A Little Help for the Holidays from Kraft: No-Bake Tiramisu

*This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kraft. The opinions and text are all mine.

With 8 days until Christmas and an additional 6 until New Year's Eve, I think it's safe to say that most of us have some sort of holiday gathering in our future! Since I am a sweets person through and through, I almost always choose to bring a dessert or two to get togethers. And when I host, I love to hem and haw over oodles of beautiful and luscious dessert recipes picking just the right one (or ones) for the crowd we are entertaining.
I thought I'd share a favorite dessert recipe of ours that looks and tastes like you spent a whole lot more time in the kitchen than you actually did, and is always a hit with any size crowd...individual cups of No Bake Tiramisu. And if the words "no-bake" didn't get your already, I'll have you know that I use simple, regular-strength black Maxwell House coffee instead of the more traditional espresso since, to be honest, I never have espresso in my home anyways. You can't even tell the difference taste-wise, it's amazing really, sooo good!

No Bake Tiramisu (serves 4)

24 ladyfingers
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
8 oz mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup brewed Maxwell House coffee, cold (divided)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Crush ladyfingers in large zippered plastic bag with a rubber mallet or the end of a rolling pin, set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the mascarpone cheese, sugar, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of coffee. Place a layer of crushed ladyfingers into each bowl or glass (approximately 2 Tbsp ), then drizzle 2 tablespoons of coffee over top the ladyfingers. Next place 2 Tbsp of the mascarpone mixture over top. Continue with one more layer of each in each glass. Refrigerate for at least one hour. When ready to serve, sprinkle cocoa powder over top of each individual tiramisu. Enjoy!

Add a piece of chocolate or even a crispy cookie and you are set to ooh and ahh your guests!

From shopping for gifts to planning family dinners, it’s hard to keep up with all your holiday to-do’s. This year, Kraft is helping out with great weeknight meals and entertaining ideas to make the season a little bit easier. Plus, Kraft is offering up to $20 in coupons, redeemable exclusively at Target, to make food shopping easier and to help you have a happy holiday season.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kraft. The opinions and text are all mine.

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Cinnamon Chip Button Cookies and the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013!

Last month I decided to participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013 hosted by Lindsay of  Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. This is the 3rd year they are hosting this swap where 100% the proceeds go to Cookies for Kids' Cancer. This year we raised, if you can believe this....$13,778.40!!!! Isn't that amazing?!

Each food blogger who chose to participate made 3 dozen cookies, 1 dozen each for 3 other food bloggers. We each packaged up our cookies and shipped out cookies out by December 2...it was so fun to do! And it was even more exciting to get surprise packages full of cookies in the mail, definitely the perfect way to start of the holiday season! I wish I could have shared some pictures of the cookies I received but my littles ate them up seconds after the boxes were opened...they were that good! You can check back here to see a list of all of the participants recipes. I can tell you I am waiting on the edge of my seat to get those recipes!

The cookies I chose to make were Cinnamon Chip Buttons...a super simple slice and back cookie that can be made in no time at all! They are a family favorite over here :-)

Here's the recipe for you...enjoy making a few dozen this holiday season!

Cinnamon Chip Buttons (makes about 60 cookies)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cinnamon chips
1/4 cup turbinado sugar

Cream the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth. Add in egg, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Next, add in flour and mix well. Fold in cinnamon chips. Sprinkle work surface with turbinado sugar. Working with half the dough at at time, roll it into a rope measuring about 20 inches. You may need to add more turbinado sugar as you are rolling the dough. Do the same to the remaining half of the dough. Chill the ropes of dough for at least an hour so the ropes are easier to slice.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice ropes of dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and arrange on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

*You can also freeze this dough for up to 1 month!

Let's get ready to make some Cinnamon Chip Buttons, shall we?

Here are the cinnamon chips I use...I usually can find them at Target or Wal-Mart.

Once your ingredients are mixed together, you are going to roll the dough into long 20-inch ropes using half the dough per rope. Make sure to sprinkle some turbinado sugar or "sugar in the raw" first to prevent the dough from sticking and also to give the cookies a nice sweet and crunchy edge!

Chill the dough for at least an hour before slicing and arranging onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until just slightly golden brown.

Mmmm! These are calling my name!

I packaged my cookies up in a brown parchment food bags and decorated them with washi tape, cupcake liners, and my favorite pretty paper doilies and sent them on their merry way!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

RECIPE: Chocolate Peppermint Cake Mix Biscotti

Now that the holidays are fast approaching I thought I'd share a delicious recipe that is so easy to make you will want to add it to your holiday baking list, stat! 

