4th of July Star Spangled Brownies

I made these the other day just to see how they would work out… when attending family functions I always want to bring something cool but I never test it out or I find something that far exceeds my ability as a cook/chef so either I become frustrated or I take something that is not that great. After seeing  July 4th treats starting to pop up I thought I'd try these as they are much easier than the red white and blue concoctions I am seeing. Although those look fabulous I have nowhere near the kind of time required to put one of those tasty treats together but…. I can do this.

First- Make a pan of brownies. From scratch… good for you. I used a box. 

Second- Cut out stars. . I had these star shaped post it notes so I did not even have to cut.

                                       

Third- Place stars as you would like on your brownies.

Fourth- Dust the top of brownies with white powdered sugar.

Fifth - pull off the stars and you are left with the outline of a star. Not the most technical but still a fun idea for the 4th and something kids can very easily help out with.

Last and the best? Cut, serve, and enjoy!

Have an easy 4th of July treat? I'd love to hear it. I'm always looking for simple!

Cinnamon Rolls from Rhodes Rolls

I have a thing for cinnamon rolls. Always have. I don't know if it is the frosting, the cinnamon sugar, or the combination of the two. But I am always looking for new recipes to try and I'd say this one was a winner. Last Sunday morning I didn't want to take the time to make the actual dough and I had a bag of frozen Rhodes Dinner Rolls in my freezer so I though there must be a way to use them for cinnamon rolls. There is. I found this recipe …. well now I can't find the recipe. I will keep looking and get the link up here. They were quite good and fairly simple as far as cinnamon rolls go. 

Easy Saint Patricks Day Cookies

Looking for a quick St. Patty's Day treat? Look no further than Oreos Mint Cookies. Serve them as is or dip or drizzle them with chocolate and sprinkles. You are guaranteed a quick hit with all ages. 

Just make sure to enjoy a few yourself. I may or may not have eaten most of these. Ooops! 

Easy Eats- Frozen Yogurt

You may find yourself looking at this picture and wondering what in the world this is. It is simply frozen yogurt. If you have a little one that is a picky eater…. or if you are trying to eat healthy and looking for healthy snacks that are actually good you should give this a try. 

All you need is your favorite kind of yogurt. Sprinkles are optional. Kids love them!

HOW TO:

Find a tray of any kind that will fit in your freezer. I used a plastic lid to one of my casserole dishes.

Fill a plastic lunch bag with yogurt.

Cut the end off

Squeeze little yogurt dots onto the sheet in rows. They don't have to be perfect mine were all different sizes.

If you want to have sprinkles sprinkle them on or have your little one help with this step and sprinkle away!

Put them in the freezer for an hour or so. Check them to see when they are frozen. Time will vary based on yogurt consistency and the size of your dots.

Scrape them off the sheet and eat them or place them in individual freezable containers to eat later as you wish.

Cammo Cupcakes

In honor of the start of hunting season.... ha ha.... or for a little (or big) guys birthday party these are surprisingly easy and end up with a pretty great wow factor.  I thought they would also look neat in a bunt cake pan with a white glaze frosting on them. Just a thought. I m sure there are quite a few variations you could try.

Needed Ingredients:

A yellow or white cake mix

Black and green food coloring

Frosting of your choice- I did a plain vanilla and colored it green.

Cupcake holders- I have seen Cammo ones out there which would be neat if you were doing a themed birthday party.

Directions:

Simply mix up the cake batter following the instructions on the cake box. Then separate batter into 3 bowls. Leave one bowl white or yellow whichever cake type you chose. Color one of the bowls with black food coloring and one with green.

Place cupcake liners in pan and drop a tablespoon amount of black in each cupcake. Once each cake has black go back and add a tablespoon of green to each cup and finally a tablespoon of your original mix. 

Look over the cupcakes and see which needs more of what color and add accordingly until you are out of batter. 

Bake following the directions on the cake box. Frost as you'd like. 

Minnion Cupcakes

I absolutely adore children's movies. But not just any of them. They have to have a funny little animal or character or in this case a minnion.  I remember thinking the first movie was cute when it came out. I have yet to see the second movie but love the minnion craze that is happening at the moment. The little guys crack me up.

So in looking for a unique easy cake idea for my sisters birthday I knew I had to try these out. I saw something similar on Pinterest but had to adapt it for family cake preferences and the tools I had to use. They turned out pretty well. This would be a great cake for the kids to help you make. My younger sister got a kick out of helping make them.

Needed Ingredients/Tools:

• Cake Mix-I used a yellow box cake mix
• Frosting-Chocolate Fudge is what I used here
• Smarties
• Chocolate sprinkles
• Small Ziplock
• Twinkies 

Directions:

• Bake the cupcakes

• Frost the Cupcakes

• Cut Twinkies in half

• Put a tablespoon or two in a plastic bag in the corner and snip the corner off.

