Lemon Glazed Butter Cookies

So, these are the cookies that my friend and RS President, Holly, brought to a recent RS event. They are melt-in-your-mouth good, and perfect for Spring! Enjoy!

Lemon-Glazed Butter Cookies

1 c unsalted butter, softened
1/3 c confectioners' sugar
1 c flour
2/3 c cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350. Beat together butter and confectioners sugar with electric mixer on medium speed for 1 minute. Sift together flour and cornstarch. Add to butter and sugar mixture. Blend until dough is soft, about 1 minute. Drop by teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack.

Glaze (make half a recipe)

2 1/2 c confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 c butter, melted
2 T fresh lemon juice

Combine 2 1/2 c confectioners' sugar, melted butter, and lemon juice. While cookies are still warm, mound 1/2 t icing on each. Icing will melt. Cool cookies. Makes 3 dozen 

image credit

Death By Chocolate

(Yeah, I'm all over the name of this recipe. What a way to go!)  This recipe got raves at a recent RS Christmas Dinner here. I am now sharing it with you. Because I refuse to be the only one with a big butt.

Death By Chocolate

1 Devils Food cake mix (bake per directions)
2 small boxes Jello instant pudding
1 12 ounce carton Cool Whip
6 Skor candy bars - crushed (Heath bars can be substituted)
1 Hershey chocolate bar - grated

This is enough to make three layers in your container.

♥  Make the cake - let it cool
♥  Mix the pudding.
♥  Crumble part of the cake into the bottom of the bowl.
♥  Pour a layer of pudding over the top
♥  Put a layer of Cool Whip on top - sprinkle some of the Skor candy bits.
♥  Repeat these layers 2 or 3 times - depending on the size of the dish.
♥  Sprinkle crushed Skor bar and grated chocolate on top.
♥  Refrigerate.

It looks pretty in a clear glass dish where you can see the layers. Use a trifle bowl if you have one.

picture credit

Pumpkin Cookies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebekah reminded me that I haven't posted this recipe here yet. This one is a favorite at my house.  I'm already a big fan of pumpkin cookies, but this recipe makes me sing! Fast, easy, take the ingredients right out of the pantry, and yummy!  But, best of all - a ONE point treat!!

 

Pumpkin Cookies

1 box spice cake mix
1 (15 oz. ) can pumpkin
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Combine together. Drop by spoonful on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 18-20 minutes. Makes 3 dozen cookies. 1 point each. (woo-hoo!)

*Hints:

I have found that using name-brand ingredients counts here. I made these once using generic brands, and I'm sorry...they just weren't as good! Here's what I use:

♦  Libby's canned pumpkin
♦  Guittard milk chocolate chips
♦  Duncan Hines (or any of the other name-brands) cake mix

Cookies and Cream Dessert

WARNING: This dessert may contain substances of an addictive nature. Eat responsibly.

This is the dessert my friend, Katie K. brought to Isaac's Baby Blessing. The whole family stood around the bowl, taking a spoonful and smacking it on their tongues to determine the ingredients. "Hmmm...there's a hint of vanilla....and yet the creamy texture would suggest...." I actually saw someone drinking a cupful! Well, here's the recipe. Thanks Katie!

Cookies and Cream Dessert

2 small (3.4 oz) packages vanilla pudding
2 cups milk
2 (8 oz) containers extra creamy whipping cream or 1 lb. whipped cream frosting from the supermarket bakery
1 pkg Oreo cookies, crushed

Wisk vanilla pudding and milk together. Stir in whipping cream then add crushed oreos and stir. Refrigerate.

If you let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, the cookies get nice and soft.

Applesauce Cake

I was looking for something quick and easy to make and found this recipe. Chris doesn't care much for cakes (which is why we had cheesecake at our wedding instead of the traditional wedding cake), but he likes this cake...and volunteered to go to the store at a horrendous hour to buy more ingredients...

1 yellow cake mix
2 c. applesauce
3 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle in greased Bundt pan, coating pan well. Save unused cinnamon-sugar mixture. Combine cake mix, applesauce, and eggs. Pour half of the batter into Bundt pan. Add the rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of batter. Add the rest of the batter on top of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 38 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes and turn out. Serve with a little whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top.

Tastes good hot or cold. Enjoy!

Recipes to Remember: Rogers Arkansas Stake RS Cookbook 2001, p. 176

Strawberry Cream Crepes

Back in high school, I took a gourmet cooking class -- funnest class ever! I still  make some of the recipes from that class; here's one of them... Perfect for Spring. Perfect for strawberry season. Perfect for breakfast or a fancy dessert! This is an easy recipe that gets me lots of 'yums!' Enjoy.