Do you love biscotti, but have been scared to make it yourself? Well, have no fear, I have the perfect recipe for you...Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti! And the secret ingredient that will help you whip these up in no time at all? The new Dark Chocolate holiday cake mix from Pillsbury®!

This biscotti is so easy and tastes so decadent you'll never believe it was made with a cake mix!

Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

1 box Pillsbury® Dark Chocolate Cake Mix

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tsp peppermint oil

1 can Pillsbury® Creamy Supreme Peppermint frosting

Candy canes, crushed

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the cake mix, flour, butter, eggs, and peppermint oil until well combined. Place dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and shape into a 12 x 4 inch log. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 15 minutes, then cut the log into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange slices on the parchment lined baking sheet with their sides up. Bake for another 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Place 1/2 can of the frosting in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 30 second or until the frosting is melted. Pipe or dip the frosting over top of the cooled biscotti and sprinkle with the crushed candy canes. Enjoy!

Easy peasy ingredients for an easy peasy recipe!

Mix the cake mix, flour, melted butter, eggs, and peppermint oil together in a medium sized bowl until well combined.

Place the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and shape into a 12 x 4 inch log.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes and then let the biscotti log cool for 15 minutes on the baking sheet.

Cut the log into 1/2 inch slices and bake for another 10 minutes with the slices on their sides.

While the biscotti are finishing baking, crush some candy canes in a ziploc bag with a mallet.

Then melt the peppermint frosting in the microwave for about 30 seconds and drizzle over top of the cooled biscotti. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the biscotti next.

And there you have it...super easy and delicious Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti!!
A new Christmas cookie tradition is born! :-)

XOXO,

I have been compensated by the  J.M. Smucker Company to promote its Pillsbury Holiday products, but the opinions expressed are my own. ©/® The J.M. Smucker Company. Pillsbury is a trademark of The Pillsbury Company, LLC, used under license.  

RECIPE: Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

We had our first snowfall this week. And as much as I wished it would have happened a month later than it did, I will admit it was really pretty. We had just enough to cover the ground and it stayed around for a few days. The kids were ecstatic and even though they got home from school after 4 that day, they zipped through their homework and dug out all of their snow pants and boots to play in the snow well into darkness (which right now is around 5 pm!)

Just as the snow was falling I thought about how nice warm pumpkin bars would be for the kids after school snack. Unfortunately, that thought came 20 minutes before the bus arrived, wah wah wah! I started making these bars anyways and figured they would be a great dessert buuuut since it was snowing I figured we could eat them right after they cooled a bit which would mean....dessert BEFORE dinner! Yeah, every now and then you just have to do that. :-)

These bars are sooo good! I have been making them for years now and they always please every crowd. I frost them with my 4 Ingredient Cream Cheese Icing which really makes them outstanding. And on a side note, I didn't have any vegetable oil when I made this particular batch so I replaced it with an equal amount of liquid-state coconut oil and they turned out perfect. Not a hint of coconut in them! Sweet!

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil (or 1 cup liquid-state coconut oil)

1 2/3 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together in a medium size bowl. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake 40-45 minutes. Let cool and frost with 4-Ingredient Cream Cheese Icing (Recipe found here). Enjoy!

The ingredient list run down....pumpkin, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, sugar, coconut oil (or vegetable oil)

Flour and eggs!

This recipe is so simple, truly!

Mix all the ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes in a greased 9x13 inch pan.

Yumm-o!

This would make a great dessert this Thanksgiving too! I hope you give it a try!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

Thank You! and a Super Simple Boston Creme Pie Recipe!

Thank you.

Two simple words that really carry a lot of meaning.

Have you thanked someone recently?

Recently, we visited a local fire station for an open house and the kids were super interested in the amount of things the firemen do for the community. It got all of us thinking, and the kids decided that we should do something nice for them as a thank you. I thought that was so sweet of them and such a great idea, so we got to it and made a list of ideas of how we could thank them.

It was finally decided that we should make them dessert since everyone loves dessert. I mean what says Thank You better than a homemade cake or a plate of cookies! The kids also decided to make a card and draw something fun on the front to go along with our thank you gift because every gift needs a handmade card, right! ;-) Did I tell you how nice it is now that Noah can read and spell words on his own? LOVE it! He wrote out the card all by himself with Penny and Ellie dictating to him how it should go.

We decided to make a delicious Boston Creme Pie and a couple dozen yummy gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies in case any of our firefighters had issues with gluten. Two great desserts for a station full of wonderful firefighters.

We chose to give food since, in our family, that is the way to our hearts, but you can say Thank You in so many different ways; the possibilities really are endless and don't have to be these big crazy ideas. It is all about doing something kind for someone else. Here are a few things that were on our list, seriously, my kids came up with these!!!

