World's best chocolate chip cookie with Reeses Pieces

3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp

1/2 package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 bag of Reeses Pieces

Cream butter, beat in sugars and pudding mix.  beat in egg and vanilla. add dry ingredients and beat until you have a doughy consistency.  Stir in chocolate chips and reeses pieces with a wooden spoon. 

Preheat oven 350.  Scoop dough into 1" cookie dough spheres spaced evenly on a baking sheet.  Bake for 12-13 minutes until golden around the edges. 

YUM!

Apple Crsip Pie

You can never EVER go wrong with some delicious, traditional apple pie...BUT you can make it better by adding an "apple crisp" topping instead of more pie crust. Serve with woodchuck hard cider and you're GOLDEN! more like golden delicious.....ahhhaha!

The Crust: (A slight variation from my previous crust recipe I put on here, but any pie crust would work)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
small dash of salt (up to 3/4 tsp if you want it saltier)
1/3 cup shortening, cold, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup butter, cold, cubed
8-10 TB cold water

Stir together salt and flour in a medium bowl.  Cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles a coarse meal.  Sprinkle 1 TB of water at a time into crust, tossing with a fork after each addition until flour is moistened into "crust consistency."  Split dough in half, form into discs, and seal with cling-wrap and store in refrigerator until ready for use.

The Filling:
6 cups peeled, thinly sliced apples (using a variety of types makes it tastier!) (about 6, give or take)
1 TB lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 TB flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.  Sprinkle apples with lemon juice, then toss apples with flour mixture until evenly coated.

The Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
3 TB cubed butter

Mix dry ingredients.  Cut in butter until resembles a coarse meal.

Putting it all together:
Preheat oven to 375
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface.  Line a pie pan, pressing dough into the bottom.  Gently imprint fork marks in the bottom of the dough to promote even cooking.  Sprinkle top of dough with cinnamon sugar for a little extra flavor.

Fill pie crust with apple filling.  Sprinkle crisp topping on top of apple mixture.  I used the extra pie crust to cut out cute acorn/maple leaf shapes for decoration.

Bake at 375 for  40 minutes to an hour, until filling is tender and bubbling.

Low Fat Pumpkin-Spice Muffins

This quick and easy recipe cures my pumpkin muffin craving with a fraction of the calories! So, in reality, you could eat 4 or 5 of these, or just 1 from Dunkin Donuts :)

You Need:
1 Tb butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 package of Jello Pumpkin Spice Instant Pudding Mix**
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup skim milk
dash of salt

**I found this seasonal pudding mix...made it DELICIOUS.  If you do this without pudding mix, increase flour to 2 1/2 cups; increase sugar to 1/2 cup; and add some cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice (I like these flavors A LOT, so 1 tsp each, but you may want to start with less)

To Make:
Preheat the oven to 425F
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until butter is light and fluffy. Beat in egg. 
In a separate bowl, combine flour, pudding mix, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
Add pumpkin and milk to the butter mixture, beat until smooth.
Stir in flour mixture until just combined.
Grease a standard-sized muffin tin, scoop into 12 muffin cups
Bake for about 15 minutes (check by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin, if it comes out clean, you're done!)

These calculate out to about 160 calories a pop! mmmm.

Sweet Potato Chicken Pot Pie

This is a delicious and moderately healthy version of chicken pot pie.  I've never actually had a pot pie before today but Heath had the great idea of using sweet potatoes so I gave it a whirl and YUM!

INGREDIENTS
2 Chicken Breasts
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 Large Sweet Potato, peeled and cubed (small)
1 Medium Onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk
2 TB all purpose flour
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen carrots
1 cup frozen green beans
1 package puff pastry (dethawed)
Salt, Pepper, *Old Bay (optional)

DO AHEAD: (this will save you some time, otherwise it takes a while!)

1. Chicken:
      1. Stir brown sugar into orange juice; put into large pan
      2. Put whole chicken breasts into orange juice solution, cook on low (I had it at a 3 on my
          electric stovetop) until cooked through (15 ish minutes)
      3.  Let chicken cool in orange juice.  Pull/pick apart chicken once cooled enough to handle

2. Sweet Potatoes:
     1. Peel and cube/dice potatoes (depending on how big you want them)
     2.  Boil until al dente, tender but not too mushy.
     3.  Set aside.

