Gluten Free Pizza Cookie

I had a request for some gluten-free recipes, so I did some lookin on the internet and this is one that I found.


Ingredients:
4 cups Rice Chex®, Corn Chex®, Chocolate Chex®, Honey Nut Chex® or Cinnamon Chex® cereal
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons honey roasted peanuts
1 Betty Crocker® Fruit Roll-Ups® chewy fruit snack (any red variety), torn into pieces

Directions:
1.Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with rolling pin or meat mallet.
2.In large bowl, mix sugars, peanut butter, butter, egg and vanilla. Stir in crushed cereal. Spread in ungreased 12-inch pizza pan.
3.Bake 12 minutes. Sprinkle evenly with marshmallows to within 1 inch of edge. Bake 5 minutes longer or until marshmallows are light golden brown. Sprinkle chocolate chips, peanuts and fruit snack pieces over marshmallows to look like pizza toppings. Cool completely on cooling rack. Cut into 16 wedges. Store tightly covered.

This tasted good, but was WAY crispy....I'm thinkin the heat on the oven is too hot, so maybe try 350 and check it after 10 minutes. I love the idea of a cookie pizza and if you wanted to make it so it wasn't gluten free, just make a peanut butter cookie recipe, and cook it the same way.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I had a request for this recipe so here we go:

3/4 C flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 c butter
1/4 c peanut butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
1 egg
1/4 t vanilla

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and stir well. Add the dry ingredients and stir until blended. Roll dough into balls. Dip in sugar and place sugar side up on the cookie sheet. Press with fork. Bake at 375* for 10-13 minutes.

What I did differently: I added probably a 1/4 cup more of flour. The batch that did first, I pressed with a fork and they turned out kinda thin....still soft, but thin. (I like fat thick cookies!) So after that I actually forgot to flatten them and they turned out just the way I like. I also think that letting the dough sit for a few minutes-10 or so- helps them to bake the way I like. This recipe doesn't make a whole lot....it is out of my cooking for 2 cook book, so if you are needing a large batch, double it!

Peanut Butter Dips

Can you ever go wrong with Peanut Butter and Chocolate???!!!! I think not, so I decided to dip my peanut butter cookies in some dark chocolate and it was delish!!! Plus it gives simple peanut butter cookies a more elegant appearnance.

White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

I have been eyeing these for a long time (I love that this blog is reason enough for me to try all these new recipes!) They were in the Kraft Food magazine. They were so good! Definantly a must try recipe!

Recipe:
12 OREO Cookies, finely crushed
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
3 squares BAKER'S White Chocolate, divided
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 cup red raspberry preserves

HEAT oven to 350ºF. Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 8- or 9-inch square pan. Melt 2 chocolate squares as directed on package.

BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add melted chocolate; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

BAKE 25 to 28 min. or until center is almost set. Cool 5 min.; spread with preserves. Melt remaining chocolate square; drizzle over cheesecake. Cool cheesecake completely. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Kraft Kitchens Tips Healthy Living: Save 60 calories and 7 grams of fat per serving by preparing with Reduced Fat OREO Cookies, PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese and egg whites.

I used the Neufchatel Cheese, but made the rest the original way. I also used the Smuckers sugar free (sweetened with splenda) raspberry preserves, which is sooooo good! It has such a strong natural raspberry taste!

On the Lighter Side

Did any of you see the "commercial" the other night on Biggest Loser for the Yoplait smoothie mixes? They looked so good so I had to try one. But when I was making it, I disected it first because I was sure there was a cheaper way to make it. So what I found was about 9 little yogurt pieces and a cup or so of fruit. I put yogurt in an ice cube tray, filling them about half way and froze them. (See pic below!)

Then I just got a bag of assorted fruit and made a smoothie! I ended up using only 6 yogurt chunks.

Recipe:
6 Frozen yogurt chunks (I used vanilla yogurt, but any kind would be great)
1 cup of frozen fruit
1 Cup milk

Neely's Cookies and Cream Cake

I was sooo excited to try this recipe. All things I love put together....and you can't go wrong with oreo anythng! And it was good!

Recipe:
Cooking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups finely crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies
Cookies and Cream Cheese Icing, recipe follows

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray 2 (9-inch) cake pans with cooking spray and dust with flour.

In a large bowl, using a hand-held mixer, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs and egg yolk, 1 at a time, and beat until well mixed, then add in the melted butter and combine. Next, add the buttermilk and beat until smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the crumbled cookies and beat until incorporated.

Pour the batter evenly into the cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool, on a rack, in the pans for 5 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto a rack and let cool completely. Frost with Cookies and Cream Cheese Icing and serve.

Cookies and Cream Cheese Icing:

1 stick butter, softened
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups finely crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies

(This recipe made a TON of frosting!)

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the salt and vanilla. Add in the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until smooth. Beat in the crumbled cookies. Frost the chocolate cookie cake when the cake has cooled.

So this is the recipe off line, but I cheated with the cake....I just got a milk chocolate cake mix and mixed the oreos in it it. I used margerine and I used fat free cream cheese. (Save calories where you can right!!) I also think that just a plain vanilla can of frosting that you buy with the oreos mixed in it would be equally as delicious.