Fun Fall Peanut Butter Cereal Treats

peanut butter cereal fall halloween treats

I found the recipe for these bars last year in a magazine. I can’t remember which one. I thought they were really cute for a fall treat and the recipe sounded yummy. Plus they are simple enough that the kiddos can help. They are basically Rice Krispy treats using a different cereal and adding peanut butter and M&Ms. I found these red, brown and yellow ones for fall. If you can’t find them, you can always use regular and take out the blue and green.

You’ll need: 30 large marshmallows, 3 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, 6 cups Cap’n Crunch peanut butter cereal, and 1 cup M&Ms.

Add marshmallows, butter and peanut butter to a large saucepan.

Cook on medium heat, stirring often, until melted and combined.

Add the cereal…

and M&Ms…

and stir, just until combined. Don’t over stir because the M&Ms will start melting and breaking.

Transfer mixture to a greased 9×13-inch pan. Press firmly to cover bottom of pan.

Allow to cool and then serve!
I decided to cut them into bite-size squares and serve them on a lollipop stick!

peanut butter cereal fall halloween treats

YUM!

peanut butter cereal fall halloween treats

Cool Whip Buck-Eye Bars

Thank you COOL WHIP for sponsoring this post. Join us on Facebook for inspiration and recipes for everyday treats. What you add makes it. #coolwhipmoms

I grew up on COOL WHIP whipped topping! Mom used it on strawberry shortcake, Jello, pumpkin pie and more!

But COOL WHIP has come a long way. It’s not just for topping anymore! Several years ago, Kraft started a magazine, Food and Family, that included a collection of recipes using Kraft products. The recipes were really simple and used Kraft products in ways I would never have thought! COOL WHIP is one of Kraft’s products and I was amazed at some of the recipes that used COOL WHIP in them, not just as a topping!

These Buck-eye Bars are one of the recipes that use COOL WHIP as an ingredient rather than a topping. And the ingredient list is small and pretty basic.

2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter, 3/4 cup Nilla Wafers, 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter, 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 tub COOL WHIP.
Start by beating peanut butter and butter until blended.

Add Nilla wafer crumbs (I crush mine in the food processor) and mix well.

Gradually add the sugar.

Mix until all ingredients are blended and mixture is dough-like.

Press into bottom of a foil-lined pan. The recipe calls for an 8×8 pan but this dessert is really rich so I spread it out a little more by using a little bit larger pan.

Combine COOL WHIP and chocolate chips in microwaveable bowl.

Microwave on HIGH 1 minute.

Remove from microwave and stir.

Microwave 15 to 30 sec. or until chocolate is melted; stir until well blended.

Pour over peanut butter.

Spread evenly over peanut butter.

Refrigerate for at least two hours. Remove from pan using tinfoil as handles. Peel tinfoil away from dessert.

Cut into small squares.

I like to place these little treats in cupcake liners.

And sometimes, I like to add COOL WHIP Whipped Topping just for fun!

Yummy! You gotta try this simple treat! It’s just like the traditional buck-eye balls. You can find the original recipe for Buck-Eye Bars here.

Sponsored posts are purely editorial content that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. Advertisers do not produce the content. I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all my own.

Fossilized Lemon Tracks: Cooking with the Kiddos

My boys love the How Do Dinosaurs? books by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. In fact, Jackson was obsessed with these books starting when he was about 18 months old, so he’s been reading them over and over again for almost 3 years!
I recently found this one, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies? and like the others, they love it!

Inside the book was two recipes for cookies. Last night Jackson asked me if we could make these Fossilized Lemon Tracks. It was the perfect activity for this cloudy day!

 And the recipe was easy enough that the boys were able to do most of it themselves.
The ingredients are: 1 cup softened butter, 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar plus extra for dipping, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 3/4 cups flour.
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and extracts and mix well, scraping sides if necessary. Sift flour, baking soda and salt and add to butter mixture. Mix until dough forms.

Roll the dough into small balls.

roll cookies into ballroll cookies into balls

Roll the balls of dough in reserved sugar.

roll in sugar

Place on a baking sheet and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.

flatten dough

Use a chopstick or other kitchen utensil to create tracks in the dough.

mark tracks

I showed the boys like this, but let them do it however they liked.

mark dino tracks

Sprinkle the cookies with sugar and put in a 375 degree oven for 9-12 minutes.

Allow to cool for 2 minutes before removing them from the pan.
Did they turn out to look like dino tracks? Not quite. There were a few that looked like footprints. Most of them looked like scallop shells!

