Quick Gift idea from your kitchen (Chocolate Chip Bread)

Here's a fun and easy baked gift to give to your neighbors, co-workers... ANYONE! It's easy to make and has that WOW factor that is sure to impress.
I purchased these mini aluminum bread pans along with a box of chocolate chip muffin mix, a bag of white,semi sweet chocolate chips & miniature semi sweet chocolate chips and made the little tags that I tied on. Just follow the directions on the box of the muffin mix and pour the batter into each greased bread pan about 1/2 way full. Bake a little longer than the box calls for to make muffins. When bread springs back when touched or cake tester is clean when poked into the middle of each loaf than the loaves are done. Remove loaves from pans and let cool completely before drizzling chocolate on. Once cool, melt white chips in a microwave safe bowl, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth and all chips are melted. Pour chocolate into a zip lock bag and push the melted chocolate down onto the corner of the bag. Snip off the corner of the bag and you have an instant pastry bag! Holding the bag and working quickly, go back and forth over each loaf in a zig zag motion. Repeat this same step with the semi sweet chips. Once you have both types of chocolate on, sprinkle with mini semi sweet chips and let the chocolate set completely. (you can refrigerate to set) Once set, wrap each loaf in saran wrap and tie up with a ribbon and a tag.

ENJOY MAKING AND GIVING THESE LITTLE LOAVES OF BREAD.

Recipe: Caramel Apple Squares

                                                Check out these little yummies!

These Caramel Apple Squares are another pastry I baked for my women's bible study group recently. They are moist, have chunks of apples in them and are sprinkled w/cinnamon sugar and drizzled with homemade caramel.  What could be better for a fall morning treat? The recipe is below.

Ingredients

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
1 cup peeled and chopped apple (I used Granny Smith)
1 c. finely chopped walnuts

For sprinkling on top of batter:
1/4 c. white sugar
1 T  ground cinnamon

For homemade caramel drizzle:
1/4 c. whipping cream
1 c. brown sugar
1 stick un-salted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10x15 bar pan. (I like using Baker's Joy non stick spray...it has flour in it and works well) Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 t. of cinnamon, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, brown sugar and  cup of white sugar on low until just combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture until combined, then stir in the apples and walnuts with a wooden spoon or spatula.
3. Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the 1/4 c. white sugar and 1 T. ground cinnamon; sprinkle over the top of the bars until a even light dusting of cinnamon sugar is covering the batter. (I discarded some of the cinnamon sugar as there was too much)
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven, finished bars should spring back when lightly touched. (mine were done in 22 minutes...cooked quickly). Cool in pan, and when completely cooled cut into squares and place on wax or parchment paper in preparation for drizzling with caramel.
5. In a small saucepan melt 1 stick butter on low heat. Add in 1/4 c. whipping cream and 1 c. brown sugar. Stir constantly over low heat with a wooden spoon until the caramel thickens and begins to start a small rolling boil. Remove from heat and cool for 3-5 minutes. Stir again and then pour into a zip lock bag. Seal the bag shut being sure to get the air out before you do. Then, snip a SMALL little bit off one of the bottom corners of the bag and hold the bag over the bars and carefully drizzle back and forth across the bars. Careful as the bag will be hot with the caramel inside. If you are familiar with my blog then you have seen tutorial pics of me using this drizzle technique for my Sunshine lemon cookies and Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
6. Let the caramel cool and harden and serve the squares. Enjoy!!

Recipe: Pumpkin squares with cream cheese swirl

I was so honored a few months back when I was approached by the Women's Ministry at our church and asked to do the baking of pastries for our Thursday morning Women in the Word bible study. I love to bake, but because I'm always watching my calories I don't bake around here unless it's the holidays. This has given me the outlet to make goodies, sample ONE and take the rest to my church girlfriends! I've had lots of requests for my recipes so I'm going to take it one at a time starting with what I brought today. This recipe reminds me of this awesome pumpkin roll cake my Mother n Law makes. You know the kind that is filled with cream cheese? This however is much less time consuming...yet it has the same taste. Enjoy making and eating/sharing these bars.

Here is what you will need:

Ingredients
6 T. butter, melted and cooled
1 3/4 cups sugar; divided use
3 large eggs; divided use
1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract; divided use
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/3 cup water
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder'
1/2 t. salt
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, at room temp

Directions

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a bar pan (10x15 inch) with parchment paper and spray with non-stick spray. I like using Baker's Joy which has flour in it.

( I cut the parchment paper to fit perfectly in my bar pans : I doubled the recipe for a large group)
The parchment paper AND the cooking spray make for bars that won't stick and can be removed easily from pan.

. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Set aside to cool slightly.

Pour cooled, melted butter over the top of 1 1/2 cups sugar that you have pre-measured out.

Mix just until the butter is incorporated into the sugar.

Next add the pumpkin, 2 of the eggs, 1 t. of the vanilla ....

and 1/2 c, water until smooth.

