Inspiration for my baking venture come from reading blogs, baking magazines, and by taking a look in my pantry and seeing what I need to use. I noticed I have a box of rice krispy cereal, but I didn’t want to make just a boring rice krispy treat, I mean I could do a spin on that classic, but no I wanted to do something different. Then I realized I could use the cereal to make a crust, and the rest just fell into place. I got lucky with this recipe because it tastes incredible. The butterscotch-peanut butter itself deserves its own recipe page, I couldn’t stop eating it by the spoonful! Hope you make and enjoy these bars!

Ingredients:

crust:

• 2 cup rice krispie cereal
• 1/4-1/3 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
• 3 T light corn syrup
• 2 T butter

butterscotch peanut butter layer:

• 6 oz butterscotch chips, chopped
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter

milk chocolate layer:

• 4 oz good quality milk chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 tsp light corn syrup
• 2 T butter

to make bottom layer/crust:

1. cook sugar in 1/3 cup of water to soft ball (238*)
2. immediately mix in corn syrup and butter until well incorporated
3. pour over the rise krispie cereal to coat
4. press firmly into a 9×13 baking pan and allow to rest

to make the butterscotch peanut butter:

1. finely chop the butterscotch chips so they melt easily
2. pour the chopped chips and peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl, preferably glass
3. microwave for 20 second increments and stir, then repeat until the butterscotch and peanut butter are melted together and you have butterscotch peanut butter – are you dro oling yet?
4. spread over the rice krispie crust and put in the refrigerator to cool

to make the milk chocolate layer:

1. finely chop the milk chocolate
2. combine in a microwave safe bowl (the one you used in the previous step will be perfect)
3. microwave for 20 second increments and stir, then repeat
4. spread over the butterscotch-peanut butter layer and cool in the refrigerator
5. cut with a smooth-edged knife and store in an air-tight container in the fridge

I absolutely love these bars, but just to warn you – these are super dense and sweet, almost like fudge, It will only take a small piece of this to satisfy your sweet tooth.

e-mail me at sweetandfit [AT] gmail [DOT] com with your full address and phone number for fedex shipping purposes!

best part? There is a Oatmeal Cookie recipe on the back! Since my favorite cookie is oatmeal raisin, I just had to give these a try. I had high expectations since these are Quaker’s best Oatmeal Cookies – and they were pretty good, there was a good ratio of oats, to flour, to raisins. They were chewy and kissed with cinnamon – what more could a person ask for?

Did I mention they were delicious?!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 sticks butter
• 3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon (I used 2)
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups Quaker Oats
• 1 cup raisins

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 375*
2. beat butter and sugars until creamy
3. add the egg and the vanilla
4. in a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt – and mix together
5. gradually add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture
6. fold in oats and raisins
7. use a cookie scoop to drop them on a cookie sheet or parchment paper
8. bake until golden around the edges and just barely set in the center – I got about 40 cookies, and they took 16 minutes to bake

enjoy!

What’s your favorite kind of Oatmeal Cookie?

I opted to try the caramel brownie bites, which are only 60 calories a piece! Three of these fudge-y morsels are smaller than the length of an iphone – I just did this to show a size comparison.

Overall, I thought these tasted great – I loved the deep dense fudge flavor. I am definitely a chocolate person who needs a chocolate fix every once in a while, and this definitely did the trick!

Want to try them for yourself? Enter this giveaway for a chance to win the whole prize set including the Chocolate Spa Kit, and a VIP coupon to try the Pillsbury sweet moments.

Two ways to enter the Giveaway:

1. leave a comment on this post telling me which flavor of the Pillsbury Sweet Moments you would like to try, chocolate caramel? or chocolate fudge?
2. Tweet about this giveaway, “@sweetandfitblog is giving away a Pillsbury Sweet Moments Prize Pack #mybsspark”

*I was not financially compensated for trying Pillsbury Sweet Moments, or for hosting this giveaway

**giveaway ends November 9th at midnight

One treat I made this year, for our Halloween Party, brought me back to my childhood. This is something I like to call Halloween Dirt. A Google search will give you a lot of different recipes for this, but there is really no wrong way to make it.

Ingredients:

*except you need chocolate instant pudding instead of vanilla! oops!

Make it:

1. combine instant pudding mix with 2 cups of milk and whisk until well combined
2. fold in cool whip until it becomes a thick pudding-like consistency
3. add more milk to thin it out if the mixture is too thick
4. I made individual portions, but you could also make a whole tray and have your guests take as little or as much as they want. Once the pudding has come together, transfer it to a serving dish (or in my case, individual cups)
5. top with a layer of crushed oreo cookies, or any type of chocolate graham cookies
6. add a gummy worm to create the image of a “worm coming out of the dirt!”