But the boys didn’t care!

jackson

They loved them!

parker

Fossilized Lemon Tracks (modified from How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies?)

1 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar plus extra for dipping
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 3/4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and extracts and mix well, scraping sides if necessary.
Sift dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually add to sugar mixture and blend until dough forms.
Roll dough into small teaspoon-size balls. Roll in sugar and place on a baking sheet. Flatten with palm of your hand. Use a chopstick to mark tracks int he cookies and sprinkle with sugar. 
Bake in oven for 9-12 minutes or until done. Allow to cool 2 minutes before removing from tray. 

Nutella & Banana Shake

Sunday I was in the mood for a milkshake. I hadn’t made myself a milkshake in ages! It used to be one of my favorite snacks! I was going to make just plain old vanilla but at then decided to get a little creative.

What I came up with was a Nutella & banana milkshake. It was so good, and so easy, I made another one yesterday!

Get out your blender. You’ll need 3 T Nutella, 5 scoops vanilla ice cream, 1 banana and 13/ to 1/2 cup milk {depending how thick you like your shake}. Now you might be thinking my bananas look a little “aged,” but remember, riper bananas are best in smoothies and shakes because they are sweeter!

Put all ingredients in the blender.

Stir it up! It will take a little while for the Nutella to completely mix with the other ingredients. Just watch for it to become smooth. I also learned that the Nutella should be added last at the top. Otherwise you will have to scrape the sides.

When it’s all smooth, you’re ready to enjoy your treat!

I made a little banana  & Nutella sandwich to go along with it! You can never get enough Nutella!

You gotta try this! I think I might just make another for myself today!

Last Minute Semi-homemade Gift Ideas

Can you believe there is just two days left until Christmas Break? That means only two more days to put together your child’s {children’s} teachers’ gifts. Buying teachers’ gifts can be expensive, especially if you have more than one child who may have more than one teacher. But teachers love getting gifts {remember, I was once a teacher} and they totally deserve them! But you don’t have to spend a fortune. Just get a little creative! Give them something homemade! Or better yet – semi-homemade! Here is what my boys’ teachers are getting. {I hope they haven’t stumbled upon my blog yet!}
These cute little buckets filled with homemade white chocolate popcorn mix and a personalized ornament. The total for each gift ended up being about $10. 
I found these cute “paint” buckets at Hobby Lobby. At 50% off,  I think they were $3. 
I decided to fill them with my yummy white chocolate popcorn mix. This recipe isn’t new. I’ve posted it before when I shared my “Ready to Pop” baby shower favors. Actually, I make this mix all the time and modify the colors and ingredients to match the occasion. I’ve found that I really like the addition of pretzels. If you are making it for kids, marshmallows are good in it as well.

Ingredients: popcorn, mini pretzels, premier white chocolate morsels, M&Ms. 
Melt white chocolate in microwave at 50% power for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, just until melted. Do NOT burn!

Add popcorn, pretzels and candy to a very large bowl.
 Pour about 1/4 cup melted white chocolate over the popcorn and stir. 


Repeat two more times until popcorn is generously coated in chocolate. Be sure to save some to drizzle over the top.


Pour popcorn mix on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Using a spoon drizzle remaining melted chocolate over popcorn.

At the last minute I decided to add red and green sprinkles to give it a little more holiday flare! Allow the popcorn mix to cool and harden for about an hour and store in an air-tight container until ready to use.

I love to buy these food and bread bags to use for Christmas goodies. They are perfect for packing up homemade goodies and fit nicely into any size container. So I lined the bucket with the bag. . .

and filled it up with the popcorn mix.
This cute personalized ornament serves as a gift and gift tag! It was just $5. I tied the ornament on with some coordinating ribbons that I had in my craft supplies. And that was it! 

White Chocolate Popcorn Mix Recipe
3 bags microwave popcorn, popped
3 cups mini pretzels
1 – 12 oz. packages premier white chocolate morsels
1 – 12.6 oz. bags chocolate coated candies (such as M&Ms)

Mix popcorn, pretzels and candy in a large bowl. Melt white chocolate morsels in microwave at 50% power for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted. CAREFUL NOT TO BURN!!! Drizzle a small amount {about 1/4 cup} of chocolate over popcorn and stir to coat. Continue adding chocolate, a little at a time, until popcorn mix is fully coated. You will use about 2/3 of the white chocolate. 

Spread popcorn mixture on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Using a spoon, drizzle remaining white chocolate over popcorn. Allow to cool for 1 hour before breaking popcorn mix into large chunks.

