What I’ve Been Eating: Buzzfeed Video Edition

Good morning and happy Wednesday! Today I want to share one of the most decadent desserts that I have eaten recently. I mentioned that one of my friends came over this weekend to watch Christmas movies and she decided that we just had to make this dessert. Well, if you show up with baking ingredients, I’m not going to fight ya!

We originally saw this recipe posted on Facebook in a Buzzfeed video. You can watch the 20 second version of the baking here. 🙂

Ingredients

2 packages of break-apart chocolate chip cookie dough
1 bag of chocolate chips
1 bag of caramels

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350*F.

Take one pack of break apart cookie dough and flatten it out in a baking pan of your choice.

Unwrap the caramels in a separate dish. Melt the caramels in the microwave for 45 seconds. Then, pour the now liquid caramel on top of the cookie dough. Note: it can be difficult to spread out! It is most “spreadable” the moment it comes out of the microwave.

Add chocolate chips to your caramel layer.

Take the second pack of cookie dough and flatten it on top of the first three layers.

Bake at 350*F for 30 minutes! Note: check at 25 minutes. My edges (or crust) were a little more golden brown than I would have liked.

The video showed a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the “pie” or whatever you would like to call this dish, but we felt like it was delicious enough sans ice cream. 😉

A note about this dessert: it is best served warm. If you have leftovers (which you will), just pop a scoop in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it before eating.

I don’t even want to begin to guess the nutrition facts behind this dish, but I know that there is a 100% chance you will enjoy this if you make it! It was fun to finally see a video and put it into action. It’s like those pins we have on our boards on Pinterest that we NEVER do. Will I make this again? Possibly! It was fun to make for a random girls night and I’m sure those at your holiday parties this season would enjoy it, too. Even sharing it with a friend, my roommate, and her boyfriend, we still had leftovers, so it definitely makes a ton of dessert. You will have to let me know if you try it!

Have you ever made one of the recipes from a Buzzfeed Food Video?

What’s your favorite dessert?

A Decadent Mini Dessert

One of my favorite holiday traditions is all the baking that occurs! In the past, I have been pretty disordered in my thinking about food, and to this day, I still don’t like everything to revolve around food, because we are not meant to live to eat. However, the holidays bring you a little bit of grace  because there is so much yummy food to be had!

Today I am sharing a recipe that I recently saw posted on Astleigh’s blog because it is so delicious and it is so easy! Previous food posts on this blog will have you knowing that I’m a five ingredients or less kind of recipe gal, and this one certainly fits the bill. Even though you don’t have to do much, your guests or family or friends (or whoever you are feeding!) will think you slaved away in the kitchen for hours.

Behold: Mini Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites.

Original recipe found on Hill Collection Blog!

Directions

Take the cream cheese out of the fridge to soften.
Preheat the oven to 350*F.
Store the cheesecake bites in the refrigerator.

Recipe List

Crust:
Gingerbread cookie dough

Filling:
1 block cream cheese
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla extract

First, you will take your prepackaged cookie dough and round the pieces to the size of your mini muffin pan. In my case, there were 12 pre-cut cookies. I broke those 12 pieces in half and rolled all 24 of them to fill my pan!

You will bake these mini crusts for 10 minutes at 350*F.

While that is baking, you can soften your cream cheese and mix it with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1 t of vanilla extract. I knew that I was making cheesecake bites, but I still expected this “icing” to taste very sugary and I was kind of disappointed when I licked my finger. 😉 That feeling quickly passed!

When the crusts are done baking, use a cookie dough scooper to create a half circle indent in them to make room for the cheesecake filling. Now for the part that scared me most: creating my piping bag with a Ziploc bag! All I did was scoop my filling into the Ziploc, seal it tight, and cut off a tiny corner of the bag. I almost wish I would have cut the corner a little bit wider so the filling would’ve spread differently!

In any case, you will squeeze cheesecake filling into each of the 24 mini crusts…and then you will probably have some filling left over, so you will have to go back and make each of your bites even! All that’s left to do is arrange them on a pretty plate, take them to Friendsgiving, and explain the recipe to every guest who takes a bite. 😉 At least, that’s what happened to me!

Then, if you are anything like me, you will pawn the leftover cheesecake bites on the rest of the guests at the party and bring only a measly three bites home for yourself…but as you can see, I needed just a little bite before I put them in the fridge. 😉

So tell me…what will you be baking this Thanksgiving?!

