Rice Crispy Treats

How hard can they be, right? Why do I need to put them on here, and why is it the first time I've posted in almost two years.....well, life has a way of getting in the way and it's done just that for two years now. I can't promise I'll post on here very often, but every once in a while I think of something that I should save just in case I forget how to make it....especially now that I don't have my mom to ask :(

So, here is my version of Rice Crispy Treats. They are AMAZING and I highly recommend these changes, every time I take them somewhere they are devoured!! I love the addition of the marshmallow pieces!

Ingredients

1 stick of butter
1 bag of large marshmallows
1 bag of mini marshmallows
8-9 cups of rice crispy cereal

Directions

In a large bowl measure out 8-9 cups of rice crispy cereal and half of the bag of mini marshmallows and mix up a little.

In a large sauce pan, melt butter, I like to melt it until the particles separate and it becomes brown butter, if you've never done this before HERE are some instructions. Once melted, add the entire bag of large marshmallows, and the other half of the bag of mini marshmallows into the pan and leave the heat on VERY low. Stir until all the marshmallows are melted.

Pour mixture over rice cripy cereal and mix well until all coated.

Press into 9x13 pan and let cool.

ENJOY!!

Lemon Almond Bread

Lemon Almond Bread

Ingredients:
For the bread:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3/4 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

For the lemon glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, for garnishing the loaf

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. In a small bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest. Rub together with your fingers until fragrant. Whisk into the flour mixture. Set aside.

3. In a separate medium bowl, combine the almond milk, oil, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla, and almond extract.

4. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

5. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Place the loaf on a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes. Loosen the sides of the bread with a knife. Carefully remove loaf from pan. Let cool completely on wire rack.

6. While the bread is cooling, make the lemon glaze. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze of the lemon almond bread. Sprinkle sliced almonds over the bread. Cut and serve.

Homemade Granola {one of my new favorites}!

HOMEMADE GRANOLA {SO YUMMY}

3 cups old fashioned Oats

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup Almonds - optional

1/2 cup cranberries/raisins - optional

1/3 cup Honey

3 tbsp coconut oil

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a food processor or blender, pulse half of the almonds until they are very finely chopped. Pour them into a large bowl. Then chop the other half of the almonds coarsely, and pour them into the same bowl.

1. Pour the oats, salt, and brown sugar into the bowl with the almonds and stir to combine.

1. In a small microwaveable bowl, combine honey and coconut oil, and heat for 40 seconds. Stir to dissolve the coconut oil, and add the vanilla and almond extract.

1. Pour the honey mixture over the oats, and stir so that they are evenly coated.

1. Pour the oats evenly onto a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet (helpful if it has sides).

1. Bake the oats for 5 minutes, and then stir them around. Return to the oven for 5 more minutes.

1. Pour the granola and onto a piece of wax paper to cool. Spread it out into a thin layer.

1. After it cools completely, break the granola into clusters and store in an airtight container.

Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh. My. Goodness.....These are DELICIOUS!!!! They are all of my favorite things combined into one amazing cookie! I found them because I was looking for something to do with all the pretzel pieces I had left over from the chocolate covered pretzels I made for Christmas. These are the perfect way to use up broken pretzels. {or you can break some up if you need to!}

I found the caramel pieces in the baking isle at the grocery store, they are made by Kraft. They are already unwrapped and in little "bits" so you don't have to chop them up. WAY EASIER!!!

Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 C butter, softened
3/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 C Flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C milk chocolate chips
1 C Kraft caramel bits
1/2 C crushed pretzel pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add Flour, cornstarch, soda and salt and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips, caramel bits and crushed pretzel pieces. Using a standard size cookie scoop, drop by scoopful onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt if desired. I pressed pieces of pretzel into the top of all my cookies.

Bake  8-10 minutes until just golden brown on the edges. DO NOT OVER-BAKE. {mine were 8 minutes}. Let cool and enjoy!

Cracker TOFFEE

I've seen this on Pinterest in a few places and thought it sounded a little strange but I Love toffee and thought I would give it a try....I made it for Thanksgiving and it is DELICIOUS!! {I think I like it even better than regular toffee because it doesn't get stuck in your teeth and it's not too hard to eat}.

1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 pkg chocolate chips
1 C nuts to sprinkle on top {optional}

Preheat oven to 375.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread saltine crackers on cookie sheet. Leave a little room between them so the crackers can move around a little.

