Special K Blueberry Krispies Bars

Special K Blueberry cereal is a new flavor for us and I’ve blasted through a couple boxes of it in the last couple weeks. I even filled a container with the fruity flakes and clusters before I ran out the door the other day. By the time I got to work, I had crumbs trailing down my shirt and in my bra. I made Special K Blueberry treats that night. The sticky marshmallows seem to keep the cereal crumbs out of my shirt.

I still love traditional Special K bars, well, as traditional as they can be since I have a special Special K bars recipe (of which I am sworn to secrecy by my sister who holds the proprietary ingredients). There are just some things best kept between sisters.

Special K Blueberry Krispies

4 tablespoons butter

6 cups mini marshmallows

6 cups Special K Blueberry cereal (or any kind of your favorite cereal)

Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave. (I’ve found that using a large plastic bowl in the microwave works best.)

Stir in the marshmallows, coating with the melted butter.

Over medium heat or in the microwave, slowly melt the marshmallows. This only takes a minute or two. Spray your spoon or spatula with cooking spray. Stir butter and marshmallows until creamy. Add cereal. Stir until all the cereal is coated with marshmallow mixture.

Spray a 10×8-inch or similar pan with cooking spray or gently grease with butter. Dump the cereal mixture into the pan. To spread evenly, spray the back of a large metal spoon with cooking spray and spread the mixture.

Cool bars completely. Cut and serve. Store in an airtight container.

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They Ate All But Three | Chewy Cocoa P.B. Chip Cookies

It’s not clear to me how it happened, but somewhere between the pumpkin pie, washing the dishes, opening presents, and setting out all the goodies, all but three of my chewy cocoa peanut butter chip cookies disappeared.

And I faintly recall what sounded like a Food Network cookie review behind me as we washed dishes. There was talk of “they’re so soft,” “I like the crunchy edges,” and “there’s a perfect ratio of chocolate and peanut butter.”

Speaking of Christmas cookies, we can’t be the only family that’s overly ambitious with our Christmas baking. Between the bakers in my family, there are six ovens, six mixers, and countless pounds of sugar involved in the making of our annual goodies feast. Of course, we eat a traditional meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole, too.

And this table is not an accurate account of how many sweets we really had because there are more in the refrigerator and a big stack sitting on my entryway bench that hadn’t made it to the table yet. Luckily, we all pack up containers of our favorites and enjoy them for a few weeks after Christmas.

Chewy Cocoa Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

2 cups sugar

1-1/4 cups butter, softened

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

10-ounce package (1-2/3 cups) peanut butter chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat sugar and softened butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Stir together and then gradually add to the butter mixture; beating until well combined. Stir in the peanut butter chips until they are distributed evenly into the cookie dough.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. The cookies will not look like they are done but they will puff up a little when baking and then they’ll drop when they are cooling. They are soft with a little crunch around the edges. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then move them to a cooling rack.

Forget about cooling completely. Start eating them after they’ve cooled 15 minutes or so. Store in an airtight container. Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

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Minty Cream Cheese Cookies

It’s a cookie that swerves completely off the track from traditional chocolate chip cookies. You’ll grab a cookie thinking you’ll eat just one. You take a bite, roll your eyes back in delight as you chew the lightly crisp edge. With the next bite comes the soft, dense center that’s dotted with minty chocolate chips. A few more bites and you don’t even realize it but your hand is reaching for another.

1 cup butter-flavor shortening

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-3/4 cups mint chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Add shortening, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until well combined.

About half a cup at a time, mix the flour into the cream cheese batter on low speed just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. The cookies don’t spread so they are about the size that you place them on the pan.

Bake 8 minutes or until just lightly browned. Don’t overbake. Cool a few minutes in the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

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You know how most cookies are best warm out of the oven? These are good then too, but they seem even better after they’ve been sitting around a few hours or a day or so. What’s even better is if you make the dough, refrigerate it a day or two and then bake them. But keep your eye on the dough. Once the kids find out it doesn’t contain eggs, they’ll be sneaking spoonfuls when you’re not looking.

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Put your eggs in one basket, baking with room temperature eggs

This Christmas, I gave each of my sisters a ceramic egg crate like this one from west elm. I use mine (pictured below) to keep eggs from rolling onto the floor when I’m bringing them to room temperature for baking.

