Carrot Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week I am going back to my roots with Quick & Easy Semi-Homemade Recipe Ideas. My husband and I take cookies in our lunch every day so today I utilized a fabulous cake mix to make some outstanding cookies for next week. These turned out awesome, they are very moist with a cake like texture and that is how we like our cookies to be. I like that this recipe can be adjusted with so many different add-ins to make them just the way you would like them to be. You could add nuts, oatmeal or any kind of dried fruit you would like...do with them what you will, and they are great frosted with cream cheese or left plain.

1 - 21.40 oz. - Duncan Hines Classic Decadent Cake Mix
2 - Eggs
1 - Stick Butter (soft)
1 C. - Hot Water
1/4 C. - Mini Chocolate Chips
Duncan Hines Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Hydrate the carrot and raisin packet (from the cake mix box) in the 1 cup of hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and squeeze out the extra water. Beat the butter, cake mix and eggs until just combined then add the carrots and raisins and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips until well combined, using a small ice-cream scoop place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Using a knife or offset spatula smooth the top of the cookies. Bake for 12 minutes then let cool on baking sheet for 1 minute before transferring to a cooling rack. Once cookies are completely cooled frost with some cream cheese frosting or eat plain.

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Mousse

On this cold, windy, and rainy Beaverton day it will be St Patrick's dinner for us since it falls during the week. I have a corn beef cooking (Our Previous Corn Beef Post) in my slow cooker with some water and Kona Coffee Beer. When it is done I will bake it with some orange, apple and lemon juice along with some brown sugar. Oh how I simply love this corn beef, I look forward to it all year long. I did however forget that I had nothing for dessert so I started looking threw my cabinet and fridge and found a few simple items to toss together for a fabulous quick and easy dessert.

3.4 oz. - Pumpkin Spice Jell-O Instant Pudding Mix
1 C. - Milk
2 C. - Cool Whip
1/4 C. - Cinnamon Chips

In a bowl beat on high the milk and pudding powder, after mixing fold in 1 c. of cool whip until well combined. In your parfait dishes layer some of the mousse mix then top with some cool whip and a few cinnamon chips. Make the top layer cool whip and garnish with a few more cinnamon chips, do 3 more parfait cups in the same way. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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Turkey Doodles

We owe this recipe idea to my husband and his friends again, the same day that they thought of Pigs in a Puddle they also created this very interesting cookie. This is a twist on a very classic delicious cookie; it was actually not that bad.

2 Tsp. - Pure Vanilla
1 Box - Butter Yellow Cake Mix
1/3 C. - Vegetable Oil
2 - Eggs
1 Bag - Hershey Cinnamon Baking Chips
1/2 C. - Shredded Cooked Turkey Breast
1/2 C. - Sugar
3 Tsp. - Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl combine the vanilla, cake mix, oil and eggs, stir until well mixed; add in the cinnamon chips and turkey, stir until well combined. In a small dish combine the sugar and cinnamon, stir well and set aside. Roll dough into 1 inch balls then cover in the cinnamon sugar mixture, place onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 1-2 minutes then transfer to wax paper or brown paper bag to cool and set.

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Pigs in a Puddle

This week’s sweet treat is the brain child of my husband and his friends John and Bubba. They had a meeting of the minds and thought these chocolate covered goodies sounded fabulous. I had a hard time with it but I wanted to support their dream treat to its completion. I did try it and it was not great but also not as bad as I thought it would be, the boys all liked it but determined once was enough.

1 Lb. - Boneless Cooked Ham Steak (cut into sticks 3 in x 1/2 in)
1/2 C. - Brown Sugar
1/4 C. - Honey
1 Tbs. - Orange Juice
1/8 Tsp. - Cinnamon
10 oz. - Milk Chocolate Chips
6 oz. - White Chips
Small Zippy Bag

In a pot heat together the brown sugar, honey, cinnamon and orange juice. Cook until the sugar and honey have melted. Turn the heat off and place the ham into the sauce, turn to coat the meat fully. Place the ham onto a broiler pan and bake in an 375 degree oven for 20 min then turn and baste with more glaze and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely, damp off any excess glaze from the ham so they are dry. In a double boiler over medium heat melt the chocolate chips until smooth. Drop ham into the chocolate one at a time to completely cover in the melted chocolate. Remove with a fork and place onto wax paper to air dry. Once the candy has hardened using the same double boiler method melt the white chips. Pour the melted white chocolate into the zippy bag and seal closed. Snip the end off one corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate covered ham strips with the white chocolate. Let the candy air dry to become firm again. Store in a cool dry place, and well sealed container for a few days.

