Oreo Rice Krispies Treats

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Last week my husband and I were invited to our Halloween block party.  I wanted to make a sweet treat to bring with us, like the kids need more sugar.  I found this recipe and wanted to make it with Halloween Oreo's instead of regular ones to make them more festive.  This recipe is super fun because it combines two delicious childhood favorites.  I don't think ill ever make plain Rice Krispies Treats again after trying these.  Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

Happy Halloween

Oreo Rice Krispies Treats - Adapted from Chef-in-Training
Yield: 18 Rice Krispies Treats

Ingredients:

6 Cups Rice Krispies Cereal
22 Regular Oreos, chopped (I used halloween oreos)
5 Cups Mini Marshmallows (or 1 bag)
3 Tablespoon Butter - unsalted
White chocolate for drizzle, optional

Directions:

1. Spray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray - Or line pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, pour measured Rice Krispies Cereal.
3. Chop and mash Oreos. You can do this by putting them in a ziplock bag to help keep the mess under control. You want the Oreos to be a variety of sizes from chunky to finely crushed.
4. Add Oreos to Rice Krispies cereal and stir to combine.
5. In a medium sauce pan, heat butter and marshmallows together over medium heat, stirring constantly, until they melt together.
6. Pour melted marshmallows over cereal and oreos and use a spatula sprayed with non-stick cooking spray to quickly combine all the ingredients.
7. As soon as all the cereal is combined, spread mixture into the prepared 9×13″ dish. Use the spatula to press the mixture around the dish, and flatten as needed.
8. Let sit until completely cooled. NOTE: When the rice krispies treats and cooled I drizzled mine with some white chocolate and let it set until it hardened for a pretty finish.
9. Enjoy!!

Loaded M&M Cookie Pie

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The spring holidays are officially over but (if you're like me) the sweet tooth is here to stay. All of the left over Reese's, M&M's, Cadbury eggs and so on are beginning to get tiresome, so I found a quick and easy way to use up unnecessary candy. This Loaded M&M Cookie Pie is the perfect answer to my/your "problem."

This recipe is great for any left over holiday candy - not just Easter - but Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day as well! The best thing about it is that it only takes 30 minutes to make (including prep AND bake time!). It's very quick and easy and was (as usual) a huge hit. 

Adapted from: Averiecooks.com
Yield: One Pie - about 8 slices
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (1 stick), melted
1 Egg, room temperature
3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 1/3 Cups Flour
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1/2 Cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips - I used mini chocolate chips
1/2- 1 Cup M&Ms, divided (I used peanut and peanut butter but all flavors are ok!)
6 or more individually wrapped small Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (or whatever candy you have laying around)
6 or more Rolo (or other mini/bite-size candy bar) - I didn't add these

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9-inch pie dish very well with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
3. Wait about 5 minutes before adding the egg so you don't cook it. Add the egg, sugars, vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
4. Add the flour, optional salt, and stir until just combined; do not overmix.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Add about 1/4 cup M&Ms and stir to combine; reserve remainder.
7. Turn batter out into prepared pie dish, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
8. Evenly add the remaining M&Ms to the top of the batter, pushing them down slightly to anchor.
9. Evenly insert the peanut butter cups and Rolos (or candy of your choice) into the batter, pushing them down so the top is almost flush with the surface of the dough.
10. Bake for about 24 to 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. If your pie has risen in the center, it will deflate as it cools. Allow pie to cool in dish for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Pie is meant to be on the soft and under baked side in the center while edges are crisper.  In general, if you prefer more well-done cookies, bake a few minutes longer. Pie will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week.
11. Enjoy!

Cookies & Cream Cookie Bars

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These Cookies & Cream Cookie Bars are always the first thing to go when I bring them to a party. Everyone loves them, and when you cut them into smaller servings, there is more to go around (and you don't feel as guilty)! If your stumped on what to bring to a party for New Year's Eve, these cookie bars are great as either an appetizer or a dessert or both! The pictures show the Halloween Edition of these cookie bars, but as the seasons change, so do the editions of Oreos, so these practically go with any holiday or occasion!

Oreo Cookie Bars - Adapted from Skinny Not Skinny

Yield: 16 - 24 bars depending on the size

Ingredients:
1½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup butter, softened
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
½ cup white chocolate chips
20 Halloween Oreos (chopped) - Or Red Holiday Oreos for Christmas - or regular oreos for an everyday treat!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar and butter in large bowl; mix well. This mixture will be crumbly.
2. Line a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper and lightly grease the paper with shortening. This is VERY important to do or your bars are going to stick to the bottom of the pan. Reserve 1 cup oat mixture and press remainder onto bottom of the baking pan.
3. Bake 10 minutes.
4. While the crust is cooking, chop the Halloween Oreos into pieces.
5. After removing from oven, immediately pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crust.
6. Sprinkle with chocolate and white chocolate chips and top with Oreo pieces.
7. Top with reserved oat mixture; press down firmly.
8. Bake an additional 25 minutes. Topping will be lightly browned.
9. Cool bars for at least 15 minutes and then cut into bars.
10. ENJOY!

