Trash Brownies

Alright I'll be honest, I don't really know what happened here. These brownies are pretty ridiculous. It's kind of like all the garbage food you should not be eating, loosely held together by a brownie. Guys the topping is literally crushed potato chips smothered in chocolate and peanut butter. What's in the brownie batter you ask? Two different kinds of candy bars, chocolate covered pretzels, and more potato chips. These brownies should be illegal. They are up there with the hot dog pizza from Pizza Hut (okay maybe not THAT bad). But you know what, I can't even feel bad because they are really really good and if I want to put potato chips in my brownies I'm gonna do it OKAY. And don't you dare feel bad when you eat multiple in one sitting because you deserve it!!

Trash Brownies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cups flour
• 3 carmello bars, chopped
• 2 Rocky Road Snickers bars, chopped
• 1/2 bag Flipz chocolate covered pretzels
• 1/2 cup potato chips

Topping

• 1 cup potato chips
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peanut butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8x8 in pan with foil and an overhang.
2. Melt the butter and sugar in a large bowl in the microwave for one minute until the butter is melted.
3. Stir together well, then beat in the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla.
4. Beat in the eggs.
5. Stir in the flour until combined.
6. Spread half of the batter into prepared pan, then evenly distribute the chopped candy bars, pretzels and chips.
7. Spread the rest of the batter on top.
8. Bake for about 25 minutes until toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Set aside to cool.
9. After the brownies have cooled, melt the peanut butter and chocolate chips in the microwave for one minute.
10. Stir in chips and then spread on top of brownies.
11. Cool in refrigerator until topping is set, then cut into bars, put on your fuzzy socks, grab your spoon and ice cream, and go eat a couple of these in front of the t.v. It is not sinful I promise.

Good O'l Grannies Birthday Cake :)

So as we all know I am a giant lover of bananas. But I am not the only one in the family who is fond of the super fruit.My grandma enjoys munching on bananas almost as much as I do (I had to get my craziness for them somewhere). But this can cause some controversy when she stays with us, because I am a bit of a freak about my bananas. I have the kind of OCD where I get super anxious if I run out of foods I eat on a daily basis or cooking supplies. You do NOT want to see me when I run out of flour, it is ugly. This causes me to do crazy things like buy 20 bunches of bananas at once, or even hide a few (yes I know it's sad). Last year for my grandmas birthday I made her a hummingbird cake that she adored. Hummingbird cakes are a southern tradition that include pineapple, pecans, and you guessed it, bananas. 3 ENTIRE bananas. That's right, I love my grandma so much that I sacrificed 3 of my bananas for her scrumptious cake :). The combination of banana pineapple and pecans makes for a very delicious and moist cake, complimented by a great cream cheese frosting.

Hummingbird Cake

• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup pecans, chopped and toasted
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped pineapple
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil

 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line three 8 inch pans with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on high speed until thick and light (about 5 minutes).
4. Slowly add in the canola oil, then gradually add in the flour mixture, creating a thick batter.
5. Fold in the pecans, pineapple, and bananas, then evenly spread the batter into the prepared pans.
6. Bake for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool cakes, then remove from pans to cool completely before leveling and frosting.

 Cream cheese Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 5-6 powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

 Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
2. Mix in the vanilla.
3. Slowly add in the powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.
4. After cooling and leveling the cakes, fill and frost them with the cream cheese frosting.

Trifle of Gloom

Welp. This is it. Summer is over. Anddddd I am extremely depressed. I am in no way prepared to go back to being slumped in a desk for 7 hours in a freezing cold classroom. 5. DAYS. A. WEEK. School is just a politically correct term for "jail for children". Adults always say "is it really that bad?". Yes. It is THAT bad. Dumb boys, cruel girls, and teachers who have it in their head that they are somehow SO much better than you will ever be. The only tiny little ray of light I have is that it is my senior year. My other source of comfort, is this trifle. I needed something to help my gloomy mood, and to say fair well to this much too short summer. To start off I made my favorite brownies. Then I whipped up some cream and added half to some chocolate pudding and the other half to a peanut butter cream cheese mixture. Then the glorious layers started to take shape, with brownies on the bottom, then the peanut butter mousse, then oreos and chocolate covered pretzels and repeat. Truly truly delicious, and the ultimate comfort. I am definitely still depressed, but fuzzy socks and a bowl of this stuff are slowly helping.

Trifle of Gloom

• 1 batch of your favorite brownies, cut into little squares (or the brownie recipe used here)
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 package chocolate pudding, prepared (it will ask for about 1 cup of milk)
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 8 oz whipped cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar, divided
• 1 cup chopped oreos
• 1 cup chopped chocolate covered pretzels

Instructions

1. Add your cream and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until you have stiff peaks.
2. Add about 1/3 of your whipped cream to your prepared chocolate pudding.
3. Stir in 1 cup of powdered sugar to the pudding and then set aside.
4. In a medium bowl mix together the cream cheese, peanut butter, and powdered sugar.
5. Fold in another 1/3 of your whipped cream.
6. Grab your trifle bowl and assemble by placing brownie squared on the bottom, then the peanut butter mixture, oreos and pretzels, chocolate pudding, and repeat until you have used all your ingredients ending with the chocolate pudding. Then decorate the top with the left over whipped cream and any leftover oreos, pretzels, and brownies.

