Homemade Birthday Sweet

The best part of our birthday is sharing it together…and the CAKE! Instead of letting someone else make it for us we decided to make our own. Greatest decision ever! Oatmeal Cookie Brownie Birthday Cake! 1/2 our favorite cookie dough + 1/2 our favorite brownie batter = 1 big birthday wish come true!

Oatmeal Cookie Brownie Birthday Cake

Directions

• make 1 box of dark chocolate brownies according to directions on the back of the box

• make 1 batch of Sister Sweetly’s favorite oatmeal cookie dough

• pour half of the brownie batter in a parchment lined 9 x 13 baking dish

• spread the cookie dough on top of the brownie batter

• top with the remaining half of brownie batter

• bake at 350 for 40 min

• enjoy while singing Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday too!

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Crack Me Up Sweetly

Doctors say laughter is the best medicine. And refueling with sugar every now and then can sure help fight the winter blues! This Saturday we’re getting happy with Valentine Cracker Toffee. We can already hear our Valentine’s chuckling through their smiles!

Valentine Cracker Toffee

 
Ingredients:

30­-40  graham crackers

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup chocolate chips 

1 cup Hershey’s Hugs 

1/2 cup M&M’s

Directions:
1. Pre­heat oven to 350°F.
2. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment. Line the pan with graham crackers.
3. Place the butter and sugar in a medium sized pot over low medium­-low heat. Stir until the butter is melted. Once the butter has melted, bring to a boil. Stir constantly. Turn down the heat and simmer for 3­-5 minutes until thickened.
4. Once it’s nice and bubbly, remove pan from heat and pour evenly over graham crackers. Spread mixture with a knife.
5. Place pan in the oven and bake for 5­-7 minutes.
6. Remove pan from oven and then sprinkle the chocolate chips and Hugs on top of the toffee while it’s still hot. Let the chocolate melt for a few minutes and then spread all over the toffee with a spatula. Let the crackers and toffee cool. 
7. Sprinkle M&M’s on top and then place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Once chocolate has hardened break into pieces and store in a container.

The Sweet Side of Gathering

The countdown is on. Thanksgiving is just 12 days away.  We’re lucky enough that we don’t have to host this year. However, we’ve never had to be bribed to bring a dessert. Against better judgement, we believe it’s never too early to start preparing! While searching through our recipe cards (truthfully Pinterest pins) we selected Pumpkin-Pear Crumble as the lucky winner in this Saturday’s bake off. We’ve lightened up this old favorite saving us plenty of calories to spend on what else-more treats! What are you making for dessert this Turkey Day? We’ll be over! 

Pumpkin-Pear Crumble

  
Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

6 pears chopped 

1 1/2 cups gluten free rolled oats

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup agave syrup

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400.

Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan 

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. 

Add pears and stir to toss pears with pumpkin mixture.

Spread into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, combine oats, nuts, and sea salt.

Add agave syrup, and stir to combine.

Spread on top of fruit mixture.

Bake 35 minutes, or until lightly golden and crispy on top.
* Recipe adapted from Kim’s Welcoming Kitchen

Mummy’s Sweets

Be-gauze October 31st nears we are unraveling a treat even a Mummy would approve. Unveil some Mummified Sugar Cookies and your little goblins are sure to wrap you with sweet Halloween hugs!

Mummified Sugar Cookies

  
Ingredients

1 1⁄4 cups sugar

1 cup Butter Flavor Crisco

2 eggs

1⁄4 cup regular pancake maple syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour, plus

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided

3⁄4 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1 tub of buttercream frosting

I package of M&Ms

Directions

Heat oven to 375.

Place sheets of foil on countertop for cooling cookies. Combine sugar and butter flavor crisco in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.

Add eggs, syrup, and vanilla. Beat until well blended and fluffy.

Combine 3 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix until well blended. Divide dough into 4 quarters.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Spread 1 T of flour onto large sheet of waxed paper. Place one-fourth of dough on floured paper. Flatten slightly with hands.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto ungreased baking sheet. Place 2 inches apart.

Bake at 375 for 5-9 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. 

Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to cooling rack to cool completely. Decorate with buttercream frosting in a zigzag motion to create the look of a mummy. Add M&Ms for eyes. Reveal to all your ghouls.

*recipe adapted from Food

Sweet Obsession

It’s official! Our pumpkin obsession has set in full force! Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins seemed the obvious choice to ease into this addiction. Who are we kidding?  We are going to “fall” in face first! 

Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

  
Makes 2 dozen muffins.

INGREDIENTS
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour, sifted 
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 

• 1 teaspoon baking powder 

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1 cup canned pumpkin

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted 

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup (6 ounces) butterscotch chips

 DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
Combine the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, mace, baking soda, salt and cloves in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.
Whisk the pumpkin, butter and eggs in a bowl until combined. Stir in the butterscotch chips and pecans. Add the pumpkin mixture to the well and fold just until the batter is moistened; do not overmix. Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups. 
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 2 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and frost with cream      cheese frosting.

*recipe from Texas Tables

 

Trick or Sweet

It’s our favorite day of the week and that’s no lie! When Saturday comes around we aren’t into playing tricks with sweet treat cravings. What we are into this week are TWIX. Twix Brownies to be exact! These caramel, shortbread cookie filled brownies are just the prank we need to pull a satisfying fast one on our chocolate-desiring tummies!

