A Walk in the WoodsA look into our daily adventures

My husband and I are big fans of the Golden Grahams Treats.  The problem is that one box of 6 bars is expensive, so they are a special treat when we do get them. In true honey badger fashion, I wanted to find a recipe that was similar to those expensive yummy morsels that could be made at home for a fraction of the price.  I looked around and couldn’t find anything that was quite what I was looking for.  I ended up finding Golden Grahams S’More’s Bars on Yummly that was somewhat along the lines of what I was looking for – so I adapted their recipe a little to my liking.  I do have to say that these bars are beyond addicting and are super easy to make.  If you can handle making Rice Krispie Treats, you can make these with no problem!

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons butter

10.5 ounce bag of mini marshmallow (approximately 6 cups)

12 ounce box of Golden Grahams cereal (approximately 6 1/2 cups)

12 ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (approximately 1 3/4 cups), frozen

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Spray 9×13 pan lightly with non-stick spray.
2. Reserve 1 cup of marshmallows.
3. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.
4. Add marshmallows.  Stir constantly until marshmallows are melted.
5. Add light corn syrup.  Stir until combined.  Remove from heat.
6. Add vanilla and stir until combined.
7. Add cereal to marshmallow mixture and mix until cereal is coated.
8. Add reserved cup of marshmallows and chocolate chips.  Stir briefly until mixed well.  You do not want the marshmallows or chocolate chips to melt!
9. Pour cereal, marshmallow and chocolate chip mixture into pan and let set until cooled and firm.
10. Store at room temperature.

This year my sister-in-law and I decided we wanted to do a baking day to make all sorts of holiday goodies to give away (and who are we kidding, to also eat ourselves!).  We were marathon bakers/decorators – we started about 8:30 in the morning and finished around 6:00 in the evening, only breaking for lunch.  We meant business!  Our goodies included:

Gingerbread Cookies

Sugar Cookies

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Samoa Bark

St. Nick’s Dove Sticks

Candy Cane Fudge

Toffee

Truffles

Orange Cranberry Drops

Coconut Cranberry Bars

Apricot Almond Bars

This was a recipe that my sister-in-law had shared with me many moons ago, but I had lost it along the lines somewhere and had to search online to find it.  I found it over at teachers.net (not really sure how this post is related to the other content on teachers.net, but I am not one to judge).  Oh so yummy!

Ice Cream Crunch
(as seen on teachers.net)

2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter or margarine (melted)
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

Mix together Rice Krispies, coconut, brown sugar, chopped pecans and margarine in a large bowl. Spread on cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 min. Spread 1/2 on bottom of a 9×13 in. pan.  Open box of ice cream all the way so that the sides are off the ice cream. Slice the ice cream into even pieces about an inch thick (or you can let the ice cream sit out on the counter for a bit until it is softened and you can then spread it). Lay pieces on top of the Rice Krispie mixture. Put the rest of the Rice Krispie mixture on the top of ice cream.  Freeze for at least 3 hours before eating.

In many ways I can’t wait until we sell our house.  When we do sell our house, I know there will be many things that we will miss though.  One of those bittersweet kind of things.  One thing I hope that I will be able to keep up is my cookie recipe testing that open houses has allowed me to do frequently

As it is summertime, I was looking for a lighter cookie that would look and smell nice.  I found a recipe for sugar cookies cut in to the shape of watermelons on Amanda’s Cookin’.  They look so cute and were pretty tasty!  I actually made these the day before our open house because the dough took some time to chill in the fridge and wanted to make sure they had enough time to cool before adding the glaze (and the glaze drying).  I think they look like a perfect summertime cookie!

Watermelon Cookies
(from Amanda’s Cookin’)

Open house day today!  After a couple of months of no open houses, we had one again now that we finished our basement.  It is weird how we have our routine for open house days and the baking and cleaning usually is just getting done as we need to get out of the house.  Today I made some peanut butter cookies with little peanut butter cups.  I used a recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen and omitted the chocolate and peanut butter chips and substituted the mini peanut butter cups instead.  Totally yummy!

Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from the Smitten Kitchen and Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

These cookies are crisp on the outside, and almost cakey on the inside. Bake a batch and then hide the results in the furthest and most forgettable reaches of your kitchen. You’ll thank me later.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature (smooth is what we used, but I am pretty sure they use chunky at the bakery)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini peanut butter cups (from Trader Joe’s)

For sprinkling: 1 tablespoon sugar, regular or superfine

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
2.  In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the peanut butter and chocolate chips.
3.  Place sprinkling sugar — the remaining tablespoon — on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion.
4.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not.
Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I like Twix.  A lot.  As school comes to an end this week, Kaylynn will not have to daycare for a couple of months.  Yay!  I am excited for all the fun things we will be able to do this summer now that she is a little older.

As it is her last week at daycare, I wanted to make a little thank you gift basket for them.  I had originally wanted to make some homemade chalk and bubbles, but after pricing everything out, it was just a little more than what I wanted to spend right now (and I couldn’t think of what else to do with plaster of paris).  So instead, they are getting store-bought chalk and bubbles, homemade crayons, and some baked goodies.  Which brings me to…

Twix Blondies
(as seen on Cookies and Cups)

3/4 cup melted butter
2 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
30 mini Twix bars coarsely chopped (I cut these into thirds)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
9 mini Twix for garnish (I cut these into quarters)
1/2 cup melted chocolate chips

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 9×13 baking dish.
2.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
3.  In mixing bowl, combine butter and brown sugar on low speed until smooth.
4.  Add eggs one at a time continuing on low speed.
5.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined.
6.  Add the coarsely chopped Twix and chocolate chips stirring with a wooden spoon.
7.  Spread batter into prepared pan and bake approximately 25-30 minutes until they are set.  Toothpick with come out slightly gooey.  Be careful not to overcook.
8.  When removed from oven, sprinkle remaining Twix on top and drizzle with melted chocolate.
9.  Cool in pan for 2-3 hours or overnight.  Don’t cut the bars until they are completely cooled or they will be messy.

In my never-ending search for new recipes, I thought I would try to find a recipe for Blue Moon ice cream.  I will admit – I do not like Blue Moon or Superman ice cream, but Jeremy is very much a fan of those flavors.  I thought I could do a quick search, find a recipe and whip it up in no time.  Wrong.

Blue Moon Ice Cream
(as adapted from Recipezaar)

1/2 cup Vitamin D milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon raspberry extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/8 teaspoon blue food coloring
3 teaspoons vanilla pudding mix

Directions
1.  Scald 1/2 cup milk in saucepan.
2.  Add sugar, salt, and vanilla pudding mix until dissolved.
3.  Add half-and-half and heavy whipping cream.
4.  Add vanilla, raspberry, and lemon extracts.  Add blue food coloring.
5.  Chill mixture in the refrigerator until very cold.  Add mixture to ice cream machine and let it do its magic for approximately 30 minutes.

As part of my weekend baking spree, I made some M&M; Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have tried about a bazillion different chocolate chip cookie recipes and haven’t yet found one that had the perfect combination of crispiness and chewiness.  Until now.  Yay!  I tried the chocolate chip cookie recipe that Kim from Lovin’ From the Oven recommended.  Instead of chocolate chips I added a bag of M&M;’s.  The M&M;’s did not quite measure out to 2 cups so I added some leftover mini chocolate chips that I had from the Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream I made.  They were super delish!

On the weekend I like to play catch up and spend some time baking and making things so that in the week we have desserts and munchies on hand.  One thing I enjoy making is ice cream.  Partially because it is quick and super easy (at least the recipes I have made so far!).  For the Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream I made, I used the following recipe:

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
4 drops green food coloring

Directions
1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the whole milk and sugar until the sugar is dissolved (about 1 to 2 minutes).
2.  Mix in heavy cream, peppermint extract and food coloring.
3.  Turn on ice cream maker and pour mix in.  Let the ice cream maker do its magic for 20 minutes.
4.  Add mini chocolate chips and mix for another 5 minutes in the ice cream maker.
5.  Remove ice cream from maker and place in an air-tight container.  Ice cream can be eaten right away but tastes much better after it has had some time to chill out in the freezer.