• Use a dot of frosting to stick two smarties on a half of a Twinkie. 

• Use the frosting again to outline the smarties and make the goggles/glasses and again for a mouth. 
• Add eyeballs with the frosting as well.

• Place the prepared half Twinkie in the center of a cupcake

• Place sprinkles on top of the Twinkie for hair.
• 
  
• Continue to decorate remaining cupcakes until finished. 

You are DONE!

Flip Flop Cake

Quick Summer Cakes

I'm more of a baker than a cook. At least I like to think I am. I really enjoy doing fun cakes for birthdays. Only trouble is most of the ones I want to do are so involved that I end up messing them up or am far to intimidated to try them in the first place. So I'm starting with simple and working my way up. I'm happy to say that this cake worked out the first try. Its very hard to mess up.

Needed Ingredients:

This is the perfect example of simple. All you need is the cake. Either make one from scratch or use a boxed cake mix of your choosing. Same with the frosting. Use home made or store bought. Then you'll need any type of small candy. I used skittles here but you could use M&M's or Reeses Pieces or Red Hots. Almost any small candy will work. 

How To:

Simply bake the cake in an 9 by 13 pan or any large flat pan. When the cake is out and cooled cut two flip flop shaped pieces. Cut them as large as you can so you can use as much of the cake as possible. Place them on a platter. Use a spatula or both hands to get them from the pan to the platter so they don't split in half. Frost them. Then add the candies to make the foot pieces. You can frost the entire cake or just leave the sides open. Whichever you choose. The excess cake can be eaten and/or frosted if you like. 

Fun for summer parties or any type of ocean themed party or shower. Good luck!

Number Birthday Cake

Birthday Cakes By The Numbers

This cake idea is great if you want to do something a little different but don't have a lot of time or cake decor skills. (My apologies for the blurry picture) Make the cupcakes of your choice and arrange them on a large platter or as seen here on a large piece of cardboard wrapped in wrapping paper. Then arrange as many of them as you would like in the number of your birthday child/adult. This cake was done for a 20 year old. Add sprinkles or any other toppers you would like. Easy Easy! Good luck!

3 Ingredient Pumpkin Choc Chip Cookies

Easy Cookies to Make with the Kids

3 ingredients to good tasting cookies.  Other then buying the rolls of refrigerated cookie dough, cutting it into cookies, and dropping it on the cookie sheet these are the easiest cookies you'll ever make. 

• Only 3 ingredients; pumpkin pie filling, a spice cake mix, and your choice of chocolate chips.
• Mix all three ingredients together. I like to start with the pumpkin and cake mix and then add the chocolate chips once it is mixed but I've done it both ways and it works fine either way.
• Place cookies on the cookie sheet. 
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 350. 
• Depending on how big you make them you can get 2 to 3 dozen cookies quite easily.

Chocolate Drizzled Oreos

The Busy Girl Drizzle...

Chocolate Drizzled Oreos

Over the holidays my sister and her husband made the most AMAZING chocolate dipped Oreos. Hand dipped in milk and white chocolate, drizzled with peppermints, melt in your mouth delicious. I loved them. So as I needed to take cookies to work I thought I would try them. How hard can it be right. Dip the Oreo, place on wax paper to dry, take and eat. 

Well.....

I purchased Mint Oreos thinking they would taste great covered in more chocolate. I prepared my "cooking" space, I melted my chocolate. I was ready. 

Attempt 1

I stabbed the inside of my first oreo with a new lollipop stick and dropped it into my chocolate dish. And it broke in half and lay floating there in the chocolate while I held the stick. Not ideal. No problem. I'll fix it. put the oreo back together with my hand and dipped it with a spoon and placed in on the wax paper. Staring back at me was not the perfectly dipped oreo I hoped to see but a wierd smothered thing with my fingerprint smeared across the side. No problem try again.

Attempt 2

Got out a spatula placed the Oreo upon it and dumped a tablespoon amount on the spatula somewhat coating one side. The chocolate didn't run through the spatula holes and back into the bowl like I thought. One sided Oreo. No problem. Try again. Third time is the charm.

Attempt 3

Dipped half of the Oreo in the bowl. Swirled it around. Thought, "a half dipped Oreo is better then no Oreo at all" and placed it on the wax paper. Repeated this 3 times and then thought. This is going to take FOREVER.

Attempt 4-The Drizzle-aka the busy girl Oreo Dip

Opened the package of Oreos the rest of the way. Laid them all as close to each other as possible on the wax paper. Using a spoon I loaded it with chocolate and ran it quickly up and down the rows of Oreos. After several drizzles I was out of chocolate and they were looking good. I added sprinkles and left them to dry. 

Dipped No. But Chocolate Covered. Pretty close. Close as I'm going to get and I'm happy about it Yum! :) 

Chocolate Drizzled Oreos