Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting

It's birthday time for my niece again! She's the big 11 this year - how time flies!

Made some King Arthur GF Chocolate Cupcakes, then filled and topped them with this Fluffy Peanut Butter frosting recipe that I found on AllRecipes.com

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons milk, as needed

Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.
Note: I doubled the recipe and used about 3.5 cups of sugar, and no milk.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies - Plus Mix-Ins of Your Choice!

Another Pinterest find! Original recipe can be found at The Burlap Bag, but it's pretty much the same as what I have here.

Ingredients
2 large, ripe bananas
1 cup quick oats

Examples of add-ins (or nothing at all!)
- chocolate chips
- walnuts
- cinnamon
- raisins
- dried cranberries

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350. Mash bananas until they're mostly smooth. Mix in oatmeal and whatever fix-ins you'd like. 
Grease a cookies sheet or use a silicone baking mat (you have to do one of these, or else the cookies will stick like crazy!). Drop sough on to cookie sheets and flatten with fork. 
Bake 15-18 min. Let sit for a minute or 2, and then transfer to a cooling rack.

I used 3 bananas, 1 1/2 cups oatmeal, 1/2 cup chocolate chips and some cinnamon. They were really good! I had 18 cookies, and 2 cookies were worth 1 Weight Watchers PlusPoints.
I think next time I'm going to add a tablespoon or 2 of peanut butter... mmmmmm

Hungry Girl's Triple-Chocolate Softies

Hungry Girl's Triple-Chocolate Softies

Big soft cookies are awesome. Guilt-free, cocoa-infused ones with TWO types of chocolate chips are exceptionally awesome! Preheat the oven, grab a baking sheet, and prepare yourself for the BEST SOFTIES EVER!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
2 tbsp. sugar,
2 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread(like Brummel & Brown), room temperature
2 tbsp. no-sugar-added applesauce
2 tbsp. fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2 packets hot cocoa mix with 20 - 25 calories each (like Swiss Miss Diet or Nestlé Fat Free)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. white chocolate chips, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk brown sugar, Splenda, butter, applesauce, egg substitute, and vanilla extract.

Add flour, cocoa mix, baking powder, and salt, and stir until smooth. Fold in oats, chocolate chips, and chopped white chocolate chips.

Spoon batter onto the sheet in 6 evenly spaced mounds. Use the back of a spoon to spread and flatten into 3-inch circles.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a softie comes out mostly clean, about 10 minutes. Eat up!

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1 softie (1/6th of recipe)
Calories: 164
Fat: 5g
Sodium: 164mg
Carbs: 27.5g
Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 17g
Protein: 3g

PointsPlus® value 4*

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Another recipe found on Pinterest. Seriously... that site is crazy addictive!!!

Original recipe is found at the King Arthur site.

The Little Ladies got me a donut pan for my birthday in June (with the help of their dad), and I finally decided to christen it. Little Lady #2 is down for a nap (which means it's quiet!!), so Little Lady #1 and I went to work!

It was a pretty easy recipe to make. We didn't have pumpkin pie spice, so we used the make-your-own method that's listed. I found that 12-13 minutes was a way better time than the 15-18 that's listed in the recipe. Speaking of... the recipe on Kind Arthur's site doesn't mention an oven temp (at least not that I saw), so I went with the 425 that's listed on the pan. I might try 400 next time though.

Little Lady #1

Place the following in a mixing bowl:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus a heaping 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Beat everything together until smooth.

Add 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, stirring just until smooth.

Lightly grease two standard donut pans. (I only had one pan, so I just kept re-using it)

If you don’t have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a couple of standard muffin tins; they just won’t be doughnuts.

Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full, using a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well; a tablespoon cookie scoop helps with this task. I found 4 scoops per donut well worked well.

If you’re making muffins, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15, so you’ll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans).

Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you’re using self-rising flour, bake for the longer amount of time.

If you’re making muffins, they’ll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar. Or better yet, pumpkin-spice sugar, made by combining the aforementioned pumpkin pie spice (or substitute) with granulated sugar.

If you’ve made muffins, sprinkle their tops heavily with the spiced sugar of your choice.

S'mores Cupcakes with Graham Cracker Buttercream

Who doesn't love s'mores??

My niece's 9th birthday was last month, but her party with her friends is tomorrow. She's having a make-your-own-pizza party - how fun!

I offered to make cupcakes for her party to give her mom a little break on the party planning. I had to find something that was gluten-free since she has Celiac Disease, and also nut-free since so many kids have nut allergies. I didn't want to risk something happening with that at all.

I offered her mom a few choices and this was her pick.

