Butterfinger PB Rice Krispies Treats

For the past two years, my husband and I have been serving a mission at the local employment center for our church. Today was our last day. Again. That part is a long story, so let's just say that this time it was really, truly our last day. 

Whenever it is someone's last day, treats are brought. My friend, Kathy, brought oatmeal raisin cookies, which happen to be my husband's favorite cookies! Perfect! But I wanted a little more oomph to the treats on our last day. I went home at lunchtime and decided to use our last day as an excuse to try something out that's been nagging at me for a few weeks. These guys, right here. 

It only takes a few minutes to throw these guys together. Let me tell you how much you want these in your life. A lot! Unless you are on a sugar-free, peanut butter allergy kind of lifestyle. Then I would avoid them.

(Edited 4/23/14- I've updated this recipe to be a little more exact on the peanut butter frosting.) 

Butterfinger Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats (adapted from Your Cup Of Cake)

6 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal

12 oz. miniature marshmallows

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (I used Skippy)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Frosting (adapted from Your Cup of Cake)

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

4 tsp milk 

Chocolate PB Ganache

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Topping

crushed Butterfingers (about 1/2 cup)

Reese's Peanut Butter chips (about 1/4 cup)

Frosting-

You want to make the frosting first because the rest of this comes together so quickly. Add peanut butter and butter together in your mixing bowl. Blend for two minutes. Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat for one minute, then add the milk and beat until smooth.

Treats-

Prepare a 9x13 pan by lining it with a sheet of parchment paper, allowing two of the edges to hang over the sides of the pan so you can lift the treats out before cutting them into bars. In a medium bowl, measure cereal and set aside. In a large microwaveable bowl, heat the marshmallows, vanilla and peanut butter for 30 seconds and then stir. Depending on how fresh your marshmallows are, it will need up to one minute more of heating time. Quickly add the cereal and stir to coat. Pour coated cereal into prepared pan and press to fill the pan (see photo- I like to make mine a little short of the pan size so they are thicker). 

You can either put water or butter on your hands to keep the cereal from sticking to you. Frost treats with the peanut butter frosting and either place it in the refrigerator while making the ganache or don't, depending on your preference. 

Ganache-

In a small to medium microwaveable bowl, heat the chocolate chips for 30 seconds. Stir well, and if needed, heat for an additional 30 seconds until chocolate is completely melted. Add the peanut butter to the melted chocolate and stir until smooth. This melts the peanut butter and cools the chocolate at the same time. Pour ganache over peanut butter frosting layer (this shows how thick the ganache is when adding it to the treats), 

smoothing gently so as to not disturb the frosting beneath the ganache. 

Immediately sprinkle smoothed ganache with the crushed Butterfingers and peanut butter chips. Refrigerate for about 10-20 minutes to harden the ganache a little bit. 

Remove treats from the pan by lifting up on the parchment paper overhanging the edges of the pan. Cut into bars and serve. I cut mine into 5 rows and 5 columns. 

You can even eat these for breakfast because the main ingredient is cereal!

People are starting to curse at me for bringing these to different events, but they always curse with a smile on their face and a treat on the way to their mouth! 

Bran Muffins

Don't judge these by their name! In 2006, I assembled a family recipe book. My mother requested that I include this recipe in the book (page 209) because she loves it so much.

Refrigerator Bran Muffins
1 1/2 cups hot water
3 cups 100% bran cereal (All-Bran)
1 cup raisins
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup honey
1 cup nonfat yogurt
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp soda
3/4 tsp salt
Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Put bran cereal and raisins in a large bowl. Stir in the hot water to moisten the mixture. Let the cereal absorb the water for a couple of minutes. Add applesauce, eggs, honey, yogurt, and buttermilk and stir to combine. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, and stir into the cereal mixture just until blended. Fill muffin tins 2/3 to 3/4 full (you can either use cupcake liners or spray the pan to prevent sticking). Bake for 15-18 minutes.
The batter will keep in the refrigerator for about a month if you don't want to bake all the muffins at once. If you choose this option, don't re-stir the batter. Just take it out and fill your cupcake pan. I prefer to bake mine all at once and then freeze the muffins. Pop a frozen muffin into the microwave and heat it until it is as warm as you like it.
(77 calories per muffin)

The Last Breakfast

This morning was the very laaast time we put on our missionary badges, and we went to a meeting. Once a month they do a training meeting and we eat breakfast (it's potluck). I took this as my final offering.  