Here is what it should look life from a birds eye view…

and now from the side…

All thats left to do is try some and let it cool for at least an hour. Some variations include cream cheese or even chocolate syrup – as I said, there isn’t any wrong way to make this. I gave these to the children at my preschool as a dessert and they loved them! Don’t just think this is just for kids though, I love this too – I mean, oreo crumbles, chocolate pudding…what’s not to love?

Have you ever tried something like this? How did your recipe differ from mine? I’m curious!

Start by chopping a small to medium onion. Sauté the onion and cubed beef with some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and turmeric in some GOYA olive oil. Cook until the onions have softened and the beef is cooked about halfway through.

Then add the rice and the appropriate amount of water.

Sitr occasionally until it boils, then reduce heat to medium-low until rice is soft and tender. You should end up with golden rice and completely cooked cubes of beef. Taste-test the rice and add salt as needed.

Drain and rinse the can of black beans, and gently fold into the rice.

There you have it! Tasty golden rice with chunks of tender beef (since it was boiled), and black beans. I loved the quality of all the Goya products – the cans were solid and firm, not the least bit mushy – which is what canned beans usually look like.

Everything tasted great together, overall a really yummy one-pot meal!

*Just want y’all to know that I received these products for free as part of the Foodbuzz tastemaker program – and I wasn’t paid or anything like that

Milk chocolate and toffee, together, chip size? whats not to love?!?

I make some change to the ingredient list:

• 11.5 oz AP flour
• 1/2 tsp or each salt, baking soda, and baking powder
• 1 cup salted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 large eggs + 1 yolk, room temperature
• 3/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup health bar chunks

Recipe:

1. combine flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder
2. cream the butter for a couple minutes
3. add the white and brown sugar gradually
4. add the eggs (one at a time) and the vanilla extract
5. gradually add the flour mixture, but don’t overbeat (you will get stiff cookies)
6. use a spatula to stir in the chips and heath bar chunks – and nuts if you like, pecans would be great here
7. bake at 350* for 12-18 minutes, until edges are golden brown and the cookies have set in the middle

I loved these out of the oven warm, at room temperature, but I loved them most when I ate them straight out of the freezer – ohhhh my goodness! The fiance is on to something there, he insists that cookies have to be eaten frozen. For the longest time I didn’t understand him, but know I’m obsessed =)

If you give this recipe a try, please let me know!

]]> http://sweetandfit.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/recipe-top-chef-chocolate-chip-cookies/feed/ 3 Sweet and Fit DSC03852.JPG DSC03857.JPG http://sweetandfit.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/macaroni-grill-giveaway-winner-2/ http://sweetandfit.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/macaroni-grill-giveaway-winner-2/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2010 20:07:53 +0000 Sweet and Fit https://sweetandfit.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/macaroni-grill-giveaway-winner-2/ ]]> and the winner is… Kelly from Fittingbackin !

If you haven’t checked out her blog, please do so now – she has been successful in loosing almost twenty pounds or so and has some delicious recipes!

Kelly – please e-mail me your address and phone number for fedex shipping =)

Today I have a giveaway for you! Through myblogspark and Romano’s Macaroni Grill, I had a chance to try their new frozen entreé’s – basil parmesan chicken, with “grilled white meat chicken, broccoli florets, and tomatoes with cavatappi pasta tossed in a flavorful creamy basil parmesan sauce”.

All I really needed to do was throw it in a skillet and cook for about 15 minutes…

To my surprise it tasted really good considering it came straight from my freezer. There wasn’t any TV-dinner after taste at all.

I did it! After years and years of looking for THE very best brownie recipe… I finally found it!

these are dense, chocolate-y, chewy, coma-inducing, delectable goo-y brownies…

Made for someone really special. Nicely cut, layered between sheets of wax paper, and packed in a metal tin container so he can freeze the brownies. For some reason the fiancé claims that cookies & bar cookies taste better frozen, personally – I prefer a hot fresh baked cookie.

Now for the recipe! I When Cakespy posted this recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, I just knew I had to make them – I had a really good feeling about this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1.25 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (preferably dark)
• 11 ounces of dark chocolate
• 2 stick of butter (8 oz)
• 1teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder (I used instant coffee)
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350*
2. line a 9×13 pan with parchment
3. whisk together the first 3 ingredients
4. place the chocolate, butter, and instant coffee powder in a double boiler, stirring occasionally until completely melted and combined
5. turn off the heat source, but keep the bowl over the water pot – then add light brown and regular sugar
6. whisk sugars until everything is completely combined, then remove the bowl off the water pot, and let it cool to room temperature
7. add 3 eggs to the chocolate/butter/sugar mixture and whisk to combine, then add remaining eggs
8. add the vanilla and stir together – do not overbeat!
9. using a spatula, fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture
10. pour into your pan and bake for about 30 minutes, until set and the top has developed a crust.