Caramel Heath Cookies & A Baby Shower

We spent 10 days in Boston for Thanksgiving. The weather was rather splendid  The sun shined almost every day we were there. and while I was still continually in a winter jacket, scarves and mitten...I was at least able to stand outside for more than 10 minutes at a time;)

I arrived so early b/c, along with my mama in law, I threw a baby shower for my sissy in law. I went up a few days before Wiki to tie up some last minute details.  I decided on a Fall theme; pumpkins and owls. I found the most adorable invitations on etsy and went from there.

We had it at this lovely place near my inlaws that lets you rent the whole top floor. Very few decorations needed as it's already lovely. They serve up lunch buffet style and all I had to make were some treats to go along w/the cake.

I decided upon making these & the oatmeal butterscotch goodness bars

I may have had three boxes of caramel cake mix and 6 boxes of cheesecake pudding in my carry on...

I'm sorry...have you ever bought groceries in Boston? haha 

Ingredients

1 8 oz brick cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick butter, at room temperature

• 1 egg

• 1 (18-ounce) box caramel cake mix

• 1 1/2 cup heath bits

• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
• 
  

Pre heat oven to 350'

DIRECTIONS-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then finally add in the cake mix & slowly add in the heath bits . Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar.

 Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired. 

I cannot aptly describe how much I love heath bar...

if you don't believe me, check out a few  posts

Bourbon Heath Mudslide

Pumpkin Caramel Poke Cake

Salted Caramel Mudslide

Anyways, the shower went better than I could have hoped. If I am honest, I was nervous as to how I would feel. I wondered if there would be a lump in my throat, would I feel a tinge of envy that it wasn't my baby shower. I am so relieved to say I didn't. I am so lucky and blessed to have Johanna as my sis in law. You cannot get any sweeter than her and I am genuinely excited to meet my first niece!

 The only time my heart constricted a bit was when someone said something to the effect of "how thrilled my in laws must be to finally be getting their first grandchild." It burns a little, however this person has no idea the struggles we've incurred, the never ending ache my heart has had for 8 years to be a mommy. They didn't mean it rude. It was just the word "finally" that stung. I wish I had been able to give them one a long time ago...

But nothing cures the burn more than pink and ruffles and I am over the moon to spoil this little pumpkin! I have three amazing nephews(on my side) so far and can only imagine a little girl.

Every time I see Johanna I have a full on convo w/lil miss, I need to make sure she knows her favorite auntie;)

The cake had owls & pumpkins, each table setting was welcomed w/ a wishes for baby & a diaper that 

everyone was asked to decorate & write sentiments on each diaper that mom & dad could read

as they put them on the baby. Each table had a bucket of markers to decorate

I did a Fall themed candy bar as favors and strung up "Fallish" bibs as decor that they got to take home

when the shower was over.

Wiki's Auntie Ella & I

 Me & the JoJo

and I am wearing 3 1/2 in wedges in this picture.

I am 5'3(on a good day)

she is a little over 6 feet

Wiki is right at 6'5

Wiki's brother(JoJo's hubby) is almost 6'7

What have we all learned from this?

My niece will probably be born taller than me:(

hahaha

Told you I talk to her as often as possible!

Hope everyone is having a great week thus far.

Whoopie Pie Wednesday may involve peppermint hot cocoa\

linking up w/

Funfetti Ooey Gooey Butter Cookies

I've been on hiatus, I apologize. We had a funeral this past week and I've had some other things going on lately and I will touch base on those in the next few weeks. but the real reason you're here..

Yes, it's September and I am well aware it is officially(as of Saturday,woohoo)Fall, but in my world, it's been fall since Sept 1. and only that late b/c Wiki gave me "the look" when I mentioned taking my stuff out before then. To all you ladies who think it would be super awesome if your husband cared one way or the other about decor...think again, it's actually anti-awesome due to the fact that they actually try to have input on your our stuff. humph. Anyways, most of my goodies that have been getting made lately have involved pumpkin, apples and caramel. Buuuuttt, as it is still in the 90's here and I had a few ingredients left over, this week will be "summery" treats. You can still make them now if you want to, I mean...who cares, right? haha 

Ingredients

1 8 oz brick cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick butter, at room temperature

