Mini Chocolate Cherry Tarts

I've been making these cute tarts for years. I have a mini heart tart pan that I often use for these (in the photo at the bottom of the post), but I also like them in my regular mini muffin pan. The mini muffins are a little bigger and hold more cream cheese filling.  

Mini Chocolate Cherry Tarts 

Pastry Crust: 

1 1/2 c. flour 

1/3 c. sugar 

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa 

1/2 c. butter or margarine 

3-5 T. water 

Cream Cheese Mixture: 

4 oz. cream cheese 

1/4 c. sugar 

1 egg 

1/2 t. vanilla or almond extract 

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar and cocoa. Cut in butter until pieces are the size of small peas. Sprinkle with water, tossing until moistened and dough sticks together. Form into 1 inch diameter log. Divide pastry into around 28 balls. Place in ungreased mini-muffin pan; press dough evenly, using tart tamper, to make a shell.

In new bowl, beat cream cheese until light and creamy, gradually add sugar, mix well. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Top unbaked tarts with cream cheese mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until done. Remove from pans; cool completely. Top each with teaspoon of cherry pie filling.

Scone Nibbles

We loved these treats! The recipe is from King Arthur Baking Company (great recipes). They're nummy with your favorite hot drink. I had it with peppermint tea once and hot chocolate once. Both wonderful.

I didn't cut them the final time after they baked and cooled, so they were a little bigger than a nibble, but still pretty small. I'll cut them the extra time next time cuz I love mini and cute treats.

I used about 1 cup of mini chocolate chips in mine. Next time I'll try them with orange extract instead of vanilla and add orange zest to the dough and glaze. 

Scone Nibbles

2 3/4 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
3/4 t. salt
1 T. baking powder
8 T. butter, cold, cut in pats
1 - 2 c. mini chocolate chips, or finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
2 lg. eggs
2 t. vanilla extract or flavoring of your choice
1/2 - 2/3 c. half & half or milk
 
Glaze
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
7 T. water, enough to make a thin glaze

1 t. vanilla, optional

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly; it's okay for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated.
 
Stir in the chips or finely chopped chocolate.
 
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla or other flavor, and 1/2 cup half and half or milk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together. Stir in additional milk or half and half if the dough seems dry and doesn't come together.
 
Scrape the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Pat/roll it into an 8" to 8 1/2" square, a scant 3/4" thick. Make sure the surface underneath the dough is very well floured. If necessary, use a giant spatula to lift the square, and sprinkle more flour underneath.
 
Cut the square into 2" squares; there will be a total of 16 small squares. Now, cut each square in half diagonally with a pizza cutter, to make 32 small triangles.
 
Transfer the scones to a parchment-lined or well-greased baking sheet. They should all fit onto an 18" x 13" half-sheet pan since they can be set fairly close together. 
For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°.

Bake the scones for 17 to 19 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven, and allow the scones to cool on the pan. Once cool, cut each scone in half once again, to make a total of 64 tiny triangles. 

Make the glaze by stirring together the sugar, water, and vanilla, sifting the sugar first if lumpy. 

Coat each scone with glaze either by dipping each in the glaze or by brushing glaze on with a pastry brush. Allow the glaze to set before serving the scones.

 

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes

My last post was a cheesecake and I didn't realize that until I started putting this one together. I made these for the first time the other day. I love peanut butter pie and these cheesecakes at Sweet Spicy Kitchen looked similar. They're pretty and they are mini, which I always love.

On her blog, Dragana said that she used baking cup liners that are 2.55 inch in diameter and 2.15 inch in height. My spring-form pan is mini muffin sized (much smaller) so I made 12 of them into the very mini cheesecakes and then put the rest into a small spring-form pan.