In a saucepan melt brown sugar and butter. Let boil for 3 minutes and then pour caramel mixture over the saltine crackers. Try to cover them as much as possible, but don't worry too much about covering every inch.

Bake for 6-8 minutes. The mixture will bubble up and cover all the crackers while it's cooking.

Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Let chocolate chips melt and then spread them all over the top. Sprinkle with nuts.

Let cool and then break into pieces and enjoy!!

PIE {Coconut Cream & Apple}

You might have seen that I've been working on my pie crust lately...I'm getting pretty good at it and my boys are loving that I keep having to "practice" with lots of pie. I have made several pies in the last few weeks and it has been AWESOME every time. {and they are both SUPER easy}.

I have used two different recipes for the crust. THIS one is easier to work with, and THIS one taste a little better. They are both good and they have turned out each time, but personally I like the taste of the Crisco one better however it is MUCH harder to work with!

COCONUT CREAM PIE

2 pkg Coconut Cream Pudding

2 1/2 Cups Cold Milk

1 8oz Cool Whip

Coconut for topping

Mix pudding mixes together with cold milk. Whisk well and let sit for 5 minutes to start setting. Pour Coconut cream mixture into pie crust. Top with Cool Whip. Let sit in refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

In a frying pan, toast about 1/2 cup of coconut. I just toast it until it starts to brown. {it takes a minute to get it started and then it turns brown pretty quick so be sure to watch it carefully}

Top pie with toasted coconut and ENJOY!!

APPLE PIE

Using the same pie crust {but you do NOT have to cook it first}

4 Cups wedged apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of apples, to taste

2 -4 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, to your taste

1 teaspoon cinnamon, to your taste

1 cup apple juice or 1 cup water, if you don't have juice, try to have juice, it adds to the flavor

Directions:

Sprinkle lemon juice over apples in saucepan. Mix next four ingredients together and add to apples. Mix well. Add very hot juice to pan, (I microwave juice for 2 minutes) cook, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and cool.

Fill a well chilled 9 inch pastry lined pan and cover with top crust. Bake on lowest rack at 425* for 10 minutes, and finish baking on center rack until bubbling, about 30 minutes more.

ENJOY YOUR PIES!! {I know we did!!!}

Best EVER Cookies and a Dirty Diet Coke {Swig Copycat}

I found this recipe on Pinterest for copycat Swig cookies. {I know it's been all over the internet, I got the recipe HERE and it has lots of good pictures}.  I've never been to Swig. I don't even know if they taste the same, but I do know they are AWESOME sugar cookies. They are soft and just the right size and they taste AMAZING. I love the mix of sugar and salt that you put on the outside, every once in a while you get a little taste of the salt and it makes them SO good.

Look at those sugar crystals and that frosting....don't they look delicious!

Makes 3-4 dozen good size cookies.  I used the scoop just under the ice cream scoop size

1 c. butter (room temp.)
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 Tblsp. water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
5 1/2 c. flour

Sour Cream Frosting:
1/2 c. room temp. butter
3/4 c. sour cream
4 c. sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. salt (I think I'll try just 1/2 tsp. next time)

Cream together butter, vegetable oil, sugars, water, and eggs.  Mix dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture.  Mix until everything is combined.  Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all.  Roll a golf ball sized ball of dough and place it on your cookie sheet.

Now is the time to give these babies their signature rough edge.  Put 1/4 c. sugar and a pinch of salt in a dish.  This is in addition to the sugar and salt listed above.  Stick the bottom of a glass in it.  This is going to be your cookie press.  Firmly press it into the center of your dough ball.  You want your dough to spill out over the sides of the glass.  If there is a ridge, it is even better.  Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes.  They should just barely be browning on the bottom.  Move cookies to a cooling rack.  Once they are cool, put them in the fridge.

Sour Cream Frosting:

Start by creaming together butter and sour cream and salt.  Slowly add powdered sugar.  When it gets so thick its not frosting like add a splash of milk.  (I didn't need to add any milk).  Alternate this process until your frosting is the desired consistency.  Add 1 drop red food coloring and whip on high for 1 minute.

Keep cookies in a sealed container until they are ready to serve.  The magic of a Swig Sugar cookie is that the cookies are cold and the frosting is room temperature.  Frost right before serving (if you make the in advance and need to refrigerate the frosting make sure you give it time to warm up before serving).   Actually, I thought they were good without doing that.