It's called Overnight Blueberry French Toast. It's from here and I found it on Pinterest. It looked delicious! Her photo of the food is killer and mine kind of looks like a hamster or a wingless bat other small creature. I don't think there are such things as wingless bats, so forget I said that. 

Anyway, let's talk about the food. If you like French toast, and if you like cream cheese, and if you like blueberries, you'll like this. I used a loaf of French bread that was two days old. I shouldn't have used the entire loaf as I thought the bread to egg ratio was a little lopsided. The missionaries gave me many compliments on it, so I think they liked it. Either that, or they were all just being nice because it was my last day. However, the blueberry topping is awesome, no doubt about it. I'll type that part up because I'll need it later (when I'm off my diet) to spoon over vanilla ice cream. 

Blueberry Sauce (adapted slightly)

2 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup plus 1 T cornstarch

3 cups water

2 T lemon juice

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I used half of each because that's what I had in the house)

In a medium-large saucepan whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Add water and and lemon juice. Stir over medium-high heat until mixture boils. Continue boiling for one minute (use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon with a long handle as the mixture pops a little and if it touches your hand, you'll reeeeally feel it, if you catch my drift). Add blueberries and reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally for at least ten minutes. I continued to let mine simmer for about 30 minutes, while the casserole was baking. The flavor improved the longer it cooked.

Apple Puffed Pancake

Yesterday we went apple picking, so this morning we had this! It was devoured immediately.
Apple Puffed Pancake
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup flour (all-purpose)
3 T granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2-3 T brown sugar
Preheat oven to 425°F. In a blender, mix eggs, milk, flour, granulated sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Pulse briefly to blend. If you have one fluted porcelain quiche dish that's 12 inches across, you can use that. If you don't, you can use two that are 9 inches across, or you can use a 9x13 baking dish.
Place the butter in your pan(s) and put it in the oven to melt the butter. When the butter is melted, add the apple slices to the butter and return the dish to the oven. When the butter starts to sizzle (in a couple of minutes), remove the pan and pour the batter over the top of the apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Your pancake will get puffy while it's baking but will fall slightly after you pull it from the oven. Serve immediately. Serves 6 (if some of them are children).

Raspberry Morning Cake

OBB posted a recipe a couple weeks ago called Blueberry Boy Bait. I'm always keeping an eye out for breakfast recipes because we go to a missionary meeting every month which involves a breakfast pot-luck. When I saw the "B-B-B" recipe I thought it would be perfect for this months offering. I started to gather the ingredients last night only to find I had no blueberries. I did, however, have raspberries so I went with what I had and let my ox stay in the mire.
It was very popular this morning, so I'll share how I changed the recipe.

Raspberry Morning Cake (because I didn't want to call it Boy Bait) adapted from Our Best Bites
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup frozen raspberries, divided
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pressurized whipping cream (if desired)

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9x13 pan with Baker's Joy, or grease and flour pan. Set aside.
Beat the butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy, scraping bowl as necessary. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined before adding the next egg.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the  butter/sugar/egg mixture and blend slightly. Then add 1/2 of the buttermilk, followed by another 1/3 of the flour mixture, beating just until incorporating. Finish adding the buttermilk and the final third of the flour and when it's blended, stir in 1/2 cup of the frozen raspberries. Pour batter into prepared pan. Top batter with the other 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries. Stir the cinnamon into 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and sprinkle it over the batter and raspberries.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 20 minutes or more. You can serve this warm or cold with a shot of whipped cream. I made it the night before and served it in the morning.
To make it Blueberry Boy Bait, substitute the raspberries for blueberries (fresh or frozen).

Versatile Roll Recipe

I've put roll recipes on here in the past and I've been told they are good. A couple of weeks ago, we had another cousin dinner and my sister-in-law served rolls that were so divine I asked for her recipe before we left that night. The recipe is named Orange Rolls, but she didn't make them into orange rolls, she just made them into crescent rolls.
I made the crescent rolls the other night to take to a friend's house. Her kids devoured the rolls, and after her youngest had eaten three and asked for another, she was disappointed to be told they were all gone. The recipe makes four dozen rolls (I didn't take four dozen to the dinner), so with part of the dough I made some cinnamon twists. Laura made up some cream cheese frosting for some cookies we had the other day and it was perfect for dipping.

Sorry for the terrible lighting. This photo was taken at 3:45 AM. Yeah, I couldn't sleep...again.

So here, in my opinion, is the best orange/cinnamon/dinner roll recipe I've posted.

