Fruity Pebble Marshmallow Cookies

It my birthday.... Week ;) yaaayyy!! So I'm also making it Awesome Cookie Week! So it will be like it's everyone's birthday :)

I'm starting with the most fun cookie and that's the Fruity Pebble Marshmallow Cookie. Now your probably telling yourself, 'come on, that can't be a real cookie' but I assure you, it is. And it's actually in my favorite cookbook, so I'm not even making it up. 

This recipe is a little more difficult but it's definitely worth it. 

It has 2 steps... Make the Fruity Pebble Crunch first!

Fruity Pebble Marshmallow Cookies
Makes 12 - 17 cookies 

Ingredients
16 tbsp. (2 sticks) room-temperature butter
1¼ c. granulated sugar
2/3 c. light brown sugar, tightly packed
1 egg
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1½ c. flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1½ tsp. kosher salt
3 c. Fruity Pebble Crunch - see below

1¼ c. mini marshmallows

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and sugars; cream together on medium-high 2-3 minutes. With a spatula, scrape down sides of bowl, then add egg and vanilla and beat 7-8 minutes.

2. Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. Mix just until dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. (Do not walk away from the machine during this step or risk overmixing.) Scrape down sides of bowl.

3. Still on low speed, paddle in Fruity Pebble Crunch until just incorporated, about 30-45 seconds. Paddle in marshmallows.

4. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Using a 2-oz. ice cream scoop, portion 1/3 c. dough at a time onto pan. Pat tops of dough domes flat. Wrap pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 1 week. (Do not bake room-temperature disks — they will not hold their shape.)

5. Heat oven to 375°. On a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pan, arrange chilled disks a minimum of 4 inches apart. Bake 18 minutes, until cookies are browned on edges and just beginning to brown toward the center. Cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. Leave them in oven for another minute or so if they still seem pale and doughy on the surface.

6. Cool cookies completely on pan before moving them to a plate or an airtight container for storage. At room temperature, cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.

Fruity Pebbles Crunch

Makes 2½ cups

2½ cups Fruity Pebbles - ¼ (17oz) box 

¼ cup milk powder 

1 Tbs. sugar

¼ tsp. kosher salt 

6 Tbs. butter, melted

1. Heat oven to 275°.

2. In a medium bowl, with your hands, crush fruity pebbles to ¼ of their original size. Add milk powder, sugar, and salt; toss to mix. Add butter; toss to coat. (As you toss, the butter will act as glue, binding the dry ingredients to the cereal, creating small clusters.)

3. On a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pan, spread clusters and bake for 20 minutes, at which point they should look toasted, smell buttery, and crunch gently when cooled slightly and chewed.

4. Cool completely before storing or using in a recipe. Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the crunch will keep fresh for one week; in the fridge or freezer, it will keep with one month.

Pour Fruity Pebbles into a bowl and crush-

Add milk powder, sugar and salt. Mix and then add the melted butter.

Mix together and spread on cookie sheet. Bake at 275° for 20 mins. 

Set aside to cool. Now make the cookie dough :)

Whip together butter and sugars- 

Add egg and vanilla- 

 

Mix for about 8 minutes. Then add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 

Add Fruity Pebble Crunch and Marshmallows- 

Scoop out cookie dough and freeze. 

Bake at 375° for 20 mins. 

  

It like a delicious, buttery, crispy (but still gooey) piece of heaven :)

Enjoy!

XoXOXxo 

Stephanie

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Spooky Scary

Yesterday day was Halloween, yaaay!!! I took the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. This was the first year I've been able to take the kids trick-or-treating, ever! Last year we were attacked by hurricane Sandy and Halloween was canceled, and everyother year I've lived in a city.

So this year was really fun! The kids dressed up as Little Pirates, of course they had to match. 

At first they didn't know what we were doing, I told them 'go up, ring the doorbell and say trick-or-treat' they asked me why?!

After the first house they were running from door to door. They had a blast!

Then we came home and had some delicious homemade Mac and Cheese. We also cuddled up and watched 'Monster university' and how could we watch that without having some matching cookies ;)

Hands down, Halloween is my favorite holiday! I hope you had a great Halloween too and got lots of candy :)

XoXOXxo

Stephanie

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Kitchen Sink Cookies

Logan had his birthday, over a month ago, actually. And when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said cookies. So that's what he got. And I made the best ones evvvvver!!! 

Kitchen Sink Cookies, I call them that because you can put in whatever ingredients that you want. 

This is the basic recipe and then you can add or subtract anything. 

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Yields: 3 dozen large cookies

3 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 Tbsp baking soda

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

3 sticks butter, room temp

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

2 cups chopped pecans (8 oz.)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
• In an 8-quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed, until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.  
• Gradually beat in sugars and continue beating after each.  
• Beat in eggs and vanilla.  
• Stir in flour mixture until just combined. 
•  Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans- put the coconut and pecans in a food processor and chop them up into finely. 
• Take a ice cream scoop and scoop out the dough. Pat tops of cookiedough down. 
• Bake for 16-18 minutes. 
• Cool on cookie sheet till cool. 

If I don't have enough chocolate chips or something, I'll add a hand full of pretzels or potatoe chips. You can even put in different nuts or dried fruit. 

These cookies are so crazy that my mixer wasn't big enough for them. So please use the biggest mixing bowl you have!

This was before I added the oats!! 

 You can also put them in the freezer and bake them whenever you want!

