12 Weeks of Christmas Treats–Week 5 Rice Krispies Treats

 

Welcome to Week 5 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats blog event hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic! Check out the links in the hop below and head over to Meal Planning Magic to learn more about joining in the fun!

This week I picked a really easy but much-loved recipe – Rice Krispies Treats. These are a favorite of mine because of how quick and versatile they are while also being incredibly tasty. I used pumpkin spice marshmallows for these but they are also awesome with classic marshmallows. Last year around Christmas I found French Vanilla and Gingerbread flavored marshmallows as well and I imagine either of those would be fantastic too.

One of the great things about Rice Krispies Treats is that you can make these while something else is baking since they don’t need to go in the oven and they don’t take very long to make. Then you can just put the pan aside and move on to something else with one more thing marked off your to-do list. Gotta love that!

And I’ve found that these treats are always a hit. They are a popular item in gift baskets, always seem to disappear from dessert tables, and are always one of the first things gone from bake sales. So clearly I’m not the only one that loves these.

I had never had pumpkin spice marshmallows and though I thought they were a bit different at first I did really like them. They taste a lot like the pumpkin spice kisses. These would be a big hit for Thanksgiving too I think, especially with kids!

I’ve never frozen Rice Krispies Treats before but the Rice Krispies Treat web site says you can freeze them by cutting them and placing them in an airtight container with wax paper between each layer. They will freeze well for up to 6 weeks and just need to sit out for at least 15 minutes before serving. This makes them an even better treat for the holidays I think!

Rice Krispies Treats

From ricekrispies.com

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons Butter

1 Package Marshmallows, regular size

6 Cups Rice Krispies cereal

Directions

Melt the butter in a large pot over low heat. Once melted add in the marshmallows and stir until they are totally melted.

Remove the pot from the heat and add the cereal. Stir to coat completely.

Pat the mixture into a 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed liberally with non-stick spray. Allow the treats to cool. Cut and enjoy!

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats–Week 4 Pumpkin Spiced Nuts

Welcome to Week  of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats blog event hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic! Check out the links in the hop below and head over to Meal Planning Magic to learn more about joining in the fun!
I love spiced nuts and pumpkin spiced anything. So pumpkin spiced nuts are heavenly! I will definitely be making these again and using different nuts – pecans and almonds are definitely on my to-try list. These are so good and so easy to make. They would definitely be a hit at any holiday gathering or in any holiday goody bag.

Pumpkin Spiced Nuts
From Tasty Kitchen
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Water
2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
3 Cups Nuts, chopped
In a sauce pan, mix the water and sugar to make a syrup. Stir over medium high heat until it boils. Mix in the pumpkin pie spice.
Add in the nuts and stir to coat.
Turn hear to medium and stir until all the moisture has evaporated. Crystals will start to form on on the nuts and it will get very thick.
Pour the nuts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and allow to cool. You may need to break apart any clumps.

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats Week 3–Pumpkin Bread

Welcome to Week 3 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats blog event hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic! Check out the links in the hop below and head over to Meal Planning Magic to learn more about joining in the fun! I love pumpkin treats. Pumpkin is such a fantastic flavor and can be made so much more complex with seasoning and additions. Pumpkin bread is one of my favorite things to make. So easy to throw together, stick in the oven, and just walk away. It makes the house smell fantastic and makes a great gift. Quick breads are great because they can be frozen and pulled out to give away or grace a sweets table. To freeze just wrap the loaf thoroughly in plastic wrap and place in a zip top bag. Loaves thaw wonderfully and taste just as great as they did fresh. This recipe is great because it is low-fat but full of flavor. The original recipe covers the top with pepitas but I didn’t have any so I left them off. This bread is really moist and has a great deep flavor from the spices. I will definitely be making this again and again. Low Fat Pumpkin Bread From Skinnytaste 1 1/2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
1 1/4 Cups AP Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Soda
2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
T1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
1/4 Tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 Egg Whites (large egg)
1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x5 inch bread pan. In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
In another bowl combine oil, egg whites, pumpkin, and vanilla. Beat with a mixer until thick.
Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture. Do not over mix.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Top with 2 tablespoons pepitas if desired.
Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the loaf.

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats Week 2–Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Welcome to Week 2 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats blog event hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic! There were so many great recipes last week and I can’t wait to see what everyone made for this week! Check out the links in the hop below and head over to Meal Planning Magic to learn more about joining in the fun!

This week I decided to make chocolate chip granola bars. Yes, granola bars. I realize that these are by no means a traditional Christmas treat but I think they would be a great item to give away at the holidays. First of all, these aren’t your traditional crunchy granola bar. They’re more like a dense oatmeal cookie (if you’ve ever bought those oatmeal to go bar things these sort of remind a little bit of those). But these are sweet, especially with the chocolate chips thrown in.
These also freeze great and would be a breeze to add to a gift basket or bag. To freeze just wrap each bar in some plastic wrap and then place in a sealable bag or container and put in the freezer. You can then just add the wrapped bars to a cute little bag (Wilton makes great holiday themed bags for cookies and candy) or stack and tie together with a pretty bow. Presto! A perfectly gift-able item.
These bars are also great because, as we all know, after all the eating that happens from Thanksgiving until the end of the year it would be nice to have something available that was both homemade and not totally horrible for you.
Outside of the holidays these are a great item to make as well. They come together incredibly quickly – I’m talking not even 10 minutes. And the bake time isn’t much longer. You can make these without any crazy ingredients (I had everything on hand already). Plus, I eat a lot of granola bars, they’re my go to snack at work and while out and about, so it was nice to have something so familiar to reach for but in an even better version because I knew exactly what I was eating. Considering how expensive store bought granola bars can be and all the packaging waste they create these are such a great alternative.
I will definitely be making these a lot – for the holidays and all year round.

Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars
From: The Frugal Girl
Ingredients
2 Cups Quick Oats
1 Cup AP Flour
1/2 Cup brown sugar, packed (can use 1/4 cup to 3/4 cup to make the bars more or less sweet)
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Honey
1 Egg
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch pan very liberally.
In a large bowl mix together the first 6 ingredients.
In a small bowl mix together the last 4 ingredients.
Pour the wet ingredients over the oat mixture in the large bowl. Stir until it is completely mixed.
Pour the mixture into the greased pan and spread it evenly over the pan using your spoon or spatula (or hands!).
Bake at 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool. Once completely cool cut into desired size. If freezing or gifting wrap each bar individually. If not freezing or gifting you can store these in an air-tight container on the counter.
Check out the Frugal Girl’s site for variations including an oatmeal raisin version and using wheat germ in this recip.e

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats Week 1–Apple Cinnamon Scones

Welcome to week 1 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats! I’m so excited to participate in this blog event hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic. I’ve wanted to do one of these events for a few years now but have always chickened out. This year I heard a few people on my cooking board mention this event and thought it sounded like so much fun so I got brave and signed up. I’m so excited to see what all the other bloggers make these next 12 weeks. Heck, I’m excited to see what I make since I haven’t finalized all my ideas yet!

So, let’s get started! Originally I figured I’d start with a cookie of some sort, but I had this bag of applies sitting on the counter just begging to be turned into some sort of yummy item. Then I started seeing a bunch of scones pop up on Pinterest and my mind started to think – apples….scones…apple scones? A little searching let me know that apple cinnamon scones are pretty popular (I’ve never had one before!) and the idea sounded great. But how does this tie in with Christmas Treats?
That part was actually pretty easy to figure out. Every year on Christmas we gather with my family to open presents and then eat lunch. There’s never any actual breakfast foods present so during the course of the morning we all end up wandering over to the table or counter where all the cookies and candies are and grabbing a snickerdoodle here, a peanut cluster there until we’re all full of sugar and ready to open more presents. So I figure a scone will be a perfect thing to put in amongst all the cookies. It is a breakfast food (less guilt!) and very tasty (more appealing!) plus it is easy to pick up and eat with one hand so you can check out your new toy with the other. These will definitely be nice to pull out of the freezer and have ready for Christmas morning.

  Apple Cinnamon Scones
From: Simply Scratch

Apple Cinnamon Scones

Yield: 8 scones

Ingredients:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour, plus some for dusting 1/4 Cup Sugar 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon 1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg, (fresh grated is awesome if you can find nutmeg – I can’t!) 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda 1/2 Teaspoon Salt 1 Stick {or 8 tablespoons} Unsalted Butter – chilled 2 Apples (I used Jonathan but golden delicious or honeycrisp were recommended and would be great), peel and shred – I had smaller apples so shred a packed 1 Cup 1/4 to 1/2 Cup Milk, plus more for brushing – Whole is recommended but I used 2% because that’s what I had 1 Tablespoon Sugar, for sprinkling Steps: Preheat oven to 425 and line a cookie or sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Mix all the ingredients up to and including the salt. Then cut your very cold butter into cubes and add to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter (or your fingers) blend the butter and flour mixture until it makes small crumbles. Add the apple and mix together. Slowly add the milk, adding in a small amount at a time while you stir until it forms a nice dough consistency. On a floured work surface knead the dough 8 to 10 times and then form into a rectangle. Cut into 8 wedge shapes (I used my pizza wheel and it worked great) and move to the pan using a spatula. Brush each wedge with a small amount of milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until you see that the edges are golden brown. I baked mine in 2 batches of 4 so as not to crowd my pan. Serve warm or microwave for just a few second to warm up.

Happy Birthday Julia!

Today would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday. I’m a huge Julia fan. She’s always been an inspiration in the kitchen and in general. I read My Life In France and I think she was such a great person. And the French Chef was such a cool little show. I really wish I could see her kitchen – can you imagine being someplace where all that magic happened?

I’m not the only one celebrating Julia’s birthday. Google has a great tribute to her on their homepage.

Also, PBS has been releasing these great remix videos and they recently released one of Julia. I love this so much.

 

Anyone planning to make anything in honor of Julia?

Gooey Butter Cake

 

This is a cake I’ve been making for years now. It is really simple and easy to throw together. It was one of the first things I started making when I started finding recipes online. In fact it is so old that I printed it out back in the day before I knew to write down the source.

I’ve searched all over and it seems that most people attribute this to Paula Deen, so that’s who I’ll link to but know that this recipe can be found all over.

This cake is very sweet and a small piece is really all you need. But it is a great cake and a big crowd pleaser. You can dust the top with powdered sugar but I think this would be great with a serving of berries or even some peaches. I think this cake is even better the second day so you may want to make it a day ahead. But definitely give it a try, you won’t be disappointed!

Gooey Butter Cake

Crust:

1 – 18 1/4 Ounce Box Yellow Cake Mix

1 Egg

8 Tablespoons Butter – Melted

Filling:

1 – 8 Ounce Cream Cheese

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

8 Tablespoons Butter – Melted

1 – 16 Ounce Box Powdered Sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Mix the cake mix, egg, and butter and pat into the bottom of the pan.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and then add the butter, vanilla, and eggs until well combined.Then add the powdered sugar until totally mixed. Spread this mixture over the cake mix layer.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. It will still be a little gooey so don’t be scared!

Let cool before serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.