I tweaked the original recipe just a bit. I used a box of King Arthur Gluten-Free chocolate cake mix instead of making a from-scratch cake like the recipe called for, along with GF graham crackers. I'd probably do the same thing if I was making a regular cake. The box I used called for 1 1/3 cups of water (plus eggs and oil), but I used only 1/3 cup of water and 1 cup of sour cream. I think the sour cream adds nice moisture to a cake!

The below recipe is how I made it, and the original can be found here at Your Cup of Cake.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cakes:

2-layer box mix of chocolate cake plus ingredients on back minus 1 cup of water

1 cup of sour cream

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

Graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

Marshmallow Cream Centers:

4 oz cream cheese

½ cup Fluff (marshmallow cream for you non New Englanders)

1 ½ - 2 cups powdered sugar

Graham Cracker Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese

½ cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons whipping cream or milk

mini marshmallows and chocolate for decoration

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners (24).
2. Mix cake mix, ingredients from back of the box and sour cream together in a mixer until fully combined.
3. Spoon ¾ teaspoon of graham cracker crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Shake pan to spread evenly.
4. Fill liners ¾ full and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Mashmallow Cream Centers: Beat cream cheese, marshmallow cream and powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar to taste. This mixture should not be thick like a buttercream, because it will be in the center of your cupcake.
6. When cupcakes are cooled, cut out a small area from the top of the cake and pipe marshmallow cream into each cupcake.
7. Graham Cracker Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and creamy. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and graham cracker crumbs. At this point, the buttercream will look like cookie dough. Add heavy cream a little bit at a time until buttercream consistency is reached.
8. Pipe onto cooled, marshmallow filled cupcakes and top with mini marshmallows and melted chocolate.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Truffle Center and Vanilla Bean Frosting

Found these for my dad's birthday. Added the truffle center that I saw in another cupcake recipe because I'm just that awesome!


This was my first time using a real vanilla bean for something. It has an amazing aroma and was pretty easy to use!

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix

3 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup stout beer

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk
1 vanilla bean

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, oil and beer with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
3. Bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cut an "X" in the top of the cupcakes and insert a truffle into the center. Cool 10 minutes; remove cupcakes from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
4. In medium bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium-low speed until combined. Gradually beat in milk. Cut vanilla bean in half and scrape out seeds. Discard bean; add seeds to frosting. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Pipe or spread frosting on cupcakes.

Original recipe from Betty Crocker.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

Cinnamon Toast Crunch has been in my top 5 cereals for as long as I can remember. The other top choices (in no particular order): Honey Nut Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Frosted Flakes and Total Raisin Bran.


When I saw these cupcakes, I had to pick my jaw off the floor. One of my favorite cereals turned in to a cupcake (this woman also has a Golden Grahams cupcake that's on my list to try).


This is cupcake #3 for the 2nd Annual Cupcake Swap.

Ingredients

Cinnamon Cake:

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil

¾ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup sour cream

Vanilla Cake Mix (not white cake mix)

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

(There used to be cereal pieces in the batter, but that has been removed due to comments saying it's better without it)

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder

(Crush the cereal in a bag and then sift out 2/3 cup)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with 20-22 cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl, gently combine eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla.

3. Mix in sour cream.

4. Add cake mix and cinnamon and mix until smooth.

5. Stir in lightly crushed cereal.

6. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

7. Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Adjust the consistency using milk if it is too thick.

8. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with cinnamon sugar and Cinnamon Toast Crunch squares.

Copyright © YourCupofCake

Andes Mint Cupcakes

This is selection #2 for the 2nd Annual Cupcake Swap. Mint.... chocolate... what's not to love??

Ingredients

Chocolate Cakes:

1 cup sour cream

½ cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

¼ cup water

½ cup buttermilk

Devil’s Food Cake Mix

Chocolate Mint Filling:

1/3 cup chocolate chips

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

¼ cup powdered sugar

Mint Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese

6 tablespoons butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon heavy cream or milk

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

green food coloring

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

2. Using a whisk, mix sour cream, oil and vanilla extract together. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well in between each addition.

3. Alternate adding the cake mix and liquids (buttermilk and water), starting and ending with the cake mix.

4. Fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 14-18 minutes, or until and inserted knife come out clean.

5. Chocolate Mint Filling: Melt chocolate chips and heavy cream together in the microwave or on the stovetop over medium heat. Stir in peppermint extract and powdered sugar.

6. When cupcake come out of the oven, use a squeeze bottle to fill the cupcake with the filling, or use the filling as a ganache and dip the tops of the cakes into it.

7. Mint Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, heavy cream and peppermint extract and beat well. Add green food coloring and stir well

8. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes and top with extra Chocolate Mint Filling and an Andes Mint.

