Sweets

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

2 · 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.

Valentine’s Day Treat with Free Printable

0 · Feb 11, 2015 · Leave a Comment

+ Valentine’s Day Treat with Free Printable brought to you by WhipperBerry +

It seems like everyone is scrambling to fine a fun new treat for Valentine’s Day this year. Our house is no different! We decided to take a little less traditional route this year, opting for a more neutral color palette. We made a fun Valentine Munch mix from a few of our favorite snacks from Trader Joe’s.

It’s just a simple mix of Trader Joe’s Kettle Corn, Coconut Cashews, Dark Chocolate Mini Heart Cookies, Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries along with the Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted Oat Cereal. The Kashi Heart to Heart cereal is super fun, because it has little hearts in the mix. Paired with the heart cookies, the dark chocolate and cherries, this mix isn’t too bad for your heart as well!

We mixed up a big batch in a large bowl,

Placed some on the counter for us to share,

and packaged the rest up for our friends at school with a fun new printable.

Click HERE to download the free Printable

One side is perfect of the boys in your life, the other for your more girly friends!

The printable is designed to use for all kinds of goodies, really during any time of the year. They really aren’t just Valentine specific, but they sure are fun for Valentine’s Day!

We packaged some Valentine’s Munch in some cute gold polka dot bags that we found at Target in the party supply section, but you can package it in all kinds of cute containers.

We filled our bags and affixed the tag with a simple gold safety pin.

This is a fun, yet not so traditional way to give a sweet treat to all your friends at this time of year.

If you plan on using this idea, snap a photo and share with me on Instagram, I would love to see and share with everyone!

Looking for another fun Valentine’s Day Idea? Here’s a quick one that your kiddos will LOVE…

Valentine, You make my heart POP!

Nana Nog // Almond Banana Shake Recipe

1 · Jan 23, 2015 · 1 Comment

+ This Nana Nog // Banana Shake Recipe Post brought to you by the folks at Silk Almond Milk +

When I was a kid, one of my favorite treats was a banana shake that my Mom would make every once in a while, we called it a Nana Nog.

No relation to Egg Nog, plus you can drink it year-round!

It was a simple mixture, but it was always so heavenly. She would always pull it out of her hat, right at the perfect time.

You know, that moment when you’re craving a little sweet refreshing treat?!

Secretly I’m sure, she made them right when the bananas were heading south and she didn’t have time to make banana bread.

I however, would like to think she was so in tune with my every desire and knew just when the time was right to pull out her famous Nana Nog!

The name of the drink has a two fold meaning now. Of course it was originally named after the key ingredient, bananas. Now, since we call my Mom Nana, the drink is named after her the creator! It’s perfect!!

We have another drink called Magical Monkey Milk, I’ll have to share that sometime too! It’s yummy!!

Nana Nogs are simply a mixture of Silk Almond Milk, bananas, ice, a little bit of sugar and a dash of nutmeg. Boy I tell ya, it really hits the spot sometimes! I choose to use Almond Milk rather than traditional milk for several reasons. First, it’s obviously dairy-free so even friends with dairy issues can have this sweet treat. Plus, check out all these added benefits…

90 calories per serving
50% more calcium than dairy milk
Excellent source of vitamin E
Absolutely no cholesterol or saturated fat
Free of dairy, soy, lactose, gluten, casein, egg and MSG
Verified by the Non-GMO Project’s product verification program
No artificial colors, flavors or funny business

Yea, it’s pretty good stuff. Silk’s plant protein truly helps you BLOOM, plus it tastes GREAT!!

You should check out the Silk Site for all kinds of great ideas and coupons for all the Silk products.