Handprint Footprint Reindeer Shirts

I know this post isn't food related, but I'm hoping you'll forgive me while I share these adorable shirts with you that I love to make with my own children as well as my daycare group. I started making these when our five-year-old was one and they've become a favorite!

Before we get into the details, I do want to announce the winner of my giveaway.

#12- Honesty: i am continuing a tradition that my mom did with me growing up and that is getting a new Christmas ornament each year for the kids so they can have a good collection when they move out on their own.
Congratulations Honesty! Please email me your address at beentherebakedthatrecipes@yahoo.com, and I will get your prize in the mail.

Each year during the holiday season I try to create a big to-do list or bucket list if you will. I don't want to overwhelm our days but it's a way for me to create some great memories with my family. I try to include the children when picking our activities and like to include new activities every year. Some are more simple like driving around to look at Christmas lights or reading Christmas stories each night. Others may require more time or supplies such as, making these shirts, decorating cookies or going ice skating.

Reindeer shirts are super easy to make, they're fairly inexpensive and you'll always treasure this
keepsake!

Supplies needed:
Plain red or white t-shirt/long sleeved shirt
Brown fabric paint
Red fabric paint
Black fabric paint
Paintbrush
Cardboard to slip inside shirt to prevent paint bleeding through

Directions:
You'll need to put brown paint onto some sort of painting dish (a lot of times I use paper plates or disposable pie tins). Slip cardboard into shirt and lay on a flat surface. With a paintbrush, paint child's foot brown and stamp onto shirt with the heel coming down. Next you'll imprint each hand over the toes of the footprint, so they look like antlers. After you've cleaned up, use black paint to make eyes and a dot of red paint for the nose. If you'd like you can write their name and the year at bottom of the shirt or just leave it blank.

Slow Cooker Hot Fudge Cake

I've been intrigued by baking in the slow cooker for some time now, anything from cakes, fruit crisps to bread. Sunday I finally experimented with a recipe from one of my new favorite cookbooks, The Crockin' Girls Slow Cookin' Companion. I've gone through and bookmarked all the recipes I'd like to try, I could keep myself busy for awhile. I also love how each recipe comes with a photo, I love to see pictures of what I'm making.

There were a couple similar recipes but I chose this one mainly because it didn't require a cake mix or eggs, we used up the last of them for breakfast that morning and I was being lazy.  I was able to quickly mix up the batter and dump everything into the crock pot. After 1 1/2 hours we had this amazing looking cake with tons of gooey hot fudge sauce on the bottom.

We took this over to my parent's for dinner that night. I left the settings on warm and the cake kept just fine. We served ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side and enjoyed our 5 minutes of pure bliss. Now I'm even more excited to try other baked goods in my slow cooker. Have you ever used your slow cooker to bake desserts? I'd love to hear your responses!



 

 

 

Hot Fudge Cake

 

Ingredients:

1 c brown sugar

1 c flour

3 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c milk (I used whole)

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

 

Topping:

3/4 c brown sugar

1/4 cocoa powder

1 3/4 c boiling water

 

Directions:

In a bowl whisk together brown sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add in milk, melted butter and vanilla, mix well to combine. Spread into the bottom of a lightly greased slow cooker. For topping, mix together brown sugar and cocoa powder. Sprinkle on top of cake batter. Pour boiling water on top, DO NOT stir. Cover and cook on high for 1-1/2 hours or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Serve warm with ice cream.

Don't forget to enter my holiday giveaway!  I'll post the winner on Friday.

Fun Holiday Giveaway

I'm officially in holiday mode, how about you? We got a good head start on our shopping and planning on finishing up this weekend. Christmas cards are all ready to go out next week and I'm trying to finalize my baking list.

I'm definitely a big baker around the holidays. Between planning for my annual cookie exchange and baking several varieties of cookies and candies to deliver to friends and family, I stay pretty busy. These are two things I love to do before Christmas! With that being said, I spend some time beforehand thumbing through cookbooks, old magazines and the Internet for new inspiration.

I have quite the collection of Taste of Home magazines. I've subscribed for as long as I can remember and keep them all nicely organized in magazine holders. I love to take them out from time to time to get new inspiration. Unfortunately I'm running out of room and I've decided I really need to try parting with some of these. That's where my giveaway comes in.

