Chocolate Pecan Caramels

1 c butter (no substitutes)
2 c packed brown sugar
1c light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 (14-0z) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c coarsely chopped pecans
1 c semi-sweet choc chips

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over med heat. Add brown sugar, corn syrup & water. Cook & stir until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in sweetened condensed milk & vanilla. Cook, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer reads 248 (firm ball stage.) Generously butter a 9x 13" baking pan. Sprinkle with choc chips & pecans. Poor mixture into prepared pan. Cool completely before cutting.

(I omitted the choc chips & pecans in one batch & found it a bit too sweet. Next time I try plain caramels, I'm going to substitute 2 cups cream for the sweetened cond milk.)

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

For the Muffins:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk

For the Glaze:
3 tablespoons butter; melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons hot water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. With the mixer on low speed, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla until just combined. Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and mixing until just combined. Do not overmix!

Spoon batter into cups, filling the cups, and smooth tops. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Bake until muffin tops are a pale golden and springy to the touch, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 10 minutes before glazing.

To make the glaze, In a medium bowl mix together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and water. Whisk until smooth.

When muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. Once hardened, dip a second time and allow to harden then serve.

Cherry Pear Cobbler

2 cans (21 oz each) cherry pie filling
3 large ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

Biscuit dough
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup and 1 tblspn granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup heavy crem

Heat oven to 400* F. Mix filling and fruit in a deep 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Bake 15 minutes. While filling heats, mix dry ingredients EXCEPT for the 1 tblspn sugar. Gradually stir in cream with a fork until it forms a soft sticky batter. Remove baking dish from oven, and using a spoon, drop clumps of batter on top of fruit. (You might have fruit 'peeking out' from underneath. It's not going to be all even like a pie crust.) Sprinkle with the remaining sugar (I forget this part EVERY year and I've been making this for 20 years now). Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until pick inserted in center of dough comes out clean. (It'll be a nice golden brown)
Cool- serve warm or at room temperature, but cover and put in refrigerator to save after serving.

Sweet & Salty treat

Get a large back of the waffle pretzels.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil.
Put a single layer of pretzels on the pan.

Unwrap a bag of Hershey hugs (or any kind of kisses you like, I did some pumpkin spice at Thanksgiving time). Put one candy in the middle of each pretzel. Pop into preheated oven for 3 minutes.

Remove pan from oven. Press a second pretzel on top of the softened candy, some will squish through and make them hold together. If you want, while chocolate is still warm and soft you could sprinkles with red or green colored sugar.

Let cool completely (pop in the fridge if you want to speed it up)

Store in an air tight container.

These are MUCH easier than dipping pretzels in chocolate and just as yummy!

Lemon Cake Mix Cookies

1 (18.25 oz) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil and lemon extract until well blended. Drop teaspoonsfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

Servings 36

Lemon Star Bursting Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon lemon extract

For coating:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 (.25 oz) package unsweetened lemonade flavor drink mix (such as Kool-Aid)

1. Sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. In a larger bowl, beat 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar with butter using an electric mixer until the mixture is creamy and free of lumps. Beat in the lemon extract, then mix in the flour mixture to make a smooth dough. Chill the dough for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix 1 cup of confectioners' sugar with the lemonade drink mix in a plastic zipper bag. Close the zipper, and shake the bag to blend.
3. Scoop up about 1 1/2 teaspoon of dough per cookies, and roll into balls. Place the cookies onto ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the cookies are set about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on sheets for 2 minutes.
5. Drop the warm cookies into the bag of lemon sugar, about 5 or 6 at a time, and shake to coat with the mixture. Shake off excess sugar, and allow the cookies to finish cooling on wire racks. When cool, shake them in the lemon sugar one more time.

