1 Step Smore Shakes

So whether you like it or not...summer is coming! Time to start thinking about the beach, camp, and ice cream! Who wants to think about heating up a hot oven, when you already feel like you're going to faint! Let's go with something cool and refreshing.  Let's go up on our tippy toes and reach that topshelf and grab the blender, maybe do a little dusting too while you're up there. Whatever you need to do to get yourself motivated for some baking...actually blending...do it!

The Ingredients

Make sure to toast your marshmallows, they aren't done until they're brown!

Blend it all together.

Who says smores have to be a graham cracker with a marshmallow and chocolate in between...I like this way better.

Adapted from Joy the Baker "Marshmallow Milkshake".

Ingredients:

5 marshmallows

4 large scoops of vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 big long squirt of Hershey's Chocolate Sauce (1/4 cup)

2 Honey Maid Graham Crackers broken into pieces

Directions:

1. Toast marshmallows slightly (Microwave, Toaster, Grill. etc). In blender mix all ingredients together. Blend well. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

      Well, since this is a very short post let me tell you a story. It all started one day when my Mom asked me to go fill up the bird feeder. I went out to the garage, found a bag that said "feed" on it and assumed it was bird feed. I scooped the "feed" into the bird feeder and went back inside.

    Later that week I went outside to play football with my brother.  As we were playing, my brother discovered something rather large and brown lying on the ground. What was it?  Ewwwww yuck!  It was a dead bird.  My Mom then asked me what I put into the bird feeder.  I said, "bird feed." We then looked out in our garage and realized that I had used the "Weed and Feed" instead of the "Bird Food."  I was shocked!!! I went bonkers, freaking out that I had killed something. I felt REALLY bad.

 The End...right? Nope. The next Sunday some friends came over to our house for a picnic. And since we were sitting, playing, and wrestling in the grass, we think some of the weed and feed got on his face and he began to get a rash and it hurt.

Sooooooo long story short...

DO NOT PUT WEED AND FEED IN YOUR BIRD FEEDER

   or else this country's population of birds may go extinct.

GB2- God Bless, Go Blend!!!

Mini Cheesecake

I've had this little song stuck in my head for a really long time and figured the best way to get it out was to share it with you. I know it's cheesy but here it is...

Grace the Baker!
Can she bake it?
Grace the Baker!
Yes she Can!

For those of you who don't know, it goes along with the "Bob the Builder" theme song.  That used to be one of my favorite shows when I was little! Alright now that the song is out of my head let's bake!

The Ingredients

Got Milk?

If you're going to crack the egg one-handed, make sure not to drop the eggshells....or you could just edit it out. =)

A teaspoon of VANILLA will make it all better,
not sugar Mary Poppins. (facepalm)

I am going to make a strawberry cupcake, for better or for worse!

I love all of my creations!

The new phenomenona - Cupcake Glasses!
Going once, going twice, eh... they've gone extinct.

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook - "Cheesecake Supreme."

Ingredients:

1 box of Nilla wafers (11oz.)

48 cupcake liners

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup of sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 container of strawberry or raspberry yogurt (optional)

1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, flour, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer till fluffy. Add eggs and yolk all at once, beating on low speed till just combined. Stir in milk.

2. (Optional) In a separate bowl pour desired amount of batter into bowl. Add your desired ingredient (yogurt, chocolate chips, Oreo crumbs etc.) and mix in. Pour into cupcake liner and bake.

3. Place batter in cupcake tins, filling almost to the top. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until tops are golden. Garnish with fruit, or chocolate syrup.

There are lots of easier versions of this recipe, but I just found my favorite cheesecake recipe and modified it a bit, so I guess that means this is my first adaptation! In the past I've tried modifying recipes a bit, but they didn't really turn out very well... like my cinnamon eggs. But thankfully the changes and additions I made this time around worked out deliciously. You see, anything I make I eat, whether it tastes good or not. 

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!! 

Bear Claws

Alright, so for the most part I've successfully made 20 recipes that have been posted! Let's try something new, something original and classy, with style and elegance. Let's make a pastry, a pastry that will make your day and only take about 15 minutes to make and 15 seconds to eat. That sounds good, let's bake!

The Ingredients

Whisk that yolk.

Making the filling.

Flour your pan. I should have spread this out a bit better. Oh well, next time. =)

Sugar, sugar, gotta melt some sugar. =)

Spread the sugary mix onto the dough and then fold into a burrito-like shape.

Then cut the long burrito into 6th's.

The parchment paper makes anything look heavenly.

Some people learn the hard way. =/

Good Appetite...eh...I like it the Julia Child, French way...
Bon Apetite!

Ingredients

Filling:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup Progresso® plain bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 teaspoons almond extract

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Rolls:

• 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Icing:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper. In medium bowl, beat egg lightly with wire whisk. Place half of egg (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) in custard cup; beat in milk until blended and set aside. To remaining egg in bowl, stir in remaining filling ingredients until well blended.
2. Meanwhile, in 1-quart heavy saucepan, mix glaze ingredients. Heat to boiling. Remove from heat; cool while making rolls.
3. On lightly floured work surface, unroll dough; press into 12x8-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Spoon filling into 12x2-inch strip lengthwise down center 1/3 of dough. Fold 1/3 of dough over filling. Fold filling-topped section over last 1/3 of dough so seam is on bottom of folded dough. With hand, gently flatten 1-inch-wide strip of dough along one long side of folded dough. Cut folded dough crosswise into 6 (2-inch) pastries. Along flattened edge of each pastry, cut 1-inch-long cuts about 1/2 inch apart.
4. Lightly brush egg-milk mixture over each pastry. Place almonds on plate; invert each pastry onto almonds and press gently so almonds stick to dough. Place almond side up on cookie sheet, spreading each cut slightly to form claw shape. Sprinkle remaining almonds over top of pastries.
5. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack; cool 5 minutes. Drizzle cooled glaze over each pastry. In another small bowl, mix icing ingredients until smooth (if icing is too thick, add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until drizzling consistency). Drizzle icing over cooled pastries.