Here are a few other handmade ideas for you. These are items I made in Stamp Club made from Stampin’ Up products, but you can use any materials you have.
Stocking gift card holder. A few great giftcards for teachers: Target, the bookstore, Dollar Store, restaurants. Those were always my favorite. 

This cute little goodie sack is made from a paper lunch bag and scrapbook paper. 

A cute little box with a removable rosette flower. Everyone loves rosettes! You could even attach a pin back to it.
You probably shouldn’t send wine to school, but this tag could be used for any bottled drink. It would fit nicely on a bottle of Monin syrup accompanied by a bag of coffee.
These also are fantastic gifts for co-workers, bosses, neighbors, service people, etc. And they are so easy to throw together at the last minute. But because they are semi-homemade, the recipients will think you put a lot of time and effort into making them!

Brownie Bite Surprise Recipe

One of my favorite things about December is the goodies! The baking, the exchanging and the eating of delicious holiday treats! I do a lot of baking during the holidays. Probably more than I do all year! I’m pretty sure I inherited this baking trait from my mom. She always had {and still has} a “buffet” of goodies during the holidays. I think she must make something just about every day of December. So yummy! 
I have some recipes that I make year after year. They are my favorites. Many are treats I grew up eating. Mom’s recipes. A few are recipes I’ve come across that have come to be a holiday favorite. And I always find a copule of new recipes that I try. 
This one, which I call Brownie Bite Surprise, is a new one. One that I came up with. Now listen up, I’m not sayin’ it’s never been done before, I’m sure it has and I’m sure there is a recipe for it somewhere out there. I’m just sayin’ that I didn’t find this recipe on Pinterest, or Allrecipes.com or in a magazine. I thought of it while at the grocery store one day. I wanted to make some chocolate treat with something inside. A surprise, but something different than the Reece’s or Snickers brownies I’ve made before. So as I was browsing the candy isle, I found the perfect stuffer! These little bites turned out gooey and fudgy. The center melts in your mouth but also has a little crunch. So delicious! Here’s the recipe. . . 
Very simple ingredients. And yes, I use boxed brownie mix. I’ve told you before, I do not make stuff like that from scratch. So you need a basic fudge brownie mix {make sure it’s the fudgey kind} and Hershey’s Nuggets {I like the toffee/almond kind}. 
Mix the brownies according to the directions on the box. 
Line a mini-muffin tin with miniature baking cups. {This is a very important step. The first time I made them I greased the pan rather than using baking cups. Big mistake. They were very hard to get out and ended up looking pretty ugly after I had to scoop them out with a spoon.}
Scoop a heaping teaspoon of batter into baking cups. 
Unwrap and cut the nuggets in half.
Place a half of the candy in each muffin cup and press down gently. 
Top with another heaping teaspoon of brownie batter and spread to cover candy. {I know, this doesn’t look pretty}!
Bake in a 350* oven {325* for dark, nonstick pan} for 15-20 minutes. Just watch for the tops to look bubbly and cracked like above. You don’t want to overcook these guys. Cool for at least fifteen minutes before carefully removing from the pan. If your tops have spilled over, you may need to use a knife to lift it from the pan.

Enjoy!
These are a hit and everyone always asks, “What’s in the center?” Surprise! 

Itty Bitty Punkin Treats

Hey y’all! Are you ready for a cute and yummy fall treat?
These little guys are “Itty Bitty Punkin’ Treats!” They may be tiny but they are pure deliciousness!
Here is what you need:
1 box powdered sugar
1 small jar peanut butter
1/2 stick of butter
red & yellow food coloring
chocolate chips
Mix powdered sugar, peanut butter and softened butter in a bowl just until combined.
 Mix red and yellow food coloring with 1/4 cup of water until you get the desired orange.
This was a good job for Little Man #2.

Add the food coloring, a little at a time, to the peanut butter mixture and mix well.

Roll the dough into small teaspoon size balls. Little Man #2 had fun helping me with this.

Use a toothpick to create criss-cross markings across the top of the balls.

Top each ball with a chocolate chip and you have your little punkins!

You can share or save them all for yourself! 🙂

ENJOY!

