Bacon, egg and cheese croissant ring

Brace yourselves...this is going to knock your socks off.  Croissants, scrambled eggs, melted cheese and BACON!  What could be better?

We have several steps to get through, but I promise it's worth it.

First, preheat your oven to 350.

Next scramble 6 eggs in a bowl and cook them in a frying pan.  I let them a little under cooked since they will continue to cook in the oven.

Then, you want to get your croissants out of the tube and arrange them in a little starburst pattern like this.

 Now, take your scrambled eggs and spoon them around the circle made by your croissant starburst.

After you have done this, add shredded cheese of your choice on top of the scrambled eggs.

I forgot to take a picture of this step; but in this family it's the most important.....add BACON!  I used bacon bits (or as the comedian, Jim Gaffigan, says...the fairy dust of food).  After you add the bacon, fold the croissant points in to form a ring.

Now it's time to put it in the oven.  Let it bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until your croissants are golden brown.  Again, I was not fast enough with the camera.  As soon as I took it out of the oven, my family jumped on it and began to devour it.  I was lucky to get a picture of at least part of it.  Next time, I must remember to make 2.  

Not your average peanut butter cookie

I might have mentioned earlier that I have a bit of an addiction to peanut butter.  When I came across this recipe, I thought it was too good to be true.  It was not.  The cookies are soft but have a crunch on the outside.  Mine were a hair too dry so I will have to make a minor adjustment, but it did not keep me from eating some.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

List of ingredients:
1 boxed cake mix - yellow
1/2 cup oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs

That's it!  I literally just threw everything into the bowl and started mixing.  Once it began to get to get stiff, I abandoned my fork and finished mixing with my hands.  It will form a ball...

Once you get the batter all mixed up, form small balls and place on a cookie sheet.  I sprayed my cookie sheet very lightly with non-stick spray.  The batter is thick, so it did not run.

After I had all the little dough balls on the cookie tray, I flattened them out a bit.  Again, I just used my hands to do this.  

Put the cookie tray in the oven and bake for about 6-8 minutes.  You may need to play with this.  My oven runs a bit hot.  When the cookies begin to brown around the edges, remove them from the oven.  Use a clean fork to make the criss-cross pattern and then onto the cooling rack.

If you can wait until the cool...do that.  Otherwise, pop one in your mouth and enjoy!

Banana Bread Brownie/Cake

Oh my how time flies!  It has been a long time since I've posted anything here.  I saw a recipe similar to this on Pinterest.  I made it this morning, and it is delicious!

But WAIT!  Is this bread, brownies or cake?  Yes, yes and yes.

Here's what you will need.  Make sure you get everything together before you start!

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

                                                     1 tsp. baking soda

                                                 3/4 tsp. salt

                                                   1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

                                                     Frosting:

                                                   1/2 c. butter

                                                   4 c. powdered sugar

                                                 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

                                                   3 tbsp. milk

Step 1:  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 2:  Grease and flour (or just use Baker's Joy like I did) a 15 x 10 jelly roll pan or a 13 x 9 pan (I did the 13 x 9 because my guys like thicker brownies).  

Step 3:  Peel bananas, break into pieces in a bowl.  Add 2 tsp vanilla extract.  Mash banana and vanilla together.

Step 4:  In a large bowl, combine sugar, sour cream, butter and eggs until creamy.  Add the banana mixture from step #3 and mix.  Now, add the flour, baking soda, salt and mix for 1 minute.  

Step 5:  This is optional.  My guys are allergic to walnuts, so I left those out.  However, if you are a fan, stir them in the batter.

Step 6:  Spread the batter evenly into the pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  If you are using a smaller pan for thicker "brownies" add about 10 minutes.

Step 7:  Make the glaze/frosting:  In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Bring this to a boil and continue until the butter has turned slightly brown.  Remove from heat.  Now add the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.  Whisk together until smooth.  The consistency should be thinner than buttercream but thicker than a ganache or glaze.  You want to time this step to coordinate warm glaze/frosting with warm brownies.  Spread the glaze over the brownies while they are still warm.

Step 8:  If you can, wait until they cool and EAT!

I'm too old for cravings!!

So..the other day I was having a really bad chocolate/peanut butter craving.  No...I'm not pregnant.  Too old for that!  Anyway, I thought I would die if I didn't get something to take care of my craving, so I baked a chocolate cake and then frosted it with peanut butter frosting.  For the middle layer, I made the peanut butter frosting really like, almost like peanut butter fudge thick, and then chopped up mini peanut butter candy.

For the cake itself, I wanted to be quick so I used a regular box mix.  However, whenever I use a box cake mix, I beef it up a little bit.  I add 1 additional egg and substitute mild for the water called for on the box.  

I like to use round pans instead of a 9 x 13 pan for some reason.  I guess it makes me feel a little more like a professional.  

Here is a picture of the final project.  Craving satisfied.

Happy Birthday, little monkey!

My grandson turned 1 year old a few weeks ago.  My daughter asked me to make cupcakes for the guests and a smash cake for him.  Since before this boy was born, they have been collecting monkey items for him. It seemed fitting to carry this through the birthday cake.

Bear in mind, I am not a professional.  I am learning as I go.  I am also not an artist.  This was my first attempt at making a fondant animal.  It didn't turn out too bad..if I must say so myself.  It's amazing that you can type into youtube.com "how to make a fondant monkey" and get a video with step by step instructions!!

Here's the cake.  My grandson became more interested in eating the fondant dots instead of smashing the cake.  His mommy had to grab a piece for him, and then he was more interested in EATING the cake than he was smashing the rest.

Easter bark...and flowers

This past Easter, I was looking for something different to do other than the typical Easter nest cupcakes.  I saw a picture of the Easter bark and thought "that's something I have time to do, am able to do, might look nice, tough if it doesn't"  Here is a picture of the final result...

It's relatively simple to do.  Get a sheet pan, cookie sheet, etc. and put in a layer of wax paper.  Melt different colors of the Wilton chocolate wafers.  Once color at a time, spoon little puddles of chocolate over the sheet pan.  After each color, shake the pan from side to side or smack it on the counter to get rid of the bubbles and start to blend the colors.  Once you have all your colors spooned onto the sheet pan and get it smacked into submission, take a toothpick and drag it through the colors.  

Once I had the effect I wanted, I thought "well go me...I did it.  Now what?"  I made some cupcakes and frosted them with green frosting (grass) and then used a small cookie cutter to cut out little flower shapes.  I then put the flowers in the middle of the green frosting to look like flowers in the grass.

I thought they turned out darn near adorable...

Snickerdoodle cupcakes

Snicker Doodles aren’t just cookies anymore!!

As much of a peanut butter addict as I am (see below for whole story), my husband and son are cinnamon addicts.  I found this recipe on Pinterest.  I decided to make these cupcakes last Saturday.  They did not last more than 2 hours in my house!  My husband told me I could make these often if I wanted.  

Cinnamon is not my favorite, but I tried one of these cupcakes anyway.  Oh my…it was good.  Considering you put cinnamon in the cupcake batter, brush the still warm cupcake with melted butter and dunk it into sugar and cinnamon and THEN put cinnamon in the frosting..I thought it would be cinnamon overkill.  However, it was quite the contrary.  The cake was moist and the flavor subtle.  

I guess I’m going to have to put this in the regular rotation….only I might just have to double the recipe so they last the day!