Tastes BEST with a Dirty Diet Coke.

Dirty Diet Coke

Recipe adapted by Our Best Bites
crushed ice
1/2 lime (cut the lime into quarters and use 2 quarters)
12 ounces Diet Coke
1-2 tablespoons half and half (optional)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut syrup

Instructions:

Pour the coconut syrup into the bottom of a 24-ounce glass. Fill it about halfway full with crushed ice. Squeeze the lime quarters over the ice and drop them into the glass so the rind is touching the ice. Pour the Diet Coke over the spent limes. If desired, add a splash of half and half. Add a straw to stir and serve. Makes 1 serving.

Be BRAVE...Make Pie Crust!!!

I was very brave and made pie crust. I read Mel's Kitchen Cafe {which I LOVE} and thought ok, she says I can do it...and I'm going to try.

My boys LOVE pie. And I've NEVER made them one!

So, I followed her instructions EXACTLY! And it turned out PERFECT!!!!

{don't mind my runner hair, I was so excited to make pie that I didn't even change!}

I even made lattice. Holy Moly! What is this world coming to!

HERE are the instructions! You can't mess it up! It's perfect pie crust.  {I don't actually like fruit pie, but I did try the crust and it was flaky and perfect!} YUM!!!

Now, what kind should I make next? I'm thinking Coconut Creme. That is my favorite!!

Breakfast Awesomeness

Let's just call this "Breakfast Awesomeness" cuz that's really what it should be called.  And NO I have no idea how many calories it has....and I probably don't want to know...Oh man, it was SO good. I had it for leftovers this morning and it was just as good...so here is what I made...

OVERNIGHT BAKED FRENCH TOAST

Overnight Baked French Toast
As seen on Our Best Bites

8 eggs
2 cups half and half (one pint)
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 lb loaf of french bread {I used a loaf of old wheat bread and it was great}
softened butter for greasing baking dish (2-3 tablespoons)

Topping {I LOVED the topping and I increased the amounts a little}
6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2-3 tablespoons cold butter

For Serving
melted butter
maple syrup
powdered sugar
berries
whipped cream

Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add half and half and milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Set aside.

Cut bread into 1 inch chunks or into thin slices. {I didn't cut mine all up, I just layered them in the pan} Butter bottom and sides of a 9×13 baking dish. Place the bread in the dish. Whisk egg mixture then pour evenly over bread. Use a rubber spatula to very gently toss bread. Spread out evenly, cover dish, and refrigerate overnight.

Add brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and stir to combine. Cut cold butter into very small pieces and add to bowl. Break up butter and combine mixture until crumbly. Cover and place in fridge until ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle topping evenly over top. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until top is golden brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting into squares. Drizzle with melted butter and syrup, top with berries, whipped cream and a sprinkle of powdered sugar if desired.

Then I topped it with this....{and strawberries, and I bought whipped cream, but I forgot to use it so I guess I will have to make it again, DARN}

BUTTERMILK SYRUP

1/2 cup butter1/2 cup buttermilk (I used buttermilk substitute – 1 Tbs of vinegar for each 1 cup of milk)
3/4 cups sugar1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla1 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

In a large saucepan (make sure it is large, this syrup will grow when you add the vanilla and soda), place the butter, buttermilk, corn syrup and sugar. Bring to a boil and let boil for about 3 minutes, stirring. remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and soda. it will foam. Now it is ready to serve. Yum Yum.

Pretzel Chocolate Chip Muffins

I found these on Mel's Kitchen Cafe {one of my favorite recipe sites}. They are DELICIOUS!!! {and she's right they are MESSY, but they are good! Get the recipe HERE.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Found these on Pinterest too.....they are from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, which I LOVE...I get lots of new recipes from her website.

SUGAR COOKIE BARS

These are AMAZING! and Super Easy. Find the recipe HERE.

Sugar Cookie Bars

YIELD: MAKES 9X13-INCH PAN OF BARS

INGREDIENTS

Bars:
• 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened to cool room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest (optional)
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
Frosting:
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk or cream
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Sprinkles (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the lemon zest, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined.
3. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Press and/or spread the sugar cookie mixture gently into an even layer into the bottom of the pan.
4. Bake for 10-13 minutes. Don't overbake! The bars shouldn't have any color around the edges and barely be set in the middle. Let the bars cool completely before frosting.
5. For the frosting, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth (if the mixture has trouble coming together, add a drop or two of milk). Add in the vanilla and mix. Add the milk or cream and mix until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add food coloring, if desired.

Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Bars

Found these on Pinterest....they are DELICIOUS!!!!

I found the recipe HERE.

Ingredients

1	cup melted butter
1	cup brown sugar (I used Dark brown sugar)
1	teaspoon baking soda
2¼	cups Quick Cooking oatmeal (NOT instant)
1½	cups flour
1	teaspoon salt
½	cup peanut butter (I used creamy)
1	can sweetened condensed milk
1	King size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup candy bars, roughly chopped
1	cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Line a 9×13 pan with tin foil and spray lighlty with PAM.
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together melted butter, sugar, soda, oatmeal, flour & salt until it’s crumbly.
Set aside about 1 cup or a little more.
Press the rest of the crust into prepared pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes.
While crust is cooking, in a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk.
Once crust has baked, evenly pour and spread peanut butter filling over the baked crust.Be gentle so you don’t pull up the warm crust while you spread the filling.
Evenly sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top of the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk mixture. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle the chopped candy bars and chocolate chips evenly over the top. Return to oven to bake for another 5-10 minutes or until topping is light golden brown and candy bars/chips are melting.
Allow to cool to make cutting and serving easier.

Oatmeal Strawberry Bars

These bars are AMAZING!! Seriously, one of the best things I've ever made....but then again I LOVE oatmeal. {I've already made them twice since Christmas and they are good warm or cold. Especially with cool whip or vanilla ice cream, not that I've tried it or anything! :)}

Oatmeal Strawberry Bars {they are really good with raspberry too}
from: The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 sticks salted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• One 10 to 12-ounce jar strawberry preserves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch rectangular pan.

Mix together the butter, flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Press half the oat mixture into the prepared pan. Spread with the strawberry preserves. Sprinkle the other half of the oat mixture over the top and pat lightly. Bake until light brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely, and then cut into squares. 

Pumpkin Bars

I can't believe I haven't posted this before. These are Tanner's all time FAVORITE dessert. We make them multiple times during the fall season.

PUMPKIN BARS

{from the Jenson Family Cookbook}

2 C Sugar
1 C Oil {I use applesauce}
1 lrg can pumpkin {2 C)
4 Eggs {I only use 2}

Mix above ingredients together until creamy.

Add the following:

2 C Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Nutmeg {I added this}

Mix well. Add 1 C Nuts if desired. I never add nuts. Jason is allergic and Tanner doesn't like them.

Bake on a large jelly roll pan at 350 for 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz Cream Cheese
6 T Butter
3 C Powdered Sugar
1-2 tsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla

Blend together until desired consistency. I add more powdered sugar or milk to get it right.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

These are the BEST cookies EVER! I've been avoiding all sweets and haven't had much in the last two months....so maybe I'm biased because I've been sugar deprived....but these are SERIOUSLY SO GOOD!!!

*Makes 2-3 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
12-ounce bag semisweet or milk chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric handheld mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until the batter is light in color, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the flour, oatmeal, baking soda and salt. When it is mostly combined but there are still dry spots, add the chocolate chips and mix until well combined. Scoop out tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto a lined baking sheet (with parchment, silpat or coated with cooking spray), spacing the cookies 1-2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes until very lightly browned and still soft in the center. Remove the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Original recipe found HERE.

Pumpkin Dessert

I do not like Pumpkin Pie, I never have and probably never will....but, I LOVE this Pumpkin Dessert. It's one of my favorite desserts. {I forgot how much I liked it until I made it yesterday}

Pumpkin Dessert

2 C Gingersnaps
1/4 C. butter
1 (8 oz) cream cheese
2 Eggs
1/2 C Sugar
2 pkg. vanilla pudding
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin
3/4 C milk
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon, divided
1/2 tsp cloves
1 (8 oz) cool whip

Crush gingersnaps and mix with butter to make a crumb mixture. Press into the bottom of 9x13 pan. Mix together cream cheese, eggs, and sugar. Pour over crumb mixture and bake 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool Completely. Mix together vanilla pudding, milk, nutmeg, 1 tsp of cinnamon, cloves and pumpkin.  Spread on cooled cream cheese mixture. Cool 1 hour. Mix 1 tsp of cinnamon in cool whip. Spread over pumpkin layer. Chill for 3 hours.

