Glazed Cinnamon Scones

Since I had posted a teaser picture of this one I figured I had better not delay getting out the recipe!

Lately I have been seeing scones all over Pinterest.  For me though, scones are dough that get fried, not something that gets baked.  So I wasn't interested in these baked varieties, but I am glad I finally gave in and whipped these up!

They are light and flaky and better eaten warm, right out of the oven.  I took these to work and by the end of the day, they weren't as good, still good mind you, just not as good!

What's nice about these is that they come together pretty quickly and don't take that long to bake so it wouldn't be that difficult to whip these up for a brunch or even in time for breakfast if you get up early already.

And except for the buttermilk, you might already have everything you need.  Please forgive me for leaving the glaze ingredients out of this particular picture!  Start but cutting your butter into your dry ingredients, I did use some whole wheat pastry flour in mine.

Get your egg separated and set the egg white aside.  Add the honey and butter milk to the yolk and get that all mixed up.

You need to then add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.  They don't come together super quick, but you need to be careful not to over mix, so I would recommend just using your hands to get it to come together as quickly as possible.  Next, sprinkle your countertop with a bit of flour and roll your dough out on it.

It should only be about 8" in diameter and 2" tall.  This dough doesn't rise a lot so you want to make sure it stays pretty thick.  At this point I would transfer it to a sprayed cookie sheet.  You could roll it out on the cookie sheet itself, up to you. 

Using a pizza cutter, cut into 8 wedges.  Or more if you need to serve more people, the decision I made just after taking this pic!  Taking your egg white, whisk until white and frothy.

Brush that onto your dough and then sprinkle generously with a cinnamon sugar mixture.

The dough will absorb some of it, so feel free to add some more!  Pop that bad boy in the oven, it only needs about 10 minutes.  Which is the perfect amount of time to do a couple of those dirty dishes and make up the glaze.  The glaze consists of vanilla, milk and powdered sugar.  Pretty basic and simple.  If you have another glaze recipe that you prefer, have at it!

Once your scones are lightly browned, the edge of the pan will be a little darker, pull it out and start glazing.

I used almost all of mine since I wanted to make sure every edge and any nooks had plenty.  In making this I did realize it is time to look at those links on Pinterest about cleaning my cookie sheets! 
Anyway, back to this!  While it wasn't fried, it was still very good!  On the plus side, the dough itself didn't ask for any sugar, only honey and using some whole wheat pastry flour made this a bit healthier than the fried version... gotta always look for the positive when baking something that essentially qualifies as a dessert!

Glazed Cinnamon Scones
Original recipe found on MoneySavingMom.com

Ingredients

2 cups flour (can use whole wheat pastry flour for part)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, separated
3 Tbls honey
1/3 cup buttermilk
1-2 Tbls sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tsp milk (use as needed to get good consistency)
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.  Separate egg white and yolk, set egg white aside.
2. In small bowl, combine egg yolk, honey and buttermilk.  Add to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
3. Form dough on a floured surface.  Roll or pat out to half an inch in thickness and about 8" in diameter.  Transfer to greased baking sheet and cut into 8 equally sized pieces.
4. Whisk the egg white until it is white and frothy.  Brush on top of the scones.  Make sure to get between all the cuts and on the edges.  Mix cinnamon and sugar together and liberally sprinkle on top of dough.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until a golden brown.
5.  While dough is baking, mix together glaze ingredients until it is runny enough to drizzle on top of the scones.  Drizzle as soon as they come out of the oven and serve immediately.

Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I had first seen these on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago on Just a Taste.   They of course looked amazing and I am drawn to anything that can make a lot, cause I love to share!  I picked up some pretzels to have on hand for when the time came to actually make these.  That day came when I was invited to a potluck BBQ at the last minute and told to bring a dessert.  I made a classic Kathy mistake and didn't pay attention to how long these little guys actually take before they can be served, but fortunately everyone that tried them enjoyed them.  I had made a double batch so I was then able to take most to work the next day, by then they were perfect for eating and got gobbled up really fast!

They come together pretty fast, it's the setting up before cutting and serving that takes awhile, be aware!

If you like chocolate chip cookies, plus the salty flavor of a pretzel, these will be just perfect the next time you need a treat to share, or eat by yourself!  If you choose not to share, don't worry, I won't judge or tell!

To start, it is pretty much the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, with some pretzel pieces thrown in for good measure.

Start with your butter and sugar, cream those together until smooth.  Add in the eggs and vanilla until those are all blended in.  Stir in the dry ingredients until just incorporated, being careful not to over mix.  Finally stir in the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces.

Spoon that into your pan and sprinkle more pretzels on top.  Lightly press those into the dough.  The site where I found this had lined her pan with parchment paper.  I honestly struggle lining pans and then getting the lining to stay put.  So until someone invents a lining that is shaped like my pan, I will deal with cutting around the edge of my pan!
You will end up baking this for at least 30 minutes.  The dough needs to cook all the way through.  Keep an eye on it and do toothpick tests so you can take it out when it is done.
So this is where I hadn't paid enough attention.  These need to cool completely before you move onto the chocolate drizzle step.  Like normal cookies, this continues to bake when out of the oven and then it needs to set up so you have individual bars vs a gooey mess.  A very yummy gooey mess but still a little messy when trying to serve!  When they are cool, drizzle with melted chocolate and oil mixture.

