Devilish Delights

I had to change up the recipe for this. For some reason it wasn't working, and was way to wet to make nice cookie mounds. But, never fear, they are still pretty yummy. They are chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. With a splash of coffee liqueur. The good news is, they are yummy. The bad news is, I can't remember how much flour and cocoa powder I ended up adding. So these will be my one hit wonder this year.

Chewy S'mores Bars

I wonderful camping favorite in an easy to make bar. Oh these are good. I mean, really good. Plus, the batter isn't have bad. Truth be told, it's a wonder the batter ever made it into bars. I found this recipe in my Better Homes Cookie magazine.

Chewy S'mores Bars

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 quick cooking rolled oats
1 cup crushed graham crackers
2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9x2in pan with foil. Lightly grease foil.

In large bowl beat butter and sugar until combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour. Stir in oats and graham crackers.

Reserve 1 cup of oat mixture. Spread rest into pan. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle marshmallows and chocolate chunks over warm crust. Dot top with oat mixture. Bake 20 minutes.

Cool on wire rack in pan. Pull out uncut bars using foil. Cut into bars.

Lemon Crescents

These came out pretty good. They weren't as sweet as I thought they would be, though. If you are looking for a lighter, less rich cookie, this is a good option.

Lemon Crescents

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl, beat butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and lime juice until smooth. Beat in flour, salt and lemon peel.

Shape dough into crescent shapes, about 2 inches long. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges just turn brown.

Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar and cool on wire rack. Dust with more powdered sugar once cooled.

Nana's Banana Cake

I love Nana's Apple Cake mix! It is so versatile. I had 2 bananas I needed to use, as they were very ripe. I thought, why not toss them into Nana's Apple Cake mix? I love the results!

Nana's Banana Cake with pecans

1 pkg Nana's Apple Cake mix
2 ripe bananas
2 eggs.
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x9 baking pan.

Beat smashed bananas and eggs to combine. Add cake mix and pecans. Beat until combined.
Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Rhubarb Strawberry Thumbprint Squares

These are so flaky and yummy. Fairly easy to make too. I used Tastefully Simples Rhubarb Strawberry Fruit Spread to fill the thumbprints and it gave them this wonderful tangy flavor.

Rhubarb Strawberry Thumbprint Squares

1 1/4 cups softened butter
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon extract
3 cups flour
Rhubarb Strawberry Fruit Spread

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 15x10x1 jelly roll pan. Set aside.

Beat butter for 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar, beat until combined. Beat in egg and lemon extract. Beat in flour.

Press dough into bottom of pan. Using a pizza cutter cut 9 rows down, and 6 rows across. Make indentations on each square with thumb. Add small teaspoon of fruit spread.

Bake for 20 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool for 5 minutes. Then cut along lines with pizza cutter again. Cool on wire rack and dust with powdered sugar.

Absolutely Almond Cream Cheese Cookies

Absolutely Almond Cream Cheese Cookies. Ohh... If you like fluffy, light cookies, these are the cookies for you. This is a recipe from my Tastefully Simple website. I was looking for something super easy that used the Absolutely Almond Pound cake mix. I like this pound cake, but I love it even more as a cookie! Only thing I added, to the recipe, was the colored sugar sprinkles.

Absolutely Almond Cream Cheese Cookies

8 oz. pkg. softened cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
1 egg
Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix

Combine first 2 ingredients; mix until smooth. Add egg; blend well. Stir in AA Cake Mix (may have to knead with hands until dough forms). Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 11-12 minutes or until cookies are light brown on bottom (cookies should not brown on top and will only flatten slightly). Cool on baking rack. Makes about 45 cookies.

Check my TS website for Absolutely Almond Cake Mix

Blondies

You may be surprised, with all the baking I have done, I have never made Blondies before. Nope. This is the first time. They were pretty easy, and tasty. I found this recipe in my Better Homes cookbook. I added a crushed up Heath bar, white chocolate chips, and pecans to the top right before baking.

Rum Flavored Meringues

My goal this season is to try making cookies I have never made before. Ultimately, I would really like to do 25 days of baking. All new recipes! I don't know that I will be able to make that many, as it is my busy season at work, but I am going to do my best and bake as much as time (and my waistline) will allow.

My first batch of cookies is Rum Flavored Meringues. This is my first attempt at meringue cookies. They came out light and fluffy. Melt in your mouth delicious! They were also easier then I had anticipated.

Rum Flavored Meringues

3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp rum extract
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In large (glass or metal) bowl combine first 4 ingredients. Beat until soft peaks form, Gradually add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high. Beat until stiff peaks form.

Spoon into a pipping bag with a star tip. Pipe 2in stars on parchment paper an inch apart.
(can also use a spoon to make small mounds instead of using a pipping bag)

Bake for an hour and 20 minutes, or until cookies are dry and firm when lightly touched. Cool on wire rack, or do what I did, and just pull the parchment off the sheet and onto cool counter.