Reese's Stuffed Cookies

I know a lot of people with birthdays in February and early March.  My grandpa’s birthday was last week, and this week is the birthday of 2 of my good friends, my dad, and my sister!  In an attempt to celebrate everyone’s birthday this week, we’re making Reese’s stuffed chocolate chip cookies.  You could use any candy bar, really.  Snickers, Milky Way, or straight Hershey’s chocolate would be great, too.  I like using Reese's because I like the saltiness that the peanut butter adds to the otherwise sweet chocolate chip cookie. 

What you need:

1 roll chocolate chip cookie dough

About 10 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, depending on how many cookies you make

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Slice cookie dough into 1/2 inch slices and arrange on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Place a (unwrapped) Reese’s cup on top of each cookie.  Completely cover each Reese’s cup with another slice of cookie dough.  You may be able to get away with a slice that is smaller than the base, but just make sure you cover the candy.  As you can see, mine don’t look super pretty, but they’re just going in the oven anyways. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies have set and are brown on the bottom, but are still soft in the middle, because gooey chocolate chip cookies are one of life’s greatest pleasures.

 Enjoy warm with a tall glass of milk.  Happy birthday to my lovely friends and family!

You can also find the recipe here on a great blog, The Comforts of Home!

"Single" Pringles

Happy (?) Valentine’s day! I feel weird wishing people to have a happy day when I know many people have strong negative feelings about today.  Why is that so many people feel sadness and anger on a day of love?

 As a single girl myself, I usually spend the day hanging with my friends stuffing my face with chocolate.  Today we’re celebrating with “single” pringles!  One of my good friends coined this phrase, and I love it!  And I mean, there’s chocolate involved, so what could be better?

What you need:

       Original Pringles- the number you use will depend on your chocolate-Pringle ratio.  If you use less   chocolate, you'll go through more Pringles. 

       1 package semi sweet chocolate chips (the mini-mart on campus was all out of chocolate chips, so I substituted Hershey's milk chocolate instead)

Look at that- another 2 ingredient recipe!  I seem to have a lot of those lately.  

What you do:

Melt the chocolate chips/chocolate bar in the microwave on high in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval.  We’ve done this together many times before.  You know what to do.  Dip Pringles halfway in the chocolate.  You can completely cover them, but I find this more difficult and messy.  Arranged the dipped Pringles on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or until the chocolate has set.  

Flower petals because it's Valentine's day!

If you need me, I’ll be with my friends, eating chocolate and watching chick flicks all day.

Banana Pudding

Banana pudding is one of those desserts that I will eat anytime, anywhere.  If someone gave me the choice between a rich chocolate cake or banana pudding, I would pick the latter.  And then go back for a slice of the cake, because, well I love chocolate cake, too.  But that is neither here nor there. This is another recipe that reminds me of home because we would eat it on my grandpa’s birthday.  It’s nothing fancy, but it has a special meaning because of all the great memories associated with it.  I hope you have a happy birthday, Grandpa!  You deserve it.

What you need:

1 3.4 oz box vanilla instant pudding

2 cups 2% milk (or however much the box calls for)

1.5-2 C vanilla wafer cookies, depending on how many you like

8 oz cool whip

4-5 medium bananas

What you do:

Prepare the pudding according to the package instructions and let thicken slightly.  Meanwhile, slice bananas.  Combine the wafer cookies, cool whip, and sliced bananas into the pudding and stir until combined.  Serve immediately.

Want to make this even better?  Add a spoonful of Nutella!

Hot Cocoa Roasted Almonds

Today is the Super Bowl.  Wait, what?  I’m not particularly invested in the NFL, so the Super Bowl always sneaks up on me.  The only time I usually even know who is playing is if my dad or brothers like one of the teams.   I’ll usually watch part of the game, but I rarely feel compelled to watch the entire thing.  

The best part about the Super Bowl, aside from the commercials, is the food!  These hot cocoa roasted almonds are the perfect snack to eat before, during, and after the game.

What you need:

1 C roasted almonds, unsalted or salted

1 TBS water

2 packets of hot cocoa mix

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Mix the almonds, water, and one package of hot cocoa mix in a Ziploc bag and shake until the almonds are covered. 

Pour the almonds onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.  Nuts can burn really quickly, so make sure you watch them closely!

When my almonds came out of the oven, they were a little sticky, so I sprinkled another packet of hot cocoa over top.

I hope you have a great Super Bowl Sunday with your family and friends, and I hope your team wins!