It’s time again for another round of This Week’s Cravings.

Our theme this week is Homemade Pies which made me excited because I’ve really never tried a completely from scratch, homemade pie. Guess what? I still haven’t. But more on that in a moment.

I am so proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  & Kristi from Veggie Converter.

We host this party every Monday, so be sure to check out the upcoming themes at the bottom so you can join in too!

Have you made any Homemade Pies and want to link up with us? Go ahead and link it up down below in the linky, just please make sure it’s a homemade pie and not something else. Also, please make sure you read the simple rules first so your post isn’t removed.

Now, onto the yummy recipe and the story behind it.

So at the time we made this delicious pie, I was fresh out of surgery from my severed Achilles Tendon. I am still on the long road to recovery, but that’s okay because mini-chef has stepped up to the plate and is helping me out. I should probably add her bio to my blog too – she’s done a lot on here.

Mini chef is my 13 year old daughter Brielle. She has big dreams and aspirations to attend cooking school someday, so having her in the kitchen is exactly where she wants to be. When she saw the upcoming theme of homemade pies, she decided it would be fun to make a super easy Grasshopper pie and pair it with a wonderful meal she made us all.
Here’s her recipe!

Homemade Grasshopper Pie Recipe

1-1/2 cups cold milk
1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix
2-3/4 cups whipped topping, divided
1 package (4.67 ounces) mint Andes candies, chopped, divided
1 chocolate crumb crust (9 inches) (she made her own with Smashed Oreos and butter)
1/4 teaspoon mint extract
2 drops green food coloring, optional

In a bowl, whisk together the milk and pudding mix for about 2 minutes. Let it stand for a few minutes or until it is soft-set. Next, fold in 3/4 cup whipped topping. Then fold in 3/4 cup of the Andes candies.

Spoon into your crust.

In a new bowl, combine the mint extract and the remaining whipped topping. Add some food color if you’d like. Spread the mint topping over the pudding layer and then sprinkle with remaining candies.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until set. We usually allow it to solidify overnight – plus it tastes better and better.

Enjoy!!

Here are more pictures Mini Chef took:

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Participate in upcoming linky parties:

• 1/16/2012 Week # 64 CHEESE LOVER DAY… YUMMY Cheese recipes
• 1/23/2012 Week # 65 Homemade Pies
• 1/30/2012 Week # 66 Recipe from Your Favorite COOKBOOK
• 2/6/2012 Week # 67 Nutella DAY (Peanut Butter, Almond Butter & More)
• 2/13/2012 Week # 68 Valentine’s Day Treats or Romantic Dinners
• 2/20/2012 Week # 69 Avocado Recipes & Homemade Salsa
• 2/27/2012 Week # 70 Smoothies & Shakes
• 3/5/2012 Week # 71 5-Ingredient Meal

This is a BLOG Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING and co-hosted by the blogs listed in the top paragraph.

If you are a regular link-up we’re excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party!

If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don’t feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you!

The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.

This week’s theme is: Comfort Food: Casseroles & Soups.

Please only link recipes with our theme!

Easy Grasshopper Pie originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 24, 2012.

This creamy decadent dessert wins over the heart of anyone who loves strawberries. It’s almost like some kind of crazy jello strawberry cheesecake-ish dessert complete with a fun and different sweet pretzel crust. It’s seriously good and very easy to make. In fact, I’ve been making this since I was a teen.

This is such a huge hit at parties, brunches and social gatherings of any kind, plus we make it for a dinner dessert and it lasts a few days. It can be made ahead of time and it can even be frozen ahead of time and then thawed. Plus, sometimes, right in the middle of cold weather, I’m really craving Strawberries and since they aren’t in season, I can enjoy a yummy strawberry dessert with frozen strawberries instead.