ASSEMBLY:
*Preheat oven to 420 F
1. Saute diced onion and celery until opaque in a dutch oven.
2. Add garlic, then milk;
3. In a separate bowl, stir flour into warm chicken broth; add to dutch oven; stir to combine
4. Bring mixture to a boil
5. Add peas, carrots, green beans, and bring mixture to a boil again; reduce heat and simmer for about
     10 minutes
6. Add pulled chicken and sweet potatoes to pot, stir to combine and heat until all ingredients are heated through.  Season with salt and pepper to taste (I put in about 1/4 tsp of Old Bay for a little extra kick)
7. Line a casserole dish (i used a medium sized round one....) with a puff pastry sheet.
8. Pour filling into puff pastry (I had a lot of leftovers to bring for lunches this week that didn't fit into the crust), top with puff pastry cut outs (or a flat layer with slits cut into it to vent)
9. Brush egg wash onto top to prevent burning.
10.  Bake uncovered for about 25 minutes (until puff pastry is puffed and golden brown), let sit for about 10 minutes then DIG IN

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

I made cookies and cream cookies the other day (to be posted, I just put the dough in the freezer and haven't baked them off yet, but OMG yum!), and had a bunch of knock-off oreos left over.  Why not make cupcakes?!

For The Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup hot water
12 Oreos, coarsley chopped, plus more for frosting

Line a cupcake tin with papers (this made about 18 cupcakes), preheat oven to 350 F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, powder, and salt.  Sift twice. Set aside.
Cream your stick of butter with a hand mixer or blender, add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla, mix.

Add milk and flour mixture in alternating additions (3 adds each), scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula between each addition.  I like to sift in the flour mixture as I add it so the ingredients are sifted a total of 3 times - it makes for a smooth and fluffy cupcake :).

Stir in chopped oreos (or Tops knock-off brand) until evenly distributed. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full with batter. Bake 16-18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  (the oreo chunks rise to the top, makes for a pretty cupcake pre-frosting if you wanted to save some calories)

For the Frosting
1/2 lb powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-3 TB milk
3-4 oreos, finely crushed/food processed plus 9 whole cookies for garnish.

Cream butter with hand mixer.  Slowly add powdered sugar until thoroughly combined.  Add milk 1 Tb at a time, until you reach piping consistancy.
I used my mini food processor to finely pulverize the oreos, I put about 5 TB oreo crumbs into the frosting and mixed until combined.
Decorate as desired, and enjoy!

Cinnamon-Hazelnut Muesli

As much as I love to inhale granola for ALL occasions, I know it's really high in fat and sugar, so I try to avoid it. I have found a healthier alternative: Muesli! It's very high energy and delicious, and you can really add whatever you'd like to it to customize it for your own tastes.

Ingredients (Mix all together...that's it!)
2 cups Rolled Oats
1/2 cups wheat bran
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tsp flax seeds (ground)
1/4 tsp cinnamon.

Makes 7 cups.

Nutritional Info (per 1/2 cup):

• Servings Per Recipe: 14
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 97.9

• Total Fat: 4.1 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 119.5 mg
• Total Carbs: 14.0 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.0 g
• Protein: 3.2 g

Mix all these ingredients and enjoy! for a much unhealthier breakfast with this, although high-energy, mix it with 2 Tb peanut butter, 1-2 Tb honey, and some almond milk. yumm.

Chocolate-Coconut Low Fat Scones

Saw this idea come from Martha Stewart, but I substituted out the fat for applesauce to make them slightly more healthy.

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold heavy cream
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
3/4 cup cold, unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
Sanding sugar (optional)

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together 3/4 cup cream and egg. In a large bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir applesauce into the flour mixture.  It should combine into a coarse texture. Stir in coconut and chocolate. With a fork, stir in cream mixture until just combined. (The dough should be crumbly)

Put dough onto parchment surface, shape into a 6-inch round. Pre-cut the dough into wedges (6-8).  Brush the top of the dough with 1 Tb cream and sanding sugar.  Bake 16-18 minutes, rotate sheet halfway through.  

This recipe is GREAT eaten slightly warm with a cold glass of milk. mmm.