Mini Brownie Treats

Continuing my experiments with my Taste of Home Easy Weeknight Dinners, I explored the dessert section to find inspiration for my birthday treat. Because I have more students this year than I have ever had before, I needed something small but delicious. These Mini Brownie Treats (pg. 306) are adorable and use very few ingredients. Another plus for these gems is that I didn't have to worry about trying to cut a pan of brownies evenly for 42 students!

The finished product cooling in the tin. 

The brownie bites use a brownie box mix. I added mini chocolate chips to the batter to add a little bit extra. 

My finished product with the book picture. 

I am a big fan of Hershey's hugs, so this was a great opportunity to get to sneak a couple as I baked. 


These were incredibly easy to make (Honestly, the most difficult part of the process was unwrapping all the hugs.), and my students loved them. 

BBQ Meat Loaf Minis

Last November, a friend and I went to a Taste of Home Cooking School event in Manawa, Wisconsin. I have been wanting to attend one of these for a while, so I was very excited to be able to go! I told myself that I wasn't going to buy any cookbooks at the event because I have so many the way it is... but this is me, and I should have known better. I ended up purchasing Taste of Home Easy Weeknight Dinners. I made a couple recipes during last school year, but I didn't use it as often as I could have. 

This school year, I resolved to bring more leftovers for lunch instead of cold sandwiches all the time. So I'm thinking I will make one or two recipes from Easy Weeknight Dinners each week, and I can then have lunch for the week. 

This week, I decided to try a recipe that is already portioned out -- BBQ Meat Loaf Minis (page 7). I am a huge fan of meat loaf and I was very intrigued by the use of barbecue sauce and cheese! The recipe basically has 4 ingredients: stuffing mix, ground meat, barbecue sauce and cheese. Water is added. I used Cornbread stuffing and honey barbecue sauce. 

The cheese isn't supposed to go in with the rest of the ingredients, but I couldn't resist adding more cheesy flavor to the mix. The meat loaf is baked in a muffin tin. At first it didn't seem like the amount of beef mixture was going to be enough for 12 "muffins," but the recipe made exactly 12 mini meat loafs.  I was pleased with the end result compared to the picture from the book. My mini loaves probably could have used more cheese on top to look more like the picture! I loved the barbecue flavor added to the beef mixture. The stuffing flavor was a little overpowering in the finished product. If I make this again, which I probably will put barbecue sauce in my meatloaf whether I use this exact recipe again or not, I will probably use more meat and add some extra spice. 

Dump Salad

You know how you're not supposed to show up at a party empty handed? Well, what happens if you have a last minute invitation and are in a pinch to make something? The solution? DUMP SALAD! I'm pretty sure this was the first thing I was able to make by myself. It is so good, especially when it is cold, and there are only four ingredients! Therefore, when I needed a sample demonstration for my 5th and 6th graders, I fell back on this gem! One of my students did the photography. 

All you need is cottage cheese, whipped topping, crushed pineapple, and Jello (any flavor will do... my favorite is Strawberry. My students decided they wanted to try grape, orange and blue raspberry.) 

draining the pineapple

The first thing you need to do is drain the pineapple juice into a cup. Go ahead and drink, chill, or toss the juice. After you drain the pineapple, you literally DUMP all the ingredients into a bowl. (You have no idea how difficult it was for my students to not bust a gut every time I said 'dump!' Naturally, I said it as often as I could!) 

Dumping the Cottage Cheese 

Dumping the Pineapple

 And then you stir. (I actually stirred the salad after I added each ingredient.) I don't suppose the order of ingredients matters, but I like to start with the whipped topping, followed by the cottage cheese. I stir these two together really well. Then I add the pineapple and give it another stir. 

Finally, I add the dry Jello mix. I had a picture of this step, but my students felt it looked morbid... so I decided not to use it. Don't let that stop you from enjoying this end product! :) 

Dump Salad
Ingredients:
Cottage Cheese (8 oz) 
Whipped topping
Crushed pineapple
Jello Mix (the smallest size, any flavor) 

Directions: 
Dump all ingredients into a bowl and stir. 

