Weeknight Apple Pie Bites

Sometimes you come across a recipe and it makes you go "duh!"  This is one of those recipes.  I came across it at Cookin' Up North via Pinterest.

I love apple pie but I hate cooking it.  It's labor intensive and I never seem to want it that badly.  Well this recipe takes all the work out of it!  From start to finish it takes about 30 minutes.  Seriously!  It turns this American dessert into a treat you can have any time!  Enjoy!



Ingredients
1 refrigerated pie crust
1 apple
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbl butter, melted

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Spray lining with non-stick spray.
2.  Peel (optional) and core apple and cut into 8 wedges.
3.  Unfold the pie crust.  If your brand of pie crust is a circle, slice into 8 wedges.  If your brand is a rectangle, cut into 8 strips.
4.  Take one pie piece and brush it on one side with melted butter then sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar.  Place an apple wedge at the large end and roll up.  Place on baking sheet.  Repeat until you have eight.
5.  Brush the tops of the pastry with more butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
6.  Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.


Serve with ice cream and/or caramel sauce.  Delish!

Birthday Cake

In honor of my wonderful husband's birthday today, I thought I would share our family's "Birthday Cake".  This chocolate bundt cake is our favorite and it is what we make for our birthdays (or anytime we have an excuse, really).  It's SUPER easy to make and really delicious.  I hope you enjoy and, while we're at it, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!

Cake Ingredients:
~ 1 box chocolate cake mix (I usually choose Betty Crocker's Devil's Food or Dark Chocolate)
~ 1 box chocolate pudding mix (5.9oz)
~ 1 cup veggie oil
~ 1 cup sour cream
~ 1/2 cup hot tap water
~ 4 eggs, beaten


Directions:
~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or whatever the cake box says).  Grease your bundt pan really well, including the top of the center divider!  I use Crisco for this (it's about the only thing I use Crisco for ...) and I've never had a problem.  Just put some on a paper towel and wipe the whole surface down.
~  In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil, sour cream, water, and eggs.  Mix until thoroughly combined.
~  Pour mixture into greased pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
~  Remove pan from oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes.  Invert cake onto dish.  Drizzle glaze on top. (See recipe below)



Sugar Glaze Recipe

Glaze Ingredients:
~ 1 cup confectioners sugar
~ Approx. 2-3 tbsp milk
~ 1/2 tsp almond extract (you can switch this up to any flavor)

Directions:
~ In a small bowl, mix sugar, extract, and 1 tbsp of milk.  Stir to combine.
~ Slowly add more milk until the glaze becomes the consistency you prefer.  Mix well before adding more milk; a little goes a long way. 
~ Drizzle over cake and serve!

Double Layer Cupcakes

yum

I have several posts pending from the last couple weeks and they seem to all be recipes.  I have found a lot of fun dishes lately so keep checking back for all the deliciousness!

While recently celebrating my birthday, I decided I wanted to bypass the whole "birthday cake" thing and do something more fun.  I love cupcakes so I immediately went to my favorite obsession site to find inspiration.

I came across a layered cupcake that looked so good.  I decided to try it out and it was a success!  So many possible variations so you will never get bored!  The picture is a Neapolitan-inspired version with chocolate brownie, strawberry cake, and vanilla icing.  I also tried chocolate brownie, funfetti cake, and rainbow chip icing.  You really can't go wrong and the recipe couldn't be easier:

Ingredients:
1 box of brownie mix (any kind), prepared as directed
1 box cake mix (any kind), prepared as directed
1 container frosting

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven according to package directions.
2.  Prepare mixes in separate bowls.
3.  In a greased (or lined) cupcake pan, fill each cup 1/3 the way up with brownie mix.  Then go back and fill them up another 1/3 with the cake mix.
4.  Bake 20-25 minutes, or according to the directions on the box. 
5.  Once cooled, ice them and enjoy!!

I love Reese's Cups so my next variation might be brownie, vanilla cake and peanut butter icing with crushed mini Reese's Cups on top.  Anything goes!  What variations do you want to try?

