Scotcheroos aka O'Henry Bars

I can only make these a couple of times a year because I can seriously eat the whole pan, that's how delicious and addicting they are! They are sweet, chewy, butterscotchy, peanut buttery, chocolatey squares of heaven. I've heard these called Scotcheroos or O'Henry bars. This particular recipe came from my sister in law Emma (Thanks Em!)


Scotcheroos

1 c. peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. light corn syrup
1 pkg. milk chocolate chips
1 pkg. butterscotch chips
6 c. rice krispies

Combine sugar and corn syrup in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add peanut butter. Stir until smooth. Add rice krispies. Lightly press into a buttered 9X13" pan.
For topping:
Combine milk chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat on high for 20 seconds at a time until melted, stir until completely smooth. (You can also do this with a double broiler)
Pour topping over bars and let sit for a couple of hours until topping has set up. Cut into bars and serve. Store covered on counter, do not refrigerate.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Bars

This is my favorite blondie brownie recipe. I like to use half semi sweet half peanut butter chips, but any kind of chip or nut would be good in these. I would recommend letting them cool, cutting them, and then storing in an airtight container. They are definitely the best the same day you make them, but will last 2 or 3 days in a container.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Bars
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

*Makes a 9X13-inch pan of bars

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/8 cups (10 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/2 (3 1/2 ounces) cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips (use your preference of semisweet, bittersweet, milk, white, peanut butter…the options are endless!)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Adjust the oven rack to lower-middle position. Line a 9X13-inch baking pan with foil, letting the excess hang over the edges of the pan by about 1 inch so you can grab those edges and pull the brownies from the pan after they have baked. Spray the foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside. Whisk the melted butter and sugars in a large bowl until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips and turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula.

Bake until the top of the bars is light golden brown, slightly firm to the touch, and edges start pulling away from sides of pan, 24-28 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Remove the bars from the pan by lifting the foil overhang and transfer them to a cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

This pudding is so creamy and chocolatey, I love it! It was fairly easy to make, it just needs to chill for at least 4 or 5 hours before serving. I topped mine with real whipped cream (not coolwhip!) and strawberries, it was delicious!

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

Makes about 4 cups of pudding

1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
3 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tbs. cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 3/4 c. whole milk
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 c. milk chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in milk and cream until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Once the mixture is at a simmer, reduce heat to medium low and cook, whisking CONSTANTLY, until the mixture is thickened and large bubbles pop at the surface, about two to three minutes. Take the pot off of the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour immediately into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap right onto the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate the pudding for at least 4 or 5 hours, but up to three days.

from melskitchencafe.com

Whoopie Pies

These are amazingly good! There are so many different filling variations you can dream up! I tried strawberry and a german chocolate frosting (coconut and pecan) with plain chocolate frosting, they were both delicious but my favorite would have to be the german chocolate/chocolate combo. You MUST refrigerate these for at least four hours, overnight is better. When freshly baked they are not near as good as when they've sat in the refrigerator overnight with the filling inside. Yum, Yum!

Whoopie Pies

2 c. all purpose flour
2/3 c. DUTCH PROCESSED cocoa powder (I used Droste, I would not recommend regular unsweetened cocoa powder)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup plus 2 Tbs buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
9 Tbs butter, softened
1 c. packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 c. mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl; set aside.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in bowl at medium high speed about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add egg, beating until combined. Reduce speed to low and alternately add flour and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape down sides of bowl occasionally. Stir in chocolate chips.

I used the small Pampered Chef cookie scoop for these, if you don't have it, drop the dough by Tablespoon onto parchment covered baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until tops are cracked and center is done. Remove to paper towels to cool. Fill with your choice of filling, wrap individually in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. Serve cold. Makes approximately 18 whoopie pies.

Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love these cookies because the oatmeal makes them so chewy! And with oatmeal and walnuts in them, they qualify as health food, right? RIGHT?!

Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter, softened
1 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 3/4 c. quick oats
3/4 c. chopped walnuts
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325.
In large beat beat butter and sugar together for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs one a time, add vanilla.
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Stir in quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips.
Bake for approx. 12 minutes.

Sundae Brownies

This is a great dessert to make when you have company over and who doesn't like chocolate and fruit together? Just a couple tips for this recipe, cut the brownies into squares BEFORE you put the fruit on. That way you won't have to cut through the fruit and it won't look like a mess! Drizzle the chocolate syrup over just before serving, otherwise it kind of melts and spreads and doesn't look as nice.

Sundae Brownies

1 brownie mix (13X9 pan size)
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/2 c. sugar
Sliced strawberries and bananas
Chocolate syrup

Prepare and bake brownie mix according to directions, let cool completely. Beat together cream cheese and sugar, stir in pineapple. Spread over brownie going all of the way to the edge. Cut into squares. Place bananas and strawberries all over cream cheese layer. Serve on small plates and drizzle chocolate syrup over.

