Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Your favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Or buy a roll of refrigerated dough
Vanilla ice cream

Smoosh cookie dough into a pie plate. Bake for about 10-15 minutes—or just until barely brown. Remove from oven and let cool for only a few minutes. Spoon big scoops of vanilla ice cream into the warm center. 

Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes

So, so good!! You will never know they have black beans in them.  My boys even like them without frosting!   You have to try these as soon as you can.  You will not be disappointed.  I have made them several times.  I have substituted  plain yogurt for sour cream and left out the pudding mix and they still tasted really good. 


Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes
1 box Devil's Food Cake or Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (if you don't like using preboxed cakes, I am sure you could substitute the oil in a homemade chocolate cakerecipe with pureed beans)
1 can black beans
2/3 c. sour cream
3 eggs
1 small chocolate instant pudding mix

Drain the can of black beans and then refill to the top with water. Put beans and water in a food processor or blender and blend until completely smooth. Pour the cake mix into a large bowl and add the pureed beans. Add the sour cream, eggs and dry pudding mix to the cake mix and stir until smooth. Grease 18 muffin tins (or use muffin wrappers) and fill with the cake batter. Bake at 350 for 10-13 minutes, or until cooked through (don't over cook or they will dry out--who likes dry cake? Ugh!). Remove from the oven and let cool until ready to frost.

“Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting

1 stick (1/2 c.) butter or margarine

2/3 c. Hershey’s Cocoa

3 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter.  Stir in cocoa.  Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on med. speed to spreading consistency.  Add more milk, if needed.  Stir in vanilla.  About 2 c.  

Double Chocolate Fantasy Bars

Double Chocolate Fantasy Bars

1 (18.25 oz) package chocolate cake mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup chopped nuts
1 (14 oz) can Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated milk)
1 (6 oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease 13x9 inch baking pan.  In large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil and egg; beat at medium speed until crumbly.  Stir in nuts.  Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture.  Press remaining crumb mixture firmly on bottom of prepared pan.
 
In small saucepan over medium heat, combine remaining ingredients.  Cook and stir until chips melt.

Pour chocolate mixture evenly over prepared crust.  Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture evenly over top.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until set.  Cool.  Cut into bars.  Store loosely covered at room temperature.
Makes 36 bars.

Mock Kneader's Mint Brownies

Who doesn't like Kneader's? Who doesn't like Kneader's Mint Brownie's? These are so yummy, I really could eat the whole pan. That is why when I make them I have to give them away to family and friends. Hope everyone enjoy's them as much as me. When I am short on time I use a box brownie mix and it turns out just fine.

Mock Kneader's Mint Brownies

Brownie
1 cup butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Melt the chocolate and butter in a 2 quart bowl in the microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring every 20 – 30 seconds until the chocolate is melted. Cool slightly.
Add sugar, eggs and vanilla and mix well with a spatula.
Add the flour and stir to combine.
Stir in chocolate chips. Spread into a buttered 13-inch x 9-inch x 2-inch baking pan.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Do not overcook. Cool.

Filling
½ cup softened butter, margarine, or shortening
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 drops mint flavoring or to taste
1 drop pink food coloring

In a small bowl, beat the confectioners’ sugar, butter and mint flavoring until smooth.
Add food coloring to make a light pink.
Spread evenly over cooled brownies and then chill.

Chocolate Ganache

1 C Chocolate Chips (I use semi-sweet)

1/3 C Butter

Melt butter and chocolate over low heat (or in the microwave) until smooth. Spread over mint filling. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Magic Cookie Bars

Magic Bars have got to be one of my favorite cookie bars. I decided this year I would try a new recipe out of each of my cookbooks. I have all these cookbooks laying around with great recipes in them. I just need to try them. This recipe came from my Eagle Brand Classic Recipes. There are several other recipes in this book that I will be trying or retrying!
Magic Cookie Bars

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 (14-ounce) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated milk)

2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 35o F (325 F for glass dish). In 13x9 inch baking pan, melt butter in oven.