This brought up the topic that a few people in my family didn’t know — using room temperature eggs in some recipes lends itself to successful baked goods, especially those that contain high fat content (which is mostly the kind I bake) and recipes that require whipping egg whites. The simplest explanation I found is on the American Egg Board’s website. Read it here.

Bringing eggs to room temperature only requires 20-30 minutes of sitting out. You do not want to beat cheesecake batter with cold eggs. They’ll curdle the cream cheese faster than a mass exit on the last day of school. And there is nothing you can do to smooth it out again. (Which is why you also want your cream cheese at room temperature when you mix cheesecake batter.)

Using room temperature eggs doesn’t seem to affect cookies or traditional cakes, but everything blends nicer if eggs sit out for 15 minutes or so before baking. For recipes that call for cold eggs, you still want to use eggs straight from the refrigerator.

Use room temperature eggs to bake Reese’s^® Salted Cheesecake, Andes Mint Cheesecake, and the ever popular Chocolate Explosion Cheesecake.

Reese’s Salted Cheesecake

Happy baking!

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What’s in the layers? | Marshmallow chocolate cream cheese bars

You may recognize these treats from childhood potlucks in your church basement or from family reunions with people you didn’t really know. And unless your mom shared the recipe with you, the secret layers in these marshmallow chocolate cream cheese bars have long been revealed only to those who bake them.

Each bite holds four layers of cake-like brownies, sweet cream cheese, chewy chocolate, salty pecans, sticky marshmallows, and soft, almost flaky, chocolate vanilla frosting. You will wear a path in the floor to the refrigerator.

Prepare yourself — you’ll use three mixing bowls, a small bowl, and a saucepan to make these bars. But trust me. I would never steer you down a dishwashing path if it weren’t absolutely, without a chocolate doubt, worth every squirt of dish soap.

Marshmallow chocolate cream cheese bars

Brownie base:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (do not substitute margarine)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 (1-ounce) square unsweetened chocolate, melted and set aside to cool slightly

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup pecan pieces or chopped pecans

Cream cheese layer:

6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/4 cup butter, softened (do not substitute margarine)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup pecan pieces or chopped pecans

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3 cups miniature marshmallows

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter

2 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 (1-ounce) square unsweetened chocolate

2 tablespoons milk

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, melted chocolate, and vanilla; mix well on medium speed. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Gently stir into chocolate mixture. Fold in the pecans. Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan and spread evenly.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and beat until well combined. Beat in the sugar, egg, flour, and vanilla until creamy. Fold in the pecans. Spread evenly over the chocolate layer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cream cheese layer and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. Edges will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do not overbake or the brownie layer will be dry.

Remove the baking pan from the oven. Sprinkle the marshmallows over the chocolate chips. Bake another 2 minutes or until the marshmallows become puffed. Remove from oven. Gently spread the marshmallows over the layer of chocolate chips. Cool on a wire rack.

Frosting:

In a small saucepan over low heat, cook and stir the butter, cream cheese, unsweetened chocolate and milk. Slowly melt and stir until smooth. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time, beating after each cup. Beat in vanilla. Spread over the cooled bars. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen, depending on how large you cut them.

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The mint candies will be gone soon | Mint Pretzel Kisses

We’ve all seen them, probably even eaten a few — pretzels with melted candies gently pressed into their salty crevices. With all the different flavors people have created, I still go back to my favorite that my mom started making a few years ago. She uses Mint M&M’s candies. They’re the white, green, and red milk chocolate candies that have only been available around the Christmas holiday. So stock up, because they will be hard to find soon.

A few fun recipes I’ve seen for different pretzel snacks are Rolo Pretzel Turtles from Steamy Kitchen, Rolo Pretzels with Pretzel M&M’s from Two Peas and Their Pod, Candy Cane Pretzel Kisses from Cookies and Cups, Peanut Butter M&M Pretzel Kisses from Simply Scratch, and Dark Chocolate Mint Pretzel Kisses from Cookin’ Cowgirl.

Mint M&M’s Pretzel Kisses

Bag of mini pretzel twists or squares

Bag of HERSHEY’s Milk Chocolate Kisses

Bag of Mint M&M’s Chocolate Candies (They are usually in the Christmas candy isle.)

Preheat the oven to 200°. Place pretzels on a cookie sheet. (The number of HERSHEY’s Kisses you have determines how many pretzels you need.)