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes

GRAHAM CRACKERS CRUST

1 c. graham crackers crumbs

4 T. melted butter

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE FILLING

10 oz. semisweet chopped chocolate

1 ½ c. heavy cream, at room temperature

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

½ c. powdered sugar

½ t. vanilla extract

PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE FILLING

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

½ c. powdered sugar

⅔ c. peanut butter

⅔ c. heavy cream

½ t. vanilla extract

CHOCOLATE TOPPING

6 oz. semisweet chopped chocolate

6 T. heavy cream, at room temperature

¼ t. oil

ADDITIONAL TOPPINGS

Mini chocolate chips

Peanuts, chopped

GRAHAM CRACKERS CRUST

Prepare 12 larger paper baking cups or mini spring-form pan. Put graham crackers in the

food processor until they are fine crumbs.

Add melted butter and stir well. Spread evenly in the paper baking cups and press with a

solid object, like a glass to make solid layer. Set aside.

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE FILLING

Melt chocolate following the instructions on the package. Add heavy cream and mix well.

Set aside. In a medium sized dish mix cream cheese and powdered sugar with an mixer,

at a minimum speed, for about a minute.

Add vanilla and melted chocolate and mix until well combined. Spread evenly over the

graham cracker layer, with a spoon. Leave it in the fridge to cool.

PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE FILLING

In a medium sized dish mix cream cheese and powdered sugar with an mixer at a

minimum speed, add vanilla, peanut butter and heavy cream.

Mix until smooth. Take the cheesecake out of the fridge and spread evenly over

chocolate cheesecake filling. Put it in the fridge.

CHOCOLATE TOPPING

Melt chocolate. Add heavy cream and oil and stir well. Take the cheesecake out of the fridge. Pour chocolate topping over the cheesecake with a spoon. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and mini chocolate chips. Refrigerate overnight before serving

Mint Chocolate Cookie Cups

I was in the mood to bake the other day and decided to try this cute mini dessert from Life, Love and Sugar . I love chocolate and mint and I like the green. Cute and little and sweet!

Mint Chocolate Cookie Cups

For the cookie cups: 

3/4 c. butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. milk

1 egg

1/2 t. vanilla extract

2 1/2 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1/4 c. cocoa

1 t. cornstarch

2 (4.6-oz.) pkg. Andes Candies Mints

For the icing and chocolate drizzle:

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. shortening

2 c. powdered sugar

1/2 t. mint extract

1-2 T. water

1 drop green food color, optional

Favorite chocolate sauce 

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease mini muffin pan.

Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add milk, egg and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. dough will be thick.

Make balls of about 2 large tsp in size and press into the bottom of each mini muffin cup. Press the center down just a bit to make an indention, where you'll add the mints later. You want each cup to only be about 3/4 full. Bake for 8 minutes. 

While cookies are baking, unwrap the Andes mints and break them all in half. Remove cookies from oven (the centers may look a little undone, but they will cook more as they sit) and press two halves of an Andes mint into the center of each of the cookie cups. Allow to cool for 3-4 minutes in the muffin tin. The mints will start to melt. Remove cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

To make the icing, beat the butter and shortening together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar to the butter mixture, one cup at a time, and mix until smooth. Add the mint extract and mix until smooth. Add 1-2 tbsp of water until the icing is the right consistency. Top the cookie cups with the icing, then a drizzle of chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups with Panna Cotta Milk

You know you have to have milk with your chocolate chip cookie and Rachael from Spache the Spatula made it even easier by putting the "milk" inside cookie cups. The panna cotta milk is made with cream and gelatin so it sets and won't spill out when you bite into them. Creative, pretty and deliciously sweet.

First you make the chocolate chip cookie cups. The recipe is for regular size muffin cups, but I used my mini-muffin pan to make cute, almost bite-size treats.

I bought a tart tamper years ago and it still works great for recipes like this.

