I Heart Valentine's Day!

Ahhhhh Yes! Valentine's day is so very close. I love this special holiday. All of the pink and red makes me giddy like a little school girl waiting for that little paper valentine from the dreamy blue eyed boy in the seat beside her.  Do you remember those days when everyone swpped their valentine cards at school? Those days have since past but the sweet memories linger. Now that my little Princess is getting older she will soon get to make those memories with her school friends and I can't wait to help her make the cutest little valentine for that dreamy blue eyed boy.  Shhhh....don't tell her daddy I said that. He has decided to keep her under lock and key until she is 30!!!
She is only 4 and already stealing hearts. She just performed in her first ballet recital this past weekend and made hearts melt with her smile. Okay...she made my heart and her daddy's heart melt. Can you tell we are proud parents?  Here are a few pictures of her on stage. No stage fright at all.

(By the way, I married that dreamy blue eyed boy and he is still dreamy and Oh so wonderful.)

Okay, I got a little off  the Valentine subject for a second but I could not resist sharing my pics with you.

Since this is such a "SWEET" holiday for me  I would like to share with you a couple of treats that I made to celebrate.  There is nothing like peanut butter and chocolate together. Don't you agree? One of my all time favorite treats is the Reese cup. They have the Double Peanut Butter Hearts out for Valentine's. Yum!  I think I can do one better than that. How about Peanut Butter Brownies covered in chocolate? Oh, Yeah! That's the ticket. Just wait until you see what I did with the scraps. :)

It all started with this recipe...

PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES

1 cup AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

6 Tbls. butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla flavor

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8 x 2 in. square pan with bakers joy or Non-stick spray.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a large bowl, beat peanut butter, butter and sugars with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla.

Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 mintues or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely. Turn out onto a piece of waxed paper to cut into shapes if desired.

 Cut out the brownies

Melt your chocolate morsels in the microwave. (DO NOT GET WATER IN THE CHOCOLATE)

It will seize up and ruin the chocolate.

Using a spatula, cover the bottom of the brownie with chocolate and place on bakers rack chocolate side up. you can place them in the freezer for a couple of minutes to speed up the drying process.

This is a messy process but worth it.

Now cover the sides and top of brownies with chocolate.

Place back on the bakers rack and into freezer for a few minutes.

You can leave them as is or add a little more to dress them up. I used white chocolate to decorate them.

store them in a single layer in an air tight container. You can package them seperately for gifts too.

I had a lot of left over brownie pieces too. I've always been taught, "Waste not, Want not".

So I took a little time to make some brownies pops. Here's how.

I used my food processor to make crumbs and then added a little cream cheese frosting to it.

I forgot to take a picture of the brownie mix as I rolled it into balls. But that is what you do. Just roll it into 1 1/2" balls. Place on a waxed paper covered cookie sheet and freeze for abot 15 minutes.

I used white chocolate to cover them . I melted the chocolate in the microwave and added a little marshmallow and coconut flavored oil to it. (It was so good)

Remove the balls from the freezer and insert sucker sticks into each ball. Dip into the chocolate and gently tap and swirl to remove excess. You can add sprinkles like I did or get a little more creative.

Here is the finished product with a few heart shaped chocolate lollipops added in.

My inspiration came from Bakerella. If you haven't seen her creative pops you should really check her blog out.

As Always....Enjoy! And Happy Valentine's Day!

XOXO

The Cookie Girl

Muse & Company Fleur de lis Chair Giveaway

Hello friends!  Are you up for a giveaway? You must see this divine giveaway over at A Diva's Hammer. My friend "The Muse" & Company are hosting this wonderfully, beautiful giveaway.
See the chair below? It is the prize. Go and visit her here A Diva's Hammer and you just might win.  Regardless if you win the chair or not, you will love reading her blog(s)
Have a Beautiful Friday!!!!

Creme Caramel....Sorta

Good Tuesday morning friends! It's gonna be another wet one today. I have a busy week still ahead of me. My sweet little princess has her first ballet recital on Saturday and we have full dress rehersal tomorrow night. I can hardly wait to see her all dressed up and dancing on stage. I am sure I will get emotional. The program is called Footsteps in Faith and I just know it will be beautiful. I will post some pictures of it all for you to see.

