.

Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles

Soft, chewy and full of cinnamon goodness, these cookies are perfect for Christmas!

Gingerbread

Gingerbread is one of those quintessential Christmas sweet treats. This one is flavorful and a cinch to bake up.

No-Fail Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

This recipe makes great cut-out sugar cookies, and the royal icing is perfect for decorating.

Eggnog Cookies

Soft and cakey cookies with the perfect amount of nutmeg and all the flavor of eggnog.

Nutella Hot Chocolate

This recipe is sinfully simple, full of the flavor of Nutella and can be prepared in the microwave (or on the stovetop) in minutes.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Donut Heaven - Apple Pie Donuts

Recently one of my favorite ladies came over for a little girl time. You know us girls, we have to get together, gossip and catch up from time to time, and this catch up was long overdue. Me being me, I had to make something sweet to snack on. When us girls get together there is always food involved, and usually alcohol. There was no alcohol this time, but definitely some delicious food. Jessica brought over this delicious Artichoke Bread she found on Pinterest and if I hadn't eaten dinner shortly before hand I think we might have been fussing over who got the last piece it was that good. I haven't made it myself yet, but I did repin it, so if you want to check it out click here.

I decided on Apple Pie Donuts as our sweet treat for a few reasons: I absolutely adore my little Donut Maker, which is a different brand than this, but very similar (mine is a Sunbeam, this one is a Babycakes), which hasn't gotten nearly as much use as I'd like as of late, baked donuts are an easy treat and I was pressed for time, and I had some apple pie filling left from a previous recipe that I needed to use up. Me being me, I couldn't just follow a recipe to the letter, I had to adapt it, so I took a recipe that I of course found on Pinterest and changed it up slightly. The result was delicious, and I would definitely make Apple Pie Donuts again. However, for the donut itself next time I would do a cake mix donut because the texture of these was a little crumbly. I imagine using spice cake would be really good, or I would use yellow cake mix and add to it for a spiced up donut. Most of my donut recipes use cake mix as the base. The resulting donut has a good flavor and the texture is pretty much spot on with a Sweet Sixteen Donut.

I didn't make major changes to the recipe, I simply replaced the melted butter with vegetable oil, skipped the apple pie spice and upped the cinnamon. And, for the glaze I used maple syrup in place of the milk. Plus, I always find that the donuts need a few minutes longer to bake than the recipes call for.

If you love a donut with chocolate glaze check back soon because I found a chocolate glaze that I absolutely love and will share with you soon. And, want more donut flavor ideas? Like, maybe maple bacon? Caramel apple? Or what about Carrot Cake? Well, those plus a ton of other mouth watering baked donut recipes are on my Pinterest Donut board, so go check em out!


Apple Pie Donuts
adapted from: Jam Hands

Makes 12-14 donuts
1½ cups plain flour
½ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
9 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
½ cup canned pie apple, mashed
½ cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Optional:
Powdered sugar glaze (Use about 1 to 2 cups of powdered sugar and a few teaspoons of maple syrup to thin it)

1. Preheat Donut machine. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk in the butter, apple, milk and egg until mixture forms a smooth batter.
2. Spray machine with non-stick cooking spray. Fill bases of preheated donut rings with batter. Close lid and cook for 6 minutes or until donuts are golden and cooked. Use a non-stick spatula (wooden/bamboo tongs work well too) to transfer donuts to a wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter to make 12-14 donuts in total. Garnish with extra apple pie filling and a simple powdered sugar glaze.

Original recipe from Sunbeam

Monday, March 4, 2013

Martha Stewart Living Excitement - Free Subscription Deal

I love magazines. Seriously, I love, love, love them. I'm the girl who gets excited when a new issue comes each month. I am also the girl who only gets magazines if they are given to me as a gift or I am able to find some awesome deal on a subscription. And, by awesome I mean free or something crazy cheap like $2 for a years subscription. I currently subscribe to Better Homes & Gardens, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Cosmo and Family Fun, which by the way is super cute, especially if you have young kids. There are always really cute craft and food ideas that any kid would love.

Being that I love a bargain and have been referred to as the Crazy Coupon Lady I get my fair share of those daily deal emails. Today I found a super exciting deal I thought was worth sharing. This deal is via Coupon Cabin, and I'm not sure how long it will last, my guess is not too much longer. But if you go here and fill out a short survey (while supplies are still available) you will get a free subscription (11 issues) of Martha Stewart Living Magazine. I signed up and got mine. The survey took literally two minutes, and I didn't even have to provide credit card information to get the free subscription. So, if you love magazines as much as I do or are a huge Martha Stewart fan hurry on over and keep your fingers crossed that there are still some subscriptions left.

