EASYBAKED

Sunshine Lemonade Cookies

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Ruthanne

These soft cut-out cookies have lemonade in the mix for a sweet lemon cookie you will love!

If you have been a fan of Easybaked for very long, you know that I love lemon-themed desserts! I’ve used lemonade in cupcakes and cakes– but these cut-out cookies are a new experiment- and I adore them! These cookies just melt in your mouth- and that tart lemon flavor is wonderful.

You can cut these into any shape you want, and decorate at whatever level of creativity and effort you choose. I wanted happy sunshine cookies for a summer party- so I used a Smiley Face Emoji Chocolate Mold and yellow, blue and orange Wilton’s Candy Melts to decorate my cookies. They make me smile!

Here is how I made them: (printable cookie recipe here)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 cookies)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
One packet (0.23 oz) of unsweetened lemonade powder (I used Kool Aid brand)
2 bags of Wilton Candy Melts in blue (or in whatever colors you want to decorate in!)
1 bag of Wilton Candy Melts in yellow
1/4 bag of Wilton Candy Melts in orange

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
Add eggs, vanilla and lemonade powder and mix well.
Add all dry ingredients and mix until able to knead into a firm ball of dough (add additional flour if necessary).
Roll out on a floured counter with a flour coated rolling pin to desired thickness (I made them about 1/4 inch thick))
Cut into whatever shape you want- I used a 3.5-inch round cookie cutter.
Place on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet.
Bake at 350F degrees for 8-10 minutes and slide off the cookie sheet (leaving on parchment paper) to cool.
Melt 3/4 of yellow candy melts (in microwave, 30-second increments, stirring in between until smooth) and use a small zip-top bag to pipe this into each smiley face mold cavity. Freeze for 4-5 minutes and remove from mold. Set aside.
Melt blue candy melts and pipe around the edges of each circle.
Melt remaining yellow and orange candy melts and place in small zip-top bags to be ready to decorate. Keep them warm in a towel.
Flood cookie to edges with blue candy melts and immediately pipe circles of orange and yellow around the cookie’s center.
Use a toothpick or skewer to pull lines through the melted chocolate and then tap on table to remove lines.
Place a smiley face in the center.

Repeat with remaining cookies, keeping candy melts warm in towels as you go.
Once they are hardened—Enjoy!

My thoughts: These are delicious. Decorating them this way takes a little time, but you could certainly make these cookies and decorate with a buttercream and some sprinkles if you want easy! The cookies are so worth trying- they got rave reviews 🙂 Happy summer to you!!!! ~r

Other lemon treats here on Easybaked (click on a photo to see the recipe):

7 Comments

Ice Cream Punch Pops!

Posted on July 9, 2016 by Ruthanne

Add ginger ale to this cute frozen pop and you’ll have a cup of creamy, fruity, ice cream punch! A perfect summer treat!

So I have this incredible punch recipe. It is soooooo yummy! I’ve made it for all sorts of parties, showers, picnics, and receptions. I’ve been asked for my recipe so many times that I’m actually surprised I haven’t added it here on Easybaked yet!

Last week I was craving it. I was headed to the pool and thinking about a cup of this creamy summer happiness- but you know punch…you have to throw all the ingredients into a big bowl and it is delicious for maybe an hour- and then it melts and you can’t save it for later. So I sat by the pool and thought about how to make punch in single servings, and these little ice cream punch pops came into being!

Aren’t they CUTE? I wrapped mine up in cello bags and tied them with ribbons. When anyone wants cup of punch, all I need is some ginger ale to pour over the top. Stir….. and….

YUM! Punch in whatever fruit flavor you choose! One cup at a time!

These are fun and fairly easy to put together- they just take some freezer time. Make sure you have some freezer space available- and you need some height- so you can fit them in with those straws poking out of the top. Once they are made, you can place them in cake pop bags and tie them with cute ribbons. This makes storage in the freezer easier and keeps them fresh longer.

Here’s how I put these cute little pops together: (if you prefer a big bowl of punch, put all the ingredients in a punch bowl- but use a little less ginger ale).

