Easy White Cake

I had to make a bunch of cupcakes for a baby shower this week and didn't want to use a plain old boxed mix.  So I went to my favorite recipe blog Our Best Bites and found this adjusted box recipe that I tried out.  It turned out great!  It was super easy, but definitely had a more homemade taste and texture.

Easy White Cake

1 box white cake mix (Duncan Hines super moist is best)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp salt
4 egg whites
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract (use clear vanilla if you want a pure white cake)
1 tsp almond extract

Mix all dry ingredients with a whisk, then add wet ingredients. Beat for two minutes until fluffy.

For Cake: Pour into greased, floured pans (fills two 8 or 9″ rounds) and bake according to cake package directions.

Tip:  When cakes come out, cool for 5 minutes on wire rack, then cover with two sheets of plastic wrap (in a “+” sign), turn them out and wrap the plastic around them. Allow to cool all wrapped up (keeps the moisture from evaporating out) then pop in freezer on a cutting board to keep them flat. Once they are frozen, they are super easy to frost and defrost in about a half an hour.

For cupcakes: fill paper liners 3/4 full and bake according to box directions.  Makes 36 cupcakes.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

I found this recipe on Pinterest.  It originally came from LDS Living's website and it's delicious!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies 
Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Chocolate Cake Roll

Unlike me, my husband isn't a big cake eater.  However, this is his favorite!  This recipe came from my mother-in-law Derra Ball.

3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. water

2 pints of whipping cream
1/2 c. powdered sugar

Line a sheet cake sized pan with foil and grease the foil.  Pam spray with flour works great.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt- set aside.
Beat eggs for 5 min. or until very thick.
Add sugar gradually to eggs.
Blend in water and vanilla on low speed.
Gradually add flour mixture.  Beat until smooth.
Bake 13 min @ 375 degrees.
Invert cake onto a towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar and remove foil carefully.
Gently roll cake while still hot and cool on a wire rack.
Whip cream while waiting for the cake to cool.  Add 1/2 c. of powdered sugar to cream.
When cake is cool, unroll and remove towel.
Spread whipped cream onto cake and roll again.  Reserve some whipped cream for serving.
Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar and serve within a few hours.

Sugar Cookie Bars

I made these for a church social this summer and they were a huge hit!   The only problem is that all of my favorite things to make don't qualify as dinner or health food.  I found this recipe on Real Mom Kitchen's blog.

1 cup butter; room temp.
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg.  Add vanilla and mix well.  In a separate bowl combine flour, salt and soda and stir with a whist to combine.  Add to wet mixture and mix until just combined.  Spread on a greased baking sheet (use a 13x18 pan). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min., until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely and frost.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temp.
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp. milk
food coloring (if desired)

For frosting combine butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt.  Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined, then add milk and mix until smooth.  Spread over cooled cookie.

Million Dollar Chocolate Cake

I got this recipe at a Relief Society meeting a couple months ago.  I finally got around to giving it a try and it was pretty good. I'm not usually a fan of homemade cake because it tends to be so heavy.  This was heavier than the mixes I usually use, but still pretty good and the raspberry filling and the ganache topping were awesome!

Million Dollar Chocolate Cake

1 c. boiling water
3/4 c. cocoa
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1 3/4 c. flour
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. any combination of buttermilk, plain yogurt and or sour cream
1 t. vanilla
raspberry preserves (I used freezer jam)
1 c. cream
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)
Sprinkles (if desired)

Pour boiling water over cocoa and stir until smooth. Set aside.
Cream butter 1 minute, then add sugar. Cream 3-5 minutes (may still be a bit crumbly).
Add in eggs and mix another 2 minutes.
Pour flour, cornstarch, powder, soda, and salt. Whisk well until it looks "lighter" or you could sift!
Add the dry ingredients and sour milk alternately to creamed mixture. (I did 3 dry and 2 wet). Mix well, but do not over mix.
Beat in cocoa and vanilla until well combined.
Bake in 2 greased and floured 8 inch cake pans. Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

Cool for 5 minutes, then turn out on a cooling rack. Cool completely.

When cooled, even out cake tops with a serrated knife (this allows you to "sample!)
Lay first cake right side up and spread with raspberry jam. Use as much or little as you want!
Top with the next cake upside down.

