Sweet Treats with Peggy

Recipe number two from Lauren Chattman's "Mom's Big Book of Cookies".  These are nice and chewy.  Enjoy!

Last weekend I took Ryan for a overnight college visit to Wells College in Aurora, NY.  We got there earlier than we needed to so we could explore the area.  The first town we went to was Ithica.  We went there because that is the only place in the entire area that has a mall.  It seems that Ryan needed to buy a pair of pants for her college visit.  I would have rather driven by Cornell University instead of shopping at Sears, but these things happen when you have a teen.   One of the places we ended up was a used book store. While Ryan bought Animal Farm by George Orwell, I went the more fun route. I purchased "Mom's Big Book of Cookies - 200 Family Favorites You'll Love Making and Your Kids Will Love Eating" by Lauren Chattman.  I looked the book up on Amazon from my phone and it looked like I was getting a really good deal.  On top of that, it looked brand new.  Not to mention, the recipes really caught my eye.  I knew ...

Thanks to my friend, Robyn Gray, I saw this on Facebook.  I immediately passed it onto Ryan (who thinks Oreos are the bees knees) and knew that I would be making it sooner rather than later.  I've always said there are two flavor combinations that are my favorite:  mint and chocolate and peanut butter and chocolate.  Adding Oreo cookies to the mix just makes it that much better. The hardest part, and by that I don't really mean hard, but time-consuming, is adding the brownie batter to the cookies.  Other than that, you will complete these in no time at all.  If you need a baked good right away, then pull out these three simple things:  Oreo cookies, peanut butter and a brownie mix.  You won't be sorry (and neither will those who eat them)!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving day yesterday with their family and friends.  I spent Thanksgiving with my girls at my sister, Ann's house.  I want to thank Ann and her husband, Adrian for a great day.  I am extremely thankful for my children, friends and a job that took me a long time to get.  I am grateful for military personnel who put their lives on the line every day so that we may live with the freedoms we are so lucky to have. When I think of the Fall or Thanksgiving, I automatically think of pumpkin.  I'm not sure why I don't think of pumpkin any other time of the year.  Maybe it's the spices that give that warm feeling and comforts of home. I made this for yesterday's dinner and it was delicious.  Even though it is perfect for Thanksgiving, please feel free to make it any time of the year! CAKE  1/4 cup powdered sugar 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. ground ...

Full credit for the ultimate vanilla cake and vanilla frosting goes to Rosie from  Sweetapolita .  Not only were the directions really easy to follow, but I made two batches on two different days and they came out exactly the same AND perfect.  I have never made a cake this way before.  It was backwards from the way I've usually done it.  It almost seemed like making pastry for a minute.  The only thing I did different was add 1 Tbs. of vanilla bean paste and then 1 Tbs. of vanilla extract.

Happy Halloween!!!!  I made a Halloween version of my Caramel Crisp ( check out the original recipe here ) for my work today.  Everyone loved it.  I used chopped Butter Fingers and Reeses Pieces for the candies.  I added food coloring to the white chips (it seized up in the microwave so I added a little bit of vegetable oil and put it back into microwave and it was okay, but still a little thick.  Since I could not drizzle it with a fork, I put it in a pastry bag and used a ribbon tip)  After drizzling the milk and white chocolate over the top, I topped it all off with some Halloween sprinkle decorations.  The funny thing is the only containers I had to put it in were Christmas.  Nothing like mixing two holidays together :)