Since it's close to St. Patrick's Day, I decided to turn the milk green. I added 3 drops of green food coloring. I really should have taken more photos of the white though because it's very pretty and obviously looks more like the milk that it's supposed to be.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups with Panna Cotta Milk 
Cookie cups:
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. dark brown sugar
1/4 c. + 1 T. granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 t. vanilla 
2 c. flour
¼ t. baking powder
¼ t. kosher salt
½ c. chocolate chips
Panna cotta milk:.
½ c half-and-half
½ pack gelatin (scant ½ T.)
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3 T. granulated sugar
Pinch of salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars for 5 minutes. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed for another 5 minutes. Turn the mixer speed to low and add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips; mix until combined.

Spray a standard or mini-muffin pan with nonstick spray.

Press (using tamper or hand) 2 to 3 tablespoons of dough into each standard muffin cup or about half of that for the mini-muffin cups. Place the muffin pan in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 350°. When the oven is heated, remove the muffin pan from the freezer. Bake the cookie cups for 10 minutes for standard or 7 minutes for mini. Remove them from the oven and press down the cookie cup centers to re-form the cup shape. Place the cookie cups back in the oven for 2 to 5 more minutes until just baked.

Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin before turning them out to cool further.

Pour the half-and-half into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top and allow to sit for a few minutes. Turn the heat on medium-low and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Add in the cream, sugar, and salt, and cook for 5 to 10 more minutes, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved, being sure not to boil.

Pour the mixture into the cooled cookie cups (on a baking sheet in case of any leakage). Refrigerate for at least 5 hours.

Leftover panna cotta milk can be poured into ramekins or other containers and refrigerated as well.

This tastes delicious too! Two desserts in one. BONUS!

Pinned to PinIt Pin Party

Mini Blueberry-Lemon Bundt Cakes

Saw these from Tutti Dolci and couldn't stop craving them, so I gave in and made them. I thought my Bundt pan was a mini, but her little ones are much tinier than mine, so I guess mine is a medium-sized Bundt pan. Mine made 7 and hers made 28.

These are cute and moist and I love all the bursts from the abundance of blueberries. I already wanna buy the ingredients for it again so I can give some away this time...and eat another one in that batch too.

Mini Blueberry-Lemon Bundt Cakes
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
1 large egg
1/3 c. low-fat buttermilk
1/4 c. plain fat-free yogurt
3/4 t. vanilla extract
1 T. Meyer lemon juice
1 1/2 c. blueberries

Glaze
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. Meyer lemon zest
1 T. Meyer lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350° and spray a mini bundt pan with nonstick spray. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, and lemon zest in a large mixer bowl at medium speed until well blended; add egg and beat well. Combine buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla and lemon juice in a small bowl. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in

3 additions, alternating with buttermilk mixture; fold in blueberries.

Fill each mold just over half full. Bake for 16 minutes, until edges are golden and cake springs back to the touch. Cool in pan on wire rack for 4 minutes before popping mini cakes out of pan to cool completely. To prepare glaze, whisk together powder sugar, lemon zest, and juice in a small bowl. Set rack with mini bundt cakes over a piece of wax paper and drizzle with glaze; let set before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 2 days; serve warm.

Chocolate Covered Raspberry Cheesecake Bites

I promise that we really do eat good, healthy, regular food at our house, even though I've been posting all these sweets and treats lately. I had to make a dessert for an activity, so I looked through my "to-make" files and decided on these that I found at Life's Ambrosia. I love chocolate covered cherries, but I decided to change it up just a little and use raspberry pie filling instead and ruin the whole chocolate covered cherry thing. I thought it might be less bumpy on top and I love raspberries too.

I gotta say that these were a pain, but maybe partly because I was in a hurry and didn't get to freeze the cheesecake for long enough before dipping in chocolate. Des does warn you on her recipe that it's messy. I needed more chocolate than the one bag. I guess I didn't let the chocolate drip off enough to conserve more for the other pieces.

You might think that cutting an 8-inch pan into 40 pieces gives you teeny-tiny pieces, but the smaller, the easier they are to dip. And the chocolate added on top makes them a good little size. You see that cheesecake bite I cut in half for the photo? I just had to eat it since it was cut and to approve it before giving it away. Yummmm! Don't you just love mini desserts?