Put chocolate chips in a bowl and set aside. Heat cream in a saucepan until it simmers.
Pour hot cream over chips and let sit 5 minutes.
Stir until combined. Let sit 5 more minutes.
When cooled, slowly spoon over cake, seeing that it drips over to cover the edge!

Let set 5 minutes.
When done, place a cookie cutter on the cake and sprinkle with colored sugar.
Use a spoon to get to the edges. When filled in, lift off cookie cutter.

Creamy Mints

My Mom used to make these little mints for special occasions when I was a little girl.  I loved them then and I still love them now!  This isn't her recipe, but  the end result is very similar.

Creamy Mints
30 minutes, makes about 3 dozen candies


3 tbsp. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp. mint extract
4-4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
about 1/4 cup granulated sugar


1. Beat the cream cheese until soft and fluffy (2 min.) Add the mint and desired food coloring and mix until well blended.
2. Add confectioners sugar, 1/2 a cup at a time, until it forms a stiff mixture.
3.  Form balls with about 1/2 tsp. of  mixture.  Roll in suar and flatten with thumb or fork tines or press into mold. Store in the fridge.


Here's a second recipe I found online.

Barrington Mints
Makes 150 mints

Ingredients:
8 ounces soft cream cheese (I used Philadelphia regular)
6 tablespoons soft butter (I used unsalted)
3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract (NOT mint extract)
2 pounds sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 drops red food coloring (Mine is pretty strong, so I used only one)

Method:
Melt the cream cheese with the butter in a heavy 3-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.  Turn off the heat, leaving the pan on the burner, and stir in about 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, food coloring, and vanilla. (My note: Add peppermint here as well.)  Stir in the rest of the sugar until well blended.

Line a large baking sheet with wax paper.  Push mint mixture into a pastry bag, icing syringe or squeeze bottle with a decorative tip.  Create desired shapes for mints.  Let set 1 hour.

Store between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month, or in the freezer up to 4 months.  Do not store at room temperature.

Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies

My favorite recipe blog has done it again!  They've provided me with another fabulous recipe that I know I 'm going to be using over and over again!  This time it's a cookie recipe!  When I saw this post on the chocolate gingerbread shaped skeleton/mummy cookies I knew I had to try it!  So today my second grader's class gets to make mummies for a Halloween treat during their Halloween party.  But, because I couldn't take cookies to school that had not been properly taste-tested, I've already eaten a sufficient number of cookies to be able to say that these chocolate cookies a delish!  And super simple to whip up too!  I got 24 gingerbread men out of one batch of cookie dough, because I wasn't quite sure if that was enough (dang big classes at our school), I made a second batch and made a few extra gingerbread men then put the rest of the dough in the freezer for another day.  Hopefully it freezes well!

Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
Recipe slightly modified by Our Best Bites from Cookie Craft via Bake @ 350
Ingredients:
2 & 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder (dutch-process or natural works)
1 cup (2 sticks) regular salted butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment or a silicone baking mat if you have either of those.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light an fluffy (1-2 full minutes). Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
Whisk flour and cocoa powder together and then slowly add to the butter mixture by spoonfuls with mixer at low speed. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
Lightly dust rolling surface with coco powder or flour or a mixture of both.  (I use cocoa powder).  Roll dough about 1/4 inch thick.  It helps to roll soft dough in between sheets of plastic wrap or parchment and then place them in the fridge for about 15 minutes (or the freezer for 5-10) until firm.
Cut out shapes and place on baking sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell with chocolate cookies when they are done, so just watch for the dough to not look “wet” anymore and the edges should be holding their shape nicely.
Let cookies cool for 2-3 minutes and then use a spatula to place them on a cooling rack.

Dessert for a Crowd

Gosh, I wish I could remember which fabulous food blog I found this on, but I don't. I made it this weekend though and it was delicious and oh so easy!

• 1 white cake mix (plus ingredient to make the cake mix)
• 2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 (12oz) container of cool whip
• fruit topping *** see not below for options

1. Mix cake mix according to the package. Spray the bottom on a 13x18 jelly roll pan.
2. Pour batter into pan and spread evenly.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
4. With a mixer, blend cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Add cool whip and beat until smooth and creamy.
5. Spread mixture on top of cooled cake.
6. Cut into pieces and serve with fruit topping.

