Snow Covered Cereal Drops-12 Days of Christmas Treats

Well yesterday, life outside of blogging happened and the recipe I was going to post was a disaster, so I missed a day.  I will still post 12 treats, however.

Today’s treat makes use of dabs of cereal that you might have on hand.  I used Cheerios, Kix, Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and Rice Krispies.  You can use 4 cups of any cereal you want, but flaked cereals do not work that well in this recipe.  If you like nuts, 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts can be added.

This is quick and easy, the hardest part being stirring the candy coating until smooth.  The drops will keep for several days tightly covered.

Snow Covered Cereal Drops
1 c. Rice Krispies
1 c. Kix
1 c. Multigrain Cheerios Dark Chocolate Crunch
1 c. Peanut Butter Captain Crunch
1 c. mini marshmallows
1 c. coarsely chopped nuts (opt.)
1 pkg. (20-24 oz.) White Candy Coating

Combine cereals, marshmallows and nuts, if using, in a large bowl.  Melt the candy coating in the microwave or on the stovetop following the package directions.  Make sure that the coating is smooth.  Stir the cereal and marshmallows into the coating.  Drop by tablespoonsful  onto wax paper.  Let set until firm.  Makes about 60 drops.

Special K Chocolatey Delights Treats-12 Days of Chritmas Treats

 Occasionally I like to stroll the cereal aisle at the grocery store and see if there is any cereal there that can be made into a sweet.  When I found Kellogg's Special K Chocolatey Delight, I knew that it just begged to be made into something sweet.  What easier thing to do than to use the good ole standby Rice Krispie Treat recipe and use the Special K instead.

It is best to use fresh marshmallows.  I buy mine at Dollar Tree.  The marshmallows and butter can be melted in a pan on the stovetop or in the microwave.  I did mine in a pan on the stovetop.  The chocolate pieces in the cereal will melt slightly, so mix quickly when you add the hot marshmallow mixture to the cereal.

For a variation add 1/2 c. coarsely chopped nuts.

These are slightly softer than Rice Krispie Treats.

Special K Chocolately Delights Treats
1 box (13.1 oz.) Kellogg's Special K Chocolately Delights Cereal
1/4 c. butter
1 (10 oz.) pkg. fresh marshmallows, regular or mini

Pour cereal into a large bowl and crush slightly with your hands.  Set aside.  Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray.  Set aside.  Place butter in a large pan and melt on the stovetop.  Add marshmallows and cook and stir until they are completely melted.  Pour over cereal in bowl and  mix quickly until cereal is well coated.  Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly.  Let cool and cut into bars.  About 24 bars.

3-Ingredient No Bake Toffee Bars-Secret Recipe Club Holiday Treats

Sarah Ellis, the owner of Secret Recipe Club decided that, when a month has five Mondays, it would be fun to do an extra themed post on the fifth Monday.  Well, guess what, November has five Mondays so we are doing a Holiday Treats post.  How about that, an extra holiday idea.

Since participation is for those who want to join in across all four Secret Recipe Club groups, this is an opportunity to visit a blogger that may normally be assigned to a different group.  My assignment is Little Bit of Everything, written by Julie from Omaha, Nebraska.  She is normally in group C, and I am in group B.

Julie has been blogging since 2009, and what fun it was to look through her blog.  She does have many sweet treats so it was very hard for me to narrow down which one I wanted to post.  I think it is always nice at holiday time to have a no-bake cookie recipe or two in your arsenal.  Julie has a couple of Rice Krispie recipes that I want to try,  Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate and Brown Butter Salted Caramel.  There is also a great recipe for Chocolate Nutella No Bake Cookies.

Although I was supposed to be looking for something sweet to post, I couldn’t resist adding a few recipes to my “to try” list.  Since I love dill, I want to make Baby Carrots with Dill Butter and Roasted Dill Potatoes.  There really are too many on my list to mention,  but Five-Spice (another flavor I love) Chicken Breasts with Hoisin Sauce and Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie Cups are included.  Think I will make the pot pies with some of the leftover turkey.

When choosing a recipe to share, I like to look for quick and easy.  Don’t we all need that during the holidays?  That is why, when I saw 3-Ingredient No Bake Toffee Bars, I knew that this was the recipe I would post.  These are made with Ritz crackers, sweetened condensed milk and toffee bits.  Three ingredients I always have on hand, take only a few minutes to stir together, and are ready in 20 minutes or so if you put them in the freezer.  What a wonderful thing to have on hand for unexpected guests.  Square cake pans are available at Dollar Tree for $1.00.  A pan filled with these, wrapped in plastic and tied with a pretty ribbon would make a great Christmas gift.