 
Chocolate Covered Cherry Cheesecake Bites
Crust:
2 c. Gingersnap cookies, crushed

1 T. butter, melted

Cheesecake filling:
2 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese

1/3 c. sugar

1/3 c. sour cream

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

1 can of cherry or raspberry filling

Chocolate:
12 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips

1/3 c. shortening

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a 8-inch square glass pan with foil, be sure to cover the sides, you are going to use this to lift the cheesecake out of the pan.

Combine the melted butter and gingersnap crumbs and press into the bottom of the pan. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.

While your crust is cooking, in a medium bowl combine all of the ingredients for the cheesecake filling. Mix until creamy and smooth. Pour into the crust. Bake for 40 minutes or until the center is set. Remove from the oven and set on a cooling rack for 40 minutes.

Put the cheesecake in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Remove and spread the cherries on top. Now put the cheesecake in the freezer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove and slice into approximately 40 pieces. Melt chocolate with shortening right before you pull the cheesecake out of the freezer.

Using a fork gently poke the cheesecake bites and dip them in the chocolate, using a spoon to make sure they get completely coated. Set them on a cooling rack with wax paper underneath to catch the chocolate. You may want to spoon some over the top to cover your fork marks. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Cookie Cups

For our big family party to celebrate all the February and March birthdays, Alexander wouldn’t choose what dessert he wanted. He said he loves all the desserts I make so he didn’t care. That was fun because it meant that I could choose to make a new recipe. He loves peanut butter, so even though I just made a peanut butter dessert recently, I wanted to make these pretty little cups that I found at Blissfully Domestic.com where Picky Palate posted them. I haven’t been able to find Mini M&M’s for baking for a while now. Does anyone know if they are still around? I miss them. I just used regular ones for these.

They made a gooey mess when I cut into them for the photo and the same thing happens when you bite into them. I know one way to avoid that-- Pop the whole big thing in your mouth at once.

Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Cookie Cups

1 c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
12 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped
36 mini marshmallows
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
2-3 T. heavy cream
1/4 c. mini M&M’s

Preheat oven to 350°. Place peanut butter, sugar and egg into a large bowl and mix until well combined. Scoop dough evenly into a 12-count mini cheesecake pan or mini muffin pan. Cook for 13-15 minutes until almost done. Remove from oven and press a peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie until flush with cookie top.

Top each cookie with 3 mini marshmallows and return to oven for 2-3 more minutes or until marshmallows are puffed. Remove and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Place chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted smooth. Stir in 2-3 Tablespoons heavy cream until silky and smooth. You can return back to microwave for 15 seconds to get a thinner consistency. Spoon chocolate over top of puffed marshmallows and sprinkle with mini M&M’s.

Pumpkin Bites

I know this is more of a fall recipe, but I didn't get to bake much in the fall and I've had this recipe in my file for a long time after finding them at She's Becoming Doughmesstic. Susan piped the cookies, but I just spread them with a spoon. They're like little pumpkin-y whoopie pies. I made them a little too big, but they're still pretty cute. The cookies puff up and are very cake-like. I love the cinnamon in the icing. I made some way too big to sandwich easily so I just frosted those with the same icing, but I love the cute sandwiches.

Pumpkin Bites

3 c. plus 2 T. all-purpose flour

1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. ground ginger
2 T. cinnamon
½ t. ground nutmeg
1 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup canola oil
3 cups pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Set aside.

In a mixer bowl, whisk the sugars, canola and melted butter together. Add the pumpkin puree and combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Pour the flour mixture over the wet ingredients and slowly whisk to combine. Do not overmix.

Preheat oven to 350º. Prepare to baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a SilPat.