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Peppermint Bark

It is finally December and Christmas Season, my favorite time of the year. I love listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies, looking at all of the pretty Christmas lights, shopping, and of course Christmas baking. My first sweet treat this year I have never made before, we tried some of Costco’s Peppermint Bark and it was fabulous but they wanted $9.99 for a pound. I as usual knew that I could make something similar at home so that is what we did.

12 oz. - Guittard Green Mint Chips
12 oz. - Nestle White Chips
5 oz. - Andes Peppermint Crunch Chips

Cover a baking sheet with wax paper. Using a double boiler, I used a glass mixing bowl over a sauce pan. Melt the chips over simmering water stirring occasionally until fully melted. When the chips are ready spread an even layer on the wax paper and let cool until it firms up again. When the first layer is completely firm melt the white chips just like the mint layer. When the white chips are melted then evenly spread the white over the green. Sprinkle the white layer with the Andes peppermint crunch and press into the white layer. Let the entire sheet of candy cool and get firm, break into sections and then break the sections into smaller pieces. Store in a zip lock bag or Tupperware for weeks, if it will last that long.

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Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our daughter is home from Denver for vacation, last weekend we took her to Seaside Oregon and spent the day having fun in the sand. We stopped into a candy store called the Buzz because they had on their window an ad for Chocolate Dipped Bacon. I could not resist giving that a try, We both love chocolate and bacon so the 2 together even though the thought of it sounds odd, it had to taste good...right ? Let me tell you, it was absolutely over the top good. I knew if bacon covered in chocolate tasted good, then some warm gooey bacon chocolate chip cookies would also taste great. The sweet of the chocolate and the smoky of the bacon is a wonderful combination in a cookie, it’s a Must TRY.

2 1/4 C. - Flour
1 Tsp. - Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp. - Salt
2 Sticks - Butter ( soft )
3/4 C. - Sugar
3/4 C. - Brown Sugar
2 Tsp. - Vanilla
2 - Eggs
1 C. - Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips
1 C. - Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips
8 Thick - Slices Of Bacon ( cooked)

Cook the bacon until golden and crispy ( my husband does it on the BBQ ) set aside in the fridge to cool. Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and light in color ( about 4 minutes ). Add the vanilla and one egg at a time on low speed until well combined. Gradually add in the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, stir in the chips and cut the bacon into pieces about the same size as the chips and mix well. Drop onto a parchment, lined baking sheet and cook in a 375 degree oven for 10-13 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for about 1 minutes then transfer to waxed paper to set and cool.

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Pumpkin Raisin Chocolate Cookie

Fall is in the air here in Beaverton, we have been getting breezy days that are making the leaves fall from the trees and all of the stores are selling pumpkins. I love this time of the year because for me it is the start of my pumpkin eating frenzy. I really wanted some pumpkin cookies for my first item of the season; I used to be able to buy some at the local Safeway store that I simply loved. I was totally devastated when they stopped selling them and I had to try and make them myself. The recipe I threw together was not bad but at the same time it was just not the same. Last week when I was doing my commenting I found pictures of some pumpkin cookies that looked just like what I used to get in the store. Have A Daily Serving And Enjoy (Grub and Stuff) was sharing what has to be the simplest recipe for these wonderful cookies and I knew by the picture that they would taste just like the ones I fell in love with. My husband was thrilled over the thought of making these little gems but of course asked ever so sweetly if I would put raisins in the cookies too, and of course for him I did. I want to thank Kasha for sharing this simple but wonderful cookie recipe because they did turn out and taste just like what I have been trying to duplicate for years.

1 Can - Pumpkin Pie Mix (30 oz. )
1 Box - Betty Crocker Super Moist Spice Cake Mix
1 Bag - Chocolate Chunks
½ C. - Golden Raisins

In the bowl of your kitchen aid add the cake mix and can of pumpkin, mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chunks and raisins and mix well. Drop onto a parchment lined baking sheet using an ice-cream scoop. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-18 minutes. I hope you enjoy these fabulous cookies as much as Kasha and my families did.

Makes about 30 Cookies

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Chocolate Mint Cake

I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July.... So today I had this massive craving for chocolate that simply could not be ignored, you know the kind I speak of. I had all of the fixings to make a standard chocolate cake, but OH NO.... we did not stop there. I also had a few other items that I knew would take this simple cake to a whole new level of YUM!!! A big piece of cake along with a glass of cold milk and I was good to go.

