Good eats and great sweets

I love baking and making fudge and cooking pizza. I was looking back over the past year and thought I would share some of the goodies I have made. These cookies are so easy to make. I use Duncan Hines brownie mix and make it by the directions on the side for cookie sandwiches. I just make the cookie part, not the sandwich filling. Then I make my frosting by the recipe for a Texas Sheet Cake. Here's trick. Use parchment paper on your cookie sheet for a softer chewy cookie. Frost them right on the cookie sheet and then slide it back in the oven for about 5 seconds. This will set the frosting so you can stack the cookies when they cool.

I did these when our Pre-K kids graduated up to Kindergarten class in Sunday School. They are simply Hostess brownie bites with a chocolate graham cookie on top. The "tassel" is a sliver of Fruit Roll Up and the button is an M & M. Super simple and the kids loved them. Not to mention they turned out adorable.

I got a donut maker for Christmas. One of those little ones that makes the mini donuts. I just fixed these and put sugar and cinnamon in a brown bag. I place the donuts in the bag while they were warm and shook them up. They were fabulous. 

This post is mostly about sweets but I could resist sharing a pick of my favorite pizza bread. I use Cobblestone Mill sub rolls. Slice them open, spread Ragu Traditional Quik Pizza Sauce over each 1/2, cover with browned sausage, pepperoni, whatever you like for toppings, cover with Kraft Colby Monterey Jack finely shredded cheese. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted to the consistency you like. They are too die for. 

I love fudge, but I love what is called Old Fashioned candy even better. I make chocolate and peanut butter both when I make it because I never can make my mind up which one to make. The peanut butter is super easy to make and doesn't take much time. The chocolate requires lots of patience because the soft-ball stage doesn't get there very fast. But both are well worth the wait.

My favorite Christmas drink. Make hot chocolate from the package hot chocolate mix and then add real miniature marshmallows. Stir well. Take a nutmeg grader and grade a candy cane over the top of the mixture. Finish it off with a candy cane to stir with. It is the best peppermint hot chocolate you will ever drink.

These cookies were so good. They are called Monster cookies and a friend of mine gave me the recipe, but you can find it over at Recipe Girl. They have oatmeal, chocolate chips and M & M's. Sometimes I make them and add some peanut butter chips as well. They are fantastic.

Every once in awhile, I like to bake my brownie like cookies like I talked about at the top of this post. When I do I also like to make me a chocolate Sundae and heat a couple of the brownie cookies for the side. I may have to make cookies tonight so I can have this for supper. 

Duncan Hines has a wonderful recipe for a lemon pound cake on the side of their lemon supreme cake mix. Just make the cake by their directions, only on the water portion I use part water and part lemon juice. I also grate the rind of the lemon and put it in the batter. When it comes out of the oven, poke it with toothpicks or a skewer and then make your glaze. The glaze I use is one box confectioner sugar, lemon juice, a touch of milk, and a couple tablespoons of the rind from the lemon. You can make it as thin or thick as you like. Pour it on the warm cake.

This recipe is one of my favorites to eat and the one I do not like to make but once a year. The reason is because these Orange Cream Cookies are made 100% from scratch and so is the frosting. The recipe makes anywhere from 60-80 cookies every year and I make every one of them and frost every one of them by myself. it is an all day job. But well worth the work. It was my mother-in-law's family recipe and I make them for hubby every year at Christmas. We give some as gifts and keep the rest.

I mentioned my donut maker above. For those of you who have a donut maker, have you ever tried cornbread in it. Well, I did. Just make a pack of cornbread mix that you just add water and then make them like donuts. Hubby liked them. I don't eat cornbread so I couldn't say if they were good or not. 

Just had to show a picture of this because it is probably one of my favorite breakfast foods. Just simply Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls. Wish I had some this morning. I tried making them in my waffle maker recently. They turned out pretty good, but I like them better like this.

Hubby works tonight so I guess I will bake something. This post sure has put me in the mood.