(Orange) Rolls (adapted from Kathy Knowlton who got it from someone named Gayle Jorgensen)
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup plus 2 T sugar (divided)
1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 T yeast (I use instant)
3 eggs, beaten
4-6 cups flour
extra butter as needed, melted
small amount of kosher salt (unless you're making sweet rolls)

Scald the milk (heat just until tiny bubbles start to form on the edge of the pan) and remove from heat. Add the butter, 1/2 cup sugar and salt and then cool mixture to lukewarm. Add the eggs. In a small bowl (I use my glass measuring cup) add yeast and 2 T sugar to warm water (wait a couple minutes if you are using regular yeast to make sure it proofs) and when the milk mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add yeast mixture to milk mixture.
Now comes the only hard part- knowing how much flour to add. It's going to vary from day to day, kitchen to kitchen. Start with stirring in about four cups and add more until the dough is soft but still a little bit sticky. I stirred the flour in by hand instead of using a machine (it's pretty much the only exercise I've had in weeks). I used the full six cups. In fact, I actually made a mistake when reading the recipe and added 1 cup of warm water instead of 1/2 cup, therefore I needed more flour than 6 cups to resolve that mistake.
At this point, you can let it rise in the refrigerator or on the counter. It will rise more slowly in the refrigerator but sometimes that's a good thing depending on your schedule. If you choose that option, you need to take the dough out about three hours before you need to bake the rolls. If you don't refrigerate the dough, let it rise on the counter until doubled in size. "Punch" (I don't actually punch, I just collapse it) down the dough and shape into whatever you need depending on what you're going to make (crescents, balls, rectangle for cinnamon or orange rolls, etc.).
Divide the dough into four balls of equal size. Pick your variation from below.
For the twists shown here, I rolled out one ball the dough into a rectangle, brushed it with melted butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar, then used my pizza wheel to cut it into strips. I twisted the dough and baked it (see times below). If you want to make conventional cinnamon rolls, roll the dough into a large rectangle and spread with melted butter. Spread a layer of brown sugar over the butter and sprinkle with as much cinnamon as you want. Roll up and slice (unflavored dental floss is my choice, or you can use thread too) and put in a 9x13" pan. Let rise and bake.
For the crescent rolls, roll dough into a circle. Brush with melted butter. Using pizza wheel, divide into twelve "pizza slices." Roll up, let rise and bake (again, see times below). When you take the rolls out of the oven, brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle a small amount of kosher salt on the tops of the rolls.
For the orange rolls, shape into twists or rolls (copy the cinnamon directions) rise and bake, then frost with glaze recipe below.
You could also turn these into breadsticks by rolling into skinny "snakes" then brushing with melted butter and sprinkling with a blend of Parmesan cheese mixed with a little garlic salt and oregano.

Let the rolls rise for about 15-20 minutes (it's not rocket science) and then bake at 375°F. for 15 minutes for the regular crescent rolls, 10-12 minutes for the twists or breadsticks, and 15-20 minutes for filled cinnamon or orange rolls.

Orange Glaze (I didn't use this part, but it was on the card from Kathy, so I'll include it)
2 T orange juice
1 tsp grated orange peel
1 cup powdered sugar
Mix all together and spread over cooked rolls or twists.

Cheater Orange Rolls

Every month we have a missionary meeting that includes a potluck breakfast, so I'm always on the lookout for good ideas so as to not tarnish my reputation that I seem to have acquired there.
Part of the problem, however, is that it hast to be something I can put together quickly because the meeting starts at 8:00 and I don't like getting up any earlier than I absolutely have to, so speed is essential for my food offering.

This isn't the best picture in the world because it was taken in the car just before we entered the building for our meeting. But since I'm told I can't post a recipe without a picture, it will have to do. These kept my reputation intact. They go by the name of Cranberry Orange-Glazed Cinnamon Rolls over at Pillsbury.com, but I think they should just go by the name of Cheater Orange Rolls. The picture shows the recipe doubled and baked in a 9x13 rather than a 9-inch round pan.

