Nanaimo Bars

On Canada Day, I was wanting to make a festive treat for my family to have. But I didn't want to go crazy with white and red - I wanted it to be festive and a little patriotic without screaming Canada :). Nanaimo Bars are named after a city on Vancouver Island in British Columbia called Nanaimo! They are one of my favorite treats and they are so fun to bake!

Nanaimo bars are composed of 3 layers - the bottom is a mixture of chocolate, coconut and graham crackers, the middle layer is a custard then the top layer is made from melted chocolate -so good!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies [updated]

About a year ago, I shared a chocolate chip cookie recipe that at the time was my favorite. I had spent months (maybe years!) trying out different chocolate chip cookie recipes and that one was my favorite. So I used it over and over again and eventually it just stopped being great - the cookies would burn badly around the edges or spread out to be really thin. The recipe was just so inconsistent for me! It might still work for you & I had several great successes with those cookies but I decided to switch!

I decided to try the recipe that comes with the bag of Toll House chocolate chips. Mainly because in the movie ELF, Buddy says "Then, we'll eat a whole roll of Toll House cookie dough!" Well, I totally get why Buddy wants to eat a whole roll of Toll House cookie dough because these cookies were perfection! I will be sticking with this recipe from here on out!

Candy Bouquets

In my Friday Favorites last week, I mentioned that I was working on a fun treat to give the Bean after her dance recital. Well, it as it turned out, The Bean got a candy bouquet but so did her three dance teachers and her favorite dance friend!

This idea came to be as I did not want to give her the typical flowers after her recital, but I wanted to get her something! And I wanted it to be something good and memorable. Well, this girl loves candy, so what better to give than candy!? I did a little Pinterest research then I put my own twist on these fun candy bouquets!

Easter Bunny Cake

My Gammie turned 81 on Easter Sunday! My family celebrated her birthday on Friday evening with a delicious butternut squash & Fontina cheese lasagna, some Italian sausages, my favorite apple & walnut salad (recipe HERE!) and a fun cake!

Technically, there is nothing new about what I'm sharing today - I've shared the cake before (recipe HERE) and the chocolate icing before (recipe HERE), and I used store bought fondant. So, I won't be sharing a new recipe today but more so a concept, and I'll talk about how I made my cake making process.

Most of my cakes start out with a drawing. I had so many ideas about this cake - pastel colored icing for Easter, flowers, bunnies on top of the cake, bunnies on the side of the cake, a banner on top of the cake... I have never made a cake for Easter before so I was full of new ideas and Pinterest was filling my brain with so much more! I ended up deciding on icing the cake to look like a tree trunk, having a little bunny bum made of fondant sticking out the bottom of the cake, some little pieces of green fondant to look like grass along the side of the cake, and a little flag banner on top supported with 2 paper straws.

Easter Morning

Every year, my family has the most amazing Easter egg hunt! Even though we're older my parents make sure to treat us BIG time with fun Easter traditions! Here is what our hunt looks like:

We get a series of clues that lead us to different locations around our house. This is how our hunt went this year:

Orange & Dark Chocolate Cookies

I made these last week to give to some of my favorite teachers at the end of the semester and I got rave reviews! I usually prefer to use recipes that I know and trust when I'm feeding others, but these looked so delicious, I just couldn't resist! I got the recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction - you can find it HERE.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat 3/4 cup of softened butter with a handheld electric mixer until it is smooth.

Then, beat in 2/3 cup of brown sugar until the mixture is fluffy.

Pancakes & Pajamas Party - The Food

The Bean's birthday was last Saturday and it was the biggest success! Yesterday, I talked all about the games and today and talking all about the food! We did a pancake bar for the girls and had some french silk pie instead of cake - it was all a hit! Let's start with the pancake bar!

I made my favorite pancakes. You can find the recipe HERE. The link to the recipe is actually for blueberry pancakes, but if you want plain pancakes like these, just leave out the blueberries. The pancakes without the blueberries are just as delicious. 

Sending love (& cupcakes)

A family member recently had cancer related surgery. My family has gotten updates every so often and after the most recent update, we knew we wanted to send love in a big way! In the past, when supporting a loved one from a distance, we've looked up bakeries/flower shops close to them. That works great but it can get a little pricey. This time we thought we would try baking at home and express mailing it. I volunteered to make the cupcakes and my dad took care of all the packaging and mailing details.

Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

One of my favorite ladies celebrated a birthday last week and I made cupcakes to celebrate! I have a chocolate cupcake recipe that I love, but I don't have a white cake recipe that I can rely on every time! This recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction and it's good, but it's sweet! I'm going to try reducing the sugar in it, but until then do any of you have a white/yellow cake recipe that you love? I would love any recommendations!

