Excellent Chocolate Chip Cookies

From the kitchen of Jamie Shephard

Cream together:
1 Cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 Cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Then add:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
chocolate chips

Roll into balls. Bake on foil covered cookie sheet at 375 for 7 to 9 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cookies

From the kitchen of Grandma Sheila

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 cups flour
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup (sugar for rolling)

350 degrees for 10 minutes

Pumpkin Cake

From the kitchen of Life Ambrosia.

Pumpkin Cake Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup softened butter
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

(I halved the cake recipe, but added almost a full can of pumpkin)

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 4 ounces softened cream cheese 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• (I just frosted the half cake)

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream 
• 10 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
• (I didn't add the ganache)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. 
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, being sure to scrape down the edges after adding each egg. Beat in the vanilla. 
3. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin spice. Slowly beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Once mixed, turn the mixer off and gently fold in the pumpkin puree. 
4. Scoop batter equally into the cake pans and level with a knife. Bake in preheated oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for several minutes. Gently remove the cake from the pans and place on a cooling rack. 
5. Make the cream cheese frosting filling by creaming together the butter and cream cheese. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the powered sugar and mix until a stiff but spreadable mixture forms. 
6. Place one of the cakes bottom side up on a cake stand. Spread the cream cheese frosting over the top. Place the other cake, top side up, on top of the frosting. 
7. Make the ganache right before you are ready to use it, by heating the heavy cream in a saucepan just until simmering. Place the chocolate chips in a bowl you can easily pour from (I used my 4 cup measuring cup). Pour the hot cream over the top. Make sure all of the chocolate is submerged in the cream. Let stand for two minutes. 
8. Gently whisk the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate has melted and the mixture has a glossy look to it. 
9. Carefully, and working from the center outward, pour the chocolate ganache over the cake. The ganache will be thick, you can use a knife to spread it around. Do this quickly before the ganache hardens. Note: Some of the ganache may pool on the serving platter. You can remove it with a spoon and then wipe the platter with a paper towel. Or leave it :) 
10. After ganache hardens, about 15 minutes you can slice and serve the cake. 
11. Keep any leftovers in the refrigerator. Remove from the fridge about an hour before serving to allow the cake to come to room temperature.

cream cheese marshmallow dip

use it as a fruit dip or inside crepes with fruit

8 oz cream cheese
1 jar of marshmallow cream

mix it with a hand mixer

Best Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup of melted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup cream (could substitute milk)
1 tsp vanilla

mix cocoa powder and powdered sugar together then add the butter, cream and vanilla and mix it all with a hand mixer.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

I found the recipe here.

Ingredients
1 box cake mix (yellow, white, chocolate) (I used a half box of cake mix)
Cool whip (I used about 1 1/2 cups)
2 boxes of chocolate pudding mix (I used one box)

Directions
Bake the cake as directed on the box. (I only made half the cake).
Once it is cooked, poke holes in the cake with the end of a wooden spoon while the cake is still hot. Pour half of the chocolate pudding mix(before the pudding cools or sets up) onto the cake so that it soaks into the holes.
Then put the rest of the pudding in the fridge to set up. Once it is set up, add the cool whip and mix them together. Then frost the cake with the pudding/cool whip mix.
Put the cake in the fridge to cool.

Rice Krispy Treats

From the kitchen of The Crafty Blog Stalker

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 bag mini marshmallows
5 cups rice krispy cereal

Directions
Melt butter in large sauce pan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until melted and well-blended. Cook 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
Add cereal. Stir until well coated. 
Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly and firmly in buttered 13 x 9 inch pan. Cut into 2 x 2 inch squares when cool. 

Divine Raspberry Salad

From the kitchen of Grandma J

Ingredients
Juice from crushed pineapple plus water to make 1 cup
3oz pkg lemon gelatin
1 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
8oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 pint whipping cream
2 TBS sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 can crushed pineapple (2 1/2 cups)
2 cups water
2-3oz pkg raspberry gelatin
1 lb pkg frozen raspberries, thawed

Directions
Dissolve lemon gelatin in boiling pineapple juice and water. Pour over marshmallows and cream cheese. Beat with mixer. Whip cream, add sugar and vanilla. Add to gelatin mixture. Fold in crushed  pineapple and pour into 9x13 pan. Allow to set. Dissolve raspberry gelatin in two cups boiling water. Add berries. Cool. Spoon over first layer. Refrigerate and let set.

One step pound cake

From the kitchen of Dianne.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cup flour
2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup sour cream
3 eggs

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Blend at a low speed. Beat 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into greased and floured bundt pan. Bake 60-65 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely.

Cake Coolwhip Cookies

Strawberry cake mix
8 oz of coolwhip
1 egg
powdered sugar

mix ingredients, put the dough into balls and roll it in the powdered sugar. Bake at 350.

Easy Cheesecake

Ingredients
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 small plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
1 can sweetened condensed milk (don't use the whole can, just taste it)
1 graham cracker crust

Direction
Mix everything and put it into the graham cracker crust.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from Bountiful Kitchen.

1 cup butter, softened
3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
5 cups cake flour*
1 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter and sugar together for about 2 minutes or until smooth. Add eggs, pumpkin, vanilla and spices. Continue beating for about 2  additional minutes.  Add rest of ingredients to bowl and mix just until flour disappears and all ingredients are combined.
Using a large cookie (or ice cream) scoop, place dough onto parchment lined baking sheets or lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely on baking sheet before transferring to plate.