Cheater Orange Rolls
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (gross. I used pecans. I can deal with pecans. Walnuts are just wrong)
1/4 cup dried cranberries (known to the rest of the world as Craisins)
2 T butter, melted
2 T honey
2 tsp orange juice
1 can (13.9 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated orange-flavor sweet rolls with icing

Heat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, mix all ingredients except rolls and icing. Spread in ungreased 9-inch round cake pan.
Separate dough into 8 rolls; set icing aside. Place 1 roll in center of pan and remaining rolls around center roll.
Bake 24-27 minutes (watch that timing- mine was done at 20 minutes) or until deep golden brown. After removing pan from oven, immediately invert onto a heat-proof serving plate. Cool for five minutes.
Remove cover from icing; microwave on 50% power for 5-10 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle over rolls. Serve warm.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins

Every month at the employment center where my husband and I "work" we have a meeting which involves a pot-luck breakfast. Last month I was ill and didn't attend. This month I took what I would have taken last month if I could have. They are called muffins, but that's just so you don't feel bad for eating them for breakfast. In anyone else's book, they are cupcakes. I took 30 cupcakes muffins to the meeting. Only these guys survived long enough for me to take their picture.

You can get the recipe here. What I find funny is that in Kate's picture she shows it styled with a green bottle filled with milk. I have those same exact bottles (except they are my bottles at my house and Kate's bottles at her house. We don't run back and forth between houses sharing the same exact exact bottles). I should have styled my photo exactly like Kate's. Yep, to me that's funny.

Breakfast Casserole

It's real name is Bacon and Hash Brown Egg Bake but that's just too much to type. So I'll call this Breakfast Casserole instead.
I made this for breakfast when the Chambers' family came over and they loved it, so I made it again yesterday for our missionary zone meeting and it was nearly gone at the end of the meeting.

I found the recipe here. The first time I made it, I followed the directions to the letter. I thought I didn't like the mustard, so the second time I made it I left it out. As it turns out, it needs the mustard in for a little more flavor. I guess Betty knows what she's talking about. After all, she's been at this business for a lot of years! I read once that there wasn't actually ever a real Betty. I think that's kind of sad.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I know it's a little early to be talking about pumpkin, but as Eliot was going to bed he asked for pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, which is why we made these. I don't know how I found this recipe because it isn't a blog I frequent. However, it was in my white binder (the binder in which I keep printed recipes from other blogs and the internet) and Eliot wanted pumpkin pancakes, so we gave it a go. All I can say is, Eliot had a great idea, and these pancakes were delicious (I adapted the recipe a bit).
See the little bitty cinnamon chips on there? Gygi's has decided to stop carrying them. Bad decision. I've been told that Kitchen Kneads has them so I'll have to check that out soon (update-yes! They do have them!). Who knows, maybe it is a good thing Gygi's isn't going to carry them as it's so hard to shop there without spending $100. What? You don't have that problem? Sheesh.

Suddenly, I had a little more inspiration and brought out the Reddi-Whip (on another day I might be tempted to whip up some fresh cream and pipe it on the cakes, but for today, this worked great.

Oh my, oh my, oh my. I'm telling you, it was like eating pumpkin pie for breakfast, except it was even better than pumpkin pie.

Laura and I decided we preferred the pancakes without the chocolate chips, using only the cinnamon chips instead. However, the chocolate chip ones were pretty good too.

Pumpkin Pancakes
2 cups flour
3 T sugar, divided
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup melted butter
4 eggs--separated
1/2 to 3/4 cup cinnamon chips (I didn't measure)
mini chocolate chips, if desired. 
Whipped cream or pressurized whipped cream
Sift together dry ingredients, using 2 T of the sugar. Combine milk, vanilla, melted butter and pumpkin puree, then add the egg yolks. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just blended. Beat egg whites with 1 T sugar until stiff and fold into batter. Add chips and stir gently. Pour onto hot griddle sprayed with non-stick spray, using about 1/4 cup batter at a time. Cook until tops bubble and turn and cook other side. You can top the pancakes with a few more chips at this point if you wish them to melt a little bit. Otherwise you can add more once they are plated, or if you want fewer calories, you can eliminate the extra chips!
Drizzle some buttermilk syrup over your stack and then top it with a dollop of whipped cream. Be ready for angels to start singing because you'll be in heaven after your first bite.  

Not Really Breakfast

Even though the picture looks like it was breakfast because Eliot is in his pj's, it's really night time and we're eating dessert. But you know the saying, "Life is uncertain; eat dessert first." So go ahead and have this for breakfast if you want. I won't turn you in to the breakfast police. Thanks to Laura for making another great treat!

You can barely see the ice cream under the strawberries. You know you want this. Here you go, Double Chocolate Waffles. What would we do without OBB? Speaking of, you all know it's only one month and four days until their next cookbook comes out, right?

Can't Wait! Can't Wait! Can't Wait! Can't Wait! Can't Wait! Can't Wait! Can't Wait! 

