Strawberry Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting

I have been trying to find a good whoopie pie recipe for a long time.  I tried several using cake mixes, one from scratch and every time they came out either too flat or too crunchy and just NOT right.  Its been frustrating because I like to think of myself as a good baker and some of these recipes I was embarrassed to say I was the one who made them.  The last time I tried to make whoopie pies I swore I wouldn't even give it another try because I was so tired of failing.

Today, as the sun went in and out of clouds and every-other minute it looked like it might rain I decided it would not be a Saturday spent at the pool.  The house was cleaned yesterday, I grocery shopped in the morning, we played games, ate lunch and then came the point where I was looking for something to do.  Oh, why not give those darn whoopie pies one last shot!  I just happened to have a strawberry cake mix in my pantry ...weird!!, I know, but my 2 year old daughter loves anything pink so it went into the grocery cart at some point months ago.


This is it!  Voila!  Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!  I FINALLY found a great whoopie pie recipe that uses a cake mix - woohoo!!!!   They came out PERFECTLY FLUFFY!  I used the frosting recipe I use for my Easter carrot cake.  The sweet strawberry flavor pairs well with the cream cheese frosting.  These would make a perfect dessert at a baby shower for someone who is expecting a girl.

You can use any flavor cake and any flavor frosting.  I think I will try devil food chocolate next time with peanut butter frosting.  mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Now that I've mastered whoopie pies, what should I try next???  :-)  Happy baking!

Ingredients:
1 box strawberry cake mix (or any flavor)
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 400'F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Mix ingredients in a large bowl for 2-3 minutes using a mixer.  Drop by spoonful (I used the Pampered Chef medium scoop - approximately 2 tablespoons) onto the parchment paper leaving 2 inches between each drop.  Bake for exactly 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub cool whip (8 oz size)

Mix ingredients until smooth.  Drop by spoonful onto the bottom of one cookie and top with a second cookie, press together to assemble your whoopie pies.  Wrap individually with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Wilton has a great vanilla filling recipe that works well with the strawberry whoopie pies as well as the classic chocolate whoopie pies.  It can be found here:  Wilton.com  I love the cream cheese frosting recipe, however, if you want something that doesn't need to be refrigerated the vanilla filling is the way to go.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This spicy, creamy, addicting dip is a staple during football season!  It is also good anytime of the year as a quick go-to appetizer when entertaining friends.  If you have ever been to my house to watch football then you have definitely tried this dip.

Everyone seems to have their own version of this recipe with different levels of spiciness.  My version is a little different from the standard Frank's Red Hot recipe.  Its extra spicy but that extra kick keeps you coming back for more.  Hope you enjoy it!

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or chopped (I use leftover rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup blue cheese salad dressing
1/4 cup ranch salad dressing
1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
1/4 cup siracha sauce (found with Asian foods at the grocery store)

Mix the cheeses, salad dressings and hot sauces.  Stir in the chicken.  Microwave or bake until hot & bubbly.  Enjoy with tortilla chips or celery.

Jello Shooters!

First of all, this recipe is intended for adults over the age of 21.  Do not drink and drive!

We are headed to the Dave Matthews Band concert on Saturday and I thought I would make Jello shooters for something fun to have at our tailgate.  The first time I made Jello shooters years ago I made a huge mess in my kitchen trying to pour the liquid into the small containers.  I think my entire kitchen counter was a big sticky mess by the time I was finished and it also seemed to be very time consuming. Now I'm older and wiser I have a great system for making Jello shooters that is quick and easy... and for the most part mess-free.

Things you'll need
Funnel
Empty liquor bottle
Removable pour spout
Plastic condiment containers with lids

Ingredients
1 box Jello  3oz size (generic brands work good too)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup alcohol (any kind, any flavor ... see below for suggestions)

Each small box of jello will make about 25 shooters.  I made 150 shooters last night in about 30 minutes. Using an empty liquor bottle to mix and pour makes things really simple.  Another helpful hint is to boil all the water at once in a large pot and just keep it on a low boil while you make each batch of Jello (so if you have 6 boxes of Jello bring 6 cups of water to a boil).

Place the funnel in the empty liquor bottle and pour in one box of Jello.  Add one cup of the boiling water to the bottle, remove funnel, top with the cap and shake the bottle to dissolve the Jello.  Remove cap, place funnel back in the bottle and add one cup of alcohol.  Remove funnel, top with cap and give another shake to mix.  Remove cap and top with pour spout.  Fill 25 plastic containers about half way full, put the lids on, stack and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  If you're working on more than one flavor you can simply rinse out your bottle and funnel and move on to the next flavor.