***It tastes best when it has been chilled. 
***You can try substituting mandarin oranges for the crushed pineapple. 

Cookies and Cream Rice Krispies

My 8th graders earned a class treat. Since there are only four of them, I needed to find something to make that I could easily control how much was made. I thought it would be nice to NOT use the oven for a change. I had a bag of marshmallows in my pantry that were screaming to be used. (Did you catch that personification? My students would love it!)  

Immediately, I thought of rice krispies treats. Then while browsing through Pinterest, I found a blog called Glorious Treats and a recipe called Cookies and Cream Rice Krispies Treats. They are made like regular rice krispies treats adding crushed oreos to the rice krispies. 

Oreos - LOVE them! Rice Krispies Treats - LOVE them! Put them together??? YUMMO!! 

The recipe published on Glorious Treats doesn't have the frosting on top, but it was suggested to try. I also prefer to use the stove top instead of the microwave to melt the butter and marshmallows. I made a simple powdered sugar and milk frosting to put over the bars and then sprinkled them with big pieces of crushed oreos. Next time, I'll use more marshmallows and less cookies and cereal. 

Banana-Rainbow Chip Cookies

Round two of cookies for my forensics volunteers found me on Pinterest searching through the large number of desserts I have pinned, but haven't yet made. There I cam across Banana-Rainbow Chip Cookies and thought they would be a ton of fun! I found this recipe on Betty Crocker which gave credit to Adam and Joanne Gallagher from Inspired Taste for this wonderful recipe. You need fewer ingredients than the lemonade cookies! I love using cake mixes to make cookies. It just makes things so much easier. For these cookies, you need confetti cake mix, instant banana pudding mix, vegetable oil, two eggs, and white chocolate chips. You mix all the ingredients together, then drop them by tablespoons onto parchment lined baking sheets. Next, bake them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. The result is very soft and yummy! Thank you Betty Crocker!!   I can't wait for my volunteers to try them on Tuesday! 

Soft Lemonade Cookies

For as long as I can remember, Grandma Bohman has made these cookies that are called fruit slices. She makes three different varieties: orange, lime, and lemon. I am fairly ashamed to admit I never tried these wonderful slices of heaven until I was in my twenties and willing to try new things because lemon, lime, and orange just never seemed like the flavors a cookie should have. As a matter of fact, the only thing that changed my mind was Girl Scout Camp.

I worked at Camp Evelyn Girl Scout Camp for two of the most amazing summers of my life. One of the best things about the food there was the occasional dessert of Girl Scout Cookies! Imagine my disgust when the only option one night was of the lemon variety. Not wanting to be one of THOSE staff members who told my campers to try things they aren't comfortable with but won't do the same themselves, I decided to suck it up. The joke was on me, the cookies, as many of you probably know, are FABULOUS! This gave me the courage to finally taste the cookies my grandma makes, and I found myself to be the butt of yet another knee slapper. Which brings me to the point of this rant - I came to grips with my aversion to citrus fruit flavored dessert and now fully embrace the flavor they can bring. 

Don't they look scrumptious??

 When I was looking for cookie recipes to bring into school for the volunteers who will help me pull off the middle school forensics competition on Tuesday, I found the recipe for Soft Lemonade Cookies in the 1997 Taste of Home Annual Recipes Cookbook. You can also find the recipe at the taste of home website - http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Soft-Lemonade-Cookies.

It is amazing what you can do with 6 ingredients! All you need is softened butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, and, frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed. First, cream 1 cup of butter and 1 cup sugar until they are evenly blended. Then add two eggs. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda. Once the eggs are blended in, slowly alternate between adding the flour mixture and 1/3 cup of lemonade concentrate. (I cannot lie, I added at least two tablespoons more of concentrate to the dough because I wanted them to be really lemon-y. After it is mixed well, drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for 8 minutes at 400 degrees.

