White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

If you know me, you know I love all things tea and that most definitely would include SCONES.

I found these online months ago and have been dying to try them

. I'm so glad I finally did and they were delicious!!!

White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter
6 tablespoons half and half
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a bowl whisk together the
flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Cut in the butter pieces.

I cut the butter into little pieces and then I put the dry ingredients along with the butter in a food processor and pulse it a few times. Works like a charm!

Mix together the half and half and beaten egg.

Add the flour mixture along with the cranberries
and the white chocolate chips, and stir until the dough holds
together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and very gently knead for just until dough sticks together.

Form into a 1/2-inch thick round, then cut the round into 8
wedges. I made two rounds and cut into 16 wedges.

Spray a baking sheet with Pam or lightly oil with canola oil, then transfer the wedges
to the sheet.

Bake the scones at 400 degrees for 14 minutes.

Wide Awake Coffee Shake

I know it's freezing outside in most of the world...well at least here in the U.S. But yesterday it was almost 90 degrees here in Arizona. So make this because not only is it delicious but because I'm wearing flip flops in November.

I found this recipe on the Cooking with Trader Joe's blog. I really love that blog. I love Trader Joe's so it gives me some ideas on how to use some of their prepared or packaged food that I otherwise probably wouldn't buy. I'm not a huge fan of prepared or packaged food but for some reason I walk into TJ's and I go nuts...it's pretty self explanatory...that place is just..well...you know...AWESOME!

The original recipe called for Nonfat Plain Frozen Yogurt. I have never used this before. And sad to say, I will never use again. That stuff is GROSS! So I made this with Dreyer's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream....Mmmmm...it was so good!

I also used the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Espresso Beans. These things are like crack. DELICIOUS!

Coffee Shake

2 cups vanilla bean ice cream

1/3 cup cold strong coffee

15 chocolate covered Espresso beans

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.

Caramel Corn

I have fond memories of going to Newport Beach every summer and spending time with my hubby's family. It's been a tradition for over 13 years now. Everyone that comes up has their specialities, as far as food goes. Between Vicky's waffles, Sandra's tamales or Donna's Chinese Salad, it's really hard to pick a favorite. But there is one thing I look forward to every year and that's this tasty treat...Caramel Corn! Aunt Vicky has been making this and bringing it up for years. I just found out yesterday it was actually Aunt Sandra's recipe originally. Who's ever it is, I heart them forever for sharing this recipe with me.

Caramel Corn

2 sticks butter

1/2 cup Dark Karo Syrup

2 cups Brown Sugar

2 cups of Popcorn Kernels

1 tsp baking soda

Dash of Cream of Tarter

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Pop 2 cups of popcorn, set aside. I use this bad boy. My mother in law got it for us and we LOVE it! Makes perfect popcorn every time.

In heavy saucepan, melt butter, syrup, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and then let boil for one minute (very important), stirring constantly to caramelize. Remove from heat. Add baking soda and Cream of Tarter. Place popcorn in a new garbage/trash bag. Pour in mixture and mix around so popcorn becomes coated. Pour on cookies sheets and bake at 200 degrees for one hour. Let cool. Enjoy!

I used 3 large cookie sheets but I really could have used 4. It makes that much!

I think I might add cashews next time I make it...YUM YUM!

Fried Chocolate & Peanut Butter Wontons

This is such a tasty treat and so easy to make. I made two different wontons, one has just milk chocolate in it and the other wonton I added creamy peanut butter and milk chocolate. My boys love this little dessert that has so much flavor.

Ingredients:

wonton wrappers
milk chocolate pieces or morsels
oil
1 egg whipped


Optional:


peanut butter
powdered sugar


Place chocolate in the middle of the wonton wrapper and using your finger, wipe all 4 edges of the wonton with the egg wash. Pinch edges together and then take the 2 corners and match it in the middle, using more egg wash to keep it sealed. Fry in hot oil until golden. Serve warm & add powdered sugar on top.

