You won't believe this!

I am about to tell you about the best recipe I've had in a very long time. I had these bars at church this weekend and they are PHENOMENAL! I love Snickers candy bars and now I can make my own at home! They are time consuming and are probably better suited as a special treat, but I can't wait to make them! Enjoy!!

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CANDY BARS (Homemade Snickers)

2 teaspoons butter
1 cup milk chocolate chips
¼ cup butterscotch chips
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
FILLING:
¼ cup butter
1 cup sugar
¼ evaporated milk
1 ½ cups marshmallow crème
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup chopped salted peanuts
CARAMEL LAYER:
1 package (14 ounces) caramels
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
ICING:
1 cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate chips
¼ cup butterscotch chips
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
1. Line a 13in x 9in. pan with foil; butter the foil with 2 teaspoons butter and set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and peanut butter; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate until set.
2. For filling, in a small heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add sugar and milk; bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; boil and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in the marshmallow crème, peanut butter and vanilla. Add peanuts. Spread over first layer. Refrigerate until set.
3. For caramel layer, in a small heavy saucepan, combine the caramels and cream; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Cook and stir 4 minutes longer. Spread over the filling. Refrigerate until set.
4. For icing, in another saucepan, combine chips and peanut utter; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Pour over the caramel layer. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. Remover from the refrigerator 20 minutes before cutting. Remove from pan and cut into 1 inch squares. Store in an airtight container.

Butterscotch Bonanza Bars

When you have a 10 year old boy asking you for a recipe because he liked it, you KNOW you have a winner, right?! That's just the case with this recipe. Within 2 hours, the entire pan was gone!

I love to read murder mysteries with recipes. Diane Mott Davidson is a good author and my other favorite is Joanne Fluke. This recipe comes from Joanne Fluke's book DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE MURDER. I have already baked two recipes and they're both pretty good. This one is my fave of the two. They are soooooo super easy to stir up and they are loved by the boys of the house! Enjoy!


Butterscotch Bonanza Bars

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, melt 1 stick of butter.

Stir in 2 cups light brown sugar until well mixed.

Sprinkle 2 tsp baking POWDER and 1 tsp salt over this and then stir until well mixed.

Add two beaten eggs. Stir well.

Stir in 1 tsp vanilla.

Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until you have added 1 1/2 cups.

Stir in 2 cups of (any combination) semi-sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips. white chocolate chips, or milk chocolate chips. ( I use 1 cup white and 1 cup SS)

Spread into a greased and floured 9x13 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cool completely before serving. Cut into 40 bars. (I don't usually get that many...I think I get about 30)

A Twist on regular Lemon Bars

This weekend, I was on a baking mission! I made brownies (from a mix), Very Berry Pie (recipe coming soon), and these lemon bars. I had some macadamia nuts in the freezer that I wanted to use up and Timmy LOVES lemon bars. The only thing missing was the lemon zest, but even without that, they were the BEST ones I've made yet! Enjoy!

Macadamia Lemon Bars

Crust:
1/2 cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
2 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup melted butter

Mix together dry ingredients, then stir in the butter and mix until evenly moist. Press into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Top with filling.

Filling:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp lemon extract (optional, but I added and could have used more)
1 1/2 tbsp lemon zest (use this, please, it'll really make a difference, but if you don't have it, I understand.)

Mix together dry ingredients, then stir in wet ingredients until light and fluffy. Pour into hot crust and bake another 15-20 minutes. Check it. You should be able to tell if it's set. Keep going at 1-2 minute intervals until it's set. Cool 5 minutes, then run a knife around the outside of the pan. Cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar before cutting into pieces. Serve cold.

Rhubarb Pie

Today I taught my good friend Kelly to make pie crust. Her's turned out amazing! We used it to make Rhubarb Pie from all recipes and it was AWESOME! I'll definitely make this recipe again! Enjoy!

Rhubarb Pie

4 cups fresh rhubarb
1 1/3 cups sugar
6 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
pie crust for a double crust

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 of this on top of the bottom pastry. Top with the rhubarb, then the rest of the flour/sugar mixture. Dot with the butter, then place the top crust. Bake at 450 for 15 min and then reduce heat to 350 and bake 40-45 min or until golden. Cool before serving.

(pie crust recipe to follow soon!)