I frosted these cupcakes with my go-to chocolate frosting, you can find that recipe HERE. I baked the cupcakes in pink wrappers and topped them with pink sprinkles, but you could use whatever decorating scheme you like on these!

St-Patrick's Day Cupcakes

My family went to a St-Patrick's day party on Saturday evening so I'll be talking about some recipes and crafts from that party this week. Today, I'm talking about the cupcakes I made. Tomorrow, I'll share the shirts I made and on Thursday, I'm sharing a recipe that the Bean found for the Party! She made Cheeseburger Balls and they were fabulous!!

I made my all time favorite chocolate cake recipe, and frosted them with my favorite buttercream frosting - this is my go-to for cupcakes! It's easy and it tastes good every time! I stick to the same recipe but I dress it up differently depending on the event or holiday! I made some green sprinkles to top these cupcakes with!

I made the sprinkles by putting 1/4 cup of granulated sugar in a ziplock bag and adding in 5 drops of green food coloring. I am not a fan of dying food, so I always try to minimize amounts of dye. However, if you want to add more food coloring for a darker green, go for it! Work the color into the sugar until it is evenly distributed - I did this by sealing the bag and shaking it around.

French Silk Pie

I made French Silk pie on Sunday and I had forgotten how delicious it is! I had also forgotten how easy it is! It's the perfect blend of a crunchy/nutty crust with a light mousse filling - yes ma'am!! The recipe is an old one from my family's recipe book but it's a good one!!

Start by making the crust. combine 1/2 cup of melted butter and 1/4 cup of brown sugar in a small mixing bowl.

Mix in 1 cup of all-purpose flour.

Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've seen recipes for pretzel bookies before on Pinterest, but I've always been skeptical. Why would I add pretzels to a perfectly good chocolate chip cookie? Well, I have since discovered why... because they are perfection! They are the best blend of sweet and salty - they're delicious! The recipe is from Chocolate, Chocolate and More Chocolate, you can find it HERE.

Before we get started, I should mention that I did a horrible job of taking pictures as I was making these. I posted a couple of Instagram stories as I was baking these and I think my mind can only focus on one form of media at once. So pictures will be low in this post, but I will do my best to explain everything!

Start by combining 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt in a medium mixing bowl.

Homemade Granola Bars

I made these granola bars on Saturday evening and I have had one every day since as a snack because they are so good! I found the recipe from a cute blog called Bless This Mess and you can see it HERE.

Start by spreading 2 1/2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats and 1/2 cup of roughly chopped nuts of your choice out over a baking sheet. Two notes - I used gluten free oats because my mama is Gluten Free and the recipe worked great! And I used sliced almonds, but you could use any kind of nut you like! Bake the oats and the nuts for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and transfer them to a medium mixing bowl.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Happy February! I made these cupcakes this past weekend and they were scrumptious! They were a little long a complicated to put together but the end result was so worth it! I started by making my favorite chocolate cupcakes and when the cupcakes were cooled, I cored them and filled them with eggless cookie dough. Then, I iced the cupcakes with my favorite buttercream frosting recipe and stuck a mini chocolate chip cookie in the top.

A couple of things before I start...
1. My mom helped me make these - so there was a lot going on in the kitchen at once and I wasn't able to take pictures of every little step like I usually do. I have some general pictures, but I will do my best to explain how everything came together.
2. The 4 different components of this recipe - the chocolate cake, the eggless cookie dough, the buttercream frosting and the mini chocolate chip cookies come from recipes that I got in four different places. So, before I talk bout each part, I will link to where you can find the original recipe (if applicable 😃).

Start by making 1 recipe of my favorite chocolate cupcakes - you can find the recipe HERE. One recipe makes 24 cupcakes. When the cupcakes are bakes leave them out to cool completely while you make everything else...

Saltine Toffee

This Saltine Toffee could not be easier to throw together and you only really need four ingredients! I found the recipe on Dessert for Two & you can find the original recipe HERE.

Start by covering a baking sheet with tinfoil.

Cover the baking sheet with saltine crackers, with the salt side down. The original recipe recommends using a baking sheet that fits 6x4 crackers, mine fit 5x8 crackers and it worked out fine - I do suggest staying within that cracker range though!

