This is one of our first really hot days, near 90 degrees. Gracie is not a huge fan of the heat. It wipes her out a bit so that she rests a little more. And with a nine months old lab puppy, that is never a bad thing. She has come a long way in the three months we have had here and continues to go through training. She works on that and I need to work on being more patient.never my strong point.

Today’s treat is a no bake one, and you can vary what you put in. I used the vanilla/chocolate Oreo combo.

, but you can use Graham crackers, Ritz crackers, any flavor of Oreos, nutter butters, etc. As long as you crush them up and get 2 cups worth, do whatever you want. I also used margarine this time. It doesn’t take as long to soften up and the bars are a little softer as well. And I used semisweet chocolate chips on top.

One note – my friend Helen’s mom, used Graham crackers for these bars and they were amazing. No one can make these like Mrs Cianciosi could.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups peanut butter
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups Oreo or Graham cracker, crushed (I used a food processor, but you can use a rolling pin).
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Mix butter and peanut butter. Fold in cookie crumbs. Slowly fold in powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Press into 8×8 pan for thick bars, 9×13 for thinner bars. Chill

Topping

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tbs shortening or butter

Melt chips and butter/shortenjng in 45 second increments until you can stir smooth. Pour on top of bars and spread. Chill.

Someone is wondering if I am going to share this pb treat.

You can cut bars before chocolate sets if you want, so topping does not break.

As you can see, I struggle cutting theough hardened chocolate 😃

Store in covered container in fridge.

I made some chocolate chip cookies the other day, when it was humid, I did not have a chance to refrigerate them long enough and they came out flat.

I am sure they tasted fine, but they did not look presentable. So I decided to make them into a truffle filling and put it between two chocolate cake layers and frost with chocolate buttercream frosting. You can use Oreos, nutter butters, nilla wafers or whatever kind of cookie you want. And you can leave the marshmallows out of the filling if you want as well.

Cake ingredients

• 1 chocolate cake mix
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 instant chocolate pudding mix

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Spray two round cake pans with baking spray
• Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, water, pudding mix, and Greek yogurt. Mix with a spoon until just combined
• Divide evenly between cake pans.
• Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center basically comes out clean.

Cookie truffle filling ingredients

• Cookies, 2 cups ground
• 1 stick butter,melted
• 6 large marshmallows (microwaved for 40 seconds in microwave safe bowl)

Directions – grind cookies fine in food processor.

Add butter and melted marshmallows.

Frosting ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbs vanilla

Directions

Cream butter. Mix in melted chocolate. Slowly, blend in powdered sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Blend in heavy cream. You can add more cream if you want a thinner frosting.

Place one cake, top side down, on cake plate

Spread filling on top

Place second cake round, flat side down, on top of filling.

Frost with buttercream

Sprinkle with extra truffle topping

Store in covered container.

I have an issue with frosting. With all my recipes, I end up with too much or too little frosting. (But I guess it is better to have too much than not enough). So I always feel the need to make a second treat to use up the frosting (which is never a bad thing). I usually do some sort of sandwich cookie, but this time, I optes for brownies. Flourless, dark chocolate brownies. Frosted with buttercream frosting and mini M&Ms.

Brownies ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions – preheat oven to 350. Spray and 8×8 square pan with baking spray. melt butter and chocolate chips in 45 second increments until you can stir mixture melted. Add remaining ingredients . Spread brownie batter into pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center basically comes out clean. Cool completely. Forst with frosting of your choice and sprinkle with candy of your choice.

Store in refrigerator.

I wanted to make my mother in law a cake for mother’s day, but when I asked her what she wanted, she said anything would be fine. So Rob, never at a loss for a treat suggestion, asked me to make a white cake with vanilla frosting and M&Ms. So I tweaked a white cake mix, made a buttercream frosting and sprinkles it with mini m&Ms. I have no decorating skills. It is the best I could do.

Cake ingredients

• 1 white cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 instant white chocolate pudding mix
• 1 1/4 cups water

Directions – preheat oven to 350. combine ingredients and mix well by hand. Spray 2 round cake pans with Pam. Divide batter evenly in each. Bake 20-25 minutes until you see light golden patches on top. Cool completely

Frosting

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tbs vanilla

Directions – cream butter and powdered sugar. Add milk and vanilla and beat well. You may need to add another tablespoon or two of milk to make this easier to frost the cake.

Assembly

• Place one cake round, flat side up, onto cake plate
• Frost with a thin layer of frosting
• Place second cake layer, flat side down on top of frosting
• Frost top and sides of cake
• Sprinkle with M&Ms

Store covered in covered container.

