Caramel Popcorn Cookies and Secret Recipe Club

Have you ever heard of popcorn cookies? I hadn't. Well not until I was assigned the spectacular blog Food Babbles for the Secret Recipe Club this month. The authors name is Kate, she is a mom to 3 and she has lots of great people in her life who influence her cooking and baking, which is probably why all of her stuff is amazing!

I went on a search of her blog and found so many things to try, Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake, Cannoli Roulade, Dark Chocolate Espresso Chocolate Chip Brownies, and Lemon Curd Ice Cream, just to name a few. There are many many more recipes I will be going back to try!

I finally decided on these Caramel Popcorn Cookies because my Maycie's number one requested treat is caramel popcorn and I needed to do something different for my sake. As different as I thought this cookie would be it was delicious! Sweet, chewy, and caramel-y. I made them the way the recipe was written here and then I made a few changes to make them taste more caramel-y. Either way they are worth making, so go over to Food Babbles and check it out, you won't regret it!!

Caramel Popcorn Cookies
Recipe Adapted From: FoodBabbles.com

1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Butter, Room Temp
1 1/2 cups Caramel Popcorn, chopped and divided
1 large Egg
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Quick Oats

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the brown sugar and butter on medium until light and fluffy. Add in 1/2 cup of the chopped popcorn and the egg. Beat until combined. Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add into the wet ingredients stir with your wooden spoon until just combined. Add in the quick oats and 1 cup of the chopped caramel popcorn and stir again until just combined.

4. Using a small cookie scoop put them on your prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then move to a wire rack to continue to cool.

An InLinkz Link-up

Scotcheroo Muddy Buddies

Recently I became a little obsessed with Scotcheroos. There are so many flavors in one little treat, butterscotch, peanut butter, and chocolate. And what a better way to eat all of those delicious flavors than in my favorite snack! Sweet, crunchy, a mouthful of deliciousness.

Scotcheroo Muddy Buddies
Recipe Adapted from: CompleteRecipes.com

8 cups Corn or Rice Chex
1/2 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Butterscotch Chips
1/3 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Light Corn Syrup
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 cups Powdered Sugar

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter, corn syrup & butter, stirring constantly until the all of the chips are melted. Then stir in the vanilla.

2. In a very large bowl put in the chex. Pour the chocolate mixture over and mix until completely and evenly coated.

3. Pour the coated cereal into ziploc bags and add in the powdered sugar close and shake until coated.

Strawberry Ice Cream, Eggless

I was trying to think of what to do with my strawberries next and I started thinking about ice cream. I already have a recipe on here for Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream(which you should definitely go check out), but there is something so delicious about simple strawberry ice cream.

Its sweet, creamy, and has a pure strawberry flavor helped out just a bit by the vanilla. The next time you are in the mood to make ice cream, try this one!

Strawberry Ice Cream, Eggless
Recipe Source: AllRecipes.com

2 cups Heavy Cream
1 cup Whole Milk
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract 
2 cups Pureed Strawberries

In a large bowl mix together the milk, cream, and sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add in the salt, vanilla, and pureed strawberries. Mix until well combined. Pour into your ice cream maker and follow the directions that came with it.

Strawberry Lemonade

Strawberries are finally starting to go down in price and I am so excited to start making more strawberry things! I have a long list of strawberry treats and dessert recipes ready. So get excited cause I am!!

This strawberry lemonade, its the perfect balance of sweet strawberries and tart lemons. Perfect for a hot summer day or in my case a warmish spring day cause I cant wait for summer.

Strawberry Lemonade
Recipe Adapted from: AlaskaFromScratch.com

Simple Syrup
2 cups Water
2 cups Sugar

Strawberry Puree
2 cups Strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 cup Cold Water

Lemonade
Zest of 1 Lemon
1 1/2 cups Lemon Juice, about 6 lemons freshly squeezed
1 1/2 cups Cold Water
2 cups Ice
Lemons and Strawberries for garnish

1. In a medium saucepan combine the water and sugar over high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Remove from the heat and set aside. Place the strawberries and 1 cup of cold water in a blender and puree.

2. In a pitcher, add the lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 cup cold water, ice. Stir in the strawberry puree and the simple syrup. Taste and add more cold water if needed. Refrigerate until cold.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once upon a time I thought I had found my favorite chocolate chip cookie. Its this one from the Pioneer Woman. They weren't great right out of the oven but were better the next day. Then I found this recipe. Soft, chewy, sweet, and the perfect amount of chocolate chips. The best part is they stay as good as straight out of the oven for days, but they probably wont last that long. So for now, this is my favorite recipe. Please make these!!

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe Adapted From: ChewOutLoud.com

2 1/4 cups & 1 Tablespoon All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Salted Butter, at room temp
1 cup Brown Sugar, gently packed
1 - 3.4oz pkg White Chocolate Pudding
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Mini Chocolate Chips

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the brown sugar and butter. Beat on medium high until light and fluffy. Add the pudding and mix until just combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

3. Slowly add in the dry ingredients mixing on low until just combined. Add in the chocolate chips and mix until well distributed. Place saran wrap right on the dough pressing down gently to compact the cookie dough. Place in the fridge and chill for at least an hour. 

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silpat mat. using a small cookie scoop make 1 inch balls and press a little. Bake for about 10 minutes, mine take 11. They may seem a little under done but thats ok. Make sure not to over bake. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes then place on a cooling rack.

Homemade Maple Syrup

We go through syrup like its going out of style. My kids love pancakes and waffles so we have them all the time. Sometimes we have jam on them but most times its syrup. So I recently decided to try making my own. Its even better than the store bought stuff as most things are. Its sweet, mapley, and it doesn't get thick like the store bought stuff which is a plus in my book. My kids would've drank it I let them, but its basically just sugar so that's not a surprise really. Ha. Make it, you wont regret it!

Homemade Maple Syrup
Recipe Source: TheFoodCharlatan.com

1 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup Warm Water
1 teaspoon Maple Extract

In a medium saucepan combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and warm water. Stirring constantly, over medium high heat, boil for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 3 minutes. Stir in the maple extract. Let cool completely before putting in the fridge. Store in the fridge.

Biscoff Muddy Buddies

Since my recent introduction to Biscoff I have become slightly addicted. You can put it on anything, just like Nutella. My favorite is apples. I can turn my sweet apple into a the best apple ever. I LOVE it!!

So the next logical step is my favorite snacky treat. Muddy Buddies. They are sweet, crunchy, and with a hint of Biscoff. It may be better than the original! Make sure you use milk chocolate chips, semisweet would overpower the Biscoff.

Biscoff Muddy Buddies
Recipe Adapted From: DoubleTheDeliciousness.blogspot.com

9 cups Corn Chex
1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips
2/3 cup Biscoff Spread
5 Tablespoons Butter
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 cups Powdered Sugar

1. In a large bowl put the corn chex and set aside. Also, in a gallon size ziploc bag pour in the powdered sugar and set aside. 

2. In a medium saucepan over med-low heat combine the chocolate chips, Biscoff, and butter. Stir constantly until the chocolate chips are melted.  Take the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour over the chex and stir until completely coated. 

3. Pour the chex into the ziploc bags and shake until they are covered in powdered sugar.