Goodies in my Kitchen

Today is Keeping Creative Kitchens over at Alaina's blog. And while my cookie/candy excursions in the kitchen haven't been too creative or out of the ordinary, I thought I'd contribute the few goodies I have made. (I can't make too much because then it's just sitting around for Jer and I to eat and we really don't need that.)

Peanut Clusters (from Alaina's recipe blog)

Melt 6 oz. chocolate chips and 6 oz. butterscotch chips. Stir in until coated, 12 oz. salted peanuts. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.

(I sent these to work with Jeremy this week and one of his co-workers took a couple and said that would be her Weight Watchers limit for the day, so they're pretty tasty and worth splurging on.)

Dipped Pretzels

Melt chocolate and/or vanilla flavored almond bark in the microwave (Candiquik or any such will work). Stir in a handful of small twisted pretzels, using a plastic fork with the two middle tines broken off, pick up a pretzel and shake off the excess coating. Place on wax paper to dry. To fancy these up, sprinkle candy sprinkles, or drizzle vanilla coating over chocolate pretzels and chocolate coating over the vanilla pretzels (my personal favorite).

Reese's Brownie Bites

Using either a box brownie mix (I'm partial to Aldi's) or make brownie batter from scratch, fill mini muffin tins about 2/3 full with batter and bake (probably take several minutes less than the recipe calls for...I think I baked mine about 15-18 minutes). While the brownies are baking, unwrap mini Reese's cups. Remove brownies from oven and while they are still in the pan and warm, push one Reese's cup into each brownie.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once again, just follow the recipe on the package. However, I make these minor adjustments (and they've been getting rave reviews at Jeremy's library): double the vanilla extract, add an additional 2/3-1 c. of flour, and add a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. I also tend to bake them at a slightly lower temperature than the recipe calls for.

That's what I've made this year. I am hoping to make some peppermint meringues sometime soon, and perhaps some coconut macaroons. Enjoy!