Caramel Pretzel Cookies

If you like a sweet and salty combination, this is it! It's not very often that the kids come home from school to baked cookies, so this was a special treat today.  A sad detail to these cookies is I got so excited about the picture and getting it edited, I forgot about the second batch in the oven and burnt them to a crisp...So we thoroughly enjoyed the 16 cookies from the first batch.  So don't do what I did and get distracted and loose half your cookies!  You know want to go make some. The original recipe came from here.

Caramel Pretzel Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups GF flour (I use featherlite)

¾ tsp xanthan gum

3/4 cup GF stick pretzels, broken into thirds

1/2 cup caramel bits

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars.  Add vanilla and eggs, mixing until well blended. Scrap the sides of the bowl.

Combine salt, baking soda, xanthan gum and flour.  Gradually add to wet mixture.  Mix until well blended.  Fold in broken pretzels, caramel bits, & chocolate chips with a spatula.

Spoon onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes (or until golden brown). *Makes around 2 dozen cookies.

Cheddar Cornbread Waffles Served Navajo Taco Style

Dinner was awesome with these cornbread waffles.  We ate them Navajo taco style with all the fixings!

I found the recipe here.  The batter made 8 seven inch round waffles.  At first I wished that I had doubled it (because we are a family of 6), but in reality, by the time we doctored it up with fixings, one was very filling.  We drizzled honey on the remaining two and that was most delicious!

Cheddar Cornbread Waffles

1 cup all-purpose GF flour (featherlite)

1 cup cornmeal

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup club soda

1/3 cup canola oil

cooking spray

Sift together first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in cheese. Combine eggs and next 3 ingredients; gently stir into dry ingredients just until blended.

Spray waffle iron with cooking spray.  Pour ½ c batter into round waffle iron. Cook 3-5 minutes or until crisp and done. Repeat with remaining batter.

Transfer waffles to a baking sheet, and keep warm, uncovered, in the oven at 200° until ready to serve. Waffles can be frozen in zip-top freezer bags and reheated in oven or toaster oven.

Serve up with our favorite toppings.  We used the following:

Hormel chili

Chopped olives

Tomatoes

Shredded lettuce

Sour cream

Grated cheese

Peanut Butter Bars (School lunch style)

Remember those yummy peanut butter bars they used to serve at school lunch?  Found this recipe here and decided to give it a try.  Since my kids have never eaten school lunch, they really didn't know what they were missing out on.  Let's just say that out of a whole cookie sheet and sharing with a few friends, there were no leftovers.  Next I make it, I would like to try freezing a few and see how that works out. 

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C GF Flour (featherlite)

1¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Baking Soda

¾ C Butter

¾ C Sugar

¾ C Brown Sugar

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla

1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter (split)

2 Eggs

1 ½ C Quick Oats (I blended mine to make more of a flour like consistency)

¾ tsp xanthan gum

Frosting:

½ C Butter (1 stick)

3 ½ C Powdered Sugar

2 T Cocoa

¼ C Milk (I use whatever I have in the fridge)

1 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, xanthan gum,baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 C peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Then, stir in the oats. Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

The frosting is a two-step process. First, whip the remaining ¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie.

Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Add the milk and cocoa. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

Pumpkin Waffles with Buttermilk Syrup

Deliciousness!   

Pumpkin Waffles

2 C GF flour (featherlite)
2 T baking powder
1 T cinnamon
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum

Mix above ingredients...then add

4 egg yolks
1 C pumpkin
1 T vanilla
1 1/2 C milk
3/4 C butter, melted

Beat 4 egg whites till stiff peaks and fold into batter


Buttermilk Syrup

1/4 C butter
1/2 C buttermilk
1 C sugar
1 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla


Bring first four ingredients to a boil and take off heat.
Add 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp vanilla
Do this in a bigger pot than ingredients...it will foam. Stir until it settles.  Pour into a serving jar.

**We like to double the syrup recipe and use it later.  We just put the extras in the refrigerator and reheat it the next time we do pancakes or waffles.

