Chocolate Kissed Peanut Butter Cookies

When I was contacted by C&H Sugar and asked to bake a holiday creation from their website in exchange for a gift card I could not resist. I was sent a gift card and purchased what I needed to make these delicious peanut butter kiss cookies. They were so good and devoured immediately in our house. Luckily, I did manage to freeze some for Christmas though. These cookies are so simple to whip up too.

Make sure to visit the C&H website. There are a ton of recipes, ideas for cookies exchanges, gift ideas and a ton of other stuff! You won't be disappointed!

Chocolate Kissed Peanut Butter Cookies

Description: Scrumptious Peanut Butter Cookies Made with Brown Sugar and Topped With a Chocolate Kiss

Cooking Time: Bake 8 minutes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup C&H Pure Cane Golden Brown Sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (9 oz.) pkg. chocolate kisses, unwrapped
1/2 cup C&H Pure Cane Granulated Sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375°F degrees. In large bowl cream peanut butter, brown sugar, and butter until smooth. Add egg and vanilla. Blend thoroughly. Stir together salt, baking soda and flour. Gradually add to creamed mixture. Shape dough into walnut-size balls, then roll in granulated sugar. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet, about two inches apart. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from oven and press a chocolate kiss in the center of each cookie. Return to oven for 3 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Serving Size: Makes about 37 cookies.

Taste and Create - Babka Cake

For Taste & Create this month, I was paired with Vanillastrawberryspringfields. This is quite the picture blog. She has a ton of awesome photos and is quite talented!

I chose the Babka Cake because I thought it looked interesting. I am Polish and my great aunt makes Babka frequently but I know that she uses yeast in it. Or I am fairly certain that she does? I didn't know that there was even such a thing as Babka Cake.

The original recipe called for a custard filling in the middle. There was not a custard recipe posted and I didn't want to look any further for a custard recipe. So I decided to just go ahead and make it without. While it was baking I figured that I could put some strawberries on it with Cool Whip and it could be very tasty. This is the perfect cake for strawberry shortcake.... That is for sure. It is a great cake and I am very glad that I chose it.

All in 1 Holiday Bundt Cake - TWD

I was not excited to make this bundt cake. For some reason it didn't seem appealing to me in the slightest. Even though I kept reading good reviews about it. The cranberries and nuts really turned me off. But I knew that Ben would enjoy it. He loves cranberries, nuts, apples and pumpkin.

So I forced myself to make it...I have a really cool stoneware bundt cake pan that I enjoy using too and thought that this would be a good excuse.

SURPRISE!!! It is really good. I chopped up the apples, cranberries and nuts super fine. It baked last night before I went to sleep. I left it cooling in the bundt pan overnight and covered it with some foil. After lunch today I removed it from the pan and thought that it was really pretty, but was still not convinced that I would really like it. Before serving it I dusted it with some powdered sugar.


YUM! Here is another dessert that I am going to have to limit myself to one a day. I think that I will bring it to a mom's meeting that I have on Thursday. It would probably make a really good mid-morning snack. Ben really enjoyed it too!

Thanks to Britin for choosing it. Be sure to check out her blog to find the recipe.

Cran Apple Crisp - TWD

As I was frantically making a chili dinner with cornbread last night for our guests....I asked Ben to help me make dessert. He agreed!! I opened Dorie's cookbook and let him have at it. He did an awesome job and the crisp turned out great. We both liked it and so did our guests!!

I was a little scared of the cranberries, I will admit. I don't enjoy cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving...in.the.slightest. But this was great. There were raisins, apples (honeycrisp) and cranberries, along with the tasty, crunchy, oatmeal topping. I had Ben make the crisp "family style" in a 9 inch pie plate instead of individual portions.

We have been limiting ourselves to a piece a day. Not easy to do. I wasn't able to get a picture of the entire dessert before we dug into it. But at least I was able to snap a picture before we devoured more of it today. Try it with Edy's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Not that I blew my diet by eating ice cream with it. I wouldn't do that (insert extreme sarcasm)!

Thanks to The Repressed Pastry Chef for the selection. You can find the recipe HERE.

Dorie...how I have missed you!

I'm back!! At least for this week. I can't make any promises about next. I have missed baking so much, especially TWD. But we have been so good with our diets around this house. I had to splurge and try the cookies that Pamela picked for her turn this month. I have been following her Cookies with Boys blog for quite some time now.


These cookies are outstanding. I loved them. So did the rest of my guys. I don't know if we liked them so much because there hasn't been a lot any baked goods floating around my kitchen or because they were simply that fantastic. I think it is the latter.

These flat cookies have ginger, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, molasses and brown sugar in them. They are crispy on the outside and chewy in the center. Everything a cookie should be and so perfect for fall. The recipe made 28 decent sized cookies. I am sure that Pamela will have the recipe posted on her blog very soon and I will link to it at that time.


Do try them though! It is not easy to stop at one.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This month I was paired up with NO REASON NEEDED for Taste & Create.

I immediately chose the chicken and wild rice soup recipe that she has posted HERE. We have been eating a lot of soup this fall. I have made stuffed green pepper soup and chicken tortilla soup that were both very good. This chicken rice soup did not dissapoint either. It will be made again.

I used a box of Uncle Ben's long grain wild rice with a seasoning packet. I also used a pound of whole, boneless, skinless chicken breasts. After everything cooked in the slow cooker for approximately 7 hours, I took the chicken out, shredded it and then put it back in the cooker for another hour. SIMPLE. DELICIOUS!

CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP
3 cans (14½ ounces each) chicken broth (I used reduced sodium)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs, cut into bite size pieces (I did not cut up the chicken until it was done and then just shredded it)

2 cups water
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup diced carrot
1 package (6 ounces) converted long grain and wild rice mix with seasoning packet (not quick-cooking or instant rice)
½ cup chopped onion
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons white vinegar (optional - and I skipped)
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes (I also skipped)

1. In crockpot slow cooker, combine broth, chicken, water, celery, carrots, rice and seasoning packet, onion and pepper; mix well.
2. Cover; cook on LOW 6 hours to 7 hours or on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or until chicken is tender.
3. Stir in vinegar, if desired. Sprinkle with parsley.

MAKES 9 SERVINGS

Feeling Fall

FALL....Here are some random pics of my decorations in and outside my house.


Make sure to stop by all the other You Capture participants this week. I am especially enjoying fall this year!