                                                                     once all ingrediants are incorporated, set aside.

In another bowl, measure out the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt;

Slowly, add the dry ingredients to the wet. If you have a stationary mixer, just let it run on low while you spoon the dry ingredients in. Use your spatula to scrape the sides as you go.

Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated, be sure to blend the mixture well on medium for several minutes until all is well blended and looks like this:

Next, pour the batter into your prepared bar pan. In my case (pans) as I doubled the recipe.

use your spatula to spread the batter evenly for even baking. Set aside.

Next it is time to make the cream cheese batter for the swirl. You can either clean the bowl and whisk attachment from your stationary mixer and use that, or in my case I used a different bowl and my hand mixer.
Measure out the softened cream cheese, remaining egg, remaining 1/4 c. sugar and remaining 1/2 t. of vanilla.

Beat until smooth and creamy.

Drop cream cheese mixture in evenly spaced portions over the pumpkin batter. I used a 1/4 cup dry measuring cup to scoop mixture out of bowl and dump onto cake batter.

Take a table knife and pull the knife tip through to swirl slightly into batter. (be careful not to rip the parchment paper!) There is no set technique for this or wrong or right way. I just pulled it through vertically back and forth in lines and then horizontally back and forth in lines until I got a desired marbling effect.

Here are my pans all ready to pop into the oven.

Bake at 350 degrees until center of the pumpkin batter (not cream cheese mixture) springs back when  touched, about 22-25 minutes.

As an added test for seeing if they are done, I used a cake tester in the pumpkin cake areas to see if it came out clean.

Let cool COMPLETELY in the pan. To cut, take a sharp knife and run under hot water in between cuts to get clean slices. Cut in 2 x 2 inch squares and serve.

                                          These bars are so flavorful and moist! ENJOY!

**This can be made in a 9x13 inch pan and served as a cake too! Just increase your cooking time  by 5-7 minutes.

Store these bars or cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Bring to room temp 30 minutes before serving. (or eat cold..they taste great that way too)

This recipe can be found and printed out on http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/ in the cookies and bars tab. It is under "pumpkin cake"

Recipe: Red Velvet Cupcakes

I received this fabulous recipe from my friend Beverly two years ago. We made them together for her daughter Kenna's first birthday party and I've been making them ever since when the occassion calls for cupcakes. These are simply one of the most delicious deserts I've ever tasted and the requests for the recipe every time I make them is proof positive of their yum factor! (I had 6 requests at the Mother and Other Tea alone!) One of the very unique things about these is the peppermint frosting. It just gives these cupcakes that little extra something.

Red Velvet Cupcakes1 pkg German chocolate cake mix (18.25 oz)
1 pkg Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix (3.4 oz)
1 cup Sour Cream
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 bottle red food coloring
3 eggs
2 c. miniature chocolate chips
1-2 cans of vanilla whipped frosting (any brand)
2 capfuls of peppermint or mint extract

Preheat oven to 350. Place cake mix, sour cream, water, oil, food coloring and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Conitnue mixing on medium for 2 min. Fold in 1 cup of the chocolate chips (do not use your mixer, use a spoon... reserve the other cup of chocolate chips for decorating) Spoon batter into cupcake liners filling 3/4 of the way full. Will make 24-27 cupcakes. Bake 18-20 minutes.

FROSTING: put 2 capfuls of the mint extract into each can of frosting, stirring well. I either use an easy accent decorater from Pampered Chef to swirl frosting on top of each cupcake OR this time I spooned the frosting into a gallon size zip lock bag, pushed all the frosting down into one of the corners, snipped the corner off and swirled the frosting on. This will give the cupcakes that "in" look like what you pay 4 dollars a cupcake for at Sprinkles! (stay tuned for a tutorial on how to do this soon) If you choose to just put on a thin amount of frosting on each cupcake with a knife you will only need one can. Sprinkle the top of each cupcake with mini chocolate chips.

Recipe of the Week: Sunshine Kisses

These cookies are in my top three for favorite cookies. They are just delicious. How do I  know? Because not only does my family love them, but whenever I make them and serve them to friends...I get FLOODED with recipe requests. The best part is they are so easy to make, that you can have these yummy treats often. This recipe comes from a 1996 Pampered Chef cook book. I've been making them for over 14 years now.

Here is what you will need:

Just 6 simple ingrediants!:

cookies:
1 package lemon cake mix
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3. cup vegetable oil
2 T. water

glaze:
1 lemon
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine cake mix, eggs, oil and water using a hand mixer or stationary mixer with the paddle attachment (as shown below)

(within a few minutes, you will have a dry, crumbly dough)

Using a small cookie scoop drop rounded dough onto cookie sheet or stone 2 inches apart. If dough is crumbly, press into the scoop before dropping onto sheet/stone.

After you have dropped cookie dough on the sheet/stone, take the palm of your hand and lightly press the dough until it is slightly flattened.

