Biscoff Graham Cracker Squares

Yummy note: For quite a while, I've seen a bunch of posts using this cookie spread called Biscoff. So a  few months ago, I purchased a jar as I looked a bit into it and realized it was nut and dairy-free! Bonus! That is the perfect combo in our house for the kids. Needless to say, it has since become a staple. My kids love the cookies and the Biscoff Spread. So now I often substitute the Biscoff spread for peanut butter in recipes. So in my cabinet, I had this half package of Biscoff cookies and a jar of Biscoff spread ready to be used... and it was perfect in Vicky's recipe from the blog Avocado and Pesto for Peanut Graham Cracker Squares. I thought that it'd be a nice sweet treat for putting my own yummy twist on it! Vicky from Avocado and Pesto was my luck of the draw for this month's Secret Recipe Club where we get to showcase another blogger's site. Avocado and Pesto had some great recipes like an avocado chickpea pesto salad, a breakfast sandwich with avocados, or peanut butter heath balls!? and the list goes on... Avocado and Pesto just had a site make-over not to long ago, and it looks fantastic, so make sure you check out her updated site! 

Biscoff Graham Cracker Squares

Ingredients: 

1 stick of butter 

1 cup of cookie crumbs - I used about a 1/2 cup of graham crackers and about 1/2 cup of Biscoff cookies crushed to equal 1 cup of crumbs 

1 cup powdered sugar 

1/2 cup Biscoff Spread (or peanut butter) 

Topping: 

2 tbsp Biscoff spread 

3/4 cup chocolate chips 

**Allergy note: I made these dairy-free by substituting the butter with soy margarine and vegan chocolate chips. I also substituted the peanut butter with the Biscoff Spread so that it was nut-free as well. 

Directions: 

Coat a small pan or container (like an 8x8 or 9x9 size) with cooking spray. To make the removal of the squares even better, line it with aluminum foil as Vicky mentioned in her original recipe, but just my luck, I ran out, so I had to just use the spray. It was ok, but I'm sure the foil would have rocked it. Note for next time..

Start by melting the butter and the peanut butter together. Next stir in the powdered sugar and cookie crumbs and mix until it is well combined. Press into your prepared container and chill for about 20-30 minutes until it begins to set up nice. 

Next, prepare your chocolaty topping by melting the chocolate chips and your 2 tablespoons of Biscoff spread together until smooth. Once smooth, pour chocolate topping on top of the cookie crust mixture. Chill until the treats are firm and have set up nicely. Cut into squares and enjoy! 

Sugar Cookie Bars

Yummy note:

Many family gatherings I've taken along some sugar cookies, you know the rolled out and cut into fun shape ones with cute frosting. They have always been hit with everyone of all ages. However, since the kiddos, I've been keeping an eye on recipes that really help cut some time off my preparation or that seem to be easy to do. I had bookmarked this recipe a few years ago and immediately printed it out for future uses. This Sentimental Sunday is about spending time with family and still being able to enjoy a homemade treat without a lot of time devoted to it. Sometimes it is such a pain to have to make the dough, chill and roll sugar cookies out and then not to mention putting the finishing touches on those cookies can take a couple of hours to complete. But with this recipe, it is so easy, yet sooo unbelievably tasty. They stay extremely soft and can even be kept in the freezer for longevity. They are just perfect to share with others, which is my favorite part of baking! This is super nice for a party as it makes about 4 dozen or so bars, perfect ready to share. I don't think there is much more to say about these wonderful cookie bars, other than to just make a batch to enjoy!

Sugar Cookie Bars

recipe found here from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

For the cookie bars: 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2-3 tsp. vanilla extract
5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda

For the frosting: 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tbsp. milk
Food coloring (optional)

*Note- I have substituted an equal amount of soy margarine and soy milk in this recipe for the dairy ingredients and still achieved great tasting results for dairy-free options. 

Directions:

To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet, about a 13"x18" sized one. Cream softened butter and sugar in a mixer until light and smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one until incorporated. Next, blend in the vanilla. In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. 