INGREDIENTS: (makes 20 pops)

24-30 oz of pineapple juice
½ gallon vanilla ice cream
1 quart of fruit sherbet- any flavor (I used 3 flavors and only used 1/3 of each quart)
2 liters of ginger ale at room temperature
6-7 strawberries, sliced
20 (3 oz) paper cups and 20 straws

DIRECTIONS:

In 20 small (3 oz) paper cups, measure about 1/8 cup of pineapple juice and add a slice of strawberry
Freeze until hard (4-6 hours)

Note: I did this on a small cookie sheet so that I could pop them all into and out of the freezer at once.

Scoop ice cream into a large zip top bag and microwave in 10 second increments until soft-serve consistency. Mix bag by squeezing. (Tip: wear gloves to keep your hands warm!)
Clip a corner off this bag and squeeze the softened ice cream over frozen juice, leaving room at the top for a layer of sherbet (you will add about twice as much ice cream as sherbet, and use almost all of the ½ gallon)
Slide a straw into the center of each cup and re-freeze until ice cream layer is hard (2-3 hours)
Scoop sherbet into a large zip-top bag and microwave/squeeze until a soft-serve consistency (this melts faster than ice cream, so be cautious)
Clip a corner off this bag and squeeze the softened sherbet over the top of the frozen ice cream. Tap each cup against the counter to flatten the sherbet out a little bit on top.
Re-freeze overnight (10-12 hours)

To remove them from the cup, snip a tiny cut into one of the cup’s edges and tear the cup away.
Set the pop on a small cookie sheet that has been covered with parchment paper and keep frozen until use.

If you want to place them in individual bags, keep them frozen, and one at a time, slide into a bag, tie shut and refreeze.

To serve these cute little pops, simply place one in a glass that holds at least 12 ounces, and pour room temperature ginger ale over the top- just until the pop is covered.
Stir your punch with the straw until it has melted into a cold frothy ice cream treat!

My thoughts: I love these! They taste exactly like my favorite punch and I love that I can have a cup of it whenever a craving strikes. I had a party a couple of days ago, and the guests enjoyed choosing a flavor (I made raspberry, lime and orange), and making their own punch! It’s just plain fun. 🙂

Oh- and don’t you love the glasses?!? I’m CRAZY about them! Bring me sunshine!!!! I found them on Amazon while looking for something entirely different- and knew they would make perfect little punch glasses! They are actually intended to be candle holders- so if you use them you will have to wash by hand. I love them so much I will happily wash by hand every time! They are especially cheery with juice at breakfast! Click on the photo below if you want your own:

I hope you get a chance to try these fun little punch pops- they really are one of my favorite ideas in awhile 🙂 ~r

Other frozen summer treats here on Easybaked:

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Posted in Beverages, Frozen desserts and tagged creative dessert recipe, creative punch ideas, dessert, frozen dessert, frozen drinks, frozen punch, fruit, fruit punch, fruit punch pops, fun dessert recipe, fun shower recipe, ice cream, ice cream drinks, ice cream pops, ice cream punch, individual punch, party dessert idea, party drinks, party ideas, pineapple punch, punch pops, sherbet. Bookmark the permalink.

Lemon Cream Cupcakes

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Ruthanne

Delicious white cupcakes filled with a lemon cream and topped with lemon buttercream and a scoop of whipped topping! Yum!!!

I love lemon- but in moderation. A dessert that is overwhelmingly lemon isn’t my favorite (which is why you see very few lemon recipes on this blog!) These are the perfect creamy mix of white cake and sweet lemon flavor though. I love them! I’ve become a big fan of putting a scoop of whipped topping in the center of a cupcake and surrounding it with a flavored buttercream. It cuts the sweetness and the flavor. These also have a creamy lemon filling that is sooooo yummy.