Once they are out of the oven, they need to cool for a bit before you add the last step. By a bit, I literally mean a minute. After about a minute, I swiftly pulled the parchment paper off the baking sheets onto my cupboard. Then I used my silicone pastry brush to brush the cookies with the remaining lemonade concentrate. Lastly, I sprinkled the cookies with some more sugar. I can't wait to try them once they have cooled some more! I hope they will like them on Tuesday!

Sweet Potato Fries

I love French fries! I hate greasy French fries with as big a passion. This recipe incorporates my love for French fries while avoiding my hate for greasiness! These fries are baked in the oven instead of deep fried. You will need the following ingredients: sweet potato, seasoning salt, and olive oil. You will use the following materials: baking sheet, knife, cutting board, and a zip lock bag. Doesn't this sound simple?

The hardest part is making the sweet potato into fries. First, cut the top and bottom off of the sweet potato. You can either use a peeler to peel the potato or use the knife to cut off the peel. When it comes to the fries, I usually choose to use the knife, but I'm not really sure why. After peeling the potato, I cut the potato in half with the knife. Then I can cut the potato into fries. I put the fries into the ziplock bag and pour about 1 tsp of olive oil over them. Then I sprinkle about 1/4 tsp seasoning salt on the them. Close the bag and toss to coat.

Finally, I pour the fries onto a sprayed cookie sheet and place in a preheated oven. I bake them at 400 degrees. After 10 minutes, I use a spatula to turn the fries. I toss the fries again after another 10 minutes. If they are not crispy on the edges, continue to bake until they are finished. I usually check them every 5 minutes after the initial 20. However, it can take up to 45 minutes for the fries to be the texture I like. 

This is the simplest recipe I have found for sweet potato fries. I LOVE these fries by themselves, but I can be a condiment buff, so I have begun exploring different dips. One that I have tried was a BBQ Honey sauce which I found while exploring Pinterest. I found it at Saving and Giving. It uses 1 c bbq sauce and 1 Tbsp each of brown sugar and honey. YUM!!!!!

Cranberry White Chip Blondies

Cranberry White Chip Blondies

  

I hate to admit it, but I am one of those people who buys a gift for someone and then uses the recipe on the back of the package before giving the gift. Are there meetings for this sort of behavior?  Anyway, this recipe comes from the back of a Wilton pan I bought for a good friend’s birthday. Although I have heard great things about this brand, the recipe on the back was the final kicker in making my decision. 

 The recipe was pretty straightforward. There aren’t many necessary ingredients. A big plus is that I had all the ingredients on hand: flour, brown sugar, baking powder, 3 eggs, butter, salt (I forgot to get it out before I took the picture), white chocolate chips, and dried cranberries. 

 

Begin by preheating the oven to 350° F and preparing a 9 by 13” pan with non stick spray. Next, combine the 1 ½ c flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp salt.

 

Then combine ¾ c (1 ½ sticks) butter and 1 ½ c brown sugar in a saucepan. Melt the butter and brown sugar and stir until smooth. Keep them off heat for 5 minutes before stirring in 3 eggs and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Add the sugar mixture to the flour mixture until blended. 

 

Fold in ¾ c cranberries and ¾ c white chocolate chips (add the chocolate chips last because the mixture may be hot and they will start to melt right away).

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Then sprinkle the remaining cranberries and white chocolate chips over the batter. Bake 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting.

Here’s the final product!

It turned out very soft in the middle especially. I think I could get away with using less butter and still having the same effect. 

 

Cranberry White Chip Blondies

1 ½ c flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ c (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter

1 ½ c firmly packed light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 c sweetened dried cranberries

1 c white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray 9 x 13” pan with vegetable pan spray.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In small saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar; stir until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes. Stir in eggs and vanilla; mix well.

Add flour mixture; mix until blended.

Fold in ¾ c of the cranberries. Quickly stir in ¾ c of the white chocolate chips. Spread batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining cranberries and chips.

Bake 22-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely before cutting.

Makes 24 brownies.