Chocolate Meringues

From the kitchen of: Rose
These cookies are *scrumptious*! I love how light and fluffy they are! And I like how it has a different texture from most cookies!

Ingredients:

3 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
Beat in cream of tartar and vanilla when the egg whites become foamy; continue whipping till soft peaks form. Slowly add sugar; (When it says slowly...it means REALLY slowly. Put the sugar in using a tablespoon till it's all gone. This should take 2 minutes to complete), beat until stiff peaks form, and mixture becomes glossy. Add in cocoa and chocolate chips. (Chips aren't necessary)
Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls on to a cookie sheet that has been covered with tin foil. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.(It might be less or more depending on climate and elevation. I cook using high altitude instructions mostly)

Almond Roca

Caution: VERY, VERY GOOD!!!!! I make this every year around Christmas time.

Before you start...

*Spray or grease a large cookie sheet
*Line sheet with graham crackers

Instructions:

Gather...
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
*Melt together brown sugar and butter, bring to a boil for about 2 minutes (until gelatinous in texture).
*Spread over graham wafers
Bake for 10 minutes at 325, be careful not to burn them!

*Once it's done in the oven, sprinkle two cups chocolate chips over it and let it sit for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes are up, the chocolate chips should be soft and melted. Spoon/spread the chocolate chips around. Sprinkle slivered almonds on top. Freeze. Break up like an ice tray to serve.
Bon Appetit!

Pizza

I am a HUGE pizza fan! And this crust is THE BEST (I really mean that)!

To get a great pizza sauce reipe, go HERE.



Ingredients for pizza crust:

1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 packages yeast
1 cup milk, warmed
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
4 cups flour

Measure warm water into medium mixing bowl, add sugar and dissolve. Sprinkle in yeast and let stand for 10 minutes. Add milk, salt and oil to the yeast mixture. Add flour and mix until flour disappears. Knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl. Grease the top of the dough and put the bowl in a warm place so the dough will rise and double in bulk (about 45 minutes).
This is enough dough for two pizzas.

To make pizza:

To make the pizza just follow the instructions you usually would. Spread the dough over a pizza pan, add pizza sauce, put on your toppings, bake, etc. Whatever you would usually do.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins

I love muffins and anything with pumpkin! So the combination of the two makes one very, very good recipe! I enjoy making muffins for lunch, they are such a treat! So if you're looking for a good muffin recipe, stop right here and start baking!
Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups pureed pumpkin
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups raisins
For topping: brown sugar and pecan bits

Mix wet ingredients, then stir in dry ingredients until moistened. Add raisins. Scoop into muffin tins sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle tops with brown sugar and pecan bits.

Bake at 375 for 30 min.

Yields 2 doz

Lemon Crumb Bars

From the kitchen of: Nela
Thank you for the great recipe, Nela. It was delicous! I love the fact it has cracker crumbs in it! And I love the lemon flavour!

Ingredients:
1 package (18-1/4 ounces) lemon cake mix
1/2 cup cold butter
1 egg
2 cups crushed saltines (about 60 crackers)
3 egg yolks
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions:
In a large bowl, beat the cake mix, butter and egg until crumbly. Stir in cracker crumbs; set aside 2 cups for topping.
Press remaining crumb mixture into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks, milk and lemon juice. Pour over crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 20-25 minutes longer or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 2 dozen.

Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies

This recipe is from the kitchen of: Emily Grace
I ♥ sandwich cookies! But with peanut butter?! These were sooo good! Thank you, Emily Grace, for the recipe and the beautiful picture of them!

Ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. packed b. sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
3 c. flour
2 t. b. soda
1/4 t. salt

Filling:
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
3 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
5-6 tablespoons milk


Directions:
1.) In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter, and sugars. Add eggs. one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.
2.) Shape into 1-in. balls and place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten to 3/8-in. thickness with fork. Bake at 375 for 7-8min or until golden. Remove to wire racks to cool.
3.) For filling, in a large bowl beat the peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency.(I ended up using more milk than it suggested) Spread on half of the cookies and top each with another cookie.

Recipe Contest Winner! {and some thoughts about the other entries}

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for their entries. I thoroughly enjoyed sampling all the recipes! I will start with my comments on each recipe...

Nela's recipe for Lemon Crumb Bars:

These were delicious! I love the fact that they have cracker crumbs in them! I also enjoyed pressing the crumbs into the pan. For the judging, I had my extended family over and we all judged together. My cousin gave it 10/10! Thank you for participating in the contest, Nela!


