Peanut Butter and Jelly Dessert Bars

2  1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 jar of grape jam
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Brush a 9-inch square baking pan with butter, room temp.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. With a pastry cutter or your hands, work in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few pea-sized pieces of butter remaining.

Add egg, lightly beaten, and vanilla; stir until dough just comes together.

Set aside 1 cup of dough and firmly press remaining dough into pan in an even layer. Spread jelly over top.

Combine reserved dough and peanut butter chips; crumble over jam layer.

Bake until topping is deep golden brown, 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Run a sharp knife around edges then, using parchment, lift cake from pan and cut into squares.

Sorry for the Absence

The past few months have been incredibly chaotic but I am going to be trying to work on more things here. Starting with a very unique tiramisu this weekend!

Can't wait to get back to work here. =)

Nutella Stuffed French Toast

What you'll need:

1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 slices white bread
1 table spoon Nutella
butter

How to do it:

• In a pie dish, whisk together milk, vanilla and egg. 
• Place one slice of bread into the egg wash, allowing it to soak in for 20 seconds. Flip over and allow the other side to soak for the same length of time.

• On the stove top, in a skillet over medium heat, drop in a pat of butter. Once melted by the heat, drop in the first slice of soaked bread. Allow to cook until the underside is golden brown. Flip and allow the other side to cook to the same doneness. 

• Once you flip the first piece of bread in the skillet, place second into the egg wash to soak, turning 20 seconds afterward, just like the first time.
• After the first slice of French toast has been made, place it on a plate to cool for about 1 minute while the second slice is cooking in the skillet. Once cooled for that amount of time, spread a thin layer of Nutella over the exact middle of the bread.

• When the second slice is done, immediately drop it onto the first piece, sandwiching the Nutella between them.

Enjoy!

Apple Pie Pound Cake

You may have noticed how my Tumblr's URL is taking up the top right hand corner of the above photo. Usually, I will just put photos on here without credits or straight from Flickr. Not this time. I had a very frustrating morning involving Flickr's privacy policy. Seems people have been able to share my photos though my settings were, clearly, on a function that is supposed to make that impossible. Needless to say, I will be tagging my photos from now on with my Tumblr account name.

On to something else!

This past week has been a very stressful one for me and, to be quite honest, I am glad it's over. A little baking helped a bit but not as much as I would have hoped. This is what I came up with; apple pie pound cake!

What you'll need:

• A box of pound cake mix plus half a stick of butter, 2/3 cup water and 2 eggs
• One can of apple pie filling
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Whipped cream, the kind of your choice
• Caramel sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Grease a square loaf pan and set aside. 
2. Mix together the pound cake, butter, water and eggs. Pour batter into the pan. Bake for 55 minutes.
3. Allow the cake to cool then flip it out onto to a wire rack or large serving plate.
4. Pour can of apple pie filling, sugar and cinnamon into a pan. Heat on stove until just warm. 
5. Cut cake slice and pile it with whipped cream, topping it with apple pie filling, whipped cream and caramel.

Enjoy!

Brownie Dessert Pizza

Brownie Pizza

 You'll need:

1 box of brownie mix (your choice)

1 tub of cheesecake filling OR your favorite homemade recipe, enough for one cheesecake

half bag of chocolate chips

chocolate sauce

caramel sauce

green food coloring

pink food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a traditional pizza pan, set aside.
2. Mix brownies according to the directions on the box. Spoon all the mix onto the pizza pan, spreading to the edges. Bake for 25-28 minutes.
3. In the meantime, split the cheesecake filling in half, placing mixture in separate bowls. Dye one half pink, the other green. This will NOT affect the taste at all. Place back into the fridge once they've been dyed.
4. Once brownie is done, leave it to cool for about an hour. Do not remove from pan.
5. After it's cool, spread a layer of pink cheesecake filling over the top of the brownie, repeating with the green layer on top. Do NOT mix the colors together. Immediately cover with chocolate chips and as much chocolate and caramel syrup as you like. Pop back into the fridge until you're ready to serve.

There are many variations you can play with as well!

• The Elvis: Substitute peanut butter for half the cheesecake filling, layering it onto the brownie before the cheesecake, topping the cheesecake with bananas and chocolate sauce.
• Candy Bar: Fore go dyeing the cheesecake, simply layering it all onto the brownie and topping with crushed toffee bars, Snickers, M&M's and chocolate sauce.
• Strawberry Heaven: Dye the whole cheesecake filling pink, topping with fresh strawberries and a light drizzle of both chocolate and caramel.

Hawaiian Punch Cupcakes

(Hawaiian Punch Cupcakes)

Things you'll need:

1 box of white (not vanilla) cake mix

1 can of vanilla frosting

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups Hawaiian Punch

pink food coloring (to dye frosting)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake tin with paper liners or, if you are not using them, grease each of the cups in the tin. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, oil and Hawaiian Punch. 
3. Divide batter among the cups in the cupcake tin and bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the very middle cupcake comes out clean.
4. Dye the frosting the shade of pink you think works best for you and, once cool (it'll take at least 14 minutes for them to), frost.

Makes: 36 regular sized cupcakes

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Vanilla Chocolate Chip Filling

This is the first of many, many entries to come and it's so incredibly easy! It took me less than an hour to make them all. Believe it or not, it doesn't require many ingredients either so...let's get started.

What you'll need for the cookies:

1 box of chocolate cake mix (your choice)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of vegetable oil

What you'll need for the filling:

1 can of vanilla frosting
half a bag of chocolate chips (your choice of brand)


Directions:

1). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine your cake mix, eggs and vegetable oil. The dough will be quite thick so, even if you are tempted to "thin it out a bit" with water, don't. This is what it should look like when it's done:

2). Measure out rounded spoonfuls of the dough and place them on a cookie sheet, 9 to a sheet.

3). Using either the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass, press the dough balls flat.

4). Bake for 11 minutes and remove them to a wire rack to cool. It won't take them only to cool at all, just about 4 or 5 minutes. Once they are, you can pile them up on a plate.

5). When all the cookies are done, you can go ahead and start your filling. Just empty a container of vanilla frosting into a medium bowl and fold in half a bag of chocolate chips.

6). Once all the cookies are cool, sandwich the filling between two cookies and pile them up in a large bowl or cake stand to serve them.

Enjoy!