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Desserts

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Raspberry Bars Recipe. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe. Homemade Heart-Shaped Pop Tarts. I'm one of those people who loves everything about Valentine's Day (you may be saying, "blech" right now, but I do). Well, I'm not particularly fond of how commercial the holiday has become, but I do love all the hugs, kisses, homemade cards and, of course, sweet treats! While you can easily buy your Valentine a bag of sweet tarts with cute sayings printed on them, why not go to the store, buy fresh ingredients and then make something special with your kids instead? This year, Kenya, Chloe and I have decided to make Raspberry Cream Cheese Heart Tarts for daddy (I hope he doesn't read this post before the 14th) to show him just how much we love him. After all, isn't food the fastest way to a daddy's heart? Putting a spin on Pop Tarts, one of my childhood favorites, I came up with the idea of these homemade Heart Tarts. Kenya and I shot a little video of us making this recipe which I'm posting this Friday, but in case you can't wait that long, I've printed how to prepare them below.

No-Bake Strawberry Lemonade Bites. When I think back to the summers of my childhood, I remember hopping on my bike after breakfast, and not returning home ’til dinner. Tossing then collecting dive rings at the local pool for hours on end. Chasing crawfish out from underneath creek rocks, but being too afraid they’d pinch my fingertips to put my whole heart into catching them. Bomb Pops. Lightening Bugs. Sidewalk chalk. Ice-cold lemonade. Every week during the summer, my Mom would let my brothers and me each pick out a packet of Kool-Aid from the dazzling display at the grocery store to sip on during the week. There’s still nothing as refreshing as a frosty glass of lemonade (perhaps with a shot of sweet tea vodka?)

With a texture somewhere between a custard, pudding, and jello, No-Bake Strawberry Lemonade Bites are tart, sweet, creamy, and taste exactly like a glass of lemonade accented with the fresh taste of strawberries. They’re perfect for a portion controlled sweet treat and, best of all, there’s no baking involved! Chess Squares. When I was in New York a few weeks ago we stopped by one of the most unique bakeries I’ve ever visited, Momofuku Milk Bar. Noted for their unusual concoctions like cookies made with potato chips, birthday cake truffles, and cereal milk ice cream, I’d been wanting to visit Momofuku’s and try a slice of their famous Crack Pie since I came across the recipe in the LA Times last year. The thought did cross my mind that I could actually, you know, make the recipe myself, but one thing kept stopping me. It’s decidedly fussy. With 22 ingredients (including 8 egg yolks, ugh) and the advertised one-and-a-half hours of labor-intensive preparation, I just kept putting the whole thing off.

When I did finally get the chance to taste it two weeks ago, I immediately flashed back to my college days when my girlfriends and I would flounce around in the kitchen, throwing dinner parties for our boyfriends, and making sinfully sweet treats for church Bible studies. Oh right. That’s when it dawned on me. Doh.

Santa hat brownies « daisy's world. Aren’t these Santa Hat Brownies just so cute? Thanks to Erica’s Sweet Tooth for the inspiration. I was looking for a fun and simple holiday treat and I ran across a recipe on her website. They’re so good and easy to make, especially since I bought Trader Joe’s Ready to Bake brownie mix (just pour the ready-made brownie batter in an 8-X 8-inch pan and bake for 22-25 minutes). You can use ready-made brownie bites or bake a pan of your favorite brownies.

Update: November 17, 2013 This year, I plan to bake these Santa Hat Brownies and other holiday treats to give as gifts to friends and co-workers. Note: I have been paying for Picmonkey’s monthly Royale Plan for the past year. Santa Hat Brownies Yields 12-16 brownies Ingredients: 1 pan of your favorite brownies, cooled and cut into desired size and shape (I used a round cutter) 12-16 small strawberries, cleaned and hulled vanilla-mascarpone buttercream (recipe below) To assemble, pipe a ring of vanilla buttercream on top of each brownie. Salted Caramel Butter Bars - Cookies and Cups. These Salted Caramel Butter bars are one of my most requested recipes ever! As I sit here and type this post I am currently in a funk. A funk because it is raining. A funk because it is crazy windy. A funk because it is getting colder by the second and soon enough we will be into New Jersey’s never-ending winter. A funk because my “fat” jeans are currently my “skinny” jeans.

A funk because I would like a bowl of soup and no one will make it for me. A funk because The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills won’t be on again until Thursday. A funk because I just got movies in the mail from Netflix and apparently my husband has been the only one updating the “queue”. A funk because I stayed home today to get laundry and housework done and all I successfully managed to do was catch up on all my dvr’d Jerseylicious episodes. A funk because my nails are ugly. A funk because I am still in my pj’s and it is 4:56 p.m. But I will tell you… No, it’s not the winning lottery numbers, settle down people. Trust. Oat Orange and Chocolate Chip Muffins. Look at that muffin on its side! I dunno know why I did that. Cute? Weird? Who cares…it’s just a muffin being a rebel.