Ready for the recipe? Here you go. (printable version here)

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed white cake mix with eggs, water and oil to make according to package
One small package of instant lemon pudding (with 2 cups of milk to make according to package)
2 tubs of Cool Whip topping (frozen)
2 sticks of butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of lemon extract
Yellow food coloring
Lemon drops and sprinkles (optional for decoration)

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake mix according to package and bake in 24 cupcake liners placed in a muffin tin. Cool completely.
Make pudding mix according to package. Spoon about 1/3 cup into a small zip-top bag and set aside.
Add 1/2 of one container of Cool Whip, to remaining pudding, mixing until well- combined. Place in a zip-top bag and set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat butter, powdered sugar, lemon extract and yellow food color together on high until light and fluffy. Place in a zip-top bag with a circular decorating tip inserted into one corner. Set aside.
Remove a core from each cupcake. You can use a knife or a cupcake corer to do this, but save the top of this core.
Clip a corner off the pudding/Cool Whip mixture bag and pipe this into the center of each cupcake, setting the top of the core back on when filled.
Use a medium cookie scoop, melon baller or ice cream scoop to spoon a rounded ball of frozen Cool Whip onto the center of each cupcake.
Pipe lemon frosting around the edges of this scoop by squeezing small circles of frosting all around the edge.

Cut a small(!) corner off the bag of plain pudding and drizzle this over the top.
Decorate as desired. If you use a lemon drop, add this just before serving so it doesn’t get sticky.
Keep these cupcakes refrigerated until serving.
Enjoy!!!

My thoughts: These are truly delicious. They are light and refreshing and just the right blend of lemon and sweet. A perfect summer dessert! I really hope you enjoy them! ~r

Other light and refreshing summer treats: (click on a photo to see the recipe)

2 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged cool whip, cupcake, cupcakes, filled cupcakes, lemon cream, lemon cream pie, lemon cupcakes, lemon dessert, lemon drops, lemon pudding, summer cupcake idea, summer dessert, summer dessert idea, whipped topping. Bookmark the permalink.

Peppermint “Smoke Bomb” Brownies!

Posted on June 25, 2016 by Ruthanne

Celebrate July 4th with these fun peppermint brownie cups! Fun to make and sooooo yummy to eat!

I got a little chocolate bomb mold a few months ago and I love it. I have used it for so many creative things! This time, I am using it to make actual bombs- edible smoke bombs that is! The inside of this red candy shell is packed with sweet mint filling that mixes with the dark chocolate of these brownies perfectly!

Yes, these are a little fussy. It seems like anything super fun in the food realm takes some effort. If you want to make these SUPER easy, they are simply an adaptation from my Candy Cane Brownies from last Christmas. You could certainly add a little blue to the mint filling and just sprinkle stars on top for a fun (and equally delicious) patriotic alternative. OR you could be an over-achiever and make mint smoke bombs. Your choice! 🙂

Here is how we put these fun treats together: (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS:

Brownie:

1cup butter
2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Chocolate Glaze:

6oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter (do not substitute margarine here!)

Mint “Smoke Bombs”:

5 cups powdered sugar
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) melted butter
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
Food color in red and blue
One bag of Wilton’s Candy melts in red
One bag of Twizzler’s Red, White and Blue licorice (I found them at Target)
Large Star Sprinkles
Mini Star Sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

Brownie:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs, cocoa, vanilla and salt.
Add flour and milk (alternating them and mixing well in between)
Spoon evenly into 24 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (don’t over bake- they will start to pull away from the liner)
Cool.

Chocolate Glaze:

Melt butter and chocolate together in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Set aside until bombs are made

Mint Smoke Bombs:

Melt red candy melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Use a pastry brush to brush melts into a chocolate bomb mold and freeze for a couple minutes until hard. Do two coats- freezing in between.
Make mint filling by adding melted butter to sugar and extract.
Mix well, using water to bring it to a thick but spreadable consistency.
Divide into 3 parts and color 2 of them red and blue using food coloring.
Place all three colors into a large zip-top bag and swirl together with a knife before sealing bag.
Cut a corner off bag and pipe mint filling into each red bomb shell- filling them about 3/4 full.
Refreeze these for a few minutes before gently popping them out and setting them on a plate. (I took pictures of this process in an earlier recipe here– but I didn’t fill these shells all the way full like I did there).
Repeat this process until you have 24 mint bombs ready.
Assemble brownies by spooning a little glaze on top of a brownie cup and then setting a bomb on top. Sprinkle edges with small star decorations and freeze to harden the glaze.
Once all your brownies are in the freezer, make the wicks by pulling apart the licorice and cutting into 1 to 2 inch pieces of blue.
Dip one end into the leftover red candy melts (you might need to remelt these) and set it on top of a large red star sprinkle to harden.

