Cinnamon Toast Crunch Rice Krispie Treats

We tried something new for dessert.  We switched the cereal on a classic treat and loved it.

We used Cinnamon Toast Crunch in place of Rice Krispies.

The classic recipe is the same

1 bag of big marshmallows

3 T butter + enough to coat pan

6 cups cereal

We'd love to try this again with Reese's Puffs cereal or Fruity Pebbles.

Give this swap a try!  Use your favorite cereal and see how it turns out :)

5 Minute S'mores Dip

I have the yummiest, easiest dessert recipe to share with you today!

We loved it so much that we made it twice last week.

Hello, S'mores Dip!

It takes 5 minutes to assemble and bake and the ingredient list is really short.

S'mores Dip #1 (my favorite)

Ingredients:
Chocolate Chips or any of your favorite chocolate

Mini Marshmallows

Graham Crackers

Layer the chocolate on the bottom of a pie or loaf pan.  Put mini marshmallows on top.

Bake at 400 for 2-3 minutes.  Watch it closely! The marshmallows toast fast.  Remove it from the oven when the marshmallows are at your perfect level of toasty.  Let it sit for a couple minutes to ensure that the chocolate is good and melty.  Break apart graham crackers for dipping.  Serve your s'mores dip!

This was so much fun to make and eat.  It would be the perfect treat to make for kids, friends, neighbors or your own crew if you need a simple dessert.

S'mores Dip #2 (the kid's favorite)

Fletcher wanted to change up the chocolate so we did Hershey Bars, Cookies & Cream Hershey bars & Reeses cups.  We broke everything up into small bits and did the same process as above.  It took the chocolate chunks just a little longer to melt than the chocolate chips.  Both options are delicious!

Fletcher is such a good helper in the kitchen.  He loved making this with me and loved creating a new recipe with me.  This is the perfect recipe to make with your kids.  Enjoy!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish

I had a blueberry danish at Notre Dame this past Summer that I still dream about today.  

Does that ever happen to you when you travel?  You try a new food and have to recreate it at home.

I have been determined to recreate the recipe at home.  This danish recipe truned out so yummy.  Not quite as fancy as the pastry I had, but it was close.

You just need 5 ingredients.

1 can of crescent rolls

1 egg white for an egg wash

blueberry preserves

whipped cream cheese

zest of 1 lemon

Directions:

Press crescent rolls out onto a greased baking sheet.  Make sure they over lap.  You can make them in a line or in a circle.  Spread out whipped cream cheese, add a strip of blueberry preserves, mix together with a knife and add lemon zest on top.  Wrap the triangle side of the crescent rolls over the overlapped side.  Egg wash the top of the danish before you put it in the oven.  

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Let cool.  Slice and serve.

Best served warm right out of the oven.

**You'll easily have enough filling to make this 2-3 times if you want to buy 2-3 cans of crescent rolls.

Swirl everything around to make sure you get a mix of cream cheese and blueberries in every bite.  I loved the blueberry preserves with the whole blueberries in it.

No one at my house appreciates cream cheese so I delivered some to Kevin's Nana.  We both loved it.

This would be perfect for any breakfast or brunch you've got planned in the new year.  And you could easily customize the blueberry preserves for any flavor you love!

NYE @ Home

We spent New Year's Eve at home this year.  I picked up fun NYE party supplies - noise makers, confetti poppers and glasses and planned a menu of appetizers and crepes.  The kids excitedly welcomed in a new year around 8:00pm inside the house and on our front sidewalk for the neighbors.  It was a fun night at home in our pjs.

I planned a crepe bar for dessert.  Everything was so yummy.  The kids loved adding their toppings.  Leo preferred his ingredients all separate.  Everyone else loved to layer on chocolate, berries and more.  My crepe maker came in handy.  We all enjoyed taking our turn at making crepes and we enjoyed this treat enough to have it twice in one week.

There was horn blowing, dancing, confetti popping and wearing cool glasses all week for this one.

I was thankful the neighborhood fireworks didn't wake anyone up when they went off at midnight and Mr. Mittens was thankful that the noisy horns disappeared the next day.

Happy New Years!  What did you do to celebrate the new year?

Fancy Sheet Cake

I tried something new for Olive's birthday cake and it was so much fun!  

I made her favorite cake - homemade carrot cake - and did homemade buttercream frosting.  Instead of icing the whole cake with a knife, I used a piping bag to ice each individual piece of cake.  I added pecans to some and left most of the cake without nuts.  It turned out so pretty and was so much fun to cut and serve.

Carrot cake

Butttercream Icing

Swirl it on in a pattern of 4x7 swirls on a 9x13 pan.  I added a row of pecans for those of us who wanted pecans.  The cake was pretty, delicious and so much cheaper than buying a store bought birthday cake.  Everyone loved this fancy sheet cake and it was so easy. 

Enjoy!

S'Mores Treats

S'mores are always a good idea at our house.  I keep s'mores ingredients for the firepit at all times.  My crew loves Golden Grahams with marshmallows and chocolate chips.  And these S'mores Treats are delicious!  It's the best combo - a rice krispie treat and a s'more mixed together.

