The Best Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

These cookies are my husband favorite, and if he likes them that must mean they are good. I think he just ate four in a row. Hard to Please is his middle name, but in all seriousness who doesn't like a soft, and chewy oatmeal cookie?

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt (I like to taste the salt in my cookies)
3 cups of Old fashioned Quaker Oats (uncooked)
1 cup of Craisins (not a raisin fan)


Directions

Heat oven to 350˙. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium in a electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs one by one and vanilla, beat well. In a separate bowl add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix and slowly add to the wet ingredients. Add oats and Crasins, mix well. Drop dough by tablespoon onto un-greased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Make about 4 dozen cookies.

 Enjoy!

Healthy Bites

I am not much of a snacker but I find these healthy little bites a great way to keep my energy up on those crazy busy days, or after an excruciating workout. They are also a yummy treat for your kiddos without giving them a bunch of sugar.

Ingredients

1 cup of Old Fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1/3 cup of honey
1/2 cup of flax seeds
1/3 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla


Directions

Mix all together in a large bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll or press into small bite size balls. The batter will be a little crumbly. Keep refrigerated. These balls are also yummy with sunflower seeds, cranberries, or other dried fruit.
Enjoy!
 

Raspberry Thumbprints

How about a virtual cookie swap? One of my dear childhood friends organized this fun recipe swap, thank you Kristen for including me. I love baking this time of year and one of my favorite Christmas cookies is the Raspberry Thumbprint. This cookie is a buttery shortbread that melts in your mouth with a chewy raspberry center. Head on over to the other yummy food blogs to find some of their favorite holiday cookies!


Kristen Gough, My Kids Eat Squid 

Brette Sember, Martha and Me 

Jodi Reinman, Garlic Girl 

Teresa Robeson, Raising Our Home  

Laura Davis, Del.ic.ious  (me)

Susan Johnston, Building Community Through Creative Food

Melanie McMinn, Frugal Kiwi 

•Raspberry Thumbprints•

Ingredients

1 stick of butter

1/3 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp. of vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg yolk

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup of raspberry preserve 

Directions

In a mixer cream together butter and sugar, add the vanilla, salt and egg yolk. Beat this mixture until fluffy. Add the flour until the dough forms a stiff dough. Scrape the dough onto a large sheet of wax paper. Roll the dough until it forms a 12" rope that is 3/4" in diameter. Roll your dough rope up in the wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove your dough from the fried and let rest for 10 minutes at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 300˙. Unwrap and slice your dough into 1" slices, roll them into little balls and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press your them into the center of each cookie ball, fill each hallow with 1/4 teaspoon of preserve. Bake your cookies until they are lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool 5 minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet. 

Enjoy!

Cherry Cheesecake Tarts

Anything with cheese in it always puts a smile on my face! I remember when I was little my mom making these yummy little cheesecake tarts for church functions, picnics, and family gatherings. They are so simple to make and always disappear fast.

Ingredients

2 8oz cream cheese

1Tbs. lemon juice

2 Tbs. vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 box Vanilla Wafer cookies

1 can of cherry pie filling

cup cake papers

Directions

Blend cream cheese, vanilla, eggs, lemon juice, sugar, mix until fluffy. Place a vanilla wafer into the bottom of a cupcake paper in a muffin tin. Then fill each cup 2/3 full with cheese filling. Bake at 375˙ for 15 minutes. Chill and top with cherry pie filling.

Enjoy!

S'mores

I came across the most scrumptious picture on facebook from one of my friends the other day, she had just pulled a batch of these yummy s'mores out of the oven. Thank you Ronda for this simple and yummy recipe!

Ingredients

Graham Crackers, broken in half

Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Squares

Marshmallows, large

Directions

Break your graham crackers in half and place them on a large cookie sheet. Unwrap your chocolate squares and center them on your crackers. Top each square with a large marshmallow. Broil your s'mores in the oven until the chocolate has melted and the marshmallow is golden and toasty. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Weekends are meant for baking in my mind. We don't eat a lot of sweets in my house, so once a week or so I like to make something special. I love the smell of yummy goodness baking away in my oven. These chocolate chip muffins are light and fluffy, and just melt in your mouth.

