Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

I have been thinking about these cookies for a couple of days now, and today was the first time I had the time to actually make them. When I went into the kitchen to start making them I ran into a small dilemma, I was out of flour and brown sugar. After debating if I should go to the store or not, I finally decided that I should go. So I loaded my puppies into the car and we took a mall road trip. Well anyways let me talk about the cookie. This delicious cookie is very easy to make. All you need is a miniature cupcake pan, chocolate chips, and your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe (or you can use the one I provided below). I hope you enjoy this yummy treat. :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

1¼ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ (1 ½ sticks) cup butter

½ cup sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter in a mixer until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time. Drop by rounded tablespoons into an ungreased miniature cupcake pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place a small amount of chocolate chips into the center of each cookie cup. Remove from pan to cooling rack. Enjoy.

Pin It

Skillet Potatoes

Today for breakfast I thought it would be sweet if I made my boyfriend some breakfast before he headed off for school. Therefore I decided to make him one of his favorite dishes, skillet potatoes. All you need is a few ingredients to make this tasty dish and it is very easy to prepare. This dish does not just have to be a breakfast dish, you can serve it with any meal that you like. Whatever you decide to do enjoy. :)

Skillet Potatoes

About 4-5 medium sized potatoes, washed and diced
1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Place diced potatoes and packet of Lipton onion Soup mix in a Ziploc bag. Shake until potatoes are evenly coated. In a medium sized skillet heat the olive oil on medium high heat. Add potatoes and cook for about 20 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Eat while warm. Enjoy :)

Pin It

Marshmallow Flower Cupcakes

I was really bored the other night, therefore I decided that I wanted to make some cupcakes for work. I wanted to make flowers out of marshmallows after I saw the idea in the book called What's New, Cupcake? I thought it was such a cute and simple idea, so I gave it a try. They were easy to make, however they were time consuming. In the end the finished product came out looking pretty cute :) If you want to make them for yourself all you have to do is cut miniature marshmallows in half diagonally. Then take the cut marshmallow and dip the cut side in colored sugar. Also cut a jumbo marshmallow in fours in dip in color sugar as well. Place the big marshmallow in the center of a frosted cupcake and then place the small marshmallow petals around the center until it looks like a flower. Have fun and I hope you enjoy making and eating them. :)

Pin It

Rocky Road Brownies

I love brownies:) I would have to admit that they are one of my favorite deserts. Every time me and my friend Cynthia go out to eat we cant resist but share a brownie at the end of our meal. Well anyways my brownie creation came about a few years ago when I had an obsession with German chocolate. So I created a German chocolate brownie which became a hit (which I will share the recipe sometime in a future post). Since the success of that brownie I have been wanting to create another tasty brownie, but I did not know what I wanted to do. I finally decided that I wanted to make a rocky road brownie. The one thing that kept holding me back from making them was I did not know how I was going to get the toppings to stay on top of the brownies. I came up with the idea of pouring a chocolate ganache on top so it would hold the toppings in place. In the end the brownies came out tasting amazing. I would recommend drinking a nice glass of milk because these brownies are rich. Enjoy :)

Now either you can use a brownie mix or your favorite brownie recipe. If you don't have either I will include the brownie recipe that I have been using for years below.

Brownies
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 tablespoons water
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Ganache
¾ cup heavy cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Topping
1 cup mini marshmallows
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped almonds

Brownies: Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. In a small bowl ix together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In a small saucepan combine the sugar, butter, and water. Bring to a boil over a medium high heat; remove immediately from heat. Stir in the chocolate chips and vanilla until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and cool completely. Stir in 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually stir in flour mixture until smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. While the brownies are baking prepare the ganache.

Ganache: Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir until most of chocolate is melted. Cover and let stand for about 10 minutes. Then gently stir until chocolate is smooth. As the ganache is cooling prepare the topping.

Topping: Mix together the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and chopped almonds. Set aside.

When Brownies are done let cool. Pour the chocolate ganache on top, reserving a small amount for drizzling. Pour the topping mixture on top of the ganache. Drizzle the leftover ganache on top. Let the chocolate set and then enjoy. :)

Pin It

Stuffed Pizza Bites

What's for dinner tonight? That was the question I kept asking myself until I came across this recipe for these delicious pizza bites, which I found on the blog called Our Best Bites. These pizza bites were so good that they were gone in no time, not even a crumb was left behind. A good thing about this recipe is that it is very versatile, you can stuff it with any of your favorite pizza toppings. We chose pepperoni and cheese, but you can do whatever you like. Which ever way you decide to make these I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Stuffed Pizza Bites

1 can refrigerated pizza dough
Pepperoni (or toppings of your choice)
Shredded or cubed mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon parmesan cheese
Marinara sauce for dipping

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Grease 9 in cake pan and set aside. Roll out pizza dough onto floured surface and cut into about 24 squares. Place cheese and toppings on each square. Carefully wrap dough over toppings and press to seal edges. Place sealed side down into the greased cake pan. Brush the tops with the melted butter and sprinkle the garlic powder, Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese on top. Place in oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and let cool for a couple of minutes. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping. Enjoy

Pin It

Star Wars Cake

This would be my latest project. It was for Jaxon; the little boy I babysit. He Really loves Star Wars, so his parents decided to throw him a Star Wars party for his birthday. At first I had no idea what I was going to do to the cake, but I did know that I wanted to make the Death Star for sure. Jaxon also helped me in designing the cake. While I would babysit Jaxon and his sister, he would tell me how he wanted his cake and draw it out for me, which I thought was cute. However some of the stuff he wanted I didn't do because it would be impossible. All in all I felt the finished product came good and I think everyone else did too. :)

Here is a close up look at the Death Star I made. And yes the Death Star is a cake.