Sprinkle crumbs over butter; pour Eagle Brand evenly over crumbs. Layer evenly with remaining ingredients; press down firmly.

Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Chill, if desired. Cut into bars. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen.

Double Coconut Cake

My sister makes these cupcakes and they are soooo good. I haven't tried to make them because she does such a good job, why mess up a good thing. She left some at the house the other day and I have to admit, i ate most of them. Not good for my thighs but my stomach sure enjoyed them. The cake is very dense and moist. Love these!

Double-Coconut Cake

by: Michelle Dansie

Cooking spray

1 Tablespoon cake flour

2 ¼ cups sifted cake flour

2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 2/3 cups sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Fluffy Coconut Frosting or Buttercream Icing (my favorite)

2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut, divided. (I like it toasted)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Coat 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour.

3. Combine 2 ¼ cups flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (for about 5 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in vanilla.

4. Pour batter into prepared pans. Sharply tab the pans once on countertop to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.

5. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1 cup Fluffy Coconut Frosting. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup coconut. Top with remaining cake layer; spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle 1/3 cup coconut over top of cake. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator. Yield: 14 servings.

Cupcakes bake for 19-22 minutes

(Totals include Fluffy Coconut Frosting) CALORIES 298 (24% from fat); FAT 7.9g (sat 5g, mono 1.7g, poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 3.4 g; CARB 53.8g; FIBER 0.4; CHOL 42mg; IRON 1.6mg; SODIUM 273mg; CALC 52mg.

FLUFFY COCONUT FROSTING:

4 large egg whites

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

Dash of salt

1 cup sugar

¼ cup water

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon coconut extract

1. Place egg whites cream of tartar, and salt in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until candy thermometer registers 238°. Pour hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over egg whites, beating at high speed. Stir in extracts. Yield: about 4 cups (serving size: about ¼ cup).

CALORIES 54 (0% from fat); FAT 0g; PROTEIN 0.9g; CARB 12.7g; FIBER 0g; CHOL 0mg; IRON 0mg; SODIUM 32mg; CALC 1mg

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)

2 tablespoons milk

Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

(Medium Consistency)

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes.

Apple Pie

So I made this pie clear back in November and am now getting around to posting it. I am hoping this next year I will be able to post more recipes. This recipe blog is the first thing to go when I run out of time. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!
This pie recipe I found in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It was very good. The only problem making it for my little family is, I am the only one who would eat it. So I had to give most of it away to a neighbor. I used my never fail Lion House Pie Dough recipe.

Apple Pie

1 recipe double crust pie dough

6 cups thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples ( about 2 1/4 lbs) I use granny smith apples.

1 Tablespoons lemon juice (optional)

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare and roll out pie dough into two circles the same size. Line a 9 inch pie plate with a pastry circle.

If desired, sprinkle apples with lemon juice. In a large bowl stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add apples slices. Gently toss until coated.

Transfer apple mixture to the pastry-lined pie plate. Trim bottom pastry to edge of pie plate. Cut slits in remaining pastry circle; place on filling and seal. Crimp edge as desired.

If desired, brush top pastry with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar. To prevent over-browning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 20 minutes more or until fruit is tender and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. To serve warm, let pie cool at least 2 hours.

Brownies

I have been making this brownie recipe since I was little. No matter how many brownie recipes I try, I will always come back to these. It calls for butter or shortening. I have used both with good results, I have also used half butter and half shortening. That also works. These brownies need to be frosted. I will give my mom credit for this recipe since she is the one who taught me how to make them. Thanks Mom!!

Brownies

by: Julie Dansie

1 cup shortening or butter

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Melt shortening and mix in unsweetened cocoa, set aside. Cream sugar and eggs. Then add melted shortening and vanilla. Add flour, salt and baking powder and mix. Place in greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the center if it comes out clean the brownies are done. When cool, frost with chocolate frosting.

Homemade Girl Scout Samoan Cookies

These samoan bars were quite good. They took some time but were pretty simple. The next time I would use less of the cookie base. It just seemed to thick to me and took away from the overall taste. I also used a bag of the carmel baking bits and they worked out fine. So if you want Girl Scout cookies any time of the year have fun making these.