If you can’t find the toffee bits, just buy an equivalent amount of toffee candy bars and crush them yourself.  Lately, I have been able to find sweetened condensed milk at my Dollar Tree for just $1.00 a can so I have been stocking up.  These are made with just milk and sugar.  Check the ingredients on the sweetened condensed milk, though, as I have found that some of the less expensive brands at my local Hispanic-oriented market have contained other ingredients.

The bars were wonderful as is, but I think that this is also a recipe that could be played around with some.  Maybe a chocolate glaze on top to make them a bit more festive or some finely chopped candied cherries or nuts added to the mix.  I am also thinking that instead of the Ritz, other crackers or crushed pretzels might be fun to try.  Maybe caramel bits or those tiny marshmallows instead o the toffee.  Anyway, just some thoughts.

Thanks, Julie for sharing a great recipe.  Be sure you visit Little Bit of Everything.  You are sure to find some great new recipes to try.

3-Ingredient No Bake Toffee Bars
from Little Bit of Everything

2 sleeves Ritz Crackers made into crumbs
1 (14 oz.) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 (8 oz.) package Heath English Toffee Bits

Spray an 8 or 9-inch square pan with cooking spray.  If you aren't giving these as a gift, I would line the pan with foil.  That way the bars could be lifted from the pan to make them easier to cut.  You may put the crackers in a gallon, zip-top bag and roll the crackers into crumbs with a rolling pin or use the flat side of a meat pounder.  You can also zip them with a food grinder, but don’t get them too powdery.  Place the cracker crumbs in a mixing bowl and add the sweetened condensed milk.  Mix well.  Add toffee bits and mix until they are well incorporated.  Turn into the prepared pan and press down firmly.  Place in refrigerator for at least one hour or in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  These are very rich, I cut them into 1-inch pieces and got 36 bars.

You can find the details for joing Secret Recipe Club here.  Check out the link-up below to see what other bloggers chose for their Holiday Treats
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An InLinkz Link-up

Vanilla Chex Millionaire Bars-12 Days of Easy Sweets

The original version of this recipe has been around for awhile and has had various names such as Millionaire Bars, Heavenly Bars, and Homemade Kit Kat Bars.  Some people consider it a no-bake cookie, some consider it a candy.  No matter which, most people love this treat.

I decided to experiment with crushed Vanilla Chex cereal, using it instead of crushed graham crackers when I made this last.  I also upped the amount of vanilla for better vanilla flavor.

These will fit right in on either a cookie or candy plate.  They are very rich so I cut them small.

.
Vanilla Chex Millionaire Bars
72 rectangular crackers such as Club Crackers (this is about half of a box)
1 c. (2 sticks) butter
1/2 c. milk
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 c. white sugar
2 c. crushed Vanilla Chex cereal (about 3 1/2 c. uncrushed) or graham cracker crumbs
2 t. vanilla
1 (12 oz.) pkg. semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 c. creamy peanut butter

Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, letting it extend over the edges.  Grease or spray foil with non-stick spray.  (I use non stick foil.)  Place 24 crackers in the pan, laying them so long edges go across 9-inch width of pan.  Set aside.  Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan.  Stir in milk, brown sugar, white sugar, and crushed cereal.  Bring mixture to a boil, watching closely and stirring frequently.  Reduce heat and boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Mix well.  Pour half of mixture over crackers in prepared pan.  Add a second layer of crackers.  Pour remaining mixture over crackers.  Cover with a final layer of crackers.  Combine chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.  Spread chocolate mixture over the top layer of crackers.  Cover with foil and chill until firm, about 4 hours.  Lift from pan and cut into 1x1 1/2-inch bars.  Makes about 72

Cinnamon Chex Marshmallow Drops-12 Days of Easy Sweets 2014

12 DAYS OF EASY SWEETS 2014

When I first saw Cinnamon Chex at the supermarket, I just knew that they would make a great ingredient in a cookie so I purchased a box.

Now I love to make no-bake cookies.  They are usually very quick and easy so I can get a sweet into my mouth in the shortest possible time if I am having a craving.  I decided to use the Chex instead of graham crackers in a favorite recipe.  This is a cross between a cookie and a candy and is for all the cinnamon lovers out there. but watch out, these are quite addictive. If you don't eat them all, they are a great gift.

