Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are REALLY good, but they dry out quickly (3 days MAX)...so if you are going to eat them or give them away soon, these are the cookies for you!

Recipe makes 5 dozen, but can be cut in half.

Preheat oven to 350.

1 c shortening
1 c brown sugar
1 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Cream together ingredients, then add:

1 c peanut butter (I like to use crunchy peanut butter for the added nuts/texture)

Stir together the following ingredients, then add it gradually to the creamed mixture:

2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 t baking soda

Roll the dough into small balls. Roll the balls in sugar, place on a cookie sheet, then press a fork in a criss cross pattern to flatten the cookie. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Lemon Coolers

I don't know how many of us remember these tasty treats from Keebler (I think) called Lemon Coolers. They were like Nilla wafers covered in lemony powdered sugar. I could eat these by the BOXFUL! Anyway, they stopped making them (I don't know why...I hate it when they keep crappy stuff and get rid of the stuff you LOVE!) But I found a recipe that is REALLY close to the real thing! The only thing I would suggest is doubling the amount of lemonade in the powdered sugar. I made them from the following recipe and I would like them to be more tangy. Anyway...here's the recipe!

Cookie:
1/2 c powdered sugar
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c shortening
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
1/8 t salt
1 1/2 c cake flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 T water

Coating:
1 c powdered sugar
1/2 t unsweetened lemonade mix (Kool-aid mix) - this is what I would double in the future

Preheat oven to 325.

Lightly grease baking sheets.

Cream sugars, shortening, egg, vanilla and salt together. Add flour and baking powder. Add 1 T water and mix well until dough forms a ball. Roll dough into 3/4" balls and flatten slightly and place on baking sheet. Baking 15-28 minutes until lightly browned. Cobine the powdered sugar and lemonade mix for the coating in a ziplock bag. While the cookies are hot, place a few at a time into the bag and shake until well coated. Cool on racks.

I would recommend making the balls smaller so there is more of the coating on each cookie, but that's just the sugar-lover in me talking! hope you enjoy this treat!

Delicious Layered Chocolate Pie

I just used the Kraft Foods website's picture of their version (they used nutter butters) here's a link to their instructions. Kraft Pudding Pie

You'll Need:
1 graham cracker crust
2 small boxes (4 serving size)instant chocolate pudding mix
1 small tub cool whip
2 c milk
Middle stuff (reeses peanut butter cups, nuts, thin mint cookies, marshmallows, oreos, nutter butters, junior mints) It works best for eating the pie if the middle stuff is chopped or crushed up. I usually go with peanut butter cups and I use about 8-10 of them. 12 if I plan on topping the pie with some too.

Instructions:
In a small bowl, combine the pudding mixes with the milk. Whisk until well blended (it will be thick). Spoon 1 1/2c mixture into crust. Put your choice of middle stuff on top of the 1st layer. Stir 1 1/2 c cool whip into remaining pudding mixture. Once well blended, top the middle layer with the cool whip mixture. Refrigerate 3 hours. Top with additional middle stuff and/or cool whip and serve! Makes 8-10 servings.

Curious George Cake

I did this cake for Super Girl's Birthday, then Tasha did it (with a teeny bit of help from Moi) for Aubrie's Birthday. To be fair, Tasha's looked cuter. So I'll tell you how we did ours differently too!

You'll Need:
1 cake mix of your choice
2 round cake pans
muffin tin or 2 muffin liners (the aluminum kind)
1 can chocolate frosting
1 can caramel frosting
2 cookies for eyes (I used oreos, tasha used Thin mints with white frosting blobs and M&M's for the pupils)
Frosting for drawing the face (white, red, pink and black)

Bake the cake mix according to the directions except make 2 cupkakes and the 2 round cakes.
After the cake has cooled, stack the round cakes on top of one another (you may have to cut the top off the one on the bottom in order for them to stand securely, you can also put a layer of caramel frosting in between the cakes, you'll have enough for decorating still)
Frost the entire cake and the top of the 2 cupcakes with the chocolate frosting. Place the 2 cupcakes on the sides of the round cake for George's ears

Then make an 8 with the caramel frosting on the round cakes. It should cover most of the face. Also, make a small semi-circle on each cupcake with the caramel frosting.

If using oreos for eyes, either scrape out some of the middles, or put a circle of black frosting for pupils. If using thin mints or the whole oreo, place a large circle of white frosting on the cookie, and use a brown m&M for pupils! Make eyebrows, nose, ear creases, and outline mouth and face with black frosting. (Tasha used 2 brown m&m's for a nose and red m&m's for the smile.) Fill in the mouth with red frosting and use the pink frosting to make a tongue (optional).


I didn't like the look from just scraping out the middles for the pupil, so I added black frosting.


Then the frosting from George's mouth started to fall out of the outline, so I had to double it up.
I got the idea from this link...thanks PBS!

http://www.pbs.org/parents/parties/curiousgeorge/food_cake.html

There's lots of other cute ideas there for a Curious George Birthday, or for other PBS characters too (Arthur, Boobah, Clifford, Cyber Chase, Dragon Tales, It's a Big Big World, and Teletubbies)
Check them out at http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/ and click on the Parties tab!

Terrific Truffles!

These delectable treats are perfect for the holidays and super easy to make!