Orange and chocolate really have their moment during the month of December. Such a classic little holiday pairing. I played around with some scones of the same ilk back in the day and can’t really get the match out of my head. These muffins get put together pretty quickly. I made some tweaks here and there, mainly adding in some oat flour to give it a nice, healthy texture. Oat Orange and Chocolate Chip Muffins Print this recipe! 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for tins 2 3/4 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 cup oat flour (*See note below on how to make it) 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 cups white granulated sugar 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 1 large egg 2 large egg yolks 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh orange zest 1 cup milk 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips Handful of rolled oats 1. 2. 3.

Lemon-Blackberry Cheesecake. Raspberry Tart Recipe. Pate Brisee: In a food processor, place the flour, salt, and sugar and process until combined. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal (about 15 seconds). Pour 1/8 cup (30 ml) water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube until the pastry just holds together when pinched. Add remaining water, if necessary. Do not process more than about 30 seconds. Turn the pastry out onto your work surface, gather it into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour to chill the butter and allow the gluten in the flour to relax. Once the pastry has chilled, remove from refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface.

Bake the tart in a preheated 450 degree F (205 degree C) oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the raspberries have given off just a little of their juice. Makes one free form tart. References: Killeen, Johanne & Germon, George. Root, Waverley. Neapolitan Rose Cake. How to Make a Cupcake Bouquet. Oh, how I love Pinterest. It’s such a fun source for inspiration and new ideas. Someone pinned a cupcake bouquet and I knew right away that I had to create one myself. I couldn’t find any good guides on making them, so I put together a step by step photo tutorial for you so you can make one too. It’s really not that hard – pipe roses onto cupcakes (there’s an animated gif below to show you how), put them on some toothpicks into a styrofoam ball. Done! I think a cupcake bouquet would be a lovely gift for Mother’s Day, which is coming up in two weeks. For the cupcakes, I used Cupcake Project’s ultimate vanilla cupcake and vanilla bean buttercream (I substituted vanilla extract for bean in the frosting so it wouldn’t have flecks in it), which were met with rave reviews: “As a chocolate person, I think of vanilla as a nothing flavor but this…this has a distinct flavor!”

“I hate frosting but this is great.” Who would you give a cupcake bouquet to? , Wilton 1M tip Fold strips into accordions. Brownie-Cookie Cups. Nutella Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing. Yep, that’s how I roll …yesterday I’m talking about diets, today I’m baking over the top deliciousness! A couple weeks ago I found a recipe for cinnamon rolls that used a cinnamon butter spread.

It was dated a while back and when I looked for said cinnamon spread at the grocery store it wasn’t there. So I improvised, made my own spread, and the rolls were fantastic. Based on that little experiment I thought I would take it a little further and use nutella instead of cinnamon, butter, and sugar. And thus was born Nutella Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing! And let me tell you, these suckers are delicious! Ready to get started? Here’s what you’ll need to make 8 Nutella Rolls Rolls:1 can Pillsbury Grands Biscuits3/4 – 1 cup NutellaFlour and Sugar for rolling Cream Cheese Icing:4oz Cream Cheese (softened)1 tsp Vanilla1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar That’s it! Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and spraying eight sections of a muffin pan with cooking or baking spray. Then, roll up your dough. Nutella & Sea Salt Stuffed Sugar Cookie Recipe {Baking Giveaway} (The giveaway is now closed, but I hope you still enjoy the Nutella Stuffed Cookies.)

After making the first batch of Chocolate Nutella Fudge with Sea Salt last year, my family (kids, grandparents and brother-in-law included) immediately determined it was a must-have for each Christmas, to be served alongside my husband’s great-grandmother’s spritz butter cookies and my dad’s killer ginger cookies. Yeah, okay…twist my arm. That fudge set off a cascade of gooey chocolate and hazelnut baking in our house, from Chewy Nutella & Oatmeal Bars to Nutella & Cream Cheese Swirled Blondies . It was only a matter of time before the Nutella weaseled its way into the center of my favorite sugar cookie recipe (typically made with crumbled Heath Bars ). When making drop cookies, I like to be fairly precise about the size of each cookie so that they cook as evenly as possible.

No loosey-goosey dropping from a spoon in this elf’s kitchen. For details on entering the OXO baking giveaway, scroll down. 1. Country Momma Cooks: Lemon Shortbread Cookies.