The flavor combinations I made last night were ...
Island Pineapple with Coconut Rum (Pina Colada)
Berry Blue with Blue Maui
Peach with Peach Schnapps
Strawberry with Melon Schnapps
Orange with 1/2 Washington Apple, 1/2 Peach Schnapps

If you want stronger shooters you can use vodka or rum for the cup of alcohol or you can use half a cup of vodka/rum with half a cup of a flavored schnapps.  I'm not trying to get anyone sick mid-concert so I just went with the light weight shooters this time.  We'll save the full strength vodka ones for a party.

Here are a few other flavor combos I found online. The possibilities are endless ...

• Dreamsicle Jello Shots
• Orange Jello, Whipped cream or vanilla flavored vodka, Triplesec

• Strawberry Lemonaid Jello Shots
• Strawberry Jello, Lemon flavored vodka, Triplesec 

• Jolly Rancher
• Melon Jello, Vodka, Apple Pucker

• Purple People Eater
• Grape Jello, Vodka, Watermelon Pucker

• Bomb Pop
• Cherry Jello, Lemon vodka, Blue Curacao 

• Margarita
• Lime Jello, Tequila, Triple sec

• Tequila Sunrise
• Orange Jello, Tequila, Triple sec and Grenadine 

• Tropic Thunder
• Berry Blue Jello, Lemon vodka, Blue curacao 

• Blue Hawaiian
• Berry Blue Jello, Malibu rum, Blue curacao, 1/2 cup pineapple juice can be substituted for some of the boiling water

• Rum Runner
• Strawberry Banana Jello, light or dark Rum, Triple sec

• Bahama Mama
• Watermelon Jello, Malibu rum, Peach schnapps

• Cosmopolitan
• Cranberry Jello, Vodka, Triple sec, Splash of lime juice with the boiling water 

• Sex on the Beach
• Orange Jello, Vodka, Peach schnapps, 1/2 cup cranberry juice substituted for some of the boiling water 

• Lemon Drop
• Lemon Jello, Lemon vodka, Triple sec 

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Soft Sugar Cookies

Happy 4th of July!  This is a day late but I'm sure everyone is enjoying celebrating all weekend long with picnics and pool parties.

Did I say I was taking a break from baked goods?  Ha, what a big fat LIE!  I really did try but I just can't keep myself away from baking.  I'm headed to a picnic tomorrow and needed something to bring along.  The 4th of July makes me think about a flag cake my mom and I used to make together when I was little.  It was a simple white cake baked in a 9 x 13 pan and then we decorated it with blueberries, strawberries and cool whip to make it look like an American flag.  It was fun and turned out cute but it needed to be refrigerated and also needed to be sliced.  I believe picnics require foods that can sit out all day and withstand the heat, bite sized desserts people can grab and walk back to their lounge chair and of course with small desserts so you can try more than one!!

I decided to bake cookies and I flipped through my recipe book and landed on Soft Sugar Cookies ... everyone likes them, I can decorate them red-white-and-blue, they can sit out at a picnic and they're easy to transport.  Decision made.  Oh, but the taste brought back so many memories.  I thought a recent cookie, the salted double chocolate peanut butter, were my absolute favorite until I made this oldie but goodie.  This was my favorite cookie for sooo many years and I think in my heart it still remains the favorite.  This is the cookie recipe my mom made when I was growing up...its the recipe I watched her make, eventually helped her make and then made on my own.

Oh soft sugar cookie, I love you.

You make me feel good when I am blue.

You are such a tasty little treat.

No other cookie can compete.

Heres' the recipe!  It makes 24 cookies but can be easily doubled to make 48.

1 cup sugar
1 egg
6 tablespoons margarine, softened
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
colored sugar or sprinkles
1 tub of vanilla frosting


Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  In another bowl cream sugar, eggs, margarine and vanilla.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and milk while stirring.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Heat oven to 350'.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper and use a medium scoop or tablespoon to drop spoonfuls of cookies about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.  Bake cookies for 12 minutes and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then move them to cooling racks to cool completely. Frost cookies with vanilla frosting and decorate with sprinkles.

You can also top the cookies with colored sugars or sprinkles BEFORE baking them and leave off the frosting.  They're good both ways but I like the look of the frosted cookies better.

