Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies

With Easter just around the corner, the shops are stocked up with my favorite chocolate candy, Cadbury Mini Eggs. I love, love, love these little guys. They are so pop able, I have to put them in a remote location so I don't eat them in one sitting. Do you love mini eggs or are you a fan of the cream eggs? The cream eggs are pretty good but they don't really hold a candle next to the minis.

I purchased the big bag (18oz) thinking it would hold me through the rest of the season...WRONG! I wanted to make cookies and I didn't have but a 1/4 cup of mini chips in the house. (Clearly I need to go shopping) So I rummaged through the candy drawer to see what I had. I have thought about mini egg cookies before but was always hesitant to make them. I always thought the dough would over shadow the the vanilla shell/chocolate flavor. I dwelled on the option but decided to wing it, see what would happen.

I'm just saying,I'm glad I took the leap. These babies are delicious and not much harder to make than a chocolate chip cookie. You need to smash the eggs, I tried chopping them whole, but that proved dangerous. Just place the mini eggs in zip lock bag and smash them with a rolling pin. I then chopped them into smaller pieces, just because that's how I like them, you could totally skip that step if you wanted. After smashing and chopping I got started on the dough.

I have seen a lot of recipes floating around that say to use cornstarch instead of baking soda in cookies to make for a softer cookie. I thought, well if ever there is a time for a soft cookie it is now. I also used powdered sugar in the recipe, I find this increases the softness too.

Recipe:
1 8oz bag of cadbury mini eggs (the regular sized bag, not the huge one or the mini size bag) smashed
2 1/4 C Flour
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C powdered sugar
3/4 C white sugar
1/2- 1 Tbs vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2-1 tsp salt
3/4 C melted unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350*

In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Once melted mix together with sugars then add eggs one at a time until combined. Mix in the vanilla, salt and cornstarch. Finally, slowly add in the flour. I do this is 3 parts and with the last part I add in the crushed mini eggs.

Drop spoonfuls of batter onto ungreased cookie sheets. These do not spread much.  Bake for 8-10 minutes. After cooling slightly on tray remove cookies to cookie rack for further cooling.

Makes 24-36 tbs sized cookies (ish)

Enjoy these guys while you can. Easter will be here soon and the mini eggs will be gone!!

Piece.

Strawberry Cinnamon Trifle

Trifles are so easy to pull together. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to make one of these! A few days ago I had a family get together with my oldest sister and younger brother. Katie was in charge of dinner: venison steak, blistered green beans, homemade mac and cheese and french bread, it was amazing! Since she did such a terrific job at dinner I was left to compete with dessert.

I had recently made some cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies and the batch made a TON! so what's a girl to do with left over cookies? I racked my brain with desserts to make and remembered a time when I had a cinnamon ice cream topped with strawberries (it was outta this world) so I wanted to play on that. Time was limited so I went with what I knew was easy and fast, trifle.

I went to the store, purchased a cook and serve pudding (or instant) a little thing of heavy whipping cream (to make whipped cream) and a thing of fresh strawberries. Honestly I meant to pick up instant pudding but when I don't look at the box thoroughly I get cook and serve pudding....  I guess it's all the same in the end.  You cold clearly save yourself some time and purchase premade pudding and cool whip, but I love homemade whipped cream.

After making the pudding and whipped cream then chopping the strawberries and cookies,it was assembly time. I like to mix a little whipped cream into the pudding to fluff it up a bit. I put a layer of pudding in the bottom of a clear bowl (so everyone can see the layering) a layer of chopped cookies, a layer of sliced strawberries then top it with whipped cream. I did another round of this layering then topped it with left over cookies and strawberries.

Honestly folks, I loved, loved, loved this trifle. I liked it so much I had it for breakfast the next morning! Please make this for your friends, they may think it's a unique flavoring at first but it is outta this world, for reals!