M&M Bars

As promised, here are the M&M bars. These make a really nice, big pan so they are great for taking to a potluck...or bake sale. :) Enjoy!

M&M Bars

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup ap flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups quick cooking oats
14 oz pkg caramels (unwrapped)
3 tbsp water
1 cup mini chocolate chips*
1 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts as you prefer*
1 cup mini m&m's*

*I don't bother to measure, usually. I just pour them on til it looks good. :)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats. Press into 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the caramels and water. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with chips, nuts and m&m's. Gently press into the caramel and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Banana Bread Pudding

I've been making all kinds of yummy treats lately! This one is no exception. I was in the mood for some kind of banana pudding and THOUGHT that this is what a good friend of ours had made that I'd thought was so good....I was wrong, but it was good anyway! My hubby said I better watch out or my FIL will be here all the time since this is one of his favorite treats.

Banana Bread Pudding

Mix:
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

GRADUALLY add to:
2 1/2 cups scalded milk

Set aside.

In a 2 quart casserole, layer:
4 slices bread (I cubed mine)
3 mashed bananas
4 more slices bread
3 more mashed bananas

Pour custard over this. Set casserole dish in another larger dish of water and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until set. Enjoy!

**Tim said that I should have made a brandy sauce for over it and it'd have been perfect. Also, a double batch will fit in a 9x13 cake pan, but you'll need a rather large pan for the water bath to do that.

Lemon Bars

I know most of you already have and use a recipe for lemon bars, but they are another of Timmy's favorite treats. I'm just putting this here for safe keeping since I can't find the book with the recipe that I usually use I found this one online, modified it a TINY TINY bit and we loved it. Maybe I'll even make it again one day!

Lemon Bars

Crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter

Mix (I used a pastry blender) and press into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes until crust is a pretty golden color.

Filling:
While that's baking, mix:
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp lemon extract (opt, but I added and it was lovely)
Stir well.

Add in:
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp lemon zest (opt...I didn't have any so this was skipped)

When crust is done, pour this over it and return to the oven for 20 minutes. Cool and chill before sprinkling with powdered sugar and enjoy!

(We ate them still warm, but they were even better cold!)

Easter Dessert

For Easter this year, we went to church with my husband's grandparents who we are lucky enough to live near to! We attend their church every couple weeks and check in to see how they are and show off our boys. This year, none of their kids could be home on Easter and we weren't heading back to our other home, so we spent it with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great visit and shared lunch with them, also. I made a really yummy dessert that I've been meaning to share for quite a while. It can be made in a 9x13 pan (which I did) or you can layer it in a trifle bowl.

Lemon Pound Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup butter flavored shortening
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 1 cup milk
• Juice and zest of one lemon
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream, vanilla, lemon extract, lemon zest and juice. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream, vanilla and lemon extract. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

You will only need about half of the cake for the dessert.

Berry Squares

1 pkg. (12-oz.) pound cake, cut into 10 slices (Cut the lemon pound cake into squares, then slice them in half so they aren't as tall.)
3 Tbsp. orange juice
2 pt. fresh seasonal berries (I used raspberries, strawberries and blueberries)
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 C. milk
1 C. sour cream
1 t. vanilla extract
2 packages (4-serving size each) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 (8-oz.) tub Cool Whip, thawed

Arrange cake slices, cut side up, in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch serving dish. Drizzle orange juice over cake. Top with berries; sprinkle sugar over berries.

Pour milk into large bowl; whisk in sour cream, vanilla and dry pudding mixes, beating just until well blended and smooth. Gently stir in 1 cup of the Cool whip and blend. Spread over berries in pan. Top with remaining whipped topping. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Garnish with fresh berries before serving.

Serves 12 to 15.

Root Beer Cake with FUDGE Frosting

Helps with the diet, no? heee heee heee!

I got this cookbook from the library about a month ago. I'm LOVING it! I may have to look into purchasing it. (Where's the best place to get good deals on books?? I use amazon and half.com sometimes is there something better??) I made the granola from the book and now this super yummy cake. The cake is screaming, "BOW DOWN before my awesomeness." And then with a scoop of ice cream on the side? Heaven, I'm telling you!! And this has got to be the BEST frosting I've ever put on a chocolate cake....even Tim commented that it was really good frosting. With a little tweaking, this is a GREAT cake!! Enjoy!!