Place entire mixer bowl in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes while oven preheats, then transfer batter to piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe cookies in about 1 inch circles onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies look done. Once cool, fill centers with cream cheese icing.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 c. butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla
Dash of Salt

Beat cream cheese, butter, salt and cinnamon until lump-free and smooth. Gradually add sugar until well combined, added more as needed to make icing consistency. Add vanilla until just incorporated. Pipe onto cookies and sandwich them together.

Here is Elisa, nervous to be a hand model, especially since her hands are still red from playing in the snow outside.

Truffle Tarts with Raspberries

I chose to make these for the first time to take to my friend Patty's baby shower that was today. I took them along with Oreo Truffles since I knew that many of the people who liked them before would be at the shower. Those easy little things were a big hit again. I am always nervous about making something for the first time when I need to take it somewhere. Luckily, these truffle tarts turned out great--really great. They are really rich and chocolatey and I love the combination of chocolate and raspberries. Nummmmmy! Elisa helped me with the first batch, but not the second. Sabrina helped with hugs. Alex had better things to do. *Smile
I used these chocolate wafers, but you can use Oreos. It takes more than half of the package of Famous Chocolate Wafers to make the 1 1/2 cups fine crumbs.

I found the recipe on Food Network and kept the ingredients the same, but slightly changed a couple of parts to the method.

To press the crust, I used my Pampered Chef mini-tart shaper. I love that thing!

I drizzled some pink tinted white chocolate to the top since it was for a girl's baby shower.

Truffle Tarts with Raspberries

1 1/2 c. fine chocolate wafer crumbs

6 T. butter, melted

1/2 c. heavy cream

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 t. vanilla

Raspberries, cut in half

Mix together wafer crumbs and melted butter. Spray 24 silicone mini-muffin cups. Silicone is awesome for popping the tarts right out, but if you have a metal mini-muffin pan, spray the cups. Line the cups with strips of parchment or waxed paper. Cut so that they are as wide as the diameter of each cup and long enough to overhang the sides since you'll need this to remove the tarts. Divide crust mixture into the 24 cups and press on bottom and up sides.

To make the truffle filling, in a saucepan, bring cream to simmer on low heat. Remove from heat and add chopped chocolate to pan. Let sit 10 minutes. Add vanilla and stir until smooth. Set aside for about 1 hour to cool to room temperature. Beat on medium speed until thick.

Drop a small amount of truffle mixture in each tart and pat down. Place one half (or both halves of one raspberry next to each other) in each tart on truffle mixture. Divide remaining truffle mixture among tarts. Use spoon or hands to pat truffle mixture in tarts, covering the raspberries completely. Smooth the tops and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.

Chocolate Marble Tarts

I have been in the mood to bake and haven't done it much lately (cuz I eat what I bake) so I decided to try a new recipe. I have an external hard drive where I saved some files from an old computer, but I don't often look at those files (even though I'd be sad if they got erased). So I found a recipe there that I copied years ago from the wonderful Taste of Home recipe bulletin board and tried it. It was posted by Plumcrazy_Alta in 2003, but I can't find the post anymore. As soon as I started making the crust, I realized that these are almost exactly like the Mini Chocolate Cherry Tarts I have been making for years except these have chocolate chips swirled in and no cherry on top. So I knew we'd like them.

Notice the oh-so-pretty dish from my sis Heather that the tarts are in? I love it! It was funny that when I looked back for the cherry tart recipe post, the picture shows the cherry tarts sitting in an identical dish except it's white. I bought the dish for a friend's birthday present and filled it with the tarts, then took pictures before I gave them to her.
(Thank you Alex for taking the picture of me forming the crust.)

The crust recipe is different though and it was more crumbly than my other recipe. Also, it made enough for 24 mini muffin cups, but a few were kinda smaller and sad looking. (I think I'll use the other crust recipe next time.) But the filling made exactly the right amount. After 5 minutes of baking, you swirl the chocolate chips into the filling. The chips weren't quite melty enough so next time I'll wait 7 minutes so they're easier to swirl.
Chocolate Marble Tarts

1/4 c. cocoa
1/3 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1/8 t. salt
1/3 c. butter
3 T. cold water
3 oz. cream cheese
3 T. sugar
1/2 c. sour cream
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325º. Combine flour, 1/3 cup sugar, cocoa and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing gently until all the mixture is moistened. Form this mixture into a ball. Shape dough into twenty-four 1-inch balls and press onto the bottom and up the sides of ungreased mini muffin cups.