Spread the cookie dough into the prepared baking sheet and press into an even layer. Note, I had put a layer of aluminium foil on the bottom of the pan as well to have an easier removal of the cookie bar for cutting later. However, you can put the cookie dough directly into the greased pan. Bake only for about 10-15 minutes, or until a light golden brown color. You can test to see if it is done by sticking a toothpick in the center and see if it comes out clean. Let the bars cool completely before applying the frosting.

To make the frosting, beat the butter on medium-high speed in a mixer until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar until smooth. Then mix in the milk and add food coloring to tint.  Spread frosting over the cookie bars in the pan. 

At this point, you can freeze the cookie bars or cut into bars and serve. 

A Colossal Cookie

Yummy note: Oh my, this summer is sure upon us, with all of the activities going on, this Secret Recipe Club post sure seemed to sneak a bit up on me. I was going to traveling a bit right before this posting, so I knew I had to get on the ball and get going with my assignment for this month. I had a blog called Heavenly Treats and Treasures and the photos on this site sure did look heavenly, making it a hard choice while planning it out. I really wanted to make one of the sorbets, but my freezer hasn't really had the room for something more tossed in there, so strike that off the list.. next I thought these brioche buns as I've never made those before and I could use them in several of my planned meals, but then I saw this HUGE cookie! Score, that is so it.. and what was even better, I was easily able to adapt the recipe for my kids' milk and nut allergies. That really sells a recipe to me, as I can make something for ALL of us to enjoy. It is no fun to eat something delicious, while others have to watch,  I don't like to make something and not share... and that is what makes this cookie from Heavenly Treat and Treasures so nice. It makes a larger batch and it is perfect for sharing :)

 A Colossal Cookie

(with dairy-free adaptions)

Recipe adapted from http://www.heavenlytreatsandtreasures.com/2011/07/cookie-monster.html

Ingredients: 

1 lb. soy margarine

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, infused with a vanilla bean

2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups bread flour

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour* 

* Grace suggested a perfect substitution for this pastry flour that the original recipe called for. Make an easy mix of 4 cups of pastry flour by whisking 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour and 1 1/3 cups cake flour together. Just note, not to use all of this flour, you’ll have about 3/4 cup of leftover flour you can save for later use. 

2 bags of dairy-free chocolate chips (apprx. 2 lbs of chocolate pieces) 

Two of my staple ingredients in my dairy-free pantry-- LOVE these Enjoy Life allergy friendly chocolate chips and the Willow Run Soy Margarine for baking. 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly spray a 12” cast iron skillet with oil. The Heavenly Treats and Treasures recipe originally started out with browning some butter with a vanilla bean and making some heavenly browned butter. However, I made an adaption here, as I was using a non-dairy substitute and I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Instead I used some of my vanilla bean infused sugar. I keep a jar of this in my cabinet for special recipes like this! It is easy to do, just place a vanilla bean, that is cut open and toss inside a jar of sugar. Make sure it is a tight lid and wait for few weeks to use for best flavor.

In a large bowl, whisk your pastry flour, bread flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well blended. Next, in a separate bowl, cream the soy margarine and sugars on medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add vanilla extract and beat until well blended. Gradually incorporate flour mixture to wet ingredients, add about a third of flour mixture at a time to the other bowl. Last, add the chocolate pieces to the batter. 

Spread about a third of the dough into the prepared skillet. Bake in your preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes on the center rack. Adjust your time accordingly and don’t over bake, so remove cookie once the edges start to get golden brown. Cool on a baking rack for about 10 minutes, then decorate or serve as desired. Check out Heavenly Treats and Treasures for a gooey caramel sauce to top it with or see how I decorated the cookie below! I used a basic buttercream frosting recipe and made adaptions accordingly. 

Hooray for The Secret Recipe Club! 

Cut and serve in slices!

Instead of baking larger cookies for the rest of the dough, I scooped some dough and baked them in greased muffin tin cups! I baked them for about the same time, roughly about 20 minutes until they turn a golden brown. These were perfect to freeze leftovers, too!

Caramel and chocolate sauce drizzled on top of a warm cookie makes it out of this world. 

