Peanut Butter Snickeroos

Ingredients:

1 bag of Snickers Peanut Butter “Fun Size”, Frozen
1 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. old fashioned rolled oats


Directions
Freeze Snickers Peanut Butter Fun Size for at least 2 hours before preparations begin.  Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray baking tray with cooking spray for baking, or butter and flour.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, and salt.In a large mixing bowl, beat together the softened butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, scraping the sides often. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again until fully incorporated, again scraping the sides.  Add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing on slow speed after each addition. When fully combined, begin to add the oats, mixing again. Stir the dough by hand once more, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure there aren’t any pockets of flour or oats that aren’t mixed in.

Remove Snickers from freezer and unwrap 12 pieces. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out a ball of dough and place it into the palm of your clean and dry hand. Flatten the dough a bit between your two palms, and then place the a frozen Snickers in the middle of the dough.  Using your hands, force the dough to mold around the candy piece until it is completely covered in the dough, with no holes or cracks. You should not be able to see the chocolate of the Snickers at all. Place the now square-shaped dough ball into one of the cups in your pan. Repeat until you have used all the dough.

I made 12 with a little left over dough that I turned into about 3 plain oatmeal cookies, but if you have more Snickers, feel free to make more than 12.

Bake until the cookies are a deep golden brown, between 14 and 17 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through the cooking time to get optimal browning. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then move to a wire cooling rack. When entirely cool, decorate with chocolate icing.


Chocolate Decorating Icing
1/2 c semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips, melted
2 tbsp powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time. Stop and stir after each 30 seconds until completely melted. Add the powdered sugar and stir until completely dissolved. This should thicken the chocolate considerably.

Spoon melted chocolate into a medium sized ziploc bag. Press out the air and seal tightly, twisting the bag so that all the chocolate moves into the corner of the bag. Alternatively, use a disposable piping bag. Cut a very tiny corner off the ziploc or piping bag, and then decorate the Snickerdoos to your desire, with stripes, cross hatching, zigzags, or dots.

Strawberry Shortcake

I got this great recipe from Bridget over at itsahuntlife.blogspot.com!

ina's strawberry shortcake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2T sugar, plus some turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top
1 T baking powder
1 t kosher salt
12 T unsalted butter, cold and diced
2 extra large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
1 egg beaten with 2 T water or milk for egg wash

For the strawberries, I just cut them up, added a little lemon juice, orange juice, and about 3 T sugar. I also made heavy cream into whipped cream and added some sugar and vanilla extract to that.

1. preheat the oven to 400.

2. Sift the flour, 2 T sugar, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Blend in the butter on low speed until it is the size of peas. Combine eggs and heavy cream and with the mixer on low, add it to flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended.

3. Dump dough on well-floured surface. Flour a rolling pin and roll dough until it's 1/2 inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut 16 biscuits with a 2-inch plain round cutter. place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle turbinado sugar (like the raw sugar) on top. Cook 15-20 minutes.

To serve, give everyone a shortcake, some strawberries, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream. Yum.

Homemade Pizza Dough

I decided to have all the little Haslem-cousins over to make personal pizza's and to play! I got this recipe from my friend, Lisa! They make pizza's every Friday night and she said this is the ultimate Pizza dough and SHE WASN'T LIEING! It was freaking delish. Perfect amount of sweetness! It makes 8 small personal pizzas or 2 big crusts. If I were doing pizza's for just my family (2 adults and 2 kids), then I would take half the dough and wrap it in saran wrap and place in a freezer bag and freeze it for a short time. Or if you want bread sticks you can quickly make bread sticks out of the second half.

Place in KitchenAid:
1 1/2 c warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
pinch sugar

Let proof until its foamy and then add:
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour or until dough pulls away from the bowl and looks smooth.

Roll into a nice ball (DO NOT flour counter-top before rolling. It can make the dough to dry. To prevent sticking spray your counter-top with cooking spray). Place ball into a bowl and cover and let it rise for about 30 mins and then I roll it out. Be sure to bake for about 8-10 minutes at about 425 BEFORE you add your sauce and toppings. Pull it out of the oven and add sauce, cheese, and toppings. After adding toppings, brush the top of everything with a little melted butter and season with Garlic Salt if you would like. Put back in the oven for another 8-10 minutes. You will know when it is done.

Enjoy!

Pizza Sauce

This was seriously the easiest and yummiest sauce ever. I got the recipe from my friend, Lisa, who got it from All Recipes!

1 (6oz) can tomato paste
6 oz of warm water
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
2 med garlic cloves, minced
1Tbsp honey
! Tbsp Marsala cooking wine
3/4 tsp chopped onion flakes
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp pepper

In a small bowl combine all ingredients and make sure to break up any clumps of cheese. Allow to sit for 30 minutes to let flavors blend. This was enough to do 2 full pizzas. Feel free to make extra and freeze for your next Pizza night!

Enjoy!

Soy Glazed Salmon (or whatever fish really)!

(Sorry, I'm not a fabulous food photographer!)

I got this recipe of CuisineNie who got it from Martha Stewart. I had some Alaskan Trout on hand and used it instead of Salmon. But, really any non-fishy tasting fish would work! It was super good and not too strong! Enjoy!

Soy-Glaze:

1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry white wine, or water
2 pounds salmon fillet
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. with a rack in the center. Make the glaze: In a small bowl, stir brown sugar, olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, and white wine until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Cut salmon fillet into 4 equal-size pieces; arrange, skin side down, in a single layer in a baking dish. Pour glaze over the fish, and turn to coat evenly.
3. Bake until fish is opaque but still bright pink inside, basting every few minutes with glaze from baking dish, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

Now, because I had individually frozen Alaskan Trout, I just popped them in the oven frozen and they had to cook about 25-30 minutes. I would open and re-baste about every 7-10 minutes!

I served it with THIS rice, but instead of rice I used Quinoa!

Pineapple and Cilantro Rice (or Quinoa)

Pineapple and Cilantro Rice (or Quinoa)

2 cups uncooked brown basmati rice or Quinoa
1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, leaves, coarsely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice (I used an orange bell pepper I had on hand)
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 lime, cut into wedges, for garnish

Directions

1. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Stir in the rice or Quinoa, reduce to a simmer. Cook until rice is tender but still firm, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain; rinse with cool water.
2. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in the pineapple, cilantro, bell pepper, and olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper. Cover, and chill. Serve cooled with lime wedges.

After the fact I also thought that pine nuts might add a nice little crunch to it. I may or may not try it next time! haha :)

Chocolate Hearts

I sadly didn't get a chance to make these this Valentines Day, but I for sure will try these out next year! So cute! Thanks to Bailey Ence for blogging about them!

Chocolate Hearts:
Melt some semi sweet chocolate chips on the top of a double broiler or in a bowl in the microwave at 50% power. I usually do it in the microwave. Start out with 30 seconds and then stir, and then 15 second increments until they are melted.

Put the melted chocolate into a pastry bag with a very small tip (#2,3,4 would work) or you can use sandwich bag. Simple scoop the melted chocolate into the bag and cut a tiny bit of the corner off (really small).

Have a silpat (or waxed paper) lined cookie sheet ready. With your pastry or sandwich bag of melted chocolate, write XOXO or draw hearts onto the silpat lined sheet. When you have the amount desired put the whole tray into the freezer to set for 10 minutes or so. Once the chocolate is set, carefully lift them off and place on the top of the frosted brownie bite. ENJOY!