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1 cup of milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup white sugar

1Tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 375˙ Spray your muffin tins or line with baking papers. In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl mix together melted butter, eggs, and milk. Fold your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients. Stir until your ingredients are combined, do not over mix. You want fluffy muffins. Fold in your chocolate chips. Fill your muffin cups evenly. Bake until a toothpick comes clean, about 18 to 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Valentine's Pudding

♥Happy Valentines Day♥

I hope your day is as sweet as can be, filled with love and surrounded by the sweethearts in your life! Here is a little treat I made for the love's of my life this Valentine's Day. Nothing says I love you more than homemade pudding. I assembled my pudding in already made chocolate heart cups topped with chocolate curls and fresh raspberries.

Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients

2 cups of whole milk

1/2 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of cocoa powder

4 tsp of cornstarch

4 large egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp of fine salt

Directions

Put 1 1/2 cups of milk and sugar into a saucepan, bring to a boil. Simmer over med/high heat then remove from heat. Do not let boil. Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of milk, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks, and vanilla in a bowl. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture in with the egg mixture. Return the combined mixtures over medium/high heat whisking constantly until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to remain a simmer, continue whisking until the pudding becomes thick. Cover with plastic wrap so a skin does not form and place in refrigerator over night until set.

Vanilla Pudding

Ingredients

2 cups of whole milk

1/2 cup of white sugar

2 whole large eggs

3 Tbs cornstarch

1/4 tsp fine salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbs butter

Directions

In a medium saucepan over med/high heat, heat milk. Do not bring to a boil. In a bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt. Pour mixture into milk a little at a time stirring to dissolve. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl and slowly add to the mixture. Whisk constantly until mixture thickens. Do not bring to a boil or you will scramble your eggs. Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter. Chill overnight.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Buckle

I love using fresh in season produce in my cooking. The blueberries this season are huge and bursting with rich juicy flavor. Well, I went overboard and bought tons of berries and had to use them up, this buckle is perfect and no one will pass up this crumbly cake. Blueberry Buckle can be served for breakfast or dessert with vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

Crust:

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups of flour

2 sticks (1 cup) of cold butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg, beaten

1/4 teaspoon salt

Lemon zest from one lemon

Berry Mix:

Juice from one lemon

4 cups of fresh blueberries

1/2 cup of sugar

4 teaspoons of cornstarch

Directions

Preheat oven to 375˙and grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a bowl stir together 1 cup of sugar, 3 cups of flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Cut your cold butter into small pieces and add with one egg to flour mix. Gently mix with clean hands. Your crust will be crumbly. Pay half of the dough mixture into the bottom of your pan. In another bowl, stir together 1/2 cup of sugar, 4 teaspoons of cornstarch and lemon juice. Add your fresh blueberries to this mixture and coat them. Spread the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer. Bake your Blueberry Buckle for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting.

Enjoy!

All American Cherry Pie

Cherry pie is my all time favorite. I love the tartness of this pie, and a good buttery flaky crust. This pie is perfect served with vanilla ice cream on a warm summers day. Happy 4th of July!

Ingredients

2 pre made Pillsbury pie crust

1 cup of sugar

3 Tlbs cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

4 cups canned pitted sour cherries plus 1/3 cup cherry liquid

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tlbs cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

Place one of your pre made pie crusts into a pie plate. Pat the pie crust so it is firmly in the pie plate. In a bowl stir together the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Mix in your cherries add your cherry juice and vanilla, mix well. Pour your cherry pie filling into your dough lined pie plate. Dot with your cold butter.

Using your second pie crust dough, make a lattice top. Making a lattice top: Using a pastry wheel, cut your dough into 16 strips about 3/4 inch wide. Lay about 8 of the strips across the pie filled shell horizontally. Fold every other strip halfway back. Lay a vertical strip down the center and lay the folded strips back down. Repeat this process until you have the whole pie filled with a lattice top. Cut the excess dough from the edges and pinch the edges down.

Refrigerate your pie until the dough is firm for 20 minutes. Bake your pie for 15 minutes at 425˙. Reduce the oven temperature to 350˙, continue to bake until your crust is golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes. Serve at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Caramel Sauce

Happy Heart Day! Here is an easy recipe to serve over vanilla ice cream for your sweethearts. An extra bonus is to melt some chocolate chips in your microwave and spoon chocolate hearts on parchment paper. Just let your hearts cool, and they will lift right off your paper giving your caramel sundae a little extra love.