Cake:

1 - Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
Water, Oil & Eggs

Filling:

1 - 4oz. - Serving White Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 C. - Milk
1/2 Tsp. - Peppermint Extract

Frosting:

1 - Betty Crocker Whipped Chocolate Frosting
1/2 C. - Andes Mint Baking Bits

Make according to box directions and bake at 350 degrees in a well sprayed glass cake pan or at 325 degrees if using a dark or non stick pan. After the cake is done baking remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes. In a medium sized bowl beat together the pudding mix, milk and extract for about 2 minutes, when ready pour over the top of the cake and cover loosely with foil or plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. When cool and the pudding is set frost carefully with the frosting and sprinkle on the candy bits. Keep loosely covered in the fridge.

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Orange Creamsicle Cake

Welcome to Thursday is Dessert Day..... With Easter just around the corner I wanted to make a cake that to me just SCREAMED Easter and Spring. I was walking through the store a few weeks ago and I noticed an Orange Supreme cake mix on the shelf, OMG, all of the sudden ideas started flooding into my head of what I could do with this simple and basic cake mix to give it a new identity. As the ideas came in I went from isle to isle gathering ingredients to create the cake I had just came up with while walking in the store. Let me just say some of the best thing just happen as you are walking through the grocery store!

1- 18.25oz. Box - Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Orange Supreme Cake
1 1/3 C. - Water
1/3 C. - Oil
3 - Large Eggs
5 - Drops Red Food Coloring
5 - Drops Yellow Food Coloring
1 Tsp. - Orange extract
1 C. - Vanilla Chips
1 Tsp. - Pure Vanilla
1 - 12oz. - Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffy White Frosting
3 - 14oz. - Cans Mandarin Oranges (drained)

In a mixing bowl add the 7 ingredients and mix well to combine, when fully mixed and smooth stir in the chips and transfer to a 13x9 baking dish. Bake according to directions and let cool completely. While the cake is cooling pat dry the oranges using paper towels and mix the vanilla into the frosting. When the cake is completely cooled, frost, and cover the top with the oranges.

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Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Mallow Bars

As I do every Sunday I was running around the house doing chores, when I stopped and thought to myself how great it would be to have something sticky and gooey for dessert tonight. I went to my pantry cabinet and looked around and found a Chocolate Chip cookie mix that my secret Santa at work had given me. Now of course simple chocolate chip cookies would have been simply gooey enough but I wanted to take this plain old cookie mix and give it a new face lift. I think I may have even surprised myself with this creation. I just started to have all sorts of ideas creep into my head but this recipe that a follows was the final winner of being tonight’s Dunkin Family Dessert.

1 - 9 oz. - Duncan Hines family Recipe Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
1 Tbs. - Soft Butter
1 - Large egg
¼ C. - Peanut Butter (smooth)
1 C. - Mini Marshmallows
2 Tbs. - Chocolate Ice Cream Syrup
1 Tsp. - Milk

In a mixing bowl stir together the cookie mix, egg, milk and butter until smooth. Grease a 8x8 baking pan and spread the cookie mixture into the bottom. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes or until set and brown. Remove from the oven and spread on the peanut butter evenly on the top of the cookie bar then top with the marshmallows. Return the pan back into the oven just until the marshmallows start to melt. Take the pan back out of the oven and spread the marshmallows evenly over the peanut butter and then drizzle with the chocolate syrup. Let cool and cut into squares.

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Chocolate Love Cakes

I wanted to surprise my husband with an extra special early Valentines dessert tonight, I knew that whatever I was going to make it had to be chocolate, not just because it is my favorite thing in the whole world..next to my husband but because something homemade from chocolate is just so sexy, alluring and is a huge aphrodisiac. I had been thinking about this for weeks now and finally decided on chocolate cake, they are so chocolaty, rich and gooey, the perfect pre-valentines dessert.

6 - oz. Bittersweet Chocolate (Ghirardelli)
2 – oz. Semisweet Chocolate (Ghirardelli)
10 Tbs. - Butter
½ C. - Flour
1 ½ C. - Powder Sugar
3 - Large Eggs
3 - Egg Yolks
1 Tsp. - Vanilla
2 Tbs. - Orange Extract
1/3 C. - Mini Chocolate Chips
Heart Shaped Candy
Chocolate Whipped Topping

Grease 6 (6 oz.) cups, melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave. After melted stir in the flour and sugar then mix in the eggs and yolk until smooth. Stir in the mini chips, vanilla and orange extract. Divide the mixture evenly between the 6 cups and bake for 12-14 minutes at 425 degrees. The edges of the cakes should be firm while the center is still soft and gooey. Run a butter knife around the edges of the cakes to loosen. Drizzle your serving plate with some chocolate syrup; place a love cake on top then frost it with some whip topping and place a candy heart in the center. Your special someone will really feel the love you put into these cute little cakes.

