Better Crocker Lemon Bars Super easy!

½ cup cold butter

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix

1 egg

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

¼ cup lemon juice

    Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 8-inch square pan with cooking spray.

    In large bowl, cut butter into cookie mix, using fork or pastry blender. Stir in egg until mixture is crumbly. Press half of cookie mixture into bottom of pan; bake 15 minutes.

    In small bowl, stir condensed milk, lemon peel and lemon juice until thick. Spread over baked crust. Crumble remaining cookie mixture over top. Bake about 25 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set. For bars, cut into 5 rows by 5 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Makes 25 bars

Amy Grant’s Grandma Grant’s Banana Nut Bread (I sub chocolates chips for nuts) Good Housekeeping – February 2009

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

3 bananas, sliced (2 cups)

2 cups flour

1/2 cup pecans, chopped (CHOCOLATE CHIPS)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions:

 Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch metal loaf pan.  Cream the sugar with the butter.  Mix in the eggs, bananas, flour, pecans, baking soda, and the salt.  Pour into the prepared pan.  Place the loaf pan in a cold oven.  Set the oven control to 300 F. Bake  the banana bread for 1 1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool the bread for 5 minutes on a wire rack.  Then remove from the pan and cool completely, right side up.

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites From twopeasandtheirpod.com

I know it seems hard but really it is not bad, good recipe to learn to use yeast but you should probably have a stand mixer…

Ingredients:

Soft Pretzels:

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

3 ounces unsalted butter, melted

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil

3 quarts water

3/4 cup baking soda

1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water

Coarse sea salt

For the cheese sauce:

½ Tablespoon unsalted butter

½ Tablespoon all-purpose flour

½ cup milk

8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

Directions:

For the Pretzels: Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring the water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 ounces each. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring 22 inches and shape. Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make the pretzel bites. Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches. We did about 15 bites at a time. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon. Place pretzel bites on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Make sure they are not touching. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.

Remove to a baking rack and let rest 5 minutes before eating. Serve with cheese sauce.

To make the cheese sauce:

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and cook until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the Cheddar cheese until smooth and all of the cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

*If you want to make cinnamon and sugar pretzel bites-instead of adding salt, sprinkle the bites with cinnamon and sugar. For the frosting mix-soft cream cheese-about 3 T, powdered sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a little bit of milk. Whisk together. Add more milk if it is too thick, if it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. I don't measure. I just guess until the consistency is right.*

Recipe makes a lot of bites-perfect for sharing!

The Chewy Recipe (aka Mary’s cookies) courtesy of Alton Brown

Ingredients:

    8 ounces unsalted butter

    12 ounces bread flour

    1 teaspoon kosher salt

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    2 ounces granulated sugar

    8 ounces light brown sugar

    1 large egg

    1 large egg yolk

    1 ounce whole milk

    1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

    12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Melt the butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Set aside to cool slightly.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda onto a paper plate. Pour the butter into your stand mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, the egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract in a measuring cup. Reduce the mixer speed and slowly add the egg mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.

Using the paper plate as a slide, gradually integrate the dry ingredients, stopping a couple of times to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Once the flour is worked in, drop the speed to "stir" and add the chocolate chips. Chill the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place racks in the top third and bottom third of the oven.

Scoop the dough into 1 1/2-ounce portions onto parchment-lined half sheet pans, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake 2 sheets at a time for 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Remove from the oven, slide the parchment with the cookies onto a cooling rack and wait at least 5 minutes before devouring.

Notes

The darker the sugar you use, the chewier your cookies will be.

Sandy Detlefsen’s Peanut Butter Squares

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1      cup melted butter

1      cup graham cracker crumbs

1      Package powdered sugar

1      package semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix peanut butter, butter, and graham cracker crumbs. Add powdered sugar (may not use whole package). mix until stiff.

Spread in 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate chips until gooey. Spread over top of peanut butter mixture.

Cool and cut into squares

Peanut mixture can be rolled into balls and put into candy papers. Cover with chocolate mixture. Cool.

(Mary’s) Daddy’s Chocolate Goodies

¼ cup butter

2 cups sugar

½ milk

Mix together over medium heat.

Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes (no longer), stirring constantly.

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla

Immediately pour over dry ingredients

2 cups quick cooking oatmeal (not instant)

½ cup cocoa

1 cup coconut

Drop by teaspoon full on wax paper.

Cool.

I make these in a ceramic bowl so the mixture doesn’t cool too fast. Don’t try to

make a double batch.

Basil Butter Garlic Bread

Posted by twopeasandtheirpod in Step-by-Step Recipes

To make the bread you will need: ciabatta or French bread, butter, olive oil, basil, parsley, garlic, green onion, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.




First, combine all of the ingredients, except for the bread and cheese, in a food processor.




Process until smooth.




Season basil butter with salt and pepper, to taste.




Cut the bread in half using a bread knife.




Spread the basil butter generously over each half of bread.




Put the bread halves together and wrap in aluminum foil. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees F.




Remove the bread from the oven and carefully separate the bread halves. Sprinkle each half with Parmesan cheese.




Photo 9
Return the bread halves to the oven and turn up the heat to 500 degrees F or put them under the broiler. Cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly.




Photo 10
Cut the bread into slices and serve warm.






from tastyrecipes.com