Root Beer Bundt Cake

Cake:
2 cups root beer (NOT diet!)
2 capfuls root beer concentrate
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups ap flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325*. Generously spray the insde of a 10" bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat root beer, butter, and cocoa powder over medium heat until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and stir in sugar until dissolved. Allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs just until beaten and then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture (it doesn't have to be all the way cooled, just enough that you aren't going to scramble the eggs when you add them). Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy, so be careful not to over beat or your cake will be tough.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Rotate the pan halfway through cooking. Transfer to a wire cooling rack until completely cool. Then loosen the edges and turn onto a cake platter.

Fudge Frosting

2 oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup root beer
1-2 capfulls root beer concentrate
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 powdered sugar

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth and shiny. Spread on cooled cake. Allow frosting to set before serving.

Serve slices with a scoop or two of ice cream for a really nice treat! It's like a root beer float...only better!

This cake is nice and moist, almost fudgy!

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

My mom makes fruit trifles. My Rugby LOVES them!! They are probably his favorite desserts. I am a sucker for peanut butter and chocolate. So, when I saw this post this week from another blog, I knew that I had to try it!! I mean does ANYTHING say I Love You better than that?? But, being me I couldn't leave well enough alone...lol! I used a baby cookie cutter (that Granny sent the kids for V-Day last year) to cut the brownies to heart shapes and used that. I also used neufchatel instead of regular cream cheese and I also use light cool whip.

Oh, and brownie mix was on sale this week, so I cheated and used that instead.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

Brownies
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup milk
16 ounces Cool Whip
4 peanut butter cups, chopped
chocolate syrup

Brownies:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Combine dry ingredients in large mixer bowl; stir. Add wet ingredients and stir well.
Spread into prepared baking pan. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Let cool completely.

Trifle:
Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add in peanut butter and milk. Combine. Fold in Cool Whip until combined.
Take half of the brownies out and crumble in large glass bowl, if you have one, or in a 13×9 pan. You can also divide up between tall parfait glasses as well. Add a layer of the peanut butter mixture. Take the other half of the brownies out and crumble on top of the peanut butter mixture. Put the last half of the peanut butter mixture on top. Drizzle chocolate syrup on top.
Add the chopped peanut butter cups on top. Refrigerate until serving time.
Enjoy!

Tim's Dessert

This fall, Tim was in LaCrosse helping some friends cut wood to heat their house. It's a tradition that the guys that hunt on their land come help wood in exchange for the hunting privileges. Tim doesn't hunt there, but he wanted to help anyway. One of the ladies that came over made a dessert that Tim fell in love with. He even asked for the recipe. AND THEN HE MADE IT!! And, he's made it more than once! That's rarely something I do. lol! It's easy and quick plus, you can change it up every time you make it depending on the flavor mood you are in.



Tim's Dessert

First layer:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts (we use pecans because I don't like walnuts)

Mix, then press into a 9x13 pan and bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.

Second layer:
8 oz cream cheese
2/3 cup powdered sugar
4 oz cool whip

Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Fold in the cool whip. When the crust is cool, spread this layer on that.

Third layer:
2 small or 1 large package instant pudding (see note below)
2 1/2 cups milk

Beat together and spread over cream cheese mixture.

Fourth layer:
4 oz cool whip
chopped nuts or other decoration

Spread over pudding and top with decoration.

**For the pudding, we really like lemon. Chocolate is kind of bland. Vanilla is good with a layer of jam spread over the pudding before topping with cool whip (we used Cherry Rhubarb jam I made this summer). Last night, Tim made it with chocolate pudding and stirred in some toffee bits, topped with a layer of vanilla pudding and then used toffee bits and nuts for decoration. We've also made this with Oreo Cookies n' Cream pudding and topped with chopped oreos. YUM!! The lady that made this in LaX told Tim that pistachio isn't good with this recipe. Oh, we also made with white chocolate pudding and a layer of butterscotch pudding over that and it was pretty good, too.

So, you can see it's easy to transform this recipe however you'd like! Enjoy!