I've got a brand new cookbook I picked up filled with fun cookie ideas for the holidays that I'd like to send to one of my readers. I'm also throwing in a couple of Christmas magazines that I've held onto, one is filled with yummy looking cookie and candy recipes and another has a little bit of everything. You'll find not only ideas for holiday desserts but also recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

Would you like a chance to win? It's pretty easy and I'm giving you 4 chances.

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me about one of your favorite holiday traditions, it doesn't have to be cooking/baking related.
2. Follow Been There Baked That on google reader (over on the right side of the page)
3. Follow Been There Baked That on Facebook
4. Follow me on Pinterest

There you go, 4 chances to win. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. I will choose a winner via random.org on Thursday evening and post the winner on Friday. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

Homemade Chicken Broth

Remember a few weeks ago when I made a rotisserie chicken in the slow cooker? Well the next day I combined all the leftover bones, meat,skin and any veggies I could find in my fridge needing used up. I threw in an onion and some herbs, filled the stockpot with water and let it simmer all morning.

It made my house smell amazing, I even had people asking what I was cooking when they stopped by. We'll be trying out our first batch tonight when I make chicken and rice soup, I can't wait! I'm interested to taste the difference when using homemade.

I was very surprised by how easy it is to make your own stock, it just seems to be one of those intimidating items to make. While I will try to make use of the leftover carcass, etc when we roast a whole chicken or turkey from now on, I will say that I'm not above buying canned broth when needed. .

Homemade Chicken Broth

Ingredients:
Any remaining bones, meat and skin leftover from whole chicken
1 onion, cut in half
3 celery ribs, cut in large chunks
3 large carrots, cut in large chunks (or handful baby carrots)
Any other remaining veggies needing used up (I threw in a green pepper)
1 bay leaf
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp black pepper

Directions:
Throw all ingredients into large stockpot, cover with water. Cover with a lid and heat over medium-high heat until boiling. Once it's come to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 4 hours. Take off heat and let cool for a bit. Strain the broth, discard everything else. Pour into containers and store in fridge overnight. The next day skim any fat from the surface. Store in the freezer or should keep in the fridge for a few days.

Butterscotch Pretzel Pie

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Our day was pretty low key for the most part and it was wonderful! Too many years we are rushed from one family to the next which leaves about an hour for naps for the little ones and it's just impossible. This year we ate with my husband's family and then went to a hockey game at night with mine. Next year we'll switch.

I know what you're probably thinking, another pie?! I've bombarded you with pie recipes this week but I promise this will be the last for awhile and it's a goody! I made this yesterday for our Thanksgiving meal, I'd never tried the recipe before and could only hope that Paula Deen would come through for me. Did she ever.

Last year for Christmas I received her newest cookbook, Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible. Can you believe that I haven't even tried one single recipe yet? I've started going through some of my cookbooks lately and tagging recipes I want to try with strips of post-it notes to make it easier for me when menu planning, etc. With a cookbook collection like mine it just makes it easier for me and I don't get overwhelmed when trying to find new inspiration.

I have to say the first thing I love about this pie was the fact that I was using staple ingredients in my pantry and fridge.  Combining graham cracker and pretzels into one crust is just genius, it went together so well and I love that sweet and salty combo. I don't think I've made my own pudding before but this was super easy, I'm confident you'll have no troubles and it tastes wonderful. I did cheat and use whipped topping instead of making my own from heavy cream but you can certainly make your own.

By looks you might be unsure if this is something you would like, I get that. But seriously; this crust is amazing, the pudding filling is so smooth and it just works well together. If you've still got another Thanksgiving celebration to attend this weekend, this pie would be great to bring along.

Butterscotch Pretzel Pie

Ingredients:
Crust:
3/4 c crushed graham cracker crumbs
3/4 c pretzel crumbs
2 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp melted butter

Filling:
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c cornstarch
Pinch of salt
3 egg yolks
2 c whole milk
2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small bits
2 tsp vanilla
Whipped topping, to serve with

Directions:
Combine graham cracker,pretzel crumbs and sugar into a medium bowl. Add in melted butter until it forms a crumbly mixture. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 350 for 8-10 mins. until crust is firm. Set aside to cool.