Chocolate Cream Cheese and Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I will now refer you to my earlier post last August titled Fabulous Fudge Cupcakes. I would highly encourage making that recipe with these frostings, it's to die for! Just a warning the cupcakes will come out flat, I like them that way, they are fudgey. If you would prefer a lighter and more rounded cupcake, add 1/2 c. flour to the recipe. Now for the frostings, they are delicious! If you like cream cheese frosting and chocolate you will love this recipe. I like my frosting sweet, but if you prefer more of a dark chocolate taste, only add 1/2 c. powdered sugar instead of 2 cups. The peanut butter and chocolate combo is one of my favorites, they look a little lumpy because I ran out of smooth peanut butter and had to use crunchy!

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz. package cream cheese
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 c. milk

In a double broiler melt chips and heavy cream, stir until smooth, remove from heat
In a mixing bowl cream together cream cheese and sugar until smooth, slowly add the chocolate mixture. Add the milk until you reach the right consistency, beating just until smooth.



Peanut Butter Frosting

1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. creamy peanut butter
5 Tbs. butter, softened
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/3 c. heavy whipping cream

In bowl combine the sugar, peanut butter, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the whipping cream and beat on high speed until light and smooth.

Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Brownies

The name alone is enough to make me salivate....
Just imagine pure bliss and that's the feeling you'll get when you taste these little pieces of heaven! The brownie and the marshmallow together are amazing, and you think, can this get any better? And then you bite into the peanut butter chips, wow.


Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Brownies

1 box brownie mix (I always use the Betty Crocker regular fudge brownies)
2/3 c. vegetable or canola oil
1/4 c. water
1 egg
1 regular sized jar marshmallow cream
3/4 c. Reeses peanut butter chips
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease a 13X9 pan.
Beat together brownie mix, oil, water, and egg. Pour about 2/3 of batter into 13X9 pan, spread and bake for 10 minutes.
Combine marshmallow cream, peanut butter chips, and milk. Pour over brownie bottom leaving about 1 inch space all around the sides.
Drop by spoonfulls the remaining brownie batter.
Bake for approximately 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool and serve, delicious!

Fantasy Fudge

I love this recipe because it turns out great every time and it's pretty easy to make. I like adding pecans or walnuts to it.

3 c. sugar
3/4 c. margarine (not butter!)
5 oz. evaporated milk
1 pkg. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 7 oz. jar marshmallow cream
3/4 c. chopped nuts
1 tsp vanilla

Line an 8X8 pan with aluminum foil and grease, set aside.
Place chocolate and marshmallow cream in a large bowl, set aside.
In large sauce pan combine sugar, margarine, and milk. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat (not medium high, or high, just medium). Immediately turn your timer on for four minutes. Place your candy thermometer in the pan and cook until 234 degrees or for 4 minutes, whichever comes first. Immediately remove from heat and pour over marshmallow and chocolate. Stir until thoroughly combined. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour into pan and place in refrigerator until hardened, cut into 1" squares and serve!

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

This is a fun variation from the traditional cheese ball and crackers! Every time I make this, I always get requests for the recipe. I love bringing it to parties. It tastes like cookie dough, and then you use Nilla wafer crackers and chocolate or honey graham cracker sticks to dip with, Yum!

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

8 oz. cream cheese, must be softened!

1/2 c. butter, must be softened!

1/2 tsp vanilla (if using real vanilla I would only use 1/4 tsp)

1 1/4 c. powdered sugar

3 Tbs. brown sugar

1 bag mini chocolate chips (must be the mini size, regular do not work for this)

1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Cookies or sweet crackers to dip with

In medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add sugars; beat just until combined. Stir in 3/4 c. chocolate chips and 1/2 c. chopped nuts. Place on large piece of plastic wrap and form into a ball, wrap up and refrigerate for at least two hours so it can harden up a little bit. Just before serving, roll cheese ball in the remaining mini chocolate chips.

Halloween Treat Ideas/Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Happy Halloween everyone! I thought I would put on a couple of the cute Halloween treats I made this year. I love these cupcakes, I think the little skeletons are so cute! I used a small round frosting tip to pipe on the body and black decorating gel for the face.
The little ghosts are super easy to make, I'm sure everyone has seen these before. These are just Nutter Butter cookies dipped in white chocolate (or white candy making bark, or homemade icing is what I used here) with little chocolate chips for the eyes. I'm going to give you my chocolate frosting recipe that I used on the cupcakes. This is so yummy on my Fabulous Fudge Chocolate Cake recipe I posted in August, it is to die for! :)

Chocolate Frosting

4 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. baking cocoa
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/3 c. boiling water
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together sugar and cocoa. Slowly beat in butter, water, and vanilla. Frost immediately!

No Bake Cookies

Hey everyone! I know these look like little piles of poo, but they're actually cookies! And yummy ones too. So for those of you who have known me since middle school (Mara!) you know that I used to make these all of the time. Every Sunday in fact, and my mom would get so mad when I would use all of the oatmeal! My four year old loves helping me with these.

