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
1 c. cold milk
1 1/2 c. Cool Whip

Chocolate Glaze:
1 square unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
1 tbs. butter
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 tbs. milk

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Spray 2 9 inch round baking pans with cooking spray. Bake cake for 28-33 mind or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool then take them out of pans and let cool completely.

Filling:
Beat together 1 cup of milk and pudding with a whisk or mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in cool whip until combined. Let stand 5 minutes. Stack cake layers on serving plate,spreading pudding mixture between layers.

Glaze:
Microwave chocolate and butter on high for one minute in a small microwave safe bowl. Stir until chocolate is melted. Add powdered sugar and 2 tbs. milk; mix well until smooth. Spread over the top of the cake. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.