To make filling; in a medium bowl whisk together brown sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add in egg yolks and 1/2 cup of milk, whisk thoroughly to combine. In a saucepan heat the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk over medium heat until boiling. Remove from heat and slowly add the hot milk to the mixture, whisking constantly. You want to be careful not to scramble the eggs. Return the entire mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to boil and thicken, about 3-5 mins. Remove from heat, whisk in butter and vanilla until smooth.

Pour filling into cooled pie crust and smooth the surface with a spatula. Cover the surface entirely with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming. Make sure plastic wrap is right up again the filling. Place in fridge until cooled and set, at least 2 hours. Serve with whipped topping if desired.

Apple Pies for the Freezer

I told you a couple weeks ago how my family had this little apple pie-making party. It's something that started a long time ago, my mom remembers doing the same thing with her mom. In the fall we get apples from either an apple orchard or like I've been doing the past two years, from our local farmer's market (we have an orchard that travels a good hour or more to sell at the market).

We like to get an early start on our Thanksgiving day preparations, by having some apple pies all ready to be baked in our freezers, it helps ease some of that stress. Everyone gets involved, even our 5-year-old daughter got to help with the apple peeling and crimping of the pie crust this year.

After 3 hours of making pies we were ready to call it quits, even though I still have 2 bags of apples to use up. I think tonight will be a good night to finish these up, I'm thinking caramel apple pies this time around. Yum! For now my freezer is stocked with a few extra pies to last throughout the holiday season and winter. I joked and told my friends to not be surprised when I start showing up to their doors with fresh baked apple pie. Pie and cookies for Christmas maybe? I think so!

Apple Pie

Ingredients:
For the crust:
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 c Crisco
1 stick cold butter, cut into cubes
Dash of salt
Ice cold water, use little by little but I usually end up using close to 1/2 cup

Filling:
6-8 apples (we used a combo of Granny Smith and Regents) *If you use disposable tins like we did you might not need as many apples. I found 4-5 good sized ones were all I could fit
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon * I really just estimate on the spices, you add how much ever you like

Directions:
For the pie crust, mix flour, Crisco, butter and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter you want to cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it's crumbly. Start adding ice water in small amounts, using the pastry cutter or even your hands, mix everything together just until moist and the dough forms. Divide dough into 2 separate balls and set aside.

Peel, core and slice apples thin or just chop them. Add them into a bowl of water with just a splash of lemon juice to prevent from browning (Sprite or 7-UP works well too). When you're done with the apples, lightly flour your work surface to roll out pie dough. When dough is rolled out, transfer to a pie plate. Drain apples and add to pie plate, sprinkle sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg on top. *Add a tablespoon of butter on top if desired, cut into small cubes. Top with last crust, trim off extra dough and crimp edges. Cut a couple slits on top. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with additional sugar if desired.

Bake at 400 degrees until juices are bubbly and crust is golden brown, 45 mins. I noticed with these disposable pans I only need to bake for about 30-35 mins. Makes 1 pie.

*If freezing, place pie in freezer before baking. You won't need to put the egg wash on until ready to bake. Thaw pie in fridge overnight before baking.

Taco Pie

I'm squeezing in an extra post this week, but I'm sure you won't mind. I've said before how Monday nights are always rushed for us, not leaving much time to think about dinner. We had quite a bit of leftover taco meat in the fridge and I was trying to think of a different way to use it up. Of course taco pizza came to mind, but I didn't have time to make up dough in the afternoon. That's when this "pie" came to mind.

This dish reminded me of walking tacos, only with the Doritos forming a crust. You could also use regular tortilla chips if you prefer. I really liked the added beans for additional flavor and texture. The kids really enjoyed their meal as well, I think they got a kick out of eating "pie" for dinner.

It took me about 20 mins from start to finish to get our dinner on the table, not bad at all for a quick weeknight meal. Of course if you need to brown and season your ground beef it will take a bit longer.


Taco Pie

Ingredients:
3 c crushed Doritos or tortilla chips
1 egg white
1 lb. cooked taco meat
15 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Lettuce
Tomato
Shredded/Grated Cheese
Taco sauce or salsa
Sour cream

Directions:
Mix crushed chips with egg white in a medium bowl. Transfer to a greased pie plate and press to form a crust. Bake at 350 for 12-15 mins. Meanwhile, in a skillet combine taco meat and beans. Stir to combine and heat through. When crust is baked, remove from oven and pour meat mixture over top. Top with desired toppings and serve in bowls.

