Rainbow Pinwheel Cookies

I found these on pinterest!  They are Dr. Seus inspired cookies!

My kids had a great time helping me make them!

They turned out really fun and the best part is I didn't have to frost them and the kids got to help!

This would also be a fun way to make theme cookies.  For example, you could mix your favorite sports teams colors together and swirl them!

Rainbow Pinwheel Cookies

(pinterest via http://www.soudersstudios.com/)

• 1 recipe your favorite sugar cookie dough (mine is the sour cream sugar cookies on this site!)
• Liquid food coloring, 5 colors
• Rainbow sprinkles, or I used colored sugar sprinkles

Preheat oven to recipes temperature.

Make your dough.  Divide your dough into 5 equal parts or as many colors as you want to do.  Color each part the color you want.  We used purple, red, yellow, green and blue.  The original poster said neon colors work really well, I will try that next time!

I mixed my colors in with my mixer.  I didn't clean it in between, so some of the colors got mixed up, but it worked fine.

Now, chill your dough as needed.  Make sure it is good and chilled so that it wont get too sticky as you work with it!

This is where my kids came in and helped!  Now you need to form your different colors into grape size balls.  I noticed that it didn't really matter the size, just that bigger balls made bigger cookies and bigger portions of one color than another just made that color more prominent than the others.

So make your different color balls.  When you have 1 of each color, combine them into a ball, like a multi color beach ball.  Now roll the ball into a snake and then coil together.

Roll your edges into the sprinkles if desired and cook for the time recommended on your cookie recipe!

Super good and super fun cookies!

Turnovers

Todd and I decided one night to experiment and make something new!

I had traveled with him on a charter to Jackson Hole where we ate an apple turnover at the Bunnery.  We love to go to the Bunnery.

We had fun making these, but they are time consuming and many, many, steps.  If you want the recipe we found it in the King Arthur Cook book.  I will tell you, there are many steps. 

We didn't quite master the light flakiness of the one we ate at the Bunnery, but they were pretty good.

We just might have to try and make them again, another day!

Double Chocolate Butterscotch Brownies

We really like brownies at our house!

We seem to make them once a week for family night and for some reason I am always wanting to find something new or different!

I have a few favorites, but I just can't keep from trying new ones!

This one was really moist and the butterscotch was a new flavor!  We couldn't leave good enough alone and topped our brownies with cool whip!  Whipped Cream or ice cream would have been better, but cool whip was our only option!

Another yummy option for your brownie craving!!

Double Chocolate Butterscotch Brownies

(pinterest via www.ingoodtasteblog.net)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray or butter an 8 x 8 pan and then cover with parchment paper.  Make sure your parchment paper overhangs your pan.  Spray or butter your parchment paper also.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips and butter.  Let cool slightly, and then add your eggs one at a time and mix.  Add your vanilla extract and combine until smooth.

Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and mix until combined, being careful not to over mix.  Stir in your butterscotch chips.

Spread your batter into your prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  It took me about 40 minutes to get mine done.

Let them cool completely in the pan and then use your parchment paper overhangs and pull out of pan.  Cut into squares and enjoy!

Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies

These were a yummy St. Patricks day treat!

I was kind of a dud this year with St. Patricks Day!  Usually we have all sorts of great green food, including last year making a really cool rainbow jello!

This year, we took the kids Cross Country Skiing and totally bagged the whole green thing except for the cookies! 

Its a good thing the cookies were really yummy and a hit with the kids and adults alike!

Minty goodness with Mint Oreos crushed up inside each one!

YUM!

Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies

(pinterest via www.twopeasandtheir)pod.com

• 2 1/2 cups flour (start with 2 cups)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (try 1/2 cup first)
• 1 1/2 cups mint green chips (try 1 cup first)
• 1 cup chopped Cool Mint Oreo Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift(I didn't sift, just put together and whisked) flour (start with 2 cups first), baking soda, salt, and cocoa.  Set aside.

In your mixer, cream your butter and sugars until smooth!  Add in your eggs one at a time.  Next add your vanilla.

Slowly add your flour mixture to the sugar and butter mixture.  Mix together until all the flour disappears.  If mixture is too sticky, add the remainder of the flour.  Stir in chocolate chips, mint chips and chopped oreo cookies.

Use a cookie scoop and place on your parchment sheets.  Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies set on edges and soft in the middle.

Let them sit on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

Cherry Crunch

This is just an easy, nothing too exciting, ingredients on hand, fruity dessert!  It was yummy and just a simple no chocolate dessert!

You can make it with any pie filling you crave and it reminds me alot of a dutch oven dessert!

I will say put the nuts in, they add great flavor and a great crunch!

Cherry Crunch

(http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/)

• 1 cube (1/2 cup) butter (room temp)
• 1 pkg white or yellow cake mix (dry)
• 2 cans cherry, blueberry, peach, mixed berry, or your fav. pie filling (or you can make a mix of two different kinds)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans or almonds

Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Cut 1 stick of butter (with a pastry blender or fork) into 1 pkg dry cake mix until crumbly. 

Pat 1/2 of the cake mix mixture into your 9 x 13 pan.  Reserve the other half for the topping and put aside.