• 1 egg

• 1 tbsp vanilla

• 1 (18-ounce) box funfetti cake mix

• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla & finally add in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 10- 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired. 

and actually, I just realized that the Halloween funfetti mix is out, yay. see, this post is completely on time. Yay me;)

Pumpkin Carrot Cookies w/Maple Cream Cheese

I hadn't planned to do this post till after Sept. 1st. As I already said, in my world Fall starts at 12:01. I should have my own midnight madness countdown just for that. Hmmm. but seriously...I had been perusing the aisles of Michael's the other day(big mistake) and the second I walked past the Fall section my mood became elevated, my serotonin is obviously a fan of Fall, I was born in the Fall, after all...all the best babies are, ya know;) Anyways, when I left I headed straight to the store and decided I must make something with pumpkin. It had to be done.

The basis of this recipe came from one of the 5 pumpkin butters I still had frozen from last year and wanted to use. Since ooey gooey butter cookies call for...gasp, butter, I decided to finally make some goodness of it. I decided carrot would be a great cake base, as I hadn't tried that one yet. 

I posted the finished product on Instagram, you know, the sight that has me thinking I should be paid to take photographs, and my sweet friend Annie paid me a delightful compliment and asked for the recipe. So Miss Annie, just for you, a month a head of schedule...I am doing this b/c you keep me enthralled w/all the adorable pictures of the lil bits(seriously people, her kids are ridiculous.) keep 'em coming

time to get down to the nitty gritty
ingredients:
cookies
8 oz cream cheese(room temp)
1 container pumpkin butter
1 tsp vanilla(I actually used bourbon, but if you don't have it)
1 egg
1 box carrot cake mix
1 cup confectioners sugar
maple cream cheese filling
4 oz cream cheese(room temp)
2 tbs maple syrup flavored pudding

directions

 In a large bowl mix the cream cheese & butter until smooth. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla and finally the cake mix. Cover & refrigerate for at least two hours. In a smaller bowl fork mix the cream cheese(for the filling) & the syrup, chill for two hours also(at least, can stay longer if you like.) Preheat oven 350' Take 2 tbs of dough and spread out in your palm, then add a tsp size of the filling to the middle and wrap the dough around the filling until it forms a ball. Roll the ball around in confectioner's sugar and bake for 10 min. The cookies will have a gooey center. You can cook for a few minutes more if you like a "cakery" texture, but I prefer this way.I made some without the  cream cheese center and they were just as scrumptious, if you wanted to skip the extra step.

***notes I had actual butter w/pumpkin flavoring, not to be confused w/ "pumpkin butter" Since it's early it may not be out yet. So you could make your own, I would use 3/4 stick of butter(room temp) and add either 2 tbsp pumpkin puree or pumpkin butter, adding pumpkin spice would also be good. Or if you have pumpkin cream cheese instead of butter...You can easily adapt this recipe to your taste.

Creamsicle cookies w/cheesecake center

I know I had hinted my next "ooey gooey butter cookies" installment would involve funfetti cake batter. That was my intention and then I made the creamsicle ones and decided to one up myself and add a twist...cheesecake filling. Ummm, Yes, Please. So, for now at least, funfetti must wait. Priorties, people...We all have them.

The recipe contains the usual suspects required of these decadent cookies: butter, cream cheese and cake mix. The change up this time involved Orange Dream cake mix. I loved the dough(especially after it sat in the freezer for an hour; yums in my tums!) but was, at first anyways, not completely sold on the actual cookie...then came the next morning and I was officially riding the bandwagon.

The real sign that these were quite tasty came from Wiki, he ate three of them. Now I am sure that some of you are thinking "3 cookies is a good sign?" in my house, YES! The hubs is being participatory in a low carb lifestyle. I know- he's that person(insert exasperated eye roll) I mean I am a carbatarian. Surely there's such a thing? Right? I am also a meatarian. What I am not is a vegetarian...I feel your judgements and they don't hurt my feelings. haha anyways, the point is he ate the first one, paused and said "Yum, those are good. Wow, really good, these are the best so far." Score one for me!

time to get down to the nitty gritty

ingredients:

cookies

8 oz cream cheese(room temp)

