Snowball Cookies

When I bake cookies with children, this is one of my favorite cookie recipes. It does not have a ton of ingredients. The recipe is easy enough for older children to work on almost independently. Younger children can help and even handle the dough, since there are no eggs in this cookie recipe if they eat some dough there are no worries! Of course the most important reason I like this cookie recipe is that the cookies taste great!

Snowball Cookies

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups butter, softened

¾ cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups mini chocolate chips or mini M&M’s

Additional powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation:

1.     Preheat oven 375 degrees F. 
2.   Mix the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt in a mixer until creamy. 
3.  Gradually beat in flour
4. Stir in Chocolate Chips or M&M's
5.  Shape into 1 to 1 ¼ inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet. 
6. Bake 10-12 minutes until cookies are lightly browned. 
7. After you remove cookies from oven sift powdered sugar over hot cookies. Allow cookies to cool slightly on cookie sheets, then remove cookies and allow them to cool completely on wire racks.  
   8.      Once cooled, sift additional powdered sugar on cookies.

S         

Note: If you do not have a sifter you can use a colander to “sift” the powdered sugar.

Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake

Although pumpkin cheesecake is a nice holiday treat I like regular cheesecake as well. This combines both!
The flavors of a traditional cheesecake topped with a pumpkin cheesecake.  Enjoy!

3 (8oz) packages of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
1 (8oz) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 graham cracker crust, prepared. (I used a recipe off the graham cracker crumbs box)

1. Press graham cracker crust onto the bottom and up 3/4 of the sides of a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Fold in sour cream. Remove 1 1/4 cups of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.
4. Add pumpkin puree, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and fold gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.
5. Bake in preheated oven in a water bath for one hour, center will still jiggle. Turn oven off and open door and allow cheesecake to sit in oven for an additional hour. Refrigerate and cool completely before serving.

Easy to Make Turkey Cupcakes

This is a fun little dessert for the kids on Thanksgiving. I saw this in a Betty Crocker magazine a few years back. I like this because it is so simple that the kids can help make the cupcakes. I know that Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away but leftover Halloween candy corn is on clearance at most stores! Enjoy!


Ingredients:
Vanilla or Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate Frosting or Vanilla Frosting Dyed Brown
Candy Corn
Chocolate or Brown Sprinkles

Preparation:

 1. Start with plain cupcake.

2. Frost the cupcake.

3. Place frosting in a sandwich or freezer bag and cut a corner.

4. In the front squeeze small mountain of icing for the head. In the back squeeze a half circle of icing for the tail feathers.

5. Place a candy corn beak in the front and place the candy corn tail feathers in the half circle in the back.

6. For the eyes cut the white part off of the candy corn. Put either a dot of icing for the pupil or I made a dot with an black edible food marker.

7. Place some brown sprinkles in front of the tail feathers and place two candy corn in front for the feet.

Apple Crumble Pie

I had some extra apples on hand and I could not decide if I wanted to make Apple Crisp or Apple Pie. I really like both and I was in the mood for both. I decided to make neither.....instead I made an Apple Crumble Pie....which for me was a good compromise. Enjoy!

Apple Crumble Pie

Ingredients:
1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust
5 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Topping:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons butter

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
2. Mix together apples, 1/4 cup white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/4 cup all purpose flour. Place into unbaked pie shell. Spread evenly.
3.  In a separate bowl, cut butter into 1/3 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup all purpose flour. Sprinkle crumble topping over apples.
4. Bake for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, until top is golden brown and apples are soft.

Note: 

• To prevent crust from browning too quickly place a shield or foil around the edge, remove during the last 20 minutes of baking.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Here is another great Autumn recipe! These Pumpkin Muffins are really super moist and tasty. On top of the muffin is a nice light cheesecake layer and finished with some crumble topping. The recipe makes about fifteen muffins. I actually made a dozen muffins and then made a mini loaf of Pumpkin Cheesecake Bread....which was equally as good as the muffins.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Ingredients:

Cheesecake Topping

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Crumb Topping
4 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
5 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, softened

 Muffin Batter

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour 15 muffin cups.
2. To make the cream cheese topping: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, (there will be some small lumps of cream cheese that is ok) then refrigerate.
3. For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut  in butter with a fork or pastry blender, until crumbly. Set aside.
4. For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl combine eggs, pumpkin, canola oil and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together until smooth.
5. Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 2/3 full. Then add one heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture on top of the batter, avoiding the sides as much as possible. 
6. Sprinkle on the crumb topping.
7. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Years ago I was reading a magazine. The magazine had a recipe for a cookie that tasted like a Girl Scouts Thin Mint Cookie. The crazy thing was the cookie was not a cookie at all. The cookie was a Ritz Cracker dipped in minted chocolate. I tried making the cookie and it tasted so good I ended up putting the cookie in my holiday cookie baskets. I received so much great feedback about this cookie. No one could believe that this cookie was actually a cracker covered in minted chocolate.