Once these have hardened, and your brownies are nice and cold, take a few brownies out of the freezer, dip the end of a “wick” in red candy melts and hold it to the top of a cold peppermint bomb. It should immediately set and hold the wick in place.
Then- simply enjoy the smiles as people bite into your yummy (and very patriotic!) peppermint brownies!!!

My thoughts: Ah…I loved making these. I always wonder if the idea in my mind will come across the way I pictured it, and these did—-makes me smile! I loved sharing these with friends and family too. Makes me wish I had a 4th of July party to go to this year!!! 🙂 I hope you get a chance to try these and that you love them as much as I do! ~r

Other fun desserts to make for the Fourth of July!!! (click on a photo to see the recipe):

6 Comments

Posted in Brownies, Candy, Cupcakes and tagged american dessert, brownie cups, brownies, candy melts, candy smoke bomb, cherry bomb dessert, chocolate, chocolate bomb, creative brownie recipe, creative holiday recipe, fireworks dessert, fireworks recipe, fun summer dessert, holiday recipe, July Fourth dessert, licorice, patriotic dessert, peppermint brownies, red white and blue dessert, smoke bomb brownies, stars. Bookmark the permalink.

Candy-coated Cut-out Cookies!

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Ruthanne

These buttery cut-out cookies are decorated in melted candy and designed to replicate our Josiah Venture Camps Theme for 2016!

There is so much to talk about with these little cookies! I will start with the WHY.

I work for an organization named Josiah Venture. We are a movement of God among the youth of Eastern and Central Europe that finds its home in the local church and transforms society. We plan over 100 evangelical camps each summer in 13 different countries, and each camp has the same theme. This year the theme is “Did You Get My Message?”, and this is the camp logo- on all of the t-shirts and banners and materials.

Last year, I made cookies that replicated our camp theme “You are Here” and they were such a hit that people asked if I planned to do this again… I’m starting to be a little afraid of the next year’s design!!! THIS year was pretty easy- and a lot of fun!

Now for the HOW.

Have you ever pieced two cookie parts together to make a shape not available in the cookie cutter world?

Me neither. When I was challenged to re-create this design in cookie form I knew I could get a hexagon cookie cutter- but how to add that cute little circle at the top? Then, how to decorate them without using Royal Icing? I’m not a fan of all the waiting for it to harden between colors.

Here’s what I did- and it worked (and tasted) GREAT. I realize you will want to make your own shapes and decorations- just adjust the amounts and colors of Wilton’s candy Melts accordingly. (For a printable cookie recipe, click here)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 cookies)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of butter flavoring
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 bags of Wilton Candy Melts in blue (or in whatever colors you want to decorate in!)
1 bag of Wilton Candy Melts in white
1 bag of Wilton Candy Melts in red

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
Add eggs, vanilla and butter flavoring and mix well.
Add all dry ingredients and mix until able to knead into a firm ball of dough (add additional flour if necessary).
Roll out on a floured counter with a flour coated rolling pin to desired thickness (I made them fairly thick)
Cut into whatever shape you want- and if you want to join two shapes like I did, gently set one piece against the other on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet and press gently together.
Bake at 350F degrees for 8-10 minutes and slide off the cookie sheet (leaving on parchment paper) to cool.
I needed a full circle on top of each cookie, so I used a cookie marker to trace the cookie cutter as pictured.

