Oreo-Stuffed Red Velvet Crinkles

Did you have a Merry Christmas?  As always, we had a crazy busy holiday.....but full of family, friends and fun!  

One of the desserts I brought to my in-laws on Christmas Eve were these Oreo-Stuffed Red Velvet Crinkle cookies from Sprinkles Bakes.  Any dessert containing Oreos is automatically placed on the "To Bake" list at our house.  But with the red velvet cookie outside, and the layer of powdered sugar outside.....these screamed Christmas to me.  

The cookie bakes up to what the hubby described at a cake/cookie.....which meant he loved it!  Be careful how much cookie dough you put around the Oreo though.  The first few I made turned out big enough to feed a neighborhood!  And remember to do a final roll in the powdered sugar right before you stick these bad boys in the oven.......it'll give you an extra crinkle-y outside!

Check out Sprinkles Bakes for the recipe.....and Enjoy!!

Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

Have you tried any of the many cookie recipes out there with brown butter?  I've seen chocolate chip cookie, snickerdoodle, and oatmeal cookie recipes all with brown butter in there.  Out of all of those, this recipe for Chewy Brown Butter Sugar Cookies from Cookies and Cups, was the one that screamed for me to try it.  A brown butter sugar cookie that has been rolled in sugar and then covered in a brown butter icing.....sounds delicious!

As you can see from the picture, I ended up not using the icing.  Don't get me wrong.....I'm sure it would be fantastic, and perhaps a little over-the-top for the holidays.....but I really felt like these cookies were sweet and rich enough all on their own.  Oh, and delicious!  Did I mention that these are crazy delicious??!!  The hubby just loved these!  I think these may make a second appearance at our house to leave out for Santa this year :)

Give these a try if you're looking for a new holiday cookie to try.....check out Cookies and Cups for the recipe.....and Enjoy!!

Christmas Treats

Oh my.....I can't believe Christmas is almost here!  Every year it feels like time somehow accelerates once the school year starts, and before you know it......the holidays are here!  So, if you're still looking for something cute to put together for the holidays.....here's some ideas:

How about these fun Oreo Snowman Pops?

Or these cute Oreo Penguin Pops?

Feel like doing cakepops instead of Oreo pops?  How about a little Rudolph?

Or a Christmas tree cakepop?

But what about if you're not in the mood to make pops?  Well, how about some Christmas tree cupcakes instead?

Whatever you end up making, just remember to have fun and relax!  It's just sugar :)

Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie with Dulce de Leche Walnut Streusel

Pumpkin pies are a staple at our house during this time of year.  I am not exaggerating when I say that the hubby could eat an entire pumpkin pie in one sitting!  I have my go to pumpkin pie recipe that we love....but I'm always on the look for something different.  I saw this Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie with a Dulce de Leche Walnut Streusel from Sprinkle Bakes.....I knew it would be the perfect grown-up dessert for our Thanksgiving dinner!

Let me say right off the bat......do not make this bad boy unless you are feeding a crowd......or some really hungry guys.  Because it is baked in a springform pan (and uses one of the large cans of pumpkins), this is a seriously huge dessert!

While the inside of this pie is a fairly standard pumpkin pie.....it's the topping on this bad boy that really makes it!  A crunchy walnut streusel that is then topped with ooey-gooey dulce de leche.  Yum yum!

Give this one a try the next time you've got some hungry mouths to feed.  Go to Sprinkle Bakes for the recipe.....and Enjoy!

Farewell Hostess

Did you grow up with Hostess stuff in the house?  I definitely did!  As I've said before.....my mom has never been much of a baker....so growing up I remember a lot of Hostess fruit pies (yuck), Twinkies (yum), chocolate cupcakes (yummer), and Ding-Dongs (yummiest!).  Well, with all the talk of the Hostess bakery closing, I couldn't stop thinking about making something Hostess.  I probably would have just gone to the grocery store and bought something, but apparently people decided to make a run on the stores and start selling everything on Ebay (seriously....you can buy Twinkies on Ebay....crazy!)......so, I decided to just do it myself!

I decided that I would make these as my kiddo dessert for Thanksgiving.....I mean, who doesn't love a chocolate cupcake??  Luckily I had saved a recipe for "Faux-stess" cupcakes from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, and believe me.....these did not disappoint!  Every single one of them was devoured!

The best part for me (because I didn't have too much time to do these)?  The recipe uses a boxed Devil's Food cake mix!  Now, I normally would much rather make cupcakes from scratch....and there are some recipes for Faux-stess cupcakes that are from scratch......but I just decided to go with it, since I was under a time crunch.  Then you fill the cupcakes up with a vanilla frosting that I thought tasted a lot like the original.  "Only better", according to the hubby.

And then there's the top of the cupcake.  A can of chocolate frosting!  Seriously!  Did you know that you can nuke a can of frosting, then dip a cupcake in it and voila!  Easy peasy chocolate ganache?  I realize it's not the real deal....but come on!  It tastes just like it!  And it was exactly the right topping for these cupcakes!  Such a great trick to know.......I'll be using that again!

Check out Confessions of a Cookbook Queen for the recipe.....and Enjoy!  Now I've got to give homemade Ding-Dongs and Twinkies a try!

Game Time!

We are a UCLA family!  The hubby and I met when we were both at UCLA....and my brother-in-law played football there.  So obviously we have a pretty strong opinion when the UCLA-USC game rolls around every year.  Unfortunately we've played second fiddle to USC for most of the last decade (actually we've only won once in the last 14 years)....but this year was going to be different.

The hubby and I decided to actually head to the game this year with a bunch of UCLA and USC people.  I decided my contribution to the tailgating party had to be some sugar cookies decorated using my edible printer.  Yay!  These are so much fun!

And the best part?  We won!  The worst part?  The pouring rain that we had to walk through when we left the stadium to get to our car.  Soaking wet!!  But it was totally worth it.  A great day with my sweetie :)

Thanksgiving Turkeys

It's almost Thanksgiving!  Are you ready?  Me, well......no.  But at least I don't make the whole dinner......I'm just responsible for dessert.  So every year I usually bring something that's yummy for adults.....and something fun for the kiddos.  Since I'm a little behind this year, I thought I'd show some of the turkeys I've done over the last few years.....in case you're looking for some cute inspiration :)

First off are some Oreo and candy turkeys that I had seen over at Our Best Bites.  We used these as placecards on our kids table that year.

Next up are turkey cakepops.  I haven't made many cakepops lately....I've been making Oreo pops more often since they tend to be quicker to make.  But people sure do love cakepops!  I usually make red velvet cakepops......but with these turkeys I decided that it might be creepy if you bit into a turkey and it was red inside.  I ended up doing a yellow cake instead.  For the step-by-step instructions on how to make these, check out Bakerella.

Lastly we've got a combination of the first two.....Oreo turkey pops.  I used a combination of mini and regular Oreos for these, and still found them to be quicker to make than the cakepops.

So that's it!  Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!