Bourbon or Rum Pecan Pie ~ by D'Lynn

Ingredients: 
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 to 2 cups pecan halves
2 tablespoons good-quality bourbon or rum
1 (9-inch) deep-dish pie shell, unbaked

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, eggs, pecans, and bourbon (I used Capt Morgan's Rum), and stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into an unbaked pie shell (I used premade, frozen, Marie Callendar's) and place on a heavy-duty cookie sheet. Place a guard over the pastry edges, or use foil to prevent them from overcooking. Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and continue to bake for an additional 30 minutes, uncover the pastry edges and bake another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Congo Bars ~ by Sarah

Aunt Janet made these for a family reunion last weekend and they were amazing!  Kind of like a chocolate chip cookie, but in a bar form.  She used chocolate chips and mint green chips, but I couldn't find any, so I used butterscotch with the chocolate.  Still delicious!

Ingredients:

2 3/4 c. flour

2 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2/3 c. butter-flavored Crisco, melted

2 1/3 c. brown sugar

3 eggs

1/2 bag chocolate chips

1/2 bag peanut butter, butterscotch, or mint chips

Directions:

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.  Set aside.  In large bowl, cream melted Crisco and brown sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Gradually mix in the dry ingredients and mix well.  Add in chips and stir gently.  Bake in a 9x13-inch pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Cool completely before cutting.

Tips: These will dry out quickly, so don't make them too far in advance and don't cut them until it's time to serve them.  Also, watch them carefully as they bake--you don't want them overdone!

M&M Cookie Cake ~ by Sarah

I found this on Pinterest and it is SO good!  Very easy and very, very good.  I recommend adding the butterscotch chips like I did.  They totally make it!

1 c. + 1 T. all-purpose flour
1/4 t. baking soda
3/4 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 c. M&M's (I did 1/2 cup and a 1/2 cup butterscotch chips--SO good!)

Preheat oven to 325.  Cream butter and sugar. Add in egg and vanilla and blend. Then combine flour and baking soda--mix until completely incorporated. Fold in the M&M's. Dump into a greased 9.5″ pie pan and bake for 25-30 mins.  Cool, cut into cookie pie slices, and enjoy!

(Not my picture.)

Homemade Cream Cheese Mints~by Kelsey

I found this on Pinterest.  Very quick and easy and good!  I made them plain, but there are all sorts of variations. 
 
http://kelleyhighway.blogspot.com/2012/03/homemade-cream-cheese-mints.html


Ingredients:

1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon pure peppermint or mint extract

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

(Optional) Food coloring

(Optional) Rainbow-colored sugar crystals

Line baking sheets with waxed paper. 

In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer beat together softened cream cheese and peppermint extract.  This is a good time to add the food coloring if you want.

 

Add powdered sugar gradually and beat until smooth, kneading in the last of the powdered sugar with hands or a heavy spoon.

 

 Lightly dust the wax paper-lined baking sheets with sifted powdered sugar.

 

Using a 1/2-teaspoon measuring spoon, form mixture into balls the size of a cherry.

 

 Place two rows of dough balls 1/2-inch or so apart, then flatten with a pretty stamp or a fork, like I do.  If you'll lay out a couple rows first, by the time you're ready to roll out the third row, the tops of the dough balls are dry enough to flatten easily without having to dip and re-dip the fork in powdered sugar.

 

 Let the mints stand overnight.  Every several hours, gently turn them over.

 

Follow the link I posted to see all the different variations.

Molasses Cookies ~ by Sarah

At Christmas, Cody's girlfriend Sarabeth gave us all a bowl of these delicious cookies as part of our gifts.  They are amazing and addictive!  She told me that they contain quite a bit of butter.  My favorite!  No wonder they're so good!

Ingredients:
1 egg
3/4 c. melted butter
1/4 c. molasses
1 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. ginger
1 t. cinnamon

Directions:
Mix butter, molasses, egg, and sugar, then add dry ingredients. Roll into balls, then drop in a bowl of sugar. Bake 350 for 8 minutes.

*Note from Sarabeth: The trick I have found is that sometimes even 8 mins is too long (unless you like them crunchy, more like a ginger snap then a soft cookie). I sometimes watch the first batch, then set the timer to when they are just barely baked and still rising - once they fall in the oven they become the crunchy kind. Enjoy!

Craig Olson's Peanut Butter Balls~by Kelsey

We were introduced to these by Craig Olson at our volunteer fire fighter bbq.  They are to DIE for, and we were lucky enough that he made us another batch at Christmas time AND included the recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups peanut butter (crunchy is best)
1 lb powdered sugar
3 cups Rice Crispies
Mix well.  Using your hands, roll into balls about 1 inch across in size.
Dip them in the following after melting in a double boiler:
1/2 bar parafin
8 ox Hershey bar
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

I have actually never made these myself, so I have no idea how difficult it is or how long it takes.  And, we forgot to take a picture before we ate them all.