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Caramel Raisin Spice Cookies

When I submitted the recipe for Snickerdoodle Cookies on 12-7-08 my husband and I started thinking of other combinations of cake mix and cookie bits we could put together, we came up with a very large list I must say. But only one cookie could make the blog this weekend and here is the winner… they turned out even better than I could have imagined.

1 Box - Spice Cake Mix
2 - Eggs
1/3 C. - Oil
3/4 C. - Golden Raisin
3/4 C. - Kraft Premium Caramel Bits
2 Tsp. - Vanilla

In a mixing bowl beat together cake mix, eggs and vanilla just until fully combined, and then stir in the raisins and caramel bits. Heat oven to 375 degrees, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop cookie onto the sheet by spoonfuls then bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. When the cookies are done let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute then remove them to wax paper to cool. This recipe will yield about 35 cookies.

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We have had lots of Crazy Weather here last week (Rain, Freezing rain, Snow, and Blizzards) and it finally decided to dump 8 inches on us Saturday Dec. 20 all I can say is WOW, it was Beautiful but yet scary. Here are a couple pictures of the fun...

From this...


To this over night...8 inches



Oh and I forgot there is about 1/2 inch of Ice on top of the Snow...notice the tree branches. WOW...

Oatmeal Raisin Cinnamon Chippers

This cookie is my husband’s all time favorite, he asks me to make them at least 3 times a year if not more. We did do a small tweak to them however; he has fallen in love with cinnamon chips so I added them to the recipe. I must say I have never seen a grown man so in love with a cookie as my husband is with these. But it does make me feel good to know that I can make something so easy and make him so very happy at the same time. I love you honey and these cookies are for you my dear.

2 - Sticks Butter (soft)
1 C. - Brown Sugar
1/3 C. - Sugar
2 - Eggs
1 1/2 Tsp. - Vanilla
1 1/2 C. - Flour
1 Tsp. - Baking Soda
2 1/2 C. - Quick Cooking Oatmeal
1 10 oz. - Bag Cinnamon Chips
3/4 C. - Golden Raisins

Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar in a bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Combine flour and baking soda then add to butter mixture beating well. Stir in oats, cinnamon chips and raisins (batter will be stiff). Drop by spoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until slightly brown, cool on baking sheet for about 1 minute then transfer to wax paper to finish cooling. This will make about 4 dozen cookies.

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Snickerdoodles with Cinnamon Chips

My second most favorite cookie ever is Snickerdoodles, when we got home from buying all of the baking chips I laid them out on the table to decide what to make. When I saw the cinnamon chips the first thing that came to mind was adding them into a Snickerdoodle recipe, wow… does that just not sound so darn good? Let me just say, they turned out better than I could have ever hoped for, they are so delish!

2 Tsp. – Pure Vanilla
1 Box – Yellow Cake Mix
1/3 C. – Vegetable Oil
2 – Eggs
1/2 C. – Sugar
2 Tsp. – Ground Cinnamon
1 Bag – Cinnamon Chips

Preheat oven to 375. In a bowl mix pure vanilla, cake mix, oil and eggs, stir until well blended. Add in the cinnamon chips and mix until well combined. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small shallow bowl and set aside, form cookie dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the cinnamon, sugar mixture. Place onto a parchment paper baking lined sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until cookies are set and lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 1-2 minutes before you remove them to wax paper or brown paper bag to finish cooling. Makes 35 Cookies.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

It is now officially Christmas season and that means it’s time for cookie baking. I don’t really make many cookies any other time of the year so I really go above and beyond at Christmas. My wonderful husband made it very easy for me this year, we went grocery shopping and ended up in the baking isle and they had all sorts of chips on sale and I think he must have grabbed one of every kind. Other than baking the cookies the only other job I have is to match chips together to create some mouth watering and fabulous cookies for my family and friends. For this first cookie I went a little selfish and made my favorite combination, chocolate and peanut butter.

2/3 C. – Shortening
1 1/2 C. – Brown Sugar
1 Tbs. - Water
1 Tsp. - Vanilla
2 – Eggs
1 1/2 C. – Flour
1/3 C. – Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/4 Tsp. – Baking Soda
2 C. – Peanut Butter Chips

Mix shortening, brown sugar, water and vanilla in a bowl and beat until well blended, then mix in the eggs. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Stir in the peanut butter chips and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet using a small ice-cream scoop or the two spoon method. Bake for 7-9 minutes, cookies will be soft so do not over bake. Let cool on baking sheet about 1 minute then remove onto wax paper or a brown paper bag. Depending on the size of your cookie scoop this will yield about 35 cookies.

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