Celebrating Josh’s MVP.  Treat # 1 – caramel topped with melted chocolate chips in an oreo brownie base

A hat trick of treats to celebrate Josh Allen’s mvp award.   These treats feature an oreo crust with pieces of brownie, topped with homemade caramel and topped with melted chocolate chips.  if you don’t have spare brownies around, you can leave them out.   The homemade caramel part may sound intimidating, but it is so easy.

  • Oreo crust ingredients
  • 30 oreos finely crushed
  • 4 or 5 brownies broken up into bits
  • 4 tbs butter, melted

Directions  – line a bread pan with tin foil.  In a bowl,  combine ingredients and press evenly in top of foil.  Freeze for 10 minutes

  • Caramel ingredients
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 8 tbs butter
  • 2 tbs heavy cream

In a pan over low-medium heat, combine sugar and butter, stirring constantly.   Bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and whisk in heavy cream.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  Then, pour over oreo brownie crust.  Top with melted chocolate.  Cut and store in covered container in fridge.

Thanks for stopping by today!   Hope you day is filled with peace, joy and happiness, and lots of love.

Black cocoa snowball cookies

I got a new container of black cocoa today and wanted to put some of it to use, so I made some black cocoa snowballs with mini chocolate chips.  Always good to heat up the oven on a very chilly day!

You can also use regular unsweetened baking cocoa or special dark cocoa if you want.

Remember to scoop your flour and cocoa from their containers into your measuring cups so you get the right amount.  Also, make sure your oven is preheated before baking.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups flour (scooped from your flour bag into your measuring cup)
  • 1/4 cup black cocoa
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs water
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add vanilla.  Blend in dry ingredients (this may take a while.  Dough will be crumbly).  Add water.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Scoop out 2 tbs of dough.  Chill.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.   Stagger doughs on sheet, like this.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.  Sprinkle hot cookies with powdered sugar.  the powdered sugar melts into the cookie and makes them even sweeter!

Cool completely.   Sprinkle with more powdered sugar.  Store in covered container.

Football friday #7 (and happy birthday Eric)

Today’s Friday football treats is a request from my coworker, Eric, who’s celebrating a birthday today.   They are a version of Little Debbie brownies, which I  loved as a child.  These even have rainbow chips on top (shout out to Price Rite for having them)

I made these amid a crazy game three of the ALCS between the Yankees and Guardians.  What a nutty last few innings – the Judge and Stanton home runs.  The Noel and Fry home runs.  Rob and I are Yankees fans (but he is more invested than me).  He was quite mad afterwards and broke into hot brownies (which I warned him against).  He mangled them, as you can see below.

Remember to scoop your flour and baking cocoa from your containers into measuring cups so you get the right amount.  Also, preheat your oven for 20 minutes so it cycles to the right temp.  If you don’t have milk chocolate chips, you can use all semisweet for the ganache.

  • Brownies ingredients list
  • 2 1/2 sticks of butter, melted
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed into measuring cup
  • 1 3/4 cups unsweetened baking cocoa
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 yolks
  • 2 tbs corn syrup
  • 1 1/3 cups flour
  • 2 tbs cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degre3s.  Line a 9×13 cake pan with parchment paper and spray with baking spray.  In a bowl, mix butter, sugar, brown sugar, and baking cocoa.  Add eggs, one at a time,  yolks, corn syrup and vanilla.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Mixture will be very thick.  Evenly spread into pan.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes (until toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs).  Cool completely.

  • Ganache ingredients
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions – in one microwave safe bowl, heat chips for 1 minutes.  In another microwave safe bowl, heat cream for one minute.  Combine cream and chips.  Stir smooth.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Spread on cooled brownies and sprinkle with rainbow chips or m&ms

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Wishing you a day filled with joy, peace and love.  Also remember to be kind!

Fudge covered peanut butter footballs NFL opening weekend 2024

I had some leftover fudge from the Magic Middles cookies I attempted to create.  Instead of baking it into another treat.  I made a batch of no bake homemade peanut butter cups and formed (or tried to form) them into footballs and topped them with fudge. 

These are simple and easy.   I put them in the fridge to firm them up so they don’t all blob together. 😀

  • Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 cups peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium size pot, over low to medium heat, combine butter, peanut butter and brown sugar.  Stir occasionally until everything is melted.  Remove from heat.  Add powdered sugar and stir smooth.  Let cool and little and form whatever shapes you want.  Top with melted chocolate or fudge.  Store in covered container in fridge.

Does oatmeal make these chocolate chip cookies healthy?

Confession – These are huge cookies because I got a late start and used my quarter cup scoop to make the baking process go faster.  I also didn’t have a chance to chill the dough.  So I cut them in half after they cooled down and brought them into work. 

Does oatmeal make them healthier? 😉

  • Ingredients list
  • 2 1/2 cups quick oats
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – in a bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Mix in vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla.   Fold in chips.  Scoop out quarter cups of dough.  I recommend chilling the dough for a few hours.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger cookies in a row of 2, one, two and one, as seen below.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes.  Bottoms will be browned.  Tops may be gushy, but let the cookies cool and pop them in the fridge to firm up. 

Store in covered container.  Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you have a wonderful day.  Remember to be kind.  Everyone is fighting some sort of battle.