This has to be one of the best tasting and easiest cookies I make.

There are so many versions of this cookie recipe online. I am posting a basic recipe that uses chocolate, mint and Ritz Crackers. I have read where people have used  melted Mint Andes Candies and Ritz Crackers. I also have read where people use chocolate wafers instead of the Ritz Crackers but again I have always stuck with the basic recipe since it is so AMAZING.
 Enjoy!

 Ingredients:
1 pound chocolate (dark, semi sweet, or milk chocolate)
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
72 Ritz Crackers

Preparation:

1. Melt chocolate on a double boiler, in the microwave or in a slow cooker.
2. Stir in mint.
3. Dip crackers into chocolate. Flip cracker to coat both sides. Scrape or shake off excess chocolate. Place cookies onto waxed paper. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Notes:

• The two best ways I found to dip the crackers is to drop the cracker into the chocolate and flip it with either a fork or tong then pick it up out of the chocolate using whatever utensil you used to flip the cracker.
• I garnished these with some white chocolate, tinted green. I then piped the green chocolate over the cooled cookies.
• Other garnishes could be sprinkles or crushed mint candies. These should be added onto the cookies before the the chocolate hardens.

Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping

 I had originally seen this recipe on the Food Network. The recipe was from Emeril. I lightened it up by using light sour cream, reducing the butter and eliminating the caramel sauce. This is a very good crumb cake! It has a very light texture and tastes really, really good warm.
Enjoy!

Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping

Cake:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup light sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apples

Crumble Topping:
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating after the addition of each. Add the sour cream and vanilla, beat until combined.
2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
3.  Fold in the apples.
4.  Pour into the prepared baking dish, spreading out to the edges.
5. To make the topping, in a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter, and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the topping over the cake.
6. Bake until golden brown and set, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Cookies...A Treat Which Celebrates Fall

This Pumpkin Cookie recipe is unbelievable. The cookies combine all the spices and flavors I associate with fall. The texture of the cookies is soft and cake like...it almost reminds me of a muffin top! I added am icing recipe to go along with the cookies. I think they taste just as good without the icing drizzled on...I ended up making half the cookies with the icing and half without. It seems like half the people who tried the cookies liked the icing on top half preferred the cookies without icing. Either way for a really tasty fall treat you cannot go wrong. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cookies
Makes Three Dozen

Ingredients

Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons milk
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


 Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Add the pumpkin, egg and one teaspoon vanilla. Mix until creamy.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients, stirring constantly.
5. Drop the dough by the tablespoon on an ungreased cookie sheet. Space the mounds of dough about an inch apart. Slightly flatten the tops.
6. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, until golden brown.
7. Cool cookies and then if desired drizzle with icing.
8. To make the icing combine the confectioners sugar, milk, butter and vanilla until creamy.

Notes:

• To drizzle I usually just place the icing in a sandwich bag and snip off one of the corners on the bottom. I then gently add pressure to the bag causing the icing to smoothly come out the corner I snipped off.
• For the picture I adding a slight touch of orange to the icing.

Apple Season = German Apple Cake

It's apple season! We went apple picking over the weekend....what a fun family activity. I used the website http://www.pickyourown.org to find a local farm. It is a great website that offers lots of information and a pretty current list of Pick Your Own farms.

Only issue....totally overloaded with apples. Time to bake!

I made a German Apple Cake. I know cake isn't the healthiest food but, I was able to lower some of the fat and calories from the original recipe. When making the cake I cut back on the oil and sugar, added some more apples and I ended up just dusting it with confectioners sugar instead of adding a traditional cream cheese frosting. The cake ended up awesome. There is a slight sugary crunch on the outside with a moist and tasty apple cake inside. Wow!

German Apple Cake
Makes One Bundt cake

Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 1/2 cups peeled, cored and diced apples (I used Red Delicious)
Cooking Spray
Confectioners Sugar


Preparation

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
2. In a mixing bowl beat the eggs and oil with an electric mixer until creamy. 
3. Add in and sugar and vanilla beat until well blended.
4. Combine cinnamon, salt, flour and baking soda in a separate bowl. Slowly add into the egg mixture and mix until combined. The batter will be very thick.
5. Mix apples in by hand.
6. Spread batter into a Bundt pan coated with cooking spray.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes or until the cake tests done. 
8. Let cool slightly then remove from pan, dust with confectioners sugar.