Creamy Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

• 2 c. pretzel sticks, broken
• 3 Tbs. granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks of melted butter
• 1 8oz. pkg of softened cream cheese
• 1 16oz. container of whipped dessert topping
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 2 3oz. boxes of strawberry gelatin
• 2 c. boiling water
• 2 10oz. pkgs frozen strawberries

Creamy Strawberry Pretzel Crust Dessert Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 15, 2012.

Delicious Apple Dumplings – the easiest recipe I’ve ever found. Some people like them with ice cream, some with whipped topping, but I like them just as they are – warm from the oven, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. I serve them warm with a hot cup of coffee or tea, sometimes hot chocolate for the kids. You can whip up a batch while you’re making dinner, cook them while you’re eating dinner and have a wonderful, fresh from the oven dessert straight from the oven.

Apple Dumplings Recipe

• 2 Green Apples
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 3/4 c. water
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 8ct. crescent rolls (for the record, you can make your own dough – we certainly have!)
• Cinnamon Sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel the apples and remove the core. Cut the apples into four quarters.

In a small saucepan melt the butter and sugar over med. heat until melted and blended. Next, water and vanilla.

Take a quarter of the apple and roll it up in a triangle of the crescent dough. Make sure you press the dough together to close the apple up inside the dough. Do the same with the rest of the apples and the rest of the triangles of dough.

Place your dumplings in a 9 x 13 pan not too close together.

Pour the butter mixture over the dumplings. Flip them so all sides are coated in the butter mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until they come out a golden brown. Remove from oven.

Mix together some cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the top of the dumplings before you allow them to start cooling.

Easy Delicious Apple Dumplings Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 10, 2012.

A quick repost of a popular blog favorite:

My kids are always looking for dessert every night. I feel like somewhere along the way I must’ve spoiled them, because I never looked for dessert when I was a kid, at least not every night.

The good news is, there is a super simple solution that they can do themselves. (Score!)

Cooking in a mug in the microwave is super easy, but tastes great. Plus, it is absolutely PERFECT on a HOT summer night when they want a treat like cake, but I won’t let them heat the oven up because my house already feels like a sauna. (sigh, how I love living in hot, humid Missouri in the summer)

My kids have discovered that often their “mug cake” can be shared between two people, which is probably more portion controlled anyway. They serve it up with some whipped cream on top and a cold glass of milk.

Mug in a Microwave: Easy Chocolate Cake

What you need:

• 4 Tbs. cake flour (for the record, we have used all purpose flour as  a substitution and it works, however – the cake flour definitely makes it softer and more moist)
• 4 Tbs. sugar
• 2 Tbs. cocoa
• 1 Egg
• 3 Tbs. milk
• 3 Tbs. oil
• 1 lg. coffee mug
• Topping of choice: homemade whipped cream, caramel sauce, fresh strawberries, cinnamon, powdered sugar, etc. (optional)

Really easy directions. Grease the inside of the mug, just like you would grease a cake pan. You don’t have to do this, and not every recipe tells you to do this, but we found that if we grease the inside of the mug, it slides out easier and looks prettier. If you don’t care how it looks, skip that part.

Toss the flour, the sugar and the cocoa into the mug.

Mix them all up. Add an egg.

Stir it into the dry ingredients. Now, add the milk and oil, and mix really well.

Now put the mug into the microwave for 3 minutes. Yep. 3 minutes. Now, I won’t lie – sometimes this part can get a little messy. But then sometimes it works fine and it doesn’t go nuts.  So, I’m just gonna say, the larger the mug, the  better this will be (or less messy anyway).

Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug and then using a towel or a pot holder, remove the HOT mug from the microwave and slide the contents out onto a plate. Top with homemade whipped cream or caramel sauce, or whatever you wish to serve it with. Enjoy!

P.S. Don’t overbake – you’ll get hard spots in the middle. Not so great.

Mini Microwavable Chocolate Cake originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 8, 2012.

Yay, it’s time for the yummiest fudge recipe that I created for the Crazy Cooking Challenge.