So on to something a little more delectable for today. I should start by saying how much I love using organic foods and eggs are no exception. Being a Foodbuzz featured publisher has it's perks too. We get to try new foods and this time around it was Eggland's Best eggs. They really are delicious eggs and I am one who uses a ton of eggs in the kitchen. There are very few dishes that I make that it doesn't call for them. So of course I was excited to try the organic eggs that Eggland's Best has. did I mention they are pretty too. Brown eggs are my favorite.
What all can you make with a dozen eggs? Here are some of the things that I made. Pasta Mama, Egg Salad Sandwiches, and of course Creme Caramel. I have never made this before and was a little nervouse on how it would turn out. I did not have the little custard cups to use (feel free to donate to the cause) lol, so I just made one big custard in a 9 inch cake pan. It took me a second to get use to the caramelized sugar (or burnt) if you will. But it really adds such a wonderful flavor to the custard. So much flavor in fact, I ate half of the custard by myself in almost one sitting. shhhhhh......don't tell anyone that part.
A little breakdown of the recipe for you and some pictures for that great visual effect.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar,divided

3 large eggs

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 cup evaported milk

1 cup regular milk

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Place 1 cup sugar in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat 10 mites or until sugar caramelizes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Pour evenly into 8 (4-ounce) custard cups or 1 9" cake pan.

Does anyone see the pit bull in the pan? 

Heat both the evaporated milk and regular milk together until warm. I did this in the microwave.
Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar until blended. Gradually add warm milk, whisking constantly; stir in vanilla.

Pour mixture into prepared custard cups or cake pan. Cover each with aluminum foil; place in a 13-x9-inch pan. Add hot water to pan to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove custard cups or cake pan from water; uncover. Cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill 3 hours.
Run a knife around edge of cups to loosen; invert each onto a dessert plate.

Voila! A creamy and delicious dessert.

Important Notice!!! Banana Nut Bread Cobbler EDITED!!

Okay! I'm human. Yes! Seriously. I know. It's hard for me to believe too. And Yes! I do make mistakes. Just like the one where I forgot an ingredient in my Banana Nut Bread Cobbler recipe. gasp!!!!!

Please forgive this error. I must send a special thank you to one wonderful reader who has my back and let me tell ya, the girl can see like an eagle. WOW!!!!

Paloma at THE COFFEE SHOP posted a comment on my recipe and said she saw that my photo looks like it has oatmeal in the cobbler. She is totally right and again WOW!!! Great eyes but of course she did not see it in the recipe.

Thank YOU Paloma!!!!

I edited the post and the recipe is now correct. whew...close one.

Banana Nut Bread "Cobbler"

Do you enjoy banana nut bread?  I love making it during the holidays.  My usual routine starts sometime in late October and continues until January ans sometimes February. I have made as many as 300 loaves of Banana bread for one customer before! 
Now how about cobbler's? Do you like those too? I am in love with my version of peach cobbler. Just smelling the aroma of peaches and cinnamon bubbling makes my taste buds do a happy dance.
I use a version of the "Quick Cobbler" recipe that most are familiar with and just do my own thing with it.
  So getting to my point about all of this.  The other day I was reading in my Southern Living magazine and came across a recipe for Banana Bread Cobbler. Wow! I had never really thought about this before. It sounds delicious doesn't it. Well let me just tell y'all...IT IS!!!
I have even added the recipe for you. I did a little tweaking on it too.

Banana Bread Cobbler

1 cup Self Rising Flour

1 stick butter (melted)

1 cup sugar
1 cup milk

pinch of salt

4 Medium Ripe Bananas

Streusel Topping

1 cup regular oats

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 stick butter (softened)

1/2 cup self rising flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl add the flour and sugar and salt. Whisk to remove lumps. Add the milk and whisk until blended and the butter and mix gently. Pour into a greased 9x12 baking pan or casserole dish.

Slice bananas and place on top of the cobbler mixture.

Mix together all of the streusel topping mixture until crumbly. 

Sprinkle over the bananas and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Would you like a bite? 

Bake Sale for Haiti Relief

Good Morning to all of my wonderful readers. I have some very exciting news to share with you. As you all know of the horrific tragedy that has taken place in Haiti and the major relief that is so needed there; A special lady, Diane of My Chic Life has put together a virtual bake sale in hopes to raise funds for  this relief. There are 65 bakers/bloggers that are participating in this event and you as our readers are our biggest helpers. Each baker will have an awesome baked item(s) that they will ship to the highest bidder. Can you believe there are 65 delicious treats to choose from and bid on? There are even gluten free and vegan items.
So on Wednesday hop on over to the link below and place your bid. You get the sweet satisfaction of special baked treats and knowing that you are helping others in need. All of the funds raised will go to the Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund.
Haiti Bake Sale Bid Page

Want to know what I am baking so you can bid on my treats?
Well here you go:
A cookie variety from "The Cookie Girl's" specialty menu. The winning bidder get's to choose his/her cookie flavors from my menu. They will be baked fresh, packaged beautifully and shipped the same day for freshness. I will even gift wrap them if you want to give them as a gift.
I look forward to seeing this awesome event take place and can't wait to see how much is raised. Good Luck to you all and THANK YOU for supporting this great cause.

XOXO
The Cookie Girl