Snickerdoodles

½ cup butter, softened
½ cup shortening
1 ½ cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 ¾ cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 ½ cups sugar, eggs & vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda & salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 Tbsp sugar & cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Halfway Cookies

1 cup shortening (Crisco, margarine, or butter)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten (save whites for topping)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp water
2 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 (12-oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks, vanilla, and water; blend well. Sift flour three times with salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix well (dough will be stiff). Spread into a greased baking pan (the recipe calls for 10x14"; I recommend the next size down, is it 9x13"?). Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Beat together 2 egg whites and 1 cup brown sugar. Spread over chips. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Modifications for the topping:
Beat together 2 egg whites with 1 cup white sugar. The topping is supposed to be a meringue, so I added some cream of tartar to help it form peaks. I sprinkled it in bit by bit until it did it's job. The topping on Halfway Cookies is supposed to be light brown, and mine was white, so I added a little bourbon...you know, for coloring. If I use white sugar again I will cut it back to at least 3/4 cup, because while the topping was absolutely delicious, it was a little gooey and difficult to pour over the chips.

I always use unsalted butter when I bake these. I don't recommend mini-chips...I tried them once and they sort of melted together into a big chocolate layer, rather than having individual chips melt in your mouth.

Hidden Kisses cookies

1 cup butter at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of pure almond extract
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans
One 9 ounce package of Hershey kisses
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla and almond extract. Stir in the flour and blend well. Add the pecans and blend well. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Unwrap the Hershey's kisses. Press a scant tablespoon of dough around each Kiss, coverning it completely; shape into balls.

Place the cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Cool slightly, than transfer to a rack to cool completely. Roll the cookies in confectioners' sugar.

Heavenly Bars / Sooper Doopers / Magic Bars / Hello Dollies

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (crush yourself, instead of getting readymade crumbs)
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels (just use how much you like. I use 1 c. choc. chips, 1 c. butterscotch chips, ½ c. peanut butter chips)
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional and any kind you like. I usually use peanuts)
And I add a sprinkling of mini marsh mellows on top

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13x9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Then start your layers: chocolate/butterscotch/peanut butter chips, coconut, nuts, marsh mellows. Press down firmly with a fork.

Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

I usually pour half the condensed milk over the graham crumbs and the rest over the top once the layers are complete; however, it works better as directed above so you can more easily cut into bars once baking is done and the pan has cooled. Enjoy!

Cherry Squares

1 ¼ c flour
1/3 c packed brown sugar
½ margarine

Crumble flour, sugar and marg. Together well, press in ungreased 9 x 9 pan. Bake 350 for 15 minutes.

2 eggs
1 ¼ c packed brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
½ tsp b.p.
Pinch salt
1 c medium grind coconut
½ chopped walnuts
¾ c maraschino cherries, drained well and cut in quarters.

Beat eggs slightly and add the rest of the ingred in order given. Spread over first layer. Return to oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Cherries Jubilee

Canned sweet cherries (not the maraschino ones). Put in flat pan with liquid, add sugar, some cornstarch (like maybe 1 T./can, I use 2 cans, more sugar than that, maybe 1/2 c/ can. Heat until thick. Move to table where everything is ready (fancy dessert dishes of some sort, and vanilla ice cream). Add about 1/4 c. blackberry brandy over cherries. (I pour it into a spoon held just over the cherries very slowly and carefully- you don't want the brandy to mix in, you want it on the top. Carefully light it (have the room dark) and WHOOSH! Flames! Ohhs and ahhs. Then spoon over individual dessert bowl of vanilla ice cream. Sometimes you even end up serving someone when the cherries are still flaming. Very pretty. Almost all (or all) the alcohol burns off so the kids aren't getting lots of booze.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup butter (margarine) melted
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. In large bowl beat eggs. Stir in pumpkin, melted butter and chocolate chips. Slowly add dry ingredients. Spoon into muffin pan, lined with muffin papers. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. For mini muffins, use mini chocolate chips and bake 15-18 minutes.

Often I 3 1/2 times the recipe, so I can use a big can of pumpkin. I also decrease the sugar by a over half, because I do not like a lot of sugar. I have used white chocolate chips, and/or pecans in the batter--both turn out good.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

1/2 cup vegetable oil (original recipe calls for, specifically, Mazola corn oil---I used generic canola oil)
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (This is my addition. I didn't use additional unsweetened chocolate since I didn't want to mess around with sugar/flour/liquid ratios.)
2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup confectioners sugar (for rolling cookies in)


1. Melt both types of chocolate in a heavy bottomed pot (or double boiler, if you have one).

2. Meanwhile "cream" oil and sugar together. Blend in the melted chocolate. Blend in the eggs, adding one at a time. Finally, mix in the vanilla. (The mixture will be a bit gritty compared to cookie bases made via creaming sugar with butter).