Eggnog Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie seems to be one of those classic desserts that are a must at the Thanksgiving table. I like to enjoy a piece and that's usually enough to tide me over until the next year.

I like to put a little twist on this traditional pie by substituting eggnog for the evaporated milk. It gives the pie an extra creamy texture which I love.  I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine several years ago and it's become my standard way to make pumpkin pie.

I really do encourage you to try making your own pie crust, but using a premade shell would be just fine. Pumpkin really is one of the easiest of pies to make, but I understand it's one of those, you either love or hate. Where do you stand? Love it or hate it?

Eggnog Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
1 pie crust, from scratch or premade
15 oz.can pumpkin
1 1/4 c eggnog
3 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Press dough in pie plate and set aside. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, eggnog, eggs, sugar, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Mix all ingredients well. Pour filling into prepared pie shell. Bake for 60-65 mins. or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cool until ready to serve. Store in refrigerator.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

My husband's not much of a soup person (I know!) but I'm trying to change that. I figure if I keep slipping in these delicious, comforting bowls of goodness here and there he just might change his mind.

This particular soup reminds me of my chicken tortilla chili except it's creamier and definitely more of a soup. I love that it's literally a dump and go type of meal, I threw everything into the crockpot and let it work it's magic all day. Later I removed the chicken breasts, gave them a quick chop, added them back in and then it was time to eat. My kind of meal! This really does taste like you're eating chicken enchiladas, I used a mild sauce so it wasn't too spicy. The kids even gobbled it up.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients:
15 oz. can pinto beans, rinsed and drained (I had cooked up a bag of dry pinto beans and stuck them in smaller bags in the freezer so that's what I used. Use whatever kind you like, black or kidney would be good options)
14.5oz can diced tomatoes w/chiles (do not drain)
1 c frozen corn
1 bell pepper, chopped (I used red)
10 oz can mild enchilada sauce
10 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 c milk
1 1/2 tbsp mild chili powder
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Grated cheese for topping

Directions:
Into a crockpot, dump beans, tomatoes, corn and bell pepper. In a medium bowl, whisk together enchilada sauce and cream of chicken soup. Add in milk and mix well. Add to crockpot and stir. Place chicken breasts on top, mine were frozen even. Add in chili powder, give a quick stir and then cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Before serving, remove chicken and cut into chunks. Return to crockpot until ready to eat. Sprinkle cheese on top when you serve.

Some nice crusty bread would go great with this meal or even tortilla chips.

Adapted from: Real Mom Kitchen



Well I'm off to finish getting things ready for our oldest daughter's birthday tomorrow. She'll officially be a teenager, crazy! Wish me luck, I'll have a houseful of giddy 12-13 year olds for several hours tomorrow afternoon.

Cream Cheese Cookie Cups

I've been making these cookie cups for years now, they were one of the first desserts I learned how to make. My good friend Lisa served these at my bachelorette party and graciously gave me her recipe.

I've since updated them just a bit, now using my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe instead of the refrigerated dough. You can use whichever you're most comfortable with or even your own favorite recipe, I know they'll turn out amazing.

Four years ago I entered these into a local recipe contest, I was thrilled when they earned 3rd place. I love to take these along to potlucks or any sort of get together and I can only expect to come home with an empty container. Everyone seems to love the cookie base with the cream cheese frosting that has just a hint of almond to it. With the holidays coming up, these might just be a new, easy and delicious little treat for you to take with to your parties. I know from experience everyone will absolutely love them!

Cream Cheese Cookie Cups

Ingredients:
1 batch Chocolate chip cookie dough (or 1 roll refrigerated dough)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
4 cups powdered sugar
*If you think frosting is too thick, add a splash of milk to thin. You can also use more powdered sugar if you think it's too thin.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using ungreased mini muffin pans, take about 1 tablespoon of cookie dough (or use a small cookie scoop) and press dough into bottom and up sides of the pan. Bake for 8-10 mins or until lightly browned. Cookie cups should sort of dip down when you remove them from oven, if not take the end of a wooden spoon and reshape them just a bit. Cool completely before removing from pan.

In a mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese, butter, and extracts together until smooth. Gradually mix in powdered sugar. When ready to decorate cookie cups, either spoon frosting into cups or take a decorating bag filled with a large star tip (Wilton 1M) and fill cups that way. Store extras in the fridge.