Unwrap the Kisses and place one in the center of each pretzel. Bake in the oven for 2-1/2 to 3 minutes. The Kiss will not look melted. Remove the pan from the oven. Immediately and gently push one mint M&M into each melted kiss. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. If there’s any left after sitting out all day.

If you haven’t made these before, here’s a tip. If you don’t bake these long enough, the kiss will be melted only on the top half. When you try to push the M&M into it, it won’t really stick well. On the other hand, if you bake these too long, the chocolate and turn hard again and when that happens, there’s no going back. You can’t reheat them to fix it. My suggestion, bake at 2-1/2 minutes and then remove the pan and try an M&M. If it works right away, great, you are done. If it seems to only push down halfway, stick in the oven for another 30 seconds. Check again. It only takes a few seconds too long to over-bake.

What kind of pretzel snacks do you make?

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{I Can’t Bake at 350 | No-bake S’mores Bars}

No-bake goodies are a hit in the summer when we don’t want our ovens to heat up the house. Like these S’mores bars. But now it’s fall and kitchens everywhere are heating up with warm nutmeg, spicy ginger, and creamy pumpkin sweets.

Except at my house. My oven is broken. So, to prevent myself from going into a serious I-can’t-bake-depression, I’m flipping through my recipe box for recipes that will satisfy my need to preheat to 350°. Gooey, chocolatey S’mores bars do the trick.

The key to making S’mores bars taste like the real campfire deal is to use HERSHEY’S chocolate candy bars.

S’mores Bars

3/4 cup light corn syrup

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup milk chocolate chips, preferably HERSHEY’S

2 (4.4-ounce each) HERSHEY’S chocolate candy bars, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

9 cups Golden Grahams cereal (12-ounce box)

3 cups mini marshmallows, plus a handful to sprinkle over the top if desired

Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with parchment paper or non-stick foil, or grease pan lightly with butter.

Microwave the corn syrup, butter, 1 cup milk chocolate chips, and 1 HERSHEY’S candy bar in a large bowl, uncovered, on medium-high for 1-1/2 minutes. Stir until almost smooth. Microwave again, uncovered, until large bubbles form on the surface, about 2-1/2 minutes longer.

Stir in vanilla. Pour the cereal in the bowl and toss until coated with mixture. Fold in the marshmallows. Chop the other HERSHEY’S candy bar and fold into the cereal mixture. Dump into the pan and press evenly with the back of a large metal spoon sprayed with cooking spray. Toss a handful of mini marshmallows on the top and tap down so they stick. If you have a kitchen torch, lightly toast the marshmallows.

Let cool completely. Cut and share.

See more of my no-bake recipes.

What other treats could I make while I wait for my oven to get fixed? The stove top still works.

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{Desk-hopping Cosmic Caramel Oatmeal Bars}

The recipe for these gooey, candy-topped oatmeal bars has been playing musical desk drawers since 2007. It showed up five years ago when my day job office put together an employee cookbook.

A student employee, John, brought the recipe card to work to submit to the cookbook. He has since moved on within the company but the recipe has stayed in my work group ever since, moving from desk drawer to desk drawer, even between buildings.

I added peanut butter to the crust but you could skip it if you want. And be creative with the toppings. Butterfinger pieces might be an excellent choice in place of M&M’s. You could even add chopped nuts or crushed pretzel pieces to add a salty crunch.

The original recipe was called Pizza Bars, but that seemed a little too plain for these hyped-up, caramel bars loaded with chocolate and oatmeal. So, they have a new name now, along with a new home — my recipe box, and yours.

Cosmic Caramel Oatmeal Bars

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup creamy peanut  butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cup flour

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 package caramels

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 cup mini M&M’s

1 cube vanilla almond bark

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a jelly roll pan. Unwrap caramels and place in a small saucepan. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine soda, salt, flour, and oats. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl cream butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until combined. Press mixture into greased pan.

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. While it’s baking, melt sweetened condensed milk and caramels over low heat in a small saucepan. Stir constantly as it burns easily. Remove from heat once creamy.

Pour the caramel over the baked crust. Toss the chocolate chips onto the hot caramel and let sit for a couple of minutes, just until the chocolate is soft. Gently spread the chocolate over the bars. Top with mini M&M’s.

