Toffee and Chocolate Bar Cookies
These toffee bars are kind of like brownies, but not so cakey; and kind of like cookies, but a lot softer; and kind of like whatever-happens-when-you-mix-brownies-and-cookies-and-smother-it-in-caramel. These are very rich and one pan will go a long way for dessert. The mix of chocolate chips, toffee bits, and sweetened-condensed milk is absolutely fabulous. I’m sure if you like your brownie-cookie-bar on the nuttier side, you could add some chopped/crushed nuts in there somewhere. But I don’t actually like nuts, so I left them out.
Italian Wedding Soup with Meatballs
Several weeks ago I went down to my sister’s house so she could babysit me through some craft project (she’s amazing at crafty things). For lunch she had made this amazing Italian Wedding Soup, which I immediately fell in-love with. I have made this twice since and am more in-love every time. The fresh flavors from the veggies, mixed with the Italian Sausage meatballs is just amazing. Be warned, this is a chopping-intensive soup. If you have a food processor that can chop everything for you I suggest you use it.
Pink Strawberry Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting
Sometimes, a girl just needs some girl time, to talk about girl things with girls who get stuff like girl things. In times like these, it is best to throw an unbirthday party–girls only–with a lot of pink cupcakes. I found everything I needed on RecipeGirl.com and fell in-love immediately. Pink. Strawberry. Cupcakes. What’s not to love? I also hoisted Recipe Girl’s perfected buttercream frosting recipe, and that one will be used over and over. Now, I don’t have fancy frosting bags and tips, I just used a spatula. I also couldn’t find any pink sprinkles at my grocery, but I think both of those things would turn these into even better pink strawberry cupcakes, if such a thing exists.
Mini Cheesecakes
When I get sad, depressed, frustrated, or upset I do two things. I go for a run, and I play in the kitchen, not necessarily in that order. In fact, usually not in that order; I generally will make something sugary and carby and delicious, and then go for a run to get rid of it. Eh, I’m okay with that. At any rate, yesterday was cheesecake day. I don’t have a spring-form pan, but I do have muffin tins and a recipe that calls for Vanilla Wafer crust cheesecake-cupcakes. Sold. These are deliciously light and fluffy, a cinch to whip up, and look absolutely stunning. I will be making them over and over (and over and over). I used Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese because it has a slightly lower fat and calorie content, but all the same goodness. I’m sure this recipe would work equally well with cream cheese, however.
Deviled Eggs with Bacon and Avocado
I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten Deviled Eggs. Well, I’m actually quite sure I have at some point during a family summer barbeque, but I don’t recall anything about them. I’ve seen Deviled Eggs at a thousand parties, but never had any real desire to try one. Over the weekend I met someone who claimed to bring some variation of Deviled Eggs to every single party he attended. It was his trademark. His thing. The only recipe he could make. Whatever. This person was intriguing enough to inspire me to attempt to make a batch of these little hors d’oeuvres, and soon I was skipping about the Internet for inspiration. I have cobbled a recipe together with my own little twists, and due to the delicious tastiness of said morsels, I believe you will see several variations on Deviled Eggs before too long.
heidikins cooks 