Homemade Samoas Bars
Cookie Base:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.
Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.
When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).
Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish.
Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 30 bar cookies.

Very Berry Pie

This is a very Delicious pie and so easy to make. I made this for Mothers Day. I know I am a little late posting it. I forgot to take a picture after it came out of the oven because we had to leave to go to dinner at my brothers. So here it is before the oven. The crust recipe is also amazing. They are both from my Lion House cookbook.

VERY BERRY PIE

1 bag (16 ounces, no sugar added) frozen boysenberries
1 bag (8 ounces, no sugar added) frozen blueberries
1 bag (8 ounces, no sugar added) frozen raspberries
1 ¾ cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cornstarch
Pastry for two 2-crust pies

Thaw all berries; pour berries and all juice in mixing bowl. In separate bowl, mix sugar, salt, and cornstarch; pour on top of berries. Mix well with rubber spatula. Fill crusts, and bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 2 pies.


This recipe for pie dough is so easy because you can make it in your mixer. I use 1/2 cup butter and 2/3 cup shortening instead of using margarine and lard. I never have lard on hand. It works every time. Please try this pie dough recipe, you won't be disappointed.

Lion House Pie Dough

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup margarine
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup lard
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk
3 cups unsifted all purpose flour
1/2 cup cold water (may need 1 tablespoon more water)

In a mixer cream together the fats. Add sugar, baking powder, salt, and dry milk. Add half the flour and mix well. Add water and remaining flour. This can all be done in the mixer. (This crust can also be made using the traditional pie crust method, by hand-cutting fat into dry ingredients.)

Roll out half of the pastry very thin. Line a pie pan. Trim pastry 1/4 inch beyond rim of pie pan. Roll out remaining pastry for top crust. Cut several slits or a fancy design near center. Fill bottom crust. Moisten the edge of the bottom crust and center top crust over filling. Open slits with knife (steam must escape during baking). Trim the top crust, letting it extend 1/2 inch over rim. To seal, press top and bottom crusts together on rim. Then fold edge of top crust under bottom crust and flute. Bake according to directions in individual recipe.

Makes one 9-inch two-crust pie. This is a very pliable, tender, easy-to-handle dough. If you are making an 8 inch pie, extra dough may be wrapped well in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for future use. Leftover pie dough makes excellent tarts.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I made these for a YW activity last week.  Oatmeal raisin cookies are my absolute favorite cookie.  I don't make them very often because every recipe I have used turns out crispy and not the right flavor.  I love Great Harvests oatmeal raisin cookies.  They are soft and chewy and taste perfect.  I was looking around on recipezaar and found these amazing cookies.  They had 542 5 star reviews.  These are sooooooo good!!  I am not a big cookie freak, but I could have eaten the whole batch myself, I think.  I did do half raisins and half chocolate chips but I liked the raisin ones better!!  I also just used regular salt and regular brown sugar.  Enjoy!

Whisk together and set aside

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Cream wet ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Then stir in

• 3 cups oats (not instant)
• 1 1/2 cups raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Whisk dry ingredients; set aside.
3. Combine wet ingredients with a hand mixer on low.
4. To cream, increase speed to high and beat until fluffy and the color lightens.
5. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until no flour is visible.
6. (Over mixing develops the gluten, making a tough cookie.) Now add the oats and raisins; stir to incorporate.
7. Fill cookie scoop with dough.
8. (Use a #40 cookie scoop; it measures 2 tablespoon of dough) Press against side of bowl, pulling up to level dough.
9. Drop 2-inches apart onto baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray.
10. Bake 11-13 minutes (on center rack), until golden, but still moist beneath cracks on top.
11. Remove from oven; let cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Sugar Cookies

Now that it's almost been a month since Valentines Day, I guess I better post these.  My sister brought these to us for Valentines Day.  She has the most awesome recipe for sugar cookies.  I have also made these several times and they are really pretty quick and easy.  The trick is to not roll them out too thin and to not over cook them.  They are so delicious, make them for a holiday and then find someone to give most of them to or you will end up eating the whole batch! So here is her recipe.   Enjoy!!

