Baking

Mango and Lime Cookies

6 · Apr 19, 2015 · 2 Comments

+ This Mango and Lime Cookies post brought to you by Pillsbury Baking +

This weekend we had a going away party for a good friend of ours. He’s getting ready to head off to the wilds of Eugene, Oregon for two years to serve an LDS mission and we couldn’t be more thrilled for him. We had a bunch of friends over to spend the evening and I was crazy busy getting things ready for the event. I knew I needed some kind of treat to share, BUT… I didn’t have a whole lot of time to spare in the kitchen whipping up all kinds of goodies.

One of my favorite easy go-to treats are cake cookies. They are SUPER easy to throw together and they are always so tasty. All you need are four ingredients… One box of cake mix, 2 sticks of butter, a little flour & 1-2 eggs. Yep, that’s it!!

The great thing is… Thanks to Pillsbury Baking, we aren’t limited to chocolate or vanilla!!!!

I used to be a total chocoholic until I became pregnant with my little guy over 5 years ago. For some reason my love of chocolate shifted to a love of fruity type desserts. Most especially citrus and tart desserts. I could pass on a chocolate cake at that point, but a lemon bar was my kryptonite!

Even after my pregnancy my fruity love remained and I’m always thrilled to find some fun new ways to create some fruity goodies.

The folks at Pillsbury Baking have been working on all kinds of innovative flavors and this spring they have released two new flavors, Mango and Lime.

Now I’ve tried these types of cake mixes before and they have always been too sweet without enough tart flavor. That’s why I LOVE this type of dessert, I love a little tart kick. I was thrilled when I tried these mixes this week and they had an amazing flavor. The mango cookies tasted like MANGO!

AND the lime cookies tasted just like luscious LIME!

I was SOOO EXCITED!! They are just like summer on a plate!

Here’s how you mix-up your cake cookies…

Mango & Lime Cookies Recipe

Preheat oven to 350˚

2 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature

1 box of either Mango or Lime cake mix

1-2 eggs

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

In the bowl of your electric mixer whip your butter until it’s nice and fluffy. Slowly add your cake mix and cream the butter and cake mix together. Add your eggs. If you like a flatter cookie add only one egg. If you like a fluffier cookie add two eggs. We tend to like the fuller, fluffier cookie at our house so we add two eggs. Mix that together with the butter and cake mix. Slowly add 2/3 cup of flour. Once mixed, scoop your cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

I use a one ounce scoop when I am baking cookies and they always bake evenly and generally come out more uniform which I like. Bake the cookies at 350˚ for 11-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. This will yield 22 1 oz. cookies.

I frosted my cookies with the Mango and Lime frosting from Pillsbury Baking and then topped the mango cookies with white sprinkles and the lime cookies with lime zest which added to the lime flavor.

If you’re feeling super crazy, you can grab some Dickinson’s® Lime Curd from the store and make a lovely lime curd cookie.

After the cookies bake, gently press down the center of the cookie with your thumb and spread a little lime curd into the thumbprint. Again I top it with a little lime zest. Now, this is my favorite way to eat these cookies! Like I said… I LOVE tart treats!

Now that you are in the mood for all kinds of summerie treats, you’ll have to visit Pillsbury Baking on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram for all kinds of inspiration!

Cookie Dough Brownies

3 · Mar 27, 2015 · 7 Comments

+ This Cookie Dough Brownies post is brought to you by the Pillsbury Baking +

Have you ever had one of those nights when the sweet monster attacks? I know you have…

You’re standing in the kitchen rummaging through to the pantry, the fridge & the freezer and you just want something quick, sinful and sweet! You start dreaming of crazy concoctions and then it hits you…

Cookie Dough Brownies!!

What… that hasn’t ever happened to you?

Ok, well… it’s happened at our house and these little bites of goodness couldn’t be easier to make.

All you need to do is stock up on these two goodies from the folks at Pillsbury Baking…

Purely Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix & Family Size Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix from Pillsbury. It’s really quite amazing how far these box mixes have come. The folks at Pillsbury Baking have been tirelessly working on creating box mixes that are just as good as homemade. What I love about them is how quick they are to mix-up, especially on those days when you have a monster craving or when you need a treat to take to an event. All you have to do is keep your pantry stocked with a few boxes and you’re all set.