***

Linking up with Andrea for Recipe Club!

  

Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

When I make dessert, I like to give it to friends and family.

You might be thinking, Oh, that’s so sweet of her!

But truthfully, it’s for my own good. If I didn’t give it away, I would likely eat all of it myself. And I only have one other roommate, so I’m not exactly baking for an army at any given time. 😉

One of my favorite desserts and/or snacks is a Rice Krispy treat. When I was in elementary school, the brand actually made snack size peanut butter Rice Krispy treats with a layer of chocolate on the bottom. I am proud to say that was my breakfast many mornings before school. Ha! I haven’t seen that flavor in stores for years, so naturally when I saw Mix and Match Mama post this recipe for Peanut Butter Rice Krispies, I was excited and intrigued! I knew this would be the next dessert I whipped up.

It all started with this jar of peanut butter last weekend. If I was already going to add peanut butter to my recipe, why not make it an even more delicious peanut butter?! I don’t know about you, but I LOVE peanut butter and salted caramel speaks to me. Have you ever had Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate? Go get one, then come back and finish reading this post. 🙂

Ingredients

Note: I followed the Original Rice Krispies Recipe found here.

6 cups Rice Krispies
10 oz marshmallows
3 T butter
1 cup peanut butter of choice

Directions
1. Melt 3 T of butter in a large pot.
2. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.
3. Remove from heat and add Rice Krispies. Stir until well coated.
4. Add 1 cup peanut butter. Stir until mixture is smooth.

Note: I recommend adding the peanut butter to the marshmallow mixture and THEN adding the Rice Krispies last. That is what I will do next time I bake these treats!

I was on the phone with my aunt while I was making these treats so I’m just going to go ahead and tell you that yours will look different because a) I never removed the mixture from the heat and b) I added Rice Krispies before I added marshmallows. I WILL tell you that regardless of the mistakes you make while baking, your treats will be absolutely delicious. 🙂

Press your mix into a 9×13 baking pan…or if you are me, press your mix into a large Tupperware container and a smaller square container. My friend recently moved to the area so these treats were her and her roommate’s housewarming gift. I didn’t tell her the mistakes I made in baking and she LOVED them!

And I would like to take a moment of silence for the Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Rice Krispy treats that still exist in my kitchen. I haven’t demolished them and it’s been five whole days. Willpower, I tell ya. 😉

Happy baking!

Are you a peanut butter lover like myself?

What did you eat for breakfast as a kid?

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

We’re baking on the blog today. And my favorite part of baking is licking the spoon. 🙂

The next best thing besides licking the spoon is the flavor combination of chocolate and peanut butter. And the next best thing after that is a peanut butter cup that is only 25 calories. Nope, not too good to be true! It also follows my personal kitchen rule of 5 ingredients or less. 😉

Find the original recipe here.

Ingredients

Chocolate Layer
1/4 c unsweetened almond milk (or skim milk) –> Cashew milk worked well here too!
1/4 c plain low fat Greek yogurt
1/4 c + 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T baking Stevia (or 2 T sweetener of choice)

Peanut Butter Layer
1/4 c peanut flour (or PB2)
1/4 c + 1 T water
1 T baking Stevia

Directions

1. Locate two small bowls. Combine ingredients for the chocolate layer in one bowl and combine ingredients for the peanut butter layer in the second bowl.

2. Mix each bowl until ingredients are well combined. The consistency should creamy.

3. Fill a mini muffin tin with muffin/cupcake liners. I only had the larger size, so I cut parchment paper to fit in the smaller sections of the muffin tin. Pour 1 teaspoon of chocolate on the bottom, 1 teaspoon of peanut butter in the middle, and 1 teaspoon of chocolate on the top.

Or if you’re like me, don’t measure your ingredients and just pour chocolate/peanut butter/chocolate until the wrapper is full. 😉

4. Freeze for 1-2 hours.

These peanut butter cups must be stored in the freezer, so take one out about 5-10 minutes before you want to eat it so it can thaw a bit!

Enjoy! 🙂

Vanilla Pound Cake

When is the last time you ate cauliflower for dessert?

No?

Just me?

