Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Mix first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and stir until blended. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until set and lightly brown around edges.

Butterscotch Brownies

I made these for a meeting this week, and they got rave reviews! I needed something quick, easy, and made with ingredients I had on hand, so I turned to my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook. These are so simple, it's almost embarrassing! No chocolate in these brownies, but they are G-O-O-D!!

For more Tempt My Tummy Tuesday kitchen tips and recipes, click over to Blessed with Grace. And don't forget to visit my main blog, Not a DIY Life.



Butterscotch Brownies
1/4 cup shortening (I used real butter, don't be afraid of butter, people!)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of an 8x8x2 square pan.

2. Melt shortening (ahem, butter) in 1.5 quart saucepan over low heat, remove from heat when melted. Stir in brown sugar, vanilla, and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in pan.

3. Bake 25 minutes. Cool slightly in pan on wire rack. Cut into 2-inch squares while still warm.

Strawberry Pie

It's strawberry season, y'all! This time of year, I can eat strawberries for every meal and not get tired of them. Usually, I like to make strawberry rhubarb pie, but I didn't have any rhubarb this weekend. So I adapted the recipe for just strawberries - yummmmmmm!



Strawberry Pie

4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup tapioca
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all together in a medium bowl and set aside for 15 minutes.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening or lard
4-5 tablespoons cold water

(This makes 2 crusts.) Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut shortening into flour mixture using a pastry blender or by criss-crossing two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cold water by tablespoon until all flour is wet and pulls away from bowl. Form into a ball.

Divide dough in half. Roll half of dough out on a floured board with a floured rolling pin. Roll dough back onto pin to transfer to 9 inch glass pie pan. Trim excess dough.

Pour filling into pie shell. Dot with small pats of butter. Roll remaining half of dough out and transfer to pie plate to cover filling. Trim dough and crimp edges with bottom crust. Make a few small slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until crust is lightly browned and filling bubbles slightly. (You may want to place a baking sheet until the pie pan to catch any drips!)

Allow to cool completely before serving. Enjoy!!

Crockpot Walnut Stuffed Apples

To me, there is no better dessert on a cold night than baked apples! This recipe is easy, versatile, and delicious!

For more Saturday Stirrings recipes, don't forget to visit Carol!

CROCKPOT WALNUT STUFFED APPLES

large sweet apples

1/8 cup raisins per apple

1/8 cup chopped walnuts per apple

1/8 tsp. cinnamon per apple

1/4 tsp. sugar per apple

1/2 tsp. canola oil per apple

Core apple(s). Arrange in crockpot. Mix filling (the remaining ingredients). Stuff apples, packing tightly. Pile extra filling on top. Add a small amount of water to the pot & cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours. Can also be baked in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve hot.

Cuppa, Cuppa, Cuppa

Something simple and easy. Anyone can make this, even if you feel baking impaired!

For more great recipes, visit Carol for Saturday Stirrings.



CUPPA, CUPPA, CUPPA!
From "Steel Magnolias"

That’s a cuppa sugar, a cuppa flour and a cuppa fruit cocktail
with the juice. Mix it together and bake at 350 degrees until
gold and bubbly!

This is something that's easy.....very delicious with ice cream!

Strawberry Pizza

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 2 minutes
Bake: about 10 minutes
Yield: 24 cookies



1 package ready-to-bake sugar cookies
1/4 cup strawberry jelly
12 Tbs light strawberry cream cheese
6 large strawberries, chopped


1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies as directed and let cool for at least 10 minutes.


2. While cookies are baking, heat jelly in a small pot over low heat until liquefied, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.


3. Spread each cookie with 1/2 Tbs cream cheese, and top with chopped strawberries. Brush melted jelly on top. (Garnish with a mint sprig, if you'd like.)


Per serving: 144 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated), 155 mg sodium, 13 mg cholesterol

(As seen in Parenting magazine, September 2007)

Four Foods on Friday - Chocolate

Four Foods on Friday is hosted by Val at Fun, Crafts, and Recipes. This week's theme for FFoF is “chocolate”. Mmmm. I LOVE chocolate!

#1. What’s your favorite beverage containing chocolate or chocolate flavoring? ~ Pink Chocolate, it's a white hot chocolate with raspberry flavored syrup. Yumm-eee.

#2. What’s your favorite chocolate bar? OR Share a pic of your favorite candy, chocolate or otherwise. ~ I love any dark chocolate candy bar. One of my current faves is Snickers Dark Chocolate.

#3. What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten that had chocolate in it? ~ Chocolate covered jalepeno. Not a favorite of mine, but it was definitely interesting!

#4. Share a recipe using chocolate.

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins, from Hungry Girl

(1 Muffin, or 3 minis - 181 calories, 3.5g fat, 37g carbs, 2g, fiber, 2g protein - 4 WW points)
This super-simple 2-ingredient recipe is a Weight Watchers Fave! This is seriously good too! (You can do this with any cake mix too.)

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 can solid pack pumpkin (15 oz.)

Directions:Mix the two ingredients together. Don't add anything else that may be mentioned on the box, such as eggs, oil, or water. The mixture will be very thick and you will be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. DO NOT DO THIS AS IT WILL RUIN EVERYTHING! Place batter into muffin tins (or mini muffin tins) lined with paper, or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 12 regular or 36 mini muffins

Ladybug Cake

I'm starting to gather ideas for Ladybug's first birthday cake. Found this on Betty Crocker.

Ladybug Cake

Delight your little ones with this cute-as-a-bug cake. All you need are cake, frosting and a few cookies and candies.

