I LOVE THESE!!! Love, love, love them! I found this recipe on Pinterest one day when I was looking for heavy appetizers or "finger foods" for a party I was having. They come from a website called Plain Chicken. I'm not sure why I haven't thought of this before. Put ham and shredded cheese inside biscuit dough- before you bake it!! I'm trying to use as many exclamation points and italics and bold fonts as possible to help convey how excited I am about these little biscuit sandwiches. They would be perfect for a party, a baby shower or even the Superbowl. These reheat very well if you put them back in the oven for 3-5 minutes.
A few tips. Definitely take the time to shred the swiss cheese, it just tastes better. I made my own honey mustard but you can use store bought of course. You absolutely HAVE TO drizzle the honey on top at the end. It may sound weird but it was so good! Print this recipe out and put it aside for Superbowl Sunday. Everyone will love it!
~Wendy
Ham and Cheese Biscuits
Author: Plain Chicken
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 10
Ingredients
1 can Grands Jr Butter Tasting Biscuits (10 count)
1/2 lb deli ham, shaved
1 c. shredded swiss cheese
1/4 c. honey mustard dressing
1 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp honey
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400.
Lightly spray a 9-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
Separate each biscuits into two layers. Spread each layer with honey mustard and top with swiss cheese.
Place half of the biscuits, cheese side up, in the bottom of prepared pan. Top with ham. Top ham with remaining biscuits, cheese side down.
Brush biscuit tops with melted butter.
Bake 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
Heat honey in microwave for 20 seconds. Brush biscuit tops with warm honey. Serve immediately.
I recently discovered a recipe that checks quite a few boxes on my list.
1. Easy....we are talking one pot here. And the real "wonder" is the dumping of ALL ingredients into said pot at one time.
2. Quick....on the table in about 20 minutes. It's magic I tell you.
3. Healthy....it's meatless, and who can argue the benefits of spinach and tomatoes?
4. A relative crowd pleaser....this equates to ZERO tears shed and minimal moaning/groaning while dining with the 7 and under crowd.
5. And very possibly my most favorite....I can have all the ingredients on hand for when I need a meal that....well....checks all the above boxes.
This means that the "wonderpot" will be making regular (if not frequent) appearances in our meal rotation. This one is a life saver as it's a reasonably shelf stable dinner option. So when I just can't get to the store, I can reach into the freezer and pantry for a solution to that little problem called "feeding my family." Plus, it's not packed with preservatives and the other junk that so often accompanies a meal without any fresh ingredients. I was inspired by this recipe here, but made a couple of modifications. Like adding some different spices and my beloved kalamata olives. If you don't like them, just leave them out. I hope you'll like this as much as I do!
~Erin
Greek Wonderpot
Author: Erin (adapted from Budget Bytes)
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
4 c. vegetable broth
2 T. olive oil
12 oz. fettuccine
10 oz. pkg of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
4 oz. kalamata olives, roughly chopped
medium onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 ½ t. dried Greek seasoning
¼ t. red pepper flakes
pepper, to taste
feta cheese for sprinkling
Instructions
Combine all ingredients (except feta cheese) in a pot. Break fettuccini noodles in half so everything fits under the liquid.
Cover pot and bring to a boil over high heat. When contents are at a full boil, remove lid, reduce heat to medium, and stir briefly.
Continue boiling gently for 10-15 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Give it an occasional stir just to keep the noodles from sticking...not too much or it will get mushy.
Serve, with feta cheese on top.
Notes
This recipe leaves a lot of room for creativity in terms of ingredients. I look forward to trying it with some additional veggies or different spices. If you can't find Greek seasoning, just substitute 3/4 t. each of oregano and basil.
I'm definitely the baker in my family. I love to bake pies, cookies, coffee cakes, whatever... and I love to experiment with different recipes. This year when I was trying to come up with a pie to make for Thanksgiving my pregnant little sister pulled out a few pie recipes that had caught her eye. When she gave me this one, I'll admit I thought she was crazy. Maple Peanut Butter pie? For Thanksgiving? It didn't sound good to me...at all. But she is my little sister, and she is pregnant (with some crazy taste buds right now). So of course I made it. It made me feel better that the recipe had won 2nd place in a Taste of Home pie contest. How bad could it be?
When I started assembling the ingredients I started to change my mind. Peanut butter, cream cheese, whipped cream, maple flavoring, hot fudge....yum!! The pie is served cold and can be made in advance. I made mine the day before and froze it until the hour before it was served. It came out perfectly. Warning though- its very very rich!! So delicious! I meant to post this one before Christmas, as it would be a great dessert for any holiday party. I just ran out of time. It really doesn't matter though- if you love peanut butter, this is the pie for you, no matter the time of year. My little sister was very happy and my 5 year old declared this pie to be his favorite ever. :)
~Wendy
Maple Peanut Butter Pie
Recipe Type: Dessert
Author: Taste of Home
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
Ingredients
1-1/2 c. crushed cream-filled maple sandwich cookies (about 12 cookies)
1/4 c. chocolate-covered peanuts, coarsely chopped
Instructions
In a small bowl, mix crushed cookies and butter. Press onto bottom and up sides of an ungreased 9-in. pie plate. Freeze 5 minutes.
