Cookie Dough and Candy

Last night at 9 pm I remembered that I needed to bring birthday treats to church.  I wasn't feeling especially inspired and wanted to do something super easy.  This idea from the Pioneer Woman came to me and I decided to run with it!

Take a tub of store bought cookie dough, and divide the dough into mini-muffin pans.  Cook in the oven for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.  Take it out just as it starts browning and press a candy into the center.  Wala!  That's it! I forgot to take photos before they were all eaten :-(.

Everyone at church loved it, and I was embarrassed by what a big deal everyone was making about it cause it was so dang easy!  I did 4 batches of 48 mini muffins in one hour.

Here are a few observations:

• I used chocolate chip, peanut butter and sugar cookie dough.
• The peanut butter worked the best.
• The sugar cookie dough didn't work at all - it came out totally flat and I threw them all away.
• For candy I used peanut butter cups, kisses, and rolos.
• You have to really push them all the way in the cookies or else the candy starts popping up.
• My non-stick pans worked way better than my normal aluminum pans, though the aluminum pans worked fin.....not sure why I have 3 different mini-muffin pans.
• I stuck them all in the fridge so the candy would harden so I could stack them.  Worked well.

Anyway, this is a super easy and tasty treat that you can make a huge quantity of really really easy!

Adapted from http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/01/cookie_dough_and_candy_/ 

Homemade Pizza

My husband and I like making (and eating) homemade pizza. Our toddler LOVES pizza, a lot. I should almost be embarrassed at how much she loves it. With the dough recipe we use it is really good and easy to make. The best part is, one batch makes enough dough for multiple pizzas or loaves of bread and the dough lasts in the fridge for 2 weeks. Typically I make the dough and my husband makes the pizza. He has perfected the art of tossing the pizza as he makes the crust.

Due to her love of pizza, we made it for my daughter's birthday earlier this year. In fact, she got her own ham and pineapple pizza and ate it all week. We LOVE tomato pizza. You may be thinking that sounds gross but I think its my favorite type of homemade pizza. So good. We also love pepperoni, ham and pineapple. veggie (whatever veggies we have in the fridge), etc. 

This recipe comes from a cookbook I received for my bridal shower, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day". We were also given a pizza stone and pizza peel, however, the book mentions cooking without a pizza stone. A friend of mine has used this dough and made pizza on a cookie sheet and she said it turned out great. This dough can actually be used for either bread or pizza, we use it for both and really like it. Hear I'll explain how to make pizza.

Pizza Dough
3 cups lukewarm water *not too hot so you don't ruin the yeast
1 1/2 tbs granulated yeast *I use closer to 2tbs
1 1/2 tbs kosher salt
6 1/2 cups all purpose white flour
cornmeal for pizza peal

**Herb Bread Variation: I do this more frequently for bread, but sometimes I add herbs for pizza dough as well. If you want to, follow the above directions and add 1 tsp dried thyme leaves (2tsp fresh) and 1/2tsp dried rosemary leaves (1tsp fresh) to the water mixture with the yeast and salt.

     Warm the water slightly, it should feel just warmer than body temperature. Add the yeast and the salt to the water in a 5quart resealable, lidded (not airtight) plastic container or food grade bucket. Don't worry about getting it all to dissolve. Mix in the flour with a wooden spoon. No kneading is necessary. For those who make bread dough frequently this might seem very strange, but enjoy the fact that you don't have to worry about it. Stir until it's all mixed together, just a matter of minutes. Sometimes I use my hands sometimes I don't. Just get it all mixed together and don't worry about spreading it out in the container. I leave mine in a loose ball and it spreads out as it rises.
     Cover with a lid (not airtight) and allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on the top). This will take approximately 2 hours depending on the room's temperature and the initial water temperature. Longer rising times, up to about 5 hours, will not harm the result although I've never had mine rise close to that long. Once it has risen put it in the fridge. My husband likes making pizza with room temperature freshly made dough, because then he can toss it. However, the book says fully refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with so for the first time it's best to refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours or overnight before using it.

