Happy Mother’s Day weekend! As I’ve mentioned many times before, I couldn’t ask for a better mom. My mother-in-law passed on suddenly 6 1/2 years ago, however. Although the time I spent with her was short, I have fond memories of her love. The reason I mention this is she introduced me to these simple, yet ingenious treats. The first Christmas she made these, I was hooked. I couldn’t believe how delicious such a simple treat could be. Crunchy, creamy, smooth, even kind of silky, with the best sweet combo ever of chocolate and peanut butter. An instant favorite.

Although I have the “recipe”, if you even want to call it that, listed below, all you gotta do is make peanut butter sandwiches out of Ritz. Then, melt some chocolate chips and creamy peanut butter together, then dip the sandwiches in and let them set. Add some cute sprinkles if you want to be festive . I did list measurements for the amounts of peanut butter and chocolate, but it is definitely not necessary to be precise. If you use white chocolate chips, I’d go a little lighter on the peanut butter since white chocolate isn’t as strong as milk or semisweet and the peanut butter can be a bit overpowering.

Ritz Peanut Butter Chocolate Sandwiches

1 sleeve Ritz crackers
peanut butter for inside of crackers

1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet, milk or white)
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter

Spread about 1/2 teaspoon peanut butter on half of the crackers and sandwich them with the rest of the crackers. Set aside.

Put the chocolate chips and creamy peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate chips and peanut butter until just smooth, then stir together to make the mixture completely blended and creamy.

Dip the Ritz sandwiches in the chocolate-peanut butter mixture. This can get messy! Let the sandwiches set on waxed paper for at least an hour. If desired, you can chill them faster in the fridge or freezer.

My assigned blog this month for Secret Recipe Club is Sweet As Sugar Cookies- a perfect fit! Lisa is a super cute girl who bakes and tries some of the tastiest treats. We seem to both have a special spot in our hearts for trying chocolate chip cookie recipes as well Her weekly Saturday Sweets round-ups are also a hit…so many treats to try, so little time….

My first choice from Lisa’s blog, however, were her rich, delicious cocoa brownies. I’m still up in Washington with my family and my brother-in-law will not eat cookies, only brownies. Ok, then, no problem, I can do brownies! Lisa said that after trying these, you’ll never want to use a box recipe again, haha. That immediately caught my attention since I happen to think from-box brownies are quite delicious for the level of convenience. Well, she was right! These babies are rich, chocolatey, fudgy amazingness.

You do need to have a double boiler for your stove, or at least a heat-proof bowl that fits on top of a pot for the water to boil underneath. Otherwise, making these is just a little more time consuming than from the box, but nothing much and 100% worth it. Instead of lining the pan with foil, I sprayed the pan and it worked great. Just make sure to let them cool completely (fridge, freezer, room temp, whatever) or else you’ll have a fudgy, yet still tasty, mess.

Best Cocoa Brownies

10 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips or nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8×8 pan with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add the sugar and stir until combined. Add the cocoa powder. Take off the heat and let cool slightly until it is no longer hot. Add the vanilla. Add the eggs and stir vigorously. When the batter looks shiny and well-blended, add the flour and stir till you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with a spoon. Add chocolate chips or nuts, if using. Spread in the pan.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 25-30 min. Let cool completely on a rack. Slice into 16 squares.

These cookies are my latest favorite chocolate cookie recipe, no doubt! Even though my search of new chocolate cookie recipes will never cease, I have a strong feeling these will always remain near, or at the top. I adapted the recipe just slightly from Cooking Classy. It immediately caught my attention because I have a thing for adding random ingredients to cookie doughs, and this qualifies with coffee creamer and molasses.

If you don’t have coffee creamer at home, it is totally worth going out of your way to get some just for these cookies. Berkeley Bowl only had a massive container of the original powder, so I’ll just have to make quite a few more batches of these babies- lucky us! I loved them. They were chewy, with a sweet deep flavor that intensified throughout each bite. I used original flavor creamer, but Jaclyn also uses french vanilla, which I’m sure would be delish as well Seriously, SO good.

Chocolate Chip Creamer Cookies, makes about 22 cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, diced into cubes
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon molasses
2 1/2 tablespoons original or french vanilla coffee creamer powder (NOT liquid or light)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together chilled butter, sugar, molasses and coffee creamer powder until well blended and slightly fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Stir in egg and vanilla extract.  Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated (mixture will be very thick).  Mix in milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Form dough into about 1 1/2 tablespoon balls, then drop onto Silpat or parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until edges are very lightly golden.  Cool on cookie sheet several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.  Store in an airtight container.

Yesss! It’s Secret Recipe Club time! I took a month off to recuperate with the babes (although I think things have actually gotten harder now than easier…such is life). I am excited to be participating again, and am even more excited with the blog I was assigned, Bluebonnets & Brownies. Amber comes up with some of the coolest recipe combos that I couldn’t stop bookmarking- Ghirardelli Stuffed Brownies, Pumpkin French Toast and Biscoff Bites, to name a few. The Disney fanatic in me is itching to try these cupcakes, too!

