Lemonade Pie!

I know this sounds like a summertime treat - and it surely can be - it is however, tasty, any time of the year and it is super simple to make!  It's a great pie for today because I am in a hurry.  I am getting ready to go to Mexico in a few days so I went tanning and have been packing and very soon I need to go to work.  Please refer to an earlier blog posting of mine for my simple, flaky pie crust recipe.  Here is the Filling recipe for today:

Lemondade Pie
1 6 oz. can lemonade concetrate, frozen
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz. tub Cool Whip

Stir these 3 things together until well mixed.  Pour into a cooled, baked pie shell.
Refrigerate!

Craving - WAFFLES :)

I have a part-time job at Herberger's working evenings and weekends.  So as not to interrupt my stay-at-home day job.  Anywhoo - we have been selling lots of waffle irons lately and as I worked all weekend long it got me really craving waffles.  So this morning, I got up and did something about it - I made them!  I also need to whip up a lemondade pie later today.   Hopefully, I will have a chance to post that too.  But for now, here is the waffle recipe:

Never-Fail Waffles
2 eggs
1 c. milk ( I used skim)
1 1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. canola oil
dash of vanilla

Preheat your waffle iron.  Mix your ingredients together (if you are in a hurry to eat, like I was).  And cook according to your iron.   IF, you have time and are more patient than I was this morning, you can seperate your eggs, and whip your egg whites and fold them in at the end before you cook the batter!

PB Pretzel Bites :)

I found this recipe on "Blog is the New Black", I thought, well, I love Peanut butter, I love pretzels, so hello this looks like a winner.  It is a quick recipe to whip up and most of you probably have the ingredients in your cupboards now!  This makes a fairly small batch so if you want more for holiday entertaining or for sharing, you may want to double or even triple this one.  IAs you can see from the supporting pic, I have taste tested and they are YUM!  So, without further ado:

PB Pretzel Bites:
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. + 1 tbsp. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. butter, softened
1 c. pretzels, crushed
5 oz. chocolate (the recipe called for milk chocolate) I used white chocolate this time!

Stir together all the ingredients.  Scoop into little balls, or roll them, Chill for 30 minutes or until firm.  Melt chocolate and dip them in.  Let set!

Oreo Truffles :)

These are my sons favorite holiday time treat.  I made them 2 years ago and they quickly turned into his favorite.  I know that lots of other food bloggers out there have made them too and posted the recipe.  Here is the one I use.  Cold out today, here in Minnesota, even though we still have only had flurries.  Its supposed to warm up for the weekend, which will be nice.  I am not complaining, one bit!

OREO TRUFFLES
 1 pkg. Oreo cookies ( I only use Oreo, they are the best tasting!)
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 pkg. Almond bark coating

In a large mixing bowl combine the cookies (crushed) and the cream cheese.  Beat with a mixer until well blended.  Scoop into balls with a cookie scoop (use the size you want).   Refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until firm.  Dip into melted almond bark.  Let set.  These keep great in the freezer!

Also, made Cocoa Gingerbread Cutouts!

I said I have been busy in the kitchen.  I also whipped up a batch of these.  Tomorrow, both my husband and I are planning to bring trays of cookies/goodies (that I have whipped up) to our work places.  So I wanted to get a few more things done to add some variety, and I have to work tonight so had to get it done today.  This recipe was given to me last year by my oldest daughter, Jessica, she found it online at Food.com, we both fell in love with them.  I had forgotten I had the recipe and then today I was going through my binder of recipes I have clipped from magazines or printed off the internet and I came across it, I am so glad I did, because I do love these!  (p.S. I doubled the recipe found on the website to the following)

Cocoa Gingerbread Cutouts
1/2 c. butter, softened
4 tbsp. Crisco shortening
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. molasses
2 eggs
3 c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

I preheated the oven to 350 (instead of 400). 
Cream together your butter, shortening, brown sugar and molasses.  Add in eggs and beat until light and fluffy.  Add in your dry ingredients and mix well.  Regrigerate to chill dough until firm.  Roll out into 1/4" thickness on a floured surface.  Cut out with cookie cutters.  I then sprinkle with colored sugars! Bake 8-10 minutes until firm.

Give them a try - you won't be disappointed!

Almond Roca :)

I have been busy in the kitchen today.  First of all, I have cheesy potato soup in the crock pot.  (If you are interested in that recipe, look back in my blog history for it!).  Then I made a batch of Almond Roca, I got the recipe from "Recipe Girl", you can find her blog on Facebook.  This is chilling in the fridge as we speak, so I took a pic of it still in the pan  :)  Only four ingredients, so get cracking!

ALMOND ROCA
1 1/2 c. chopped toasted almonds, divided
1 c. light brown sugar (packed)
1 c. butter
4 Hershey bars

Butter a 9 x 6 baking pan.  Sprinkle 1 c. of the almonds on the bottom of the pan.  In a saucepan, combine your brown sugar and butter.  Bring this to a gentle boil and boil for 12 minutes stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and pour over the almonds into the pan.  Unwrap your hershey bars and place on top of the hot mixture.  Let melt and then spread carefully.  Sprinkle the remaining almonds on top.  Let cool.  Either on the counter, in the fridge or in the freezer.  Cut into the pan with a sharp knife and break into pieces.  YUM!

Spritz cookies :)

Last night my daughter Heather and I made Spritz cookies, she loves to "sprinkle" them and I do the rest - ha.  We also dipped pretzel rods and made the haystacks I have already posted the recipe for.  Then when we were done we left the dishes to be done today and turned on the Christmas lights and she watched, "Love Actually" with me, I love that movie!  It was a fun night  :)

SPRITZ COOKIES
1 1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
3 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder

Mix all together and get out your spritz gun!  If you wish, you can add some food coloring to part or all of your dough  :)
Enjoy - they are tasty!

HAYSTACKS :)

These happen to be my husband's favorite Christmas time treat, they are so simple to make I should make them for often for him, but I always wait until Christmas.  I am in a mode here so hoping to get more done tonight so I am going to keep this short.  Two things:  1.  No snow yet where I live, which makes me HAPPY. and 2.  In 13 days I will be in Mexico for Christmas  :)  Happy baking and treat making to you!

HAYSTACKS
1 12 oz. bag Nestle Butterscotch chips
1 12 oz. bag Nestle Milk Chocolate chips (you can use semi-sweet if you wish!)
1 12 oz. package of Chow mein noodles

Melt your chips together.  Stir in the noodles and drop onto wax paper to let set!

Crock Pot Candy - my altered version...

I have often seen a recipe and pictures of "Crock Pot" candy.  I clicked on it today, out of curiosity and decided it sounded good and easy to try.  Of course, I can't ever seem to make a recipe exactly according to the recipe so here is what I did - they did turn out tasty but certainly the chocolate is not as dark as it could be (or is in the recipe I altered).

Crock Pot Treats
2 1/2 c. peanuts, almonds and cashews
4 oz. peanut butter chips
4 oz. chocolate chips
4 oz. white chocolate chips
1 8 oz. german chocolate baking bar
1 1/2 pkg. white almond bark candy coating

Layer all of these, in this order, in your crockpot.  Put the lid on, turn on low.  3 hours later.  Turn off heat, stir and scoop into paper cups or onto waxed paper.  Let harden.  Eat!

Question now - is what to try next?  Any suggestions out there?  I am pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new treats/cookies, etc.
I do need to get some choc. chip cookies whipped up as I have promised some people some of those for tomorrow :)
Then next on my list - my gingerbread cookies  :)