3. Sift or mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until incorporated fully.

4. Let the batter chill in the refrigerator for several hours until firm

5. Preheat oven to 350 F. Either grease a cookie sheet or cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil

6. Put confectioners sugar in a bowl

7. Shape teaspoons full of the chilled dough into round balls and roll these in the sugar to coat fully (there shouldn't be any cookie showing through).

8. Place the balls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

9. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. (In my experience, the cookies are done once they have started to firm up on their outsides; they will still look wet in the regions of the cookie showing through the cracks that will form while baking).

10. Let the cookies cool for 3 minutes on the cookie sheet then move them to cooling rack to cool fully. They should still be tender once fully cooled.

Bread machine cinnamon rolls

Dough:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm milk
3 tablespoons oil
1 egg, lightly beaten plus 2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups flour (Add a bit more if dough seems too wet after first few minutes of kneading in the bread machine.)
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons yeast

Filling (I doubled this since we like our filling, oh yes we do!):
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup brown sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Icing:
1 teaspoon milk
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
4 tablespoons (or less) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put the dough ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed and run on the dough cycle. After the dough cycle is finished, roll the dough into a large rectangle and spread it with 2 Tablespoons melted butter and 2/3 cup brown sugar mixed with 1 Tablespoon cinnamon.

Roll up and cut into 10-15 rolls and place in two greased round cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until browned. Spread the icing on as soon as they come out of the oven.

You can also cover the unbaked rolls with plastic wrap, stick them in the refrigerator overnight, and then bake in the morning.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 – 14 ounce can pumpkin, solid packed pumpkin not pie filling
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt , cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl and set aside.

Place butter and brown sugar in a bowl and mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy
.

Add eggs and mix well.

Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla and mix until well blended.

Add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop onto cookie sheets and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until done.

Pumpkin spice muddy buddies

1 box chex rice cereal
1 1/2 bags hershey's pumpkin spice kisses
2 c powdered sugar

Unwrap pumpkin Hershey kisses and place in a medium size bowl.Pour Chex mix into large bowl and set aside.

Over a double boiler, or in the microwave at 50% power, slowly melt the pumpkin Hershey kisses so as not to scorch.

Once completely melted, pour melted pumpkin Hershey kisses over Chex mix and stir to coat.

Pour mix into Ziploc bag, add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of powdered sugar and shake to cover.

Triple layer brownies

1 cup quick or old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped salted, dry-roasted peanuts
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
1 pkg fudge brownie mix (plus ingredients to make brownies)
3/4 cup (semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Additional chopped peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine oats, peanuts, brown sugar, flour and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add butter; mix well. Press oat mixture onto bottom of pan; bake 8 minutes. Remove from oven.

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Spoon batter over crust; carefully spread to edges. Bake 24-28 minutes or until wooden pick inserted 2 in. from the edge of pan comes out clean. Cool completely.

Combine chocolate morsels and peanut butter in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1 minute; stir until smooth. Spread chocolate mixture evenly over cooled brownies. Sprinkle with additional chopped peanuts, if desired. Cool until chocolate mixture is set; cut into bars.

Milk chocolate frosting for brownies

3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add cocoa and remove pan from heat. Stir in remaining ingredients until smooth. Immediately spread over brownies.

Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt

½ cups Unsalted Butter, Softened
½ cups Packed Dark Brown Sugar
¼ cups Granulated Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 cup All-purpose Flour
¼ teaspoons Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Salt
¾ cups Mini Chocolate Chips Or Chunks
1 cup Vanilla Yogurt

In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat until combined. 

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, soda and salt. Add the chocolate chips or chunks and stir. 

Add the flour and chocolate mixture to butter mixture and fold in gently. Add yogurt and stir again. 

Place in a container and cover with lid. Freeze until set, preferably overnight.

Cookie dough recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Bridal Edition Cookbook.

Makes about 2 cups.