Options for fruit topping

• canned pie filling
• danish dessert prepared according to fruit sauce directions with fresh fruit mix in
• Macerated strawberries (see directions below)
• any berry sauce recipe you like (I have a few on my site)
• or raspberry (blackberries would work too) sauce (see directions below)

To macerate the strawberries, place hulled and sliced berries in a bowl and sprinkle with granulated white sugar about 2 tablespoons per pint. Let the berries and sugar macerate at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

For the raspberry sauce you need 2-3 pkgs of frozen raspberries (the kind in heavy syrup is what I have used, but ). In a sauce pan, mix berries with 1/2 cup sugar and enough cornstarch (like 1 Tbp cornstarch) to thicken sauce to desired consistency. Heat until sauce is just bubbly and thickened. Let cool.

Texas Sheetcake

I made this last weekend and remembered how fast, easy, and yummy it is! I found this recipe on realmomkitchen.blogspot.com. I've halved the amount of cinnamon here.

2 sticks butter or margarine
1 cup water
4 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan. Bring 2 sticks butter, water and 4 tablespoons cocoa to a boil in a large saucepan. While still hot, remove from heat and add to 2 cups flour and 2 cups white sugar. Mix well. Add in eggs, cinnamon, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla. Do not mix too long.
Pour batter into greased 15x10 inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Icing
1/2 cup butter
4 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons water
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (if desired)

Bring 1/2 cup butter or margarine, 4 tablespoons cocoa, 3 tablespoons water, and 3 tablespoons milk to a boil. Remove from heat. While still hot, add confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and nuts. Beat well. Ice cake while icing is still hot.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

My Mom always called these cookie bars, My mother-in-law calls them blondies. Either way they're delicious! I found this recipe here www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com and it looks like she found it here Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I made them today and they were fast, easy, and delicious!

Time: 45 minutes
Yield: about 30 bars

2 1/8 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
12 T butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 t vanilla
2 C chocolate chips (I used semi sweet, buy you can use what ever suits your fancy- I also only used 1 1/2 cups and that was plenty of chocolate for me and believe me, I like chocolate)
You could throw in some nuts too, if that's your thing- it's not my thing though

1. Melt your butter in the microwave. Add the brown sugar, white sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla to the butter. Whisk it around until well combined.
2. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients.
3. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
4. Fold in your chocolate chips.
5. Line a 9x13 pan with tin foil. Spray it down with some cooking spray and press your cookie dough into the pan. The tin foil is going to make it super easy to pull these bars out of the pan.
6. Bake at 325 for 24-28 minutes.
7. Let your pan cool on a wire rack for a bit. I didn't let mine get all the way cool before I cut them, and it worked out fine. I like to eat my cookies warm!
8. Pull the tin foil out of the pan and on to a cutting board. Cut the bars as desired. ENJOY!

Apple Pie FIlling

My sister-in-law Katie passed on this recipe for home canned apples. I used it and it turned out beautifully! We've been enjoying apple crisp all winter thanks to this recipe!

1 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups Sugar (can decrease for sweet apples)
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
3 tbsp. lemon juice
2 drops yellow color

Mix first 5 ingredients in large saucepan. Add 10 cups water. Stir.
Stir and cook till thick and bubbly. Add lemon and color.
Pack into warm quart jars which have been filled with apple slices to 1 inch from top.
Fill to ½ inch with syrup mixture.
Process 25 minutes.
Makes 7 quarts

Caramel Corn

This is the recipe for the best sticky caramel corn ever! Thanks to Julieanne for sharing her delicious recipe!

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Bring all ingredients to a rolling boil for 5 min. stirring constantly. Pour over 3 packages of microwave popcorn or an equivalent amount of air popped popcorn. Eat it right up. I think it tastes best when it's fresh!

Buttercream Frosting

I love Wilton's frosting recipe! Delicious! I use it for nearly all of the cakes and cookies we frost around here!