These are my favorite cookies, for sure. I hope they will be your favorite too :)

XoXOXxo 

Stephanie

The Macaroni to My Cheese

My Grandma would make dinner every night. I would be there. Especially if it was Mac and cheese night. I'm pretty sure she just layered cooked noodles and shredded cheese and just pour milk over top. I don't really remember how she made it. I just remember how it tasted. It was perfect. Cheesy, kinda burnt on the top. Perfection.
Well my grandma is no longer around and unfortunately I only have two of her recipes.
After trying and failing many mac and cheese recipes I have found the perfect one. And it tastes just like Grandmas :)

I was with my grandfather recently and he gave me some old pictures. This was one of them.

It makes me laugh so hard.
I was Lana del Ray before there even was a Lana del Ray . Lol.

It was the 90's and I was dramatic ;)
This picture just reminds me of my grandparents house where I grew up.
I have the best memories from there.
The parties in the backyard.
Swimming in the indoor pool.
Times were good.

So making this Mac and cheese takes me back to then.
I found the recipe on The Pioneer Woman blog.
I just cut it in half to make enough for 4 servings.

Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients
2 cups Dried Macaroni
1 Egg Beaten
2 Tbs Butter
2 Tbs All-purpose Flour
1- 1/4 cups Whole Milk
1 teaspoons (heaping) Dry Mustard, More If Desired
1 pound Cheese, Grated
1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon powered garlic

Instructions

Pre-heat over to 350.
Cook macaroni until very firm. Macaroni should be under cooked. Cook for half the time suggested on package. Drain.
In a small bowl, beat egg.
In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn.
Pour in milk, add mustard, garlic, pepper and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.
Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. Whisk together till smooth.
Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.
Add in cheese and stir to melt.
Add salt and. Taste sauce and add more salt as needed!
Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.
Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese, and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

Melt butter. Add flour. Cool until blonde. Do not burn or it will taste like burnt peanut butter.

Pour in milk, slowly while whisking. If its lumpy just keep whisking.

Whisk until smooth.

Add the garlic, pepper and dry mustard.

Cook until its thick like a gravy.

Wisk egg in a separate bowl.

Add some 'gravy' into the egg, while whisking. This is tempering the egg so it doesn't cook when poured in the sauce.

Mix together.

Add egg mixture to sauce.

Mix together until smooth.

Add the cheese.

Mix together until all melted and velvety smooth. Yummy.

Add cooked noodles.

Coat the noodles in the sauce.

Pour into a over safe dish.

Top with some extra shredded cheese.

Put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Then eat some of the most amazing Mac and cheese you have ever eaten.

Delicious.
I could seriously eat all of this myself. But when I don't its perfect to reheat for lunch the next day.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. And I hope you laughed as hard as I did at the pictures.
Because if you can't laugh what are you going to do, cry?! I think not!
Laugh on everyone :)


XoXOxOXo
Stephanie

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake

It's been rainy and cold around here lately. And I feel like nothing has been going my way this week. So I decided to make a cake.
Cakes always make me feel better. I like the whole process of making a cake. Measuring things out. Mixing. I think if the batter is good the cake will be good. But I never try the batter. I have a weird thing about raw eggs. I don't even let my kids have the batter. They have been totally deprived of cookie dough. Hahahhaa.

I had some pretty sad looking bananas on my counter so I put them to use in this cake. I usually make my cakes from scratch but I found that if you swap out some ingredients, you can make box mix taste awesome.
Instead of water use milk.
Sub butter for oil
Add extra eggs.

I like to do 3 layers because who doesn't like more frosting ;)

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Honey Frosting

Ingredients

For the Cake
1 French vanilla cake mix
3/4 c. Milk
1/3 c. Melted butter
4 eggs
1 c. brown bananas, smashed
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. mini chocolate chips or regular chocolate chips

For the Frosting
1 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. peanut butter
4 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
4 c. powdered sugar
Tbs extra milk

Instructions
For the Cake
Butter and flour 3, 8 inch pans.
Combine the cake mix, baking soda, cinnamon, melted butter, milk, and eggs and beat on low for 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed a little bit and beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the bananas and chocolate chips. Pour the batter in. Bake at 350* for 20- 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then flip out on a wire rack to cool completely. Place the first layer on a plate and spread frosting on top. Place the second cake layer on top and spread. Place the third layer on top and cover the entire cake with frosting.

For the Frosting
Cream butter and peanut butter. Add 2 Tbsp. water, salt, and vanilla and cream again. Slowly add the powdered sugar. After all the sugar is added, beat in the honey until creamy. If the frosting is too thick, beat in another 1-2 Tbsp. water until creamy. Add extra milk if needed and beat until fluffy.


First, butter and flour your pans. I always want to skip this step but its so worth it in the end. I hate making a perfect cake but it won't come out of the pan. Ruins it all.

If you've never done it before its super easy.
Rub butter all over the pans.

Then put about a tablespoon of flour in the pans.

Shake it all around and dump out the excess flour.

Done.

Now put all the cake ingredients in a bowl except for the bananas and chocolate chips.

Mix everything together.

Add bananas.

Mix in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pans.

The frosting was harder to take pictures of because it was a mess.

But this is how you frost the whole cake if you don't know how.
Put a lot of frosting on top and push it to the sides of the cake.

Then push the frosting over the edge.

Turn your knife vertically. And try to get the frosting in all the little cracks.

Put enough frosting to cover all the cake.

It may not be super beautiful but it sure does taste good.

I have so much extra I don't know what to do with it. Dylan woke up from his nap today and asked for cake. I think he was dreaming about it.

So if you have some sad bananas make them happy and but them into a cake. You can feel happy about eating cake when there is fruit in it right?


XoXOxOXo
Stephanie