Tiny Spicy Chicken

One of our family favorites!!
This recipe came from some dear friends of ours from way back when.  This meal takes a little extra preparation, but well worth it!  I would probably call this our special occasion dinner...anniversary, Valentine's Day and sometimes Christmas Eve.  Serve it up with a side of ham fried rice or white rice and a veggie.  This is definitely a crowd pleaser.

Tiny Spicy Chicken

Ingredients:
3 lbs Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Garlic Salt
2 Beaten Eggs
Cornstarch
Frying Oil

Sauce:
1 ½ tsp Chili Garlic Sauce or Sambal Fresh Chili Paste
1 ½ cup White Sugar
¾ cup Ketchup
3 tsp GF Soy Sauce
¾ cup Chicken Broth
6 tbsp Brown Sugar
¾ cup White Vinegar

Procedure:
Cut chicken to bite size pieces, sprinkle with garlic salt and let sit for one hour. After an hour, dip chicken into egg and then into cornstarch. Brown the chicken in a deep fryer or in oil until golden brown. Put chicken into 9 x 13 pan.

Mix white sugar, white vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, salt, chicken broth, chili paste, and brown sugar. Heat until sugar has dissolved. Pour sauce over the chicken. The sauce will be liquid at first. Put the chicken in the oven at 325 degrees. Bake for one hour, turning chicken every fifteen minutes or so. After approximately 45 minutes the sauce should have thickened and be baked to the chicken. Finish cooking and serve.

Serve over Rice.

Triple Berry Salad

Looking for a new and tasty treat to serve up on Valentine's Day for your loved ones?  My kids told me that if I posted this to Facebook, they would give it one million likes!  There you have it!  This was a pinterest find...again.  I halved the recipe (which is what is listed below) and was plenty for my family of six.  It could easily be doubled.

Triple Berry Salad

1 ½  lbs. of frozen mixed berries  (slightly thawed out)

8 oz.  Cool Whip

16oz.  of vanilla yogurt

½  3oz. pkg of Cheesecake instant pudding mix

Add the Cool Whip, yogurt and then sprinkle in the pudding mix. Blend with beaters until well mixed.  Stir in slightly thawed berry mix.  Fold gently until blended.  Chill before serving.

*I used 1 ½ C heavy cream instead to make my own ‘Cool Whip’.  Whip cream until it begins to make stiff peaks.  Adding about 2 TB of sugar will help the cream thicken.

Monkey Bread Pull-A-Parts

These were literally gone in fifteen minutes after being pulled out of the oven...they are that good!

Pre-Cooked...You want it to raise double to triple in size...

After being inverted onto a serving platter...oozing with goodness!

Enjoy...

Monkey Bread Pull a Parts

Dough:

1 C scalded milk

¼  C butter

½  C sugar

½  C mashed potatoes (can be leftovers or instant)

¾  tsp salt

2 eggs

3 C GF flour (featherlite)

3 tsp xanthan gum

3 TB of ground flaxseed

Let Proof:

1 TB yeast

1/6 C warm water

½ tsp sugar

Topping:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 (3.4 ounce) package Cook and Serve Butterscotch pudding mix

1/4 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup melted butter

1.      Mix brown sugar, pudding mix, sugar and cinnamon and set aside (from toppings list).

2.      In microwaveable dish, combine milk and butter and bring to scalding temperature (180 degrees). In separate mixing bowl, combine the seven other ingredients listed up top.  I use yeast that does not to be proofed; therefore I add those three ingredients in with all the above listed.  If you need to proof the yeast, go ahead and once it is all bubbly you can add it the mixing bowl.  Mix on high (about 3 minutes) until dough is well blended.  Spray Bundt pan really well with non-stick spray.  You will want to grease your fingers as well. 

3.      Roll dough into balls the size of a golf ball.  Roll in pudding/sugar mixture and layer in pan. Pour melted butter over first layer. Repeat with the next layer.

4.      When all the dough is gone, sprinkle remaining pudding/sugar mixture over dough in Bundt pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 3 hours.  Bake in pre heated oven, 350 degrees, for 20-30 minutes.  Let cool for about ten minutes and then flip out onto a serving platter.   Enjoy the ooey gooey goodness of these delicious rolls!!