Tips:
-*Cutler's uses cake flour in all of their cookie recipes. Cake flour will create a lighter texture and a more cake like cookie, compared to cookies baked with all purpose flour. If you do not have cake flour, all purpose flour will work fine. You will have to add up to one additional cup of flour to the recipe (6 total cups of flour).
-Do not flatten the balls of cookie dough after placing on the baking sheet. 
-If using a convection oven, you may lower the baking time to 8-10 minutes.

Strawberries and cream pie

http://www.justputzing.com/2012/01/strawberries-and-cream-pie.html

Ingredients:
(Crust) (I just used a store bought graham cracker pie crust)
- 1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (About 9 full/long crackers — just throw them in a gallon bag, zip, and crush with a rolling pin.)
- 5 tbsp butter, melted

(Filling)
** Crumbly Cookie’s original recipe called for only 1 block of cream cheese and 1 cup of cream, but that didn’t fill my pie dish all the way and I wanted a really thick/deep-dish pie, so I doubled the recipe.
- 2 8oz blocks of cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 cups heavy cream + 1 tbsp
- 2/3 sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 carton strawberries, sliced into thirds or halves
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 375.
(2) In a small bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs and melted butter until a crumbly, moist mixture forms.
(3) Gently but firmly press the graham cracker mixture into the bottom/sides of a pie dish.
(4) Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
** This is the only baking that you need to do for this recipe, so don’t forget to turn the oven off!
(5) In a medium bowl, use an electric mixture to beat your cream until it holds firm peaks. Set aside.
(6) In a separate, larger bowl, mix cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar until smooth and creamy.
(7) Fold about 1/3 of the whipped cream into your cream cheese mixture to lighten it, then add the rest. Gently fold until evenly incorporated and smooth.
(8) Spoon filling into your cooled pie crust, and spread it out in an even layer.
(9) Layer sliced strawberries in an overlapping rows around the top of the cream.
(10) Melt chocolate + 1 tbsp cream, and stir until smooth and liquid. Drizzle melted chocolate over the top of the strawberries.
(11) Stick the pie in the fridge for a few hours to allow the creamy filling to firm up.
(12) Slice and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Cake Cookies

1 box of white cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 TBS water
chocolate chips
(with higher elevation add 1/2 cup flour)

mix all the ingredients. Bake for 10 - 13 minutes at 350 degrees. (you do not want them to be golden brown)

OR
From the kitchen of Betty Crocker

1

box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® devil's food cake mix

1/3

cup vegetable oil

1

teaspoon vanilla

2

eggs

1/4

cup sugar

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). In large bowl, mix cake mix, oil, vanilla and eggs with spoon until dough forms.

Refrigerate dough 15 to 30 minutes or as needed for easier handling. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls about 2 inches apart.

Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Store tightly covered.

Oreo Pops

Oreos
Melting chocolate
pop sticks
sprinkles

Take the oreo apart, dip one end of the pop stick into the melted chocolate and put in the middle of the oreo and then put the oreo back together. Let the chocolate cool so that that oreo stays together. Then dip the oreo in the chocolate and add the sprinkles. Lay it on wax paper to cool in the fridge

Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls

From the kitchen of Lindsey B.

2 cups flour
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup softened butter
about 3/4 cup milk
butter melted
sugar
cinnamon
powdered sugar
milk
vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Mix in softened butter until crumbly. Stir in the milk until dough is soft and workable but not too sticky. It is not like bread dough. It shouldn't be handled more than necessary. Roll or pat out on a floured surface until 1/2 inch think. Melt the rest of the cube of butter and spread on dough; sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Gently roll dough up into long tube shape and slice into 1 inch pieces and place on desired baking surface and bake at 450 degrees for approximately 12 minutes or until golden brown. Make icing from desired amounts of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and spread on biscuits while warm.

Also a great biscuit recipe.

Libby's Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients
1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)
Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle

From Taste of Home
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Pumpkin-Gingerbread-Trifle

Ingredients
2 packages (14-1/2 ounces each) gingerbread cake mix
1 package (4.6 ounces) cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
3 cups 2% milk
1 can (29 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 carton (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided

Directions
Prepare and bake gingerbread according to package directions, using two greased 9-in. round baking pans. Cool completely on wire racks.
Meanwhile, for pudding, in a large saucepan, combine pudding mix and milk; stir until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes longer or until thickened. Remove from the heat; cool to room temperature. Combine pumpkin and brown sugar; stir into pudding.
In a 4-qt. glass serving bowl, crumble one gingerbread cake; gently press down. Top with half of pudding mixture and whipped topping. Repeat layers. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Yield: 25 servings (1 cup each).

Easy Pumpkin Crumble

1 boxed yellow or white cake mix
1-2 sticks butter (see notes in instructions)
1 16 oz can pumpkin*
2 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t ginger
1/8 t cloves
1/8 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt
1/3 C chopped pecans
1/2 t additional cinnamon for topping
*This makes a dessert about an inch thick or less. That’s because I like a high topping-to-pumpkin ratio. If you’d like it thicker, use a large can of pumpkin and double the rest of the filling ingredients (Eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and spices). Leave the rest of the recipe the same.
Preheat oven to 350.
Place 2 C of the cake mix in a bowl. Cut in 3 T chilled butter. Just use your fingers to crumble the butter until it’s in small crumbly pieces. Place mixture in a 9×13 baking dish and press flat with your fingers.
Mix pumpkin, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and spices until smooth. Pour on top of the cake mixture in the pan.

Apple Crisp

Ingredients

4 cups sliced apples
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
Place apples in prepared dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour water over all. In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Blend in flour, cinnamon, and vanilla. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.
Bake in preheated oven 40 to 50 minutes, until apples are tender and crust is golden.