I'm not exactly how to express myself properly when it comes to these cookies other than OMG! These are hands down my new favorite cookie. Yes, they are that good and I suggest that everyone make them. Just enough salty sweet goodness to satisfy whatever you might be craving. Also, I've never made dough that was such a perfect consistency. Naturally all of the kids loved them and I can't stop talking about them to everyone! You might want to just go ahead and double the recipe right from the start because they really don't make enough. There isn't any sarcasm to that either. It made about 2 dozens cookies... not enough for my household lol.
When I was first putting the dough together, my son made a weird face and I said "I don't know about those". Well moments after biting into one, his eyes lit up and the first words out of his mouth were "you have got to send grandma this recipe so she can make them when I'm there". He's too precious at times.
Ok enough reading, go get baking!!!
Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies
As far back as I can remember I've always loved honey butter. Its no secret that Texas Roadhouse has some of the most addicting around! Once again Pinterest sucked me in with this copy cat recipe and I just had to try it... All in all it was actually really good. My son asked me to always have rolls on hand if I planned on making this often. He's so funny. Now this is just a personal preference, but my only suggestion would be to cut back on the honey just a pinch. I know that sounds odd because its honey butter BUT the honey almost overpowered the flavor of the butter and cinnamon. Either way, you can count on me making this time and time again!
Again to make it easy for you, the recipe calls for:
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
The real Starbucks Frappecino's are one of my favorite drinks and I wish they weren't so expensive, as I'm sure many of you share that opinion. So when I came across a copy cat recipe that claims to be "identical", naturally I had to try it. Now either I need to go buy one from the store to truly compare side by side OR they don't taste quite like I remember. Don't get me wrong, the copy cat was good buy holy cow it was sweet. I'd suggest cutting back on the sugar just a pinch. If its fresh out of the fridge cold, its definitely when it tastes the best. Will I make this again??? Probably, but with my own little tweaks. Oh and for the record, I used a full 12 cups of coffee so I can only imagine how sweet only using 10 cups would be.
To save you the time, the recipe simply calls for the following:
10 cups of coffee
1/2 cup vanilla creamer
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
I'm really not sure what I was thinking by taking on a recipe like this considering I've never made jam before in my life. Growing up, jam was always something that I could count on being in the cupboard because the women in my family seemed to make it a whole lot. I'm not complaining though, I love jam!
Being that this is my first jam experience, I read the entire recipe thoroughly and I even took the time to read all of the comments. The original author said that it was really runny but still tasted amazing. There were several people who commented that if she would have used pectin it would have thickened up like she needed. There were also a few people that mentioned putting apples in it because they have a natural pectin. Since I'd already gone to the store and didn't know to get pectin, apples it was! I cut an apple in quarters, cut out the seeds, and just dumped them in the crockpot. Possibly some of the more experienced jam makers are laughing at me right now, but hopefully that wasn't wrong.
I followed everything perfectly and let it cool over night in the fridge. When I checked it in the morning I noticed that it was still pretty runny, BUT I've gotten jam from my grandma's pantry that has been this runny. Now I don't prefer it this way, but it helped me feel better. Now let's get to the best part... the taste!!! I will definitely be making this again because its hands down my new favorite strawberry jam. I'm really hoping that the pectin truly makes that big of a difference. Making this jam just made that day so much better. My house smelled amazing and afterwards I had this wonderful jam. I've been eating toast like its going out of style just so I can have more jam.
Crockpot Strawberry Jam
I really liked these a lot. Very easy to make and that's always a huge hit. These would make a great appetizer at a party or bbq or any gathering. It really is hard to eat more than one or two. However, I have a few complaints about the recipe. It says to use a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch, but in the link it never mentions it again so I had to guess where to use it. Also, I felt that it didn't make it very clear about how much cream cheese to use because it simply said "a large block of cream cheese". In all reality, my large and your large could be two totally different things.
As I'm mixing everything in a large bowl, I'm noticing that its just not mixing together. I know that cream cheese can be tricky to work with, even when softened, so I started mixing with my hands but it still was just too dry. I then added a spoonful of sour cream and that helped a ton. It's probably not fair that I did that, especially because I'm giving my opinions on the recipe and not on my twists. Those were really the only hang ups though.
Luckily my daughter had her friend over and that gave me an extra opinion. My children don't like cream cheese at all. Sometimes I can sneak it by them if there are enough other flavors to cover it up, but there weren't in this recipe so my children vote that they just didn't like it period. Personally I thought they were really good! My daughters friend loved them as well, but she likes cream cheese. I ended up sending the rest home with the friend because at least I know they'd get eaten there.
Chicken Roll Ups
This recipe was kind of destined to fail from the start and that's my fault. When I first saw this on Pinterest, I was excited because I didn't have to even click on the recipe. It simply said "wrap in egg roll wraps, bake 350 for 15-20 minutes". So naturally I figured why would I need to click on the link when you don't get much easier than that. Well, that's what I get for thinking. I've never worked with egg roll wraps and it shows. I quickly got them all rolled up, placed on a pan and placed in the oven. I set my timer and patiently waited. I was so excited because mozzarella sticks are my daughter absolute favorite!
Timer goes off and when I open the oven door, they look exactly the same. No golden brown as the picture indicated and the middle was still firm. Finally I decide to be smart about it and click on the link to see where I went wrong. Oh I went wrong in a lot of places. Inside the link it says absolutely nothing about being able to bake these. They have to be fried in a pan or deep fryer, especially to get that golden coloring. I fried them for a minute on each side as directed, but none of us were impressed honestly. Maybe I will give it one more shot doing it correctly the first time.
I'm kind of losing faith in Pinterest again though. My kids suggest that I post my own recipes because they're tired of eating the "yucky Pinterest food". Now that's a compliment...and I might just do that.
Mozzarella Sticks
This last Sunday I had a little Cinco de Mayo get together at my home. Most of the recipes used were all my own, but that wasn't my intention. I really wanted to have a full blown Pinterest experience and take advantage of being able to get so many opinions at once, but it just wasn't coming together. I searched and searched, but none of the Mexican dishes were really grabbing my attention. Then I came across these cute little taco bites and thought they would make a great appetizer.... they did! They're actually bigger than I thought and my daughter just ate them as her meal.
I may have cheated on this one because I didn't follow the authors recipe. I figured I've made tacos a million times before, so I can do this. I'm sure there might have been an easier way, but I started out by buying the small flour tortillas and then trimmed them down a little more so they weren't overflowing out of the muffin pan. After that I simply added the cooked and seasoned hamburger meat, topped with cheese, and placed in the oven. Once the tortillas were to my liking (medium crunch) I transferred them to my serving tray and then added the rest of my toppings. It doesn't get easier than that and all of my guests loved how hard I worked on everything. Oh if they only knew!!!
The kids loved these so much that I'm thinking in the near future of just having taco bites for dinner. I have no complaints about this recipe. It tastes great because you can fill it with whatever you please and its pleasing to look at because it looks like you took the time to add that special ingredient, love.
Taco Bites
