Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

**no eggs (:

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
chocolate bark, to melt for dipping
additional chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc., optional for topping the truffles

1. In a large bowl, use electric mixer to cream together butter and brown sugar. Add vanilla. Beat in flour, 1 cup at a time, until it is incorporated and you no longer see chunks of brown sugar (if you spot any, squish them). Beat in sweetened condensed milk and mix until well-combined. Stir in 1 cup of chocolate chips.

2. Cover bowl and refrigerate until dough is firm (at least 1 hour- maybe more… you want the dough to be quite firm). Use cookie scoop to scoop out heaping Tablespoonfuls, roll into balls and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Place all of the rolled balls back into the refrigerator until you are ready to dip them in chocolate.

3. Melt chocolate bark in a glass bowl- easiest to do in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring after each heating time, until smooth. Use a spoon to help you dip the chilled dough ball into the chocolate and roll it around to cover all sides. Place it on a waxed paper-lined platter. Sprinkle with any desired toppings. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls. Keep them refrigerated until ready to serve.

Another one of my personal favorite. This recipe is super easy and you can whip it up in about 20 minutes. Enjoy. (:

Philadelphia Chocolate-Vanilla Swirl Cheesecake

What you need:

20 OREO Cookies, crushed (about 2 cups)

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

4 eggs

6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted, cooled

Directions:

1. Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of foil-lined 13x9-inch pan. Bake 10 min.

2. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing after eac

h just until blended.

3. Reserve 1 cup batter. Stir chocolate into remaining batter; pour over crust. Top with spoonfuls of reserved plain batter.

4. Swirl batter with knife. Bake 40 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Ahh cheesecake. One of my personal favorites. Always hits the spot when your craving something sweet. This is a recipe that i stumbled across looking through the Kraft website. Lots of cool stuff on there. Anywhoo,this recipe caught my eye so I thought I minds as well give it a try. I've made a cheese cake before but this one was a lot easier. I did have to add some more Oreos to cover the bottom of the pan though. Enjoy!

Banana Bars

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1 (16 ounce) container cream cheese frosting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter. Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese frosting.

These bars are super easy and a great snack. Basically its like banana bread in bars. They can easily feed a large group of people too! Enjoy! :)

Chocolate Star Cookies

1 c. sugar

1 c. oleo

1 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

3 c. flour

2 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 bag of chocolate stars

Cream together oleo and sugars, Beat in eggs. Add flour, salt, and soda to the creamed mixture. Then mins in peanut butter and vanilla. Roll teaspoon of dough in sugar and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. When cookies are done, place a chocolate star in center of each.

These are me dad's favorite cookies. They're the best when they come right out of the oven. These are about the easiest cookies that you could make. My mom usually makes them around Christmas the most because one batch makes a lot, which when going to all these parties, goes a long ways.

I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a recipe to follow because I always follow the recipe. If anything, I would make my own cake. It would be a very chocolate cake with fudge frosting. I would add my own touches of course.

picture from: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/4211092899_ab13765413.jpg

Fried Dough's

This is a super easy after school snack or a quick breakfast to go food. My mom used to make it all the time when she was younger. Something like this is what I like to make because you can use it with anything or for anything. Its really yummy too. :) I personally like it with a lot of cinnamon, but that's just me. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 pkg. of frozen dinner rolls

Vegetable oil

Butter

In an 11 in. round pan, coat the bottom with vegetable oil. Let the oil heat for 3 minutes. Pull dough flat to the size of your palm. Place in pan until bottom side is light brown then flip. Once both sides are light brown, remove and place on paper towels on a plate. Damp the bread to remove excess grease. Then top with butter, jelly, cinnamon sugar, or anything you desire. Enjoy!

(These can also be stored and reheated whenever.)

Crunch Dessert Bars

This is probably one of the easiest desserts you can possibly make. Its low calorie too! The pudding could be substituted for chocolate or anything else that you think would be good. This is a

really easy dessert that I made once in 8th grade Home Ec. class. Enjoy!

1 pint suga

r-free nonfat ice cream, softened

1 cup light whipped topping

1/2 c. reduced-fat peanut butter

1 pkg. (1 ounce) inst

and sugar-free butterscotch pudding mix

1 cup Grape Nuts cereal

In a mixing bowl, combine the first four ingredients; beat until smooth. Stir in cereal. Transfer to a foil-lined 8-in. square pan. Cover and freeze 3-4 hours or until firm. Use foil to life out of pan; discard foil. Cut into bars.

Before freezing..

After freezing...

To me, cooking is a way to loose yourself in something that you can create how you want it. It's a lot like art, you have a vision and you just go with it hoping that things turn out how you want them too. I love being able to make something for other people to enjoy and seeing their faces when they taste it brings a smile to my face.

Pizza in a Crescent

So these didn't really turn out how they were supposed to but they were still good. :)

Heres the recipe:

Prep Time: 15 Min

Total Time: 30 Min

Makes: 4

INGREDIENTS:

1

can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet

1

package pepperoni slices (3 1/2 oz)

4

tablespoons spaghetti or pizza sauce

1

package (6 oz) mozzarella cheese slices

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate dough into 4 rectangles. Firmly press perforations to seal. Press or roll into four 7x5-inch rectangles. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles. Press or roll into four 7x5-inch rectangles.
• Arrange 9 pepperoni slices in center third of each rectangle.Spread 1 tablespoon spaghetti sauce over pepperoni.
• Fold each slice of cheese in half; place over pepperoni. Foldshort sides of dough to almost meet in center; securely pinch edges together, leaving middle open. Tuck 4 or 5 pepperoni slices into middle opening. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until golden brown.

..before

...after