Valentine Chocolate Pretzel Bites

Here is what you need:

1 bag of the square bite sized pretzels I've heard them called waffle pattern
1 bag of Hershey's Hugs
1 bag of Valentine's M&Ms
Cute little baggies 

Here is what you:

1. Unwrap a bag of Hershey Hugs (preferably with a friend and wine) My mother always said a burden shared is half a burden thus the friend.
2. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees F
3. Using a rimmed baking sheet also called a jelly roll pan. I lined it with parchment paper just to be safe, although I am not sure you really need it.  Lay out as many pretzel bites as you can without them overlapping.
4. Top each pretzel with the Hershey Hug.
5. Place in the oven for 4 minutes.
6. Working quickly, press one M&M down into the chocolate.
7. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill.
8. Wrap up in cute little baggies, give to friends and family... 

Hooray for pop-able, Valentines treats!

Happy Valentine's Day! As always, many blessings, much love, and Happy Baking!

Freddy's Valentine Cookies

This was the first year I made Valentine's for Freddy's class. Last year he was only 9 months old and most of his buddies weren't eating solid foods. This year however, we had a bunch of sugar craving toddlers, so cookies were indeed in order. We gave out little baggies, with heart sugar cookies, chocolate chip, and organic lollipops. I tied the whole thing together with a cut out heart and a little smiley face out of construction paper. 

To make the sugar cookies: 
5 cups of flour
5 cups of sugar
2 sticks of butter
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon of baking soda
2 Tablespoons of cream cheese
Food Coloring 
Food Color Markers to draw the faces

Method:

1. Mix all of the ingredients in your standing mixer, it is a lot to do by hand.
2. Once mixed together separate into two discs, and wrap in cling plastic wrap and let the dough chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 day, or in the freezer up to a month.
3. When ready, roll out the dough, use flour on a board and rolling pin to get the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Cut with your favorite heart shaped cookie cutters and place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are just slightly golden. Let cool and use markers to draw your faces.

To make the Chocolate Chip Cookies with the Heart Chocolate Center

½ cup of sugar bowl sugar
½ cup of brown sugar
1 stick of butter softened overnight
1 egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
½ teaspoon bakind soda
1 and ¼ cup of all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon of sea salt
1 cup of best quality chocolate chips Ghirardelli is my favorite

24 Dove Hearts

Here is what you do: 

1. Preheat your oven to 325 F.

2. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl (except for the chocolate chips), wooden spoon is fine. 

3.  Place teaspoon dollops on parchment lined sheet pan. 

4. Bake for 18 minutes. ]

5. Place an unwrapped Dove heart in the center of the cookies while they are still warm. Enjoy

There you have it my friends, easy, classic, but delicious cookies. 

Here is a picture of the finished product... 

Happy Valentines'! As always, much love, many blessings, happy baking!

Blueberry Oatmeal Bars

My little one calls blueberries, b-berries. He is a great fan of them, and he loves oatmeal as well. I know... strange kid, but my husband also like the combination so I thought these would make a fit and easy breakfast treat. Here is the recipe adapted from day dream kitchen.

What you need:
2 cups of rolled oats
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon of orange zest
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of cold cubed butter

3 cups of fresh blueberries
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of fresh orange juice
4 teaspoons of cornstarch

What you do:

1. Zest a large orange, and juice save the juice and zest separately. 
2. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan add the blueberries, sugar. Mix the cornstarch and orange juice to form a slurry, whisk any lumps, add to the blueberries and sugar, cook for 5 minutes or so until thick. Set aside to cool. 
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 
4. In your food processor pulse together the oats, flour, brown sugar, orange zest, salt, and cubed butter. 
5. Place parchment paper in a 8 inch square pan. 
6. Pour half of the oat mixture into the pan and press down with your hands. Pour over the cooled blueberry sauce. Then cover with the oat crumbles. 
7. Bake for about 45 minutes. 
8. Let cool completely, refrigerate and cut into squares. Enjoy for breakfast, snack, or dessert with whipped cream. 

They also freeze beautifully so you can keep them in the chiller and take one out when you want a semi healthy dessert, just pop it in the microwave for a minute. 

As always, much love, many blessings, happy baking. 

Broccoli Cheddar Crescent Braid

This is a nice easy winter dish, that takes only about 10 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to bake.  My one year old loved it, which made Mommy very happy. Not so much because of the broccoli  he loves veggies. But I can't seem to get him to eat meat unless it covered in cheese, which he does like. He even loved shaking the bag to mix the filling, which was super cute. I always wanted to cook with my kids, but I feel super blessed that I get to start when he is only 1.

For the adults I served this with a heady and fruity Beaujolais.

Here is what you need:
1 cup of left over chicken
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mayo
1 cup of broccoli
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg for egg wash

Here is what I did:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix together the chicken, cheese, mayo, broccoli, salt and pepper to taste, set aside. I did this in the large zip lock baggie that was holding the chicken... less dishes, and Freddy did the mixing.
3. Pop the cans of the crescent rolls (this is the hardest part for me) and roll out the dough on broken. Use a rolling pin to keep the dough together.
4. With a pair of kitchen scissors cut 3 inch long slices, 1 inch border of dough on each side of the dough. You will have a fridge effect that you will then braid over the filling.
5. Spread the filling in the middle of the dough leaving at least an inch on each side. You might want to use your hands to shape the mound, I did.
6. Fold a fringe end over the filling and alternate sided to create a braid effect. Pinch the ends together on the ends to seal in the filling.
7. Crack and whip an egg together and brush the top of the dough. Top the egg wash with a little bit of crunchy sea salt, Maldon is my favorite.
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes depending on your oven... let sit for atleast 5 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy, happy wintering.

Lots of love, many blessings, and happy baking!