*My batch made about 40 desserts, if you use refrigerated dough you should end up with 24.

Strawberry Champagne Cocktail

From the looks of this picture you might think I enjoyed this drink on a nice summer day. I actually made this on Saturday, we had super nice weather and temperatures around 70 degrees in Iowa. Oh but don't you worry, yesterday was cold and rainy. As in 30 degrees cold....that's just how we roll in the Midwest.

We had plans with my side of the family Saturday afternoon and evening. My mom, brother's girlfriend and I got together to do some pie making. It's really come to be an annual thing, we get a bunch of apples from a local orchard and spend an afternoon making up as many pies as our poor hands can handle and then stash them into the freezer to enjoy on Thanksgiving and throughout the winter. I promise I'll post more about this in the near future!

After we were done with the pies, we ate a dinner made up of a bunch of different appetizers we all brought along. I made up this drink for us to enjoy because let me tell you, after hand mixing pie dough for 3 1/2 hours I think I deserved one.

This would be a great drink to enjoy throughout the summer of course, but why stop there? What about your holiday parties coming up? Frozen strawberries are readily available at all times. If you don't like chunks of fruit in your drink, you can puree the strawberries and mix into the pitcher. Raspberries would be great as well.

Strawberry Champagne Cocktail

Ingredients:
1 bottle Champagne
1/2 bottle 2-liter 7UP
16 oz. frozen sweetened strawberries, thawed

Directions:
Mix champagne and 7UP in a pitcher. Add in thawed strawberries and mix together. Serve in glasses and enjoy!

Breaded Chicken Cutlets

I recently read Dinner: A Love Story, I would consider myself a fast reader and if I happen to finish a book within 2 days, it must be really good. This one definitely falls into that category! Being a foodie, I'm really drawn to books that incorporate recipes into them. The basic idea behind Jenny's book centers around the importance of family dinners. As a parent of 3 girls myself, I know that it's not always easy to have a home-cooked meal but if we make it a priority it's possible.

As you read this book, you'll learn that Jenny starting keeping a dinner diary back in 1998. She has since then recorded every. single. meal she has ever prepared for her family. Most of these meals are really simple too, calling for fresh and wholesome ingredients. I love how she breaks down these periods in her life and gives us tips and recipes for those crazy years when you barely have time to sit down to catch your breath, let alone eat together as a family. I think you'll also love her sense of humor throughout the book as well.

While there were a few recipes that caught my eye, I knew these breaded chicken cutlets would be something that my whole family would enjoy. We made these the other night, it made for a quick meal as we had plans and didn't have much time for dinner. I gave my oldest a little bite while I was preparing plates and her exact words were "Ooh these are good!"  I make my chicken strips similar to these but I really liked how these are cooked in a little bit of olive oil for extra crunch.

I love meals that don't require you to be bent over a cookbook while you're cooking away. These are exactly one of those, you can keep it in your back pocket and pull it out when needed. I hope you'll give these delicious cutlets a try....and read the book while you're at it!

 

 

Breaded Chicken Cutlets

 

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Olive oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 c flour

1 1/2 c plain breadcrumbs

Salt and Pepper to season breadcrumbs

1-2 tsp garlic powder

*Use any desired spices to season breadcrumbs

 

Directions:

Begin by pounding the chicken breasts one at a time in between two sheets of parchment paper, I used a meat tenderizer, I've used a rolling pin before too. You'll then want to cut chicken breasts in smaller pieces, I think I got about 6-7 out of mine. After that's done, add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to a large skillet and set over medium-high heat.

 

Set up your dredging stations: you'll need one bowl or plate for the eggs, one for the flour and one for the seasoned breadcrumbs(Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to season). Using a fork, coat the chicken pieces in the flour first, then egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Fry each cutlet in the oil for about 3-4 minutes on each side. I did 2-3 cutlets at a time, you don't want to cram it all into the pan at once. Remove and drain the chicken on a paper-towel lined plate. You may need to add a little bit more oil to your pan to fry the next batch.

 



Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken

 

You know those rotisserie chickens they sell in the deli of your local grocery stores? The ones that cost $6-$7? Well I think you'd be happy to know you can just as easily prepare your own for about half the price, and in your slow cooker. It's really one of the easiest meals I've ever prepared.

