Category: Food

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Banana Bars

Have you ever made something that you expect will be pretty good…

and then–to your surprise–find that is waaaaay better than that?

This sweet little Banana Bar is that kind of recipe. I made it and frosted it and set it on the counter, pleased in the assurance that it would be a happy little dessert, for later.

Then…something interesting happened.

I took a bite.

Umm….guys–we’ve stumbled on a banana heaven masterpiece here.

No, I mean it. The kind that you may not want to share unless you’re more mature than I apparently am.

Make it. You’ll see.

Banana Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, soft

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

Frosting:

8 oz Cream Cheese

1/2 butter

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat  oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add in bananas and vanilla. in a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir into creamed mixture. Do not overbeat.

Spread batter into a greased 15×10 baking pan. Bake for 22 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack.

For frosting:

Beat cream chees and butter until smooth and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Spread over cooled bars.

 

Banana Bars
 
Print
:
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter, soft
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • Frosting:
  • 8 oz Cream Cheese
  • ½ butter
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Beat in eggs one at a time.
  4. Add in bananas and vanilla.
  5. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
  6. Stir into creamed mixture. Do not overbeat.
  7. Spread batter into a greased 15x10 baking pan.
  8. Bake for 22 minutes.
  9. Cool in pan on wire rack.
  10. For frosting:
  11. Beat cream chees and butter until smooth and fluffy.
  12. Add powdered sugar and vanilla.
  13. Beat until well blended. Spread over cooled bars.

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Egg Nog French Toast

After the holidays, I was surprised to find a perfectly preserved carton of Egg Nog tucked away safely in a back corner of the the refrigerator.

“Well, now,” I thought, “what will we do with this little lovely?” Somehow it seemed blasphemous to even think of drinking it–what with it being mid January and all. Felt wrong somehow.

Didn’t take much time to scoured around and find a nice little recipe for Egg Nog French toast. It would be like sneaking one more covert holiday into the calendar without telling anyone. Hee, hee.

Sounded glorious.

And with a couple of tweaky pinches of sugar and spice–that’s EXACTLY what it was.

Positively glorious.

 

 

Ingredients

8 large eggs
2 cups eggnog
1/4 cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or rum extract
12 slices day old bread
Confectioners’ sugar, optional
Maple syrup

Directions

In a bowl, beat eggs, eggnog, sugar, spices and extract; soak bread for a few seconds.
Cook on a greased hot griddle until golden brown on both sides and cooked through.
Dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired.
Serve with syrup and/or whipped cream.


Egg Nog French Toast
 
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:
Ingredients
  • 8 large eggs
  • 2 cups eggnog
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla or rum extract
  • 10 slices day old bread
  • Confectioners' sugar, optional
  • Maple syrup
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, beat eggs, eggnog, sugar, spices and extract; soak bread for a few seconds.
  2. Cook on a greased hot griddle until golden brown on both sides and cooked through.
  3. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.
  4. Serve with syrup.

 

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Candy Turkey Legs

Ok, guys–are these the cutest little turkey drumsticks that you’ve ever, EVER seen?! You KNOW they are!

And  no lie, they taste so good, you’ll be lucky if somebody doesn’t eat them all in one sitting. Ahem.

First, you’ll need three simple things:

1 bag of Braided Pretzel Sticks

1 bag Kraft Caramels

Dipping chocolate– we used 2 large Symphony bars

Here’s how you make them. 

Snap one end off the pretzels or they will be too long and look funny.  You can see that we didn’t break too much off. Just enough to make them the right size.

Next you’ll want to warm up the caramels. You can do this a few different ways. You can soften them up with a few seconds in the microwave–if you have one. We don’t, so we put them in a Ziploc bag and set them in a bowl of hot water. It worked just fine.

We’re not trying to melt the caramels–just make them soft enough to mold, kind of like clay.

Next, wrap the caramel around the broken end of the pretzel. Mold and shape it like a turkey leg–a blob at one end, tapering down towards the middle of the pretzel.

You’ll have a sweet little plate of naked drumsticks when you’re finished. While they sit there in all their skinned, raw, vulnerable glory you’ll need to melt the chocolate. We just put it in a small pan and warmed it on the stove on low.

Once it’s completely melted, dip the little things in the chocolate and let them rest on wax paper. You might want to be smarter than I was and put the wax paper on a pan first. That way you can pop them in the fridge to help them set faster.

I don’t know about you, but I simple LOVE giving someone a surprise that makes them say, “OH, MY GOSH!! How adorable!”

Then they laugh–

which is, of course my all time favorite reaction.

Luckily, I made a million of these.

Guess I’m just a needy little soul.

Ha.

 

 

PS- This recipe was first spotted on Taste of Home Recipes. I only did one minor tweak–using one caramel instead of two and breaking the pretzels.

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The Halloween Tradition

Ahhh…such a happy tradition around here. Halloween just plain doesn’t work without these ooh-y, gooey Caramel Popcorn Balls.

I’m pretty sure all my kids like them, but I have this one daughter who says things like, “Yay! This is ALL I want at Halloween!” and “these are my absolute favorite!” She even texted me the other day with a crying face emoji and said the unthinkable, “I’m out of popcorn balls.”

Such a good, good daughter.

What some people know is that if you really, REALLY love one of my recipes and you make enough fuss about it–the likelihood that I’ll cook it for you goes waaaaay up.

You know what that means….

I guess I must desperately need constant, unbridled praise/adoration,

and…

yes, I absolutely can be bought.

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Blonde Brownies

When I was a young pup, I worked at a bookstore in the mall. What I probably should have said, was that I bought all the books in a bookstore in the mall…but that’s a story for another time.

Anywhooo…at lunch time a bunch of us would go to the bakery and choose our personal favorite sinful thing and eat it all the way back to work. It was a perfectly lovely way to behave.

Well, the awesome little goodie that I always chose was the Blonde Brownie. Oooooh…I get shivers just thinking about it. So. Dang. GOOD.

Well, I’ve spent the better part of 30 years trying to find that exact recipe. I’ve tried millions—no, really, I have the scale to prove it–but never quite found the real thing.

Until now.

These are the real thing guys. Just trust me and make them.

They seriously lasted about 45 minutes at our house.

And there’s only….

two of us.

Yes, I’m mortified.

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Blonde Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (melted)

1-1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs + 1 yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2-1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsps cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup chocolate chips

1 cup walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F and grease 9×13 pan.

Combine melted butter and sugars in a large bowl and stir well.

Add eggs, yolk and vanilla extract and stir until completely combined. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.

Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until completely combined.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes until done. Cool.

 

 
Blonde Brownies
 
Print
:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter (melted)
  • 1-1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs + 1 yolk
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsps cornstarch
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ⅔ cup chocolate chips
  • 1 cup walnuts (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease 9x13 pan.
  2. Combine melted butter and sugars in a large bowl and stir well.
  3. Add eggs, yolk and vanilla extract and stir until completely combined. Set aside.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
  5. Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until completely combined.
  6. Fold in chocolate chips.
  7. Spread batter into prepared pan.
  8. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes until done. Cool.