AMAZING Peanut Butter Cookies! (p.s. they are gluten-free and easy to make)

I like baked goods! I really like cookies!!
Needless to say, the gluten free lifestyle usually does not work so well for me.
When I saw this recipe I of course was intrigued. I had never baked peanut butter cookies without flour before.
I must say these were so simple to make but more importantly....
The results were AMAZING!
These cookies are soft, flaky and taste actually better than peanut butter cookies with flour. The cookies are also only about 100 calories each vs a traditional homemade peanut butter cookie which is 150 calories or more each....only one problem...they are slightly addictive.
Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Yield 2 dozen

Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter ( I used Skippy Natural)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

approx 1/4 cup extra white sugar in a small bowl

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl combine peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda and vanilla. Stir by hand until completely blended.
3. Roll dough into one inch balls then place ball into small bowl and coat with sugar.
4. Place ball on greased cookie sheet and make a criss-cross pattern with a fork pressing down gently
5. Bake 8-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cook slightly on cookie sheet before transferring over to a cooling rack.

Have Extra Beets? Try Applesauce Beet Chocolate Cake!

OK so this sounds like a crazy concoction...but it tastes so good.

I had some extra beets once so I decided to give it a whirl. I made it one time with an old recipe I had found. It turned out to be a light fluffy super moist tasting chocolate cake and it did not taste like beets.
I felt the need to modify the recipe and lighten it up some more. The original recipe called for vegetable oil but I decided to substitute half the vegetable oil with applesauce and I switched over to canola oil and tweaked the flavorings. It turned out a tad more dense than the original but still super tasty and moist! I'll take a tad more dense cake with less fat and calories over a fluffier cake any day!
Enjoy!

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pureed cooked beets (approx 1 pound)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons unsweetened cococa powder

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F and grease a Bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl using a mixer blend together beets, vanilla, sugar, oil and applesauce.
3. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean, 45-55 minutes

Notes:

• To puree the beets: Clean the beets and put them in boiling water until the beets can be pierced with a fork. Reserve some beet water. Once the beets are cooked and cooled,  remove the skin. Place in a food processor or blender and pulse until pureed, if necessary add some beet water to puree.
• Canned beets work as well
• I made a simple frosting drizzle by combining soft butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla and a little milk. I then drizzled the frosting over the cake.

Sometimes You Just Need Cake

 

 

When I was working for an international food service company I was tasked to create and implement "Whole Person Wellness" concepts into Retirement Communities across the United States. At first, I thought achieving Whole Person Wellness would be eating healthy and exercising soon, I learned it is so much more....sometimes it is also just about feeling good.

After a rough day, one thing that makes me feel good is something sweet like red velvet cake!

The problem for me is one small slice can easily become two or three slices and then just knowing something like a cake is in the fridge just makes me want more cake :)

So to achieve the balance of wanting something sweet without the temptation of overindulgence I turned to cake balls!

Cake Balls are the perfect size so I can indulge without the guilt. The Cake Balls also freeze well and defrost easily in the fridge.

 

 

Red Velvet Cake Balls
Yield approx. 50

1 box red velvet cake mix (prepared and baked as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)

1 (8oz) Package Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Butter, Softened
1 cup Confectioners Sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 pound Dark Chocolate Bark
1/2 pound White Chocolate Bark

Red Food Coloring

Toothpicks, Wax Paper

1. Prepare cake as directed.
2. Prepare Cream Cheese Frosting.
     In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla then, gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator.
3.After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
4. Mix thoroughly with cream cheese frosting.
5. Roll mixture into quarter size balls (or munchkin sized) and lay on a wax paper covered plate or cookie sheet. Place a toothpick in each ball.
6. Freeze for balls for several hours.
7. Melt chocolate in microwave or on double boiler...there are usually directions on the package on how to melt chocolate. You may want to only do a little at a time as it is easier to make the cake balls when the chocolate is hot.
8. Dip frozen balls into melted chocolate by holding on to the toothpick.
9. Place on wax paper covered platter and remove toothpick.
10. Place in refrigerator to harden the chocolate.
11. Garnish with some melted white chocolate tinted with red food coloring. I usually just place the red chocolate in a small plastic sandwich bag and cut the corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate on the cake balls.

NOTES: I also have made these with Milk Chocolate but by far I think the Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate are the BEST! Also, if anyone would like step by step picture instructions message me and I will send you the step by step pictures.