I also made some frosted cookie cups with the leftover frosting!  The cookie cups sink a bit in the middle perfect for a glob of frosting! 

Stop by and check out the Secret Recipe Club and see what it is all about!! 

fruit salsa

Yummy note: Oh, it is almost is almost the start of summer, I can feel it, each day goes by and it gets warmer and warmer. I could handle about 70-80 degrees all the time, I'll pass on the 90+ weather. So perhaps this will be a nice, mild summer in the Midwest. Or perhaps not, I guess we will have to wait and see. With the summer hot weather approaching, this is a perfect little side "salsa" fruit dish we just love here. You can eat it like a fruit salad with a fork, or do it with our favorite, utensil-free dipper - the cinnamon sugared pita chip! They are just delicious with this dish, so I highly advise to eat them together!  I love this dish, it's super simple, easy to toss together, and you have a wonderful side dish to take to that potluck or gathering! Or hide it out in your refrigerator and enjoy it all by yourself to cool off with this summer :-) 

Fruit Salsa

I think I originally saw a version of this recipe on the Today Show similar to this..  

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35928705/ns/today-food/t/creative-peanut-butter-sandwiches/#.T70Az-sV0ig 

Ingredients: 

2 kiwis 

1 pear 

2 apples 

1 lb of strawberries

3-4 tbsp of orange marmalade

8 oz of raspberries - optional  

2-3 tbsp sugar - optional - Depending on the tartness of the fruit, you may need to add in a few additional tablespoons of white sugar to the salsa. Just add this to your taste, though. Sometimes, the fruit is sweet enough on its own without the extra sugar. At most, I think I have added about 3 tablespoons to the entire batch.  

Directions: 

Make sure you have a nice knife handy, as that is about all this recipe needs! It really makes your prep job much nicer, if you can easily chop and dice your fruit with ease. So first, prepare the fruit by peeling and dicing the kiwis. Next, peel, core, and dice up the pear and apples. If you'd like, you could probably leave the skin on the apples here, but the kids seem to like the apples better without the skin, so I removed it for this salsa. Next, dice the strawberries. Toss all of the fruit in a large bowl and stir. In a small bowl, heat up about 3-4 tablespoons of the orange marmalade and add sugar if desired, and heat in a microwave just for a few seconds to warm up the marmalade so it can be pourable and liquid-like. Pour the warm marmalade over the chopped up fruit and stir until well combined. Chill salsa before serving. 

 

 

After a day of sitting in the refrigerator, the fruit begins to macerate more and becomes saucier.The salsa still tastes fantastic, however, it will have a bit more juice in it. Serve chilled and it is best with cinnamon sugary pita chips or tortilla chips. 

 

M&M Cookies

Yummy note: The two most exciting things about our Secret Recipe Club is the day we get our assigned new blogger and of course, the day our blog and recipe is revealed by our mystery blogger. The next best day is the day you make your new sought out recipe and get to enjoy the benefits! :) What a treat it always is to try out a new recipe that a blogger friend enjoys as well. This month another great site, Secrets from the Cookie Princess, came my way. I told my daughter about that blog name and of course she L-o-v-e-d it because nowdays she is all about princesses and helping mommy make cookies in the kitchen! Colleen is the creative mind behind this site, Secrets from the Cookie Princess; I might actually compare my blog style a bit like hers, as she does such a great job doing step-by-step photos in her blog posts which is super helpful! Colleen has so many different recipes to pick from, but I knew I had to select something from this category though...cookies! With the likes of all these great cookie choices, like cake batter sandwich cookies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars, hotel cookies, and M&M cookies, it was going to be a tough decision, so I brought in my expert.  I had my daughter, Alicia help me pick out this month's choice, because I was having such a hard time deciding! So what did she pick.... She wanted to make the M&M cookies! 

M&M Cookies 

Recipe from: http://www.secretsfromthecookieprincess.com/2010/12/m-cookies.html

Ingredients: 
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
10 ounces M&M candies

The ingredients, plus my trusty ipad which is always a key ingredient!

Let's mix up some cookies!

