confessions of a sweet tooth

Thanksgiving is a great holiday! A perfect excuse to get together with family and friends and eat delicious food. The past two years we've been away from familiy and have been together with friends. I've had the opportunity to help plan and make the menu, which has been kind of fun. Of course I always seem to get most excited about the desserts :) This year I made an Apple Pie courtesy of a Betty Crocker recipe with a few modifications and some tips from my mother. Luckily it turned out better than last year...I learned to put a pan under it so it didn't boil all over my oven and the apples weren't overdone and mushy...yeah! Apple Pie Pastry for two-crust pie 2/3 c. sugar 1/4 c. flour 1/2 t. cinnamon 1/2 t. ground nutmeg dash of salt 8 c. thinly sliced peeled tart (Granny Smith) apples (8 medium) 2 T. butter Heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl. Stir in apples. Put apples in large saucepan and cook over medium-low heat un...

Okay...so I have a confession to make. Once I get onto something I can get a little obsessed! After my last peanut butter cookies I came across a recipe for these little gems in the Everyday Food Collectible Cookie Edition (Martha Stewart) from last year and I figured they had to be good. I used the Trader Joes's peanut butter cups which if I must say are better than Reese's (and Reese's are pretty darn good!) these however are made without artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives and what's not to love about that? Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter 4 T. butter, room temperature 1 c. packed brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 t. vanilla extract 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled) 1 t. baking powder 1/4 t. salt 1/3 c. granulated sugar, for rolling 36 mini chocolate peanut butter cups, unwrapped and chilled Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. With an electric mixer, beat peanut butter and butter until s...

If I'm being honest, I have to say that peanut butter cookies have never been my favorite. Sure I'll eat them if they're the only option, but sit them beside a chocolate chip cookie and the latter will win every time. Well, that may change soon. Rachel picked out a peanut butter cookie with M&M's for me the other night. I found it to be quite delicious and intriguing. I was inspired to create something similar today so I turned to a little help from Betty Crocker and that's how these cookies came to be. I guess you could say if a peanut butter cookie married a chocolate chip cookie, this would be the result...it's definitely worth a try! Rich Peanut Butter Chip Cookies 1 c. packed brown sugar 1/2 c. peanut butter 1/4 c. shortening 1/4 c. butter 1 large egg 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour 3/4 t. baking soda 1/2 t. baking powder 1/4 t. salt 1 c. chocolate or peanut butter chips granulated sugar Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening,...