I’m especially LOVING the new Purely Simple line of goodies from Pillsbury. These mixes are lovely and they don’t have any of those troublesome preservatives and artificial colors or flavors. I love’em!

Now these Cookie Dough Brownies couldn’t be any easier to make.

First, bake-up your brownies, mixing according to package directions. I like my brownies nice and thick, so I baked mine in a smaller baking dish like a 8×8 or 9×9 pan. While the brownies are cooling, mix up your cookie dough. The only change that I make with the cookie dough is that I leave out the eggs. Since we are not baking the cookies, I don’t want to mess around with possible food illness issues with the raw eggs.

Mix-up the cookie dough and then spread it on top of the brownies, carefully, while they are still slightly warm. It’s it’s just as if you are frosting your brownies. You want to have a lighter hand so you don’t tear up the brownies underneath…

Voliá… Cookie Dough Brownies!

Let the brownies fully cool and give the cookie dough time to set and then you can cut them into bite sized pieces…

This is the best of both world… It’s a chance for brownie lovers and cookie dough lovers to unite!

What’s not to celebrate about that? Sometimes you need to take a quick moment and celebrate the little things and this quick recipe is the perfect way to do that!

Visit Pillsbury Baking for all kinds of fun recipe ideas. Don’t forget to follow them on Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest for even more baking fun!

Disclaimer // This post is sponsored by Pillsbury Baking. I received product and payment for this post, however… I will only post about products that I truly love and use in my everyday life.

Orange Honey Butter Spread with Melt Organic

5 · Jan 14, 2015 ·

+ Orange Honey Butter Spread Recipe brought to you by Melt® Organic +

This is one of my favorite culinary times of year… Citrus Season! I don’t know about you, but I love the oranges this time of year. They are like candy and I just can’t get enough of them. Which is probably good since we all seem to be fighting the cold and flu war this time of year, a little extra vitamin C is perfect! I thought a lovely Orange Honey Butter would be a great addition to a brunch table, especially when looking for inspiration from Bee Inspired recipes.

Recently, I was invited to try a new product out on the market called Melt® Organic. It’s this really cool “butter like” spread that has all the stuff we love about butter, but it’s packed full of healthier fats and it’s dairy and soy free. I would have to say I was a little skeptical at first. Can this product made out of a blend of organic coconut, flaxseed, canola, palm fruit & sunflower oils really have the taste and creamy texture of butter? I decided to put it to the test.

First test, compound butter… Last Christmas, for my neighbor gifts, I made some lovely compound butters. I whipped together some honey, garlic & berry butters, packaged them up and gave them to my friends and neighbors for holiday gifts. They were a hit.

I wanted to give this idea a go with this new Melt® Organic product. I whipped it up the very same way, I place roughly 6 oz. basically half a container of Melt® Organic into my mixer with roughly 1 heaping tablespoon of orange marmalade.

Then whip the two together really well. Place in a small jar and serve immediately or store in the refrigerator and use as needed. It turned out beautifully!

I whipped up some black cherry butter spread with the other half of my container and I was all set for a lovely brunch.

What I LOVE about the Melt® Organic is that it is GMO-free and it’s helping get my healthy fats in the right way. Here’s the skinny about Melt® Organic…

Ideal balance of Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids – 2:1
Good daily source of Omega 3 ALA’s at 425 mg – 26% RDA per serving
Good daily source of Vitamin E – 15% RDA per serving
Certified USDA Organic and OU Kosher Pareve
Verified non-GMO by the Non-GMO Project
Absolutely no hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils
Trans Fat Free
Gluten Free
Soy Free
Dairy Free
Vegan
No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives

Not bad if you ask me!

The next test… Baking Cookies.

I mixed up a batch of our favorite Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Cookies with Melt® Organic rather than butter. They mixed up beautifully and baked even better. My family didn’t even notice the difference.