Banana Bread

I have been away from the foodie blog world for quite some time. I missed it! I sat down one morning with my morning cup of joe and was floored when I started looking up some of my old stomping grounds. The meals were so detailed...and extravagant. I was so overwhelmed, I walked away from the computer...bummed. I stayed away for quite some time after that really thinking that I had lost touch with the food Internet world. But the more I stayed away, the more I longed for it. So once again I decided to give it a whirl. And eventually I found some of my oldies but goodies...Picky Palate, Prudence Pennywise & Rookie Cookie, to name a few. Then one day on Facebook a friend of ours posted that we had all but abandoned our food blog (not naming names..AMBER!) and it made me sad because what people are searching for in this economy are meals that are cheap, easy to make and basically BASIC! I feel that's what people are looking for these days...simplicity.

I remember when I started this blog, I would go nutso writing down recipe after recipe and heading to the grocery store only to spend hundreds of dollars on meals that were mediocre. I missed the good ole days of Fried Chicken and Peach Cobbler. Well I will still have to semi miss those days as we know that Fried Chicken is bad on the thighs and the heart but if it was so bad for us why is the generation of our grandparents living into the 90s and my generation is dying off? It's because back then, ingredients were grown in their gardens and the environment was much kinder to our foods. What I'm getting at, is times are tight and tough and time is precious. Let's get back to our roots and save ourselves some time and money and we might just be surprised at how much we miss it.

My first recipe in my Back to Basics theme is Banana Bread. I know there are zillions of recipes out there for banana bread and I know some of the originals call for sour milk or vinegar and can take up to almost an hour to bake, but I wanted something easy and on any given day I always have every ingredient for this quick and easy recipe. I made this and was so happy with the results...it was so moist and yummy. Give it a try and it might just become one of your basic recipes!

BANANA BREAD

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Heat oven to 350 degrees

Coat two loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray

In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Make a well in the center. (basically pull the flour up the sides of the bowl so when you pour the banana mixture in, it goes in the middle, much easier to combine that way)

Mash bananas in medium-sized bowl (potato masher works GREAT).

Add eggs, sugar and butter and beat with mixer until fairly smooth.

Pour banana mixture into well in dry ingredients and stir just until blended. (Don't over stir as this will make your bread tough and chewy)

Fold in walnuts, then dive batter evenly between prepared loaf pans. (One of my sons is allergic to some nuts so I don't give him any. Before I add the walnuts, I pour half of the mixture in one loaf pan, decrease the nuts by half, mix in with the remaining batter, and pour the remaining batter in the second loaf pan)

Bake loaves for about 35 minutes or until browned and tops spring back lightly when gently pressed. The sides will pull away from the pan as well.

Cool on a wire wrack.

Serve with butter...YUM!

Vanilla Bean Shortbread (Light version)

I got this recipe out of the Cooking Light magazine. It was sooooo GOOD!!! I love shortbread but when I read that this was a healthier version, I just had to try it out. It has half the butter of normal shortbread so it makes it less fattening (I guess), and more heart healthy (I guess.. ha!). I had some vanilla beans left over from when I got them at a great price at Costco. I made up a batch of these and let me tell ya, they didn't last long in my house. I even sent some over to my mom and she LOVED them! They have an amazing taste and texture. They are so flaky and yummy. They are a perfect compliment with tea. They almost taste like a pecan sandie sans the pecans. But I did do a second batch and added toasted pecans...DELISH!!! These are so easy, you have to try them!


Ingredients:

Cooking spray
9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line bottom and sides of a 13 x 9–inch baking pan with foil; coat foil with cooking spray, and set aside.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.
4. Place butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add oil; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, and add seeds to butter mixture; discard bean. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Spoon dough into prepared pan. Place a sheet of heavy-duty plastic wrap over dough; press to an even thickness. Discard plastic wrap. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; cut into 32 pieces. Carefully lift foil from pan; cool squares completely on a wire rack.

