Mom’s Are The Sweetest

There’s nothing much sweeter than a mother’s love. And she deserves nothing less a sweet treat full of all her favorite sweets. That’s why this Mother’s Day, we’re hosting a Make Your Own Brownie Trifle Bar. Brownies, ice cream, whip cream, pink frosting, and a variety of chocolates and toppings layered up just the way she wants in a cute little mason jar. May your Mother’s Day be the sweetest one yet!

A Love So Sweet

Brownies. We love them. We love everything about them. We love them plain. But we especially love them when they come with extras. This Saturday we’re indulging in brownies covered in Oreo pieces and hot fudge. And Heath bits too. We might even top them with a little whip cream. Thank you brownie inventor. You make our Saturdays full of sweet love.

Sweet Birthday Cake Sundaes

When someone extra special has a birthday, you make sure to have an extra special birthday treat. Not only are we making birthday cake, we’re topping it with all the yumminess that of an ice cream sundae. Ice cream, whip cream, sprinkles, frosting, caramel, hot fudge, sprinkled with bits of Heath, Rolos, and M&Ms. Extra special for the win!

Directions

Make a yellow cake according to the recipe on the back of the box.

Later a jar with cake, then frosting, ice cream, whip cream in any order. Top with Rolos, Heath, and M&Ms. Celebrate!

Sweet November

And just like that, Halloween has come and gone. But the leftover candy bars are here to stay for just a little while longer. And our love of cake and pumpkin will be around forever. Pumpkin cake topped with mini Halloween candy bars are exactly what we need at this very moment on a Saturday in early November. Fall flavors for life!

Stovetop Skillet Sweets

When you are a baker and your oven decides to go kaput, you have two choices: 1) take a week off baking—which is never gonna happen or 2) use a different method. Enter the stovetop. With “her” help and a nonstick pan, our favorite oatmeal cookies will get a new spin on life. Stovetop Skillet Cookies. #winning!!!

Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

A Sweet Slice Is Nice

In our opinion, it takes two ingredients to make a Friendsgiving feel really special – wonderful friends, of course, and tasty treats. This year we whipped up our favorite pumpkin poke cake substituting caramel sauce for sweetened condensed milk and a new fave – a semi-homemade Brownie Pie with Cookie Butter Glaze. It doesn’t get any simpler. It’s as easy as PIE! Happy Thanksgiving!

• 1 (9-inch) pie shell (store-bought)
• 1 (23-ounce) box dark chocolate brownie mix, plus ingredients on the back of the box
• 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Combine brownie mix, oil, water, and egg white and beat until smooth.

3. Pour mixture into shell. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is puffed and brown. Cool.

7. Frost with cookie butter drizzle. Easy as PIE!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup smooth cookie butter
• 1 – 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted, divided
• 3 tablespoons almond milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, beat peanut butter with electric mixture until fluffy
2. Gradually beat in 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar, almond milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth and incorporated. You want the glaze to be drizzling consistency so add a bit more confectioners’ sugar and almond milk if it is too thick. A little at a time.
3. Pour immediately on brownie pie.

Apples Sweet Apples

It’s Saturday! To the apple orchard we go. We’re off to pick a bushel of sweet, delicious apples to bring home for baking up a pan of Apple Crisp Shortbread Bars. Oven and aprons ready! Can’t wait!

INGREDIENTS

Shortbread Base:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unbleached flour

Apple Filling:

• 3 large fresh orchard picked
• apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 Tablespoons unbleached flour
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping:

• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter – melted or room temp to cut in.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F and line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper. Be sure to bring the parchment up the sides as it makes it easier to lift out later.
2. Shortbread Base:
3. Place butter into your mixer and turn on high for 5 minutes or until the butter turns white rather than yellow, that’s how you’ll know it’s creamed. Next mix in the brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Once combined, add in the flour and stir well. Press the mixture into the parchment lined pan and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.
4. Apple Filling:
5. In a bowl, combine the apples, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until the apples are well coated.
6. Topping:
7. Mix flour, ¾ up brown sugar. Cut in the butter and knead together.
8. Remove the crust from the oven and turn the heat up to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle one half of the Topping over the short bread, then layer the apples on top. You will have multiple layers so try to keep it level. Once this is finished, sprinkle the remainder of the Topping evenly on top and place in the oven to bake for 30 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before placing in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours. Once it’s set, remove from the baking dish by lifting out the parchment paper and cut into bars. Top with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

*recipe inspired by Life Straight Up

A Sweet “Pear”ing

We’ve had a pear tree in our backyard for the past 12 years and have never ever once used them for baking. We decided this was the year we were going to change that. Thanks to Google, we educated ourselves on when best to pick our pears and how to ripen them off the tree to make them even sweeter. After a couple of weeks, our bushel of pears is finally ready. Time to get our bake on! Harvest Pear Crisp, here we come. A pair of twins sharing a pear crisp…what a sweet “pear”ing!

Ingredients

• 6 cups pears, cored and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• Vanilla ice cream
• Caramel sauce

Directions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375°.

Step 2

Combine pears and lemon juice in a 2-quart baking dish; toss gently to coat. Combine granulated sugar, cornstarch, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; stir with a whisk. Add cornstarch mixture to pear mixture; toss well to coat.

Step 3

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor; pulse 2 times or until combined. Add chilled butter; pulse 6 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add oats and walnuts; pulse 2 times. Sprinkle flour mixture evenly over pear mixture.

Step 4

Bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until pears are tender and topping is golden brown. Cool 20 minutes on a wire rack; serve warm or at room temperature. A la mode with caramel sauce of course!

Sweetening Hard Times

Starting school is hard. Our Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookie Dough Gooey Cake Bars help!

Ingredients

Base

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg white

Cookie Dough Filling

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup unbleached flour

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• Sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°

Base

1. Line 9×13 pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray.
2. In bowl of stand mixer combine cake mix, egg white and melted butter until a thick dough forms.
3. Press this into your prepared pan.

Cookie Dough Filling

1. Cream butter and sugar together until combined. Add milk and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Beat in salt and flour until dough is combined
2. In bowl of stand mixer beat cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Add in egg whites and vanilla, mixing until combined and smooth, scraping sides as needed.

1. Beat in powdered sugar until there are no lumps.

1. Stir in chocolate chips and butterscotch.
2. Pour this over the base layer.

1. Place 9×13 pan on top of a cookie sheet and place in oven on middle rack. Bake for 30-35 minutes until edges are light golden brown and center is almost set. It will be a little “jiggly”.
2. Dust with sea salt.
3. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes and then transfer to the refrigerator to chill completely, at least 2 hours.
4. When completely chilled cut into squares.

* recipe inspired by Cookies and Cups

Dads Sweet Screams

I scream, you scream, Dads scream for ice cream! Need a fun way to celebrate Father’s Day? How about DIY Dipped Waffle Cones? Do you agree that ice cream just tastes better in a waffle cone? And not just a plain old waffle cone. Nope! The ones dipped in all kinds of yummy chocolate glory are a must! We’re dippin and scoopin our way straight to these special dad’s hearts (and tummies)! Happy Father’s Day!

Directions:

Buy a box of large waffle cones from your grocery store. Melt white almond bark in the microwave according to the directions on the back of the package. While the almond bark is still melted sprinkle with Heath, M&Ms, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and anything else that your heart desires! Once the almond bark and chocolate cools and hardens fill with your favorite ice cream. Top with whipped cream, hot fudge, and caramel sauce.