In a small bowl beat cream cheese and 3 tablespoons sugar until fluffy. Separate the egg and beat in the egg yolk, sour cream and vanilla. Divide the cream cheese mixture evenly among the muffin cups. Top each with about 1/2 tsp of the chocolate chips. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven. With a knife or chopstick, slightly swirl chocolate into mixture just to marble. Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes more. Cool slightly in pan. Remove and cool on a rack.
Since I love the cherry pie filling on the other tarts, I decided to top a couple of these with raspberry pie filling. It was yummy, but I think I'd like fresh berries even better! Pretty pop of color either way.

Pretzel Crusted Caramel and Chocolate Brownie Cups

I was making treats for a few people so I wanted to try something new. This one is fun and combines sweet and salty, which I love. I have raised Elisa into a cake mix snob--she doesn't like them, like me. I might buy one mix every year or two since I just don't like them. But I decided to try this recipe as is since it is slightly faster than whipping up from-scratch batter. I didn't tell Elisa until after she ate some and asked for more. She couldn't believe I used a mix, but that didn't stop her from wanting more.

This gooey, yummy treat is Stephanie's creation. Her blog Stephanie's Kitchen is full of scrumptious recipes. Stephanie is also a contributor to Cafe Zupas where she posted this one. I made these into mini muffins. To make the caramel easier to pour, you can add a little evaporated milk or water while you are melting them.

Pretzel Crusted Caramel and Chocolate Brownie Cups
1 German Chocolate cake mix
1 egg
1/2 c. butter

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, egg and butter until smooth. Scoop batter 2/3rds full into a muffin tin sprayed with non stick spray. Scoop 1 tablespoon pretzel crumble on top of brownie batter. Pat down lightly. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are set.

Pretzel Crumble:
1/4 c. butter, melted
2 T. brown sugar
1 c. crushed pretzels

1/3 bag of caramels, melted until creamy
1 c. milk chocolate chips

Immediately after taking the brownie cups out of the oven, pour caramel over the cups, and then sprinkle with chocolate chip.

Ice Cream Mini-Muffins

I made these this past weekend for my Sunday school class. They look cute since they are bite-sized, but they start to melt quickly. It’s a good excuse to eat quickly! I made them in my mini-muffin pan, but you can use the same idea in a regular sized muffin pan. This is really instructions more than an actual recipe. I used peanut butter ice cream for some and cherry chocolate chip ice cream for the other half. You can choose your favorite ice cream of course. I found this idea on Julie Cooks and she found it at Joy the Baker . Take a look for more detailed instructions.

Joy used a cake mix, but I used my favorite Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Muffin recipe that I posted before. But I just filled the mini-muffin cups a little less than half-way. After baking them and cooling them in the pans, I loosened the muffins and then pushed them down a little with my tart tamper.

Joy froze the cake mix at this point, but I didn’t have time to do that so I just topped them (while in the pans) with softened ice cream. Then I covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the freezer overnight.
The next day I made a ganache and covered some of the ice cream muffins with it and sprinkled them. (You can top them however you’d like or not at all.) Then I put them back in the freezer for a few hours. Run a knife around each muffin and pop them out. Serve and eat immediately.

Sheri's Pink Shower Sweets

We had more than enough food at Heather's baby shower and everything tasted so good. These are the recipes for the desserts my sister Sheri made for the shower. Thanks for sharing, Sheri!

Chocolate Raspberry Dessert
The brownie base is so soft and there's the perfect amount of raspberry flavor.