Spread the 2 cans of pie filling over the crumb mixture.

Blend in your nuts into the reserved cake mix.  Crumble the cake mixture no top of the pie filling.  Squeeze small portions into pea size chunks and sprinkle all over.

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, or until golden brown on the top and bottom.  Make sure the bottom is golden brown too!  My oven actually took longer than 45 minutes, but keep an eye on it so you don't burn!

Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream!

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

My Grandmother had cookies at her house probably every time we came to visit!  She had 2 varieties and they were my our families favorites!

One was a chocolate with peanut butter chips in it!  YUM!  Just thinking about them makes me want to make them!  But then I would eat them all and be in big trouble!

Well, this is a similar cookie, but you put peanut butter in it instead of the chips!  YUMMO again!!  I actually put in half peanut butter chips and half chocolate chips so it was a double chocolate double peanut butter cookie with my changes and yes they were YUMMY!

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

(http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I did 3/4 cup chocolate chips and 3/4 cup peanut butter chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients~flour, cocoa, soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In your mixer, cream your butter and sugar.  Then add your peanut butter and beat until light and fluffy.  Add your eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.

Stir in your chocolate chips (or mixture of peanut butter and chocolate chips).

Use your cookie scoop and place on your baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes.  Cookies will still be soft and will set up after cooling.  Place on a wire rack and let cool, or if you are like me, eat them while they are really warm and gooey!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Toffee Bars

Yes this recipe name is a mouth full and yes the bars are a yummy mouthful!

These were really good and a hit with everyone. 

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Toffee Bars

(from http://www.sisterscafe.com/)

• 1/2 cup butter, at room temp
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 cups flour (start with 1 1/4 cup maybe, thought I might have had too much flour)
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups chocolate pieces
• 1 cup toffee baking pieces

Heat oven to 350.  Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil so that the ends extend over the edge of the pan.  Spray your foil.  This makes clean up easy and makes cutting them into bars so much easier too!

In your mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and egg yolk.  Beat until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.

Add the flour (make sure not to add to much!), oats, and salt and beat on low speed until ingredients are just blended, about 30 seconds or so.

Press this mixture evenly in your foil covered 9 x 13 pan.  Bake the crust until golden brown, 15-20 minutes.  Be careful not to overbake.  This part was a little hard to tell because my mixture was a light brown color to start with because of the peanut butter.  Just watch closely!

Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly across your crust.  Return the pan to the oven for  1 minute to start melting the chocolate.  Take out of the oven and use an offset spatula and smooth out the chocolate and spread evenly.

Sprinkle the toffee chips over the chocolate.  Gently press the toffee pieces into the chocolate so they wont fall off!  I was a little too gentle and my bars were a little messy with toffee bits falling off!

Set the pan on a wire rack to cool and set up for about 2 hours.  I ended up putting my in the refrigerator after a while to help set the chocolate up.

Use your foil edges to lift the bars out of the pan and cut into squares.  For any leftovers, store in a container in the refrigerator!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes!

There are lots and lots of recipes for them and they are probably the easiest recipe!  You can buy mixes or make your own, but it is an easy breakfast or Breakfast Wednesday dinner!

One of my boys likes them plain with peanut butter on top and the other wants chocolate chips mixed in ~ a boy after my own heart!  In fact I forgot to add them in this morning and we almost had a pre-school breakfast melt down!

This is a great easy recipe that made quite a bit of batter.  My family of 4 was able to have 2 breakfasts with one batter.  I have all the ingredients on hand and you can make it in your blender!  Yes she recommends blending it and I didn't find my pancakes were flat or yucky by doing this!  It is a guarantee that all the ingredients are properly mixed and they cooked really nice!

So enjoy some pancakes and try a new recipe ~ maybe it will become your favorite!

Buttermilk Pancakes

(www.savorysweetlife.com)

• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour (I did 1 cup wheat and 1 cup white)
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp milk

Blend the buttermilk (I like to buy the powdered buttermilk so I always have it on hand when needed), eggs, butter and vanilla in a blender at a medium-low speed until well combined.

Slowly add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Continue to blend until the batter is thick and smooth.

Add the milk 1 tbsp at a time, until the batter is to the consistency you desire.  I have added only 2 tbsp both times I have made this!  Yes I have made this recipe already twice before posting!

Heat up your favorite skillet and cook these up!  I used a 1/3 cup and poured it on my griddle.  Then I added mini chocolate chips or blueberries to my batter.  YUM!!

Tub Scrub

I am veering away from the normal recipe to give you a homemade non-toxic cleaning solution!
I have been impressed!

Usually you hear claims about how great something is and how great it cleans and often times it doesn't hold up to the claims!

This little mixture did!

Thank you Martha Stewart and I will now be buying bulk Baking Soda from Costco!  I also know you can add Baking Soda to your laundry to whiten your whites too!

Tub Scrub

(found on pinterest via http://www.marthastewart.com/)

• Baking Soda
• dish soap
• essential oils for smell

Add 1 tsp soap and several drops of essential oil (tea tree, eucalyptus, rosemary or peppermint) to 1 cup baking soda.  Add just enough water to form a paste and scrub away!