Oh Henry Bars

This quick and easy dessert is one of my very favorites.  It's one my mom made quite often and they disappeared rather quickly.  A combination of peanut butter, chocolate, and Special K cereal for a bit of crunch.  How can it be wrong???  It's peanut butter and Special K cereal!!

Here's what you need:
         1 cup sugar
         1 cup Karo syrup
         1 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
         6 cups Special K cereal

         6 oz milk chocolate chips
         6 oz peanut butter chips

Place the chocolate and peanut butter chips in a double boiler to melt while you are preparing the rest.

Put sugar and Karo syrup in large pan, bring to boil and boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat, add peanut butter, then cereal and mix well.  Pour and press evenly into a 9 x 13 cake pan.

Pour the melted chips over the cereal base and then you just have to wait for it to cool.  That's the hardest part.  Ours usually get cut before the chocolate is set good.  They are soooooooo good.

Such fond memories of my mom when I make and eat these yummy treats.  I make them every year at Christmas and they are my go to dessert for church dinners.  A favorite of all the children (except the crazy one that doesn't like peanut butter).

Easy Apple Pie

I'm just going to be honest here,  my apple pies at the holidays were Marie Callender's Dutch Apple Pies.

Pies are just one of my "fears".  I grew up eating probably the best pies around made by my grandma,  but mine were never even close.  It's one of those things I've just NEVER gotten right,  so I quite trying.

I still haven't mastered the crust (I still cheat there),  but I am working on them.  Since hubby is such a sport and pretty much eats ANYTHING I fix,  I'll just keep experimenting:)

Here's an easy apple pie filling I found and it turned out great.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

The crust I used is a package of Pillsbury 9 in. pie crusts.  You simply unroll one and put it in your ungreased pie pan,  how easy is that??  I'm still going to work on a homemade one though!!

For the filling:

     8 small baking apples peeled and thinly sliced (I used granny smith)
     3/4 cup sugar
     2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
     3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
     1/4 teaspoon salt
     1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
     1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a large bowl,  gently mix filling ingredients; spoon into crust-lined pie plate.  Top with second crust.  Wrap the excess top crust under bottom crust edge,  pressing edges together to seal; flute the edges (I also need some work here,  mine wasn't so pretty).  Cut slits or shapes in several places in top crust.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown.  Cover edge of crust with 2 to 3 inch wide strips of foil after first 15-20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning.

Cool on cooling rack for at least 2 hours before serving.  Serve with some whip cream or ice cream and enjoy.

I'm going to practice on a couple more before Thanksgiving.  Maybe I'll have them perfected by them.  Doubtful!!!

Still,  other than the looks,  it tasted GREAT!!!  The recipe is a keeper,  the presentation needs a little work!!

Reese's Cheesecake Brownies

I must warn you,  these are very rich.  You MUST love peanut butter and chocolate and love them together.  Since I do,  I enjoyed this rich dessert.  It does take a bit of prep work though which goes against my easy norm.  However,  it was worth the effort.  Here's what you need to gather:

     19.5 oz box chocolate fudge brownie mix
     8 oz package cream cheese, softened
     14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
     1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
     12 oz Reese's Pieces candy
     12 oz bag milk chocolate chips
     3 tbsp whipping cream
     12 large Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

2. Prepare the brownig mix according to package directions.  Spread the batter in the pan and set aside.  In a large bowl,  beat cream cheese with hand-held mixer until fluffy.  Add condensed milk and peanut butter and beat until smooth. Stir in the Reese's Pieces candies and spoon the mixture over the batter.  Spread evenly.

3. Bake for 40 minutes or until cheesecake layer is set and edges are golden brown.  Cool for 30 minutes and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4.  While the brownie/cheesecake layer is cooling, in a double boiler melt your chocolate chips and add the whipping cream, stirring until smooth.

5.  Spread the chocolate over the brownie/cheesecake and cover with the chopped Reese's cups.  Allow to cool.  (I didn't have my PB cups chopped and therefore the chocolate set before I got them on.  I will do better next time.)  They were still pretty good.

MMMMMMmmmmmmm good.  Get yourself a big glass of milk and ENJOY!!!

Blueberry Dump Cake

Yep, you read that right, dump cake.  Now, my kids immediately said "a dump cake, really mom, that doesn't sound very good".  Little did they know.

