Snickers Cheesecake Bars!

        I think I would hate being rich. Seriously. I feel like I would become selfish and that slowly and tragically I would find myself pursuing things, instead of Jesus, to bring me happiness and peace. I want to spend my life doing social work and ministry... sooooo that pretty much guarantees I'll never struggle with that!


        I say that because as I was baking these snickers cheesecake bars today, I was imagining a life that involved me owning my own bakery. AHHHH! I freak out a little when I think about that life. Sometimes I daydream about living in another country and setting up a little bakery while doing ministry there at a local church. As fun and exciting as that sounds, I also know it's very unlikely to happen-(the bakery part, not the working at a church part). However, I couldn't help but get carried away with the idea of having the extra money to bake things for people every single day of my life. If I could, these are definitely one of the things I would give away.

Snickers Cheesecake Bars are one of the easiest things I've ever made. Here is all you need!

Printable Recipe

Cook time: 30-35 minutes
Yield: 16 squares

Ingredients:

Crust
-22 Oreos
-6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling
-16 oz cream cheese (2 normal packages). I used low fat in attempt to trick my mind into thinking these were healthy...
-1 egg
-1/4 cup of sugar
-2 teaspoons vanilla
- 15-16 fun size snickers. (or 4 regular sized bars)
-1/2 cup of chocolate chips


Instructions!

1. Make the crust first. Heat your oven to 350F degrees. Take an 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan and line it with aluminum foil so that it hangs over the edge.
2. Use a magic bullet, food processor, blender, or some ziplock baggies & your feet to blend up the 22 Oreos into a fine crumb. Dumb the deliciousness into a bowl and mix in the melted butter.
3. Press the Oreo mixture into the lined pan and bake it for about 9 minutes. Let cool and start preparing the filling.

1. Chop up your snickers bars into m&m sized pieces and set them aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl combine the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla and blend them together for 3 minutes. Stir in the snickers pieces.
3. Spread the mixture over your cooled Oreo deliciousness. Top with about 1/3 of your chocolate chips. 
4. Bake for about 30 minutes until the cheesecake has set and the edges are slightly browned. 
5. -Take the remainder of your chocolate chips and melt them in the microwave. Mine took about 45 seconds. I stirred them about every 15 seconds. 
-Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cooked cheesecake.
6. THIS PART SUCKS.
    -Stick them in the fridge for about 3 hours. It's a long time I know... but they are worth the wait. Pull them out of the pan using the foil and cut them into about 16 normal sized pieces... or 8 perfectly large and wonderful pieces. 

Enjoy!

You can also try these with Milky Ways!

PS. One day I will successfully write my own recipe from scratch... but I got this one from the wonderful Sally's Baking Addiction.

Triple Blonde Brownies!

Triple layer. Yum. Three layers of the best things food has to offer. Chocolate, Brownie, & Cookie. Again, YUM. Here ya go!

I LOVE milk chocolate. So much so that I was a tad worried about trying these blonde brownies out. I was really surprised at how delicious they came out! They definitely aren't like the fudge filled brownies I typically make, but they were delightfully refreshing and a good change of pace. If you're a fan of Golden Oreos and white chocolate, I really think you'll love 'em!

Makes 16 triple blonde brownies.
Prep time: 20ish minutes
Bake time: 30-35 minutes

Preheat your oven to 350°















Ingredients!
        Brownie Layer:
              1/2 cup butter
              1 cup brown sugar
              1 egg
              2 teaspoons vanilla
              1 cup flour
              1/2 teaspoon baking powder
              1/8 teaspoon baking soda
              1/4 teaspoon salt
              1/2 cup white chocolate chips
         Oreo Layer:
              1 package Golden Oreos-(you won't end up using them all so you'll have a great
                 snack for later!)
          Cookie Dough Later:
               1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
               1/4 cup brown sugar
               3/4 cup white sugar
               1 egg
               1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
               1 1/4 cup AP flour
               1/2 teaspoon salt
               1/2 teaspoon baking soda
               1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Printable Recipe!