 Strawberry Cream Crepes

12 crepes

2 pints sliced strawberries

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1   3 oz. package of cream cheese

1 cup whipping cream

sugar to taste

Prepare crepes using your favorite recipe. Toss the strawberries with the 1/4 cup of sugar and set aside. With a hand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Slowly beat in whipping cream until smooth and thick, but not stiff. Add sugar to desired sweetness.

Place a some cream in each crepe and roll up. Chill. Serve strawberries over the crepes.

Hints:

♦  I double this recipe, especially if company's coming over.

♦ Use a *hand* mixer, not a stand mixer for this recipe.

♦  Sometimes we like strawberries inside the crepes, too.

♦  I've seen this recipe done with chocolate crepes. 
    Oo-la-la! Try it!

picture credit

John's "Man" Cookies

 

Step back chocolate chip! Sugar cookie -- tremble in fear! Brownies? You're going down!  John's "Man" Cookies are in the house! :-)

John loves oatmeal raisin cookies, but doesn't see them very often around our house, 'cause Katie and I aren't big fans. Well, one day he had enough. He took over the kitchen and made some big beefy oatmeal fellas -- not only with raisins, but chocolate chips *and* pecans too! These are rugged, chunky...and delicious!

John's Man Cookies

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1  1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375°. Mix all ingredients except oats, flour, and raisins. Stir in oats, flour and raisins. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until light brown, about 10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Get these cookies away from me. For reals.  These are so good! I can't think of a better way to get me off my weight watchin' plan.  It's the whole peanut-buttery, milk-chocolatey kissy, slightly crispy sugary thing that gets me. Every time. I'm gonna type out this recipe for you, and then go get my workout clothes on.   See ya!

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

makes 37 cookies

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1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 9 ounce package milk chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Cream the peanut butter, sugar, butter, and brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Sift the salt, baking soda and flour together. Combine with the wet mixture. Shape into balls; dip into additional white sugar.

Flatten balls with a fork. Bake 8 minutes, remove from oven and press a chocolate kiss into each cookie. Return to oven; bake another 3 minutes.
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Hints:

♥  We put the additional sugar in a ziploc storage bags and toss 3-4 dough balls around in there at a time.

♥  Flatten the dough balls with a fork, but not too flat! Barely flatten the cookie. Makes for a better peanut butter cookie...

♥  We keep our chocolate chips and chocolate kisses stored in the freezer...(must be a thing leftover from our Texas days) and it works well for this recipe. We unwrap the frozen kisses and plop them on the cookies. They keep their shape and don't melt.

♥  Stick to this recipe. Click here to see what happened when I tried to substitute candy corn kisses for the chocolate ones! LOL

Easy Witch Hat Cookies

Aren't these little witch hat cookies the cutest? They are my new favorite Halloween treat. Saw this idea over at No Fuss Fabulous. We made them last night for family night -- it was our turn to be the "neighborhood spook" (where you leave a treat on one of our neighbor's doorsteps, ring the doorbell, and run like heck and disappear like a phantom into the night....).

These witch hat cookies are easy enough to make that your kids could do it, but still cute enough that you can bring them to your grown up Halloween party...

Here's how to make them: buy a package of Keebler Fudge Stripe Cookies, and Hershey's Chocolate Kisses. Put a little dollop of orange icing on the bottom of a Kiss, and stick it to the chocolate side of the Keebler cookie. As you can see, I used ready-made orange frosting. I know, hate me. I'm Martha...
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That's all there is to it!
Okay... we're ready for spooking!

Wicked Good Peanut Butter Bars

I'm sorry.... I've been sitting here for 5 minutes trying to give an accurate name to these "you-are-so-good-you-are-trouble" peanut butter bars we made recently. I'm pretty disciplined when it comes to watching what I eat, but I lost *all* control with these babies! Should I open this Pandora's box and unleash its power on you? Hey -- if I have to suffer, I want company. So here's the recipe. I dare you to stop at one bar. Good luck.
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Makeover Peanut Butter Bars
5 points per bar (including the PB layer AND the frosting. oh yeah.)
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1 3/4 cups reduced-fat creamy peanut butter, divided
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
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FROSTING:
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4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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1. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup peanut butter, the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in applesauce and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well (batter will be thick).