Hubby had asked for cookies just the other day,  so I figured this would cure his sweet tooth craving.  As an added bonus,  it was much easier than baking a batch of cookies or anything else I could think of to fix and only required 5 ingredients.  It was so easy,  I put it together in the middle of fixing dinner.

Here's your ingredients:
     1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
     4 cups fresh blueberries
     1/2 cup white sugar
     1/2 cup butter, melted
     1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Mix the berries, sugar, and cinnamon in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan.  Cover berries with dry cake mix.  Pour butter over cake mix, do not stir.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until light brown.  Serve warm or cold.

I served mine with a little bit of icecream.  YUMMY!!!!

Earthquake Cake

I have recently become somewhat addicted to the Pinterest site.  I was browsing through today and came across this delicious looking cake.  Once again, my will power gave way and the cake was baked.  It was pretty good for a first try.  I learned a couple things and the next time I make it, I know it'll be BETTER.  But, I must say it was pretty good this time too.  Here's the site it came from.

Here's the ingredient list:
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Grease a 13X9 cake pan and sprinkle the coconut and chopped nuts on the bottom.  Then, mix the cake according to the directions.  Pour the cake mix over the coconut and nuts.

In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla with a hand mixer on low to medium-low until well blended (add the sugar about a half cup at a time to prevent a powder explosion). This mixture will look like thick cheesecake batter.

 Drop by spoonfuls over the chocolate cake batter, leaving at least a one-inch margin around the sides of the pan (this prevents the cheesecake from bubbling over).

 Weave a butter knife in an s-pattern through the batter to create a swirl, but be sure to not disturb the nuts and coconut — keep the knife very shallow. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

 This is where I made the mistake.  I swirled a little too much, putting the cream cheese mixture too deep in the cake.  It got a little soggy.

  But, as you can see, still edible.  They were into it before it was cooled and I got my picture.  It was pretty good!!  I wonder if I could divide the recipe and make two batches of "brownies"?  May have to try that.  I'll let you know, but not this week!!

Grandma's Famous Pumpkin Pie

 I learned something very interesting while visiting family in WV.  You know those "famous" family secret recipes,  well we always thought Grandma had one of those for her pumpkin pie.  My sister-in-law had asked for her "famous pumpkin pie" recipe many, many times.  Seeing as Grandma is getting up in years, I guess she finally decided to share.  Funny thing, Grandma handed her a Libby's pure pumpkin can and turned it around to the recipe on the back.  The very recipe I have been using since I started making Thanksgiving dinner IS Grandma's "secret" recipe.  Who would have thought???  We still think there is something she adds but just won't tell us!!!   Guess it just goes to show that things aren't always what you think them to be.

Regardless, I had a wonderful time in WV.  This was the first year I got to fix dinner for my entire family.  I think I did a pretty good job and the pumpkin pie was delicious.  LOL.  My grandma even complimented my turkey (there's one for the memory books).  I guess you have probably figured out,  I don't really like "secret family recipes" .  If I find a recipe I like, I'll post it on here.  I can't take these recipes with me when I'm gone, and what good are they if my children and their children can't fix them just like me.  Those are the memories I love, teaching my children the things my mom taught me.

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving and remembered to stop and take a moment to thank God for all our blessings.

Apple Crumb Cake

It's fall, and I have apples everywhere.  We do eat a lot of apples, but like everything else, they go in phases.  There are days my kids will eat the whole bag and then there are times they sit and go bad.  I had probably 20 apples on my counter, thanks to my friend who brought me some from NC,  so I thought I'd try a new recipe.  My dinner plan was a little skimpy, so add some dessert.  It was delicious.

Here's what you need for the cake:
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 1/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pt. sliced apples

Mix first 6 ingredients together well.  Fold in apples. Pour into greased 13 X 9 inch pan.

Now, my favorite part, the crumb topping. Mmmmmm.

1 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 c. melted butter

Combine first 4 ingredients in bowl, then slowly add butter while mixing to make mix crumbly.  Sprinkle on top of cake batter and bake at 350 degrees fro 45 minutes.


I believe I said before DELICIOUS.  I'm thinking it would also be very good with blueberries in the spring!!!