Monday, November 25, 2013

White Chocolate Cranberry Bars

Today I made these. They remind me of the Cranberry Bliss Bars from Starbucks but I have not compared the two side by side. I have a ladies brunch this week and thought they would be a fun recipe to try! These blondies with their cream cheese frosting and dried cranberry pieces are just too good to not try! 



First, melt some butter in the microwave and stir in some brown sugar. Then in a separate bowl mix up the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Grab some eggs and vanilla and use a handheld mixer to blend those into the brown sugar and butter mixture. After that add the flour mixture a little at a time and blend. The mixture will be super thick. Next fold in the cranberry and white chocolate pieces. 


Once that's all stirred up, spray nonstick spray in a 13x9 baking dish and cook at 350 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. It is finished when a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Mine looked like this: 


Now for the frosting! 

Use the handheld mixer again to blend up the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and half of the melted white chocolate. Spread on the cooled bars. Top with extra cranberries and drizzle the remaining melted chocolate to garnish.

They are very pretty bars and oh so yummy! 


Cut into bars; store in refrigerator. Enjoy!


Ingredients:

Bars:
3/4 cup butter, cubed
1-1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon 
1/2 cup dried cranberries
6 ounces of white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 6 ounces of white chocolate chips)

Frosting:
1 8oz. pkg cream cheese 
1 cup of powdered sugar
6 ounces white baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup dried cranberries 


Thursday, November 7, 2013

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies

Today I made these:


These are probably some of my favorite cookies ever. I make them even when it's not pumpkin season because I love them so much and because they remind me of fall. 

You start by adding pumpkin, sugar, oil and egg to a small bowl and stirring that all up. 

Then in a seperate large bowl you mix up flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves.


There you go. 

Next, in a seperate container, stir together the baking soda and milk. Go ahead and add that to your pumpkin mixture.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the large dry ingredient bowl and proceed to add the vanilla and chocolate chips. Stir until well combined. 



Drop spoonfuls on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet and put in the oven. Bake 10-12 minutes. They'll feel slightly firm when they are finished! 


Happy Pumpkin Season! 

Ingredients:
1 cup of Pumpkin
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp of baking powder
2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of milk (I've used both 2% and whole)
1/8 tsp of cloves
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
2 cups of chocolate chips