White Chocolate Blondies

I got this recipe from my friend Brad and they are seriously delicious. I like this recipe a lot better than my other blondie recipe. I made these on Sunday for dessert and the whole family loved them. They're chewy and buttery and the white chocolate is awesome. The original recipe calls for nuts and suggests lining the 9x13 pan with foil and then cooking spray, but I omitted the nuts and just buttered the 9x13 and they turned out beautifully.

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I just used my regular bleached flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) melted butter
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces white chocolate chips (1 cup) or chopped bar, or 3 ounces each white chocolate and seminsweet chocolate chips. (I used a whole chopped white chocolate bar plus 1/2 cup semisweet chips)
(1 cup pecans or walnuts--optional)*

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9x13 pan.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Whisk melted butter and brown sugar together in medium bowl until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in chocolate (and nuts) and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula.
4. Bake until top is shiny, cracked, and light golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes; do not overbake. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. (Or eat hot like I always do. So yummy.) Cut into squares and serve.

If you want to add the nuts, here's the first step of the recipe:
Spread nuts on large rimmed baking sheet and bake until deep golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer nuts to cutting board to cool; chop coarsely and set aside.

If you want to foil-line your pan:
Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 9x13 baking pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14-inch lenth foil and fit into width of baking pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet. (If using extra-wide foil, fold second sheet lengthwise to 12-inch width.) Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

(See why I just rubbed butter all over the pan???)

Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I got this recipe from Jadi's blog and have made these several times. (It might also be on the back of the Reese's peanut butter chips bag, I can't remember.) These are yummy and a fun variation if you're tired of plain old chocolate chip (though that rarely happens for me). As far as favorite peanut butter and chocolate cookies go, I also LOVE Peanut Butter Cup Cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Reese's peanut butter chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. Do not overbake--cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Thanks, Jadi!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

This is yet another fabulous recipe from Jadi's blog. If you like peanut butter with chocolate, you'll love these. The candy gets all melty and gooey, so they're totally delicious hot out of the oven, but are equally as yummy once they've cooled. You can either bake these in a mini-muffin tin or on a cookie sheet. I don't have a mini-muffin tin, so I just used a cookie sheet and loved how they turned out. Click here for the original recipe on Jadi's blog and you can see what they look like if you use the tin.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
30-40 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, frozen and unwrapped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

Cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.

Shape into 30-40 balls and place each ball into a mini-muffin pan or onto a cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for approximately 8 minutes (I think I did 7 or 7 1/2 minutes). Be careful not to over bake. They should be a very light golden color. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and then carefully remove from pan.

Wonderful with a cold glass of milk! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Roll

This is one of my absolute favorite desserts. I only make it around this time of year, and I look so forward to it. I made it today for our preschool Thanksgiving lunch, and used the last of the fresh pumpkin I had frozen after our trip to the pumpkin patch. I have never used canned pumpkin, but I'm sure it would be just as delicious. This version of the recipe is from Cooks.com. Seriously, try it--it's SOOOO good!

Pumpkin Jelly Rolls

3 eggs, beaten 5 minutes
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup pumpkin, canned
1 cup chopped pecans

Filling:
1 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces cream cheese
5 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add remaining ingredients to beaten eggs. Pour into well greased cookie sheet. (You need to use a jelly roll-style pan, or a cookie sheet with edges.) Sprinkle with 1 cup chopped pecans. Bake 15-20 minutes (I bake it for 15) at 375 degrees. Turn out onto a clean tea towel. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Roll into a roll. Let cool.

Filling: Mix powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla.

When cake is completely cool, unroll cake and spread on filling. Remove towel, roll back into a roll. Keep refrigerated.

(If you make this the night before and wrap it in plastic wrap/foil, it is very easy to slice into sections the next morning because the filling has had a chance to set. )

Fluffy Apple Dip

I love this time of year--the beautiful leaves, the holidays, and all the delicious recipes. I posted this recipe last year around this time, but thought I would re-post it because I love it so much and have made it for a couple of events recently. I found this apple dip recipe last year in the September/October issue of "Simple and Delicious" magazine. This is my absolute favorite dip, and it gets a great response whenever I make it. And the best part--it's SO easy.

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (*I never have this, so I always just use cinnamon, and I love how it turns out)
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
Assorted apple wedges

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and pie spice (or cinnamon) until blended; fold in marshmallow creme. Serve with apple wedges. Makes 2 cups.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Karey told me about her sister-in-law Lara's recipe blog, and I've been in love with it ever since. If you've never been to Recipe Shoebox, check it out! Lara updates regularly, and she includes a wide variety of family-friendly, healthy, and delicious recipes. One day recently I wanted to bake, but wanted something different than our usual chocolate chip. I'm not crazy about plain peanut butter cookies, but I found Lara's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, and we all loved them. Thanks, Lara! Click here for Lara's post of this recipe.

1 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, depending on on personal preference)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in dry ingredients. Stir in morsels. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

(Bonny's note: This dough also refridgerates well if you want to bake small quanitites at a time.)

Pancakes

We love having breakfast for dinner every once in a while. This is the pancake recipe I usually use; I found it on Cooks.com. Sometimes I'll substitute yogurt for some of the milk, and they always turn out nicely.

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour (Last time I made these, I had to add almost twice this amount of flour to get the right consistency)
2 3/4 cups milk, *see note
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use melted butter here, too)
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Beat egg with hand beater until fluffy; beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Grease a heated griddle.

Pour about 3 tablespoons batter from tip of large spoon or from pitcher onto hot griddle.

Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges (tiny bubbles will begin to form).

Turn and cook other sides until golden brown. Flipping once should be enough. The first pancake isn't always the best one.

Note: Buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream may be substituted for some or all of the milk.

This may cause the batter to be too thick or too thin; adjust accordingly by adding milk to thin or flour to thicken. When you use a sour ingredient, cut the baking powder by 1/2 tablespoon and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. If you don't have buttermilk, you can add powdered buttermilk to the milk.

Makes about 18 four-inch pancakes.

(Sometimes I sprinkle chocolate chips, pecans, or fruit into the batter.)