Easy Pumpkin Ice Cream

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Today is the first day of October and that means its pumpkin season!  For the next two months I will eat as much pumpkin as possible, with a minimum of one serving per day, if not more.  So I had an opened can of pumpkin and needed to make something with it and needless to say, ice cream was the winning recipe.  I couldn't find a good recipe that I liked to I made my own.  There is a recipe for easy vanilla ice cream on Allrecipes.com that I have made before and its delicious and quick so I used that as a base.  I dumped in the rest of the can of pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and vanilla and whisked it up.  I added it to my ice cream maker and within 20 minutes I had a wonderful batch of pumpkin pie ice cream.  This recipe is super simple and easy for anyone new to making ice cream, or if you don't have time to make a more complicated ice cream.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Let the pumpkin season commence!!!

Pumpkin Ice Cream Recipe

Yield: 1.5 Quarts

Ingredients:

1 (14oz) Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

3-4 Cups Half & Half - I used milk because that was all I had but any combination of milk to cream works, just depends on how creamy and rich you want it.

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree (This amount doesn't have to be exact, I used just over a cup)

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/4 Teaspoon Cloves

1/4 Teaspoon Ginger

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to large bowl and whisk together.
2. Add all ingredients to your ice cream maker and let churn for 15-20 minutes.
3. Let the ice cream get hard in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
4. Serve and Enjoy!



Butterfinger Brownies

Do you have leftover Halloween candy!?  Here is one way you can use some of it.  See I planned for this to happen.  When I picked out my Halloween candy, I only bought stuff I knew I could bake with after.  When the trick-or-treaters stopped coming, I dumped out the candy bowl and starting sorting and counting my loot.  I found this recipe and knew it would be a perfect recipe for my 12 butterfingers.  Tomorrow I am making something with my 10 Heath Bars, so look forward to that recipe!  Anyway, I pulled these straight out of the oven to take to Working Wardrobes to share some good news with them.  The whole staff at Working Wardrobes has been so supportive and helpful over the years, I cant thank them enough.  These were a huge hit and I will be making another treat on the 13th for all the volunteers at the Baubles & Bags Brunch.  If anyone lives in the Los Angeles area and wants to support a great organization that helps men and women in crisis get back to work, then click on that link!!  Thanks!!

So the good news is I was offered a full time job working for a company called Regus.  I will be working at one of their offices in Newport Beach.  I am thrilled about this opportunity, but I am worried I wont have much time for baking.  I guess time will tell what my schedule is like, but I want to continue blogging.  So I am closing my Nordstrom chapter soon, and opening another one.  YAY!

Photo taken in my car with my iPhone... not great!!

Butterfinger Brownies - Adapted from Recipe Girl

Yield: 25 brownies
Ingredients:
4 Ounces Unsweetened Chocolate
1/2 Cup Butter, unsalted and softened
1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter - don't use natural pb, use something like skippy or jif
2 Cups Light Brown Sugar
4 Eggs
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Flour
16 (.65 ounce) Butterfingers candy bars, chopped, big chunks are okay (or just use 10.4 ounces total) - I only had 12 bars and it was enough...

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9x13-inch pan with foil; grease the foil.
2. Melt chocolate in glass bowl in the microwave- short bursts of 30 seconds; stir after each burst and remove from microwave when melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix butter, peanut butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. 
4. Mix in melted chocolate. Blend in flour. Stir in chopped butterfingers (reserving about 3/4 cup for the top).
5. Spread batter into prepared pan. Top with reserved Butterfingers chunks.
6. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Watch closely and remove from oven when toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.
7. Once cooled, peel off the tin foil.  Slice into squares.  If you want, refrigerate until brownies are well-chilled- if overnight, cover with plastic wrap. 
8. Enjoy!!

Rolled Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I found these stencils at Michael's.  They are Martha Stewart and are so fun for Halloween!  I did a chocolate cookie with powdered sugar, but you could also do a regular sugar cookie and use cocoa powder for the stencils.  You can also use them on cupcakes!  

Chocolate Rolled Cookies - Adapted from All Recipes
Yield: Depends on cookie cutter size...
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg and 1 egg yolk

Directions:

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside. 
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and egg yolk. Add the vanilla. 
3. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 2 pieces, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Dough is sticky so be sure to add more flour to the rolling surface as needed. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. To use the stencils, place the stencil on the cookie and sift some powdered sugar on them.  
7. Enjoy!!