2. Spread into a 15x10 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° F for 18 to 22 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes; spread with remaining peanut butter. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, beat frosting ingredients until light and fluffy. Spread over the peanut butter layer. Cut into bars.

picture credit: Healthy Cooking magazine, June/July 2009 issue, p. 26
original recipe: Lori Stevens

Black Bottom Berry Pie

.What is better than chocolate and raspberries??!!! Shauna had put this recipe in the family cookbook, and I wanted to remind everyone how fabulous it is since it is raspberry season. It is one of our family's summer favorites.

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Black Bottom Berry Pie

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1 prepared Keebler Shortbread pie crust

8 oz good quality milk chocolate pieces

3 Tbsp milk

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Fresh strawberries or raspberries

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted (for garnish)

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.Melt chocolate with milk in microwave (I do 1 minute, then do 20 second intervals at 50% power). Stir until chocolate is well incorporated and smooth. Pour into the Shortbread pie crust and chill until firm (about 1 hour). Beat softened cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Evenly coat the chocolate layer. Place washed berries, stem side down close together, on the cream cheese layer. Warm the seedless jam in the microwave and drizzle over the fruit. As a garnish, melt the semi-sweet chocolate and drizzle over fruit in thin threads. (you can use a zip-lock bag then cut the very tip off of one of the corners if you don't have a piping bag) Chill pie for 2 hours to give it time to firm up. (You can use Guitard Chocolate Chips 1 1/2 cups for the bottom layer..they melt very smooth. You can't get them in Vegas though. I always stock up when I go to Utah at Maceys.)

Chocolate Molten Cakes

I wanted to make a special dessert for Cory for Valentine's Day, and one of the ladies in the ward had given me this recipe. It took a while for me to try it because the recipe was pretty long, but I have to say, it was totally worth it!!!! I know that Paula Deen has a little bit simpler recipe, but this one is really really good. Just right for a special occasion.

Chocolate Molten Cakes

1 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 Tbsp unwhipped whipping cream

3/4 cup unsalted butter

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup flour, sifted

3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1. For the filling, combine 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips and whipping cream. I use a double boiler to gently melt the chocolate. (That is a pot of low simmering water not touching a bowl set on top) Remove from heat. Cool, stirring occasionally. Cover and chill for about 45 minutes or until firm.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium heavy saucepan cook and stir the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips and the butter over low heat until melted. Remove from heat; cool.

3. Form filling into 6 equal balls (I did 5 since we had 5 members of our family and it made it even gooey-er) then set aside. Lightly grease and flour 6 (or 5 in my case) ramakins (6 oz custard cups). Place dishes in a 15x10 pan; set aside.

4. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes or until lemon colored. Beat in cooled chocolate mixture on medium speed. Sift flour and cocoa powder over mixture; beat on low speed just until combined. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into dishes. Place 1 ball of filling into each dish. Spoon remaining batter into dishes.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for about 13 minutes or until the cakes feel firm at the edges (it should not be set in the middle). Cool in dishes for 2-3 minutes. Using a knife, loosen cakes from the sides of the dishes. Invert onto dessert plates. You can garnish with powdered sugar and raspberries or with a dollop of whipped cream. This recipe was given to me by BJ L. in my ward, and she is a master of chocolate desserts! I hope you enjoy it!

Red, White and Blues

These were a big hit at our recent family reunion; I brought these treats for our 4th of July BBQ. The recipe comes from my friend, Elena. All the credit (and I say all the calories, LOL) go to her!

Red, White, & Blues

1 1/2 c melted butter (real, salted butter)
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar

Cream together then add:
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix until light and fluffy.

Add:
4 c. flour (this is a fairly soft dough, but if it seems really wet, add a little more.)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Mix together then add:
1 package white chocolate chips
1/2 package dried blueberries (add more berries if you like)
1/2 package dried cranberries

Bake at 325 degrees for 12-14 minutes, let cool on pan before removing. (Helps keep them soft.)

White Velvet Sugar Cookie

Growing up, Sunday afternoons meant making something sweet with Mom in the kitchen and fighting off siblings for the chance to lick the spoon, or better yet, the whole bowl. Yesterday we spent the afternoon making cookies, (reminding the kids about a million times that they have to cool before we could frost them) and decorating them just in time for a bedtime snack. They are the best sugar cookies I have had, and I thank Melanie G. from her blog My Kitchen Cafe for finding a sugar cookie recipe that I couldn't mess up! Now I just have to work on my decorating skills.