I am not affiliated with Martha Stewart Living Magazine or Coupon Cabin in anyway. Just a magazine loving girl wanting to pass along a good deal to my beloved readers.


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Celebrating A Delicious Food - National Peanut Butter Day

Yesterday was National Peanut Butter Day. Yes, I know I'm a day late, but in my defense I didn't discover this wonderful holiday until late in the day and by then I was already baking two kinds of delicious donuts and getting ready for some girl time later in the evening. But, actually, according to punchbowl.com January 24th is, and since I didn't get that memo and some sources say it was yesterday I seem to have missed it all the way around.

In honor, I thought I'd wax poetic about my love for peanut butter. Okay, not really because let's be honest, if I tried that it would just be scary for all of us. But, I do seriously love peanut butter. I'm the girl who will eat it straight from the jar with a spoon. I'll dip pretzels in it, smear it on some saltine crackers, add it to a smoothie. I'll even go healthy and eat it on apples. Crunchy or creamy doesn't matter too much, although if I have a choose I choose creamy every time. And, I'm not a fan of the thinner natural peanut butters, nope give me the thick and smooth stuff with all the added sugar and probably a few ingredients I don't know how to pronounce. A few of my favorite recipes that I have shared in the past can be found here, here, and here. The only way I can think of that I won't eat peanut butter is in savory dishes. I know some people totally disagree with me, and that's okay, I respect that, but for me, peanut butter is not meant to be included in my main course.

If I had to choose my favorite way to get my peanut butter fix it would be paired with chocolate. Whether combined in a cookie, mixed up in a no-bake pie or as part of some kind of candy I don't care, just give me the two together. It's no secret that I have a massive sweet tooth and Reese's Cups are quite possibly my favorite candy. It's also no secret that I like to try to make things from scratch, if for no other reason than to prove that I can. I have made my share of faux Reese's Cups over the years, but my absolute favorite chocolate and peanut butter concoction to make is Real Deal Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars aka Reese's Cup Bars. I don't know the original source, but the recipe was given to me by a friend whose dad makes them. From the first taste I was in love. They are simple if a bit messy to make, but well worth it. The only downside to these amazing bars are that you have to wait atleast an hour after making to cut into them because they have to chill. That hour feels like days to me! Not to mention, once I cut into them it's pretty hard not to eat one every time I enter the kitchen.

Once chilled you can store these little bits of heaven at room temperature or in the fridge. If you store them at room temp they will get pretty soft. I prefer storing them in the fridge, but then again, I just prefer my peanut butter cups crunchy and cold anyway. So, clearly it's just a matter of choice. If you have never eaten them cold give it a try, I swear it's amazing!

As for the photo, can I rant about that for a second please? As I said, I was baking donuts yesterday so this photo is from a little while back, and I don't love it. Do you ever take photos and then you either accidentally delete them or can't remember where the heck you saved them? Yeah, that would be me right about now. If you remember the computer crises a few weeks back you'll understand why I know the photos aren't saved to my hard drive. But, I always back photos up to flashdrives or cd's and I can't find the photos on either. Oh well, atleast I found one photo so that I could share these babies.


Real Deal Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
aka Reese's Cup Bars
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
3 cups confectioner's sugar
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1. Pour melted butter into a 9x13 inch glass pan, stir in graham cracker crumbs. Add peanut butter and confectioner's sugar, and mix until completely incorporated. Press evenly into the bottom of the pan.
2. In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips and remaining 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Stir occasionally until completely melted and mixture is combined. Pour on top of peanut butter filling mixture, and smooth evenly. Chill in the refrigerator atleast one hour before cutting into squares.
Note: A great trick I use is to place the pan I am making the bars in over the large burner on the stovetop and turn the heat to medium, toss your 2 sticks of butter, cubed into the dish and stir it around til it's melted. When the butter is melted turn the heat off and proceed with the recipe as instructed. This way saves me from dirtying up another dish and the pan is warm so the other ingredients are easier to incorporate. And when cutting these I like using a bench scraper. That's my little trick when cutting any kind of bars. I just mash that baby down into them and get straight cuts and perfectly square bars everytime.

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