Twix Double Cookie Dough Bars

My mom does this thing where every single time she eats something new I make, she goes "omg this is my favorite". And I always tell her "mom you can't say that every time or else I will never know what is actually good!". But then she will say something like "well I can't help that it get's better every single time" so I let her off the hook. But this time, she must of been telling the truth because these bars are serious HEAVEN.

                           It's a chocolate chip cookie dough... combined with a chocolate cookie dough...

                                                   with a caramel twix cheesecake filling.

                   What the dang heck why are you not making these right now GET GOING!!!

Twix Double Cookie Dough Bars

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla 
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips

 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line an 8x8 pan with foil and overhang.
2. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla until combined.
4. Slowly add in the flour, then fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Remove dough from bowl and place in the refrigerator while making the chocolate cookie dough.

Chocolate Cookie Dough

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 unsweetened natural dark cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda

 Instructions

1.  Cream together the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the remaining ingredients on low speed until combined.
3. Roll out the chocolate cookie dough into a 9x13 inch rectangle.
4. Take the chocolate chip cookie dough from the fridge and drop one inch pieces on top of the chocolate cookie dough.
5. Roll the chocolate chip cookie dough into the chocolate cookie dough, then set aside while making the cheesecake filling.

Caramel Cheesecake Filling

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup caramels
•  1 tbsp. heavy cream
• 16 Twix bars

Instructions

1. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
2. Melt the caramel and cream for one minute in the microwave until smooth.
3. Pour caramel into cream cheese mixture.
4. Take about 2/3 of your rolled out cookie dough and spread into prepared pan.
5. Place your Twix on top of the cookie dough layer, then pour the cheesecake filling over the twix.
6. Take the remaining dough and drop 1 inch pieces on top of cheesecake layer.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes until set, then cool in the refrigerator before cutting into AMAZING FABULOUS BARS :)

MJ Brownies

So my cute little cousins are in town from Texas, and yesterday they went out with my mom to go see our horse. I am telling you they are the most adorable three boys that ever walked this planet. Talk about personality. The oldest is 5 and oh my is he going to be trouble. And each of them are going to be heart breakers no doubt. When I heard they were coming I of course had to have some treats for them, so I thought "oh I know, I'll make my favorite! Crack brownies!". But it didn't really seem right to give three little boys some brownies and tell them its crack. So instead of just leaving out the crack part, how about we change them up a bit and give them a completely different name! Genius, I know. Crack brownies are made of a brownie bottom, marshmallow peanut and Reese's middle, with a crunchy rice krispie peanut butter topping (OMG IKR). So all I did was remove the marshmallows and add in a cream cheese frosting filling instead (YES OMG IK).

 Boom. MJ brownies are born. Short for Mary Jane. I can just tell the boys I named them after one of my dear old friends ;).

MJ Brownies

Brownies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cups flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8x8 in pan with foil and an overhang.
2. Melt the butter and sugar in a large bowl in the microwave for one minute until the butter is melted.
3. Stir together well, then beat in the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla.
4. Beat in the eggs.
5. Stir in the flour until combined, then spread into prepared pan.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Set aside to cool.

Cream cheese filling

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup chopped peanuts
• 1 cup chopped reeses

Instructions

1. Beat together the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl.
2. Add in the vanilla, then slowly mix in the powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.
3. Spread this over the brownie layer, then top with the peanuts and reeses. 
4. Place in the freezer for about 20 minutes to cool.

Krispie Topping

• 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Instructions

1. Melt the peanut butter and chocolate chips in a medium bowl for one minute in the microwave.
2. Stir in the cereal.
3. Spread over the cream cheese layer, then cool in the fridge before cutting into bars!

My Wonderful Mother's Birthday Cake :)

It's finally official. I am the winner. I get the award for worst daughter ever. I didn't make my mom a birthday cake. I do have a few lame excuses, like that we were in Chicago the actual day of her birthday and my Aunt Lori told me she had a cake for her. But I am THE QUEEN of birthday cakes. I do not care who you are or what you are doing you deserve to have your favorite cake for your birthday. The worst part is, I didn't even realize I didn't make my mom a cake until she said "Cailin you didn't make me a birthday cake this year" and  then my heart shattered into a million pieces as I came to the conclusion that I honestly suck. So even though it was a week and a half late, I got my little toosh in the kitchen and made her favorite lemon berry cake. It turned out lovely and beautiful and lite just like my mother :).

Lemon Berry Cake

Lemon Cake

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp. baking powder
• 1.2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• juice from 2 lemons
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Instructions

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line three 8' cake pans with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well.
5. Add in vanilla, then 1/3 of the flour mixture.
6. Stir in the lemon juice and zest.
7. Add in half of the remaining flour and then the buttermilk.
8. Mix in the rest of the flour and then evenly pour into prepared pans.
9. Bake for about 25 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Raspberry Filling

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups raspberries, divided

Instructions

1. Whip the cream and brown sugar until stiff peaks form.
2. Stir in vanilla.
3. Mash up 1 cup of the raspberries and then fold into the cream.
4. After the cakes have cooled and you have leveled them, fill each layer with this frosting.

Lemon Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add in the lemon zest and juice, then slowly add in the powdered sugar until your desired consistency is reached.
3. Use this frosting to frost the outside of your cake!