Instructions!
Layer 1: Brownie

1. Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and then pour into a mixing bowl.
2. Add the brown sugar and whisk until combined.
3. Add the vanilla and egg and whisk thoroughly. 
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until totally incorporated. 
6. Mix in the white chocolate chips and set the batter aside. TASTE the batter. Delicious. 

Layer 2 We will come back to.

Layer 3: Cookie Dough!

1. Using a mixer, cream together both sugars and the butter.
2. Mix in the egg and the vanilla.
3. On low, mix in the remaining ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

Assembly!

1. If you have a 9x9 glass pan, use it. Generously spray a 9x9 pan with baking spray.
2. Layer the bottom of the pan with the cookie dough and smooth over.

     3.  Using as many Oreos as possible, cover the entire cookie dough layered pan with a single layer of Oreos.

 4.  Finally, cover the Oreos with the cookie dough. Be sure to do this slowly; the batter is thick. Press the batter down until evenly spread.

    5.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the knife comes out clean!

    6.  I should say "serve cooled", but they are SO GOOD right out of the oven with a bowl of ice cream. Go big or go home. Enjoy! (: 

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Adapted slightly from: What's Gaby Cooking

Best Box Brownies EVER!!!

Hello! (: Okay, soooo I'm not really sure how to go about this whole "food blogging" thing so I've decided to start off with a super duper easy recipe. It's not something I'm going to do a lot of, I just want to put up some of my favorite recipes. What's my ultimate goal? To learn how to cook and bake before I get married. I wouldn't want my poor husband to have to subject to many massive failed attempts at dinner/dessert-just a few. So anyways, here we go!


My Favorite Brownies!
So, these delicious brownies are SO EASY. Seriously. They make me feel like I don't know how to bake-(although for all I know I can't)! I took them to work at Starbucks and gave them out to my coworkers-who loved them! They didn't realize how easy they were to make, so they are convinced I'm a great baker! I used hershey's bars this time, but I've used mini reeces cups before and I'm sure they would be just as tasty with rolos or maybe even M&Ms. Yum.



Ingredients:
-2 Boxes of brownie mix-I'm not going to try to try and compete with boxed brownies for this recipe. They are the BEST. Make sure they make enough for a 13x9 inch pan.
-Whatever ingredients you need to make the brownies! For me, eggs, oil, and water.
-Enough hershey's bars, rolos, reeces, m&ms, or whatever else to  generously top the 13x9 pan.

Printable Recipe!


1. Preheat your oven to 325º.
2. Prepare one box of brownies following the instructions of the back of the box.

3. Pour all of the batter into a 13x9 inch pan.

4. Coat the batter generously with the candy of your choice. 

5. Prepare the second box of brownies following the instructions on the back of the box.

6. Pour all of the batter on top of the candy coated batter, covering completely.

7. Bake for 42-45 minutes or until the top looks firm and starts to crack.

-They are easiest to cut and look a lot better if you wait an hour or two to cut them... but seriously, who does that? Enjoy! (:

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Psalm 47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

Phenomenal Blueberry Muffins!

First of all, I really dislike blueberries. When I was little, my mom would make my sisters blueberry muffins and then make me one with no blueberries. Most of the time she made them from a box. If you bake a lot, you know that once you start making homemade muffins, the box has nothing on them.

Anyways, while I still don't love blueberries, these muffins are phenomenal! This recipe gives a great muffin base that is perfect for having fruit in it. It's just thick enough to where the muffin isn't falling apart and the blueberries don't all sink to the bottom. Plus, it's topped off with a nice sugary crumble. Who doesn't love that?!

Yields: 8 Muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 20 minutes

Preheat oven to 400°

Ingredients

Muffin:
        1 1/2 cups flour
        3/4 cup sugar
        1/2 teaspoons salt
        2 teaspoons baking powder
        1/3 cup vegetable oil
        1 egg
        Approximately 1/3 cup of buttermilk (regular milk works, but is not preferred)
        1 cup fresh blueberries

Topping:
        1/3 cup brown sugar
        1/8 cup flour
        1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
        1 Tablespoon softened butter
       -To make topping, mix all of the ingredients together using a fork.