Prep Time:35 min
Start to Finish:2 hr 15 min
Makes:8 servings

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow or white cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1 container Betty Crocker® Whipped fluffy white frosting
2 chocolate wafer cookies
1 large red gumdrop
Red and black shoestring licorice
Red sugar
Large black gumdrops

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease or spray bottoms only of 1 1/2-quart round casserole or heatproof bowl and bottom only of 8x4-inch loaf pan.
2.Make cake batter as directed on cake mix box. Pour half of the batter into casserole; pour remaining batter into loaf pan.
3.Bake 38 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of casserole and loaf pan to loosen cakes; remove from casserole and pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Wrap and freeze loaf cake for another use.
4.Place cake, rounded side up, on serving plate. Frost with frosting. Make face on side of cake, using cookies for eyes, red gumdrop slice for nose, red shoestring licorice for mouth and black shoestring licorice for eyebrows and antennae. Sprinkle red sugar over cake to within 2 inches from curved edge of face. Place black gumdrop slices on cake for spots. Store loosely covered.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Follow High Altitude directions on cake mix box for making batter.

Nutrition Information
1 Serving: Calories 610 (Calories from Fat 230); Total Fat 25g (Saturated Fat 7g, Trans Fat 4g); Cholesterol 80mg; Sodium 510mg; Total Carbohydrate 91g (Dietary Fiber 0g, Sugars 60g); Protein 4g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 2%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 10%; Iron 8% Exchanges: 1 Starch; 5 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 5 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 6 *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Coffee Cake

This is the BEST coffee cake EVER! I used the butter recipe yellow cake mix. I could have eaten the whole thing! Fortunately, I wrapped up half of it to put in the freezer.

For more Saturday Stirrings recipes, visit It Coulda' Been Worse. DeeDee is taking the day off due to bad mock-amole. DeeDee, I'm so sorry that the "best" Mexican restaurant in your area is Chili's. We've got some serious good Mexican eateries here, if you're in the mood for a road trip!

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix (plus ingredients on back of box)

2 Sticks cold salted butter

2 1/4 Cups flour

1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon

1 ¾ Cups sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla

Powdered sugar (for dusting)

PREHEAT oven to 350.

PREPARE cake mixe in large bowl according to directions on box. Spray 9X13 pan with non-stick spray. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until center is just barely set.

WHILE cakes are baking, prepare crumb topping. In large bowl of electric mixer combine, butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla until all crumbly.

IMMEDIATELY after cake is removed from oven, break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, sprinkling over top. Put back in oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes (topping will begin to look a little less wet/raw). Let cool fully then dust with powdered sugar, using a sieve.

CUT into squares and serve.

Decadent Peanut Butter Pie

I found this recipe on Peace & Carrots. Thanks for sharing, Jeni!


Decadent Peanut Butter Pie

1 prepared chocolate cookie pie crust
1 cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese (at room temperature)
12 oz container Cool Whip
1 jar (11.75 oz) hot fudge topping

Combine in a medium bowl the peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar. Gently fold in 3 cups whipped topping. Spoon mixture into the pie shell. Using a spatula, smoth mixture to edges of pie. Reserve 2 tablespoons of hot fudge topping and place remaining hot fudge topping into microwave-safe bowl or glass measuring cup. Microwave for 1 minute, then stir.Spread hot fudge topping over pie to cover the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Just before serving, spread the remaining Cool Whip over the hot fudge layer, being careful not to mix the two layers. Place the reserved hot fudge in a small plastic bag and knead for a few seconds. Cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag and drizzle over pie. Do the same with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter going in the opposite direction of the hot fudge topping.

Pecan Pie Muffins

This a Paula Deen recipe, so if you're a fan, you'll have to call these Pee-can Pie Muffins. Where I grew up, we called them "peh-cawns." How do you say pecan?





For more great recipes, visit DeeDee at It Coulda' Been Worse, our host for Saturday Stirrings.





1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 8 muffin tin cups or use paper liners.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and mix well. Add the flour and stir until just combined. Stir in the pecans.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling about two-thirds full.

Bake for 25 minutes. Serve warm with more butter!

(from Paula Deen Celebrates)

HG's Swirls Gone Wild Cheesecake Brownies

from http://www.hungry-girl.com/
I think Hubby is getting these for Valentine's Day!



Ingredients:
One box Pillsbury Moist Supreme Reduced Sugar Cake Mix, Devil's Food
One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin
6 oz. fat-free cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1 tsp. Coffee-mate Fat Free or Sugar Free French Vanilla powdered creamer, dissolved in 2 tbsp. warm water
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix and pumpkin. Stir until completely blended (the mixture will remain very thick). Spread batter into a large baking pan (about 9" X 13") sprayed with nonstick spray, and set aside.

Combine softened cream cheese with Splenda, Coffee-mate mixture, and vanilla extract. Using a whisk, mix vigorously until completely blended, smooth and lump-free. Spoon cheesecake mixture over the brownie batter, and use a knife to swirl it in. (Don't worry if your swirl isn't perfect -- your brownies will taste delicious no matter what!) Place pan in the oven, and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Allow to cool, and then cut into 16 pieces. MAKES 16 SERVINGS


Serving Size: 1 brownie Calories: 133 Fat: 2g Sodium: 312mg Carbs: 29g Fiber: 1.5g Sugars: 8g Protein: 3g POINTS® value 3*

Grandma's Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup crisco
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 oz red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cup flour
Add at the end
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp soda

Cream together Crisco and sugar. Add eggs, food coloring, vanilla, cocoa and salt. When that is combined well, add buttermilk. Add flour, half at a time. In a small glass, combine vinegar and soda, then add to cake batter. Pour into 8 inch or 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes
Split and frost (I use the frosting recipe below, but cream cheese frosting works well too). Decorate with sugar sprinkles, or chopped pecans.

Frosting

5 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
Cook this until thickened then cool until cold
Put in mixer and beat in
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar (Not powdered)