White Velvet Sugar Cookie

2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
4 1/4 to 4 3/4 cups flour (I used the 4 3/4 cup, but I live in a very dry climate)

Cream butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Add sugar, egg yolks and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add flour. The dough will be VERY soft, but will get firm as it cools in the fridge. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge (I split it up into thirds to chill) for 2 hours or until firm. Roll out on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes; place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until set, but not browned. Place on wire racks to cool.


Sugar Cookie Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
a pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4-6 Tbsp milk
Food Coloring (if desired) (Using the food coloring drops might thin your frosting, so just add more powdered sugar, or use the food coloring gel, Wilton's is the brand Melanie recommends)

Combine butter, vanilla, salt and beat until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined. Add milk and food coloring until you reach your desired consistancy.


Whipped Frosting

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. (Using a chilled bowl and beaters help) Fold whipping cream gently into the cream cheese mixture. This frosting is not sickly sweet and stays soft so all the little sugars and stuff stick very well.

Low-fat Cupcake Brownies/Brownie Babies

Sometimes I just HAVE to have brownies. No, really. The world will end if I do not satisfy my chocolate brownie craving. Lucky for you, and the rest of the planet, I found a way to soothe the choco-beast and still keep my girlish figure. Found this Weight Watchers recipe on-line.

Brownies for one point. Bring it, baby.

I made some up to show you -- but Brian and John scarfed them all down. Sheesh. Boys. ;-)

Weight Watchers Cupcake Brownies/Brownie Babies
Serves 12
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3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, plus...
1 tablespoon brown sugar, all firmly packed
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In a bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
3. In a second bowl, stir together remaining ingredients.
4. Pour liquid mixture over flour mixture.
5. Stir until batter is smooth.
6. Pour into a non-stick 12 hole muffin tin coated with cooking spray.
7. Fill cups until half full.
8. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.
9. Remove from oven.
10. Let stand 5 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool.

A couple of things here:

Katie ran from the room screaming (ok, not really) when she saw me putting in cider vinegar and applesauce into a BROWNIE recipe. Trust me: it works. Go with it.

Also, I like to double this recipe. It doesn't quite fill 12 cups in my cupcake pan as the recipe's written.

My favorite way to make these is to use my *mini* muffin pan.
I call them Brownie Babies. Just cook them for 10 minutes instead of 18. I can make lots of little mini-brownies and have TWO for one point. You feel very naughty for chomping a bunch of these brownies babies, but you're still being good.
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Brownie Baby Sundaes
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We like to make brownie sundaes by warming the babies up, putting them in the bottom of a bowl, and topping them with low-fat ice cream and light chocolate syrup. Maybe some fat-free Reddi-Whip too. Yummers.
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Choco-beast happy. ♥

Cookie Sundae... Pzookie... Whatever!

Oh yeah. Come to Mama.

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(sorry. did I say that out loud?)
(ahem!)
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So, John and Katie and I were all feeling a little sorry for ourselves with the recent snowstorm that hit our neighborhood. (Let's just say we are more than just a little ready for spring to get here.) We needed a little pick-me-up.
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This takes a smidge of creativity when you're working on a spartan budget, but I was just the woman for the job. :-) I remembered something that took us to our happy place before, at a local restaurant called Pizza Factory. A dessert called "Never on Sundae".
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It's slightly undercooked cookie dough served in a hot skillet, topped with ice cream and chocolate, etc. I've seen it called Cookie Sundae, Pzookie (pizza+cookie, get it?), Skookie ... I really don't care what you want to call it. It's. Good. And it's just what we needed.
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Here's how we did it:
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Scrounged around and found some cute heart shaped baking pans leftover from Valentine's Day. Much cuter that some old skillet -- and hey, it'll keep the portion size down. Then, we made us up some chocolate chip cookie dough, and pressed it into the bottom of the pans.
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We put the pans in the oven at 350° F, for about 8 minutes. Watch the dough -- you want it to look like this:
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barely cooked, still ooey-gooey in the center.
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Ice cream and chocolate on standby... using the lighter versions of each will keep this dessert to about 6 points.
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Plunk a big scoop of vanilla on top of the cookie dough...
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...and drizzle with chocolate sauce.
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There you go. Whatever you want to call it, I'm in my happy place right now. Enjoy. ♥

Low-Fat Black Forest Trifle

This recipe is a favorite at our house. Lots of yummy goodness, and not a lot of calories! The way we're making it in this recipe has only 3 points per serving (serving = 1 cup). Woo-hoo! That's a pretty good lookin' dessert, and your caboose stays good lookin', too! ;-)

Here's what we need: reduced fat angel food cake (we make it all the time with regular angel food cake, and just add a point), light cherry pie filling, sugar free-fat free chocolate pudding mix, and light Cool Whip (thawed).

