Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I signed up to bring in a dessert to my daughter's school for a teacher appreciation luncheon.  I love to bake, but this time I decided to go with chocolate covered strawberries.

I bought two bags of the Wilton Candy Melts (on sale for $1.99 at Michaels) and a three pound container at BJ's for $2.99.  I already had the cupcake liners and sprinkles.  So for three pounds of dessert... around $7 isn't bad to spend.

I love making these for get togethers. People assume they are tedious to make, but they are so easy.

First I melted the milk chocolate; which Wilton refers to as light cocoa.  I just emptied the bag in a small pot on the stove over low heat and whisked until they melted.  Then I whisked a bit more. 

Earlier I had rinsed off and hand dried my strawberries and set them out to be room temperature.

Just simple dip and swirl each strawberry, then lay on a sheet of wax paper.  Immediately after dipping I covered some of them with sprinkles.

Then I melted the white chocolate and dipped those.  I took some leftover white chocolate and attempted to drizzle it over some of the chocolate dipped ones. 

I was more pleased with the white chocolate ones with the chocolate lines on them.  I simply took a bit of melted chocolate in a sandwich size ziploc bag, snipped off the corner, and then squeezed lines over the strawberries.

Once they were all done and and the chocolate had hardened, I placed each one in a cupcake liner and arranged them on a tray.

Linking up at -

Somewhat Simple
Happy Go Lucky - Shine on Fridays
Six Sister's Stuff - Strut Your Stuff Saturday Link Party

5 Ingredient Cookie Bars - YUMMY Recipe

Of course I found this great recipe on Pinterest... so I need to give credit to Not Rachel Ray and to What Megan's Making where she adapted the recipe from. I am pretty convinced you can add  anything to the batter and these would be amazing.  I have made them twice so far with leftover peanut butter m&ms.  I sent them in last week to Madison's school as a dessert for her science fair judges.  Her science teacher tried one and told her during class they were amazing.  I usually do not buy Bisquick, but had some leftover from the 7 Up Biscuits I made the other week that I got from Plain Chicken... so I was happy to find a dessert recipe I could use the rest of the box on.

Source: notrachaelray.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Oreo Poke Cake ~ A Pinterest Fail For Me

Yesterday I talked about our meal plan for the week which included this dessert -

Source: thecountrycook.net via Sarah on Pinterest

I made it this afternoon... and I wasn't impressed.  It tasted like pudding on top of cake.  That is it.  I also think that I let the pudding sit for too long before pouring it over the cake because even though I made a ton of holes... the pudding didn't seem to fill in the holes.



Add this one to my Pinterest fails.

Day 2 - Chocolate Chip Banana Bread RECIPE

Early this afternoon I made this super easy chocolate chip banana bread recipe. I got the recipe from Elizabeth's Love & Marriage blog.

It was really easy to throw together and tasted great..  I will definitely be making it again.

Here is the recipe -

Ingredients -

3 mashed bananas

2 beaten eggs

1 cup of sugar

2 cups of self rising flour {I only had all purpose, so I used that PLUS 1/2 tsp. salt and 2 tsp. baking powder}

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

*See note below*

Directions -

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Mash the bananas in your mixer.

Add the eggs, sugar, then oil.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Then add the chocolate chips.

Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*Once I had mine in the oven I went back to the website I got this recipe on and saw she listed milk in the directions, but not in the ingredients.  I messaged her and she said it did call for 1/4 of milk.  Mine tasted fine without it, but I guess it's optional if you want to add it in.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies - EASY

Last year I saw these cookies mentioned somewhere and searched high and low for them and never found them.  Sunday evening while grocery shopping I finally found them 2 for $5 near the registers.  So I happily threw two bags of them into my cart.

Yes... I am a baker.

Yes... my dream job would be a bakery storefront.

Yes... sometimes I just want to throw together a quick and easy dessert.

Yes... I love anything pumpkin.

Then I set out to find what else I could make besides cookies using this mix.

I can also make pumpkin spice bars.

I cannot wait to make some great things with this mix.  If I like it, I am stocking up before the end of the fall season.

What is your favorite pumpkin recipe?