Rice Pudding

Best Rice Pudding Ive EVER made or tasted. It Has a Custard-like Flavor. I followed the recipe to the letter. Only change I made was I added 2t cornstarch to the simmering milk & rice (just to enhance thickening) also I recommend using whole milk (makes for a creamier texture and richer taste) Click link for Recipe: Creamy Rice Pudding

Impossible Raspberry Cream Pie

Impossible Raspberry Cream Pie

Bob (pikes Boy) adjusted version of Bisquick's Impossible Buttermilk Pie

1 1/4 cups sugar (original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups but I think thats too sweet)

1 cup whipping cream

3/4 cup Bisquick baking mix (original recipe calls for 1/2 cup but my batter was too thin so HAD to add more)

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs (I used 2 regular size whole eggs and then 2 yolks)

1/2 pint fresh berries
Sweetened Whipped Cream

Beat together sugar, cream, Bisquick, butter, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. Pour filling into pie plate or 9x9 square glass dish. Sprinkle berries over top. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean. (30-40 min) cool 5 min!  
Serve with Sweetened Whipped Cream

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Almost EVERY baking blogger has already made these and blogged about them. There are several different variations to this recipe so I had to decide which recipe/method I wanted to use.  In Annie Eats recipe, she makes a brown sugar cupcake cuts out the center of the baked cupcake pipes in cookie dough and then tops it with a flour based cookie dough frosting. Crumboss makes giant chocolate chip cupcakes, doesn't fill the cupcakes whatsoever, just leaves them as is. But then tops the baked cupcakes with a swiss meringue buttercream frosting that has eggless cookie dough stirred into it. It looks fantastic. And then theres a variation (used by Kevin&amanda) where you drop cookie dough into the cupcake batter and then bake the cupcakes and then top with frosting. I wasn't interested in that variation whatsoever. Why would you "bake" the cookie dough for a cookie "dough" cupcake?? once its baked, its no longer cookie "dough." So ya, not thanks on that one. To me thats not a cookie "dough" cupcake. thats just a cookie cupcake. So I decided to go with annie eats recipe but I used my cake recipe instead of hers. Just for the base cupcakes. But I used her cookie dough recipe and her frosting recipe and I also used her assembly method. It turned out Awesome!! This recipe is bomb. I can't speak for her cupcake batter, but I can definitely once again say that my vanilla cake/cupcake recipe is the BEST ever!!! Everyone LOVED these cupcakes!

Vanilla Scones

Ive been studying up on scone recipes for quite a while because I totally love scones but I think that they are very hit-or-miss so I wanted to make sure that my next batch were not a miss. Bloggers who make a lot of scones I notice will like a scone recipe they make and then make another recipe and Love it even more. They just think its a better recipe, but they don't know why its a better recipe. And because they don't know why it was a better recipe, they'll accidentally try another bad recipe because they didn't know what recipes to avoid. Heres what I noticed. All the absolute "best-scones-ever" recipes were the recipes that didn't have eggs in the dough or had a very small amount of egg in the dough. For instance Tyler Florence recipe is always a hit. It has no eggs. Pionner Woman vanilla scone recipe: Pretty big hit. Has Only 1 egg. Ina Garten's scone recipes: Lots of people hate it. People who don't know better like it or think it's just OK. For example: In this Post, smitten kitten blogs about the best scone recipe ever (americas test kitchen-no eggs) and also trashes Ina's recipe. She doesn't know why her new found recipe is so good, but hey Im glad she at least found it. Anyway, heres an awesome scone recipe I found on bakingbites.com. I made these with Caleb and the next door neighbor kids (who are over EVERY day.)  The dough tasted fabulous. I've never cared to eat scone dough before because it always just tasted OK but this was some good dough, so I knew right off the bat that taste wasn't going to be a problem. The kids, my bro, my mom, and I ate the scones within 20 minutes after they came out of the oven so I can't say how well these kept (it terms of staying fresh.) All I can say was they were delicious. The recipe calls for a vanilla glaze. Kids were too hungry to wait for any glaze plus they tasted so good without it. But next time I make them, I'll try and use the glaze just because it apparently help seal in the moisture so the scones stay fresh longer.