Kath's Homemade BBQ Sauce

I know what you're thinking ... where's the yummy baked goods??  Ha, I'm wondering that too!!!  Well, it was requested by my husband and also my growing gut that I take a break from baking for the summer.  :-(   It didn't stop me from making an amazing Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake this past weekend for a dinner party (having company over is a baking loophole!) but all the little baking (the cookies, brownies, muffins, etc) needs to be put on the back burner for a bit.

Kath's BBQ Sauce is a recipe I thought you might enjoy for all the grilling you're probably doing this time of year.  This is super simple and tastes great on grilled chicken.  I also use it as a sauce when I make BBQ Chicken Pizza*.  A friend of mine recently asked me to share this recipe and I never, ever measured any of the ingredients before ... I always just eye-balled it so that's why some of the measurements are goofy (plus tablespoons).  Makes about 1 1/2 cups of BBQ sauce in less than 15 minutes.  You can certainly make this your own recipe by adding more or less of any of the ingredients so if you like a sweeter sauce add more sugar, a tangier sauce add more mustard and so on.  Enjoy!!!

In a small sauce pan on medium heat add the following ingredients, stir and bring to a boil then simmer for 5-6 minutes.  Place in a container and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

1 cup + 2 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder


*BBQ Chicken Pizza
1 pizza crust
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 grilled chicken breast, chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 400'.  Saute the peppers & onions in a small amount of olive oil until softened.  Spread BBQ sauce on the pizza crust and top with peppers, onions, chicken and cheese.  Bake for about 15 minutes until cheese is bubbly.

Granola Bars

YES, you can make your own homemade granola bars!  Its easier than you think and the flavor is well worth your effort.  I saw a recipe for these back in the winter time in the Food and Wine magazine and I decided to give it a try.  I tweaked their recipe a bit and can now call it my own.  These disappear quickly in our house. During ski season my husband was leaving with handfuls of these bars to take for a snack and now its golf season and the same thing is happening.  Plus I think they make a great breakfast and my daughter likes them for a snack sometimes.  Hope you enjoy them as much as my family has!

1 cup peanuts, crushed
1/2 cup almonds, crushed or slivered
2 cups old fashioned oats
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup honey
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups rice krispies
1 cup dried cranberries

The nuts, seeds and dried fruit can be substituted with YOUR FAVORITES.  The combination above just happens to be the one I like best.  I have tried it with raisins and pecans before as well.  Just keep the measurements the same.

1.  Preheat the oven to 350' and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Spread the nuts, oats and seeds on the sheet and bake for exactly 8 minutes.  Transfer this mixture to a large bowl.  Don't skip this baking step because this short roasting time is what gives the granola bars such a great flavor!

2.  In a saucepan, bring the sugar, honey, butter and salt to a boil over medium/high heat.  Simmer until the sugar is dissolved and a light brown caramel forms.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

3.  Pour the caramel over the nut & oat mixture.  Stir in the rice krispies and cranberries until evenly coated.

4.  Take the same piece of parchment paper you used earlier and line a 9 x 13 baking pan.  Scrape the granola mixture into the pan and cover with a second sheet of parchment paper or wax paper and press it down to compress it.  Let stand until firm, about 2 hours.

5.  Discard the top sheet of parchment/wax paper.  Lift the entire block of granola out of the pan and place on a cutting board.  Cut into 24 bars.

6.  Wrap each bar individually with plastic wrap and store in an airtight container or large zip lock bag.  (yes, its worth your time to wrap these individually, it makes transporting them as snacks easy and also keeps them very fresh).

Soft Pretzels

Suck it Auntie Anne's!  I'm sick of paying $3 for a pretzel.  Seriously, when did something so simple become so expensive???  My child asks for a soft pretzel every time we go to the mall or Target or Sam's Club.  She sees the signs for them and "needs" one.  If I bought one soft pretzel every-other week that's over $75 worth of pretzels for the year!!!! And embarrassingly enough there's weeks when I buy 2-3 of these suckers.  Our soft pretzel craving can just wait until we get home from now on because with this recipe I'm all set!  This will be a great recipe to use during football season too ... what a great snack to serve during a game.  The pretzels turn out picture perfect and taste delicious.  I brushed mine with melted butter when they came out of the oven.  I'm sure you could leave off the salt and use sugar & cinnamon to make them a sweet treat.  Enjoy!!!

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast 1/2 teaspoon white sugar 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil 1/4 cup baking soda 2 cups hot water 2 tablespoons kosher salt, for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2.	In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one  tablespoon of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3.	Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
4.	When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
5.	Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.