In a small bowl, melt almond bark and oil in microwave, stirring until smooth. Drizzle with a fork over the bars. Let cool for a couple of hours before cutting. Store in an airtight container. Do not store in the refrigerator as the caramel sauce becomes hard.

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What toppings would you add to make these your own creation?

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{Boozy Sweets from the Big City | Margarita Cupcakes}

Pull up a bar stool. Or an office chair. Maybe even a reclining Adirondack chair by the pool. Because no matter where you indulge in these margarita cupcakes, you’ll be transported to a dreamy beach lined with sandy towels and sun-baked flip-flops.

Just hope no one steps on a pop-top and has to head on back home.

If you like margaritas, you’ll enjoy these light little cakes spiked with tequila and a twist of lime. Top them with a generous helping of the tart, salty frosting and it’s like licking the rim of your icy margarita.

The recipe is new to me. A fellow blogger from the Minneapolis area, Michelle Hals, shared it with me at Minnesota Blogger’s Conference. The recipe comes from her parents who got it from her dad’s cousin when he made the treats for a high school reunion. Michelle just started a new blog at http://www.michellehals.com so stop by and say hi. She also blogs at http://shelbellescraps.blogspot.com.

Thank you for sharing this family recipe with us, Michelle.

I lovingly call Minneapolis the big city because I live on an acreage in southwest Minnesota. I used to live in the Twin Cities and I love it there.

Margarita Cupcakes

Makes 18 regular-size cupcakes with generous frosting for each.

1 box white cake mix

7-1/2 ounces original margarita mix

2 ounces tequila (or triple sec if you prefer)

1/2 ounce orange juice

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a medium bowl, add all ingredients and beat on medium-high until fluffy. If you prefer, use triple sec in place of the tequila. The important thing is to use a total of 10 ounces of liquid. Line a regular cupcake pan with papers or grease with non-stick spray. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack.

Simple Lime Syrup (optional)

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I am not a huge fan of cupcakes because they aren’t usually as moist as I like. I found these cupcakes to be a little drier than I like, but an easy solution is to add the following simple syrup:

1 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup sugar

Combine the lime juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar completely dissolves. Bring it to a boil and continue to boil for 3-5 minutes until it becomes a golden color. Cool. Poke holes in the cupcakes with a toothpick. Using a pastry brush, generously brush the syrup over the tops of the cupcakes. Let soak in for 10 minutes and then frost the cupcakes.

Salty Lime Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

5 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons lime juice (use 3 and add more if needed for spreading consistency)

1/2 teaspoon salt

couple dashes of green food coloring if desired

In a medium bowl, cream the butter. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lime juice and salt, beating until desired spreading consistency. Add small amount of green food coloring if desired.

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Do you like your margarita rim salty or sweet?

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{Candy-coated Chocolate Oatmeal Bars}

Since a few of you don’t jump up and down drooling for peanut butter and chocolate, I made you a peanut butter-less version of Reese’s P.Bitty Bars. You get the same gooey chocolate middle and crumbly oatmeal layers, minus the peanut butter. Besides, I really needed to use up a bag of red and green M&M’s before I bring home Halloween candy.

Creamy chocolate filling:

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla

Oatmeal Dough:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

2 cups old-fashioned oats, or quick-cooking oats are fine too

1/2 cup M&M’s mini baking bits (You can use regular M&M’s, just chop them up.)

Preheat oven to 350. Line 13×9 baking pan with non-stick foil, letting ends extend over edges. Or, simply spray baking pan with cooking spray.

Over low heat in a small saucepan, slowly melt chocolate and sweetened condensed milk, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool for 1 minute, then stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside to cool while you make the dough.

In a large mixing bowl, beat softened butter, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Beat until fluffy. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating just until combined. Stir in oatmeal. Mix will be crumbly. Firmly press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the pan.

Spread the chocolate filling evenly over the dough.

With a pastry blender or with your hands, mix M&M’s baking bits into the remaining dough and then sprinkle over the chocolate. Lightly press the mixture into the chocolate so that once baked, the topping doesn’t fall off when you cut the bars.

Bake 25-30 minutes until lightly brown. Cool completely. If you used a foil-lined pan, pull the bars out and cut into squares on a cutting board. Otherwise, cut bars in pan. Store in an airtight container.

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