Copyright © YourCupofCake

Chocolate Lemon Cupcakes

Many moons ago, I worked at Dunkin Donuts. My favorite part was finishing and decorating the donuts. It was a chance to be creative in such a non-creative environment. One of my favorite "Manager's Specials" that I would make was the Chocolate Lemon donut. Picture a shell (the kind of donut you fill), filled with lemon custard and topped with chocolate frosting. It was a heavenly combination of sweet and tart all in one bite.


Tomorrow is the 2nd Annual Cupcake Swap for a group of my friends. This is one of the cupcakes I decided to make. Yeah.... I made 3... wanna make something of it??

Ingredients

Lemon Cake:

1 box White Cake Mix

4 egg whites

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup sour cream

zest of 3 lemons

Lemon Glaze:

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1-2 cups powdered sugar

Chocolate Buttercream:

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
2. In a small bowl, sift cake mix to remove any lumps.
3. In a large bowl, gently whisk egg whites, oil, buttermilk, lemon juice, sour cream and lemon zest together.
4. Combine wet ingredients with the cake mix and stir until well combined.
5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
6. Lemon Glaze: Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. The mixture should reach a consistency similar to tomato soup. (I can't think of anything else to liken it unto)
7. Spoon glaze over cupcakes that are nearly cooled and let the glaze set.
8. Buttercream: Beat butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes. Scrape down bowl and add vanilla and cocoa. Slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
9. Pipe buttercream over glazed cupcakes and top with yellow sprinkles or lemon slices. (I topped with Lemon Sprinkles that Pampered Chef used to sell.)

Copyright © YourCupofCake

Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Outrageously Rich Chocolate Indulgence Frosting

I saw these on Pinterest and I have GOT to try them!!! Munchkin 2's 2nd birthday is in a few weeks - I think that's the perfect time to try them out! I try to only put recipes I've made on here, but this one is too good to skip!

Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes
with Outrageously Rich Chocolate Indulgence Frosting

(Recipe from KevinAndAmanda.com)

BROWNIE BATTER

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup milk
1 (18.25 oz) box devil’s food cake mix

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 mins until well combined. Using a small scoop (about 1.5 tbsp) drop batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze overnight.

CUPCAKES

1 (18.25 oz) box devil’s food cake mix
1 (3.9 oz) pkg Jello instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and line with cupcake liners. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips into a very large bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 mins until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Using a large scoop (about 3 tbsp) drop batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 2/3rds full. Remove brownie batter from freezer and press into the cupcake batter. Bake for 22-28 mins. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING

5 sticks butter, softened
8 oz powdered sugar
1.5 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
a pinch of table salt
1.5 cups light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
16 oz milk chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring well every 30 seconds. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa and salt in a food processor and process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl as needed. Add the corn syrup and vanilla and process until just combined, about 5-10 seconds. Scrape the bowl again, then add the melted chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, about 10-15 seconds. You can use a mixer for this too, if you don’t have a food processor, just don’t whip the butter too much! :) 

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.

Makes & frosts 36 cupcakes.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

My niece has Celiac Disease and I'm always on the lookout for yummy recipes for her. My pal, Toby sent this to me and said "it doesn't get much easier than this". I haven't tried it yet, but it's got 4.5 stars on AllRecipes.com so it must be good! I'll be trying this out for E's birthday and see what she thinks about it :-)
If you make it, be sure to let me know what you think of it!

Ingredients

• 4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch round cake pan, and dust with cocoa powder.
2. In the top of a double boiler over lightly simmering water, melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Slices can also be reheated for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave before serving.

Truffle Brownie Cups

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray with flour (see Cook's Tip)

1 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided

2 tbsp butter (do not substitute margarine)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Assorted garnishes such as orange zest, maraschino cherries, toasted sliced almonds and whipped topping (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray cups of Mini-Muffin Pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour. Place 2/3 cup of the chocolate morsels and butter into a microwave safe mixing bowl. Microwave on HIGH 40–60 seconds or until smooth, stirring every 20 seconds. Add sugar and egg to batter bowl; mix until blended. Add flour; mix just until flour is incorporated. Using two teaspoons, divide batter evenly among cups, filling cups about two-thirds full. Using Mini-Tart Shaper, gently tap batter to create level tops. Bake 10–12 minutes or until edges are set. (Do not overbake.)
2. Meanwhile, pour cream into a new microwave saw mixing bowl; microwave on HIGH 1–2 minutes or until hot. Pour remaining chocolate morsels in to hot cream; whisk until smooth. Place bowl into freezer 10–12 minutes or until mixture is cool and starting to thicken, stirring every 5 minutes. Spoon ganache into resealable plastic bag.
3. Remove pan from oven to cooling rack; cool 2 minutes. Press tops of brownies with Mini-Tart Shaper to make indentations. Cool in pan 3 minutes. Carefully remove brownies from pan. Trim corner of bag using a knife or scissors to allow ganache to flow through. Pipe ganache into brownie cups. Garnish as desired.