Twix Brownies

  
Ingredients

2 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 c. butter flavored Crisco

6 Tbsp cocoa

2 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

10-12individual Twix bars 

1/3 c. caramel ice cream topping, plus extra for serving

Instructions

Cut the Twix bars into small chunks and set aside.

Cream the Crisco and the sugar together with a mixer; add the eggs, cocoa and vanilla. Slowly add the flour so it doesn’t go everywhere.

Add the Twix chunks to the brownie batter and stir in with a spoon or spatula.

Pour the batter in a greased 9×13 pan. Drizzle the caramel topping evenly over the batter. After the caramel drizzle, take a toothpick and swirl the caramel around.

Bake for 35 minutes at 350°. Drizzle with more caramel to serve.

* recipe from Cupcake Diaries

A New Sweet? Give it a fry!

You gotta try this new sweet treat we so luckily stumbled upon while pinning one afternoon, Funnel Cake Fries Bites! Funnel cakes aren’t something we make very often but when we saw the word fries our eyes lit up. By now you know that we love our sweets, but french fries are next on our list for cheat day splurges. This recipe is a perfect combo of both!  Happy Satur”fry”!

Funnel Cake Fry Bites

  
Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

¼ cup white sugar

½ cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

3-4 cups canola or vegetable oil

1 jar of hot fudge and caramel sauce for dipping

Instructions

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

With a mixer, beat eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl until foamy and well combined. Carefully add in the flour mixture and mix until you have a smooth, thick batter. Place the batter in a bag for piping.

Add about 1 inch of oil to a large pot with high sides. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Pipe the batter in long straight lines into oil and fry until golden, about 30-60 seconds per side. Remove to a plate, cut into bite sized pieces, and sprinkle with powdered sugar while still hot.

Serve with warm hot fudge and caramel sauce for dipping.

*recipe adapted from Kevin & Amanda

A Birthday Treat For My Sweetie

We love it when two of our favorite days, Saturday and birthdays, collide on the same day. It gives us twice the excuse to bake up something special. Today is Tina’s husband’s birthday. Unlike us, he prefers fruity desserts over chocolatey ones. Since today is his day we decided to treat him to a warm cherry cobbler, one of his favorites! Happy Birthday Hubby!

Cherry Cobbler

Ingredients

1 Stick Butter 

1 pkg. white or yellow cake mix (dry) 

2 cans cherry or blueberry pie filling.

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans or almonds

 DIRECTIONS: 

Cut 1/2 cup butter (room temperature) into 1 pkg. dry cake mix. Reserve 1/2 of this mixture. Pat the remaining mixture lightly into oblong 13×9 greased glass baking pan. Spread 1 or 2 cans of pie filling over the crumbs mixture. Squeeze remaining crumb mixture firmly in palm of hand, to form pea sized chunks, & Sprinkle over the top of the pie filling. Bake 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees, or until golden brown on the top & the bottom. Make sure that the bottom is also golden brown. Serve warm with Cool Whip.

*recipe adapted from Just Get Off Your Butt And Bake



Sweet Kisses

We love kisses, especially those made of chocolate! This Saturday we are adding a little love to our favorite brownies. The beauty of this recipe is all in the simplicity! All you need is a box of brownies and Hershey’s Kisses. Merely hide a chocolate kiss inside each brownie baked in a square brownie pan. There’s nothing sweeter than discovering a warm, gooey surprise in your most adored treat!

Ingredients
*1 box of brownies plus ingredients on the back of the box
*1 bag of Hershey’s Kisses unwrapped
*1 bag of Heath Bits

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make brownie batter according to the directions on the back of the box. Pour a small amount into a greased square brownie pan. Place an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss in the muffin pan. Fill each muffin section with more brownie batter. Top with Heath Bits. Bake for 12-15 min. Allow to cool.

Getting Nutty is Sweet

We’re at it again…we’re doctoring up a box of brownies. This time we are using Trina’s husband’s favorite go-to sweet treat, Nutella, or Nut-Ella as we like to call it around here (inside joke, totally not worth going into!). For years we were opposed to the stuff. Not sure why. BUT once we finally gave in, there was no stopping us from dipping, spooning, and creating with this pure deliciousness in a jar! This is surely one of the easiest recipes we’ve ever made. Simply mix up a box of brownie batter, pour it in a pan, and drizzle Nutella all over it. The more the better we say! How about going even crazier and topping with Heath Bits and broken pieces of Symphony Bar before baking.  Then finishing it off with ice cream, and whipped cream. We’re NUTTY  like that!

Nut-ella Brownies

Ingredients

• 2 boxes of your favorite brownie mix (plus ingredients on the back of the box)
• 1 jar of Nutella
• 1 cup Heath Bits
• 1 large Symphony Bar

Directions

Make both brownie mix boxes according to directions on the back of the box. Pour into a 9 x 13 greased pan. Drizzle Nutella over the top of prepared brownie batter. Sprinkle Heath bits and broken pieces of the Symphony Bar on top of the Nutella. Bake brownies for 35-45 min according to how gooey you like them.

When brownies have cooled slightly do yourself a favor and cut yourself a huge piece. Now inhale!