1 lb. margarine

3 eggs

2 C sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

6 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

-cream sugar, margarine, eggs and flavorings until very fluffy.  Mix in dry ingredients until well blended.  Chill and roll out to 1/4 in thick.  Cut out shapes and put on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 min.

frosting:

1 C shortening

1 C butter

dash salt

2 tsp vanilla

full 1 lb bag powdered sugar

milk- add to thin

- mix altogether and color if desired.  You can use this for spreading and decorating.

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake (Texas Sheet Cake)

This is the same old Texas Sheet Cake we have all probably tasted before. I have not made it for years and this reminded me of how good it really is. I saw this recipe on www.thepioneerwoman.com.

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake
Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.
Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.

Peanut Butter Fudge Cake

I got this off of The Sister's Cafe blog.  It was easy to make, moist and really yummy!  Everyone loved it.  I had a hard time keeping the kids fingers out of it until after dinner.  I did cheat and use canned chocolate frosting because I had some in my food storage that needed to be used.  I also did not have any buttermilk, so I just did the milk and vinegar thing.  I think this would also be great just as a regular chocolate cake without the peanut butter. 

2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 C sugar

1 C butter

1/4 C cocoa

1 C water

1/2 C buttermilk

2 lg eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

-Combine flour, soda and sugar in a mixing bowl.  In a saucepan, melt butter.  Add cocoa and stir to combine.  Add water, buttermilk, and eggs.  Cook, stirring well until mixture boils.  Remove from heat and add to flour mixture and mix until smooth.  Add vanilla and mix well.  Pour batter into greased and floured 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for about 25 min or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for about 10 min and then spread with about 1 C peanut butter (softened in micro for a few seconds).  Let cool completely.  Spread with chocolate canned frosting or homemade. Enjoy!

-Chocolate frosting:

1 lb. pkg powdered sugar

1/4 C cocoa

1/2 C butter

1/3 C buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

-bring cocoa, butter and buttermilk to a boil in saucepan stirring constantly.  Pour hot mixture in a bowl with the sugar and stir until smooth.  Add vanilla.

Aunt Sunny Cake

It was New Beginnings this week in YW and this is what we served for dessert.  I got the recipe from one of the counselors in the YW pres.  I thought it was pretty good, Shawn and everyone else there loved it.  The cake is named after the Aunt of the counselor I got the recipe from.

2/3 C butter

1 3/4 C sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 C flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 C milk

topping-

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese

1/4 C sugar

1/4 C powdered sugar

large cool whip

2 cans fruit pie fillings

1. cream butter and sugar

2. add remaining cake ingr. and mix

3. pour onto greased cookie sheet

4. bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 min.

5. cool completely

6. for topping: cream both sugars with cream cheese

7. Add cool whip and mix until thick and smooth with beaters.

8. spread evenly on top of cake.

9. top with fruit and refrigerate until ready to serve

Groundhog Day Dinner

We celebrated Groundhog Day yesterday with a fun dinner.  I thought I would post our menu and the recipes.  We had groundhog burgers, 6 weeks more winter fries, tossed green salad and groundhog cupcakes.  The family thought it was awesome, they especially loved decorating their groundhog cupcakes.  I got the recipes for the potato wedges and the cupcakes off of recipezaar.com.  The potato wedges were amazing.  Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside with just the right amount of spice.   The cupcakes were surprisingly simple and VERY cute!  

Baked Potato Wedges

6 medium potatoes

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoon parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Wash potatoes, cut into wedges.

Mix the next 6 ingredients together in a gallon ziplock bag.  Add potatoes and toss to coat.  Put on greased baking sheet in a single layer

Bake at 350 for 40 min. and then increase heat to 450 degrees and bake an additional 20 min or until crispy and golden brown.