Once that is done, they need to cool completely again.  The chocolate needs to cool and harden before serving.

If you can manage to wait for them to set up you do have some very yummy and addicting cookie bars that will get you lots of compliments, if you can save enough to share with others!

Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients
1 cup of butter, melted (I always use salted, just my preference)
1 cup brown sugar, packe
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips, divided
1 cup crushed pretzels, divided
1 tsp vegetable oil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  If you choose, line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.  You can also just spray your pan.
2. Whisk together melted butter with both sugars until smooth.  Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.  Stir in flour and salt just until combined.  Stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the pretzels.
3. Pour or spoon batter into prepared pan.  Smooth the op and sprinkle remaining pretzels on top.  Press them lightly into the batter.  Bake for at least 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
4. While they are cooling off, melt remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and oil in double boiler or microwave.  Once bars are cool, drizzle with melted chocolate.  Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

Who loves velvety, smooth and mouth watering chocolate?!  Hopefully everyone raised their hands.  If not, this is not the post for you!  This is another dessert that is a combo of a couple, so I figure it's a Kathy original!  I'm pretty horrible at creating recipes from scratch but pretty decent at making changes to recipes to hopefully make them even better.  This is one of those.

I had seen a picture of a strawberry lined Oreo crust and they were pouring in chocolate pudding.  At this point I had already found and used this amazing chocolate mousse and knew the combo would make an amazing dessert, and I was right!

What's nice is that by using a pre-made crust and strawberries don't take long to rinse and slice, the time and effort all goes into the mousse filling!  I have made desserts that each layer takes time and while the end result is still amazing, something that requires a little less time and effort is even better!

Now, that being said, mousse isn't as easy as instant pudding and it does dirty several bowls and dishes, but is so worth it!

I start by getting my chocolate pieces, butter and water in the double boiler.

The key for melting chocolate is taking your time.  If the water isn't already hot and I put it on low, I can have it slowly getting warm while I start whipping up the whipping cream.  For my hand mixer it usually takes me about 10 minutes to whip up a batch.  If you plan on doing this, keep this burner as low as possible!  You are running a risk when trying to multi-task of burning the chocolate, so if all else fails, whip up the whipping cream, refrigerate and then start melting the chocolate.
For the chocolate, slowly melt the ingredients together until the chocolate pieces are all melted and everything is smooth.

Let this cool for about 10 minutes.
The third piece to this mousse puzzle is the egg yolk, water and sugar combo.  This can be cooked up while the mousse is cooling.

The saucepan you use to mix these 3 ingredients will most likely end up being the same pan that everything else gets added to so this needs to be a medium to large sized saucepan.  This only needs to reach 160 degrees.  I don't have a candy thermometer so I cooked it on medium low for a couple of minutes whisking the entire time.

You now have all 3 pieces, pretty much ready to go.  Add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture, stir and then put in an ice bath of some sorts.  I fill a metal bowl with water and ice and rest the saucepan inside of that.  Making sure that none of the water gets into the pan!

It was while this was cooling that I placed my sliced strawberries into the crust.

Once the chocolate mixture is cool, fold/stir in the whipped cream.

You will want to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed together.  This is when I switched from using a whisk to a spatula and it was a great time to taste test the mixture, and it was good!
Pour that into crust, you will most likely have a little extra.

This will need to set up in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.  It is pretty rich so you are gonna want to garnish with some cool whip, or additional whipped topping that was sweetened.  Add some extra strawberries if you have them and prepare to indulge in this truly wonderful dessert!

Note: This would also be a perfect filling for the French Silk Pie from this post!: http://lifeloveandsolace.blogspot.com/2014/05/french-silk-pie.html

 

 Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

Ingredients:

1 Oreo cookie crust
1 cup sliced strawberries
8 oz semisweet baking chocolate (typically 2 boxes)
1/2 cup water, divided
2 Tbls. butter
3 egg yolks
2 Tbls. sugar
1 1/4 cups whipping cream, whipped
Cool Whip for garnish

Directions:

1. Slice strawberries and line Oreo chocolate crust.  Refrigerate until ready.
2. In the top of a double boiler, heat chocolate, 1/4 cup water and butter until the chocolate and butter are melted. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
3. In a medium to large saucepan whisk egg yolks, sugar and remaining water.  Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees or 2-4 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate mixture.  Set saucepan in ice and stir until cooled, about 5-10 minutes.
4. Fold in whipped cream until completely blended and pour into prepared crust. (If making as a stand alone mousse, pour into 5-6 dessert dishes).  Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight before serving.  Garnish with Cool Whip or sweetened whipped topping.

Coconut Cheesecake Squares

In the past couple of years my sister Amy has really turned me onto coconut desserts.  Especially anything where the coconut gets toasted!

Toasting coconut really just does something amazing to it.  The extra crunch, a little sweeter, and then add that to a creamy dessert, heaven!