Cinnamon Chex Marshmallow Drops
3/4 cup butter or margarine (I always use butter)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 cups crushed Cinnamon Chex cereal (about 3 3/4 c. uncrushed), crush to consistency of crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Combine butter, sugar, and eggs in a medium saucepan. Cook to a rolling boil, stirring constantly remove from heat and allow mixture to cool 15 to 20 minutes. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, crushed Cinnamon Chex cereal, coconut, marshmallows, and nuts, if using. Stir until  well  blended.  Using two teaspoons, quickly drop by heaping teaspoonsful onto waxed paper or foil. Let stand until set, about 20 to 30 minutes.  Makes about 45.

Club Cracker Bars aka Homemade Twix-Saturday Sweet

This no-bake bar cookie has probably made its way around the net several times, but if you don’t know about it, you should.  It has been called Homemade Twix bars because it resembles that candy.  Whatever you call it, it is really good.

When I make these, I line the 9x13-inch pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.  After the pan has cooled, I remove the uncut  bars and flip them over onto a piece of waxed paper or a jelly roll pan.  I then can see the Club crackers on the bottom and use them as guides to cut the cookies.  Because these are very, very rich cookies, I usually cut the crackers in half.

Smooth or chunky peanut butter may be used for this recipe.  I prefer super chunky peanut butter so that I get some peanut pieces in the frosting.  One package of crackers will make two recipes of bars.

Club Cracker Bars
54 Club Crackers (about half a box)
1 c. graham cracker crumbs
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
2/3 c. peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1 c. chocolate chips (may be semi-sweet or milk chocolate)

Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray the foil with non-stick spray.  Lay 3 club crackers end to end across the width of the pan.  Repeat down the length of the pan.  You should have about 9 rows.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, sugar, milk and butter in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil, watching carefully and stirring often.  Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Pour mixture over crackers in pan.  Cover with another layer of crackers.  In a microwave or double  boiler, melt peanut butter and chocolate chips, stirring often until smooth.  Pour peanut butter/chocolate mixture over the top layer of crackers, spreading until smooth and even.  Refrigerate about a hour or until cool.  Remove pan from oven, flip over onto a piece of waxed paper or a jelly roll pan.  Remove the foil.  Using the bottom layer of crackers as a guide, cut into bars then cut bars in half, making 54 squares.

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No-Bake MandM Brownie Bites-Saturday Sweet

With no water for a day due to having our pump go out, a flooded kitchen floor, and Blogger acting up for me so I could not post my Friday Finds, I was really ready to post a sweet today.  All is well now, and all those things were but a blip on the radar of life, but I really want sweets when I am stressed (and even when I am not).

No Bake MandM Brownie Bites is a bit different recipe for no-bake cookies as it uses a brownie mix instead of sugar and cocoa.  You can use Homemade Brownie Mix or a commercial mix.  These go together quickly and are great to make on a hot day when you are craving chocolate.  The bites remain soft and do not harden up like some no-bake chocolate cookies do.

With the specialty MandM’s that are available for holidays, these are nice for parties.  I still had some Christmas MandM’s left in my fridge, (I know unbelievable with my sweet tooth) so I used them.

Some helpful hints for making these are:  pre-measure all your ingredients ahead so they are ready to add to the mixture, cut the cube of butter into 4 or 5 slices so it melts quicker, and use a wooden flat bottom spatula to stir the mixture as it scrapes the bottom of the pan as you stir helping to prevent burning.  The well-used one I have is from Pampered Chef.

This recipe has been in my recipe files on my computer a long time.  I do not know the original source.

No-Bake MandM Brownie Bites
1 box (18 or 19 oz.) brownie mix or Homemade Brownie Mix
2/3 c. milk
1/2 (1 cube) butter, cut into 4 or 5 slices
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1 t vanilla
3 c. quick cooking oats
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. MandM's

Cover your work surface with waxed paper.  You will need two good-size lengths.  In a very large saucepan or Dutch oven combine brownie mix, milk and butter.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a full boil, stirring constantly.  Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla.  Quickly stir to blend well.  Stir in oats and walnuts.  Carefully stir in M& M’s.  Quickly drop by teaspoonsful onto the waxed paper.  Let cool completely.  Store in a zip-top plastic bag.  Makes about 7 dozen.

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Chinese 5-Spice Glazed Waffle Cookies-Saturday Sweet

What do you do when the temperature is near triple digits, and you want cookies?  Well, I guess there are three choices.  You can go buy some, stand over the stove and make no-bake cookies or you can make waffle cookies.  I choose to do the latter.