1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
1/4 t. baking powder
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. (16-oz. can) Hershey's syrup
Raspberry Cream Center (recipe follows)
Chocolate Glaze (recipe follows)

Heat oven to 350º. Grease 9x13-inch baking pan. Combine flour, sugar, butter, baking powder and eggs in large bowl; beat until smooth. Add syrup; blend thoroughly. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Spread Raspberry Cream Center on cake. Cover, refrigerate. Pour Chocolate Glaze over chilled dessert. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Cover; refrigerate leftover dessert.

Raspberry Cream Center: Combine 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter or margarine and 2 Tablespoons raspberry-flavored liqueur* in small bowl; beat until smooth (A few drops red food coloring may be added, if desired.) *1/4 cup raspberry preserves and 1 teaspoon water may be substituted for the raspberry-flavored liqueur.

Chocolate Glaze: Melt 6 Tablespoons butter or margarine and 1 cup Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips in small saucepan over very low heat. Remove from heat; stir until smooth. Cool slightly.

Striped Delight
It's great to find recipes you can use in the summer where you don't have to turn on the oven. It's cool and delicious. Sheri added a few drops of red food coloring to the cream cheese mixture and then to the Cool Whip and folded it in before spreading.
35 Oreos
6 T. butter, melted
1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. sugar
2 T. cold milk
1 (12-oz.) tub Cool Whip Topping, thawed, divided
3 1/4 c. cold milk
2 (3.9-oz.) pkgs Jell-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

Process cookies in food processor until fine crumbs form. Transfer to medium bowl; mix in butter. Press onto bottom of 13x9 inch dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Whisk cream cheese, sugar and 2 Tbsp milk in medium bowl until blended. Stir in 1 1/4 cups Cool Whip; spread over crust.

Beat pudding mixes and 3 1/4 cups milk with whisk 2 minutes; pour over cream cheese layer. Let stand 5 minutes or until thickened; cover with remaining Cool Whip. Refrigerate 4 hours.

To Easily Cut into Square: place dessert in freezer about 1 hour before cutting into squares to serve.

Yummy Little Almond Sandwich Cookies
These are supposed to be very mini since it says to make 180 balls. Sheri made them bigger so she didn't get nearly as many, but it was probably faster that way. Cookies
1 (16.5 oz) roll Pillsbury Create 'n Bake refrigerated sugar cookies
1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. almond extract
1 T. sugar

Filling
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. butter or margarine, softened
4 t. milk
1/4 t. almond extract
1 drop red food color

Heat oven to 350º. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in flour and almond extract until well blended.

Shape dough into 180 (1/2 inch) balls. Place balls 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press bottom of glass dipped in granulated sugar on each ball until 1/4" thick; prick top of each with a fork.

Bake 6-8 minutes until set but not brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until smooth and creamy. Spread about 1 teaspoon filling on bottoms of half of the cookies. Top with another cookie, bottom side down; press gently. Store in refrigerator.

Mint Meringues

I had such a fun, busy weekend and I have LOTS to post, but I don’t have time to type it all up right now. So I’ll just give you this recipe that I’ve been making for many years. These are low fat and only have a few ingredients. It’s so fun because you can use different colors for different occasions. I made these for my sister Heather’s baby shower, which you will hear more about soon! Mint Meringues
2 egg whites
½ c. sugar
¼ t. cream of tartar
½ t. mint extract
6-8 drops green or red food coloring (optional)
1 c. regular or mini semisweet chocolate chips
Additional chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 200º. Grease WELL 2 baking sheets. In large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time; continue to beat, scraping bowl occasionally until mixture holds stiff, glossy peaks. Add mint extract and mix for 30 seconds. Add food color and mix for another 30 seconds. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Drop meringue mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Decorate tops of cookies with additional chocolate chips, if desired. Bake until outsides of cookies are dry and set, about 1 hour. Cookies should not turn brown. Let cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks and let cool completely. Store airtight.
Yield: About 3 dozen