German Chocolate Fudge~by Kelsey

 I got this recipe here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/german-chocolate-fudge/
It's REALLY good, although it did cost me $10 just for the German Chocolate.  But, it makes a lot and everyone will love it.  I omit the nuts when I make it.

Ingredients: 

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 

12 (1 ounce) squares German sweet chocolate 

1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme  

4 1/2 cups white sugar 

2 tablespoons butter  
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk  
1/8 teaspoon salt  
2 cups chopped pecans

1. Combine chocolate chips, German sweet chocolate and marshmallow creme in large bowl.
2. Combine sugar, butter, evaporated milk and salt in heavy skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Pour hot syrup over chocolate mixture. Stir with wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in pecans.
4. Spread into buttered 10x15 inch pan. Let stand until firm; cut into squares.

Green Apple Dip~by Kelsey

From the Bring 'Em On Home cook book.

Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese
Jar of marshmallow cream
Granny Smith apples, cut into wedges

Mix the cream cheese and marshmallow cream.  Dip the apples or other fruits. 

Strawberry Jell-O Cake

I found this on the Kraft website, but I was looking for it because I had this cake years ago at a friend's baby shower and I loved it.  Plus, I had lots of fresh strawberries from our yard to use!  So easy and so delicious!

Ingredients:
1 white cake mix
1 c. boiling water
1 package (3 oz.) Strawberry Jell-O
1/2 c. cold water
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed

Directions:
Prepare cake as directed in 9x13-inch pan.  Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes.  Pierce cake with large fork at 1/2-inch intervals.  Add boiling water to gelatin mix in small bowl; stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved.  Stir in cold water; pour over cake.  Refrigerate 3 hours.  Frost with Cool Whip.  Refrigerate 1 hour.  Top with fresh strawberries, if desired.

Kraft picture--I forgot.  I topped mine with fresh strawberries, so it was pretty!

Low-Fat Pistachio JELL-O Salad~by Kelsey

This recipe was on the box of Pistachio JELL-O.  They called it "Watergate Salad".  It was really good and quick and easy.

Ingredients:
1 pkg (4-serving size)  JELL-O Pistachio flavor fat free sugar free
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 cup vanilla low fat yogurt (I used non-fat greek yogurt)
2 1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP whipped topping

Stir dry pudding mix, pineapple and yogurt in large bowl until well blended.  Gently stir in 2 cups of the whipped topping.  Cover and refrigerate at least one hour.  Serve topped with remaining whipped topping.

Lime Jello~by Kelsey

I found this recipe in my new Bring 'Em On Home cookbook.  It's all family-favorite recipes from rodeo cowboys and their families.  It's a really great cookbook!  This recipe was a bit ambiguous.  It called for "x-large" packages so I had to do some experimenting to get the right sizes.  I am writing it down with the sizes that I had success with.

Ingredients:
29 oz can of pears
8 oz cream cheese
6 oz lime jello
8 oz Cool Whip

Drain the pear juice into a cooking pan.  On the stove over medium heat, stir and dissolve the Jello into the pear juice, then cool off a little.  In a blender, blend pears and cream cheese.  In a medium-sized glass pan, combine the Jello mixture with the pear mixture and then fold in cool whip.  Let set in the refrigerator.

Peanut butter-filled brownie cupcakes~by Kelsey

I recently found this recipe in the Country magazine.  And I immediately tried it out.  It was very easy and delicious.  I ended up with about 15 cupcakes, plus had enough filling left over to make a whole cupcake out of just the peanut butter filling!

Ingredients:
1 pkg fudge brownie mix (you will also need the ingredients listed on the back, usually just eggs and oil)
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I used regular size)
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3 Tbsp cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Prepare brownie batter according to package directions, stir in chocolate chips.  For filling, in a small bowl, beat peanut butter, cream cheese, egg and sugar until smooth.  Fill paper-lined muffin cups one third full with batter.  Drop filling by teaspoonfuls into the center of each cupcake.  Cover with remaining batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing.  Dust tops with confectioners sugar.  Store in refrigerator.

Fudge~by Kelsey

From allrecipes.com.  It works best to double the recipe and put it in a 9X13 pan.

Ingredients:
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Place the chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter in large microwave-safe bowl.  Zap in microwave on medium until chips are melted, about 3-5 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking.  Stir in nuts, if desired.  Pour into well-greased 8X8 glass baking dish.  Refrigerate until set.

No-Bake Chocolate Truffle Pie ~ by Sarah

Molly made me this pie years ago and I insisted that she write the recipe down for me. I remembered it the other day and made it. It was delicious!

Ingredients:
3/4 c. (about 17) caramels
1/4 c. evaporated milk
1 1/2 c. (one regular-sized bag) chocolate chips
1 c. whipping cream
3 T. butter
1 prepared chocolate crumb crust (Fred Meyer was out, so I had to improvise my own...it didn't work out so well.  I recommend that you try to buy one!)