Ingredients

1 cup of heavy cream

5 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

Directions

Bring cream, butter, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside. Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3 to 4 quart heavy sauce pan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Gently swirl pan, until mixture is a light golden brown. Stir in cream mixture (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248˙ on your candy thermometer 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into a mason jar, keep refrigerated. Serve hot over ice cream.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Molten Cakes

This recipe is purely sinful, so easy to make and double easy to devour! These molten cakes are a family favorite in my house. I also serve these quite often at dinner parties because they are a cinch to whip up, and the presentation looks amazing. The center of your cake should be gooey like molten lava.

Ingredients

4 squares of semisweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup of butter (1 stick)

1 cup of powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 1/2 Tbs. flour

Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 425˙

Combine 1 stick of butter and the 4 chocolate squares in a glass bowl. Microwave the butter and chocolate for 1 to 2 minutes only. If everything in the bowl does not look melted that is o.k. keep stirring the mixture and everything will eventually melt. You do not want to burn your chocolate. When all melted add 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2 eggs and 2 egg yolk, stir by hand. Then by hand add your flour. Mix well.

Butter heavily small ramekins, pour batter into each cup, about half way up. Bake for 13 to 14 minutes. The inside should be gooey. Serve warm and with Ice cream.

Enjoy!

Ice Cream Cake

This ice cream cake can be considered cheating but the outcome is so delicious to matter! A quick solution to make kids in any household happy. The cake is so easy to make even the kids could make this themselves. Have fun with this cake and experiment with different toppings.

Ingredients

1 cup of heavy cream

2 Tbsp. of confectioners sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

6 ice cream sandwiches (store bought)

1/2 cup chocolate chips, chopped

4 Pirouette cookies, crumbled (or your favorite candy bar)

Directions

Line a bread pan with a piece of parchment paper, allowing the paper to hang off the long sides of the pan. In a mixer beat the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. In the bottom of the pan, arrange 3 of the sandwiches in a single layer, cutting them to fit, if necessary. Spread with half the whipped cream. Repeat with the remaining sandwiches and whipped cream. Sprinkle the top of the cake with your chocolate or candy. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm. Holding both sides of the overhanging paper, lift the cake out of the pan and transfer to a plate. Discard the paper and serve.

Enjoy!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nothing tops a homemade chocolate chip cookie. These little delights are dangerous in my home, only because I can easily polish all 4 dozen of them myself. I usually send these tasty treats off in a ziplock storage baggie to school with my daughter for her and her friends to enjoy, always with requests and orders for more the next day! These cookies have more brown sugar in them than other recipes making these cookies nice and chewy.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 360.˙ Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy (5 min) Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips. Drop 2 tablespoons of dough onto a lined cookie sheet with parchment paper. Fill cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes until nice and golden brown. Allow cookies to cool. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Pear Rustic Tartlet

This is such a fun and easy recipe. You don't need to worry about making your crust from scratch, Pillsbury makes a delicious pre made crust. I always keep a few boxes of these pie crusts in my freezer for that spur of the minute creation. Bartlett pears are so sweet and juicy that the cranberries give the perfect perk to this yummy tart!

Ingredients

1 Pillsbury pie crust

2 fresh pears, Bartlett

1 handfull of fresh cranberries

1 Tbs. brown sugar

1 Tbs. of sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. flour

2 Tbs. butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg, beaten

Directions

Lay your pie crust onto a lightly floured surface. Cut your pears into small and thin pieces and place into a large bowl with a handful of fresh cranberries. Add your sugars, cinnamon, salt and flour. Mix until all coated. Spoon fruit mixture into the center of your pie crust. Dot with butter. Fold the edges of your pie up accordion style. Brush crust with egg wash and sprinkle with white sugar. Bake in a 375˙ oven for 30 to 40 min or until bubbly and golden brown.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Tart

This tart recipe is definitely a crowd pleaser. It can be served as a dessert or for breakfast, it's warm, colorful and oh so yummy! Perfect for holiday gatherings.

Ingredients

1 cup of pecans, chopped

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, plus more to butter pie plate

3/4 cup of granulated sugar, plus more to sprinkle on top

2 large eggs

1 Tbs. vanilla

1 cup of flour

2 cups of fresh cranberries

Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Heat oven to 325˙Spread nuts onto a cookie sheet and bake until fragrant. Set aside. Butter a pie plate generously. In a electric mixer whisk together melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour. (batter will be thick) Stir in cranberries and 3/4 cups of p chopped pecans.