Printable Recipe!

Assembly

1. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
2. Place the oil in a 1 cup measuring cup. Add the egg, and then fill to the brim with the buttermilk.
3. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
4. Fold in the blueberries.
5. Line 8 muffin tins with paper liners and divide the batter among the tins. 
6. Sprinkle the muffins with the sugar topping.
7. Bake at 400° for approximately 20 minutes.
8. EAT. (:

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Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

I don't remember where I got this recipe, but if I do I will give credit where it's due. Have a blessed day!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Muffins! MY FAVORITE!

Stop what you are doing and MAKE THESE RIGHT NOW. 

These chocolate peanut butter heavenly muffins are definitely one of the top 3 muffins i've ever tasted or made. Typically, I make between 24-30 muffins every Tuesday, but I was nervous about these so I decided to only make 20 on my first attempt. Mistake. They were gone faster than any muffin i've made in the past. Seriously. They are perfect. 

Yield: about 20 muffins

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided

        -I also added about a 1/3 cup of peanut butter chips. Not required, but it helps spread the peanut butter flavor throughout the entire muffin.

2 cups unbleached flour. 

        -I prefer unbleached flour, but you can also use all-purpose

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1¼ cups buttermilk

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the peanut butter swirl:

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

½ cup confectioners' sugar

1 tbsp. milk (I used non-fat because it's what I had on hand.)

Printable Recipe!

Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 350˚ 

-Spray about 20 muffin tins-I recommend using paper liners instead.

For the Chocolate Muffin Batter:

-Combine the butter and 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips in a microwave proof bowl.

-Microwave the mixture (on half power if possible) for 20-30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Set aside.

-In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.

-With the mixer speed on low, add the buttermilk and mix slightly-until the mixture is just combined. 

-Blend in the melted chocolate mixture.

-Stir in the remaining 1/3 cup of chocolate chips (and the peanut butter chips if you would like!) . Remember that with muffins it is important to NOT over-mix.

-Divide the batter into 20 muffin tins. 

For the Peanut Butter Swirl:

-Combine the peanut butter and butter in a microwave safe bowl. 

-Microwave slightly until the mixture is smooth-not melted.

-Drop a small spoonful of the mixture on top of the muffin batter in each tin.

-Use a toothpick or knife to swirl it into the muffin batter.

Bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes---or until you can stuff them in your mouth without burning your tongue! (:

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Have a wonderful day!

"If we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself." -2 Timothy 2:13

I slightly adapted this recipe from the wonderful Annie's Eats.

Madre's Banana Muffins.

There are very few banana flavored things I don't like, but this is definitely in my top 3 favorites. Plus, they are SO EASY to make. When I was growing up my mom used to make loaves of this and stick them in a cooler for our 14 hour road trips to Colorado. I have no idea where she got the recipe, but it is the best banana bread i've ever had!

Yields: 12 muffins or 1 loaf

Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time:20-25 minutes for the muffins/1 hour for the loaf
            -I have this issue where I don't set a timer for things. I just kinda estimate how long they will take and then check on them... Sooo the muffins might need an extra couple of minutes, but I'm pretty sure 20 minutes is the golden time.

Preheat your oven to 350°

Ingredients
        3 or 4 over-ripe bananas
        1/2 cup melted butter
        1 cup of sugar
        1 egg
        1 teaspoon vanilla
        1 teaspoon baking soda
        pinch of salt
        1 1/2 cups flour
        -you can add a cup of walnuts if you desire. I personally think walnuts are nasty. (:

Printable Recipe!

Assembly

1. Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl using a fork.
2. Combine the ingredients! 
3. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners/spray the bottom of a loaf pan with cooking spray
4. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes for muffins, or about an hour for the loaf!

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Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Proverbs 30:5