No Bake Cheesecake

Jello No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake
AKA: Best Dessert Ever

I make this all the time, except i don't follow the box directions. I make it my way. I mix the crust mix with 6.5T butter (instead of 5T) and I use 3T sugar (instead of 2T.) I then press the crust on bottom of glass loaf pan. I mix the cheesecake filling with 1.5 C half-&-half (instead of 1.5C milk.) Mix on high speed 3 min.  I then pour/spread 3/4 the filling over the crust (the original recipe of course wants you to use all the filling. However, I think its too much filling for the amount of crust and topping that they give you. So my dad just eats the leftover 1/4 filling since he's allergic to flour and therefore he can't eat the crust part anyway.) I then pour/spread all the strawberry fruit topping over the filling and then put finished dessert  in the freezer for apx 1 hour and then in the fridge. To serve, u just cut into slices. Makes about 6 big slices. This dessert is bomb. Only lasts 2 days at max in our house! (everyone just ends up picking at it or spooning at it since they're all too lazy to cut a slice. Ha.) btw: one time bought the cherry kind. Nasty. don't do it. strawberry is the only way to go.

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

I was craving cinnamon rolls but we didn't have pre-made cinnamon roll dough and we didn't have yeast. But we had Pillsbury Crescent roll dough. So I looked online for a cinnamon roll recipe that used crescent dough and found one that looked awesome. (Click HERE for recipe) What looked best about the recipe was the cinnamon butter. You'll have to read the recipe to understand. I also have always liked the recipe blog that I pulled it from. Anyway. I made them with Caleb. He was being a little difficult. Kept trying to play with my phone instead of helping me make the rolls. These turned out delicious. Caleb downed 2 and he usually doesn't like anything. 

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls
Click HERE for recipe.

Chex Muddy Buddies

Some girl brought Chex muddy Buddies into work last night and it tasted soooo good, so I had to make some today, especially because we already had all the ingredients. Mine turned out just as good, maybe even better. LOL. So heres the recipe I used. Click HERE or HERE. I modified mine slightly and cut the recipe in half. You can make it the way I did, or just follow the original. Either way, it'll be good!! We used to eat this a lot when we were kids, I just totally forgot how good it was.

Chex Muddy Buddies
(modified from THIS recipe)

4 1/2 cups honey nut chex
1/2 cup chocolate mini chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 T butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Measure cereal. Set aside in large bowl. In microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Microwave 30 sec. Stir. Microwave and additional 15 sec. Stir again. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal in bowl and stir using rubber spatula until evenly coated. Pour coated cereal into large ziplock. add powdered sugar and seal bag. Shake until cereal is white and well coated. Spread on waxed paper and chill (in freezer.) Store in air-tight container in refrigerator (or freezer.)

Yellow Cake

I rarely make cakes. I used to try making them a lot but they never turned out right and i'm not into the cake mix type cake. They always comes out to light/cotteny/airy for my taste. But last night I was totally in the mood for a rich dense buttery yellow cake. I browsed up blogger sites for a good recipe. Came across SprinklesBakes post where she had used Martha Stewarts recipe. It looked like what I was looking for especially because it used butter (not oil or Crisco,) whole eggs (not just egg whites,) and all purpose flour (not cake flour.) Cake flour, oil, and whites make for a lighter fluffier cake which is not what I was shooting for so this recipe seemed pretty perfect.I checked a few more sites just to be sure and came across an allrecipes butter cake that looked even slightly more perfect because it called for 2 T more butter and 2 T less milk. It also had very good reviews. The only downfalls to the allrecipes cake was that it called for more baking powder (too much baking powder is unnecessary and makes for a bitter taste) and also it didn't have salt in the batter (which is weird.You need salt.) So I combined the 2 recipes using the best attributes of both and came up with a perfect recipe which is posted directly below. Results: ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. It was exactly what I was looking for. Tasted like a sugar cookie - cake. Super buttery and rich and perfect.Iv'e had trouble not eating the entire cake. So maybe I shouldn't ever make it again. Just kidding, I definitely will. Because its the perfect cake for a party, a wedding, a nice birthday, or any event that needs a good sturdy delicious cake. Glad I finally have the perfect go-to cake recipe (:  Just realized this is the same vanilla cake recipe that Jessica from "how sweet eats" uses and bakerella!! see i knew it was a good one!
Yellow Cake
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs*
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk

Beat butter and sugar till creamy. Beat in baking powder, salt, vanilla, and eggs till well combined. Gradually add flour and milk till thoroughly mixed. Pour/spread batter into buttered glass 9x9 square baking dish. Bake 30-35 min at 350.

Cinnamon Scones

My parents, Caleb, and I all went to San Francisco about 4 weeks ago. While there we stopped at a Starbucks and I bought a cinnamon scone. Ive never bought a scone before due to a bad scone experience that I'll talk about later in this paragraph. But these scones looked way to good to pass up. And they were. So This is where my new found scone fetish began. I bought 2 more (and a maple scone - which was super good too) and then couple days later we came across a Panera bakery and so I ordered a cinnamon scone there as well. Panera's was even "better" than the amazing Starbucks scone. We don't have a Panera in UT so I decided I had to replicate the recipe as close as close as whats possible. So I searched the Internet and the top rated cinnamon chip scone recipe came from taste of homes. A lot of bloggers copied the recipe and had huge success, so I figured that this is the one. I modified it slightly. Like this blogger, Cream instead of buttermilk. and slightly more sugar and slightly more butter. Only complaints on the Taste of Homes recipe was "not sweet enough." My scones came out perfect. I am going to use this recipe always from here on out. Couple years ago I made Barefoot Contessa scones and they were not good. That was the 1st time I'd ever had a scone and so I had always though that scones were just dry and gross. But Thank you to Starbucks and Panera for fixing my dislike of scones!

cinnamon chip scones

3 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup plus 2 T sugar (divided)
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
14 T cup cold butter

1 cup cream
10 oz cinnamon chips
2 T butter, melted
Rainbow Chip Frosting (optional)

Combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream just until moistened. Fold in Chips. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead 10-12 times or until dough is no longer sticky. Roll out dough 1" thick, even, and flat. Cut with circle cookie cutters. Brush top of circles with melted butter and then sprinkle with the remaining 2 T sugar. Yields: 12 scones.Bake 375 10-12 min or until LIGHT golden. Serve with butter, jam, frosting, cream... (I like Mine topped w/ Rainbow Chip frosting)

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Sopapilla Cheesecake

original recipe here

1 can refrigerated crescent rolls

1 bar cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar & vanilla, set aside. Open the crescent rolls & slowly unroll the rectangle of dough & divide it into 2 square pieces, taking care not to seperate the individual crescent rolls as you do so. With a rolling pin, shape the 2 square pieces to fit into a glass, buttered 9x9 pan. Place 1 square into the bottom of the pan, spread the cream cheese mixture over top & then place the remaining square of dough on top. In a smaller bowl, mix together 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup sugar & 1 tsp cinnamon. Spread evenly over top of sopapilla. Bake at 350 25-30 min or until golden. Remove from oven. Let cool in the pan before serving. Enjoy!

Best Ice Cream Ever

Cookie Dough Ice Cream!!!!

my 4 favorite ice creams ever are... (1 being my absolute favorite, 2 my second favorite, 3 my 3rd most favorite, 4 my 4th most)

1) Dreyer's fun flavors cookie dough ice cream

2) Maxx Dreyer's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

3) Maggie Moo's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream (Cake Batter ice cream as the base mized w/ cookie dough pieces and fudge sauce)

4) Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

My favorite dessert ever!!! (As of lately(:) is...