Emily Grace's recipe for Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies:


This recipe was very good! I ♥ sandwich cookies of all kinds! And with peanut butter?! They were sooo good!! These cookies are excellent with milk! I love the filling and the cookie part is delicious too. Thank you for your entry, Emily Grace! {P.S. I like the picture of the cookies!}

Rose's recipe for Chocolate Meringues:

These cookies were excellent! Out of all the entries, they were my sister's favourite! I love the colour and the flavour that the chocolate chips add. I also liked the texture! Thank you for entering, Rose! I enjoyed your recipe very much.

Gallop Girl's recipe for Deluxe Marshmallow Brownies:

YUMMM!!! These were sooo good! I love the peanut butter/chocolate/rice crispie topping *drools*. And with that scrumptious cookie-like bottom and marshmallow middle? *help! I'm melting!* Thank you for submitting this recipe, Gallop Girl! {This picture really well done!}


And, last but not least, Scezzle's recipe for Ranger Cookies:



What can I say? These were sooo good! They were my dad's favourite out of all the entries. I love the coconut and peanuts in these cookies! Thank you for entering, Scezzle {Oh, by the way, I added chocolate chips to the cookies when I made them}.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for... *drum roll please*

The winner isssssssss....

GALLOP GIRL with her recipe for Deluxe Marshmallow Brownies! Thanks for the recipe, Gallop Girl! Her blog is
http://www.thegallopgirl.blogspot.com/
Note: Gallop Girl is creating a new blog {and deleting this one}, so if you see this blog address in a couple of weeks and type it in, it probably won't work.

And here is Gallop Girl's award! To display the award on your blog, Gallop Girl, go to "Design", "Add a gadget", and click on "Html/javascript." Paste the code there, and you're done!

<center><a href="" target="_blank"><img alt="First Place!" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/FishyBC/forblog001.jpg" /></a></center>

And here is her recipe! {A note to anyone who entered: don't be surprised if you check my blog a few days from now and find your recipe posted. I want to share your recipes on my blog too, but I will be doing it over a period of time, probably a week or so}

Deluxe Marshmallow Brownies
Bottom layer:
¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/3 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons baking cocoa
Optional: 1/2 cup peanuts. Since I have a brother in my family who is allergic to nuts, I don't add the nuts.

Middle layer:
4 cups mini marshmallows

Top layer:
1 and 1/3 cups (8 ounces) chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups rice crispy cereal

In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla;beat until fluffy.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa; add to creamed mixture.
Spread in a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350'C for 20-25 minutes.
Now, depending on your oven, you might need to add some more time. I usually do half an hour with our oven. So, start with 20 minutes, and increase the time as you go along :)
When baked, remove from oven and sprinkle the marshmallows evenly over top; return to the oven and bake for about 2-3 minutes more, just enough to melt the marshmallows. If you do too long, you might burn them and that just won't do!
Then, using a knife dipped in water, spread the melted marshmallows evenly over cake. I usually just skip this step because I don't see the point in it, but that's what the recipe says, so if you want to do this step, go right ahead :) P.S it might get a little sticky!!!
Now let it cool. This is very important. Once when I was in a hurry, I did not let it cool completely, and the top layer did not harden. In the end I had to stick it in the freezer to get it to harden. In the long run, it's worth it to wait till it has had time to cool completely.
For top layer, combine chocolate chips, butter, and peanut butter in a small saucepan.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until melted and well blended. Remove from heat; stir in rice crispy cereal. Spread over bars. Chill.
Yield: about 3 dozen.


Annnnnd, I just could not make up my mind, so I decided to have an honourable mention. Here it is:

Scezzle! with her recipe for Ranger Cookies! Congratulations Scezzle!

Her blog: http://www.soulclanterritory.blogspot.com/
To display the award {below} on your blog, follow the instructions I gave Gallop Girl.
Thanks for entering!

<center><a href="" target="_blank"><img alt="Honourable Mention" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/FishyBC/chocolate_chip_ranger_cookie.jpg" /></a></center>

Here's Scezzle's recipe:

Ranger Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup raisins or dried fruit. We use peanuts instead.

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.
Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in rolled oats, coconut, and raisins or peanuts.

2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 375 F oven for about 8 min or until edges are golden. Cool on cookie sheets 1 min. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.


Thank you to everyone for entering!