Strawberry & Nutella Shortcake Shooters

These Strawberry & Nutella Shortcake Shooters are the perfect little bite-sized desserts and are a fun and easy take on a classic summer favorite treat! Cake, strawberries, nutella, and whipped topping are all layered into little glasses and ready to enjoy. It is strawberry season and these shooters are a great way to enjoy fresh, perfectly sweet, and juicy summer strawberries!

Strawberry & Nutella Shortcake Shooters: (adapted from Cheeky Kitchen)

• 1 box Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix, prepared and baked according to package directions
• 1-1/2 cups strawberries, finely diced
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 10 teaspoons Nutella
• 1 (8-oz.) tub cool whip
• 10 small, whole strawberries

 Cut cake in half, wrap one half very well and store in freezer for later use.

With the second half of cake, crumble it into small pieces. Press a small amount of cake into the bottom of 10 small shot glasses.

In a small bowl, combine the strawberries and sugar. Spoon a bit of strawberries over the cake layer in the shot glasses.

Spoon a teaspoon of Nutella over the strawberries.

Place a second layer of cake over the Nutella layer. Top with a spoonful of cool whip. Garnish with a single strawberry atop each shot glass. Serve immediately, or store chill until ready to serve, for up to an hour.

Moist Cupcakes Everytime

I was searching for an easy and moist yellow cupcake recipe when I happend to stumble upon a recipe called THE BEST Chocolate Cake. I'm not quite sure how moist yellow cake landed me on THE BEST Chocolate Cake, but, I am glad it did! Not only did I find a great recipe for dressing up just about any boxed cake mix, I also found another great blog to follow called Kevin & Amanda. They have tons of delicious recipes including these Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and Cheesy Chicken, Bacon & Avocado Quesadillas which my whole family absolutely loved!

This recipe is so versatile and you can use it to make cupcakes, a sheet cake, a bundt cake, or in two 9-inch round cakes. All you do is take a box of your favorite cake mix and dress it up with sour cream, instant pudding, oil, eggs, and vanilla and you place all the ingredients in one large bowl and mix them up. Just match any cake mix with instant pudding; some ideas are chocolate cake mix with chocolate pudding; white, yellow,  french vanilla, or strawberry cake mix with vanilla pudding, or banana cake with banana pudding. The possibilities really are endless and will result in super moist, super rich, and oh so flavorful cupcakes or cake every single time. No one will ever know they came from a box! Give these a try and you won't be disappointed, I promise :)

Moist Yellow Cupcakes: (adapted from Kevin & Amanda)

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 small package Jello instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla exract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake tins with cupcake liners (this makes between 18-24 cupcakes); set aside.

Place all ingredients in a very large bowl. With an electric mixer, beat ingredients at low speed for 30 seconds and then at medium-high speed for 2 minutes. Batter will be thick. Divide batter evenly between prepared cupcake liners (about 2/3 full). Bake for 18-23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost as desired.

Homemade Restaurant Style Salsa

This salsa is so good and it tastes just like the salsa that you get at authentic Mexican restaurants served with tortilla chips. It is full of fresh flavors; it consists of  canned whole tomatoes, rotel (tomatoes and chiles), fresh onion, garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro, fresh lime juice, salt, pepper, and cumin. It also couldn't be easier to make! All you do is throw everything into a food processor and pulse until your desired consistency; you can make it as chunky or as smooth as you like. Enjoy.

Homemade Restaurant Style Salsa: (Brown Eyed Baker)

Yield: About 6 cups

• 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (peeled) with juice
• 2 10-ounce cans Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion 
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, quartered and sliced thin
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• Juice from 1/2 a fresh lime
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Add all ingredients to a food processor. Pulse until you get desired consistency. Refrigerate for at least one hour, and serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

*Notes*: This makes a large quantity so use at least an 11-cup food processor, or work in batches. If you prefer a milder salsa, remove the seeds and membrane from the jalapeno before adding it to the food processor.

A Summer Treat

I don't know if there is an acual name for these delighful sweet treats, but, I am going to call them graham cracker sandwich cookies (I know, it's a pretty lame name, but I coudn't think of anything else)! And, I am sure that you have had one before because of their simplicity and tastiness. And if you have never had one, let me just tell you that graham crackers and frosting pair so well together, especially with a glass of cold milk!

These sweet treats remind me of hot summer days when I was little. My mom would make them for us to the take to the beach or on a picnic, we would eat them on vacation, and I remember always eating them while watching fireworks on the 4th of July, with blue frosting of course! I absolutely loved, loved, loved them and I still do. I really like when the graham cracker gets slighly soft from sandwiching the frosting :) These are great to make with any leftover frosting that you have, which is what I did with these. They are also a simple and fun sweet snack to whip up and kids will gobble them up, enjoy!