Reese's Pieces Cake Pops

These cake pops turned out so cute & so yummy, but I have to say, I have a love-hate relationship with making cake pops. I'll expand a little more later, but if you have any advice for me, I would love to hear it! If you have any cake pop making knowledge, please leave me a comment!! Here is how I made these Reese's Pieces Cake Pops:

Start by whipping up some peanut butter frosting by combining 2 tablespoons of butter with 1/4 cup of peanut butter using an electric mixer.

Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party 2016

My family had our Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party this past Saturday and we had so much fun! Here is how we host this party...

First, we ask everyone to come for 6:30 in their favorite Christmas jammies. The picture above is the Bean and I in our matching pajamas. We ordered these pajama bottoms from The Company Store last August and we paired the bottoms with a Pajama top that we got a couple of years ago. I highly recommend The Company Store for Family Pajamas! They are very reasonably priced, especially if you order them off season. You can find their selection of PJs HERE!

Hershey Kiss Snowball Cookies

These cookies remind me of Christmases when I was little. I used to help my mom unwrap all of the Hershey kisses and roll them into the middle of each cookie! These might just be my all time favorite Christmas cookie and I highly recommend trying them!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

These cupcakes are chocolate perfection! I have shared the recipe for the cupcakes before, so what I'm really sharing today is the frosting! You can find the recipe for the cupcakes HERE! This recipe makes A LOT of icing - it definitely makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes and I always have a little left over.

Peanut Butter Brownies

This is the first recipe I ever made by myself. This is the recipe that sparked my love for baking. I made these over the weekend because we were hosting some friends for dinner, and I was surprised to find that they are EASY! I remember making these as an 11-12 year old and struggling with melting the chocolate without burning it, getting the icing to a good consistency, drizzling the chocolate over the tops... Well much has changed since then, and hopefully I can provide some helpful tips that will make these easy for you too!

First of all, this recipe is from a Canadian Living magazine which was released in December 2007! I didn't remember that this recipe was from a Christmas magazine, but maybe that's why I love it so much! Second, I served these hours after they were prepared (they were still a little warm) and I was underwhelmed. They were good, but I couldn't remember why I loved them SO much. Fast forward 24 hours after they had been refrigerated over night & they were even better!! I recommend serving these chilled!

Start by melting 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 4 oz of unsweetened chocolate, 1/3 cup of butter and 1/3 cup of peanut butter at room temperature in a medium saucepan. I melt these ingredients over pretty low heat - the heat on my stove top is measured from 1-10 and I melted this on a 3. It takes a bit of time but cooking at a lower heat reduces the chance of burning. I also recommend stirring this the whole time it's on the stove, keeping the ingredients moving will also reduce the risk of burning.

Once the chocolate/butter/peanut butter mixture is smooth transfer it from the saucepan to a medium sized mixing bowl and leave it to cool for about 10 minutes.

Whisk in 2 cups of white sugar. *Note: the magazine suggested whisking, but I actually found this to not be the best option because the batter gets thick and ends up piling inside the whisk. I think the sugar could be mixed in with a spatula or wooden spoon just as well as a whisk!

Next, mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 4 eggs 1 2/3 cups of all purpose flour and a pinch of salt.

Line a 9x13" baking dish with parchment paper... I do this for less mess, but you could grease your dish instead. Pour the batter into the dish and spread it out using a spatula.

Bake the brownies for 350°F for 25-30 minutes. 

For the icing, whip together 1/3 cup of softened butter, 1/4 cup of peanut butter, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, 2 cups of icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk with an electric mixer.

Once the brownies are out of the oven, let them cool for about a half hour before spreading the icing over them. Spread the peanut butter frosting over the top of the brownies. Melt 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a small dish to drizzle over the top of the brownies. I make this pattern over the tops of my brownies by drizzling horizontal lines of chocolate and dragging a knife vertically through the lines in different directions. However, when I was just starting out, I would drizzle the chocolate in any which way!

Cut the brownies and store them in a sealed container in the fridge until you are ready to serve!

PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES
ingredients
for the brownies...
1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup peanut butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
for the topping...
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Melt the semi-sweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, butter and peanut butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Once smooth, take the chocolate mixture off the heat, transfer it to a medium mixing bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
2. Stir sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour and salt into chocolate mixture until well combined.
3. Line a 9x13'' baking dish with parchment or grease it and pour the batter into the baking dish. Use a spatula to even out the batter around the baking dish.
4. Bake the brownies for 350°F for 25-30 minutes.
5. For the icing, whip softened butter, peanut butter, vanilla, icing sugar and milk together using an electric mixer.
6. Once the brownies are cooled, spread the peanut butter icing over the top and drizzle melted chocolate over the top of the peanut butter icing.

Enjoy!
Kenzie