The New and Improved Rice Krispy Treat for Chocolate Lovers!

This summer I started to experiment with other treats besides cookies. I made fondant covered Rice Krispy treats for a Rehearsal Dinner as well as a Wedding. It was fun to take a step back from baking sugar cookies in different shapes and designs and do something different. It was also nice to turn off the oven...especially when our central air decided to not cooperate and work anymore :).

I was cleaning out the pantry looking for canned and non perishable goods to donate to the food bank collection at work. To my surprise, I had lots of extra huge boxes of Rice Krispies left over from this summer's endeavors! So..I decided to mix up a classic.....

6 cups of good ole Rice Krispies

Instead of melting marshmallows and butter...I added some cocoa powder to the mix

The result was a cocoa rice krispy..which looked good, but wasn't enough for this chocolate luvah

I always have spare chocolate hanging around. I love to stock up when it goes on sale...you name it..milk, bittersweet, german, semi sweet...I got it. i melted up some semi sweet chocolate squares in my new double boiler (a genius invention that elminates my glass bowl over a saucepan)

I smothered the rice krispy treats with the melted chocolate....

Voila...a double chocolate rice krispy treat....the melted chocolate harded into a nice layer on top of the treats!

Just another shot of these puppies...it's actual not a horribly bad recipe either calorie wise!

The only downfall to this recipe..I felt like the cereal didn't last as long with all the additive. Be sure to keep them in a very good airtight container. I brought them to work in a Ziploc plastic container. Someone left the lid off for an hour or so and I thought it really did these in and they tasted a bit stale :(

Pumkin Spice Cake with Honey and Cream Cheese Buttercream

MMmmmm....just typing the title of this new attempt is making me think of just how good it was! Canned pumpkin is in the stores now since it's the most wonderful time of the year! I was never a big pumpkin eater until I joined Weight Watchers a few years back. This might go be an obvious one...but I have a HUGE sweet tooth. While trying to lose weight, I needed some type of sweet to curb me over. I learned of a recipe for Pumpkin Mousse that was only 1 weight watcher point and I was sold. I taught myself to love Libby's Canned pure pumpkin and love baking and trying new recipes with it!

My new best friend, Libby.

I subscribe to Martha Stewart's magazine Everday Food. I have to admit, that while I love Martha, I've been serially disappointed with the recipes from this magazine. I'm loving the fact that they now put the nutritional info of the recipe, but time and time again, as I'm making the recipes, I can think of things that need to be added, or pin point that the ratios will be off. I saw a recipe for a pumpkin cake and decided to glam it up a bit with some of my favorite spices of the season! Hence....pumpkin spice cake!

Martha had a butter and cream cheese frosting to go on her pumpkin cake. Just looking at it, I knew it would be a very buttery mess as the only two ingredients were...butter and cream cheese. I decided to amp it up a bit with some powdered sugar to make it more like a frosting and some honey to give it a fall twist. I LOVED this frosting...I must say...it really made the cake and hit it out of the park!

Mmmmm.....Cookies

I decided to stick with trying some new recipes. I received quite a few cookie and cupcake cookbooks as gifts at my bridal shower over the summer. So many recipes looked good, so I decided to go for the Cookies and Cream cupcakes. Normally I'd credit the recipe and cookbook I used. However, this recipe seemed off from the get go. I could tell as soon as I mixed the dry ingredients that the flour and sugar proportions were way off and I was going to make cupcakes with the consistency of hockey pucks! So, I modified it quite a bit and was somewhat happy with the results. The cupcakes were still a bit firm for my liking, but overall the result was still a hit!

And...it all started with some oreos.....

The batter looked so good with chunks of chopped up oreo....

The frosting was also a challenge. The recipe called for a stick of butter and a package of cream cheese....it was a very soft frosting that slid right off the cupcake. I modified it with some powdered sugar and of course didn't want the oreos to go to waste....so I added some roughly chopped cookies to the mix!

The final result...I wasn't a huge fan of the cupcake...but I must admit...this cookies and cream cheese frosting was to die for!

Cookie Orders Meet Real Life!

It's so much fun to create cookies in my kitchen, package them up, tie up the treat bags, and then send them off to people. It's certainly alot of fun to hear if they were a hit after the event and comments that people make as well. BUT....it's so much fun to see pictures of the cookies "in action." I love to see pictures of how the cookies help make an event, whether it be a baby shower, wedding shower, engagement party, birthday party, or, in this case, a rehearsal dinner!

Here are some pictures of my cookies in action at Jen and Jay's rehearsal dinner! The dresses went with the pink themes of the wedding and the baseball themed Yankee cookies were a special treat for the groom. (I must confess...as a Red Sox fan, they were a little difficult to make :)

The cookies hopefully adding to the tablescape!

A few close ups of the individual cookies!

A special thanks to Jen for the pictures of the cookies!!!

Tis the Season....

to try some new cookie recipes! It's November 8, 2009. That means 48 days until Christmas! It's time to start stocking up on chocolate chips, nuts and other sales at the grocery stores in preparation for the season of baking! One of my favorite cookbooks to browse through is Martha Stewart's COOKIES. She has alot of different recipes in there. I love to look through them and tab some interesting ones I'd like to try with post it notes.

On a somewhat quiet Saturday, I gave Martha's White Chocolate Chunk Coconut Chocolate cookies a whirl. The husband gave them a thumbs up saying they were "coconut-astic" and a "perfect combination of white chocolate and coconut."

Getting ready for the oven...

This was a chunky sticky batter with lots of cocoa, coconut, walnuts, and, of course, white chocolate chunks

Into the oven we go....

And..the finished product....

My thoughts on these....the name of the cookie is long. I love to bring treats in to my co workers. I found it hard to tell them what I brought in, as the title of this baked good is a mouthful. These cookies tasted better 24 hours later. Usually I like a fresh out of the oven cookie. I typically only eat one cookie of the batch (got to stay in shape). However, these were better the next day. I'm a chocolate girl...but I like milk and dark chocolate and not a HUGE fan of white chocolate. This cookie has a predominantly white chocolate taste to it and it's not for those who don't like alot of coconut!

It's been a while....

It's hard to believe that it's November....September and October flew by...mostly because I was busy GETTING MARRIED!!!

On October 4 of this year, I took the plunge and am now a Mrs. That was followed by a pretty fabulous 2 weeks in Hawaii.

We've been home just over a week and it was definitely back to reality! After a millions loads of laundry, days convincing our cats we weren't leaving again, and settling back into work...Halloween and November snuck up on us!

Here are a few sneak peeks of what I've been up too!






a few shots of Hawaii...so hard to choose which ones to show..since it was all so beautiful!






With the holidays around the corner, my oven will be in overdrive soon! I tested some cookies today getting ready for some holiday cookie swaps...some pics, recipes, and tips to come!