Making the Pizza
Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven (put the pizza stone in before you start preheating the oven) to 550degrees or 500 if that's your oven's max. So this is really hot. If anything has spilled in your oven it will burn even more and there will be smoke. A lot of it. Even if there isn't anything burned in your oven the heat the cornmeal will make smoke, so don't be alarmed. We often are opening our deck door and fanning the smoke detector with our broom. Because of this we often cook it closer to 500degrees and its fine. 
Dust the top of the refrigerated dough chunk with flour and cut off a 1 pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Although you can actually make whatever size pizza you'd like. Just be sure you watch it cook so its not under or over cooked. Cut off the dough and put it in a ball. Roll it out with a rolling pin (or throw it in the air if you are my husband). 
Put the pizza on a pizza peel covered with cornmeal and quickly put whatever toppings, cheese, and sauce you want on the pizza. 
     Slide the pizza onto the stone and watch it carefully as it will cook quickly-around 8-10minutes. We always like to let our pizza cool for about 5minutes or a little more so we can actually eat it without burning our mouths. We cover our cooked pizza in parmesean cheese, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Yum! Enjoy!

*As mentioned above this recipe is taken from a book. The book is very detailed in its explanations of how to do everything, above are the instructions we end up using, although reading through all of the book's directions the first few times was very helpful.

Banana Crumb Muffins

We are fans of muffins in this house. My toddler gets excited, my husband can easily grab some to take for breakfast and it gives me another excuse to bake. These were really good and are a good recipe to use up any bananas that are going bad.

I know my picture isn't great-It tastes better than it looks. And since we don't eat them all as soon as they come out of the oven, they do taste great the next few days as well.

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease muffin cups or line with muffin papers. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. *I didn't use all of the topping and might make less next time.

original recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/banana-crumb-muffins/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=banana%20muffins&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

Honey Oat Bread

I'm telling you, we really like homemade bread in my house. I found this recipe on pinterest and it was really good! We enjoyed it warm, plain, toasted, for sandwiches, whatever. It was good. The nice thing is this recipe only makes one loaf. Many bread recipes make multiple, but if you just want one loaf here you go. I haven't tried to double it, but might in the future. 

Doesn't it look good?

It is a little sticky because of the honey and some of the oats fall off as you cut it, but its worth the small mess. 

Honey Oat Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups oats (I used instant; the recipe said old fashinoned work as well)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk 
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine (I used butter as I have that on hand)
1/4 cup honey 

Topping:1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons honey warmed1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons oats

In a large bowl (I use a kitchenaid mixer) combine the flour, oats, yeast, and salt. In two cup measuring cup, warm the milk so that it’s hot enough to melt the butter, but not boiling. Add the butter, stirring until melted, then stir in the water and honey.Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, mixing with a dough hook until it just comes together to form a dough. Knead in the mixer, with the dough hook attachment, until the dough is smooth and elastic (if you’re making this recipe by hand, the dough will be very sticky at first; flour your hands and work surface generously and be patient). If the dough is still very wet and sticky after 5 minutes of kneading, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is barely tacky. If the dough is too dry, add water, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) at a time, to soften it up.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled, about 1/2 to 1 hour.Once doubled, place the dough on a clean, dry work surface. If the dough is too sticky, lightly flour the surface before continuing. With your fingers, flatten the dough into a 9 by 12-inch rectangle-I used a rolling pin. Tightly roll the dough, tucking the ends as needed, into a loaf. Place the shaped dough into a 9×5-inch loaf pan, cover with a clean dry towel, and allow to rise until doubled, about 1/2 to 1  hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place an empty loaf pan on the bottom rack of the oven (I used a jelly roll pan as a loaf pan wouldn't fit).When the loaf is doubled again, brush the top with the warmed honey and sprinkle with the oats.