Scoop batter into pie plate. Sprinkle the top with the remaining pecans and sugar. Bake until golden brown and crusty on top. 30 to 40 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Pecan Toffee

The holiday's just would not be a hit without toffee! Yum, I love the buttery, chewy, crunch of toffee. This recipe is so easy to make, fool proof and fun. A great one to get the kids involved.

A little different this toffee is made with pecans instead of traditional walnuts.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans, roasted and divided

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of butter, (2 sticks)

1 Tbsp. light corn syrup

1/4 cup of water

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Roughly chop your pecans, place on cookie sheet and toast in oven until fragrant. Spread one cup of roasted pecans onto a buttered cookie sheet. Bring sugar and the next three ingredients to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until mixture is a golden brown peanut butter color and the candy thermometer registers 290˙ to 310.˙ Pour sugar mixture over roasted pecans on cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with chocolate chip, and let sit for 30 seconds, so the chips can melt. Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of chopped pecans.

Chill for 1 hour. Break into bite size pieces.

Enjoy!

Traditional Christmas Bonbon's

Every year it is a tradition for my mother and I to get together and make our traditional Christmas Bonbon's. We quadruple the recipe and over the course of several days we bunker down and put on our favorite Christmas music and make thousands of these delicious treats to give away to our friends and family for the holidays.

Ingredients

2 boxes powdered sugar (four heaping cups)

1 stick butter, softened

1 can Eagle Brand Milk, sweetened condenced

1 teaspoon of good vanilla

14 ounces angel flake coconut

1 ½ cup finely chopped fresh pecans

3 small packages of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips

¼ cube paraffin shaved

Directions

Mix first six ingredients in a large bowl, chill in the freezer until you can handle the mixture without it sticking to your hands. Take mixture and form into small balls, place on a cookie sheet and chill in the freezer again.

Melt 1 large pkg or 3 small pkg's of milk chocolate chips and 1/4 cube paraffin over hot water, double boiler sauce pan. Quickly dip chilled balls with a kabob stick into the melted chocolate and let chocolate set up in a cold garage. After the chocolate is set on the balls take a teaspoon and use the remaining melted chocolate to make a swirl on top to cover the kabob stick hole. This recipe makes about three cookie sheets. Place each ball in a Christmas paper and then package into containers for gifts.

This recipe makes about 130 small BonBon's

Once again I'm feeling the holiday spirit, I might have to make this a yearly tradition! I will be randomly giving away a small box of these BonBon's! All you need to do is leave a comment here on this post and I will pick the winner Sunday Morning. Good luck!

Enjoy!

NaNa's Turtles

Nothing quite beats my moms homemade turtles! They are delicious, and very easy to make. All packaged up with a simple bow they make the perfect gift.

Since the holidays are right around the corner, I thought I would give away 3 packages of these delightful little treats to 3 random winners! All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and I will draw 3 names Monday morning and announce them here on my blog!

Caramel Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of light corn syrup

1/2 cup of unsalted butter

1 can of sweetened, condensed milk

Directions

In a heavy saucepan combine sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Once mixture starts to boil add the butter and condensed milk. Stirring constantly.

Cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the temperature reaches 230 degrees on your candy thermometer. Take pan off heat.

Turtle Recipe

Ingredients

5 cups of whole fresh pecans

1 large bag of good semi sweet chocolate (Ghirardelli)

1 batch of caramel

Pam spray

parchment paper

cookie sheets

Directions

Make your caramel and set aside. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray the paper with Pam. On your cookie sheets make small piles of pecan clusters in rows. With two spoons dollop a small amount of caramel onto each cluster. Immediately place your cookie sheets with your caramel nut clusters into your freezer.

While your caramel is hardening in the freezer melt your chocolate. I melt my chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave. Be careful you do not burn your chocolate, 1 min should be enough. Stir your chocolate until it is all melted. If you need to melt your chocolate more, only put it back into the microwave for 20 seconds at a time. Take your clusters out of the freezer and dunk the tops of the clusters with chocolate and set carefully back onto cookie sheets. You now have turtles! Let your chocolate set. Then package.

Enjoy!