Directions: 

Mix the first three dry ingredients listed in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat softened butter for a few minutes, until light and fluffy like, and then mix in the white and brown sugar until creamy and combined well. Add in eggs, one at a time, and pour in the vanilla. Then stir in the dry ingredients until all of the flour is incorporated well. Weigh out about 10 ounces of the M&M candies and stir into the cookie batter until chocolate candy is evenly distributed throughout. 

"Mom- we need 10 ounces of chocolate m&Ms... see this is what 10 looks like- 10 fingers!" 

Spoon out cookie dough onto your baking sheets, and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 8 minutes or so until cookies are a getting golden in color. 

I think we ended up with about 4-5 dozen cookies, using a decent sized cookie scooper and probably a bit too much taste tasting going on :)

To see what the Secret Recipe Club is all about, check out our homepage and remember to stop by and see what all of the other bloggers made this month!

Caramel pull-a-part biscuits (aka mini monkey breads)

Yummy note: This Sentimental Sunday post is a recipe that my sister and I used to make a lot with my mom growing up. Some call it monkey bread, others call it caramel pull-a-part biscuits; at my house my daughter calls it quick caramel biscuit rolls. Either way, it's gooey, sweet, caramely goodness. This is a good recipe for extra little hands to help with (like they call pull apart the biscuits, shake up the bag later, or even count out the biscuits as they evenly distribute them into the tins). Either way, just make sure you get your kids involved in the kitchen! Such great memories and lessons can be learned while working together. So this was a fitting recipe for this Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day with all of you out there. 

<3    Happy Mother's Day !   <3

Caramel Pull-A-Part Biscuits (aka Mini Monkey Breads)

Recipe probably adapted from this as I think this is similar to my mom's recipe. 

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/monkey-bread-with-caramel/4a92932f-f795-4813-9800-d6e35e8d5a49

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2-3 tbsp granulated sugar
1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 can refrigerated biscuit

Directions:
Grease about 6 muffin cups. Melt butter and stir in brown sugar. Pour butter/sugary mix equally into the greased muffin tin. Roughly, a tablespoon goes into each muffin cup. In a gallon-sized plastic bag, shake the sugar and cinnamon together; then add the cut up pieces of biscuits and shake again until all of the pieces are coated. Distribute the sugary coated pieces into the muffin tins, and bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute; then turn upside down on plate. These are best served warm. If you are like my daughter and want a little extra jazz on top, you may add a quick powdered sugar and milk glaze to drizzle on top of the warm caramel biscuit treat. Enjoy.


*Yummy note: This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to make a larger batch. Growing up, we used to make a large batch, and throw all the pieces into a bundt pan and bake it roughly 30-40 minutes until it was bubbly brown and caramely.  

Pumpkin Chai Latte

Yummy note: I know it is a bit off season, but I really love pumpkin. In the morning, I like a nice tea or flavored coffee drink. Usually I go for the cold frothy coffee drinks, but lately, since it has been a bit cooler in the morning, I like a warm drink. Earlier this winter I picked up some pumpkin spice coffee and it was a bit more stronger for my taste, so I didn't drink it very much. So I wanted to try and use it up by mixing it with something to make it more tolerable! :) I thought the spiced coffee might mix up well with the Chai tea I like to drink, and make a nice mix. Hey, and it is like a double-dose of caffeine in the morning, right? haha. It's good for those busy days!  Tea and coffee mixed, at first I wasn't sure, but once I mixed it up, it was delicious!



Pumpkin Chai Latte

Ingredients: Equal parts of each below:
(about 1/3 - 1/2 cup, about 3oz)
Pumpkin Spice Coffee
Chai Tea Mix
Milk

Garnish: Pumpkin Pie Spice Seasoning
Whipped Cream

Directions:

Prepare pumpkin spice coffee as directed. Next, measure out equal parts of the Chai tea mix and milk in a small measuring bowl or large cup, stir and heat as directed on your Chai tea mix. After your Chai tea is warm, stir in the coffee.

Again, you are still using equal parts of each mix in your drink. Garnish with whipped cream and additional pumpkin pie spice seasoning and enjoy.