Well, your answer to that question is about to change because I have a recipe for you that is filled with totally random, yet nutritious ingredients! And you will be able to say that you ate and enjoyed cauliflower for dessert. 😉 This weekend, I was craving something sweet, and while I can’t say I have ever eaten pound cake in the past, Pinterest came to the rescue here. I wasn’t sure how the combination of these ingredients would turn out, but aren’t the Pinterest “fails” just as much fun as the Pinterest successes?! I think so! Ultimately, this Vanilla Pound Cake was easy to make, required few ingredients (my kitchen rule of thumb!) and tasted delicious!

Original recipe here.

Ingredients

1/2 cup steamed cauliflower
1/2 cup egg whites
1 cup vanilla protein powder
2 eggs
4 drops vanilla extract
Cinnamon (to taste)

How To

First, preheat your oven to 325*. Steam your cauliflower (I used the microwave) and get your electric mixer or blender ready to go!

Combine eggs, egg whites, and vanilla in a bowl. Add steamed cauliflower, then add protein powder. Finally, drop in some vanilla extract and cinnamon!

I used my hand mixer and it worked really well! One thing to note: the “batter” is very thin in consistency at this stage of cooking. I kept checking the recipe to make sure I didn’t forget anything, but I didn’t, and you didn’t either! It is just very thin. Grease your bread pan (I used Coconut Spray Oil) and set your timer for 30 to 40 minutes.

 

At the 30 minute mark, start checking your pound cake. The top should be slightly browned and the consistency should be much more firm to the touch.

I was able to slice this loaf into 8 pieces, and using MyFitnessPal, I found that each piece of pound cake was about 75 calories! I ate it plain, but you could add honey for a touch of sweetness, too. Word to the wonderers: you cannot taste the cauliflower. 😉

Enjoy!

– Do you like cauliflower?

– Have you ever tasted pound cake?

3 Checks Off The Summer List + Other Exciting News

Goooooooood morning!

Link up with Andrea, Narci, and Erika and talk favorites with us! Happy Friday 🙂

Favorite moment:

This sunset that I captured on Sunday night. I did absolutely nothing on Sunday except everything I wanted to do and it was much needed after a busy week! So to look out the window and see this…the little things are the big things, am I right?

Favorite purchase:

You need these Old Navy PJ shorts. You’re welcome for the selfie of me in my pajamas;) I got the “Key Largo” and “Lavender” color and I might just have to go back and buy the black because they are so comfy! Plus they’re on sale and an extra 15% off. Find them HERE. 🙂

Favorite life event:

I am officially a second grade teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools. This is my classroom. 🙂 It’s HUGE (and also being packed up by the teacher moving out of the room…don’t mind the mess;)! I am almost done with classes for my Master’s degree so it was just the right time to start applying for jobs. The application process is time consuming, the interview process is nerve wracking, but the job offer…it’s worth it. Sometimes you just have a feeling when you walk into a place or you talk to certain people…and I have talked to a few different people in the last few weeks, but on Monday, I finally found MY people. I’ve known that I wanted to be a teacher for a long time so I’m excited to start teaching the kiddos this fall. 🙂

Favorite person to run with:

Meet Kristen. We’re both Pittsburgh girls (we went to Duquesne together) and now we both live in DC! She also teaches in Fairfax County so that’s fun:) Our favorite thing to do on Friday night is go to new fitness classes and new studios. I’m not joking. For probably two months this winter, my mom would text me on Friday night and say, “Where are you and Kristen working out tonight?” Ha! Now that she’s on summer break we have all the time in the world to do fun things and we tried out some new running groups this week! Monday night, we went to Lululemon’s free running club in Clarendon. Running down the hill to Georgetown felt amazing…running up the hill back to the store, not so much. Hence our beautiful faces;) Wednesday night, we did a bit of a trail run with my friends from church. Then, Friday morning, we finally tried a November Project workout! I can’t wait to go back to that one!

Favorite new dessert:

 

So I met Kristen’s friends at Lululemon’s running club and they wanted to get Pinkberry after our run.
1. It was 98* so YOU DON’T HAVE TO TELL ME TWICE.
2. It was an early birthday celebration for someone, so that was fun. 🙂
3. I’ve never been to Pinkberry and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Friends, this is not your average frozen yogurt. It tastes so much better than everything I’ve tried before!
4. This has nothing to do with this picture but I slyly took a photo of my food the other day and my friend said, “Is that a picture for your blog?” And here I thought I was being so sneaky and smooth… #bloggerproblems

There were many new adventures this week…keep up with my summer bucket list here!

So tell me…what are some of your favorites this week?!