Peanut Butter Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

Stephen is back at camp this week and before he left, I wanted to send him with a special treat.  I saw these granola snacks on two peas and their pod and they looked so good and easy.  I didn't have all the ingredients so I changed them around a little bit and was so happy with the results!  They remind me of no-bake cookies my mom used to make but they have a little twist.  So if you have 15 minutes and a few ingredients, you can make these too!  Also, you don't have to turn on the oven, which is a major plus with the hot weather we've been having!  Hope you have a good week at camp Stephen! Lilly and I miss you!

2 cups oats
2 cups crisp rice cereal
1/2 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup honey
2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup chocolate chips + 1/2 cup chocolate chips (to melt and drizzle on top!)

• Combine the oats and cereal in a bowl.
• In a medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter and butter until is melts a little and becomes a smooth mixture (this doesn't take but a few minutes)
• Add the peanut butter, honey, and chocolate chips to the cereal mixture and stir until it's well mixed.  
• Use a small cookie scoop and place cookies on wax paper. (It's important to pack the mixture into the scoop so it will stay in a ball) Allow them to sit for about 15 minutes or until set. 
• Melt the remaining chocolate chips, pour the chocolate into a ziploc bag, cut a small hole in the edge of the bag and drizzle! 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Layer Dessert

I had such a great time with my family last weekend.  All the cousins, aunts, uncles and my grandparents were in town for the Wagner Family Reunion and it was so fun to catch up with everyone!  It was especially crazy to see how much my little cousins Madelyn and Mia had grown up.  I hadn't seen them since my wedding we had a wonderful time hanging out.  I just love those girls!  We all had a great time being together, thanks to everyone who traveled to Tulsa so we could be together!

Anyway, I made this dessert while everyone was here.  It's good, it's classic, it's simple and always a hit.  This is actually Stephen's favorite dessert and he will tell you that I don't make it nearly enough. 

In my rush to get everything done last week, I didn't take pictures of the process but it's so simple all you do is make each layer and assemble it! 

Layer 1 - The crust!

2 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 sticks butter

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Melt the butter, add the pecans and flour then stir.  Pat the mixture evenly into the bottom of the dish.  Bake 20 minutes then allow to cool completely before adding other layers.

Layer 2 - CreamWhip 

8 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 cups whipped cream (or cool whip)
1 cup powdered sugar

Add all ingredients together.  Make sure cream cheese is softened at room temperature.  When the crust is cool, layer in the mixture.

Layer 3 - Chocolate! or Lemon or Raspberry or Blueberry, or anything else you can imagine.

3 small pudding mixes (I used 2 chocolate and 1 vanilla)
4 cups cold milk

Again, mix together until pudding is formed then add to the other layers

Layer 4 - Whipped Cream

2 1/2 cups whipped cream and some sugar to taste or cool whip

Top it off with the remaining cool whip or whipped cream then add chopped pecans to the top if you like.  Stephen also like to add heath bites, just add them right before you serve it or they get soggy.

Note: Heavy whipping cream doubles in size when whipped.  So 2 cups of whipping cream will make the 4 cups of whipped cream you need for the dessert.  Or you can use a large container of cool whip and divide it for the 2 layers. 

Keep it in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve!  Enjoy!

The Family

Me, Melissa, Madeline

Love you guys!

The Absolute Best Brownies

We are having such a fun time in Chicago. It's great to catch up with Mark and Stephanie and Monroe is the sweetest little girl, we just love her. Today we went to a petting zoo and Monroe loved the animals. Later Stephanie was taking a nap and when she woke up she said she had a dream that I was baking brownies. These brownies by David Lebovitz came to mind and I knew they would hit the spot. My friend Lindsey always bakes these and they a my favorite brownies. They are fudgy, rich, and have toasted pecans, they are everything a brownie should be. So good!

The Absolute Best Brownie by David Lebovitz

6 Tablespoons butter (cut into pieces)
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet baking chocolate (I used Ghiradelli 60% cocoa baking chips, quality chocolate is important, don't skimp on it - a tip I learned from Lindsey.)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans toasted and chopped

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan melt butter and chocolate until it becomes a smooth mixture (don't over cook it).

Remove from heat and add sugar and vanilla and stir until combined. Beat eggs and add to the mixture. Add flour and stir vigorously for one minute. Time it. The mixture will go from being granulated to very smooth and pulling away from the bowl.  In the meanwhile toast the pecans for a few minutes then add to the mixture.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center is just set. Don't let the brownies overcook!

