Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie Treats

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This is the first time in years that I haven't had grand plans to celebrate.  For four years, I celebrated the infamous Green Beer Day (proof that wikipedia has it all -- it even has a description of Green Beer Day at Miami of Ohio!).  For the next five years, there was always plenty of green beer to be had in Chicago.  This year, I celebrated by making shepard's pie for dinner one night this week and making cut-out rice krispie treats for my co-workers.  Times have changed :)

 

Side note:  You have to make IGE's recipe for Shepard's Pie -- I tweaked it a bit but this dinner was a hit!

 

 

Anyways, this is just your basic rice krispie treat recipe, cut into cute little shapes and jazzed up with sprinkles, of course.  The ONLY problem I have with this recipe is I was left with a ton of leftover rice krispie treat scraps.  Making plans to do something with those this weekend!  Stay tuned.... and I hope you enjoy lots of green beer!

 

Blondies

 

The blondie is so unassuming. It might be a bold statement but this might be my favorite recipe -- I actually pride myself on it. In fact, if I were to go into business right now, blondies would be my specialty. I've made several variations to the base but the original version is still my favorite -- a chewy bar studded with white AND dark chocolate with sweetened coconut tossed in for good measure. I made these for the bake sale that I hosted a few weeks ago and these were a huge hit.

 

I've shared this recipe before but I feel the need to share it again because I don't think they got the credit they deserved the first time around! My photography skills are slowly beginning to improve so I thought I'd update the pictures too :)

Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Filling

Its not often that I make cupcakes.  I save them for vary special occasions, like birthdays and celebrations....  Speaking of birthdays -- happy birthday Caitlin and Lynch!!!  Love and MISS you two!

 

These were definitely celebration cupcakes.  My boyfriend matched at Colorado State for his residency and we couldn't be more excited!!  So proud of him :)  Since I bake for any and every occasion, I sent these into work to wish him good luck.  I'm told they were gone instantly -- always a good sign!

 

I started with a simple vanilla cupcake as my base, filled 'em with white chocolate whipped cream and topped them with my favorite vanilla buttercream. Cream filling makes everything better and it took these simple vanilla cupcakes to a whole new level. 

Chocolate Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

Its the week before Christmas and I finally got around to making a batch of cut-out cookies.  To me, the holiday season would not be complete without making a batch of these cookies.  I went a different route this year and used a chocolate dough. 

Rather than icing the cookies, I dipped half in white chocolate and just sprinkled some with white sprinkles.  I'm really digging the black and white going on in these pictures.  Hopefully you'll have time to make these in the next few days -- the recipe is a keeper!

White Chocolate Chip Cinnamon & Sugar Cookies

 

Simple flavors but the cinnamon combined with white chocolate is just right. Although I tend to prefer a thick, puffy cookie, these were thin but still soft and chewy.  They are similar to the white chocolate chip snickerdoodles I shared with you all a while back, but these reminded me more of a sugar cookie.

 

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Bark

 

This pumpkin spice bark would be a great addition to your Thanksgiving spread!  I love to have snacks and appetizers out when guests arrive and its nice to have something sweet and salty!  Place alongside a bowl of salty mixed nuts and you are good to go. 

 

I actually used the bark as a garnish in pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for a co-workers birthday -- they were a hit and the bark made for such a nice presentation.

 

My favorite thing about bark is how quickly it comes together.  Its nice to have a few easier cookie and candy recipes to include in your holiday cookie tray!  The key is not to burn the chocolate and move quickly to spread an even layer of chocolate and get those toppers secured in the chocolate.  My all-time favorite bark recipe is double chocolate salted peanut bark.

 

White Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodles

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I had plans to make cookies for someone on Saturday morning but didn't have a particular recipe in mind.  Luckily, I have a friend who is equally obsessed with baking and always seems to find the best recipes.  A text from her suggesting the white chocolate filled snickerdoodles from Cookies & Cups was all I needed -- no need sort through the 500 recipes that I have starred in my google reader (phew).  Note to self, recipe organization could use some serious work.

Speaking of, Annie's Eats has a great post on how she organizes her recipes -- very helpful, now just need to sit down and do it!

Back to the cookies, I ended up making a basic snickerdoodle recipe and adding white chocolate chips -- eliminating the stuffing process and saving me a little time.  Win.  They turned out perfect, nice and crisp on the outside but super soft on the inside -- just the way I like 'em!

Soft Batch White Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pistachios and Sea Salt

Do you remember soft batch cookies?  Soft, thick and chewy -- growing up, I always thought these were so much better than homemade cookies.  Looking back, that's crazy talk!  Nothing beats a homemade batch of cookies.

Anyways, these cookies remind me exactly of delicious, processed soft batch cookies.  The original recipe that my Mom sent to me (thanks, Mom!) was a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I made 'em a little fancier with the addition of white chocolate, pistachios and a little sprinkling of sea salt!