Groundhog Cupcakes

baked cupcakes

almond joy candy bars

brown and red miniature M&M's chocolate candies

chocolate cookie crumbs

white frosting

black decorating gel

Remove a piece of cake the width of an Almond Joy candy from the center of a baked cupcake

Set the candy upright in the hole, then spread a layer of white frosting on the cupcake

For the groundhog's eyes, use white frosting, then dot them with black decorators' gel

For the cheeks and ears use white frosting to place brown M&M minis and then use white frosting and red minis for the nose.  Use white frosting for teeth.

Sprinkle chocolate cookie crumbs around the partially emerged groundhog, and he's ready to greet his fans.

Cinnamon Rolls

These are the most amazing cinnamon rolls ever! I got this recipe from a lady in my ward who used to make and sell them. She did a mini enrichment about a year ago, and I went thinking, okay whatever, another cinnamon roll recipe but these are sooooooo good! I've made them a few times since then and they are easy and pretty quick to make.

(WARNING! This is NOT a low fat recipe. If your going to take the time to make and eat cinnamon rolls, it better be worth it! We usually make a batch, eat 1 or if we're really daring eat 2 and then share the rest with our neighbors.)

3/4 C very warm water

1 Tbl yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 C hot water

1/2 C sugar

1/2 Tbl salt

1/2 cube melted butter

2 eggs, beaten

approx. 7 C flour

-mix 3/4 C water, yeast and sugar and let sit until double or triple. Meanwhile mix together 2 C water, sugar, salt, butter, and eggs. Add yeast mixture and mix well. Add 6-7 C flour (dough will be really soft, but not too sticky) Knead for about 5 min. Grease a bowl and let dough rise covered until doubled.

-separate dough in half and roll first half into a rectangle. Melt a whole cube butter and spread half of it on the rectangle dough. Spread about 1 1/2 C brown sugar and 1-2 Tbl cinnamon on the rolled dough. Roll up jelly roll style and cut into 1 1/2 inch circles. Place on greased cookie sheet. Do the same thing with the other half of the dough. let rise in warm oven until double and then bake at 350 degrees for about 15 min. or until golden brown. Take off pan and cool on cooling rack.

Frosting:

1/2 C shortening

1/2 C butter

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

dash salt

milk to thin

-mix altogether until desired consistency.

(you can always do cream cheese frosting, orange glaze or whatever)

Vanilla Rich Chip Cake

My oldest son made this cake for the FHE treat.  We've made it before and everyone LOVES it.  It's very moist and you really don't need the glaze if you don't want it.  We also make other variations of this cake. Double chocolate (use chocolate cake and chocolate pudding and no vanilla extract, or glaze), Lemon poppyseed (Use lemon cake and lemon pudding, no chocolate chips or glaze, and in place of vanilla add poppy seeds)  The double chocolate one is our absolute favorite!

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 pkg 3 1/2 oz instant vanilla pudding 

1 C sour cream

1/2 C each oil and water

4 eggs

1 Tbl pure vanilla extract

1 C mini chocolate chips

1. beat all ingredients except chips in mixer. 

2. stir in chocolate chips.  Pour into greased and floured 12 C bundt pan.

3. bake in 350 degree oven for 50 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cook in pan for 10 min. Invert cake onto wire rack.  Cook completely and then drizzle glaze over top if you like.

*glaze: 3 Tbl melter butter, 2 1/4 C powdered sugar, 3 Tbl water and 1 tsp vanilla extract.  mix together until smooth.  Let stand until thickened.

Chocolate Scotcharoos

These were a favorite especially for the kids. I think Jaden would have eaten the whole pan if I would have let him. I used all chocolate chips instead of the butterscotch and really liked it that way. I know I have made these with corn flakes and they work just as well. I got the recipe from www.mykitchencafe.blogspot.com

Chocolate Scotcharoos
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
8-10 cups rice krispies
6 oz. chocolate chips
6 oz. butterscotch chips

Melt butter. Add corn syrup and sugar. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Add rice krispies and mix well. Press mixture into large baking sheet (11X17). Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir. Continue microwaving for 30 second spurts until chips are melted. Spread chips on top of rice krispie mixture. Let chocolate set. Cut into squares.