I can't take the credit for this recipe, or for the picture of the product! My friend J gave these to me for my birthday! There are 2 kinds of truffles pictured here. The Chocolate coated ones with sprinkles are the Chocolate Truffles, and the powdered sugar ones are the Peanut Butter Truffles. She got the recipe for the Chocolate Truffles from the Kraft Food & Family Magazine Holiday 08/Winter 09 edition, and the Peanut Butter Truffles from the Kraft Food & Family Holiday 06 edition. She followed the recipes except she added a little something to the Chocolate Truffle Recipe.

Chocolate Truffle Recipe
Makes 3 dozen truffles, 18 servings of 2 truffles each:

2 1/2 pkg (20 squares) Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, divided
(only 8 squares if you will be coating truffles in powdered sugar or cocoa)
1 pkg (8oz) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract (This is what my friend J added, I think you could add mint or orange extract instead to flavor them too.)
Decorations (finely chopped nuts, sprinkles)

Melt 8 squares of chocolate. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy, stir in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until firm. Shape into 36 balls. Place on wax paper-covered tray. Melt remaining chocolate. Use fork to dip truffles in melted chocolate. Return to wax paper. Decorate, then refrigerate 1 hour.

These are DIVINE and VERY RICH!

Peanut Butter Truffles
3 doz. or 12 servings, three truffles each

1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP or COOL WHIP Extra Creamy Whipped Topping, thawed

1/4 cup powdered sugar

MICROWAVE chocolate in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

STIR in peanut butter until well blended. Cool to room temperature. Gently stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate 1 hour.

SCOOP peanut butter mixture with melon baller or teaspoon, then shape into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

You can also dip the peanut butter ones in chocolate, just like the chocolate truffles, you will need 12 oz. of semi sweet chocolate for dipping.

Now, there is some nutritional information coming your way, just in case you are like me and need to know what exactly is going in your body! Beware, it's not always nice!

Chocolate Truffles: 1 serving = 2 truffles
Calories 190

Total fat 14 g

Saturated fat 9 g

Cholesterol 15 mg

Sodium 50 mg

Carbohydrate 19 g

Dietary fiber 3 g

Sugars 14 g

Protein 3 g

Vitamin A 4 %DV

Vitamin C 0 %DV

Calcium 2 %DV

Iron 6 %DV

Peanut Butter Truffles: 1 serving = 3 truffles
Calories 220

Total fat 15 g

Saturated fat 8 g

Cholesterol 0 mg

Sodium 60 mg

Carbohydrate 21 g

Dietary fiber 2 g

Sugars 14 g

Protein 4 g

Vitamin A 0 %DV

Vitamin C 0 %DV

Calcium 0 %DV

Iron 6 %DV

Hope you can still enjoy these after knowing that information!

Brownies

There so good I had to take a bite before I took the Pic

These are one of my trademarks I am constantly being told how good there are. I have to agree these are one of my Family Recipes that my family has used for years.

1 cup Margarine
1/3 cup Cocoa
2 cups sugar
4 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Flour
2 tsp Vanilla

Mix Margarine, Cocoa and Sugar together until well blended. Put eggs in 2 at time mix together. Add flour and Vanilla mix together. Pour into a buttered, Floured baking Dish and bake at 350 for about 20-25 mins you want to make sure that when you pull them out they are a little doughy at least that's how we like them it makes them chewy.

Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

This is a recipe I got from a book I read called Justifiable Means by Shannon Guymon. It has been tested by a few people and most of them enjoyed it a lot! hope you do too!

I made a graham cracker crust, but it came out too hard, so I would suggest following the recipe. Also, this was a VERY LARGE and THICK cheesecake. It could easily make 2 normal thinner cheesecakes! It is very rich and delicious to me!

CRUST
Make a basic sugar cookie recipe with butter. Roll out thin onto cookie sheet. Cook for 10-12 min. Let cool, then crumble. For every 1 cup of crumbs, use 1 cup of melted butter. Pat into a springform pan.

CHEESECAKE
4 boxes (8oz) cream cheese
2 TBS Butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla
juice from 1 lemon
3 eggs
8 oz sour cream
6 oz semisweet chocolate

Beat cream cheese until smooth Add sour cream, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and eggs. Melt bubtter over low heat. Stir in chocolate until melted. Blend into batter. Pour into crust lined pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 75 minutes. Cool completely.

RASPBERRY SAUCE
1/3 cup sugar
2 TBS Cornstarch
3/4 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp red food coloring (optional)
2 cups fresh or frozen whole raspberries, thawed and drained

In medium sauce pan, combine sugar and cornstarch; mix well. Gradually stir in water, lemon juice and food color. Cook over medium heat 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 cup of the raspberries. Continue cooking until thickened and clear, stirring constantly. Pour into bowl and cover surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until just cool, about 1 hour. Fold in remaining raspberries. Spoon evenly over cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate 1-2 hours or until set.

Apple Pie Filling

The BEST APPLE PIE FILLING RECIPE EVER!!! Makes 25 cups filling (5 very full pies, or 6 normal)




24 cups thinly sliced apples
3 TBS lemon juice
5 cups water
4 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg

Toss the apples with the lemon juice. Set aside. Put the water in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add to water. Stir well and bring to boil. Boil for 2 minutes, then add the apples. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer until apples are tender about 6-12 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes. Ladle into freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Cool at room temperature no longer than 1 1/2 hours. Seal and freeze. Can be stored for up to 1 year!