Cinnamon Rolls UPDATED

I've been tweeking and working on my cinnamon roll recipe. I feel like it keeps getting better, so I wanted to post my newest recipe.

DOUGH {in the breadmaker}

1 C milk {warmed in microwave for about 30-40 seconds}
1 egg
4 tbsp butter {softened or melted}
3 1/2 C Flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast {1 pkg}

Warm milk for 30-40 seconds, make sure it's not too hot and add yeast to the warmed milk. {I added a little sugar to start the yeast working}. Set aside.

In breadmaker put all dry ingredients {flour, sugar and salt}, make a well in dry ingredients and add egg, butter and yeast/milk mixture.

Let the breadmaker do all the hard work. It will knead once and then rise. After it kneads the second time, take it out of the breadmaker and let it sit for 10 minutes to rest.

Roll out dough into a large rectangle. Spread softened butter all over dough, sprinkle with cinnamon and then with brown sugar. Roll up dough on the long side of the rectangle and cut cinnamon rolls into 12 rolls.

In a 9x13 pan, spray with Pam or spread butter all over the edges. Put glops of butter all over the bottom {about 9-10}. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Drizzle light karo syrup over everything.

Place rolls on their sides in the 9x13 pan and let rise until double in size.

Bake for 15min at 350 degrees.

Dump out of pan IMMEDIATELY after they come out of the oven. {the gooey stuff in the bottom will harden as it cools and they will get stuck in the pan.}. I like to dump them onto a cooling rack and then back onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

While still warm, frost with frosting. {see below}

FROSTING
3-4 oz Cream Cheese
2-3 tbsp butter
5-6 C. Powdered Sugar
Milk to thin
vanilla flavoring
pinch of salt

Cream together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla flavoring and salt. Add powdered sugar. Use milk to thin until desired consistency.  {This frosting can be a little more glaze like than cake frosting because you want it to run down the sides of the cinnamon rolls.}

Pumpkin Banana Bread

You can see the original recipe from allrecipes.com. I have included my adjustments in italics.

Banana Pumpkin Bread

2 Bananas
2 Eggs
1/3 C Oil {I used apple sauce}
1 1/3 C {10oz} Pumpkin
1/2 C Honey
1/2 C Sugar {I used splenda}
2 1/2 C Flour {I used 1 1/2 whole wheat flour}
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg {I added the nutmeg}

Mix together Bananas, eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey and sugar. Mix well. Combine all dry ingredients and spices together and mix well. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until well blended.

I decided to add a package of chocolate chips because I thought it needed them. I doubled the recipe and used one package of chocolate chips and I feel like there were plenty. You would probably only want 1/2 of a package if you only make one loaf.

Pour into loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. {I had to bake mine for over an hour, but I had two in the oven at the same time.}

Makes 1 loaf

Rootbeer Float Fudge

...make this at your own risk....I may or may not have eaten 1/2 a pan of this since I made it 2 days ago....

I found the recipe on Pinterest from Shugary Sweets. You can get a printable, email or text version HERE.

Ingredients (serves 36)

• 3 C Sugar
• 3/4 C Butter
• 1 C heavy cream
• pinch of salt
• 3 cups white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme
• 3 tsp root beer concentrate (McCormicks)

Instructions

In large saucepan, heat sugar, butter, salt and cream until combined. Bring to a boil and stir continuously for 4 minutes.

Remove from heat. Quickly stir in white chocolate and marshmallow. Whisk in vigorously until smooth, be patient this will take a couple minutes.

Pour half of mixture into a parchment paper lined 13x9 baking dish. To remaining fudge, whisk in root beer concentrate. Stir until combined. Pour over white fudge. Using a knife, swirl the two together. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Cut into bite size pieces and enjoy. Tastes great cold!

Peppermint Meltaways

My new OBSESSION this year. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE these....I could have 100 of them!!!

The recipe can be found HERE at Taste of Home.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 
  FROSTING:
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons 2% milk
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 to 3 drops red food coloring, optional
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

Directions

• In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
• Shape into 1/2-1 in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
• In a small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, milk, extract and food coloring if desired; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies; sprinkle with crushed candies. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3-1/2 dozen.

JUST A NOTE: Make sure you make them smaller than 1" and do not smash them down too much, just a little bit. They are really crumbly if you make them too big or too flat. Also, I just crushed up my peppermints and added them to the icing. It worked great.