I needed 2 items drawn on top of each cookie- an envelope and an question mark. I drew the envelopes out on my computer, found a good bold font for the question marks, and printed several sheets of these. I taped them under parchment paper and used melted white candy melts to trace them. To melt candy melts, you heat them in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring until smooth.
Then I took that same melted white chocolate and outlined the circle- using my lines as a guide.
Melted blue candy was used to outline the hexagon.

Finally, red candy melts are piped into the circle, filling it completely. I tapped the cookie gently on the table to get rid of bubbles before gently setting a question mark in the center. This step further cements those cookie pieces together.
The last step is to completely fill the hexagon with blue, tap out bubbles, and gently set an envelope in the center. I swirled a little white in the blue to copy the logo’s wave look.

Any squeeze bottle that can be fitted with a small round decorating tip will work, but aren’t these so fun? These are from the Kuhn Rikon Decorating Set. That’s a link to find them on Amazon, but I got mine in a clearance bin at Marshall’s and didn’t even know how much I would love them!

The best part about working in candy melts rather than frosting is that they harden up SO fast. No waiting between colors- and no bleeding of one color into another. Plus they taste like a cookie covered in white chocolate! The cons are color choice. You are fairly limited in what colors you can use- although the Wilton’s site does have this handy chart to help you mix colors. I will use this again- for sure. I loved it.

So. Fun. *smile* ~enjoy!!!

My role with Josiah Venture is as their intern coordinator. Every year we have over 100 college age interns that spend the summer in Eastern and Central Europe. They partner with local churches and help them reach young people through English, Music, and Sports camps, with the message that God loves them. We also invite churches from the US, Canada and the UK to bring groups of young people over to serve short term. I’ve taken two college-age groups over to Slovakia, and it is a life-changing experience! If you are a part of a church that might be interested in helping next summer, or you might be interested in being a summer intern- check out our website for more info. Applications for 2017 internships will be available in July!

Here’s a link to internship opportunities.

Here’s a link to short-term opportunities.

Here’s a link to a great video that explains more about who Josiah Venture is and what God is doing in Eastern and Central Europe.

Our 2016 interns!

Other cut-out cookie recipes you will love! (click on a photo to see the recipe)

3 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged butter cookies, candy, candy icing, cookie decorating, cookie decorating ideas, cut-out cookies, dessert, easy cut-out cookies, Josiah Venture, recipe, royal icing, sugar cookies, Wiltons candy Melts. Bookmark the permalink.

10 Fun Dessert Recipes for Father’s Day!

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Ruthanne

Father’s Day is upon us! I love this day. I have such a great dad- he is adventurous, wise, funny and so much fun to spend time with. I’ve created many recipes here at Easybaked on his behalf, and thought I would gather them all into one little post for you!

Dads come in all varieties with all sorts of interests and hobbies. If your dad is a golfer, try the Hole-in-one Cupcakes pictured above. They use a Lindt chocolate truffle as a golf ball- which is cute and SO yummy eaten with that cupcake!

If your dad is the grill-master of your family, you might make him BBQ Cupcakes– or Hamburger Cookies– or maybe both!

He loves football??? Hopefully he loves the Green Bay Packers… the only team truly worth cheering for….!

Make him delicious dark chocolate Football Cookies, fun little First Down Oreo Pops, OR Cheesehead Cupcakes (Go Packers!) At the very least you can entertain him with stories of how you use your tire pressure gauge with that last recipe…

Maybe your dad is a foodie. He loves his bacon and doughnuts! We’ve got both of those covered! Our Pancake and Bacon Cupcakes are actually incredibly delicious! I was skeptical- and I made them- but they got five stars in my book! We also have some pretty amazing Doughnut Cupcakes– that actually taste like doughnuts!

Finally, for the fisherman fathers out there….. Fishing Bobber Cupcakes– that use Lindt Truffles as an adorable bobber on waves of blue icing- and Fishing Pond Cupcakes– stocked with little goldfish crackers!