Funfetti cookie sandwiches

I haven’t made funfetti cookies in quite a while, so I felt I was due to bake up a batch.  I baked them when it was a little humid, so they came out a little flatter than I preferred, so I made each one into a cookie sandwich.  I think next time, I may add a little more flour, perhaps 1/4 cup more.

I recommend scooping the flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  Also chill the individual mounds of dough for a few hours.  Preheat your ovent to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking so it cycles to the right temp.

  • Funfetti cookie ingredients
  • 1 cup of butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp almond extract (or you can omit this if you don’t have it)
  • 3 to 3 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tbs cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup sprinkles

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and extracts.  Blend in dry ingredients.   Fold in sprinkles.   Scoop out 2 tbs dough and form tall mounds.  Chill a few hours. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger cookies on sheet – alternating a row of 2, then a row of one.  These spread so leave some room.  Bake 10 to 11 minutes.  they will be a little gushy.  Cool completely.  you can also pop them in the fridge to firm them up a bit.

  • Filling ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter soft
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions- in a bowl cream butter and powdered sugar.  Add milk and vanilla. 

Assembly – cut each cookie in half.  Spread some filling between 2 halves.  Store in fridge for a few hours. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

NFL Draft Day 2024 cookies

To celebrate the start of the NFL draft tomorrow, I made chocolate chip cookies with some ground up chips ahoy mixed in and frosting some of them.  All of them are not frosted because I either make too much or too little frosting.   And tonight, I made too little.  I think the unfrosted ones will still be well-received.

 

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  I also chilled the individual dough overnight to try and keep the cookies from spreading too thin.  

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 1/2 cups butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 2 cups crushed chips ahoy
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Fold in ground chips ahoy.  Mix in chips.  scoop out 1/4 cups dough.   Chill, in covered container, overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger on cookie sheet.  Leave some room.  These do spread.  Bake 10 to 11 minutes (no longer).  Cool completely. 

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 6 tbs butter, melted
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • Heavy cream or milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions – in a bowl, combine butter and powdered sugar.  Add cream or milk, 1 tbs at a time, to get the consistency you want.  Stir in vanilla.  Frost cookies.  Store in covered container.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Go Bills!!!

Milk chocolate chip mini marshmallow bit cookies

I went a little out of the box with this treat – milk chocolate chip cookies with mini marshmallow bits.  I thought they would be easier to use and less messy than mini marshmallows.  And they were!

I used a combination of cocoa powder and hot cocoa mix, but you can leave out the cocoa mix if you want.

Remember to scoop your flour and cocoa from their respective containers so you get the correct amount.  If you pour directly into the measuring cup, it gets packed in, and you end up with too much flour and dry cookies.  Yuck!

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup crisco
  • 1 cup plus 2 tbs brown sugar
  • 1 cup plus 2 tbs sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 1/4 plus 2 tbs flour
  • 1/2 cup hot cocoa mix
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tbs unsweetened baking cocoa
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 1 cup mini marshmallow bits
  • 2 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions- in a bowl, cream butter, crisco, sugar and brown sugar.  Add eggs.  Mix in dry ingredients. Fold in chips and marshmallow bits.   Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough.  Chill and hour or two.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and stagger cookies.

Bake 10 to 13 minutes. Cool completely.  Store in covered container.

Thank so much for stopping by today.  Wishing you a day of peace, joy and love.  Remember to be kind. 

My team gave up 5 goals in the first period cookies

This has not been a good night for my Sabres.  In the blink of an eye, we were down 1-0.  I grab my coat so we can walk Gracie and bam!    We return from our walk, and it’s 3-0 Ottawa.   The Senators stretch their lead to 5 nothing after the first period.  What treat could possibly help one cope with such a debacle.  Super large triple chip cookies.   It is now 5-2 Ottawa. 

  • Ingredients list
  • 9 tbs crisco
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions- in a bowl, cream crisco,  sugar and brown sugar.  Blend in egg and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Mix in chips.  Divide dough into 8 even mounds.  Freeze a half hour.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners.  Stagger 4 cookie mounds.  Bake 14 minutes, no longer.  Cool completely.   Store in covered container.

Thank you for stopping by today.  Football season can NOT start soon enough. 

Peanut butter frosted Peanut butter bars

For part 2 of the first round of the men’s NCAA tournament and the opening day of the women’s tournament,  I present peanut butter bars with peanut butter frosting and topped with some mini m&ms.  

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  Also, preheat your oven for 20 minutes before baking so it cycles to the right temp.

  • Ingredients
  • 2/3 cup crisco
  • 3/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9×13 pan with tin foil and spray with baking spray.  In a bowl, cream crisco, brown sugar, peanut butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Evenly spread into prepared pan.  Bake 22 to 26 minutes ( no longer).  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 6 tbs  butter
  • 1/3 cup peanut butter
  • 1-2 tbs milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2m3 cups powdered sugar

Directions – in a microwave safe bowl, melt butter and peanut butter 45 seconds to 1 minutes.  Add milk and vanilla.  Blend in powdered sugar.  Add more milk if you want a thinner consistency.    Frost bars.  Cut and store in covered container.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I wish you a day of peace, happiness and love