Cherry Pie Bars

I am a huge almond extract fan. Anyone else share this feeling? 

If you add almond extract to anything pretty much I'm a goner. So when I read there was not only almond extract in the dough but also in the glaze in these festive little cherry pie bars I knew I was going to love them. 

Plus it had cherry. Yum. Now I can't wait to try blueberry., but the hubby hates both of those. He says strawberry, but for some reason I can't wrap my head around canned strawberry pie filling. Has anyone out there tried it?

I mean fresh strawberry pies I'm all about, but canned? I just don't know about that. Why is it ok to use every other type of canned pie filling but not strawberry in my head? Good question. I'll let you know if I figure it out later. 

I love these little bars because, well, I hate making pie. So give me a slab pie and I'm done for. Heaven. 

These would be fun festive treats for Christmas too, so if you have the "dessert" assignment for a holiday gathering look no further!

Cherry Pie Bars

Ingredients
1 c, butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 c. flour
1 tsp salt
2 cans (21 ounce) cherry pie filling

Glaze
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp milk

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, beating after each addition. Mix in extracts. Add flour and salt. Mix until well combined. 

2. Spread 3 cups of the batter in a greased jelly roll pan. Spread pie filling on top of dough. Drop remaining dough by tablespoonfuls on top of cherry pie topping.

3. Baked at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

4. Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over bars. If serving the next day wait and do this before serving or the bars will be a bit soggy!






Recipe from: The Recipe Critic

Chicken Bacon Crescents

I have a new obsession. It's anything Chicken, Bacon and Ranch. Throw in some cheese and I'm smitten.

This obsession started with these lovely little Chicken Bacon Ranch Taquitos. I could put these on the menu every week and I don't think I'd get tired of them. Well. Maybe. But it'd take a dang long time that's for sure.

So after this little love obsession started I decided I needed to find something else to fuel the fire. That's when I came up with these Chicken Bacon Crescents.

Super easy. Super yummy. The love affair continues.

Let's just say that the little bro was over to play with Miss K the night I was making those and even though he had ate a full meal before arriving he couldn't say no to sampling these. For the record he also loves those taquitos.

But then again he's a single male living alone so I'm thinking he just might be in love with any food I make him that doesn't come from a box? It is sure possible.

Try the taquitos. Try the Crescents. Let me know if you are going to have a love affair too.

*I will switching my blog from the Blogger Platform to Wordpress on Friday night. My blog may have a few kinks over the weekend so if you need any recipes please make sure to print them off!*

Chicken Bacon Crescents
Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts, cooked and shredded
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 c. real bacon bits
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Boil chicken breasts for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Shred.

3. In a large mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon bits and ranch dresisng mix. Add shredded chicken.

4. Unroll the crescent rolls in one large sheet. Press seams together to seal. Spread chicken mix over the crescent rolls. Roll up the crescent rolls the long way. Cut into 8 pieces. Place each piece on a greased baking sheet.

5. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown on edges.

This recipe may be shared on the following sites - Please give them a visit!

Weekend Potluck  

Red Velvet Cookies

This past weekend I rolled out of bed at 8:30 am. Yes that's right. Miss K finally slept in! We maybe have let her stay up WAY past her bedtime on Friday night, but hey she slept. The hubby had to work so I just soaked up my extra zzzz's.

When I got up I stumbled over to the computer and checked Facebook. I usually don't do this, but I did this morning. Well I had a message from a bestie from college, whom I haven't saw in forever. She was wondering what I was doing this weekend and was thinking about visiting. In her message she included that we should baked and blog! Since I had the weekend free I said, "Heck Yes!"

She packed up her 8 month old and made the 3 hour treck out to western MN from the big metropolis of Minneapolis, actually a suburb, but details.

We had a ton of fun, a couple batches of  cookies were made, snack mix was made, lots of wine was consumed and we played with the kiddos. Life was good. Why is it that the unplanned, spontaneous days are sometimes the best?

She sent me a list of recipes she wanted to try and she said these Red Velvet Cookies were awesome, so I decided to give them a shot. They didn't disappoint. I never even knew you could make Red Velvet Cookies! The only other Red Velvet recipe I had made was this yummy Easy Red Velvet Cake.

This cookies are soft, cake like and have a surprise of chocolate chips in them. If you are looking for a little bit different Christmas cookie this year add these to your list!

Red Velvet Cookies
Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients

Cookie
2 one ounce squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 c. butter, room temp
2/3 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 Tbsp red food coloring
3/4 c. sour cream
2 c. flour, firmly packed
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 c. butter, softened
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Unwrap squares of chocolate and put them in a microwavable bowl. Melt in microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between.

3. Combine butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until smooth.

4. Add baking soda and salt. Beat for another minute or until well mixed. Add the egg and beat until it is well mixed. Add red food coloring and mix unil well incorporated.

5. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add melted chocolate and mix until well combined.

6. Scrap sides of bowl. Mix in one cup flour. Mix in sour cream.  Add the rest of the flour and mix well. Mix in chocolate chips.

7. Drop tablespoon sized cookies onto a greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

8. Bake cookies for 11 minutes or until they rise and become firm. Cool on wire rack.

9. For the frosting mix butter, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Add powered sugar. Adjust powdered sugar for desired spreading consistency.  Spread over cooled cookies.

This recipe may be shared on the following sites - Please give them a visit! 

Crazy for Crust
Chef In Training
Mandy's Recipe Box
Semi Homemade Mom
Cupcakes Garden
Weekend Potluck