I decided to bake a smores cake because it is a summer treat and I am tired of cold weather and want it to be sunny and warm. I have also put out our patio furniture, hoping to hurry nice weather! So if it rains the next ten days, it is my fault! 😉

Cake ingredients

• Chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350. (325 if using non stick coated pans)
• Combine eggs, oil, buttermilk and Greek yogurt. Add cake mix and chocolate chips. Blend well.
• Spray two cake pans with baking spray
• Divide batter evenly into each (I used a one cup measuring cup to do so)
• Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center basically comes out clean
• Cool completely

Toasted marshmallows

• Place marshmallows on a tray lined with toin foil and sprayed with Pam. Broil on high for a few minutes. Set aside.

Chocolate buttercream ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups butter (softened)
• Heaping half cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbs Greek yogurt
• 3 cups powdered yogurt

Directions

• Beat butter 2 minutes
• Beat in cocoa, vanilla and Greek yogurt
• Slowly blend in powdered sugar, one cup at a time.

Assembly

• Place one cake layer, flat side down, on cake plate



• Spread a thin layer of buttercream on top



• Gently press down a few toasted marshmallows



• Place second cake layer, flat side down on top of buttercream/marshmallows



• Frost with remainder of frosting
• Gently press remaining toasted marshmallows on top.



• Store in covered container

Rob and I are going to see a middle school production of the “Lion King”. My goddaughter Lyndsey is working on the set design and we are looking forward to seeing her work. I never come empty handed to anything, so I am making two kinds of cookies – chocolate chip and chocolate cookies with Reese’s pieces and peanut butter chips. The chocolate ones are for Lyndsey, who loves peanut butter and the regular chocolate chip are for Sara, her sister and my other goddaughter, who hates peanut butter. So here are the Lyndsey cookies. Sara’s cookies are on another blog entry.

Ingredients

1 cup of butter, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup baking cocoa

3/4 cup cake flour (you can add 3/4 tbs cornstarch and 3/4 cup all purpose flour if you don’t have cake flour)

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tbs cornstarch

1 cup Reese’s pieces

1 cup peanut butter chips

Direction- cream sugar, brown sugar and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Fold in Reese’s and chips. Scoop into 1/4 cup dough. Chill. Preheat oven to 410 degrees. Line cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Stagger mounds of dough, eight to a sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool on sheet 5 minutes. Cool completely.

Store in covered container.

When I make cookies (or any treat for that matter), I say “the bigger the better.”. And these cookies are no exception! I use my ice cream scoop to scoop out 1/4 cup of cookie dough and then I chilled it. I find it much easier to scoop then chill, as opposed to chilling the dough and then trying to scoop it out. Also, then you can just plop the ready made cookie dough mounds on your sheet. These are for my goddaughter Sara (I made her sister Lyndsey, my other goddaughter peanut butter chip cookies and Sara hates peanut butter).

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened to room temp.

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups cake flour (or you can use 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour and 1 1/2 tbs cornstarch)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tbs cornstarch

3/4 tsp baking soda

2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. fold in dry ingredients. Stir in chips. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough. Chill. Preheat oven to 410 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Stagger cookies on sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Remove from sheet and cool completely.

Store in covered container.

Check out @FoodSided’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/FoodSided/status/978290595625095169?s=09

My husband, kiddingly reminded me I had not baked in 3 days, which is an incredibly long time for me. Our girl,Gracie has been keeping us busy and the time flies by. I am not sure how people with kids do it, or people with kids and pets! 😃

“Am I getting some of that peanut butter treat?”)

So today I went with a semi homemade treat. That’s what I call a treat when I use a mix.

Brownie cookie ingredients -1 brownie mix, 1 egg,1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup oil, 5 tbs water, 1/4 cup hot fudge (microwaved for 15 seconds)

Peanut butter filling ingredients – 1cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup butter, 4 tbs brown sugar, 1 cup powdered sugar, milk (optional).

PB filling ingredients – melt butter and peanut butter. Add brown sugar and powdered sugar. Add a tbs or two of milk if you think mixture is a little dry. Roll into balls. Put in fridge.

Brownie directions – preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Combine all cookie ingredients. Scoop out 1/4 cup of dough and stagger on lined cookie sheets. Bake 13-15 minutes. Immediately place a peanut butter ball on each cookie. Cool completely.

Topping ingredients – 1cup milk chocolate chips, 1 tbs shortening

Combine and microwave in 45 second increments until you can stir smooth. Pour on top of each cookie, using a spoon.

Store in covered container.

Hi again friends! I am loving my new life! And I love learning new commands bc every time I do, I get a treat! I have been working on “leave it” and “release” today. To be honest, I sometimes just grab things bc I know I will get an extra treat after I hear “release.” (Hee hee). Also Rob had to get me a new toy bc I may have ripped the arm off my other one. Ok,time for another nap now. ❤️