Apple Puffed Pancakes

When I came out of my bedroom this morning, this is what was waiting for me. I'm going to miss Laura when she goes back to Ohio.

My favorite combination was the cinnamon apples and buttermilk syrup. I have one more breakfast to show you tomorrow! Today's recipe comes to you from Martha Stewart. You can find it here. 
Thanks for breakfast, Laura! It was yummerific.

Puffy French Toast

There are several recipes that Laura has looked at for a long time and has wanted to make but in her tiny little kitchen in Columbus, felt overwhelmed to try. This is one of those recipes (however, it isn't difficult or time/space consuming). We ate it for breakfast this morning and it was insane! We were still eating more, long after we were full. I wish I had served this for breakfast last week when we had friends come over. I'm also trying to talk my sister into changing our Empty Nester party in December from a dinner to a breakfast, just so we can serve this.

I would suggest that you place all the batter ingredients in a blender and pulse just until smooth (so you don't incorporate too much air into the batter). Then dip and fry. We kept the cooked toast in 200°F oven while we finished cooking the rest so we could all eat together.
You can find the recipe here. Some of us ate it with buttermilk syrup and others ate it with strawberry jam and we had our fruit on the side, but you could certainly serve it as shown here. You could also cut it into strips instead of halves and serve French toast sticks.
After watching me place the fruit on the plate and dust the powdered sugar over it, Laura suggested that my next career I should be a food stylist. Ha ha!

Crunchy Granola "Sweet!"

I know I'm dating myself by almost referring to a Neil Diamond song, but it fits. We invited some friends to share breakfast with us on Sunday and after it was too late, we realized we didn't have the granola we needed for a fruit and yogurt parfait, so undaunted by the situation, Laura mixed up some granola that is the best stuff I've ever tasted. If you wondered what to do with all that oatmeal you have in your food storage, break it out and put it to work! Laura likes it with milk and fresh fruit for breakfast.


Mix the granola with some vanilla yogurt, and fresh fruit of your choice for a refreshing treat.
We used blueberries and sliced strawberries.



I finished my parfait and then ate another, and then finished off one of the kids'.



I also eat it straight from the container. So good!

Crunchy Granola "Sweet"
2 cups rolled oats (not quick)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
2 T. honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup Craisins
Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir in the honey, brown sugar and the extracts. Add the oats, nuts and coconut, stirring until everything is coated with the sugar mixture.
Continue cooking, stirring frequently until the granola is a dark golden brown which will take about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the Craisins. Pour onto a sheet of parchment and allow to cool completely. Break up chunks and store in an air-tight container, unless you eat it all before it can even get to the container, which is entirely possible. Recipe doubles easily and can be frozen. Adapted from this recipe.

Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Last week at choir practice, I volunteered to bring treats. Maybe if there were treats every week more people would come. After all, what church function doesn't involve treats? Even though we were having a big family dinner yesterday, I got up early enough to whip these up for choir. The original recipe was from Lizzie over at Your Cup Of Cake, but I modified it slightly.

Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins 

½ cup butter, melted and cooled

1 cup sour cream

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 Gala apples, peeled (or Granny Smith)

1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice

2/3 cup Cinnamon Chips (I used the tiny ones from Prepared Pantry- also available at Gygi's)

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

4  whole cinnamon-flavored graham crackers (or use regular graham crackers and add 1/4 tsp cinnamon)

2 ½ tablespoons cold butter diced

P     Preheat oven to 375°F. Melt butter and allow to cool while gathering your other ingredients. Make the streusel topping. If you have a food processor, it will be super simple. Toss your cookies (sorry, that doesn't sound very appetizing!) in the bowl of your food processor along with the sugar. Pulse a few times until the cookies are uniformly ground. Add the cold butter and pulse until the butter is blended well with the sugar and cookies. Set aside. In your mixing bowl, blend the sour cream with the cup of sugar, eggs and the vanilla until smooth. Sift together your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and add it to the sour cream mixture, but just mix it together until the dry stuff becomes moist. Over-beating muffins will make them either tough or domed or both. Neither are a good thing. After dumping out the streusel mixture into another bowl, use your food processor to shred your skinned apples. If you are food processor-less, then just chop the apples into small chunks. Stir the apples into the batter, along with the 2/3 cup of cinnamon chips. The batter will be pretty thick. Don't worry, you've done nothing wrong! I use my cookie scooper to dollop the batter into the muffin wrappers. Sprinkle on about a tablespoon of streusel and bake for 15-18 minutes.