No Bake Cookies

1/2 c. butter, sliced
1/2 c. milk
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking cocoa
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c. Quick oatmeal

Place butter in medium saucepan on medium heat, when melted add in milk and stir. Add sugar and baking cocoa, whisk together and turn heat up to high. Let come to a rolling boil and turn the timer on for 1 minute (very important it only boils one minute!) Continue stirring. When minute is up remove from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla, stir until smooth. Stir in oatmeal. Let sit 2 minutes to let the oatmeal soak up some liquid, then drop by spoonfulls onto wax, or tin foil lined plates. Place in freezer or refrigerator until hard and cool, about 1/2 hour. Makes about 24 cookies.

Fabulous Fudge Chocolate Cupcakes

So I'm finally putting cupcakes on my blog! Yay! This is what I named my blog after. This recipe is awesome! I found it on allrecipes.com. It is a dense, chewy, chocolatey cake recipe. I try to get away with making this at every family birthday party (except for my husband's, he likes yellow cake, whatever Ben!) My mom loves German chocolate cake, so I used this recipe and just made a homemade german chocolate cake frosting with coconut to go on top. This time I made my son these cupcakes for his "Pirate" Birthday party. Once you make this, you won't want to make another boxed chocolate cake mix!
This recipe will make 36 cupcakes, or 1 13X9 cake.

Fabulous Fudge Chocolate Cupcakes

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz. semi sweet baking chocolate
3/4 c. chocolate chips
1 c. sour cream
1 c. boiling water


Preheat oven to 350.
Place baking chocolate in a plastic bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, return to microwave for additional 30 seconds, stir. Add chocolate chips and stir. Microwave for additional 20 seconds and stir until chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Set aside.
In large bowl beat butter and sugar for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beat in vanilla and melted chocolate. Add 1/2 the sour cream, beat, and then add 1/2 flour mixture. Repeat with remaining sour cream and flour mixture. Stir in boiling water.
Pour in greased or lined muffin tins, or greased cake pan.
For cupcakes bake approximately 15 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE, that is the worst thing you can do to a cake recipe! Makes about 36 cupcakes.
For 13X9 cake, bake approximately 25-30 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. You can add anything you want to it, I've done Reese's Peanut Butter chips and chocolate chips, white chocolate and milk chocolate chips, coconut and chocolate chunks. Try anything you want! The cookies turn out even better if you refrigerate the dough so it's firm and cold. That way the cookies turn out crispy on the edges and soft and chewy in the middle.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/4 c. brown sugar
1 1/4 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbs. vanilla
3 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 pkg chocolate chips, or anything else you want to put in!
1/3 c. finely chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350. Beat butter until smooth. Add sugars and beat for 3 minutes until light in color. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until combined. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until dough forms. Add in chocolate chips and walnuts, stir until well incorporated. You can now bake for 10-13 minutes, or you can put the dough in the refrigerator overnight and bake the next day. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Eclair Icebox Dessert

This dessert is so good! Perfect for serving in the summer because it is nice and cool.


Chocolate Eclair Icebox Dessert

1 box graham crackers
3 c. milk
2 3.4oz pkg vanilla instant pudding
1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
1 8 oz. container Cool Whip
1/4 c. milk
2 Tbs. butter, softened
2 Tbs. honey
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese until smooth, add milk and vanilla pudding, beat until thick. Fold in Cool Whip. In separate bowl beat 1/4 c. milk, butter, honey, and chocolate together, gradually add add the powdered sugar, beat until smooth.
Arrange one layer of graham crackers onto bottom of a 13X9 pan. Pour half of pudding mixture over top of grahams and smooth out with a spatula. Top with another layer of graham crackers and pudding and top off with another layer of graham crackers. Pour chocolate mixture over top and spread to edges of the pan. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Brownie Fudge Cookies

I haven't made these yet, but they look SOOOO good! This recipe is from the King Arthur Flour Company website, the link for it is under "My Favorite Cooking Websites" to the right. If you love to bake, you should check it out. They have every different kind of flour you can imagine, and lots of cool baking supplies. I can't wait to try out this recipe.

Fudge Drops

8 oz. semi sweet chocolate

3 Tbs. butter

1 c. sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 c. chocolate chips, optional

In a double broiler, or microwave, melt the butter and the semi sweet chocolate together. If using the microwave, to avoid over cooking the chocolate and ruining it, cook just until butter is melted, remove from microwave, and stir until chocolate is smooth. (I can't tell you how many times I have overcooked chocolate in the microwave!)

In seperate bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Add the melted chocolate and stir in the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate the batter type dough for one hour to make it easier to handle.

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease or line with parchment your baking sheet. Using a tablespoon size scoop, scoop dough onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 11-12 minutes, you want the tops to be shiny and cracked. They won't crack until they are done. If they are crispy rather than chewy, you've baked them too long. Remove from oven and place a Hershey's kiss on top if desired. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes and remove to rack.

Makes 2 dozen