1.   Make them medals for being good helpers a la the Olympics.
2.   Send a letter thanking them...everyone loves getting snail mail!
3.   Give a gift card to Starbucks (they know their mommy well!).
4.   Give a plant or flowers.
5.   Make a thank you video (anything to use the iPhone!).
6.   Give them a hug.
7.   Bring them bagels and jam for breakfast.
8.   Make them cookies.
9.   Bring them balloons.
10. Bring them donuts (we usually do this during Christmas!).

Once the cake was iced and the cookies cooled, we packaged them up carefully in little pink boxes tied up with twine. Then we headed out to our local fire station to make our special delivery. The kids carefully carrying their packages to the fire station door.

The guys loved them and as a bonus the kids got a special tour of the big rigs as a thank you back to them! No good deed goes undone! :-) 

Here is the Boston Creme Pie recipe in case you wanted to make one as a Thank You to someone you know. 

Boston Creme Pie (serves 10)

1 box yellow cake mix made into two 8 or 9 inch rounds, made via package directions

1 package white chocolate flavored instant pudding

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk, divided

1 1/2 cups thawed whipped topping

1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

1 Tbsp butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Once cakes have cooled, carefully slice off each rounded top so that you have two flat layers which are easier for frosting. In a medium bowl, mix pudding mix with 1 cup milk and whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in whipped topping. Spread all the pudding mixture on top of one of the cake layers and then place the second cake layer over top. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate and butter until melted. Stir in powdered sugar and the 2 Tbsp of milk, mix well. Pour over top of cake, letting chocolate icing run down sides. Refrigerate for at least one hour before eating. Enjoy!

The Best Part is an online community that's dedicated to brightening your day--every day. How? By Spreading optimism, one share at a time. The Best Part posts inspirational stories, encouraging quotes, good news and other upbeat items to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram--and encourages fans and followers to share that optimism with their friends. Because when optimism is shared, it grows, making an even more positive impact on our world. Check out what others are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This post is brought to you by Folgers and BlogHer. 

XOXO,

RECIPE: Easy Homemade Apple Pie Filling

Over the past couple of weeks we've been to 3 different apple orchards and I think I've peeled, chopped, and sliced over 6 bushels of apples. Holy cats, I think my right arm could actually win an arm wrestling match which is saying a lot if you know me personally.

I've made crockpot after crockpot of homemade applesauce (using my favorite crockpot recipe here), plates of apple crumble, dishes full of baked apples overflowing with raisins and cinnamon, and jar after mason jar of my homemade apple pie filling. Yum, Yum, and YUM! And this is why I love fall so much in case you were wondering!

I thought today I'd share my super simple but oh-so-tasty recipe for Homemade Apple Pie Filling. It is a winner through and through. We love it in pie form, of course, but it also goes great with a big 'ol scoop of french vanilla ice cream.  If you want to make it for ice cream may I suggest that you decrease the cornstarch by half so that you have a nice runny cinnamon-y flavored apple syrup in which to douse your ice cream with.  Not something you'd necessarily want for an apple pie...unless you like your pie soggy! Enjoy!

Easy Homemade Apple Pie Filling 

(makes 3 quarts or 6 pints, one quart makes one pie)

12 cups sliced apples (which is about 15 medium-sized apples)

2.5 cups water

4 cups sugar

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2/3 cup cornstarch

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

In a large bowl, toss apple slices with lemon juice and set aside. Combine water, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg and add to a dutch oven over medium heat. Stir well and bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add apple slices, cover dutch oven and let return to boil, about 8 minutes. Cool mixture for 30 minutes and then place into freezer containers leaving about 1/2 inch of headspace. Can be frozen up to 12 months. 

Ready? Let's make some apple pie filling!

Slice up your apples first...get about 12 cups worth if you can! Toss the apples with 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and set your bowl of lovely, delicious apples aside.

In the mean time, mix together the water, sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cornstarch in a dutch oven over medium heat and get that mixture to boil, stirring often. Once it boils, let it do so for about 2 minutes. It should look nice and frothy and light caramel colored!

Then add in the apple slices and mix well. Place a lid over your dutch oven and let everything cook for about 8-10 minutes. Then turn off your burner and let everything cool for about 30 minutes. 

Once it's cool, ladle your apple pie filling into freezer safe containers if you wish to save it for a later date...ummm, maybe Thanksgiving or Christmas? Or put it in jars if you plan on eating it right away. 

Mmm...deliciousness!

If you're feeling gifty you can package the pie filling all nice and purty and share the apple love with someone else!

I made a few fun tags and used some fabric scraps, twine, and paper doilys to pretty up a few jars for giving!

Hope you enjoy making your own apple pie filling, it is too easy not to now that you know how!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,