Then enjoy the wonderful gooey, rich, chocolate-ness you have just created! Top it with some ice-cream and hot fudge for an extra special treat.

P.S. - Here are some pictures of our fun in Chicago so far!

Reading a book

Playing with the big blue bird. 

"Flying"

This is Monroe's surprised face :)

Chocolate Pecan Cookies with White Chocolate... yum!

These cookies are seriously delicious.  You just must make them to see what I'm talking about.  I made these for my good friend Nic's birthday last week.  Everyone loved them, but what surprised me the most about these are that they stay moist for days.  I usually only eat cookies right when they come out of the oven or the next day, but then they seem to get dry and just not as good (I know I'm a cookie snob), but that did not happen with these.  I had one today and they were still as chewy and moist as the day I baked them.  Not kidding, so go try them!

Note: My friend Rachel says you must eat these cookies upside down so you have the texture of the white chocolate on your tongue.  Good advice :)

Chocolate Pecan Cookies with White Chocolate

1 1/2 cups flour
3 T. cocoa
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. butter (melted)
1 c. sugar
1 egg
2 T. light corn syrup
1 t. vanilla
2 T. milk
1 c. pecans (you must toast the pecans!)
3/4 c. chocolate chips (optional, but why not!)

1/3 c. white chocolate chips

• Combine dry ingredients and set aside.  In a bowl cream together butter, sugar, egg, corn syrup, vanilla, and milk.  Add the dry ingredients and mix together.  
• Roughly chop the pecans and put on a cookie sheet.  
• Toast the pecans in the oven for about 5-8 minutes or until they become fragrant, but watch so they don't burn! Toasting the pecans very important, it brings out their flavor and it just makes a difference so take the time to do it!  Let the pecans cool a little then add them and the chocolate chips to the dough.  
• Mix well and refrigerate the dough for about 2-3 hours.  The dough will need to harden a bit so you can scoop it.  (You could make the dough a day ahead of baking the cookies)
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 
• Use a small scoop and arrange cookies on the sheet.  Use your fingers to flatten a little bit.
• Bake 8-10 minutes then remove from the oven and transfer to cooling racks.  
• Once the cookies have cooled a little bit, melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave (20 second intervals and stirring in between) Pour the melted chocolate into a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the corner of the bag.
• Drizzle the chocolate over the cookies!

Enjoy!

Orange Ricotta Cookies with Milk Chocolate

Wow, what a week it's been, school is definitely rolling again and it has been a busy busy week!  Today is so beautiful and I decided to take a little break from the crazy pace this week, and before it gets crazy again this weekend to bake some cookies.  I found this recipe this morning on my favorite cooking blog, Two Peas and Their Pod.  She has some great recipes and ideas and she is vegetarian so I find a lot of recipes I like on her blog.  Our new pastor is arriving this weekend and we are having cookies tomorrow night at church for a little get-together.  I think these will be a hit!

These cookies have a cake-like texture, are very moist, and the orange glaze and chocolate drizzle just take them to the next level.  One thing to note, don't melt the butter but just soften it.  I meant to just soften it, but time got away from me and the butter softened a bit more than I would have liked.  I think this will give the cookies better height and keep them from spreading out (I had some that did that...)    I would definitely make them again and hope you will try them out too!  Let me know how they go!

Orange Ricotta Cookies with Milk Chocolate

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 orange, zested

2 cups powdered sugar
3 T. orange juice

1/2 cup chocolate chips (melted)
 
Combine dry ingredients and set aside.  In another bowl (or mixer, I have been enjoying mine!) beat together butter and sugar, then add eggs, ricotta, orange juice, and the zest of one orange.  Add the dry ingredients and combine together.

Spoon the dough (about 1 tablespoon) onto a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake about 10-12 minutes.  Remove onto cooling racks and allow cookies to cool completely. 

Once cookies have cooled, combine the powdered sugar and orange juice to form a glaze.  Spread the glaze over the cooled cookies and allow it to set up, about 5 minutes.  Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for 1-1 1/2 minutes stopping every  20 - 30 seconds to stir.  Don't let the chocolate get too hot.  Let it sit for about a minute then pour the melted chocolate into a ziploc bag.  Cut a very small hole (did I mention very small?) in the corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate onto the cookies.  Allow the cookies to set up.

ENJOY!