 

 

I can't believe I've waited so long to even buy a whole chicken, let along roast it in my slow cooker. My hubby came home from work yesterday and said the house smelled amazing. I'm completely sold now, I will forever make this chicken. I was able to grab a whole chicken for just a little over $3, we had plenty of meat for our meal last night. Plus I had a good amount left for my favorite chicken salad for lunches today. I also saved all the bones, skin, etc and currently have my first pot of homemade chicken stock simmering on the stove. {Recipes for both stock and chicken salad are coming!}

 

While the chicken was very moist and had good flavor, next time I think I'll make sure to add an onion and some garlic to the pot for extra flavor. You can also either leave the skin on like I did or remove it. My bird was still a little frozen so I had a hard time getting under the skin to add extra seasoning.You can start this in the morning before work and come home to your house smelling amazing and supper already done. Add mashed potatoes and veggies and I'd say you have yourself a nice home-cooked meal without much effort!


Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken

Ingredients:
Whole chicken, mine was 4 lbs.
2 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Black pepper
1/2 tsp Ground Sage
Don't get hung up about exact measurements, I like to just eye ball the spices and measure in the palm of my hand. Use whatever blend of seasonings/spices your family enjoys

Directions:
Remove skin from chicken if desired. Make sure to remove everything from the cavity. Combine all spices in a small bowl and rub mixture all over chicken. Place the chicken into a 6-quart slow cooker. You won't need to add any liquid. Cover and cook on low for at least 8 hours.

Adapted from: A Year of Slow Cooking

 

Snicker Bars

Is anyone else dragging today? Over the weekend we held a surprise party for my father-in-law, the whole family stayed in hotel rooms and I think all of the grandkids were up between 5-6 a.m. Sunday morning. Clearly, with daylight savings this past weekend, we did not think that through when scheduling the party. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, we pulled off a great surprise and we can always sleep later, right?

But if you're in the need for a little pick-me-up, I think I have the perfect treat for you! I made these Snicker bars yesterday and the pan is just about polished off. Now I know what you're thinking, but no, I have not ate all of these myself. I think we gave away a good 3/4 of the pan....thank goodness because I keep wanting to grab one.

We have a huge bag of the kids' Halloween candy hiding in our room, they've actually been very good about it and have only had a few pieces since they went trick-or-treating. I discovered they had a ridiculous amount of Snickers bars and thought of these Rice Krispy like bars. They are made just the same way as krispy treats but by substituting Chex cereal and incorporating Snickers inside, they are one divine little treat.

I can't wait for you to make these bars, be sure to let me know what you think!

Snicker Bars

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 bag large marshmallows
10 fun size Snickers bars or 2 regular size- chopped into small pieces
7 c Corn Chex cereal

Directions:
In a large pan melt butter over medium heat, add in 5 of the chopped Snickers bars and stir until chocolate is melted. Add in bag of marshmallows and stir until melted completely. Remove from heat and stir in chex cereal, add in last of the Snickers bars. Press cereal mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Let cool and then cut into squares.

Halloween Pics and Ways to use up Leftover Candy

I love Halloween, I really do. It's a fun holiday, we love carving pumpkins, making fun treats with the girls and taking them trick-or-treating. But I'm also glad it's over with now haha, we've had some sort of Halloween-ish activity going on for the past several days now and I'm tired. The kids stayed up too late last night (then got up at the crack of dawn today..why?), thankfully they didn't go overboard with the candy and we're all in agreement that they can have 2 pieces each day and that's it!

 

Are you feeling the candy overload too? I think even with rationing out a couple pieces each day, we'd still have enough candy to last them until January...yuck! Maybe not quite that long but it sure feels like it. I think we'll be giving away plenty so it's not a temptation.

Last year I made this really yummy candy bark and sold it at our farmer's market, it went over really well right before Halloween. It's very easy to make and you just might be able to use up some extra candy.


 

 

These Butterfinger blondies are equally as delicious! Another great way to use up some of those candy bars.

 

Last, but not least....I know you'll love these Reese's krispies as well! What's not to love about chocolate and peanut butter mixed into a crispy rice cereal?

Okay, I lied. I have one more to share. How could I forget about this one? It's probably one of my most favorite, if you decide to try any of these recipes, it has to be this one! This creamy Snickers dip is literally to die for.

I sure hope I gave you some good ideas to use up some of that candy stash. I'm sure you can always just give it away, but I think these are a little more fun....especially when you share with others.