Cornbread is one of my favorite side dishes, so I gave this maple version a go.  No exaggeration, it is the best cornbread I’ve ever had and/or made to date. I didn’t have any maple syrup, so I improvised with agave nectar and a little maple flavoring. Worked like a charm. It is a bit more than slightly sweet, but just enough to complement a light pat of melted butter if that’s your fancy. I ate it plain, just the way I’ve always preferred cornbread- I savored every last crumb!

Thanks, Amber, for giving me a go-to cornbread recipe for which I can always rely

Maple Cornbread

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
1/4 cup melted butter
2 large eggs

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray muffin tin or small casserole dish (8×8 or 10×7) with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt, whisking together until fully combined and aerated.

In a separate small bowl, add milk, agave nectar, maple flavoring and eggs. Whisk together until completely combined. Melt butter and allow to cool slightly so that it won’t cook the eggs in the mixture, then add to the wet ingredients and whisk again.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined.

Pour the batter into your chosen pan and then bake 22-27 minutes, until golden brown. When pierced with a toothpick, the toothpick should come out cleanly.

My mom is the best. I could go on forever about her willingness to help and never complain, her patience, unconditional love, positive attitude, waking up all night, an ever listening ear and every other desirable quality out there. This pie here is her best dish. All of us kids, including my husband, request her to make it when we’re home. Well, I’m still lucky enough to have her here, so she whipped it up for us tonight!

Mom makes the crust from scratch- it’s flaky with just a little bit of doughiness without being soggy. Growing up, we’d use the scraps to bake little “cookies” that we’d sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and scarf down as a mini-dessert. Sometimes she throws in peas and carrots in the filling, but it depends on which kids are home and eating it- she is nice enough to remember each kid’s specific tastebuds. We happened to have some asparagus in the crisper, so after a quick steaming, into the filling it went, and it was perfect.

Mom’s Chicken Pot Pie

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (Mom uses 2 bouillon cubes with hot water)
2/3 cup milk
2 cups cut up cooked chicken
any veggie(s) you have on hand (optional)

Pastry ingredients:
2/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons shortening
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 tablespoons water

Heat butter over low heat until melted and blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir a minute. Stir in chicken and any vegetables. Reserve. Prepare pastry.

For pastry: Cut shortening into flour and salt until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in water (1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened) One to two teaspoons can be added at a time if necessary. Gather pastry into a ball. Roll 2/3 of pastry into 13 inch square on lightly floured cloth covered board.

Ease pastry into pie pan. Pour chicken filling into pastry lined pan. Roll remaining dough into a circle sized to fit top of pie. Place over filling and roll edges under. Cut slits in center to allow steam to escape. Cook uncovered in 425 degree oven until the crust is brown (about 30-35 minutes). Let sit 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.

Last minute St. Patrick’s Day recipe! My stepmother-in-law was here helping us last week and brought along a cookbook to try some new recipes. I was browsing through it during one of my mundane pumping sessions and came across these brownies. They immediately brought me back to my freshman year at BYU, finals week. My mom was sweet enough to send me a care package through the BYU creamery that included these delicacies. That was the one and only time I had them, and although that was 14 (yikes!) years ago, they were never forgotten.

Well, my mom flew back down a week to stay with us for another stretch (bless her tired heart:), and she had bought me The BYU Cougars Cookbook. And wouldn’t you know, it? These brownies again! This recipe is a bit more simple than the one my mother-in-law had; using a brownie mix and store bought frosting made it possible for my sleep-deprived soul to whip up. You can use mint or peppermint extract, but I strongly recommend peppermint. Also, freezing the first layer is essential for the nice layered look.

And, if you want true-blue BYU brownies, go for blue food coloring instead of green!

BYU Mint Brownies

1 (20 oz) box brownie mix
12 ounces chocolate frosting

Mint Frosting:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
green food coloring

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, prepare the brownie mix according to package directions. Once the mix is combined thoroughly, spread batter in a 9×13- inch pan. Bake according to package directions.

For mint frosting, combine the butter, salt, corn syrup, powdered sugar and milk. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add the peppermint extract and food coloring. Mix until the frosting is a little more runny than cake frosting.

Spread the mint frosting over the cooled brownies and then place in the freezer for a short time to stiffen (about 20 minutes). Take brownies out of the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate frosting on top.

Hello there, this blog has NOT been abandoned! I’ve just been a bit preoccupied with these three:

The twins were born 6 weeks ago and are doing well! I’m feeling energized enough to try some recipes again, so new stuff is on its way

The Secret Recipe Club took January off, but things are rolling along and looking as great as ever! I’m now in the group that posts at the very beginning of the month, and hopefully, even with the babies here, I’ll be able to continue being part of the group- it’s fun My blog for February was Bizzy Bakes. If you ever need a kugel recipe, this is the blog to check out! She is quite the experienced one in this field especially, and there are a good amount of varieties of kugel that I had never even considered to try. Also, Bizzy is excellent at posting consistently (I need to learn from her!) and she has tons of recipes on her site.

