Cinnamon Applesauce Pancakes

Apparently it was National PANCAKE Day on Tuesday this week, so I thought I would add ANOTHER pancake recipe to the mix! These CAKES are so easy and crazy good. That's a recipe combination I always LOVE! (OK, so I see that most of my pancake photos appear to be very similar! Sorry about that—I will try to be more creative in the future.)

Cinnamon Applesauce Pancakes
2 cups Bisquick
2 eggs
3/4 cup applesauce
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Preheat a pan and cook the batter like any other pancake batter. Serve with butter and maple syrup on top. Makes about 8 pancakes or so.

TIP: If you like more "thin" pancakes, add more milk gradually to your batter until the desired texture is reached. (I'm a sucker for THICK pancakes!) Also, a nice caramel syrup like they have at Kneader's would be delish on these pancakes though they don't really need it.

Brown Sugar Banana Bread Pancakes

Thanks Pinterest! Is everyone else as obsessed with Pinterest.com as I am? I LOVE all the new recipes I'm finding there! I found this recipe through the AMAZING site and just made a few changes to it for my FAMILY. Hope you like it as much as we did! (Original recipe found on How Sweet It Is blog.) 

Brown Sugar Banana Bread Pancakes

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Vanilla Glaze (optional)

1/2 cup store-bought maple syrup

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir until somewhat smooth. Spoon about 1/4 to 1/3 cup measures of batter on a hot griddle and cook like normal pancakes. Serve hot with syrup or the glaze listed above! Makes about 10 or so pancakes.

To make glaze, combine all ingredients and stir until smooth.

TIP: To make this extra luxurious, try adding some semisweet chocolate chips to the batter. Also, good with cinnamon syrup or other vanilla-flavored syrups.

"Slutty" Brownies

OK, so I've been obsessed with Pinterest and have found SO MANY recipes and fun things I want to try. Well, this recipe seemed SUPER interesting and had to be DELICIOUS, so I just couldn't resist trying it. It's from the blog What's Gaby Cooking. I adjusted the recipe and used a boxed brownie mix instead to make it a little more SIMPLE, but I'm sure hers is just as good!

"Slutty" Brownies
1 box brownie mix for an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9-inch pan
1 cup butter, room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tesapoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 package Oreos

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the brownie batter according to package directions and set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and mix until incorporated. Add the chocolate chips.

Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. Press about 2/3 to 3/4 of the cookie dough evenly in the bottom of the pan. (Save the rest to make cookies another day!) Place Oreos over cookie dough to cover. Spread brownie batter evenly over top and then place in oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes and then test with a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, the brownies are done. If it comes out with wet and glossy brownie batter, cook it 5 minutes longer and test again.

NOTE: It took me around an hour to have it bake completely through, however when I went to use my oven the next day, it wouldn't heat properly, so I'm not sure if it was "going out" while baking the brownies. I just kept baking in 5-minute intervals until they were done. Just be careful because you don't want to burn these bad boys!

TIP: Serve with ice cream to mellow them out, or top the ice cream with hot fudge to make them even more delicious!

Martha's Chocolate "Surprise" Cookies

How about these soft CHOCOLATY cookies to wow your sweetie? Thank you MARTHA STEWART for sharing this great recipe! My husband and I can't get enough of these little beauties.

• Martha's Chocolate "Surprise" Cookies
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 12 large marshmallows, cut in half horizontally
• 
  
• Chocolate Frosting
• • 2 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 
    
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add reserved flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined.
  • Using a tablespoon or 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies begin to spread and become firm, 10 to 12 minutes.
  • Remove baking sheets from oven, and place a marshmallow, cut-side down, in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Return to oven, and continue baking until marshmallows begin to melt, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
  • Spread about 1 tablespoon of frosting over each marshmallow, starting in the center and continuing outward until marshmallow is covered.

Berry Surprise Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

To celebrate my mother-in-law's BIRTHDAY, we made these tasty cupcakes. My 2-year-old really wanted purple CUPCAKES, so this is what I came up with! I have to say that they were super YUMMY. Great Valentine's Day treat? YES!

Berry Surprise Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
1 white cake mix, batter mixed according to directions
1 small box instant white chocolate pudding mix
1 container Yoplait blackberry yogurt
1 bag Raspberry Hershey's Hugs

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened

6 to 10 blackberries, fresh or frozen, mashed

2 cups powdered sugar

Into to the already prepared cake batter, mix in the dry pudding mix and yogurt until combined. (Batter is slightly thick!) In a muffin pan lined with paper liners, drop a cookie scooper full of batter in the bottom of each liner. Unwrap and place a Hershey Hug in the center of each. Top with another scoop of batter and then bake according to directions. Let cool completely.

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the mashed berries and beat until combine. Gradually add the powdered sugar and blend until combined. I added a touch of purple food coloring to get just the right color of purple, but it's really pretty without!

Makes about 24 cupcakes

TIP: Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes for a more "cute" look. Top with sprinkles or even some white chocolate chips. If frosting is not stiff enough to pipe, mix in more powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. If frosting is too stiff, add a touch of milk to loosen it up.

Blackberry Cheesecake Bread

Sometimes I just want some really YUMMY sweet bread. This recipe totally fills that CRAVING! It's super simple and has just the right amount of TREAT factor to it—especially if you add the white chocolate chips as mentioned in the tip! Maybe you could whip this up for your SPECIAL someone in a couple of weeks . . .

Blackberry Cheesecake Bread
1 yellow or white cake mix
1 small box instant cheesecake pudding mix
3/4 cup water
3 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
Dash of cinnamon, optional
3/4 to 1 cup slightly smashed blackberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the dry cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, eggs, applesauce, and cinnamon, if using. Gently fold in the blackberries until swirled throughout the batter. Pour into two loaf pans and bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then completely on a wire rack.

TIP: If your blackberries are extra juicy, you may want to drain them! Also, another great addition to this  recipe would be some white chocolate chips. Yum!