If you're a fan of white chocolate cookies, we also think these are pretty tasty:

White Chocolate and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies

White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

White Chocolate Coconut Blondies

Lemon Cookies with White Chocolate and Toasted Coconut

White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies

I hope everyone is ready for Christmas!  My friends all gathered at my apartment this week to celebrate together before heading to our respective hometowns.  I went with a mostly dessert theme with a few appetizers in the mix.  The menu included:

Cheese and Fruit Tray
Cranberry Pistachio Baked Brie
White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies
Cranberry Bliss Bars
Sugar Crusted Ginger Chewies
Sand Dollar Cookies
Homemade Thin Mints
A sampling of appetizers and snacks purchased at Trader Joe's

These blondies were great.  They taste like Christmas -- ginger and spices combined with white chocolate in a chewy blondie.  In case you don't love gingerbread, you could also make my favorite traditional blondie recipe.  A few of my other favorites include the snickerdoodle blondies, white chocolate coconut blondies and pumpkin blondies.

Pistachio & Cranberry White Chocolate Bark

One of my favorite parts about the holidays is the baking, of course!  However, we all know it is also the busiest time of the year.  That is why I LOVE chocolate bark.  No baking required and it comes together in minutes, leaving you with plenty of time to spend with family and friends.

Last year, Molly made this Double Chocolate Salted Peanut Bark -- delicious!!

Lemon Cookies with White Chocolate and Toasted Coconut

This recipe was inspired by a few of my favorite ingredients -- they ended up pairing together so nicely and created one delicious cookie!  These are crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside.  The white chocolate is such a compliment to the lemon and the coconut is very subtle.

White Chocolate and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies with Sea Salt

Apparently I like to torture myself...

I chose to make these cookies (with the most amazing combination of ingredients I could ever think of) during Lent.  Did I mention I gave up sweets for Lent?  I couldn't taste.  A.  Single.  Bite.  At least I can say I practiced the most remarkable self-control ever.   I can vouch for the fact that they smelled amazing and the lucky recipients of these cookies said they were delicious.

One Year Ago:  Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

Cranberry Hootycreeks: Cookies in a Jar

 I find baking to be very therapeutic at times, so when I found out that my friend was going through a difficult time I decided to send her something that she could bake.  Most people send the finished product, which is great at times, but I decided to go a different route, plus it lasts longer in the mail!

Although I did not get to taste these cookies, they got rave reviews online.  Enjoy!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Truffles

Apologies for going MIA on you last week.  To make up for it, I'm sharing these little truffles with you.  If you haven't noticed, we really like truffles.  These might be my favorite thus far.

I knew Molly would love them too, so I made these for her birthday.  That's right -- Molly's Birthday was last week and I neglected to celebrate the day with a post.  However, its still her "birthday month" so you can still wish her a Happy Birthday here (in case you missed it).

Below is a handful of truffle recipes that we love:
Peanut Butter and Pretzel Truffles
Fig and Ginger Truffles
Red Velvet Cake Truffles -- we love every variety!
Brownie Truffles
Buckeyes

One Year Ago:  White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

White Chocolate, Caramel & Coconut Cookies

These cookies are so good!  Think chewy sugar cookie, combined with gooey caramel and white chocolate, with the crunch of toasted coconut.  The flavor combination was right up my alley!  I was searching through my cupboard one morning and these were the three ingredients I spotted first -- and the white chocolate, caramel & coconut cookie was born.

Cranberry Bliss Bars

The holidays are officially here.  I love everything about the holidays but of course, I especially love baking any sort of Christmas cookie I can imagine.  I already shared my favorite ginger chewies from last year (seriously, they are to die for), but today I'm sharing another cookie (its a bar but I'll categorize it as a cookie) that I made last year (at least a few times).  Although I got the idea from Good Things Catered, they are a version of the treat you see in the Starbucks display case.  I've never tried the Starbucks version, but these are amazing -- a white chocolate, cranberry, ginger cookie with cream cheese frosting.

I hope to share all of my favorite holiday cookie and dessert recipes with you over the coming weeks!  If you have a favorite treat that you make year after year, we'd love for you to share it with us!

White Chocolate Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

I love a good cupcake!  I find that some cupcakes are too crumbly and overpowered by sugary frosting.  These cupcakes are perfect -- not too sweet, a little bit on the "denser" side and great flavor.  

The brown sugar frosting would be perfect on any cupcake -- pumpkin, apple, chocolate, vanilla or my favorite -- red velvet.  Molly just so happened to use the same exact frosting on her Applesauce-Spice cupcakes (great minds think alike)!

Chocolate Chip & Walnut Sugar Cookies dipped in white chocolate

Here are a few pictures from Sarah's visit to Charleston this past weekend.  It was a blast!!

These cookies will impress anyone, and they are so easy to make!  Even people who are intimidated by baking can wow a crowd with these.  

The original recipe called for cherries and pistachios rather than the combination of chocolate and walnuts that I used.  The original recipe would be perfect for Christmas cookies, which will be here before you know it...scary.  

You can use just about any combination you can think of for these cookies.  And you can dip them in dark chocolate instead of white chocolate.  I can think of so many yummy possibilities right now!!

I think these will become my go-to cookie when I'm crunched for time; with all the possible flavor combinations, these can work for any occasion!

** "We know it's tempting....but please do no eat raw cookie dough."

 I think these directions on the sugar cookie package were made specifically for me!

Pumpkin Blondies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

These blondies have become a fall favorite this year!  They are a great base for a pumpkin bar and you can switch them up any way you'd like -- I used white chocolate chips and added a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  However, the original recipe I found on Annie's Eats used half white chocolate chips and half butterscotch chips.  I also think dried cranberries and pecans would be a great addition!