We still have sweet potatoes left from when I made sweet potato fries, so naturally, I went with Bizzy’s sweet potato kugel. Grating potatoes is kinda fun! It was my first time doing that, along with grating an apple. This is a super healthy side dish that would go great with a  traditional family dinner. It is light and the bottom of it is the extra special part where the eggs coagulate the ingredients to make it the “treat” of the dish.

Sweet Potato Kugel

3 large sweet potatoes
1 crispy apple
3 eggs
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup orange juice
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Spray cooking oil to grease pan

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8 inch square pan or round baking dish with cooking spray. In a small bowl, soak the raisins in orange juice, adding water so the raisins are covered. (You can speed up the plumping by microwaving for 30-45 seconds.)

Peel the sweet potatoes. Using a grater blade on a food processor or a box grater, grate them. Put the grated sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs. Mix into sweet potatoes. Grate the apples, add to the sweet potato and egg mixture. Stir in the salt and spices. Add the nuts, raisins and soaking liquid. Stir.
Pour/scoop mixture into your baking dish, smoothing flat.

Bake 40 minutes or so, until the edges are a little browned and the top gets golden. Let it cool a bit, then scoop out to serve.

Because of these cookies, and my need to try out random adaptations of recipes, I was extremely close to starting a major house fire. Definitely my biggest kitchen disaster to date…

I’ve seen these hot chocolate cookies circling the food blogs recently and I knew my family would be the perfect taste testers (we’ve extended our weekend Washington trip quite a bit longer). You see, about half of my family is very into hot chocolate. My one sister even drank it non-stop on our cruise in the middle of summer. I just can’t do that- hot chocolate is for cold weather, or at the least just wintertime,  if you happen to live somewhere that is consistently warm. They go through boxes

ANYway, the disaster. The cookie recipe I used was from Lizzy’s blog. When she made these cookies, she also had an “almost” fire, but hers was with using wax paper in the oven instead of parchment. Mine was because I decided to try toasting the marshmallows under the broiler. Please, PLEASE don’t try it! I altered the recipe below so you aren’t even tempted. Let’s just say, my parents’ oven was full of flames! One minute I checked and the marshmallows were still white. The next minute, they were pitch black. Lovely.

So, I made myself feel better by thinking that, when you drink hot chocolate, you don’t ever toast the marshmallows anyway, right? So, by making the cookies without toasted marshmallows, it’s more like real hot chocolate!  It ended up working out great- the marshmallows caramelized in the cookies when they baked and gave them an extra chewy consistency.

These just scream “Christmas cookie.” A hint of cocoa, a multitude of chips and the chewy marshmallows make these quite a crowd pleaser. Just remember to keep flammable foods away from the broiler

Hot Chocolate Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup  Hot Chocolate Mix (I used 3 packets Nestle milk chocolate mix)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugars together until smooth.  Add eggs one at a time and beat in the vanilla until combined.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, hot chocolate mix, salt and baking soda.  Add to wet ingredients in 3 or 4 steps.  Stir well.  Fold the marshmallows into the dough with the different kinds of chips.  Chill the dough for about an hour. Drop the cookie dough by the spoonful onto a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Bake 9-11 minutes.  Let cool and transfer to a wire rack.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

It’s time for my 2nd Secret Recipe Club post! The first time around was awesome- I had a blast checking out the other members’ posts and seeing what “my” blogger had chosen to make from my blog. What a fun idea- seriously, Amanda is a genius.

This month, I was given 365 Days of Baking. Lynne bakes every day and is very on top of posting her creations every single day- a dedication I admire and envy And, I love her rolling pin rating scale. It was super helpful in my decision on what I wanted to try. However, with SO many recipes she’s tried, it took me quite a while to decide! Although we scarfed it down before a photo op was possible, I first made the chicken tortilla bake and it was fab. Try it if you need a delicious and simple Mexican dinner! I’m also itching to try Lynne’s chocolate chip oreo cookies.

Now, onto the cookies. I finally went with the ginger chewies. The only time I seem to make ginger anything is around Christmas, and these will definitely be on my regular holiday cookie rotation. Aren’t they pretty? Such a gorgeous crackle on top. No chilling needed. Easy peasy. Oh yeah, and they’re delicious, perfectly chewy and flavored just right. My biggest hangup with ginger treats are how strongly they can be spiced up- not my thing. These are extra subtle with a hint of the spices shining through. If you happen to be a major ginger fan, however, just up the ginger to 1 1/2 or 2 teaspoons. The only change I made was lowering the baking time aby a few minutes. Definitely worthy of 4 rolling pins!

Ginger Chewies

2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves; set aside.