Graham Cracker Sandwich Cookies:

All you need is:

• Graham Crackers
• Your Favorite Frosting
• Sprinkles

Break gramham cracker sheet into two halves. Frost one half with desired amount of frosting. Place the other half of the graham cracker on top to form a sandwich. Dip edges in sprinkles. Store in an airtight container (these are best eaten the day they are made).

S'more Cookie Bars

Happy Memorial Day! I have the perfect treat to kick off the start of summer, S'more Cookie Bars! I love campfire s'mores, but these bars sure step those up a bit! You have HERSHEY'S chocolate bars and marshmallow creme sandwiched between a blondie-like graham cracker cookie bar! You have to let them cool before cutting, but, I think they taste best warmed in the microwave to get the sticky, gooey, and metly effect of a s'more.     

S'more Cookie Bars: (Hershey's)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 (1.55 oz. each) or 2 King Size HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars
• 1 cup marshmallow creme (I used closer to 1-1/2 cups)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8-inch baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of the dough into prepared pan.

Arrange chocolate bars over dough. Spread evenly with marshmallow creme. Scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallow; carefully press to form a layer.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.  

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a classic childhood favorite, packed in many lunch boxes over the years. I still love to eat PB&J's now! And what's not to love about a classic PB&J?  They are the perfect combination of creamy and salty peanut butter and sweet jelly sandwiched between two slices of soft bread. This cookie is the perfect treat for any PB&J lover. These jumbo-sized peanut butter cookies are soft and chewy and filled with a center of your favorite sweet jelly. Enjoy!   

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies: (peanut butter cookies adapted from Elle's New England Kitchen & idea from Giada)

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 butter, softened
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• peanut butter mixture, see below
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• about 1/2 cup of your favorite jam/jelly

Peanut Butter Mixture

• 8 oz. peanut butter
• 2 oz. (1/2 stick butter), softened
• 2 oz. honey

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Make the peanut butter mixture by combining all of the ingredients. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside. In a standing mixer or large bowl, cream the 3/4 butter, shortening, and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla and peanut butter mixture. Add the flour mixture by the cupful and beat at low speed until fully mixed. Stir in the peanut butter chips.

Put the remaining 1/4 of sugar in a small bowl. Form the dough into 1/4 cup-size balls and roll in sugar. Arrange 5 balls of dough, evenly apart, on prepared baking sheets. Using a round 1/4 teaspoon measure, or the thin end of a wooden spoon, make a hole in the center of each ball of dough, about 1/2 to 3/4-inch deep. Spoon about 1 teaspoon jam into each hole. Bake for 11-14 minutes until the dough has spread and the surface of the cookies are crackled. Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Serve or store in an airtight container. 

Homemade White Chocolate Peanut Butter

Woo hoo!!! School is finally out for the summer and I am soooo ready for a break! 

Summer is my favorite season ever! I sometimes wish that I lived somewhere where it was warm year-round, like Hawaii, oh how I would love living in a tropical place! Although, I must admit, I would miss the snow on Christmas. But anywho, what do I love about summer? I love the heat, the beautiful sunshine, sleeping with my window open and falling asleep to the sound of crickets, the fresh and delicious fruit, shorts, flip flops, summer dresses, going barefoot, summer vacations, and cookouts, and basically everything else about summer! Best of all, it means that I will have more time for baking and blogging and sharing yummy recipes with you!

I never knew that making homemade peanut butter was so easy. All you need is a few simple ingredients and a couple of minutes and you will have whipped yourself up some gourmet peanut butter with endless possibilities! You can basically add anything you want into the peanut butter mixture to create your own peanut butter concoction. You could add honey, melted milk chocolate, melted butterscotch chips, caramel, or may I suggest trying this fabulous looking Cookies and Cream Peanut Butter, from Picky Palate that I want to just dive right into! Doesn't that look delicious?!

This peanut butter is great for dipping apples and pretzals into or slathering on toast and bagels. Try it out and let me know what flavors you come up with!

Homemade White Chocolate Peanut Butter: (How Sweet It Is)

makes about 3/4 cup

• 1 1/2 cups dry, roasted peanuts (I used salted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup white chocolate, melted

 Add peanuts to a food processor and blend until a thick nut butter forms. Stream in oil and vanilla with the processor on, continuing to run it until te mixture is smooth-about 3-5 minutes. Turn off processor, add melted chocolate, and turn processor back on. Blend until smooth.

You can keep at room temperature for about a week, but refrigerate if you want to keep it for a few weeks.