In a microwave, warm fudge topping 5-10 seconds or until spreadable; spread over bottom and up sides of crust.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and flavoring until blended. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar; fold in whipped topping.
Spoon into crust, spreading evenly. Refrigerate 4 hours or until set.
In a small bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add syrup; beat until stiff peaks form.
Serve with pie; top with peanuts.
Notes
I found the maple flavored cookies at Aldi. I used maple extract for the maple flavoring which is easy to find in any backing section with a decent selection of extracts. I chose not to add syrup to the whipped cream. I felt like that would be a little too much maple for me- however I leave that up to you!
Unlike the other ladies on this blog, I did not try a bunch of recipes before the annual cookie exchange and I didn't even TRY my cookies until we were at the party! (I had a quantity screw up and didn't know if I needed every last crumb to meet the number of bars I was supposed to bring).
Four days before the party, I got an email that I had won four tickets to The Nutcracker in Chicago that coming Saturday. TWO DAYS before the party, my husband emails me to inform me that I am indeed not only invited to his new job's company holiday party, but encouraged to come...THAT NIGHT! (Don't they know we need time to prepare for these things?!) So I found myself searching online two days before the party for a quick, easy bar recipe since I had to scratch the more time-consuming toffee I had planned to make. When I found this on good ol' Betty Crocker and it had "Cookie Exchange Quantity" in the title and had nothing but good reviews I was done! Betty calls them "Linzer Torte" bars and while I know what a Linzer torte is (a tart-like pastry traditionally with raspberry preserves on top and almonds in the crust), I wasn't sure how much of the general population would. The recipe called for using raspberry or strawberry preserves -- I made one with cherry and one with raspberry -- and using ground walnuts in the crust. I kept the ground walnuts but added some almond extract. (I think if I could add almond extract to every baked food and bacon to every savory food, I would -- and I did actually just recently make cookies with bacon in them!).
These were super easy to make (except for cutting in the butter--I HATE cutting in butter...especially since I realized I hadn't replaced my accidentally mangled pastry cutter I had thrown out). But the ease of the rest of the recipe made up for the stupid butter cutting.
They were a favorite at the cookie exchange and I have to say I just completely lucked out on this one!
Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, walnuts, cinnamon and extract. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, two knives, or use a large capacity food processor to pulse until crumbly. Reserve 2 cups of the mixture for topping; press remaining mixture in bottom of ungreased 15x10x1-inch pan.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Spread with preserves. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture; press gently into preserves.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows for 48 or 12 rows by 6 rows for 72.
Notes
You absolutely can cut these into 72 bars but they will be pretty small...however, they're pretty rich and sweet so that size is probably just about perfect. I had mistakenly cut mine into 48 but I realized that I personally would not have wanted to cut them much smaller anyway for the exchange so I stuck with 48 for my second batch also.
At no other time of year can I randomly whip up batches of baked goods, and do it guilt free. I used to think Wendy was crazy for experimenting with so many new recipes before her annual cookie exchange. And maybe I still do just a little. ;)
But this year I took a page from her book and made a few recipes, all in the name of science (or perhaps competition?). My favorite place to look for recipes is in the December issue's of Cook's Country magazine. It features the winners and runners up of their annual cookie contest. I am in awe of the people who are WINNING this thing! It just seems like the ultimate baked good success story. I dream of having a recipe THAT good and totally original coming out of my kitchen. Sigh.
Until then I am borrowing from another's creative genius, and hopefully coming to the party with a crowd favorite. This year I brought these Potato Chip and Pretzel Cookies with Caramel frosting. If you are a salty-and-sweet-in-one-package fan, then this is the cookie for you. I left the recipe as is, except for bumping up the quantity of pretzels just a bit. They aren't a chewy cookie...it's more of a crisp, shortbread texture. In other words, fantastic with a cup of tea. They are super easy and they definitely travel well after frosting is allowed to set. Enjoy!
~Erin
Pretzel and Potato Chip Cookies
Author: Erin (adapted from Cook's Country)
Ingredients
Cookies
12 T. butter, softened
½ c. sugar, plus ¼ c. more for rolling
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt
1 ½ c. flour
2/3 c. crushed potato chips
1/3 c. crushed pretzels
Frosting
½ c. brown sugar, packed
¼ c. heavy cream
3 T. butter
Pinch of salt
1 c. powdered sugar
½ t. vanilla
¼ c. pecans, finely chopped
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Beat together butter, ½ c. sugar, vanilla, and salt in a mixer till light and fluffy.