Place the bread in the oven and pour boiling water into the empty loaf pan on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the bread is deep golden brown and the internal temperature is about 190 degrees.
original recipe http://bakingdom.com/2011/09/homemade-honey-oat-bread.html

BBQ Chicken Dip

Since I'm on a Six Day Slim Down diet, I decided the next best thing to eating all this yummy food is to blog about it.  This dip is perfect for football games, parties, etc.  It's always a hit and is SOOOOO good and simple!  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

BBQ Chicken Dip
12 oz. cooked chicken, chopped/shredded
8 oz block of cream cheese, softened
2/4 cup bbq sauce (Sweet baby Rays is our favorite sauce)
1/4 ranch dressing
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 green onion, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl combine the chicken, cream cheese, sour cream, ranch dressing, bbq sauce and 1 cup of cheddar cheese.  Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8x8 in baking dish.  Top the dip with chopped green onion and remaining cheese.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.  Let cool for a minute or two and serve with scoop tortilla chips.

Original recipe found at: http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/09/bbq-chicken-dip-football-friday.html

Grandma Ruth's Marshmallow Surprise Salad

Only a Wilson would try to pass this dish off as a salad. :-)  However, it is very tasty and refreshing.  We all remember Grandma bringing this dish to many dinners growing up.  It is simple and fun, and everyone loves it!

Marshmallow Surprise
1 pint Sour Cream
2 Cups Mini Marshmallows
2 cups Mandarin Oranges, drained
2 cups Pineapple Tidbits, drained
1 cup Coconut flakes (optional)

Mix ingredients together and let sit overnight.  You can also add some food coloring to make it prettier, though if you get colored mini marshmallows, that will color it as well.

Enjoy!

Elmo Cupcakes

My daughter had a birthday this week and she really likes Elmo, so when I saw a picture of an Elmo cupcake on pinterest, my husband and I thought it'd be perfect for her birthday! There weren't any directions, just a picture, but they are pretty easy to figure out.

From the picture I saw it seemed the person made red velvet cupcakes and in one of the comments they mentioned using a peanut m&m for the nose, but here is what I did:

Elmo Cupcakes:

Elmo face:

orange peanut butter M&Ms

1 bag large marshmallows *cute the marshmallows in half

1 package Oreo cookies *pull them apart, scrap off the filling and break in half

black edible frosting gel

frosting bag and tip

Cupcakes:

I had a boxed cake mix I wanted to use up anyway so that's what I used, but you could use whatever kind of cake/cupcake batter you would like. Mine was chocolate:). I used the muffin/cupcake wrappers as well.

Butter cream Icing:

*Again you could use whatever frosting you want. We used my sister in laws (Audrey Tiberius) Butter cream Icing

1/4c butter or margarine softened (not melted)

1/4c white shortening

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

dash of salt

4 c powdered sugar

red food coloring

Milk *start with VERY, VERY little milk-like a tablespoon or less. In this situation a little milk goes a long way. If you add too much you can add more powdered sugar but just add a very little at a time to get the consistency you like. 

Mix together all the ingredients except the powdered sugar and milk. Add the powdered sugar and just enough milk to make it the consistency you want. We then added some red food coloring.

Once the cupcakes are cooled you can start your Elmo creations. Use the frosting tip to frost the cupcakes in a way that it looks like fur. Squeeze a little out and then pull up quickly and continue. I have to admit, this takes a while and hurts your hands. I think between my husband and I we did about 8 this way and then the rest I frosted with a knife. The ones with the frosting tip looked better but the other ones were fine too.

Then cut a marshmallow in half, stick the cut side down making sure they are close together. Put some of the edible gel (you could probably melt chocolate and put it on with a toothpick or something) for the pupils.
Add the nose with the m&m side down and then place the oreo cookie below that. Voila! Hello Elmo:)

 Just this morning my daughter went in to the kitchen pointing to the leftover cupcakes saying "Elmo cake, Elmo cake, snack"...the cookie mouths do get a little soft and weird after sitting on the cupcake for a while but guarantee my toddler doesn't care. 

Link to the original picture I saw http://www.flickr.com/photos/60194687@N00/3919878115/