My kiddos couldn't wait for them to cool. They were hovering over them. They were a HIT!

I added toasted pecans to the second batch. Just typing this post makes me want to go make another batch. They are dangerous though. I could eat the entire pan, they are just so good!

Bacardi Rum Cake

Many moons ago when I worked as a legal secretary, before I was a mom, there was this guy that came around to our office all the time selling books. I bought the coolest cookbook from him. I've seen similar cookbooks pop up all over the place but I don't think I've ever seen one quite like this one. It is LOADED with recipes. It's called the Best Recipes From The Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars. I bought one for me, one for my mom and one for my greasy granny. Actually I didn't buy one for my greasy granny...I just like to say Greasy Granny.

Anyhoo, this recipe was in the book. After each recipe in this book, there is a little blurp where the recipe came from or some significant fact about the recipe. The blurb underneath this particular recipe reads: "Here's the very first cake to incorporate a pudding mix. It's simply fabulous".

I made this cake and it was GREAT! I think I put too much bacardi in it though because I was totally drunk afterwards...AGAIN...fibbing...I wasn't drunk but there was WAY too much bacardi in the glaze the first time around so I had to half the amount the next time. I also used dark bacardi which could have made a big difference in the taste. Maybe next time I'll try the light bacardi.

Cake:

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I used pecans)

1 18 1/2 ounce package yellow cake mix

1 3 3/4 ounce Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

4 eggs

1/4 cup cold water

1/2 cup Wesson oil

1/2 cup Bacardi

Glaze:

1/4 lb. butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup Bacardi

Preheat oven to 325 dgrees. Grease and flour Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over the bottom of the pan.

Mix all ingredients together.

Pour the batter over the nuts. Bake for 1 hour
.

Cool. Invert on serving plate.

While the cake is cooling, make the glaze:

Melt butter in saucepan.

Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove the heat. Stir in the rum.

Poke holes in the top and the sides of the cake.


Pour the glaze all over the cake.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm....ENJOY!!!

Haystack Cookies

This is my mom's recipe. She made these all the time when we were little. I hated them! That was until I got into my 20's and really started to appreciate coconut. As I child, I thought it was disgusting. Maybe it was because I had braces and coconut and braces do not mix, unless you want to look like a garbage pail kid, that is. Now I look at coconut as the food that keeps on giving because I can chew on a piece of coconut for hours...ewww, gross I know, but I love it! My sister Denise was the one that would eat them all up, she loved these and she still does. The best part about these cookies? There is only 5 ingredients so they are easy and delicious.

Val's Haystack Cookies

3 oz semi sweet chocolate

1 can sweetened condesed milk

1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

2 cups walnuts, chopped

1 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate in top of a double boiler. (I don't own a double boiler so I put a glass bowl over a pan of shallow water...it works like a charm.) Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the milk and cook until thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add coconut, nuts and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. (My stuck to the pan like crazy. Next time I'm using parchment paper or silpat mats). Bake at 275 for 15 minutes.

Chocolate Toffee Brownies

My family went to Rocky Pointe about a month ago. My sister in law Jennifer told me that a friend of theirs that came with them made like 3 different kind of brownies and that she had been eating them all weekend. Of course I was dying to get the recipes. Next to cookies, brownies are my best friend (sorry Jen...my BBFF (bloggin best friend forever), food will always win out over you) Did I just blog that out loud? So after much stalking, and text messages, I got my sister in law to tell me the recipe for the toffee brownies. You guys are going to be blown away at how easy these are...I know I was. And they were to die for.

I sent most of them to work with my hubby and he said that pretty much all the guys' reactions were "death by chocolate"...hhmmmmmm, is that good or bad? Well, whatever, I liked them and I'm the one that counts so here ya go. I would not recommend eating these if you plan on getting into a bathing suit anytime soon...since I don't plan on doing that in the near future, I ate like half a pan of these. (Well actually I leave for the beach in approximately 5 weeks...OMG...what was I thinking making these!!!?)