Recipe:

6 cups Golden Grahams cereal

1 bag mini marshmallows

1/4 cup chocolate chips

3 T butter

Melt butter, mini marshmallows (minus one handful of mini marshmallows) and a spoonful of chocolate chips.  Stir together until well combined.  Stir in the cereal until well coated.  Pour out into a buttered 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips and mini marshmallows on top. Let the bars set, slice and serve.

Would your crew love these?  We do!

Extra Halloween Candy Cookies

I bet you've got an abundance of Halloween candy right now.  Am I right?

I had the kids help me make some Halloween Candy Cookies and Fletcher said they were the best cookie I've ever made.  And he loves all my cookies!

You just need to grab all the candy that you think would taste delicious in a chocolate chip cookie.  Unwrap and chop them up.

We grabbed M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, Reese Cups, Hershey Bars, Cookies and Cream Hershey Bars and more.  I chopped up 1 1/2 cups of candy and then cut my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe from 2 cups of chocolate chips to 1 cup of chocolate chips.  Mix it all together and YUM!

They're the easiest, yummiest cookies.  And your kids will love helping you come up with the recipe.

Pretty cookie tip: Chop a few extra candies to add to the top of your warm cookies.  I added in some extra Reese's cups and M&Ms right when the cookies came out of the oven.

Let me know if you try them!

You can also chop up your favorite chocolates and add them to the top of a pan of brownies before you bake them.  That's another great way to use your leftover Halloween candy.

DIY Dairy Queen Blizzards

It's the perfect time of year for DIY Dairy Queen Blizzards!

I got several messages and comments about the DIY Dairy Queen Blizzards we make at home when I shared about them last week.  The recipe and process is so easy.  You'll definitely have to put them on your radar for Summer.

We love Oreo blizzards and Butterfinger blizzards from Dairy Queen, but they are expensive!  We make them at home way more often than we head to DQ.

I love these fun size Butterfingers for blizzards. I usually chop one of these per person.  I chop them one at a time on a napkin and then just dump one candy bar into each cup.

If I'm making 3 or more blizzards, I'll use my Ninja blender.  I typically do 3 good size scoops of ice cream per person and then a generous pour of milk.  Blend until smooth.  Pour in the candy mix ins and stir with a long spoon.  Then I dish it out equally into fun cups.  If we are having Oreo blizzards, I put 1 Oreo per person in a bag and smash them pretty fine.  One of my kiddos loves big candy chunks in his so I usually add some extra chunky chunks into his blizzard.

If I'm just making small blizzards or just one or two blizzards, this is my process: Scoop 2-3 big scoops of ice cream into a cup.  Add a splash of milk.  And stir by hand until it's well combined.  Then stir in the candy mix ins.

Our whole family loves these DIY blizzards!  You'll have to let me know if you try them.  They are the perfect Summer treat that won't break the bank.

Toddler to parent approved!  Any time I can find a treat that the whole family loves I am thrilled.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

It's a yummy week on my blog!  I mentioned that I had a great cookie bar recipe for you and today is the day for me to share them.  I dug deep in my PDP archives from 2013 and revamped my cookie bar recipe a bit.  My family loved these.  They are easy to make and I almost always have the ingredients on hand for them.  4/5 people at my house love anything chocolate chip so these were a winner!

Hello, Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1 t salt

1/3 c butter

2 cups light brown sugar

2 eggs

2 t vanilla

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (save a few to sprinkle on top of the mixture before baking!)

Directions:

Combine the butter and sugars.  Add in the dry ingredients.  Add in the eggs and other wet ingredients.  Then add in the chips last.  Save some to sprinkle on top of the mixture.  Grease a 9x13 pan and spread the thick batter out evenly.  Sprinkle on the extra chips.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.  You want them to be golden brown and not doughy.

Let them cool completely before slicing them to serve.

If you do that you'll get the chewiest, yummiest chocolate chip cookie bar ever.  They're great to eat by themselves or add a scoop of ice cream on top. 

These bars are perfect for sharing or perfect for any gathering.  My family enjoyed them and we shared them with friends.  The 9x13 pan makes it a really sharable dessert!  They taste fresh and delicious for several days if you keep them in an airtight container.  Enjoy!

S'mores in a Cup

I'm excited to share one of of favorite Summer treats with you.  

We actually enjoy it year round because my kids don't enjoy traditional melty, ooey, gooey smores.  We make it at home for a snack, make it in ziploc bags for a snack on the go and even set up a s'mores in a cup bar to enjoy with friends.  The kids loved making their own cups of s'mores.  The adults enjoyed this snack, too!

You just need 3 or 4 ingredients and a snack cup.

1 box of Golden Grahams

1 bag of mini marshmallows

1 bag of chocolate chips

M&Ms (optional!)

Set up your S'mores bar like this:

I left the packages behind each bowl so that the kids would know what they were eating.  Then I dumped the ingredients into bowls with spoons.  The kids went through the line and served themselves a time or two :)

Do you have any family or friends that would enjoy this snack?

 

I loved that I could grab all the ingredients at the store, it didn't require any baking or much prep at all and everyone loved it!  I hope you can try it soon.