That makes 10 incredibly fun, unique and delicious recipes! But I need to add one more… in honor of my dad, who spent his life working in a medical laboratory and literally spent an hour this morning over breakfast telling me all the horrible things they used to have to mouth-pipette back when he started in the profession in the 1960’s… (like formaldehyde… as one of the less nasty things…)

For you dad…(and all scientist dads out there!) Toxic Sludge Cupcakes! These are unbelievable delicious… that green goo is white chocolate pudding and it is SO good inside these cupcakes… makes me smile 🙂

Happy Father’s Day! I hope you have a chance to bake some sweet treats to celebrate your dad this weekend! ~r

Dad and my sweet puppy this morning **smile**

Some of my dad’s other favorites through the years:

Caramel Oatmeal Bars

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Ruthanne

What could be better than oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips? This. This could be better, because we baked them in bars and added caramel. And we all know that caramel makes everything better.

Think “gooey”. Think “rich”. Think “this has oatmeal in it which makes it almost healthy”. Emphasis on almost.

Healthy these are not. But delicious? Yes!

Here’s how we made them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. margarine
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3 cups uncooked old-fashioned oatmeal (plain, and not instant!)
2 cups of chocolate chips
32 Kraft caramels (unwrapped)
1 can (14oz) of sweetened condensed milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Spray a 9×13 cake pan with non-stick spray
Beat margarine and sugars together in a large mixing bowl until creamy- and yes, I use margarine here- not butter.
Blend in eggs and vanilla
Add flour, soda and salt to cream mixture and beat well
Stir in oats and chocolate chips
Mix until well combined and press a little less than 1/2 of batter into pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
While this bakes, combine caramels, condensed milk and butter in a saucepan and heat (stirring constantly) until caramels are completely melted.
Remove cake from oven and pour caramel over the top. Try to keep it away from the edges of the pan. You won’t be able to do this perfectly, but it is the caramel that sticks to the pan when you go to cut it later.
Spoon remaining batter over the top of the caramel and bake for an additional 25- 30 minutes- until browned on the top and not “jiggly” in the middle when the pan is moved.
Cool completely before cutting. It is easiest to cut after it is even chilled a little bit, and I kept these refrigerated until serving.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: These are RICH, gooey, happy cookie bars. Cut them small, as they will fill you up fast! I hope you get a chance to try them! ~r

Other cookie and brownie bars here on easybaked:

5 Comments

Posted in Bar cookies, Candy, Cookies and tagged caramel cookie bar, caramel cookies, chocolate, cookie bar recipe, cookie recipe, cookies, oatmeal, oatmeal cookie bar, oatmeal cookies. Bookmark the permalink.

Fun recipes for kids!

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Ruthanne

Summer is almost here- and that means summer vacation! I remember spending my summer days in the kitchen with cookbooks I’d gotten out of the library, trying new things. Sometimes I baked with mom- and sometimes I ventured out on my own and learned valuable lessons like you can’t put the whole egg in when the recipe calls for just egg whites!

As an adult, I love baking with kids. I love creating recipes that make kids smile. My childhood interest turned into a lifelong hobby for me, and it’s fun to share that with a new audience.

I thought I’d share some of my favorite kid-friendly recipes that have been posted on Easybaked over the years.

Some of these are featured in my cookbook for kids, “Life is Sweet, Baking Devotions for Kids”.

As I share photos of these recipes, click on the photo to be taken to the recipe!

Easy Recipes- ones that kids can make on their own or with a little adult supervision.

Cinnamon Cheesecake Sundaes– use wonton wrappers to make crispy little cups. Fill them up with a no-bake cheesecake and sundae toppings. Kids love to make their own creative sundaes!

Nutter Butter Flip Flops- less baking and more art! Simply dip Nutter Butter cookies in Wilton’s candy melts and draw on flip-flop straps. It might take a little practice, but learning to dip things in chocolate is a skill everyone should learn!

Tie-Dye Cake- If your kids love color, this cake will make them smile! You color cake mix in all the shades of the rainbow and then bake it into a swirling masterpiece. With blue frosting. Everyone loves blue frosting- right?!?

Hamburger Cookies- They look like hamburgers but taste like chocolate. What kid wouldn’t love that! Easy and quick to make- and very cute when served with those mini potato sticks as french fries!