This is the writing that I did on the cake. I wanted to be creative and have the writing go at an angle like in the beginning of the movie.

Pin It

Failed Brownie Bites

Not everything always comes out perfect in the kitchen. Therefore I decided that it would be fun if I shared the things that I made that did not turn out so well. This would be my failed attempt at making brownie bites. I have been wanting to make these for a few days now, unfortunately they didn't come out the way I expected. The problem is that I didn't grease the pan enough and I filled each section with to much batter, causing them to cook over their ledge, making them difficult to cut out of the pan. The good thing is this is not a total fail because they still taste good,it is just that they do not look to presentable. So at least they don't have to go in the trash because somebody will eat them, if they can get them out of the pan :)

Pin It

Pink Carnation Cupcakes

I hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. I am not technically a mother, however, I am a mother to my three beautiful puppies. So my boyfriend and my puppies got me roses; one from each of them to show me that they love me. The way I received them was really sweet. When my boyfriend came home he fastened the bouquet to one of their necks and had them come in and give them to me. I thought it was so sweet and cute. To capture the moment I tried taking some photos of my puppies with the roses, which was very difficult to do (you can see some of the photos below).

Well not only was it Mother's Day this weekend, it was also my boyfriends sisters birthday (whom is also my roommate and best friend). Therefore, I thought it would be nice if I made her some pretty cupcakes. I thought it would be pretty, as well as simple if i just frost the tops with chocolate frosting and then make a pink carnation and place on top. I thought they came out pretty cute and Monika thought so too. :)

Here is a close up of one of the carnations.


Here is Tommy sniffing the Roses he got me for Mother's Day


And here is Bebe smelling the flowers .

And here is my Kevin. I couldn't get him to take a pictures with the flowers, he kept running away from them.

Pin It

Garlic Lemon Chicken

I am always looking for easy and delicious chicken recipes that my boyfriend and I will love. I actually came across this one over a couple of years ago, but I do not remember exactly where I found it. Knowing me it probably came from allrecipes.com or possibly some magazine I browsed through one day. Now the original recipe was actually called Garlic Lime Chicken and I have always prepared it with lime, but when I made this the other day I was out of lime so I decided to try using lemon instead. It actually came out pretty good this way too. So you can try either way depending on what ingredients you have on you. Either way I hope you enjoy this easy and delicious chicken recipe as much as we do. :)

Garlic Lemon Chicken
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into strips
½ cup butter
Desired amount of diced garlic
1 lemon

1. Mix flour, salt, and pepper together in a re-sealable plastic bag. Add chicken, seal bag and shake to coat. Set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté 3-4 minutes, until it starts to change color. Sauté coated chicken strips with butter and garlic for 10-15 minutes, until cooked through and juices run clear.
3. Squeeze lemon over chicken. Serve hot

Pin It

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I was organizing my cabinets the other day I came across a bag of white chocolate chips. So I started to think about the many things that I can do with them. I narrowed it down to two different things. I was either going to make cookies or brownies. I debated back and forth while I was at work today and I still did not know which one I wanted to make. When I got home from work I sat down and checked a couple of things on my Facebook and when I was finished with that I started to debate about which one I was going to make again. Next thing you know I woke up and it was dark outside; somehow I fell asleep while thinking about what I was going to make. I must have been very tired because I never take a nap after work because I get off after 6PM. Well the nap must have helped because I finally decided that I would make some double chocolate chips cookies. I must have dreamed about them or something :)

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12oz package) white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven 375ºF. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl; set aside. Beat together in a mixer the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy. Beat in the eggs until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until puffed. Transfer to a wire rack and cool. Enjoy :)

I got this recipe from Nestle Toll House Best-loved cookies book.

Pin It

Baby Apple Pies

I still have a lot of apples in my house, therefore I keep thinking of recipes that will involve them so I can get rid of them before they go bad. So the other day I got to thinking and decided that I should make some baby apple pies for desert. The good thing about these apples pies is since they are small you do not eat as much as you would if you had a slice of a big pie (that is if you eat no more than a couple). Mine didn't come out looking too pretty because I was in a hurry so me and my boyfriend could watch a movie, however they did come out tasting pretty good. I hope you enjoy making and eating these baby apple pies as much as we did. :)

Baby Apple Pies

1 package of refrigerated pie crust

3 medium sized apples peeled, cored, and diced

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350º F. In a bowl mix together the diced apples, cinnamon, and sugar; set aside. Roll out the pie crust and cut out 12 circles, about 3in in diameter, place the cut dough into each section of an ungreassed cupcake pan, press down to form pie shells. Spoon a little of the apple mixture into the 12 pie shells. Using the scraps of the pie crust dough, cut out strips that are about the size of the pies and lay in a crisscross pattern. For an added little touch you can cut out shapes with a small cookie cutter and place them on top. Bake for 25- 30 minutes or until the pie crust are a golden brown. Enjoy :)

You may end up with enough extra dough and apple mixture to make more pies than 12. So just keep making them until you run out of the ingredients.

Pin It