Tina from Mom’s Crazy Kitchen hosts this challenge every month and the reveal date for the fourth month of the Crazy Cooking Challenge has finally arrived. Now, I have to be honest first – I actually am not a fan of fudge. You should have heard the grumbling and tantrum I threw when I made my first batch and hated it because – I hate fudge. I tried three recipes and when I landed on this one, and I actually liked it, I decided it was the easiest (key word here, because some fudge is REALLY hard to make), yummiest (because I actually liked it!) fudge recipe ever.

The first month’s Cooking Challenge was a quest to find the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe and the month before, we found the Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese Recipe and last month’s was my World’s Creamiest Mashed Potato Recipe.

I found this recipe over on What’s Gaby Cooking and it was the easiest recipe I could find. It was an easy choice, because I was done with fudge by that point. It was not only easy and quick but it melted beautifully in my mouth, tasted rich with flavor and was amazing.

• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Line a square 8” baking pan with wax paper or parchment paper.

In a pot, over low heat, add the chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and the sea salt. Melt, stirring often with a large wooden spoon.

Once all is well blended, remove from the heat and add the vanilla.  Pour into the wax paper lined baking pan and spread evenly with the back of the wooden spoon.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours until firm.

Now, the beautiful part of this fudge, is that all you have to do is change up the flavor of the chips and/or the extract and the combinations for fudge flavors is endless. We made Butterscotch Fudge, Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge and Mint Chocolate Fudge. Yum! And yes, I liked them.

Check out the other recipes in the challenge:

The Easiest Fudge Recipe Ever! originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on December 7, 2011.

It’s Monday, and it’s time for This Week’s Cravings again and what a fun week!

Our theme this week is Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas. I’m proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  & Kristi from Veggie Converter.

So have you made any delicious Christmas Baking recipes like Sweets, Treats, Candy or Gift Ideas? Want to link up? Yes, you – if you have a recipe that follows that theme, link up down there at the bottom in the linky. It will be awesome. (make sure you read the simple rules first). And make sure it’s for Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas.

I spend a great deal of time in the kitchen at Christmas. Not only do I enjoy cooking more in the cold winter months, than the hot, sticky summer months, but baking is by far a favorite. We make loads of cookies and brownies to give away at holiday time. A couple of years ago, we had this delicious Spiced Peanut Brittle at a Christmas party, my daughter loved it and begged the hostess for the recipe. We’ve been making it each year since. It’s delicious and easy to make. The thing is, it’s super easy t0o – pops right into the microwave – no baking or stovetop cooking necessary! (P.S. I apologize now for the lack of photos. My daughter thankfully took these last year, since we haven’t made this yet this year. Its still just a little early to prepare our peanut brittle.)

Spiced Christmas Peanut Brittle

• 1/2 c. light corn syrup
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. roasted peanuts or any other nut you might want
• 3/4 tsp. 5 Spice Powder (found in the spices aisle)
• 1 tsp. butter
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Alright, first a few tips to make this go smoother, because trust me, we’ve had our good batches and our bad batches.
- Make sure you measure everything very carefully – you might not think it matters, but it does. I’m a little of this and a little of that baker and THIS is not one of those recipes. Follow the measurements.
- You may lightly spray your pan with cooking spray, in fact the original recipe calls for it – but I’m going to tell you that the only thing I have found that has actually worked and made it easier to remove the brittle is (and I don’t normally plug a product, but I guess I have to say I swear by it) Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Non-Stick. No, generic brands won’t work and neither will any other Reynolds Wrap product. (Except they now have the Non-Stick Pan Lining Paper, and I have not tried it yet – but I will this year).
- Refrain from using cooking spray if at all possible, it keeps your brittle from getting greasy.
- Use cooking spray on your spatulas, measuring cups, etc. if you need to to avoid the sticky situation that results in using corn syrup. If you don’t use the cooking spray, just submerge them in a sink full of hot, soapy water and then clean them within a few minutes.