1 stick butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 box orange cake mix

1 box confectioners sugar

cheesecake filling

4 oz cream cheese(room temp)

3 tbs cheesecake flavored pudding

thick dough

directions

 In a large bowl mix the cream cheese & butter until smooth. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla and finally the cake mix. Cover & refrigerate for at least two hours. In a smaller bowl fork mix the cream cheese(for the filling) & the pudding till it's the taste you desire, chill for two hours also(at least, can stay longer if you like.) Preheat oven 350' Take a tbs size of dough and spread out in your palm, then add a tsp size of the filling to the middle and wrap the dough around the filling until it forms a ball. Roll the ball around in confectioner's sugar and bake for 10-12 min. The cookies will have a gooey center. You can cook for a few minutes more if you like a "cakery" texture, but I prefer this way.I made some without the center and they were just as scrumptious, if you wanted to skip the extra step.

perfect blend of oj and cream

warm and gooey

Linking up with
Taste of Tuesday
Wonderful Food Wednesday
What I Whipped Up Wednesday

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

My ooey gooey butter cookie phase has been full throttle lately. My most recent adventure involved strawberry. I have odd tendencies when it comes to food.  Take for instance the fact that I hate coffee, but heart coffee ice cream. I adore strawberries, but wouldn't eat strawberry cheesecake if you paid me. I always cringe when I spy a pink cupcake b/c more often than not...it's strawberry(which is uber sad b/c pink is my favorite). This then, makes little sense, that of all the flavors of cake mix I've dabbled in to make these cookies...strawberry captured me the easiest. As I said: odd tendencies.  Oh well, I am a woman, it's inherent in my nature to not make any sense whatsoever. Moving on...

Ingredients

1 8 oz brick cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick butter, at room temperature

• 1 egg

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 (18-ounce) box moist strawberry cake mix

• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the lemon juice. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 10- 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired. 

 hope y'all enjoy these as much as I have. They're quite delightful and easily put you into a "springy" kinda mood. Especially when you've abstained from carbs for 2 weeks as I have. Yes, you read that right. 14 days of 25 carbs or less. Today was cheat day and c.h.e.a.t. I did. and guess what, my body hates me. Sugar is the evil one, why do I love it so. Now this week is 30-40 carbs a day. 12 of which will be chic fil a nuggets. hey, if I get them three meals a day...I'll still stay in my allotted amount. Hmmmmm?!?!haha kidding, or am I? only time will tell.

*Origin*

this is another of my adaption's of Paula Dean's Ooey Gooey Butter Cookie

ooey gooey red velvet butter cookies/ice cream sandwich

There must be words to adequately describe these, I'm just not sure that my vernacular fully encompasses them. Last year at my cousins baby shower I tried what looked like a sugar cookie. I was wrong, wrong in the best way possible. My brain actually took a few seconds to absorb what my mouth was tasting. It was too good to even be called a cookie. Stacy, Brandy's bestie was in from St. Louis and had made these for the shower. Ooey Gooey Butter Cookies, a twist of the St. Louis cake.


I googled the recipe the next day and discovered a variety of them. I first made the chocolate ones and they came out ok, but not fantastic. I'm pretty sure I did something wrong. For the last year I would click on it and contemplate making it...or flying Stacy out and having her do it. Pretty sure the cost would be worth it, not to mention her company. Her, Brandy and I have had quite a few fun nites together. But why lie...my favorite thing about Stacy is that she introduced me to these cookies. haha 


Anyways, I have definitely been in a cooking craze lately, so with valentines coming up I decided to once again try my hand at these. You can use any cake mix, but V-Day is the perfect opportunity for Red Velvet. 


So here you go. This recipe was adapted from Paula Dean's Ooey Gooey Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (18-ounce) box red velvet cake mix
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

 This time they came out perfect, as good as I remeber. Only Red Velvety. I heart Red Velvet. I am a Southern girl. It's inherent in my nature.

I am not sure how many of you are familiar w/the Ben & Jerry's Red Velvet flavor, but if you're not, please get to the store and take your life from ordinary to extraordinary when you sandwich it between these cookies.

That's all.

*Origin* Obviously these cookies aren't mine, however I did get the sandwich part on my "ownsome;)" 

here