Earthworm Cupcakes- Kids will love making these jello “worms” and poking them into Oreo crumbs. Not just your USUAL dirt cupcakes- because this time the worms look REAL!

“Pup”cakes- If your kids are looking for someone special to bake for… try these super-easy cupcake treats for dogs! Peanut butter happiness for everyone!

Confetti Kisses- here’s that chance to learn about egg whites! A little supervision if they’ve never divided an egg before- and help with beaters- but add some Jell-O and you have such a fun treat!

Recipes for kid’s parties: These are fun ideas to surprise kids with. Maybe they help create the masterpiece- or you create it for them. These are a little more difficult, but so much fun!

Frozen S’mores Cups!

Kool-aid Truffles

Candy-filled Cake

A Dr. Seuss-style stack of cupcakes

Polka Dot Cake!

Toxic Slime Cupcakes!

Oreo Frogs!

Root beer float cupcakes (one of my favorite cupcake recipes!)

And last…but certainly not least:

Kool Aid Pie!

I hope I’ve inspired a little summer fun in the kitchen! Enjoy! ~r

One of our specialties here on Easybaked is our fun-to make (and eat!) Oreo pops! We have them for every season! (click on photo to get directions!)

2 Comments

Posted in Cakes, Candy, Cheesecakes, Cookie Cups, Cookies, Cupcakes, Easy recipes, Frozen desserts, Kids recipes and tagged baking with kids, collection of kids desserts, collection of kids recipes, dessert recipes, easy dessert recipe, fun desserts, kid friendly recipes, kids party desserts, recipe collection, summer baking, summer recipes. Bookmark the permalink.

Andes Mint Cookies

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Ruthanne

Creamy mint filling sandwiched between delicious dark chocolate cookies. Add a dip of chocolate on one end and you have the most delicious minty treat ever!!

Sometimes I just crave mint and chocolate. Mint and dark, not-too-sweet, chocolate. I have a favorite chocolate cut-out cookie and for this recipe I changed it around a bit to make it dark and less sweet. I love (love!!) how these turned out. My mom made wonderful mint brownies, and I grabbed the mint filling from those to add as a filling to these.

I think you will love these!!! Here is how I made them (printable recipe):

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter)

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 stick of butter, melted
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of dark cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons mint extract
green food coloring
1/2 bag of Wiltons candy melts in dark chocolate
1/4 bag of Wiltons candy melts in green

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine 2 sticks of softened butter, and both sugars in a large mixing bowl, and beat on low until creamed together.
Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy.
Add cocoa powder and beat until combined.
Gradually add flour until able to remove beaters and knead by hand. Add flour until a smooth ball of dough is formed.
Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut into whatever shape you want. I used a rectangle.
Place cookies on parchment paper covered cookie sheets, and bake for 12-16 minutes until firm.
Cool completely.
While cooling, mix 1 stick of melted butter with powdered sugar and mint extract. Add water until mixture is a thick but smooth icing.
Add green food coloring to desired shade.
Spread mint icing between two cooled cookies.
Melt chocolate and green candy melts in two separate bowls in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Place green melts in a small zip top bag, zip it tightly shut and clip a small corner off.
Spoon chocolate over 1/2 of a cookie, tap on side of bowl to remove excess chocolate and set on parchment paper.
Make lines of green on the melted chocolate and use a toothpick to pull through the green chocolate one way and then back the other to make design.

Allow cookie to harden
Enjoy!!

My thoughts: These are delicious. I love the dark chocolate cookies so much. They are almost like a not-too-sweet brownie. The mint adds so much and while I really like the look of the dipped end, you could totally skip it and serve the cookies plain. They are a touch less sweet when not half-dipped in chocolate. I hope you get a chance to try these!! Enjoy!!! ~r

Other not-too-sweet desserts here on Easybaked: (click on photo to see recipe)

Caramel Armadillos

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Ruthanne

Caramel Armadillos1

Caramel Armadillos. Because Caramel Turtles are soooooo yesterday.