Now, onto the directions:

You’re making this in the microwave. Your bowl needs to be small enough to fit into the microwave, but large enough to allow the rising of the ingredients from bubbling over. I use glass everything, one because it’s microwave safe and two because its easier to clean the sticky mess off of.

In your large glass bowl stir together light corn syrup, sugar, peanuts and 5 spice powder until mixed together. Yes, it’s hard, keep going until its really well blended. Trust me on this. By the way, the 5 spice smells heavenly – and even more heavenly when you pop it into the microwave.

Once you have it well blended, put the bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 6 minutes.

Remove from microwave – careful – it’s super hot and will burn you and it sticks to everything.

Stir in your butter and then pop back into the microwave 30 seconds more.

Carefully remove from microwave and place on sturdy surface.

Stir in baking soda until the mixture is light and foamy. Remember to stir carefully, and a little quickly.

As quickly as you can, using a spatula (that I strongly urge you to have sprayed with some cooking spray), scrape the mixture out of the bowl and onto your foil covered baking pan.

Using the spatula, smooth it out into a thin layer and allow it to cool for a couple of hours. The original recipe said 1 hour, but we’ve found the longer you allow it to sit, the easier it is to break into pieces.

Once it is completely cool, break the brittle into pieces and enjoy.

Store the brittle in a well-sealed container.

Notes: If you are wanting to make the brittle a little more festive, try different nuts, mix up different types and use different spices instead of the 5 spice. We’ve done all of that, and have come up with some awesome peanut brittle. Enjoy!!

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Participate in upcoming linky parties:

• 12/12/2011 Week # 59 Christmas Appetizers & Party Platters
• 12/19/2011 Week # 60 Christmas Dinners & Holiday Food Traditions
• 12/26/2011 Week # 61 Macaroni & Cheese

This is a BLOG Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING and co-hosted by the blogs listed in the top paragraph.

If you are a regular link-up we’re excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party!

If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don’t feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you! The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week. This week’s theme is: Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas.
Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week’s theme is: Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas. Please only link recipes with our theme!

This post is linked up with: Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Made By You Monday, Mangia Mondays, On The Menu Monday, My Sweet & Savory Meatless Mondays, Savvy Homemade Monday, Homemaker Monday, Amaze Me Monday,

Spiced Christmas Peanut Brittle Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on December 5, 2011.

After a few days, I settled on the Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Brownies, which works out well, since the theme on my blog this week is Pumpkin. These brownies were fun to make, my daughter loved getting involved and oh my goodness, they are like little slices of melty goodness in your mouth. P.S. You might consider nuking a brownie for about 10 seconds before you eat it, just to enjoy the melty goodness we all discovered. These brownies are absolutely delicious, Colleen, they are being added to our Fall Cooking recipes!

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Brownies

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 cups and 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 eggs
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 short cup flour (1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Cream together butter and 2 cups sugar.  Add the vanilla and mix until smooth.  Beat 4 eggs and add to the creamed mixture and mix well, scraping sides of bowl if necessary. (Ignore the fact that my daughter did not scrape the sides of the bowl yet.)

In a separate bowl, sift together cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt.

Switching to a paddle attachment, gradually add to the wet ingredients, mixing well after each addition.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Liberally grease a 9 x 13 inch pan (I used a heavy dose of cooking spray).  Pour 3/4 of the batter into pan and smooth evenly.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.

Add pumpkin, 3 Tablespoons sugar, remaining egg, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix on low until smooth.

Spoon pumpkin filling evenly over the pan of brownies.  Then spoon remaining brownie batter over the pumpkin filling.  Use a knife or spatulas to swirl and create a marbled design. (Please also ignore that my daughter reserved too much chocolate batter and so the marbled effect is below and not so much on top. lol)

Bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for about 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and jiggle the pan; if the middle jiggles sloppily, put it back in the oven and bake for 2-4 minutes.  Keep doing this until cracks just start to appear and the middle JUST stops jiggling.  (I baked for 45 minutes, in 4 minute increments after 25 minutes.)
Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.  When completely cool, cut into squares.