Although I am posting a recipe, almost any cookie dough that can be rolled into balls (think peanut butter cookie dough) can be baked in a waffle iron.  You just have to be willing to do a little experimentation.

Since there is not a lot of flavor in this cookie itself, the glaze is the spotlight, and the flavor of the glaze can be changed at will.  Although I used Chinese 5-Spice, other spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie or apple pie spice are good choices.  The spices can be omitted and extracts such as almond, mint, maple and others can be used.

Although I can never wait that long, I think that these cookies are better the day after they are made.

Chinese 5-Spice Waffle Cookies
1/2 c. butter, at room temperature
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. cream or evaporated milk
4 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 c. sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 t. vanilla or other extract
1 t. Chinese 5-spice or other spice
1 to 2 T. water

Cream butter and sugar together until well blended.  Stir in egg and vanilla and mix well.  Beat in cream or evaporated milk.  Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir into creamed mixture until well blended.  The mixture will be stiff.  Heat waffle iron.  Spoon heaping teaspoonsful of dough into opposite corners of the waffle grids.  This will make 4 at a time.  Bake in a waffle iron, 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove from waffle iron and place on a cookie sheet or a sheet of waxed paper.  Repeat with remaining dough.  In a small mixing bowl, beat together melted butter, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla and spice.  Add water to make a glaze consistency.  Brush glaze over the cookies, letting it seep into the grids of the cookies.  Makes about 40 cookies.

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12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies-No-Bake Peanut Butter or Chocolate Drops

I am so excited to be part of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  I followed along last year but was not blogging then.

At Christmas time back in the 80’s I had a cookie baking business that I ran for the people I worked with.  Every year I would scour my cookbooks and choose 12 to 15 different recipes to make.  I would write up a page with the recipe names and a description of each, hand them out to my coworkers, and  they would preorder what they wanted. 

I have never shared all those recipes, but this year I am sharing them.  A number of the recipes are ones that I have not seen anywhere on the web; and I do not want them to become “lost”.  Hopefully sharing the recipes here will help preserve them for the future.

Before I post today’s recipes here are a few tips I learned from making many cookies at Christmastime.

1.  Make bar cookies.  There are so many different recipes out there, and you can just mix up the batter and stick them in the oven.
2.  Use cookie recipes that make big batches or double your regular recipes.  It takes the same amount of time to mix up dough that makes 3 dozen cookies as it does to mix up dough that makes 6 dozen.  Being the Cookie Monster’s grandmother, I never make recipes that will yield only 16 or 24 cookies.
3.  Make cookie recipes that can be formed into large “logs” and then sliced after baking.  Several of the recipes that I will post are this type.
4.  Make recipes that you can keep in the refrigerator or freezer and then just slice and bake.
5.  Make “no-bake” cookies.  Saves time and you are not paying for having the oven on.

The first recipes I am sharing are "no-bake”.   A very popular “no-bake” cookie is made with cocoa, peanut butter and oatmeal.  These cookies are either Peanut Butter OR Chocolate.  I have been making these for over 35 years and no longer remember where the Peanut Butter recipe came from.  The Chocolate recipe came from Land O Lakes.

Any kind of nut can be used in the chocolate cookies.  They should be toasted for the best flavor.  A nice change is to used toasted almonds and sub 1/2 to 1 t. almond extract for the vanilla.

The method for making both cookies is the same so I will list the ingredients for each and then the method.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Drops
1/2 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup milk
pinch of salt
1/2 cup peanut butter  (I like crunchy)
1 t. vanilla
3 c. quick-cooking rolled oats

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 to 1/2 c. cocoa
pinch salt
1/2 t. vanilla
3 c. quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 c. toasted nuts
1/2 to 1 c. coconut (optional)

Cut a piece of waxed paper at least 3 ft. long and place on counter or table.  In a large, heavy saucepan combine butter, milk, white or brown sugar, salt and cocoa if using.  Bring mixture to a full-rolling boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Without stirring, let mixture boil for 3 minutes.  Immediately remove from heat.  Stir in peanut butter (if using) and vanilla.  Stir until peanut butter is melted.  Add oats and mix well.  Stir in nuts and coconut if using.  Using two teaspoons drop mixture onto waxed paper.  Use one spoon to scoop up mixture and the other to slide it onto the waxed paper.  Let set until firm, about 30 minutes.  Makes about 4 dozen.

If you have an eagle eye, you may have noticed that there are no nuts in the chocolate cookies in the photo.  I forgot to put them in.

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