Directions:
Melt caramels and milk together over low heat.  Pour in crust.  Melt other ingredients together.  Pour over caramel mixture.  Refrigerate until set (about 4 hours).  Serve with whipped topping.  (I bought extra whipping cream and whipped it up for the topping.  I didn't add sugar because this pie is rich, so the more bland whipping cream is a nice balance.

I forgot to take a picture and I remembered as I began eating the last slice the next day!

Peanut Butter Corn Flake Cookies~by Kelsey

 These are super good.  Seriously.  And so easy.

1 cup sugar
1 cup karo syrup
1/2 stick butter
Stir until blended, then let come to a boil and boil for 45 seconds
add:
1 cup peanut butter
7 cups corn flakes

Drop by spoon full onto wax paper OR press into a jelly roll pan.  Let them harden, and enjoy!

Chango Bars~by Grace

This recipe came from the 1st/2nd grade classroom at Centerville Elementary.  They read a book about a real Mexican-Jewish-American bakery, Los Bagels Bakery and Cafe, in Arcata, CA.  This recipe was in the book, and Grace brought it home to try out.  It was simple and good.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine (Grace used butter Crisco)
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 1/3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup mixed nuts (Grace left these out)


Melt butter and margarine.  While it is melting, cream brown sugar and eggs, then add melted butter and margarine.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and stir into sugar mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.  Pour mixture into greased 9 X13 pan and bake 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees.

JELL-O Cake ~ by Kelsey

I found this recipe on Tastebook.com.  It calls for black cherry jello, but you could use strawberry, raspberry, etc.  It's an easy cake that isn't too sweet since you use cool whip for frosting.  Also, I used sugar-free jello.

 Ingredients:
2 baked (9 inch)round white cakes (I used a white cake mix)
2 cups boiling water
2 packages (.3 oz each) JELL-O Black Cherry flavor
1 tub (8 oz) cool whip

• PLACE cakes, top-sides up, in clean 9-inch round baking pans; pierce tops with large fork at ½-inch intervals.
• ADD boiling water to gelatin mixes; stir at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Pour over cakes. Refrigerate 3 hours.
• DIP bottom of 1 pan in warm water 10 sec.; unmold cake onto serving plate. Spread with 1 cup COOL WHIP. Unmold second cake; place on first cake. Frost with remaining COOL WHIP. Refrigerate 1 hour. Keep refrigerated.
  
  

Elegant Dessert ~ by Sarah

This comes from the Pioneer Cookbook--the one from the North Powder residents.  Make this and you will be the most popular person at the event you take it to.  Trust me.  It's a requirement at any Anderson Thanksgiving.  Jordan, Matt, and Andy threaten to steal it as soon as I arrive.  It's heaven on a plate!

Ingredients:
1 cube butter
1 c. flour
1 3/4 c. chopped nuts*
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
9 oz. Cool Whip
1 small package chocolate pudding
1 small package vanilla pudding
3 c. milk
1 t. vanilla

*I hate nuts so I never use them in this recipe.  (Which makes Mom crazy.)  If you don't put the nuts in the crust, you will need to 1 1/2 the crust--1 1/2 cubes of butter and 1 1/2 c. of flour.

Directions:
Mix butter, flour, and 1 cup nuts (if you want them).  Spread in 13x9-inch pan.  Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool completely.  Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1 cup Cool Whip together.  Spread over crust.  Mix 2 pudding mixes, milk, and vanilla.  Beat until it starts to thicken.  Pour over cream cheese layer and chill.  Spread remaining Cool Whip on pudding layer and sprinkle with nuts.  (Since I don't sprinkle it with nuts, I grate chocolate and sprinkle it on the top.)

*I am crying right now over the fact that there were no leftovers of this!  Only one piece was enjoyed by me!

The Best Frosting. Ever. ~ by Sarah

This is the best frosting.  Ever.  Just ask Kelsey--she has been eating it by the spoonful all day.  (I sent it to her house so she would eat it instead of me.  That's the kind of sister I am.)

This came from www.tastykitchen.com.  (It's the Pioneer Woman's recipe sharing site.)  This stuff is out of this world!  It's weird because of the flour, but, trust me, it's amazing!

Ingredients:
5 Tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!)

Directions:
Bake your favorite chocolate cake and let it cool.

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Milky Way Cake ~ by Sarah

My co-worker, MaryRuth, has brought this cake to school a few times and I am always eager to enjoy it!  It takes 11, yes 11, Milky Way bars to make it!  It is delicious!

Ingredients:
Cake:
8 Milky Way bars (full size)
2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Frosting:
3 Milky Way bars
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Cake:
Melt over medium heat 1 cube butter and 8 Milky Way bars.  With mixer cream 1 cube of butter and sugar.  Add eggs.  Combine soda and flour, then add to sugar mixture.  Mix in buttermilk.  Add melted candy bars.  Bake in greased and floured bundt cake pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Frosting:
Melt Milky Way bars and butter over medium heat.  Add milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar.  Pour over warm cake.

Please excuse the crummy cell phone picture.  Trust me--it's pretty and delicious!