Double Berry Pie and Gelato

Last week, we made Lemon Gelato. It was so yummy and totally worth the effort it took to cook, then the time to freeze in the ice cream freezer and more time freezing in the freezer. Then last night Tim came home with black raspberries and red raspberries from the Farmer's Market. He asked me to make "something" with them, so I made pie! I found a recipe that didn't call for jello or gelatin....really, why hide the flavor of the fresh berries behind artificial flavorings? So, here's the recipes, they were BOTH SO GOOD!

Double Berry Pie

4-6 cups fresh berries (I used 1/2 red and 1/2 black raspberries)
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 white and 1/2 turbinado)
7 1/2 tsp cornstarch
dash of salt
1-9" pastry shell, baked (To bake, put your crust in the pie plate, flute the edges pretty, then line the bottom with a double thickness of tin foil and bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes until edges are light brown and pretty)

In a saucepan, crush 1 cup of the berries. Add the water and simmer for 3 minutes. Strain, reserving the juice; discard pulp and seeds. Add enough water to the reserved juice to make 1 cup of liquid. Return to saucepan. In a seperate bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly stir into raspberry juice and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Place remaining berries in cooled pie shell; pour glaze over top and spread lightly to coat the top of the berries. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until set.


Lemon Gelato

1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks, beaten
3 tbsp grated lemon peel
3/4 cup lemon juice (fresh if you can)
2 cups heavy cream

In a small, heavy saucepan, heat milk to175*, stir in sugar until dissolved. Whisk a small amount of the hot milk/sugar mixture into the eggs. Slowly whisk egg into hot milk/sugar mixture. Whisk in lemon peel. Cook and stir constantly over low heat until mixture reaches at least 160* and coats the back of a metal spoon.

Remove from heat; strain. Stir in lemon juice. Cool quickly by placing pan in a bowl f ice water; stir for 2 minutes. Stir in cream. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer 2/3's full; freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a freezer container (we use our old ice cream pails); freeze 2-4 hours before serving.

Chocolate Chip RHUBARB Cake

My dear hubby is a rhubarb addict. And I get bored with the same old thing all the time. So, poor guy has to try new things as often as I make the "old" things. Today was one of those days where I didn't want to make another crunch, so we made cake instead. Riley and I made Chocolate Chip Rhubarb Cake from The Joy of Rhubarb cookbook that Tim got me at Christmas. It's beautiful going into the oven and the batter tastes good, so when it gets out I'll update you on the taste. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Rhubarb Cake

cake:
1 1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 c a/p flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
1 3/4 c fresh rhubarb, chopped (I used 2 cups)
1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans because that's what I had)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Cake: Beat brown sugar and shortening in a mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In another bowl, mix flour, soda, and salt; beat into creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Stir in rhubarb and chocolate chips. Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

Topping: Mix all topping ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold. Refrigerate leftovers.

Before baking:

Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie

Also by request from It's A Boys Life For Me:

Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie

CRUST:
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. milk
1 1/2 c. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat together the oil and milk. Pour into the flour, sugar, and salt. Blend together and pat into 9 inch pie shell, with fingers, push up the sides. Pierce bottom and sides with fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool.

FILLING:

1/2 pkg. (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice
6 c. raspberries (about 1 1/2 quarts) (DO NOT use frozen, it doesn't turn out well!)
2/3 c. sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. water

Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon juice. Spread on bottom of cooled pie shell.

Mash enough berries to measure 2/3 cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2 quart saucepan. Gradually stir in water and mashed berries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Cool in refrigerator about 15 to 20 minutes. Fill pie shell with remaining berries. Reserve about 1/2 cup berries for garnish. Pour cooked berry mixture over top. Garnish with few more berries. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

***I thought this could have used more cream cheese mixture. It tasted good, but that and the runny-ness because of using frozen berries brought it down a bit. Enjoy!

Margie's Modified Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

By request from It's A Boys Life For Me, I bring you:

Margie's Modified Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

1-9" pie crust, baked (I made a graham cracker one since I had the stuff handy, but an oreo crust would be awesome!!)
3 beaten egg yolks
1 pinch salt
2 1/2 cups milk
3/4-1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4-1/3 cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, salt, and milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly just until warm.

In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, and cocoa. Mix well. Gradually whisk into milk mixture. Continue to stir, over low heat, until thickened (took me about 1/2 hour). Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla and peanut butter and stir until smooth. Pour into your baked shell and chill before serving. I topped with cool whip and some chocolate curls. YUM!