Little Apple Pie's for Thanksgiving

I made the crust from scratch, but you could buy pre made pie crust dough in the box. Roll it out, cut out circles about 1" wider than the muffin tin hole. I only made 7 of these because I only had 2 apples. I cut the apples into little pieces, put them in a bowl with 1/3 c. sugar, 1 tbs cinnamon, and 2 tbs flour. Mix together.  Put the pie crusts in a muffin tin sprayed with Pam and gently push down to cover the inside of the muffin cup. Fill with the apples so they are mounded up a little above the top. Take a small piece of butter...about 1/4 TBS and put it on top of the little pie, then I took the leftover pie crust and cut out the hearts. Put that on top of the butter. Put in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 14 to 18 minutes. Start checking about 12 minutes in and go until its golden and the crust is cooked.  I adapted this recipe from http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2011/10/what-i-made-for-monday.html to suit what I had on hand :)

Pumpkin Spice Eggnog Pound Cake with Cinnamon Spice Glaze

 

You may find the recipe at the link below.

I used Pumpkin Spice Eggnog and did not use any of the currants/cranberries. I also made my own glaze of 1 cup confectioners sugar, 2 TBS. milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/eggnog_pound_cake/

Bloody Bones - Happy halloween!

Halloween Sprinkle Cake Pops

Lunchbox meal day 3!

Noodles with italian dressing (her request, again!), broccoli, black olives, cottage cheese, bunny shaped granny smith apple, and 2 Reece's cups for dessert <3

First day of kindergarten lunch!

Apple sauce, heart peanut butter sandwiches, pasta salad, black olives, 

cherry tomatoes from our garden and 2 Reece cup minis.

Sweetie Pie!

 

Peach Pie on a stick!

Pink & Purple Cake Pops, round 2!

Please forgive the cell phone picture, I didn't take any with my regular camera :(  These pink and purple cake pops were made to go along with a Tangled - Rapunzel themed birthday party.

Chocolate Orange Cake Pops

Chocolate cake with a slight orange flavor, dipped in milk chocolate and drizzled with orange white chocolate.

Coconut Cake Pops

 

White cake, infused with coconut flavoring dipped in dark chocolate and dusted with coconut flakes.

Kid Cupcakes

 

These fun cupcakes made a trip to the bowling alley where we celebrated a couple of kiddo's birthdays!

Raspberry Chocolate Cake Pops

 

Chocolate raspberry cake, dipped in dark chocolate.  Yum!

Fall Cupcakes

 

Yellow cupcake with fall colored sprinkles and a chocolate frosting.

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

 

I made these for my daughter's preschool Thanksgiving party - the kids and teachers loved them!

Christmas Cutout Sugar Cookies

This was a fun thing to do with my daughter - kids love to decorate cookies!

Peanut Butter Frosting - to die for!

1 stick of butter, softened
1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk or cream

Beat all ingredients together and frost!

Diet Brownies!

Who knew?!

Today I experimented a little bit with brownie mix. I'd seen this recipe used on cake (www.skinnytaste.com), and figured - why not brownies?

I am SO pleased with how these turned out, and will definitely be making them in the future!

1 box brownie mix (I used Ghiardelli)
10 oz. DIET POP (I used diet cheerwine, it gives the chocolate brownies a SLIGHT cherry taste - YUM!)
2 egg whites*

Follow baking instructions on brownie box depending on temperature and size of pan. I used a 9x9 pyrex and baked it for 45 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

*you could probably use only 1 egg white for a possibly less fluffy brownie. Mine is leaning towards cake....and I'm totally fine with that :)

M & M Pudding cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 package 4-serving size vanilla instand pudding mix
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used m&ms)

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet; set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together flour and baking soda; set aside.

2. in a large mixing bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, pudding mix, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons about 2" apart onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until edges are light brown. Transfer to wire rack; let cool. Makes about 50 cookies. (I made them bigger than a rounded teaspoonful - really who does that??- and got 36 cookies).

Christmas Cake Balls

Valentine Cake Pops for Preschool

 

Chocolate cake pops dipped in milk chocolate.

Pretty Purple and Pink Cake Pops

Yellow and Chocolate cake pops dipped in pink white chocolate.

Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes

 

Chocolate zucchini cupcake with milk chocolate frosting.

The most amazing cinnamon rolls ever!

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1/2 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix (I used a whole package)
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1/4 cup raisins (optional)
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a bread machine pan, place the milk, beaten egg, melted butter, water, vanilla pudding mix, bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select the Dough cycle.
2. When cycle is finished, remove the dough, and knead for 3 to 5 minutes. Roll out to a large rectangle.
3. Mix together the softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread over dough. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and raisins, if desired. Starting with the widest end, roll the dough into a log. Pinch to seal seams. Cut into 1/2 inch to 1 inch slices, and place in a greased 9x13 inch pan. Place in a draft-free space, and allow to rise until doubled.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. To make frosting, mix the milk, confectioners sugar, softened butter and vanilla in a small bowl. Spread over warm cinnamon rolls.

This recipe can be found on www.allrecipes.com.

Sweets Galore!

Coffee Cake Pops

 

Yellow Cake infused with fresh brewed coffee, dipped in dark chocolate.

Lime Cake Pops

 

White cake flavored with Lime.  Dipped in dark chocolate and lime green white chocolate.

Brownie Pops!

 

Peanut butter and chocolate brownie pops on pretzel rods.