Makes 24 brownies.

Linked up with: Tuesday Talent Show, Thanksgiving Traditions Link Up, Creative Juice,

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Brownies originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on November 14, 2011.

My kids are always looking for dessert every night. I feel like somewhere along the way I must’ve spoiled them, because I never looked for dessert when I was a kid, at least not every night.

The good news is, there is a super simple solution that they can do themselves. (Score!)

Cooking in a mug in the microwave is super easy, but tastes great. Plus, it is absolutely PERFECT on a HOT summer night when they want a treat like cake, but I won’t let them heat the oven up because my house already feels like a sauna. (sigh, how I love living in hot, humid Missouri in the summer)

My kids have discovered that often their “mug cake” can be shared between two people, which is probably more portion controlled anyway. They serve it up with some whipped cream on top and a cold glass of milk.

Mug in a Microwave: Easy Chocolate Cake

What you need:

• 4 Tbs. cake flour (for the record, we have used all purpose flour as  a substitution and it works, however – the cake flour definitely makes it softer and more moist)
• 4 Tbs. sugar
• 2 Tbs. cocoa
• 1 Egg
• 3 Tbs. milk
• 3 Tbs. oil
• 1 lg. coffee mug
• Topping of choice: homemade whipped cream, caramel sauce, fresh strawberries, cinnamon, powdered sugar, etc. (optional)

Really easy directions. Grease the inside of the mug, just like you would grease a cake pan. You don’t have to do this, and not every recipe tells you to do this, but we found that if we grease the inside of the mug, it slides out easier and looks prettier. If you don’t care how it looks, skip that part.

Toss the flour, the sugar and the cocoa into the mug.

Mix them all up. Add an egg.

Stir it into the dry ingredients. Now, add the milk and oil, and mix really well.

Now put the mug into the microwave for 3 minutes. Yep. 3 minutes. Now, I won’t lie – sometimes this part can get a little messy. But then sometimes it works fine and it doesn’t go nuts.  So, I’m just gonna say, the larger the mug, the  better this will be (or less messy anyway).

Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug and then using a towel or a pot holder, remove the HOT mug from the microwave and slide the contents out onto a plate. Top with homemade whipped cream or caramel sauce, or whatever you wish to serve it with. Enjoy!

P.S. Don’t overbake – you’ll get hard spots in the middle. Not so great.

Mug in a Microwave Recipes: Easy Chocolate Cake originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 26, 2011.

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies

Today is posting day for The Secret Recipe Club! I missed the last couple of months, and have been wanting to participate for awhile. The point of The Secret Recipe club, is to check out other foodies blogs, and create something that they have posted. Once you have been assigned the blog, you can scour it for a recipe that you’d like to try. We are not allowed to say who’s blog we have until posting day. Well, that’s today. And the blog I was assigned is “Bright Morning Star“. Special shout out to her amazing blog and delicious recipes.
It was really fun to peruse her blog and see all the great recipes and dishes, and she has tons of photos. Loved it.

I had a hard time deciding what to make, there were so many scrumptious things to choose from. A few things I wanted to try, I wasn’t sure where to get the ingredients from. She is from Goa, so I think some of the items are not available here, or if they are – obviously not at my local grocer. I decided to let my kids (yes, all five) choose. They narrowed it down to about 5 recipes that they ALL agreed would be okay to try.

After the final vote:

We chose the WARM ,HUGGY & GOOEY QUINTIPLE BROWNIES.

The best part of this situation is – mini chef was the one that suggested them. Her reasoning – She had been eyeing Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan on my shelf at home, and had been wanting to try to make something out of it. She coerced the family into selecting that one, but I don’t care – they are AMAZING.

I loved how easy this recipe was, especially with all the ingredients. Two bowls, a baking pan and a spatula is all we used. This made clean up a breeze, and that’s mini-chef’s least favorite part of baking. (imagine that!)