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup barely softened butter
1 tsp. clear vanilla extract (regular works too) or 1 tsp. almond extract
4-5 cups of powdered sugar
2-4 tbsp. milk

Put shortening and butter into mixer bowl and mix together until well blended (I love my Kitchenaid for this). Add 4 cups of powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Add vanilla or almond extract. Add 2 tbsp. milk. Add more milk a little at a time until desired consistency is reached whipping well after each addition- don't forget to scrape to sides of the bowl occasionally. If it gets a bit too runny add a bit more powdered sugar.  Frost away!

Can be stored for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.

NOTE: For years I preferred the frosting flavored with almond extract, but lately I've been using just vanilla.  I have a few friends who are allergic to nuts and I worry that the almond extract might do something horrible to them.  Maybe it wouldn't, I'd rather not find out.  Anyhow, I've been loving the slightly different flavor!

Pumpkin Dessert Squares

Fall is here and I have several recipes that I can't wait to make--including this one. My fabulous sister Emily got this one from Williams Sonoma where she works. They sell the pumpkin butter that you need for this recipe, though I've seen it elsewhere including the local kitchen specialty store. Just a warning: this pumpkin butter stuff is NOT cheap. Luckily Emily stocked up for me after Thanksgiving last year when it went on clearance in her store. So I have a few jars that I've been itching to use for a while now!

1 box yellow cake mix
1 jar Muirhead Pumpkin Pecan Butter
3 eggs
I tbsp. Flour
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
3 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. cinnamon

Reserve 1 cup of the cake mix and set aside.
Mix remaining cake mix with 1/2 cup of melted butter and 1 egg. Press mixture lightly into the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan.
Mix 1 jar of Muirhead Pumpkin Pecan Butter with 2 large eggs and 3 tbsp. of milk and pour over cake mixture in pan.
Mix to a crumble reserved cake mix and 1 tbsp. of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup soft butter and 1 tsp cinnamon- crumble over the top of the pumpkin layer.
Bake 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden.
Cool and serve! It tastes great with whipped cream!

Snickerdoodles

My Mom was always making cookies when I was a kid. Delicious, yummy cookies. I especially remember how she would often mix up a batch of cookies before school and baking enough that we could take some to school in our lunch! I've gotten most of my cookie recipes from my Mom including this fast and easy one for snickerdoodles.

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Cream sugar and margarine together. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add all dry ingredients and mix well. Dough will be quite soft and sticky. Scoop into 1 inch round balls and roll in cinnamon sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 min. Do not overcook and do not press balls down on cookie sheet!

Peach Cobbler

Mmm... I love cobbler. We just returned from the annual Jones Family Campout and I must admit the cobbler I made turned out divine! The recipe isn't really an exact science, but with the right ingredients it's still going to be delicious!

1 boxed yellow cake mix
2 14.5 ounce cans of peaches (fresh peaches are fabulous too!)
1 can of Sprite
1 cube of butter or margarine

Dump the peaches and about 2/3 of the liquid into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the dry cake mix over top of the peaches. Pour the remaining liquid and about 1/3-1/2 cup of the Sprite on top of the dry cake mix. Cut up the butter or margarine and small chunks on the top (you decide how much butter, 1/4 to 1/2 a cup is usually great!). Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown on top and bubbly on the edges. Serve with ice cream and or whipped cream.

Chocolate Lasagna

I really miss this dessert. It was definitely one of my favorites and going to Olive Garden hasn't been the same since they discontinued it a couple of years ago. Justin actually paid a small fortune and bought an entire cake to share with our friends and family on my 30th birthday--the best part was that there were several leftover pieces and I had this fabulous dessert everyday for several days in a row. Yep, that was a good birthday!
I've been craving it lately and my sweet sister Emily sent me this recipe. I think I'll make some tonight! You'll want some too--I promise, it's that good!
Olive Garden's Chocolate Lasagna

1 18.25 ounce boxed devil's food cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs

**I actually just followed the instructions on the cake box. They were similar, but not exact.

Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar (I used more like 6, I think, to get the consistency I wanted)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (I actually prefer almond extract)
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chilled

Directions:

1. Make the cake in a 13x9-inch baking pan following instructions on the box of cake mix (Preheat oven to 350 degrees; mix cake mix, water, oil, and eggs together in a large bowl; pour batter into pan greased generously with shortening.). Allow the cake to cool completely.
2. When cake is cool, make buttercream frosting by first whipping the soft butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Add two cups of the powdered sugar, mix well, then add remaining powdered sugar. Add 1/4 cup of whole milk and vanilla, then mix on high speed for 2 minutes or until frosting is smooth and creamy.
3. Turn cake out of the pan onto wax paper. Using both hands, carefully flip the cake over, so that it's right-side-up, onto another strip of wax paper. Now you're going to cut through the cake twice, creating three layers. We'll start at the bottom slice. First slide the cake over to the edge of your kitchen counter. This way you can drop your hand with the knife down below the counter at the edge to get a nice, straight cut through the cake. Using a long bread knife or other long serrated knife , cut through the bottom third of the cake. Spin the cake and wax paper so that you can cut through all sides (your knife probably won't get all the way through to the other side). When the cake is sliced, carefully flip the top section over onto the other sheet of wax paper. Frost the bottom layer of cake with approximately 1/3 of the buttercream frosting. Break the chilled semi-sweet chocolate into little bits that are a tad smaller than chocolate chips. A good way to do this is to put the chilled chocolate into a large zip-top bag, then use the handle of a butter knife to smash the unsuspecting chocolate into pieces. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the chocolate bits over the frosting on the bottom layer.
4. Turn the top section back over onto the bottom layer. Again, slice through the top section creating the final two layers. Carefully flip the top over onto the wax paper, and frost the new layer as you did with the first layer, adding chocolate bits as well. You may, at this point, wish to slice the top into thirds across the width of the cake. This makes flipping over the top layer much easier. It's also how you're going to slice the cake later, so you'll never see the cuts. Any cracks or breaks are no big deal since you'll just cover up the goofs with frosting.
5. Carefully reassemble the top section on the rest of the cake. If you have a large bulge in the center of the cake, you may wish to slice that off so that the cake is flatter on top. Throw that slice away. Frost the top of the cake with the remaining frosting, then sprinkle on the remaining chocolate bits.
6. The cake is served as triangular slices. So, slice it up by first cutting through the middle of the cake, lengthwise. Next cut across the cake through the middle (widthwise) twice. Now you have six slices that just need to be cut from corner to corner one time each, creating 12 triangular slices. Chill any cake you don't eat that day.
Makes 12 servings.

Fudge Jumbles

I first had these at Young Women Camp this summer. And YUM! They are so delicious! So of course I had to get the recipe and make some! Justin loves them too- but was a little distraught when he saw me mixing the melted chocolate, sweetened milk, and butter all together. I assured him that the 3 cups of oatmeal made up for anything else that was less than healthy in the recipe. He didn't believe me of course, it was a pretty flimsy lie. However, this yummy treat has earned a new name at our house "Oatmeal Excuses".

Ingredients:

1 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
3 c. quick oatmeal
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
2 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and mix. Add vanilla. Sift flour, soda and salt, stir. Add oatmeal and stir. Spread 2/3 of mixture in a greased 9 x 12 pan.

Melt in microwave sweetened milk, chocolate chips, butter, salt. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour over mixture in pan. Drop remaining dough in dots over chocolate mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Lemon Bars

I didn't think I could like lemon bars as much as I do, but this recipe is addictive. Delicious! I got this one from my fabulous neighbor Lesley.

Crust
1 1/4 cups butter
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 powdered sugar

Beat butter until soft. Add flour and sugar and mix until just combined. Spread dough evenly in a 9x13 pan. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and our filling over crust.

Filling
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
6 tbsp. lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together with a whisk or on low speed for a couple minutes. Pour on top of crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool slightly and dust lightly with powdered sugar.

Glazed Frosting

This is super easy and a fun, different way to frost sugar cookies. I got this recipe from Our Best Bites. You should check out that site, it has some fun ways to use this frosting.

4 cups powdered sugar
6 tbsp. milk
6 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract

Whisk the powdered sugar and milk together until all the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the corn syrup and extract. Whisk together some more. Add desired coloring. Use a spoon to put a small amount on each cookie and then spread to cover the entire cookie. Or if you're in a hurry pour a bunch on each cookie, spread a little, and the extra will just drip over the edges. YUM!