This is another very easy dessert that can come together without too much effort.  Since it does have multiple layers it will take a bit though for each one to do it's thing.  The nice thing about this is while you are working on the first layer the cream cheese can get naturally softened.

Starting with the crust, combine the flour ( I did use half whole wheat pastry flour), the melted butter, sugar and pecans in my square baking dish.  Once again, for me when it comes to making crusts I almost always mix them up in the pan or dish that they will end up in.

Now, this crust has almost no sugar in it, making it not very sweet at all.  My family all thought it tasted great, but I think I will try adding a bit more sugar, maybe brown, next time I make this.  Get it mixed and pressed into the pan before baking it.  Be careful not to over bake it.  It should hopefully be lightly browned around the edges.  Now the crust needs to cool before the next layer goes on.  If you are in a hurry, feel free to pop this in the fridge for a bit.
While it is cooling, you can work on the cheesecake layer, which is layer #2.  It is key that your cream cheese is at room temperature.  If need be, pop it in the microwave (unwrapped of course!) for 20 second intervals.  The key to having smooth cream cheese is the temperature.  I'm sure everyone has mixed up cream cheese and gotten little lumps, right?  That comes from it being too cold.  So mix it up with the powdered sugar and then add the cool whip (1/2 of the container).

When the crust is cooled, carefully spoon and then spread this onto the crust.  My crust was starting to pull up a bit so I had to be extra careful.

The third layer is the pudding one.  Very simply combine the pudding with 1 1/2 cups of milk and whisk until it is all combined.  So the pudding for this is coconut cream and this was my first experience with it.  I was whisking away, when I realized I had more little lumps than normal.  So I adjusted the angle and whisked with greater fervor!  My frustration climbed when those little lumps didn't go away!  I finally realized that they were actually flecks of coconut, so heads up, this pudding doesn't get as smooth as other varieties!  So once that is relatively smooth and slightly thickened, pour that on top of the cream cheese layer. 
Top with remaining cool whip and the toasted coconut.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Note: To toast coconut, put in a medium frying pan on medium heat.  Stir until most of the pieces are browned, without burning!

Feel free to sample along the way to make sure it is progressing nicely!

I don't excel at the cutting and extracting my desserts from the pan but these came out good and didn't mangle the piece in the process!
These were a very delicious, light alternative and perfect for a summer evening!

Coconut Cheesecake Squares
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8 oz container of Cool Whip, divided
1 small (4 servings) package of coconut instant pudding
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup toasted coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.  Mix first 4 ingredients together in a square 8x8 pan.  Press until even.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Be careful not to over bake.  Cool completely.
2. Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.  Mix in 1/2 of the cool whip until well blended.  Spoon/spread onto cooled crust.
3. Whisk together the pudding and milk until relatively smooth.  Let sit until partially set.  Pour onto cream cheese mixture.  Top with remaining cool whip and toasted coconut and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. 

Toffee Squares

You may or may not have noticed a trend when it comes to the sweet treats that I make, but I always make them either for a family dinner or to share with my co-workers, at either or both jobs.  This is a recipe I had pinned forever ago and finally decided to make and share it with the people at my day job. 

I randomly had everything on hand, including the peanuts and butterscotch chips so I was glad when this came together so quickly!

Once again I have found that measuring out as many ingredients in advance really does make it so much faster to put it together, I didn't have to keep referring to what was going in and the amount and just deal with the ingredients themselves.  My chance of messing up went drastically down with that move!
Mix about half the ingredients together to form a thick cookie dough.

It instructed that the dry ingredients should be combined separately, not sure what that actually does for it so if one of you knows, please share!  Once those ingredients are all mixed in, press it into a 9x9 square baking dish.

Now the instructions also say to line the pan with parchment paper, I have never had any luck with that, seems to create more stress for me, so didn't bother with it for these.
Next you sprinkle all the remaining goodies on top.

If you have been paying attention you will notice that this bad boy is chock full of peanuts, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, pecans and coconut!  It makes for a thick dough so it does require a decent cook time.  Since making this I have decided that when I make it again I will hold off on the coconut until it is half way through the baking time.  The coconut was getting toasted and done while the bars themselves needed more time.

As good as these are warm, you are going to want to let them cool and set up before serving!  Feel free to warm them up for consumption!  Oh, and yes, I will be making these again one day!

Toffee Squares

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup butter, softened ( I used butter flavored Crisco sticks since I had some on hand)
2 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups chopped peanuts
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x9 square baking pan.
2. In medium bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
3. Beat butter until fluffy.  Add brown sugar and continue beating until creamy.  Add eggs one at a time followed by vanilla.  Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until blended.  Try not to over mix.  Stir in peanuts and 1 cup of the chocolate chips.
4. Transfer dough to prepared pan and spread or press into the pan, keeping it even.  Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut and pecans on top.  (Feel free to hold the coconut until half way through).
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes (add coconut around minute 15) or until edges are golden and topping is bubbly and lightly browned.  Cool before cutting into squares.

Recipe courtesy of:  http://www.bakeorbreak.com/2012/07/toffee-squares/