Oh yes, and one more thing I should probably share. While there are 7 of us in our family, there is not a single one of us who actually likes white chocolate, so we substituted dark chocolate for the white chocolate in the glaze the first time we made these – the second time – for the photos – we didn’t even use any icing because they are amazing all by themselves! You do whatever you like better.

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies
from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Page 99

For the brownies you need:

1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/4 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 Tbs strong coffee
1 C. sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
6 oz. premium-quality milk chocolate, chopped into chips,
or 1 C. store-bought milk chocolate chips
1 C. chopped nuts, I used macadamia

For the glaze you need:

6 oz. premium-quality white chocolate, finely chopped,
or 1 C. store-bought white chocolate chips (or substitute ANY kind of chips)
1/3 C. heavy cream

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the brownies: Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and add, in the following order, the butter, the two chocolates and the coffee. Keeping the pan over low heat, warm just until the butter and chocolates are melted-you don’t want the ingredients to get so hot they separate, so keep an eye on the bowl.

Stir gently, and when the mixture is smooth, set it aside for 5 minutes. Using a whisk or rubber spatula, beat the sugar into the chocolate mixture. Don’t beat too vigorously-you don’t want to add air to the batter-and don’t be concerned about any graininess. Next stir in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. You should have a smooth glossy batter.

If you’re not already using a rubber spatula, switch to one now and gently stir in the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. Finally stir in the milk chocolate chips and the nuts. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Pour the ingredients into your prepared pan, and place in the oven.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out streaked but not thickly coated. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the brownies rest undisturbed for at least 30 minutes. (You can wait longer, if you’d like.) If you’re going to add the glaze to the top, keep reading below. Otherwise, your brownies are done and they are amazing!

If you are going to add the glaze:

Turn the brownies onto a rack, peel away the foil and place it under another rack-it will be the drip catcher for the glaze. Invert the brownies onto the rack and let cool completely.

To make the glaze: Put the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Wait 30 seconds, then, using a rubber spatula, gently stir until chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth. Hold a long metal icing spatula in one hand and the bowl of glaze in the other.

Pour the glaze into the center of the brownies and use the spatula to nudge it evenly over the surface. Don’t worry if it dribbles over the edges, you can trim the sides later (or not). Refrigerate the brownies for about 20 minutes to dry the glaze. Cut into 16 squares, each roughly 21/4 inches on a side.

Scrumptious!!

{Secret Recipe Club} Warm, Huggy & Gooey Quintuple Brownies originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 18, 2011.

We made this delicious recipe last night, because cinnamon and apples just sounded good. Topped with a school of vanilla ice cream (especially homemade) is the best way to serve this.

Basically we created this based on past experiences with other Apple Crisps, but we made it to our liking. It was so good!

Easy Apple Crisp Dessert Recipe

• 8 cups of Granny Smith apples. Thinly sliced and peeled (if desired)

Place the apples in a baking dish. Grab a mixing bowl and put in:

• 1 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 Tbs. all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• dash of salt

Mix together and then sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Drizzle about 1/4 cup of water over the apples.

Using the mixing bowl, add:

• 1 pkg. vanilla cake mix (you can use yellow cake mix too)
• 1 c. quick cooking oats
• 1/3 c. softened butter
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda

Mix together and sprinkle over apples again. Take another 1/4 c. water and sprinkle it over the apples.

Cover the dish with tinfoil and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 min. to an hour. If you want to remove the tin foil at the 45 minute mark and allow it to bake under direct heat for 15 minutes, it works pretty well.

Scoop the concoction into bowls while still hot. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Delish!

We made this on the last day of school for the kids, and even though it was already hot outside, this warm delight was awesome and the ice cream helped to cool it off and cool us off too. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Stuart Spivack @ Flickr

Easy Apple Crisp Dessert Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on June 1, 2011.