I have this great, really easy, caramel filling. It’s great on ice cream, in brownies, in cupcakes and even by the spoonful. I love it. I decided this week that I wanted to make turtle cookies with it, and I was struck by how boring and predictable caramel turtles are. Why turtles? Who started this trend? I turned to Wikipedia for answers. I was still bored.

I decided to make caramel armadillos instead. Not only are they WAY cuter than turtles, but it’s really fun to say “caramel armadillos”.

Try it… five times fast!

You know you want to… 🙂

Caramel Armadillo A couple weeks ago I was waiting for a friend to meet me for coffee and I stumbled upon these cute little chocolate molds on Amazon. They are supposedly Easter eggs, but when I decided to make Armadillos they came to mind as the perfect thing to use! All I needed was a tail and ears… and a tootsie roll would suffice!

SO caramel armadillos were born- and they are neither boring nor predictable!

Armadillo3 Here’s how I made them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 20 armadillos)

32 Kraft Caramels (unwrapped)
1 can (14 oz.) of sweetened condensed milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
Whole pecans- about 3 per armadillo
1 bag (32 oz/2lbs) of Merckens Milk chocolate wafers.
about 40 candy eyes
20 pink candy balls for noses
at least 25 tootsie rolls, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS:

Make caramel in a large saucepan over the stove by heating together the caramels, condensed milk and butter. Stir constantly until melted and smooth.
Pour into a small bowl and allow mixture to cool a bit (so it doesn’t melt chocolate when poured in).
Melt chocolate wafers in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until melted and smooth.
Use a food-grade brush, or pastry brush to “paint” the inside of the egg mold with chocolate. Paint two layers to make it nice and thick- you should not be able to see any of the mold showing through.
Freeze until hard (5 minutes or so)
Place cooled caramel into a large zip-top bag, zip tightly closed and clip a corner off the bag using a pair of kitchen scissors.
Squeeze a little bit of caramel in each cup, set three pecans on the caramel, pushing them gently into it, then fill the remainder of the cup up with caramel.

**Note: If you are making just armadillos, don’t fill to the top because you will add a layer of chocolate on top once the caramel is hard. If you are placing these on cookies, you can fill to the top and spread flat with a knife.

Place these in the freezer to harden (5-10 minutes) and then paint a layer of chocolate on the top of the hardened caramel and freeze again until hard.
Gently peel silicone mold away from chocolate and set on a plate to be decorated!
Unwrap 20 tootsie rolls and place for just a few seconds in the microwave to soften a little.
Pull and roll these into tails and use the side of a knife to press grooves along the length. Keep these on parchment paper until they harden up.
Unwrap 4 to 5 tootsie rolls and cut them into little circles. Shape these into ears and keep with tails on parchment paper.

To assemble, use dabs of melted chocolate to attach ears, candy eyes, nose and tails.

I made cookies for them to sit on. My original idea was for caramel turtle cookies, so I went ahead with the cookie plan and it does add stability to that tail (otherwise they are a little awkward to pick up!)

I used my favorite chocolate cookie cut-out recipe from here, and it made a few more cookies than I had armadillos for, but they are yummy cookies all alone!!
I used an egg-shaped cookie cutter a bit larger than the armadillo.
I added melted green candy wafers to the top- just spooned some on and spread it near the edges- and set a “open” caramel armadillo on top. The green wafers seal up the bottom and keep caramel from leaking out!
I set the tail on the melted green wafers and added flower sprinkles! Once everything hardened up I added the eyes, ears and nose.

So….cookies??? Candies???? It’s up to you! I think they would be fun on a cake.

How awkwardly wonderful would a caramel armadillo cake be???

My thoughts: These are delicious. They are also a lot of work (being honest!). It would help to have your tails and ears shaped ahead of time and I was wishing SO hard for an additional mold. That would save time too. That said- I will totally make these again!!!! They were well- loved by adults and kids alike! If this recipe seems like too much craziness for you, just make the caramel. Put it on ice cream and be happy! Enjoy!! ~r