Caramel Chocolate Chip Blondies

Caramel Chocolate Chip Blondies

It’s probably too early to be using the “S” word, but Spring is certainly on my mind today. Late tonight/early tomorrow we “Spring” the clocks forward one hour, it is the beginning of Spring Break week for our local schools and universities, and yesterday the temperature rose to 45 degrees, which caused snow to melt rapidly off rooftops and flow in rivulets to the ground.

Although I know realistically that Spring is still several weeks away, I’m really looking forward to the day when I can put our heavy jackets, gloves, scarfs, and hats away in storage, and not think about snow until next Winter.

Now these Caramel Chocolate Chip Blondies have nothing to do with the “S” word, but biting into one of these sweet and chewy bars makes me as happy as the thought of an early Spring.

~Enjoy~




Caramel Chocolate Chip Blondies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
15 individually wrapped Kraft caramels, cut into fourths

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.

Unwrap Kraft caramels and cut each caramel into fourths; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla extract; mix until combined. Gradually stir in dry ingredients until well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips and caramel pieces. Spread the batter evenly into prepared baking pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

(To print this recipe, click on the ‘Print & PDF’ button below)

Strawberry-Lemon Cheesecake Squares

Strawberry-Lemon Cheesecake Squares

I found the cutest little bag of Meyer lemons in the produce section of my local grocery store the other day. I have seen several of my fellow bloggers using Meyer lemons in their recipes, but I have never used them before… until now. If you haven’t seen or heard of Meyer lemons, you can find the Wikipedia description of them here. And here’s a photo of the bag I found. Isn’t it cute?

Meyer Lemons

I brought the lemons home, and then began the long process of trying to decide what the first thing would be to make with them. I took a peek inside my refrigerator, and found some strawberries that needed to be used before they took a turn for the worse, and a package of cream cheese. These Strawberry-Lemon Cheesecake Squares turned out to be the perfect fit for the ingredients I had on hand.

The juice of the Meyer lemons is sweeter and less acidic than regular lemons, and when combined with the cream cheese, it makes a wonderfully creamy and slightly tangy cheesecake layer to sit atop the crunchy cookie crust. The strawberries perched daintily on top of the cheesecake layer adds a splash of color, and another touch of sweetness.

I used Nilla wafers for the cookie crust in this recipe, but you could also experiment using a chocolate cookie or graham crackers for the crust. Quick tip: I like to crush cookies for recipes by placing the cookies inside a Ziploc bag, and rolling over the bag with a rolling pin – like so:

~Enjoy~




Strawberry-Lemon Cheesecake Squares

Crust
1 cup vanilla cookies, crushed (approx. 26 cookies)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons butter, cold

Cheesecake Layer
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Topping
fresh strawberries, sliced

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8×8″ baking pan with cooking spray.

For the Crust: In a medium bowl, whisk together the cookie crumbs and flour. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Cookie crust

Bake for 10 minutes, or until crust is set but not brown. Remove from oven.

For the Cheesecake Layer: In a medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until well-blended. Add in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, and baking powder. Pour over the warm crust. Top with sliced strawberries.

Cheesecake layer with sliced strawberries

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the center is set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Move pan to refrigerator and chill. Cut into squares.

Strawberry-Lemon Cheesecake Squares

(To print this recipe, click on the ‘Print & PDF’ button below)

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Bars

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Bars

Wow! Has it really been two weeks since I wrote my last blog post? I’ve been so busy lately, that time just flew right by. In fact, I was so busy that I didn’t even have time to bake anything for Valentine’s Day. I was bound and determined to bake something tasty for this weekend though, and I believe I succeeded in the “tasty” department with these Strawberry Chocolate Chip Bars.

My inspiration for these bars came from a limited edition box of Chocolatey Strawberry Special K Cereal that I recently purchased from my local grocery store. Strawberry and chocolate are a match made in heaven, and I fell in love with this cereal from the very first bite.

When I started thinking about what I wanted to bake for dessert this weekend, the first thing that popped into my head was that I had to make something with chocolate and strawberries. These Strawberry Chocolate Chip Bars are exactly what my sweet tooth and taste buds were looking for. The crust is crisp, the strawberry filling is gooey, and the crumb topping with the chocolate chips is rich and sweet.

It’s just a shame that I didn’t get to make these for Valentine’s Day, but you know what they say – better late than never.

~Enjoy~




Strawberry Chocolate Chip Bars

Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter

Filling:
3/4 cup strawberry jam

Topping:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

For the Crust: In a medium bowl, combine the flour and granulated sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until crust is set but not brown. Remove from oven and spread jam evenly over hot crust.

For the Topping: In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over jam layer.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Place back in oven for 30 seconds, or until chocolate chips begin to soften and look glossy.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into squares.

(To print this recipe, click on the ‘Print & PDF’ button below)

Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is everyone ready for the big game this weekend? I’m still putting the finishing touches on my Super Bowl menu, but I know for sure that we will have plenty of chicken wings, barbecue meatballs, and chips & dip to munch on while we watch the game.

Oh yes, and to satisfy our sweet tooth’s, I made a batch of super-sized Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies. This is a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I folded a large amount of mini peanut butter cups into the dough, in addition to semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The cookies are big, soft, chewy, and because they’re so chock-full of peanut butter cups and chocolate chips, we’re guaranteed to get a gooey nugget of sweetness in every bite.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and for you football fans out there – have fun watching the game!

~Enjoy~




Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups Reese’s Minis Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and peanut butter cups.

Drop by large cookie scoopfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes approximately 40 big cookies.

(To print this recipe, click on the ‘Print & PDF’ button below)

Easy Dutch Apple Pie

Easy Dutch Apple Pie

We’re having a really cold weekend here, with low temperatures dipping well below zero, and high temperatures hovering just a few degrees above. (currently it is -9 degrees out)

Since it’s so bitter cold outside, I decided this would be a good weekend to stay indoors and take care of some household tasks that I have been putting off. (procrastinating on really)

Even though these tasks are keeping me pretty busy this weekend, I still wanted to take some time to whip up a quick dessert for dinner tonight. This Easy Dutch Apple Pie couldn’t be a more perfect dish to make when you only have a short amount of time. The oatmeal crust and topping combine together in a jiffy, and makes a wonderful base for the apple filling. The taste is pretty similar to an apple crisp, but in pie form.

I purposely used a sugar-free apple pie filling, in order to make my pie a little healthier, but you can certainly use the regular apple pie filling with sugar added, if desired.

Well, it’s time for me to get back to work. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!!

~Enjoy~




Easy Dutch Apple Pie

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 (20 ounce) cans Wilderness No Sugar Added Apple Pie Filling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, and butter until crumbly. Set aside 1 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie pan.

Pour apple pie filling into crust; top with reserved crumb mixture.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

(To print this recipe, click on the ‘Print & PDF’ button below)