Cook's Tip: It’s best to use a nonstick cooking spray containing flour when baking these brownie cups. In a pinch, brush wells with melted butter, then sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa using the Flour/Sugar Shaker. Tap out excess cocoa.

Homemade Thin Mints

The homemade version of the famous cookie. 

Super easy and so good!

Thanks to my bud Tasha for sharing this recipe :-)

Ingredients

12 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

1 to 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Ritz crackers

Directions

1. Melt chips in a double boiler or microwave.
2. Add extract.
3. Dip crackers in chocolate and place on wax paper to harden. 

Sugar Cookies

My mom got married on 9/9/07 and I made 88 sugar cookies for her favors. They are so good! I've made them a few times since, and they always come out great!

I made a double batch of dough about a week in advance and stored it in the freezer. I ended up baking them 3 days before the wedding. We put them in clear bags and tied with pretty fall colored ribbon. They were still great the day of the wedding.

Ingredients

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla
or
2 tsp fresh lemon juice and zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup fine sanding sugar, for decorating (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
3. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 325F. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8" thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets; refrigerate until firm, about 15 min. Remove from refrigerator and decorate with sanding sugar if desired. Bake until edges just start to turn brown, 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack. 
5. May be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

S'more Brownies

Original recipe found at Betty Crocker

Ingredients

1 box (1 lb 2.4 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix plus water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box

2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

4 graham crackers, broken into small pieces

2 Hershey's candy bars, broken into 1-inch squares

OR 

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Make brownies as directed. After removing pan from oven, set oven to broil.
2. Immediately sprinkle marshmallows and graham crackers over warm brownies. Broil about 4 to 5 inches from heat 30 to 60 seconds or until marshmallows are golden brown. (Watch carefully marshmallows and graham crackers will brown quickly.) Sprinkle with chocolate candy. 
3. To serve warm, cool about 30 minutes. For brownies, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.

Petite Chocolate Cherry Cheesecakes

Ingredients

24 bite-size, reduced fat double chocolate chip cookies 
8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese 
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg 
1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream 
1/4 cup maraschino cherries (about 14 cherries), well drained, finely chopped 
2 tablespoons mini semisweet chocolate morsels

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Place paper liners in cups of Deluxe Mini Muffin Pan. Place one cookie in each liner.
2. In a small mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Add egg; mix well. Stir in sour cream.
3. Drain cherries on paper towels. Chop finely with knife and drain again on paper towels before stirring into batter. Using a small cookie scoop, top each cookie with rounded scoop of batter; spread evenly. Sprinkle evenly with chocolate morsels.
4. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until filling is almost set. Cool completely in pan. Remove cheesecakes from pan and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Yield: 24 mini cheesecakes

Peppermint Fudge Cookie Sandwiches

Sandwiching a creamy peppermint patty between warm brownie cookies creates an irresistible sweet treat.

Ingredients

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

¼ cup butter

½ cup sugar

1 egg

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup white or semi-sweet chocolate morsels

2 candy canes or 8-10 peppermint hard candies (about ¼ cup crushed)

10-12 mini foil-wrapped peppermint patty candies, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. 
2. Line Large Sheet Pan with a 10-in. sheet of Parchment Paper. Combine chocolate morsels and butter inClassic Batter Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 40-60 seconds or until smooth, stirring after each 20-second interval using Classic Scraper. Add sugar and egg to batter bowl; mix until well blended. Add flour; mix just until flour is incorporated. Using Small Scoop, drop 20 level scoops of batter, 1 in. apart, onto pan. Bake 9-11 minutes or until edges are set. Do not overbake.
3. Meanwhile, place candy canes into resealable plastic bag; crush using flat side of Meat Tenderizer and set aside. Place white chocolate morsels into Small Micro-Cooker®; microwave, uncovered, on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until melted and smooth, stirring once. Set aside.
4. Remove sheet pan from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack. Immediately turn over half of the cookies using Mini-Serving Spatula; top with peppermint patties and remaining cookies to form 10 sandwiches. Drizzle chocolate over cookies and immediately sprinkle with crushed candies. Transfer to platter. Line pan with additional parchment and scoop with remaining batter. Bake 9-10 minutes. Assemble as directed above.