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (any one of the above 3 flavours)

Frozen pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough (ready to bake)

Mini chocolate chips (Nestle or Hersheys)

Into a cup, scoop out 1/2 cup cookie dough ice cream, add 5 small pieces pillsbury cookie dough (or 1 cookie dough square broken up), and add 1 Tablespoon mini chips. With spoon, Mix all ingredients together. Eat and enjoy

Dreyer's Fun Flavors Cookie Dough is absolute very best because its 1st off Dreyers, and also its creamiest, fluffiest, bestest, tons of chocolate mini chips, awesome cookie dough, awesome awesome base ice cream. Maxx cookie dough ice cream is the 2nd best because it uses dreyers ice cream and dreyers ice cream is soooo sooo good!! and it has nestle cookie dough and mini chips which makes for an amazing combo. Also maxx ice cream has extra cookie dough than most (if not all) cookie dough ice creams which is why its called "maxx." reason its not my number 1, its a little airier that fun flavors. Maggi Moos Cookie Dough is 3rd best because the cake batter maggie moos ice cream flavour is so creamy and so good and you can choose your amount of cookie dough and fudge sauce (which is definitly of nice quality) and i always tell them to add"a lot." ben and jerrys in my opinion has the best cookie dough of all the 4 ice creams, which is why its one of my favorites. the cookie dough chunks are huge and taste so good. the reason its not my 1st or 2nd or 3rd favorite though, is because i dont like the ice cream base flavour nor the texure as well. its more icy, whereas dreyers and maggie moos ice cream is a lot more creamy/fluffy/ and sweeter. all in all you cant go wrong w/ any of these flavours. theyre all great

Rice Pudding

Ive been on this total rice kick lately don't know why, but i just crave it. rice pudding, rice drink (horchata), rice cereal (rice w/ milk and sugar (and a spoon). I just love it. So i made some "uncle Bens" mix rice pudding tonight and i got like one bite and then my dad scarfed down all the rest so my mom and i didnt get any so we made homemade rice pudding and it was even better. the best we've ever had. My mom liked it so much that she posted it on her blog too

Creamy Rice Pudding
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup cream
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In medium saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in cream, beaten egg and corn starch. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm. Sprinkle w/ cinnamon (optional)

Horchata

This recipe calls for milk, but if your vegan, you can use almond milk instead, or just use all water, or soy milk, or whatever. recipe is very forgiving. I love to drink this plain. Its also really good poured over cereal.
Horchata

Put 1-1/3 cups uncooked rice in blender. add 2 cups milk. puree 20 sec. then add an additional 3 cups milk. puree 30 more sec. Let soak in refrigerator over night. Next day once again puree mixture 20 more sec. then add 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon, 1 T vanilla, 3/4 cup half and half, and 1 c sugar and puree 20 more sec. Pour into pitcher.
To serve: (rice sinks to bottom of pitcher so always stir horchata before serving) After stirring serve it to people over crushed ice in individual cups. I never strain it. My family likes it unstrained and so do all my latin co workers. (i know adding milk and cream and stuff isnt very traditional. its just how ive always prefered it)

Best Treat Ever

What this is, is one of my homemade chocolate chip cookies (or M&M cookies) topped with frosting and then topped with sweetened whipped cream!!! Its so so so delicious. I eat one of these at least once a week! I'll write out the "recipe" below...

Best Treat Ever
Ingredients:
1 homemade M&M Cookie (not hot)
Pillsbury vanilla Frosting
Homemade Sweetened Whipped Cream
Directions:
Take One m&m cookie. Spread top of cookie w/ vanilla frosting. Spread top of frosting with whipped cream. Serve immediately and enjoy(:

ANickH Cheesecake

This is far Different from your average cheesecake. First off, it uses a shortbread crust (why?because I love shortbread). Second, its baked in a glass dish instead of a springform pan (why? because I get the chills when I think of metal w/ cheesecake). And Third, its creamy yet dense (due to the flour/milk combo in the ingredients). Anyway, it's awesome. I've made it many times and my family always says this is the best cheesecake!

ANickH Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
3/8 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

Crust: In a large bowl, combine flour, margarine, confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Mix well and press into a 9 inch glass pie pan or 9x9 glass casserole dish. Prick all over and bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes.

Filling: In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.
Bake in preheated oven for apx 45 minutes. Chill in refrigerator until serving.