Tips:
( I suggest doing step 2 last... if you don't believe me just read about my disaster below.)

By the time I was ready to pour the glaze on, it was hard as a rock, and I was having a very hard time stirring it. See burnt picture above.  You see, I thought I could just reheat the glaze and it would be smooth, but N-O it all turned black and started steaming. Then I decided I would get rid of the steam by pouring cold faucet water on it. (facepalm) That just made the glaze stuck again.
So long story short, I highly recommend doing step 2 last. =)

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Do you remember those 5 Ingredient Reese's Bars I posted about, oh, around a week ago?  Well they were so good, I was craving chocolate and peanut butter all week...no joke. But then I found this recipe and really wanted to try it. 

   So you're probably wondering about the picture because it looks like I poisoned them or something. So did I really poison them? Was it a disaster? Did I mess up the recipe again? Well you'll just have to keep reading to find out. =)

The Ingredients

What's better than butter in a recipe?
3 chunks of butter!

Do not let your granola "stick" together.

Real chocolate is melted in the microwave.

Pour out the chocolate then lick that pan clean... that's one way to get dishes done.

They turned out great!
We were just having too much fun in the first picture. =)

Here is the link to the recipe. Although no one was poisoned in this recipe, I have poisioned and accidentally killed something. =(  This post is long enough already, so my story of how I killed an innocent creature and almost hurt one of my best friends will have to wait.  For now, keep reading and I will keep blogging!

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

                                      (No one was hurt/poisoned in the making of this recipe.)

Stuffed Green Peppers

With all of the very unhealthy things we have just consumed, it's time for a healthy recipe. And yes, this recipe is even healthier than Veggie Pizza. So now that you've heard this shocking news, you're either going to keep reading or exit the page to go look at the cute dog picture your grandmother just sent you. My bell peppers are cute...right? At least in this recipe I didn't paste googly eyes onto my vegetables. =)


A teaspoon of salt will suffice but it's never enough when it comes to sugar!

Green peppers, and NO this isn't pepper that turned green and grew big.

It looks better than Rice-A-Roni.

There was lots of steam from this recipe.  It felt like a sauna.

A "romantic" candlelight dinner with plenty of chaperones.

Ingredients:

4 large green peppers

1 1/2 pound ground beef, ground pork, or ground lamb

2/3 cup chopped onion

1 15-ounce can tomatoes, cut up

2/3 cup rice

2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dried basil or oregano, crushed

1 cup shredded American cheese (4 ounces)

Directions:

1. Halve peppers lengthwise, removing stem ends,seeds, and membranes. Immerse peppers into boiling water for 3 minutes. Sprinkle insides with salt. Invert on paper towels to drain well.

2. In a skillet cook meat and onion till meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain fat. Stir in undrained tomatoes, uncooked rice, Worcestershire, basil,1/2 cup water, & some salt and pepper.

3. Bring to boiling: reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 15 to 18 minutes or till rice is tender. Stir in the cheese. Fill peppers with meat mixture Place in an 13x9 baking dish with any remaining meat mixture.

4. Bake in an oven about 15 minutes or till heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, Let stand 1 to 2 minutes. Makes 8 servings

So I wish I could say I came up with this recipe...but no, I got it from the cookbook shown in the picture. I hope you're reading this part right now and didn't decide to look at the "cute" puppy picture. Although I know puppies are very cute, I think I'll survive even if I don't look at it. Ok I'm done blogging, so you can go look at your picture right now! Does your Grandmother send you tons of e-mails with cute pictures and funny sayings?  My Grandmother does all the time.  I think she likes the forward button on e-mail because she's always forwarding things to me.  Hi Grandma!!!  I know you're reading this. =)                                                                                               
GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

Crumbly Apple Crisp

     Have you guys ever wondered how I choose a recipe?  Eh...you probably haven't, but just in case you were wondering, it's a very long thinking process. "I like pie...I'm an apprentice...hmmm...I should probably make something healthy...but...then it's not dessert...I need to make sooomething...I think....hmmm...yes, I'll make apple crisp." Yep, that's usually how it's done.

The Ingredients

Life is Good! Especially when you have an apple cutter to help cut things for you! =)

It's time for the apples to play in the sugar sand.

They got very dirty... but that's a good thing.

A Death Valley of apple crisp....that you can eat. =o

Amy's flabbergasted by them.

They should really be called Apple Crumble!!! 

Is your mouth drooling? Well, if it is, I have the recipe right here for you. I love to modify recipes and experiment with them a little, who doesn't?  So I put a little bit of caramel in, just like my friend did in this recipe.  Actually we both made apple crisp recipes on the same day, I guess great bakers think alike.

GB2 God Bless, Go BAKE!!!