Chocolate Toffee Brownies

2 boxes of Brownie mix

(all the ingredients to make the brownies...oil, water, eggs, I'm sure you've all made a boxed brownie so you know the drill)

2 giant size Symphony bars (the ones with the little toffee bits in them) or 3 if you want eat one of them while your brownies bake...that's totally fine too

Mix your brownie mixes according to package direction (in seperate bowls)

Next line a pan with foil and spray it with cooking spray (this makes clean up a breeze and helps to get those gooey brownies out of the pan. Now, you want to pour your first brownie mix into the pan.

After you have scraped the bowl clean and pretty much licked it dry, layer the candy bars all together across the top. The best part about this...two of those little rows of chocolate didn't fit into my pan...oh bummer (munch munch munch)...okay, now where were we?

You know that second box of brownies you made? Well that batter wasn't for you to eat while this was cooking...so if you ate it, go make another box. Pour that batter mixture over the top of the candy bars.

Okay, at this point I would tell you how long to bake this for and at what temperature but of course stupid me threw away the brownie box and have no clue what the starting point was baking these or what the temp was. I wanna say 325 for 28 minutes but honestly...I have no clue.

So here's the dealio...look on the box for the 13x9 glass pan baking time and temp and bake for that time but add 15 to 20 minutes. Take them out and let them cool for like a good hour before you cut them because they are gooier than all get out, but if they are still not done in the middle, just eat out of the pan with a spoon...they're still good and I'm pretty sure the eggs are almost salmonella free...so you're good!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

So, fellow foodies, I'll be out of town for a few days, yipee! Never to worry, awesome, super sweet and my BBFF (blogging best friend forever), Jaime will be here posting her yummy recipes. My husband, son, daughter, mother-n-law and I are heading up to a beautiful, secluded cabin up in North Arizona. We booked this trip months ago and we're totally stoked that it's our turn to veg out in cooler weather, by the creek, in peace. I'll take pictures of this 2 story cabin we're staying in, it's SO neat, so relaxing and I can't wait to get away and rest (can you really rest with 2 kids, one being only 4 months old?) Here's the girl who keeps me up at night!

Anyway, to the real reason you stopped by, Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. It first started with me making a peanut butter bar. When I was done cooking it, something was missing, ya know that special something? I finally added a peanut butter icing I made and then drizzled it with warm strawberry jelly and fresh strawberries, hence, PB & J bars. My husband and son LOVE IT!! They REALLY love it. (If you've read this blog before, I'm still dieting, so no PB & J bars for me). So, here ya go, Mr. PB and Mrs. J Bars.

What you need:

Bottom Layer

1. 3/4 cup butter, room temp
2. 3/4 cup peanut butter
3. 1 cup packed brown sugar
4. 1/2 granulated sugar
5. 2 teaspoon baking soda
6. 1/4 teaspoon salt

Peanut Butter Icing

1. 1 cup peanut butter
2. 1.5 cup powdered sugar

Top Layer:

1. Strawberry Jelly
2. fresh strawberries (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with foil, extending foil beyond the actual edges. Set aside.

***

In a big mixing bowl beat the butter and peanut butter for 45 seconds. Beat in white sugar and brown sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Now, add the eggs and vanilla, beat until combined. Slow add your flour, mix well and make sure everything is combined well.

***

Spread dough in your foil pan, right over the foil - trust me the foil helps after baking is over. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean from the center.

***

Once baked, cool on rack. Remove from pan by lifting foil and place on a large plate/dish.

Now that the base is cooked and cooled, it's time to add the peanut butter frosting. Add the powdered sugar and peanut butter and mix well. Taste, taste, taste! If you want it sweeter, add more sugar. Not enough peanut butter for your taste? Add more! To thick? Add some milk. Play with it...you will get it perfectly, trust me.

Ice the bars now.

I warm the jelly in a coffee cup until liquidy. I then pour the warm jelly over a peice of the bar and then top it off with fresh strawberry.

You can use other flavored jelly as well.