Rice Krispie Treats

I realize they are not hard to make but last week I asked Phyllis is she would make them, and she broke the wooden spoon because she got the recipe from the 'official' rice krispie site. Too tough to stir... so... here's my recipe this is for an 8X8 dish (but I always double it for a 9X13 dish)

1/4 c butter or margarine

4 cups marshmallows (I prefer minis)

5 cups rice cereal (rice krispies)

1 t vanilla

Melt margarine in large sauce pan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until melted and well-blended. Cook 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add cereal (and sprinkles if you're feeling crazy!). Stir until well coated.

Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly and firmly in buttered 8x8 inch pan. Cut into 2 x 2 inch squares when cool.

Punkin Cake

This is one of my new favorites! Making it tonight for a dinner that I'm going to on Thursday! You can dust it with powdered sugar or melt some frosting and drizzle a-way!


¾ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup apple sauce
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
½ cup pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan. Sift together flour, soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine oil, applesauce, and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix well (seriously? who does that??). Add the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Add nuts and pumpkin and blend until smooth. Pour batter into greased bundt pan.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and finish cooling. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

Slow Cooker Caramel Apples

I found this recipe on another Blog and tried them the other night...the recipe is sooo simple and Ooh, they were good. So, I thought since the season for Apple Orchards and warm comfort food is here. I would share it.


Caramel Apples

6 apples peeled and sliced
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp. flour...which can be changed to corn starch if you are sensitive to wheat.
3 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup whipping cream (I used half and half)

In slow cooker, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, butter and cream...mix well.
Add fruit and toss to coat with sugar mixture. Cover and cook on low 4 to 6 hours,
until fruit is bubbling.
Serve over Vanilla Ice Cream...we chose to just eat the apples, no ice cream...they were good!
Oh, I almost forgot..you can also use Peaches instead of Apples.

Love to All!

Peanut Butter Cookies

I love this cookie recipe. It's so easy and oh so yummy! And even Gluten Free!!

1 c peanut butter
1 egg
1 c sugar

Preheat oven to 375*

Mix egg and sugar.

Fold in peanut butter

Put in Cookie press

Bake 11-14 minutes

Cool for 1 minute

Remove to cookie sheet

Enjoy!

Updated Classic Apple Pie

Filling:

6 to 8 apples, such as Granny Smith, Pippins, Rome or a local variety of tart apples
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. butter, cut into chunks
Milk (for glaze)

A single or double pie crust rolled out to fit pie pan

Preheat oven to 425 F

In a large bowl:
Peel, core, and slice apples into 1/4 inch slices
add lemon juice, zest, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour; mix well. If you want to skip on some calories don't use a bottom crust. Place apple mixture in a 8-9 inch glass pie pan, dot with the butter and cover with a flaky pie crust, pinching the edges, trimming excess. Make a few steam slits in the crust with a sharp knife. Brush lightly with milk and sprinkle on a little extra sugar and cinnamon. Bake for 45 minutes on a cookie sheet. If the crust begins to brown too much, cover loosely with foil. Let pie cool before serving. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired.

Whole Wheat Fruit Drops

(Kid pleaser cookies ... with whole wheat and oatmeal!)

1/4 C butter
1/4 C oil (cooking)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 C whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 C oatmeal (dry)
1/2 C chopped nuts (walnut or pecan?)
1/2 C light raisins
1/2 C chopped dried apricots

First off, my kids don't like raisins, so I substituted them for another 1/2 C of dried apricots. You could use any type of dried fruit bits or dried cranberries or cherries. I prefer whole Mediteranean apricots and chopping them myself. I also chopped the nuts fine so they wouldn't notice them.

In large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and oil, then add the sugar, egg and vanilla; beat with mixer until fluffy. Stir in dry ingredients and oatmeal ... then fruit and nuts. Drop by teaspoon ful on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 8-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from pan at once. Makes 4 dozen.

(I'm not sure how one cup of flour and one cup of oatmeal equals 4 dozen cookies, but it really makes about that many.)