Staff Writers
With
spring upon us and Easter around the corner, here are some sweet and sticky
treats you can concoct in the kitchen.
Cheesecake
Cookies
Recipe
Credit to: browneyedbaker.com
Serves:
About 40 mini cheesecakes
Ingredients:
- About 40 (mini) Nilla wafers, 2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Cherry pie filling
Instructions:
1.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a mini muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners.
Place one Nilla wafer in the bottom of each mini muffin well. Set aside.
2.
Cream together the cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy,
and thoroughly combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well
combined. Mix in the vanilla.
3.
Divide the batter evenly among each cup. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until
the edges and top appear set.
4.
Cool completely and then chill for at least a couple of hours. Top with a small
amount of cherry pie filling. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Review:
the
only edit i added to this recipe: buy miniature Nilla wafers. Through a
process of trial and error it was discovered that the regular sized Nilla
wafers were too large for the mini cupcake molds, but they worked well in
regular cupcake molds. The rest of the recipe fell into place nicely, with the
simplicity of merely mixing the ingredients and pouring it evenly into the molds.
Cleanup afterwards was minimal and only slightly sticky. This is a
sweet treat that will make your culinary family member proud.
Peeps
Candy Bars
Recipe
Credit to: Hayley Parker, The Domestic Rebel
Serves:
15
Ingredients:
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup oil
- 20-24 PEEPS candy (you could use bunnies or chicks; I used pink chicks)
- 1 cup speckled Easter M&M's candies
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13×9 inch pan with foil, extending the sides of the foil over the edges of the pan. Mist the foil lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs + oil until well blended. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. While the bars bake, roughly chop the PEEPS into bite-sized chunks and set aside.
- Quickly spread the chopped PEEPS evenly over the bars. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 5-6 minutes or until the PEEPS are puffy and are juuuust beginning to brown a bit on the tops (you don’t want them to start toasting). Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle the M&M's evenly on top of the PEEPS.
- Allow the bars to cool in the pan completely before cutting into bars. I used a dampened knife to help me cut through the ultra-gooey marshmallow. These bars keep when covered at room temperature, for a couple of days.
Review:
If
you’ve made brownies before then this is a recipe for you. Super easy and
quick for when you only have a half hour to work with. Although
chopping the little Peeps feels sacrilegious at first, the wonderful array of
colors later is worth it. Be prepared for the sugar rush.
Birds’
Nests
Recipe
Credit to: The Curvy Carrot
Serves:
12
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, for greasing the muffin pan
- 6 ounces (1/2 bag) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 6 ounces (1/2 bag) of butterscotch chips
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 6 ounces (1/2 of a large bag) of chow mein noodles
- 36 mini Cadbury eggs
Instructions:
1.
Generously grease the wells of a muffin pan with the butter (this will help
later when you are taking out the chilled nests).
2.
In a large microwave-proof bowl, heat the chocolate and butterscotch chips in
30 second intervals until thoroughly melted, stirring after each increment.**It
only took me two 30-second intervals.
3.
Once melted, add the peanut butter to the chocolate/butterscotch mixture,
mixing well until smooth and completely combined.
4.
Carefully add the chow mein noodles, stirring with a wooden spoon or rubber
spatula, until completely coated.
5.
Using a large spoon, mold the mixture into the wells of your muffin tin,
indenting the tops slightly with the back of the spoon.
6.
Chill the nests until hardened, about 1 hour or so.
7.
Once chilled, gently remove the nests from the muffin tin.***I used a
butter knife as a lever to pop them out-this seemed to work.
8.
Place three eggs (or colored jelly beans!) on the tops of each nest.
Review: These cookies are
extremely easy and no oven is needed. The Cadbury eggs however were difficult
to put on the “nest” cookie.
Easter
Rice Krispies
Recipe
Credit to: Spaceships and Laser Beams
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Serves:
15
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons of butter or margarine
- 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
- 4 cups of miniature marshmallows
- 6 cups of Rice Krispies
- ½ cup of turquoise candy melts
- candy sprinkles
Instructions:
1.
Microwave butter and marshmallows on HIGH for about 3 minutes, stirring after 2
minutes; stir until smooth.
2.
Pour the mix into a 9” x 13” x 2” pan that has been coated with cooking spray.
Put a sheet of parchment paper over the mixture (to keep from sticking) and
roll it out until it is about ½” thick.
3.
Use an egg-shaped cookie cutter to make egg shapes (periodically dip the cookie
cutter in water to keep the marshmallows from sticking to it).
4.
Lay the egg shapes on a cooling rack until they’re firm enough to handle.
5.
Heat the candy melts in the microwave in a small bowl. Dip one end of the eggs
into it.
6.
Return to the cooling rack momentarily, with a cookie sheet underneath to catch
any drips.
7.
Dip the treat ends into sprinkles and return to the cooling rack until they’re
firm.
Review:
The
rice crispy treats are a fun, easy dessert for springtime snacking. The
marshmallows and sprinkles can get a bit messy, so make sure to have a few
extra napkins. Quick and simple, this recipe is great for treat lovers of all
ages.
Spring
Lemon Cookies
Recipe
Credit to: Love From the Oven
Serves:
18
Ingredients:
- 1 box lemon cake mix (I used a 16.25 oz box)
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- Juice from one lemon
- Grated lemon peel from one lemon
- 1 cup pink and yellow Nestle Springtime Morsels (or white chocolate chips)
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well to combine. Dough will be quite sticky. Chill covered in refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degree F. Once oven is ready, remove cookie dough from fridge and drop by spoonfuls (approximately 1-2 tablespoons per cookie) onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes or until very lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Store tightly covered.
Review:
These
cookies have a strong lemony tang but are delicious when paired with the spring
chocolate chip cookies.