Grillin’ & Chillin’ Cake

Whew! It was a crazy busy weekend! Saturday I was busy garage saling and Sunday I was busy preparing for a shower for some friends getting married at the end of the month. It was a couples shower with the theme “Grillin’ and Chillin'” and we had a blast! We even had a surprise visitor. Our BFF Melly who lives in Chicago made a surprise appearance. It was an evening filled with good food, good friends and good times to celebrate an upcoming marriage! What I want to show you from this party was the cake. 
Isn’t it fabulous and adorable! I cannot take credit for this one. A friend graciously took the time to make it for us. Thanks Cristy! Take a closer look. . .
The layered chocolate cake was a grill with burger patties {rice cakes sprayed with red food coloring} and even burning charcoal inside {marshmallows covered in icing and sprinkles}.
The tray of mini sliders were white cupcakes with a slice of chocolate in the center, covered in yellow/orange icing. And my favorite was the corn on the cob cupcakes covered in jelly beans and a banana Laffy Taffy! Not only did this cake look awesome, but it tasted amazing! Thank you, thank Cristy! This was the hit of the party!

She’s Ready to Pop!

ready to pop baby shower popcorn favor box
While I was away at Creative Estates, my friends and I {even though I wasn’t actually present} hosted a baby shower for my dear friend, Cindi. Since I was going to be gone, I was in charge of items that could be bought and prepared ahead of time. One of my duties: the party favors.
Dun dun dun. . .
{horror sound effect}
Now, I am a creative person. But favors can be hard! I didn’t want to do the same old same old. So I had no idea what I was going to do, until one day I went to Hobby Lobby {What? Me? At HL, you say? I know, crazy!}. So anyway, I was at HL and saw these little favor boxes.
So cute! And they are shaped like movie popcorn boxes! But of course I wasn’t going to fill them with regular old buttered popcorn. . .
Instead, I made this:
Ready to Pop, White Chocolate Popcorn Mix!

Here’s how. . .

3 easy ingredients: popcorn, premier white chocolate morsels, M&Ms.
Melt one bag of white chocolate in microwave at 75% power for 3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, just until melted.
Add half of popcorn and one bag of candy to a large bowl.
 {Unless you have a REALLY large bowl, you’ll need to make the mix in two separate batches}
Pour a small amount of melted white chocolate over the popcorn and candy and stir.
Repeat several times until popcorn is generously coated in chocolate {about 2/3 of melted chocolate}. Be sure to save some to drizzle on top.
Pour popcorn mix on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Using a spoon drizzle remaining melted chocolate over popcorn.
Let the popcorn mix harden for about an hour and store in an air-tight container until ready to use.
Is you mouth watering yet?  This stuff is good! I was kind of sad to give it all away!

The favors:

Aren’t they darling?!
And delish!
Ready to Pop, White Chocolate Popcorn Mix!
3 bags microwave popcorn, popped
2 – 12 oz. packages premier white chocolate morsels
2 – 12.6 oz. bags chocolate coated candies (such as M&Ms)
Mix half of popcorn {1- 1/2 bags} and 1 bag of candy in a large bowl. Melt 1 bag white chocolate morsels in microwave at 75% power for 3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted. CAREFUL NOT TO BURN!!! Pour a small amount of chocolate over popcorn and stir to coat. Continue adding chocolate, a little at a time, until popcorn mix is fully coated. You will use about 2/3 of the white chocolate.
Spread popcorn mixture on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Using a spoon, drizzle remaining white chocolate over popcorn. Allow to cool for 1 hour before breaking popcorn mix into large chunks.
Repeat with remaining popcorn, candy and white chocolate.
Yield: about 20 cups popcorn mix.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
YES, you can order these for your shower now! Stop by either of my shops to place your “Ready to Pop” order now! don’t see what you want? I can create custom orders to match any theme or decor!

Easter Treat {you don’t want to miss this}

I have a riddle for you. . .
What do you get when you mix
 this 
{white chocolate}
with this?
{jelly beans}
You give up? 
I’ll give you a hint, it’s really yummy treat for Easter!
Friends, let me introduce you to 
Jelly Bean Bark. . .


Yum!
Here is how you make it. 

You’ll need a 24-oz bag of Nestle Premier White Morsels {this is the large size bag} and a 10 to 14 oz bag of jelly beans.

Melt your morsels on the stove using a double-boiler or in the microwave on 70% power. Be careful to stir frequently so that you do not burn the chocolate!! If you are using the microwave, heat in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until fully melted.

While your chocolate is melting, line a cookie sheet with wax paper.

Lay half of the jelly beans on the pan.

Pour the melted chocolate over the jelly beans and use a rubber spatula to spread it across the pan creating an even layer.

Place the remaining jelly beans on top of the melted chocolate. Allow to cool at room temperature for several hours or put in the refrigerator to cool for one hour.
Peel away wax paper and break into 2 to 3-inch pieces.

Enjoy!