dessert
Christmas Pretzel M&M Treats
If you’re looking for a simple, fun and delicious treat to bring to holiday gatherings, this could be the one. You only need 3 ingredients. A bag of square pretzels, (you could use other shapes, but I have found the squares work the best), a bag of holiday green & red M&M’s and a bag of chocolate (or vanilla, as pictured) candy discs that you can find at craft stores such as AC Moore or Michael’s Arts & Crafts.
Arrange the pretzels on an ungreased cookie sheet. Put the vanilla (or chocolate) flavored discs on top of the pretzel. Pop in a 275 degree pre-heated oven for 2 minutes. Yes. You read that right. TWO minutes. Not long at all. So don’t leave the room or forget about them. They will melt through the holes in the pretzels and make a huge mess.
Have your M&M’s ready to place on top of the warm fresh-out-of-the-oven candy. Do this part quickly, get help if you can. You’ll need to do it fairly quickly or the chocolate disc will harden and the M&M won’t stick. And by quickly, you will have a few minutes, it’s not an emergency situation. Just do it as quickly as you can and waste time sipping your coffee between placing each M&M.
Because it is winter here in Upstate NY, I set the tray of pretzel treats in the garage for 15 or so minutes so the chocolate solidifies quicker. Otherwise it will take a while before you can put them in a container to store. Or, you can eat them right away and not have to worry about storing them at all!
The neat thing about this treat is that you can make one tray or 5 trays. Or just a few treats at a time if that’s all you want. The clean up is minimal. The prep time is short. The outcome is delicious.
Cinnamon Roll Cake
Fall is here. Let the baking commence. I found this yummy recipe on Pinterest and had to try it for myself. It IS as good as it looks.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
3 cups flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1½ cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
– In an electric or stand mixer add the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla.
– Once combined well , slowly stir in the melted butter. Pour into the prepared 9×13 baking pan.
– In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together until well combined and creamy.
– Drop evenly over the batter by spoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.
– Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out nearly clean.
– In a medium bowl, mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together with a whisk.
– Drizzle evenly over the warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Apple Brownie
It’s time for more fall baking! This time I’m using fresh McIntosh apples (my all-time favorite apple) from the local farmer’s market, in these amazing and super-easy Apple Brownies.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 medium apples – peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions:
– Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×9 inch baking dish.
– In a large bowl, beat together the melted butter, sugar, and egg until fluffy. Fold in the apples.
– In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
– Stir the flour mixture into the wet mixture until just blended.
– Spread the batter evenly in the prepared baking dish.
– Bake 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Enjoy with some nice Pumpkin Spice coffee!
Applesauce Puffs
I am addicted to Pinterest. Here is another fun and easy recipe I discovered yesterday. These are perfect for a fall day and super easy to whip up. The whole family will devour them in minutes.
Here’s the recipe:
Applesauce Puffs
2 c. baking mix (such as Bisquick)
3/4 c. sugar (divided)
3 t. cinnamon (divided)
1/2 c. applesauce
1/4 c. milk
1 egg
2 T. oil
5 T. melted butter
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease mini-muffin pan.
Combine baking mix. 1/4 c. sugar and 1 t. cinnamon. Stir in applesauce, milk, egg and oil until well mixed.
Fill muffin pan until each muffin is 3/4 full. Bake at 400 for 10 min.
While that is baking, mix 1/2 c. sugar with 2 t. cinnamon in a bowl. When the puffs come out of the oven and cool for just a few minutes, dip the tops of the warm puffs in bowl of melted butter and then drip them in the bowl of cinnamon sugar. Eat, share and enjoy!