Rice Whiskey Treats

I'm a scotch drinker.  It's a very non-girly thing to enjoy but I love it.  My husband, of course, shares similar taste buds.  While at a friend's Super Bowl party, we were eating regular rice krispies treats and thought to ourselves "although delicious .. this needs something .." and then in dawned on us .. bourbon!!

After some googling I realized we were not the first to come to this realization so I do not lay claim to inventing this, however, the recipe below is my own.  Feel free to tweak it as you see fit.


Ingredients:
5 ½ cups Rice Krispies
½ stick butter
10oz bag mini marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ cup bourbon (I used Maker's Mark because that's our fav bourbon)
pinch of sea salt

Directions:
- Melt butter and marshmallows in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Mix in vanilla and cinnamon. Remove pan from heat and add the bourbon*.
- In a large bowl, pour the marshmallow mixture over the Rice Krispies and stir to combine.
- Press into greased 8x8 pan (for thick treats) or 9x13 (for thin treats). Let cool and set.

* The alcohol will smell A LOT stronger than it really is.  Don't worry if it seems too boozy.  I promise it doesn't taste that strong at all!


For regular treats:
- Reduce Rice Krispies by 1/2 cup and leave out bourbon and cinnamon.

For Orange Creamcicle treats:
- Double the vanilla, leave out the cinnamon and replace orange liqueur for the bourbon.

Jessie's Chocolate-less Chip Cookies

So here's the deal:  Mark is a cookie fanatic.  Sometimes he gets a craving and, seeing as cookies are the simplest things to make, I don't mind whipping up a batch. 

Well, a year or two ago, Mark was having one of those I-need-a-cookie-now moments and I decided to make him my chocolate chip cookies (see recipe adjustments at the bottom).  I assumed I had all the ingredients and so I started mixing everything together.  When I got to the "add chocolate chips" step I realized ... there were none.  I decided to bake them anyways and this was the result.  It turned out to be a pretty good cookie and now (on purpose) I make these instead.  If you ever wondered what the cookie part of the chocolate chip cookie tasted like .. here ya go :)


Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  In a large bowl (or mixer) combine together melted butter, sugars, eggs and extract until well blended.
3.  In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt.
4.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Try not to over mix.
5.  Scoop the mixture onto baking sheets. I line mine with either aluminum foil or parchment paper.
6.  Bake for about 12 minutes. Pull them out when they start to look light brown.


For traditional chocolate chip cookies, substitute the almond extract for vanilla extract and add as many chocolate chips as you dare :)

Chocolate Pecan Pie

source

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ingredients:
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell
2 cups pecan halves
3 large eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons good-quality bourbon
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Cover bottom of pie crust with pecans.

3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, sugar, bourbon and the chopped chocolate. Stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into the pie shell over the pecans and place on a heavy-duty cookie sheet.
4.  Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake for an additional 25 minutes or until pie is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie

source

Libby's® Famous Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can NESTLE® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk


Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl.
3.  Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
4.  Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
5.  Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

No-Bake Peanut Butter Crunch Cookies

This is a recipe I received from my friend Alisha.  They are SO good and super simple to make!


Ingredients:
1 cup light Karo syrup
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups favorite peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups corn flakes

Directions:
1.  In a large pot, bring Karo syrup and sugar to a boil.
2.  Once the sugars are melted, add the peanut butter and stir until blended.  Remove from heat.
3.  Stir in vanilla and cornflakes until well blended.
4.  To portion out, you can either spoon individual cookies onto wax paper OR you can press the entire batter lightly onto a lined cookie sheet.  Once it is cool you may cut into squares.

Note:  If you want to add extra goodies like mini chocolate chips or extra peanuts, stir them in with the cornflake step.

Winter Spice Cookies

These are so warm and delicious.  They are great year round but I think they remind me most of a perfect winter evening.  Trust me and go ahead and make two batches.  You will love them!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 3/4 cup whole wheat AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.  In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until well-combined.  Beat in molasses and egg.
3.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
4.  Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, beating until just combined thoroughly.
5.  Scoop the sticky dough into 1" balls and place them on prepared baking sheets.  (Optional step:  Roll cookie dough in sugar before placing on baking sheet)
6.  Bake for 8-9 minutes.  Remove and let them cool on baking sheet.