Gimme Energy…Gimme Sweets!

Ready or NOT, here we go into another school year!  This means early morning alarms, chauffeuring kids to and fro, and (the dreaded) homework! Thinking of this has us longing for the easy, breezy days of summer. We’re gonna need plenty of energy to make it through these first few weeks! The best way to battle this head on is with a fully leaded espresso. And even better when it’s smothered with chocolate and caramel! Salted Caramel Espresso Brownies will sure help us weather the storm we’re about to endure! 

Ingredients

• 1 box of dark chocolate brownies, plus ingredients on the back of the box
• 1 large sea salt caramel chocolate bar
• 1 Starbucks Via

Directions 

Make the brownie batter according to the directions on the back of the box. Stir Vis into the batter. Pour half if the batter into a prepared pan. Break the candy into pieces and lay in top of the batter. Pour the remaining brownie batter on top of the caramel pieces. Bake for 25 min. (We recommend undertaking!) Eat when cool and get stuff done! 

Golden Birthday Sweets

We have yet another family celebration this weekend. An eight year old birthday party. And this year isn’t just any old birthday–it’s a golden birthday.!!! Tina’s son will eight on the eighth and that’s cause for an extra special celebration. Of course, there will be birthday cake, but we thought it would be fun to gather a bunch of “golden” treats to create a Golden Birthday Snack Mix. Some might even use these as ice cream toppings. Rolos, vanilla cupcake Goldfish, Golden Graham’s, and mini Golden Oreos. Golden yumminess! Perfect for any old day but especially for a golden 8th birthday. 

A Sweet Break

What a week! With a staycation, vacation, anniversary, and birthday this past week, our families have had lots of celebrations and loads of sugar. We’ve decided to take a little bit of a break from our normal Saturday sweet cheat treat day and bake up something a little bit healthier. Peanut Power Cookies have just enough sweetness in them to trick our sweet tooth but still get our healthy eating back on track. And this comes in perfect timing since we have another birthday to celebrate next weekend. A week’s break will do us good. Happy Saturday! 😃 

Power Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup raisins 

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup agave

1/4 cup natural peanut butter 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Drop the dough into 12 even mounds on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are just set in the center.

Enjoy!

*recipe inspired by Fantastic Food

A Love For Sweets

Don’t you love it when the people you love know exactly what you love and turn around and give you these lovely things? That has happened to us a lot recently. I guess we’ve made it perfectly clear that we LOVE chocolate. This weekend we’ve decided to use a few of these delicious gifts to create a unique treat. We’re taking a box of chocolate fudge brownies and a box of caramel turtle brownies and layering bits of an enormous milk chocolate bar in between. Thanks loved ones! We’ll be share to leave enough to share! 

Berry Sweet Adventure

Berry picking is becoming our thing. This time we are heading out on an adventure to a local berry patch to pick blackberries. Isn’t it amazing how incredibly sweet fresh berries taste when they are picked off the vine by your very own hands? It would be perfectly acceptable to eat a bowl of blackberries on their own, but you know us…we must take all deserts to the next level. Especially on Saturday! So today we will be using these yummy blackberries to make a blackberry compote to spread on top of our freshly baked banana bread. Berry sweet and berry delicious! 

Banana Bread Recipe 

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 1/8 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 bananas mashed very well

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Add flour, baking soda and salt to a small bowl and set aside.

 q,, ,t,a,,,Mix egg, sugar and oil and stir until well combined

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir well. The mixture will be thick and dry.

Next add milk, vanilla and bananas and stir until incorporated.

Mix in walnuts and pour into a loaf pan.

Cook 50-75 minutes, checking regularly until a knife comes out clean.

*recipe from My Frugal Adventures

Blackberry Compote Recipe

Ingredients 

2 cups blackberries 
1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions 

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

*recipe from Gygi

Sweet Liberty

Happy almost Independence Day! Want a unique July 4th treat? How about making your own red velvet cookie butter? And better yet, using it to frost your freshly baked sugar cookies! Furthermore, add blue M&Ms to complete the festive red, white, and blue motif. It’ll be the perfect replacement for your traditional cherry pie or box of bomb pops.Red Velvet Cookie Butter

INGREDIENTS

1 Package of Red Velvet Oreos

4 Tablespoons Butter

½ Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk

¼ Cup Evaporated Milk

Water (as needed)

INSTRUCTIONS

Twist the Oreo cookies, scoop out the filling and place in a medium size bowl. Set aside.

Place the Oreo cookie shells into a food processor and blend until a soft powder forms.

Heat a small sauce pan to low and add the butter until melted.

Add the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and oreo filling and stir until blended.

Pour ½ Cup of the liquid into the cookie crumbs and stir. Repeat until the mixture is wet enough to stick together. Don’t over do it, it you prefer thicker cookie butter. Keep adding liquid if you prefer thinner cookie butter.

Check the consistency. If you prefer a thinner cookie butter add water ⅛ teaspoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. 

*Recipe inspired by Food And Wine

Sister Sweetly’s favorite sugar cookie recipe

16 Ways to My Sweetie’s Heart

Happy sweet 16th Anniversary to my hubby and me! He’s one lucky guy! Ha!Ha! Seriously time goes by so fast, especially when you’re busy having fun (and raising kids)! We’re not much for extravagant gift giving around here, but we gotta celebrate! So what better way than 16 differently topped brownies! Love never tasted so yummy! 

16 Differently Topped Brownies

1. Caramel Sea Salt
2. Hazelnut Grenache
3. Toasted Marshmallow
4. Rice Krispie Treat
5. Hugs & Kisses
6. Candy Bar
7. Peanut Butter
8. Almond Joy
9. Dark Chocolate Toffee
10. Chocolate Chip Cookie Pieces
11. Trail Mix
12. M&M
13. Potato Chip
14. Salted Pretzel
15. Coffee Bean
16. Sugar Dusted