Chocolatey Bliss...

Nothing says the holidays for me like Chocolate Drop Cookies...
Purely sinful, shamefully easy and amazingly delicious!
Here's hoping your holidays were less caloric than mine :)

Chocolate Drop Cookies (AKA: No Bake Chocolate Cookies)
2 cups evaporated milk
8 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
2 cups peanut butter
2 cups cocoa
8 cups oatmeal
½ cup coconut
4 teaspoons vanilla

Bring milk, sugar and butter to a boil. Once sugar is dissolved add cocoa and peanut butter, simmer until PB melts completely before adding remaining ingredients. Drop by tablespoon onto waxed paper.

Enjoy!

Hello Cupcake... Watch Out Martha!

Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make

I'm so in love with this book. It's shamefully adorable! The only problem right about now is that we don't really know very many people around here, Yet. Least ways, not enough to warrant making up loads of cake... even if they are just bite sized cakes. We don't eat a lot of sweets ourselves and I've no idea what we'd do with so many. But Man, O Man... when the time is right I'm so gonna whip up a few of these Jim Dandies. I thumb through this delightful book almost daily, it's like indulging in pure eye candy. All the recipes sound so good and the How-to's make the creations look fairly straight forward and simple... what's not to love??!

Aren't they Mahvelous!!??
The Sharks & Life Preservers are probably my Ultra Faves!

As I sit here wringing my hands and daydreaming of the event that will enable me to create a few of these lovelies. Little H's Bday is in about 6 months... perhaps then? Hmmm.... perhaps, perhaps.

Modified Congo Crowkies Recipe

Modified Recipe: I made Congo Crowkies a few weeks back and they were pretty good, I liked them.
But I thought they could use some improvements... so here they are. I think they're much better now. We love 'em!

Crownkie Bars

3/4 cup + 2 TBS butter, melted
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup Oatmeal
1 cup Chopped Walnuts
1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 TBS vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325* degrees.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine butter and brown sugar; cool slightly. Beat in eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in oatmeal, nuts & chocolate chips.
3. Pour batter into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 30 - 35 mins. When almost cool, cut into squares.

Banana Nutty Goodness...

Lots of delicious baking going on this week. Whew!

Banana Nut Bread
1.5 C Flour
.5 C Sugar
2.5 T Baking Powder
.5 T Salt
.5 T Baking Soda
1 C Oatmeal
.75 C Chopped Nuts [optional]
1 Egg, slightly beaten
4 oz Yogurt*
3 Large Chopped Bananas
1 T Vanilla
[Tasty variation: Add .5 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips]

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8.5 X 4.5 X 2.5-inch loaf pan. Stir together all dry ingredients, including nuts and oatmeal. Once all wet ingredients are combined add dry ingredient mixture slowly until mix is moistened. Spread evenly into pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Let cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. Makes 1 loaf.

*Any Yogurt flavor works great. Blueberry and French Vanilla are sure fire hits at my house.

I've got lots of Banana Bread Recipes... but this one is my die hard favorite. It's so moist with a wonderfully chewy crust. Highly recommended! Throw a nice thick slab in the toaster oven before loading it up with butter. Sinful :)

What's your Favorite Sweet Bread Recipe? Care to share?

Keeps on Mixing...

I realized today that my KitchenAid Stand mixer is almost 15 years old! And although I love the hip colors they come in these days, like Apple Green and Martha Stewart Blue, I would never dream of parting with mine. Even if it is just plain ordinary white, I love it just the same. It's by far One of the best gifts I've ever received - thanks Mom! [edit: And Dad!] It was money totally Well spent :)

I love to bake and use it at least 3 to 4 days a week. It's an awesome machine and I've never had an ounce of trouble with it. Always performs like a little champ, works like a charm. Every time it comes out of the cupboard I smile... it's an old friend and I could never get along without it.

Today we (me & my trusty KitchenAid) made Peanut Butter Balls ... and tomorrow we're making these:

Congo Crowkie Bars

3/4 cup butter, melted
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 TBS vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325* degrees.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine butter and brown sugar; cool slightly. Beat in eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Pour batter into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 25 - 30 mins. When almost cool, cut into squares.

I'm living on the wild side and trying out this new recipe for The P's homecoming. Brave of me to try a newbie... but I'm not sure you can go wrong with a Cookie/Brownie combo!

How much do you love your KitchenAid?? How long have you had yours?

Huckleberry Crumble Recipe

Needing something warm and relatively gooey, last night I concocted a new favorite.

Huckleberry Crumble

1 cup packed brown sugar
1.75 sticks butter, cubed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
.5 teaspoon salt
1.5 cup oats
1 to 1.5 cup Your Favorite Jam or Preserves
(I used Homemade Huckleberry Jam)

Mix all ingredients (except jam) together, into a crumble consistency. Press one half of the mixture into a buttered 8″ pan - round for wedges, square for bars. Cool Tip: Use your butter wrappers to butter the pan! Next spread jam/preserves out evenly over first layer and sprinkle second half of mixture over the top and pat down lightly. Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes or until lightly brown. Serve warm for amazing results. These are quite tasty and sort of a mix between a crumble and cookies. MMmmm, perfection. I'm pretty sure my Dad would love these heated with a huge scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.