Recipe:
1 box of instant vanilla pudding
1 container of whipped cream (homemade if you want)
1 container of fresh strawberries
12 cinnamon oatmeal cookies (recipe below)

Follow the instructions on the pudding box.
If making homemade whipped cream make sure to freeze the metal bowl and beaters that you will mix the whipped cream in. Remove from freezer (only needs to be in there for about 15 minutes) Pour in heavy cream and a few tablespoons of sugar (sweeten to your liking.) Turn your beaters on medium speed as the cream thickens increase the speed. Mix until the cream can hold its shape (stiff peak test)
Chop the cookies into half bite pieces to little chunks (or whatever size you like) Chunk the strawberries into quarters.
In a clear bowl, layer the pudding then cookies then strawberries then whipped cream. Continue layering until you have run out of room. Cover the trifle and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Oatmeal Cookie recipe:
1/2 C. Shortening
1/2 C. Butter
1 C. Sugar
1 C. Brown Sugar
2 eggs
2 vanilla beans ( 2 tsp. Vanilla)
1 1/2 C Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 C. Quick Oats
12oz bag of cinnamon chips

Pre heat oven to 350*
Grease cookie sheets
In a bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In a mixing bowl combine butter and shortening and sugars and beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mix in vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture. Stir in oats one cup at a time then add the cinnamon chips. Once combined, spoon batter onto cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 to 20 minutes. Cool slightly than transfer to cookie racks to finish cooling.

Piece!

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

(pictures coming soon)

Happy New Year! As a new year resolution, I plan to write you all at least one recipe a month (yikes!) I have been on hiatus last year, I just was not having a good year, I couldn't get into the groove of anything. I definitely plan on making 2013 my year.

How about you? What types of goals/resolutions do you have for the new year?

I've been thinking a lot about the winter season and what my favorite foods are this time of the year. Aside from the obvious holiday sweets, I love citrus fruit. It's so refreshing and vibrant - don't you think? I've heard a lot about Meyer Lemons in the recent years but this is the first year I have ever seen them. I swooped them up the instant I saw them, I had to see the hype.

If you've never seen/heard of them, they are a cross between a lemon and a type of orange. I guess they are not sure what type of orange, I've heard anywhere from a tangerine to a Mandarin. In my opinion they are tangy and not so tart like a normal lemon. I want to test out a few more recipes with them before I decide how much I like them. But I do really enjoy this pound cake.

When I purchased these lemons, I debated for about 5 days on what to make with them. Finally I decided on a pound cake. I've never made one but was having a hankering for one, so I made one! I skimmed a few recipes online and the one I made, I adapted from a recipe I found on Oprah's website.

What I enjoy about this recipe, is that it's a refreshing dessert after all the chocolate and heavy desserts of the holiday. I definitely think you should give this a try, you will not be disappointed.

Ingredients
1 1/2 C. Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 C. Butter (softened)
1 1/2 C. Sugar
3 Eggs (room temperature)
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 C. Sour Cream and Meyer Lemon Juice*
Zest of 1 Meyer Lemon

Glaze
1 C. Powdered Sugar
Juice of 1 Meyer Lemon
Zest of 1 Meyer Lemon

Pre-heat oven 325*  Grease and flour bread pan.

*Squeeze the juice of zested lemon into a 1/2 cup measurer, fill the rest with sour cream.

In a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.

In another bowl beat butter until light, add sugar and combine until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Mix in vanilla and zest. Alternately add in sour cream/lemon mixture and flour mixture to butter.

Pour into greased and floured pan. Bake for 1 hour, until an inserted knife comes out clean.

While cake is being baked, combine glaze ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth. If mixture is too thick you can either add more lemon juice or a little milk to thin it out. If mixture is too thin, add more sugar.

Allow cake to cool for 15-20 minutes in pan then transfer to cooling rack. Drizzle with glaze (if you want your mind to be blown with deliciousness)

You can eat this warm, but I recommend waiting until it's cooled. It's great for breakfast too!

Piece.