I noticed a difference knowing that even though cookies aren’t exactly health food, and fat is still fat, I felt better knowing that the cookies they were eating were made from healthier fats. You can grab this recipe HERE, just substitute the Melt® Organic for the butter.

The next test… I sautéd some corn with Melt® Organic and I really liked that much better than butter. You still have the butter flavor without all the yucky fats. My family loved this test too.

All in all, my experience with Melt® Organic has been super positive and we have been converted for sure!

Click HERE to find a store near you that carries Melt® Organic. You can generally find it in the organic dairy section of your local super market. If not, you can always order it online. Grab some and give it a spin, tell me what you think!

MELT® Organic is a line of luscious, organic spreads made from healthy oils for butter lovers seeking a much healthier alternative, available in Rich & Creamy (original), Honey, and NEW Chocolate.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of MELT Organic. The opinions and text are all mine.

Easy New Years Quiche with the Kiddos and Toca Kitchen 2

2 · Dec 27, 2014 · 3 Comments

+ This Easy New Years Quiche post brought to you by Toca Kitchen 2 App +

I am always looking for ways to get my kiddos involved in the kitchen. Cooking together teaches so many life skills like how to follow directions, how to share, how to clean-up after ourselves, how to be creative and so much more. I would have to admit that I don’t take all of the opportunities that I should because of the rush of life. It’s hard to slow down sometimes and remember to get the kiddos involved. Recently, I was introduced to a new App made especially for our kiddos called Toca Kitchen 2…

So… funny story. When I was invited to review Toca Kitchen, I had downloaded the app onto our family iPad and really didn’t do anything with it right at that moment. I had so many other things on my plate right at that point.

A few hours later, my little guy Gage, who is four, was playing with the iPad. I started to hear him chatting while he was playing a game and it started to sound like a cooking show. He has a Mother who likes to watch the food network, so I guess it wasn’t too far fetched. I went over to see what he was playing, and sure enough, he was playing the new Toca Kitchen 2 and without any prompting from me, he had figured it out all on his own and was having a ball!

For me I thought the graphics were a bit silly, but when I saw it through HIS eyes it was super fun. I then proceeded to teach his older sister how to play the game and they have had hours of fun playing together coming up with all kinds of crazy concoctions. Here’s a video of him doing one of his cooking shows… It’s super cute and he came up with it all on his own!

Toca Kitchen with WhipperBerry from Heather Thoming on Vimeo.

We decided to come up with our own Toca Kitchen recipe for the New Year. I created a simple quiche recipe and my daughter Emily picked all of the goodies to add to the quiche.

This is a super simple recipe that is PERFECT to make with your kiddos!

First, Emily grabbed all of our ingredients out of the fridge just like in the Toca Kitchen 2 App.

Both Emily and Gage washed their hands, and then using a kid safe butter knife, they prepped all of our ingredients for our quiches.

I used some baking cups that I found at Target that are perfect for individual quiches. Emily cut the Pillsbury® Crescent Dough into squares and placed them into the baking cups.

These are all things that your kiddos can do with just a little direction from you.

Emily cracked the eggs into a dish, and Gage whipped them up…

They seasoned the eggs with salt and pepper and then poured it into the baking dishes. Then we each topped our quiches with our favorite toppings.

Emily loves all kinds of goodies in her quiche, she loves the whole kitchen sink. I opted for bacon, mushrooms & tomatoes. Gage went non-traditional and packed his quiche full of tomatoes which was actually rather good! We topped all of ours with cheese and then Emily placed them into a 350˚ oven for 20-25 minutes.

Make sure the eggs are fully set and then remove from the oven. Let cool for a few minutes and then ENJOY!

It was so fun to take Gage’s new favorite app and bring it to life for him!

You can get Toca Kitchen 2 today and enjoy some kitchen fun with your kiddos. It’s only $0.99 in the Apple app store.

Disclaimer // This post is brought to you by Toca Boca Kitchen 2 via Mom it Forward. All thoughts, ideas & opinions are my very own.

Baking

Mango & Lime Cookies Recipe

Cookie Dough Brownies!!

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