Start by cutting up the angel food cake into bite-sized pieces. Then, get your pudding ready. Open up your cherry-pie filling can.

Time to start layering. First, put about half of the bite-sized cake pieces in the bottom of the bowl. Then add about half of your chocolate pudding on top of the cake pieces.

Now it's time for the cherry pie filling. Again, just use half. Spread it around on top of the pudding to make the cherry layer. Now, add half of the tub of Cool Whip for the whipped cream layer.

Repeat! Use the remaining ingredients: layer the cake, pudding, cherries, and Cool Whip again.

Easy, peasy, huh?

True Love Chocolate Cake

Has there ever been a cake more perfectly named? I doubt it! This is the dessert we had for our Valentine's Day dinner.... Oh. my. gosh. it was good.

This cake is my go-to chocolate cake from now on. Better than the mixes! It's not just for Valentine's Day, either. Replace the hearts with any other colored hard candy or sprinkles to match the occasion or holiday.

You know, I miss chocolate cake. A regular piece of cake with frosting is a whopping 13 points -- this one is FIVE -- with the frosting, peeps! Woo-hoo!

It was rich and dense and chocolaty. John and I kept looking at each other and saying... 'Five points? Are you sure?' Yep, I'm sure. I had the nutritional info right there. Chocolate + cake + low-cal = hurry and cut me a piece! LOL

True Love Chocolate Cake
(5 points per piece)
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1/4 cup butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (we used milk chocolate chips)

Frosting:
1 package (8 oz.) reduced fat cream cheese
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 carton (8 oz.) frozen reduced fat whipped topping, thawed
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Topping:
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup candy hearts

1. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition. Beat in applesauce.

2. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture alternately with water, beating well after each addition. Fold in chips. Pour into a 9 X 13 baking pan coated with cooking spray.

3. Bake at 350° F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

4. For frosting: in a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Fold in whipped topping. Frost cake. Refrigerate until serving. Just before serving, sprinkle with coconut and candy.

Yield: 24 servings

Healthy Cooking magazine, February/March 2009, p. 44

Buttermilk Syrup

1/2 c buttermilk
3/4 c sugar
1 cube butter

Cook in pot over med-low stove until bubbly.
Take off burner and add:

1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Stir until foamy. Pour hot over pancakes, waffles or French toast.
You can also put it on vanilla ice cream and it is yummy!

*I got this recipe from Debbie B., who got it from a friend, so I don't know who to give the credit to.

Heart Shaped Cinnamon Rolls

How about a little "lovin' from the oven"? ♥ It's Valentine's Day this week, and I made a little treat for John and Katie this weekend to start things off. These are pretty easy to make and a fun way to show your sweeties you love 'em. The original idea is found here; complete with a recipe, frostings, and a how-to that includes a little video tutorial. Check it out. Here's how I did it at my house...

Heart Shaped Cinnamon Rolls

1 egg plus enough water to equal 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon (yes, put the egg in the measuring cup)
1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except the 2 tablespoons margarine in the breadmaker, in the order the manufacturer recommends. (I always put wet ingredients in first.) Select the dough cycle.

Remove the dough from the pan, using lightly floured hands. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface.

Grease a cookie sheet. You'll want a cookie sheet, so the heart shape of the rolls is not ruined when the rolls rise. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle. Spread the 2 tablespoons of margarine over the dough. Sprinkle generously with a cinnamon-sugar mixture. Start rolling the dough from the long side -- but this time roll from BOTH long sides, meeting in the middle. You can pinch the seam shut on the top. We didn't (forgot to) and you can see how our rolls turned out in the picture above. Go here to see how they'd turn out if you did.

Cut into 1 1/2 inch rolls. (easiest way is using dental floss -- see the little video here on how to do that) Place slightly apart in pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 40 minutes, or double in size.

Heat oven to 375°. Bake 20-28 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack. Frost with Light Cream Cheese Frosting (see below). Serve warm.

Light Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. light cream cheese (Neufchâtel cheese)
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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Put all ingredients into a bowl. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer until just combined, then increase speed to high and beat until smooth.

Enjoy! Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

Cinnamon Roll recipe: Gold Medal "Best Bread Machine Recipes", p. 82