Reduce speed to low, and add flour in 3 additions. Scrape down bowl as needed.
Gently mix in potato chips and pretzels.
Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls and roll in sugar. Use the bottom of a greased measuring cup to press balls to approximately ¼” thick.
Bake for about 15 min until edges are golden. Let cookies cool on tray for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack.
FOR FROSTING – Bring brown sugar, butter, cream, and salt to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Cool for about 20 minutes before spreading on cookies.
Sprinkle cookies with pecans and allow frosting to set.
Its "Cookie Week" on Three Lucky Husbands! This year we're going to share the three recipes that we made for my annual cookie exchange. I've been hosting a cookie exchange for the past 5-6 years. Every year I make small changes to how things run. This year we only did 1/2 dozens, thank the Lord. When you have 10+ ladies in attendance it can get CRAZY to make full dozens for each person. The only downside is that when you have so many EXCELLENT cookies (like we did this year) 6 is nowhere near enough to take home! For those of you not familiar with cookie exchanges, you invite between 8-14 friends over. Each of you makes one type of cookie, bringing one dozen (or 1/2 dozens in our case) for each person coming. At the end of the party you exchange your cookies and end up leaving with one dozen from everyone else- in other words, lots of cookies!
The other change this year was a friendly competition. We voted on the best tasting cookie, the most creative cookie and the cutest/best looking cookie. I'm happy to say that 2 of the 3 winners will be shared this week! We might even invite winner #3 to guest blog her recipe. :)
This recipe came from the Pillsbury site. When I made them, I made the cookie balls a little too big. I would suggest forming the dough around the peanut butter cup so it barely covers the chocolate. That way each bite will have some of the candy in it! Other than that, its pretty simple. Enjoy your holidays this year!
~Wendy
Peanut Butter Secrets
Recipe Type: Cookies
Author: Pillsbury
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 37
Ingredients
cooking spray
1 c. vegetable shortening
3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
40 to 45 chocolate-covered miniature peanut butter cups
GLAZE
1 tsp. vegetable shortening
1 c. (6 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
Instructions
HEAT oven to 375ºF. Coat baking sheets lightly with no-stick cooking spray.
COMBINE shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar and peanut butter in bowl of electric mixer; beat at medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg and vanilla.
COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Mix into shortening mixture at low speed until just blended. Form rounded teaspoonfuls of dough around each peanut butter cup. Enclose entirely. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet.
BAKE 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies are just browned. Remove immediately to cooling rack.
COMBINE shortening, chocolate chips and peanut butter in microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave on MEDIUM (50% power) 1 minute. Stir. Repeat until smooth.
DIP cookie tops in chocolate. Let stand until chocolate is set.
Here's a great way to take what's typically an afterthought to one of the star attractions of any holiday meal. How pretty is this bread? For the last few Thanksgivings I've been in charge of the bread/rolls and butter. I've spent most of my time experimenting with the butter (and actually found a great honey butter recipe). This year I spotted this unique bread recipe in a Food Network magazine and decided to try it. I was a little skeptical. Usually when something looks this pretty in a magazine its a total disaster in my kitchen. This one actually worked out.
I'm not a huge fan of olive oil. I don't love the taste, I don't dip my bread in it at Italian restaurants and I rarely cook in olive oil unless it calls for small amounts. I made this bread twice on Thanksgiving day and for my 2nd attempt I lowered the olive oil content and drizzled the finished product with melted butter. Much better. :)
Its very easy and can be adapted to your tastes. I chose to roll the dough in almonds, sesame seeds, parsley and cheddar cheese. You could easily use basil, parmesan, pecans, poppyseeds, etc... there are so many options! Its great for a holiday party and perfect for Christmas. Hope you like it!
~Wendy
Bread Ring
Recipe Type: Bread
Author: Adapted from Food Network Magazine
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 10
Ingredients
2 cans refrigerated breadstick dough
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c butter, melted
1/2 c each of chosen toppings (sliced almonds, shredded cheddar cheese, sesame seeds, chopped parsley)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Brush a tube pan with olive oil and set aside.
Put each topping in a separate ziploc bag.
Form the breadstick dough into small balls, put them all into a large bowl. Pour the olive oil into the bowl and gently stir the dough balls until evenly coated with olive oil.
Divide the balls up between the ziploc bags. Drop them into the chosen bag and shake until covered with the topping.
Remove from the bag and press into the tube pan, alternating dough balls and toppings.
Bake until golden, 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle with the melted butter.
Let cool for 4-5 minutes and remove from the pan. Serve on a platter for best presentation!