Bake 13 minutes or until cookies look like this....

Do not over bake. To keep cookies moist and chewy you want them just starting to turn golden on the edges. If you use a stone, like I do...I let the first batch go for 13 minutes and 10 minutes for each subsequent batch to avoid over baking. Cool completely before glazing.

Next step is to make the glaze:

Using a microplane or zester, remove 2 t. zest from lemon. Remove just the yellow, avoiding the bitter white pith. Put the zest into a small bowl.

Next, juice the lemon and measure 4 T. of the juice into bowl with zest. Then add 1 cup powdered sugar. Wisk well.

Once you have a smooth glaze, pour into a small sandwhich baggie letting the glaze settle into the point of one corner of the bag.

Holding the bag over the cookies, snip a tiny hole in the corner of the bag. The glaze will start pouring out the hole ...so quickly start zip zagging over each cookie as seen below to create a drizzled effect.

Let glaze dry completly...then enjoy the yummy lemon goodness of these melt in your mouth Sunshine Kisses!

Recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Thanksgiving gift to my blog readers is my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. This recipe was given to me several years back by my friend Annie. These are one of my favorite cookies, they are cake/muffin like in texture and are simply divine! The recipe suggests storing the cookies in the fridge. Don't worry, they won't harden up if you store them this way. They stay fresher longer and taste delicious warm or cold.

I recently made a batch of these for a church function in which they were devoured and the recipe was requested of me by several ladies. I am making a batch to take to my Dad and Polly's for Thanksgiving as well. Happy Baking!

INGREDIENTS

DRY
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

WET
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 15oz can pure pumpkin
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla

MIX INS
1 12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional..I don't use them)

GLAZE
1 c. powdered sugar
1 T. milk
1/2 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray your baking sheet or stone with non stick spray, wipe off excess. You want a slightly greased surface for these cake like cookies. This needs to be done for the first batch only.

Combine DRY ingredients, stir to mix.

Cream together the butter and sugar with mixer.

Add remaining WET ingredients.

Gradually add in the mixed DRY ingredients, beating until you have a thick cake like batter. Stir in your ADD INS.

Using a small cookie scoop, drop onto your greased baking pan or stone. Your dough will be thick, sticky and cake batter like. Bake 18-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Your cookies will be cake/muffin like in texture. Remove from oven, allow to cool for 3-5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, combine GLAZE ingredients. Stir until a smooth glaze forms.

Spoon or pour the glaze into a sandwich baggie, squeezing it all down into one point. Snip the point with scissors and use as a decorator bag to zig zag glaze across cooled cookies. (or you can spread the glaze on with a knife) Glaze will set within 30 minutes. Makes 3 dozen cookies. Enjoy!

Recipe: Creepy Crunch Mix! (gluten free)

I love to make this simple, but very tasty chex mix treat. I've made it at Valentine's Day and used m and m's in red, white and pink, calling it "Sweetheart crunch mix". At Christmas, using the green, red and white m&m's I call it "Christmas crunch mix" For Halloween however, I use the Halloween inspired m&m's (pictured above) that are in a neon orange, black, purple and green, calling it "Creepy crunch mix". Here's what you need:

1regular size box of RICE Chex Cereal

3 cups pretzels (rough chopped)

2 cups salty peanuts, cashews or macadamia nuts (peanuts are most economical)

2 bags of white chocolate chips

1 large bag of plain m&m's (look for holiday editions)

Saran Wrap press and seal or wax paper

2 t. vegetable oil

Using the largest bowl you have or splitting between two bowls, pour the entire box of cereal and the m&m's into the bowl. Then, using a food chopper or knife; rough chop the nuts and pretzels and add to the bowl.
Pour both bags of white chocolate chips and 2 t. vegy oil into a microwavable bowl (I love using my Pampered chef micro cooker for this) Place in microwave oven without lid and cook for 30 seconds, remove from oven and stir. Return to microwave for another 30 sec. stir. Repeat this process until chips are melted and silky when stirred. (DO NOT OVERCOOK, stop when the chips are just melted. Stir until silky. (this process only takes 90 seconds in my microwave)

Pour the white chocolate over your mix and with two wooden spoons, slowly and carefully mix until the white chocolate covers all the mix. (you may want to split the mix into two bowls for this if you don't have a big enough bowl)

Using press and seal wrap OR wax paper, line two cookie sheets. Spread the chocolate covered mix into the pans and gently press flat with your hands. Let the crunch mix set for approx. one hour.

Once your mix is set up in the pans, break it apart and distribute it to cellophane gifts bags, holiday tins or wherever you want to store it! (I dare you to try and do this without nibbling the yummy mix as you go!) I sent some of this to Kate in her dorm last year at Valentines Day and her and her friends went wild for it. So...I'm sending some out again tomorrow to her and her cousin Brandy who lives down the street from Kate and attends the same University.

Enjoy making, gifting and eating this yummy crunch mix!